There is an upsurge in counter-attacking goals and Manchester United and Arsenal both broke at pace to score in breakaway fashion on Sunday.
At Hull, United turned defence into attack in five seconds for Dimitar Berbatov to take advantage of Wayne Rooney’s brilliance, and Cesc Fabregas finished a seven-second burst for Arsenal against Aston Villa. Michael Walker explores what it is all about.
The creation of doubt in a defender’s head and the consequent creation of space: this may sound like an all-too theoretical explanation for the increase in counter-attacking football of the sort illustrated with such sharpness by Cesc Fabregas and Wayne Rooney on Sunday, but it is theory derived from practice.
Our growing sense that the counter-attack is a confirmed Premier League characteristic is correct. Like the rest of the world, football adapts to its laws and when they change, so does the game.
It is true that Arsene Wenger and Sir Alex Ferguson are long-standing practitioners of high-risk, attacking football, but their core beliefs have been aided by recent rule changes.
Part of Ferguson’s longevity is his willingness to adapt on and off the pitch and he has acknowledged that in the past few seasons Manchester United’s style, particularly in Europe, has evolved into what the former Roma manager Luca Spalletti called ‘more Italian than the Italians’. Read more…
Jose Mourinho snubbed Manchester City’s millions because his dream is to manage Manchester United.
The charismatic former Chelsea boss, now at Inter Milan, rejected discreet overtures from Eastlands some weeks ago. Mourinho says he intends to see out his contract at the San Siro, which ends in 2012, a commitment he repeated in Italy last week.
‘At the moment I am and will be Inter manager until 2012, that’s when I have signed up until and we are convinced we will reach 2012,’ he said in a television interview.
But sources close to the Portuguese have indicated his Inter contract was only part of the reason for cold-shouldering City. They believe Mourinho’s ambition is to succeed Sir Alex Ferguson and that, if he bides his time, the Old Trafford job will become conveniently available. Ferguson who will be 68 on Thursday, is showing no sign that he is ready to quit in the immediate future.
But significantly, the Scot will be invited to make recommendations about his successor and has a lot of admiration for Mourinho, the only other manager to win the Premier League in the last five years. Mourinho, 46, finished top in the first two of his three years in charge at Stamford Bridge. Read more…
Sir Alex Ferguson has kicked off the January transfer-window action by bidding for Benfica winger Angel Di Maria.
Ferguson has reacted to Manchester United’s stuttering defence of their title by offering £9million plus Nani for the 21-year-old Argentina international.
The United manager witnessed Di Maria’s scintillating form at first hand when he was at Goodison Park for the second leg of Benfica’s Europa League rout of Everton recently.
Yet it seems football is finally feeling the pinch this winter.
The Premier League may have its nouveaux riches in Birmingham City and Manchester City, or relative warhorses in United and Chelsea, but there will be few grand unveilings over the next four weeks.
Indeed, we should not be surprised if to loan, beg, borrow or steal becomes the motto of this January window.
Business will be busy but bargains in the shape of swaps, loans and free transfers will be the trend. Read more…
When the dust settled on Chelsea’s convincing 3-0 win at Arsenal at the end of November, the Barclays Premier League looked destined to be, at best, a two-horse title race.
Only Manchester United seemed equipped to match the relentless pace of Carlo Ancelotti’s team at the top as the Gunners slipped 11 points behind the leaders.
Three weeks and four league games later and the title race has been blown wide open again, with United losing twice and Chelsea struggling for top form, too. As West Ham’s Mark Noble said after holding the leaders to a 1-1 draw on Sunday: ‘Everyone can beat everyone else, It’s a good league to play in, with Spurs and Aston Villa harassing everyone.’
Even Chelsea midfielder Michael Ballack said: ‘It’s better if you lead the table instead of chasing because then you always have to win to put pressure on the top team. But I think it’s still open.’ The fragility of Chelsea and United has lifted the chasing pack. Arsenal have dropped only two points from their last four games and Andrey Arshavin said: ‘It’s getting very interesting and any team can beat anyone - it’s good, especially for us. Read more…
Nemanja Vidic has been ruled out of Manchester United’s Champions League trip to Wolfsburg, leaving Sir Alex Ferguson with a threadbare defence as his team attempt to secure top spot in Group B.
United had hoped Vidic would have recovered from the flu bug that kept him out of Saturday’s win at West Ham. However, the Serbian was absent as his team-mates checked in for the short flight to Germany.
United’s list of injured defenders includes the captain Gary Neville and Wes Brown, who both limped off at Upton Park, plus the longer-term casualties Rio Ferdinand, John O’Shea and Jonny Evans. With the Da Silva brothers, Fábio and Rafael, also sidelined, the only senior orthodox defender Ferguson has in his squad is the left-back Patrice Evra.
Ferguson has already revealed his intention to play Michael Carrick in central defence, while Darren Fletcher seems certain to occupy a defensive berth, too, although which one is open to debate.
Among the less familiar players in the United party are Oliver Gill, son of the chief executive David, Magnus Eikrem, Cameron Stewart, Matthew James and Oliver Norwood. Read more…
Sir Alex Ferguson has hit back at critics of Manchester United’s young players and has reminded them of what can happen to pundits when they choose to write off his players.
BBC football expert Alan Hansen was famously left to rue his judgment when he suggested that Ferguson would ‘win nothing with kids’ after blooding the David Beckham and Paul Scholes generation at the start of the 1995-96 season.
That team went on to win the league and dominate English football for years and Ferguson has warned that critics of his current crop of youngsters have left themselves vulnerable to similar embarrassment in the future.
The United manager will once again throw young players such as Federico Macheda, Danny Welbeck and Darron Gibson into action in the Carling Cup quarter-final at home to Tottenham on Tuesday, just a week after they lost 1-0 at home to Besiktas in the Champions League. Read more…
Reports from England continue to suggest that Inter coach Jose Mourinho will replace Sir Alex Ferguson at Manchester United.
The Daily Mail reports that the Portuguese tactician will return to the Premier League to coach Manchester United once Sir Alex Ferguson announces his retirement. Mourinho has often been touted as the heir to the 67-year-old Scotsman at the club.
‘Fergie’has said he will be in charge of United as long as “his heath permits it,” but the Daily Mail suggests he may decide to resign within the next couple of seasons.
Ferguson has been in charge of United since 1986, winning 12 Premier League crowns, five FA Cups, and two UEFA Champions League trophies along with several other titles.
Mourinho, a former manager of Chelsea, brought the Blues their first league titles in 50 years during his spell at the club from 2004 to 2007. His other major achievements include winning the Champions League with Porto and a Serie A title with Inter. Read more…
A few weeks ago, I proved that Fernando Torres was a more effective attacking player tha Wayne Rooney. Now it’s time to take a look at Pepe Reina and Edwin Van Der Sar. Both are fantastic keepers; both are very important to their respective teams, but who can rightfully be called the best/most effective goalkeeper?
I have looked at both players’ stats for the last 4 full seasons, going back to the 2005-6 season, which was when both players arrived at their respective clubs.
I have only included competitive games in this analysis, i.e.
Premiership
Champions League
FA Cup
Carling Cup
Super Cup
World Club Cup
I obtained the statistics from the following sources: Read more…
