The English Football Thread

[NikkiCFC 8,319]

 

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2 hours ago, NikkiCFC said:

 

roflmaoooooooooooooooooooooooooo

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Friday June 5 2020 Football Nerd

Why dribbling is more valuable than ever and no longer football's 'lost art' By Daniel Zeqiri Harry Maguire has been a key part of Man Utd's ball progression this season CREDIT: REUTERS Through football's coronavirus hiatus, we are committed to providing a weekly newsletter of facts, analysis and retrospectives. If there is a topic you want us to cover please email [email protected]. Above all, stay safe.     Dribbling and tackling are habitually described as football's two lost arts, but a quick survey of the Premier League suggests the primal skill of taking the ball and running straight at the opposition is still prized. Analysis of Bundesliga football has observed fewer tackles per game since the sport's resumption post-lockdown, which could offer the division's best ball-carriers even more incentive to take players on. Top flight football returns in England with Aston Villa v Sheffield United on June 17, and there can be no doubt that Villa's chances of survival rest at the feet of Jack Grealish. Grealish's cavalier style and bravery both to receive the ball under opposition pressure and ride agricultural challenges has delighted neutrals. The sight of an outstanding individual rescuing a team also resonates with the Roy of the Rovers motif embedded in English football's psyche. Grealish has drawn 127 fouls from opposition players this season, 34 more than Wilfried Zaha who has drawn the second most. Grealish has been fouled more than Adama Traore and Richarlison combined. There are several ways of measuring the effectiveness of dribbling. One metric in which Grealish shows up well is Progressive Carrying Distance, the cumulative distance travelled towards the opponent's goal with ball at feet across the season. Grealish is second in the league in this metric, carrying the ball 6,972 yards since the start of the season. Only Zaha has posted a higher number, with Adama Traore and Harry Maguire rounding out the top four. Yes that's right, Harry Maguire.     Maguire is the only central defender in the top 10, so this method of distribution is both striking and highly unusual. When we talk about defenders playing out from the back, we tend to focus on line-breaking passes and long switches of play. The ability to drive forward with the ball is an overlooked skill.  Maguire's 6,187 yards carried also reflects a tendency of Manchester United's opponents to sit deep. Teams dropping off to cover the speed of Marcus Rashford, Anthony Martial and Daniel James offer Maguire the invitation to begin one of his forays forward.  Since Michael's Carrick retirement, United have lacked a top class distributor in deep midfield so Maguire stepping in to this area of the pitch could well be born of necessity. In fact, there might be occasions when passing early and circulating the ball with the minimum of touches is preferable. A centre-back carrying the ball before passing can make things more congested for the receiver.  Do these numbers mean Maguire is one of the league's best dribblers? Not quite. Maguire has played every minute of United's Premier League season so his cumulative numbers are bound to swell. When Progessive Carrying Distance per 90 minutes is calculated, Maguire drops to 43rd - though that is still neck and neck with Nicolas Pepe and ahead of Giovani Lo Celso.  Moreover, you do not actually need to beat an opposition player to record a Progressive Carrying Distance.  When it comes to Players Dribbled Past across the whole season, Zaha remains well out in front 145 and you can rest easy...Maguire is nowhere to be seen in the top 10.  Traore is a commendable second with 127 and his Wolves team-mate Diogo Jota is fourth with 72, which makes it plain to see why Nuno Espirito Santo's team have such a slippery and dangerous attack. Sandwiched between them is Norwich's Emi Buendia, who could be one of the bargains of the summer for those seeking a dexterous and creative midfielder. As well as gliding past players, Buendia's Expected Assists per 90 minutes is bettered only by Kevin De Bruyne and Riyad Mahrez. No wonder many judges consider Norwich the best ever team to be bottom of the Premier League.   Explore beyond the headlines Become a Telegraph subscriber today and access our best sport articles and analysis – free for your first month.   Sign up here   Pick of the week   "The presence of Kane and Son means Spurs will be a different side in June to what they would have been in April. Although lots of the focus will be on the availability of the England captain, it is Spurs’ ability to use Son which is the game-changer for Mourinho. Kane will score goals in any system, so the tactical shape is not necessarily compromised with or without him. It is Kane’s strike rate which makes him so important. " Jamie Carragher on why Tottenham are lockdown's big winners - can they make the top four?

[BlueLyon 9,359]

As much as I despise United, I have to give big big credit to Rashford. He is a great example how to be humble and use the fame, connections and money in good way to help others and promote goodness.

In a football world full of divas and adults who act childish, Rashford is a nice change of pace and reminds me of old school strikers like Didi or Etoo who used their football achievements to do something good outside of football too. 

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Exclusive: Williams to be offered new deal by Manchester United

https://theathletic.com/1852552/2020/06/04/exclusive-williams-to-be-offered-new-deal-by-manchester-united/

Manchester United are set to offer Brandon Williams a major new contract to reflect his status as a first-team player.

Williams currently earns £4,000 per week and United plan talks on a significantly improved deal that would see the 19-year-old paid in keeping with his role in Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side.

Williams agreed his latest contract in October after playing twice for the first team, but his rapid progress this season, which caught many by surprise, has meant a renegotiation is necessary.

He made his debut as a substitute in the Carabao Cup win over Rochdale, followed by a first start away to AZ Alkmaar in the Europa League, and has now featured 26 times, including nine Premier League starts, this season. Williams scored in the 3-3 draw at Sheffield United and has moved comfortably between left-back and left wing-back, even playing on the right flank at times.

He is expected to be an important figure on United’s run-in once the season resumes later this month, having gained high praise from Solskjaer at various points. After a stirring performance in the 4-0 win over Norwich City in January, the United manager said: “His hunger is a lesson for everyone who wants to be a footballer, the attitude he’s showing. It’ll be up to him, myself and the club to keep him that hungry. I don’t expect him to change because he’s got the heart for it.”

Later that month, United predecessor turned pundit Gary Neville wrote on Twitter: “I like Brandon Williams. He has that look in his eye of someone that would eat his opponent’s nose to win the match. Keep going, kid! Oh, he can play football, too, which is always a bonus.”

Solskjaer added: “He’s been absolutely outstanding since he came in. Every challenge we’ve put in front of him he’s tackled head-on.”

His impact has been noted at international level, too. Gareth Southgate is understood to believe Williams has the potential for full England honours. He impressed on his debut for England Under-20s this season and is expected to be called up by Aidy Bothroyd for the under-21s at the next opportunity.

Williams is from north Manchester and joined United’s academy aged seven. He has long told friends of his burning desire to make it at the club. Such was his ambition to play for United, he rejected loan offers last summer in the hope of breaking into the senior squad.

That single-mindedness has paid off and even though the speed of his acceleration into the team was unexpected, his high standards prompted figures within the club to speculate he had surpassed Luke Shaw as their best left-back at one stage.

Shaw responded with a series of excellent displays but the comparison now provides a reference for Williams’ negotiations. Shaw, as a full England international, is paid £190,000 per week.

United are very careful with players who come through their academy however, and Solskjaer subscribes to a philosophy where emerging talents are not given too much too soon. United’s manager took an early interest as far as Williams was concerned and his relatively modest current earnings reflect the club’s firm position.

When Williams signed his last contract in October his determination was to secure a place in Solskjaer’s side rather than gain a big pay rise on his previous deal, which had been his first as a professional.

But United made plain that further talks would take place once his position in the first-team had solidified and negotiations are now in the works. It is accepted that Williams is due a serious upgrade, with contemporaries earning considerably higher salaries. It is well known that Diogo Dalot, for instance, receives around £50,000 per week.

Williams is fully fit and ready for the restart of the Premier League, having kept busy during lockdown with regimes set by United’s sports scientists. He even roped in an unlikely companion for sessions, as revealed by coach Kieran McKenna.

“I think it’s important the players feel that sense of connection,” McKenna told United’s website. “I’ve tried to ring quite a few, especially the younger boys, to make sure they’re OK, and try to stop Brandon Williams tackling his dog on a regular basis!”

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Newcastle, Sunderland and shows of outright contempt for fans

WHAT A BUSINESS

It really wasn’t meant to be like this. As June approached, Newcastle fans were brimful of optimism that the long, drawn-out sale of their club by one universally reviled, despotic, tyrannical owner to another would finally be completed. They would be free to dream of a brave new dawn, a happy future in which Neymar was banging them in for fun up front and they were spending endless hours on the internet angrily pointing out London-based media agendas, typing the words “what about” more often than is humanly necessary and unconvincingly arguing that war crimes, beheadings and human rights abuses aren’t really anything to be concerned about if they are carried out in a way that doesn’t really affect you.

With no sign of the handover being completed, they remain on tenterhooks, the collective mood even more furious than usual as they accuse Newcastle’s hierarchy of a “dereliction of duty” for something that does affect them: the club’s ongoing refusal to loop them in on plans for season tickets and money already spent on them. With the remainder of the current campaign set to be played behind closed doors, card-holders understandably want to know if they’ll be getting refunds for matches they have paid for but will be unable to attend, while the Newcastle United Supporters’ Trust also wants season ticket payments for the 2020-21 campaign suspended.

“Without supporters, Newcastle United does not exist,” it wrote. “We have previously contacted Newcastle United to express our concerns at the lack of action to assist its supporters in a time of need during this unprecedented global health and economic crisis. You have called on the fans of Newcastle United for support so often over the years and when we called for you to stand by your supporters, you did nothing.” Unsurprisingly, considering the outright contempt in which Newcastle fans are held by the club’s owner, no reply has yet been forthcoming, despite other top-flight clubs having reassured fans that they will be refunded one way or another for games they won’t get to see.

Newcastle supporters should perhaps be careful what they wish for, as their neighbours have made sure to keep fans well-informed about what will be happening with their season tickets, prompting further anger. The Basket Case club in whose direction other Basket Case clubs tug their forelocks, Sunderland announced they won’t be refunding season ticket holders if the season isn’t cut short and their three remaining home games are played behind closed doors. They will instead offer fans a pass to stream the matches at home, which is much the same as an airline refusing to refund that expensive ticket you paid for a now-cancelled flight to New York, but showing you some video footage of Central Park and the Statue of Liberty instead.

In an astonishing show of contempt, Sunderland have also told fans who renew their season tickets for the next campaign there will be no refunds for behind-closed-doors then either, only the same offer of a streaming pass which at £10 costs considerably less than a ticket. “What about families who have three or four season tickets in the same household? It’s nonsense,” thundered supporters group chief Michael Ganley. Despite claiming to be “in dialogue” with fans, Sunderland have yet to provide any satisfactory answers, but may well suggest each family member watches on a different device to ensure everyone gets maximum bang for their buck. 

[MoroccanBlue 5,381]

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CAS General Secretary offers update on Man City appeal against UEFA ban

Matthieu Reeb, the General Secretary for the Court of Arbitration for Sport, has confirmed that Manchester City's appeal against their UEFA sanctions began over video conference earlier today.

City are appealing UEFA's decision to fine them around £25m and issue a two-year ban from European competition, including the Champions League, for 'serious breaches' of Financial Fair Play regulations.

The hearing, conducted remotely due to the coronavirus pandemic, is closed to the public and media, and will take place from today (Monday June 8) until Wednesday (June 10).

According to AFP, Reeb confirmed that the hearing has begun and that the video conferencing arrangement is not posing any problems.

"The hearing has started well and the video conference is working well," Reeb is quoted as saying.

AFP also claim Reeb added that a verdict could be announced in July, as City wait eagerly to discover their fate.

He said: "Following the hearing, the Panel will deliberate and will start drafting the Arbitral Award containing its decision. It is not possible to predict at this time how long this process will take."

Other reports say City may have to wait until August to learn the verdict, but both City and UEFA would be keen to discover the result of the appeal before next season's Champions League competition begins.

https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/man-city-cas-appeal-uefa-18381357

Imagine if these tossers get away with it. 

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Herrera: I said ‘Jose, I’ll man-mark Hazard, even follow him to the bathroom’

https://theathletic.com/1856539/2020/06/08/ander-herrera-exclusive-interview-mourinho-van-gaal-woodward-psg-united-manchester-louis-pogba-alexis/

Ander Herrera is casting his mind back to the half-time break in the away dressing room in Manchester City’s Etihad Stadium.

During an abject first 45 minutes in April 2018, Pep Guardiola’s champions-in-waiting had sliced Manchester United apart, racing into a two-goal lead. They were, by then, one half of football away from sealing the Premier League title against their fiercest rivals. Jose Mourinho, a long-time antagonist of Guardiola, would surely have seen it as a personal affront.

And then came the interval. Taking their seats in the dressing room, United’s players let loose. It is hard to overstate City’s excellence in that first half. They teased and tormented their rivals. The home fans sang “Championes” and blue smoke bombs permeated the air. Many United supporters watching on feared that scoreline might double in the second period.

“Me too, me too, as a player,” Herrera sighs. “It is true. I remember at half-time, the dressing room was a funeral. The first 45 minutes, they were amazing. I remember saying to my team-mates, ‘At least we need to go out there and make some tackles. Let’s go and make it difficult for them. We are going to make it nasty for them’. But, in my opinion, they were not humble enough after half-time and we are Manchester United. I think they didn’t think about that. When you are playing the biggest club in the UK, one of the biggest in the world, you cannot sleep even for 10 or 15 minutes because in 15 minutes, we went 3-2 up. Paul Pogba scored two and was amazing. It was probably Alexis Sanchez’s best 45 minutes at Manchester United.

“After the game, we knew they had some T-shirts prepared to say, ‘We did it in the derby day’ so, I think sometimes Karma works! OK, we were not champions but we did not let them do it on derby day, as they wanted to.”

Herrera lets out a little giggle and briefly pauses. In the coronavirus pandemic, he has been deprived of these days of sporting exhilaration and, now at Paris Saint-Germain, he is coming to terms with the dispiriting reality whereby French football has been called off until next season. Legal challenges have arisen, most notably from Lyon, who stand to miss out on European qualification. PSG remain in the Champions League after qualifying for the quarter-finals just before the lockdown but in the absence of domestic football, players will be acutely short of match fitness if the two European competitions do resume in August.

“We do not know what is going to happen,” Herrera says. “We don’t know if we will play the Champions League or not. We do not know if the government is going to allow us to play in France. This is a mess but we, my family, are in Spain, so we are fine. Lyon and PSG are not in the best situation. They took the decision too soon. I think it was too quick to cancel and finish the league. They could have waited a little bit longer to see what was going to happen, and now we can see with Germany and Spain starting back up and they have even pushed the first games before they were expected to be.

“We will try our best to prepare by training — probably we will play some friendly games — but it will never be the same (fitness level). It is all we can do; to try to compete between ourselves in training. I agree with the president of Lyon, who said a few weeks ago that the situation is horrible for French teams. It is not fair. But the government decided to finish the league and we have to adapt.”

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Herrera is an unusual interviewee in modern football. He does not obfuscate in his answers and he does not shirk topics. A regular in the stands at his boyhood team Real Zaragoza, he describes himself as “a football fan as well as a football player” and it is why an interview with him often feels more like a conversation than a prod and poke exercise.

He admits he finds the idea of football played behind closed doors “horrible” but he is quickly theorising about how the sport may differ. He is hoping to hear more conversations between coaches, players and referees through the TV screen. He expects teams who press fast and high, such as Liverpool, to find life more difficult without supporters urging them on, while the Bundesliga has thrown up more away wins than home ones so far since its resumption.

Herrera says: “Some teams really feel the atmosphere of their fans. Liverpool are one example. Osasuna in Spain get a lot of points because the stadium is small, the fans are really close to the pitch; because they put pressure on the referee. Every team will suffer in this situation but there are some examples where they will suffer even more. It is going to be a new sport. For example, I think more penalties will be scored than before. When you train penalties, you normally score but in the game, it is a different pressure because of the fans.

“My view is that football without fans is nothing but we are realising now that football is a business. It is going to be horrible for football fans and football in general but we have to find ways to enjoy it. The most important thing is that the virus, step by step, disappears. A lot of people make a living through football, so I hope it is the shortest time possible without fans.

“Now in Spain, they talk about the chance to play with 30 per cent of fans, which would be OK, I think. Some bars and restaurants can open at 50 per cent capacity, so why in a stadium which is so open, outdoors, you cannot have some people? Of course, you have to respect distancing. People must travel sensibly and go an hour before, in small groups. It would need to be organised well but it is better than nothing. Everyone has to put their hand up to help in this situation.”

Back home in Zaragoza, Herrera put his hand up early. He made a sizeable donation and collaborated with local councils to organise funding and shopping for local elderly residents shielding during the pandemic. It is a mission he has embarked upon with his usual enthusiasm and zest. One former colleague at United privately compared Herrera recently to former Liverpool defender and now pundit Jamie Carragher; in his enthusiasm for the sport, his depth of knowledge and, in the nicest possible way, he is always talking.

Over an hour-long conversation with The Athletic, he speaks openly about his five years at Manchester United. He details the “disagreements” with Ed Woodward that led him to leave on a free transfer last summer, reflects on the management of Mourinho, Louis van Gaal and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, while also offering his opinions and insight on some of United’s most contentious players, including Pogba and Sanchez.

First, to the good times.

It can be easy to forget, amid the heightened emotions and all the setbacks, that Manchester United have enjoyed some rather good days over the past seven years. After signing for the club in the summer of 2014, coinciding with the arrival of Van Gaal, Herrera featured in many of these happier times. He started the League Cup final win over Southampton and subsequent Europa League final defeat of Ajax in 2017. He assisted Anthony Martial’s winning goal in the FA Cup semi-final victory against Everton in 2016 and then scored the winner as Tottenham were beaten at the same stage two years later.

Among United supporters, he is probably most fondly remembered for a series of duels against Chelsea, where Mourinho, having reinvented Herrera as a snap-at-your-heels midfielder, challenged the Spaniard to man-mark Eden Hazard. Most successfully, it came to fruition in a 2-0 victory over Antonio Conte’s title-bound side in April 2017. On the day, Herrera made one goal, scored another and threw a blanket over Chelsea’s main man.

Herrera says: “Jose and I both knew Hazard was the best player, by far, in the Premier League at the time, so if we wanted to win that game, we needed him not to touch the ball, or at least as little as possible. That’s what we agreed. I said, ‘Jose, I am ready if you need me to man-mark him, to follow him everywhere. If he wants to go to the bathroom, I will go with him because I want to win the game’. The most important thing in football is that my team wins, because then I go to sleep happy. It does not matter what you have to do, as long as you respect the rules and don’t do anything illegal.”

A month before, Herrera’s lines blurred a little.

United went to Chelsea in the FA Cup and his man-marking job on Hazard saw him receive two yellow cards and a dismissal inside 35 minutes. Despite the defeat, player and manager viewed their tactical plan as a success. “We were playing very well,” Herrera recalls. “We lost 1-0 but we had control of the game. Hazard was not playing really good that day. In a very strange decision by the referee, he sent me off around the halfway line. It was not even a violent foul. It was a normal foul; one of those you have 20 or 25 of in every game. But we knew after that game we did something good and we were going to get it right.”

On those days where you get it right for Mourinho, what is he like to play for?

“Mourinho is the best manager in the world when things go well. The relationship with the players, the way he treats everyone; I really liked his training sessions. Also, with (long-time assistant) Rui Faria, they were a fantastic team together. But it is also true, when he loses, he does not take it in a good way. That is true. And he accepts that! He does not hide from it. We have a great relationship. The first year was fantastic, we won three titles. The second year, we won 84 points in the Premier League and came second. We lost the FA Cup final but we played much better than Chelsea (that day), if you remember that game.”

The third season, however, was a calamity. United sacked Mourinho a week before Christmas as the team languished closer in points to the relegation zone than to the top of the table.

“It is true the last six months was a bit different,” Herrera begins, “because he had some disagreements with the club and the team was a bit, you know… when you see your manager has some confrontations with the club, you do not perform the same way. It is true. Everything affects the training session, everything affects the daily work.”

From the outside, I suggest, it appeared the problems began on the pre-season tour in the US and every Mourinho press conference seemed to add to the brewing tension.

“Yeah, I agree,” Herrera says. “Something was happening between him and the club. But I was just a player. I am no one to tell you or find out what happened (between them). I was just trying to do my job. But it is true, the same as you saw at that time, we were seeing the same. Something was happening between him and the club.”

A little more under the radar, something was happening too — between Herrera and the club.

The midfielder’s contract was due to expire at the end of the 2018-19 season and it came as a surprise last spring when Herrera’s time at the club came to a close. It was particularly strange given his role in the instant recovery under interim manager Solskjaer, starting in significant victories at Arsenal, Spurs, Leicester and Chelsea before the Norwegian was given the job full-time.

Herrera starts by explaining Solskjaer’s impact: “The first thing to say is I do not like to make comparisons between managers, particularly as I had a great relationship with Mourinho. As soon as Ole came, he brought that smile to the dressing room. He was ready to listen to the players, he was more like a friend. He was a man who had, not long ago, been a United player. Everyone connected really well with him.

“He is, honestly, one of the best people I have found in football. I am still in contact with him because he is fantastic and deserves to be successful. You do not find too many people like him in football; someone so honest, so ready to help, always by your side. It doesn’t matter the situation; as soon as you work and give everything, he is there for you. That was his first quality; to connect very soon with the dressing room.”

Why, then, did Herrera leave behind a manager he likes so much? Reports suggested that PSG offered a bumper contract and at the age of 30, a five-year deal naturally appealed.

“It was not about money,” Herrera insists. “It was not about the duration of the contract offer. In my opinion, I waited too long (for an offer) and deserved more attention from the club. I was a player that gave everything. I never complained. I never went to the media to complain about anything. I never put a bad face to any manager, to any member of the board, and they waited until I had five or six months left on my contract.

“That’s why I had some disagreements with them. I tell you this but I also tell you that it is part of football, part of life, nothing personal at all. But you ask the question and I give my point of view, as a professional player.”

It seems, therefore, that it may have been a different resolution had United been proactive, rather than reactive?

“Yes, absolutely,” Herrera agrees. “I thought they were going to come two years before my contract finished, like most other clubs do. I expected them to come to sign a new contract after my club Player of the Year award in 2017 but they waited until I had six months left on my contract. I just felt sad. But, I repeat, and I really want you to put this so clear in this interview — that it is part of football, part of life. This is only professional and I have no personal problem with them.

“They had a different idea about the club, about the team, and I respect that 100 per cent. Even if I see Ed Woodward tomorrow, I’ll give him a hug because it is life. I had a great relationship with him. He is a very good man but we had some disagreements with our point of views about the team and about the club. That’s it.

“Every time I wore the United shirt, I was so proud. Every time I walked into Old Trafford, I was so proud to be part of that. I remember Sir Alex Ferguson used to travel with us sometimes for Premier League or Champions League games. When he is there, you feel this amazing aura, this sense in the room. You can feel how important he has been for the club. On that first day I signed for the club, I was in shock because I was signing for the biggest club in England — one of the top three or four in the world — and Sir Bobby Charlton was there waiting for me at the training ground. My dad (Pedro) was even happier than me.

“Dad played 200 games in the Spanish first division but Sir Bobby was one of the great players for him growing up. We were so thankful for the club and how I was treated for five years. In spite of what I told you before, how I was a bit sad for the final two years as they didn’t come to sign a new contract, I don’t have one bad word for the club.”

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Herrera has adapted quickly to life in France, learning another language and securing a league title. United, meanwhile, did seem a midfielder short for much of the first half of this campaign, although they are now bolstered by the return of Pogba and January addition of Bruno Fernandes.

“When I stop playing football and when I am older,” Herrera says, “I do not want to regret anything. I don’t have time to think about what could have happened. I am thinking about the next day, the next challenge, because we have the best job in the world. It is as simple as that. I want to enjoy every single day of my career. And when you wake up every day and train with Neymar, Kylian Mbappe, Marco Verratti and Marquinhos — players who could win the Ballon d’Or one day — it is very easy to enjoy.”

As has become the norm in his career, a new manager has taught him a new position, as Herrera filled in at right-back for Thomas Tuchel earlier in the campaign. Herrera evolved his game from attacking playmaker under Marcelo Bielsa at Athletic Bilbao to a more regimented role for Van Gaal’s United, before becoming more defensive again under Mourinho.

It was under Bielsa’s guidance that Herrera first caught United’s eye, impressing Ferguson and club scouts in a mesmeric Bilbao display on the night the Basques won 3-2 at Old Trafford in a Europa League last 16 tie in 2012. United came close to signing him under David Moyes but then sealed the deal with Van Gaal in 2014. He has now built up a star-studded cast of coaches.

“But I do not want to be a manager — and I will tell you why. The manager is probably the most unfair position in football. You can work so hard —you can give your life, you can think about the opponent, you can work 24 hours — and after all that, if the ball hits the post and goes out, probably you will be sacked.

“I cannot say, ‘100 per cent, never’ because you never know, but I am not thinking about that. I probably will have a position in football because it is my life but to be a manager, it is so difficult. I like to have some empathy with managers and it is so difficult to have a dressing room, to try to control 23 or 24 egos. Every player has his dad or his mum who thinks he has to play every game for 90 minutes, every player has a brother who thinks he can do it better than the manager. What I know is that the managers I have played under are examples for other coaches.

“It was a big change, from Bielsa to Van Gaal.  They are both offensive coaches. They want to win games through possession but the way they do it is completely different.

“Bielsa wants players moving all the time, looking for space, breaking the defence by running into space. Van Gaal wants order and control by staying in your position and controlling that space on the pitch. Bielsa wants movement all the time and he does not understand possession of the ball if it is not to score goals. If you are winning 2-0 or 3-0, he wants you to score the fourth or the fifth because he does not understand football in a different way. He just wants you to keep attacking. If you are winning, he thinks the best way to close the game is to keep scoring goals. Van Gaal, he thinks differently. When you are winning 1-0 or 2-0, he wants to control the game, he wants to keep the ball and not put the ball at risk.

“I had a lot of conversations with Van Gaal, because I was used to playing under Bielsa. Whenever my team-mates had the ball, I was looking for the space and to move all the time. But after one or two months, I realised Van Gaal was looking for a different thing. He wanted me to stay more in the position and keep the ball.

“It was amazing to have those conversations with Louis, because he is like a teacher for other managers. He was very receptive. He has an image in front of you guys, the media. It is sometimes true that in front of some people or the media, he can look very rude (direct) as he is a strong man. But I found a man with a huge heart. That is my experience with him — a great person.”

Herrera’s former team-mate Wayne Rooney recently suggested Van Gaal was harshly dismissed by United two days after winning the 2015-16 FA Cup final. Could he have gone on and built a great United team?

“No one knows,” Herrera says. “What I do know is Mourinho came and we won three trophies the next season. We were successful when he left, that is the truth. I enjoyed it with Van Gaal but under Mourinho, I found a new position on the pitch and learned to do new things.”

Herrera’s success under Mourinho was not shared by all of his team-mates. Most notably, Sanchez arrived midway through the 2017-18 season. Yet the Chilean forward, currently on loan at Inter Milan, scored only five goals for United. Inside the dressing room, Herrera watched on as bewildered as the rest of us.

“Sometimes, in football, there is no explanation for every single thing that happens,” the midfielder says. “Alexis is one of them. He came from Arsenal. He used to win games by himself for Arsenal. I remember watching him because Arsenal were our rivals for titles and the top four. I saw them losing games 2-0 and Alexis would score two and they’d win the game. He’d score the winning goal.

“It shows football sometimes has no explanation. How can a player, who one month before, two months before, is the best player by far in a big team like Arsenal… then he comes to United and he doesn’t perform? I have no explanation.

“He trains good, he is a good professional, he tries to improve. In training sessions, you can see his quality. He scores a lot of goals. In front of the goalkeeper in training, he was lethal, scoring goals, goals, goals. He fights if he loses the ball, he runs back and wins the ball, so he had everything to succeed at United, and he didn’t do it. The only thing I can tell you is that I have no explanation.”

It would not be a conversation over recent times at United if Paul Pogba is not mentioned.

The Frenchman was once described by the Italian newspaper Gazzetta Dello Sport as an “NBA athlete with Brazilian feet”.

“But I would add something else,” Herrera interjects. “‘An NBA athlete with Brazilian feet and the combinations of a Spanish midfielder’. He can combine really well — he can do one-two, very quick at high speed. He does have a good attitude.

“I give you my opinion: I don’t know what other players say but he is a midfielder that has everything. If you see other midfielders in the world, they may have some qualities — control of the ball, long shots, passes, tackles, box-to-box — but Paul can do all of this, plus head the ball, score goals, make recoveries, one against one… everything.

“But of course, if you want to become the best midfielder in the world, it is about consistency. You have to do it day in, day out. He is a good guy. He wants to do it. He does train well. He has to do it every day.”

Herrera senses similar potential in United strikers Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial, who have both, in periods of this campaign, demonstrated renewed quality and consistency.

He says: “They have the quality to be among the top 10 in the world. Why do we admire Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo, or Hazard, who I also think is one of the best in the world? We admire them because they keep that form for a long time. If they do it, they will become… maybe not Messi or Cristiano, because they are unique in the history of football… but they can be top five or top 10, but they have to do it for a long time and keep it up.

“It is the same for Paul. Rashford is on his way to doing it. And Paul can be the best midfielder in the world if he keeps playing those games where we are all amazed by him. But to keep it at that level is the most difficult thing in football. To keep at it it Sunday-Wednesday-Saturday, every time.

“If those three can do that, Manchester United will win the Premier League soon, for sure.”

[Jase 43,479]

 

[MoroccanBlue 5,381]

Verdict in July.

Worth noting, verdicts take typically between 3-6 months. 

 

 

[Atomiswave 6,117]

47 minutes ago, MoroccanBlue said:

Verdict in July.

Worth noting, verdicts take typically between 3-6 months. 

 

 

As long as they get to serve 2 years without CL its all good.....the fine is worth jack shit.

[MoroccanBlue 5,381]

With such a quick verdict timing, I can't help but think City brought nothing to the table. Nothing refutable against the evidence UEFA had, hence the quick verdict.

Least I'm hoping. 

[Vesper 30,172]

6 minutes ago, MoroccanBlue said:

With such a quick verdict timing, I can't help but think City brought nothing to the table. Nothing refutable against the evidence UEFA had, hence the quick verdict.

Least I'm hoping. 

That or Sheik Mansour doubled the bribe.

[MoroccanBlue 5,381]

Dele Ali banned for one game due to his coronavirus tweet. 

Great. Misses United match 

[Atomiswave 6,117]

2 hours ago, Vesper said:

That or Sheik Mansour doubled the bribe.

Nahh they are in the spot light, many parties have eys on this now. They are fucked my friend.

[Magic Lamps 11,692]

2 hours ago, MoroccanBlue said:

Dele Ali banned for one game due to his coronavirus tweet. 

Great. Misses United match 

Corrupted fA swooping in to save Utd a CL spot. I still don’t get why such a political Organisation like FA is allowed to run the PL. should be managed by a commercial organisation in which every club has same voting rights. Like in Germany where DFB who are just as corrupted have nothing to say over DFL who are running the league. 
Still, might have dodged a bullet. Spurs are better without Ali anyway.

[Atomiswave 6,117]

32 minutes ago, Magic Lamps said:

Corrupted fA swooping in to save Utd a CL spot. I still don’t get why such a political Organisation like FA is allowed to run the PL. should be managed by a commercial organisation in which every club has same voting rights. Like in Germany where DFB who are just as corrupted have nothing to say over DFL who are running the league. 
Still, might have dodged a bullet. Spurs are better without Ali anyway.

When the chairman of FA comes out and says that epl needs udt being successful and at the top then you know the shit stinks. And ever since it came about that city will get banned they did their utter best to hand them a CL place....thats not by coincidence. When big money started coming in it was bound to get corrupted...goes hand in hand. Its rotten to the core.

[killer1257 3,282]

I think Spurs played better without Alli before Covid 19 started

Gesendet von meinem SM-G920F mit Tapatalk

[Vesper 30,172]

Premier League player names to be replaced on shirts by Black Lives Matter

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2020/jun/11/premier-league-shirts-to-show-support-for-black-lives-matter-and-nhs-minute-silence-coronavirus

A minute’s silence will be held before each match in the first round of the restarted Premier League to honour those who have died with Covid-19. Heart-shaped badges paying tribute to NHS workers will be embroidered into team kit, and various measures of support for the Black Lives Matter movement were also agreed upon at Thursday’s meeting between top-flight clubs.

The Guardian understands that the league will have no problem if players or teams wish to take a knee before games, as some clubs have done before recent friendlies. The names on the back of players’ shirts will be replaced, for at least the first set of games, by the words Black Lives Matter, following an initiative driven by club captains this week. One club explained that their kit staff had been primed to order shirts reflecting the change.

Black Lives Matter badges are also likely to be displayed on shirts, along with their NHS equivalents, although their exact placement is yet to be finalised.

The issue of what happens if a player removes his shirt to reveal a slogan in support of the movement was raised, after referees expressed concerns about the appropriateness of issuing a mandatory yellow card in such cases. Officials are expected to be asked to use their discretion.

 

[Atomiswave 6,117]

16 minutes ago, Vesper said:

Premier League player names to be replaced on shirts by Black Lives Matter

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2020/jun/11/premier-league-shirts-to-show-support-for-black-lives-matter-and-nhs-minute-silence-coronavirus

A minute’s silence will be held before each match in the first round of the restarted Premier League to honour those who have died with Covid-19. Heart-shaped badges paying tribute to NHS workers will be embroidered into team kit, and various measures of support for the Black Lives Matter movement were also agreed upon at Thursday’s meeting between top-flight clubs.Europe's major leagues prepare for restart – Football Weekly Ext

The Guardian understands that the league will have no problem if players or teams wish to take a knee before games, as some clubs have done before recent friendlies. The names on the back of players’ shirts will be replaced, for at least the first set of games, by the words Black Lives Matter, following an initiative driven by club captains this week. One club explained that their kit staff had been primed to order shirts reflecting the change.

Black Lives Matter badges are also likely to be displayed on shirts, along with their NHS equivalents, although their exact placement is yet to be finalised.

The issue of what happens if a player removes his shirt to reveal a slogan in support of the movement was raised, after referees expressed concerns about the appropriateness of issuing a mandatory yellow card in such cases. Officials are expected to be asked to use their discretion.

 

This shit wont help in the end, you need a proper system installed, proper punishment instilled and most of all proper training and psycological tests done.