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Tag: Louis van Gaal

  • Cristiano Ronaldo: Is He Headed Home To Save Manchester United?

    There is no denying that Cristiano Ronaldo is a man of extraordinary talent and determination.

    Perhaps he is far too driven at times.

    It’s hard not to cringe at the recent memory of the Portuguese captain playing through the World Cup while injured.

    Despite this, he played a crucial role in keeping Portugal in the mix a while longer.

    It’s these sort of sacrifices that are readily overlooked by the media, who deem him an egotistical diva.

    Cristiano is simply willing to acknowledge that he’s among the best of his time; while some would prefer false modesty, it’s just as easy to give credit for unabashed honesty and self-awareness.

    Speaking of honesty and awareness, one must acknowledge the reality that the 29-year-old is nearing the end of a glorious football career.

    Few players last in the highest level of international football beyond their mid-thirties, and even fewer continue to be capable of putting in a respectable performance as their legs age prematurely.

    With the long history of knocks and struggles with injury, the question now becomes where Ronaldo will make his last stand as one of the sport’s icons.

    While retirement at Real Madrid would please fans of the Spanish side, the club’s treatment of its old guard makes this highly unlikely. Former Real captain Raul was dismissed in a manner that was rather shocking.

    Time is also said to be running out for the tragically maligned current captain Iker Casillas as well.

    In a couple of years time, it’s highly possible that Ronaldo will be playing elsewhere. But where exactly?

    Already Manchester United fans are whispering about a homecoming. Since their last season was a disaster and this one is shaping up to be its own nightmare, the desire is understandable.

    If there’s any player that will give his utmost to rescue a team he cares about, it’s Ronaldo. Louis Van Gaal recently admitted that he’d love to bring the Real Madrid player aboard. He simply doubts that the Spanish team would let him go.

    Assuming Van Gaal is still around in a couple of years, there may be hope for this turn of events.

    Let’s keep our fingers crossed that Ronaldo’s injury problems won’t have dulled his incredible ability by that point.

  • Manchester United FC: Time To Face The Music

    Burnley FC hosted Manchester United FC early Saturday morning. Two seasons ago, a match like this would have held but one predictable outcome for onlookers.

    Burnley, a side freshly promoted to the Barclay’s Premier League, would surely have been schooled at home by the formidable Red Devils.

    Instead, Manchester United’s match ended in a humiliating 0-0 draw.

    The result isn’t merely a humiliation due to the unexpected outcome.

    It’s also disgraceful because it comes on the back of a shocking 4-0 loss to MK Dons, a third tier football team. That result sent Man United crashing out of the Capital One cup.

    This result means that the United team have earned only two points from their first nine of the season.

    They have yet to win a game, and both points were earned through the result of two lackluster performances.

    There is no reason to put off stating the obvious beyond this point:

    Manchester United are in trouble.

    On paper, Manchester United was expected to breeze through their first several games, not really seeing a challenge until they met Everton FC at Old Trafford in October.

    The result has been the complete opposite of all expectations.

    Relegation fodder and third tier teams come at Man United with no fear and no respect, thrashing them at home and embarrassing them away.

    The former champions have been exposed, and new manager Louis Van Gaal has done nothing to pull back the curtain.

    With his stubborn refusal to move on from his darling 3-5-2 formation, he would rather blame the team for a poor result than his own rigid and predictable methods.

    Blame is something to be spread around. Manchester United’s players lack heart and conviction and some shouldn’t even be allowed on the bench.

    And LVG needs to realize that he’s at risk of making a mediocre David Moyes look like a comparative genius.

    Others have pointed out that Van Gaal has never been one to take troubled clubs to the top. One famous is example is that he nearly got FC Barcelona, one of the best football clubs in the world, bounced from Spain’s La Liga!

    His ego is immense, and perhaps Man United’s board mistakenly thought an ego and an iron will would together be enough to fix their many problems.

    Yes, Sir Alex Ferguson had a massive ego and an iron will.

    But he also was a brilliant coach who knew how to get the best from his players while emotionally scarring the rest of the league.

    It was he that constructed Manchester United’s “unbeatable” mythology. And the wall he painstakingly built over two decades has all but crumbled in about two years time.

    If Manchester United doesn’t see the warning signs now and all concerned parties move to address the issue, this season just might be even WORSE for the Red Devils than the shocking result of 2013-2014!

  • Vanja Milinkovic Signs Deal with Manchester United

    Yesterday, Manchester United finished its tour in the United States with yet another victory, this time over rivals Liverpool. The victory sealed the International Champions Cup for the British team which went 4-0-1 in its five game stretch in the States. However, the tour victory was not the only good news to come to Man U yesterday.

    According to its official site, Manchester United finalized a deal to sign 6’7″ goalkeeper Vanja Milinkovic yesterday. The deal has Milinkovic being loaned back to his former Serbian SuperLiga club, FK Vojvodina, until the end of the season, at which point Milinkovic will join the Red Devils.

    While one can be positive that FK Vojvodina is going to mourn the loss of Milinkovic, who made six appearances for Serbia in the UEFA European Under-17 Championship (including a 1-1 draw with Germany), club president Zoran Scepanovic had nothing but positive words for both Milinkovic and Manchester United in his press conference statement:

    After lengthy talks that have taken place over the past month, we have finally completed negotiations on Monday and we can officially inform the public that our young and promising goalkeeper has joined Manchester United. He will remain in Vojvodina for the next year, where he will be under the supervision of our experts and coaches from the English football giants, while continuing to train and perform in the jersey of his home club. This is an opportunity to thank everyone who participated in the realisation of this transfer. Can I point out Manchester United’s very correct attitude.

    Once Milinkovic arrives at Old Trafford, though, his route to stardom will not be easy. Manchester United already has two stellar goalies between the posts – David De Gea (who is only 23 himself) and Anders Lindegaard. Some may question Man U’s decision to bring in another goalie when there is already much competition for the starting position, but the attitude of Lindegaard will prove invaluable toward helping Milinkovic develop his talents to the utmost level. When asked about his perceived frustrations backing-up Spanish international goalie De Gea, Lindegaard displayed a positive and healthy attitude:

    I have to try and be objective, and raise myself up above just myself and see it from the club’s perspective and how much pressure we have been under. Then it is easier for me to understand why things are the way they are. For me it is all about being a happy human being. I am that now at Manchester United. It is my club since I was a small kid. This is my dream.

    Manchester United hopes that the addition of Milinkovic, along with new manager Louis van Gaal’s announcement to name Wayne Rooney captain, will lead to much more success in the 2014/15 season, especially coming off of the bitter quarterfinal round knock-out in the 2014 UEFA Champions League tournament to Bayern Munich.

    Image via YouTube

  • Manchester United: Will Club Let An Outsider Lead?

    We’ve heard the fanfare before.

    This time last season it was David Moyes being praised as the man to lead Manchester United into a new era.

    Branded Sir Alex Ferguson’s “Chosen One”, The Manchester United club expected that all that needed to be done was to hand the reins over to the former Everton manager. It was arrogantly assumed that success would continue as it had for many years so long as Moyes somehow did things “like Fergie”.

    What followed as a humiliating slide from 1st to 7th place in a disappointingly lackluster season.

    Before the last game was played Moyes was sent packing.

    To many observers, he was never going to be a good fit for the Red Devils.

    Even the manner in which he was chosen suggested that he was merely a man following orders and struggling to keep up.

    Louis Van Gaal is not a “deer in headlights” type, something for which Moyes was roundly mocked. Van Gaal is a very capable, confident, and willful manager.

    The 62-year-old will be the first man in the Manchester club’s 136 years to take up a management position while hailing from some place other than Britain or Ireland.

    If given the opportunity to truly take control, Van Gaal could represent a new and brilliant chapter for United. But in order to do that, the past under Ferguson must be fondly remembered but also let go.

    Van Gaal is not Ferguson and he likely will not have the patience to suffer criticism of failing to make the same decisions and have the same influence as the departed Manchester United icon.

    In addition to the inevitable comparisons, Van Gaal will also be dealing with replacing aging members of a squad that is long overdue for refreshing.

    He’s going to need a great deal of financial backing, especially as many of the world’s best players are reluctant to move to clubs that are transitioning and lacking in champion’s league football.

    Fortunately for Manchester United, they are early in their rough patch. What happens with Van Gaal will ultimately depend on an ability to see him as his own man, to appreciate what he brings as a talented coach, and above all…the ability to not resent him as an outsider.

    As things soured, Moyes was given the “outsider” treatment.

    Will the same happen to Van Gaal if he fails to deliver CL football immediately?

    Image via Wikimedia Commons