Echoes from Old Trafford - March 2019

NEWSPAPER POST

Volume 46- Issue 3, March 2018

“Mountains are there to be climbed” Ole Gunnar Solskjær Manchester United Supporters’ Club-Malta Founded 1959, is officially recognized by the Manchester United Football Club.

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 EDITORIAL............................................................................................... o

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 EDITORIAL IN MALTESE........................................................................... j na

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 CLUB NEWS.............................................................................................  TEDDY’S CORNER..................................................................................  ERIC GEORGE HARRISON MBE.............................................................

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Official publication of the Manchester United Supporters’ Club Malta

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editorial team Clint Camilleri · Braden Galea · Michael Calleja

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advertising executive Antoine Portelli

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 MIKE PHELAN........................................................................................

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 PLAYERS VS COACH.............................................................................

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 OLE GUNNAR SOLSKJAER....................................................................

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 GOALKEEPER COACHES WHO INFLUENCED DAVID DE GEA.................

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 Y & Z UNITED PERSPECTIVE.................................................................

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 LAND AHOY..........................................................................................

contributors Michael Calleja Robert Muscat Joseph Tedesco Antoine Dalli Jude Cauchi Kenneth Abela Daniel Cushcieri Fr. Anthony Ferrante Martin Calleja Urry Roderick Psaila Silvio Scicluna Alex Dudely Stefan Attard Alan Abela Wadge Julian Tabone Iain McCartney Robert Mizzi Braden Galea Kevin, Wayne & Justyn Tabone Karm Galea

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printing Progress Press

 VICTOR LINDELOF..................................................................................  WHAT DO UNITED NEED TO BE A COMPLETE SQUAD?.........................

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 MOURINHO- WHERE DID IT ALL GO WRONG........................................

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 YOUNGSTERS WHO WILL BE GIVEN FIRST TEAM CHANCE BY OLE......

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 THE NEW UNITED’S STYLE OF PLAY....................................................

patron Sir Alex Ferguson club founder John Calleja

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club committee

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Joseph Tedesco

 NEXT MANCHESTER UNITED’S MANAGER?.........................................

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Joe Catania

 RISING FROM THE WRECKAGE.............................................................

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Kevin Tabone

Treasurer, PRO

 ONWARDS AND UPWARDS...................................................................

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Braden Galea

Assistant Secretary

Egidio Sciberras

Assistant Treasurer

 MIXED MANCUNIAN PLATTER..............................................................

 OLE SORTS IT OUT...............................................................................

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 MAJOR LEAGUES ROUND-UP...............................................................

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 THE RESURRECTION.............................................................................

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President, Match Tickets Coordinator Vice President, Souvenir Shop Manager

Robert J. Muscat

Charles Cauchi

Secretary, Tours Coordinator

Membership Secretary, Fund Raising Coordinator

Antoine Portelli Advertising Executive, Venue & Facilities Coordinator Clint Camilleri

Media & Publishing Coordinator

James Handyside

ICT Manager

Matthew Portelli O’Toole

Social Activities Coordinator Gozo representative ­ Joe Xerri

GIVE BLOOD, SAVE A LIFE translator Tiziana Caruana

MALTA MALTA

FOUNDED 1959

Quarries Square Street, Msida MSD 1101 Malta.

Telephone: +356 21223531 E‑mail: info@manutd‑malta.com Website: www.manutd‑malta.com

www.blood.gov.mt Based in Msida, Malta, we are a non‑profit organization designed to bring the Manchester United experience to United fans here in Malta. We are the only Official Manchester United Supporters’ Club on the Maltese Islands. We are also the oldest Manchester United Supporters’ Club in the World.

customercare.ntbs@gov.mt

THE VIEWS IN THIS MAGAZINE ARE NOT NECESSARILY SHARED BY THE CLUB. www.facebook.com/bloodmalta

club chaplain Fr. Anthony C. Ferrante (Carmelite)

business partners

+356 7930 7307 +356 2206 6201

Mobile App : Blood Donors MT VOL 46 - ISSUE 3 - MARCH 2019

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Editorial A BREATH OF FRESH AIR I

t was bound to happen sooner rather than later. Yes, Mourinho’s acrimonious dismissal from Manchester United came on the back of a damaging 1-3 defeat to arch rivals Liverpool and in all fairness, supporters did finally manage to breathe a huge sigh of relief. The painstaking build-ups were at last over. The fragility and futility up front could perhaps be corrected and there was a glimmer of hope that the tight and boring score lines would finally be avoided.

Even though Jose’ Mourinho remains a coaching legend, evident cracks within the dressing room were palpable as claims that the Portuguese had labelled Paul Pogba a ‘virus’ began to surface.

(Moreover, the summer charade of chastising the club’s lack of initiative in the transfermarket seemed to have destabilized both the players and the board of Directors. The ship was destined to sink at some point in time).

of Sir Alex Ferguson. Fans watched in a state of bewilderment as United tore apart Cardiff in a manner reminiscent of the ‘Fergie days. A sense of liberation and freedom could be seen amongst the United players and the fans were suddenly signing songs of praise and exultation.

With key victories secured against Huddersfield and Bournemouth at home, United faced their first daunting assignment at St. James’ Park and the comprehensive professionalism shown on the night was certainly a sign of things to come. On the 13th of January, all fans held their breaths as the Red Devils managed to hang on to a priceless 1-0 win away to Spurs. By no means vintage United, a gritty United marshalled by a determined David De Gea managed to come up with all three points

With such a turbulent dressing room, the axe was soon to fall on the Manager’s head. In this unforgiving world of football, it is logistically and financially impossible to sack a whole squad of players so it stands to reason that the manager is always the individual who must bear the brunt of a squad’s transgressions…whatever they may be.

The management’s decision to appoint Ole Gunnar Solskjaer as interim manager was in hindsight a masterstroke. At a point in time where fans were even questioning their appetite to watch games, Solskjaer managed to bring a smile back to people’s faces. The canny Norwegian has the indisputable ability to make people feel that tad better even by just looking at them. Yes, Solskjaer was the ‘quick-fix’ but could he at least help steady the ship?

Writing now in February, Solskjaer’s impact has been nothing short of revelation. Now already heralded as a quasi-messiah, Solskjaer has managed to rediscover United’s DNA and implement it on a scale not seen since the days

from London. The players’ happiness at the end of the game spoke volumes of the way in which Solskjaer had managed to transform a morose and despondent dressing-room.

The defeat to Paris Saint-Germain didn’t seem to shock the Norwegian that much as he did pinpoint after the game that United had been caught out by a far superior side. Moreover, the gulf in class between the sides was evident as United haven’t been able to win a competitive Champions League knock-out game since 2014 [vs Olympiakos]. This lack of experience came back to haunt us and on a night where United had to be tactically clinical, PSG’s game plan paid dividends as the Red Devils clearly had no answer to the French team’s set up.

What is interesting [and pleasing] to note is that after the PSG game, Solskjaer [apparently] laid into the squad with a ‘hair-dryer’ treatment – no doubt inspired by Sir Alex’s dressing room tantrums after a damaging defeat. The media reported a Manchester United source stating: “He told them that they tried to play the game as if it was a one legged tie. Solskjaer wanted them to remain patient and not to concede easy goals and they then went and conceded from a relatively easy set piece and everything just went downhill from there.”

Despite the obvious set back, United managed to pick themselves up with a fantastic victory away to Chelsea in the FA Cup. Having been winless at Stamford Bridge since 2012, two well taken goals by Ander Herrera and Paul Pogba highlighted how far United had come and heaped more misery on an already turbulent season for Chelsea’s manager Maurizio Sarri.

What was impressive about the performance was the way in which United harassed their opponents, fought for every ball and displayed a calmness and fluidity that hadn’t been seen in years. This win at Stamford Bridge showcased Solskjaer’s powers of motivation and might just highlight the fact that the Norwegian’s tactical prowess should in no way be underestimated.

A new chapter is being written in United’s history.

Whether Solskjaer will achieve ‘Legendary Status’ as a manger remains to be seen but the ship is now actually sailing in the right direction and the fans are once again over the moon.

Mourinho’s stamp on United’s history should never be forgotten. A Europa League win and Carling Cup victory should be cherished and whatever happened, we should be grateful that the mercurial Portuguese always did his best to build a good rapport with the fans – who he always respected. However, a new age is dawning so sit back and enjoy what will surely be a roller-coaster end to the season!

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Situated on the Sliema seafront, L’Aroma restaurant is tucked away from the hustle and bustle of Malta’s shopping centre.

L’Aroma prides itself in the preparation of traditional Mediterranean cuisine using recipes passed down through the generations. The menu comprises a selection of

mouth-watering fresh fish, fine meat cuts and pasta dishes all at a great value for money. One of the house specialities, the traditional rabbit dish, is regarded by many locals as the best in town.

Whether for a relaxed dinner or a lazy lunch L’Aroma is a great spot to sit down, unwind and watch the world go by.

L’Aroma, 17 Għar il-Lembi Street Sliema t. 2131 7633 e. laroma.restaurant@maltanet.net

Editorjal

NIFS ĠDID

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ienet se tiġri llum jew għada. Iva, it‑tneħħija immedjata ta’ Mourinho minn Manchester United ġiet wara t‑telfa dannuża ta’ 1‑3 kontra r‑rivali ewlenin Liverpool u biex inkunu għidna kollox, il‑partitarji fl‑aħħar irnexxielhom jieħdu nifs twil. Fl‑aħħar għaddiet is‑serje ta’ sitwazzjonijiet koroh, waħda wara l‑oħra.

Il‑fraġilità u n‑nuqqasijiet setgħu forsi jitranġaw u kien hemm xaqq ta’ dawl biex saflaħħar ir‑riżultati tedjanti jiġu evitati.

Anki jekk José Mourinho jibqa’ tmexxija ta’ leġġenda, it‑tensjoni evidenti fid‑dressing room kienet bdiet tinħass meta ġie magħruf li l‑Portugiż irrefera għal Paul Pogba bħala ‘virus’. (Aktar minn hekk,is‑sensiela ta’ kritika fis‑sajf dwar in‑nuqqas ta’ inizjattiva mill‑club fis‑suq ta’ trasferimenti kienet donnha ddistabilizzat kemm lill‑players u lill‑bord tad‑Diretturi. Il‑vapur kien destinat li jegħreq f ’xi ħin jew ieħor).

Bi dressing room daqshekk turbolenti, il‑mannara ma kinitx se ddum ma taqa’ fuq ras Manchester.

F’din id‑dinja kiefra tal‑football, huwa loġistikament u finanzjarjament impossibbli li tkeċċi skwadra sħiħa ta’ players. Għalhekk huwa ovvju li l‑coach huwa dejjem dak l‑individwu li jrid iġorr ir‑responsabbiltà tat‑trasgressjonijiet tal‑iskwadra...ikunu xi jkunu.

Id‑deċiżjoni tal‑amministrazzjoni li taħtar lil Ole Gunnar Solskjaer bħala coach provviżorju kienet fi ftit kliem mossa tajba. F’ċertu punt meta l‑partitarji kienu saħansitra qed jiddubitaw mill‑ħerqa tagħhom biex jaraw il‑logħbiet, Solskjaer irnexxielu jġib it‑tbissima lura fuq wiċċ in‑nies. In‑Norveġiż intelliġenti għandu l‑kapaċità indiskutibbli li jagħmel lin‑nies iħossuhom daqsxejn aħjar anki b’sempliċi ħarsa. Iva, Solskjaer kien ’is‑soluzzjoni ta’ malajr’ iżda jista’ jkun hu li mqar iżomm il‑vapur f ’wiċċ l‑ilma?

Issa li qegħdin fi Frar, l‑impatt ta’ Solskjaer ma kienx ħlief rivelazzjoni. Meqjus diġà bħala kważi‑messija, Solskjaer irnexxielu jiskopri mill‑ġdid id‑DNA tal‑United u jimplimentah

fuq livell li konna ilna ma naraw minn żmien Alex Ferguson. Il‑partitarji segwew mistagħġbin lill‑United hekk kif daru b’Cardiff b’tali mod li fakkarna fiż‑żminijiet ta’ Fergie. Seta’ jinħass sens ta’ liberazzjoni u ħelsien fost il‑players ta’ United u l‑partitarji, f ’daqqa waħda kienu qed ikantaw kant ta’ tifħir u eżultazzjoni.

B’rebħiet importanti akkwistati kontra Huddersfield u Bournemouth f ’darhom, il‑United iffaċċjaw l‑ewwel biċċa xogħol iebsa f ’St James Park u l‑professjonalità totali li wrew dakinhar kien ċertament sinjal pożittiv għall‑ġejjieni. Fit‑13 ta’ Jannar, il‑partitarji kollha kienu eżitaw hekk kif ir‑Red Devils irnexxielhom jakkwistaw il‑1‑0 imprezzabbli konta Spurs away. Lil hinn mill‑United antikwat, il‑United kuraġġuż immexxi minn bniedem determinat bħal David De Gea irnexxielu jakkwista tliet

punti sħaħ minn Londra. Il‑ferħ tal‑players fi tmiem il‑logħba kien eżempju ċar tal‑mod kif Solskjaer kien irnexxielu jittrasforma dressing room pessimista u bla ħeġġa.

It‑telfa kontra Paris Saint‑Germain ma ħasditx daqshekk lin‑Norveġiż, għaliex kif irrimarka hu stess wara l‑logħba, il‑United inqabdu minn avversarju ferm iktar superjuri. Aktar minn hekk, id‑differenza kbira fil‑klassi ta’ bejn iż‑żewġ naħat kienet evidenti hekk kif il‑United kienu ilhom ma jirbħu logħba knock‑out kompetittiva taċ‑Champions League mill‑2014 [vs Olympiakos]. Dan in‑nuqqas ta’ esperjenza reġa’ immaterjalizza u f ’serata fejn il‑United kellhom ikunu tattikament preċiżi, il‑pjan tal‑logħba ta’ PSG ħalla riżultati tajbin

hekk kif ir‑Red Devils dehru b’mod ċar li ma kellhomx reazzjoni għat‑tattika tat‑tim Franċiż.

Dak li hu interessanti [u pjaċevoli] li wieħed jinnota hu li wara l‑logħba kontra PSG, Solskjaer [apparentament] infexx f ’għajat imqanqal mal‑iskwadra – bla dubju ispirat mit‑tantrums li kien ikollu Sir Alex Ferguson fid‑dressing room wara telfa kerha. Il‑media irrapurtat sors ta’ Manchester United jgħid: “Qalilhom li ppruvaw jilagħbu l‑logħba bħallikieku kienu b’sieq waħda marbuta. Solskjaer riedhom jibqgħu paċenzjużi u mhux jippermettu goals faċli u komplew ċedew quddiem set piece relattivament faċli u minn hemm kollox baqa’ sejjer lura.”

Minkejja l‑irtirar ovvju, il‑United irnexxielhom itellgħu l‑moral bir‑rebħa fantastika away kontra Chelsea fl‑FA Cup. Wara diversi telfiet fi Stamford Bridge mill‑2012, żewġ goals tajbin minn Ander Herrera u Paul Pogba urew kemm il‑United evolvew u tefgħu f ’iktar diffikultà l‑istaġun diġà turbulenti għal coach ta’ Chelsea Maurizio Sarri.

Dak li kien impressjonanti dwar il‑prestazzjoni kien il‑mod ta’ kif il‑United ittrattaw lill‑avvarsarji tagħhom, iġġieldu għal kull ballun u wrew kalmezza u fluwidità li konna ilna ma naraw għal snin.

Din ir‑rebħa fi Stamford Bridge uriet il‑ħiliet ta’ motivazzjoni ta’ Solskjaer u nistgħu nemfasizzaw ukoll il‑fatt li l‑għarfien tattiku tan‑Norveġiż m’għandux ikun injorat bl‑ebda mod.

Kapitlu ġdid qiegħed jinkiteb fl‑istorja tal‑United.

Jekk Solskjaer se jilħaq ‘l‑Istatuts ta’ Leġġenda’ jew le bħala coach għad irid ikun stabbilit, iżda l‑vapur jinsab miexi fid‑direzzjoni t‑tajba u l‑partitarji jinsabu mill‑ġdid fis‑seba’ sema. It‑timbru li ħalla Mourinho fuq l‑istorja tal‑United m’għandux jintesa. Rebħa fl‑Europa League u rebħa fil‑Carling Cup għandhom jibqgħu mgħożża u ġara x’ġara, kollha għandna nkunu grati għall‑fatt li l‑Portugiż imprevedibbli dejjem għamel l‑almu tiegħu biex jibni rapport tajjeb mal‑partitarji – li dejjem irrispetta. Madankollu, żmien ġdid qiegħed fil‑qrib.

Għalhekk, oqogħdu rilassati u ħudu gost b’dak li ċertament se jkun staġun bi tmiem avventuruż!

2,000,000 MALTA

FOUNDED 1959

Thank you VOL 46 - ISSUE 3 - MARCH 2019

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CLUBNEWS

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ecember 2018 and January 2019 have been probably amongst the busiest times for the committee. I must say that the committee, under the constant guidance of our club President, has once again come out with flying colors.

Children’s party A record number of children attended this year’s party held at the club. Almost 90 children had a whale of a time at the club, 40 of which were invited from Santa Rita Home of Hal Tarxien and Ursuline Creche. Each child was given a generous goodie bag and an age appropriate gift. Each gift was handed to them

by Father Christmas, who this year seems to have lost some weight! Entertainment was provided by Club Member’s Party The committee’s decision to move the members’ Christmas party to Friday evening from the ‘traditional’ Sunday morning was a

success and saw an increase in the number of members attending. We also received many positive comments about the change.

During the evening, club President presented a memento to those members who have been members for 25 years and those who have been members for 50 years.

January Tour preparations By mid-December a number of things which had been planned the months before in preparation for the January dinner in Manchester started to come together. The wine, Malta Tourism Authority promotional material, our club banners, CSB Group pop ups, club books and 60th Anniversary items to be used as gifts, were sent to Manchester in time to arrive for the dinner. Almost 2 pallets were delivered thanks to PB Group who sponsored the freight. Wine was offered to the club at a highly discounted rate by Cassar Camilleri Wines. All printed material such as the wine bottle tags, goodie bags, dinner inv it at ions , informative letters to be sent to the guests were printed. List of guests was finalized, their addresses obtained, labels printed, invitations sent to a master pen writer to professionally write the names on guests on inv ites , and

Children’s Christmas Party.

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VOL 46 - ISSUE 3 - MARCH 2019

by Robert Muscat

invitations and informative letters sent to over 240 people.

Communication with Hotel Football management and event coordinators was constant now with all details being tackled.

Room bookings were confirmed. 50 flights were checked in two ways. Transport booked for the tour group. Everyone was working like clockwork. The Swiss type.

January Tour and Dinner in Manchester The time finally arrived for the 50 persons to travel with the club to meet at the airport for our flight to Manchester. Cold rainy weather greeted us in Manchester but our blood was boiling with excitement for the events coming up, starting with the game against Burnley that same evening. It was Ole’s first draw as interim manager, with match ending 2-2. The morning after the game we all woke up to a Manchester covered in snow and a temperature of -3. The plans for the day had to change somewhat due to the delays caused with the snow. The group was split into two, with one group going to Cheshire Oaks and the other following a special trip organized by the Stretford Enders Worldwide. All the group then convened at Old Nags Head (HQ of Stretford Enders Worldwide) in Manchester city centre to share the day’s experiences over a couple of pints. The day closed off with a dinner at Puccini for most of the group. On Thursday, 16 members from the tour had a grand-prix at the go karting track close to Old Trafford.

including sponsors, representatives of other local supporters’ clubs, and ex club presidents were invited to attend.

Though the event was well received by those present, the bad weather that hit Malta that evening meant that the number of people who attended was considerably lower than what we are normally accustomed to.

3 February 2019 MUSC Malta 60 Year Anniversary & 61st Munich Air Crash Anniversary Mass. rd

th

Munich Memorial Mass The yearly appointment at our club when we co m m e m o ra te t h e Munich air crash was this year probably one of the most attended, with around 80 turning up.

This year the celebration was in the hands of Father Hilary Tagliaferro and Fr Ferrante.

Funeral of Eric Harrison MBE The club was represented by Club President Joe Tedesco w h o a cco m pa n i e d ex Club President Joe Dr. Adrian Delia visiting our premises in St. Venera.

Glanville to the funeral of Eric Harrison MBE For many this was a first experience and after which was held at Halifax Minster. As many the initial apprehension, it was great to see of you will have seen on social media, the all participants eager to compare their times. funeral was attended by hundreds of people, Of course the preparations for the dinner were mostly linked to Manchester United, who gave now in full swing at Hotel Football. More details their respects to a very influential coach in the about the dinner can be found in a separate history of the club. article in this issue of Echoes. The event and our anniversary was also featured as a news #I love United item on TVM. Another great honour for our club was the invitation for the first time ever by Manchester February 4th – 60th Anniversary of Club United to be part of #ILoveUnited event held Having returned from our successful trip from during the match versus Southampton. This Manchester, 3 days later, on the 4th of February, event was hosted in Guangzhou, China, our club hosted a drinks reception at our where Manchester United representatives club. A number of people who help our club, interacted with fan parties in other countries

MUSC Malta Original Tile from Old Valletta Premises. contemporarily during the game, this time also with our club in Malta. The atmosphere created at our club by host Hooli and the attending DJ, the face painting with united colors and themes, and the scarves and flags made it a highly enjoyable afternoon. The match itself also proved to be a great one with United winning towards the end 3-2. Definitely another feather in our cap.

As regards other club news, as detailed in the circular sent last week, we are organizing a Good Causes week in April. We are also currently finalizing the new club website which we hope to be able to launch shortly.

We also have a meeting in March with a group of Manchester United Supporters in Gozo who are eager to set up a sub-committee of the club in Gozo and thereby allowing us to serve our Gozitan members even better. We are also planning a dinner in Malta, hopefully in June, which will close off our 60th Anniversary celebrations. As always preference will be given to paid up club members.

As you can appreciate, the work load of the committee is constant and considerable.

Your positive feedback and attendance to our events, gives us the energy to carry on.

Thank you

4th February 2019 60th Anniversary Party.

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4th February 2019 60th Anniversary Party.

Daytona Karting - Manchester United Gift to MUSC Malta - Committee Members with Gareth Bull Nick Culkin & Fred the Red.

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60th Anniversary Dinner in Manchester 31st January 2019

will be yet another important date in our club’s glorious history. It is the date when our supporters’ club hosted the first ever official club dinner in Manchester, right at the very heart of our passion and joy.

The night of the dinner at Hotel Football, right opposite the majestic Old Trafford Stadium, was destined to be a success from the moment the committee came up with the idea and started planning. After many long meetings, constant correspondence with a number of stakeholders, and highly detailed logistical planning, the time finally arrived.

214 guests attended the event. The majority of our guests arrived from Manchester and its’ environs. 55 persons travelled from Malta, most of the rest of our guests came from Jersey, Edinburgh, and London.

After dinner was served, it was time for a Q&A session with Gary, Ryan and Nicky. This was a planned Q&A. What was not planned was a SECOND Q&A with Bryan Robson, Paddy Crerand and Denis Law ! I doubt there has ever been or ever will be another occasion where all 6 of these Manchester United stalwarts sit down together to do a Q&A. And the Q&A was very entertaining indeed thanks to the questions put forward by Alan and Paul.

The Q&A was followed by a speech by club President Joseph Tedesco. His speech was very well received by all those present, such that those present gave him a standing ovation.

The speech was replied to by David Gill, on

The evening started with a predinner reception. The club’s selfie board was set up at the entrance, along with the table set up plan.

One can sense that something special is about to happen when the first people to arrive include Bryan Robson, Paddy Crerand and Denis Law. Within a few minutes the hall was looking like a celebrity event with Wes Brown, Chris Casper, David Gill, Martin Edwards and their respective wives already clearly enjoying themselves mingling with their acquaintances and making new friends. As the night moved on, members from the Busby and Murphy families joined the party, as did Ryan Giggs, Gary Neville, Nicky Butt, and MUTV pundits.

At 8.30pm it was time to invite all guests to find their seats at their respective tables. Each guest found a goodie bag in which Malta Tourism Authority placed Malta themed items, CSB (as one of the sponsors) placed an informative USB about their company, and our club gave a credit card sized USB with the club’s digital portfolio and a club crest printed on glass, both as token gifts.

Maltese wine was also on the table.

After a short introduction by Club Secretary Robert Muscat, it was the turn of the comperes for the evening, Alan Keegan and Paul Anthony to take over. The first goose bumps started to appear when the digital portfolio outlining the key moments of the club’s 60-year history was shown for the first time. One could note so many of the guests feeling the nostalgia when they spotted themselves in the film. This surely set the stage for a great night.

behalf of Manchester United, who showed appreciation to the words uttered by our president and reciprocated with a speech which confirmed, if this confirmation was needed, that our club is indeed very highly respected within the hierarchy of Manchester United, past and present. But David Gill had another surprise in store for us later in the evening!! Read on Following the speeches, and a short intervention by Tourism Minister Konrad Mizzi, who also attended the dinner as part of a

delegation from Malta Tourism Authority as one of the sponsors of the event, a number of presentations where made by our club to a number of top guests. A short promotional video about Malta followed. After dessert and coffee was served, it was time for the highly anticipated lottery and auction of a considerable number of frames with certificates of authenticity, original prints, and other memorabilia donated to us by Alan Wardle, Ed Woodward, Iain MacCartney and Ted Beckham. Our club also drew hamper with 60th anniversary themed items.

At the start of the evening, all those present were informed that Mr Ed Woodward, on behalf of Manchester United, had kindly and very generously offered our club a very special money cannot buy package for 4 people to visit Carrington and be given a private tour of the facilities, attend a first team training session, have a meet and greet session with a number of first team players, have memorabilia signed in the presence of a club photographer, and then have hospitality treatment during one of the home games. After a number of frames and other special memorabilia were auctioned, it was time for the package. The atmosphere in the hall became highly charged when the bidding between 2 groups, seated on 2 different tables, each took the bidding up to GBP10,500.

At that point, David Gill instinctively called Alan Keegan, the auctioneer.

David Gill told Alan that he would ensure that the club would give our supporters’ club a SECOND identical package if both bidding groups agreed to offer their GBP 10,500. Both bidders accepted!! This gesture by Mr Gill left all those present, especially the committee members, speechless.

No words can describe that moment of pride, happiness and gratitude for such a gesture which means so much for the finances of the club.

Truly brilliant. Thank you to both Mr Woodard and Mr Gill for their generosity. This was a fitting end to a truly memorable dinner.

I am sure many of our members have witnessed, in the days following the dinner, hundreds of photos being shared on social media. Clearly the dinner had a ripple effect within the corridors of Manchester United as we have received many positive comments on our success. This dinner is also serving as a good pre cursor to another dinner being planned for end of June in Malta, which will close off our 60th Anniversary celebrations.

The dinner at Manoel Island Fort for our 50th Anniversary was massive. Could we possibly out do that dinner for our 60th Anniversary?

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VOL 46 - ISSUE 3 - MARCH 2019

TEDDY’S corner

Dear All Happy New Year! And what a great start to the year it has been. Back from the ashes of Anfield Road. The day after the Scousers ran riot against us, just a few days before Christmas, no one would have bet one Euro cent that in mid-March we would be in the Champions League Quarter final stage for the first time ever since 2011 and 3 points behind 3rd place Tottenham, with a plus 18 goal difference.

I am one of those who have supported Jose till the very end. And I have no remorse. I still believe that great managers of that calibre could not simply disintegrate just like that.

For a good number of reasons which no one would ever know exactly but as always are overtaken by speculation, the situation had become untenable. In such cases, the verdict is always the same and I agree that the manager had to be sacked. Engaging Ole as caretaker manager was probably one of the safest bets ever played by the owners at that time in December. Ole was the perfect candidate, a down-to-earth legend loved by all Manchester

United fans and, I dare say, even by our rivals.

If he failed, the blame would have been shoved on the players’ shoulders because few fans would blame Ole. If he succeeded, it would look like a masterstroke. Well, you all know the score and we are now at a stage where Ole has been so successful that if the owners do not give him this blessed permanent contract, wait for a fans’ revolt.

The past three months have been simply superb. All players’ performances improved exponentially. Players look happier, staff looks happier, fans are all over the moon again with the renowned attacking style of football back on the pitch. Fear factor has been reinstalled. Happy days with Ole at the wheel. Turning around that 2-0 deficit at home against a star studded PSG team, with 9 first team players injured and one of our best players suspended, for me ranks up there with the greatest European nights ever.

Rashford, McTominay and Perreira…Chong and Greenwood…oh what a night! From now on anything can happen. Ole has led us back into this magical mental state of ‘It’s all about

have your say on info@manutd‑malta.com

Belief!’ Whatever happens, our squad needs additional, quality resources to take it back to that consistent level of competing for Europe’s highest honour and we have to admit that our business in the transfer market in the past few years has not been the best. Hopefully we see some decent deals in the forthcoming summer transfer window. But what could have triggered all this change, from despair to elation, from mediocre to exciting, from sad to happy? One can build as many arguments as possible but I will draw one conclusion. Moyes came and tried to do it his way. Van Gaal came and tried to instil his philosophy. Jose came and tried to be bigger than Manchester United. Ole came and did it the United way. And no matter what anyone says, no one will ever make me change my mind about this. Since Sir Alex and David Gill left, the environment at Manchester United has changed. I truly believe it will not be easy for Ole and his managerial staff to operate in this new environment in the long-term but someone like Ole who knows very well what the Manchester United way is all about will stand more chance of keeping this football club afloat than any other expensive manager

VOL 46 - ISSUE 3 - MARCH 2019

15

with an elaborate CV. No matter what happens from now till the end of May, top 4 or not, Champions League or not, FA Cup or not, I would give Solskjaer a chance. It should not be a blasphemous 6-year contract like the one given to Moyes but it should be a decent 3-year engagement. For how he managed to turn things around in the space of 10 weeks with no additional resources: he gets my vote of confidence.

Antonio Valencia and Manchester United came to a consensual agreement that the Ecuadorian will be leaving at the end of the season. I feel Antonio has been a great servant to this football club notwithstanding some serious injuries and he deserves a huge round of applause for his contribution towards so many achievements. Thanks for the memories Valencia. Jose had named him Club Captain following Carrick’s retirement so this now means that next season, United will have a new captain. The name of Paul Pogba as the armband successor has been echoing very loudly. In my opinion, this football player does not deserve to be the club captain yet.

It’s true that he is one of our best players since Jose left but it was also evident that he was one of the mutiny leaders when the going got tough behind the scenes, and such behaviour does not augur well for someone pretending to be in that position. He still needs to mature and prove he can take such roles which remind me of legends like Bryan Robson and Gary Neville. I would give that armband to our brilliant goalkeeper.

City and Liverpool are currently head to head. City are leading by 1 point on the day of writing. Klopp has just turned into a weather laughing stock, blaming the wind for their goalless draw against Everton. Face palm!

The 3rd nil-nil draw in their last 4 games in

all competitions. There is obviously a lot of hype about the Manchester derby now. This could play a pivotal role in who is going to lift the Premier League title this season. I know Manchester United fans in Malta (and I dare say the majority of the fans around the world) would choose City to win the league if they had to choose one from the two evils. But I can reassure everyone that no matter what

people are thinking and what that result might mean to the title race, Manchester United will go on that pitch to beat Manchester City. And that is the way it should be. Full Stop! By the time I will be writing my next one, we would know the final verdict.

Yours United, Teddy

The Funeral Service for

Eric George Harrison mbe

F

Eric George Harrison mbe At Halifax Minster Tuesday 26th February 2019 at 2.30pm

16 VOL 46 - ISSUE 3 - MARCH 2019

ollowing the demise of f amous Manchester United Academy Coach Eric Harrison, Club President Joseph Tedesco and Joe Glanville, ex Club president and a very close friend of Eric, attended the funeral service in Halifax on Tuesday 26th February 2019 to pay tribute to this legendary coach.

Eric had visited Malta several times, the last time being for Gary Neville’s testimonial dinner in 2011. Unfortunately, 4 years ago dementia struck and the rest is history.

Eric will remain particularly famous for developing one of the best crops of young

football players the English game has ever seen…the Class of 92. He brought up so many youth players who eventually made it in the Manchester United first team and eventually had a successful football career, not just at United. David Beckham. Gary Neville, Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes and Nicky Butt together with Sir Alex Ferguson and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer were amongst the 500 people who attended the wonderful service at the Halifax Minster. Thank you for the wonderful memories Eric. May you now rest in eternal peace.

Mike Phelan

Ferguson and Solskjaer’s assistant

by Alan Abela Wadge

M

anchester United have enjoyed unprecedented amounts of success under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. His hard work has managed to transform a team that was very much often dull and lethargic under Jose Mourinho to one that has begun to inspire and evoke true passion from the supporters all the same while bringing back memories of the real Man Utd that we saw during the great Ferguson era.

Numerous factors have gone into this brilliant change, with Jose Mourinho’s defensive style of football being chucked aside in exchange for a style that is more in sync with the club’s natural DNA being a massive one.

However, Solskjaer hasn’t achieved all of this on his own. While the players have a massive chunk of the credit, perhaps an equal impact has been made by the man who engineered the very tactics that have benefitted United so much over the last three months.

One of the main initial criticisms about hiring Solskjaer as the caretaker manager was the fact that he lacked experience, his only former stint in the Premier League with Cardiff ending in relegation, and the brute attacking tactics employed at Molde thought to be too onedimensional for success in England.

Here comes Mr. Mike Phelan, former assistant manager under Sir Alex Ferguson and a former Red Devil himself. A guy that left Man Utd the same time that Sir Alex left and left the club as a legend with nothing else to prove.

It is arguably Phelan’s influence on the tactics deployed by Solskjaer and his presence that has brought about this rejuvenated United side, and if Solskjaer does bag the full-time gig, it is paramount that Phelan stays on as well.

Firstly, the years he spent under Sir Alex Ferguson have awarded him with a massive trove of experience (and trophies too!).

Essentially, it was Phelan who handled daily training drills, and as of such, was crucial to the success of nearly all the famous United rosters in the final years of Sir Alex Ferguson.

It is this brilliance that Solskjaer has retained.

Reports suggest that Phelan has been given exclusive duty to organize and conduct attacking drills, and it is also claimed that these drills go in the excess of 45 minutes at times.

The impact is quite telling. Following the magic-touch of Phelan, United have found the back of the net a whopping 33 times in 15 games across all competitions, drawing blanks only against PSG and recently versus Liverpool. The distinguishing factor here is that the Red Devils are no longer content at attaining a lead and then defending – thank Heavens, they are now hungry for goals and will keep on punishing the opponent until there’s no pulp left to extract.

Further to that, Phelan’s approach is in massive contrast to Mourinho’s, with the Portuguese tactician used to bombarding his players with information about the opposition and using it to drive their defensive ploys through. Phelan chooses simplicit y, urging players to improve themselves and per fect their tactics, reminiscent of how SAF used to run things at the club. It’s not about being ready for the opponent; it’s about being ready so that the opponent has to be ready for you!

Another return that Phelan has ensured is the penchant for late goals, even though Solskjaer clearly had something to say in this!

It is by no accident that the Fergie time goals are scored and that United become more aggressive when chasing the game in the final moments. These are actions that the lads have trained tirelessly for, learning how to be the best in the box and overwhelm the opponents. Although the visible impact of this tactic was on show only against Burnley, and almost hit well for Liverpool if Smalling had scored late, it’s nevertheless a means that United possess in their arsenal. Ferguson believed that if all fails, in the last 5 minutes throw in the sink and forget everything else.

His mantra was that there will always be one more chance. This never die attitude stood its

time for Ferguson’s reign and thanks to Phelan and Solskjaer is now back as well.

Next, Phelan has a strong rapport with the players. A simple look at pitch-side action will show that the assistant manager is almost the second gaffer with regard to instructing the players. This also translates well into managing big names. Having worked under Ferguson, Phelan has first-hand knowledge on how egos ought to be placated and frustration quelled. It may not be simple luck that stars like Romelu Lukaku and Alexis Sanchez have been content with not being played regularly.

Phelan’s influence here seems evident.

In fact, the best indication of the assistant manager’s value can be assessed through a Ferguson action. The biggest qualm he had with David Moyes, his hand-picked successor who enjoyed his strong support, was that the former Everton gaffer hadn’t retained Phelan in his coaching team. This regret was shared

by Moyes himself, labelling it as a factor in his abysmal tenure at Old Trafford.

In a tweet before the Liverpool game, Phelan featured a photo of himself with several notebooks, labelling the process to be a think tank. It is highly unlikely that this was merely scene-setting for a clever tweet.

Phelan masterminds many crucial tactics.

Solskjaer didn’t learn how to balance play and adjust to Premier League dynamics overnight. It is instead the guiding hand of Phelan that has brought about this change.

It is not for simple warmth and respite from the cruel Mancunian rains that the Norwegian huddles closely with his team of Phelan, Carrick, and McKenna. Together, this lot has the experience and wisdom that Solskjaer is greatly benefiting from.

Simply put, the Norwegian has brought back to the side the passion, philosophy and winning mentality that the club badly needs, but it is through the experience of Phelan that they are able to translate that practically onto the pitch. Long may it continue for many years to come!

VOL 46 - ISSUE 3 - MARCH 2019

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Players vs. Coach: Which is More Important for Success?

by Antoine Dalli

I

n football, managerial sackings are a certainty. In May 2016, Claudio Ranieri led unfancied Leicester to their first ever English Premier League title...only to be shown the backdoor by the same club nine months later despite the fact that, in August 2016, the same club had extended the Italian tactician’s contract until June 2020!

In similar vein, José Mourinho was fired by Chelsea the season after leading them to their fifth domestic title in 2014/15. In his earlier stint with Chelsea, the Portuguese mentor was sacked in October 2007 after leading Chelsea to back-to-back English Premier League titles in seasons 2004/05 and 2005/06 – their first championship crowns since season 1954/55 – amongst other silverware.

The West London club used the same treatment with other highly rated coaches like for example Carlo Ancelotti, who was replaced just over a year after leading them to a domestic double in season 2009/10; former Italy national team coach Antonio Conte was replaced last summer after leading the Blues to the 2016/17 English Premier League title and to their eighth FA Cup in May 2018.

Roberto Di Matteo was sensationally sacked

by Chelsea just a few months after leading

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Chelsea as a caretaker manager to their first and so far only Champions League triumph in season 2011/12! Ironically, five months before his sacking the former Italy and Lazio midfielder had put pen to paper on a new two-year deal with the Pensioners. The list is simply endless!

As time goes by, the average tenure of football managers in the major European leagues is steadily decreasing as the club’s thirst for instant success and player power is leaving managers on borrowed time.

By stark contrast, most football players tend to last longer with a team compared to their mentors. If one were to follow this logic then one can easily argue that footballers are more important contributors to a team’s success than football managers. On top of that, it is a known fact that the vast majority of the football players earn incredibly higher salaries than their managers because they are considered the consummate entertainers of the game.

The question that follows...for any given team to stand a better chance of obtaining success on the field of play, which is the most important ingredient: having the right players or a top rated manager?

Prima facie evidence may tempt one to side with the players. Would Sir Alex have been successful in the mid-1990s if he could not rely on stars like of Eric Cantona, Roy Keane and David Beckham to mention just a few? Same with Pep Guardiola when he lifted six trophies in his maiden season in charge of Barcelona... the Spanish tactician could count on the likes of Lionel Messi, Samuel Eto’o, Thierry Henry, Andrés Iniesta, Xavi and Dani Alves.

To break Inter’s European jinx in season 2009/10, José Mourinho built an outfit which was strong in all departments. Eto’o, Diego Milito, Thiago Motta, Wesley Sneijder and Lucio enabled Inter to make a quantum leap in quality and contributed significantly towards the team’s unprecedented treble success.

Roma won their third Scudetto – their first since season 1982/83 – thanks to a top calibre coach in Fabio Capello and the players that he was allowed to sign namely Gabriel Batistuta, Emerson and Walter Samuel.

Without these three players, Roma ended up in a modest sixth place in the previous season even if Capello was already in charge of the Giallorossi. Back then, for the interest of perspectives, Capello was considered to be amongst the best coaches in circulation having led Milan to four domestic titles and

the 1994 Champions League triumph in five seasons between 1991 and 1996, besides the fact that Capello led Real Madrid to their 1996/97 La Liga title in his first season in charge of the Los Blancos.

Marcello Lippi led Italy to their fourth World Cup triumph in 2006 when the likes of Gianluigi Buffon, Fabio Cannavaro, Marco Materazzi, Gianluca Zambrotta, Gennaro Gattuso, Andrea Pirlo, Daniele De Rossi, Alessandro Del Piero, Filippo Inzaghi, Luca Toni and Francesco Totti were still at their peak. That team was shorn of (individual) star players but Lippi was shrewd enough to stick to substance than to style and he obtained the desired results.

The same bunch of players were clearly past their peak in EURO 2008 and even more in the 2010 World Cup finals in South Africa. Under Roberto Donadoni in EURO 2008, Italy were knocked out by eventual winners Spain after a penalty shoot-out. Two years later, again under Lippi, Italy failed to make it past the group stages as they finished bottom of group F after collecting just two draws (vs. Paraguay and New Zealand) in three outings.

At national team level, Spain and more recently Germany experienced what Italy went through in their spineless defence of their World Cup title. The Spanish (Vicente del Bosque) and German (Joachim Löw) coaches remained the same. As happened with Lippi before, del

Bosque and Löw remained loyal to the bunch of players that made them world champions.

However, the results were completely different because the players they had at their disposal were way past their best playing days when it came to defend their respective world crowns.

At club level, Arsène Wenger was an instant hit at Arsenal at a time when he had David Seaman, Tony Adams, Emmanuel Petit, Patrick Vieira, Gilberto Silva, Thierry Henry, Dennis Bergkamp, Nicolas Anelka and Robert Pires and Freddie Ljungberg within his ranks. But to be able to finance their new £390 million Emirates Stadium, Arsenal had to part company with their star players and rely on less experienced and skilful players. Wenger stayed put but without his star players Wenger and Arsenal had to endure nine straight trophy-less seasons.

Therefore, it seems to be a fair conclusion to say that players and their coaches share the same importance. A world class coach will never attain success unless he assembles a strong outfit. Mourinho would not have lifted trophies with Porto, Chelsea, Inter, Real Madrid and Manchester United unless he had the right players in the right positions. Same with Sir Alex, Wenger, Lippi, Capello, Guardiola, Ancelotti, del Bosque and Löw just to name a few successful managers of recent years.

Players and their coaches have what is commonly known as a symbiotic relationship.

Such a type of relationship is often defined as: “a special type of interaction between species. Sometimes beneficial, sometimes harmful, these relationships are essential to many organisms and ecosystems, and they provide a balance that can only be achieved by working together”.

Players and teams cannot reach their full potential without a fit-for-purpose manager who takes the right decisions for the benefit of the entire team. On the other hand, a top calibre coach would never achieve headline grabbing achievements if he does not have the right players for his playing system. Compared to another popular sport, the relationship between the players and their coach is similar to the driver and the car in Formula One – both are crucial to the team’s successes and one can never achieve success without the other.

At the end of the day, the players have to work well together and hand-in-hand with their coach. All this combination is called synergy, whereby “the combined power of a group of things when they are working together that is greater than the total power achieved by each working separately”. On his side, the coach needs to have the leadership and man management skills to mould a team of individuals into a winning team, something which the self-acclaimed Special One José Mourinho failed to attain in his last few months in charge of Manchester United.

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Ole Gunnar Solskjaer W

hen José Mourinho took over in May of 2016, I must admit that I was very excited for the beginning of a new era at Old Trafford under a serial winner. Fast forward two years and seven months later, Mourinho’s gone and the club seems to have been re-born under the stewardship of a Manchester United legend named Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.

Change management is a fascinating topic especially when one analyses how certain organisations deal with change in their environments. Under Sir Alex Ferguson, especially when it comes to the team, Manchester United were renowned for their ability to renew themselves to always ensure that they were one step or two ahead of the other clubs. In fact, one might be surprised how the Scot managed to build so many successful teams throughout his 28 year reign under one umbrella which is Manchester United. One may wonder whether it is still possible to accomplish such feats these days.

In spite of this, when the legendary Scot called it a day in 2013, in the following five years, the club struggled so badly on the pitch and even such a great institution with the name of Manchester United seemed unable to deal with this new reality. Without sounding too negative, one may argue that the club taught most organisations a lesson with regards to the mistakes that one must not do when replacing someone who had a very long successful spell in management. In fact, history suggests that in such delicate moments, one must be very careful in terms of how decisions are going to affect the club and which personnel are likely to be the key players in driving this change forward. From a Manchester United point of view, too many key members of the coaching staff under Sir Alex left the club and exactly at that moment, the club began to lose its identity, which had brought so much success throughout the last decade. No wonder that in consistency

with such thinking, Gary Neville recently said that one must reflect whether a new manager coming in at United should be allowed to change United’s attacking philosophy and bring his own ways of doing things.

by Jude Cauchi

be looking forward to these crucial matches with hope and optimism that something big is on the horizon.

Moving forward, although it is still early days, a sign of encouragement is coming from the club that they might finally found a man in Ole Gunner Solskjaer who represents the Manchester United values and culture. On the other hand, some critics have sounded out his lack of managerial experience and the recent unsuccessful spell the man had at Cardiff as potential barriers in his bid to take over at United. In spite of this, one cannot underestimate the transformation that the United faithful have seen on the pitch so one must assume that it would be difficult to ignore recent developments. As a matter of fact, Manchester United have improved in every aspect of the game since the baby face assassin took over and exciting football is finally back at Old Trafford. Consequently in the post- Mourinho era, the team has registered a total of nine wins from their first ten matches. In spite of this however, it seems logical, that a new centre back to partner Victor Lindelof is needed if United are to make the next step and compete both domestically and in Europe.

In terms of United’s next permanent manager, it seems to be premature to make any claims right now and one needs to respect and support the club’s decision to conduct a full screening process on all potential candidates before a final decision is made especially as the next appointment is likely to determine whether United are successful again in the near future. On the other hand, while one must acknowledge the importance of ensuring that the club is competing in the Champions League next season, given the way the season has panned out this year, would it be logical for the club to base its decision solely on whether Ole finishes in the top four? Such questions become even more important when considering that the Norwegian took over the team eleven points behind Chelsea and eight points behind the Gunners so few would have predicted that after ten games in charge, United would only be two points behind Chelsea and one point above Arsenal. Consequently, the worst case scenario would be for the club to miss out on the top four by a whisker and Ole Gunner Solskjaer is denied the Manchester United job in spite of the progress that the team would have made under his guidance.

On the other side of the coin, it is imperative that the fans keep their feet on the ground especially since a lot of tougher tests against PSG, Chelsea, Liverpool, Arsenal and Manchester City are to follow in February and March. Hence, after such a tricky period that is likely to have a big impact on where the Red Devils finish this season, potentially this might also serve as a very important learning experience for our manager which at this stage of his career cannot be underestimated.

Contrary to the beginning of the season however and keeping in mind that this team is still works in progress, every Reds fans should

In that eventuality, would starting all over again with a new manager next season make sense? Does the club need a bit of stability after all the changes in management that have occurred in recent years? If the answer to the latter questions is yes, then maybe it would be in the best interest of the club to stick with the current manager and see where this new era takes us. Hopefully however, as Man United fan, I am very confident that the Reds will finish in the top four and might potentially win a trophy along the way which hopefully would be enough to convince the United Board to appoint Ole on a permanent basis.

VOL 46 - ISSUE 3 - MARCH 2019

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Goalkeeper Coaches who influenced David De Gea

by Kenneth Abela

Á

ngel Jesús Mejías Rodríguez was the Atletico Madrid Youth Goalkeeping Coach in 2010. United goalkeeper David De Gea was 19 years of age at the time and registered with Atletico Madrid. Angel immediately spotted David’s talents. He reports, ‘This boy is as cold as a wolf. He has composure, nerve and self-confidence. The pressures that others might feel don’t affect him’.

De Gea began his career aged 13 with Atlético Madrid and rose through the academy system at the club before making his senior debut in 2009. That year, as an 18-year-old, De Gea had caught the eye of Emilio Alvarez, who was Atletico Manager Quique Sanchez Flores’ goalkeeping coach. At the end of that season, Flores had led the team to the ninth position in the domestic competition, and also to two cup finals. In the first, the 2–1 UEFA Europa Cup win against Fulham, De Gea had been promoted above Sergio Asenjo, the club’s first-choice goalkeeper, and David went on to play in that Final. However in the Copa del Rey, Atletico lost to Sevilla FC. The year after in 2010, David helped Atletico win the Super Cup. It is interesting to note that as a goalkeeping coach Emilio Alvarez had even worked with the Spain National Team during that period, and although De Gea was the captain of the Spain under-21 national team that won the European Championship in 2011 and 2013, and also competed in the 2012 Olympics, he was only selected for the National Team when the 2014 World Cup came along.

In 2014, following that World Cup, Louis Van Gaal became the Manchester United manager. Up till then both Chris Woods and his predecessor Eric Steele had been rightfully credited with helping David de Gea become perhaps the finest young goalkeeper in

Europe. In 2011, Sir Alex Ferguson, former Red Devils manager felt it was worth skipping one of his team’s games to see the then-teenager in action. He had only missed two Manchester United matches during his time in charge.

The first was for his son’s wedding. The second was to scout goalkeeper David de Gea. This according to former Manchester United goalkeeper coach Eric Steele, who says De Gea is now the world’s best. Steele stated how much time it took Sir Alex to know De Gea was the goalkeeper he was looking for. He said, “Sir Alex knew he was the right signing inside 65 minutes. David showed composure, concentration and reflexes. He made one terrific save that went through a load of bodies.”

Steele also reveals United’s reaction when David commenced to be tangibly addressed by opponent players during games. He says: “People targeted David physically but we never changed our programme to improve him. We knew the strength and power would come. Sir Alex and I encouraged him the whole time. Sir Alex did not criticise him. Not once.

He left him out at some stages and put him back in but he never shouted at him or put him down.”

The world renowned goalkeeper expert Frans Hoek teamed up with Van Gaal in that summer of 2014, replacing Chris Woods as the club’s chief goalkeeping coach. Ryan Giggs became assistant manager, Albert Stuivenberg was added as assistant coach, and Marcel Bout was appointed as an assistant coach and chief opposition scout, the latter previously worked with Hoek at Bayern Munich. Frans Hoek had etched a career focusing on the modern dynamics of goalkeeping. He believed that decision making was an integral part of goalkeeper actions. Based on their game insight, goalkeepers, he believed, have to position themselves correctly, time their

actions perfectly and also execute their actions in the right direction and with the required speed in relation to opponents and teammates. Hoek classified goalkeepers as either reactive or pro-active. Reactive goalkeepers often stay on their line and react on goal attempts (an example being German legend Oliver Kahn) while pro-active goalkeepers are often more actively involved in game situations by coming off the goal line based on their game (Edwin van der Sar being one such example).

Based on this, I opine that De Gea can be considered as a reactive goalkeeper.

The newly arrived Hoek had been charged with working with the Spaniard on a daily basis, much being expected, having arrived off the back of notable work with some of the biggest clubs on the continent. He had also worked alongside a series of highly regarded shot stoppers in Victor Valdes, Victor Baia and Pepe Reina. Hoek’s emphasis on distribution and starting attacks from the back have paid dividends at the highest level and helped in David’s improvement.

Fate would have it that David de Gea and Emilio Alvarez would link up again. In 2016 his former mentor became goalkeeping coach at United under José Mourinho, when he became one of six new backroom staff members at Old Trafford. David de Gea was already among the world’s top goalkeepers but this man, who knows him best, believed he could get even better.

It is worth concluding this article with the view of Eric Steele, the man credited with having played a key role in bringing David De Gea to Manchester United. Talking about how great a goalkeeper De Gea has become, Steele states, “Just look at David now! His outstanding quality has always been his calmness…he is a beacon of tranquility. He is the calmest man on the field.”

VOL 46 - ISSUE 3 - MARCH 2019

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Y & Z United Perspectives

by Kevin, Justyn & Wayne Tabone

W

hat a change in the Tabone family’s mood.

Smiles all round and looking forward to our beloved club’s matches again. Amazing how a football team’s results can impact people’s lives...

What are the 3 best memories you take away from the time spent under Mourinho management?

Wayne: The third best moment that Mourinho achieved was when he was slowly getting always near the title in his second year and which resulted in a runners-up position. With the number of points that we had we would have won the league, as we had 81 points. This would have been a very good opportunity to show that he was meant to be the next Sir Alex Ferguson and would have had a great impact on the board. The second-best achievement for Mourinho was when he had won his second cup, the Carabao Cup. Manchester United fans were raising their expectations again and thought that he could win more titles and not after 2 years end up being fired.

The best thing that Mourinho did was when he won the Europa League in his first year.

This also meant a huge title for Manchester United because he completed the jigsaw and the club won all cups.

Justyn: Although some people don’t see

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the 3 years Mourinho spent at Manchester United as successful, he did achieve what others couldn’t after Sir Alex retired. My first memory of Mourinho at Manchester United has to be our comeback in the Manchester derby at the Etihad. That day the players actually showed that they can be the best of the best. We showed some character to come back from a 2-goal deficit and showed that if we were consistent we could challenge for the league. Another achievement which I will surely remember Mourinho by is the fact that he got us to second place. He was the first manager since Sir Alex to get us so close to first place. This showed that throughout the season, although there were many critics, we were consistent. Last but certainly not least is when we won the Europa League. This was not only an achievement because it is another major trophy that Mourinho won in his time at Manchester United but it meant that we had won all the titles that could have been won in football.

Kevin: The Europa League title is an obvious candidate, especially considering that this was a cup which made United one of the few clubs to have won all the major titles there is to win. The second season, during which we ended up as runners up, was also a highlight.

Mourinho himself went on record saying

that the 2nd place in the United hot seat is one of his biggest achievements and that’s saying something, considering the long list of achievements the Portuguese manager has had. Ultimately, this same season ended up working against him as it raised the supporters’ expectations to a level where only first place was going to satisfy them. The last memory is the meeting the Club Committee had during one of the official visits to Manchester with the man himself. Unfortunately, media paints Mourinho negatively, like being a very cold person with no emotion. Well, during our 10 minute meeting I found him to be a very warm person and will surely remain as one of the memories that I will cherish.

Everyone seems to be performing well since Ole took over. If you had to field your best 11, assuming everyone is fit, who will make it into your line up?

Wayne: The formation would be four at the back, three in the midfield, two wingers and the one striker alone. I would put De Gea in goal as he has great reflexes and jumping abilities, communicates with the team and is a leader.

I would have Bailly and Lindelöf, Shaw as left back and I would put Valencia on the right as he is a player that goes up and down the pitch and never stops. In midfield I would put Matić as a holding midfielder, Pogba on the left as

midfield player but plays higher than the other two midfielders. Herrera would be the second midfielder to press high up the pitch. Left wing I would put Sanchez and Martial on the right.

Then at the front I would play Rashford.

Justyn: At the moment it seems that all the players that are playing are performing well.

However, in football you can only play with 11 players. In my opinion these are the 11 players that should start. As for formation I would go with 4-3-3 which seems to work quite well at the moment. In goal there is no doubt that David de Gea should be number 1.

That is the only position that I think everyone would agree with as De Gea is just world class.

At right back I would go with Diogo Dalot. I think that with more game time he has the potential to become one of the best in the league. Centre backs I would go with Bailly and Lindelof. Lindelof has been our best centre back this season and can only get better in my opinion. Bailly has shown us that he can be a quality centre back however he needs to be a bit less rash. Left-back I would go with Luke Shaw. Since his horrific injury he hasn’t been the same, however this season he seems to be picking up where he left off. In midfield I would go with the trio of Matić, Herrera and Pogba. Matić and Herrera would be the more defensive midfielders with Pogba being the one to support the attackers. The front 3 I think is the most difficult as we have a lot of quality options. In my opinion the best 3 at the moment are Martial and Lingard as the wide players and Rashford going through the middle. Lately I think they have been the best three and have been getting goals for fun.

Kevin: Although the flat 4-4-2 formation will remain my favourite, I have to be the first to admit that football has changed and 4-3-3 is

more in line with today’s play. David De Gea would be first choice for any club in the world.

Lindelof’s performance has been second to none whilst Bailly gives us the perfect balance I always look for in a central defensive pairing.

The right back spot is the one area which is giving me headaches. I will go with Valencia purely because he gives the side the best option defensively. Left back easily goes to Shaw. My midfield trio will be Matić and Herrera alongside a more advanced role for Paul Pogba. The 2 holding midfielders will allow the Frenchman to give him the free role he demands! Finally, my front 3 would be the more-consistent Martial on the left, Lingard in the middle and Rashford on the other flank.

If Solskjaer keeps impressing do you think he merits a contract, considering his lack of experience with a huge football club?

Wayne: I think that since Solskjaer came every player’s mentality has turned positive.

Solskjaer has the mentality of Sir Alex Ferguson in the sense that if the opposite team are attacking, we defend, take the ball and always counter attack fast. With this style of play, the fans never get tired of seeing Manchester United. I think that if he stays with Manchester United, he would win the title or the Champions League. So yes I think they need to sign Solskjaer with no doubt.

Justyn: In the past years we have had several managers that were experienced, with the likes of Mourinho and Van Gaal. As we have seen, even though they had the experience on their CV, they weren’t as successful as many thought they were going to be. Of course, experience is a very important factor when it comes to managing a club like Manchester United however Solskjaer seems to know the

club inside out and knows himself what it means to play for the club. If he can transmit his knowledge of what it means to play for Manchester United to the players I think that he can be a very successful manager. In my opinion he should be given the contract at the end of the season. Since he joined the club as a caretaker he has brought back a smile on most of the fans and the players seem to enjoy playing under his free flow attacking football.

Kevin: The way he has galvanised the team is testament to his abilities. When I say the team, it is not just the first team squad but coaching staff and other members. I will go one step further and state that he has also brought the club’s identity back: an identity which we seemed to have lost not just under the previous manager but even the ones before him. One may argue that Ole is still in his honeymoon season but I always say that honeymoon lasts as much as you want it to. Ole has always been a good student under Sir Alex and the Boss himself had said that there were matches in which Ole would be a sub and whilst the match would be under way, Solskjaer would study the weakness of the opponents defence to be ready when called up. What has been more striking in my opinion, is the way he has dealt with the media. We all know that there are sections of the media which deliberately try and ask uncomfortable questions to put the manager in awkward positions. But I must say, that looking at his body language and listening to his answers, you start telling yourself that this is someone who was born to be at this stage. To be manager of Manchester United, you have to have many different qualities and in the short period of time he has managed the club, he certainly seems to have them. So I would say, get the contract paper out for Ole to sign permanently!

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LAND AHOY C

hristopher Columbus, an Italian explorer, had set sail from Palos, a Spanish port in command of three ships - the Santa Maria, the Pinta, and the Nina. His flagship was the first while the smallest and fastest was the Nina. The target was intended to be the finding of a western sea route to China, India and the fabled gold and spice islands of Asia. A long and arduous voyage. A voyage fraught with storms, danger, dissent, and unrest. Finally, the hoped for news from the crow’s nest overcame the rumble of chains, the chatter and gabble of water along the topsides and the hullaballoo created by the unhappy sailors. “Land Ahoy”. Land was sighted. One can only imagine their feeling of cheerfulness or the optimism that must have followed the removal of their anxiety, pain, and distress.

They were relieved!

It must go without saying that Red Devil supporters were immensely disgruntled by the spate of adverse style of play and results that had been the curse of the team.

People were hoping that the promised target

would be reached, but it seemed that it was only luckless hope. They cherished a strong desire of anticipation. The loyal fans wanted something to be true or to happen.

They had had a good reason to think that it might. They still believed. They were really convinced that something reliable or better still, someone, would be eventually involved in re-establishing much needed confidence.

This even though without absolute proof in thinking that that was really true and correct.

But the writing on the wall was still rather ominous! People were asking if there was a willingness to give time and energy, or a firm decision to do something by the upper echelons who ought to wake up to their responsibilities. It seemed to be the right time for commitment in choosing not to have something useful or important in order to achieve something of greater importance.

And then it came about. It looked like the “promised land” had been sighted. The cry was loud and clear: “Land Ahoy”. It even looked like the sun had broken through the

by Fr. Anthony C. Ferrante

dark and ominous clouds. Belief was rewarded and relief set in. The target was back within reach. An optimistic state of mind based on the expectation of positive outcomes has come to the fore, but first and foremost trust, faith and confidence have been strenghtened.

Belief is rampant again. These feelings have been subtly aired by one of the Manchester United stalwarts: “I think we’re dominating and controlling games more, and we’re creating more chances than we were before.

That’s given us a real boost of confidence and it’s important for us to try and continue in that way because the aim of everyone is to keep climbing up the table.” It is even more important for peace of mind that the players do not seem to be overly worried or obsessed by the team’s actual position in the PL table.

Their commitment seems to be rekindled by enjoying their games and making them count.

That welcome mentality will surely lead to progress. Manchester United are back on the right track. We will never die. BELIEVE....

The target is in sight: LAND AHOY.

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NEW

Victor Lindelöf – The Iceman W

hen the Iceman finally arrived from Benfica for £31m in the Summer of 2017, hopes were high that we had found our main man at the back. Eclipsing none other than talismanic Rio Ferdinand as United’s most expensive defender ever, eyebrows were certainly raised.

Playing at a club like United means understanding and appreciating the history of your respective position, and with legends like Gary Pallister, Steve Bruce and Nemanja Vidić to emulate, Lindelöf certainly has had his work cut out for him.

Hailing from one of Sweden’s oldest cities, Västerås, Lindelöf’s early career would see him play for a number of local sides in the lower leagues of Sweden, including IK Franke, Västerås IK and Västerås SK. Gaining notoriety as a technically gifted ball-playing centre back, a number of top Swedish clubs failed to show any interest, but eventually, Benfica came sniffing around.

After working his way through the youth system, he broke into the first team and became irreplaceable. His consistent, high-quality performances in the Primeira Liga opened the door for Mourinho to take interest, and the rest is history.

Having tasted success in the form of three Portuguese league titles, as well as the under-21 European Championship

with Sweden in 2015, we thought he would walk straight into the team, but his initial performances were far from commanding Adapting to life in the Premier League proved challenging for Lindelöf, and he looked out of his depth among the United ranks.

Transitioning from Portugal was never going to be an easy task due to the huge difference in quality between the leagues. To add insult to injury after a mediocre start to life at Old Trafford, Mourinho announced that he wasn’t happy with his choice of defenders during the pre-season, making players like Linedelöf and Bailly question their role within the team.

While the special one was busy demanding the board give him enough cash to find a new centreback, Lindelöf worked hard and persevered, quashing any doubts that he would never be good enough. Towards the end of Mourinho’s tenure, but particularly under Ole, the Swede has looked a lot more confident, finally meeting the fans’ expectations. While he certainly has produced some man-of-the-match performances, his allround game still has room for improvement. His best attributes are his pass completion, tenacity and aerial ability, but his positional sense is left wanting at times.

He’s been United’s most consistent defender all season and one of the most improved players. The spotlight will definitely be on the likes of De Gea, Pogba and Rashford for Player of the Season, but Lindelof certainly deserves a nomination at the very least. When interviewed on his fellow teammate in 2018, Pogba had a lot of positive things to say about him.

“His season has been very good, we need him. He has shown to the world and for all supporters what he can do, plus he’s nice person off the pitch too. He is a quality player who has adapted very well.

He won big titles and played with big players already, so he is not new to the football world.”

He isn’t quite the first name of the team sheet yet, but with the way things are going at United, we can only hope he goes from strength to strength. At just 24 years of age, he still has plenty of time to take his game to the next level. Credit should be given to the United staff who bided their time, worked closely with the Swede and gave him enough time to properly adapt to life in England – resulting in Lindelöf

by Martin Calleja Urry

already surpassing the total number of league games he played last year.

His peak performances came in November and he was deservedly awarded the Player of the Month award after terrific displays versus the likes of Juventus and Crystal Palace.

Unfortunately for the ex-Benfica man, he sustained a muscle injury that would keep him out of the team for 3 weeks, cancelling out any momentum he had picked up. Once again, he came back stronger, but is yet to surpass the level he reached during his ninety minutes against Juventus, which epitomized what he can bring to the team. Another box he recently ticked was bagging his first goal for United against Burnley in late January, popping up in the box to score a dramatic late equaliser against a tough Burnley side that were leading 2-0.

One could argue that our return to old attacking ways may have made life on the defenders a lot easier, since the majority of the pressure would fall on the opposite side of the pitch.

However, in many ways their job is even more important now. Winning the United way means a huge emphasis on offence, resulting in the backline inevitably being exposed, particularly with the modern game dictating that fullbacks press up high and wide. The centre back role is now more difficult than ever, but essential if you want to build a solid title race. In fact, one only needs to look towards bitter rivals Liverpool to appreciate just how important a world-class centre-back is, with Van Dijk paving the way for Liverpool’s best attempt at winning the title since the days when Gerrard slipped.

Based off the current roster, Lindelöf and Bailly are undoubtedly the best partnership available, however they haven’t had enough time to establish a solid partnership with one another, largely due to Mourinho’s rotation early on in the season.

Their combination will provide us with two capable players on the ball, both of which have the ability to step out of the defensive comfort zone. Together they allow United to quickly and confidently start attacks, shifting

the ball from defense to the midfield, where players like Pogba can take control and do some real damage to the opposition. Once they gain some consistency playing with each other, they could become our go-to defenders for the near future. With a good chunk of the season left, Lindelöf still has a lot to prove, and should aim to solidify his spot as our first-choice centre back.

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What do United need to be a complete squad?

by Roderick Psaila

W

hat a difference a few weeks can make.

If someone asked me this question at the end of November – Jose was still in charge and everything looked gloomy – I would probably have replied with a short list of whom should be saved from the players in the team at that point, rather than what positions should be improved, as it would have been much easier.

Fast forward a couple of months and under the tutelage of Solskjaer and his assistants, the team has transformed itself and the players had a lot of say in it.

T he striking depar tment – with the triumvirate of Lingard, Martial and Rashford – is working wonders. Rashford has been sensational in the central striker position and Lingard and Martial have assisted to provide excitement and joy to us supporters, who can now see glimpses of the Fergie United, when edge-of-the-seat moments were the order of the day. Even in the drawn match against Burnley, when United played decently but nothing special, the team still produced a scintillating comeback, and fell just short of turning it into a fantastic three points. Apart from the deadly and quick counter attacks, the striking department has come up with the goals and plenty of them. All of a sudden, with Lukaku as a worthy sub, the forward line is one of the strongest departments in the team, second only to the goalkeeping department. That said, the department still lacks balance, given that the only leftfooted player from those mentioned is Lukaku, who seems to be preferred as a central striker and has only once been given the opportunity to play on the right side of the attack and cutting inside on his favoured lef t, against Arsenal when incidentally he provided two assists to Sanchez and Lingard.

So, unless the manager thinks that Lukaku can fill that position, then we need a left-footed player to balance the team. My preferred choices for the role would be a certain Paulo Dybala of Juventus or 19-year-old Joao Felix of Benfica. That said, the strength of Manchester United was always to promote youngsters from the Academy, and both Tahith Chong and Mason Greenwood may be

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in the Premiership and is regular also with the Holland national team. And he would be much cheaper than Koulibaly. Luke Shaw appears to have overcome his problems and with Ashley Young always ready to fill in if needed, the left back position looks secure.

given space to show what they can do. The latter is not a pure left footer but he can use both feet with the same devastating effect.

I mentioned the goalkeeping sector above and this is in my opinion, the only area which needs no improvement. David is one of the best keepers in the world and in Romero and Grant we have able deputies in place.

Defence is the sector which needs most investment in. Despite the evident improvement by defenders since Ole took charge, we need to level up in two positions across the back four. Young has done a great job at right back lately but I believe that with Valencia showing that the injuries suffered during his career are taking their toll and with Dalot not entirely convincing at defending in these early stages, I can see another body coming in to shore us up in that position. My choice here would be one of Wan-Bissaka of Crystal Palace, who

is still very young but has played extremely well whole season, or Ricardo Pereira, who joined Leicester City this season and has been fantastic for them. The latter is still 24 years of age and is as good going forward as he performs his defensive duties.

Moreover, both Wan-Bissaka and Pereira have Premier League experience now, which is a characteristic that cannot be ignored.

Then there is the position of left-sided central defender, which has been regularly filled by Jones, Lindelof or Smalling, all of them right-footed. There is only one name in my mind for this role and I believe that if they had 100 million to spend United should spend them all on this player, namely Koulibaly of Napoli. Strong, athletic, quick, good tackler and header of the ball and pure left-footed, he is the single most important investment that should be made by the team in the summer. Plan B in this position would be Nathan Ake of Bournemouth, who despite being 23, he has a few years of experience

The remaining depar tment also needs another addition, in order to create more competition for places. In midfield, Fellaini has moved on after 5 years, evidently after the manager felt that he was not part of his plans. Andreas Perreira scored a fantastic goal against Southampton, which could act as a springboard for him to move up a notch or two, as up till now he never really convinced when given an oppor tunity, while McTominay is not at the United level yet and could really do with a loan move to another team for the whole of next season to get games on a consistent basis. Hence, Fred remains the only alternative to the preferred trio of Herrera, Pogba and Matić, which is obviously too light for a team with the challenges United face year in year out.

Matić has shown time and again over the season that he is critical for the team. The way he reads the game, his interceptions and ability to recover possession and the number of times he stops attacking moves by the opposing team has been impressive. Hence the need for competition in that area and my preferred options are one of Wilfred Ndidi of Leicester (still 22 years) or Idrissa Gueye of Everton. Both players have experience in the Premiership and would bring competition to the midfield department. They are hard tacklers and even good with the ball. Throw in the mix our young academy starlet James Garner, still not 18 until mid-March and United will have strength in depth.

The above are my picks of what investments in the team United should make in the summer. I have not gone for long shots because the team just needs competition for places and a deeper squad. The most important factor which money can’t buy has returned to the club with the arrival of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, the United mentality of always playing to entertain and to win, and the never say die attitude. The boss has to stay, no matter what.

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MOURINHO Where did it all go wrong?

by Silvio Scicluna

I

was on a rare day off from work on Tuesday 18th December when news filtered through that José Mourinho had left his post as manager of Manchester United with immediate effect. To say I was shocked is an understatement. Granted, we had just been on the wrong end of a 3-1 defeat at Anfield two days earlier but nobody really saw the manager’s dismissal coming.

After the initial shock started to subside I paused to reflect on the events that culminated in José’s sacking. Even if an alien had landed at Old Trafford recently it would also have realised immediately that things were far from rosy at United this season. In fact, some might say that the writing was on the wall, but few would have anticipated it would all end this way so suddenly.

We were still in the first few days of preseason when the first murmurs of discontent surfaced.

José lamented from lack of financial backing in the summer transfer window and quite clearly forecast a difficult season ahead. He would go on to stress the fact that what he had at his disposal was limited in quality, both from a technical aspect (especially in defence) as well as temperament. He’d repeatedly remind all and sundry that last season’s 2nd place finish was an overachievement. José Mourinho has always been a stickler for strong characters who are mentally on the same wavelength as himself. He knew that he did not have nowhere near enough of them at United and he would not be afraid of saying it. Weak characters did not cut it with José. That’s not to say that he didn’t give them chances. He’d put them out of the team for specific periods to try to coach them into his mentality. Some accepted the challenge and came out the other side better players and better persons for it, others didn’t and were moved on. Many felt that with the loss of Zlatan Ibrahimovic in the last year or so, José had lost an ally since he was almost seen as being his sounding board for the players.

Rui Faria’s departure at the end of last season must also have hit José hard in forging a way forward with this squad since he was always his right-hand man from their early days in management.

I would go on to say that José’s biggest hindrance was his honesty. He always says what he feels, both inside the dressing room as well as outside. There were no hidden meanings and cryptic messages. If he needed to tell you something you didn’t like to hear he would do so straight up. The same came also in front of the cameras and in press conferences.

No beating round the bush. But, whilst he would be doing this with all the sincerity he felt, his straight talking had its downside.

A common theme in his final few days was that a toxic atmosphere had been created at Manchester United under his tenure. Some were speculating that he had lost the dressing room and that a section of the squad were downing tools. Although the latter statement would be stretching the argument a bit too far since the players have a duty to the loyal fans of the club after all, the opinion could have a bit of weight to it insofar as the inconsistency the team was showing this season hinted at lack of effort from certain players. There were brilliant comeback wins intertwined with insipid draws and defeats, all within a few weeks of each other.

One favourite stick Mourinho’s detractors loved beating him by was to label him as a defensive coach who seemed to prefer pragmatism to panache. Pundits all over the country would stereotype him as a dinosaur who hadn’t moved with the times.

While I hasten to add that I was never in this category of critics since I happen to believe that he is a master tactician and a brilliant in-game manager whose primary aim was always to get a result and win trophies, unfortunately the numbers this season did give credence to this line of thinking. The fact that United had a negative goal difference almost throughout this season until José got sacked spoke volumes. But I’m pretty sure that if Ed Woodward had bought José the two top defenders on his summer shopping list i.e. Koulibaly from Napoli and Skriniar from Inter, the whole scenario would have been totally different. José Mourinho has always been that way. It’s not rocket science.

If he has a solid defensive base and spine to

the team, his sides have always historically scored loads of goals because his offensive players would feel free to attack in style, knowing that the backline is solid. And the silverware would follow. The fear factor would reign in opponent’s minds and games would be won in the tunnel. His teams would all have that aura of superiority built from strong characters that would overpower teams. He built this at Porto, at Chelsea (twice), at Real Madrid (to a degree) and most certainly at Inter in a not too dissimilar way to how our great Sir Alex repeatedly built winning sides at United, might I add.

I must admit that when people used to mention the dreaded third season syndrome that José Mourinho seems to carry with him, I would always dismiss it as pure fantasy. With hindsight there could be more to it since it is now happening all too frequently for it to be a coincidence. It seems that his modus operandi of going for instant success with players for the here and now rather than for the future works against him in the long run and chairmen/owners of clubs he works with would not necessarily be on the same page with him and a parting of the ways becomes inevitable. This was probably one of the reasons at United, along with the sour atmosphere created in the last few months.

At Chelsea, the straw that broke the camel’s back was probably his dispute with the club doctor. His methods invariably reap instant silverware in the first couple of seasons (three trophies in his first season at United is no joke and likewise a creditable second place finish to runaway champions who did not put a foot wrong all season last year) but then inevitably circumstances seem to conspire against him in the third year. I would say he is his worst enemy in this regard. Maybe with hindsight he would privately admit to himself that if he’d handled some situations more sagely, he’d still be in a job. But that’s José for you.

I’m pretty sure that he will be in high demand very soon from top clubs around Europe and that he will go on to build more winning teams with the right players in his mould and prove to the Einsteins that he’s no dinosaur.

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Youngsters Who Will Be Given First Team Chance

by Ole

by Alex Dudely

H

ow quickly things can change at Manchester United. With the departure of José Mourinho before Christmas, the club was in complete disarray, with the identity of the club gone with it. The board turned to a Norwegian legend in Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, and so far it has gone better than anyone could have expected.

Ole knows the club inside out, having spent eleven years at Old Trafford under the stewardship of Sir Alex Ferguson. The lessons that were learnt during that time seem to have moulded Ole into the coach that he wants to become. Attacking football along with youngsters being given a chance that they deserve are already two aspects that have been added back into the United regime, and a welcome return it is.

Marcus Rashford has already adjusted to life under the new manager, with the English forward now averaging a goal every two games; something that must be a welcome sight for all Reds fans. Indeed, the trust the Ole has shown in Rashford is something that would never have happened under José. The youngster has recently become the youngest player since Ryan Giggs to reach 100 appearances for United, and it seems that the Mancunian is enjoying the added pressure of leading the line.

However, it isn’t just Rashford that has excelled; the links between Ole and his old reserve team players seem to be fundamental with what he is trying to achieve. Paul Pogba and Jesse Lingard have transitioned into the players that Old Trafford expects and that’s down to the hard work that Ole has put in on the training ground both now and when he first coached the players nearly ten years ago.

The identity is back, and Ole will continue to give the younger players a chance. Nicky Butt claimed in January that the Norwegian blocked loan moves for Angel Gomes and Tahith Chong, just highlighting the opportunity that we will see more of them before the end of the season.

Gomes did make an appearance on boxing

day against Huddersfield Town, marking his first display for the first team since replacing Wayne Rooney in the ex-England captain’s last appearance at Old Trafford. Gomes captained the England U17’s to World Cup success nearly two years ago, in a side that also featured Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Phil Foden. The 18-year old has been at United for almost ten years now and is the cousin of ex-Red Luis Nani.

He undoubtedly has a bright future.

Chong has also made an appearance in the New Year when he came on as a second-half substitute in United’s third round FA Cup win over Reading at the Theatre of Dreams. The Dutchman’s display left Old Trafford openmouthed as he dribbled past his opponents with ease. Chong has already been tied down to a long term contract at United, with various clubs from around the world keen on poaching the talented 18-year-old. He has been in fine form for the reserves all season, scoring five goals in 13 appearances. Furthermore, he was an unused substitute for United’s loss against Juventus at Old Trafford earlier in the season, something that would have been an experience even without featuring in the match.

Kieran McKenna always speaks in glowing terms about the Dutch talent. He said: “Tahith has hit the ground running in his time here and I think he’s just a fantastic professional.

He has the right attitude to training and looks after himself well off the pitch. He’s personable and good with the staff and players, which has helped him to settle in quickly. On the pitch, everyone has been excited by his performances; he’s an eye-catching player.

We’ll just keep pushing him to add to that with an end product so he can add goals and assists, as he has been doing, and can have a bright future in the game.”

The most talented player currently in the reserves that is yet to make a first-team appearance in Mason Greenwood. The hype that comes with Greenwood is growing with every game that he plays in. Anybody that follows the club on one of the social channels will have heard or seen him in action; as

his goals are very rarely tap-ins. So far this season, the 17-year old has found the net on 23 occasions across all age groups that he has featured in. The youngster already has a host of fans and draws comparisons with Robin Van Persie regarding his technique and the variety of goals that he scores, while he also draws a similar resemblance to Marcus Rashford’s emergence onto the scene for United.

Injuries in the latter part of the season could see Greenwood finally given a chance with the first team. However, he isn’t likely to be placed ahead of Rashford or Romelu Lukaku in the rankings of United strikers. United fans have been crying out for a chance to see the exciting striker feature, and if anyone is going to take a chance on him, it looks like it will be Ole. Much of the talk this season has been about United’s need for a solid defender to play alongside Victor Lindelof. Maybe we already have the ideal candidate in the reserves, with both Ro-Shaun Williams and Lee O’Connor waiting in the wings for a first-team chance. The latter has already trained with the Republic of Ireland senior team and is considered one the best Irish players of his age group, the same age group as West Ham’s Declan Rice.

Williams meanwhile would add some blistering pace into the United back line, as he shot to fame for breaking Darren Campbell’s 100-metre record at Ashton-upon-Mersey school: an achievement that had stood for 25 years. On the pitch there is more to his game than purely speed. He is comfortable on the ball and is comfortable in the air and bringing the ball out from the back.

Time will tell whether Ole will be giving these youngsters a chance that they are craving. After all, the results in the back-end of the season will determine whether he will be the man to lead United into the next generation. When the time is right, Ole will use all of the younger players, and they will have their chance to shine, something that will undoubtedly happen and they will prove that they are ready to become first team stars.

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The New United’s Style of Play

by Stefan Attard

A

t the start of the new season Mourinho made it clear that the club needed to sign a central defender to see the club challenging at the top. The club did not back him though, with Ed Woodward claiming that there were no other defenders in the market who are better than what the club already had. With hindsight, a world class defender might have contributed to the cause of challenging for the title. Liverpool have scored just 7 goals more than United but are 16 points ahead, Tottenham scored only two more than us but are 9 points ahead while Chelsea scored a remarkable eight fewer goals and are still 2 points adrift (statistics after 24 games).

Apart from keeping Mourinho happy, these statistics suggest that a world class defender might have improved our defence and perhaps our league position. Signing a defender would have also sent a message that the club has faith in the manager and is firmly behind him. History shows that the fragility on the manager’s position has a great impact on the squad (Manchester City were just 3 points behind then champions Leicester when it was announced that Guardiola would be replacing Pellegrini. By the end of the season the gap increased to 16 points). From the beginning of the season Mourinho showed his frustration for not having his wish fulfilled. The lack of

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backing must have sent a clear message to the squad and was perhaps the begin of the end for the Portuguese. The statistics of the previous campaign belied the frailties of our defence with De Gea often singlehandedly wining points for the team. With rivals spending huge amounts of money on defenders, one could perhaps understand Mourinho’s frustrations. By claiming that United have overachieved in the previous campaign the manager gave the impression that he was defeated before the season had even started. This is not acceptable at Manchester United.

Looking back at the Ferguson era specifically in summer 2006, we lost our top scorer Ruud Van Nistelrooy and signed only one player – Michael Carrick. During the same summer, our main rivals Chelsea added a world-class player in every position through Ashley Cole, Michael Ballack and Andriy Shevchenko.

Against all odds Manchester United won the Premiership thanks to the winning mentality Ferguson managed to instill in his squad.

But Mourinho isn’t Ferguson. No manager is! Mourinho’s antics following the summer transfer window should come as no surprise.

His constant negative press conferences dulled the spirit of the squad and all the

fans. This shouldn’t have come as a surprise to the United hierarchy who chose to extend the deal of an egomaniac and then deny him the players he wanted. This was ultimately the manager they picked, and this was the way he behaved. If the manager was given what he wanted, this only served to delay the inevitable. The manager lost his dressing room, the players were not playing for him and his tactics were wrong. If our defence would have improved with a new defensive signing, chances are that the team still wouldn’t have challenged for the title.

Looking back, while it was a mistake not to have strengthened the defence during the summer window, it was a bigger mistake to extend the manager’s contract when it was clear that they had lost the faith in him.

When the inevitable happened on the 18th of December, everyone felt a sense of relief.

The club was in a freefall.

The following day Manchester United announced the club legend Ole Gunnar Solskjaer as our caretaker manager till the end of the season. There were initial and understandable reservations about this choice.

Some felt Michael Carrick and Kieran McKenna were natural successors in the interim and Solskjaer’s affable personality was viewed

as a concern where it came to dealing with the dressing room egos. Solskjaer’s past association with Paul Pogba, whom he gave his United Reserves debut at the age of 17 nine years ago, is believed to have been key to the Frenchman’s sudden upturn in form.

Solskjaer’s familiarity with time-served staff immediately endeared him after the culture of ‘fear and hate’ under Mourinho, who nevertheless bid polite farewells at Carrington.

In many ways, Solskjaer accepted a daunting task when approached by vice executive chairman Ed Woodward to take over from Mourinho. United was sixth in the Premier League, 19 points off the lead and 11 adrift of the Champions League qualification positions, after its worst start to a top-flight season. Its squad looked lopsided, the dressing room fractured. Yet he has taken to one of the most pressure-filled positions in world soccer with ease. Always smiling, always with a cheerful disposition. Just simply enjoying himself.

Under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, the first seven Premier League games saw United improving remarkably. During the Norwegian’s tenure, no side has won more points (19), scored more Premier League goals (19), had more shots (121), created more chances (87) or conceded fewer goals (6) than Manchester United. Before Solskjaer took charge, our best goal difference for the season was +2, following our 4-1 win over Fulham. After just 7 Premier League games, our goal difference is now +13. We were eight points behind fifth placed Arsenal and 11 points behind fourth placed Chelsea when Mourinho was sacked.

Those gaps have been reduced to two points in just over a month. Apart from the consecutive wins, the way in which United are playing is more than encouraging.

Perhaps if Mourinho reserved his defensive approach for just the big games, then maybe we wouldn’t have as much room to complain.

Our results against Arsenal, Liverpool, City, Tottenham and Chelsea were good.

The problem was that United lost points against West Brom, Stoke (then relegated), Huddersfield and Southampton. To be hanging on against poor teams though, as we have so often done this season, even if we did go on to win, is not acceptable. Through his constant complaints about his squad, Mourinho may have succeeded somehow to make us believe that it was.

I was wrong to think there wasn’t someone in the short term who could get more entertaining football out of the players we had, who could bring in better results than the ones we would have otherwise had. It’s too early to judge conclusively, but these nine games under Solskjaer have been some of the best moments we’ve had as United fans for a while, so I applaud the club for being brave enough to make the decision so early on. They hung on to Moyes and Van Gaal for so much longer than they should have, and it appears as though they’ve learnt from those mistakes.

Time will tell whether Solskjaer has the ability to take on the position on a permanent basis but for now I’m just enjoying watching us play proper football again. I’m loving seeing the players who failed to show up for Mourinho playing their socks off. It’s great to see our academy players making it in to the match day squad and getting on the pitch. It warms my heart to see our manager celebrating every goal as if it means the world to him and singing the praises of our players after every game.

Mourinho did a better job than history will probably credit him for. He won two trophies, qualified for the Champions League in both seasons, and outperformed media darlings Klopp and Pochettino in both league position and silverware. But it fell apart this season and I was wrong to believe we couldn’t find someone who could do better, if Solskjaer’s start is anything to go by. It’s fun watching United play again, for the first time in a long time, and Mourinho should feel embarrassed for failing to get the best out of our players.

It’s unlikely he’s capable of such an emotion though, given he always claims his failings are someone else’s fault. We can be glad for what he achieved with us though.

The buzz that began on 19 December with Solskjaer’s appointment has not dissipated.

In contrast with how they felt under José Mourinho, players like their boss and feel that they have a man who wants them to play to their strengths. Many of them felt that Mourinho was too concerned with opponents that he didn’t focus on United’s strengths. That meant a cautious approach where the team played deeper, as Mourinho didn’t want his defence too exposed.

Solskjaer changed all the negative tactics with his players further up the pitch with his full-backs wide and high. The other players like this, because they feel it opens up the pitch. They also like their manager’s attitude in encouraging them to be bold, to take risks and not be burdened by the consequences. He’s in tune with United fans in knowing that they want their team to attack. Mourinho benefitted from much fan support – far more than he’d have got at another major European football club – but his team had a negative goal difference on the day he got sacked. It was nowhere near good enough for Manchester United.

Solskjaer has changed everything. He’s happier to engage with everyone from staff to fans to players. There’s only so much that one person can do, but he’s got good assistants around him and takes a back seat on the training field – like Sir Alex Ferguson used to do. Solskjaer communicates with all the players one-to-one and they feel like it’s a player talking to them – because he was one for so long. He is on the same wavelength as strikers because he was one, and as the substitutes, because he was often one of those too.

The manner in which United fought back

after a poor performance against Burnley for a dramatic stoppage-time draw impressed.

The news that Anthony Martial signed a new contract on deadline day was greatly cheered.

He’s a hugely talented young player who wanted to leave in the summer. Hopes are high that Spaniards David de Gea and Ander Herrera will follow, though the Old Trafford future Juan Mata, is less certain. There were no protests about the departure of Marouane Fellaini, 31, who secured a move to China.

Weakening a squad by losing someone with different attributes from every other player at the club should not be celebrated, however; Fellaini hasn’t started any of the nine games with the Norwegian in charge, though he’s been injured for some.

His honeymoon period is going so well that there would be few complaints if he was appointed permanent manager right now, but United have a bit of time before they rush into a major decision after three underachievers in David Moyes, Louis van Gaal and Mourinho. If Solskjaer can get the team into the top four, win the FA Cup or get past PSG in the next round of the Champions League, then he’ll be on solid ground. If he can continue to get more out of players than Mourinho, then it would be difficult to see beyond him.

Solskjaer proceeds with the confidence of the board, his players, staff and fans.

He has a decent relationship with both Ed Woodward and Sir Alex Ferguson, whom he communicates with regularly – something none of his predecessors did. He’ll need all that help given the run of games coming up in February. At the end of March, it will be the right time to judge whether he should be the permanent future manager of the club he served so well, but his current mark is 10/10.

If the Norwegian continues this winning run between now and the end of the season, he will leave United’s hierarchy with a real dilemma when choosing the club’s next fulltime manager this summer says Neville. “It will be hard to ignore him,” the former United and England captain said: “Ultimately, what Man Utd were going to do […] was to scour Europe for one of the best managers in the world to take over in the summer”.

The cloud over England’s biggest soccer club has been lifted since Ole’s appointment.

We have certainly got our hero in charge of our club, someone who talked about United as “us” even when he wasn’t our manager.

Someone who understands the honour it is to be the manager of Manchester United and this having nothing to do with his ego or reputation. Someone who learnt his trade from Sir Alex Ferguson and still calls on him for advice. Someone who celebrates every goal as a fan because he is a fan.

Someone who understands our history and the importance of promoting youth. But more important than any of that, someone who loves attacking football and understands how much the fans want to be entertained.

Long may it continue. Ole!

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MixedMANCUNIANPlatter

by Karm Galea

Having said that, though, there were teams and individuals who wanted to play the gamble and take him on.

One notable person and former Manchester City defender Aage Hareide got interested in him and was very keen to move him to a bigger club after Ole had scored 31 of Clausengen’s 47 goals in one league season. So, thanks to Hareide, who at that time was manager of Molde, Ole got himself transferred to that club.

That was 1995.

Solskjaer - a peep into his younger days Ole was born into a sporting and humble family on the 26th of February 1973 to his mother Brita and father Oivind in the West Coast of Norway and grew up in the small island town of Kristiansund in Eastern Norway. His dad was a Greco-Roman superstar wrestler who championed Norway for five years between 1966 and 1971, so it was no was surprise that Solskjaer senior’s hope that his son would follow in his footsteps. But wrestling was too rough for Ole as a kid. He did try it for three years but his frail frame went against him as he struggled to follow in his father’s footsteps.

Eventually his parents had enough of their ‘Tiny Ole’ being thrown around and insisted that their son abandon this type of sport. Beside of wrestling, Ole had another love and that was football. He even slept with a ball every night.

Ole continued to excel himself as a prolific goalscorer at the top club in the Norwegian League. Ole’s secret was hard work both at the club and in private practice. It was a time when he aimed to succeed at all costs. It was also a time when he was feeling ambitious about playing in England, as his goalscoring prowess attracted English Premier League scouts who were constantly accessing him. Amongst them were scouts from Manchester United.

After Ferguson failed to acquire Alan Shearer in 1996, it was decided to go for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, a name that was still not so familiar in footballing circles in England.

With only a few games played, it became very evident to club and fans alike that United had secured one of the best bargains in the club’s history, him ending up scoring 18 Premier League goals for United in his first season.

The rest, at they say, is history.

Ole loved watching football on TV, notably Saturday’s BBC Match of the Day and browse through British football programmes like English Soccer Magazine, Shoot and Match Weekly. He used to write down all the team sheets and formations from Match of the Day and at some point, He got to know everything about football in England.

Solskjaer - a peep into his private life While playing for United, Ole lived with his lovely wife named Silje at Bramhall, a suburb of Stockport. The couple are blessed with three children, Noah, Karna and Elijah. Ole and wife started dating in 1992 and married in Florida in 2004. He met Silje while football training at Clausenengen Fotballklubb.

Influenced by watching so much football, Ole used his energy kicking endlessly a football on a sand and gravel pitch near his home. It took no time before his parents influenced him to make a decision about his alternative sport.

Young Noah once confessed to the media that his dad was not his favourite player. Back then, Noah, had eyes only for Wayne Rooney.

At the age of 8 and being regarded as a young prospect, he was enrolled at his town’s local club Clausengen, a small club known to making kids earn big reputations thanks to their way of harnessing talent. A few months after he joined the club, there were rumours that he might not make it because of his size.

Fortunately for Ole, around his mid-teen years, he began to shoot up naturally and put on weight. Although he became bigger and stronger it still wasn’t good enough for him to be taken to join the big league clubs even as he was promoted to senior football.

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Solskjaer - career facts We all know about the career highs of Ole’s time at Manchester United but there are snippets of his career that maybe we know little about.

Ole scored six minutes into his United debut against Blackburn.

He has been caught only 8 times offside during his illustrious career in the Premier League.

He was offered by Molde to both Everton and Man City for £1.2 million but both teams refused him. United snapped him up for £1.5 million.

On August 2, 2008, an emotional testimonial match between United and Espanyol was at Old Trafford in honour of Ole. That match recorded almost 69,000 fans and set a record as the second-highest-attended testimonial match in British football history. The match gave Ole £5million, much of which was expected to have gone to charity.

Ole stayed at Old Trafford even though other clubs showed interest in him especially in 1998. Despite being used as a substitute, he refused all offers even when United accepted offers for him.

Solskjaer started coaching even while as a player for United. Back then, Ole would return to Norway to coach at the Statoil Academy, a summer school for the country’s most promising youngsters.

After retirement, Solskjaer had rejected an opportunity to manage Norway, saying it was ‘too soon’.

As a coach, Solskjaer won the Norwegian title in his very first season at Molde in 2011. He has also won four trophies as manager of the United reserves which Lingard and Pogba represented.

At age 19, Ole had undergone a year of compulsory military service.

In 2008, Solskaer became the youngest Norwevian to receive the First Class Knighthood of the Royal Norwegian Order of St. Olav by King Harald V of Norway. This was unprecedented as usually this honour is bestowed upon members of society in their later years.

Ole won the Peer Gynt Prize for his work in football and philanthropy.

It is claimed that Ole has earned more than £27 million throughout his career, £20 million of those during his 11 year career at United.

De Gea - frames boots Solskjaer’s first big test in his first few days as interim manager was the game at Wembley Stadium, home of Spurs at this point in time.

As most of us know, it was an entertaining end-to-end affair in which both teams went for a win. It was also a game where David De Gea played an absolute blinder, making 11 crucial

saves in the match. De Gea made most of his saves with his legs and feet, an area in which De Gea is the best in the business. No wonder the boots worn on this occasion were framed.

Mata - what was said in the tunnel Five years ago Mata joined Manchester United and made his debut at OT against Cardiff City.

Solskjaer was the Cardiff manager at the time.

Ole sought out Mata in the tunnel ahead of kick-off time to welcome the Spaniard to the club. Mata recalls the words Solskjaer said to him: “Welcome to this fantastic club. Juan, it is incredible, you’ll see. Enjoy it as much as you can and good luck”. How the thread of life of each individual twists and turns.

Mata and Solskjaer are now together at this fantastic club.

Mata - regarded as one of the nicest guys in football He never badmouths, nor moans at the referee or dives. Occasionally he shows frustration, but who doesn’t in a football game. He is widely regarded as one of the nicest guys in football.

He just absolutely loves football, adores his job and wants to give back to the less fortunate.

That’s where Common Goal comes in. Mata set up the charity for professional footballers, urging them to give just 1% of their salary away to people who need it. Common Goal is picking up speed and every single week a new name is getting himself involved.

Now it’s nice to see Mata rewarded. He has been awarded Spain’s prestigious National Award for Sport for the work he does off the field of play. A real deserving winner.

The Club tweeted its congratulations to Juan for this achievement and continued the tweet by saying that the Club is filled with pride and seriously lucky to him with us. From day one he wanted to learn about our history, commit himself to the fans and give his all every single time he stepped in the field.

has good memories of Solskjaer and his goal.

Now they are managers at opposing camps.

Manchester United - over a million UEFA has released a report, an overview of the state of football across the continent for the 2017/18 season. In Europe, there are 15 clubs with huge aggregate attendances totaling more than a million. Following are the top five in the list: 1- Manchester United with 1,424,544 and an average attendance of 74,976; 2 Borussia Dortmund with 1,351,432 and an average attendance of 79,496; 3 - Tottenham with 1,291,107 and an average attendance of 67,953; 4 - Bayern Munich with 1,275,000 and an average attendance of 75,000; 5 - Barcelona with 1,265,457 and an average attendance of 66,603.

We should be happy with how things have formed up (at the point of writing, after the Leicester game), though things could turn horribly wrong in the future, as is the nature of football. United have won five consecutive away games, namely vs. Cardiff, Newcastle, Tottenham, Arsenal and Leicester. This is the best run of away form in over six years, a feat they had not been managed since October 2012 when Ferguson was in charge.

David Beckham has received the FA’s approval to become a director at Salford City Football Club. He is now a part owns the club to the tune of 10%. Beckham’s acquisition makes the Class of ’92 majority shareholders in the club, as he joins former team-mates Gary and Phil Neville, Nicky Butt, Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes as part-owners of the club.

Martial has signed a new long-term contract to the tune of £250,000-a-week just a month after Mourinho left the club. It is fair to say that Ole played a huge role in this.

Interesting to note that Liverpool have struggled to reach the million mark (1,007,931) and Juventus are not in the million bracket.

Snippets - a source of information United pride themselves on bringing through youth players. In fact, the game against Tottenham made it 3,952 consecutive first-team games since October 1937 that Manchester United have had an academy graduate in the match-day squad. A statistic to be proud of.

Since World War II, 464 players have featured for United. 49% of them came from the club’s academy.

Solskjaer is the first manager in top flight history since its creation in 1888 to win their first 5 games in all competitions by at least a 2-goal margin.

De Gea has made it into the FIFA 19 Team of the Year.

Pochettino was at the Nou Camp for the 1999 Champions League final and recollects that he shouted the second goal for United because it was unbelievable. He was neutral and watching a good game with a surprising ending, so he

Rashford - comparison to modern goalscoring greats Marcus Rashford marked his 150th appearance in professional football with a goal against Brighton in a 2-1 win in January. This was his 41st goal since making his debut for United in 2016. But how does he compare to some of the most prolific goalscorer in the modern game after their first 150 games?

Alan Shearer at age 21 scored 35, Thierry Henry at age 21 with 28 goals, Harry Kane at age 22 with 53 goals scored, Wayne Rooney at age 20 with 45 goals, Messi at age 21 with 74 goals, Cristiano Ronaldo at age 20 with 25 goals and Aguero at age 20 with 57 goals.

Further to this, a stunning statistic (see below) has emerged after Rashford’s goal away against Leicester in his 100th Premier League appearance. Rashford has now amazingly eclipsed a host of United legends, including club record goalscorer Rooney in his tally for this first 100 league appearances for the club.

Number of goals after 100 Premier League games: Ronaldo - 19, Rooney - 24, Giggs - 25, Rashford - 26.

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the tunnel like a general eager for battle and utterly confident of winning it. My head filled with all this images of me playing United and standing in the corridor at Upton Park in awe as they filed past, in their blazers”.

Fellaini - a small tribute Fellaini cannot be regarded as the cherry on the United cake. He had his good points and bad points, but he was a shining example of how one should carry himself on the field of play as a player earning loads of money … he gave his all.

A record which Marouane holds is that he scored in all three semi-finals in which Manchester United have won trophies since the departure of Ferguson.

Ferdinand and Vidić - the centre back partnership SPORTbible had this poll out for its community, to find out who is/was the best defensive partnership in Premier League history to date.

This is what emerged percentagewise.

68% Ferdinand and Vidić, 14% Terry and Carvalho, 10% Carragher and Hyypia and 8% Toure and Campbell.

Between 2006 and 2013, the pair anchored the Old Trafford defence, winning 5 league titles and a Champions League.

Against Everton in the FA Cup (2015/16) Against Hull in the League Cup (2016/17) Martial - comparison to Ronaldo?

The comparison relates to the first 104 Premiership games at United since they joined.

Against Celta in the Europa League (2016/17) Personally, I thank him and wish him luck in his new venture.

Ronaldo - games started 73, minutes played 7051, goals 22, mins per goal 321, Martial - games started 79, minutes played 6958, goals 32, mins per goal 217, Ronaldo - assists 14, goals & assists 36, mins per goal or assist 196, Martial - assists 16, goals & assists 48, mins per goal or assist 145, Ronaldo - shots, total including blocks 344, shot conversion rate including blocks 6.4 Martial - shots, total including blocks 173, shot conversion rate including blocks 18.5 Ronaldo - chances created including assists 149 Martial - chances created including assists 122

Solskjaer - makes rule change The new manager insisted that United players and staff wore their club suits to Wembley for their Premier League game against Tottenham.

United players almost always donned tracksuits for away games under Mourinho, who had relaxed rules for travelling attire, but Solskjaer was responsible for the change to Paul Smith suits for the Tottenham game.

Solskjaer - how United fared, on average, since Ole took over up to the Burnley home game Points per game - 2.7 Goals per game - 2.7 Shots per game - 17.3 Goals conceded per game - 0.9

Ferguson was a staunch advocate of United players wearing suits to represent the club at away and on European trips. Van Gaal was usually in a club suit and tie and ensured his United squad were suitably attired for away trips.

Michael Carrick wrote in his autobiography how Ferguson pressed on the importance of presentation and how awestruck he was as an apprentice at West Ham whenever United players arrived with their blazers on.

“When Manchester United came to town (West Ham), they’d be in their blazers and looked like they meant business. Seeing Ferguson for the first time made a deep impression on me. He marched down the corridor towards

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It is worthwhile to note that these four statistics were top of the list compared to the other teams in the Premiership during the period in question. Let’s hope this trend continues. Believe!

Tahith Chong - ‘Chongy’ to his playing mates It takes players years to earn an individual chant at Old Trafford but Tahith Chong had only to wait a few minutes to be given that ultimate acceptance honour after coming on for his first-team debut. The 19-year old is already a big hit with United fans, who were on their feet to welcome him after he became the 229th youngster to graduate into the first team, singing “One Chong, we’ve got one Chong!”.

As much as United’s senior players have been impressed by Chong’s promise, they have also been struck by his attitude and manners. That was something that United scouts were well aware of when they did background checks on him while speaking to his former coaches when he was at Feyenoord.

United’s former head of youth recruitment, Derek Langley revealed that Tahith was spotted when he was a 14-year old playing in a tournament at Carrington, what used to be the Nike Premier Cup. Chong had already been tipped by United’s scouts in Holland and Langley followed him at that tournament and then followed him all over Europe.

Chong’s form dipped slightly due to growth issues, something that was confirmed by his parents, so Langley just went cautious but carried on watching him and realised that his form was coming back. He was on the verge of signing for Chelsea but Derek managed to convince his parents and the boy his future lies with United.

Who will be at the wheel of

Manchester United

?

come next season

by Julian Tabone

W

ho will be at the wheel of Manchester United come next season?

I remember reading one of Alex Ferguson’s first biographies. The way he used to go into details whilst negotiating transfers and the way he describes it was fascinating. He could do that because he was afforded the kind of power that allowed him to have complete control.

That kind of approach is quite simply not doable anymore in today’s game.

The off-the-pitch interests and the agents hovering around trying to get the best deals for their clients make it impossible to replicate Ferguson’s methodology.

A manager, today needs to focus on his job, which is managing his team selection and preparing his players for matches. The rest, inevitably, requires a helping hand.

And that is why the talk of engaging a director of football at Manchester United has recently emerged.

A director of football is what Manchester City, for instance, decided to do way back.

It hurts that we have to compare ourselves with our neighbours but today everybody recognizes the fact that City’s appointment of former Barcelona technical director Txiki Begiristain as their director of football paved the way for them to secure Pep Guardiola as manager in 2016.

I have read a lot in the past few weeks about the need of restructuring the club come next summer. And I have read a lot about the need of appointing a director of football. Various names keep cropping up; Atletico Madrid’s Italian director Andrea Berta, RB Leipzig’s Paul Mitchell and also Juventus’ Fabio Paratici are being mentioned.

I am still not entirely convinced.

It represents a change in attitude and a change in mentality as well. In Britian, it was generally the norm for a manager to oversee everything that happens inside a football club.

That approach is simply untenable given the demands and the expectations imposed by the modern game. Essentially, a director of football can release some of the burden and act as a direct link between the manager and the club’s hierarchy.

Which brings us to the manager dilemma.

Before thinking of appointing a director of football, there needs to be a fixed manager in the dug-out. That is what ultimately counts most.

The shortlist of contenders is not a lengthy one.

himself in our dug-out. The way he conducts pre- and post-match interviews - it feels as if we are listening to Sir Alex all over again.

We still do not know his ability to handle transfer markets. Can he attract the biggest talents? Can he scout the best prospects? Is he ready to blood in the youngsters if needed?

That is where a director of football can step-in.

Pundits and others who have Manchester United close to their heart keep harping about Pochettino. There may be something there. The man has been responsible for the development of some exciting talent at Southampton and subsequently at Tottenham.

Also, is it a coincidence that since rumours of him coming to United, Spurs’ form went a bit pear-shaped? He would possibly be able to lure to Old Trafford some exciting players which is all very positive but (and this is a big but) he is yet to land any silverware. And that is tricky if you are to join the big club that Man Utd are.

Others keep singing the praises of Zinedine Zidane who is currently unemployed. He may have had success with Real Madrid especially in European competitions, but his playing style is debatable. Ok, he is French and he may be controversial and so we can always tr y to think he would be a resemblance of you know who, but somehow he seems he does not fit with the Manchester United way.

Pochettino, Zidane....and you may well stop there.

Linking the likes of Antonio Conte, Didier Deschamps, Max Allegri or even Sean Dyche or Eddie Howe to the Manchester United’s manager’s post is – with the greatest of respects – an insult to Manchester United’s fans.

Which leaves us with only one candidate: Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.

What Solskjaer has managed to achieve so far is nothing short of extraordinary.

That is where the perfect blend needs to be secured.

We can’t afford any more mistakes.

With hindsight, we always knew that Mourinho would not last more than 3 years at max. His transfer acquisitions precisely underlined that way of thinking. Mourinho went for ready-made talents – such as Ibrahimovic and Pogba and Lukaku. He gambled on the likes of Mkhitaryan, Bailly and Lindelof but that kind of recipe has backfired.

We need a short-term solution yes, but one which guarantees a solid platform for the next 7-8 years.

The trust being shown in young talents such as Mason Greenwood, Angel Gomes, Tahith Chong and Jimmy Garner is promising.

The nurturing of Marcus Rashford, Anthony Martial, Jesse Lingard, Ander Herrera and Luke Shaw is auspicious and revitalising.

The confidence given to De Gea and Pogba is comforting.

Those players should be the spine of our team for years to come.

Complimenting that with a solid centre-half partnership and a few tweaks should help cement our place back at the very top, whilst playing entertaining football.

Our next manager – and possibly our sporting director - needs to understand just that. If he does that, we will surely “know how good does that feel. We’ve got....”

He has brought out the best out of our players.

He has brought the smiles back and it is pretty obvious that the players are enjoying themselves again. It feels good because it feels as if we have a replica of the great man

So, who will be at the wheel of Manchester United come next season? Whatever happens in the last 9 games of the season, most Manchester United fans know the answer to that already.

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RISING FROM THE WRECKAGE SEASON 1958‑59

by Iain McCartney Part 3

“There’s the financial aspect too. I would be better off in the England side. Last season at Hillsborough we were all getting little dispirited at the way things were going. The bonuses weren’t coming in, and so on.

“I have always admired United and once I decided to ask for a move there was only one club for me.

“I always enjoyed playing against them. The man who used to mark me was of course Duncan Edwards. I knew him as a friend.”

Looking back on that emotional night when football returned to Old Trafford for the first time following the crash, the former Wednesday captain said: “Normally once a game has started, I am oblivious to the crowd.

But not that night. It was a bizarre game. The atmosphere was electric.

“It was like playing against two teams – against the promoted players, determined not to let down their own mates, and also against the memory of the lads who were killed. That game drove home for me the tremendous spirit that exists at Old Trafford.

“I am looking forward to a long and happy future at United.”

Quixall’s move to Manchester was not exactly straight forward, as the Football League once again felt that it had to become involved in United’s affairs, showing some concern over the record fee paid that they had agreed to pay, a sum that was considered the equivalent to that of a Member of Parliament for nine years! But after consulting both clubs, they announced that there would be no enquiry, as both clubs and the player were satisfied that the deal went through according to the transfer regulations.

The Yorkshireman’s signing put immediate pressure on Ernie Taylor, but the diminutive former Blackpool forward was quick to say: “I think this is great news. Am I despondent?

Not on your life. I’m prepared to do anything the boss asks – anything. What he says is good enough for me.”

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Albert Quixall’s debut against Tottenham Hotspur, brought the crowds flocking to Old Trafford and the gates were locked prior to kick off for the second consecutive home fixture and some three hours before kick off, supporters were queuing for the unreserved

seats and when the new signing arrived at the ground at 11pm, he was immediately besieged by eager autograph hunters.

In the United dressing room before the game, Quixall, who had looked a picture of confidence as he made his way into the stadium, was a completely different person and as he undressed, it was noticed that his back had come out in a rash, not through being allergic to the red shirt he was about to pull on, but due to nerves and the actual thought of pulling it on.

Under the spotlight, he took the credit for making United’s first goal, but overall, he was closely marked by sometimes three white shirted visiting defenders and like some of his team mates, he failed to stamp his authority on a game that so desperately required someone to do so. The future, however, looked bright for both player and club, although the likes of Dennis Viollet felt that his team mate was given a raw deal by both the press and the public and due to his sensitivity, any adverse reaction to his on the field displays did have an effect on him.

Football today is governed not so much by the likes of the Premier League or the Football

live on television. Although, whilst certainly providing plenty of ‘entertainment’, the often bruising encounter did little to emphasise the quality of football in the top flight of the English game.

The match bubbled away right from the kickoff and in the twentieth minute, a bottle was thrown from the terracing towards Ian Greaves, following a hard, but completely fair challenge on Norman Deeley. But it was a tackle by Stan Crowther, which left Bill Slater lying crumpled on the ground that lit the blue touch paper and in the ten minutes that followed there was a rash of hacking, body-checking and elbowing.

Mark Pearson made a couple of untimely tackles, while Freddie Goodwin and Gerry Harris were spoken to by referee Alf Bond following a scuffle. Clamp was then spoken to after bringing down Quixall.

Association, but by Sky TV, who enjoy the monopoly of televised football, dictating who plays who on a particular day and at what time. Back in the 1950’s, kick-off times for League fixtures were generally 3.00pm on a Saturday afternoon, certainly in the top division, but lower down the League’s if a club did not have floodlights, then an earlier kick-off time would prevail during the winter months.

However, on Saturday October 4th, a look at the Saturday evening sport results paper and scanning down those of the First Division, the very last fixture – Wolves v Manchester United, fails to give the result, as underneath was printed “kick-off 7pm”. The reason behind this was nothing more than an experiment, but one that would not be repeated in a hurry.

Disappointingly for the Molinuex club, the attendance was some 10,000 down on average and not even Manchester United could persuade the locals to forget about their regular Saturday night out at the theatre, cinema, dogs or pubs.

Despite the drop in attendance, Wolves chairman Jim Baker said: “We made football history and that’s what Wolves are out to do all the time. Maybe we made a mistake by not making it an all-ticket game (what difference this would have made is very debatable), but this is unlikely to be Wolves last attempt at Saturday night soccer.

Matt Busby on the other hand was far from enthralled by the occasion, saying: “We would have preferred an afternoon kick-off, but were quite happy to oblige when Wolves made the offer.”

“It’s most unlikely that United would agree to play a League match again on a Saturday night.”

Thankfully the encounter between the two First Division heavyweights was not shown

United struggled for most of the match and were no match for the reigning champions, losing 4-0. A result that left them in eighth place, two points behind early leaders Arsenal, but failure to win any of the following five fixtures saw them drop to fourteenth, leaving Busby with much to contemplate.

The defeat was not the only matter to concern the United manager, as he was also troubled with opposition supporters and certain quarters of the media tagging his team as “dirty”. Both the Wolves encounter and a friendly against Weiner Sports Club had produced an unusually high number of fouls, bringing a comment from David Meek of the ‘Manchester Evening News’ that “there was too much tackling, which went for the man and not the ball. It is the urge to retaliate which causes the problems.”

It wasn’t just at first team level that disciplinary problems seemed to arise, as Mark Pearson once again found himself in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons after being sent off in a Central League fixture against Leeds United at Elland Road on October 11th and then missing training on the Monday morning. Matt Busby refused to comment, but Pearson felt that he was now a marked man and actually began to dread playing, as the ‘dirty player’ tag seemed to follow him around.

quality partner, a centre-forward to match his guile as an inside forward, Manchester United were not getting the best out of their big-money signing.

There were still the rumours that further ventures into the transfer market were imminent, with the Welsh duo of Mel and John Charles both being mentioned by more than one source. Busby, however, was quick to state that he had put away the cheque book and was more than happy with the playing squad that he had. Others would certainly not agree and it wouldn’t be long before the young reserves, who had performed admirably in the wake of Munich were considered to have over-achieved. Some would also go on to regret their rapid rise and spell under the spotlight, feeling that a more relaxed and gradual approach would have been more beneficial.

A 2-1 victory at Elland Road on November 1st halted the run of seven games without a victory, but it was something of a false dawn, as seven days later, the Old Trafford faithful were subjected to their second successive home defeat, 3-1 at the hands of Burnley.

Unlike a few seasons ago, Busby did not have the resources to fall back on, but a fortnight later, in a week which saw last season’s First Division champions Wolverhampton Wanderers knocked out of Europe by German side Schalke, (going out 4-2 on aggregate), United finally secured a home victor y, defeating Luton Town 2-1, thanks to goals from Charlton and Viollet.

Just returning to the Wolves defeat in the European Cup, it was perhaps something of a blessing in disguise that United had been refused permission to enter the competition, as with current form being what it was, they may well have been spared much embarrassment.

Busby took great pride in his teams playing attacking football and although many of the players he nurtured through the ranks and indeed others that he introduced into the side from other clubs, were more than capable of handling themselves, he venomously disliked the thought of outsiders considering any of his players as being ‘dirty’.

But away from the negativity, general opinion was that the United manager should build a team around recent signing Albert Quixall and that the former Sheffield Wednesday golden boy was being wasted in his current role. His ability was never in question, but without a

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45

Onwards and upwards

by Robert Mizzi

A

s expected, José Mourinho’s tenure as Man United manager came to an end last December after the defeat against Liverpool. It was not much that defeat per se that broke the camel’s back but the accumulation of dismal displays, poor results and Mourinho’s inability to motivate himself and his team to some sort of decent form. Personally, I saw it coming as far back as the pre-season match against Liverpool when there was already an evident atmosphere of doom and gloom building up.

I am recalling a chat I had with Joe Glanville in August when we had both agreed that Mou had till Christmas time to try and fix it or he will have to go. He did not make it till Christmas, in fact, and one could write an entire book about the time José Mourinho spent at United – the undercurrents, the board supporting him with a renewed contract and then not backing him up, the evident mutiny of the players, and so on. I am sure someone will eventually write a book and it will be an intriguing read. Anyways, chapter closed.

Few of us saw the appointment of OGS as interim manager coming – I personally did not, although I had a feeling that an ex-United great would be brought in till the end of the season to calm the waters. United supporters were not happy with the situation at the club and with every day that was passing, more pressure was building on Woodward and the Glazers. Some argue that they played it safe with Ole – a legend with the supporters, loved by all – a reasonable gamble that may help calm the waters. It is safe to say that the Board, Woodward, the United supporters, and pretty much the rest of the football world did not imagine that Ole would have such a positive impact. And that in itself has created a dilemma but I’ll come back to this at the end of this article.

It was evident from day one that Ole was brought in to try and bring back the feel good factor. The players responded positively to his appointment and the environment was suddenly lifted to the extent that this started giving results where it matters most – on the pitch. At the time of writing, Ole’s record is P13 W11 D1 L1 – pretty impressive for an interim manager!

As a side note – it is evident that we are experiencing a new era of football management.

The players nowadays have much more power and they do not necessarily follow whatever the manager says. It has been dubbed as ‘player power’ and the managers who in some way or another dare rub the big players up the wrong way are simply asking for trouble. It is a new phenomenon, built up by the power of social media and the marketing pull of the top players who now feel they have more power than ever and some of them are exploiting this, even at the expense of their managers and their clubs

– their employers. Do I like it? No. I do not like inflated egos but I see them everywhere even in my environment on this little rock - so we just have to accept this as a matter of fact. More importantly, football managers have to adapt or face the consequences. It really does not reflect well on the directors of the respective football clubs when this happens but there you have it!

Onwards and upwards, however! Where do we go from here? I believe we have to learn from past mistakes and move on. The appointment of Moyes was a mistake which consequently sent the management of our beloved football club into panic. We have tried with experienced and big name managers and this has failed as well. So it is now imperative to get the next move right. But let us not kid ourselves just because Ole has steadied the ship – there is some serious work that needs to be done at management level. Rumours about the appointment of a DoF (Director of Football) have been building up even before José was sacked. There is a general consensus that Ed Woodward should not be dealing with football matters at Manchester United. Eric Cantona is

being mentioned and he even hinted something on his Instagram account (social media power again!). I personally love Eric and would like to see him back at United. Some may argue against such an appointment because he has relatively no experience in such a position but I think he can make it work if he is working closely with the rest of the management team and the manager.

In any case, someone in this position is needed as we have committed too many mistakes in recent years when it comes to strengthening the team. I would hope that the new DoF would look closely at the current scouting system and ensure we have good people out there with the ability to spot the up and coming new Vidic, Keane and Van Nistelrooy. We need to focus on young players at the academy and others who will be brought in to spend a few good years at United and develop their potential with our beloved Red Devils. The occasional high profile signing is fine as long as he fits in with the plan, but relying exclusively on what the scourge of modern football (the likes of Raiola, Mendez and co) have to offer at a very high price – this has to stop.

The way this current group of players have responded to OGS has proved one important point and we should all take note. Football is a team game and you can buy all the big name players you want and still fail miserably at building a strong team. A couple of months ago, we were all pointing fingers at individual players and saying that they are not good enough and we should get rid of the dead wood. A few weeks later and some players who were written off are now playing their heart out and willing to go through fire to get a result for their team.

This proves that, as the saying goes, the sum is greater than the parts. Paul Pogba is perhaps the perfect example of the change that OGS has brought about in such a few weeks. This player is suddenly willing to give his all for the club and I have no problem admitting that I doubted his ability in the past. The lethargic, erratic, Pogba has been replaced with a player willing to drive his team forward, providing assists, scoring goals and getting sent off out of frustration against PSG – I see nothing wrong with that and will eat humble pie – no problem whatsoever.

This brings us nicely to the dilemma I mentioned earlier in this article. Who should be the next manager? Undoubtedly, OGS is making a very serious claim and if he continues building up his impressive record as interim manager it will be, in my opinion, suicidal for the board not to give him his opportunity. Some people questioned his tactical prowess when we were pretty much outplayed by PSG at Old Trafford a few days ago.

Apart from the fact that we have had poor results in the Champions League even with Mourinho and LVG, it is what happened after that defeat that convinced me that Ole should be given the chance. The response we saw against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge was simply amazing. Playing without the injured Martial and Lingard, we still produced a masterful display and in many ways, it reminded me of how we used to bounce back after a defeat when Sir Alex Ferguson was in charge. The players reacted, there was 100% commitment by everyone, even by the players brought in to replace the injured players, and collectively, you could see a team playing for each other and working hard to get a result... the sum is greater than the parts.

If the powers that be at Man Utd thought that OGS was a temporary quick fix and they had already lined up the next big name manager, they might have an issue on their hands.

Thanks to Ole and his assistants (let us not forget the undoubtedly valid contribution of Mike Phelan, Michael Carrick and Kieran McKenna), I am looking forward to the match day again and enjoying seeing my beloved Red Devils having a go at playing football the way it should be played. My opinion is that we are still at least a couple of quality players short to be able to challenge for the English Premier League next season but in the meantime, with Ole at the wheel, it’s feeling pretty darn good!

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Ole Sorts It Out I

t should have happened earlier. The writing was on the wall from summer 2018 that this will be Mourinho’s last season at Manchester United. One may agree or disagree with the message, but the medium was definitely out of place. And once the manager loses it with the club’s record signing, a very influential member of the first team squad, there was always only one person who would be walking out: the manager.

We are living in a different day and age where, now more than ever, players hold the key to a club’s success. Autocratic managers are a dying breed in an age where players and their agents have a mind of their own and no longer take instructions at face value. Questions are asked, methods are challenged and tactics are weighed up. Endorsement is conditional upon matters making sense in the eyes of the players. When it comes to Manchester United especially, it is a one-of-a-kind club whereby methods that worked at other clubs might not work at United and even if they land a few trophies, would still result in faithful supporters voicing their thirst for attacking and entertaining football. When players join the chorus in demanding the “attack, attack, attack” mentality of our golden age, when we were 1-0 up and would rather go for the second, third and fourth than parking the bus and defend the siege, you realize that things are far from going in the right direction.

There were three moments when it should have

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been done. The first was right there and then in summer, when the US tour was questioned and a manager of a club so glorious, with fans so religiously passionate, uttered the statement that fans are wasting money to go watch United play in the pre-season tour across the Atlantic. No way Jose, that just doesn’t cut it. That shows that you have absolutely no clue what it means to be a devoted Manchester United supporter. Such matters are properly addressed in a board room and not in the press. Sulking and throwing tantrums get you nowhere and only makes matters worse with the top administration. If it were for me making the decision, I would have shown him the door there and then.

The second point of no return was breaking the relationship with the club’s record signing, calling him a “virus” in the dressing room and stripping him of any chance of the captaincy.

A manager is a manager if he can manage.

Not all people are easy. George Best was no easy lad and neither was Eric Cantona, to name just two, but they were managed by a manager who got the best out of them. When the club spends €105 million to return a player they lost for free a few years back, you do not freeze him out or demotivate him, but you manage his character and make him want to run through a brick wall for you. It was clear that the relationship had reached a point of no return and that one of the two would have to outlast the other. When you have the majority of the dressing room backing Pogba and the

by Braden Galea

manager is only worsening matters by publicly chastising players, there was only one answer to who would be walking out first.

The third is Newcastle. It was all over the media: a loss and Mourinho is out. It had reached that point where some bookies were even suspending betting on Mourinho as the next manager to be sacked. I have no idea what was said and done in that dressing room during half-time for the players to regroup and fight back from 0-2 down to win 3-2 in the final 20 minutes. In the first half itt had seemed that players were actively campaigning for Mourinho to be given the boot, and yet the fightback put that prognosis into question.

I believe that we will never know the true answer, but I also believe that regardless of the result, there should have been a change at the top at that stage.

The third year syndrome seems to have worked again and Jose left to the tune of around £22.5 million. Not a bad return to pocket for a person who said United would need a miracle to squeeze into fourth place in the table albeit spending around £300 million on signings to achieve much more than that. The Europa League was sweet as it completed the puzzle, but really and truly, United should be targeting the more prestigious trophy with the anthem that gives you shivers, not its inferior cousin.

When things are not going well, one should always go back to basics. And that

is precisely what Woodward did. A person who understands the Manchester United dressing room as he was part of it back in the days, check. An ex-player who enjoyed success with the club (late in May in 1999) and knows what it feels like to lift a trophy the United way, check. A jovial character who lives and breathes United, check. It should have always been the choice from the start I dare say, either Ole or Giggs. Throw into the mix Sir Alex’s former right-hand man and you have a winning formula. That should have been succession planning from the start, but it came on the fourth attempt. Better late than never, one might argue. And finally, for the first time since the big man left in 2013, Manchester United supporters are seeing the club’s wheels moving in the right direction.

Ole came in with a big smile on his face that is his trademark. He speaks positively. He makes players want to give more than their 100%.

He brings back the attacking mentality and magically amplified the team’s goal difference.

He energises youth by giving them a chance and making them believe that the right time will come for them to make the step up. He plays the United way, Sir Alex’s way, so to speak. He understands the importance of the rivalry with arch-rivals Liverpool, and definitely does not treat it like a normal match. He seeks advice from the mentor from whom he learnt so much. His press conferences are a joy to listen to. He is the true professional who

deserves to be in the United hot seat and can own it long-term the same way Ferguson did.

A properly experienced director of football by summer should solve the problem United have in terms of concluding transfer deals at fair prices and before opponents jump into

the crazy market fray, as long as he forms an understanding and relationship with Ole akin to the relationship Ferguson had with David Gill. Ole has come to sort things out and he definitely has done precisely that. Ole is the present, Ole is the future.

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VOL 46 - ISSUE 3 - MARCH 2019

49

Round‑up of the Major European Leagues…

Everything still to play for in England, in Spain and in Germany as Juve & PSG confirm their defiant domestic dominance in Italy and France respectively.

by Antoine Dalli

Liverpool, who have last been crowned English champions at the end of the 1989/90 season, simply cannot afford to drop any further points.

At the end of January, Liverpool, in the light of Man City’s surprise 1-2 defeat against struggling Newcastle, could have built a seven point lead over Man City but they dropped vital points against Leicester and West Ham in two identical 1-1 draws.

A

t the time of writing this article, the English Premier League was entering its most crucial phase. On the 26th day, Liverpool cruised to a convincing 3-0 home win against mid-table Bournemouth to restore their three point lead at the top of the English Premier League table.

This slim lead was short-lived as on February 10, defending champions Man City annihilated FA Cup holders Chelsea to the tune of 6-0 to go back on top with 65 points, level on points with the Reds but with a better goal difference.

Significantly, Man City have played a game more and have a goal difference of +54 compared to Liverpool’s +44. Tottentham, like Liverpool have played 26 games, are currently third with 60 points. Strictly speaking, Spurs are still in the pursuit of becoming champions of England for the first time since season 1960/61. However, one feels that Spurs do not have enough strength in depth to survive the double challenge of the English Premier League and the Champions League (Spurs are due to meet current German Bundesliga leaders Borussia Dortmund in the Round of 16).

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Man City are still involved in all competitions.

In the Champions League, Pep Guardiola’s side take on Schalke 04 in the Round of 16; City face Newport in the fifth round of the FA Cup; apart from facing Chelsea in the Carabao (League) Cup Final on February 24. In the English Premier League, Man City’s toughest fixtures seem to be against Man United in mid-March and against Tottenham a month later. In the remaining fixtures, Man City will cross swords with opponents currently languishing in the middle and lower half of the table.

By stark contrast, Liverpool still have to face Man United (away) in February, Everton (away) early in March and Tottenham and Chesea in March and April respectively. Besides, Liverpool will take on German powerhouse Bayern Munich in the Round of 16 of the Champions League. At this stage, it is difficult to predict who will prevail, as the title can go either way. However, owing to their resourceful squad, Man City seems to have more steam left compared to Liverpool.

Tottenham, Man United, Arsenal and Chelsea are the likely candidates to battle it out for a top-four finish, albeit Man United and Tottenham seem better equipped and better positioned to join Liverpool and Man City in next season’s Champions League.

In Spain, Barcelona have been leading the standings from the word go bar for a few weeks when Sevilla were in the driving seat.

After 23 games, the Catalans have a six-point lead cushion over nearest pursuers Real Madrid, who have recovered some lost ground following an indifferent start to the new season.

If the reigning European champions stand any realistic chance to deny Barcelona from winning their second successive title, then they need to beat them in the El Clásico set to be played at Real’s Bernabeu Stadium on March 2. Apart from this two-horse title race, Atletico Madrid (one point adrift of Real Madrid) and Sevilla (currently fourth, seven points below third-placed Atletico Madrid) seem to be the best equipped teams to make a top-four finish.

In Italy, Juventus, fresh from winning their eighth Italian Super Cup after beating Milan 1- 0 in Saudi Arabia, pursued with their bold march to lif ting their eighth straight Scudetto.

By the 23rd day, the Bianconeri were 11 points clear of misfiring and nearest pursuers Napoli. The Italian Serie A has become almost identical to the French Ligue 1 in that Juventus, like Paris SG in the French top division, have practically no realistic competitors.

In the Serie A, the real contest is who will accompany Juventus (63 points) and Napoli (52) in next season’s Champions League. As things stand at present, Inter (43 points), Milan (39), Atalanta, Roma and Lazio (all with 38 points under their belt) all stand a chance to play Champions League football next season. Inter and Milan are hot favourites to make it with the top four but one should not rule out Atalanta, Roma and Lazio.

The real surprise in Italian football is that in the Coppa Italia, the big guns have all

failed to make it with the last four! In fact, the two semi-finals will be contested between Lazio-Milan and Fiorentina-Atalanta. Thus, for the first time in five years, Juventus will not complete a domestic double!

In the French Ligue 1, Paris SG, who will cross swords with Man United in the Round of 16 of the Champions League, are by far ahead of the rest. Thomas Tuchel’s side have amassed 59 points from 22 games and are 10 points clear of nearest pursuers Lille, who have played two games more. Lyon are third with 43 points. It is only a matter of time before Paris SG will make sure of their eighth Ligue 1 title – their sixth since 2012.

In the German Bundesliga, Borussia Dortmund (50 points) are still going strong. With 13 games to go, Borussia Dortmund are five points clear of defending champions Bayern Munich. Borussia Dortmund are still favourites to lift their first Bundesliga title since current Liverpool mentor Jürgen Klopp led them to back-to-back titles in seasons 2010/11 and 2011/12. However, Bayern Munich, winners of the last six Bundesliga titles, can make home soil count as they host Borussia Dortmund in their Allianz Arena on April 6.

Third-placed Borussia Mönchengladbach (42 points) and fourth-placed RasenBallsport Leipzig (38) will be the two other likely German representatives in next season’s Champions League. Joint fifth-placed Eintracht Frankfurt and Bayer Leverkusen have 33 points each from 21 games.

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51

The Resurrection S

ince the departure of José Mourinho, the situation of the club has been turned around by the current manager, undefeated in the league however losing at home to Paris Saint Germain, a club which has been building a Champions League team for the past 10 years ever since the club was bought by the mega rich pockets of a Sheikh. This defeat puts the club’s current squad into perspective whereby for the past 5 to 6 years, the club has either panicked and bought players, or bought players for the manager who was in charge at that time but which did not fit into the mentality of the new manager. I think the only player that had a consistent role within

the team was Marouane Felliani who has just been sold. Fellaini, for the lack of pace and agility, in my opinion gave his all for the shirt and scored some important goals at the club.

Seeing Ole being placed as a manager and having experienced staff and personnel who know the club inside out, I believe, is better than getting another manager from another club. Some will argue his run of games has been easy, however winning away to Spurs and Arsenal stand as testament that Ole does have potential to improve as a manager. This defeat was to a far superior team, which player for player I doubt the current squad can match, and also a few teams around the world can. Seeing Di Maria running Young ragged was embarrassing, especially because we do not have a right back to compete with Young. Dalot still has some way to come before being classed as a world class right back and with Valencia at the age that he is at, his powers unfortunately are on the wane. The squad right now is very lean, having a strong 15-18 players which include 2 goal keepers.

The purchase of two full backs (one on either side) and another centre half to cover for the injury prone Jones and Smalling are a must, whilst the pairing of Bailly and Lindelof appears to be gelling and both are starting to show their true potential. A world class replacement for Matić is needed, so he may take a breather, or another box to box midfielder is brought in whilst Herrera

by Daniel Cuschieri

switches roles with McTominay, who is still inconsistent due to his lack of playing experience. A right sided winger is needed to complement the side since Martial and Sanchez occupy that side, and I also believe another striker is needed, maybe promoting Greenwood from the reserves.

A lot of investment is needed, as we all know that the teams in front of United in the Premier have purchased and they have done it wisely. It is sad to see Liverpool purchasing quality players and having surpassed MUFC in buying the right players for the playing style that they are playing. Their squad is also lean, hence with a few quality signings, the club can be back challenging for honours.

This is not a quick fix, as players must adjust to the playing style and pressure for playing for such a club and I believe that Ole’s current approach is aiding the players in being relieved from the stress and to go out and play their natural game.

This is a manager who as a player would resurrect the team on numerous occasions, having been studying the opposition from the bench and coming on and making an instant impact, something which he has replicated since coming back into the club.

This addressed the club’s dire situation at the right time. I have always voiced my support for Mourinho, however I did not agree with the way he went about things. I also didn’t agree with how the players handled the matter. I believe the club, like any other organisation should have a short term plan, mid-term and also long ones. The club is currently in the shadows of both Liverpool and Manchester City, which would not have happened under Sir Alex’s watch. The club has gone from strength to strength on the commercial side, however due to mismanagement, the playing squad has suffered.

One must notice that the authoritative approach of both Van Gaal and Mourinho got the players to underperform. Moyes’ style of management baffled the players as per recent comments by Ferdinand and Vidic, which begs the question how could he question a team of champions? This clearly shows that today’s players do not want strict orders, but personnel to nurse and guide team. I think the current management who are not within the ‘older’ generation understand the ‘modern’ footballer whereby some played with them, and in Ole’s case already coached them.

Having a nucleus of playing, coaching and management having the same common goal at this stage is now imperative, as this resurrection is needed, as in the 7th year our team must rise again.

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+356 2206 6201

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+356 2137 4894 lebistro@rdbmalta.com www.lebistromalta.com

Genuine

OPEN DAILY 12:00HRS - 22:30HRS AT THE RADISSON BLU RESORT, ST. JULIAN’S