All posts by h79snht.top

I’m not convinced by the romantic notion that Ryan Giggs can step in and guide Manchester United out of the nadir. I’m not convinced that a man with no prior experience of managing a major European club can be bettered by a man with no managerial experience at all.

Unfortunately we’re living in a time where Pep Guardiola is the rule rather than the exception. There will be campaigns aplenty to argue Giggs’ case. Part of the composition will be the routine 4-0 win over Norwich on the weekend, while much of the other will be that the 40-year-old and Manchester United can offer a reimagining of what happened at Barcelona.

But there is actually no sense behind Giggs taking over the managerial job, at least nothing that goes beyond the clichés and fairly pointless ties the midfielder has to the club.

In an interim capacity, with nothing to lose let alone anything to gain, it’s a safe bet. Giggs looked the part, both in suit on the touchline and in the pre-match press conference. He said all the right things where the previous manager couldn’t. He was bold in his team selection on the weekend, dropping the invention of Juan Mata for the pace of Danny Welbeck. And what’s interesting is that no one said a thing.

Instead of statements being made of Giggs, which have very little relevancy when it comes to selecting a manager other than for the appeasement of supporters, questions should be asked of his credentials.

What are his ideas for taking United forward and importantly getting them back to where they should be at the top of the Premier League tree? How does he plan to set up his team? It’s facile to say United will play attacking football under Giggs simply because he knows that football of that nature is engrained in the club. What will his methods be for rediscovering that attacking instinct?

As an example, Barcelona have a host of attacking players who are rightly considered the best in the world, yet Tata Martino has either struggled or been unable to bring about their maximum potential on the pitch this season. They’ve struggled for parts of the second half of the season, both domestically and in Europe, and players alone are no guarantee of the successful deployment of attacking football.

Whatever happens in United’s final three games of the season, it would be wrong to use such a small window to measure Giggs’ credentials. If the players go out and win the final games, will it be because of their respect for him, respect that wasn’t present for David Moyes? United are a club with a huge pool of talent with which to choose when shopping in the market, and who’s to say every player will come in and immediately take to Giggs as a manager? Does he have the ability to control a dressing with potentially half a dozen egos and personalities?

We don’t know how Giggs will handle European football, which United won’t have to worry about for some time anyway. The Champions League can show the best in England to be inferior to the best from the continent, and that counts for managers as well as teams. Giggs might look the part, but will he act the part? Is he able to counter the tactics of a top European manager, or will his vast inexperience be found out?

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Giggs’ history with the club does set him up to become manager at United at some point, but not now. The club can’t afford to take another sizeable gamble on the basis of romantic ideals. They need to be pragmatic. If Louis van Gaal is to become the next manager then by all means Giggs should be part of the coaching staff. Get him to learn from a man who tutored both Jose Mourinho and Pep Guardiola. Like the latter, give Giggs an opportunity to coach one of the youth teams and let him work his way up. If there’s success at a lower level then the argument for him to be manager of a senior team will be more convincing that anything we’ve heard thus far.

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An intriguing sub-plot to Robin van Persie’s surprising move to Manchester United from Arsenal this summer is the potential impact that it could have on the positional future of last season’s top goalscorer at the club, Wayne Rooney – is his time as a striker coming to an end at Old Trafford, in the short-term at least?

Last term, Rooney was widely criticised for the nature of his overall performances, even if he managed to bag 27 goals in the Premier League, second only to the Dutchman on 30. It’s a theory that certainly carries some weight and Rooney appears to have forsaken a measure of his unpredictable, creative nature in favour of a more ruthless cutting edge in front of goal, which is no bad thing in itself, he’s just evolved as a player into a slightly different beast to the one we’ve become accustomed to seeing.

The trouble is now, though, having forked out £24m on a 29 year-old striker with a rotten record of injuries in the past is that Van Persie is likely to be given the mantle of leading the line, but whether that means in place of Rooney or beside him remains to be seen. The inevitable comparisons to the club’s treble-winning strike-force of 1999 – Dwight Yorke, Andy Cole, Teddy Sheringham and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer – have been made by plenty of people, even Ferguson himself, but will Van Persie’s arrival change the shape of the side?

Ferguson said after the former Arsenal man signed: “In 1999 I had Dwight Yorke, Andy Cole, Teddy Sheringham and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, the four best strikers in Europe. We are going towards that now. They (Rooney and Van Persie) are two fantastic players and it will be great to have both of them. It gives us more strength and more combinations up front. It is a fantastic collection of players and hopefully I pick the right combinations. It is great to have a player of Robin van Persie’s qualities to come into the squad. I am very pleased.”

When he talks about ‘combinations’, that intimates a partnership between Rooney and Van Persie which would effectively mean a 4-4-2 system or something very similar to it, which will only put even more strain on an increasingly weak and fragile centre-midfield area which has been overrun repeatedly in the past year by more energetic and combative opponents.

There’s also the fact that because the move came relatively out of the blue, with Ferguson admitting that he hadn’t planned for such a deal until the Dutch international stated he wasn’t going to sign another contract at the Emirates, is would they even have bought Shinji Kagawa this summer otherwise had they known?

The Japanese creative midfielder is capable of playing out wide on the wing but arrived from Borussia Dortmund for an absolute bargain £12m fee with the idea of playing in the hole behind the striker, with Rooney likely to be that man. Would you really play Kagawa in a two-man central midfield?

Probably not is the answer to that one, which leaves them then with four wingers into two spaces and while that’s some admirable strength in depth from the club’s and fan’s perspective, you suspect that keeping Ashley Young, Antonio Valencia, Nani and Kagawa all happy and with enough playing time will be a difficult task, which partly explains the speculation linking the Portuguese wide-man with an exit this summer, even if that would be an ill-advised move considering the sheer weight of his end product in terms of goals and assists.

There’s also the consideration that Rooney could be pushed out wide onto the left, a role he often occupied in Europe to great effect with Cristiano Ronaldo taking the lone central role a few years back. Van Persie has often played out wide for Holland in the past, but the physical demands of the Premier League and international football are two different kettles of fish entirely and Rooney’s energy and versatile nature make him more of an ideal candidate for the switch.

It’s certainly a bold move recruiting Van Persie and Ferguson appears to have allowed himself this one indulgence as he seeks to overhaul Manchester City this season, who also possess a frightening forward line in terms of both depth and quality.

United failed to score in just three separate games last season, less than City with five and they scored an impressive 89 goals, only marginally less than City’s 93, so recruiting a goalscorer, on the face of it at least, would not appear to be a pressing concern. However, Ferguson has clearly decided to try and fight fire with fire and this may allow Rooney to return to a deeper role than he’s played in previous seasons gone by and return to his creative best.

Danny Welbeck and Javier Hernandez are exceptionally strong third and fourth-choice strikers to have in your squad and they both bring different skills to the table, but the temptation with playing Rooney and Van Persie up front together has to be tempered with the sneaking suspicion that they may be a bit too similar to hit it off right away.

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Of course, Sergio Aguero and Carlos Tevez are broadly similar players and they have a fabulous partnership together, so good players can often co-exist alongside one another in the same side as long as the support structure behind them is right. It is an interesting concept to see if Rooney will be pushed back, perhaps not as far as he was at times last season, but deeper than we have become accustomed to seeing him of late.

Shifting a man who has scored 64 league goals in his last three seasons and 85 across all competitions is an extremely risky strategy, but the rewards if it does come off are huge and it may just be a gamble worth taking that has the potential to benefit both players in the long-term and help the club impose themselves more on the top table of European competition this term.

You can follow me on Twitter @JamesMcManus1

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As Andre Villas-Boas and Tottenham Hotspur are perhaps currently finding out, cultivating change at a football club, can be something of a patience-testing and often very tedious process indeed.

Part of the Portuguese’s remit upon employment by chairman Daniel Levy, was to instill a more modern-day, tactical nous within a squad cultured to the tastes of previous incumbent Harry Redknapp’s, more old-school take on proceedings. Although it’d be fair to say that the transformation so far, is a lot more Grand Designs than it is 60-Minute Makeover.

Of course, it would be naïve to think that making the transition from Redknapp’s 4-4-1-1 to the more continentally refined 4-2-3-1 of AVB would be a simple walk in the park, but it’s produced its fair share of teething problems. But where as you’d like to think that progress down in N17 wouldn’t be akin to one of those gormless developments that go both overtime and over budget, it’s probably worthy of one those overcautious Kevin McCloud monologues.

Is it time to tweak the architect’s plans slightly at White Hart Lane? A reversion back to the more traditional set-up of two up front may appear like regression to some, although as a temporary measure, it certainly might not do any harm at all.

One of the biggest criticism’s that plagued Harry Redknapp’s time in charge at Spurs, was the perceived lack of a ‘Plan B’ or some form of tactical escape route. The 65-year-old was hardly as naïve as many people made out, but his penchant for simplicity was certainly no urban myth – his recent “Bullshit baffles brains” sentiments, offers a decent window into the world of Redknapp.

His philosophy was to send the players out, first and foremost, to simply play. Tottenham’s recent success was hardly catalysed by some top-secret, magical tactical blueprint. Spurs prospered through pacey and traditional wing play, an extremely well balanced central midfield and a dynamic pairing up in attack. When they were found out, Redknapp’s side would often come to a grinding halt, but for the most part, it was very successful indeed.

Yet perhaps the biggest hindrance in Andre Villas-Boas’ efforts to evolve this side into his 4-2-3-1 set-up, comes in the very players he still has at his disposal. Because in essence, even after the summer transfer window, he has a squad of players that still feel more roundly suited to the Redknapp set-up of last season. At the very least, it marks a Plan B that would arguably beat many Premier League teams’ Plan A.

Before the lynch mob set in, this is not a call for Villas-Boas to abandon the style of playing he’s trying so hard to implement. During their 4-2 loss to Chelsea during the weekend, the Lilywhites had five first teamers out, including the already talismanic Mousa Dembele, of whom the formation relies so much upon. The impatient among us will be loathsome to hear another article promoting the virtue of patience, although the side need time to adapt.

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But while the likes of Gareth Bale, Aaron Lennon, Kyle Walker and countless others within this Spurs side acquaint themselves with what a whole new way of playing, it doesn’t necessarily mean that the ways of yesteryear need to be abandoned completely.

An occasional switch to a 4-4-2 or a 4-4-1-1 from time to time wouldn’t signal some white flag of surrender in AVB’s quest for tactical change. Of course, the more the side play in the new way, the more they will improve in both confidence and execution, but from time to time, a switch wouldn’t herald such a bad move.

Against Chelsea, for example, Villas-Boas would have been able to field a team that could have potentially been a little more effective if set-up a little more traditionally. You can only work with the tools available to your disposal and with players such as Bale and especially Dembele out, the team didn’t look quite so suited to a 4-2-3-1.

Huddlestone would have certainly looked a lot more confident in a more general, traditional midfield role than the defensive pivot that he was told to play against Chelsea. The England man did a poor Mousa Dembele impression primarily because his abilities aren’t suited to such a role. Similarly with Clint Dempsey. The American looked awkward on the left-side of Villas-Boas’ attacking three and even when switched more centrally, he seemed to pine for a role slightly closer to goal.

Dempsey netted many of his 17 Premier League goals last season for Fulham, playing as something as a second striker or just behind the frontman in a supporting role. When we did see Villas-Boas switch to this set-up in the second half of the 2-1 win against QPR, Dempsey was in his element behind Jermain Defoe.

Furthermore, despite scoring five league goals himself so far, Jermain Defoe offers a different kind of threat up front in a revised system. With less onus on him to hold up the play and bring others into it, he could revert back to his more natural game, in running at defences and causing a very direct threat. Equally, you could go for the more traditional 4-4-2 and play both Defoe and Adebayor together. We saw little of it last season, but when we did, it didn’t work too badly at all and it offers another viable option for the manager.

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It’s at risk of playing devil’s advocate and the irony won’t be lost on some, but if Dembele still isn’t fit for the trip to Southampton this weekend, a temporary switch back to a more direct style of playing might not be such a bad idea after all.

The fact that the 4-2-3-1 appears to hinge so prominently upon the Belgian suggests that perhaps deeper problems lie in Spurs’ engine room and the failure to capture more players capable of fluidly stepping in to play the system, isn’t all Andre Villas-Boas’ fault. Such troubles can be addressed in January but if the need arises, he shouldn’t be afraid to go back to the future.

Would you be comfortable with a temporary switch back to a more traditional set-up at Spurs? Or should Villas-Boas be unwavering in his implementation of the new system? Let me know what you think on Twitter: follow @samuel_antrobus for all things Spurs.

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Liverpool and Everton have spent the season chasing dreams of finishing fourth in the Premier League and making it into the Champions League. Although both Merseyside clubs are still in the mix, it would be safe to say that they’ve become outside contenders compared to Arsenal, Tottenham and Chelsea.

Reaching Europe’s most prestigious club competition will no doubt be the target next season for both clubs, not only for the pride, but also the financial rewards that accompany the tournament, which both the Reds and the Toffees desperately need as David Moyes and Brendan Rodgers struggle to keep a firm grasp of the purse strings while improving their squads.

Both Liverpool and Everton are expected to bring in new recruits in the summer to fulfill their ambitions, but which players are on the clubs’ radars?

Here’s a list, compiled of realistic transfer targets from across Europe, that could soon be gracing a pitch on either side of Stanley Park.

Click on Scott Sinclair to see the ten potential new recruits that could propel Everton or Liverpool to the promised land of the Champions League

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Oh what a busy week it has been, one striker in, one striker out, and a cup shock at the Den.

Last Thursday saw what will be considered somewhat as a shock move, Darius Henderson moving to Nottingham Forest on a free transfer. Most Lions fans were thinking, “Why let him go, especially on a free?”

Henderson’s goals basically kept us up last season. Yes people say that the Keogh & Kane partnership in the last seven games helped and yes they done exceptionally, but we would’ve been long gone if it wasn’t for Hendo. Even this season, he didn’t play many games but was on seven goals.

But then you come to the other side of Hendo. First, his injuries, he always seems to have a knock or sprain, for a big strong player he seems to be made of glass. Then there is his high wages, it came out after the transfer that Henderson was on £16k-a-week, which came as a shock to me.

Then there is his pending court case, he could be sent down to prison come March if the decision goes against him. So by March we could be laughing at how we saved over £120k in wages, or he could be not found guilty and stay at Forest…

This left most ‘Wall faithful in a panic for the Friday game against Villa. “who will we play upfront?”

I was happy to see local lad John Marquis getting a start, a youngster who has become the latest boo-boy over the last couple years, but he is still young! Fans ask for youngsters to be given a go, and when they do, they get abuse.

And what a night it was for John, heading the winner a minute from time to put the Lions through against top flight opposition.

When Villa went 1-0 up through a scuffed Darren Bent effort I thought it was going to be like recent years against Premier League sides, getting our belly’s rubbed as the other team get a easy ride.

Oh but this wasn’t the case…

I said last week about a young Villa side being intimidated by an atmosphere that a special night The Den can create, that is exactly what happened.

And a special mention to the man-mountain that is Danny Shittu, a goal from a corner to equalise, and his celebration was class, an explosion of true emotion. He did not put a foot wrong all game, all down the Den love him.

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The draw for the 5th round saw the Lions receive a winnable tie against Luton Town at Kenilworth Road. Yes they have beat Norwich and Wolves in previous rounds, but surely this can be their time they go out?

The league is the most important thing, but the cup is a nice distraction…

COYL

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Manchester City boss Roberto Mancini believes he is currently the best manager in England and doesn’t fear the sack.

City are currently second in the Premier League but 12 points off leaders and rivals Manchester United and they also suffered an early exit from the Champions League.

Despite getting through to the Quarter-Finals of the FA Cup it has still been hinted that Mancini could get the boot at the end of the season.

Last season saw City win the league in the closing moments of the final game after closing an eight point gap on United but this year they face a tougher challenge with 12 points to claw back and they don’t seem to have maintained their impressive form. There has also been some behind the scenes changes with Txiki Begiristain taking on the director of football role which have only served to fuel the speculation.

However the Italian remains confident about his position at the Eithad and believes he will still be in charge at the end of the season.

“In the last 15 months I am the best manager in England, I won one Premier League, one FA Cup, one charity shield, there is not another manager that’s won like me in the last 15 months,” he told BBC Sport.

“Someone says for six months that Manchester City would change manager, Guardiola would come in, and after Guardiola went to Bayern Munich, now another manager.

I can do nothing but it is the reality.”

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Pep Guardiola had previously been rumoured for the manager’s position but he takes over Bayern Munich in the summer, however Jose Mourinho who confirmed last week that he is Premier League bound for his next job is rumoured to be replacing Mancini in the summer.

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James Morrison has said that West Brom have “to move on as quickly as possible” from defeat to Newcastle on Sunday, insisting they have a chance at home to Southampton.

Morrison believes they have an opportunity to win because of their record at home.

He said to The Birmingham Mail: “It’s a good opportunity to get three points and forget about what happened on Sunday. We need to move on as quickly as possible.

The Baggies star has also admitted that morale amongst the team was low after the loss at the weekend.

He said: “The dressing room was very flat and we almost wanted to shed a tear as we played really well. We were the only team that looked like winning. The second goal was particularly difficult to take. He shanked the ball and I don’t know whether it hit one of our defenders or Cisse but it hit the back of the net and I think that’s our luck at the moment. We kicked on from there and we had chances to win the game.”

Midfielder Morrison signed a deal lasting four years last month, with boss Steve Clarke calling him one of the side’s “best players.” It has been five years since Morrison left Championship side Middlesbrough to join West Brom, and he had had two more years left on his last deal.

Manager Steve Clarke is hoping to be able to bring back skipper Chris Brunt, Claudio Yacob, Jerome Thomas, Boaz Myhill and Billy Jones for Monday’s match.

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Arsenal appear to be well down the road to signing Alexis Sanchez from Barcelona, essentially killing two birds with one stone in their need to address the centre-forward position and add depth beyond Theo Walcott for the flanks.

If there was any doubt about Alexis’ credentials, especially after a frustrating and completely forgettable 2012-13 campaign with Barcelona two years ago, the World Cup in Brazil has shown the Chilean to be exactly the kind of marquee forward Arsenal’s supporters have been crying out for.

We’ve been here before though, and many will be sceptical until pictures of Alexis with an Arsenal shirt in hand emerge. Last summer, Arsenal were said to be on the brink of signing Gonzalo Higuain, only for the Argentine to land at Napoli instead. The north London club had accused Real Madrid of moving the goal posts on the deal at the last minute.

But Alexis would more than make up for that loss. With Olivier Giroud also experiencing a good World Cup with France, Arsenal, on paper at least, would look a far more threatening outfit over the course of next season.

The Chilean would also negate the need for Angel Di Maria, who is another big-name South American who looks set to leave La Liga.

Arsenal were interested last year and could have landed the Real Madrid winger had it not been for Carlo Ancelotti’s intervention, instead securing the signing of Mesut Ozil. What is certain is that Arsenal need two forwards, one capable of playing on the wing. In the case of Alexis and Di Maria, one would cancel the other out.

Di Maria does provide different qualities to the Chilean. This past season he showed himself to be a more than capable central midfielder, playing alongside of Xabi Alonso and Luka Modric and given the freedom to roam. He was sensational against Barcelona in particular, while his best season in the white of Real was capped with victory in the Champions League.

There’s no doubt that Di Maria is a player who would improve Arsenal over the coming seasons. He and Mesut Ozil would interchange roles in the attacking three while both were playing at the Bernabeu, and there’d be an opportunity for both midfielders to strike up a similar partnership.

But Arsenal would be getting that and much more in Alexis, who, unlike Di Maria, can play at centre-forward and relieve some pressure from Giroud.

To venture down the avenue of suggesting Arsenal don’t need Di Maria would be wrong; it wasn’t too long ago that many, including myself, were talking up the value of having Cesc Fabregas return to the club. Above all, Arsenal need strength in depth.

But Real want £40 million for Di Maria, while Alexis would be a little under £30 million. With a high-class defensive midfielder needed, as well as a right-back and another forward (possibly Loic Remy), the focus must be on what the team need first and foremost. In addition, Fabregas was available for a deal that was far better value for money than Di Maria’s price tag.

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If the club can wrap up a deal for Alexis in the coming weeks, it will be a positive sign to the supporters, who need convincing after the failure to properly strength during the last two windows and the complete collapse last season.

If what is said to be on the table does come to fruition, missing out on Angel Di Maria will be dusted away with the kind of renewed confidence that can only be delivered by star forwards such as Alexis.

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Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger said that he was delighted with the performance of Andrey Arshavin, during the Gunners’ 6-1 thrashing of Coventry City, according to Goal.

Arshavin was the stand-out performer in a comfortable night for the Premier League outfit. The 31-year-old started the move which led to Arsenal first goal of the night and perhaps more importantly Olivier Giroud’s first goal for his new club.

Arshavin then won the penalty after a clever piece of trickery which the Frenchman Giroud subsequently failed to capitalise on. To add to this, the midfielder set up Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain’s blast for the Gunners third of the night, scored the fourth himself and produced a sublime ball for youngster Ignasi Miquel to nod home to convert Arsenal’s fifth.

Wenger believes that the key to the Russian internationals success last night was the fact he was played in behind the striker, Giroud, rather than out on the wing. As a consequence, this enabled the playmaker to get on the ball more often, “His best position looks to be behind the striker now. That’s where his vision and creative side of game becomes most efficient. When he is central, he can influence the game.”

Perhaps with a new role, Arsenal fans may witness a new lease of life with Arshavin, who, over the past year, has cut a consulate disinterested figure on the left-hand side of midfield for the Gunners. Maybe it was only League One Coventry City, but most Premier League defences would have been struggling to have kept up with the movement and acceleration of pace that the former Zenit man showed last night.

One man who saw his chances of playing a more central role for the north London club do no harm was Theo Walcott. The 23-year-old disproved any doubters who are sceptical about his ability to finish in front of goal. If the first of Walcott’s goals was polished, the second was classy with a sublime side-footed curler past the despairing Sky Blues stopper Joe Murphy.

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As for Giroud, the Frenchman has got the proverbial monkey off his back, for now. Although he would have been grateful for the opportunity to grab his first goal for the club in the Capital One Cup, he would surely love to get his Premier League tally off and running too.

Arsenal will now travel the Premier League’s bottom side, Reading, in the fourth round of the competition.