… Van Gaal has never been a “template” manager, someone who brings an identical approach to different sides. He’s often used 4-3-3 and 4-2-3-1 as his first-choice formations. The question then, is simple. Why is he so keen to play a 3-4-1-2 at Manchester United? The latter part of the formation makes most […]
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FPL App – FPL Manager
FPL Manager – The Ultimate Fantasy Premier League App. Click here to download the app from the App Store. The unrivaled Fantasy Football app for players of the official Barclays Fantasy Premier League (FPL) game. Makes managing your team on the go a breeze and ensures you’ll never forget to make those last minute transfers […]
The Transfer Market Food Chain
After a World Cup’s worth of transfer speculation, Manchester United chief executive Ed Woodward typically felt the need to offer some headline-creating words of his own. “Our financial position allows us to do things in the transfer market that most other clubs cannot do,” he said last week. It was quite a statement, especially […]
How the Hummels hole nearly sank Germany
…Easily the most modern defender at Löw’s disposal, Hummels could probably try his hand at playing midfield for the right team. The Dortmund defender is comfortable on the ball, boasts an excellent eye for a long pass, and loves to bound forward whenever the opportunity arises. He started out as a striker in Bayern Munich’s […]
Things are going to change. Eras end with defeats
It was a long walk out of the Maracanã and a quiet one too. From the dressing room to the door, Spain’s players had to weave their way out. Most of them walked the route in silence, passing by in front of the media, eyes down. They had just produced the country’s worst performance at the World […]
Gerrard walks alone
…Brendan Rodgers had made a good stab at a case for the defining moment of this campaign not to be that infamous stumble against Chelsea. The Liverpool manager tried to argue that an offside call against Raheem Sterling at the Etihad on Boxing Day was somehow more pivotal. But it was obvious early on, as […]
For Manchester United, a season that nobody expected
Rio Ferdinand was sitting in the near-deserted part of a Yokohama, Japan, hotel reserved for Manchester United’s team. Security guards stopped Japanese fans who had slipped into lifts aiming to reach where they thought the players would be, while an 18-year-old called Adnan Januzaj wandered around in one of Ferdinand’s branded “5” caps, wondering […]
Rodgers’ tweaks key to Liverpool’s success
Brendan Rodgers’s tactical tinkering has been crucial to Liverpool’s fast starts to games. Liverpool have an excellent starting XI but not great strength in depth, so this was a genuine challenge. (Eds note: without Henderson and Sturrdige) Rodgers was expected to return to a 4-3-3 in Sturridge’s absence, but instead he persevered with a shape […]
From bad to worse for Barcelona – the tarnishing of a golden image
For many years, Barcelona enjoyed a golden image around the globe. But that image has been shattered by a series of negative episodes – of which a transfer ban is just the latest. …It didn’t used to be like this. Barca’s ‘More Than A Club’ motto suggested a club morally superior to their rivals, who […]
El Clasico of the Century?
As one former Barcelona player puts it: “It is the game of the century, even if there are eight of them a year.” It is a comment not just on the excellence and the expectation that comes with Real Madrid v Barcelona but also on their eclipse of all else, on the dominance and potential dilution of a […]
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