Category Archives: Manchester United

On professional football – or: in praise of illusionary love

“Summer has arrived. And in the absence of the usual pulsating weekly encounters punctuated with thrilling goals and flooded with indomitable passion, we have to settle for the next best thing – transfer speculation – the time of the year when almost anybody and everybody is linked with, well, almost anybody and everybody. This is when, for a few moments, one is allowed to imagine, hope, as to what might be – even if it never materialises – everyday brings with it a new story, a new exclusive, a new quote, closely analysed, to decode a player’s possible intentions.” backpagefootball

Liverpool’s Striking Choices And Problem Shooters In The Premier League 2014-15

“If you are a club aiming to infiltrate the Premier League’s top four on a regular basis, how does this sound as a description of one of your strikers for next season: 4 time League Champion in Top 5 leagues; 2 time Domestic Cup winner; Champions League Winner; Established international for major European nation; 24 years old. This player is coming into his peak years and his club have already secured his services on a long contract. This is a winning situation, right?” StatsBomb

Dissecting the Glazers’ decade of decay (and the Manchester United legend who allowed it)

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“For almost any other team, the past 10 years would have been considered a period of startling success: five league titles, three League Cups, one Champions League trophy and two other trips to the finals. But while 10 years of the Glazer family at Manchester United have provided some of the finest soccer Old Trafford’s ever seen, they’ve also served up a decade of mismanagement – decline, panic and glory. Taken out of context, those successes ignore the club’s extensive, perhaps more significant failures. For every near miss Manchester United endured, different management could have pushed for another trophy, and while trophies are not the only symbol of merit for a club, they are one of the most important for a club of United’s powers.” Fusion (Video)

The rise and wane of the English-style manager (and what England will lose when they’re gone)

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“With a click of a remote, the modern soccer fan can flit effortlessly from Chelsea versus Man United in London to Juventus-Lazio in Turin or Bayern against Dortmund in Munich. As stars like Eden Hazard blur into Carlos Tévez then Thomas Müller, we stare groggily at the magnificent, endless, globalized spectacle being played out in front of us in gleaming stadiums by athletes from every continent, trying to remember what game we are watching, or where it is taking place. ‘If it’s Tuesday, it must be Munich,’ we think, our heads throbbing. It wasn’t always like this. No man is an island, wrote John Donne, but with its draughty, brutish terraces, muddy pitches, halftime pies laced with botulism, and Luddite-esque devotion to the long ball game, there was a time, not so long ago, when English soccer felt a world apart from its European cousins. The five-year club ban from European competition in the 1980s and `90s also added to the sense of not so splendid isolation. Even today, the relatively small number of English players keen to ply their trade abroad can give the national team a parochial air.” Fusion

Tactical Analysis: Manchester United 4-2 Manchester City | Weakness down the channels exploited

“Manchester gathered its two giants once again at Old Trafford; a journey for the Citizens that was found more strenuous owning more to the weight this match held rather than the time spent traveled. Louis Van Gaal’s men had re-created in recent weeks the Manchester United magic of yester years and had gained significant momentum that resulted in plenty of turned heads to take notice. To balance every rise with a fall, we barely had to look beyond the territorial limits of Manchester, as Manuel Pellegrini’s Manchester City found themselves in a downward spiral ever since the turn of the year. City’s loss last Monday night against Crystal Palace meant that United finally surpassed their cross town rivals in the league.” Outside of the Boot

Louis van Gaal’s latest masterstroke: Fellaini as deep-lying target man

“Throughout his career as a coach, Louis van Gaal has been dogmatic, but perhaps the only thing he is dogmatic about is the fact that he is right. He came to the Premier League and, because he’s smarter than anybody else, he took the one surviving facet of the traditional English game, and showed how we could have been using it far more effectively all these years. Look, he said, I like this target man of yours, but why on earth haven’t you been using him in midfield?” Guardian – Jonathan Wilson

United Take Back Manchester: How Louis van Gaal Finally Found His Best Team

“We’re 32 games into the season, and this much is now obvious: Manchester United are one of the four best teams in the Premier League. Yesterday’s 4-2 romp over Manchester City was United’s sixth league victory in a row and the team’s best performance of the season. Just a month removed from a heated battle for fourth place with Liverpool, United totally dominated their crosstown rival and now sit four points clear of City in third. Over the first half of the season, Louis van Gaal’s team strung together a host of ugly victories on the back of improbable goals and timely finishing. But now, with wins over Tottenham and Liverpool in addition to City, the manager has his team playing the kind of attacking soccer he warned that fans might have to wait until next season to see. So what finally clicked for United? Basically, van Gaal finally found the right starting lineup.” Grantland

From Hero to Zero, The Manager Cauldron

“With the evolution of the English Premier league, expectations are at an all time high. Wealthy investors expect nothing but the best from their team and quite often fabricate erratic and instantneous decisions. The euphoria and prospects of garnering silverware can often cloud judgment and project a directors desires into a far from plausible stratosphere. The monumental stakes have also never been higher with next years’ mouth-watering £5.4bn TV deal up for grabs. An estimated £99million will be won by the last place team and £150million for the winners. However, it isn’t just the players who come and go, more often than not, it’s managers too. Managers often get blamed for the teams’ failings but the players take the honours of winning. The managers take the major brunt of their teams results and it seems they can never win. An owners’ fixation in elevating their reputation in this elite Billionaire Club means they have no qualms in paying for the extermination of a contract. To them it’s merely status and the team is just their toy to dissipate excess cash.” Soccer Politics

The Fun in France: Are We Set for a Boring End to the European Soccer Season?

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“Can you believe it’s April already? While there have been times over the past eight months when the season’s felt like an interminable drag — those weeks of domestic cup games, the handful of international breaks, consecutive weekends in which the best game involves Newcastle — we’re finally here. With just about two months left in most leagues across Europe, it’s the stretch run, where the rubber meets the road, the standings approach finality, and things become truly exciting. Except, maybe not this year.” Grantland

How Van Gaal has made his “philosophy” count for Man United

“If you come at the English with a philosophy, you best not miss. After all, failure to make high-minded ideas count will always count against managers who dare to stick their heads above the pulpit and define themselves as thinkers in one form or another. Andre Villas-Boas was far from blameless when it came to his two Premier League dismissals at Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur, but his profile as a bookish, bright young analyst hardly helped to endear him to his new public. Similarly, Rafael Benitez’s exotic preferences for zonal marking and stringent squad rotation marked him out as a foreign oddity ripe for derision. Arsene Wenger and Brendan Rodgers both receive plenty of ridicule for their love of concepts and scholastic mannerisms when the results begin to dry up.” Squawka

Listen Here, Cristiano: Sir Alex Ferguson’s Email to a Madrid Star in Crisis

“Listen here, lad, Don’t think for a tinker’s red second that I don’t know exactly how you feel, finding an email from me. I know, Cristiano. If there’s one thing they could say about me, it’s that I always knew what my boys were feeling — better than they did, most times, not that it took a chess master to out-think Gary Pallister. And yes, son, you’re still one of my boys. Now and always. Not a transfer fee on earth’ll win you a move from that club. So quit grimacing at your screen like a Kirkcaldy bricklayer with his first taste of chicken vindaloo. Sit down and pay attention. Bloody laptop’s probably got rhinestones on it.” Grantland – Brian Phillips

Tactical Analysis: Liverpool 1-2 Manchester United | United’s pressing, early dominance and more

“The fixture between Liverpool and Manchester United is one that demands global attention. As a spectacle, it is England’s riposte to El Clasico, Derby della Madonnina, De Klassieker, and so forth. In short, it is a very big deal. The animosity between the cities may have its roots in issues beyond the football pitch but it is on it that it finds a platform to express itself. Thus, a game between the two sides is always plagued with intensity and a smorgasbord of emotions. The traditional giants may not be fighting for the ultimate prize of the title but they are 2 of the teams in the running for a spot in next season’s Champions League. The result at Anfield may not prove be the defining moment in the race but its importance didn’t have to be underlined ahead of the game.” Outside of the Boot

Simon Mignolet vs David de Gea: Why it’s closer than you think

“Eternal foes Manchester United and Liverpool lock horns once again on Sunday afternoon in the biggest derby match for years, with the chance of a top-four finish up for grabs alongside the pride of two of English football’s most successful clubs.” Squawka (Video)

So, Louis van Gaal, what exactly is your Manchester United ‘philosophy’?

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“Something very strange is happening at Old Trafford. It not so much that the grumbling is growing louder, despite Manchester United sitting fourth in the table having lost only twice in the league since the turn of the year, it is who is lined up on either side of the debate. On the one hand, unconvinced by a string of scratchy displays, is a section of the media and public arguing that the spectacle needs to improve. On the other, demanding we look at the results, is Louis van Gaal, a coach who for a quarter of a century has been dogmatically insisting that aesthetics are vital to football and that journalists and fans never look sufficiently at the process.” Guardian – Jonathan Wilson

Ángel di María seems an uninterested bystander at Manchester United
“Manchester United’s defenders have committed some shocking errors this season, but the manner of the two concessions in Monday’s 2-1 FA Cup quarter-final defeat to Arsenal must have been particularly alarming for Louis van Gaal. The problems originated from United’s right flank, where they struggled all evening. The most dangerous player in the opening minutes was Alexis Sánchez, fielded on the left of Arsenal’s 4-2-3-1 system. Up against Antonio Valencia, a winger who has been fielded at right-back remarkably frequently considered he has never looked remotely comfortable in that role, it looked set to be a mismatch, especially after Sánchez cut inside easily for the game’s first half-chance.” Guardian – Michael Cox

Watch the 8 Best Goals Scored by Premier League Managers

“Sam Allardyce | Bolton Wanderers vs. Ipswich Town. 21 April 1979. Big Sam gets accused of being many things: long ball merchant, unambitious, over indulgent at the buffet. But I can only accuse him of abandoning an excellent mustache. While playing for Bolton Wanderers, Allardyce scored this thunderbolt of a header against Ipswich Town. In the early 2000s, Allardyce’s returned to Bolton as manager and would take them back into the Premier League and the Europa League. Sadly, the mustache did not come with him.” 8 by 8 (Video)

Did the long ball tactic really ruin English football?

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“In the glorious game of football many things are forgiven—cheating, biting, lying, spitting—but there’s one thing that’s inexcusable. One thing so wretched and sickening it deserves no place in the game we all know and love. That one thing, the cardinal sin, is called the long ball. Next year marks the 50th year of hurt for the weathered and beaten English faithful. 50 years since Geoff Hurst belted the ball against the bar and allegedly across the West German line. 50 years without a trophy and what’s to blame? That despicable long ball.” Outside of the Boot

Boring Winners and Long Ball in England Boring Winners and Long Ball in England

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Robin van Persie, of Manchester United.
“Earlier this month, Louis van Gaal, the manager of Manchester United, showed up at a press conference armed with an unusual prop: printouts of statistics from his most recent match, a 1—1 draw against West Ham United. West Ham’s coach had accused van Gaal of playing “long ball,” a tactic that involves repeatedly sending long, searching passes forward to opportunistic strikers, hoping for a lucky bounce or knock-down near the goal. Long ball eschews the beauty of intricate passing play and coördinated counter-attacks for trial and error: more often than not, the passes are headed out of play or kicked back down the field by the opposing team, caught by the keeper, or go out of bounds. The approach calls for tall, muscular center-forwards who can overpower defenders to win the ball; the rest of the team hangs back so that they can immediately launch the ball forward after the play and try all over again. While long ball can be very effective, particularly for teams of lesser technical ability, it makes for deadly dull viewing.” New Yorker

Loan Deals, Backup Wingers, and Balance Sheets: Recapping the Premier League’s Drab January Transfer Window

“The January transfer window ended not with a bang, but with Aaron Lennon being loaned to Everton. Usually, the first month of the year is good for at least one panic buy from a big team looking to turn its season around — and occasionally, those moves work. It seems almost comical now, but when Mario Balotelli went from Manchester City to AC Milan in January 2013, he put that team on his back, scoring 12 goals down the stretch to propel the Italian giants into the Champions League. More often, though, the moves end up saddling a team with an overpriced, awkwardly fitting piece like Juan Mata at Manchester United. And every once in a while, a January signing will result in a Fernando Torres–size disappointment that, yes, in fact, you can see from outer space.” Grantland

Analysis: Louis van Gaal’s 3-5-2 and Di Maria/Rooney Conundrums

“With Louis van Gaal at the helm, the 2nd half of the season was supposed to be when the new and improved Manchester United would show that they have well and truly embraced and mastered the Dutchman’s philisophy. However, a dip in form has seen a few questions raised about the tactics used. Rahul Natarajan explores the conundrums faced by the experienced manager.” Outside of the Boot

Boro Beat City and the Bantams Take the Bridge: How the FA Cup Lost Its Damn Mind

“In theory, the FA Cup gives England’s minnows a chance to upset their big Premier League brethren, but that’s so rarely the case. In reality, small teams give their fans a chance to watch their favorite club play host to some of the world’s best players. Or if it’s an away game, the club scores a nice cash infusion with the shared gate money from a big-time team’s big-time stadium. And then they lose and go back to grim Saturdays in the third division. This weekend, though, reality was turned upside down — and Middlesbrough and Bradford City stuffed it into a rocket and kicked it into outer space.” Grantland (Video)

Charlie Austin: Is it time England called on QPR striker?

“England manager Roy Hodgson’s focus has been on the defensive arts this week after his contentious nomination of Argentina’s Javier Mascherano for the Ballon d’Or – but he had a striker on his mind at Loftus Road on Saturday. Wayne Rooney may have captured his attention after Hodgson took his seat in the directors’ box to watch Manchester United beat Queens Park Rangers 2-0 but there is little new to learn about the man he made his captain. The object of Hodgson’s attentions was more likely to be QPR’s Charlie Austin, whose 13 Premier League goals in a struggling side leave him third behind 17-goal Diego Costa of Chelsea and Manchester City’s Sergio Aguero, who has 14, in the Premier League scoring charts.” BBC

NBC created Tinder for soccer fans

“As you may know, soccer dating is a topic I find particularly funny, and potentially lucrative. Internet dating is as close to mainstream as its ever been, with a variety of options to help you find whatever it is you’re looking for in a prospective soul mate. Why can’t we apply this to soccer? There’s JDate and Christian Mingle for religiously inclined. Black People Meet and Latino People Meet for folks with a ‘type,’ too afraid to luxuriate in the racial deliciousness of our nation. Farmers Only for people who really aren’t down racial deliciousness, but prefer to say so in coded language, and Tinder, for people who want to pretend that the possibility of sex isn’t the only reason they’re leaving the house that night.” Soccer Gods

The story of Blyth Spartans’ epic FA Cup run

“Exaggeration seems to be common place in modern day football doesn’t it? For example saying Manchester City are a club in crisis after going two games without a win or calling Steven Gerrard or Frank Lampard England greats after consistently failing to make an impact at a major tournament? Actually, throw hypocrisy into that opening line. Can the FA really blame grassroots football for underachievement at the top level when there is a serious lack of real investment in the game at that level? Or can top clubs really bemoan the attendances at FA Cup fixtures when they use the greatest domestic club competition in the world as a reason to play fringe players in their squad?” The Football Pink”>Football Pink

Manchester City doesn’t care who you want to win the title

“As recently as a few weeks ago, you could hardly ~~open a newspaper~~ refresh a website without seeing a feature proclaiming Chelsea as champions-in-waiting. There was no shortage of premature comparisons to Arsenal’s Invincibles™ of 2003-2004, casting José Mourinho’s against history instead of the rest of the Premier League. Fast-forward to the start of 2015, and Manchester City have quietly crept up and caught the Blues. Ahead of both teams’ Saturday matches, City and Chelsea are level in ever category. If the season ended today, the two would head for a play-off.” Soccer Gods

How the Bottom Half Lives: Five Tales From the Depths of the Premier League Table

“Let us spare a thought for the little guys. These denizens of the bottom half of the Premier League table don’t get much pub. And when they do, it’s always as a foil for one the big boys. Burnley’s back-to-back draws against Manchester City and Newcastle haven’t spawned thousands of words of tactical analysis about their effective, underdog tactics, nor have they resulted in any glowing interviews with Danny Ings or George Boyd and his beautiful hair. No, they’re just the temporarily immovable object against the ultimately unstoppable force. What’s wrong with Manchester City always ends up being more important than what’s right with Burnley. But, well, stuff actually happens at the bottom; it’s a place where some people even carve out a reasonably comfortable existence. So, now that we’re just more than halfway into the season, let’s take a look at how the other half has been living.” Grantland

Plenty of Southampton threats in store for Manchester United on Sunday

“The last time Manchester United faced Southampton at Old Trafford, Adnan Januzaj had one of those days. So impressive in a wide playmaking role, the talented Belgian was instrumental in Robin van Persie’s opener, and the hosts should have been two or three ahead at halftime. The match ended 1-1, though, with Southampton slowly winning the arm-wrestle in central midfield and scoring a very late equaliser.” ESPN

Football fans need to stop expecting the unexpected in the FA Cup

“The FA Cup third round is frequently considered to be all about giant killing, whereas it’s actually all about the possibility of giants losing. It might be a pedantic distinction, but it explains a great deal about the negativity surrounding the competition in recent years. The ideal FA Cup tie is, inevitably, a nonleague side at home against a high-flying Premier League club. The third-round draw didn’t quite provide that this time around, although Yeovil (bottom of League One) and AFC Wimbledon (League Two) were handed ties against Manchester United and Liverpool, while nonleague Dover faced more modest Premier League opposition, in Crystal Palace.” ESPN – Michael Cox

The myth of the Crazy Gang is an entertaining story, but the truth is even better

“The former Manchester United and Aston Villa coach Ron Atkinson had a term for when a player put in a particularly vigorous tackle early in the match – ‘early doors’ as he put it – in order to let his opponent know what awaited him for the remainder of the game: A reducer. Roy Keane was a master of the art this side of the Irish sea, while Graham Kavanagh executed one particularly memorable example on Gilberto Silva in a friendly with Brazil at Lansdowne Road, but the undisputed king of the reducer in the late 80s was Wimbledon’s own Vinnie Jones.” backpagefootball (Video)

Transfer window is a merry go-round that no one can get off

“‘People should change their ideas,’ Louis van Gaal warned after Manchester United had kept their sixth clean sheet of the season in drawing at Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday. United have conceded only five goals in their last nine games and have the fourth best defensive record in the division. ‘It’s not about new players, it’s about organisation.’ No subject has so nettled Van Gaal since his arrival at United as the suggestion that the club’s summer transfer policy left him short of defensive cover and, given how often United have been saved by the excellence of David De Gea this season, it’s hard to believe he really is as satisfied by his defence as he has made out, but the general point was a sound one.” Guardian – Jonathan Wilson, Guardian – Transfer window: Premier League club-by-club guide

Manchester United – The Magnificent Seventh

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“For Manchester United supporters the 2013/14 season is one best forgotten, as the transition from the legendary Sir Alex Ferguson to David Moyes proved to be every bit as difficult as many of them had feared. The team dropped to a relatively low 7th place in the Premier League, which was not only the first time United had finished outside the top two positions since 2005, but also meant that they failed to qualify for Europe – almost unthinkable for a club of this stature.” The Swiss Ramble

Premier League Winners and Losers: Special Boxing Day Edition!

“It’s been a busy few days in the English Premier League, with every side — except for Liverpool and Swansea City, who face off later today — playing two matches since Christmas. Here’s a roundup of everything good, bad, and Ashley Young about the three-day weekend that was.” Grantland (Video)

Stocking up for the festive football season

“By now, Santa has already returned to the darkest depths of Lapland, so it’s a bit late for last-minute requests, but there are a few stocking fillers that would have been very much appreciated in the world of football. Chelsea – at the top of the table – appear to need nothing more than they have already. A couple of alarm clocks wouldn’t go amiss though in Manchester, in time for next season, because both City and United woke up late this season. City at least hold some chance of catching up. United, who probably have more than enough in their cabinet already, will just have to run down the clock, comfortably in the Champions League positions, and wait for next time around.” Football Pink

Manchester United 3 Liverpool 0

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Brad Jones
“I am drenched and broadly speaking lost, trying to get back from Manchester after having discussed Liverpool’s 3-0 defeat to Manchester United live to a nation who would prefer it if I didn’t swear or blaspheme. Bar one shout of ‘God in heaven’ (I became my dad when I was five) I did alright considering it could be the most frustrating football match I have ever seen. BBC Sport in Manchester is what the future looks like. You could set a phenomenal sci-fi there. Everyone was very nice, you’ll be pleased to learn.” TAW

There are pros to keeping Rodgers, but there are also a boatload of cons
“When in doubt, turn to science, and right now, my beloved Liverpool’s full of doubt. But since we’re not real scientists and the more numbers you bring to soccer, the more odious it becomes, the simple elegance of a pros-cons list is our best tool for figuring out Brendan Rodgers’ future. Unless you slept through the weekend, you know Young Brendan’s future is the subject of much doubt. Lose 3-0 to United, face the music. In this case, that will mean a week’s worth of hot takes on how hot his seat has become …” Soccer Gods

A Season of Failed Balance: Why Liverpool Can’t Have It All
“It took Manchester United all of 12 minutes to score against Liverpool. Goals change games no matter what, obviously, but conceding an early goal on Sunday was a particularly difficult pill for Liverpool to swallow. The Reds were desperately trying to reach some sort of equilibrium after being knocked out of the Champions League, and a match against their biggest rival would’ve been a good place to start.” Grantland (Video)

Tactical Analysis: Manchester United 3-0 Liverpool | Rodgers’ approach allows Van Gaal to use his wing-backs
“There were times where this fixtures involved two of the most in form teams in England, and there were occasions where the gulf in class was evident. But the first Manchester United-Liverpool clash of 2014/15, had a slightly altered flavour to it. Two sides fallen from their respective perches, some longer than others, looking to recover before the stagnation persists. Despite the score-line, neither side truly impressed but even if there’s a lack of performance, United showed they haven’t forgotten how to win football matches.” Outside of the Boot

Liverpool – from ruthless to toothless in nine months
“When Liverpool’s team coach pulled out of Old Trafford last March, it was fuelled by the growing belief that years of domination by Manchester United were finally coming to an end. Liverpool’s 3-0 win, built on the thrilling attacking strategy of manager Brendan Rodgers, hugely flattered a United side in disarray under David Moyes and cast adrift of their resurgent rivals by 14 points.” BBC

Champions League: Holders Real Madrid draw Schalke 04 in last 16 stage

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“Champions League holders and arguably Europe’s most in-form team Real Madrid were drawn against German side Schalke 04 in the last 16 of Europe’s most prestigious competition. Real, which defeated city rival Atletico Madrid 4-1 in Lisbon last year to win ‘La Decima’ — it’s 10th title — is attempting to become the first team to successfully defend the Champions League. Two of England’s three clubs face tough ties, with Chelsea drawn against Paris Saint-Germain and Manchester City paired with Spanish giants Barcelona.” CNN

Rematches, Wenger reunion headline Champions League knockout draw
“After a group stage in which the main lesson was that Real Madrid and Bayern Munich are still the teams to beat in this competition, the draw for the round of 16 took place Monday. The odds on the two favorites will have shortened considerably after decent draws, and two big guns will fall by the wayside after Paris Saint-Germain was drawn against Chelsea and Manchester City against Barcelona in a pair of repeat matchups from last season. There was also a moment of sentimentality in the draw, as Arsenal was drawn against AS Monaco, where coach Gunners coach Arsene Wenger was manager from 1987-1994. Here’s a breakdown of Monday’s draw…” SI

Why Mourinho smiled as Chelsea lost; more notes from Saturday’s EPL

“For Chelsea, there was a wry sideline smile in defeat. For Manchester City there were sideline tears in victory. After Chelsea lost 2-1 at Newcastle at lunchtime, City listlessly seized its chance with a dreary 1-0 home victory over Everton in Saturday’s evening game. Chelsea’s lead is now just three points. But as José Mourinho told BT Sports after his game ended: ‘We have to ask the other 19 teams in the Premier League if anyone wants to be in our position and I think they would all like to be. But leader there is only one and that is Chelsea.’” SI

Oh, Hello, Manchester United. Look at You in Fourth Place

“Look at you, Manchester United, just casually sitting there in fourth place, as if that horrendous start to your season weren’t even a thing. After dismembering Hull City, 3-0, this weekend, United are now the proud owners of a three-game winning streak for the first time in 11 months. The easy victory comes after one-goal victories at Arsenal and at home against Crystal Palace. So, is United nearing the end of an 18-month-long post–Alex Ferguson tunnel, or is that light just another misleading string of results, like last December, when a David Moyes–led squad beat West Ham, Norwich City, and Hull City in the space of a week?” Grantland

Look beyond the table to appreciate one of the best Prem seasons in years

“Football is unquestionably Britain’s major sport, and its staggering dominance has only increased over the past couple of decades. These days it’s unusual to flick through your Monday newspaper, find the sport section, and be confronted with anything other than football on the front page, but that’s what happened this week after Lewis Hamilton won the Formula 1 championship. This year’s F1 campaign was peculiarly analogous to the Premier League in 2014-15 in the sense that it was utterly dominated by a single team.” ESPN – Michael Cox

Robin van Persie supremely confident in his confidence despite your lack of confidence

“Player confidence is in the news again today. This time, the man with the sickness is Manchester United’s Robin van Persie. Something happens when more than 10 people make a similar observation about a player’s mental state. Once that player confidence card is dealt more than nine times, all you will hear about is that player’s confidence until said player plays out of his or her mind.” Soccer Gods

Patience, Panic, or Liverpool: Sorting Through the Premier League’s Tortoise Race for Fourth Place

“How to fix a broken team? With the Premier League keeping things weird for another weekend, that’s the question lingering above many clubs. As it stands, Manchester United and Newcastle are tied for fourth place on 19 points, narrow leaders in a seven-team pack all within a measly two points of the ultra-valuable final Champions League spot. And that doesn’t even include Liverpool, who sit in 12th, just barely eclipsing a one-point-per-game pace.” Grantland

Tactical Analysis | Arsenal 1-2 Manchester United: Wasteful Arsenal fail against United once again

“The rivalry between the 2 sides is not the same as it was in the mid-noughties when flying food and tunnel skirmishes dominated the back pages long after the battle took place on the pitch. The rivalry may have toned down since but coming on the back of the international break, both sides were looking for a much needed win to move up the table. Injuries have had a big part to play in both sides’ campaigns and defensive frailties for the teams meant fans and neutrals alike were expecting a game high on entertainment if not quality.” Outside of the Boot

On Reflection: Which Premier League team finds it easiest playing against 10 men?

“Where would Spurs be without those red cards? Three times Mauricio Pochettino’s side has played away from home and seen opponents reduced to ten men; three times the visitors have scored late goals to win the game. It happened on the opening day against West Ham: Eric Dier’s match-winner after James Collins had been dismissed (this was after Kyle Naughton’s red card too). In the last two away games, Spurs were 1-0 down and struggling at Aston Villa and Hull City before red cards, to Christian Benteke and Gaston Ramirez respectively, allowed them to turn it round and win 2-1.” Pitchside Europe

It’s Not Me, It’s You: Gerrard, Touré, and the Complicated Case of the Aging Midfielder

“Soccer, as much as any other sport, is a young man’s game. Players peak around 24, and by 30 they’re nervously looking over their shoulders for a younger, better, ready-made replacement. Come 35, the few superstars still hanging on get the Turkish, Middle Eastern, or MLS retirement package. Hit 40, and you’re either named Ryan Giggs or retired. With that in mind, it’s a bit odd that the two clubs that fought for last season’s English Premier League crown came into this season banking on the smooth operation of a pair of midfield fulcrums sitting on the wrong side of three decades. While Steven Gerrard and Yaya Touré managed just fine for Liverpool and Manchester City then, this year has been a struggle for their aging legs.” Grantland

Manchester derby A-Z: Backheels, noisy neighbours & X-rated

“It’s the derby which has everything – two sides with a simmering rivalry, rich histories and, in recent years, a similar appetite for trophies. When Manchester City and Manchester United meet on the football pitch, there’s generally plenty of goals, drama and even the odd ‘Why always me’ T-shirt. The two teams clash at Etihad Stadium on Sunday, and BBC Sport has compiled an A-Z of one of English football’s biggest games.” BBC

Would Chelsea’s José Mourinho have been a good fit at Manchester United?

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“On Sunday, a little before four o’clock, José Mourinho will leave the tunnel at Old Trafford and walk along the front of the South Stand. He will see ahead of him the touchline along which he sprinted and slid in 2004 after his Porto side had beaten Manchester United in the Champions League with a late goal. And before the halfway line he will turn right, and take his place in the away dug-out. Given he is not a man who seems particularly to regret, he may not even cast a glance to the bench 15 yards in front of him and wonder what might have been but there is another reality, not that far removed from this one, in which he would have been sitting in the home dug-out.” Guardian – Jonathan Wilson

Are West Ham for Real?

“What’s more strange: that the lead photo for this piece is of a “semi-robotic” mascot named Hammerhead basking in bubbles at West Ham’s Upton Park? Or that if the season ended today, West Ham would be in the Champions League? Usually the top of the Premier League table is pretty predictable. You have the usual mega-club suspects (you know who), a couple of perennial almost-theres (Spurs, Everton), and a surprise who starts strong and fades away down the stretch. That hasn’t been the case this season.” Grantland

Tactical Analysis | Manchester United 1-1 Chelsea: Both sides opt for caution in midfield

“A lot of the big games in the Premier League are built up with their own little sub plots and storylines, and this one was no different, with Mourinho and van Gaal hogging the limelight in the build up to the game. The student, and his teacher, waxed lyrical about each other as we got close to kick off, but all the love was left behind in the press rooms as the two rivals took to the field for an intensely competitive encounter.” Outside of the Boot

Angel Di Maria and Juan Mata set for reunion with Mourinho

“Manchester United have broken their record transfer fee twice in 2014, with vastly different levels of success. Juan Mata has rarely sparkled since his 37.1 million-pound move from Chelsea in January, but Angel Di Maria has been in impressive form, having been signed for 59.7 million pounds in the summer. Jose Mourinho, who visits Old Trafford with Chelsea this weekend, might have predicted how things would go. Mourinho, of course, has coached both, and his perception of the duo tallies closely with their Manchester United performances. He struggled to appreciate Mata in their half-season together at Chelsea, believing the Spaniard was incompatible with his favoured system, and was happy to sell him to United.” ESPN – Michael Cox

Mid-Group Stage Champions League Update

“We’re halfway through the 2014-15 Champions League group stage. The UCL is one of the greatest tournaments in all of sports because we get a chance to catch our breath for a couple weeks after every matchday. So let’s do so. Some groups are mostly decided, others hang in the balance. Who will go through in each four-team sector? To the groups!” Center Circle

Six degrees of Louis van Gaal: How Jose Mourinho and Europe’s other top coaches descend from Manchester United’s Dutch coach

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“You will doubtless be familiar with the game ‘Six Degrees Of Kevin Bacon’. The central premise runs thus: so formidable is Bacon’s influence on the last generation of American cinema that virtually any Hollywood actor, living or dead, can somehow be linked to Bacon in no more than six steps. If you were to play a similar game in the world of football, there are a number of names you could start with. You could look at Johan Cruyff or Rinus Michels, architects of the Dutch school in the 1970s.” Telegraph

Manchester United v Chelsea: Jonathan Wilson’s Tactical Preview

“Both sides have injury issues. Jose Mourinho has continued to maintain that Diego Costa will miss out with his mysterious hamstrings/groins and a bug, while Loic Remy is a major doubt after limping out of Tuesday’s 6-0 Champions League win over Maribor clutching his groin. That could mean Didier Drogba starting as the one forward – a concern, given how off the pace he looked against Schalke 04 in the Champions League, the only other game he has started this season – or Chelsea could perhaps go with a false nine. They did that last season in the stultifying 0-0 at Old Trafford last season, but Andre Schurrle, who occupied the role then, is a doubt with illness. Chelsea are also without Ramires and Mikel John Obi.” Bet – Jonathan Wilson

Angel Di Maria and Juan Mata set for reunion with Mourinho

“Manchester United have broken their record transfer fee twice in 2014, with vastly different levels of success. Juan Mata has rarely sparkled since his 37.1 million-pound move from Chelsea in January, but Angel Di Maria has been in impressive form, having been signed for 59.7 million pounds in the summer. Jose Mourinho, who visits Old Trafford with Chelsea this weekend, might have predicted how things would go.” ESPN – Michael Cox

5 Misfiring Premier League Strikers

“The Premier League might be only seven games old, but a common theme amongst some of the top teams is the lack of goals from upfront – only Chelsea, and Diego Costa, can be entirely satisfied with their goal return so far. Here are 5 misfiring Premier League strikers, and how they might turn their season around…” FreeBets

Analysis: Why Radamel Falcao is so Valuable to Man Utd

“When Daniel Passarella was Falcao’s coach during his time at River Plate he famously said: ‘He’s like Van Basten, he scores goals, he attacks on all sides and he heads like a god.’ While this was definitely lavish praise from the former World Cup winner, I’m sure he probably wouldn’t have imagined just how good a career his charge would go on to have. And against Everton, a game in which he opened his scoring account for his new club, he showed that his former manager was pretty spot on in his assessment.” Licence to Roam

5 Tactical Features of the Premier League Season so Far

“The international weekend gives everyone a chance to look back and take stock of the Premier League season so far. Tactics writers are no different, and there have been a number of notable features since the middle of August to consider. Manchester City, Arsenal and Chelsea have all provided us with something to consider since the English domestic campaign began. Let’s take a look at five tactical features that have caught the eye in the 2014-15 season.” Bleacher Report – Jonathan Wilson

International break provides valuable opportunity for Premier League clubs

“Once upon a time, an international break was extremely useful for almost every Premier League manager. In the days before foreign imports dominated England’s top division, relatively few players were selected by their country — put simply, the majority of players in the division were English, but only around 25 were called up to the England side. Therefore, the majority of the squad would continue to train at the club — although they might, however, use the absence of upcoming matches to spend the afternoons at the pub.” ESPN – Michael Cox

Wayne Rooney can take England’s goals record but not the glory of his predecessors

“The Sir Bobby Charlton suite is the most luxurious room in the hotel currently occupied by England at St George’s Park albeit hardly the Ritz. The Gary Lineker pitch (No 11) is, contrary to expectation, more than two six-yard boxes. Yet nowhere at England’s training base is there any room or pitch named in tribute to Jimmy Greaves, the distinguished international lying third behind Lineker and Charlton as his country’s all-time goalscorer. Greaves’s photograph does hang alongside those of Lineker and Charlton on the walls of the corridors that Wayne Rooney will walk along on this morning, heading off out to Pitch 6, the main England practice area. Rooney will soon pass the fabled trio in the record books as well as the corridor, starting with Greaves possibly this week. His elevation will stir sadness as well as admiration. Rooney can equal the maths but not the history.” Telegraph . Henry Winter

Tactical Analysis | Manchester United 2-1 Everton : McNair shackles Lukaku, Everton sit deep and Blind orchestrates proceedings

“The fixture list has been contrasting for the two teams as they’ve both endured disappointing starts to the campaign. On paper, United had a relatively easy start to the season but in reality it has been far from smooth sailing as they’ve tried to find their feet under Van Gaal. For Everton, playing Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool and United all in the first 7 games isn’t what Martinez would have wanted and their low points tally heading into the game represents just that. As it stood both sides would have fancied their chances of obtaining a result ahead of the International break.” Outside of the Boot

Fast starts don’t always pan out, but Chelsea has look of winner

“Since he joined Porto in 2002, Jose Mourinho has won the league title in his second season at every club he’s managed. That, it seems, is the optimal time, when he has had a chance to embed his method in his players and before the abrasiveness of his personality has had time to sour the mood. This is his second season back at Chelsea, and, sure enough, the Blues go into Sunday’s game against Arsenal already five points clear of its closest realistic challenger.” SI – Jonathan Wilson

Rooney scores, gets ejected as Manchester United hangs on vs. West Ham

“Captain Wayne Rooney was sent off after scoring but 10-man Manchester United clung on to beat West Ham 2-1 in the Premier League on Saturday. It was just United’s second victory in seven matches under Louis van Gaal, coming a week after a humbling loss at newly-promoted Leicester. It had started well for Rooney when he put United in front after five minutes with a deft volley. Robin van Persie doubled the lead in the 22nd minute with his 50th goal for United, but West Ham pulled one back before halftime through Diafra Sakho’s header. The attacking trio of Rooney, Van Persie and Radamel Falcao combined well up front, until Rooney was sent off in the 59th minute for kicking out at Stewart Downing. At the back, United looked vulnerable once again, although injuries meant Van Gaal had to give 19-year-old center back Paddy McNair a debut. Of more concern to Van Gaal will be Rooney’s absence, which will last three matches if the dismissal is deemed to be violent conduct by the English Football Association.” SI (Video)

Premier League talking points: Wayne Rooney & a two-horse race
“Wayne Rooney’s red card for Manchester United will claim the headlines from an eventful Saturday in the Premier League. The United and England captain must now serve a three-game ban – but the good news for manager Louis van Gaal is that his 10 men held on for a crucial win against West Ham United to ease some of the wounds from the 5-3 collapse to Leicester City. This was among a number of key talking points from Saturday’s games. Here, we look at Rooney’s conduct and some of the day’s other significant incidents.” BBC

Why Is the Premier League Table So Weird Right Now?

“Only one match in the Premier League this weekend ended the way most people expected. Amusingly, that was the biggest match of all: Chelsea’s cagey draw with Manchester City. Mind you, the path to that draw was about as dramatic as it gets, with a down-to-10-men City getting a late goal from, who else, former Chelsea icon Frank Lampard.” Grantland