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Showing posts from March, 2019

Manchester United vs Watford Match Analysis

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Manchester United returned to premier league action on a sunny Saturday afternoon. Old Trafford, as usual, was in perfect condition. The game was attended by 74,543 people and watched by millions all over the world. What was surprising, though, was that Watford absolutely bossed the game and Manchester United were lucky to leave the pitch with all the three points.
Manchester United went into the game 16 points ahead of Watford, a gap that has since been increased to 19. Both teams came into this game on the back of league defeats - United lost to Arsenal while Watford lost to Manchester City. The last time Manchester United lost to Watford was in 2016 in a 3-1 away loss but ever since, in subsequent meetings, Manchester United came out victorious with the previous being a 1-0 win.
First Half As mentioned above, Watford bossed the game fully. In the first half, United showed glimpses of coming back into the game after the 20th minute. As early as the 6th minute, there was a scare from…

‘How many points?’ Realistic expectations for the month of fixtures ahead

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The prayers of Manchester United fans across the world were finally answered this week with the long-awaited news that interim manager, Ole Gunnar Solskjær, has been appointed as the first-team manager. Everyone here at The United Devils would like to send our warmest congratulations to Solskjær for his appointment and what he has achieved up to now.

Solskjær has been given a three-year deal, in which he has promised to "return titles to the club". Our fanbase has criticised Executive Vice-Chairman Ed Woodward in the past for not listening to our demands. But with Ole now made permanent even before the end of the season and wishes coming true, what can we realistically expect from him and the team, at least in the month ahead?

With the Premier League facing one of its tightest run-in for years not only for the title but for places in Europe, every point matters - which means every game is a crucial one. We’re currently in fifth place on 58 points with eight games to go: one…

Manchester United Vs Watford: Match Preview

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Picture taken from footybite.com


Teams: Manchester United vs Watford KO: 3pm  Location: Old Trafford Referee: Stuart Attwell
The international break is over and Manchester United return to Premier League action on Saturday for their match against Watford at Old Trafford. It will be manager Ole Gunnar Solskjær’s first game in charge as permanent manager of The Reds after he signed a 3 year contract on Wednesday. Now everyone knows Ole is at the wheel for the long term, United will be keen to get themselves back to winning ways after back to back defeats to Arsenal and Wolves respectively. 
Watford who have enjoyed a successful season so far, are up there to be in contention to be “best of the rest” outside of the top six come the end of the season. They have other reasons to be cheerful having progressed to the semi-final’s of the FA Cup with a victory over Crystal Palace. That win followed up a string of fine results for Gracia's men, the Hornets have also thumped Cardiff City and dismi…

OPINION: Which players should United sign?

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Manchester United is the biggest club in the world and so has attracted the biggest names in world football to join the Red Devils and compete at the top level consistently for many years. It is clear that Manchester United desperately need positive signings during the summer to compete for the title next year under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. This can be traced back to when Jose Mourinho was not backed in the summer in signing a right winger and more clearly, a central defender but can even be traced further back under Van Gaal and Moyes in which the potential siginings of Bale, Kroos, Mane, Muller, Renato Sanches and James Rodruigez all slipped through the grasps of the current manager at the time. What's more is that some of the signings have not delivered as much as they could have such as Schneiderlin, Memphis, Di Maria or Alexis Sanchez.

Recently, former-United and Evertonian, Phil Neville has commented on who he believes United should sign, giving a list of five players to come …

Centre Back Options That We Should Be Looking At!

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Solskjaer's magical start to his managerial career at Manchester United is now sure to be rewarded with the permanent job at the club. Reports say that the announcement could come as early as this week. With that out of the way, our board can now focus on signings for the summer transfer window because we need a lot of them! One of the key areas we need strengthening in is defence. This upcoming transfer window will be a massive one for us. It will show the world our intent. It will show the world of football exactly where our interests lie. Are we satisfied with fighting for top 4 or do we want the big trophies? An example of how a big club behaves has been demonstrated in the last few weeks. The first one was Real Madrid already locking in a deal for Eder Militao because they know that this season was completely unacceptable by their standards. Their arch rivals, Barcelona, have already signed Frenkie De Jong and are now close to signing De Ligt as well.  Manchester United need…

Hangover: Part IV - Manchester United Edition - and remedies to cure it

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The night of 6th March 2019 will go down as one of the finest in the history of Manchester United. What Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's men achieved that night was beyond impossible. Never before in the grand history of the European Cup had a team recovered from a 2-0 deficit at home to go and qualify for the next round. But Rashford's thumping penalty, deep into stoppage time, sent millions of United fans around the world into rapturous celebrations. 

Solskjaer had done it, yet again. His team had indeed climbed the mountains that he had said were there to be climbed. It seemed like Solskjaer couldn't do anything wrong. But then came the hangover from that night in Paris. Solskjaer, who had lost just one match before that night, lost back to back games that saw the Red Devils crash out of the FA Cup and lose the 4th place to Arsenal in the league.
Three days after the PSG result, United faced Arsenal at the Emirates. Spurs' loss at St.Mary's had opened up the top four race a…

Big Phil Jones

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Many fans want to sell him – and they have reason to. He has cost us multiple own-goals, penalties, and other defensive errors – that’s when he’s not with the Manchester United physicians, trying to recover from yet another injury. His name is Phil Jones, and he may seem like he has more cons than pros to his name, but I’m here to convince you otherwise.
Just what does ‘Big Phil’ have to offer?
Phil Jones may produce some of the biggest bone-headed mistakes (see our 2018 FA Cup final disaster), but despite all of that, he still gives 110% for the United badge, and that’s more than you can say for some players. Jones is United through and through, a very loyal player. And in today’s game where transfers happen in a blink of an eye and players openly talk about (possibly) moving to other teams, loyalty is somewhat of a rarity. Take Pogba for example; speaking just last week on the possibility of a Real Madrid move, the Frenchman said that it would be a “dream” to play under Zinedine Zida…

Where do United need to strengthen the most?

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Before the appointment of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer as the interim manager, it seemed as though half of the team needed to be moved on, and some major reinforcements were going to be necessary in the summer.

As we stand now approaching the final stretch of the season, it no longer feels that way. The feeling in and around Manchester United seems to be that there is enough talent at the club to lead it back to glory. The summer transfer window should be more about finding three or four solid pieces to strengthen the team that would be the league leaders if we only counted the points earned since Ole’s appointment. 
Personally, I would like to see Ole be given the job, to allow him to bring in some players that he thinks are needed in order to get to that next level and give the team the depth necessary to compete for the league title. The thought of that and a full pre-season under his watch makes me very optimistic for what is ahead regardless of the results for the rest of the season. 
N…

Three Transfers That Need to Happen for Manchester United

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Source: EPA

Manchester United have, during the course of the season, been crying out for new signings to join the club. The signings that have been most prevalent that need to be made have been a new centre half to accompany Victor Lindelof, a right winger which has been needed for years as both Antonio Valencia and Jesse Lingard have adapted to the unnatural position, and a right back to replace Ashley Young and to complement Diogo Dalot.

Three players have been mentioned as the most likely signings that could happen for Manchester United. They are also the players which many believe could take Manchester United to the next level and potentially challenge for the Premier League title next season.

Kalidou Koulibaly has been heavily linked with Manchester United for a long period of time, especially during the January transfer window, but nothing came of the rumours. Manchester United will instead be looking to sign the Senegalese centre half in the summer to potentially build a long-l…

What Makes Manchester United Great

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Manchester United is the greatest club in the world. Yes, some people might want to throw some arguments here and there about Real Madrid, Barcelona or Liverpool, but this is a fact. It doesn't matter whether you’re a football fan or not, Manchester United is a club you surely have heard of. Manchester United is also the most celebrated football club in the game’s history. It is also the most successful club in the Premier League history. One thing that has kept United unparalleled at the top is the love that the fans have for the club. The fans have stood together supporting the club making them one of the most special groups of supporters in the game's history. You remember the traumatising moments post-Fergie era, the fans stuck to it, unlike other fans who kept changing teams. As a result, I will not include the fans on the list of what makes the club great because fans are a constant.

Here are some unique things about United that makes it not just great but the best:

Club…

Reds on International Duty Preview

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A short synopsis of each Manchester United player that has been selected to represent their respective countries during the international break. Woe is me. International Break has reared its injury-filled head again and although it may be good for some of our players to get some game time, it can be a bit of a crisis considering that we always have one or two players that come back either fatigued or injured. Thankfully this is the last international break for the season, so hopefully after this our players can fully focus on the Premier league and the Champions League. The following is a list of players who will be representing their countries in the upcoming break.

England: With “Mike” Chris Smalling, Ashley Young and injury-prone Phil Jones not making the cut, it was assumed that Luke Shaw would be one of the players selected in this international break. Fantastic news up until he suffered an injury. We seem to have the worst of luck just as things were turning out well. Shaw has be…

Invasions must die: A problem for society and football

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Image taken from the Birmingham Mail - Via Google Images

Pitch invasions have been a part of football since the beginning of time. Often harmless, the game has seen fans entering the pitch in their thousands after their team has been involved in a famous win. We have seen individual fans run on to the pitch naked and in modern times, fans coming on to the field of play to try and get a selfie with one of their heroes. In general, there has been an acceptance that this is football, a sport where all human emotion lives whether it be good or bad.

However in the last two weeks we have seen pitch invasions that have disgraced this great sport that we love and even more worryingly compromised the safety of football players. We have seen Rangers captain James Tavernier being confronted by a Hibernian fan, Manchester United’s Chris Smalling shoved by an Arsenal supporter and the worst of them all, Birmingham City fan Paul Mitchell who punched Aston Villa captain Jack Grealish during the Seco…

Mason Greenwood - The Real Deal?

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When you hear the term “young talent,” most people think of names such as Marcus Rashford, Kylian Mbappé, or Jadon Sancho. Well, it’s time to add another name to that ever-growing list – Mason Greenwood.

The 17 year-old Manchester United academy player has been able to see more of the pitch in recent weeks, notably United’s 3-1 win against Paris Saint-Germain in the Champion’s League, and their 2-0 defeat against Arsenal in the Premier League. Greenwood was a substitute in both games, coming in for Ashley Young in the PSG game in the 87th minute and replacing Nemanja Matić in the 80th minute against Arsenal.

What have we learned about Mason Greenwood? Although Mason Greenwood has only been able to see the pitch towards the end of games, anyone watching can see that he doesn’t play with nervousness about him, like most 17 year-olds play with. If I were to describe young Greenwood in one word, it would be ‘aggressive.’ The kid plays with next to no fear. In the game against PSG, Greenwo…