United is a house in disarray with agents of chaos at every turn. Returning this once-magical fortress back to its past glories will require upheaval. This may be slow and it will be definitely continue to be painful, but one thing is for sure, the process can only truly begin with a change in direction.
It’s important to remember that the vast majority of the French squad is originally of African descent. They didn’t shy away from their roots, in fact they used it to unify the squad and bring the non-Africans aboard and Pogba was the architect of this. If you didn’t smile watching Antoine Griezmann trying to shaku shaku with the African boys then you might just be an angry old man.
This week on the Coshcast:
West Ham have signed Felipe Anderson, Cristiano Ronaldo has joined Juventus, France have won the World Cup and Vladimir Putin has gone from handing out golden medals to dossiers with golden showers in the space of two days.
Last season Pep Guardiola finally arrived at Manchester City. The club chased him for almost a decade as they looked to cement themselves as a true world footballing giant. The thought was that Pep would come in and take the team to new heights. City had already won the league and multiple cups. Now City wanted to play with panache and contend with the big boys, Real Madrid, Barcelona, Juventus and Bayern Munich.
With Diego Costa’s imminent return to the Atletico side, it will be absolutely fascinating to see how the pair combine in a partnership that looks, on paper like it should work brilliantly. Costa the aggressive, sociopath bully ready to drive defenders bonkers, Griezmann the impish magician, darting around him into the spaces the opposition barely registered.
With the lack of football this summer (with the exception of MLS, the Confederations Cup, U21 and U20 tournaments, legends matches, and some friendlies, I’ve found myself with quite a bit of time to do a lot of thinking, and that generally does not end up being a good thing.
The story of FC Metz’s season can only really be discussed as pre-Cheick Diabaté and post-Cheick Diabaté. This was a club mired in problems for the first half of the season, the fans sending an opposing goalkeeper to hospital with a flare and the club apparently agreeing to accept a sponsorship from the tourist board of Chad, a country in the midst of an economic crisis.
Manchester United and Ajax Amsterdam will battle it out on Wednesday for a European trophy. This sounds like the type of statement that would have been fitting in the 1990s given United’s dominance in England and Ajax’s Dutch and European legacy.
Can Mourinho get the same level of performance out of his side when there isn’t a vendetta involved?
They’ve been an enigma this season. They’ve played good football, they’ve controlled games and created chances aplenty. This is the football every Manchester United fan wanted to see after the days of LVG’s “possession” game, filled with sideways and backwards passes. This is exactly what every Red Devil wanted to see after David Moyes oversaw the rapid demise of the club in the first season after Sir Alex retired. It’s not quite all that glorious currently though, as their league position remains a bit of a mystery.
According to some simply horrifying football “news” outlets, Manchester United are readying a 173m pound or 200m euro deal to sign Neymar from Barcelona. The Cosh boys have a throw down on the topic as we aim to get to the bottom of this.
What is Jose Mourinho trying to do by defending Pogba so ferociously? Alex: Relieve the perceived pressure on Pog. The press and fans are obviously paying very close attention to every Pogba performance such that he is questioned every time he isn’t brilliant. This is the state of […]
If anyone felt this could be a Wembley classic in the world’s oldest ever international fixture the fact that both sides were managed by former Middlesbrough managers should have been the first clue.
Listen to our latest podcast below. If you enjoy it, subscribe right here on Itunes. Chris Darwen is a sports writer and author living his dream on the Costa Blanca in Spain. Tales From The Top Flight has been featured each week in the largest English speaking newspaper in […]
To suggest that Mourinho needs three or four more transfer windows to produce a decent team is to admit that he cannot coach the best out of the talented players he already has. Which, of course, is the crux of the matter.
David Moyes has accepted his charge of misconduct without appeal, to make sure he is not banned for the relegation six pointer with Hull. He went against the advice of his players, who would have loved him to have been banned for that one.
Welcome to Episode 44! Thank you for listening to the Coshcast. If you enjoy it, subscribe right here on Itunes. Alors, il est un autre podcast sur le football! Today we look back at the first few days of Euro action as Payet’s play saves the day for […]
When I went back to Juventus, [Gianni] Agnelli called me and told me he had to sell Zidane,” Lippi recalled in an interview with Sky. “He was the best player in the world, but they gave us €77m (£58m), he told me not to worry, that it would all be spent on the team. “We bought, [Gianluigi] Buffon, [Pavel] Nedved and [Lilian] Thuram, regrouped and the team kept winning. – Marcelo Lippi
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