No Complaints

All in all we didn’t really have any cause to complain about Wilfred Bony’s transfer to Manchester City, at least for the rest of this season. How UEFA will allow Manchester City to balance their books is none of our concern but what the transfer did give us was a considerably weakened Swansea team to use as shooting practice for the tougher games ahead. 5-0 away from home IS a big scoreline even by our superb standards.

The home side looked totally lost against a resurgent Chelsea without their big man to provide them with a target upfront. Granted that Chelsea offered them little space to maneuver but what did they have to gain going forward anyway? Gomis is a decent striker but he is not the 1 you choose to lead your attack if you are trying to get past the second best defence in the league. And Bony’s national assignment with Ivory Coast at the AFCON means we don’t have any bony business till next season.

So no reason to complain at all.

After the Spurs game on the New Year the media everywhere were making honest mistakes in finding adjectives to describe the 5-3 defeat. I recall thrashing was used. And mauling. I think some pieces that I nearly didn’t read used massacred. So as benevolent as Chelsea is we had to educate them on what game you can describe with those words hence the performance at the Liberty Stadium. Funny enough they don’t seem to think this game deserves those monstrous words too. One paper used “near-perfect”.

No complains there too.

Costa and Oscar bagged a brace each on Saturday

It took 58 mins for the Van Gaal to understand that maybe he needs to pay attention to the United fans. Before then the team was playing the infamous 3-5-2, Di Maria was playing as a striker and Phil Jones was taking the corner kicks. What exactly goes on in this man’s head is up for debate for those of us who cant read minds but from what we could read from the game, it looks pretty much like he wanted to be a magician but turned to football when he could not pronounce “Abrakadabra”.

The 3-5-2 does not work for United no matter how pretty it may be. And its not pretty too. It leaves your back-line stretched when your wing backs cant get into position in time. It leaves your midfield crowded which cuts out much needed space for your playmakers. United spent all that huge money in the summer buying players that will fit into this system but it is just not working. This is a traditional team that has 4-4-2 written in their genetic code and anyone who can change them to fit into a formation that is mostly unfamiliar, not for United alone but the BPL in general, must be one hell of a magician.

Louis Van Gaal on the United bench

How long did it take for Arsene Wenger to understand that you cant play every game the same way against every team? A very long time I must say and arent we all glad that he has? Sunday’s win at the Etihad was just about the biggest performance they have put on since they won at the Allianz Arena and that much was just a formality for the Germans. On Sunday, Arsenal were more than happy to let City do all the huffing and puffing but made the most of the ball when they had it and that is how to play against the big teams away from home, especially in Europe.

Manchester City have now not won a single premier league match without Yaya Toure since April last year. Now how about that for dependency? City played well on Sunday and were undone by that penalty but even with Aguero and Silva on you could still feel them lacking that extra swagger that they normally have and Arsenal capitalized on that. They face Chelsea at Stamford Bridge next. How will they fair without their big man at a grounds that is naturally for all teams? In previous meetings Jose Mourinho has always tasked Nemanja Matic to do a job on Toure. With him absent the Serbian will have all the time in the world for Silva and that will only be to our benefit.

Yaya Toure and Matic battles for the ball

So tough luck to City when we meet but tonight all eyes are focused on Anfield where we meet Liverpool in the Capital One cup semi-final 1^st leg. This will be a wonderful match. It always is with Chelsea-Liverpool in cup games. I think a draw wont be bad for the Scousers.

See you at Anfield blues.

FIFA RONALD'OR

It is nice to finally post again after what has been a very lengthy break. I really decided to endulge myself in last years festivities and it took me longer than I anticipated to get back but I am back and I want to wish each and every cherished reader of this blog a very Happy New year as late as it is.

So straight to the hottest topic of the day which is the FIFA Ballon d'Or which will be given out this evening and the announcement of the FIFPRO eleven.

Now the FIFA Ballon d'Or is an association football award given annually to the male player who is considered to have performed the best in the previous year from November 30, 2013 to November 21, 2014. It is awarded based on votes by coaches and captains of international teams, as well as journalists from around the world. And the shortlisted 3 for this year are C. Ronaldo, Lionel Messi and Manuel Neuer.

We all know Mr. Neuer is there to add to the numbers and also help FIFA appease the Germans who painstakingly won the World Cup in Brazil but its a known fact that he couldn't possibly win it ahead of the other 2. Such is their dominance in world football. If Wesley Sneider could not win it ahead of them in 2010 considering the season he had it is understandable why Neuer will not get close.

That leaves Messi and Ronaldo and I must admit that considering the season both had in 2014 I am surprised by the argument from the Messi camp.

Dont want to bore you with the statistics but this is a year in which Ronaldo outscored Messi and won more trophies and personal accolades than him. Messi played in the World Cup final and won the golden ball but Neuer actually won the trophy and won the golden gloves. Ronaldo in fact played in 3 finals and won all 3.

All these arguments would not have bothered until Messi became the all time leading scorer in both the la liga and the Champions league. Admiral achievement but in my opinion not worthy of determining who wins an award that is given for achievements in a single year.

If Barcelona fans think making those records should be rewarded the best thing to do will be to award him a life time something because that is what those records are. Achieved throughout a lifetime of football.

Only one player deserve to be crowned the world best in 2014 tonight and that is Cristiano Ronaldo.

A Wonderful 2015

I still don't really know what to make of the festive fixtures. Was it a success when we played away to Stoke ( Arsenal lost there), Southampton and Tottenham, and only 1 home fixture against our neighbours West Ham and picked up 7pts out of a possible 12? Or was it a disappointing one starting the new year dead level with Manchester City and only leading by alphabetical arrangements after leading by 8pts?

The team did an amazing work at the Britannia and against West Ham at home, which was expected. Southampton had their plan and almost succeeded but for the brilliance of Eden Hazard to get us the equalizer. The game at White Hart Lane was just an anomaly. It's that simple. We know it, they know it, Phil Dowd knows it and incidentally, Barcelona (who managed to tweet that they have nothing to do on their break but follow Chelsea scores) also knows. Cheers mate.

The simple truth is that those 7pts were hard-fought for at very difficult grounds and it could have been worse had our rivals from Manchester had the balls to maintain a 2-goal lead against Burnley. So it really wasn't the worst results we've had over the festive period, if you can ask Andre Villas Boas, so we look ahead to a wonderful 2015.

And just a week later things are looking better. We are 2 pts and +2 goals ahead, Diego Costa is leading the golden boot race again, Cesc Fabregas has almost forgotten he is competing for the assist king, we only have the Emirates waiting as the only tough grounds left in the league and we are still competing in all competitions.

It really will be a wonderful 2015.

How on earth did Luis Van Gaal manage to fool us all that he has been a better manager than David Moyes for Manchester United?

We know Moyes broke some unnecessary records at United, allowing some teams who normally came to just surrender at Old Trafford have the hope of winning, but the last time Southampton won there was in January 1988 before the Premier League was born.

After last weekend's match we know Van Gaal has not really fared any better than his predecessor. After playing the same number of matches (21) both managers had 37pts from a possible 63. Moyes actually had more wins (11 to 10) and more goals (35 to 34) than Van Gaal.

What Van Gaal has managed to do is lose less, draw more and string together 6 straight victories. Oh and he has United at 4th compared to Moyes' 7th at the same stage, but we all know that is largely due to the Merseysiders forgetting how to win this season.

So Louis van Gaal has not actually bettered the team from last season. Rooney is still the main man, Van Persie is wasting the chances he is being given ahead of Falcao and the team is crap without Fletcher. All this with an over £200M spending.

Question is; how did he fool us?

WINNERS AT 2014 BALLON D'OR GALA IN ZURICH

Ballon d'Or: Cristiano Ronaldo
Women's world player of the year: Nadine Kessler
Puskas award: James Rodriguez
World coach of the year for men's football: Joachim Low
World coach of the year for women's football: Ralf Kellermann
World XI: Neuer; Lahm, Ramos, David Luiz, Thiago Silva; Di Maria, Iniesta, Kroos; Messi, Ronaldo, Robben
FIFA presidential award: Hiroshi Kagawa
FIFA fair play award: FIFA volunteers

And this is what the man had to say after winning:
'I can see my mother, my family. I would like to thank all those who voted for me. My coach, my fellow player, the President of my club.

'It's been an unforgettable year. To win this trophy, a trophy of this kind, is something unique and all I can say is I want to continue working as I have so far, trying to go on to more titles - individual and as a team - for my mother, my father who is up there looking at me and my son.'

'I want to get better as the days go by. I want to say to all the Portuguese that I never thought I could win this trophy on three different occasions. Of course it is something that is always with me, I want to become one of the greatest players of all time, and this requires a lot so I would like to thank you for all this evening.'

He is the best player in the world.
Congratulations

And this is how England manager Roy Hodgson voted; 1) Mascherano 2) Lahm 3) Neuer.

How could a man be so off target with 3 chances?