Tags
Arsenal, Chelsea, Ed Woodward, England, Football, Jota, Leicester City, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, Michael Carrick, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, Premier league, Sadio Mane, The Glazers, Thomas Tuchel, Tottenham, Watford
It is no longer news that Manchester United have sacked Ole Gunnar Solksjaer after they suffered another humiliating defeat this time at the hands of relegation threatened Watford at Vicarage road by 4 goals to 1.
When teams near the bottom of the premier league table feel very confident attacking your team and your team makes them look like prime Barcelona then you know that your days are numbered as a football manager. The situation Ed Woodward and the Glazers have been trying to avoid for the past 2 years had to be confronted immediately whether they liked it or not.
Ole was out of his depth and the ironical thing is, had one of the players he trusted through thick and thin not been stupid the one who he has stubbornly neglected for almost one and a half years would probably have contributed immensely to a probable stay of execution by Woodward and co.
Ole was sacked early on Sunday morning. And Michael Carrick has been appointed on an interim basis for the next couple of games until another interim manager is appointed who will manage the club until the end of the season.
This in my opinion is just shambolic. Norwich, Villa, Watford, Spurs and Newcastle have all appointed permanent managers after sacking their previous managers who began this season’s campaign. All these clubs have seen an upturn in results.
But Woodward and the Glazers don’t think this way because winning trophies is not a priority to them as long as the commercial side of things is booming. League titles and Champions league can take a backseat. They are by this course of action, effectively writing off this season after 12 PL games and writing off the next because how many new managers win the premier league on their first attempt?
Norwich and Villa used the opportunity provided by the international break to get new permanent managers in while Man United smarting from a humbling from Man City opted to give everyone a week’s break until the defeat to City blows over. Disaster upon disaster. The international break afforded the club the chance to get a permanent replacement who would hit the ground running with an attempt to salvage what is left of the season.
The most painful part for me of this decision to sack Ole is that Michael Carrick, who was part of Ole’s management team along with Kieran McKenna and Mike Phelan and were responsible for coaching the team on the training ground on the basics of football, team organisation and system that has been so abysmal these last 3 months is now in charge.
Meaning that nothing has changed! It will be the same old tactics and pattern. I would be surprised if there is any sort of managerial bounce under Carrick. Carrick and the rest of Ole’s management team should be sacked immediately a new interim is found. But I doubt that this is the intention of the Glazers. They have simply thrown Ole under the bus.
Liverpool smash Arsenal at Anfield.
Arsenal have been on an unbeaten run of about 8 games in all competitions and many of their fans were feeling quite confident of getting a result against Liverpool to such an extent that some of their more critical fans who are members of the AFTV crew bought tickets to go see the game.
But for Aaron Ramsdale who is in hot form, Arsenal could have left Anfield with a much heavier defeat than 4-0. Mane, Jota, Salah and Minamino were all on the scoresheet for Liverpool.
Arsenal were toothless at Anfield but they did ok in the first half to frustrate Liverpool but as soon as Mane got the breakthrough, they capitulated in typical fashion. I suspect that they will quickly put this defeat behind them and move on with the hopes of defeating Newcastle and Man United in the coming games. If they do this then maybe Arsenal and a resurgent Tottenham could end up battling it out for the top 4.
Chelsea remain top of the table
Chelsea outclassed Leicester 3-0 despite having no Romelu Lukaku and also having 3 other goals ruled out for offside. Chelsea were quite good away at Leicester. It is remarkable the difference between what Chelsea was under Lampard and now under Tuchel.
Tuchel has not been giving excuses about his lack of a fit striker at the moment. Instead he has not only made the team compact, he has also made everyone assume the responsibility of scoring as well. 2 of Chelsea’s 3 goals were scored by players whose primary jobs are not to score goals but to keep the opposition from scoring.
Chelsea defensive record away from home is also quite impressive. They have only conceded 1 (Salah’s equaliser from the spot) goal away from home and none from open play. if they can maintain this quality of stinginess in defence for the rest of the season, they will become champions.