Nobody would have thought Chelsea would be struggling to make it into the Champions League this season but it just goes to show how difficult the Premier League is, especially for a rookie manager. I can’t see it working out in the long term for him.
I know they say if you’re good enough age doesn’t matter but I think that works more with players than it does managers. How can AVB tell Terry or Lampard what to do when they have seen and done it all before. It’s not even like AVB built his own team at Porto, ok he did really well in that one season winning the League and the Cup but you need more than that to hit the ground running in England.
I think his tricky time also demonstrates how well our Gaffer has done to stay at the top for as long as he has. Whenever people criticise Sir Alex Ferguson, I don’t get where there coming from. Look what he has to work with, our budget is nowhere near the size of City or Chelsea’s and yet we are joint top of the League. And that’s including more injuries than any other team. It’s like people think we have a divine right to win every trophy, doesn’t anyone remember the seventies and eighties!
Anyway, sorry rant over. I just needed to get it off my chest (I do get some incredible emails moaning about the club so wanted to put them straight)!
Onto the game and it’s great to see some of those injured players returning. Wazza, Nani, Young and Cleverley are all travelling to London and I expect to see them feature in the squad. The goal keeping situation is still one that needs careful consideration but I know the United staff will make the right call. I would probably play Ben Amos again after he did well against Stoke and hopefully he won’t have much to do because we will be up the other end of the pitch!
Danger man: Juan Mata
For me he’s a poor man’s David Silva but that’s still pretty good. If Torres is ever going to succeed at Chelsea he’s going to have to rely on Mata’s service. They should be perfect for each other. Mata has enough quality to pick the right ball more often than not and I think if Fernando had been high on confidence then they would be combining for fun. However it seems like it’s destined not to work out for the fifty million pound man, so Mata will have to step his game up, score plenty more goals and single-handedly try to save Chelsea’s season and AVB’s job. Which is not going to be easy!
Score Prediction : United are gonna win 3-1 against Chelsea with the Little Pea on target again!
Buy tickets for United Nights now – the event is next Friday, February 10th, and Sammy McIlroy and Mickey Thomas will be in attendance.