The Footy Tales

 There are a few things that are certain in life...death, taxes and Cristiano Ronaldo rescuing his team again and again. At the ripe age of 37, when most players hang up their boots, here we have one of the most decorated footballers of all time pulling his team out of the mud week in week out. Sure, the match was against a less fancied Norwich, sure it was against side who have lost all their matches to the top 7 this season...but don't you dare say it was an easy win for Manchester United. As it has been the case this season, United let go a two goal lead thanks to some dreadful defending at the back, but once again it was that Portuguese messiah who brought the valuable three points for the team. The match was marked with protest both in and out of the stadium against the gross mismanagement of the club by the Glazers spanning over decades of ownership. Rangnick started with a 4-1-4-1 formation which essentially transformed into his preferred 4-2-2-2 as the game went on. Elanga ...

 Manchester United take on Leeds in a crucial Premier League fixture away at Elland road with the hope of maintaining their top four position this season. United have been far from consistent this season, but a win against the struggling Leeds would surely lift the spirits ahead of a crucial Champions League match against Atletico Madrid. United, as one may remember won 5-1 on the opening day of the new season at home against the very same opponents. A lot has changed since then, a this match is crucial for both teams now, for entirely different reasons. Leeds are 15th in the table on 23 points, just five off 18th placed Watford. A win will take them over Brentford upto 14th. Leeds have been awful to say the least this season, with defensive liabilities playing a huge role in their problems. Only Norwich have conceded more goals(50) than Leeds this season(46). They haven't kept a clean sheet since November last year, and have conceded an astonishing 26 goals in just 9 Premier Leagu...

 The Saudi backed takeover of Newcastle United, yes, the controversial £305 million purchase which marked the end of Mike Ashley's 14 years reign at the St. James' Park sparked much debate last year. Human rights groups were strongly against such a takeover while the Newcastle fans were over the moon. And why wouldn't they be? They are a set of fans who have seen it all, from being title contenders at one point in their history to being relegated, and now struggling to stay up, its safe to say thee set of fans have endured a lot. It was no surprise that the Magpies faithful were overjoyed, visibly wearing masks of the crown prince of Saudi Arabia, when the deal of the takeover went through. Newcastle United Football Club became the wealthiest club in the whole world, and along with their finances, their ambitions also skyrocketed. The new owners promised to take the club back to the Champions League.  But things don't improve overnight in football. Since the takeover, N...

  Manchester United is by far the most popular English club in the world. Add to that, the addition of global superstar Cristiano Ronaldo this summer boosted their popularity to even higher levels. The net spending of the team in 2021/22 season was 126 million euros which saw players like Raphael Varane, Jadon Sancho, Tom Heaton and Cristiano Ronaldo arrive at Old Trafford. The onus was on the then manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer to make a team out of these brilliant world class individuals. He failed, and following a string of poor results, he was sacked. In came German coaching great and the so called "Godfather of modern day geggen pressing" Ralf Rangnick. Rangnick has had a reputation of stabilizing small clubs, building them up from scratch and giving them a young, fearless and attacking identity. Well that has not been the case at United so far, and by the looks of it, the players are getting fed up. Recent news coming in that almost 11 players want to leave the club is a ...

Chelsea won 3-1 vs a Gerrard-less Aston Villa thanks to a Jorginho double on boxing day. As entertaining the match was,here are my thoughts on both team's performance:- CHELSEA ●  Chelsea started with a 3-4-3 and looked threatening from the onset. The wing backs,especially Alonso kept running up and down the flanks providing the width. The 3 man defense with Silva in the middle played wide but were quick to squeeze in the spaces to block the shots from the likes of Ings and Watkins. ● The midfield 3 in Chelsea, especially Kante impressed me a lot. His ball carrying prowess is criminally underrated. Whenever the wing backs put in the crosses,3 men were already waiting in the box with Kante running in for the rebound from outside. His long range shooting is very good and Tuchel looked to capitalize that. ●Jorginho was essential,not only from the spot,but his ability to break plays and spread the ball outwards is so good. Chelsea had more passes in the opposition half,more touches and...