I have learned that Manchester United are planning a big sale of some senior players who are not in Erik Ten Hag’s long-term plans. Harry Maguire, Scott McTominay and Anthony Martial are all being pointed towards the exit door as soon as possible. The Glazer Brother owners are working on the sale of the club and I understand several parties are in discussions. In particular a Qatari investment group have prepared a huge takeover plan worth £6billion. There is a mid-February deadline for offers however the Qatari group have to be careful as they have a controlling interest in Paris Saint-Germain and therefore if they also owned United both teams would not be able to compete in the Champions League under current rules. As a result of possible new owners arriving, Ten Hag has already informed the board of several players he wants to bring in to strengthen the squad although he has not yet confirmed publicly who they are. Three other players joining the exit are likely to be Alex Telles, Donny van de Beek and Eric Bailly.
*If the Qatari group are successful it would mean that Manchester United, Manchester City and Newcastle would all be owned by Middle Eastern investment groups.
City getting it wrong with Haaland
Once again Pep Guardiola turned on his team following the Tottenham defeat because, as I wrote three weeks ago, the wingers and midfield are not feeding enough balls through to Erling Haaland. Put the ball in front of the striker or at his feet and he will score goals. Instead he is being starved of service and Guardiola is not a happy man. The game against Tottenham was played around Haaland but did not involve him. He didn’t have one shot during the whole game and did not even touch the ball inside the opponent’s penalty area for the first time since he joined City. Haaland was disconnected from his team. Time and again he ran forward to collect a pass that never came. In a way Guardiola brought this defeat on himself. Why, asked so many supporters, did he leave out the one player who delivers for Haaland regularly? Kevin de Bruyne watched from the bench and when he came on it was too late and he managed only one pass to his striker. The only players who delivered two or more passes to Haaland were Ederson (the goalkeeper!!), Rodri and Nathan Ake. Guardiola, once again, called his players together in the training room on Monday and went through what went wrong. However, he needs to look at himself, a master coach and tactician who is currently getting things wrong. He used a 4-4-2 format which just didn’t work against Tottenham because Rodri and Bernado Silva were overrun in midfield. He needs to go back to the drawing board, get his team sorted out, possibly bring back Ruben Dias and Aymeric Laporte, work on Grealish supporting Haaland and make sure his players get more balls to the feet of their lethal striker.
How Dyche secured surprise win over Arsenal
Even in their wildest dreams did Everton supporters did not expect the Toffees to beat Arsenal last weekend. As it worked out, new coach Sean Dyche won his first game and is looking to move Everton up the table and out of the relegation zone. There is much to do for the ex-Burnley coach. Responding to intense training, motivational pep talks and honest appraisal of their recent performances, the Everton players certainly responded and displayed aggression, fast pace football and were a tigerish unit on the hunt. They gave Arsenal a tough match despite not having the majority of possession. Without a win in fourteen games and no success since October, Everton suddenly have a new belief in themselves. Amadou Onana and Abdoulaye Doucoure collapsed at the final whistle through total exhaustion such was their commitment which is something Frank Lampard did not enjoy. On the training ground Dyche had worked on his winger’s attacking options and insisted on strenuous hard work. He had spent time during his short time in charge working with his wingers to deliver good quality balls into the box and Dwight McNeil’s corner led to Tarkowski’s winning goal and Seamus Coleman’s crosses from the right troubled the Gunner’s defence. Prior to the game fans staged another protest against the board of directors, who once again did not attend the game, but to a man the fans all united behind Dyche at kick-off. They sang his name and cheered him on and off the pitch. The dressing room had fallen apart at the end of Lampard’s reign and an example was the fallout between Doucoure and Idrissa Gueye which resulted in Doucoure being forced to train alone. All was forgotten and forgiven when Dyche arrived and last weekend highlighted how he has turned things around in just one week. Everton rose to third from bottom, equal on points with Leeds who saw the departure of coach Jesse Marsche this week.
VAR attacked again
VAR was again called into question this week because Manchester United’s midfield general Casimero had been sent off for having his hands around Crystal Palace player Will Hughes’ throat. On closer inspection from various angles it appears Casimero was trying to stop Hughes from joining in the trouble between several players and in fact had his hands on each side of Hughes’ shirt collar. Once again VAR had got things wrong and Manchester United are launching an appeal against the sending off. The point is that VAR should have shown the different angles to referee Andre Marriner but they didn’t. Once again United fans believe officials have a grudge against their team. Referees are not perfect and rely on VAR but the system is failing them. The team watching the screens in a remote room miles away from the game must get decisions right otherwise there is no point in having them oversee matches. Casimero is a loss to Erik Ten Hag and in upcoming matches against strugglers Leeds and Leicester they take on teams who will fight for every point.
Leicester finally find Mahrez replacement
Leicester City supporters stood in the away end at Aston Villa at the weekend and instead of blue and white flags there were hundreds of green and yellow, the colours of Brazil. The fans were showing a welcome for their new man Tete and he certainly did not disappoint and even won “man of the match.” In his first match out on the right wing he impressed his manager Brendan Rodgers who said, “I’ve never seen more Brazilian flags since I was in Rio. Tete is what I have been talking about for 18 months – a right-winger who can take the ball, dribble, pass the ball, look after it, make runs and work. He was really good and because of that we had better balance. It allowed Kelechi (Iheanacho) to play into the spaces in front.” Leicester have been searching for a Riyad Mahrez replacement since he was sold to Manchester City in 2018. Asensio heading for Premier League Real Madrid star Asensio wants to play in the Premier League and this week his agents travelled to London and spoke to several clubs about the winger. The 27-year-old is having a difficult time at Real but the club will not make a decision to let him leave until March. His current deal expires in four months and Arsenal have asked to meet his representatives. Asensio is looking for a four-year deal with a Premier League club and wants to increase his Real salary of £118k a week ((£6million a year). When I contacted Real asking for an assurance that Alensio is still part of coach Carlo Ancelotti’s plans it was not confirmed which explains why the talented winger wants out of the club.
