The Moyes mishap

              

Etoo celebrating his goals

The big Premiership match of the weekend Chelsea vs. Manchester United turned out as expected, if you know what I mean. 3-1 to the home team and surprise surprise Samuel Etoo Fils scored his 1st hat trick for the Blues.
So while Jose Mourinho seems to have all the right moves in all the right places; what is David Moyes doing wrong?

                          
Let’s just look at 4 things he might have done wrong:

1. Not knowing his players well enough:
So we all know how it is when you come in as a new manager and you have to know whom and whom to combine to give to that perfect fit, but Moyes seems to be lacking in that.
Not only does he not know his players, but he just doesn’t know how to combine them.
Yes we all know RVP has been kind of the main man for ManU, but he’s been out for how many weeks now? More than 8 weeks and still counting, there is one player in ManU that still amazes me why they do not start him and that guy is Chicarito- he sure knows how to get the goals even in the tightest of situations, just one example will suffice…he got the sole goal ManU scored in the Chelsea encounter.


2. Clean out of the back room staff:
We all know he (Moyes) is the chosen one, but if you’re chosen does it mean you should clear out every one that worked under Sir Fergie? He should have left at least one or two former staff who knew what it meant to work with the team, we all know Man U wasn’t all that in the 2012/2013 season, but the combination of a great coach in Fergie and his staff did the magic.


3. Lack of Buying Prowess:
It is without doubt now that Moyes simply doesn’t know where to put his money down to buy players. Even he lacks the wherewithal to convince players to come to his club.
If it were in Fergie days, Mesut Ozil would have gone to Manchester United and not Arsenal.
If he does not enroll in a Marketing/Sales class, Man U will virtually just be with unknowns at the end of the day. Do not be surprised if RVP decides to leave the club i.e. when he gets out of injury.

4. Inability to click on time:
Now this we know is any clubs success; there’s a saying that if you aim for 1st and you don’t get it at least you would come out either 2nd or 3rd. But our dear Moyes seems to be okay with being in the top 10. Will not be surprised in Man U does not qualify for the Champions League; UEFA Cup will be a gift if they do qualify for that. Look at Pellegrini he just came to take charge on Man City and he’s doing wonders already, they are currently 2nd on the table and are still in all competitions, in fact people even think they have a chance of beating Barca when they meet in the Champions league round of 16, now that’s a Coach who knows what he’s doing.

We all want Moyes to succeed in his position, but he has to really up his game on time, we still love to see Manchester United in top flight, the beauty of the EPL is having so many good teams fight for the top spot. Please Moyes try not to spoil this for us; we still have your back.

The Menace Called Manchester City

The annihilation of confidence; the wrath of a roaring host - Introducing the menace called Manchester City. Its no brainier since the start of the 2013/14 season of Manchester City's determination to rack up all available silverware in any competition they participated in. Emirates Cup (if they participated)-they'll like to win that; UEFA cup and champions league (if a club could enter in for both), they'll like to win that too. This could further be confirmed following Manuel Pellegrini's first set of statements since taking charge from the ousted former coach, Roberto Mancini (who had only the season before then won the premiership ahead of Manchester united in the most dramatic fashion possible in the premier league history). Call it revenge; call it determination; call it a bid for return on investment; call it anything you may like - but so far, teams that had gone to Manchester City for any duel do not leave without a truck load of goals.

Aguero celebrating his goal making it 4-0

So far, the blue side of Manchester has scored a whooping 99 goals this season way more than most teams right now. Their most notorious victory thus far would be the astonishing annihilation of Arsenal some few weeks back in a match that ended 6-3. The thing of concern to several other clubs is that ... The goals seem to come from everybody! - from the Central Forwards, to the defensive midfielders, to the Wingers... Even the Defenders are scoring too! Worthy of note is that Sergio Aguero has been under the knife for a couple of weeks now ... And still has his name of the top 5 goal scorers in the EPL. He scored within 50 seconds of coming on the pitch in the 5-0 drubbing of Blackburn Rovers Whether they'll be able to maintain this form or not when they face Barcelona in a couple of weeks time in the UEFA champions league group of 16 stage, time will tell. But it would be very interesting to see Yaya Toure, the current African Footballer of the year and the clubs pivotal maestro, meet with his former team mates once again since leaving them in 2010 and Manuel Pellegrini relive his days of the La liga but with some amazing talents in blue this time around.

All Hail the King RONALDO!!!

What an emotional night it was for Cristiano Ronaldo as he was named the World Best Player for the year 2013. So many might have said he expected it... But the expression on his face and the whole emotion that followed just shows the relief and happiness he felt. It really is not easy keeping that level of commitment and perseverance for 4 good years. Also he had the back of his teammates, Coach, Club President also.

Almost everyone around the world wanted Ronaldo to win; some even dared to do the unthinkable if he did not, see tweet from Rio Ferdinand of Manchester United:

Rio Ferdinand ‏@rioferdy513 Jan

If @Cristiano doesn't win the Balon D'or tonight.....I will run down the street butt naked! Won't be a great sight I tell ya!! Come on CR7!

A great injustice would have been done if Ronaldo did not win.

An emotional Ronaldo receives his award

Now Ronaldo has become the 3rd player in History to win World best with 2 different clubs (Manchester United and Real Madrid) the other 2 players being Ronaldo de Lima and Zinedine Zidane.

When asked who would be the highest goal scorer in the FIF Pro World XI Ibra answered "that would be Cristiano Ronald0" after both Ronaldo and Messi dodged giving any answers.

Congratulatory messages from teammates

As Madrid prepares for their next match against Osasuna; we all hope to see a re-energized and motivated Cristiano Ronaldo take to the pitch.. and hopefully he will get a hat trick:

See link of Ronaldo's awards plus match preview :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lkK46S6jSOM&feature=youtu.be&noredirect=1

Ballon D'or 2013

Who wins 2013 Ballon D'or

Less than 24 hours from now we will all know who will be crowned the World Best Footballer for 2013...

Now who will wear the Crown, will it be Messi, Ronaldo or Ribery? 

Now lets see a little of their stats; courtsey Opta:

Messi:

Has been excellent to say the least, winning 4 straight Ballon d'or ain't no mean feat. We all can say he has brought a lot to the game as an individual, goal scoring is a feat that he keeps improving on every year.

He also is seen as "humble" no wonder Sepp Blatter comment late last year Lionel Messi is a good boy, that every Father and every mother would like to take home".. but some will say Blatter is a bit biased towards Messi.

Well even though Messi had a torn hamstring late in the year that ruled him out till end of 2013. He still has a chance to have the award for 5 years in a row.

Ronaldo:

To say Ronaldo has been Ballon d'or deprived is a small matter, ever since winning it while with Manchester United in 2009, it has eluded him, with the likes of Messi taking it home.

But one would say he stands a great chance this time around after single handedly taking his Country Portugal to the Brazil 2014 World cup thanks to his hat-trick against Ibra's Sweden and netting 66 goals in all competitions in the year under review...
Infact with his Musuem which he just opened in his birthplace Madeira- which has space for a Ballon d'or trophy; he might just get his desire.


Ribery:
Ribery also had a great year winning the treble with Bayern Munich, although losing out at the beginning of the season to arch rival Dortmund in the German Super Cup. That not withstanding he just got the Club world cup trophy and he is so good to go.

Ribery played an important part in his team's victory year round... though we know it was Robben who scored the winning goal in the UCL finals...but hey! give it to Ribery he had a great year.

So as the time draws near Zurich will be in for a sight come Monday the 13th of January 2014 where we all await to see who gets crowned...