Is The Klopp Is Ticking For Both Rodgers And Mourinho...

So after another defeat the clock is ticking for two managers in particular, one being obviously Jose Mourinho and the other Brendan Rodgers who both have really struggled for form at the beginning of this season, with Chelsea 11 points of the pace and Liverpool a bit better off with 8 points of leaders Manchester City who are yet to concede or drop any points.

As for Mourinho, this is contrasting compared to how Chelsea stated the season last year they where ferocious, tearing teams apart Fabregas and Hazard was superb, Diego Costa was unplayable, the defence as solid as a rock and ever reliable nothing ever seemed to faze the back four of Branislav, Terry, Cahill and Azpilicueta. Now they all look like a shadow compared to last season.  

Will both these manager get time to turn fortunes around? I think they will but it will be now till Christmas if I’m honest. The situation at Chelsea looks like history is repeating itself with Mourinho all over again, a slow stuttering start, performances not great struggling to score, looking fragile in defence as well at this moment in time; it really doesn’t look good for Jose.

  

To be fair we all know Brendan Rodgers is a slow starter, however he’s again a lot on money bringing the likes of Roberto Firmino, Benteke and Nathaniel Clyde, so the pressure’s on Rogers for sure, and would the Liverpool board accept no Champions League football for a second successive year, me personally no I don’t think they would.

As for Brendan Rodgers Liverpool have given him time in the past, however you can only take so much until you have to make a decision, so we stick or change, Rodgers still hasn’t won anything with Liverpool which is worrying, he continues to play a 4-3-3 which doesn’t suit the players he’s got, if I was Brendan I’d go back playing 2 up top, it worked when SAS (Suarez and Sturridge) and that’s personally what he need to do.

Is there any good candidate’s to take over either Chelsea or Liverpool? There’s one man Jurgen Klopp, loves to play fast flowing attacking football, likes possession and a high tempo passing, Klopp thrives off playing a 4-2-3-1 which I know Chelsea play but when Klopp was at Dortmund there wasn’t a dull moment form the fantastic performances his team played right through to his facial expression on the bench. This Klopp is ticking for both Rodgers and Mourinho, they need to be very careful before either the Liverpool board run out of patience or Mr Abramovich wields the axe on José once again.

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Manchester United's Best Signing of The Window...

So after signing a new contract, David De Gea was immediately reinstated back in to the fold at Manchester United after agreeing a new 4 year deal with an option of an extra year. My question is why would he sign a 4 year deal? Well a few things spring to mind.

 1. De Gea’s place in this summer’s Euro 2016 squad was being compromised by the lack of first team activity.

2. Has De Gea realised how dreadful the Madrid faithful can be i.e. with Bale, Ronaldo and Iker Casillas.

Bale scores the winner in the UEFA Champions League Final to give Madrid a record breaking 10 title known in Spain as La Decima and Copa Del Rey Final, goes from been hero to zero in the space of 4 months.

Ronaldo who is on another planet has scored a minimum of 50 goals in each of his last 5 seasons,which is extraordinary futhermore Ronaldo is now Real Madrid's all time top goalscorer and if he where to fire a few blanks in the coming game weeks he would still get booed which is preposterous.

(One for the Ladies if your reading)

Finally Iker Casillas, who had represented Real Madrid superbly throughout his 25 year association with Los Blancos, Iker even had to release his own press conference as Madrid didn’t, which sparked fury across the media for the lack of respect that Madrid gave Saint Iker.

I think one of the most important factors behind De Gea signing a new deal at Manchester United is none other that  ... Sir Alex Ferguson himself. Yes that’s right I said it Sir Alex, it’s well known Sir Alex hates Madrid with a passion, the Manchester United legend once said ‘he wouldn’t even sell Real Madrid a virus’. If it could be anyone to swing De Gea’s mind it would be Sir Alex.

 Now we shall see where the next chapter of De Gea’s Manchester United careerwill take him. Will he be there at the start of next season or not, because personally he’s in the one of the best clubs in the world at the moment, fans adore him and worship him like a Saint and finally he’s key to Van Gaal and Manchester United’s plans going forward. however this has happened before with Real Madrid, it pains me to say they always get there man, could this follow similar suit to Cristiano Ronaldo, he signed a new deal then the following year moved to Madrid, could this be history repeating itself. This is coming from a Chelsea fan, I hope it’s not however one thing I do know, is Real Madrid don’t go away easy, Florentino Perez and Real Madrid will do whatever it takes to get there man.

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Chelsea's Struggles Continues

As if it couldn’t get any worse for Chelsea, they’ve only managed to accumulate 4 points so far this season which by Chelsea’s and Mourinho’s high standards is woeful, conceding goals left, right and centre, missing out with several bids for  a top quality centre back i.e. John Stones and Marquinhos.

Then to make matters worst the terrible form of John Terry, Gary Cahill and Branislav Ivanovic added more headache for José. 

Now for the cherry on top Courtois will be out till Christmas, excellent.... Not what Chelsea fans would have wanted to hear, do you think Chelsea regret selling Petr Cech to rivals Arsenal??? You bloody bet they do.

 It’s all started very pear-shaped for Jose this year, very pear-shaped indeed. Lack of transfer activity at the beginning, missing out on key target in market, All in all not the best window for Chelsea however the signing of Pedro was a stroke of genius £22 million for a winger that will get you not only goals but assists as well, so hats off to Jose for that deal, as we’ve seen in Pedro’s first two matches against West Brom and Crystal Palace respectively, one goal and 2 assists. 

But for me personally as a Chelsea fan, this window has been pretty poor, still lacking in strength and depth in defence, so we shall see how Chelsea and Jose will cope, to somehow to turn this around, but José being José, you don’t know what might happen. 

BPL Young Player of the Year Shortlist Through Tony's Eyes ...

So you’ve read my Player of the Year prediction now here’s my Young Player of the Year prediction... the two Manchester new boys in Memphis for United and Sterling for City and as a real wildcard the young solid Frenchman Kurt ‘Happy’ Zouma.

So first up Memphis, he has come to the premier League off the back of a sensational year for PSV, winning the title for the first time in seven years and been top goal scorer in the Eredivisie, bags of pace, a real eye for goal and trickery to entertain the Old Trafford faithfully, inheriting the famous number 7 from the disappointing Angel Di Maria, the stage is set for Memphis  after a slow and sluggish start but the best is yet to come from the young Dutchman and I hope he makes it his own that’s why he’s my number one contender for the award.

Second, the £49 million signing of Raheem Sterling, many eyebrows were raised when Manchester City shelled out the enormous fee for the 20 year old, as he show a Liverpool Sterling can be one hell of a player with ball at his feet, frighteningly electric pace, can dribble through the tightest of gaps and has a keen eye for a pass. Playing with the likes of David Silva, Yaya Toure and Sergio Aguero are only going to improve Sterling and take him to the next level.

And finally the wildcard Kurt Zouma, I’ve not just included Zouma cause his middle name is happy, I’ve included him because I really think he has a real shout with Chelsea leaking goals left, right and centre at the minute and with questions over how reliable John Terry and Gary Cahill actually are, why couldn’t Zouma win the award, we saw last year how good Zouma was playing at the back or even in midfield, around Chelsea, Zouma’s compared to French legend Marcel Desailly, both as strong as an ox, can read the game well and for centre backs are both very quick off the mark. With Chelsea’s Centre backs looking a little slow and sluggish why isn’t Zouma the answer.

So here’s my Young Player of the Year nomination, let me know what you think.

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BPL Player of the Year Shortlist Through Tony's Eyes ...

So the Premier League is well underway and our first intentional break is here, which made me think about my prediction for who would win BPL player of the year and I’ve choose 3 players who have a real shout. They are David Silva, Eden Hazard and finally Wayne Rooney.

So first up David Silva, Manchester City has made a blistering start to the Premier League season, scoring on 10 occasions and conceding 0. Looking back at their very best, Manchester City performances this year have been nothing short of excellent, super slick passing with the ball and on another level defensively, as we saw against Chelsea in a 3-0 drumming. But enough about the performance, I’m going to talk about the pint sized Spaniard and how essential he is for Manchester City. Already this season David Silva has shown us what he can do with the ball, with 1 goal and 4 assists in 4 games, he is there main creative force and looks relentless, picking out superb passes which lead to one thing you need to win titles... goals. A lot of you will be reading this thinking why not Aguero, he will score the goals but I thought it would be too obvious, so that’s why I’ve chosen David Silva

Second, the Belgium wizard that’s Eden Hazard, it’s safe to say that Chelsea have started dreadfully, pure and simple, champions elect looks more like chumps elect to me, but if there one man in that Chelsea side that can create something tremendous out of nothing, it’s no other than Belgium winger. Hazard won the award last year and its going to be real challenge to win the award for a second successive time; it’s a feat that hasn’t been achieved often, two players that spring to mind to have achieved this is Cristiano Ronaldo and the other Thierry Henry, so Eden really needs to show up now and improve on his goal tally of 14 league goals, Eden really needs to be hitting at least the 20 mark, and with Chelsea in dire form the stage is all set for Hazard to turn things around.

And finally I had to include an Englishman and who other than the nation’s new top goalscorer Wayne Rooney, usually if history repeats itself, before a major international tournament, Rooney hammers in a healthy number of goals and is always bang on form ready for the tournament,. After struggling to score for Manchester united in their first 4 fixtures in the Premier League, Rooney looked back to his very best in Europe, scoring a hat trick against Club Brugge and netting in England’s 6-0 thrashing of minnows San Marino, Rooney will take immense confidence from that and will be hoping that with his goals and energetic displays combined with a never say die attitude, that Manchester United will be at the top of the tree and lifting the Premier League title come the end of the season.

So there it is that’s my 3 nominations stay tuned for my young player of their year nominations...

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Andre Ayew, Swansea’s Own Lionel Messi

Andre Ayew, Swansea’s own Lionel Messi and their talisman. It’s safe to say Ayew has hit the ground running for Swansea and before the international break, he punished giants Manchester United for being so sloppy in defence by getting a goal and setting up another for the inform Gomis.

I’m really surprised that none of the big 4 in the Premier League looked at Ayew, he joined from Marseille after spending five years there on a free!!! Yes that’s right I said a free. I’m absolutely speechless as to why no other clubs went for Ayew as Swansea pulled off a massive coup in signing Ayew, so hats off to Garry Monk for that deal.

 After the first four Premier League matches, Garry Monk will be delighted as to how easily Ayew has slotted in the Swansea starting 11, making that right hand side his own, furthermore having a hand in many key attacking movements in the final third of the field and creating a very good partnership with not only Gomis but also Jefferson Monetro as well. In Ayew they have some who can pick up the ball and make something happen, very similar to his father Abedi ‘Pele’ Ayew, as Abedi Ayew was known for, in his hay day, producing superb goals and assists at crucial times for not only Marseille but Ghana as well, which bring me to say that Andre is a chip off the old block, if your comparing him to his father.   

 In my opinion Swansea are my surprise package to get into the Europa League this year, very similar to what Southampton achieved last season with some very shroud signings, Swansea has followed suit, which one of these shroud deal is Andre Ayew.   

For me Ayew is the biggest coup of the season and one of the smartest deals done by a Premier League manager this season.