Wednesday, May 31, 2017

David Wagner - More Than Just Jurgen Klopp’s Mate


I want to start by giving a huge congratulations to everyone at Huddersfield Town. I love a good underdog story and to see the Terriers go from a lower half Championship team to a Premier League team is enough to put a smile on the face of most football fans. Today’s post though will be about the man who has masterminded this turn around, David Wagner.

Now this post might sting a bit for me to write as Town did knock my club Sheffield Wednesday out of the playoffs in the semis but I felt almost compelled to write about the genius who absolutely dominated The Owls, ripped out my heart and stamped on it like a cigarette butt in the rain...that was almost poetic


The German joined Huddersfield on November 5th 2015 with the Yorkshire club 18th in the league. I think some Town fans thought it was a little harsh to sack then manager Chris Powell who had spent just over a year in the job and to replace him with an unknown foreign manager was a risky move. Clubs like Charlton had been stung previously by bringing in bosses from abroad.

But the chance of signing Jurgen Klopp’s right hand man almost seemed too good to be true and the clubs chairman and greeting card enthusiast Dean Hoyle was very keen on bringing Wagner in. and what an inspired appointment it has been.

Since coming in he has revolutionised the way Town play, describing it less like “rock and roll football” (as Klopp likes to call it) and more like “Terrier football”. In his words they aren’t the biggest dog but are aggressive, quick and never give up. A very true statement when you watch them play.

Huddersfield this season finished third in the possession table with an average of 55.7% possession. The only clubs ahead of them were fellow playoff challengers Fulham (59.1%) and Reading (57.4%). Opting for more shorter passes and regularly using a 4-2-3-1 formation, they pack out the midfield so there is always a passing option available.

Wagner also like his fullbacks to push further forward, offering more options in attack. Terriers right back and captain Tommy Smith has the most assists for the club this season with 10, joint second in the league overall! When they were chasing a goal against Sheffield Wednesday in the play off semi final second leg, Smith pushed much further forward, almost changing the formation to a 3-4-3. This added pressure was the undoing of the Owls as Tom Lees ended up breaking my heart by scoring the equalising own goal…
~ We still love you though Lees ~


It’s not all about their attack though as they’re just as adept with their defensive responsibilities. With the amount of huge German’s that Huddersfield have, it’s no surprise that they are dominant in the air defensively, rarely conceding goals from set pieces. Their best form of defense though is their possession of the ball. To put it simply, the opposition can’t score if they don’t have the ball.

That’s not to say that Wagner’s tactic is perfect. Despite not conceding many goals Huddersfield have also struggled to score goals this season. I mean it says it all when you finish 5th in the league but with a -2 goal difference. This isn’t down to a lack of a goalscorer, more down to a lack of clear cut chances being created.

Even in the playoffs Huddersfield only really created three clear cut chances in three games. The first being Izzy Brown’s ghost run into the box in which he forced Keiren Westwood into a world class save, the second which resulted in Tom Lees’ own goal and the final chance being Izzy Brown’s open net miss against Reading in the final.
~ Again Lees we love you, don’t ever leave us! ~

Obviously though he’s still loved by the Kirklees Stadium faithful. He’s managed to instill belief into the players which transfers into the fans which in turn transfers back into the players and so on and so forth. It’s a wonderful cycle to be in.

Transfers have been another huge plus for the German. He’s made some of the shrewdest signings of the Championship season. The likes of Michael Hefele and Chris Lowe were brought in for free and been influential figures in Huddersfield's promotion.

As have Van La Parra, brought in £765,000 and Schindler who was brought in for a club record fee of £1.8 million. All those purchases were highly rated at their previous clubs and will be huge players for Town in next season’s campaign.

Wagner’s use of the loan market has also been hugely successful for his side. Pacey wide man Kachunga, Aussie Mooy, Penalty hero Ward and wonder kid Izzy Brown have been key players for Huddersfield this season, now that they’re up I imagine ze German will want to make some of their moves permanent.


I’ve also been made aware that David Wagner’s appointment had a lot of meaning to the older Terriers fans. Supporters of a certain age will remember that Bill Shankly left Town to go to Liverpool despite The Reds being in a lower league position. Wagner turning down the opportunity to be Klopp’s assistant at Liverpool and become the boss at Huddersfield felt like a nice gesture to some of the older generation.

Questions were raised on whether he would stay after this season and now that their up I can’t see any reason for him to leave. If promotion wasn’t achieved then maybe he’d have left. With clubs like Crystal Palace and possibly Watford sniffing from the Premier League as well as Middlesbrough, Sunderland and Hull looking for new bosses, he may have been tempted away.

Truth be told I can’t see him staying at Huddersfield for the rest of his career. I could actually see him managing a high profile European side. Maybe not Real Madrid or Juventus but maybe Napoli, Sevilla or possibly a return to Dortmund. Of course that all depends on how well he performs next season in the English top flight.

Truth be told though I think they should do well next season. I don’t want to jinx the Yorkshire side but I think they’ll be safe. They need to look towards the likes of Bournemouth, a side who came up but didn’t lose their identity, that actually had a style of play. Too many clubs come up and look like they don’t have a plan when they play and inevitably drop straight back down. Fingers crossed for the Terriers they can avoid that outcome.


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Cheers for reading.

Sunday, May 28, 2017

Top 10 Worst Signings - 16/17 Season


Today’s post is a simple one; the top 10 worst Premier League signings of this season. These are the players that have been either so bad, so pointless or just didn’t live up to the hype of the transfer.
Now I want to start by saying there was a number of poor signings this season and if you guys feel I missed a big name, please feel free to comment below or tweet me @ThePenaltyKing1. Now without further ado, let’s kick off this list with…

10 - Vincent Janssen
...or should I say Roberto Soldado part 2? The Dutchman has managed 2 goals in 27 appearances this season, quite a mediocre return for the £17 million man who had scored 27 goals for AZ the season before.
Thankfully for Spurs fans, Harry Kane has been banging them, taking the pressure away from Janssen, giving the big number 9 more time to get used to the Premier League.

9 - Patrick Bamford
The 23 year old has struggled to find a permanent home ever since his move to Chelsea in 2012, constantly being loaned out to a number of clubs. Over the last few years the England U21 has plied his trade in the Premier League with Palace, Norwich and this season with Burnley and relegated Middlesbrough.
In this time he has amassed 1 goal in 670 minutes over 3 seasons...with Championship football confirmed next year, maybe he can come good for the Teessiders but this season...he’s not been great.

8 - Wilfried Bony
It’s amazing to think that this guy was one of the most sought after strikers in the Premier League at one point. This season he has been kept out of the team by an unfit Saido Berahino and an aged Peter Crouch and frankly doesn’t look close to the starting 11.
Stoke are such a well drilled side defensively, you have to assume that if they had a consistent goalscorer they would sneak up the league...I guess Bony isn't that player...it’s lucky they only had him on loan I suppose.

7 - Zaza
Another loan star now. This season West Ham have attempted to revamp their squad, no longer will The Hammers have to watch the likes of Kevin Nolan and Carlton Cole, they would be treated to the cream of the crop of footballing talent.
I bet some fan thought they were watching the “old West Ham” when Zaza walked onto the pitch. No goals 8 Premier League appearances forced Bilic to stop playing the Italian before they triggered a clause and were forced to pay €20 million for his services...a very lucky escape.

6 - Fabio
The second Middlesbrough player on this list, Fabio was a bit of an odd signing in my opinion and a very dark omen for the Teessiders. The Brazilian has been relegated from every club he’s played for other than Manchester United…if anyone thinks that this guy is a good signing then they must be on crack.
Middlesbrough have conceded 34 goals in the 24 games he’s played in. Now obviously not every one of those goals were his fault but it doesn’t help when you’ve got a fullback who is average on the left and worse on the right.

5 - Jordon Ibe
This signing has been rather well talked about as being a huge flop. “The next Raheem Sterling” moved to Bournemouth for a club record £15 million and since then has amassed 0 goals and 0 assists in 25 appearances.
From what I have heard he’s still put in some good performances for the Cherries this season but when you pay a club record fee, you kind of expect a bigger goal return. But there is still plenty of time for the 21 year old to prove his worth in the Premier League.

4 - Rudy Gestede
Gestede crashes in at number 4 before slotting his header wide. Another shocking signing from Boro which just made every football fan ask “why?”. You’d think if your club needed goals you’d actually sign a goalscorer, not  get suckered into the same poor decision that Aston Villa made last season…
The Benin international has managed a whopping 1 goal in 16 appearances in The Smoggies battle against relegation, an amazing return for their £6 million. Maybe he’ll bang them in in the Championship...then again he only scored 4 in 18 the last time he was down there...

3 - Brad Guzan
How the fuck has this guy managed to swindle another season in the Premier League?! I really really wanted to put this guy as number one but couldn’t bring myself to make him a number one…did Boro not question that Villa were happy to give him away for free?
This bloke should have no part in any Premier League club. Not even as a back up, not even as third or fourth choice! How have they gone from signing Victor Valdes to signing Brad Guzan? That’s like shagging Anna Kendrick one week to shagging Susan Boyle the next!
~ I love Anna Kendrick me ~

2 - Claudio Bravo
This transfer pissed me off more than any other. Less due to Bravo, more due to how Hart was treated by Pep Guardiola throughout (but that’s a post for another day). The Chilean shot stopper has made a string of errors this season, arguably more than Hart had over the last decade at the club!
One of the most important traits of a goalkeeper is his ability to actually save shots. So I haven’t got a clue what Pep’s thought process was behind signing a goalkeeper who couldn’t save his biscuit from falling in his brew. He’s got butter fingers, poppadom wrists and a Tintin haircut...but at least he can play a 30 yard pass...

1 - Moussa Sissoko
£30 million. £30 ‘fucking’ million! And on a five year deal! Spurs are lumbered with Sissoko for five years. A player who, on his day, could be worth £50 million. Sadly though his day hasn’t rolled round since about 2013! Surely Pochettino didn’t green light this transfer...no manager in their right mind would have let this happen…
After an impressive Euro 2016, the Frenchman came to Whitehart Lane looking to rejuvenate his career. Sadly though he’s only managed 2 assists in 25 games and despite being such a talented dribbler, he only achieves 0.8 successful dribbles per game...it's gonna be a long 5 years for Spurs fans…

And that’s it. Like I said earlier, if you guys thought I missed any obvious choices out, please feel free to let me know by either commenting below or tweeting me. Until next time, I’ve been the Penalty King, you stay classy San Diego.

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Cheers for reading.

Wednesday, May 24, 2017

Flight of the Owls VII


Right it’s been a week since the Playoff semi final and the pain is still there...so I suppose now is as good a time as any to talk about it. In recent weeks I’ve been including facts and figures into my posts but I’m scrapping that today, instead I’m writing this short post from my heart.


On the 17th of May Sheffield Wednesday were knocked out of the play off semi finals by Huddersfield on penalties, condemning us to another season of Championship football. I’ll be honest and say I’ve never felt heart ache like this, even when Wednesday got relegated to League One… 

When Westwood saved that penalty I went mental! cheering my tits off, I woke my girlfriend up who’d drifted off to sleep through boredom. I was so confident we were going to go through. Sadly though Fernando Forestieri’s penalty was stopped by a cracking save from Danny Ward, killing off all hope...to go from that high to that low...it’s such a painful thing.


Before I go any further I want to give a huge congratulations to Huddersfield Town. They’ve defied all the odds in getting to the Playoff final this season and were a class above in both legs as well as for the majority of the season. Wagner has done wonders there and I would love to write a post about the German.

Anyways back onto Wednesday. All the players that played in the semis can hold their heads high, they battled admirably. When the teams were released I thought Carlos was insane but I’m happy to say he proved me wrong as he picked the perfect sides for both legs. I’m so happy that Carvalhal is staying on for another year at Hillsborough.


One question I do have of the Owls boss is why he replaced Steven Fletcher with Jordan Rhodes. On paper that is a good substitution but with how the game was set up, we needed that focal point and Rhodes didn’t match up to Fletch. I should also add that Rhodes hasn’t really hit the ground running since his move to S6. Obviously I’m not blaming our exit on this decision. The better team won in the end.

Speaking of Rhodes, he’s received a lot of criticism since the semi final game. Quite a number of newspapers have spoken about Jordan Rhodes’ “refusal” to take a penalty in the penalty shootout. Now for me the word “refusal” is a strong word, he’s just informed his boss that he wasn’t confident.

If everyone else had taken a penalty and there was only Rhodes left, he’d have to take one.
I think this is less of him refusing to take a penalty, more a refusal to take one of the first five...but I don’t want to make excuses for the Scotland international. For me you don’t realise you’re unconfident just before a penalty shootout. You realise in the buildup to the game.


In my opinion he should have told Carvalhal he wasn’t confident before the game and then Carlos could have given the chance to Sam Winnall who has had a lack of consistent first team football since his move from Barnsley. But it would be quite hypocritical of me to say that as I’d have probably kept  it quiet myself…

But I will say I have the utmost confidence in Rhodes. With a good preseason behind him and a run of games he could potentially score 20+ goals next season. I just hate when commentators say he has “improved his all round game” and he’s “not just a goalscorer anymore”...am I the only Owl who doesn’t care if he’s involved in the buildup? I just want him to score goals..

All in all I want to say how incredibly proud I am of how we’ve performed over the last couple of months. I think the contract talks with Forestieri at the beginning of the season put a lot of our players on edge but now all that is out of the way I’m hoping The Owls have a better start to next season’s campaign. And who knows, with a better start we could potentially push for an automatic promotion spot...a man can dream.


The last thing I want to say is that my heart goes out to all those affected by the Manchester bombings. To think that you’re not safe at a children’s pop concert is worrying. Now I’ve seen countless posts on Facebook regarding this and I don’t want to make this about religion, race or politics. I just wanted to say that even though I don’t know the full facts, I know that those children did not deserve what happened to them.

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Cheers for reading.

Thursday, May 18, 2017

Gylfi Sigurdsson is a World Class Player



I wanted to write this blog post for two reasons. 1 - because I need people to be aware of how good Gylfi Sigurdsson is. And 2 - because I need to distract myself from my painful flashbacks of Fernando Forestieri missing the penalty that dumped Sheffield Wednesday out of the playoffs...God that stings…

Gylfi Sigurdsson is a creative genius, a midfield maestro and can compete at the very top of European football if given the chance. A world class midfielder who deserves a chance to show his ability and may just get that next season.

I'm getting really into minimalist pictures lately. I'm not even sorry.


The Icelandic international has been receiving a lot of interest in recent weeks, with the likes of West Ham, Everton and Newcastle rumoured to be interested. West Ham have lacked a lot of creativity this season since Payet decided to be a ball bag whilst Everton are possibly looking for a replacement for Ross Barkley. Newcastle on the other hand are just looking to sign an experienced midfielder to help with their Premier League survival.

Truth be told I’m surprised that it’s the mid/lower league clubs that are interested in Gylfi. They’re all huge clubs but (no offense to Everton, West Ham and Newcastle) they’re don’t offer the European football that Sigurdsson should be looking for. In my opinion he is as good as the likes of Cesc Fabregas and Kevin De Bruyne...but I’ll touch on that later.

This season Sigurdsson has built a solid attacking partnership with Fernando Llorente, assisting 6 of Llorente’s 14 goals so far. This partnership has helped The Swansea midfielder to joint second in the assists table alongside Tottenham ace Christian Eriksen with 13. The only player with more assists is City albino Kevin De Bruyne with 16.

Adding to his creative brilliance he’s also scored 9 goals so far this season, a pretty good return for a midfielder. This has sparked some Swans fans to asked whether he is Swansea’s greatest ever player? If any of the Liberty City faithful want to weigh in, please feel free to comment below.

An absolute wand of a right foot.

His contributions this season for the Welsh side have been almost heroic. He’s scored some important goals in Swansea’s draws with Everton, league champions Chelsea and most recently against Manchester United, with his late free kick winning his side a point at Old Trafford.


Not only has he produced against the top sides, he has also proved his worth against fellow Premier League strugglers. He scored and assisted against Crystal Palace when the two sides met in November. He also repeated this performance against Sunderland a couple of weeks later...but that hardly counts because it’s Sunderland...I could score and assist against Sunderland...

Sigurdsson has stated that he’s not forcing a move from Swansea which is an admirable act from the Icelander. But in my opinion if he wants to progress his own career he needs to move away and if the offers are good enough it may force The Swans’ hand. Question is what price would be good enough?

Like I said earlier Everton are possibly looking for a replacement for Ross Barkley. Some papers are putting the price on Barkley’s head at around £50 million...I just don’t know where they get these prices from. For me Sigurdsson realistically would be worth £20 million, a good return considering he cost Swansea £8.5 million.



Do you guys remember earlier when I said I’d prove this kid is just as good as Fabregas and De Bruyne? Eh do you? Eh? Well that time is right now motherfucker! So sit back, strap in and watch as I lay down facts and figures all up in this bitch! The first few are a little dodgy so bare with me.

Sigurdsson plays on average 2.1 key passes per game this season. This puts him level with Fabregas but a little way off De Bruyne (2.9), Ozil (3) and Eriksen (3.1). The Icelander also has a pass success rate of 76.5%, the lowest of all these players. The second lowest is Eriksen on 80%. Like I said not great stats.

One positive stat for Gylfi is that he marks an assist every 249 minutes in the Premier League. When compared to Fabregas (assist every 113 minutes) and De Bruyne (every 175 minutes) it doesn’t look that great but he is almost on par with Christian Eriksen (every 237 minutes) and has obliterated Mesut Ozil who manages one assist every 345 minutes!
~ Side note: I’ve also worked out that despite Ozil’s minute per assist record, he does create one chance every 29 minutes. Could Arsenal’s strikers be blamed for Ozil’s poor form? That’s a post for another day kids ~

The stats are coming thick and fast here guys so keep up. 19% of the Swansea midfielders chances result in goals which puts him more or less on par with Cesc (20%) and KDB (19%). This stat is also incredibly impressive when compared to Eriksen’s 12% and Ozil’s 8%.
~ Again another statistic that shows Ozil might not be fully to blame…~

The biggest statistic is the one that proves he’s Swansea’s most important player. 28% of the clubs chances come from Siggy while he also scores 28% of their goals. Which is a higher percentage than any of the other players listed. In fact altogether, Sigurdsson has a direct impact (either scored or assisted) in 51% of all of Swansea’s goals this season. Further proof that if the Welsh side lost him, they’d be up shit creak.

An absolute wand of a ri...wait I've already said that...

I think the most impressive thing about these stats from Sigurdsson is that he’s managed to do it whilst playing at Swansea. I’m not saying Swansea are a poor side, just that they have on average a lot less possession than the top sides in the division, with an average of 48% possession this season. You have to wonder how well Gylfi would do in a side that keeps the ball better like Chelsea (52%), Man City (59%), Arsenal (55%) or Tottenham (55%).


Now some people might be saying that the midfield maestro had his chance back in 2012 when Tottenham signed him for £8.5 million. A big move from Hoffenheim was just what Sigurdsson needed...but it wasn’t to be all sunshine and daisies. Due to the tactic Harry Redknapp had in place, Gylfi had to either play central which restricted his creativeness or play on the wing and out of the action.

Tottenham that season had a plethora of talent, most of which were better options for ‘Arry’s tactics at the time. Players like Tom Huddlestone, Scott Parker, Sandro, Dembele, Dempsey, etc. He was only 23 and other than a brief successful loan spell with Swansea, he was still yet to prove himself fully in the Premier League.

He featured in a rotation system for Spurs but couldn’t quite nail down that starting position, featuring more in cup competitions like the successful Europa League competition which The Lilywhites will always remember as the competition when Gareth Bale ruined Maicon’s career...ah nostalgia.

There have been talk of possible replacements at Swansea for Sigurdsson, one link being Ryad Boudebouz. I’m gonna be honest when I say I’ve never heard of this guy in my entire life, so just for that reason I’m gonna label him a gamble. For me they need to find someone reliable and with Premier League experience.

Possibly Jason Puncheon? Might be a couple of groans when reading that but he is a surprisingly creative player for Palace, has a wealth of experience, is a leader on the pitch and can play in quite a number of different positions. But what do I know? I just attempt to write a below standard blog...and I can barely do that.

Anyways I’m off to go cry into a Wednesday shirt whilst singing songs of happier times…

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Cheers for reading.

Monday, May 15, 2017

Mourinho's Standard of Success



We’re at that point of the season where the league is more or less wrapping itself up. Chelsea have won the league, the bottom teams have confirmed relegation and Man City are realistically only one win away from guaranteeing the last Champions League place. You’d think I’d struggle to find something to write about...oh no…


Jose Mourinho came out the other day, saying this season will still be successful even if his Manchester United side don’t win the Europa League. Admittedly he did quickly follow this up by saying if he was in anyone else's position it might not be great but this is still by far one of the dumbest claims the Portuguese has ever come out with.

Some how Man United got through to the final after a headed winner from Fellaini...
By whose standards would this be a successful season for Manchester United? Jose Mourinho has won multiple Champions League trophies, won leagues in four different countries and has never finished below 3rd in a full season since his first full year managing Uniao De Leiria back in 2001/02. For him, finishing fifth and missing out on Champions League football is a dreadful season.


What about the Manchester United supporters? The Red Devils fans have been brought up competing in the Champions League as well as challenging for the Premier League every season. Admittedly they’ve hit a rough patch of late since Fergie retired. Last season they finished fifth and won the FA Cup and that was deemed a poor season. How can they now say, 12 months later, that finishing sixth and winning the EFL trophy is a successful season?


How about the owners, maybe they would think it’s successful? Well I don’t know about the Glazers but if I spent £157 million on three players (four if you included Ibrahimovic) and didn’t get a Champions League place next season...I’d be pretty pissed.

Bailly (£32 mil), Mkhitaryan (£35 mil), Pogba (£89 mil) and Zlatan (free) cost a
combined £157 million.
It wouldn’t be a bad season if you were someone like Burnley: not had European football since the 1960’s, Sean Dyche’s highest career point is winning promotion from the Championship and The Clarets have only spent around £38 million on six players...but this is England’s most successful club. Everyone involved with Manchester United should have higher standards than this.


The only way this can become a successful season is if Man U win the Europa League. This gets them a place in the play-off rounds of the Champions League which I have to say Mourinho and his team will have no trouble getting through.


Truth be told I’m beginning to think that Mourinho made up these contingency plans as soon as he was offered the United job. He knew what was required of him and decided to come up with backup plans as to how to achieve it or at least look good whilst attempting to do it.
Plan A: Finish in top four - he knows Champions League’s the aim so this would be his first plan.
Plan B: Win Europa League - If top four looks unlikely change attention to Europa League. Winning this will gain entry to the Champions League.
Plan C: Finish fifth - If all else fails Jose can at least finish fifth and start from the exact same point next season. Start plan over again.
I have to say I can’t really begrudge him for having backup’s...there are some managers in the league who haven’t even got a plan A let alone a plan B or C…*cough* Alan Pardew *cough* Pep Guardiola *cough*.

Jose has admitted himself that this has been the hardest of his career. You can really tell from his side's performances against the top six sides in the Premier League. He’s only managed to take 10 points from top six teams this season, 8 of which came at home. When you compare that to his first season back in the Premier League with Chelsea (2013/14) it makes for much grimmer reading as he managed to take 23 points against the top six teams (15 at home).


Some readers might be thinking “Mourinho’s record looks bad but I bet Van Gaal’s record was worse”. It’d be fair to assume that but also wrong as LVG managed 16 points from top six sides, winning 9 of those points at Old Trafford. That’s still not a great record but at least both managers were better than David Moyes who got a whopping 6 points…
~ Side note: Sir Alex Ferguson surprisingly only got 14 points against top six sides in his last season at the Theatre of Dreams. Make of that what you will ~


Mourinho’s target next season will surely be securing a Champions League position, to do that he’ll need to sign not just big names but also big players. I want to say he’ll struggle to sign these types of players without Champions League football but that’s clearly bullshit as he signed Zlatan and Pogba in the Summer with only the allure of the Europa League. And let's be honest, the Europa League is basically the ugly mate of the Champions League. No one’s first choice but you’ll have a go if there’s no other option.


Speaking of Zlatan, there’s been talk of him leaving in the Summer. If Mourinho wants to be able to reach the high standards set at United he’ll need goals. Now the Red Devils have struggled for goals this season, but not due to a lack of a goalscorer. I believe the reason they seem to struggle in front of goal is because they lack a player who can open teams up at ease.

These guys have scored 14 goals between them. Should they be doing more?
Emil Forsberg of Leipzig in the Bundesliga would be my first choice signing if I was Mourinho.With 18 assists and 8 goals in 29 Bundesliga appearances this season, Forsberg would be an ideal player for a Manchester United midfield that has struggled to threaten opposition goals this season. At 25 as well he’s still got a good number of years left in him.


For the love of God though don’t play Fellaini behind him. If you want the best out of your creative midfielders you need a class defensive midfielder to back him up. Now admittedly Ander Herrera has been impressive lately, working hard and breaking up play intelligently but I would still look to sign another holding midfielder.


For me Josuha Guilavogui (best of luck to commentators reading that name) would be a shrewd signing from Wolfsburg. He’s had a good season for Die Wolfe, making 2.7 tackles per game and a whopping 4.6 interceptions which is almost double the amount his countryman N’Golo Kante has made this season….

Possible targets Josuha Guilavogui (left) and Emil Forsberg (right).
Actually what am I saying? I don’t even like Man United. Mourinho should resign Fabio and play him up front with Fellaini. Play a 1-1-9 formation with one defender, one midfielder and no goalkeeper. These plans are sure to put a smile on Old Trafford faithful faces....and if it doesn’t it’ll definitely put a smile everyone else’s face.


Last point I want to make is that I may seem a little overly critical of Jose Mourinho at times, this is simply down to his arrogance. I hate how cocky he is but I’ll be honest, I can’t blame him. With a record like his you can understand his confidence. I may not like his tactics but I can’t argue with the results.

This picture doesn't even include the EFL Trophy he won this season. 
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