Delusion of Structure

Another week passes, and Louis Van Gaal gets to live another day as the manager of Manchester United. It's been a topsy-turvy road so far. Probably a failed reign as a Manager. Some days back on twitter, i read a post in which one of our fan was of the opinion that Van Gaal should be given his last year in job as he is building a "structure". This argument reminds me of the one by Arsenal fan-base that Wenger built a stadium. Football is a completely different game now. It's money laden and it's progressing quickly. It waits for no one. Every club is getting stronger and stronger and with the TV money next season, every club will become financially armored. With the rapid rise of Leicester and the youthful energy of Tottenham, the top four race is going to be very tight - A rat race. Not to forget Conte's Chelsea and Klopp's Liverpool too. West Ham will build on what they have done this season. Everton would look for a renaissance as well. So when almost 9 teams are fighting for the 4 spots, life for the most succesful premier league club wont be getting easy.

The Argument of him building a structure is invalid. Well, if youth and structure were always his priority, why did he flog so much money on players and only got a couple of young players who are destined to be something big? Wasted Di Maria, Miss used Robin Van Persie. Failed to develop Januzaj, Pereira or Wilson. Half of his signings have been average. Mauricio Pochettino joined Tottenham at the same time as Louis Van Gaal took over Manchester United. His Spurs team is 9 points ahead of United. Are winning games, have players for the future and i suppose this a good enough - "structure". Winning games builds structures. This is what Modern football is about, Leicester are gonna have financial boosts, bigger fanbase, more sponsors and a better structure because they won the league. Ask any Leicester fan, will he prefer the league trophy or a structural over-haul? They will choose the league title because in the longer run this is what grows a club. Credit where due Van Gaal has done an amazing job by giving youth a chance but that is not building a structure. It is using the already placed Youth infrastructure and calling up players in times of panic. It's been nearly two years, lot of buying and selling involved, youth call-ups and still Van Gaal probably does not know his strongest starting XI. He has done a few right things but when you are a Manager who's been in the game for over 20 years, have an assistant who knows the league more than anyone, you should be doing better. A club is built by winning. No Champions League football for another season would mean lesser money, Adidas will slash down the deal to 20M and all you boast for now is a mighty financial base. Lose that, and you're headed to footballing be-wilderness. Sir Alex Ferguson would not have been credited for a structure and his youth talent would have got the praise had they been so gutless on the pitch and had they not won anything. Van Gaal's Barcelona did not have 8 other teams roaring to take their place. It's time for a change. United can not wait another season. United simply need an instant dose of success. The once European giants are one bad season away from be-wilderness. 

Weekend of Football.

Writing this after a long day of footballing action and thought about scribbling down things. Well we're deep into the crunch portion of the football season and it's make or break time unless you are PSG and absolutely walking the league(again). Almost everyone who knows basic football rules(Offside rule not included) is interested in the El Classico(Barcelona vs Real Madrid). The last of todays action was the El Classico at the Nou Camp. As a United fan, every time Nou Camp is mentioned, it sends a shiver down my spine and it reminds of the shenanigans of 1999. Anyways..

Barcelona Vs Real Madrid (La Liga):

While many were predicting another Barcelona masterclass, a voice inside me said otherwise. I felt as if Real would scamper home with a win. And they did. The day started in sombre fashion as the catalans remembered the late Johan Cruyff. The first 10-15 minutes were all Barca but you could sense something.. You could feel a bit of complacency in the Barca camp. A certain lack of urgency and it showed when Bale's pace constantly threatened the Blaugrana's. To be fair it was for most part another bore-fest. Another Classico littered by poor refereeing and play-acting. Barcelona took the lead with Gerard Pique and I almost thought we were live in a Pique world before he failed to jump and Benzema equalised. Bale took the lead before it was funnily ruled out by the Linesman. Another genius decision(sarcasm intended). Soon Cristiano would lose to Messi in the "Who's invisible" contest and win it for Real. Hero? Not for me. For me if you watch the match the hero is Casemiro. Started in the middle of the park. Deployed to stop Messi and well, he did exactly that. It had a less than positive impact on Barca. Iniesta tried to string things together but without Messi's help it was not really possible and it showed. Neymar was missing. Suarez was off-colour all day long. Meanwhile, Atletico Madrid won very convincingly (5-1) vs Real Betis and have given themselves great momentum ahead of the Champions League showdown against Barcelona. And wait, how can I think of wrapping La Liga review without mentioning that Valencia lost again. The problems there are more deeper than Gary Neville. This season needs to end for them quickly.

Barcelona : 31 played, 76 pts.
Atletico Madrid: 31 played, 70 pts.
Real Madrid: 31 played, 69 pts.

Premier League:

Results today may have massive implications on the top and bottom of the Premier League. Saturday was an absolute treat with the only goal-less game coming in the game that involved a Tony Pulis team(SHOCKER). It started with Chelsea dismantling a already dismantled Aston Villa. It was to be honest, a dead rubber but it goes onto show how deep the issues are Villa are and they could go even further down from the Championship to League 1. Villa are like their famous supporters,The Royal Family, the once important club now falling down the rafters. In times like these you can differentiate the badly run clubs from the good ones and this takes me to Norwich. Are they a well run club? Do they have enough to stay-up? Well they were part of the weekends best match. Norwich vs Newcastle. It ended 3-2 in Norwich's favour and problems deepened for Rafa Benitez. Who clearly seems worried about Newcastle being relegated and him getting a huge payday after being sacked.(there is a clause of that kind). Sunderland and Swansea both got a point against West Brom and Stoke respectively. Now to the top..

Arsenal routed Watford 4-0 to tilt Arsenal fans towards #WengerIn.. Jokes apart, Arsenal were just too good and maybe just maybe there is some title hope(Have to act neutral, there is nothing like that)

City skipped past United and West Ham after there 4-0 win vs Bournemouth.

But the most important game was title hunting Tottenham's visit to Anfield. For Liverpool there is very less hope for the TOP 4 atleast from the league route. Europa is the best possible way for them to finish in a Champions League spot. The game was end to end. Some great saves from both keepers all game long. Coutinho opened the scoring before Harry Kane equalised with a great finish. Yes, Harry Kane. One-season-wonder turned two-Season-wonder turned England's-Euros-hope. The game did end 1-1 much to Leicester's pleasure. It's a dent in Tottenham's challenge but it's far from over. Spurs would be hoping for Leicester's hamstrings getting tighter and tiredness coming into play.

Tomorrow Leicester face Southampton and they can go 7 points clear and the happy ending to this fairy-tale is just a few games away.

United face Everton, dont feel like writing on that.

#	Team	GP	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	PTS
1	Leicester City	31	19	9	3	54	31	23	66
2	Tottenham	32	17	11	4	57	25	32	62
3	Arsenal	31	17	7	7	52	30	22	58
4	Man. City	31	16	6	9	56	32	24	54
5	West Ham	31	13	12	6	49	37	12	51
6	Man United	30	14	8	8	38	27	11	50
7	Southampton	31	13	8	10	41	32	9	47
8	Stoke City	32	13	8	11	36	39	-3	47
9	Liverpool	30	12	9	9	46	41	5	45
10	Chelsea	31	11	11	9	49	41	8	44
11	West Brom	31	10	10	11	30	37	-7	40
12	Everton	29	9	11	9	51	41	10	38
13	Bournemouth	32	10	8	14	38	54	-16	38
14	Watford	31	10	7	14	30	36	-6	37
15	Swansea City	32	9	10	13	33	42	-9	37
16	Crystal Palace	31	9	7	15	34	42	-8	34
17	Norwich City	32	8	7	17	35	56	-21	31
18	Sunderland	31	6	9	16	36	55	-19	27
19	Newcastle	31	6	7	18	31	58	-27	25
20	Aston Villa	32	3	7	22	22	62	-40	16

Leicester run of games: Southampton,Sunderland,West Ham, Swansea, Manchester United.

Spurs run of games: Manchester United, Stoke, West Brom, Chelsea, Southampton.

Okay now, I am tired and dont feel like writing anymore. PSG won again. Ibrahimovic got another hattrick. Ouseman Dembele scored two more. Now has 12 goals and 5 assists. Too many Dembele's showing form. Ciao!