Sometimes it just isn’t meant to be. When Manchester United broke the world record to sign Paul Pogba in the summer of 2016 it was supposed to a turning point. The Red Devils had reportedly pipped neighbours Manchester City to his signature in a move that showed they still had it. With José Mourinho now at the helm they had the x-factor in the dugout again. Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Zlatan Ibra...

It had to be Cardiff City. On December 22, Ole Gunnar Solskjær began his interim Manchester United reign with a convincing 5-1 win over the Bluebirds. Nearly five months on, with the budding optimism generated by the Norwegian’s arrival having dissipated entirely, Cardiff ran out 2-0 winners at Old Trafford, condemning United to a fourth defeat in six in all competitions. Those who claimed f...

After years of setting the benchmark for transfer-market extravagance, Real Madrid have steered away from their big-spending ways in recent seasons. Although they have continued to be successful, winning three Champions Leagues since their last £50million-plus signing – James Rodríguez in 2014 – now on their third manager of the season, it is clear that Los Blancos need to spend big on a squad reb...

Winnings fouls can be an art form. There are those players, usually attackers, who know how to get their body in front of an opponent to draw contact in dangerous areas. There are certain challenges – innocuous trips for instance – that can irk referees, while other thunderous and potentially reckless tackles can be let go. Which of these fouls receive yellow cards appears to be random, the luck o...

Manchester United’s 2-0 defeat to Paris Saint-Germain on Tuesday night was made worse by injuries to both Jesse Lingard and Anthony Martial. The duo, who have played a key role in the club’s revitalisation under Ole Gunnar Solskjær, are expected to miss between two and three weeks on the sidelines. It has given Solskjær an unwanted problem ahead of upcoming games against Chelsea in the FA Cup and...

By now, you’ve probably already read ‘sobering reality check’, ‘first big slip-up’ and a ‘reminder of Manchester United‘s standing among the European elite’. These are all accurate assessments of Ole Gunnar Solskjær’s Champions League debut as United’s interim boss. It did not go well for the Norwegian who, up to Tuesday night, had enjoye...

José Mourinho believes he tried with Paul Pogba. Tried everything in his power get the best out of his most expensive ever signing. Tried him deep, tried him advanced; tried him on the left of a three, where everyone says he should play. Tried giving him responsibility, tried tough love. But what Mourinho never came close to doing in his two and a half years alongside the enigmatic midfielder at O...

The 2018/19 Premier League season has passed the halfway point. With 20 games played, Liverpool are sitting pretty at the top, seven points clear of champions Manchester City ahead of their top-two showdown at the Etihad on Thursday night. As you would expect, some of Jürgen Klopp’s title-chasers feature high in a number of the major stats categories. After all, they have won the most matche...

The noise around Old Trafford during Manchester United’s 4-1 defeat of Bournemouth was as good an indication as any of the feel-good factor sweeping over the club. Cries of “attack, attack, attack” which were chanted in desperate hope under the tutelage of José Mourinho now come with an air of expectation with Ole Gunnar Solskjær at the helm. Arriving at his former club with plenty of credit in th...

It was most likely a pre-scheduled social media post. Paul Pogba, in shadows, pulling a face that could – maybe tenuously – be read as a smirk. Or maybe it was a frown. “Caption this,” the post read, before hashtags and @s of club and sponsors, and then “#heretocreate”. But timing is everything on social media and news had broken that José Mourinho had been sacked by Manchester United. Suddenly a...

“When the team is defensively stronger and doesn’t need people in midfield that are more worried about giving some balance to the team than being involved in creation and attacking dynamics, I think the horizons for Fred change completely,” José Mourinho said last week. With only 15 minutes on the pitch against Arsenal and none against Fulham, perhaps the same applies to Paul Pog...

Two goals in the final four minutes saw Manchester United come from behind to clinch a dramatic 2-1 win over Juventus after Cristiano Ronaldo had scored his first Champions League goal for the Bianconeri.  The result means United are second in Group H, two points ahead of Valencia, with games against the Spaniards and Young Boys to come. Juve dominated the match but lost momentum when José Mourinh...

From the moment the 2018 English summer transfer window closed on the eve of the Premier League season, José Mourinho has been taking every opportunity to let the world know he wanted more from his employers. Manchester United brought in three players ahead of the 2017/18 season: midfielder Fred, teenage full-back Diogo Dalot and back-up goalkeeper Lee Grant. But they did not sign a centre-back, a...

For the first time this season, Manchester United managed to marry consecutive halves of good performance when Everton visited Old Trafford on Sunday evening. The outcome: a routine, drama-free 2-1 victory; the kind of which José Mourinho will be hoping to see more often if the prediction he made in his pre-match programme notes is to come true – “I believe that at the end of December we wil...

The story is, understandably, all about Manchester United. But don’t overlook West Ham United, as it would be easy to do. For the Hammers were exceptional against the Red Devils. Tactically more astute. Defensively more organised. And offensively more threatening. The 3-1 victory was exactly what they deserved. Felipe Anderson opened the scoring after just five minutes and Andriy Yarmolenko&...

Manchester United got their 2018/19 Champions League campaign off to the perfect start with a professional, routine victory over Swiss champions Young Boys, winning 3-0 on their trip to Bern. Comfortable throughout, José Mourinho’s men made their qualitative advantage pay dividends, with man of the match Paul Pogba twice on the scoresheet in the first half, before then providing an assist fo...

Manchester United boss José Mourinho described Paul Pogba as a “monster” after his dominant performance in their opening Premier League victory over Leicester City. The France World Cup winner cast aside any fitness concerns to produce a superb display at Old Trafford but talk over his future just will not go away. Most of that is down to Pogba after he said: “If you’re not...