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Mason Mount has agreed to move to Man United for a few of 55 mill+5 mill add ons. The Red Devils decided to target him as the midfielder they needed in their ranks. With Chelsea not being averse to selling their academy graduate, with Mount himself keen on the move, it was just a matter of time. The Mason Mount project that United have decided to take on is not an easy one. Mount was one of the mainstays in Chelsea, Poch would've likely wanted him to stay, and he doesn’t visibly solve any problems United have currently. While he labels himself an #8, Mount’s greatest utilization has been in the #10 position whether it be for Chelsea or England. United already have a world-class 10 in Bruno, with multiple back-ups that can operate there exceptionally well. They also have enough midfielders, in Fred, Eriksen, Casemiro, VDB, and youngsters like Mainoo. He also comes with a good price tag. So why do United want him? Isn’t it too much of a hassle? Are United falling back into the pattern of signing big-name players with no clear need, like Ronaldo? Well, there is a reason to sign him, and a very good one. If you observe teams that excel in possession, often there is a player besides the #6 to help with cycling possession as well as offering a quick passing option. If this player isn’t present, #6 is isolated, which is highly dangerous. Usually, it is the #8 who carries out that role. This is, of course, more familiarly known as the Double Pivot. But, in the modern game, with increased use of inverted full-backs, as well as high-positioned centre-backs in possession, the need for a midfielder to constantly stay beside the #6 has decreased very much. Instead, the #8 only comes back when the full-back or centre-back cannot invert, like during the initial build-up from the back, or to cycle possession after a failed attack. This is what Ten Hag wants to take advantage of. While Mount isn’t exactly an #8, he does possess a few qualities, including quick turning ability as well as a high number of attempted passes per 90 for a #10. If trained well, he can replicate what Mac Allister, Curtis Jones and Gundogun do for their respective teams. This is exactly as described- stay behind to help build possession, then move up to increase the number of attackers. Given the fact that Ten Hag has developed a lot of players, and Mount has been a managerial favourite under every manager in Chelsea’s roulette over the past few years, it wouldn’t be far-fetched to say Mount will quickly learn what Ten Hag needs and operate in the desired role. Signing Mount also helps United in other ways. With the departure of many English players looking likely, United need to sign English players or promote English academy graduates to maintain the quota of English players. Signing Mount means signing a quality player while helping with the English quota. It also allows Ten Hag to play multiple tactics, and edge closer towards the chameleon-like team that City is. With midfielders of very different profiles, it allows Ten Hag to change the play style as and when needed. Mount is an all-round midfielder with a great attacking threat in terms of scoring and operating between the lines in the final phase. Adding him to the diverse profile of midfielders United already have will make for an amazing watch for United fans. Mount is also already accustomed to the PL and is also very close with his England teammates Shaw, Rashford, Sancho, etc. He will not need any time to get used to playing here. Lastly, with Chelsea having a bloated squad, Mount will be available at a much cheaper price than he would have been usually. 60 million is a very good deal to move one of Cobham's finest away from Stamford Bridge. Signing Mason Mount looks to be a smart move for Manchester United. Despite not being an exact fit for their midfield, he can be trained to act as an #8. Additionally, his versatility and familiarity with the Premier League make him an attractive option for United. #MUFC #ManUnited #MasonMount #PremierLeague #EnglishPlayers #RedDevils #OldTrafford #GGMU #FootballTransfers #EPL #TransferRumours

Erik Ten Hag has completely transformed Manchester United within about 10 months of his appointment to the club. The Red Devils have gone from being a fallen giant with a broken squad that had no confidence in its abilities, to a demon that has risen from the depths of hell with a squad that has perhaps been better than any since SAF retired. United have just won their first trophy in 6 years. Old Trafford is a fortress again and there is a belief in and around the club that they are back. All this being the work of Ten Hag. But how has he done this? The United job is regarded as the toughest in the world of football. To revive this dying institution of the beautiful game after the legendary success that they had and to capture the hearts of half a billion fans around the world, how has he started a process that has already seen results? Well, it is likely because he is perhaps the perfect amalgamation of modern football and the managers that brought it about. Here are five aspects of Ten Hag’s success that make him the next generational manager: - Discipline For Ten Hag, discipline is extremely important and the basis of his entire way of working. He does not work without it. There are many examples of it. The Noa Lang situation at Ajax, delaying Garnacho’s introduction into games because of discipline, dropping Rashford while he was in prime form because he broke rules, etc. But the best example is the whole Cristiano Ronaldo situation. CR& is one of the greatest in the game and a club legend. Yet when he refused to come on as a sub, Ten Hag dropped him from the squad. But it's not just the way he dishes out punishments for disciplinarian issues, it's also the way he brings you back after that if you accept his methods. It’s very evident. You can see his love for Garnacho, his pride in Rashford, and also how e made Ronaldo the captain of the side for a game just weeks after the incident. Of course, if you persist, he’ll let you go, no matter who you are. He treats every member of the squad equally, and if the entire squad makes mistakes, he punishes them while carrying out the punishment with them, like how he ran 13 KM with the squad after the Brentford game. It brings the squad together, knowing they are all equals. These are traits that you will see in elite defensive managers like Conte and Mourinho. They require discipline to work. If they don’t have it, their system usually fails. Adaptability Ten Hag has a great sense of adaptability. He came to this league from his Ajax side, who were a perfection of his tactics over the past few years. What he found was a disjointed squad that primarily played counter-attacking football. He tried to implement his possession-based tactics immediately, but when it didn’t work, he immediately switched to the counterattacking style that the squad was used to. Now he’s slowly seeping the traits of a possession-based team into the squad. He also uses unusual ways to fix any tactical problems he has. Like using Weghorst as a 10 for his aerial ability and ball-keeping skills. Or utilising Luke Shaw as a centre-back to get that left-footed defender when Licha is unavailable. Such things have allowed United to do things they wouldn’t have been able to at this stage of their development, like dominate Camp Nou or maintain their tactics while allowing their best defender to rest. Sir Alex was a master of adaptability. It is why he lasted for so long, and why Manchester United have so many famous comeback victories. Adaptability is the key to success and longevity. Man Management In a recent interview, Melissa Reddy said that Ten Hag knows everything about his players related to their professional life. He knows everyone’s career paths, media duties, injury histories, style of play, preferred position, and everything. He knows his players inside out as footballers, and perhaps even as people, and he utilises it to the maximum. For example, Bruno is a guy with absolutely no injury problems and loves to play as many games as possible. Thus, Ten Hag always plays him when he’s available, which is almost every game. And he utilises Bruno’s creative skills on the right to feed the other attackers in the latter stages of games, usually to Rashford arriving from the left half-space. Speaking of Rashford, not only has Ten Hag given him back his previous confidence, he’s made him the most in-form man on the planet, simply by playing to his strengths. It seems at long last someone can extract that potential that we all knew Rashford had since the very beginning of his career. The Sancho situation was also excellently handled by Ten Hag. Sent him away to help him regain his mental health and work on his abilities, and now slowly he’s utilising him as he sees fit, rather than forcing him back abruptly. Ancelotti and Zidane were pioneers of it. Given a great set of players, it's always more of a case of man management than tactics, and both these legends were great at it, which is why they've won so many UCLs Tactical Genius Of course, to even be appointed as the permanent manager of a club like Manchester United, you need to be amazing with tactics. But it's not just the tactics that Ten Hag teaches on the training grounds, it’s also his in-game changes. For managers, it is difficult to understand exactly what is going on on the pitch, because they are level with the pitch, unlike the spectators who view it from a higher angle. It’s usually why many spectators don’t understand why certain changes weren’t made when there was an issue that needed fixing. Managers would love to go up and view, but being closer to the players is more important. Ten Hag has to ability to understand the game from the pitch side. And as such, he makes the necessary changes easily. And he almost always makes the correct changes. What’s more, Ten Hag tactically builds games for certain situations, wherein he makes changes that win the game for him. In many games, he plays Rashford left initially to wear out the defender and have him expect the winger to always run into the half-space. Then he brings on Garnacho, who moves into the more pure wing positions out wide, giving the defender a completely different problem to solve while he’s tired. It’s won him a lot of games, especially the win against Fulham before the World Cup. And while he is a possession-based tactician-inspired Total Football, he is certainly not entirely reliant on it, but rather very flexible. He’s not afraid to just ping the ball to the striker, or utilise other methods to win. He is a tactical genius perhaps on par with Guardiola and Klopp. Understanding Ten Hag has a great sense of understanding and a need for it too. Over the past ten months, he has slowly understood the history of this club, the pride of its fans, the things that the fans want to see on the pitch and off it too, etc. He usually cycles around town to get a feel for the city and its people. It helps him understand the club’s foundations better, he says. Having an understanding of this level is important. It’s partly why Solskjaer had success in the first few seasons that he managed. The same is true for Lionel Scaloni and his Argentina squad. They embodied the people of Argentina, and it drove them to the World Cup. So, as you can see, Ten Hag is a product of the best modern managers. It is why he has had success in such a quick time, and also why the whole of football believes that he is destined to succeed at Man United. If you liked this post, kindly leave a like and share it around. Would be a great help to me. Thanks! #ManchesterUnited #ErikTenHag #ManUtd #MUN #TenHag #Rashford #Bruno #Garnacho #CR7 #Cristiano

When Manchester United agreed to pay €100 million for Antony dos Santos, a lot of eyebrows were raised. At that point in his career, he had 25 goals and 26 assists, nowhere near the numbers that deserve such a price tag. There is the potential of course, but the risk is high, as it has been seen in many of the transfers of such type. Manchester United have also had many transfers of high fees that have almost always ended a failure, like Pogba and Lukaku. Surely they would have been much more cautious with their spending right? So then why did they pay such a high fee for him? The only reason was that he understood Erik Ten Hag's tactics perfectly and knows how to implement them. And that is vital for Ten Hag in the early stages of his rebuild, having someone among the players who can show them what he wants them to do. While many pundits and fans, in general, have questioned a lot of his performances, the more you watch United, the more you realise how vital he is to them. There are two aspects to it. In an attacking sense, him being left-footed allows him to cut in and cross and/or shoot from a very good angle. It also allows Dalot to overlap and adds numbers centrally, which helps if the ball is turned over. Defensively, his pressing and back-tracking are exactly how Ten Hag wants it. His defensive work rate is extremely high, perhaps only outworked by Bruno among the attackers. You will not notice it unless you regularly watch United but when he isn't on the field, United's press becomes much weaker, they have very few attacks coming from the right side in the final third and the right side is almost exclusively defended by the right back. Because Sancho is ready yet, Antony usually comes off for Fred and Bruno moves to his position on the right. When this happens, Bruno operates just outside the final third and goes central if he has to get into it. While Bruno does great defensive work too, he does so more centrally. What this also does is make United predictable. With Antony gone, Rashford becomes the only outlet on the wings when in transition, and in possession, the opposition only has to deal with an overlapping right back, with anyone else being tracked by their man. Essentially, without Antony on the field, United are extremely predictable in attack and ends up having to defend more and more. All this points towards Antony being essential to Ten Hag's system. But yes, at this point, because the system isn't completed and he doesn't have much control over the ball using his right foot, Antony is struggling while attacking. Defenders realise his inability to use his right foot and know precisely what he is going to do. While he might be very good at cutting in, it is defendable. However, when playing against weaker opposition, so to speak, United attempt to use more of Ten Hag's possession system and Antony comes to life in the attack. It gives us an indication that the more United adopt Ten Hag's tactics, the better Antony will get. His game against Forest in the first leg of the Carabao Cup Semi-Final was perhaps his best performance in Red colours, and it came in a game where United used Ten Hag's possession system better than they ever had. Antony is like a perfected part of a car that is still being perfected. In such circumstances, sometimes the part works well, and sometimes it doesn't. The better the car becomes, the more useful the part becomes. As fans, we need to have patience and wait. Players like Antony have been around for quite a while. Jorginho under Sarri is a prime example. A perfected Regista in a properly built system at Napoli. Yet, once he came to Chelsea, he became ineffective when marked and pressed well, leading to the breakdown of the system. All because the Chelsea car was not perfected yet. He then went on to do really well under other managers, like Tuchel and Mancini. Such is the world of football. As fans, we hope of course that Antony can quickly start doing much more and much better. But, we need to be patient and wait for the flower to truly bloom. If you want to see more of such articles, please consider subscribing. It is free to do so. You can also follow me on my Instagram and Twitter. #United #ManUtd #ManchesterUnited #Antony #TenHag #AntonyDosSantos

Eddie Nketiah scored a stoppage-time winner to grab the 3 points for Arsenal in a scintillating game against Man United. With that, Arsenal now have 50 points at the halfway stage, more than any team ever had. And they are now ever closer to that first title since the Invincibles. The game itself was a very watchable game, and perhaps the best game of the weekend in terms of the quality of the teams. In the build-up to it, both sets of fans were quite nervous. United were aware of the high quality of this Arsenal side, while Arsenal hadn't forgotten that United are the only team to have beaten them this season. Right from the get-go, the match was played at a high tempo. Arsenal kept the majority of the possession, as they did at Old Trafford, while United patiently set up a mid-block and waited to counter, something they excel at and have given oppositions nightmares through it recently. The scoring started from an unbelievable long ranger from Rashford in the 17th minute. He picked the ball, skipped past the challenge from Partey and then took a shot from way outside the box, into the bottom left corner to make it 1-0. This was Rashford's ninth goal in as many games. He is in red-hot form right now. Only Haaland has scored more goals than him post world cup. Nketiah then equalised within 7 minutes, in the 24th minute, through a header. Wan Bissaka failed to defend a routine cross, and Nketiah pounced on it on the back post to make it 1-1. Earlier, De Gea's pouring passing decisions led to the corner that led to the goal. Clearly Man United need more back-ups and a better ball-playing goalkeeper. Nketiah too continues a great run of form, doing well to replace the injured Gabriel Jesus. Arteta has a good headache awaiting him when Jesus returns. In the second half, Saka scored a worldie in almost the same fashion as Rashford, in the 53rd minute to give Arsenal the lead. With little pressure from Eriksen, Saka took the shot from a few yards outside the right side of the box. De Gea, being unsighted and surprised by the shot, couldn't react in time and the ball slid into the bottom left corner to make it 2-1. Saka has now scored 3 goals in 3 appearances against United. In a similar fashion to the first equaliser by Arsenal, United scored an equaliser through Lisandro Martinez within 6 minutes. Martinez scored a beautiful diving header after Ramsdale had punched out a corner by Eriksen to make it 2-2. This was the first goal scored by the Argentine world cup winner in United colours. Arsenal applied the pressure and tightened the screw from the 75th minute, relentlessly attacking the United goal, but the Red Devils held on, till the very last minute when a brilliant ball from Odegaard saw Nketiah score a tap-in to win the match for Arsenal, who are now well and truly leading the title race, if there even is one. Arsenal are now 5 points clear at the top with a game in hand. The Arteta project has started to bear fruit in its third year. This young side, playing some brilliant football, has the whole of the football community applauding the work done to get here. The players were really good today in terms of mentality. Ten Hag got his tactics spot on and Arsenal weren't doing so well tactically. But they help their nerve, made the necessary changes and won a deserved win. Saka and Odegaard were especially good, running the United defence rugged with relentless attacks. And Nketiah also did really well to score his goals. United missed Casemiro dearly in this game. There were so many moments in the game where you could pinpoint that Casemiro would have won the ball back at that position and started an attack. Individual errors cost United today, but there is no denying there is progress being made. Within 6 months, Ten Hag has gotten what was a lifeless team laying football that has them going toe-to-toe with the title leaders. The whole football community rejoiced today as the old Arsenal-United rivalry seems to have been reborn again from today. One can only hope that the 2 teams that won the first 11 PL titles can rekindle that era and fight for the league once again in the coming years. If you want to see more of such articles, please consider subscribing. It is free to do so. You can also follow me on my Instagram and Twitter. #United #ManUtd #ManchesterUnited #Rashford #TenHag #Arsenal #ArsenalFC #Arteta #Saka #Odegaard #ManUtdvsArsenal #ARSMUN #ArsenalvsManUtd

By the 70th minute of the world cup final, perhaps the entire world had decided that this was going to be just another football match. Argentina were completely dominant, and Messi's crowning moment looked imminent. But the French prodigal son had other ideas in his mind. Ideas that would lead the beautiful game into a new era, and have that match declared as the very pinnacle of football. And he was ready to implement them right at that moment. Hold up. Let's back up a bit and give you a bit of context. You likely already know about football. The 'beautiful game' as it is usually called, has 22 players, 11 on each side, running after a large ball, trying to force it into the opposition's goal. You also likely know about the Football World Cup, the largest viewed sporting event on the planet, with around 4 billion viewers this time around. So, going into the world, there were a few narratives for the fans to look forward to. One of the main ones was this being Lionel Messi's last chance to win a world cup. Most of the avid fans of football consider Messi to be the greatest player of all time. He had won everything by then, but the world cup trophy had evaded him 4 times before, having been grabbed out of his hands in 2014. Everybody wanted Messi to win the World Cup. And the strong Argentina side was capable of fulfilling the dream of the little boy from Rosario, Santa Fe. The other narrative was that of Kylian Mbappe. The prodigal son of French football was on a war path to lead his country to a second consecutive world cup victory, and be the first country since Brazil to do so. And by doing so, build the strongest foundation to be declared as the greatest player of all time by the time he retires. And even with a plethora of injuries, the French squad was more than capable of winning the cup. There was a reason this generation was called their golden generation. And so the world cup began. Argentina were shocked in the very first game, but bounced back strong and reminded the world why they were undefeated for 32 games before the world cup. They used their tried and tested formula- defend with all their might and pray Messi does his thing to help them score a goal- was working perfectly for them. Match after match, they fought hard, with all their strength and grit. By the time they reached the finals, they had all become war veterans ready to cross the final hurdle to victory. France, on the other hand, showed the might of their golden boys. They cruised through the group stage, losing only to Tunisia in a game that mattered not to them. And then they breezed past all their opponents, be it the giant English, the gritty Poles or the Atlas Lions of Morocco. They cared not who their opponents were. They showed up and won every match easily. And when they got to the finals, it looked like an unstoppable force was about to meet an immovable object. Or so we thought. But come the final, France started extremely sluggishly. Argentina, being the eternal enthusiastic warriors they were, took quick advantage of this and established dominance over the French side. All that pressure paid off in the form of 2 goals- a penalty in the 23rd minute slotted home by Messi, and a brilliant counterattack finished by Angel Di Maria. Deschamps, the French manager, attempted to do something about the situation, axing Dembele and Giroud in the 40th minute of the game, before making more subs later on. But it didn't look like it did anything. The Argentines were cruising and by the 80th minute, the entire world taught Argentina had this in the bag. Everyone, but one man. A mistake by Otamendi gave France a way back, though it was in the form of a penalty against the Mind Master Emi Martinez. Martinez almost stopped Mbappe's penalty, but its sheer power drove it into the net. And then in the very next minute, Mbappe did his thing and scored an exceptional goal to tie the game. He played a 1-2 with Kolo Muani in the air to get past the defender and scored the volley from a very tight angle. He alone burst the dead game into life. But Messi had seen this coming. After the match, it was revealed that Messi said to his teammates during the break at full time, "Did you not expect this? This is the World Cup Final. Did you not see this coming? It was never going to be easy." Extra time came, and the first half went by without any incident. In the second half, Messi used all his magical skills and forced the ball across the goal line. The world believed that this was the final great moment. Argentina had the world cup now. Surely. "Not!" said Mbappe. He forced a shot on goal that was blocked by hand, and a penalty was called. And with all the calmness of the world, he scored the first world cup final hat trick since Geoff Hurst, the English World Cup Winner. And so, the game was dragged into penalties. But actually, it almost wasn't. Kolo Muani was clean through on goal against Martinez in 120+3.1 minutes of 120+3. And Emiliano Martinez made what is likely to go down as the greatest save of all time. So pens. Mbappe, the man with guts of steel, scored his third pen of the match. Messi matched his French counterpart and scored his own. Then Emi Martinez came into his groove and got into the minds of the French players, which led to the 2 next 3 players missing their pens, while the Argentines scored each one of theirs. It all came down to Montiel, who slotted his penalty home to win his country their first world cup since the Late Diego Maradona won it for them, and give Messi his crowning piece while ending what would surely go down as the one of, if not the greatest match of football ever played. So what was the outcome of the match? A third star on the jersey for Argentina? The perfect end to Lionel Messi's career? The handover of the baton as the next greatest player to Mbappe? Yes to all of that, and much more. Because this game represents a new era in football. An era which will see the rise of the already world-famous sport to higher levels, levels that were never seen before. More kids will be inspired to play the beautiful game. More people will start following it. And football will no longer remain European and South American dominant, but a sport that each and every country loves from the bottom of its heart and tries to give everything towards. As Dani Rojas says in Ted Lasso, "Football is Life!" __________________________________________________________________________ If you liked this post, please share it across, and comment or send me a chat here or DM me on my Instagram linked below. Thanks!

As I write this, Chelsea FC, the mighty Blues of West London currently sit 10th in the Premier League table, below the likes of Fulham and Brighton(ironically for Potter), and are out of both the FA Cup and the Carabao Cup. And they have done this all the while looking absolutely clueless on the pitch in terms of what they want to do. So how has it come to this, and will the future be better? The Change of Owners With the ruthless Abramovich gone, Todd Bohley is the club's helm. And the American hasn't done a good job so far. Sacking Tuchel after the season went underway, which was after Chelsea signed a bunch of players he wanted, was a big mistake. Bringing in Graham Potter at that time, when everyone knows he is a manager that takes time to implement his philosophy was a bigger blunder. Potter in charge, with no pre-season and a squad of players that he didn't build, you can see the start of a disaster building there. A Full Hospital Ward Chelsea currently has 10 first-team squad members that are injured, which include the likes of Ngolo Kante, Reece James and Raheem Sterling among others. With such a long list of injuries, Potter, who was already playing it safe due to having no pre-season with the players, is left with a squad that is full of either inexperienced or out-of-form players. This means, he will have to play even more safely, which allows opposition teams to take advantage quickly and easily. Disasterous Recruitment Chelsea has always been known to spend a lot of cash on a lot of players, most of which might work only for a few seasons before either falling out of favour, form or falling out with the club. But since the transfer ban, almost every player Chelsea has recruited has failed to make an impact. Except for Thiago Silva, Edouard Mendy and perhaps Kai Havertz, all the other players have laughably failed at the club. And most of those that left after that, have done very well for themselves. It remains to be seen whether or not Potter can bring out the best in all the signings made all summer and this January. But it isn’t looking all that well. At this point, it looks like Todd Bohley is looking at players that are making a name for themselves and just going after them, like Enzo Fernandes. A Failed Cobham Experiment Chelsea’s academy was known as one of the best, if not the best in the country. However, Abramovich and the string of managers he appointed very rarely trusted any of the graduates from there if any at all. He famously sent a large amount of them on loan every year, waiting to see if anyone did exceptionally well. That changed with the coming of Frank Lampard and the transfer ban. Chelsea was forced to work with their academy players and found a few gems, or so they thought. Over the years, these gems, with perhaps the exception of Reece James, have just become mediocre squad players that take up money and space in the team. Mason Mount is a prime example of it. While a player with great attributes in most areas, he has specialization in any position, making him extremely useful for any new manager initially, but utterly useless after that. There are many other players like that, with potential for greatness that somehow they are nowhere near achieving. Either Cobham isn’t as good as we thought or Chelsea doesn’t know how to develop players in the first team. __________________________________________________ what do Potter and Chelsea do? Well, the only answer right now is to wait. Wait till things settle down and players are back from the injury crisis. And hopefully, not make the situation worse by then\ Potter is using the January window to get in players that he wants. Perhaps by using them, he can whip up a system that saves Chelsea and gets them a Europa League spot at the very least. And with them going out early in the cups, they can utilise the extra time to train in Potter’s mysterious ways.