Hello one and all Favela Zone fanboys and groupies. It is time for the inaugural first post. I just want everyone to know that I am not angry. I may not be living the most ideal life but we can all wish for a brighter day this Christmas time. Now, moving on to a subject that I have been dying to address. Manchester United. Glory Glory Mediocrity.
It’s important to provide some context here, it may be hard to believe but in the not so distant past Manchester United was one of the most feared clubs in the world, think Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, Barcelona level of fear from this past decade. But ever since Ed Woodcock (Woodward) started calling the shots in 2012, shit hit the fan! A string of shitty managers that barely lasted a season, a Falcao that never took flight (stretch) resulted in the appointment of…..
……a hobbit?!!
Ok. Now don’t get me wrong, this guy gets some props because he actually had a huge impact as a player for Manchester United pitching in with 126 goals in all competitions during his tenure. Only time will tell if Ole Gunnar Solskjaer (hobbits have names after all) will be sacked by the time production begins on The Silmarillion, but as things stand, the precious title of manager remains in his hands. Over the past few years Man United has become the most consistently inconsistent team I’ve ever witnessed. On their day they are scoring goals circa 2018 Man City and next thing you know they are getting dominated by relegation bound clubs! It’s nothing short of bizarre. Given that Inter Milan is now Manchester United’s graveyard you know they had quality! Who is to blame? The players? Frodo’s next of kin? No – it’s that asshole Ed Woodcock!
He’s in the center in case you were wondering. And I swear – look at this man, he just looks like a smug dick out to abuse any and all power he has. People tend to take shit at face value. Just because you got money flowing like a Saudi Prince (What up Etihad) doesn’t mean they will be able to play well together! People need to look deeper at the kinds of players that are brought in; ranging from technical ability, athleticism, and lifestyle as well! Team chemistry is a thing! It seems they just believed that buying a long list of seasoned stars past their prime i.e. Radamel Falcao, Alexis Sanchez, Bastian Schweinsteiger, etc. would be the answer to their problems. All it did was drastically inflate their wage bill.
I will actually give them a pass on Alexis Sanchez, because who would have thought that the former hero of Arsenal just a season prior would do absolutely nothing aside from collect 400,000 pounds of wages a week. Well at least all that money went to a good cause right? WRONG. It went into producing probably the worst movie I’ve ever seen on Netflix, “Mi Amigo Alexis.”
Back to Manchester United. The issue is their flawed mentality and focus on big names/commercial incentives vs pragmatism. They could have signed Ivan Perisic a few short years ago but refused José’s wish because he was not “a big enough name”.
As José put it back when Manchester United came second in the league under him (feels ages ago), Manchester City has “football heritage” a Portuguese saying that translates to, “their players have ruminated at the club long enough so they gel together.” If you ever played soccer, you will realize that team spirit and playing as a cohesive unit absolutely does matter if you are to succeed as a team. Leicester City did it in 2016 on the budget of an Indie horror film!
Ok, now I am being harsh and need to rein it in a bit. Though it is hard to forget that 6 – 1 drubbing at the hands of Tottenham earlier this season (you know José loved that) Manchester United have been playing better and stringing wins together; and although I don’t have the all seeing eye of Sauron, I would wager on it not lasting. To focus on some positives, they have some stand up guys in the squad like Marcus Rashford who feeds the needy and Edinson Cavani who…
……does ballet?!!
Ok now I am actually impressed with this guy. Talk about being comfortable in your own skin. Big ups to the Uruguayan because although I remain baffled, this revelation encourages me to be myself and I hope it does the same for others.
Unfortunately, even the Bailador has been in the news for other not entirely graceful reasons, but that is for another post…Thanks to his 88th minute goal against Everton in the quarterfinals of the Carabao cup, Manchester United have a trophy in their sights! Just not one a club of their pedigree really wants to be competing for aka the Premier League. They are third place in the table with a game in hand, and that is impressive given how unconvincing their start of the season was.
I’ve got to go catch Swan Lake. Enjoy the matches this holiday season…
Bailador 😂😂😂😂
😂😂😂