Its weekend again and football fans love the weekend because football is back on our screens. Across Europe all the leagues will be in action. In England, the match of the game week would be Manchester United playing host to Spurs in a nerve wracking encounter at Old trafford. Serie A serves us with a San Siro classic in which AC Milan lock horns with Juventus while in Ligue 1 PSG would be without Neymar as they host Nice. Real Madrid, Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Dortmund will all be in action in an exciting weekend of football fest. Today we take a look at the key talking points going into this weekend’s game week.
- Will Mourinho Use His Blueprint Strategy once More?
Manchester United is a camp with their confidence hugely dented after losing to newcomers Huddersfield last week. Mourinho spoke about the character of his players and how they seemed not to want a win in that game. He even openly criticized Ander Herera for making the same comments when he was interviewed after the match. But Mourinho should not be quick to chastise his players because he set his team up against Liverpool to only stop the potential threats of the pacey Liverpool attack. Fast forward one week later United seemed to have lost its attacking prowess and were punished by Huddersfield. This week Mourinho’s side face the relentless attack of Tottenham Hotspurs who have also been dealt a blow by a late Harry Kane injury. It is interesting to see how Mourinho will set his team up especially since he did same against Liverpool and the fact that they need a win at home to boost their confidence and to catch up with rivals Manchester City. Harry Kane’s injury could however unsettle Spurs and United could take due advantage. Over to you Mou!!!…
2. Can Slaven Save his Job?
West Ham is in turmoil because of their poor run of results in the premier league and Slaven Bilic is a man sitting on tenterhooks and desperately fighting to save his job. West Ham have not really recovered from the ‘Dimitri Payet saga’ and upon all the money spent this season to bring in talent to complement the team, things have however not gone to plan for Bilic with the latest setback being a 3 nil loss to Brighton at home. Word around the Olympic stadium is that Bilic has been given a two game ultimatum to save his job and the Carabao cup win over Tottenham Hotspurs is a major confidence boost going into the game against a weak Crystal Palace side and Slaven would surely relish a win in order to save his job.
3. The Managers’ Audition
Leicester City face Everton in probably a game between two sides that are in crisis. Leicester City on Wednesday announced that they have procured the services of former Southampton manager Claude Puel after they parted ways with Craig Shakespeare. Leicester has not hit the heights they hit two seasons ago in a fairy-tale season and have not played their best football this season. Claude Puel himself, after having an excellent season with Nice was deemed not to have been the players’ and fans’ favourite at Southampton so was kicked out at the end of last season, he now finds himself at the helm of a Leicester team lacking confidence. David Unsworth on the other hand has been given the caretaker manager position at Everton and he also after Ronald Koeman’s disaster would look to bring some joy to the fans and cement his place as a huge contender for the spot as the permanent manager. Both managers will have their premier league debuts this weekend as the two teams square up to each other and it will interesting to see who passes his audition.
4. Can Huddersfield do it at the Second time Of Asking?
Huddersfield were the talk of town last week as they beat a well drilled Manchester United side. David Wagner’s side have operated all season with a combination of shrewd defending and a tight midfield backed by a strike force that converts their chances as efficiently as possible. Wagner travels to Merseyside to face his close friend Klopp whose team are low on confidence after enduring a mauling at the hands of Tottenham Hotspurs last week. David Wagner would enjoy it if he gets something out of this game against his close pal, Klopp
5.How Would PSG fare Without Neymar?
This is probably not up for discussion given the wealth of talent PSG have gathered this season but given how PSG struggled last week against Marseille who managed to frustrate the PSG team during large periods of the match (even with Neymar on the field). Neymar was red carded in a match that saw Cavani rescue a point for the Parisian club and will miss the next match against rival Nice who are also in top form going into the match. PSG probably have enough in them to be able to jump over the ‘Nice’ hurdle but with Neymar being the poster boy of this PSG side, we wait to observe whether that could be an achilles heel for the PSG team or a major confidence booster as they host Lucien Favre’s Nice side this weekend.
6. Bonucci Welcomes Former Team Mates
In a very interesting fixture, this weekend Milan host Juventus. Juventus travel to visit former team mate Leonardo Bonucci who swapped sides last summer joining Milan during the club’s summer spree. Word about unrest in the dressing room involving Bonucci and coach Allegri together with fellow team mates ( notably Paulo Dybala) last season made Bonucci an enemy with the Juventus board and fans and the obvious solution was for Bonucci to leave and when Milan came calling, he jumped on that ship. The Juventus backline has not been the same this season and it is understandable given that the Bonucci-Barzagli-Chiellini partnership has been broken and for a side that went six games in the champions league last season without conceding a goal to concede 10 goals in 9 matches is a worry for Juventus .Bonucci is however set to miss the visit of former team Juventus on Saturday after being handed a two-match ban following his red card on Sunday. Bonucci was adjudged to have purposefully elbowed Genoa defender Aleandro Rosi by the referee after his consultation with the VAR. Milan as a team have their own crisis, with all the money the new Chinese owners have invested in the club, they are still a lowly 8th place on the league. Large sections of the Milan hierarchy have called for the sacking of coach Vincenzo Montella, but other sects too have banished the idea and said that the coach needs time. The weekend will be a perfect way to earn the trust of the fans with Bonucci probably watching from the stands and Montella knows Juventus would be a much sterner test.
7. Ghana FA Cup, GFA, Ministry of Sports, Kotoko and Hearts.- A Brewing Saga
The porcupine warriors of Kumasi are set to lock horns with the rainbow club of Accra in what is said to be the Ghanaian ‘el classico’ in the final of the MTN FA cup; a fitting end to the Ghanaian football season. However, the issues surrounding the game are cutting short the excitement Ghanaian football fans have in anticipation of the match. There are issues surrounding the use of balloting to appoint referees to officiate the match and this has raised lots of eyebrows about the lack of trust in Ghanaian referees and fans have voiced out against that decision. That notwithstanding, the match which was scheduled for 5pm on Friday evening has by a directive issued on Thursday afternoon from the Ministry of Youth and Sports been shifted to 3pm. The letter signed by the deputy minister, cited fan safety as one of the main reasons of the change in time. Later on in the day on Thursday the clubs involved; Asante Kotoko and Accra Hearts of Oak are threatening to withdraw from the match. This is not pleasant news for Ghanaian fans and it seems to be brewing quickly.
The Green Turf 
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