The Footytube Blog

Ferguson Will Quit at the end of the Season, Who Will Replace Him?

Love him or hate him you cannot deny that SAF has been a brilliant manager and character in the Premier League and he will be missed.

Who do you think can try and fill the might boots left behind?

Here are the bookies thoughts:
Jose Mourinho 5/6
David Moyes 6/4
Jurgen Klopp 12/1
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer 25/1
Ryan Giggs 33/1
Roberto Martinez 33/1
Rene Meuelensteen 33/1
Carlos Queiroz 40/1
Gary Neville 40/1
Laurent Blanc 40/1
Mike Phelan 40/1
Michael Laudrup 40/1
Joachim Loew 50/1
Paul Scholes 50/1
Eric Cantona 50/1
Carlo Ancelotti 50/1
Guus Hiddink 50/1
Fabio Capello 50/1
Mark Hughes 66/1
Sam Allardyce 66/1
Pep Guardiola 66/1
Steve Bruce 66/1
Roy Keane 66/1
Ottmar Hitzfeld 66/1
Chris Hughton 66/1
Harry Redknapp 66/1
Johan Cruyff 80/1
Marcello Lippi 80/1
Martin O'Neill 80/1
Luiz Felipe Scolari 80/1
Paul Lambert 100/1
Steve McClaren 100/1
Alan Curbishley 100/1
Gordon Strachan 100/1
Neil Lennon 100/1
Paul Ince 125/1
Sven Goran Eriksson 125/1
Bryan Robson 150/1
Brendan Rodgers 150/1
Martin Jol 150/1
Terry Venables 200/1
Malky Mackay 200/1
Alex McLeish 250/1
Darren Ferguson 250/1

Who do you want to see?

(we also predicted this a little over 2 years ago Link: www.footytube.com/news/guardian/sir-alex-ferguson-... )

Time to Cast a Wider Net

Manchester United have been crowned Premier League champions showing an indisputable dominance throughout the season. In a squad where the likes of Wayne Rooney, Michael Carrick, Tom Cleverley or Phil Jones have played an active role in the achievement, England fans wonder why that success fails to have a reflection in the national team. Are other teams not relying on English players? Or simply there are not enough English players to choose in elite football?

Well, a bit of both, we could say. The first obstacle feeds the second one, and vice versa. Roy Hodgson recently complained about the lack of English players on the Premier League grounds he attends, claiming his choice in order to form the national team is fairly narrow compared to other countries due to the vast proportion of foreign players crowding the Premiership squads.

And he is right if we look at the numbers, as barely a 35% of the Premier League players are eligible to play for England, far from the La Liga 59%, Ligue 1 58% or Bundesliga and Serie A 45%, according to The Daily Mail.

The high competitiveness of the probably best league in the world, as well as the strong buying power of some of the clubs, are very valid points when trying to find a reason to explain the sad reality. However, these are not the only ones, as lower profile clubs such as Wigan, West Brom or Stoke City play week after week with a large number of foreign players in their line ups, not being precisely the kind of clubs that blow up the European market with staggering offers to bring the finest talents to their teams.

It looks like in English football nowadays there seem to be an inexplicable attraction for the foreign product. We tend – and this applies not only to the beautif ... MORE

Falcao to Chelsea in Swap deal with Torres

I have heard from a reasonable source (who wishes to remain anonymous) that there have been early moves made to bring Falcao to Chelsea with part of the deal to send Torres back to Atlético Madrid .

Despite morning reports stating Torres will fight for his place at Chelsea with Falcao, insiders suggest that he will be more than happy to return to his first club in an attempt to regain form and his international place.

Fernando Torres came through the ranks at Atlético and signed his professional contract with them at the age of 15 eventually becoming club captain at only 19 he went on to score 82 goals in 214 appearances before leaving the club to join Liverpool for the 2006-07 season. He left Atlético on very good terms even holding a press conference to say goodbye.

Since the signing of Demba Ba Torres has seen his place threatened and the signing of Falcao will limit his starts even more, despite the press microscope on his form and a lack of starts Torres is still Chelsea's top scorer this season (all competitions).

Falcao is one of European footballs hottest properties right now and Atlético Madrid will receive many offers over the summer for the prize hitman. Chelsea will look to get to the top of that list by not only offering the right money but in Torres they have a trump card that will placate the Atlético fans who still idolize Torres and will quell the likely unrest that will occour from selling their prize asset.

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What to do with Luis Suarez

In a time where shirt numbers have next to no meaning, Liverpool’s number 7 has always been a jersey carefully awarded to a player. Worn by some of the greats such as Ian Callaghan, Kevin Keegan, Stevie Heighway, Jan Molby and of course King Kenny himself, the club has forever given the shirt to a player worthy of it’s history. Currently, the jersey hangs on the peg belonging to Luis Suarez. But could the Uruguayan be handing the shirt in at the end of the season?

The 26-year-old has enjoyed one of the strangest of careers at the Reds. Signed from Ajax in 2011, Suarez showed Anfield why the club had paid just under £23million for the forward, as he scored on his debut in front of the Kop. But it was his first full season with the club that worried fans. Suarez only managed to score 11 league goals, but it could have been more if he hadn’t got himself banned for eight matches. The forward clashed with Manchester United defender Patrice Evra, where he then racially abused the right-back. Suarez was punished, and despite the club’s firm, possibly over the top, support of the South American, he accepted his suspension.

Forgiven by the Kop, forgiven by the club, but naturally never forgiven by the media, Suarez went into the current season with a bad reputation. Allegations of diving repeatedly hit the striker, who ignored all the complaints and instead focused on having a better season with the Reds. Despite a sluggish start by Liverpool, Suarez picked up goals in their first two draws of their campaign, before a hat trick at Norwich suggested that Suarez could be on top form this season. The goals kept coming, as after another hat trick, this time against Wigan, Suarez’s 21 goals put him third in the tally for most Liverpool goals i ... MORE

Why Fergie and Hodgson Can’t Both be Wrong Over Cleverley

There is a lot of debate about whether Manchester United and England midfielder Tom Cleverley is the answer to the problems that club and country have.

The 23 year old has been a big part of Manchester United’s pursuit of a 20th league crown and has been ever present in Roy Hodgson’s England team since Euro 2012.

The critics don’t see what Cleverley brings to the table. They believe he is only in the England squad because he plays for Manchester United.

But if Sir Alex Ferguson has faith in the young midfielder and continues to play him in the big games against the likes of Real Madrid and Chelsea, then surely he can do a job for England.

The downsides seen in Cleverley’s game is that he doesn’t get enough goals. So far this season, Cleverley has played 28 times for Manchester United and only scored four goals, one was an over hit cross which deceived Tim Krul and ended up in the back of the net. With a lack of goals, Cleverley doesn’t affect the game in the same way as Frank Lampard does with his ability to score goals.

Another flaw seen in Cleverley’s game is his vision. He keeps the ball well but he doesn’t have the kind of vision that Michael Carrick has shown on numerous occasions this season. Carrick’s pass to set up Javier Hernandez to score a last minute winner against Newcastle or his delightful reverse pass to set up Javier Hernandez in Manchester United’s 2-2 draw with Chelsea in the FA Cup.

His range of passing is not the same as the likes of Steven Gerrard or Paul Scholes. Their ability to switch the play in an instant helps their side unsettle defences and give them more of a chance to break sides down.
With people quick to criticise Cleverl ... MORE