Glory, Glory Man United

The Moyes troll is an all too familiar image popping up online nowadays mocking the manager through puns and quirky statements. However, a renewed momentum is currently building at Manchester United and those mocking pics might soon start to lag. Right now, the Red Devils are on a four game winning streak during the hectic Christmas to New Year schedule in the Premier League. Obviously, United haven't had the best of starts with their new manager, but this renewed sense of hope buzzing around Old Trafford might just lead the team back into contention. Just last week, United started to look like their old selves with a come back from 2-0 down to beat Hull City 3-2. All the trolling football fans need to remember that no matter what their views are of United, the men from Sir Matt Busby Way have in their war chest a traditional strong spirit that very few teams possess. Just looking at the numbers, we've reached the halfway point in the season with United eight points shy of retaining the title. With such a manageable margin of points, a confident mentality at the club is resurfacing because so far no other team in the Prem has really been able to run away from the pack. As long as teams like Arsenal, Man City, Liverpool and Chelsea drop points every so often there's still a light at the end for United. Jose Mourinho's quote from the Daily Mail summed up the reality of the situation best. “If it is another club I’ll tell you impossible. But with Manchester United I don’t say that because of the potential of the club, the culture, what it represents.” Stepping back from the mental aspect of everything United the major hurdle that remains is the physical product on the field (I should say bench). The youngsters emerging at the club right now are nothing compared to the Class of '92, when Becks, Giggs, Scholes, Nicky Butt and the Neville brothers lit up the field with their renowned English talent. However, United can still look forward to strengthening their side with the transfer window approaching. I'm not saying United will get a deal like Mesut Ozil going to Arsenal, but if they can bring in someone to play deep in the Mid unlike the uncharacteristically out of place Fellaini then that could only add to the team's winning mentality. Most of all though, apart from Moyes, the players and the culture of the club; there still remains the great one. Sir Alex is still a sporting director and ambassador at United, so it's highly likely that the Scot can drop into the dressing room for an inspirational round up with the players at any necessary point in the season. When Ferguson stepped down as manager he did the most generous thing for the future of the club. By doing this he was able to create a smoother transition for the new man in charge while still making sure to advise and mold him. Football fans must remember that when Ferguson came to United in '86 he didn't have the easiest of starts with United finishing 11th in the table with only an FA Cup title in '90 helping him keep his managerial position. On top of all this, United are still challenging in all possible tournaments with a beatable foe like Olympiacos in the Champions League round of sixteen while Swansea look like a weakened side this season in the FA Cup. Also fans should note that the entirely new backroom staff at United is just starting to adjust. Ferguson admitted once before that a harmonious back room staff was key to his success at the club. With all this in mind, I'm not saying Man United will be champions this season, but they definitely shouldn't be counted out because everything is still possible. If Moyes can continue to unravel United's fighting spirit then the Red Army just might sing Glory, Glory Man United come the end of the season.

The Polish Problem Part 2

In an earlier post I touched on the Polish national team's failure to qualify for yet another World Cup. Through PZPN, the Polish football association, corruption and greed undermined the development of football in the country. However, I needed to write this post to also show what problems Poland faced on the field. For starters, Poland has only had one golden generation of footballers stretching from the '74 and '82 World Cups, where the national side clinched third place both times. Superstars like Kazimierz Deyna, Zbigniew Boniek, Grzegorz Lato and countless others showed the world that Poland was an emerging juggernaut in the world of football. Sad to say, after that generation retired Poland slipped back down the pedestal, with the group stage being the farthest qualification thereafter. After so much promise in the 70s why is it that Poland can't get back on the mantle on which it once stood? Well, the first problem rests on the shoulders of the man on top. Almost every Polish manager since Kazimierz Gorski (1971-76 Poland coach) has also been a former player. Like Simon Kuper outlined in his book Soccernomics, most players, who go into coaching fail because they aren't qualified for the position in the first place. Being the man, who sets up the formations and tactics is an entirely different challenge. Think of it like a chess piece suddenly stepping into the role of the hand that moves it. Actually, it's quite fascinating that the only coach in the national team's history to have never been a player has also been the only non-Polish manager. Leo Beenhakker was the Dutch mastermind, who took Poland to its first ever Euro tournament in 2008 rightfully so before being hosts in 2012. It would have been sad if the first ever Euro was due to automatic qualification. Now, to make Leo look even more distinguished, the Dutchman is the only coach in Poland's history to have coached a world class club. Real Madrid, Ajax, and the Dutch national team are all on his resume. Looking at the Polish coaches, the collective have only coached top clubs in Greece, Cyprus and national teams like Tunisia and Sudan. The poor bill of top teams on the Polish end is really because most Polish coaches can't speak a foreign language and they also tend to stay very Polishcentric. This means that Polish coaches rarely study the game abroad, instead they focus all their knowledge through only Polish sources. For a coach to break out abroad they have to really have something special and unique that clubs can't find in the main managerial pool. Therefore, Poland lacks coaches with solid resumes abroad and ones who have studied for the position not as former players, but aspiring managers. After looking at the man on the sidelines, the next major issue is the man leading the team. Robert Lewandowski. That isn't a typo. He is the main reason why Poland have such a weak attacking force. Through his goal scoring prowess at Borussia Dortmund many people tend to forget that since Euro 2012 he's only scored against Greece in the tournament and most recently against Denmark in a friendly. Add two more goals in World Cup qualifiers and in over one year, starting every game for Poland, he's only found the back of the net four times. At this point, it doesn't matter if there's no player in Mid to lay off the ball to him like Marco Reus or Mario Gotze. The problem is that the team is shaped to play the ball to Lewandowski. Lewy is like dark matter in the Polish formation with everything orbiting around him, but there's just nothing there. Don't get me wrong, he's a great player, who will continue to score, but not for Poland. Once you get rid of him from the squad, Poland should slowly start to find a new identity in attack. It's like when Raul was in the Spanish national team. Once Spain stopped capping him they suddenly gained a new style that has led to three major trophies in world football ever since. Call me crazy, but I also believe that Poland needs to stop defending so tight and start taking risks by opening up the field through its attack. If we're already losing games on repeat I feel like stepping up and having the balls to make an offensive minded team could at least give Poland a chance. The major obstacle to overcome in all of this has always been the Polish mentality though. Polish people are afraid to take big risks and fail because then everyone is a smart ass from the media to the fans. They all say, you see the reason we lost is because of these drastic changes. Well, the reason Poland is losing all the time right now is because there are no drastic changes, so all I hope for is that Adam Nawalka or Zbigniew Boniek come across this post in some twist of fate and comprehend what the problem is. Just do something drastic because this ongoing minimalism is not suiting my dreams of a juggernaut Polish national team that has been absent since '82.