Europa League: is it out of the shadows?

UEFA Europa League, it’s not the Champions League, it’s on Thursday, why bother? That was the popular belief to most teams and in most countries. The second most important competition in Europe never won over a lot of managers to put in the effort to go all the way and win it. Some preferred winning a domestic cup than causing fatigue to their squads in the Europa League, it was not worth the effort according to them, but now it’s suddenly an important trophy to win and a lot of big teams are interested in competing seriously. In England for example, when Andre Villas-Boas first arrived at tottenham fresh from his Portuguese league and Europa league double, he was shocked to see that the north Londoners don’t take this competition as seriously as the FA Cup for example, or even the Capital one cup. But now everyone is vying for it, and the reward is big.

Will European super league see the light?

European football is the most watched all over the globe, best domestic leagues, big teams, high revenues and sold out tickets for every match, football in the old continent attract so much attention that one tend to think there’s no football elsewhere. From the romance of the champions league to the high intensity in the Europa league, football fans never seem to get enough. But in recent years something seen before but never on a large scale is spreading fast, the regression of big teams and the participation of newcomers. Teams like Manchester United, Liverpool, AC Milan and Inter Milan are desperate to return to the grandest stage of them all, the UEFA Champions league, but they’re struggling in their respective domestic leagues, and underdogs are taking their places, so what do they do? Find a plan B.

Give us Football back…

They said it was the game of the poor, the game of the working class, the game of the people. Football was created on the streets with a rounded thing as a ball, some bricks as goal posts and playing it with bear feet. Nobody said you have to pay tons of money to watch this game, that until business crossed paths with sports. Businessmen with large capitals saw a way to gain more money from an unlikely source and football people saw a way to gain their daily bread from the thing they liked to do the most: play football. Fast forward to 2016 and the situation has changed a lot, for the worst, and now, the people are trying to get football back.

Gary Neville: is it his fault?

They say football is a universal language. This language unifies the football community and breaks barriers between all people. Football is a game for all and differences are erased on the green pitch. But sometimes you find yourself in a cage called misunderstanding even though you speak football. The languages bestowed upon us from God almighty is a thing of a mystery. The words we speak sometimes betray us by not reaching its destination as it should be. The weight and importance of a word in English may be different in Spanish. The way of thinking and working in a country may differ by some distance to another, and it’s the trap Gary Neville is trying to get out of it right now.

2016-2017: The Come Back of the Big Boys?

For every football fan there’s always a hero. A poster of a superstar on his bedroom wall. The fans love selected teams and in these teams a name or two. Footballers take all the credit for what they do on the field. Their goals, their assists and their skills takes our breath away. But behind all this and in the backstage there’s a tactician who is masterminding what we are seeing, who is plotting every single step and every single move. He may not take all the credit, but he might be the reason behind what we are watching and he is called the manager, or as players prefer to say it “the gaffer”.

Leicester City: Can they do it?

They say fairytailes don’t often happen in football nowadays. Money is the best solution to any club’s problems. Get the best players on the market and you’ll get the results you need. Sign a top class manager and you’ll put your hands on some silverware. We’ve seen quite a few examples recently from Chelsea to Manchester City and PSG, they are the so-called “les nouveaux riches”. These teams tasted success and they are still spending and reaping the rewards season after the other. “Put you money where you mouth is” might be the quote of the year, but there’s a twist every once in a while, and we might witness something of that sort very soon.

Will Guardiola give the Premier League something new?

He is considered one of the best managers in his generation, one of the pioneers in a new brand of mixture between attacking and possession football. He will go down in history books, but some have question marks and these should be addressed to complete his legacy. Is Guardiola a philosopher in football or is he just a big team manager who has superstar-players at his disposal everywhere he goes?

Does English Football need reformation?

Every true football enthusiast will surely get a glimpse of the premier league once in a while even if it’s not his favorite. English football has that aura that nobody can deny, even if the best two players in the world are plying their trade somewhere else, still the matches in English competitions draws attention and respect from all around the world. A minor team can beat a household name and nobody can predict the outcome of any match no matter who the players and what the team-sheets are. They say the FA Cup has it’s magic, the capital one cup witnesses every year some giant killing and the premier league is the most prestigious in the world. Entertainment and good football are their for everybody to see, top class managers and world class superstars combine to give us the best football show on earth. Love it or hate it English football is fascinating. After all it’s where football was born.

Chelsea: who’s next in the “very” hot seat?

They say managing a football club is the most difficult job in the world, you have to be on alert all the time and every single result can hinder your future. Being a football manager is like walking on a rope at 5000 ft altitude, a wrong step and you’ll fall, and no one will catch you, there’s no sympathy nowadays. Even if the players or the fans feel disappointed at any moment, they will soon forget when the new tactician brings in the positive results they want to see. But nobody said that being the Chelsea football club manager will be your toughest job ever, and sometimes your worst nightmare…

The English League Cup: is it Big now?

Traditionally in England’s top flight, teams concentrate the most on winning the Premier League, in second degree the FA Cup and least of their concerns is the league cup as some, or most, might say. But if we take a look on the winners list we can see clearly that most winners are from the premier league, only five teams in history managed to win it from outside the top tier, and that tells us something, the league cup is not a secondary option for silverware as it might seem.