Di Maria's wife "I begged Angel, any place but England. And 1 year later we were in Manchester, a shithole"
"Le dije que lo compren de cualquier país menos de Inglaterra y al año caímos en Manchester, una mierda"
Jorgelina Cardoso, la esposa del delantero de PSG, explicó algunas razones del fugaz paso de Angel por el fútbol inglés. Reveló cómo se dio su salida del Real Madrid y que, en un futuro, piensan volver a vivir a Argentina.www.ole.com.ar
The interview has much more, she went ALL IN
Even as a United fan, I have to laugh at her comments. It was pretty obvious that Di Maria didn't want to be at United. He was just there because Real Madrid had to clear room for James Rodriguez and United were the only club willing to pay enough for him. He's pretty emblematic of United's transfer problems over the years: buying big name players just because you can and not thinking of how well they will fit in the team or if they want to be there. He did show a lot of promise at first, like this fantastic goal
But Van Gaal clamped down on the creative freedom allowed by the players and the football became so dull to watch and it really restricted a player like Di Maria who flourishes through moments of individual skill. And I get it, if you're from Argentina and have just come over from Madrid then Manchester is going to be a big culture shock for you. But he got so demotivated that Ashley Young took his place in the starting 11.
Young seemed determined to prove a point next time they met
The public reason to outsiders looked to be solely to make room for James Rodriguez, the secret reason though was that Di Maria was a trouble maker to the board. He complains A LOT and he demands A LOT and he whine A LOT and he asked for big wadge rises every single year (yes every single year not even contract renewal)
What made it worse is that he was one of those players with a switch, in games he cared about (and was in the mood to play) he was a top world class player but all the other games he was so bad that he hurt the team performance really badly. Most people did not know that because they did not watch Real Madrid week in and week out. Di Maria was more trouble to the club than benefit in my humble opinion.
When we sold him to Manchester United everyone was laughing at us thinking we made a grave error, I was glad to get rid of him for a decent pay he was a headache.
About what happened with him at Manchester United, he is top world class player only in those few matches he's in the mood but when LVG took away his creativity and ask him to not do any of it you are just left with nothing at all.
I think a good comparison for Di Maria at United is Falcao. Bringing in Falcao was another expensive mistake by United around that time but in my experience United fans don't hold any ill will towards him because it was clear he was trying and wanted to make it work. He just couldn't physically go at that point. Di Maria on the other hand had the ability, an incredibly talented player in his prime. But, as you put it, he switched off. Again, there were circumstances outside of just him but you shouldn't go from being the Champions League final man of the match to getting benched by Ashley Young.
But fuck, the football under LVG was so boring.
Yes I agree about Falcao, but in Falcao defense he was coming back from an injury and never could get back to his former glory but people saw he was trying to do what he can.
The football under LVG was boring but he more than compensated with his antics on the pitch sideline and interviews, the entertainment was overflowing
Yeh, Falcao seemed to find some form again when he went back to Monaco and I was pleased to see that. Seems like a nice guy.
That's the thing with LVG. The football was awful but I wanted it to work so badly. Because the man was batshit insane in such an entertaining way. Also, the way United let him go was cowardly. He shouldn't have found out the way he did. Bad football or not, he deserved better than the news breaking right after winning the FA Cup.
He printed his plans for the next season and went to the training grounds to give them to the players when they told him they sacked him. Yes I agree it was very bad form from Manchester United.
The thing with LVG he can actually make a formidable teams that can win trophies but the problem is that his style is to micromanage the players action on the pitch. Nowadays the players does not take kindly to that and the majority never follow his micro managing instructions and thus the football on the pitch falls apart. In the old days the players actually had more respect for their managers and the majority did follow all the managers instructions even if he's micromanaging them which is why LVG was much more successful in the past. The culture changed and now it is acceptable for the players to disregard their managers so all those managers that like to manage every little aspect of the action on the pitch are having a hard time if they manage any of the top clubs because the players no longer view the manager as someone they should respect or listen to.
Early on in his run LVG was a lot more open to giving the players creative freedom and they were playing much more free flowing football. Then they played Leicester and lost 5-3 despite being 3-1 up going into the last 30 minutes. It was actually the game where Di Maria scored that beautiful chip I posted the video of. After that it was like LVG came to the realisation that you can't ever take a win for granted in the English league and things became a lot stricter in terms of the style of play and the football deteriorated. Rooney talked about how they were forbidden to ever shoot with their first touch. The style worked well against big teams who were also looking to win and go on the attack. But smaller teams knew if they sat in deep and soaked up the pressure that United would just kinda pass it around pretty aimlessly and there was no final bite to the attack.
But still, there were positives to be taken from his time. He brought in Martial and promoted Rashford. There's not too many managers who would put that sort of faith in youth. Certainly not LVG's successor.
Fernandes in TOTY? Five games and in team of the year. Epic trolling by BBC Sport.
There are a few others that shouldn't be there but this one is mental.
Can't see Championship/League 2 going ahead if they ease lockdown rules in England.
Wales are staying the same so if the leagues were to go ahead in England would mean Swansea, Cardiff and Newport would have to train in England. As things stand until 28th May we'll only be able to introduce individual training.
Whats going to happen with the EPL now?
Whats going to happen with the EPL now?
Still to be decided. It's sounding like they will start back up again and play games behind closed doors, possibly at neutral venues, on a condensed schedule. Maybe they are waiting to see how things go in Germany. They would be potentially forfeiting a lot of money so the clubs are probably quite eager to get back up and running.
Again !!!
Scottish Premier League declared over, with Celtic as Champions winning their 9th league title in a row
Ladbrokes Premiership and SPFL Season 2019/20 curtailed | SPFL
Premiership clubs reach unanimous agreement that top flight cannot be finishedspfl.co.uk
Scotland is being a lot more cautious than England so I guess this is a reflection of that. Rangers fans will be pissed. But maybe not as much as Hearts fans. I can see them launching legal action over this.
He's talking about Pogba playing while in the mood to actually play and win? or Pogba the deadwood that don't care about the game mood?
I'll put my cards on the table and admit I'm a Pogba fan up front here. But the thing is with United he's so often the focus of the other team's defending since they know he's the biggest creative threat. Not saying he doesn't deserve any blame for his form being inconsistent but I do think he's treated harshly. I'm hoping that Fernandes carries some of that creative weight once they return and gives Pogba more room to operate. Pogba and Rashford getting time to heal up fully has me cautiously optimistic. Now watch my hopes get crushed lol
When Pogba on the field all the other United players are not allowed to do anything on their own and have to do everything through him which make the other team job easy, just shut down Pogba and United are mostly dead. I just don't know if this is a Pogba demand or just the coach demand but it hurts United the most when Pogba is not in the mood to play. If United make sure they have at least one more vocal point other than Pogba (while Pogba on the pitch) they will do much better.
I can't imagine it's Pogba demanding it. I think it's just the other midfield options are McTominay, Fred, Matic and Pereria. McTominay and Fred have had very good seasons and Matic started to find some form towards the end there but none of them are the kinds of players that dictate the play like Pogba can.