Monthly Archives: December 2015

By Karl Matchett.

The transfer and managerial merry-go-rounds in the Premier League don't usually involve quite as high-profile teams swapping individuals as frequently happens in, say, Italy or France, but there are still occasions when clubs would clearly benefit from knocking on their rivals' doors and attempting to prise away a big name or two.

Manchester United are facing one right now, with the availability of a top coach who is intrinsically linked with a major rival: Jose Mourinho.

United have a boss in place, of course, in Louis van Gaal. All month long, it seems, there have been rumours surrounding the Dutchman's future though and his recent results don't exactly scream improvement. It's now six games without a win in all competitions for the Red Devils, and just three wins in the last 13. In the Premier

By Greg Lea.

When it was announced on Sunday that Pep Guardiola would leave his post as Bayern Munich manager at the end of the season, the Bundesliga champions wasted little time in uncovering his successor. As had been extensively reported in the weeks before, Carlo Ancelotti was unveiled as the next head coach at the Allianz Arena, with the Italian set to take the reins in June 2016.

It is an appointment that suits all parties: Bayern have acquired one of the most sought-after coaches in the game who has vast experience of working at big clubs and with superstar players, while Ancelotti has a terrific opportunity to add to his medal collection at another of Europe's elite outfits.

The major criticism of the 56-year-old is that he has not won the league as often as he should have. As well as Reggiana and a talented Parma side in his early career, Ancelotti has managed Juventus, Milan,

By Karl Matchett.

Less than a month ago, this very same column looked at Manchester City under Manuel Pellegrini and, in assessing the state of play in the Premier League, determined it would be nothing short of an abject failure by the boss if he didn't lead his team to the title and by some distance.

Since then, things haven't gotten noticeably better for the 2014 title winners, losing to both Stoke City and Arsenal in the league and now sitting in third place, six points off top spot and having won only three of their last eight in the competition. With title rivals Arsenal having taken the points

FC Barcelona capped off a nearly perfect 2015 run on Sunday, beating Argentina's River Plate 3-0 meaning Barcelona win 2015 FIFA Club World Cup. The victory marked the eighth time since the Club World Cup was founded in 2000 that a UEFA football club has walked away with the final trophy. Just as notably, the trophy is Barcelona's third in the FIFA Club World Cup-elevating the Spanish soccer squad past Brazil's Sport Club Corinthians as the most decorated team in the tournament's history.

An Easy Win

Barca, who earned their spot in the Club World Cup this year thanks to their victory in the UEFA Champions League in the spring, hardly had to strain themselves at all to add another title to their 2015 trophy case. After receiving a bye into the semifinals, FC Barcelona topped China's Guangzhou Evergrande 3-0 to earn

Manchester United spent a lot of money during the summer transfer window this year. They took arguably the biggest risk of the entire summer, paying an upfront £36 million for Anthony Martial, a still-green forward from AS Monaco. They spent £24.6 million on Memphis Depay, a Dutch standout who helped PSV Eindhoven win the Eredivisie title last season. They spent £24 million upfront on Morgan Schneiderlin, an established defensive midfielder with a record of success at Southampton. The spent an estimated £12.7 million on Matteo Darmian in a move to flesh out their defense. And they spent £6.56 million on Bastian Schweinsteiger, a veteran midfielder fresh of a 13-year stint at Bayern Munich.

Unfortunately, all of that spending hasn't converted to dominance for Manchester United. While the football club could hardly be said to be doing poorly so far in their 2015 2016 campaign, they certainly haven't returned yet to the lofty heights of the Alex Ferguson era. Louis van Gaal is

After a two-window transfer ban that precluded FC Barcelona from signing and using new players throughout the entirety of 2015, the Catalan football club is expected to return to take an active role when the transfer market opens up again in January. Barca were issued the FIFA transfer ban for breaking the rules for the "international transfer of minors."

Barcelona did pick up a few new players over the summer transfer window, but with the caveat that none of those players could actually take the pitch for competitive matches until January. So, in addition to whatever new talent Barca pick up in the winter transfer market, January will also see the club debuts of summer transfers like Aleix Vidal (a winger from Sevilla) and Arda Turan (an attacking midfielder from Atletico Madrid).

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Chelsea got a bit of a reprieve from their recent streak of mostly dreadful play on December 9^th, beating Porto 2-0 in a Champions League match. The win pushed the Blues to the top of Group G and earned them a favorable spot in the UCL round of 16. The football club ultimately finished the group stage with four wins, one draw, and one loss-not so different from the 4-2-0 they managed in the groups last year when they were running away with the Premier League frontrunner title.

In other words, Chelsea FC still have a lot of potential-even if they aren't showcasing it on a week-to-week basis in their Premier League matches. That potential is personified in the form of Willian, the Brazilian winger who scored five goals for the Blues in the Champions League group stage. To put that number in perspective, Willian is tied for fourth among the UCL's top scorers, with the same number of goals as worldwide greats like Luis Suarez and Thomas Muller, as well as Premier League standout

Even despite a loss against Borussia Monchengladbach a few weeks ago, Bayern Munich are still in a fairly comfortable position heading into the German Bundesliga's lengthy winter break. With no domestic fixtures on the schedule until January 22nd and no Champions League games on the horizon until a February 23rd clash with Arsenal, the Bavarians can turn their full attention to a completely different focus: the January transfer window.

By virtually any measure, Bayern Munich are having a great season. As a result, the German heavyweights could probably get away with sitting the transfer window out and waiting until summer to sign any new talent. However, it's likely that the Bavarians will make at least a few moves, and we've got all the biggest Bayern Munich winter 2015 transfer rumors outlined below.

An Arjen Robben Exit?

One of the loudest rumors about Bayern Munich's transfer prospects for January isn't about

Arsenal have been riddled with injuries this fall, but that fact has-rather remarkably-not stopped them from performing at a high level. Indeed, the Gunners have spent much of their Premier League season so far in the top three, and even overcame a poor start in the 2015 2016 Champions League to secure a spot in the tournament's round of 16. Still, when December turns to January and the transfer window opens up, you can bet that Arsene Wenger is going to hit the market in search of some reinforcements for his injury-addled soccer squad. Rumour currently has it that Arsenal to target Lars Bender during the upcoming winter transfer window, would this be a good signing?

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A New Figure in the Midfield?

One of the top prospects on the Arsenal radar at this point in time

With the group stages concluded for both the 2015/16 Europa League and Champions League tournaments, UEFA announced the round of 32 draw for the UEL on Monday, December 14^th. In addition to top group stage contenders from earlier in the Europa League (like Napoli, Rapid Wien, and Tottenham Hotspur), the round of 32 will also include the third-placers from the Champions League (including football clubs like Manchester United, Olympiacos, and Bayer Leverkusen).

The combinatory nature of the Europa League knockout stage always serves to inject some extra excitement into the proceedings. However, it also serves to make the round of 32 especially harder to predict. With that in mind, we are taking a look at the draw for the round of 32 and trying to decipher which teams will progress and which teams won't.

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