Graham Potter’s appointment as Chelsea’s new head coach last September was meant to proclaim a new era at the club after a short period of unprecedented problems with Thomas Tuchel, (whose sacking came as a shock to many). Instead, this era was cut short after just seven months, and 31 games, due to several poor results.
Manchester City have been the most successful team in the premier league since the appointment of Spanish veteran, Pep Guardiola. They have won four Premier League titles, four League cup titles, two community shield titles and one FA Cup title over the past six years. Asides from that, they’ve also implemented a very exciting playing style, playing tiki taka at its very best and scoring a lot of goals. However, the team has lacked that cutting edge in the UEFA Champions League. They’ve been eliminated from the quarterfinals several times, with their closest to the trophy a final match loss to Chelsea in 2021.
Having the ability to score with his strong and weak foot, coupled with his unique skill of passing that glides through the defence, one midfielder who’s often in the best midfielder debate is Kevin De Bruyne. The Manchester City midfielder and Belgian international is one of the few midfielders who have all abilities in one. His passing is top notch, alongside his goal scoring abilities which is one of the best in the world for a midfielder, but there’s one question on people’s minds. Is Kevin De Bruyne really the best midfielder in the world?
Kylian Mbappe was named as the new captain of the French national team after Hugo Lloris’ retirement from international football. Antoine Griezmann will be the vice-captain, despite reports on Tuesday suggesting he was questioning his international future after being snubbed for the captaincy. Mbappe, the top scorer at last year’s World Cup, where France finished as runners-up to Argentina, is set to lead the side during the country’s upcoming Euro 2024 qualifiers. The 24-year-old has scored 36 goals in 66 caps for Les Bleus since making his debut in 2017, putting him sixth on their all-time list of top goalscorers. Having also netted 12 times at just two World Cups, he is only four goals behind former Germany striker Miroslav Klose – who is the top scorer in the tournament’s history.
In one of the most surprising managerial changes in recent times, Julian Nagelsmann was fired as manager of Bayern Munich on Wednesday night. The 35-year-old German, who led Bayern to the Bundesliga title in his first campaign in charge last season, was relieved of his duties as head coach of Bayern Munich after losing to Bayer Leverkusen and going into the international break one point off current league leaders, Borussia Dortmund. They are also in the quarterfinals of the Champions League, after seven clean sheets in eight European matches, silencing top teams like PSG, Inter Milan and Barcelona, en route to the last eight where they will face Manchester City. Despite the fact that Julien had just three league defeats all season and an impressive average of 2.19 points per match during his 19 months as head coach, the fourth best tally for a Bayern manager in Bundesliga history, the club’s board was dissatisfied with Nagelsmann.
Erling Haaland is arguably the best player in the world right now, the Norwegian international has transformed Manchester City from a great team into one that is capable of blowing everyone else away this season. He has pace, power and fantastic movement. He also has a true goal scorer’s instinct, which enables him to get into positions that others cannot see.
Manchester City cruised to the Champions League’s last eight on Tuesday night, after taking out their German opponents in a 7-0 thrashing, but one name that headlined the whole course of the game was of course, Erling Haaland, who put five past the visitors in less than an hour.
For their 11th consecutive time in 11 years, PSG’s attempt at winning the Champions League ended in more misery, leaving the manager, Christopher Galtier, in between a rock and a hard place. With their project, which just started a couple of years ago, failing to deliver, I think I speak for the world when I say they need to liquidate and start all over.
In one of the biggest shocks ever in a January transfer window, Manchester City allowed Portugal’s Joao Cancelo to leave on loan to Bayern Munich. At the beginning of the season, Cancelo was regarded as the best full-back in the world, so the fact he was able to leave midway into the season without a replacement caught the majority of football fans by surprise. However, he hasn’t been having a rosy run at Bayern, which perhaps explains why Pep Guardiola really wasn’t too weary about seeing his once-trusted player go out on loan.
The annual FIFA Football Awards took place in Paris on Monday night, with some of the most high-profile figures in the sport competing for honours in a number of different categories. Lionel Messi was named as the men’s footballer of the year, having led Argentina to their first World Cup triumph since 1986 in December. Barcelona and Spain midfielder Alexia Putellas was also named women’s footballer of the year for 2022. Lionel Scaloni and Sarina Wiegman, meanwhile, won the best men’s and women’s coaches awards of 2022.
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