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Thursday 29 April 2010

Modric is a must buy for Man Utd in the summer!

The jury was out on a little Croatian when he first arrived in England. He is often seen as too small and simply too lightweight to compete in the heart of a midfield in the most physical league in the world, the English Premiership. I must admit, I was one of the jury still unsure whether this highly technical genius had enough physical attributes to sustain a long and successful career in England. I had seen him for the Croatian national team flourish in a free role and thought although he is skilful, could he hack it in the Premiership? A few years on and my opinion has not only changed completely, I now think Luca Modric is a must buy for Manchester United this summer.

Here is the scenario, Manchester Utd have had a good season this year but nothing more. The main objective was to reach the Champions league final again and this time erase the painful memories instilled on them by Barcelona at the peak of their powers. The Champions League games with Bayern Munich and Premiership game with Chelsea showed that even though the old guard such as Scholes and Giggs are still very good squad players and do a job when called upon, it is not reasonable to rely heavily on two middle-aged thirty- year olds to compete with younger, quicker players on the elite stage, especially for the next few seasons. This is where my quest for Modric at United comes in.

Wayne Rooney is in the form of his life and acclimatised himself brilliantly to playing upfront as a lone striker. This season Sir Alex Ferguson has favoured this formation as he knows it gets the best out his best player in Rooney, and often deploys Giggs or Scholes within the three-man central midfield. Lately this 4-3-3 formation or 4-5-1 (when playing away) has been transformed into more of a 4-2-3-1 with an attacking midfielder being used just playing off Rooney. Luca Modric plays this role for Croatia with aplomb and flourishes in a withdrawn role from the strikers, being the puppet master for attacks and a tollbooth for offensive strategies conjured up by his teams. He is a classy dribbler and has deceptive speed with bags of creativity and flair. His movement is dazzling at times and would be on full show in this role at United. He is constantly on the move in this role which is a nightmare for opposing defensive midfielders and defenders to pick up, dropping off and turning up in clever positions. His passing is never really talked about but his passing range is very good and crisp. He has also showed this year more than ever that he can play in the heat of the battle in an orthodox center midfield role and come out better and stronger and help Spurs to important points along the way. His versatility could also be vital for a team like United that play a lot of games per year and rely heavily on not just assured first teamers, but fringe and squad players. He can play on the wing as well as this gives United something more cultured and different on the flanks from the strong, fast usually hustle and bustle from messers Valencia and Nani.

Luca Modric is a quality footballer who deserves his place amongst the elite in the world for the position he takes up on a football pitch and the style of player he is. Simply he would be garnering a lot more attention if he played for a bigger team than Tottenham. That is not putting down Spurs in the slightest, but until they at least take up a place in the Champions League, will constantly be regarded as the ‘Nearly men’ of English football. If Modric played for Barcelona, people would be waxing lyrical about a footballer, simply divine in how he carries himself on a pitch and portrays a vision of how the beautiful game should be played. He would also be cheap in relation to bidding for players of similar abilty at the elite clubs. These clubs command astronomical prices for players who cannot repay massive fees by turning out unbelievably frequent top-notch performances and represent bad value for money and Modric would make sense for United. He is also accustomed to the English game and type of play and would fit into United almost straight away.

To summarise Luca Modric is exactly the type of player needed at United to bring them back to the top of the world’s elite and could be a new number 7 United have been craving since Cristiano Ronaldo left.

Jose Mourinho – 2010, put up or shut up time.

Now I am not disputing Jose Mourinho is not a great manager and in the higher echelon of football managers across Europe and indeed the world. Heck by the end of his managerial tenure at various clubs, he might be called the greatest manager ever. Here is my debating point. What has he done to separate himself from the best managers since 2005?

Mourinho reached the elite level in emphatic style with back to back European trophies in 2003 and 2004 with Porto, winning both the UEFA Cup and the Champions League with relatively unfashionable Porto. But since then has he really kicked on as a manager? Roman Abramovich became tired of losing and being unsuccessful after just one season of his Chelsea revolution and appointed the hottest commodity in the management merry-go-round. Mourinho literally fell into his millions and was given dispensation to pull the trigger on many big money signings. 1st year at Chelsea was a successful one, bringing home the much needed 1st Premiership title for over 50 years for Chelsea. Also Mourinho bagged a League Cup win but that was not really significant, although a trophy is a trophy. But since then it has gone a bit south for Mourinho. One more solitary league trophy during his tenure at Chelsea and a couple of FA Cup and League up wins could not satisfy or feed both Roman’s ego or his quest to spend even more money on an already expensive squad. Things ended bitterly for Jose early on in his 4th season, getting the boot from Roman over reported disagreements over player selection. If you analyse his stint at Chelsea, it really did peak in the 1st season and did not progress throughout the three years Jose was there.

At Inter he fell into a job coaching a team that had dominated the domestic scene for a few years and a team that was improving as their rivals were faltering and in transition modes. He instantly won the Italian league title, to add to his growing collection of European domestic league wins under his belt. Similar to his arrival at Chelsea, he was brought to Inter to bring home European glory to a perennial underachiever on the European stage. 1st year in Europe ended in failure, succumbing to Manchester United in the last 16 round in relatively convincing fashion.

However this year, although locked in a tight battle with a rejuvenated AS Roma team for league honours, Mourinho is fighting on all three fronts, including Europe in hope of lavishing a distinct treble on Massimo Moratti and Inter. But it is the title assault on Europe that has everyone at Inter dreaming. After all they achieved domestic domination with Roberto Mancini and have arguably been spoilt in that case with the league successes. It is the hunger for the Champions League that makes Inter do rash decisions regarding issues such as managers. If Mourinho had not produced in Europe this year, people would be raising eyebrows on his credentials as ‘The Special One’ and indeed wondering if he has improved this Inter team from the days of Roberto Mancini. He has a chance to elevate himself from almost any other Inter Milan manager in history, unless your name is Helenio Herrera, the winning manager from Inter’s last success in the European Cup. The semi final games with Barcelona showed what a tactician Jose is and how he differentiates from other managers and the skills that set him apart. He took Lionel Messi out of both games, (Messi has not scored in seven games against Mourinho) and stifled Barca’s passing attack usually lead by Xavi. Especially in the 1st leg, he knew how to hurt Barca’s defence and how to attack them in moderation without sacrificing too much defensively. Combined with a bit of luck and tactical genius, Inter progressed to the final in Madrid in May. Win the Champions League this year and he will etch his name in elite manager folklore and up with managers such as Sir Alex ferguson, which at Mourinho’s young age is unprecedented. They will go into the final against a robust Bayern Munich team as clear favourites, especially with the absence of Frank Ribery. Inter on the verge of making history in Italy, with Mourinho at the center of it all. Would he have it any other way.

2010 is certainly a year of put up or shut up for Jose Mourinho.