Premier league 2018/19 season unfolds

PREMIER LEAGUE BACK ON OUR SCREENS

the world cup has come and gone transfer window opened and closed wheelings and dealings done.

buy out clauses practiced and sealed new deals signed and agreed upon, the wait finally comes to an end the 2018/19 English premier first fixutre will be out tonight when Jose Mourinoh's red devils takes on Foxes of Leicester at 21:00 South African time.

they were Major concerns as 'the special one' failed to reinforce his squad despite relentless push of the 55 year old Portuguese man he failed on landing Willian from chelsea, Alderweireld , Mina , Harry Maguire, Jerome Boateng and Diego Godin from Atletico, despite all this Mourinoh is positive that he will manage with all the current squad he has. on the other side Leicester will begin the life without their Star Riyaad Mahrez who joined tonight fixure opponent cross town rivals Manchester city at both clubs transfer records.

both teams will looking to dawn upon new adventure as this installment promises to be the most dramatic as usual, irrespective of disappointing transfer window both teams have a pool of of amazing talent to electrify passionate lovers of the premier league get ready it is finally here.

Wenger's 'love story' won't have fairytale ending

Wenger's 'love story' won't have fairytale ending

Wenger said he wanted to finish his "love story with Arsenal well" before the second leg but he has been denied the fairytale ending he so craved after losing his 250th European game in charge of Arsenal.

With the score 1-1 from the first leg, former Chelsea striker Diego Costa returned to the Atletico side to haunt the Gunners again and it was his composed chip on the brink of half-time which ended their European hopes. Antoine Griezmann slipped the crucial pass through to Costa after coming close with a powerful strike from a tight angle.

Arsenal were crestfallen going into the break but almost responded within minutes of the restart when Aaron Ramsey found himself through on goal. His touch let him down and the chance was wasted - as were a number of opportunities for the visitors throughout the second half. A bad night was made worse for Arsenal when captain Laurent Koscielny was carried off with an Achilles injury, which may rule the Frenchman out of this summer's World Cup.

Two-time champions Atletico will now face Marseille in their third Europa League final in eight years in Lyon on 16 May. Defeat for Arsenal means they will miss out on Champions League football for the second straight season. Wenger, who will leave the Gunners at the end of the season after 22 years in charge, has never won a European trophy with the club.

There was a sense of inevitability when Costa's chipped effort hit the back of the net.The Spaniard caused the Gunners many problems during his time at Chelsea - most notably in September 2015 when he was involved in the sending off of two Arsenal players.  He was a threat from the off in Madrid, shrugging off a weak challenge from Nacho Monreal to create an opening which he should have buried.

Costa lacked composure in his first attempt, lashing the ball over the bar, but produced the goods later in the half. His link-up play with Griezmann was a threat throughout and Arsenal were susceptible on the counter-attack as they pushed for a goal in the second half. Costa came close to turning provider for his strike partner but Calum Chambers was on hand to block Griezmann's effort.

He was typically feisty too - getting into a spat with Shkodran Mustafi and receiving a yellow card for it. But Arsenal were ultimately made to suffer for their missed chances and conceding a late away goal in the first leg, having played against 10 men for 80 minutes at the Emirates and only scoring once from 28 shots in a game they totally dominated.

In Madrid, Alexandre Lacazette hesitated when he was played in by Aaron Ramsey in the first half and Monreal's poor control let him down shortly afterwards.Granit Xhaka's long-range effort was palmed away by Jan Oblak and Henrikh Mkhitaryan's volley skimmed the top netting. Diego Godin blocked everything that came his way, as Mesut Ozil, Ramsey and Hector Bellerin failed to find a breakthrough from wide positions.

information taken from the BBC sports page.

Real Madrid setting standards on the UEFA champions league

Road to Kiev

Los blanchos proved one more time why they have won the champions league twelve times previously Real came back from Munich with the advantage of 1-2 leading the German giants by two away goals , football is about creating chances and scoring those chances, Bayern Munich in all combined legs of the tie created an overall of 25 goal scoring chances but only managed to convert three of those Los blanchos on the other hand created only 8 chances but managed to convert 4 of meaning they advance to the European final for the record 15 times and looking set to win their third tittle in a row the first team to defend the tittle for the second time in its history , along its way of booking their spot in Kiev they were surrounded by a lot criticism one being that the referees are put under pressure by Real players when they are at the Santiago Bernabeu however they keep on on defying the odds and proving why they break records in the transfer market , the last time Real Madrid lost in European cup final was against Liverpool in 1981 .

SAFA suspends Shakes Mashaba

South African Football Association (SAFA) have suspended national coach, Shakes Mashaba, SAFA, announced that Shakwes Mashaba would not be travelling with the players to Mozambique as he had been suspended for what  has been called a "regrettable incident". Owen Da Gama, assistant coach, is serving a touch line ban but he will take charge of the team when they face Mozambique in an international friendly on Tuesday.

According to a timesLive report, Shakes Mashaba accused SAFA president, Danny Jordaan of not giving him enough support over the last few months.
\Jordaan and SAFA CEO, Dennis Mumble were left astonished and embraced of disrespect and promptlysuspended Mashaba.
 Mumble sent a statement to the SAFA executive committee members, saying that he had to initiate disciplinary steps against Mashaba after the "unpleasant event" Mumble said in the statement



"Following unpleasant events after the match of the mens' senior national team (Bafana Bafana) at Peter Mokaba stadium on Sartuday, I had to meet with head coach, Ephraim Mashaba to commence disciplinary steps against him" Mumble said in the statement.
"As the results of yersteday's events, I was forced to place the head coach on suspension with immediate effect pending a full disciplinary hearing.

What is wrong with Manchester United?

For the past three years, it looks like the theatre of dreams has been haunted.  Ever since the departure of Sir Alex Ferguson, Manchester United have become a shadow of their former selves.

In the three seasons after Sir Alex's departure, the Red Devils have finished 7th, 4th and 5th respectively on the Premier League log. Currently, they are 6th on the log with 18 points after 11 games. That is their worst start under the post Sir Alex era. 

So what do the Red Devils lack this season? On paper, they have the strongest squad in the Premier League, maybe in the world. In Jose Mourinho, they have one of the greatest managers of all time. Depth is one of their key strengths. 

David de Gea has proved himself to be a worthy successor of Edwin Van der Sar ever since he joined in 2011. They have solid centre-backs like Chris Smalling, Phil Jones and new signing Eric Bailly. In Matteo Darmian and Luke Shaw, they have two reliable full-backs. 

Their midfield is their strongest department, with Marouane Fellaini, Michael Carrick, Morgan Scheinderlin and Bastian Schweinstieger (yes, him) all being worthy candidates for the defensive midfield spot while record signing Paul Pogba, Ander Herrera, Juan Mata and Henrikh Mkhitaryan are all great play-makers in their own right. The striking department now boasts of new signed Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Wayne Rooney, Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial. 

This season, De Gea has been the only consistent performer. His defence has let him down a couple of times, most notably in their 4-0 loss to rivals Chelsea. Daley Blind looks unnatural in defence, Smalling hasn't picked up last season's form and Antonio Valencia's performances at right-back have been forgettable. 

Mourinho's biggest dilemma is his midfield, whereas there is a case of too many options. Fellaini has been disappointing in his role and has started ahead of Scheinderlin and Schweinstieger, who have yet to be given a chance to prove themselves. Pogba has shown glimpses of brilliance at times, but has yer to step up as Man Utd's playmaker. Mhkitaryan and Memphis Depay have fallen out of favour with Mourinho, who prefers Juan Mata and Jesse Lingard on the wings. Club captain Rooney has also been dropped a few times due to a string of dull performances, finding himself on the bench or dropped altogether for big games with Liverpool and Chelsea. 

Club legend Paul Scholes has called the club's form in the past three years "depressing". He believes the team lacks pace going forward, due to Mourinho prefering the attacking trio of Rooney, Mata and Ibrahimovic. Mourinho hasn't had a stable starting line-up this season, often rotating the squad especially in midfield. Unlike Chelsea, Liverpool, Arsenal and Manchester City, who have  near constant line-ups, Mourinho has never used the same line-up for two consecutive games and has yet to find that winning starting eleven.

It is still early in the season, but Mourinho's start has been worse than Moyes' and Van Gaal's, and he still has 27 games to go to make Manchester United great again.

Bafana Bafana ready for Sadio Mane

The South African Football Association have confirmed that Bafana Bafana arrived in Polokwane on Monday for their clash against African giants, Senegal.
" Bafana Bafana arrived in Polokwane on Monday to start preparations for the upcoming crucial world cup qualifier against Senegal on Sartuday, 12 November 2016 at Peter Mokaba stadium in Polokwane," SAFA stated.

Many South African football fans are afraid of Liverpool and African star, Sadio Mane, although they still believe that they can get three points against African Giants. The 24 year old, is Liverpool hot property this season with six goals in eleven games and with the number of assists.


Sadio Mane, has played a number of games this season with Liverpool, proving to be the teams crucial member in their attack with his physique, pace, dribbling, technique and ability to score goals consistently. The African star is one of the contenders already for Barclays Premier League's player of the season judging on his current perfomances, although it wont be an easy journey for him with the likes of Mesut Ozil, Alexis Sanchez, Kevin De Bruyne, Edine Hazard, Adam Lallana and Rahim Sterling in the forms of their lives.

Bafana Bafana will kiss their dream goodbye to qualify for the 2018 world cup in Russia if they loose against Senegal and having already played one game against Burkina Faso, securing a point, they just need three points  to keep their existence in the group stages and boost their chances of qualifying.

Senegal are already on three points after beating Mozambique and they take this game very serious as they will still lead the group with 6 points if they win against South Africa on Saturday.

Sundowns Advances to Caf Champions league final

Mamelodi Sundowns have advanced to the Caf champions league final 2016, after beating Zesco united, 2-0 in their second leg semi finals clash on the 24th of September 2016, two days before my birthday which was on the 26th of September 2016. Many South African football lovers, didn't give the Cloorkop based outfit a chance after they were beaten 2-1 in their first leg Caf champions league semi final on the 17th of September 2016, Thanks to their star strike, Khama Billiat, for scoring a away crucial goal, that lifted their hopes for the second leg clash, that they won 2 - 0, thanks to Antoney Laffor and Percey tau goals that helped the Tshwane baed outfit reach the finals after a long period of time.

Mamelodi Sundowns will now face Egyptian giants, Zamalek, for their double leg final. They will travel to Egypt for their first leg clash on the 14th of October 2016, Friday, then they will play their second leg final match on the 21th of October 2016, Friday. Many believe that Mamelodi Sundowns can beat Zamalek again in the finals, after they had already beaten the Egyptian giants twice during the group stages of the tournament. The Tshwane based outfit is the best team in South Africa currently, but they are under pressure to perform, they have managed to reach two finals in  one week after beating Chippa United 1-0 in their second leg MTN semi final and Zesco United 2 -1 in their Caf champions league Semi final.

Mamelodi Sundowns came first on their group stages of the tournament with 9 points, Zamalek came second in the same group with Mamelodi Sundowns with 6 points. This is good news to Mamelodi Sundowns fans and South Africa as a whole, because this means that, the Tshwane based outfit, will play their Second leg final match at home but will travel for the first leg clash. Pitso Mosimane has turned Mamelodi Sundowns, into one of the big teams, both domestically and in African competitions, although Zamalek, are the most consistent club in African competitions after winning this competition several times together with their rivals Al Ahly.