Ras' Football World

Ole Gunnar Solksjaer will always be a Manchester United legend even if he manages to relegate United as a manager. He is a legend not only for the Champions League-winning goal in 1999 but also for his contribution to the success of the club in his years there. He recently signed a contract extension as a Manchester United manager and some are less than pleased while others are calling for him to be backed and supported. As a manager, I feel he is a work in progress or the hard truth is that he is just not good enough to ensure that we return to being a club that won big trophies and at the very least, challenged for them regularly. The following are the areas that I feel he needs to improve on. Myth on Attacking Play Solksjaer deserves credit for ensuring that there is a good atmosphere at the club and among players. But it is a myth that he is setting the team up to play attacking football or has got the team to play the “United Way”. Last season, we had seven 0-0 draws and that is...

 Before Euro 2020 started, I left it to the players to prove themselves on the pitch. The reasons of it you can read it here, https://rasfootballworld.blogspot.com/2021/06/time-for-italy-to-prove-themselves.html . The team has proven themselves and how. The Complete Team Italy showed itself to be a complete team. They dominated and swept aside Turkey and Switzerland in the first two games. They managed the game well in the third game against Wales with qualification secured, against Austria in the 2 nd Round, they faced a stern and awkward test by a team that played direct and physically pressed hard. We found an answer to that through the quality we had on the bench. In the quarter-final, we played against the best-ranked team in the world, Belgium and we dominated them for most parts of it. To close out the game, we relied on our traditional defensive organisation, solidity and resilience. We were closed out and unable to play our usual game by the Spanish in the semi-final an...

 Italy are Champions of Europe for the first time since 1968, a 53 year-long wait. Our unbeaten run stretched to 34 matches and proved to be fruitful as we won something to show for it. I have seen Italy lose two European Championships finals, heartbreakingly at Euro 2000 and humiliated at Euro 2012 so this victory goes some way to easing the pain felt mainly for Euro 2000. I am elated, on a high and have a lot to say but first, let’s look back at the match in Part 1. The Final Italy was caught out cold by England’s change in formation just as they were by the change of Spanish tactics in the semi-final. England scored from their first attack and it was a well-constructed move that started with Harry Kane. Giovanni Di Lorenzo was caught napping at the back post and was not covered by Federico Chiesa. England threatened to score more through the same source that provided the assist, Kieran Trippier on the right flank. Their goalscorer, Luke Shaw too carried a threat on the opposit...

Dear Italy, I have been a fan of your national team since 1991 (or it could be the later part of 1990). I am writing this letter to you to talk to you ahead of the Euro 2020 final against England at Wembley tomorrow or Monday morning based on where I am staying. In my history as a fan, I have seen you get to two European Championships finals. The first one was in the year 2000 and we were just minutes away from celebrating an unlikely triumph when it was snatched out of our hands and then tragically pierced through our hearts in extra time. I still look at that final with regrets because if only Alessandro Del Piero had put away one of the two chances he had, that goal in the final minutes wouldn’t have mattered. That’s fate and luck. In 2012, we were royally embarrassed by a far superior team that was at the peak of their powers that day while we were completely out of it. In such cases, you do feel ashamed and have the urge of covering your head in the sand but you got to show ...