latest articles by Søren Frank
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/ 3616 days agoWhat Man United’s starting 11 should look like for 2016/17 season
The talk of the town these days in Manchester, at least in one half of the city, is about the next manager at Old Trafford. Will Van Gaal remain in the hot seat, or have Manchester United already agreed a deal with José Mourinho? Or, perhaps less likely, will they move for a third name — […]
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/ 3627 days agoMan Utd at a crossroads to decide between Mourinho & Van Gaal
The clouds looming above Old Trafford these days seem undecided. They just can’t make up their minds if they should open the floodgates, or if they should evaporate and let the sun start shining again. Each time an opening into the paradise of Top 4 can be felt, Louis van Gaal’s Manchester United blow their […]
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/ 3796 days agoManchester United's best starting XI of all time
Out of all of the clubs in the Premier League, Manchester United is the one that has won the most silverware and, therefore, poses the biggest challenge in picking a best starting XI of all time from its plentiful list of world-class footballers. While there'll be debate about who has been left out of this […]
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/ 3872 days agoLouis Van Gaal’s failure to buy British is a problem for Manchester United
If one takes a closer look at the list of players bought by Louis van Gaal during his time as manager at Old Trafford (see below), one thing must start to worry a lot of Manchester United supporters, especially the British ones, but perhaps also those of us who were born before soccer became a […]
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/ 3893 days agoManchester United's reliance on youth will pay more dividends than spending lavishly now
During the summer of 1995, Sir Alex Ferguson showed his ruthless streak in the most brutal and to many fans and experts alike also surprising way when he got rid of three of his most important players from the previous season — Mark Hughes, the club icon educated in the club’s own academy, Paul Ince, […]
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/ 3898 days agoDi Maria never lived up to Manchester United no.7 status
Some numbers in soccer are iconic at certain clubs. Gradually, and often over the course of several decades, these numbers have grown in significance. Admittedly, there may be a few lacunae or outright failures disturbing the otherwise smooth rise to prominence, but they are never enough to question the iconicity of the specific number in […]
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/ 3901 days agoAnder Herrera is the biggest loser In Man United’s new 4-3-3
The arrivals of Bastian Schweinsteiger and Morgan Schneiderlin plus Louis van Gaal’s thinly disguised admiration for Michael Carrick seem to have resulted in a slight, but nevertheless significant tweaking of the Dutch Iron Tulip’s favored 4-3-3 formation. Another factor behind the tweak, somewhat more surprising than the abovementioned arrivals, is Memphis Depay, the Dutch winger […]
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/ 3921 days agoBastian Schweinsteiger is created in Louis van Gaal’s image
My guess is that most Manchester United fans are celebrating these days. Why? Because Bastian Schweinsteiger has become a Manchester United player. He thus contributes strongly to Louis van Gaal’s rebuilding of the team, a rebuilding most fans probably had hoped was more underway than the end of last season showed it to be. In spite […]
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/ 4033 days agoVan Gaal’s philosophy is working at Man United
Louis van Gaal, on his appointment as manager of Manchester United, claimed that the system – that is, the formation or what he himself often refers to as “shape” – is basically unimportant. What matters, Van Gaal said, was the philosophy. This, I would argue, is a load of rubbish – and deep down the […]
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/ 4212 days agoThe Differences Between Louis van Gaal And Sir Alex Ferguson
Surely, Louis van Gaal and Alex Ferguson have many qualities in common. But their approach to soccer is also fundamentally different. The most obvious similarity is that they are both proven winners. The Dutch began his managerial career at Ajax in Amsterdam, the country’s most prestigious and traditional club, and he continued his learning curve […]
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/ 4218 days ago4 Things Needed Before We Can Say Manchester United Are Back On Track
To Manchester United’s many fans, it must have been a long-awaited pleasure to watch their team with its many recently imported “Gaalacticos” demolish Queens Park Rangers at Old Trafford after a poor start to the season and after a truly miserable last season. The signs were there in their 4:0 win, the signs of future […]
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/ 4235 days agoDaniel Agger Is The Last Of A Dying Breed
After eight-and-a-half injury-plagued, yet successful years at Anfield, Liverpool’s Danish vice captain Daniel Agger was allowed to leave this summer after finding himself dropping further down the pecking order. However, Agger was not only allowed to leave, he was allowed to leave for practically nothing. The main reason for this was that it was his […]
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/ 4270 days agoThe End of the Winger and the Rise of the 3-5-2
The evolution of soccer is not linear. Residues from the past sometimes rise again despite being deemed outmoded and elements never to be thought of as vanishing suddenly begin to fade. The evolution of soccer happens in waves. During the last two decades – in some countries even longer – the center of creativity on […]
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/ 4281 days agoNumber 7: The evolution of soccer’s mythical & lucky shirt number
What do Billy Meredith, Stanley Matthews, Raymond Kopa, Manolo Garrincha, George Best, Allan Simonsen, Bryan Robson, Eric Cantona, Luis Figo, Raúl González, Andrei Shevchenko, David Villa and Cristiano Ronaldo have in common? Besides all of them being legends of soccer, they have all played a crucial role in making number 7 a mythological shirt number […]
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/ 4286 days agoWhy Germany Won the 2014 World Cup
Ten years. That’s how long the German team, their head coach, and the entire backroom staff have worked – worked hard and determined, that is – to reach the ultimate goal: World Champions. We have seen it before. In the late 1990s France began to dominate the European and World scenes. Then Spain took over. […]