Zlatan Will Be A Bench Player For United

Zlatan Ibrahimovic has finally re-signed for Manchester United but he won’t be replacing Romelu Lukaku in the starting line-up.

Sub Zlatan
He’ll have to get fit first but when he does, Ibrahimovic gives United a great option as a substitute. If they’re still in the Champions League at the turn of the year which I fully expect, then he’ll be a great addition to the squad.

The only place in the front three up for grabs at United is the position on the right hand side. Juan Mata brings a bit of guile to the team and he’s a quality footballer but I would love to see United get Martial into that starting 11 alongside Rashford and Lukaku with Zlatan the quality option from the bench.

Euro Woes
Along with Man City and Chelsea, United will have the best chance of the English sides in the Champions League but I don’t think any English teams will be winning it this season.

The Premier League has become so big with so many top coaches that I think it’s almost as big an accomplishment to win that. With Mourinho, Guardiola, Klopp, Pochettino and Conte all vying for the title there’s huge competition in the Premier League and it makes it more difficult in Europe.

The way the leagues are structured abroad gives the European sides an advantage with teams constantly getting an extra day’s rest but…

you’ll never see that in England and it goes against them.

To be fair the Premier League can’t be seen to be giving an advantage to lesser sides who would also benefit from extra rest days if their fixtures against top sides were rearranged, so it would cause problems. I do think it holds English teams back in Europe though.

Beating The Drop
I was at Huddersfield’s game against Newcastle last weekend and they’ve made a magnificent start to the campaign with two victories.

You only have to look at Hull last season who won their opening two games and ended up going down to know not to get carried away. It’ll still be a struggle for them over the course of the season and their priority without a doubt is to finish outside of the bottom three.

Rice Rice Baby!
Another eye-catching start in the Premier League has been made by Declan Rice, a young Irish hopeful who came on at Old Trafford on the first weekend for West Ham.

He looked excellent when he came on and short of a call-up, Martin O’Neill has had him training with the Rep. of Ireland squad.

He showed great defensive nous playing as a holding midfielder.

He has great technical ability and showed the confidence to take control of the game and I was really impressed with him.

It was no surprise to see Slaven Bilic give him his first start the next week down at Southampton and he looks set to challenge for a place in the starting 11.

I’m hopeful Martin O’Neill will give him his chance at international level as we haven’t had many players in recent years come through the academy system in England to play in the Premier League.

It’s a little bit early to call him up now especially with so much at stake over the two upcoming qualifiers against Georgia and Serbia, but he moved seamlessly into the West Ham team at Old Trafford and he’s full of confidence, so it’ll be no problem to him when he eventually gets the call.

Come On Conor
I’ve always been a big fight fan so I can’t wait for Mayweather v McGregor this weekend. As an Irishman I’m desperate for McGregor to do the business but I can’t see how he can beat him.

Mayweather has been a superstar in the ring for years and I think he’ll be a comfortable winner, but I’m going for Conor to take him the distance. It’ll be an intriguing watch regardless.