Second Take

  Who are your top ten all-time SA men’s footballers? Here’s mine.   1.       Ace Ntsoelengoe 2.       Jomo Sono 3.       Benni McCarthy 4.       Doctor Khumalo 5.       Lucas Radebe 6.       Banks Setlhodi 7.       Patson Banda 8.       Nelson Dladla 9.       John Moshoeu 10.    Neil Tovey/Andre Arendse 

  The UCL QF draw has come and gone. There will be elation and trepidation around the world, some of it misplaced. Football, like most sports, can be very unpredictable. So-called underdogs can become giant-killers, while so-called big dogs can exit with a whimper.   The form book places Bayern München, Manchester City, Borussia Dortmund and PSG as favourites to progress to the semis. The resurgent Chelsea is in with a good chance, and so are giant-killers Porto. Liverpool has had a very poor season domestically, however it has done very well in Europe, so odds are probably even that it might scrape through. Similarly with Real Madrid.   Football, however, doesn’t care about form. It is what happens on the day that matters. An underdog can come with fantastic tactics, or their players could play like lions, while the favourites surrender. We wait with eager anticipation!

Moyes: David Moyes was doing well at Everton, and then he got greedy or overestimated his abilities and wanted to fill the big shoes of Sir Alex Ferguson at Manchester United. The move proved to be a big disaster for both parties, and Moyes was sacked and his managerial career destroyed. Mourinho: Jose Mourinho had had two successful stints at Chelsea and a not so successful stint at Real Madrid. He had come to Chelsea after doing very well at Porto. Then he joined Manchester United as Manager. The move proved to be a clash of cultures and was disastrous for both parties. After a couple of seasons, Mourinho was let go, and he seemed to be destined for the scrapheap as none of the big teams in any of the European leagues seemed interested in him and he had become a TV pundit. That is, until Tottenham sacked their Manager and, completely from left-field, hired him last week. Neville: Gary Neville seemed to be doing okay as England Assistant Manager. T...

Having had plenty of time, the Manager of Manchester United, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, has proven to make really amateur mistakes. Taking a well experienced United side that looked somewhat average at points to making teams have absolutely no respect for the Red Devils. His latest decision to field a team that barely had an average age of 23 proved to be the last straw for fans, well for myself. Football at the very top is not meant to be about taking chances and exposing yourself and lack of mental discipline. Just swallow your pride and field United's best. The amount of talent either on the bench or not even making first team appearances makes no sense; it means players that are being paid huge salaries just to become part of United's furniture! Whether the Manager has no control over these players or the players don't believe in him, is truly unclear, but what is clear is that United need a change. A change in management and a change in attitude to their approach to wha...

The mind boggles! What possessed the Tottenham bosses to sack Pochettino in favour of bringing in Jose Mourinho? Mourinho is only likely to contribute to upheaval in the dressing room, rather than being a solution. Judging by his time at Manchester United, things don't bode well for Spurs. Unless upheaval is precisely what the bosses want? Perhaps they feel a certain stupor had overcome the players and they want someone to come and shake things up. Mourinho always has expectations of a big budget. Are the Spurs bosses prepared to seriously invade the January transfer market? Interestingly, in 2015 Mourinho claimed to have rejected a move to Tottenham because of his love for Chelsea fans. What message is he sending to United fans by accepting this job? Let's brace ourselves for Tottenham double-deckers, starting with the City match!

The sacking of Pochettino is seismic! He was an institution at Tottenham, and it was unthinkable that he would no longer be there on the touchline, exhorting the likes of Harry Kane to perform. When Poch arrived at Spurs, it was a mediocre team, and he built it into a powerhouse. In a way, what has happened to him compares to what happened to Claudio Ranieri the year after he won the Premier League. Loyalty to managers seems to go so far. But, let’s be honest, in recent times Poch underperformed at Spurs. He had a team that, like Manchester City, is brimming with talent. Watching Dele Alli, Kane and Heung-Min Son in full flight is poetry in motion, but unlike Pep Guardiola, Poch couldn’t convert this into trophies. One of his errors was failing to continually refresh the team with new talent. When other top six teams went to market, he simply kept faith with his trusted players, and this may have been his undoing. However, make no mistake, Poch is very talented, argua...