Sir Alex Ferguson was famous for his man management. He knew when his softer side could come out to inspire the loyalty in his players and his fiery side when his players were not meeting his level of expectation. That fiery side would come to be known as the hairdryer treatment. In really any match, regardless of the scoreline, the halftime talk from a manager is very important. During the golden years of Manchester United’s Premier League dominance, Sir Alex’s halftime talks were notorious.

The holiday period is a crazy time for the Premier League. Many of Europe’s top leagues take a break until the new year, but England continues its fixture list with a plethora of matches. The Christmas period is considered one of the toughest periods of the season, as the calendar for England’s top clubs is packed to the brim.

If I could offer Mauricio Pochettino one piece of advice with regards to the Manchester United and Real Madrid rumors, it would be this:

Liverpool’s ceaseless hammering of Manchester United finally yielded a breakthrough during a seven-minute second half spell that saw Xherdan Shaqiri score a brace of heavily deflected goals, a just reward for outshooting their opponent 36-6 on the way to a 3-1 win. 

In the end, it was a humiliating footballing lesson for Jose Mourinho’s side, and the only moment of respite for United was a terrible blunder from Alisson that allowed the Red Devils to stay level at 1-1 for 40 totally undeserved minutes.

The Unai Emery era at Arsenal started off with questions about how his side would differ from Arsene Wenger's and two straight losses to Manchester City and Chelsea. In August there were questions all around the squad.