MARC POZZO
Arsenal inflicted Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s first domestic defeat as Manchester United caretaker manager, to leapfrog their opponents into the Premier League’s top four with a vital 2-0 victory at the Emirates on Sunday. Granit Xhaka’s early strike and Pierre Emerick-Aubameyang’s penalty 21 minutes from time moved the Gunners into fourth, two points above United in fifth. Unai Emery’s men are now close to within just a point of third-placed Tottenham and now hold the upper hand in the race for Champions League qualification. Arsenal do not face any of the top six in their remaining eight league games, while United host title-chasing Manchester City and Chelsea in the coming weeks on top of their Champions League and FA Cup commitments.
European trips to France for both sides in midweek produced vastly contrasting results as United shocked free-spending Paris Saint-Germain 3-1 to progress to the quarter-finals of the Champions League.
The Gunners on the other hand went down 3-1 to Rennes to give themselves a mountain to climb in Thursday’s second leg to reach the last eight of the Europa League.
Solskjaer’s time at United as a player and over the past three months has been littered with late drama. On Sunday, he suffered his first taste of defeat. However, there was no turnaround this time to leave the Norwegian with plenty of work to do just to qualify for next season’s Champions League. The rumours circulating on social media and sports sites is that the Norwegian will get the job on a full time basis during the upcoming international break. According to the reports there is no other candidate, and there should not be in my opinion. He has done wonders, with United – and what makes me laugh – he did it with the same players Jose had.
Just shows you when the manager does not have the buy in of the players , it just ends in tears. Ole Gunner Solskjaer as Man United permanent manager is fully supported by me a real non United fan.
Now I never saw this coming! Zidane is back at Real Madrid and he has signed until 2022. Very interesting indeed. He has promised $300m to revamp a team that has run its course. Bale and Modric will be sold and Ramos should be too! Could this mean Hazard will make the switch in the summer in a massive deal while Eriksen from Spurs has also been mooted as target for Real? Summer transfers will be interesting.
On a sad note this week, yet another Boeing 737 Max fell out the sky tragically killing all 157 passengers and crew on board . I was sitting watching the news on Sunday morning when the breaking news came through. I feel for those that lost lives and their extended families and I also sympathize with Ethiopian Airlines, who are an up and coming airline, really passionate about their business model and property so much that they have grown into one of the leading world airlines. This is so as other African airlines are languishing in debt up to their ears. This airline has done a good job to date.
These are worrying hours for Boeing Co. The second crash of a 737 Max jet in five months raises inevitable questions about the safety of the US manufacturer’s flagship single-aisle aircraft, even though it’s still not known what caused the latest disaster.
The company must respond with total transparency and hope there was nothing it could have done to have avoided Sunday’s crash in Ethiopia.
We don’t know whether what happened to the Ethiopian Airlines plane was the same thing that brought down a Lion Air jet in October and a rush to judgment helps nobody, including the people who have lost their lives and their loved ones.
Superficially, there are similarities: Both jets were almost brand new, both experienced difficulties shortly after takeoff and asked to return to the airport. But the details are absolutely crucial here.
In the wake of the Lion Air crash in Indonesia, it emerged that the 737 Max contains software that forces the plane’s nose down in certain circumstances to prevent it stalling. Some pilots weren’t aware of the safety system and felt they should have been told. I did some reading up and the
New York Times reported that the manufacturer wanted to keep additional pilot training to a minimum (the 737 Max competes with Airbus SE’s 320neo). Boeing insisted, however, that all pilots know how to override the plane’s automated systems. In view of the Lion Air disaster, it would be surprising if the Ethiopian Airlines pilot was unaware of this procedure.
So it’s quite possible the causes of these two crashes are unrelated. Time will tell I guess . But it does not bring back those that perished .
So Zimbabwe Cricket sent out a press release to confirm Afghanistan’s five one day matches against the Chevrons has been cancelled due to the high costs of broadcasting the games live back to Afghanistan. This is sad on two fronts. Afghanistan need the practice ahead of the world cup in a few months ,while for Zimbabwe, it’s just less cricket we will be playing in the year, especially as we will not be present in England when we should be there ahead of Afghanistan. If ZC had sorted their house a long time ago it would be different story . That said and done, we did not qualify, and the horse has bolted but what is a cause for concern, is the exposure we continue to lose out on.
