One hand on the Trophy? Don't let it slip!

Have you ever played Super Mario Kart? If the answer is yes and you were a good player, you'll certainly remember the moment when you were in the final part of the last race of the game. Now imagine that in that precise moment, when you're 100 m far from the finish line, you slip on one of the notorious Super Mario Kart banana peels and you lose not only the race but also the whole trophy. 

What happened on Sunday afternoon at Anfield Road strongly resembles that kind of experience on the iconic video game for Nintendo 64. Liverpool, leader of the table, would have reached the final trophy (the first Premier League in their history) with a victory over title rivals Chelsea, but Steven Gerrard's slip around the end of the first half allowed Demba Ba to score and to secure a crucial victory for Mourinho's eleven.

It's intriguing and tragic at the same time that the slide came from Liverpool's most iconic player, its Super Mario, its captain and the symbol of an unexpected and outstanding Reds' season. Stevie G. indeed, after the significant victory over Manchester City, gathered his mates in the middle of the pitch and boost them up saying: "We don't let this slip now". Yes, "slip", he used exactly that word.

Being the Liverpool captain known as "a silent leader", who is respected in the dressing room, but who prefers not to be too ostentatious on the pitch, his speech became immediately popular. Thus, it's even more a twist of the fate that he was the one who slipped on the crucial match of the year, allowing a defensive Chelsea to score the goal that closed the game.

On Sunday, as well as following passionately the match on the tv, I was also checking the official hashtag of the game on Twitter.
The tweets were clearly divided into two topics: on the one hand, there were all the jokes and the irony statements about Stevie G., and on the other hand there was Jose Mourinho. Would you have ever thought of somebody else? I really don't think so.

There's one scene explaining how Sunday's victory over Liverpool was not only the team's one, but also the Special One's personal win: his celebration after the final whistle. And it was indeed his victory, because it was not only wisely prepared from a tactical point of view, but especially because of the Mourinho's off the pitch handling of it.

During the days preceding the match, the Portuguese manager created a buzz by saying that he was going to ask the permission of the club to place the second team on the pitch, in order to save the players' energy for the CL return leg against Atletico Madrid (which, as we saw yesyerday night, didn't go in the desired way).

If you add this to his strategy to declare Chelsea as a team not ready to win the title, you understand how he succeeded to put so much pressure on Brendan Rodgers' players, who felt obliged to secure a win.

Moreover, from a tactical point of view, Mourinho decided to park in front of Schwarzer's goal the

same bus that some days before denied Atletico Madrid a goal at Vicente Calderon. The strategy worked again, as Chelsea scored twice although Liverpool got 73% of ball possession. It's a significative stat but, as the CL semifinals between Bayern and Real proved, ball possession means nothing in modern football.

Some might say that Mourinho is just a lucky man or that he is the anti-football. You can agree with them, but, at the end of the story, football relies on results and luck helps winners. It's impossible to deny that, thanks to Mourinho and his players, we now have a thrilling end of the season in England, probably one of the most exciting ever.

With 3 laps to go, the race is still extremely open. Manchester City has its fate in his hand, as thanks to the goal difference it would be the first to cross the finish line by winning all the games. Liverpool must win the 3 games as well, and has to hope that it's slipping time for the other two teams (especially for City who'll play Everton this weekend).

But who knows that Chelsea, whose manager has always declared not to be in the title race, could throw the notorious Super Mario Kart bananas' peels and ruin the party to Reds and Citiziens? At the end, It's just a question of slipping...

From "The chosen one" to "The wrong one": David Moyes' premature fall at United.

From Goodison Park to Goodison Park. A journey that was supposed to last for many seasons but that, after less than a year, has already come to an end. The chance of a career that faded right where it started from. This is the result of David Moyes' experience on the bench of the most important club in the world, Manchester United.

Yesterday, Tuesday 22th, the club officially announced his discharge as United manager. Rumours about Moyes being sacked started yesterday, and it's no coincidence that it came from the same source that announced Ferguson's retirement. This indeed is just one of the many connections linking Sir Alex to Moyes, because the legendary United manager one year ago wanted his fellow-scot as his heir on the heaviest bench in the world.

BREAKING: Manchester United announces that David Moyes has left the club. (part 1 of 2) #mufc

— Manchester United (@ManUtd) 22 Aprile 2014

Almost one year ago Fergie was hoping to create with Moyes a new era of success at Old Trafford, but actually things haven't gone in the desired direction. Since last summer, when the former Everton manager had been consequently defined "the chosen one", Moyes has succeeded in 10 months to lose the support of 1) the press, 2) the team, 3) the supporters and eventually 4) the owners, becoming "the sacked one" or better, "the wrong one". This name has been chosen by a group of supporters who, fed up with United's horrible season, decided to fly a "wrong one" banner attached to a plane in the sky during United last matches.

It's emblematic that his fall has come exactly where he had gained acclaim and respect, so much so to convince Ferguson and the Glazers to choose him as the manager of the most famous club in the world. Unfortunately, his homecoming at Goodison Park wasn't the sweetest occasion. In addition to being booed by Everton fans, the defeat against the Toffees has mathematically prevented United from qualyifing for next season's Champions League. This provided the droplet that led the Glazers to the decision of his sacking.

As I wrote in the previous editions of "The K point" on Tuttocalcioestero.it, this failure doesn't rely wholly on Moyes' faults but must be also attributed to the players and to the owners. The former have shown on many occasion to not be deserving of being United players, lacking the hunger, the commitment and the passion typical of Red Devils' glorious history. The latter haven't always given the right support to the manager and they haven't been able in several occasions to back him from a technical point of view.

However, at least the Scot has reached one achievement during his brief career at Old Trafford: the number of negative records. As well as United's worst start to the season ever, this year Old Trafford has turned into a playground for many clubs attaining wins for 30 or more years (e.g. WBA, Newcastle, Everton). The worst part of this record is that each of them has deserved the victory, humiliating the team at his historic fortress that is Old Trafford.

These are clear signals of a season that was born badly and that ended even in a worse way. Not only has the technical management and the play shown on the pitch been poor, but also the off the pitch management has been disastrous. And this was already clear in September.

Let's start from the transfer windows. Moyes spent the whole summer chasing big names such as Fabregas and Thiago, but ended up buying the only Fellaini at the very last minute, overpaying him. During the winter session everyone was expecting a revolution to fix the team, but the only purchase was Mata, who hasn't had any big impact and who was paid the crazy amount of £40m. If you sum this with the almost £30m spent for the Belgian midfielder you get a total a £70 m, which has been clearly wasted.

One of the most influential steps of Moyes' fallen has also been the media management. The Scot has been under pressure for most of the year, but in many circumstances he's just suffered the press attacks without a reaction and with poor after match interviews not in line with the Manchester United brand. The lack of character and of backbone (which has had consequence for the identity of the team on the pitch) is one of the things that got the supporters furious about him, forcing the owners and convincing himself to end prematurely his ambitious journey.

What about the future? For Moyes is very likely to be far from any bench for the next year. His £4.5 m six-year contract with United allows him to have a sabbatical year and to extinguish the fire that is surrounding him. In regard to United, Ryan Giggs has just been appointed as temporary manager (with the help of Paul Scholes), while this summer there will be a big name with whom they'll look to create a winning project and organise the transfer market. The name in pole position is Van Gaal, who will be available at the end of the World Cup with Holland.

For sure, United supporters this time are going to wait a little more before showing any banner, 'cause they are worried to be again "the unlucky ones" or better , "the angry ones".