August has not even got into double digits and the Premier League season is upon us once again. The opening fixture is a tasty looking Manchester United v Tottenham Hotspur, as we get to see the crazy way Louis Van Gaal has decided to implement his now £230m squad and what daft position he’ll have Wayne Rooney playing in for 2015/16. The Manchester United Captain is now the only centre-forward left at Old Trafford so you assume he’ll be starting up front with new Dutch Winger Memphis Depay in support, and possibly Mata on the other flank.
Tottenham have footballers playing for them too, but no one really cares who they are, including myself. They signalled their intentions as a club by selling Gareth Bale for 100m Euros and never really bothering to replace him. I’m not even sure who the manager of Spurs is?
It doesn’t matter. They’ll finish 7th or 8th.
United, on the other hand could be genuine Premier League contenders with their new look midfield of Schneiderlin, Schweinstiger, Herrera, Carrick, Mata, Blind and Fellaini – I’ll let Van Gaal work out how to fit all of them into three places on the team sheet.
The defence may be the weak spot in this expensive side; 23 year old Phil Jones is clearly United’s best centre-back but a lot of supporters feel that the ex-Blackburn man has “a mistake in him” in every game. A moniker which always used to be attached to England great Tony Adams in his early days before he became a Lionheart in the centre of England’s defence. Then again, Adams was showing up to work at Arsenal completely pissed every day, what’s Jones’ excuse?
Oh, of course, it’s Pochettino! The Spurs Boss that is.
Other stand-out matches coming before September are Manchester City v Chelsea the following week, and Arsenal v Liverpool the weekend after that with the slightly more irrelevant contest of Everton v Man City on the same day. Roberto Martinez is taking Everton slowly backwards (into the Championship) after his impressive first campaign, and being the lowest ranked club in the league for investment this Summer does not bode well for the blue half of Merseyside over the next ten months. Tom Cleverley coming on a free transfer from Old Trafford is probably the most underwhelming Summer signing since association football began in 1863.
Liverpool have built on the early additions of Milner and Ings with fire-power in Benteke, and flair and technique in the Brazillian Firmino, but their problems from last season of trying to integrate too many new players into the post-Suarez era may still remain after another spending spree from Brendan Rodgers.
Arsenal look far more settled with the presence of Petr Cech and the ever-developing defensive partnership of the vastly improved Koscielny and the solid Mertesacker. They could be primed for a serious title challenge if their injury prone starlets – Walcott, Chamberlain, Wilshere and Ramsey – all stay fit and have superbly productive seasons. So, probably not then. Looks like Chelsea are going to retain the title. Boo!
It’s hard to hate Chelsea completely though, the sheer brilliance of Eden Hazard makes them very entertaining to watch. Let’s hope the little Belgian continues his progress this year as the finest player in the land, as I’ve a good feeling we’re going to see some truly memorable goals from the wing wizard this season.
Manchester City don’t seem to be taking the title race very seriously after not purchasing a central defender to assist the ageing Demichelis, the floundering Kompany and the raw (and some would say, crap) Mangala. The £49m acquisition of Raheem Sterling may not be enough to out-score opponents in every game, and the home grown English-based quota signing of Fabian Delph is hopefully not as cynical as the career stagnating ones of Jack Rodwell and Scott Sinclair. The former Villa man will hopefully play some football this year, and continue his development as one of the brightest looking players in Roy Hodgson’s England midfield.
The real cynics are saying that the lack of investment from City’s hierarchy (the ones who actually make the transfer decisions) is because Pellegrini is on his way out come May 2016, when a certain Señor Guardiola will arrive at Eastlands, backed by an insane transfer budget that will allow him to bring the £280m-rated Argentine forward, Lionel Messi, to the Club.
Or so the heads of BT Sport have been fantasising about anyway.
