Last night I spent the evening in the company of a number of old friends who constitute football journalists and football-educated “civvies” and, as one would expect three days before the start of the season, the conversation was predictable. We gather about the same time every year to thrash out our hopes, dreams and, more [...]
Of course, it is very early days, but there is some interesting ante-post betting in the English leagues this season. It is fair enough that we still have our betting minds firmly focussed on the World Cup final on Sunday, but we are only three weeks away from the first league action in the Championship, [...]
Chelsea are just a few games from an historic double for the club, but the concensus of opinion is that they are a poor winner of a broken league weakened by the financial crisis of the last few years. What does this mean for the near future of English football. Is it heading backwards?
We are now creeping towards the 100-day marker for the world cup in South Africa in the summer, which is starting to have an intriguing side-effect on the Premier League. It is a very difficult thing to spot, but any team with a number of World Cup-bound players in it, is going to suffer a little as those players begin to get the injury-sweats. To pick up an injury at this stage – with only a couple of weeks before national managers make provisional decisions about their final squad – would be absolutely calamitous, and the players are more than aware of it.
You wonder sometimes if Sir Alex Ferguson can hear himself talking sometimes.
His side lose another tie against a top four side and, yet again, it is the fault of the referee, the ‘cheating’ of an opposition player, or pretty much anyone except himself and his underperforming team.
Granted, at Stamford Bridge on Sunday Man Utd set themselves out exceptionally well tactically speaking – stifling Chelsea through the middle and negating the threat of Ashley Cole on the left – but, in the end, they deserved to lose.
After two weeks of international matches, we are back to domestic bliss this weekend, and there is an interesting pattern emerging in the English Premier League. While much has been said about the big gap between the top teams and the rest, the two groups may be brought that little bit closer this weekend. Because, while the majority of the squads of the likes of Bolton, Birmingham and Sunderland have enjoyed a break from the energy-sapping football merry-go-round, Liverpool, Manchester United, Arsenal and Chelsea’s players have been schlepping themselves around Europe and the World playing for their countries.
Man Utd won the Premier League in 2008/9, but will they be as strong this year after the loss of Ronaldo in the summer. What effect will Man City’s newfound riches have on the shape of football at the summit in England. Who will struggle at the bottom this year as the billions dry up and will there be a genuine battle for the top four place at the European table this year?
