After doing justice to my blog url of rarely blogging, I'm restarting my blog with everybody's favourite. Football.
Two matches into the new Premiership (BPL as it is now funnily called), some teams have already been written off, and one team has been made the overwhelming favourite to win the darned thing. Surprise, Surprise. It's not Man Utd, the defending champs of England and Europe, it's the Chelski.
And apparently, Arsenal have been doomed to failure. Who would have thought?
Just a look at the big 4 this season might just explain how messy the whole situation is.
Arsenal.
Wenger has lost his marbles. After Arsenal lost Henry to Barcelona, at the start of last season, everybody including me, predicted this might be the year Arsenal might be out of Champs league places. They proved everybody wrong and led the table for much of the season. The fact that they ran out of steam at the end should have been a good indicator for Arsense to add to his squad.
Hell no, At the end of last season, Wenger said his priority is to keep his squad together. Duely, Hleb, Mad Jens Flamini and Gilberto were goners. After a lengthy squabble over wages, Badge kisser Ade's services were retained, even though, Wenger had to relax his wage structure for the player.
Even better, Armand Traore and Senderos goes out on loan, Justin Hoyte sold to Boro, and young Barazite is sent to Derby on loan again. Who's going to play the Carling Cup this time Arsene?
The In's aren't great numbers. Carlos Vela recalled from loan, And the signings are 17 year old Aaron Ramsey snatched right under the noses of United, Big money spent on Samir Nasri and the even injured and untested Amaury Bischoff, and the biggest surprise of them all, Mikael Silvestre. Yes, that forgotten at man from United.
After a bizzarely poor performance against Fulham, when it was evident to every tom, dick and harry that Denilson and Eboue aren't the answer to other heavyweight midfields in the Premiership, Wenger boldly gave a press release that he will not be unduely worried if he doesn't sign anybody new.
So are the rivals, Mr. Wenger. So are the rivals.
Liverpool.
'This is our year', started right after the signing of Robbie Keane. But other average signings like Dossena, Degen, Ngog and a Brazilian keeper whom we know nothing about, brings the spinning world to a halt. More so, considering Crouch, Riise, Kewell, Carson and Guthrie were sold, in addition to other loans.
If reports are to be believed, Rafa is keen to offload Alonso as well, to sign Gareth Barry. And no, now he has targetted the mighty Albert Riera who spent 6 months on loan at Citeh, doing absolutely nothing. Maybe Alonso will be retained, after all. But how will Rafa play Torres and Keane up front together? Is he going to adopt a 4-4-2? Will that mean, he will have bench either Masch or Alonso. If Alonso is benched, won't it be nice to be devoid of one man who could spark the team with a raking pass.
Man United.
To be fair, What more can you add to the team that won Europe and England last year? But unfortunately, Chelsea have strengthened and United haven't added anyone to their squad yet apart from the Brazilian twins at full back positions. Possebon, Campbell and Manucho are expected to play their part in the first squad this season.
Retaining Ronaldo has been a major plus, although him injured till October is a bummer. The two matches so far highlighted the need for another striker. Campbell is nowhere near the finished product. He needs at least another year to hone his skills and Manucho is out for another 3 months. He's inexperienced at best. One game Man Utdmissed Tevez and lacked ideas up front.
A fourth striker seems to be a necessity, but is Berbatov the fourth striker? Not really sure.
Chelsea.
Chelski ran out of the blocks with a 4-0 demolition of Portsmouth with a samba style display. Sheva, Ben Haim, Pizzaro, Sidwell, Makalele were all shipped out along with other youngsters. Three signigs made so far, Bosingwa, Deco and Paim. All three look promising, especially Bosignwa who is pacy. Deco has taken to Premiership like duck to water.
They have a strong squad, they look motivated after the debacle last season, and the most important signing seems to be Big Phil. A guy who has won the world cup with Brazil, he is an experienced coach. But Premiership is all another pond, and he has to pit his wits against Sir Alex and Wenger (who has lost his marbles now)
All in all, it's very interesting. Opening bouts of sparring indicate that Chelsea is the team to beat with United running a close second.
Predictions for the Big 4.
*I'm a Man Utd fan, I'm allowed to be biased. :P
Test URL 1
Two matches into the new Premiership (BPL as it is now funnily called), some teams have already been written off, and one team has been made the overwhelming favourite to win the darned thing. Surprise, Surprise. It's not Man Utd, the defending champs of England and Europe, it's the Chelski.
And apparently, Arsenal have been doomed to failure. Who would have thought?
Just a look at the big 4 this season might just explain how messy the whole situation is.
Arsenal.
Wenger has lost his marbles. After Arsenal lost Henry to Barcelona, at the start of last season, everybody including me, predicted this might be the year Arsenal might be out of Champs league places. They proved everybody wrong and led the table for much of the season. The fact that they ran out of steam at the end should have been a good indicator for Arsense to add to his squad.
Hell no, At the end of last season, Wenger said his priority is to keep his squad together. Duely, Hleb, Mad Jens Flamini and Gilberto were goners. After a lengthy squabble over wages, Badge kisser Ade's services were retained, even though, Wenger had to relax his wage structure for the player.
Even better, Armand Traore and Senderos goes out on loan, Justin Hoyte sold to Boro, and young Barazite is sent to Derby on loan again. Who's going to play the Carling Cup this time Arsene?
The In's aren't great numbers. Carlos Vela recalled from loan, And the signings are 17 year old Aaron Ramsey snatched right under the noses of United, Big money spent on Samir Nasri and the even injured and untested Amaury Bischoff, and the biggest surprise of them all, Mikael Silvestre. Yes, that forgotten at man from United.
After a bizzarely poor performance against Fulham, when it was evident to every tom, dick and harry that Denilson and Eboue aren't the answer to other heavyweight midfields in the Premiership, Wenger boldly gave a press release that he will not be unduely worried if he doesn't sign anybody new.
So are the rivals, Mr. Wenger. So are the rivals.
Liverpool.
'This is our year', started right after the signing of Robbie Keane. But other average signings like Dossena, Degen, Ngog and a Brazilian keeper whom we know nothing about, brings the spinning world to a halt. More so, considering Crouch, Riise, Kewell, Carson and Guthrie were sold, in addition to other loans.
If reports are to be believed, Rafa is keen to offload Alonso as well, to sign Gareth Barry. And no, now he has targetted the mighty Albert Riera who spent 6 months on loan at Citeh, doing absolutely nothing. Maybe Alonso will be retained, after all. But how will Rafa play Torres and Keane up front together? Is he going to adopt a 4-4-2? Will that mean, he will have bench either Masch or Alonso. If Alonso is benched, won't it be nice to be devoid of one man who could spark the team with a raking pass.
Man United.
To be fair, What more can you add to the team that won Europe and England last year? But unfortunately, Chelsea have strengthened and United haven't added anyone to their squad yet apart from the Brazilian twins at full back positions. Possebon, Campbell and Manucho are expected to play their part in the first squad this season.
Retaining Ronaldo has been a major plus, although him injured till October is a bummer. The two matches so far highlighted the need for another striker. Campbell is nowhere near the finished product. He needs at least another year to hone his skills and Manucho is out for another 3 months. He's inexperienced at best. One game Man Utdmissed Tevez and lacked ideas up front.
A fourth striker seems to be a necessity, but is Berbatov the fourth striker? Not really sure.
Chelsea.
Chelski ran out of the blocks with a 4-0 demolition of Portsmouth with a samba style display. Sheva, Ben Haim, Pizzaro, Sidwell, Makalele were all shipped out along with other youngsters. Three signigs made so far, Bosingwa, Deco and Paim. All three look promising, especially Bosignwa who is pacy. Deco has taken to Premiership like duck to water.
They have a strong squad, they look motivated after the debacle last season, and the most important signing seems to be Big Phil. A guy who has won the world cup with Brazil, he is an experienced coach. But Premiership is all another pond, and he has to pit his wits against Sir Alex and Wenger (who has lost his marbles now)
All in all, it's very interesting. Opening bouts of sparring indicate that Chelsea is the team to beat with United running a close second.
Predictions for the Big 4.
- Liverpool - No Silverware, a mighty scramble with Arsenal for the 3rd Spot.
- Arsenal - No Silverware, 3rd spot.
- Chelsea - 1 Cup maybe, but not the league.
- Man United - League and a cup at the minimum.
*I'm a Man Utd fan, I'm allowed to be biased. :P
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