What will be new in this new football season?
First of all, my enthusiasm.
I’m up for the new season. Really looking forward to some good matches.
A year ago I was burned out by a rubbish World Cup.
Only saw three good games and had to write about a France team who got to the World Cup on a Thierry Henry handball and then refused to train. Yes, refused to train.
Now, on August 12th, I\’m feeling fresh and looking at a Premier League which has seven Scottish managers.
Can Liverpool continue to improve under Kenny Dalglish and Steve Clarke?
I think they might.
Big Jordan Henderson could turn out to be better than we think. He could even become a goalscorer. Size matters in this league. Power is important.
Kenny sat watching Liverpool for many months and thought : I\’d sell Torres.
Good call !
Goalkeepers are very important too and Pepe Reina is still the second-best keeper in the EPL, after Petr Cech.
The rugged Brad Freidel, a middle-aged American pro, will make a difference at Spurs.
Modric will stay at Spurs. But, compared to 2010-11, Tottenham\’s season will be a bit flat. Just heard that Harry has signed Adebayor on loan. That doesn\’t surprise me.
I heard three weeks ago that Ade had a medical at a hospital in Barnet which Spurs use. Was hoping he would not go there. That\’s why I didn\’t mention it.
The biggest football news of the summer is the arrival of Andre Villa-Boas, a young manager who gives us something new to talk about.
AVB is very competitive as well as seriously knowledgeable. He\’ll show us some stuff we haven\’t seen before and I\’m looking forward to seeing how Chelsea play.
Recently had lunch with journalists who tested me on last season\’s stats.
“How many passes did Fernando Torres make to Drogba in the Premier League?”
“Seven?”
“Three – and two of those were from kick-off!”
We had a good laugh about that.
When Chelsea were in Malaysia, AVB said something about players finding new things in themselves and that was the most interesting line I heard all summer.
He said, “It’s just not the information that I give them, I think exactly the opposite: it’s the players that offer me the solutions and we find in between a balance of ideas to put us into the route of success, which is what we want. I want to believe that the players can still find new things in them to exploit and I want to fully potentiate their talent.”
As a 16-year old kid, Andre offered his tactical thoughts to his neighbour Bobby Robson. For me, Bobby Robson was a magnificent manager and a great Englishman, so Bobby was a great first influence for AVB. He learned a lot from Bobby and has always paid tribute to the older man’s generosity.
Manchester City will blow hot and cold this season, even if Tevez stays.
I liked Kun Aguero at Atletico Madrid. He\’s sparky, incisive, able to twist defenders in the box and pinch half a yard to shoot, sharp enough to score from narrow angles.
Aguero is fun to watch and David Silva will read his movement and find him. But Aguero might take a while to adapt. So you might find that, before Xmas, Shane Long scores more goals for West Brom than the £38m man does for Citeh.
Towards the end of last season I said that I loved Nani and could watch him all day.
Nani was hot in the wide open spaces of Wembley last weekend, scoring two fine goals as Manchester United thrashed City in the Community Shield. The Red Devils came back from 2-0 down to win 3-2.
The difference between Manchester United and Arsenal is signalled by the wingers each manager has bought.
Sir Alex has paid £15 million for Ashley Young, who already looks so good that Ryan Giggs might not be getting many games.
And Wenger signed Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain for £12 million.
AOC will be 18 on Monday but he cost only three million less than a 25-year old England winger. Does that make sense?
An Ian Herbert story in The Independent says that eight days ago, at a board meeting, Stan Kroenke told Wenger to sell Nasri to Man City and take the money.
Is Herbert reliable? Did Ivan get Stan to come over and tell Wenger to stop being so stupid?
PS : This isn’t a Preview. It’s a pre-Preview.
The earliest I could write a Preview of the season will be September 2nd, when we see how strong each squad is.