By Myles Palmer
LIVERPOOL’s performance in the Charity Shield won’t tell us
much about their title potential. They have too many new players for that.
My pal Kaz knows Dudek well and Dudek reckons Chris Kirkland is a great guy and a phenomenal keeper, someone who could play for England for a long time.
If Kirkland is really that good, Dudek had better not let any more 35-yarders fly past him!
Diouf is an exciting footballer,but an immature one.A spellbinding dribbler, but not yet a finisher in the Anelka class.
That might come after Xmas if he settles in.
New Leeds manager Terry Venables is a persuasive guy.
Tel might get Harry Kewell doing a bit, and the fans will love that.
Harry’s a gifted boy who can do preposterous things with a football, but we have not seen much of that this year. He could achieve a lot more.
After ten minutes of listening to Tel, Harry will go onto the field thinking he is Pele. When Harry’s hot, it’s hard to get the ball off him.
I see Leeds as a power team with a power squad, but Tel plays possession football,not power football.
More than most coaches these days he values possession more than penetration. For that reason Leeds may not score as many goals as they should, given the potential of Viduka, Keane and Fowler.
Tel’s pursuit of Anderton and Barmby is a bizarre and backward-looking step which chairman Ridsdale would be a fool to encourage.
And who can respect a team now skippered by a scally like Dominic Matteo?
MAN UNITED will pair Blanc and Ferdinand,one assumes.
That must have been why Fergie kept Blanc for another season,to teach Rio.
With only van Nistelrooy, Solskjaer and Forlan, Fergie needs another striker. I hope it’s not Crespo.
They say David adidas Beckham cannot be photographed in Nike kit unless he is pictured with three other United players?
Did you see the Opening Ceremony with that white shell suit with the glittery adidas logo across his chest? If Becks wasn’t so likeable we would hate him for being such a sell-out.
At first I figured coach Carlos Quieroz has been hired to help acquire some Portuguese or Brazilian talent, but that is not on the agenda at the moment.
What role will Carlos play?
Will he be the talent scout? The continental trainer who teaches the squad new techniques?
The Latin guru who gets the best out of Veron? The guy who minds the store while Fergie is off watching his horses run?
CAN ARSENAL back up their manager’s boast that there will be a shift of power from Manchester to London?
Arsene seems to see Gilberto in much the same way as I do,judging from his comments last week.
Arsene said,”I didn’t know of him before the World Cup but he has the quality we need and at a price we wanted. He is a ball-winner with real power who can play all across midfield and I think he will adapt well to English football.”
At the weekend Arsene said,”He is a naturally gifted world-class player who has proved by his performances in Japan that he is a winner. He will give us extra quality and his competitiveness will provide us with a good balance and added strength.”
Gilberto is a power player but I hadn’t realised how big he is. He is six foot three and thirteen stone ten.
If you’re lining up in the tunnel, and Vieira, Campbell,Bergkamp, Keown and Gilberto are lining up to run out alongside you, you’re gonna think : Christ, we’re up against it today!
My Brazilian pal Alex says Gilberto is single. He will bring over his Mum, Dad, brother and sisters to live with him.
The DoE requires 21 caps, and Gilberto has only 14, but he will get a work permit after an appeal, as will Juninho, who has only 17 caps.
Meanwhile, silence from Tony Adams and Patrick Vieira.
Adams has not said he has retired and Vieira has not said he will extend.
A year ago Vieira was worth £40 million. Now he has two years left on his contract. In a year’s time he will be worth only £10 million, since he will be able to go on a free in the summer of 2004.
The silence is deafening. When will the club address this issue?
Last season Vieira was only 60% of the player he was in 1999,2000 and 2001.
He had been the best player in the Premiership in seasons where Arsenal won nothing. When he dipped, Pires took Arsenal to the top and Ljungberg clinched the Double.
What an irony. Will Patrick ever be awesome again?
There is a lot of fear around this summer.
Leeds fans are scared about the future. So are Chelsea and Spurs fans.
Chelsea supporters fear the Blues might slip into mid-table,alongside Spurs, while Spurs fans fear the Lillywhites might slide towards the relegation zone.
It’s a shame. I don’t hate Spurs.
I would like to see them doing better than they have done in the last 17 years.
I’ve had so many happy times there, catching the ball and throwing it to Danny Thomas, watching Hoddle juggle the ball over Johann Cruyff’s head (Cruyff was about 42 at the time),winding up Keith Burkinshaw and Venables, hoping Gerry Francis could get it together.
CHELSEA fans know Desailly is over the hill.
France should have said,”Thanks very much” and retired Marcel while he was still magnificent, after 2002.
The Blues midfield is mercurial, inconsistent.
Personally, I hope the Hasselbaink-Gudjohnsen partnership is NOT broken up.
Those guys play my kind of football, creating match-winning moves that are skilful, slick, explosive, exciting.
MAN CITY boss Kevin Keegan knows that Anelka can dazzle and can get people off their seats.
He can score , but he can also sulk and hide.
Keegan is an inveterate punter who has placed a £13 million bet on the laziest brilliant centre forward in Europe.
Anelka played his best football with Bergkamp, Petit and Vieira behind him. He will never be that good again.
He didn’t deserve to go to the World Cup and he won’t make France’s squad for 2004 either.
The Premiership race will become interesting if and when
Chelsea, Blackburn and maybe Middesbrough can take some
points off the big boys.
BLACKBURN have some superb players and Souness has signed Yorke for only £2 million.
Graeme and Dwight will mix like oil and water, or so it seems to me. I wouldn’t have Yorke anywhere near my team.
NEWCASTLE now need to push into the top three.
In the summer of 2001 Arsenal wanted Titus Bramble and Ipswich quoted £15 million.
Bramble had just had a good season. Then he had a bad season and was sold to Newcastle for £4.5 million. He needs Bobby Robson to lick him into shape.
Sure, Bramble has potential. But will he become a good footballer? We shall have to wait two years to find out.
Hugo Viana is a creative teenager and only time will tell whether he is an £8.5 million teenager. But if Jenas can do it,Viana can do it. If Bobby says they are old enough, that’s good enough for me.
The pace of Craig Bellamy, Kieron Dyer and Lauren Robert makes up for the fact that Alan Shearer is now an old warhorse.
The best old warhorse in the business? Big Al still a 20-goal a season man? We shall see.
What will the August 31st transfer deadline mean?
More kids given a chance?
More coaching?
Less transfer twaddle in the tabloids?
29th July 2002.