Global Soccerball

Viva Espana

2010-07-04T15:43:00.000+01:00

Good luck to Spain against Germany - they'll need it.
That said, the tournament pre-favourites have looked dire, but generally only when Torres is starting. As soon as he's taken off, they come to life. The benefit of having a mobile frontman in Villa and a creative but steely Fabregas in support seems to liberate them, mainly in the way England would have benefited with Rooney up top on his own.
Torres is yet another of the big guns who've been piss-poor - Torres, Ronaldo, Rooney, Kaka, Messi. The top five players in the world at club level, and they've been shockingly out of sorts.
Torres does not look fit, does not look motivated, does not seem to have the belief of his colleagues.
Make sure that you don't start with Torres, Del Bosque, now will you?

Woy of the Pool

2010-07-04T15:38:00.000+01:00

Good appointment by Liverpool. Very smart.
Woy Hodgson is a nice bloke, intelligent, eloquent, multi-lingual, and an achiever. Despite his poor spell at Blackburn, he's achieved everywhere he's gone. He turned Fulham from relegation fodder to the league position that Liverpool finished this season just gone. Then a Europa Cup final playing the opposite of the sort of football Rafa Benitez played in the Champions League.
But he's got a big challenge on. He's just lost one of the few decent players - Benayoun to Chelsea on a Free - and he's only got a report £15m to spend.
Not wishing to come over all Football Manager, but Woy has some simple choices to make:

Sell Gerrard, Mascherano and Torres - that'll net £100m, probably.
Ship out Benitez' duds - Kuyt (who is astonishingly having a good world cup, so might go in group 1), Lucas, Arveloa, N'Gog, etc (to the power of a million).
Spend whatever you get left over on decent players.

Easy.

I hate Liverpool, but I wish Woy luck there.

Expectation

2010-07-04T15:32:00.000+01:00

A similar post to the previous one - what is expectation?
32 Countries go to the World Cup, and each one has an expectation.
There are duffers like New Zealand, Algeria and North Korea (and my native Scotland, should we ever qualify again) whose expectation is that they'll go out first round, without a win. Exceeding that expectation - scoring a goal, winning - is easy, you might think. Paraguay are the greatest example at 2010.
The middle-ranking nations - Ghana, Slovenia/akia, Australia, US, Mexico, Uruguay - all expect a gallant run to the second round, not necessarily getting there, and being pumped by the group winner and the second round opponents. That is easy to manage - qualify for the second round. Uruguay are greatly exceeding this. Ghana should be
The so-called big guns, though. Okay, I'll list them:

England
Germany
Spain
Netherlands
Italy
France
Portugal
Argentina
Brazil

All of these nations have an expectation that they would win the World Cup. Add in Uruguay, and that's 10 countries for whom anything less than the semis is abject failure - sack the coach, ditch the team. Of those, two went out in the group stages, two in the second round, two in the quarters, so six nations have abjectly failed. However awful England were, they and Argentina lost to the current favourites, the Germans. Arguably, only Brazil, Germany and Italy have the history, and Spain the current squad and form, to have such an expectation.
Looking at the (flawed) FIFA rankings the following expectations are obvious:

Brazil & Spain - finalists
Netherlands & Portugal - semis
Italy, Germany, Argentina & England - quarters
France & Uruguay - 2nd Round

So there is over-achievement - Germany & Uruguay - and underachievement - England's is not as abject as Italy or Portugal. (Portugal were incredibly lucky to get even that far, they were abysmal - Ronaldo looked lost, Queiroz shared the incompetence of his predecessor at Man Utd.)
A final point - England were used to Quarter Finals according to the press. The Euros' Quarters are equivalent to the World Cup second round - 16 teams start the tournament, not 32.

Capello

2010-07-04T15:13:00.001+01:00

So, the Team England suits have given Capello a stay of execution. Interesting.

The pros to the decision are obvious -

£6m a year = £12m payoff,

they wouldn't be able to replace him with anyone with as good a CV - Woy's gone to Liverpool, Dave Redknapp's in far and away the biggest job of his career now, not got the track record of Capello, and the tabloids seem to have forgotten Big Sam's dreadful record at Newcastle (either way, he's not an international manager, is he?).

The cons - a poor World Cup.

Okay, so losing to the only decent team in the World Cup is not bad, at whatever stage of the competition it's at. Germany, for all their lack of big time, big name players, are the only good TEAM I've seen at the World Cup. England's formation was all set around accommodating the stars - Lampard and Gerrard - into an unbalanced midfield. Germany lost their star - Ballack - and have reaped the benefit of letting Oezil and Schweinsteiger free.

To have any hope of any glory, England need to focus on youth. There were good youngsters in the squad - Milner, Johnson, Dawson, Hart - and more outwith, albeit underperforming - Walcott, Johnson, Young, Agbonlahor, Taylor, the Everton boys, and Micah Richards, who seriously needs to move.

If Capello doesn't ditch the old guard, then he deserves to go.

Statgasm 2

2009-08-19T22:01:00.001+01:00

After a somewhat shocking night, Burnley's win over Man U means they jump to the top, 3pts better than what West Brom did last season. Not looking good for Pompey...

D Team
3    Burnley
2    Arsenal
2    Chelsea
2    Fulham
2    Liverpool
2    Manchester City
2    Sunderland
2    West Ham United
2    Wigan Athletic
1    Birmingham City
0    Tottenham Hotspur
-1    Aston Villa
-1    Blackburn Rovers
-1    Bolton Wanderers
-1    Everton
-1    Hull City
-1    Manchester United
-1    Stoke City
-1    Wolverhampton Wanderers
-2    Portsmouth

So, the predicted league table is interesting; Liverpool actually close the gap to a point and Hull fall into the Drop zone...

   Team
89    Manchester United
88    Liverpool
85    Chelsea
74    Arsenal
62    Everton
61    Aston Villa
55    Fulham
53    West Ham United
52    Manchester City
51    Tottenham Hotspur
47    Wigan Athletic
44    Stoke City
40    Bolton Wanderers
40    Blackburn Rovers
39    Portsmouth
38    Sunderland
35    Birmingham City
35    Burnley
34    Hull City
31    Wolverhampton Wanderers

Yeah, so it's still pointless, but a bit more meaningful...

Statgasm

2009-08-19T21:51:00.001+01:00

Okay, here's the first entry then. One of my main gripes is how the league table starts after the first game (and on the BBC website this year, they have a live table, so effectively from the first minute), and is obviously meaningless. This hasn't stopped a lot of blogging on the horrendous start to Liverpool's season.

But is it horrendous? Managers talk of "getting 40 points" or "if he can get 20 goals for us", and this article on Liverpool's horrendous start had an interesting comment; they got beaten by Spurs at White Hart Lane last year. Also, they drew away to Stoke; therefore, if they beat Stoke, they're actually 2pts up on last season. Tottenham, by contrast, beat Liverpool, so they're headed to the same points total.

There are some assumptions in this statgasm - Birmingham, Wolves and Burnley replace Newcastle, Boro and West Brom by virtue of finishing in the corresponding places, and hence take their results - so it's not quite perfect, but it works.

And it makes for interesting reading:

Diff Team
2 Arsenal
2 Chelsea
2 Fulham
2 Manchester City
2 Manchester United
2 Sunderland
2 West Ham United
2 Wigan Athletic
0 Burnley
0 Liverpool
0 Stoke City
0 Tottenham Hotspur
-1 Aston Villa
-1 Birmingham City
-1 Blackburn Rovers
-1 Bolton Wanderers
-1 Everton
-1 Hull City
-1 Portsmouth
-1 Wolverhampton Wanderers

Keep this up, and Fulham will do even better than last year. Unfortunately, Hull will do worse. Actually, that's not a bad thing at all.

This is after the games last night. More to come.

Have you tried restarting?

2009-08-08T14:29:00.001+01:00

I'm restarting this blog. I did for a few months in 2007 and got too busy, but I think the time is write to start again.

I will usually do a post every day, and try to focus more on indepth thoughts and analysis of news, rather than reporting. I hope to get a post about Michael Owen up today or tomorrow.

Thanks,
Jamie

Keegan's return

2008-01-19T22:38:00.000Z

Not the best of returns, but at least they didn't lose...

Alan Shearer's just been on MotD, looking and sounding every inch the man who's going to be Keegan's Assistant and heir apparent. His key point was that Newcastle need some creativity in midfield. I wholeheartedly agree; his side today had a left winger and a centre half trying to unpick Bolton's packed midfield. I watched the game, and there was just no spark; they looked solid at the back, creative on the flanks and up front, well... Michael Owen, now Keegan's captain, looked lively early on, but I thought he'd been substituted at half time. Shola Ameobi, whilst demonstrating Shearer-style "upper body strength" injuring Michalik twice, looked every inch the Norwich centre forward he's going to be shortly.

For me, Newcastle need some spark in the middle, and another quality centre forward - Owen's injuries, Viduka's attitude, Martins' inconstistency and Smith's inability add up to problems. Keeping Owen fit, Viduka happy and Martins on fire is a challenge, one that Keegan can sort out. But I feel that Defoe and Ashton would add what's perhaps already there, but more flexibility.

And in midfield. The talk of Deco, possible nonsense, would solve problems. Emre is a player in the same vein as Martins - one of the best players in the Prem on his day, but those days are few and far between. Consistency is key, and if Keegan can get a lot of these players to improve their attitude, then...

I bet he wishes he's inheriting the squad that Kenny Dalglish so successfully dismantled in 1997.

Back

2008-01-17T21:22:00.001Z

So this blog is back. Apologies for the gap, but I got stuck into a new job which is very busy. I will try and get some commentary.

On the season so far, it's been an interesting one. Jose, Martin, Sam, all gone. Out of my predictions, I think Arsenal have made me look the most unstupid, Newcastle the opposite.

The big story

2008-01-17T21:18:00.000Z

Okay, so Kevin Keegan at Newcastle, then.

Well, well, well. I have to admit to being a Newcastle fan, though not from the area (my Dad's family is). I fell in love with them during Keegan's time in the 90s. They played such incredible football, arguably establishing the Premiership as a quality league. Witness this match:

The big questions seems to be about whether he can sort the defence out, whereas I feel he needs to get about 20 centre forwards in to play the football he made them play.

My prediction - he'll do well and it'll all end in tears.

McLeish mental

2008-01-17T21:15:00.000Z

Alex McLeish looks at his footballing textbook and turns to the chapter marked "The Lawrie Sanchez Method".

Step 1 - Leave international job for low-end Prem team.
Step 2 - Fill squad with previous international players.
Step 3 - Do predictably terribly.
Step 4 - Cash compensation cheque after relegation.

Seriously, £5.75m for James McFadden?

Choice quote

2008-01-17T21:14:00.000Z

“Kevin is his own man and will make his own
decisions. But it is my club...” - Alan Shearer

Weekend Preview

2007-08-17T15:44:00.000+01:00

Birmingham v West Ham
Birmingham have looked sharp and are unlucky to only have a point to show for their two games this season. I'm not convinced Curbishley's signings have gelled yet, and can see them struggling here.
Verdict: Home

Fulham v Middlesbrough
Boro are just awful this season; Mido might start, but I'll be surprised if he's motivated enough to do well, and The Yak's out of the squad, pending his move to Everton. Fulham have been battling, and David Healy has two goals to his name (regardless of the quality of the first one, the second was a peach), and will feel like he can score again.
Verdict: Home

Newcastle v Aston Villa
Big Sam vs Little Martin. Newcastle have bought a solid defence over the summer, and while they might not all play, the biggest improvement they made was shipping out Bumble. Up front, they've got competition with England's Michael Owen back, and Martins on fire at Bolton; midfield has creativity in Milner and Zog, and steel in Butt. Villa have looked uninspiring and dogged, and will be looking for a boring point here.
Verdict: Home

Portsmouth v Bolton
Bolton are just woeful and rudderless, Pompey are creative and unpredictable, but too strong for Little Sammy's boys.
Verdict: Home

Reading v Everton
Reading are very physical and have played two great games against their toughest opponents. However, Everton will be feeling confident and at the top of their game having humiliated Spurs away.
Verdict: Away

Tottenham v Derby
Forget the crisis, Spurs will win this. Derby might score too, and their style will cause problems to Spurs' injury-ravaged defence.
Verdict: Home

Wigan v Sunderland
Sunderland have been created in Keane's image - Irish and feisty. Wigan are made of balsawood.
Verdict: Away

Blackburn v Arsenal
Tought to call - Blackeye Rovers physical approach versus Arsenal's creative fragility. Should cancel out, though there will be cards here.
Verdict: Draw

Liverpool v Chelsea
Liverpool's championship credentials will be answered if they can beat Chelsea. Chelsea's defence has been porous of late; Tegsy's return should stop that.
Verdict: Draw

Man City v Man Utd
City have played two, won two; Utd have played two, drawn two. Tellingly, Utd played a tricky Pompey and a tough Reading; City played a poor West Ham and a naive Derby. Forget Rooney, Utd will walk this even without him.
Verdict: Away

Rangers

2007-08-17T15:16:00.001+01:00

Interesting article on Barry Ferguson, the over-rated spoilt child who only passes sideways.

I'll start by saying that I'm no Rangers fan. However, I used to work with one, and he was utterly disgusted by Barry's behaviour at Christmas time in getting rid of Paul Le Guen. His attitude is similar to Alan Shearer at Newcastle and Thierry Henry at Arsenal, where he was more important than the manager and the club. Yet he constantly holds them back; Le Guen's failure was probably less his own fault (witness his success at Lyon and keeping PSG up last season), and more the childish antics of Barry - on their run-out for the second half, he would tell the team to do the opposite of what Le Guen did. His failure at Blackburn shows as much how limited a footballer he is, as how much of a Rangers man he is. Indeed, Le Guen's failure in Barry's eyes was due to him not being a Rangers man.

Had Walter Smith (a man who has also failed outside of Ibrox, at club level) not been released from his Scotland contract, where do you think Barry's antics would have got them? Fourth? Fifth?

Big Sam Sack Race Shocker Probe

2007-08-17T15:07:00.000+01:00

F365 report that Big Sam fears the sack.

Having got rid of FFS from the Chairman's office can only help, but there are some key comments:

"We all live in fear of the sack. That is what drives us on more than anything else. We all want to bring success to our clubs but we all want to avoid the sack."

- I believe that Big Sam wants to avoid the sack, in the way that he wants success and will push on. Graeme Souness had this "I will stay and fight, I'm not quitter" schtick during his time on Tyneside, which was just nonsense - "I will stay until I'm sacked and get a seven figure pay-off".

"Cacapa is going to be a major asset in terms of stopping goals which is one of the biggest problems we have been having over the last few years."

- This is a fairly fundamental thing, but it is something that has eluded Newcastle's previous two managers, and arguably, even Bobby Robson (the signing of Jonathan Woodgate was tarnished by the signing of Titus Bramble). Big Sam has bought well in this area, and fairly cheaply - Rosehnal and Cacapa are quality players and cost less combined than Bramble did years ago.

Must be a done deal by now...

2007-08-17T13:52:00.000+01:00

Everton target Yakubu out of Boro squad to face Fulham. A cheery-looking Mido will have to score ALL of their goals now.

Stupid Rumours

2007-08-17T13:31:00.000+01:00

BBC's rumours:

West Ham will see off competition from Portsmouth in the £10m battle for Bolton striker Nicolas Anelka. (Mail)
- Is Sammy Lee trying the Gareth Southgate school of transfer deals?

Middlesbrough are poised to sign Egypt striker Emad Moteab for £2m, paving the way for Yakubu to join Everton. (Sun)
Everton will make a club-record £11m bid for Yakubu. (Mail)

- The master is still at it, though. Looks like a move to make Mido happy and relegate Boro, while pushing Everton on to challenge the Big Four (c) Spurs.

Tottenham boss Martin Jol has been given the dreaded vote of confidence - two games into the season. (Star)
Curbishley has six weeks to establish West Ham as European contenders or he will be sacked. (Mirror)
- Nonsense, nonsense, nonsense.

England boss Steve McClaren is still considering a recall for much-maligned striker Emile Heskey. (Star)
- Wonderful.

Michael Owen will be on the bench when Newcastle take on Aston Villa on Saturday. (Sun)
- After 60 minutes against a pub team and a closed-doors against Gretna, McClown must hope England's Michael Owen comes off the bench and scored. Even if he doesn't, he'll still start for England.

Chelsea are in talks with former Bolton performance director Mike Forde as they look to boost their backroom team. (Guardian)
- Good move for them; Bolton's success is largely due to their sports science.

New Newcastle boss Sam Allardyce padlocks the training ground at 9.45 every morning so latecomers cannot get in. (Mirror)
- Top quality, though I'm glad I'm not a top-class footballer...

From The Guardian's Rumour Mill:

Villarreal are on the verge of selling canny playmaker and big game bottler Juan Román Riquelme to ... Bolton!
- Yeah right.

Finally, and in no way connected to the fact that Frank Lampard wants a pay rise, reports have surfaced that the Chelsea midfielder is a target for Internazionale.
- I used to have a lot of respect of Michael Douglas Jr, but...

Sack Race update

2007-08-16T15:27:00.000+01:00

F365 have the latest odds on the Sack Race:

SAMMY LEE (BOLTON) - 5/2
Under pressure after two bad defeats, and two terrible performances. Hardly anyone will have predicted them to do well, and Sammy Lee looks very much out of his depth. Can't be that long before Paul Jewell is calling Phil Gartside "boss".

MARTIN JOL (SPURS) - 4-1
Absolute nonsense - simple economics dictates that the amount of nonsense the tabloids are spouting means that people head to the bookies to back Big Martin, but this price will push them away. It's fairly unlikely, isn't it?

CHRIS HUTCHINGS (WIGAN) - 5/1
The best odds I've seen from him. Two goals from Antoine Sibierski and 3 points, albeit against the worst team in the Premier League. A very good bet.

ALAN CURBISHLEY (WEST HAM) - 6/1
Well, he could be gone by Xmas as Pardew was last year if Dr Eggman hasn't seen some return on his investment on some troublesome idiot players.

GARETH SOUTHGATE (MIDDLESBROUGH) - 7/1
Looks more out of his depth than Sammy Lee - selling all of your strikers and buying defenders isn't wise. That said, Steve Gibson has stood beside Bryan Robson's relegations and is one of two people to have appointed Second Choice Steve McLaren.

Dire Deal Done

2007-08-16T14:13:00.000+01:00

The deal that was finished and blown out of the water is now done, according to the BBC.

Kieron Dire, the most aptly-named footballer ever, has finally signed for West Ham, proving that they will sign anyone, even injury-plagued midfielders who had potential in 2002. An amazing fact from the Guardian's Knowledge column recently, was that, in the last five seasons, Paul Scholes has scored more goals at St James's Park than Kieron Dire.

Big Sam will be rubbing his fat hands together all the way to the carvery...

Man Utd's reserve strikeforce

2007-08-16T13:26:00.000+01:00

Jim White Is Forever

2007-08-16T12:09:00.000+01:00

From Football365's MediaWatch:

Biting The Hand That Feeds - Part Two
This morning on Sky Sports News, after Sheffield United announced their legal action against West Ham:

SSN shouter and friend of unemployed Geordies Jim White: "At this stage, this is heading to the High Court isn't it?"

SSN 'wacky' reporter trying to be taken seriously Gary Cotterill: "At this stage it is not heading to the High Court."

Amusing story, but it should be pointed out that Jim White is a legend. Somehow or other, in my student days, we enjoyed his homoerotic banter with Charlie Nicholas presenting Sky's ill-starred 6.05pm on a Sunday Scottish football coveraged. Around this time, we worked out that Jim White Is Forever. He just is, isn't he?

Other legendary Jim White antics of note - compering 40,000 fat unemployed Geordies at the parading of Michael Owen in August 2005.

Stupid Rumours

2007-08-16T10:26:00.000+01:00

BBC Gossip column:

Stupid:
Kieron Dyer is set to move to West Ham after Newcastle finally accepted a £6m bid. (Mail)
- West Ham will buy anyone.
Newcastle midfielder Nolberto Solano is considering a move to Portsmouth. (Sun)
- Dave Redknapp will buy anyone.
Spurs boss Martin Jol's future may be in jeopardy after he had crisis talks with chairman Daniel Levy about the losing start. (Independent)
- Surely they've had talks about buying some defenders and midfielders, not about sacking him?

Interesting:
West Brom have told Tottenham they will have to shell out £10m if they want to land defender Curtis Davies. (Sun)
- This one has rumbled and rumbled. Spurs do need another centre half, but Davies is unproven at that level, certainly at that insane price.

Spurs striker Dimitar Berbatov may need surgery on a groin injury, putting him out for six weeks. (Sun)
- Could be a good thing for Spurs, with Big Martin being able to decide on his top three strikers.

Bolton chairman Phil Gartside and his former manager Sam Allardyce have held peace talks following their war of words. (Mirror)
- What a load of todger that was. Gartside needs to grow up.

F365's Transfer Gossip

Interesting:
JOSE GETS CARPET PULLED FROM UNDERNEATH
Yesterday, Jose Mourinho thought he had Sevilla right-back Dani Alves in the bag, and was safe in the knowledge that he would never have to choose between Paolo Ferreira and Glen Johnson again. However, the Special One could be in for a shock this morn if The Sun is to be believed. They claim that Roman Abramovich has pulled the plug on the deal, despite chief executive 'Slippery' Pete Kenyon agreeing a price of around £24.5million with the famously tough Sevilla president Jose Maria Del Nido. Now £24.5million is a lot of money for a full-back, but Alves is no ordinary full-back, and if Abramovich has indeed refused to sanction the deal, could this open old wounds in the Roman/Jose relationship?
- Would be interesting to see the effect on Jose if this is true.

'ARRY HAS MORE MONEY THAN SENSE
After reportedly being priced out of a move for Boro striker Yakubu - who seems set for Everton - wheeler dealer in chief 'Appy 'Arry Redknapp has now reportedly turned his attentions to one Nicolas Anelka. The Mail claims that Portsmouth have made a £10million bid for the moody Frenchman, who very nearly signed on at Fratton Park last summer before joining Bolton. Redknapp is so desperate to snap up the striker that he is prepared to offer Matthew Taylor as part of the deal, but the traditional spanner n the works for Pompey is, of course, West Ham, who also want Anelka.
- As if Dave Redknapp doesn't have enough strikers...

Just when...

2007-08-16T10:17:00.000+01:00

... you thought it was safe to breathe, Sheff Utd's inability to accept seventy decisions against them comes back to haunt us.

When will they realise that bottling it against Wigan was what sent them down?

Wednesday Review

2007-08-15T23:09:00.000+01:00

Portsmouth 1-1 Man Utd
The talked about starts of this season will be Spurs with two defeats and Man Utd with two draws. Both have been lacklustre and struggled with different line-up problems; Spurs lack a creative midfielder, and here Man Utd missed a centre forward. Tevez looked good on his debut, coming close several times, but United really miss the likes of Rooney or Saha making breaks forward. Perhaps The Purple One will dip into the transfer market before the month is out. An exciting match was marred by two stupid sendings off, Muntary and Ronaldo, both players in my Fantasy team.

Reading 1-2 Chelsea
Chelsea looked more attacking, but made heavy work; yet again they went behind to a soft goal by a lesser side. Jose's "attacking philosophy" seems to be of the Keven Keegan "we'll score one more goal than you" school of thought. At least they're allowing the other team to score these days... Reading looked solid, and could've scored another couple - my prediction of them to struggle is looking pretty stupid right now.

Man City 1-0 Derby
A second win on the trot for Sven, courtesy of a Michael Johnson screamer. Derby looked feisty going forward, but looked decidedly Championship at the back. I'm not sure how much to read into Citteh's start, as they've only played a terrible West Ham and an early Derby prototype; Man Utd will prove to be more of a challenge - Ferguson's renowned hatred of Svennis will mean his side won't dare lose, or draw.

Sunderland 2-2 Birmingham
The most 80s match I've seen in years; Garry O'Connor's disgusting hair, Birmingham's badge, and both managers general demeanor are those of blokes not au fait with the Metrosexual 00s. Football-wise, the match was end to end stuff, gritty tackles, shonky defending, and battered goals. Not sure which of these two will fare better yet, but Michael Chopra's bizarrely fantastic form is pointing to the Mackems.

Wigan 1-0 Boro
From two teams who were in the Championship last season, to two who'll be there next season. A dreadful game, Sibierski's tenacity getting his second goal in two games, and giving Wigan all three points; which is more than the number of fans they had. Boro looked dire.

Fulham 2-1 Bolton
After Tony Warner's heroics against Arsenal, he made a Mad Jens-esque howler to allow Bolton to take the lead. David Healy scored a proper goal this time, and was denied a pretty solid penalty, before Smertin's fortunate deflection. Bolton looked poor; the new "on the deck" style of play seems to ill suit the players they've got.

Wednesday Preview

2007-08-15T15:38:00.000+01:00

Busy Prem card, plus some European action (Liverpool are 1-0 up at Toulouse as I type).

Birmingham v Sunderland
Saturday had a good performance and a great result for these teams, scoring two at Stamford Bridge and beating Spurs, respectively. Both managers, friends at Old Trafford, will be viewing the other as a good chance to getting three points closer to safety. Sunderland's fluke last minute goal against Spurs in comparison to scoring two goals against Chelsea, means I'm plumping for Birmingham.
Verdict: Home

Fulham v Bolton
Fulham were solid against Arsenal on Saturday, playing a strong defensive game, though the absurd manner of their goal might leave questions surrounding their threat; David Healy will only take confidence from scoring, however. Bolton suffered a heavy defeat in their grudge match against Newcastle; they will have to rely on Nolan and Anelka performing here to have any hope.
Verdict: Home

Manchester City v Derby
Difficult to call. Man City were impressive on Saturday, but were playing West Ham. Derby could be the sort of team that will upset Sven's new boys.
Verdict: Home

Portsmouth v Manchester United
I can easily see Portsmouth winning this, which would be interesting, but I fancy Tevez to score on his debut.
Verdict: Away

Reading v Chelsea
Reading's performance against Man Utd, one of the most comprehensive man-to-man marking games I've ever seen, will have exhausted them, and they'll need to play much the same against Chelsea. Losing two goals against Birmingham is poor for Chelsea's standard of defending, but they should be stronger tonight.
Verdict: Away

Wigan v Middlesbrough
Two of my tips for relegation; all I can predict is the most miserable game of football ever. No doubt it'll be a six-all thriller having said that...
Verdict: Draw

I should be so Luque

2007-08-15T13:24:00.000+01:00

Skysports report that Levante have pulled out of a deal to sign Albert Luque. I think this could be a good thing for Newcastle; Luque looked good in pre-season, and Big Sam has previous with the likes of Diouf and Anelka.

Stupid Rumours

2007-08-15T12:47:00.001+01:00

First up, the BBC's gossip page:

Stupid:
Fulham can sign Sami Hyypia for £1.5m - if Liverpool can find a replacement for the defender. (The Sun)
- While he's not going to play every game, this is Liverpool's real weakness, in terms of strength in depth. Carragher and Agger are top quality, but they don't have any back-up there.

The Magpies are set to offer £4m for Everton's Phil Neville. (Various)
- Cascading from yesterday's rumours... Obviously, what's happened is that Big Sam's said to someone that he'd like a player like Phil Neville, and it's grown arms and legs up to the point where he's offering £4m for him. Everton are not going to sell their captain.
Everton will sign Manuel Fernandes on a fixed-term contract similar to the one that took Carlos Tevez to Manchester United. (Telegraph)
- Groan...
Wigan striker Emile Heskey may earn a recall for England's friendly against Germany on 22 August. (Daily Star)
- Words fail me.

Interesting:
West Ham have resurrected a £6m deal for Newcastle midfielder Kieron Dyer and he is expected to complete the move within days. (Daily Express)
- Finally, this would be good to clear up. Very, very good move for Newcastle.

Newcastle boss Sam Allardyce is in talks with Barcelona's Brazilian full-back Juliano Belletti over a £3m move. (Daily Mail)
Bolton have reluctantly agreed to sell Senegal defender Abdoulaye Faye to Newcastle for £2m. (Daily Star)
- Big Sam realises what Glenn Roeder and Graeme Souness didn't; Newcastle need a defence. He's bought well so far, and cheaply.

From the Guardian's Rumour Mill:

Stupid:
Speaking of Brazilian full-backs, and don't stop us if you've heard this one before, Sam Allardyce is once again sniffing around Brazilian full-back Juliano Belletti. Not content with being the only manager in the world who thinks Barcelona is a place to go shopping for defenders, he'll also stop by Liverpool for a striker - poor neglected Peter Crouch.
- Newcastle just do not need any more centre forwards, do they? Where does this story come from? They were linked to him under Roeder.

The Sun's managed to find a new twist on Yakubu's imminent move to Everton. Apparently Toffees defender Joseph Yobo has "ordered" the Yak to join him on Merseyside, which is an interesting interpretation of Yobo's statement: "I'll be happy if he joins us".
- Yet another example of tabloid tittle-tattle.

Interesting:
If he [Big Sam]'s lucky he might even see Lawrie Sanchez while he's up there, since the Fulham boss is tying up a £1.5m deal for Sami Hyypiä.
- What happened to the Hyypia to Newcastle rumours? They still need a centre half or two, and he'd fit the bill, especially at that price.

From Football365:

Stupid:
NEVILLE FOR TOON? NOT REALLY
Sam Allardyce must be a busy man. The Independent says that, as well as Faye, the Newcastle manager is 'is interested in trying to sign Phil Neville'. However, it's a pretty poor piece of Transfer Gossip as Alllardyce is described as being 'realistic about his chances' of signing Neville. 'Neville, the captain of Everton, joined the Goodison Park club two summers ago and signed a five-year contract. At 30, Neville might be expected to cost up to £4m but Everton are not hard-pressed for cash and Neville is not the sort of player who would cause disruption at a club simply to engineer an exit. 'No bid has been made by Newcastle but if one does materialise by the end of this transfer window then Everton will have to inform the player and the situation could develop,' the newspaper says. 'Could develop'?! They really don't know how to write salacious transfer gossip, do they?
- Yet another example of broadsheet transfer tittle-tattle. See above, but this gets closer to what I was saying. Nonsense.

Interesting:
Derby chairman Peter Gadsby is considering reporting West Ham to the Premier League for an alleged illegal approach for Giles Barnes...
- Good on him.

Carragher

2007-08-15T12:35:00.000+01:00

Steve McLaren has failed. In his bid to get Jamie Carragher to not retire, as much as the other things.

Two sides to this:

1. Carragher has handled his irritation with discretion and care; if he's not getting a game, and he disagrees with it, then he's done the right thing. Other players would have a go at the manager, he's kept his own counsel. Besides, Man Utd and Newcastle fans are incredibly glad at the decisions by Paul Scholes and Alan Shearer to retire; sitting at home with his family and resting, rather than flying to Russia and Isreal in a midweek to sit on the bench will do wonders for Carragher's fitness, and help Rafa's thin central defence back-up problem.

2. McClown has been a complete idiot yet again. Not content with the barn full of eggs on his face over dropping Beckham, then reselecting him, his constant ignorance of Jamie Carragher's form for Liverpool, even so far as selecting Ledley King ahead of him, has come back to haunt him with Tegsy out injured for the Germany game. The next England manager has to be someone with half a clue on how to manage players, not a red-faced monkey who filled out forms for Sven and The Purple One, before doing very averagely for Boro.

If it was me, I'd've gone out and slagged McClown off in the press, saying he doesn't know what he's doing, but that's not really in Carragher's character.

He strikes again

2007-08-15T10:40:00.000+01:00

I always thought that the age-old Celtic and Rangers in the Premiership nonsense would get resolved once and for all, one way or the other, when a Welsh team, namely Cardiff, got into the Premiership, as has looked possible in the last few seasons. However, the BBC reports Cardiff are getting sued for a £30m loan, and I realise that it wasn't going to happen with Peter Ridsdale and his financial astuteness in charge there.

Tuesday Review

2007-08-15T08:38:00.000+01:00

Tottenham 1-3 Everton
Tabloids will talk of a crisis at White Hart Lane, as Spurs crash to their second successive defeat, in a season which was supposed to offer them so much. On the evidence of this, it will still offer them much, but they are looking weak in midfield and at the back, especially with Kaboul limping off. Everton, on the other hand, looked strong and played some attractive football; Arteta was the conductor of this win, controlling the tempo, setting up most of the attacks. One concern for Everton is that their centre forwards aren't scoring yet; if Yakubu had been playing here, he would have linked with AJ better than Anichebe did. In summary, it's difficult to read too much into the second match of the season, but there were many periods where Spurs looked deadly, and even at 3-1 down, they looked like they could have still won the match.

Fixtures

2007-08-14T17:28:00.001+01:00

I see Sky have managed to get another Big Four weekend in March, just like the one they had last season.

What are they chances of that?

Well, 20C4 = 4845-1, and 4845*4845 = 22,474,025-1 for it happening two seasons in a row.

That's quite some random fixture generating machine the FA have!

Good point, well made

2007-08-14T16:47:00.000+01:00

Philip Cornwall says the following in his article on people rushing to judgment:

In a sane world, there would not even be a league table yet. Until Sky came along and wanted to show off their graphics, everyone waited till the second Saturday, by which point everyone had played home and away and at least some of the vagaries of the fixture list had been worked out.

Very good point. At the moment, Newcastle are "top" of the league, having won a match. It's the same thing as confusing percentages and numbers - 80% of 5 is still 4; I'd rather have 20.

American sports are obsessed with their stats, and the Skyification of soccerball has pushed into meaningless stats world - see the Fink Tank section of the Times; what on Earth does any of that mean? Newcastle will finish 14th based on a load of meaningless matches at the end of last season and one meaningful match this year?

See also their fantasy football this season where you rank players rather than buying a team.

Injury idiocy

2007-08-14T16:16:00.001+01:00

F365 report a suggestion by referee's chief, Keith Hacket, to remove the fouler from play until the foulee finishes receiving treatment.

In an ideal world, it's a decent suggestion, but there are so many dodgy play-acters out there, that this would just encourage them.

Take this extreme example - Man Utd vs Chelsea, where Man U need to win to win the league, and Chelsea just to draw. 3 minutes to go, it's 1-1 and Man Utd are chasing the game: Rooney tackles Drogba who feigns injury, both go off; Ronaldo tackles Malouda, who feigns injury. All of a sudden, Man Utd have lost their two most potent attackers.

What I'm trying to do with the post is show that, while it's a decent idea, think it through before you mouth off. There are other counter-examples - 20 minutes to go, still getting "treatment".

Keane's back, oh yes

2007-08-14T15:43:00.000+01:00

Roy Keane has had a scathing attack on modern footballers and the irritating WAG culture.

There's nothing more irritating than the whole WAG thing created at the last World Cup. A load of perma-tanned, bottle-blonde "stunnahs" evidencing the mentality of the England squad. Rags like Heat and the other one have picked up on it, attracting girls to football though their usual cesspit of eating disorders and body dismorphia. The more people backlash against this culture of non-entity, the better.

He also makes some good points about footballers, in particular Steve Bruce's qualities. You can see the players that he's brought in to Sunderland have a positive attitude, and that's going to be key to their success or failure this season. And I wouldn't like to fail if Royston was my manager...

Derby agogo

2007-08-14T15:22:00.000+01:00

Big on the news today are Derby;
F365 reporting a new deal for Young Taggart Billy Davies.

He's done really well at that club, and is one of two promising "young" Scottish managers in the Premier League, along with Everton's David Moyes. He did incredibly well at Motherwell, progressed Preston, and now he's exceeding expectations with Derby. It'll be interesting to see how they perform against Man City tomorrow night.

Stupid Rumours

2007-08-14T14:39:00.000+01:00

This is an entry I'm going to try and do each day going through the transfer tittle tattle of the day and looking at the Stupid and Interesting rumours.

From today's BBC Gossip page:

Stupid:
"Newcastle boss Sam Allardyce is considering a £4m swoop for Everton skipper Phil Neville. (Express)"
- Why on Earth would Everton sell their Captain? He's one of their most useful players.

"Gilberto has revealed he only found he had missed out on the Arsenal captaincy via the club website. "I was surprised," he said. "But I'm not upset." (Various)"
- A lot of websites were reporting that we was made captain last week, before the news that it was Gallas that had been made Captain broke.

"West Ham have offered Barcelona's Eidur Gudjohnsen an £80,000-a-week deal but want an answer from the striker, who wants £100,000, on Tuesday. (Mirror)"
- Are West Ham ever going to take no for an answer?

"Derby are set to hold on to Giles Barnes after slapping a £6m price tag on the midfielder. (Star)"
- Any hopes they have of staying up hinge on keeping him. I can't see the point in them selling him for that little when they're about to splurge £5.5m on Kenwyne Jones...?

Interesting:
"Tottenham are set to make an offer for West Brom's Curtis Davies. (Guardian)"
- Yawn...

"Everton have bid £6m for Benfica's 50% share in Manuel Fernandes. A private investor owns the other 50%. (Sun)"
- Oh dear, not more... What are they going to do with the other 50%?

"Everton have not given up hope of signing Middlesbrough striker Yakubu. (Independent)"
- Boro really are trying to buy relegation...

"Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger is prepared to pay up to £8m for Blackburn's Morten Gamst Pedersen. (Mirror)"
- Good for Arsenal...

"Tottenham have been alerted that Real Madrid midfielder Guti will be available for £5m if Arjen Robben joins the Spanish giants. (Mirror)"
- Spurs real weakness in the middle of the park would be helped by that.

The Guardian's ever-excellent Rumour Mill has:

Stupid:
"apparently Bryan Robson reckons he can lure Peter Crouch to Sheffield United."
- What?? HUH??

"The only real question at this stage is which of West Ham, Newcastle or Manchester City will get to shatter his [Robson's] delusions."
- i.e. link the three teams who've been linked to players all summer to a player. Genius.

Interesting:
"Derby have made a bid for Marlon King"

"Shattering, of course, is exactly what Eidur Gudjohnsen would do to West Ham's wage structure later this afternoon, were it not patently obvious they simply don't have one. Expect Eggert Magnusson to cave into his £100,000-per-week demands by 5pm at the latest, before also lodging a bid for Newcastle's Nobby Solano."
- It's a dangerous game West Ham play, if you believe the tabs' tittle-tattle; throwing money at people isn't a guarantee they'd play brilliantly for you...

From Football365's Transfer Gossip:

Stupid:
"ALVES NOT ON STRIKE. PROBABLY
Daniel Alves has been left out of the Sevilla squad for this week's Champions League tie with AEK Athens, prompting renewed speculation that he is set to move to Chelski. According to the Daily Mail, Chelski are still trying to sign the £20m-rated defender in time for Sunday's rather tasty match at Liverpool. "The decision to play or not is mine. It's not something I have to think about very much," the Brazilian commented. Naturally, The Sun has a more sensational twist, announcing: 'Alves has threatened to go on strike at Seville to force a move to Chelsea. 'The Brazilian right-back revealed he will refuse to play in tomorrow's Champions League qualifier against AEK Athens.' Err, not according to those quotes above, he didn't."
- Yet more evidence of the "come and get me plea" style of tabloid journalism, inventing crises where they don't exist.

Interesting:
"ALLARDYCE WANTS FAYE
Sam Allardyce is, for the second time this week, returning to Bolton - and this time he wants to sign Abdoulaye Faye. The Toon boss wants to add Faye to his injury-ravaged squad and the likelihood of Faye leaving the Reebok increased last night when Bolton signed Portsmouth's Andy O'Brien for £1.2m. 'Bolton do not want to sell Faye to Allardyce but Newcastle's offer is the best so far for the 29-year-old Senegalese, whose contract is up next season,' says The Mail."
- Would add yet more depth and steel to Big Sam's side. Many Toon fans would still shudder at the name Faye, though..

More tomorrow, obviously.

Quality bit of nonsense

2007-08-14T14:23:00.000+01:00

The Unofficial World Cup is a quality bit of nonsense, charting the holders of the World Cup in a boxing style. Scotland, perennial "underachievers" have the most titles with 86, with the competition stretching back to the first ever international in 1872 between Scotland and England.

Rafa's Tinkering

2007-08-14T14:12:00.000+01:00

F365 report from an interview with Rafa about his trouble accommodating all of his players, reportedly the second most aptly-named footballer being unhappy at not even making the squad for the Villa match.

The flipside, of course, is that Liverpool have the squad to compete more on two fronts. In 2005, when they won the European Cup, they came 5th, behind Everton. Last season, they got to the European Cup final, but they were 21 points behind Manchester United in the league. Having four quality strikers will allow some effective rotation; Crouch might see more European than English action, and they've got great cover for injuries. I think Rafa will be able to adequately manage his player's expectations, and that the media are hyping up a crisis out of nothing.

Please, please, please...

2007-08-14T12:36:00.000+01:00

... can this be the end of the second-most tedious summer transfer saga involving Manchester United and an Argentinian.

Lyon are many people's tip for the Champions League this season... Heinze (En-say if you're Mark Lawrenson) is a quality player, but let's face it, The Purple One isn't going to sell him to Liverpool...

Derby strengthen

2007-08-14T12:27:00.000+01:00

BBC report that Derby's transfer of Kenwyne Jones from Southampton will go through in "the next couple of days".

This would be a good move for Southampton and Derby; the front pairing of Earnshaw and Jones will cause a lot of problems to some Premiership team's creaking defences, but crucially, will seriously help them in next season's Championship, should they go down.

Buying quality, young British players will help Derby; a lot of teams have wasted money on foreign imports, but Billy Davies is clearly building a solid team for the future - he worked miracles at Motherwell and built a strong team there which continues to keep them up. Whether it's enough to keep them up this year is anyone's guess, but they should be an established Premier League team in the next five years.

If West Ham and Bolton continue to struggle, you just never know who's going down... Aside from Wigan, obviously.

Tough job

2007-08-14T12:09:00.001+01:00

I saw the Southampton score last night and did some thinking.

Two seasons ago, George Burley worked miracles at Hearts, turning a bunch of Scottish journeymen and hastily imported Eastern Europeans into a table-topping side, winning eight and drawing two of their first ten matches. They looked like they would romp the league, or certainly challenge the Old Firm. In the end, George fell out with Vladimir Romanov, the Russian-Lithuanian bankroller (quite literally) of Hearts. His stock was so high that he was linked with top Premiership jobs like rebuilding Newcastle, but eventually went to Southampton, with a view to rebuilding and getting promoted back to the Premiership.

Last night's result was interesting; I thought that his stock had sunk so low now that he was bankrupt; losing to Peterborough in the Carling Cup is an atrocious result.

Now it turns out that Burley had to sell this summer to avoid the administration that is killing Dirty Leeds. He mentions building a young new team. Perhaps if anyone can do it, George can.

Convenient

2007-08-14T11:52:00.001+01:00

Arsenal target Artur Boruc is out of Celtic's Champion's League qualifier with Spartak Moscow.

How convenient.

Preview

2007-08-14T11:40:00.000+01:00

Tottenham Hotspur vs Everton
After Saturday's tirade against his strikers, expect a change here tonight from Big Martin, most likely £16m man Darrent Bent in for Dimitar Berbatov, who looked out of sorts in Saturday's defeat to Sunderland. The media are placing a lot of pressure on his shoulders after yet another non-win on the opening day, already 3 points behind Arsenal, etc. Everton looked confident against Wigan, albiet losing a soft goal to Sibierski, and still have injuries up front.
Verdict: Score Draw

Apt

2007-08-14T10:31:00.000+01:00

Peter Crouch, the second most aptly-named footballer ever, is not happy at Rafa's rotation policy. Having splurged £40m on attacking players, has Crouch got a valid complaint? Kuyt, Torres and Voronin are all ahead of him in the pecking order, surely? Rafa might want to cash in on the big man, for £8/9m, and buy a couple of centre halves, where Liverpool might come unstuck if their first pairing get injured/tired.

Bad news for Man City

2007-08-14T10:29:00.000+01:00

Arrest warrant issued for club owner Thaksin Shinawatra. Get in bed with the devil...

The Saviour

2007-08-14T10:13:00.000+01:00

England's Michael Owen will save England! He managed 60 minutes against a Newcastle pub team!

My God, the season's only just started and the nonsense follows. Surely Andy Johnson deserves his break?

Transfers

2007-08-13T16:32:00.000+01:00

Excellent Observer article on the worst Premier League/Premiership transfers.

Only one I could add to that brilliant article is Jonathan Woodgate Newcastle to Real Madrid for £14m (injured, played a handful of games, including an amazing debut where he scored an own goal and got sent off, loaned to Boro and sold for £6m).

BTVision

2007-08-13T16:19:00.000+01:00

I'm considering subscribing, now that James Richardson is presenting their programme.

Good interview that, with him; explains the Golazo and Gazzetta references from his legendary Serie A programme from years ago.

Robbo

2007-08-13T15:23:00.000+01:00

Always a good read, this week Robbo lays into - what else? - Rooney's footknack.

Do new-style boots encourage fractures? It all started with the Adidas Predator, which was deemed a paradigm shift in technology, affording unrivalled control to the player, due it's lightweight build. David Beckham was an early subscriber to this, and he's had his share of bad foot injuries.

Do we just know more about the injuries? Before 2002, it would be a broken foot or merely foot injury. When Beckham fractured his metatarsal, the science and parlance of foot injuries suddenly became commonplace. So is it just the media catching up with the science?

It's an interesting one. With the incentive deals nowadays, most players will be on seven figure deals to wear certain high-tech boots; until someone eschews them, there's no way of telling.

Rooney's injury looked fairly innocuous, so there could be something behind Robbo's theory.

More Bolton

2007-08-13T13:30:00.000+01:00

More bad news for Bolton fans... Andy O'Brien is going to be useless at his third Prem club.

Sickening

2007-08-13T13:00:00.000+01:00

Seeing Benni McCarthy stagger and fall over was sickening, more so than most injuries. There was no real drama to Rooney's; fall over, hobble, not reappear for the second half. With this, you saw the immediate effect of McCarthy's commitment to the match.

Hope he's back soon. BBC report he's doing okay.

Oh dear

2007-08-13T12:56:00.001+01:00

BBC report that Keven Davies is out for 6 weeks. Bolton will really struggle without him. What are the odds of Little Sammy still being in charge when he's fit again?

Weekend's top goals

2007-08-13T12:40:00.000+01:00

If you can see them on YouTube or somewhere similarly naughty, then do.

3. Micheal Essien vs Birmingham
A classic midfielder's piledriver and a crucial winner.

2. Obafemi Martins vs Bolton
Lovely cross from Milner, chests it, then bicycle kick. Who needs Michael Owen?

1. Steven Gerrard vs Aston Villa
The perfectly-taken free kick, absolutely inch-perfect. Whether it was a free kick or not is another matter...

F365 reflection

2007-08-13T12:10:00.000+01:00

Football365's feature on top debuts is a good read. The quote from Geremi is interesting:

GEREMI (NEWCASTLE UNITED)
"If today I say 'we're going to win the title' people will laugh at me," says Geremi with unerring accuracy, as Newcastle sit proudly at the top of the Premier League thanks to Obafemi Martins' goals, Steven Taylor's defensive nous and the addition of Geremi to the Toon midfield. He might not have been many Newcastle fans' ideas of a glamour signing, but he could well be the free transfer of the summer as he adds much-needed steel, leadership and experience to Sam Allardyce's side. The title? Not a chance. Top six? Why the hell not?

One of the big things Big Sam has done is buy well. He hasn't bought a superstar in, but bought solid squad players to back up the superstars already at the club (Owen, Martins, Duff). Geremi is indicative of this, and Sam's continued faith in Steven Taylor will allow him to develop into the next John Terry, probably.

Lower league sack race winner

2007-08-13T12:02:00.000+01:00

BBC report that Carlisle have sacked Neil McDonald after only one match, a 1-1 draw with Walsall. They had allowed him to spend £140k on a striker.

There must be more to that story, surely...

Irn Bru

2007-08-13T11:58:00.001+01:00

I note with interest that the three lower Scottish Leagues are now sponsored by Irn Bru. Surely every hardened drinker, sorry, hardened supporter of East Fife, Stenhousemuir and Arbroath will already be reliant, sorry, familiar with the product, and it doesn't require any advertising?

Scally Rock

2007-08-13T11:35:00.000+01:00

During my time as a student, a friend of mine invented a genre of music called Scally Rock. During this time, 1996-2000, there were a lot of post-Britpop bands who fitted into the sub-Oasis lad rock category, dubbed Scally Rock, as in Rock music played by Scallies for Scallies.

Key bands in this scene were The Charlatans, Shed Seven, Northern Uproar, Oasis, Embrace, Cast and Ocean Colour Scene. More recent examples would be Stereophonics, Kaiser Chiefs and Snow Patrol.

I recently postulated the theory that you can define such bands by their inclusion on football adverts or MotD "Goal of the Month" segments. This opens the genre up to include U2, Coldplay, Muse and The Lightning Seeds, which I'm perfectly happy with.

However, I recently saw an advert for Sky's football coverage which had Interpol's "Hands Away" as the soundtrack. This is, unfortunately, a nail in the coffin to my theory.

(Thanks Scott)

FC United

2007-08-13T11:28:00.000+01:00

Just wondering how the fans of FC United are enjoying the fact that the Glazers have pillaged the club of money by spending >£50m this summer on players?

I note that they're playing in the "Northern Premier League Division One North" next season; is there a more ludicrously named league? That's:

Northern
Premier League
Division One
North

Four parts. Where do they get promoted to? Oh right, the Northern Premier League.

(Thanks, Keith)

Blog fun

2007-08-13T11:20:00.000+01:00

Credit to the MOTD team, though. Nobody asked whether Manchester City's foreigners would fancy it on a cold/wet Tuesday night in Bolton/ Middlesbrough/Birmingham.

- Martin Kelner, Guardian Sportblog
The typical criticism of foreign imports, seeming to neglect that there are about two Tuesdays in the football calendar, and you're more likely to play Bolton/ Middlesbrough/Birmingham/Grimsby on an overcast Saturday or Sunday afternoon.

Sack Race

2007-08-13T11:04:00.001+01:00

Always one of the more fun aspects of the season; which panto villain will be sacked by Christmas? Last year it was Iain Dowie in the insane managerial merry-go-round which got Charlton relegated and hampered West Ham.

This year, there are some big players in the ineptitude stakes, if not the panto villain stakes (Sven is probably the closest to that).

Favourite: Chris Hutchings, Wigan
For: Looks out of his depth. Previous ineptitude at Bradford lasted 12 games. Has bought Bramble and Melchiot.
Against: Dave Richards has been insanely loyal to Paul Jewell, especially last season.

Second Favourite: Gareth Southgate, Middlesbrough
For: Dour performances last season, lack of character, selling/losing strikers and not replacing them. With any strikers.
Against: Another insanely loyal chairman in Steve Gibson, who back Bryan Robson through years of wasting his money

Outsider: Alan Curbishley, West Ham
For: Poor start? Has spent a lot of money on problematic players. Chairman has previous and high expectations.
Against: Could start winning if he gets his new players to gel.

Dark Horse: Sammy Lee, Bolton
For: Not Big Sam. Inability to coax wonders out of difficult players, couple with inexperience as a manager, and crippling expectations.
Against: Not Big Sam. Phil Gartside is a stubborn git, and won't want egg on his face after the public war of words with Big Sam.

Bad Boys Inc

2007-08-13T11:00:00.000+01:00

F365 report Dean Ashton will get rushed back into West Ham's first team if they continue to do badly.

Ashton is a top quality striker, and much of West Ham's woes last season stem from his horrific injury on England duty. If he can get a good run in the side, it'll be best for them in the long run, and best for England, too.

That said, Alan Curbishley might give Chris Hutchings a run for his money in the sack race; Eggert has previous, and Wigan owner Dave Richards has shown faith in sticking with dodgy managers doing badly (Paul Jewell last season, obv).

Not very good predictions

2007-08-13T10:39:00.001+01:00

Boltoff

2007-08-13T10:34:00.000+01:00

F365 report El-Hadji Diouf is not happy at being left out of the Bolton team that lost to Newcastle. They also allude to Anelka having a £9m get-out clause in his contract.

Keeping Anelka and Diouf will give them the goals they need to survive, providing their mental rehabilitation at the hands of Big Sam isn't thwarted, though they might lose them before the transfer window closes.

- me on Friday

Where's Beardsley?

2007-08-13T00:01:00.001+01:00

Man Utd's front pairing might require Peter Beardsley to come out of retirement to retain the high level of ugliness, what with Rooney fracturing his ankle.

Sunday review

2007-08-12T23:52:00.000+01:00

Arsenal 2-1 Fulham
Arsenal made hard work overcoming a solid Fulham. Mad Jens early insanity aside, Fulham rarely looked threatening and might find the goals hard to come by, but David Healy has hit the back of the net already, so who knows. Arsenal looked attractive going forward, but might struggle against tough-tackling teams.

Man Utd 0-0 Reading
A disastrous start for the Purple One's boys; a goalless home draw against one of this season's likely strugglers, and the loss of Wayne Rooney to yet another foot injury, amazingly playing on for five minutes. His fractured left foot will harm England's paucity of strikers more than the Tevez-enabled Man Utd, but it will harm them. Ferguson will be hoping he's not out too long. Match-wise, Reading played the perfect defensive game, holding Man Utd back; the man-to-man marking will prove effective against them, and that will be one of Ferguson's biggest fears.

Chelsea 3-2 Birmingham
Jose's promised attacking football was finally in evidence here; two wingers employed and both SWP and Malouda looking threatening, two useful looking centre forwards. And a five-goal thriller. Birmingham showed a lot of nerve scoring two goals here, and that sort of belief will stand them in good stead against the likes of Wigan and Derby.

Saturday review

2007-08-12T14:21:00.000+01:00

Aston Villa 1-2 Liverpool
Liverpool got their tricky first win of the season on the first day, thanks to a late Steven Gerrard effort. This is the sort of result they need to be keeping up. Little Martin will be please at how his side held one of the top teams.

Bolton 1-3 Newcastle
Big Sam proved a lot here - first, that he can buy some quality players, and second that he can still get miracles out of problematic players. Towards the end of last season Oba Martins and Charles N'Zogbia were upsetting the dressingroom and seemed to have little future; here they score 2 and 1, respectively. The unsightly war of words between Big Sam and Bolton Chairman Phil Gartside is underscored by Sam's absolute dominance of this match. And his favoured 4-3-3 was in evidence here with three centre forwards and two wingers.

Derby 2-2 Portsmouth
A good start for Derby with their tough squad; Pompey will be disappointed, if they are to push for Europe this season.

Everton 2-1 Wigan
A quality debut by Bramble, heading into his own net for Anichebe's goal, almost conceding a penalty and being at fault for the opener. Wigan are determined to buy relegation, despite what Sibierski's solid determination thinks.

Middlesbrough 1-2 Blackburn
Boro led for much of the match, hospitalised Benni McCarthy, but ultimately lost. I expect much of that to happen this season. Blackburn continue to fight and drag out victories.

Sunderland 1-0 Tottenham
Like Liverpool, Spurs need to lose their habit of starting terribly. They failed here, a dreary match capped by a late winner (by Newcastle reject Michael Chopra), in the vein of Sunderland's Quinn/Philips partnership ten years ago. Big Martin might need to rethink his midfield on the back of this, and Berbatov was disappointing. There's a real pressure on the young Spurs squad, the oldest players are 27. If the likes of Newcastle and Everton keep their form up, Spurs may struggle to break the Top 6.

West Ham 0-2 Man City
The big spenders faced up here, and Sven's continental surprise put West Ham back where they were last season. Many suspected the Hammers team spirit to haul them through this match, but without Tevez they are a potentially bad side.

Weekend Preview

2007-08-10T18:25:00.000+01:00

The new season asks a lot of questions, some of which might be answered this weekend.

Liverpool vs Aston Villa
Rafa has spent the second highest this summer, and the fans will be expecting them to push on and challenge for the title. While the season is a marathon and not a sprint, Liverpool have essentially lost the title in the first few weeks for the past few years by drawing or losing fixtures like this. The team that wins the title this season will need 90-92 points, meaning that they can not win at most 10 matches; messing about in the first five matches means that when Liverpool click at Christmas time, they'll still have to make ground up on Chelsea and Man Utd.
Little Martin has questions to answer; if he can start well, then his team can push towards Europe, otherwise, it's steady progress at best.
Verdict: Draw

Sunderland vs Spurs
Questions surround both sides; can Roy Keane prove himself as a manager? can Spurs push into the Big Four? I think in this case, Spurs will prove too strong; Berbatov and Keane have an understanding allowing Bent to be blooded gradually. Sunderland won't struggle this year, I think, but they won't win against Spurs. Spurs have started badly, like Liverpool, and this is the perfect opportunity to get a springboard.
Verdict: Away

Bolton vs Newcastle
The battle of the Fat Sams, Big and Little. Newcastle under Big Sam will want to prove that the inconsistencies of the last few seasons are a thing of the past. Big Sam will have a more pragmatic approach, but with Viduka and Martins against a Ben Haim-less defence, it'll be no contest.
Verdict: Away

Front pairing

2007-08-10T17:23:00.000+01:00

I've just realised that if the purple one goes for a pairing of tevez and rooney it'll be the ugliest front pairing ever. Defenders will be running scared of them, frightened they might catch ugliness off them.

First weekend

2007-08-10T16:43:00.001+01:00

It starts again tomorrow and I'm excited about it. Lot of good matches, grudge matches and some top notch players.

The Death of the Incredible Hulk

2007-08-10T16:33:00.000+01:00

Finally, The Incredible Hulk saga stops running, as David "Bruce" Banner-Tevez gets caught by the patient Government Agent Alex Ferguson, aka The Purple One, having escaped the clutches of Eggman and his Hammermen.

This is a more important transfer than Torres. If Liverpool had ambition, I believe this would have been the deal for them; his obvious friendship with Mascherano, couple with Mascherano's excellent form for Liverpool, would have put them in striking distance of the league. Tevez' form for West Ham at the end of last season was that of a Top Four striker; scoring goals, setting them up, dominating matches. Man Utd have got the deal of the summer with him and I am frightened of Man Utd's attacking prowess. Rooney must be scared with Tevez competing for position with him, and that can only be a great thing.

Punchbag

2007-08-10T16:19:00.001+01:00

David Moyes thinks that Everton can punch above their weight this season.

I think they can, though it's a game of brinkmanship with his thin squad. Back in the 80s, before Sky invented football, teams like Nottingham Forest (who are they you might ask) and Everton won the First Division title (not the same First Division which Forest are competing for this season) with only 14 players used in the entire season. The game is different now, not least due to having been invented by a television company in the intervening period, but teams have longer seasons, play more games in Europe, and have much bigger squads. There's an argument that the current top teams are better than those of the past - time was, a team could get promoted and win the league; I'm sure Sunderland fancy their chances come May.

Everton's troubles tend to be sine and cosine:
they do well one season and get into Europe;
they struggle in Europe, which stretches their always thin squad, and finish bottom half;
they do well and get into Europe;
etc.

To break this cycle, they're going to need a lot of luck with injuries, but more importantly, hope that their flexibile squad players like Jagielka and Phil Neville can not only paper over cracks but excel in these positions. Getting another full season out of Lescott will also help; it's one less position to have to cover over.

Red or Dead

2007-08-10T15:52:00.000+01:00

Rafa's beard is talking up his strikers.

He said: "I am not thinking about Torres scoring 20 or more goals. What I would like would be to see is Voronin scoring 10 to 15 goals, Crouch, Kuyt and Torres all the same. If we can score goals too from midfield to add to that, that is my aim and that would make me happy. I am not sure you need one player who can score 20 goals, you need more options and goals from everywhere in the team.

He has spent a lot of money on his forwards and there is a tremendous amount of pressure on them. He's been fairly canny here, pitching Torres at the same level as Kuyt, Crouch and Voronin, despite costing almost double what the other three have. The pressure is on Torres, and consequently on Rafa, to score a lot of goals - the fans are expecting the same sort of return that they got from England's Michael Owen back in the day, and that they will mount a series challenge this term.

As I state below, I'm unconvinced. If Liverpool play an attacking formation this year, then I'll back them, but I remain unconvinced. They've got a tricky start - away to Little Martin's boys; not one of the more exciting prospects, Liverpool away vs O'Neill's Villa - which is not what Rafa would have wished, what with Liverpool's history of slooooooow starts under him, undermining some excellent form later on in the season.

Then again, perhaps the beard has some sort of anti-Samson effect - growing the flamboyant goatee will allow his attacking flair to come out?

Little And Large

2007-08-10T15:44:00.000+01:00

The latest in what will be a long-running saga until Big Sam's Newcastle clearly outstrip Little Sammy's relegation bound Bolton.

There was a quote from Phil Gartside after Sammy's appointment that he was the coach he'd appoint now, and he wouldn't appoint Big Sam. I really can't see Little Sammy being a success there; there are too many egos that need kept in check by a big personality (sorry, a Big personality), and their dressing room will fall apart. Anelka and Diouf need kid glove treatment, and are unlikely to get it - one of them will be away by the end of August, the other in January.

Prediction - Week 1

2007-08-10T15:42:00.001+01:00

Here's what I'm predicting:

Arsenal v Fulham 3-0
Aston Villa v Liverpool 1-1
Bolton v Newcastle 1-2
Chelsea v Birmingham 3-0
Derby v Portsmouth 0-2
Everton v Wigan Ath 3-0
Man Utd v Reading 3-0
Middlesbro' v Blackburn 0-1
Sunderland v Tottenham 0-2
West Ham v Man City 2-1

Update after the weekend.

Prediction - Summary

2007-08-10T15:40:00.001+01:00

I'll score myself against this at the end of the season, and maybe on a monthly basi if I can be bothered:

1 Man Utd
----------------
2 Chelsea
3 Arsenal
4 Tottenham
----------------
5 Liverpool
6 Newcastle
7 Everton
----------------
8 Portsmouth
9 Blackburn
10 Aston Villa
11 West Ham
12 Man City
13 Sunderland
14 Fulham
15 Birmingham
16 Reading
17 Bolton
----------------
18 Middlesbrough
19 Derby
20 Wigan

Now, I shall do some news stories.

Prediction - Wigan Athletic

2007-08-10T15:27:00.000+01:00

Finally, well...

In: Antoine Sibierski, Titus Bramble, Mario Melchiot, Andreas Granqvist, Carlo Nash, Jason Koumas, Michael Brown

Out: Leighton Baines, Lee McCulloch, Matt Jackson, Arjan de Zeeuw, David Unsworth, Andreas Johansson

Tells a lot. Losing their best players, bringing in utter dump. Melchiot and Bumble will bring back strong memories of The Chuckle Brothers at Newcastle. Sibierski is going to be their top striker. Koumas is totally unproven at this level.

In summary, Paul Jewell is a manager I've never really liked, but keeping Bradford and Wigan up points to him having something. Which Chris Hutchings destroys in the next season. His "trick" of virtually relegating Bradford after 11 matches and 7 points looks like being repeated here. He seems to have absolutely no idea about which players are any use in the Premier League. I have no belief that I will have egg on my face with this one.

PREDICTION - 20th

Prediction - West Ham United

2007-08-10T15:06:00.000+01:00

Last season was ever-so-slightly eventful for the Irons...

Shorn of The Incredible Hulk, arch scumbag Craig Belmy should get them goals. Scott Parker for Reo-Coker might work for them, especially if there's less dressing room disruption - not that reuniting Bowyer, Belmy and Dire will end that. If the Dire deal goes through, which it inevitably will, then they should have some flair, albeit at the expense of even more popularity. Freddie Ljungberg is a big risk - a top player, but he has waned over the last few years, and I expect him to be in more pants adverts than penalty boxes this season. West Ham's transfer policy of buying anyone seems to be matched with selling anyone, too - they will miss Benayoun and Konchesky. I remember Roy Carroll was brilliant in the 99/00 edition of Championship Manager, but has never captured that fictional quality at the myriad clubs he's been at since then, and has been shipped off to Rangers.

Biscuitman Eggert Magnusson will be expecting big things from grumpy Curbs this season, and I just don't see them doing that well.

PREDICTION - 11th

Prediction - Tottenham Hotspur

2007-08-10T15:05:00.000+01:00

A big summer for Big Martin (not any taller than Little Martin, but bigger in girth). A lot of big money signings, continuing his policy of signing youngsters, echoing the success Arsene has had along the road. Darren Bent is viewed as a risk, rather than providing more options to last seasons trio - Berbatov has had his first season, and should replicate his awesome form this season, Keane and Bent can do the flanks in a 4-3-3, and Defoe could bother playing well every so often with three strikers ahead of him. At the back, they've improved with the signing of Younes Kaboul, and in midfield the wonderfully-named Kevin-Prince Boateng should add some steel. Danny Rose is promising, and could help towards the end of the season. They desperately need a new goalkeeper, though.

The shadowy Bahamas-based ENIC corporation will expect Big Martin to push on from two successive 5ths and get third. They will score a LOT of goals, and if they leak fewer, they'll do it. And maybe more.

PREDICTION - 4th

Prediction - Sunderland

2007-08-10T14:56:00.000+01:00

A big conundrum for this season - along with Spurs/Arsenal and Big Sam/Little Sam - how will Roy Keane do in the Premier League as a manager? His record at Sunderland last year was brilliant; with a team of third-rate players, he took them from top to bottom. He has strengthened the team this summer - most notably at the back with Craig Gordon being the best British goalkeeper, and Russell Anderson being the best Aberdeen defender since Willie Miller and Alex McLeish in the early 80s. Kieran Richardson and Michael Chopra for over £5m each are big gambles as neither looked particularly hot at Man Utd and Newcastle, but if I was playing for Royston, I wouldn't even dream of underperforming, even putting my shoes on.

I think Niall Quinn will be expecting survival, maybe a push towards 10th. Next season is their big trial by fire, but they'll do much better than Birmingham and Derby.

PREDICTION - 13th

Prediction - Reading

2007-08-10T14:51:00.000+01:00

They will struggle. Second Season Struggle or whatever you want to call it, but they'll be looking to stay up, as Steve Coppell knows too well. Losing Sidwell to Chelsea will really harm them. Consolidation is the name of the game for them. I'd normally tip them for relegation, but there are some utterly dump teams there this season.

PREDICTION - 16th

Prediction - Portsmouth

2007-08-10T14:38:00.000+01:00

I've been a fan of Dave "Harry" Redknapp since his West Ham camera-avoiding days, cheeky wheeler-dealering, harping on about "ve fings Joe Cole does in training", Michael Douglas Sr his trusted Assistant. His ride at Pompey has been bumpy; promotion on the back of wheeler-dealering, progress on the back of wheeler-dealering, leaving due to not enough wheeler-dealering, relegating Southampton due to wheeler-dealering, saving Pompey due to wheeler-dealering and getting them back into the top half on wheeler dealering. Indeed, his new owner - the not at all dodgy Alexandre Gaydamak - has allowed his wheeler-dealering to soar to new heights:

In: David Nugent, John Utaka, Sylvain Distin, Hermann Hreidarsson, Sulley Muntari, Martin Cranie, Arnold Mvuemba, Callum Reynolds

That's a lot of quality - Distin will assist Nokia Campbell at the back; Nugent, Muntari and Utaka will batter in the goals. And not really a lot of cheeky sales or swap deals:

Out: Svetoslav Todorov, Daryl Fordyce, Andy Griffin, Collins Mbesuma

That's tidying up the squad more than anything.

Gaydamak will be expecting a return on his investment, and cheeky wheeler-dealering on this scale has to afford Pompey a European place. If not, well...

PREDICTION - 8th

Prediction - Newcastle

2007-08-10T14:36:00.000+01:00

I'm expecting decent things of Newcastle this season. Despite a spendthrift new regime, Big Sam has bought some top quality players - Newcastle finally have the defence they've needed since 1992, and the strikeforce has only become better with the purchase of Mark Viduka, giving the side the Alan Shearer replacement it needs. Something that might be key to getting into Europe is the flexibility of Geremi and Alan Smith; both players can deputise for Joey Barton when he's injured or incarcerated. Buying in two strikers seems a strange thing, but with Michael Owen's injury problems and the continual rumours surrounding Oba Martins, it may prove wise.

Big Sam's biggest challenges, other than clearing a Full English three times a day, are to ensure that the chaotic injury crises of the past few years is resolved, and that idiotic thugs like Dyer, Bowyer and Bellamy are managed properly - buying one in in Joey Barton is a risk; providing he stays out of jail he should perform well. Shipping out the worst defender ever (Titus Bumble) can only be a good thing - his newlook defence needs to gel around the promising Steven Taylor, providing the passionate Geordie lynchpin to the side. There are a lot of good youngsters at the club, ironically developed by ex-boss Glenn Roeder, and the future could be bright. But how often has that been said about the Barcodes?

Expectation for the new owner will be top half, possibly Europe, probably a cup. And they might do it.

PREDICTION - 6th

Prediction - Middlesbrough

2007-08-10T14:22:00.000+01:00

Selling your strikers and buying defenders isn't going to result in attractive football. I can see Man City's non-scoring record being annihilated by this lot. Aliadere and Yakubu are expected to lead the line - Yak's recent transfer request and rumoured interest in the lumbering Mido point to a significant weakening up front. Woodgate is, when fit, one of England's best defenders, but where the goals going to come from?

Steve Gibson will be expecting Europe, and will get relegation.

PREDICTION - 18th

Prediction - Manchester United

2007-08-10T14:10:00.000+01:00

After some splurting offensive football last season to win the last OFFICIAL PREMIERSHIP, The Purple One will be looking to win the Champions League and the league this season. His transfer dealings this summer has bought redundancy in most positions - Hargreaves/Carrick, Nani/Giggs, Anderson/Scholes, Tevez/Rooney to go with Ronaldo/Park - but still has the oversight of having only one centre forward in Louis Saha and his injury troubles (I don't expect Solksjaer to feature much outside of the Carling Cup). At the back, they can look thin with Wes Brown and John O'Shea as not quite top class understudies to Ferdinand and Vidic - that said, the flexibility of the likes of O'Shea and Brown will allow cover for Evra and Che Neville if needed. Van Der Sar, miraculous penalty saves in the McDonalds Community Shield aside, might wane over the season, and Ferguson will be hoping that Foster recovers quickly and provides competition soon.

I can see Man U absolutely destroying some teams - imagine the scene that they are 7-0 up at Derby or Wigan, and Rooney and Ronaldo come off for Saha and Nani; they're not going to let up, such is the competition. I expect them to tonk at least one team 10-0. And to win the league.

PREDICTION - 1st

Prediction - Manchester City

2007-08-10T14:07:00.000+01:00

Sven, Sven, Sven... His year out of the game has obviously been spent searching Europe for some top young players. It seems very much to me a long-term tactic. After last season's horrendously dull performance - I was so bored of them, that I can't think where they finished - dodgy human rights expoliter Thaksin Shinamatra will be looking to stabilise the side in mid-table and acclimatise some of the new players. I expect them to struggle in the league initially, but do well in a cup. And for the fans to have to resort to some other form of insomnia cure.

PREDICTION - 12th

Prediction - Liverpool

2007-08-10T14:02:00.001+01:00

Last season's appalling Champions League final performance left big questions surrounding Rafa's negative tactics; Milan had peaked against Man U, just as Man U had peaked against Roma, yet they didn't exploit this and Kaka's anonymity. Bringing on defenders when trying to win the match, playing Harry Kewell...

Against this, Rafa - now adorned with a rubbish goatee - has promised attacking football. He's brought in some hyped up attackers - Babel, Benayoun, Voronin and, of course, Torres - and shipped out some of his (and others) biggest mistakes - Bellamy, Cisse, Sinama Pongolle, Fowler, Dudek, Zenden. Indeed, a strength of Rafa's has been to admit mistakes and rectify them; Liverpool's billionaire owners and dolescum fans will be praying that he amends his tactics. Gillett and Hicks will be expecting the title for their (gross) outlay, but the net outlay probably shows that their strength in depth is suspect. Failure to provide Carragher and Agger with meaningful back-up could cost them - Sami Hyypia is unlikely to be as strong as in past seasons.

Bringing so many players in might result in chaos and one of Liverpool's infamous poor starts. I think this will be a poor year on the home front, but Champions League semis at least, and possibly another cup.

PREDICTION - 5th

Prediction - Fulham

2007-08-10T13:45:00.000+01:00

The days of Fayed's largesse seem to have been long gone, but Lawrie Sanchez has been trusted with £20m to spend, with a view to getting Fulham into mid-table obscurity. His work at Northern Ireland, like Mark Hughes at Wales and Walter Smith at Scotland, meant that he was going to get poached by a Premiership club sooner rather than later. After Cookie Coleman (surely the worst nickname ever - he once at a cookie on a team bus) managed adequately on a miniscule budget, Sanchez came in, did nothing and relied on other team's ineptitude to save them.

That said, he has bought well. He's bought some of the Norn Iron boys who have done so well for him - David Healy will score Fulham's goals this season - with a hope to installing the Wimbledon Crazy Gang spirit of yesteryear at Fulham. They won't set the world alight, but they'll be okay - probably a decent run before an end of season malaise sets in.

PREDICTION - 14th

Prediction - Everton

2007-08-10T13:38:00.000+01:00

Tricky one to call. Like Blackburn, they've got limited funds and have over-achieved due to a top quality manager. I like some of the players they've bought it, but they're still weak up front - buying Yakubu would peg them at the same level as Spurs. One of their strengths, and I believe this will be key to a lot of teams this season, is flexibility; Phil Jagielka demonstrates this with his ability to play virtually anywhere, including in goal. Leighton Baines will be a good signing for them, and they'll be hoping that James Vaughan's progress continues after his injury. Joleon Lescott was one of the stars of the last season, and I wouldn't be surprised if he gets a call-up to England, though I suspect McClown would have to go first.

Their expectation will be to continue to progress in the manner of previous (odd) seasons, and avoid the even seasons' underachievement. A UEFA Cup place would be a minimum, a Champions League place would be a dream. Their squad is perhaps too light for this season, but they look like they're going to get a couple of top quality players before the end of the month.

PREDICTION - 7th

Prediction - Derby County

2007-08-10T13:35:00.000+01:00

Since their takeover last summer, Derby have flourished. Two years ahead of a three year plan to get back into the Premier League, they will be overstretched here. Still, the £60m will come in handy with rebuilding a side. Their expectation is to go back down, with fluking survival an outside chance. They've bought some okay players, but more geared towards winning the 2008-2009 Championship than surviving this season's Premier League. Still, they won't be the worst team in the league...

PREDICTION - 19th

Prediction - Chelsea

2007-08-10T13:29:00.000+01:00

The pressure's on the Special One. Can he regain the title? Can he get his midfield to work? Can he get last season's superstars to perform?

Signing the superstars of Shevchenko and Ballack damaged their team spirit, as well as confusing their best formation - the aggressive wingplay of Robben and Cole was redundant, and Shaun Wright-Philips pace was largely ignored.

The injuries to Cech and Terry effectively lost Chelsea the title - signing Tal Ben Haim and Alex, work permit pending, will strengthen in defence. Sidwell and Pizarro will help them through the African Nations Cup, which will decimate their first team. They need Drogba to perform again, Lampard to score again, and Essien to continue his development, without the stifling need to deputise in central defence. Cashley will have a better season, and they've always got the underrated Wayne Bridge to fall back on. Malouda will give them the flair they've lost through Robben, and should give them the consistency and positive attitude he's lacked. If Joe Cole stays fit, he'll be a key player for Chelsea and England. What happens up front is anyone's guess, but I imagine Drogba with Pizarro as reserve, and Shevchenko reserved for Champions League.

Expectation as ever will be Premier League, Champions League, FA Cup and Carling Cup. They'll win two of those.

PREDICTION - 2nd

Prediction - Bolton Wanderers

2007-08-10T13:25:00.000+01:00

Little Sammy has the weight of Big Sam on his shoulders. Turning a provincial club into consistent top half performers required a lot of skill and ingenuity as well as a big character. Big Sam's departure to Newcastle will definitely affect Bolton.

Little Sammy has continued Big Sam's eccentric transfer policy of bringing in failures to rehabilitate, and unknown foreigners to exploit, but has shied away from the Bolton Care Home signings of yesteryear, bringing the average age down. Losing Tal Ben Haim will create problems, and the squad has been trimmed of some wastage. Keeping Anelka and Diouf will give them the goals they need to survive, providing their mental rehabilitation at the hands of Big Sam isn't thwarted, though they might lose them before the transfer window closes. The likes of Gary Speed and Kevin Nolan are too canny to let Bolton go down without a fight, but if their potentially explosive dressing room does turn into a fight, even they may be helpless.

Chairman Phil Gartside will be expecting a good UEFA Cup run and pushing on to challenge the Big Four. Everyone else seems to be thinking that if they stay up it'll be a miracle. I'd put money on Paul Jewell being manager by the end of the season, probably keeping them up at the last minute. They will definitely struggle.

PREDICTION - 17th

Prediction - Blackburn Rovers

2007-08-10T13:24:00.000+01:00

Not a busy summer at Blackburn, but keeping Benni McCarthy will be like signing a new player. He was their best player last season and will be again this year. The players Mark Hughes bought will strengthen the depth of their team, and some of the chaff has been sorted out - losing the hopeless Francis Jeffers is a great piece of business. David Bentley should progress further this year and add some flair to a tough team.

They have slipped back a bit in terms of spending and budget, but they'll be looking to tread water while rumours of American buyouts splash around.

PREDICTION - 9th

Prediction - Birmingham City

2007-08-10T13:22:00.000+01:00

Birmingham are going to face a tough season. I don't think they'll do a Reading or Wigan and take the league by storm, but Steve Bruce has been round this particular block before. He's bought in some players seasoned in surviving a relegation battle, as well as some promising foreign players. Muamba might come good for them, and Garry O'Connor should score enough goals to keep them up, despite his horrendous haircut. Turning a £1m profit on DJ Campbell in six months is the sort of business that Bruce has performed well at Brummieland.

The new Chinese owners will be expecting big things, but not immediately. Survival is their goal this season, and while I can see periods of struggle, I can also see good runs that will save them.

PREDICTION - 15th

Prediction - Aston Villa

2007-08-10T13:18:00.000+01:00

Bigger things were expected of Little Martin when he arrived at Villa Park last summer, heralding Randy Lerner's new regime at the club. Expectations were that he'd throw foreign money after a challenge for the Top Four, reminiscent of O'Neill's early years at Celtic. Instead, Martin's had to use his experience from Leicester and keep his budget tight whilst still improving the quality of the first team, if not the squad. The four players he's brought in are decent; Nigel Reo-Coker (who should really be England Men's Hockey Captain with a name like that) should add some quality to their midfield, Marlon Harewood has potential that never really blossomed at West Ham, and the other two should prove useful over the course of the season. Shipping out a lot of O'Leary's dead wood, for cash money in most cases, will help them - while they have a thin squad, there's no real point in having a big squad if it's full of Aaron Hughes, Gavin McCann and Lee Hendrie.

I think O'Neill and Lerner will be looking to improve on last season, and will see a top half finish as the next step. He instilled a great team spirit last season, as evidenced by their early season form, and brought in his favoured big bruiser up front in John Carew, which could see them take points away from home.

PREDICTION - 10th

Prediction - Arsenal

2007-08-10T13:13:00.000+01:00

A lot of players shipped out this summer, most notably Thierry Henry taking his own particular brand of sulking and disappearing to Barcelona, where he'll inevitably do well and win the league. The others shipping out are largely squad players - Ljungberg is past his best, Reyes turns a loan to Real into a move to Atletico, Aliadere is off to get Boro relegated - and won't really be missed. Arsene has spent the last few seasons stock-piling some top quality youngsters - Fabregas, Van Persie, Walcott, Toure - and blooding them in the Premiership. This season is key to those little boys becoming the big boys, and Wengers future and reputation hinges on this. He has created three excellent sides at Arsenal, moving people on when they are past their peak (Vieira, Overmars) or past caring (Campbell, Anelka), often for a massive profit. His transfer record is impressive, almost breaking even over the ten years he's been there. He's bought cannily; Da Silva will give them more options than Henry and allow them to restore their killer team mentality, essential for their brand of football to flourish. The other three incomers are going to strengthen areas of weakness, but I feel that Mad Jens needed replacing - if he'd moved earlier, he could have bought in Craig Gordonfor cheaper than the £9m Sunderland have paid. It could cost Arsene, and Fabianski will probably have to deliver at some point this season.

Predicting how they'll do is one of the most difficult, in a difficult season. The big questions surround Spurs pushing on to fourth at the expense of Arsenal, and how Arsenal will cope without Le Sulk. The board will expect development, if only in terms of improving the experience in the first team and maintaining their Top Four place, with a decent European run. They'll be anywhere between 3rd and 5th, depending on how the new players and the youngsters perform - I can't see a title challenge, but I can't see them slipping too far if they do slip.

PREDICTION - 3rd

Global Soccerball

2007-08-10T13:07:00.000+01:00

This is my blog about the English Premier League.

I'm an armchair fan of football, and this will be all done in a sarcastic tone. I aim to start with predictions regarding each of the top twenty teams, and will track this on a monthly basis. Also, I will reflect in a childish manner about the latest news stories from around the web.

Hopefully you'll enjoy reading this, and I'll actually write some stuff in it more than in other blogs I've started.