Kicking off a new season

THE final day of the football transfer window saw frenetic activity as clubs sought to create squads that will sustain their ambitions for the first half of the season while also building for the future. 

Many of the transfers were concluded too late for the players in question to be able to play for their new clubs last weekend although, as many clubs benefit from an international break, this does at least allow teams to acquaint themselves with their new acquisitions – unless, of course, the players are flying off on international duty!

Two of the busiest clubs in the final days were Manchester City (spending £37 million (BD22.06 million) on Garcia, Sinclair, Maicon and Nastasic) and Tottenham Hotspurs (spending GBP £33 million (BD19.67 million) on Dembele, Lloris and Dempsey in an ‘as late as it gets’ smash-and-grab to prise the latter from under the nose of Liverpool). Amazingly, this leaves Spurs in credit in their transfer dealings having finally offloaded Modric to Real Madrid and Van der Vaart to Hamburg.

Club chairman Daniel Levy failed to provide a direct replacement for the departed Modric as his attempts to secure the prime target of coach Villas-Boas, Moutinho, fell short. But the team can boast Dembele, one player who has already started to repay the faith shown in him with an exquisite finish in his first match as part-payment of the £15 million (BD8.94 million) investment.

I just get the feeling that few of the top sides are yet to hit form with managers priding themselves on passing games aghast at the number of careless errors and leaky defences.

Sir Alex Ferguson has now, at the age of 70, notched his 1,000th league game as Manchester United manager, a milestone achieved with victory against newcomers Southampton. While Robin Van Persie will receive the plaudits for his hat-trick, it was veteran Paul Scholes who was credited with the turnaround by his boss after his side had gone 2-1 behind.

The Super Blues are the only side with maximum points providing an early vindication for the confirmation of Roberto di Matteo as Chelsea manager. 

He appears to have found the formula that gets the best out of Fernando Torres with Eden Hazard being the pick of the Premiership in the early fixtures.

Owner Abramovic has certainly backed his manager, spending £81 million (BD48.29 million) with Oscar from Internacionale being the other main addition. Interestingly, they have not found a like-for-like replacement for Didier Drogba, despite being linked with a number of alternatives, such as Hulk. It will be interesting to see how they play when requiring a Plan B!

Arsenal, with new coach Steve Bould working alongside Wenger, have secured three clean sheets despite facing two tricky away matches. Yet again we enter a new season with Arsenal fielding a new look midfield and attack and surely this will take time to gel. However, Wenger has a plethora of skilful players at his disposal and I would fancy them to be among the country’s top scorers at the end of the season, despite selling hotshot Van Persie to their arch-rivals.

Arsenal are again re-building although did manage to persuade England ace Walcott to stay. I personally believe this is the best club for him – he strikes me as a player who needs regular matches and I simply cannot see him getting this, or fitting into the styles of the bigger, more successful clubs. 

However much optimism I have for Liverpool under Brendan Rodgers, at this stage I do not see that as being a move in the right direction for his career.

Liverpool have been linked with many of Europe’s star players this summer yet have failed to land many of these, despite chairman Tom Werner’s claim that he wants to compete with Barcelona and Real Madrid.

In allowing Andy Carroll to join West Ham on loan they have left themselves short of goal scoring options, a point emphasised as they failed to breach a resolute Arsenal defence at the weekend. 

The one bright spark came, not from an expensive signing, but from 17-year-old Raheem Sterling. The bright new dawn under Rodgers has coincided with Liverpool’s worst start in 50 years – winless after three games.

Everton has been another surprise package – not due to a perceived lack of quality but due to their normally slow start, traditionally only producing their best football in January. 
When asked what he has done different this year, manager David Moyes replied the players and management ‘had our Christmas Dinner already’!

It has clearly worked, although the sale of stalwart Tim Cahill has allowed Fellaini to play further up the park which reaped early rewards with his winner in the opener against Manchester United.

Last season’s surprise contenders for Europe, Newcastle United, will have been pleased to escape the transfer window having held on to their key players such as Ba, Ben Arfa, Cabaye and Cisse.

The challenge that Newcastle will face is that of learning how to balance the rigours of the league with the demands of European competition. The match that they lost away to Chelsea was played less than 48 hours after their first European away match.

In addition to new players, a number of clubs also have new managers in place.

Pre-season, the attention was focused on those new to management in the Premier League, Michael Laudrup at Swansea and Steve Clarke at West Brom. Both clubs were heavily tipped for relegation. In addition to their lack of relevant experience, both clubs also managed to secure more from sales than they spent on new signings, further adding to the belief that they were destined for the drop.

However, Laudrup has continued with the tika-taka style of Barcelona and sold higher profile players allowing him to bring in those known to him, such as Hernandez. Clarke has built West Brom’s early season on a solid defence and have conceded only once in rising to third in the table.

The other side worth a mention is Bahrain’s ‘second-team’, QPR, who were sponsored by Gulf Air until making it into the Premiership. While they need no introduction, their players will – to each other! Fifteen have left since the end of last term with ten arriving.

Granero from Real Madrid and Cesar from Inter are the highest-profile acquisitions although there are a number of familiar British names such as the prolific Andy Johnson (making the transfer official) and Junior Hoillett. Mark Hughes will hope to make his team gel quickly and will be grateful for the international break.

Of the new sides, despite their position at the foot of the table, I believe that Southampton should reach safety through their goal threat. I have been unconvinced by Reading in their first two games. At this early stage I also fear for the hopes of Aston Villa under Lambert and his former side, Norwich.

At the top end, the two Manchester sides had such a lead last season that I believe they will be hard to beat. I tip City to again be triumphant and believe that Chelsea and Arsenal will push United hard for second.

City will need to remain injury free and safely negotiate the African Cup of Nations while United, while blessed with a relatively simple European group, have a high number of away matches following European ties which could hamper their domestic bid for a title.

Of course, the acid test for English clubs is in Europe. Chelsea have already had their first opportunity to shine in the European Super Cup against Atletico Madrid, being humiliated 4-1 primarily due to a first half hat-trick from Falcao – what price for him now for a transfer when the window reopens to Stamford Bridge?

After the international break Chelsea welcome Italian champions Juventus, who are again riding high domestically.

In Europe, Bayern Munich showed that the German league has much to offer, surprisingly beating off competition from Barcelona, Real Madrid and Manchester City to secure the £32 million (BD19.08 million) signing of versatile midfielder Javi Martinez from Athletic Bilbao. He joins Shaqiri, Dante, Mandzukic and Pizarro as the Germans aim to improve on last season having finished as runners-up in three competitions.

The arrival of Modric at the Bernabeu was too late to prevent Real having their worst start in recent memory, although they have still lifted their first silverware of the season, defeating arch-rivals Barcelona on away goals in the Spanish Super Cup.

* Do you agree with Abu’s Premiership prediction? Manchester City to win the title again.