ANFIELD BECKONS- WHAT HAVE WE GOT?

Finally we get to quench our thirst for football action this weekend!

As usual, most of the pundits have written us off already. We are even tipped by some (read as most) to fall behind Manchester City. Is this new to us? No!! Anyway, we know how big the brains of those pundits are! We’ll leave that to that.

As mentioned more than once by most of our team last season, we’ve to take it one step at a time, one match at a time. We don’t control how the other biggies perform, we only control ourselves. If we stay consistent long enough, we can sing our song louder than ever.

We start the season at Anfield! (If you didn’t know already) Its Merseyside again, shall we do what we did to the Toffees last season? Haha! Too much to ask for eh? Not impossible however given our attacking credentials.

Let us get down to business and see what our first step has to offer-

Attack-

We are nothing short in this area of the pitch, we have an able Chamakh who has successfully integrated into the side and he does look the player we missed last season. He will be licking his lips for a strong premier league debut. Arshavin, our four goal hero of 2008-09 and the winner last year at Anfield will be primed for action in his favorite match. He has been seen to be breaking his sweat this pre-season, we can expect a lot from the Little Russian. Theo, Vela and JET can run at the Reds defence and cause problems. RVP is expected to be absent for the opener, he may get a few minutes however as competitive game time.

In Arshavin we Trust! 

Midfield-

Cesc is off to the Americas to play Mexico in a meaningless friendly mid-week, he may or may not be present for “The” match. Nasri can easily deputize as he has in preseason. He has been on fire. He seems to be a man on a mission after being left out of the France Squad. Wilshere, Frimpong, Eboue, Song (hopefully) and Rosicky can do the job for us, in the absence of Diaby and Denilson. We have already seen that against Milan and the other pre-season opponents. We have plenty going forward, no doubt, but I expect our midfield to learn from Legia and provide adequate cover to our defense without leaving pockets of space to exploit for the Reds. Organization and Positioning are very important for the way we play, the manager has to drill it in to them to start defending from the front.

Who's on Fire? Nasri's on Fire! 

Defence-

This is identified by many as the problem area. However, let’s not call for signings, AW has promised to bring a man before Aug 31, let us give him that much time. We’ll stick to what we have in hand till then.

We have a good player in Laurent Koscielny, who showed what he can do in the game against Milan, a similar promising performance against the Reds will get the doubters off his back and will give him confidence. Vermalaen shoulders a lot of responsibility and I have full confidence in him to show he is up for the task. I expect solid performances from our full backs, they were exposed because of our formation last season, hopefully they have learnt from that and they don’t leave any spaces anymore. That will help us throughout the season.

The Kozzer!!

Last but most important of the lot-

Goal Keeper- It’s an area which has derived a lot of attention. Many have written off Fabianski and Almunia as clowns. Even I, at times have taken out some harsh words on both of them for their mistakes. I hope AW buys an experienced keeper before the close of the transfer window, who can nurture the young ones. However, that cannot be done in 3 days, whoever he fields on the day at Anfield, please do not get on their backs as they don’t lack in ability but mentality. Wojciech Sczezeny (if that’s right) may even get his chance, hopefully! Most of us would love to see him step it up. He is hugely confident, that is an addition to any keeper for that case!

Can Flap prove us otherwise?

Hope he gets atleast a No. 2 nod

If, we put the ball down and pass around, we can take 3 points where most teams won’t! That said, we will begin our campaign with full hearted support, no moaning & groaning! Once the whistle blows, get behind the team.

UP THE ARSE! KEEP THE FAITH!

Cheers,

Ramos! 

Sriram D. Iyer 

A NEW DAWN- AN INSIGHT IN TO THE FUTURE

So, it’s August again, the English Premier League is set to take over the football world- its supposedly the best league in the world according to UEFA listings, even though none of the top teams got past the quarters in an otherwise English dominated UEFA Champions league. The summer offered us a wonderful World Cup, with the emergence of an international youth philosophy in Germany, the deviation from total football by Holland and a Barcelonesque touch from Europe to World domination by Spain. It had a lot to offer about team tactics, formations and organization, witnessing the fall of a rigid 4-4-2 of England, who were ruthlessly derailed by the Germans. Other than the tournament, the summer has been stuck to dry speculation on transfers without much activity in the market due to the clubs’ inability to spend following global meltdown. However, these recession terms do not apply to the Blue side of Manchester, they just keep coming up with the money out of the Sheikh’s oil well. It would be interesting to see how they perform as well as accord to newly implemented UEFA Financial Fair play rules. Anyway, without further ado, we’ll get down to analyze how the teams challenging for the title will perform in the new campaign.

Tottenham Hotspur- The Spurs are on their high and are in Europe after a long spell of 50 years in the sidelines. They currently field an ambitious manager in ‘Arry Redknapp who is looking at top signings and is making claims that this could be Tottenham’s chance to repeat the glory days of 1961 and bring home the League title. But with the new 25 man rule coming in to effect this season, it will force the Spurs to leave Jonathan Woodgate out of the squad as mentioned by the Manager. Luka Modric and Gareth Bale are key to their performances. However with an ageing backline and a low yield in the Under-21 department, they don’t have a big enough squad to play top football all season long and to land the crown this season. Prediction- dropping out of the top 4 spot to be leapfrogged by either of Manchester City or a Roy Driven Reds machine!

Manchester City- Citeh have bolstered their squad with World Class talent. Their defense is taking shape with the likes of Jerome Boateng and Kolarov coming in. Roberto Mancini is knitting his defense up tightly with the beast from Cote D’Ivoire Yaya Toure to shore up the space sitting in front of the defensive four, giving the full backs license to attack. Well, they don’t need that however, they’ve added Valencian Gun powder David Silva to their ranks alongside Carlos Tevez and company. The Spine of the team is complete through Given/Hart (Premier League’s best prospect) to Kolarov to Toure to Tevez. It is a new look to the Manc’s. However, they will take time to gel as shown by their pre season results. The coordination of the team lies in the manager’s hands at the moment and how they do that will decide on how they finish in the table. Mancini also faces the 25-man rule, Citeh have to cut down 7 to 8 players to fall within the rules. The likes of WC finalist De Jong, Togo striker Adebayor, Kompany and  Craig Bellamy already feel the axe hanging near their necks. How they will be sold in the market with their current wage demands would be interesting to see. Prediction- they will come good this season, they’ll do a Chelsea and buy the trophy- but not this year, they will take their time to get their games going, while the other big teams will have a comfortable leeway to bank on. They’ll get the elusive top 4 spot this season. But they are a team to watch out for in the future!

Liverpool- The Insolvents as they are called these days are taken over by the Manager of the season 2009-2010 Roy Hodgson. He has started with the signing of Joe Cole on a free transfer. He is pretty much a like-for-like replacement for Yossi Benayoun with a slightly higher affinity towards the treatment table.  Liverpool have the futures of Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres decided and they will provide adequate fire power along with a healthy Alberto Aquilani. New Scottish addition 18 year old Danny Wilson will provide cover to the Reds defense. However, they risk losing Argentine Captain Javier Mascherano to the lure of Rafa Benitez from Italy. Negative as this may be, this might be a new light for Liverpool as Gerrard can slot in with a more box-to-box role while Aquilani or Joe Cole can push higher up the pitch with Lucas sitting at the top of the back four. It’s a big year for Dirk Kuyt, David Ngog and Ryan Babel as they will be required to perform when El Nino is not available. Prediction- They will require an injury free year to Gerrard and Torres to break in to the top four again. It looks highly likely that they’ll be battling with Manchester City for the fourth spot. Roy Hodgson will do well and with the Chinese proposition coming along, he’ll get money to add to the squad either before Sept 1^st  or in January transfer market. It’ s either Fourth or Fifth for the Reds this season.

Now to the Main part of the article…

Manchester United- United field a much similar lineup to the year that passed, with the additions of forward Chicarito Javier Hernandez and defender Chris Smalling. Vidic’s commitment to the squad after baseless rumors about his Old Trafford departure was a welcome sign to the Manchester outfit. The fitness of Rio Ferdinand and Wayne Rooney is very much the deciding factor this season. Berbatov needs to shoulder the weight on Rooney’s shoulders this season and get in to the fore. Looking at last season, the reason he is staying maybe because Sir Alex had seen something in the Bulgarian and spoken to him about influencing and showing himself more in games. The midfield is a little lacking as the pair of Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs grow a year older and question marks on their legs’ return start to come up. It is up to the relative youth of Fletcher and Carrick to take over from the veterans. Carrick was disappointing last season, he will have to improve for United to mount a serious title challenge. Nani and Valencia would be deployed in the wings and their consistency is key. Throw in Park Ji Sung, the utility man, to cover for injuries at any place in the midfield. Wayne Rooney is shouldering too much of the team’s weight and expectations of the fans. He must be supported by Hernandez, Berbatov and Owen this season. He must be taken off the responsibility of the only main source of the goals for United up top, to give him better fitness and more fire to perform with his heart worn on his sleeve. The likes of Anderson and Darron Gibson can provide cover to the midfield. It is finally up to the injuries and players coming good in the season. Prediction- Winning the title depends on Rooney repeating or bettering what he did in 2009-2010 and the other strikers coming good this season. Definitely top three.

Arsenal- Well here come my personal favorite- Arsenal. Much has come to the fore about the captain Francesc Fabregas supposedly transfer to Barcelona, Arsenal has done well to keep away from the astronomical speculation linking their captain away from the club. But this has only been supported with Barcelona making a derisory offer of £30 million for one of the brightest midfield maestros in all of the land. Cesc Fabregas is set to stay in the red and white as Barcelona remain incapable of putting in a proper transfer fee. Goalkeeping issues are yet to be sorted out and this might be a big confidence downer in the defensive department and another season of goalkeeping bloopers cannot be tolerated. Arsene Wenger identified the defensive side of things as the downside of last season and that conceding 41 goals cannot land the title. The defensive setup has taken a make over this season with William Gallas, Mikael Silvestre, Sol Campbell and long gone Phillippe Senderos leaving and only Lorient  centre back Laurent Koscielny added along with Johan Djourou coming back from injury. Arsenal are short of numbers, strength and height at centre back and with revolutionary signing Thomas Vermalaen taking the senior position at the age of 24. Arsene Wenger has promised to add defensive signings before the close of the window and this would prove very significant to their title challenge. The midfield is overloaded with the likes of Alex Song as the pivot with Frimpong emerging from nowhere as cover and the brightest 18 year old prospect in Jack Wilshere looking to take it to the highest level. Along with Nasri who has been on obscenely super touch in pre season with Tomas Rosicky returning from injury as cover and of course Cesc Fabregas who just won the World Cup with Spain. Though, many may claim he sat out most of the World Cup, he made the pass that won the World Cup, eh? Walcott, Arshavin, Van Persie, Vela, Bendtner and Chamakh add fire power and dynamism up top. They boast a brilliant passing game of football, but their conversion to trophies would be put to test this very season as it decides on Wenger’s and more importantly Cesc Fabregas’ commitment to the club. Prediction- Can possibly win the League if additions in key areas (Centre back and Goal keeping) are added to the ranks. It comes down to injuries to key personnel and collective defending. They’ve done very well in the pre season, the knack is about maintaining the consistency and not switching off in games. Definitely top three with an outside chance at the title based on defensive solidarity and new signings.

Chelsea- Last season’s champions still remain the team to beat. They’ve added Yossi Benayoun from Liverpool to their ranks, Ramires of Benfica also looks a bright prospect. Anyone who witnessed his run to end with Robinho scoring in the recently gone tournament would know the caliber of this player. Chelsea have grown one more year and except for the above mentioned, have not added anything new to the attack or defense. Much falls on Didier Drogba’s shoulders this season again. Will he be able to repeat the golden boot winning performance of last season is a question that needs to be asked. With the resurgence of Michael Essien from injury, Chelsea’s midfield has taken a big boost. However, they’ve lost Michael Ballack, Deco, Beletti and Joe Cole this summer. Ballack was a key player as he provided the midfield steel in Essien’s absence and was an experienced head in the centre of the park. They had also relied on services of Deco and Joe Cole in bit parts on rotation of squad last season. Gael Kakuta is a big prospect lined up to take centre stage as the 25- man rule permits unlimited under 21’s in the squad. John Terry needs to show assurance in his defense after a shambolic World Cup display and must be fit for most part of the season as an injury to him or Lampard or Drogba will prove detrimental to Chelsea’s progress in the league. With Petr Cech suffering from injury, the goalkeeping situation doesn’t provide much confidence either. Frank Lampard is key to Chelsea and without him, the pace of the attack will not last. Defensive Minded Mikel and Right Back Ivanovic deserve a mention in this space as they were a class act on Chelsea’s walk to the trophy last season. After a double in his first season as manager, Carlo Ancelotti is quietly confident about this campaign but pre season results suggest otherwise. Prediction- Will retain the title based on the consistency of Lampard and Drogba upfront and Terry & Carvalho/ Ivanovic at the heart of defense. Hilario or Turnbull in goal might put Chelsea on the back foot when the season is underway giving an opportunity for their opponents to  take an early lead in the race. But they still remain the strongest side in England bar the age. Definitely Top two.

That is it for today folks. This is the first official post and all your reviews and criticism is most welcome. I’ll be writing again pretty soon with the review of the first week of matches at the top end of the table.

Till then, Cheers! And Hey GO GUNNERS!

Ramos J