Liverpool
Brendan Rodgers seems like a good bloke. I have only just sorted that he is not Scottish but from Northern Ireland (I am made of Google). He is young, smart, committed to passing football and has won a manager of the month award twice. Now he has one of the toughest jobs in football, restoring Liverpool to what the fans seem to think is their rightful place.
Cutting the ties with King Kenny was inevitable. He must have known, as he was handing out the “Support Suarez” T-shirts in the dressing room, that football in 2012 was no longer the game he knew and Liverpool no longer the club where he had made his legend. The weight of the club’s history, all this “one of the great names in world football” stuff, is just not cutting it any more. The US owners have flashed the cash a little indiscriminately with no real thought to team building (Carroll, Aquilani, Adam, Downing). It would be more appropriate if they noticed that the in the 30 years of dominance the club had 4 managers. Rodgers is the third in two years. Is he the one to give the owners and the fans what they want ?
For some years now I think Liverpool have been, at best, a two man team. It’s always Gerrard and it was Torres. Now it’s him and Suarez. Gerrard is a great player. He is 32 now & not always as fit as he can be. How much longer can the team revolve around him and just how much influence does he have at Anfield ? Joe Allen is Rodgers’ man, he knows the style the manager expects. Has he a strong enough personality to be anything more than the waterboy for the skipper ? The club is looking forward to the return from injury of Lucas. The rest of us are not sat on the edge of our seats.
The best defender, Agger, is coveted by more successful clubs. If he goes then a central defender is a priority. It probably is anyway. What are they gonna do, play Carragher at centre half ? Very 2007. Rodgers has signed a striker he knows. A 21 year old who has scored 15 league goals in his short career. He had better be good because the manager’s handling of his other centre forward has not been as assured as the rest of his introduction to the big time. If Carroll is not in his plans then he should have got rid as soon as. I know the club will have to bite on a big financial loss but what is the point of having a reserve striker who has been so publicly rejected by the boss ?
I’ve tried to be diplomatic about all this. I like the manager and wish him the best. I hope, but doubt, that he will be given a bit longer than the current England manager was. He has a style of play he favours and it will take some time to impose it and to get the players who can play it (4 more Swansea players ?).I have been lucky enough to see some great Liverpool sides. From St John & Hunt through Keegan & Toshack, Dalglish & Rush to Barnes & Beardsley. However…I am so tired of Liverpool fans living in the past. They have no right to a Champions League place. They have not played well enough, not been a good enough team, to justify these hopes. The reality of 2012 is that other clubs are better prepared for success and it will take an improvement that is not yet apparent before Liverpool are back in the top 4. They can trade on their history all they want, anywhere in the top 6 this season will be a success.
Tottenham Hotspur
Christian Gross, Jacques Santini, Juande Ramos and AVB…just saying.
There were times last year when I felt I was the only one who did not like Harry Redknapp. I thought he was a spiv and a chancer who’s teams were a bit rickety, cobbled together and not built to last. He had two great seasons at White Hart Lane and the England job looked to be a done deal. Now he’s on the rock n roll and his Spurs team has been handed to a guy who had better get it right this time if he wants to continue working in the Prem. I liked him at Chelsea but that was more that there are few likeable characters at the Bridge. His reported inflexibility will not help him as he tries to consolidate with a team that has over-achievd for two seasons.
No more Ledley. Can’t afford Adebayor. The star player wants away (again) and surely Bale is giving it one more year before he moves on. Vertonghen takes Ledley’s place and hopefully will be fitter. The midfield is rammed. Huddlestone, Jenas and even Bentley are still on the books but will surely not get much playing time with Modric (maybe), Bale, Parker,Van der Vaart, Sandro, Sigurdsson & Lennon in front of them. The goals had better come from midfield though because they have no strikers.
Redknapp would not play Defoe unless he wanted two strikers. Now there seems to be little choice but to pick him. I have seen Harry Kane play and he makes Pavlyuchenko look quality. A new striker or two for AVB is essential.
I lived in London for 20 years and know that the newspapers are filled with Spurs fans. They win three games on the run and it’s a renaissance…my ass ! This team is ready to be broken up with the best of it moving to Champions League clubs. They are not likely to spend the money until these sales are made. I’m not sure that Villas Boas is the man to do this job. He should get some of his own guys in (see Brendan Rodgers). Clive Allen has been caretaker the last twice they have needed one. Is he still around the place ?
Newcastle United
The real over-achievers of last season. The man of Toon’s year was the head of scouting. Santon, a whole bunch of French midfield players and the two Senegalese strikers gave Newcastle a new authority in the Premier. I’m sure even the most fervent of the army were surprised at the performances, the consistency and the success. It is, however, a real bitch when you finish just outside of the Champions League places after three months of dreaming , checking the table and goal difference.
So, the reward is a Thursday night in Lithuania followed by a Sunday kick up from West Brom. This is OK for teams like Stoke & Fulham but if you are serious about the league then it’s tough on the squad to keep the momentum going without raising the white flag in Europe. The team is young, only Coloccini is over 30. What a season Fabricio had. He always was a quality player & it was good to see him thrive. The fact that he did not have to waste his time looking after the over-rated Stephen Taylor (rumbled ever since the handball to the stomach against Villa) surely helped his game. The new guys brought in are for the future too. It’s a good time to be a Newcastle fan. (The man of this year may be the guy who got £3 million for Leon Best…what !)
No-one who knows anything was bothered by Demba Ba’s lack of goals after Xmas. The arrival of Cisse and his goals kept the momentum going. The pair were obviously a partnership but will goals be as easy to come by this season ? Actually, Shola is 30 too. A game at St James’s will not be the same without Ameobi coming on after an hour. Good job they have got his little bro’ to do it for the next 10 years.
The midfield, especially Cabaye and ben Arfa were a treat. Cabaye was a steal. How was he missed by the bigger clubs ? His forceful creativity is so suited to the Prem rather than some of the fanny merchants who just get passed by. Here lies the problem. Will Newcastle be able to hold on to these ambitious young midfielders and their prolific strikers ? If they become suppliers to the big four then are there other players with enough ability to continue Premiership success ? Obertan, Gosling, Ranger ? Not those guys.
Living in South London I saw a lot of Alan Pardew as a player at Palace. My Millwall mates all said that Palace fans were all ” accountants and bank clerks”. Pardew, a touch of smarminess about him, was the bank clerks’ hero, all neat hair and keeping it tidy. You wouldn’t find him hitting the nightspots of Croydon after a game (me neither, come to think of it…awful hole). I didn’t really take to him, preferring the erratic and entertaining skills of Vince Hilaire. Pardew never thought himself in the wrong when he lost jobs. Whether his team was rubbish or he was running to a bigger club there was always someone else behaving badly but not Alan. Ah crap..he’s got his chance and there are plenty of good British managers who never do. He may be a smartarse but he has lucked into a team with a winning habit (see Chris Hughton’s promotion team). It will be tough to maintain the level they have set themselves. If he does the job he will break a habit Newcastle have had for generations now.
I am not Newcastle’s biggest fan. Saying you are a big club does not automatically make it so. I am old enough to remember 1969 when Bobby Moncur collected the Fairs Cup. Big clubs win the odd trophy in 40 years. If Pardew could win ANY meaningful trophy for the club that would surely be enough to keep the Geordies happy.
Everton
The law of averages gets Everton into this group of clubs. The most conservative manager in the League, David Moyes, has established an era at Goodison where they finish in the top 8. He did it since Rooney left without having a prolific striker to his name. Beattie, Johnson, Yakubu, Jo, Saha none of them made their mark. Then, in January, he lucked into a pre-fire sale bargain from Rangers. Nicica Jelavic is just the type of centre forward all English fans love. Plays as if he cares, puts himself about and the ball in the net. £5 million for the best Everton no 9 since Big Dunc is good business.
Good timing too because for a large part of Moyes’ management the team had relied heavily on the scoring ability of Tim Cahill. He has stuck to what he knows in replacing the Aussie, Stephen Pienaar has come back where he belongs, alongside Leon Osman (underrated…anyone ?) and Fellaini. Let’s hope young Coleman gets to busily run up and down a bit more this season.
Moyes likes to stick with what he knows and, fortunately for Everton he knows a bit about defenders. He knew Phil Neville had another 200 games in him if he left Manchester (David Weir he got to play for ever). He knew Baines would be half decent eventually when none of us thought that. In Yobo and Distin he made sure that no-one shoved Everton around. Yobo has gone too. Another defender could be needed if Jagielka is not up to it.
If the big Croat and the other steal from Scotland, Naismith, hit the goal running then Everton may not have their usual terrible start even if they still finish eighth. Everton have never been a team to play for 0 – 0 but having what they hold has always been a Moyes priority, They are not going anywhere bad and Moyes may have been waiting too long for a bigger job. It would benefit us all if Everton were more attractive and forward looking. Hey, don’t hold your breath, Moyes has not kept his job for 10 years by trying to score too many goals.