With Arsene finally aligning his Arsenal to gun down opposition and their conquerors of last week, Blackburn losing to drop into the relegation zone, we need no reminding about how long a week in this league can be. Bolton who were this week’s victims of the resurgent gooners are firmly rooted at the foot of the table, stark contrast to last season’s dizzy heights when they were early in the season challenging for fourth place.
Ironic that Bolton legendary manager, big Sam who kept willing investors into a Blackburn side that was clearly punching above its weight during his reign was sacked only a few matches after his wish was realized. While the reasons for his sacking remain mysterious to this day, the promises made of Champions’ League football and marquee player signings highlight the naivety of the club’s new owners given that they have only invested pocket change into their squad. The promotion of first-team coach Steve Kean to his first managerial role had “gamble” written all over it and unfortunately his record since has Blackburn as the bookies favorites for relegation.
The transfer window may have destabilized Blackburn’s defense with the departure of the magnificent Phil Jones, but the fact that the deal was closed so early during the transfer window for a juicy £17m gave Steve Kean enough time and money to improve his squad. The fact that Blackburn still failed to attract significant quality is either testimony to the fact that the new owners are frugal business men who sought to hire a grateful novice manager that would not question their lack of vision, or Steve Kean simply does not have the ability to win the confidence of ambitious professionals. On paper you could say that Steve has shrewdly strengthened his squad in various positions, but with the sense of injustice surrounding his predecessor’s departure and Blackburn fans quickly turning against him, he will have to demonstrate astute management and a thick skin to keep himself in the job and his side in the division for another season.
Bolton fans on the other hand welcomed the long overdue replacement of “clueless” Gary Megson in January 2010. They were delighted to see the return of former player and hero Owen Coyle who looked pure genius for the scalps he claimed as manager at Burnley and the free flowing football they treated the league to. Indeed his return to Bolton was greeted by a honey moon period that saw his side not only display more entertaining football but were clearly dreaming of a return to Europe during the first half of last season.
The turning point for Coyle’s reign seems to have been the FA Cup semi-final collapse to Stoke City last season. Despite thrashing QPR in a perfect opening game to the season that had them sitting at the top of the table, Bolton has since failed to add to their points tally and have quickly wandered their way to the foot of the table. Bolton are failing to compensate for the loss of last season’s surprise star, Johan Elmander, and have scored only once since the opening day fantasy. Chris Eagles and David Ngog look like quality additions, and Coyle will be hoping that his loan signings are as influential as Sturridge was during the second half of last season. Should he emerge from this bad run before the fans and ownership lose their patience, it should make great learning experience for Coyle’s young managerial career. He should soon steer his troops away from the relegation zone and get Bolton into their right place just below mid table.
BLACKBURN
Players in: David Goodwillie (Dundee United, £2.8m), Radosav Petrovic (Partizan Belgrade, undisclosed), Simon Vukcevic (Sporting Lisbon, undisclosed), Scott Dann (Birmingham, undisclosed), Yakubu (Everton, undisclosed), Jordan Slew (Sheffield United, £1m)
Players out: Phil Jones (Manchester United, £17m), Frank Fielding (Derby, £300,000), Jason Brown, Zurab Khizanishvili, Maceo Rigters (all released), Benjani Mwaruwari (Portsmouth, free), Keith Andrews (Ipswich, loan), Nikola Kalinic (Dnipro, undisclosed), Brett Emerton (Sydney FC, free).
BOLTON WANDERERS
Players in: Darren Pratley (Swansea, free), Nigel Reo-Coker (Bolton, free), Chris Eagles and Tyrone Mears (Burnley, joint £3m), Tuncay Sanli (Wolfsburg, season loan), Dedryck Boyata (Manchester City, loan), Gael Kakuta (Chelsea, loan until January), David Ngog (Liverpool, £4m).
Players out: Joey O'Brien (West Ham, free), Johan Elmander, Jlloyd Samuel, Tamir Cohen (all released), Ali Al-Habsi (Wigan, £4m), Matt Taylor (West Ham, £2.2m), Danny Ward (Huddersfield, £1m).
Saturday, September 24, 2011
Friday, September 16, 2011
Predicting the Premier League’s A’s
This season’s predictions will start with team by team analysis from Arsenal to Wolves. Arsenal and Aston Villa are two teams that thanks to their alphabetical placing, sat at the top of the table before a ball was kicked this season. It is only 4 rounds into the 38 rounds season, but the ease with which both relinquished their top of the table status for the current 12th and 8th positions they respectively occupy will give fans little optimism that they will return to the top.
Arsenal fans hoped that they would seek quality defensive reinforcements to allow them sustain a title challenge following last season’s late painful collapse. They were frustrated at the lack of transfer activity to address this obvious weakness as the season kicked off. As painful an experience as the massacre at Old Trafford was for Arsenal fans, it finally kicked reality into Wenger’s head and he responded by bringing his summer expenditure to a whopping £ 51 million! Desperate times call for drastic measures and indeed Wenger signed 5 players over 25 years old to bring much needed experience. That 5 of Arsenal’s 8 signings came in the last 3 days of the window, just after they were thrashed may have indicated panic, but this recklessness may have finally brought together the variety in style, experience and stature the Gunners have been desperate for to attain success. Contrary to the excuse that youth is the reason for Arsenal’s lack of silverware in recent years, the squad was simply too similar in style, stature and attitude. While fans’ optimism is growing mainly because of the signings of Gervinho, Arteta and Mertesacker, it is the emergence of Frimpong that may just allow Wenger to end the season with his reputation as a developer of young talent intact.
Aston Villa fans were in rage when the idea of signing manager Alex McLeish from bitter rivals Birmingham was floated. The owner ignored their protests to sign Alex and went ahead to start balancing the club’s books following lavish spending of the Gerard Houllier and Martin O'Neill eras. The club is now returning to relative calm as McLeish demonstrated during the transfer window that he could wisely deal by signing real quality in Shay Given and Charles N'Zogbia. There is no doubt that the latter cannot make up for the loss Downing and Young, but the loan signing of Jermaine Jenas may bring much improvement to the middle of the park, an area that was desperately weak last season. The only positive for Villa last season was the development of Marc Albrighton, and if he continues developing at the same pace this season, Villa fans may continue to enjoy real quality wing play. Most critical though for McLeish will be reviving loyalty and belief from players like Stephen Ireland, Gabriel Agbonlahor and Stephen Warnock. If these players can play to their potential, they will all be like quality new signings for Villa and the fans could ironically warm up to the man they once considered enemy.
Fans from both Arsenal and Aston Villa endured a summer to forget, mainly disgruntled at the loss of two of their respective biggest stars to greener pastures. Disappointed as they were at their loss, no fan can argue with the fact that their former heroes were justified in moving on, if there is truth in their stated reasons of leaving for silverware rather than money. The new reality to fans of these two clubs is probably as painful as it is most households in today’s economy as adjustments to expectations are made. For Arsenal, recent seasons begun with talk about reclaiming the title, while this season’s talk is about whether they can hold off the challenge of big spending Liverpool and make it 15 consecutive seasons in the champion’s league. Aston Villa on the other hand, as recently as three seasons ago were disappointed with missing out on Champions League football but would now give anything to get into the Europa League this season.
ARSENAL
Players in: Carl Jenkinson (Charlton, £1m*), Gervinho (Lille, £10.7m*), Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain (Southampton, initial £12million), Joel Campbell (Deportivo Saprissa, undisclosed), Park Chu-young (Monaco, £3m-5m*), Andre Santos (Fenerbahce, £6.2m*), Per Mertesacker (Werder Bremen, £8m*), Yossi Benayoun (Chelsea, season loan), Mikel Arteta (Everton, £10million).
Players out: Gael Clichy (Manchester City, £7m*), Denilson (Sao Paulo, season loan), Jay Emmanuel-Thomas (Ipswich, £1.5m-£2m*), Kyle Bartley (Rangers, season loan), Cesc Fabregas (Barcelona, £35m*), Emmanuel Eboue (Galatasaray, £3m*), Carlos Vela (Real Sociedad, season loan), Samir Nasri (Manchester City, £25m*), Armand Traore (QPR, undisclosed), Joel Campbell (Lorient, season loan), Gilles Sunu (Lorient, undisclosed), Henri Lansbury (West Ham, season loan), Nicklas Bendtner (Sunderland, season loan).
ASTON VILLA
Players in: Shay Given (Manchester City, £3.5m*), Charles N'Zogbia (Wigan, £9.5m*), Alan Hutton (Tottenham, undisclosed), Jermaine Jenas (Tottenham, season loan).
Players out: Nigel Reo-Coker (Bolton, free), John Carew (West Ham, free), Robert Pires, Moustapha Salifou, Isaiah Osbourne (all released), Brad Friedel (Tottenham, free), Ashley Young (Manchester United, £16m*), Stewart Downing (Liverpool, £20m*), Luke Young (QPR, undisclosed), Jean Makoun (Olympiacos, season loan).
Arsenal fans hoped that they would seek quality defensive reinforcements to allow them sustain a title challenge following last season’s late painful collapse. They were frustrated at the lack of transfer activity to address this obvious weakness as the season kicked off. As painful an experience as the massacre at Old Trafford was for Arsenal fans, it finally kicked reality into Wenger’s head and he responded by bringing his summer expenditure to a whopping £ 51 million! Desperate times call for drastic measures and indeed Wenger signed 5 players over 25 years old to bring much needed experience. That 5 of Arsenal’s 8 signings came in the last 3 days of the window, just after they were thrashed may have indicated panic, but this recklessness may have finally brought together the variety in style, experience and stature the Gunners have been desperate for to attain success. Contrary to the excuse that youth is the reason for Arsenal’s lack of silverware in recent years, the squad was simply too similar in style, stature and attitude. While fans’ optimism is growing mainly because of the signings of Gervinho, Arteta and Mertesacker, it is the emergence of Frimpong that may just allow Wenger to end the season with his reputation as a developer of young talent intact.
Aston Villa fans were in rage when the idea of signing manager Alex McLeish from bitter rivals Birmingham was floated. The owner ignored their protests to sign Alex and went ahead to start balancing the club’s books following lavish spending of the Gerard Houllier and Martin O'Neill eras. The club is now returning to relative calm as McLeish demonstrated during the transfer window that he could wisely deal by signing real quality in Shay Given and Charles N'Zogbia. There is no doubt that the latter cannot make up for the loss Downing and Young, but the loan signing of Jermaine Jenas may bring much improvement to the middle of the park, an area that was desperately weak last season. The only positive for Villa last season was the development of Marc Albrighton, and if he continues developing at the same pace this season, Villa fans may continue to enjoy real quality wing play. Most critical though for McLeish will be reviving loyalty and belief from players like Stephen Ireland, Gabriel Agbonlahor and Stephen Warnock. If these players can play to their potential, they will all be like quality new signings for Villa and the fans could ironically warm up to the man they once considered enemy.
Fans from both Arsenal and Aston Villa endured a summer to forget, mainly disgruntled at the loss of two of their respective biggest stars to greener pastures. Disappointed as they were at their loss, no fan can argue with the fact that their former heroes were justified in moving on, if there is truth in their stated reasons of leaving for silverware rather than money. The new reality to fans of these two clubs is probably as painful as it is most households in today’s economy as adjustments to expectations are made. For Arsenal, recent seasons begun with talk about reclaiming the title, while this season’s talk is about whether they can hold off the challenge of big spending Liverpool and make it 15 consecutive seasons in the champion’s league. Aston Villa on the other hand, as recently as three seasons ago were disappointed with missing out on Champions League football but would now give anything to get into the Europa League this season.
ARSENAL
Players in: Carl Jenkinson (Charlton, £1m*), Gervinho (Lille, £10.7m*), Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain (Southampton, initial £12million), Joel Campbell (Deportivo Saprissa, undisclosed), Park Chu-young (Monaco, £3m-5m*), Andre Santos (Fenerbahce, £6.2m*), Per Mertesacker (Werder Bremen, £8m*), Yossi Benayoun (Chelsea, season loan), Mikel Arteta (Everton, £10million).
Players out: Gael Clichy (Manchester City, £7m*), Denilson (Sao Paulo, season loan), Jay Emmanuel-Thomas (Ipswich, £1.5m-£2m*), Kyle Bartley (Rangers, season loan), Cesc Fabregas (Barcelona, £35m*), Emmanuel Eboue (Galatasaray, £3m*), Carlos Vela (Real Sociedad, season loan), Samir Nasri (Manchester City, £25m*), Armand Traore (QPR, undisclosed), Joel Campbell (Lorient, season loan), Gilles Sunu (Lorient, undisclosed), Henri Lansbury (West Ham, season loan), Nicklas Bendtner (Sunderland, season loan).
ASTON VILLA
Players in: Shay Given (Manchester City, £3.5m*), Charles N'Zogbia (Wigan, £9.5m*), Alan Hutton (Tottenham, undisclosed), Jermaine Jenas (Tottenham, season loan).
Players out: Nigel Reo-Coker (Bolton, free), John Carew (West Ham, free), Robert Pires, Moustapha Salifou, Isaiah Osbourne (all released), Brad Friedel (Tottenham, free), Ashley Young (Manchester United, £16m*), Stewart Downing (Liverpool, £20m*), Luke Young (QPR, undisclosed), Jean Makoun (Olympiacos, season loan).
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)