Every week I will be analysing the future stars of football from leagues around the word. If you have any suggestions, feel free to email me at krishm91@gmail.com, and as always please leave your thoughts in the comments box below. Enjoy!
Wednesday 21 August 2013
Friday 16 August 2013
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Sunder and Lightning: A storm's a comin: The Premier League Preview (Part 2)
Manchester City:
Another of the 'top four' clubs to have been affected by the managerial shuffle in summer, Manuel Pellegrini has been tasked with bringing 'holistic football' (I still have no clue either) to the blue half of Manchester. City seemed to go backwards last year and struggled to regain the title, finishing 11 points behind their bitter rivals Manchester United. In terms of signings the club reacted early in the transfer window, bringing in Jesus Navas and Fernandinho early in June and eventually brought in the forward pairing of Alvaro Negredo and Stevan Jovetic. City's spending has come to a figure of £90m and Pellegrini has suggested he may not be done there, with the club supposedly in the market for another defender following the injury to Matija Nastasic during pre-season. These signings all bring different skill sets to the club and particularly in the case of Navas it seems that City now have a more balanced squad, with more options in terms of playing style. While some might feel that Pellegrini may take some time to find his feet in the Premier League, the same could be said for Moyes in Europe, and with the Chilean's pedigree in Europe the case could be made that this is City's main focus for the upcoming season, and it will certainly be interesting to see what effect this has on the league standings come the end of the season. Mourinho is seen as a positive for Chelsea, Moyes as something of a risk (at least for his first season or so) at United. Pellegrini seemingly slots in somewhere in the middle- a safe pair of hands, yet still in his first season in a new country.
Prediction: 2nd
Manchester United:
The red half of Manchester has arguably gone through the biggest structural change over the summer with Sir Alex Ferguson retiring after 26 years and former Everton boss David Moyes being given possibly the hardest job in football. The step from Merseyside to Manchester requires Moyes to be more than just a football manager, but a PR guru as well. This instability, exacerbated by the ongoing Wayne Rooney saga has seemingly had a detrimental effect of Man Utd's pre-season, winning only two games and conceding a whole host of goals. United fans are seemingly becoming more and more twitchy due to the lack of signings with only two days until the start of the season. The club have had bids for Cesc Fabregas and Leighton Baines rejected and have allowed the release clause in Marouane Fellaini's contract to expire. Moyes has however stated that the club are "getting closer to signings" and Wilfred Zaha has joined the club after signing in January and has been something of a bright spark for the title holders during pre-season. Other positives are the performances of youngsters Jesse Lingard and Adnan Januzaj, as well as the continued scoring form of Robin Van Persie during the Community Shield. Manchester United have a tough run of opening fixtures with Swansea (away) on the opening day, followed by Chelsea (home), Liverpool (away) and Manchester City (away) in their next four fixtures, with Premier League new boys Crystal Palace (home) sandwiched in between. If Moyes can come out of these unbeaten, his ambitions, and those of the club will be massively boosted, but pressure will surely start to build if the club face a poor start.
Prediction: 3rd
Another of the 'top four' clubs to have been affected by the managerial shuffle in summer, Manuel Pellegrini has been tasked with bringing 'holistic football' (I still have no clue either) to the blue half of Manchester. City seemed to go backwards last year and struggled to regain the title, finishing 11 points behind their bitter rivals Manchester United. In terms of signings the club reacted early in the transfer window, bringing in Jesus Navas and Fernandinho early in June and eventually brought in the forward pairing of Alvaro Negredo and Stevan Jovetic. City's spending has come to a figure of £90m and Pellegrini has suggested he may not be done there, with the club supposedly in the market for another defender following the injury to Matija Nastasic during pre-season. These signings all bring different skill sets to the club and particularly in the case of Navas it seems that City now have a more balanced squad, with more options in terms of playing style. While some might feel that Pellegrini may take some time to find his feet in the Premier League, the same could be said for Moyes in Europe, and with the Chilean's pedigree in Europe the case could be made that this is City's main focus for the upcoming season, and it will certainly be interesting to see what effect this has on the league standings come the end of the season. Mourinho is seen as a positive for Chelsea, Moyes as something of a risk (at least for his first season or so) at United. Pellegrini seemingly slots in somewhere in the middle- a safe pair of hands, yet still in his first season in a new country.
Prediction: 2nd
Manchester United:
Prediction: 3rd
Wednesday 14 August 2013
Sunder and Lightning: A storm's a comin': The Premier League Preview (Part 1)
1063 Goals
257 Goalscorers
2 10-Goal Games
35,931 Average Attendance
11 Points gap between United and City
Here are some of the stats from last years Premier League season. 19th May was the last time we got any English top flight action and time has slowly ticked away waiting for the start of the season, whilst providing us with fillers like the Ashes... like a Friday afternoon in the office with people playing Candy Crush until its 5 and they can go to the pub. One of the biggest cliches before the start of the season is that the year to come will be the most closely contested and eagerly anticipated in years. However, this is most certainly true of the 2013-14 season. The end of the 2012-13 season saw much change, with Sir Alex Ferguson retiring after 26 years at Manchester Utd, 'The Happy One' returning to Chelsea and Manchester City hoping to spice things up, after the disappointment of last year, by hiring Chilean, Manuel Pellegrini. We've also seen Roberto Martinez move to try fill the void left by David Moyes at Everton, following his almost inevitable departure to Manchester. With the managerial musical chairs amongst some of Europe's top clubs (including Barcelona, Real Madrid, PSG as well as the above), it could be argued that more interest has been generated in the managers, rather than the players during the transfer window.
Can Moyes build on the legacy left by Ferguson? Can Mourinho work his magic the second time around? Will Pellegrini make City the top dogs in Manchester? How will the new boys of the Premier League fair? Who will be our surprise package of the season? Just some of the questions on the lips of football fans up and down the country.
With the start of the league only 3 days away, here's my club-by-club preview of the 2013-14 season:
257 Goalscorers
2 10-Goal Games
35,931 Average Attendance
11 Points gap between United and City
Here are some of the stats from last years Premier League season. 19th May was the last time we got any English top flight action and time has slowly ticked away waiting for the start of the season, whilst providing us with fillers like the Ashes... like a Friday afternoon in the office with people playing Candy Crush until its 5 and they can go to the pub. One of the biggest cliches before the start of the season is that the year to come will be the most closely contested and eagerly anticipated in years. However, this is most certainly true of the 2013-14 season. The end of the 2012-13 season saw much change, with Sir Alex Ferguson retiring after 26 years at Manchester Utd, 'The Happy One' returning to Chelsea and Manchester City hoping to spice things up, after the disappointment of last year, by hiring Chilean, Manuel Pellegrini. We've also seen Roberto Martinez move to try fill the void left by David Moyes at Everton, following his almost inevitable departure to Manchester. With the managerial musical chairs amongst some of Europe's top clubs (including Barcelona, Real Madrid, PSG as well as the above), it could be argued that more interest has been generated in the managers, rather than the players during the transfer window.
Can Moyes build on the legacy left by Ferguson? Can Mourinho work his magic the second time around? Will Pellegrini make City the top dogs in Manchester? How will the new boys of the Premier League fair? Who will be our surprise package of the season? Just some of the questions on the lips of football fans up and down the country.
With the start of the league only 3 days away, here's my club-by-club preview of the 2013-14 season:
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