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




Newcastle United:

Newcastle have had a roller-coaster ride over the last few seasons, being relegated, promoted, finishing in the top half and then being in the relegation scrap. Their summer seems to have continued that trend, firstly with the appointment of Joe 'F***ing' Kinnear as Director of Football and then with the Pappis Cisse vs club sponsorship fiasco. However, the question remains, why did a team that contains the likes of Ben Arfa, Cabaye, Krul and Colocinni perform so badly last year? Despite concerns about the stability at the club, Newcastle have managed to keep all of their star players and have added to their strike-force with French international Loic Remy on loan- particularly astute when Newcastle's first choice striker Cisse only managed 8 Premier League goals last season. The Toons performance in the coming season also depends on the fitness of Hatem Ben Arfa who is Newcastle's most creative player, but missed most of last season with a hamstring injury. There are many questions that need to be answered such as the optimal formation for Pardew's 'Baguette Batallion' who struggled when deployed in a 4-2-3-1 last season, as well as where Moussa Sissoko is best deployed. Newcastle have undoubted talent on the pitch and I feel their survival chances are much stronger than last year, the question is whether Pardew and Kinnear will come to loggerheads and what affect will this have on the pitch.

Check out this tongue-in-cheek video by the Guardian predicting Newcastle's 2013-14 season
http://www.theguardian.com/football/video/2013/aug/12/newcastle-united-premier-league-preview-video

Prediction: 12th


Norwich City:

(How will he 'Fer' moving from Netherlands to Norfolk?...sorry)

Norwich are a club that are seemingly looking to push on now that they have been consistently mid table in the Premier League for the last couple of years. Chris Hughton has built on the good work put in by Paul Lambert since promotion in 2011, but still Norwich fans have felt as if something is missing. The Canaries gained 50% of their final points tally in a 2 month period between October and December and it seems that those associated with the club want to see the team perform more consistently in the coming season. One of Norwich's main problems was their lack of goals, netting a mere 41 times in the last campaign, the third lowest in the league. Hughton has seemingly tried to remedy this by bringing in Celtic's Gary Hooper, for a fee of around £5m, and Ricky van Wolfswinkel, from Sporting Lisbon for £8.5m. Supporting the two front men from midfield will be Dutch International, Leroy Fer, who was on the verge of a move to Everton in January before the deal collapsed. Hughton has also looked to strengthen in defensive areas bringing in Martin Olsson, as well as adding youth to the squad in the form of the highly talented Nathan Redmond. Norwich look significantly stronger than they did a year ago, but the manager is still curtailing the clubs expectations;  "Making sure we start next season's Premier League in the division that's always the objective".

Prediction: 10th


Southampton:

Everyone was a little bit shocked when Southampton sacked Nigel Adkins halfway through last season (me included), yet Mauricio Pochettino seems to have increased the quality at the club. Second season syndrome aside, the aim will surely be to push for a top ten finish come the end of the season. Despite the controversial sacking of Adkins, ambition is high under Executive Chairman Nicola Cortese and Southampton have been quick to bring in two quality signings in Dejan Lovren from Lyon (£6.8m) and Victor Wanyama from Celtic (£12.5m) the latter having been linked with Manchester United. Lovren will go a long way to improving a defence who looked questionable at times last season, though they probably lack experience, rather than quality, with the likes of Nathaniel Clyne (22) and Luke Shaw (18) becoming regulars. Pochettino may look to play two deep midfielders, in a 4-2-3-1 with Wanyama partnering the impressive Morgan Schneiderlin who made 146 tackles and 139 interceptions, the most in the league. In terms of attacking options, Saints fans will hope that England's new hero, Rickie Lambert can recreate his goal scoring form of last season, netting 15 times in the league, with support from the likes of Rodriguez, Lallana and Puncheon. Southampton are my dark horses for the season and with continual improvement under Pochettino and backing by Cortese, the club could flourish.

Prediction: 9th

Stoke:

Tony Pulis left Stoke for the second time at the end of the season, with those associated with the club feeling that although Pulis had achieved a lot, the team was becoming stale and the style of football was becoming unbearable. To counter this, the board brought in non other than... Mark Hughes, not exactly known for his free-flowing, attacking football. Granted, the former QPR boss hasn't had time to make his mark on the team, but the fact that Stoke have brought two defenders- Eric Pieters and Marc Muniesa when the Potters were the second lowest scorers in the league may be a cause for concern for many. The buzzword when it comes to Stoke is 'solid' and that is exactly what they are, with Asmir Begovic in goal, a well organised defence in front of him, and Stephen N'zonzi and Charlie Adam in midfield, Stoke can play well without really ever exciting. There is still an over-reliance on Peter Crouch up front, with Jon Walters, Cameron Jerome and Kenwyne Jones (pig head prank and car smashing aside) the other options- hardly screaming of goals galore. Stoke begin their season with a tricky tie at Anfield, then they have Crystal Place at home and West Ham away before they are asked to do battle with Manchester City and Arsenal. A poor start may be difficult to recover from and I fear for Stoke and Mark Hughes

Prediction 18th

Sunderland:

2013-14 will mark the first full season with Paulo Di Canio leading the 'Wearside Revolution'. The maverick Italian guided Sunderland to safety last season, managing a a 3-0 win against bitter rivals Newcastle along the way. Since the start of the transfer window, Di Canio has brought in no less than ten new players, whilst seeking to implement a 'play from the back' philosophy. As someone who has done his coaching badges and coaches a youth team, I can say there is a big debate within the FA at grass roots level between the difference between a coach and a manager. A positive for Sunderland, is that Di Canio is most definitely a coach, receiving top marks with his Uefa badges at Italy's Coverciano academy, whilst doing the bulk of his best work on the training ground. This is in stark contrast to previous managers such as Roy Keane and Steve Bruce who tend to delegate their coaching. Great things are expected from former Juventus winger, Emanuele Giaccherini as well as prolific goalscorer Jozy Altidore (we can overlook his time at Hull). It is however worth noting that the 'Black Cats' will start this campaign without their two best players from last season- Simon Mignolet (who has moved to Liverpool) and Danny Rose (who has returned to parent club Tottenham). Furthermore PDC can be somewhat of a loose canon (to say the least), but as long he remains more Jekyll and less Hyde, Sunderland could be destined for good things.

Prediction: 11th


Swansea City:

Everyone's favourite underdogs have achieved two great coups this summer- 1) keeping manager Michael Laudrup and 2) signing Wilfried Bony. Expectations will however be much higher on Swansea this season and it will certainly be difficult to top their success of a top 10 finish and winning the League Cup. There is however no reason why Swansea can't emulate their achievements particularly with the additions they have made. Despite several managerial changes over the last few years- Paulo Sousa, Roberto Martinez, Brendan Rodgers- The 'Swans' have managed to maintain a sense of identity and stability. This has also started to become the case on the pitch with the club keeping hold of star man Michu, as well as re-signing Jonathan De Guzman on loan for the coming season. Nathan Dyer, who recently signed a new contract said himself  "You only have to look at the players who have left and it's not always turned out well," (cough cough Scott Sinclair cough cough). "You have to look at it and think: 'Is this the right club for me?' And it is. We're moving in the right direction so it was a no-brainer." The purchase of Wilfried Bony- who managed more than a goal a game in the Dutch league last season- is the perfect representation of the direction Swansea are moving in. The squad will also be strengthened by the acquisition of Jonjo Shelvey, who is not the archetypal Swansea player, but will certainly add bite to the midfield. The question is, can Swansea maintain, or even improve on their league form, whilst coping with the demands of a Europa League run? Only time will tell, but I'm sure everyone (except those in Cardiff) will be willing them on to do well.

Prediction: 8th

Tottenham Hotspur:

Gareth Bale, Gareth Bale, Gareth Bale...

Tottenham had somewhat of a bitter-sweet season, achieving their highest ever points tally (largely due to the efforts of the man above) but still missing out on Champions League football. The Welshman aside, Tottenham have done extensive business throughout the transfer window (unlike their North London rivals) adding depth and quality to their squad to the tune of £60m. Much to the delight of Spurs fans, Andre Villas Boas turned down the chance to go to PSG for a second season at Tottenham, and along with new technical director, Franco Baldini (not forgetting Mr Levy), the club have bolstered their chances of Champions League football in the transfer market. One of Spurs' main problems last season was the lack of a world class striker, with all the goal-scoring onus going on Gareth Bale, a problem that seems to have been solved with the £26m signing of Roberto Soldado. Levy and co also signed Brazil international Paulinho earlier on in the transfer window, who showed glimpses of what he could do during the Confederations Cup. The squad has also been bolstered by the signing of their third Belgian, Nacer Chadli, as well as French youngster Etienne Capoue, who was also linked with Arsenal. 

However, like a rash that won't go away the issue still remains, where will Gareth Bale play next season? There is an argument to be made for the fact that with Bale, plus a few more signings, Tottenham could have a team to challenge for the title. Unfortunately for Spurs, it looks like Bale wants to leave and with the £85m+ potential transfer cost, Tottenham may have to get used to life without their talisman from last year. As it stands, Gareth Bale is a Tottenham player and with the signings they have made, there is no reason why they cannot break into the top four.

Preciction: 4th

West Bromwich Albion:

An opening day win against Liverpool was the catalyst for West Brom to take 26 points from the first 39 available and in turn for them to finish in 8th place last season. Steve Clark worked wonders at West Brom and deserves his success after his hard work as assistant manager at Chelsea, West Ham and Liverpool. However, there is one fundamental difference between the Baggies last season and the Baggies this season- Romelu Lukaku. The Belgian powerhouse, who has returned to parent club Chelsea, netted 16 times throughout the year, twice the tally of next top scorer, Shane Long. Clark has attempted to replace him with Nicholas Anelka, who might be past his prime, but has Premier League experience and has scored 7 goals in 7 games during pre-season. They have also recently signed Udinese's Matej Vydra on loan, who propelled Watford into the play-off final and earned himself Championship Player of the Season, signing supposedly on the recommendation of Watford manager, non other than Gianfranco Zola. The two signings along with the hard-working Shane Long should serve West Brom well in attack, even if Peter Odemwingie does decide to go cold calling at another Premier League training ground. In terms of defence, the Baggies have made a shrewd acquisition in Uruguayan Diego Lugano, another player who is ageing but will provide invaluable experience for Steve Clark's men. I think its safe to say West Brom fans need not fear relegation, but at the same time it will be difficult to match the achievements of last year, particularly without Romelu Lukaku.

Prediction: 15th


West Ham United:

After being relegated in 2010, Sam Allardyce took over to steer West Ham back into the Premier League and has instilled confidence into the team, helping them achieve 10th place last season. Allardyce may not be the most stylish manager, but he seems to have won over most of the Hammers faithful and this has in turn transmitted into results on the pitch. However, it must be said that 'Big Sam' has his tactical limitations (to put it kindly) and its difficult to see him really be the person to shift West Ham into top gear and challenge for a place in Europe. David Gold and David Sullivan haven't always been the most popular figures at Upton Park, but they have spent money this summer, paying £21 million to re-unite Andy Carroll and Stewart Downing. They have also agreed a deal for West Ham to move into the Olympic Stadium for the 2016-17 season, which will in turn boost their revenues and could be the catalyst the club needs to compete at a higher level. The Hammers had the best cross completion in the league (26%) and if Andy Carroll can stay fit and the likes of Matt Jarvis and Stewart Downing can serve him, with support from Joe Cole and Ravel Morrison (who has looked impressive in pre-season) West Ham should have no trouble scoring goals. The West Ham defence is somewhat susceptible to pace (something that was masked by the brilliant performances of Jussi Jaaskelainen) which may explain the signing of Romania captain Razvan Rat. Furthermore, past Noble, Nolan and Diame the Hammers look short in midfield. Much like West Brom, Sam Allardyce's men are unlikely to exceed their position from last year, but at the same time they are in little danger of finding themselves in the relegation zone.

Prediction: 14th



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