Can Diego Simeone's Atletico Kick the La Liga Giants Off the Top Spot?

Diego Simeone is perhaps most well known in England for 'that' incident with David Beckham in the 1998 World Cup that got the England hero sent off, and the rest they say is history. 15 years later and Simeone is at the helm of his former club, Atletico Madrid, who are in the midst of a 100% start to the season. Despite great success since taking over from Greogrio Manzano in 2011- winning the UEFA Cup and following Super Cup, as well as the Copa Del Rey against city rivals, Real Madrid- such a run may have come as a bit of surprise to some at the beginning of the season, particularly after losing their main man Radamel Falcao to Monaco. A huge fee cushioned the blow, but for Los Rojiblancos to continue their success of recent years they had to ensure the squad was added to sufficiently over the transfer window, and this is exactly what Diego Simeone has managed to do. Perhaps Atletico's greatest achievement this season is breaking their hoodoo against Real Madrid, beating them for the first time in the league in since 1999. This has propelled the former Argentine international into the spotlight and he is deservedly being seen as one of the most promising managers in Europe. Could this start to the season be a sign of things to come? and could Atletico go one step further and break up the dominance of Barcelona and Real Madrid?

Scout Report: Ruben Pardo

Real Madrid have had a busy summer, signing the likes of Gareth Bale and Isco in high profile deals. Perhaps one signing that hasn't been as glamorous, but important nonetheless was Asier Illarramendi. This has had repercussions at his former club, Real Sociedad where pressure has grown on young midfielder Ruben Pardo. Comparisons have been drawn between the two as they can both play as deep lying playmakers, and whilst Illarramendi has been drafted into Madrid to be the replacement for Xabi Alonso, the domino effect has been that fans and pundits alike have now begun to look at Pardo as Illarramendi's successor at Sociedad. Interestingly, the 20 year old has quashed comparisons between the two- perhaps trying to relieve some of the pressure off himself, stating "While everyone says it, I do not consider myself a replacement for Illarramendi. I'm working to try to play every possible minute. I'm young and I want to do my best and try to help as much as I can." With his ability to drop deep and spray passes across the pitch, Pardo had himself been linked with a move to Madrid as a possible replacement for Alonso, but the youngster will have to wait his turn, and perhaps positively for his career can gain more experience and more first team action at Real Sociedad, for the next season at least.

Nurturing Young English Talent: Loaning Players Abroad

There has been a lot of talk since the end of the transfer window about the number of foreign players in the Premier League. Big names such as Rio Ferdinand have voiced their displeasure at seeing teams fielding very few local names, and have suggested there should be a cap on the number of foreign players at a club, using Turkey as an example, where teams are only allowed a maximum of 10 foreign players on their books and no more than 6 in any match day squad. This has been exacerbated by the very average performance by England in the recent World Cup qualifier against Ukraine. The national team's lack of success is certainly something that needs to be rectified, but there are a multitude of reasons for the underwhelming performances over the last 47 years.

Scout Report: Viktor Fischer

Frank Arnesen, Jan Molby, Michael Laudrup and more recently, Christian Eriksen, are just some of the Danes who chose Ajax as their platform for development. Now another name to add to this list is Viktor Fischer. The young Dane is fairly versatile and plays predominantly on the left of a three-pronged attack, but can also play through the middle, or as an attacking midfielder.

Engineering Success: A Profile of Manuel Pellegrini

The 59 year old Chilean has acquired the nickname 'the Engineer' not only due to his ability to build up clubs from relative obscurity, but because he is in fact a qualified civil engineer. Cynics may point to the fact that he is yet to win a major trophy in Europe but look past that and it is clear Pellegrini has the pedigree to succeed at the highest stage.

Scout Report: John Guidetti

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!

Subscribe

Hi guys, I've made it even easier to subscribe to the blog, so you can keep up to date with all of the posts. You can either follow by email or subscribe with your Google account from the right hand side of the homepage. Easy as you like! Please subscribe and share! Thanks!

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

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:

Roberto Di Matteo- Another One Bites the Dust

Games: 42
Wins: 24
Draws: 9
Losses: 9
Win Percentage: 57.14    

This is Roberto Di Matteo's short managerial record at Chelsea following his sacking this morning. He lasted 262 days as Chelsea boss, longer than his predecessor Villas-Boas (256), Grant (247) and Scolari (223). In  his 262 days he managed to lift the FA cup and the much coveted Champions League trophy, so was it right for him to get the sack? or just further evidence of Roman Abramovich's short sightedness?

Well lets first consider this season on its own, being his first year as official Chelsea manager, rather than caretaker manager. After an impressive start to the season winning seven of their first eight games, the Blues have won only two of their last eight games. They sit third in the Premier League, four points behind leaders Manchester City, who they host on Sunday. This season was always going to be tougher than the last, setting high expectations following their Champions League win, as well as losing key players like Didier Drogba and facing the inevitability of having to faze out older personnel such as Frank Lampard. The signings of Eden Hazard and Oscar, who have formed a formidable partnership, along with Juan Mata seemed to be the key to this Chelsea transition, however the lack of striking options has placed even more pressure on the misfiring Fernando Torres. The club have undoubtedly taken a different direction to previous years, seeking not only to win, but win in style. However their dip in form, particularly their struggle to qualify for the knockout stages of the Champions League has led to Di Matteo's demise.

Supporters of Di Matteo would point to the fact that there were certain factors beyond his control, ie the lack of John Terry in the team, which has meant that Chelsea have conceded 20 goals in 10 games, although adaptability is an important trait in a top manager. 'Robbie' was always going to struggle to get Mr Abramovich's backing, as I think it's fair to say nobody expected Chelsea to finish the season as strongly as they did, and the plan was only for Di Matteo to stabilise the club until the end of the season. Their success in the Champions League meant that the Chelsea owner was almost forced to hand the Caretaker boss a permanent contract, without him being his first choice. The very fact that the contract was only two years, suggests that he wasn't a long term solution, and I'd go so far as to say the Russian billionaire was almost looking for Di Matteo to slip up in order to implement his master plan.

The timing of the sacking seems somewhat strange with a massive game on Sunday, and some commentators would have thought the club could have waited until January to replace Di Matteo. It seems that Chelsea have a natural replacement lined up in Rafa Benitez, who lives in England and would be ready to begin almost instantly, although this may just be for an interim period, with Pep Guardiola (still on sabbatical) still seemingly Abramovich's first choice.

              

The issue almost inevitably comes back to that of stability being the key to success, however when you have spent billions of Pounds as the Chelsea owner has, impatience can be expected.  Perhaps a more proven young manager (Guardiola) would be afforded more time to mould the club and perhaps Abramovich sought to speed up this process, feeling that although Di Matteo created a togetherness and stability at the club, he wasn't the visionary that Chelsea were looking for. Perhaps this is true, and there may well be question marks surrounding Di Matteo's ability to adapt when in losing positions, but Chelsea fans will not be filled with confidence after the sacking of a ninth manager in eight years, particularly that of a Chelsea legend and someone who brought them two bits of silverware in less than a year,  and if the hierarchy at the club keep reacting like this to dips in form they will soon run out of managerial options.

Harsh? Probably..Strange timing? Yes... Surprising? No..

Let us know your thoughts and opinions in the comment box below!