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Well it’s that time of year again where local chippies across the country prepare for a slowdown in Saturday afternoon business and yes that means another season has come to a close. Thought I’d write a brief and honest commentary on how I thought each of the Top 4 teams have done this season and what remains for the next. Now before anybody begins to berate me for a one sided argument, it should be noted that I am a Chelsea supporter and that I don’t follow each of the four teams as religiously as you might each do to your own. Also that this is brief so I haven’t even touched upon things like formations, finances and all the rest. But, barring a statistical miracle, the Top 4 should finish in this order (at the time of posting).

Manchester Utd

This Season: I’ll be totally honest, I don’t think this first eleven is as good as last season’s first eleven. There’s a number of reasons for that ranging from Ronaldo’s dip in form, slickness of play and injuries to key players notably Neville. For the most part, a lot of the 07/08 season was spent with United blowing opposition away with a style of play born out of a West and North London illegitimate lovechild (as much as the idea sickens me). There was the balanced mix between slick moves and quick to the feet distribution as well as damaging counter-attacking play and an emphasis on body strength.

However having a strong first team didn’t win the title for United this season but rather a strong squad sitting in the wings did. Ferguson proved what a master of the old game he is by chopping and changing what he thought was necessary, proving that rotation done well can work well (hint hint Rafa). Also the emergence of key players this season such as Giggs with 18 assists and Tevez with a respectable 15 goals to his name have happily helped United along their way. Most people will have the rather misguided perceptions that a squad which has no clear first team, is not a strong team. However United clearly have proved this not to be the case and that if you were to ask a supporter who would feature in their first eleven, I’d dare you to bet that they’d all pick the same line-up. There’s a certain flexibility to this season’s United squad that has managed to deal with a ridiculously huge number of fixtures, a staggering 65 in total this season starting with the FA Community Shield to Portsmouth back in August to the upcoming European Final at the end of May.

That said, it’s hard not to mention the unbeaten run they went on which coincided with the impregnable form that Vidic and arguably Carrick has shown. Vidic slotting in nicely as Ferdinand’s demon of a partner and Carrick who calmly ticked over during matches and keeping the ball flowing.

For the future: Ronaldo and Tevez. These two drama’s will definitely need to be solved in this summer period. Ronaldo should either get his head down and get back to obliterating defences as he used to and Tevez needs to leave Kia Joorabchian because clearly it’s more trouble than it’s worth. Although 32million for Tevez? Hmmm, I think not. But if Ronaldo and Tevez stay, all the better for United fans. If not I would think they’d need either one clear goal poacher i.e. Benzema/Klose type and to reassure the backline with an extra sideback perhaps. Also it’ll be very important to keep the development of young players like Macheda, SIlva, Anderson, Nani etc and keeping their feet on the ground.

Oh and we can only pray that United’s away kit next season will be this monstrosity

 

Liverpool FC

This Season: Oh dear oh dear, where ever did it go wrong. A step so close yet so far. Having a look at the new signings and the existing squad during the summer of 2008, I honestly thought it would be Liverpool competing with us for the top spot with United a close third. How wrong I was.

Yet for all the money that’s been spent on the squad so far under Rafa’s reign, clearly not enough, again it’s that point about strength in depth. Now imagine this, stick United’s (approximate) first team alongside the Liverpool’s first team, and just ask yourself how many of those Liverpool players would replace that of United’s. Three? Four? Anymore? Now look at the whole squad, can you really compare the likes of Dirk (the apparent destroyer) Kuyt to Tevez? Or perhaps Charles Itandje to Tomasz Kuszczak?

That said, the combination of Gerrard and Torres has been devastating. But that’s when they play together. And that’s like hardly ever. Yes they’ve both had injuries at conspicuously similar times of the season but just how many times do you have to rotate your squad in order to satisfy your need for change eh Rafa? I still see Liverpool as being a one-match team. They’re orientated around playing the one most important match of their life every few months in order to get through to the next round of European glory. It’ll be interesting to see what a scouser would rather pick though, European or English glory next season?

I also see just far too many ‘nobodies’ on that bench as if to show that their transfer policy that they can deal with any injuries. But unlike United, every time they rotate their first team out, they just cannot sustain the same level of performance and it’s often these backup teams that succumb to crucial mistakes and drop the crucial points.

For the Future: Keeping the Torres and Gerrard partnership together. A better squad of 20. Bringing in stronger and more talented individuals like David Silva or David Villa. It’s sometimes more quality, not quantity that wins you trophies.

Chelsea FC

This Season: Oh boy .. what’s new i guess. This season there’s been the usual mix of drama, power struggles and inconsistencies we’ve seen since the end of the Special One’s Era. Yes you’ve guessed it, I’m another Mourinho fanboy, but for all the right reasons. For all his ego and unnatural ability to get under every opposition managers skin, he was clearly World Class. Everything that exuded from the Portugese said discipline, control and a winning mentality.

Now 18 months or so on, we find ourselves with a manager which although not being on the polar opposite end of the scales but is definitely significantly different. Scolari had an aim and a purpose from Day 1 to bring flair and style into what I’d admit is an ageing machine. Much like teaching an old granny how to breakdance. That and he simply had no Plan B. Sure there was a Plan A and sure it did blow away a good 7 or 8 teams at the start, but the EPL isn’t a dumb league. Managers and teams adapt, and through this is cropped up the problems. Unlike Barceona who actually can obstinately plug away in their same beautiful football, i couldn’t imagine for the life of me that Alex or Ballack would effortlessly pirouette their way their oppositions.

If Mourinho’s Chelsea was a state of the art Subaru Impreza STI rally car then Scolari’s Chelsea was arguably a ‘97 Lotus Elise. The former was a solid machine that’s robust, efficient, rolls all over opponents, and is comprised of exotic components from around the world and to which combine to exude confidence and success. The latter is an ageing machine which although shines and glistens and goes round like the great Zohan in a New York hair saloon, is really made up of old parts in need of replacing and is generally shite when the going gets tough. Of course however, the same things can be said about the cars.

Hiddink’s Chelsea therefore can be classed as probably a BMW M3. Undeniably yes it’s still old, but it still holds that strong and reliable spirit about itself. You know that when the going really gets tough, that you can still depend on them to grind out a result. What Hiddink has essentially done is bring Chelsea back to their comfort zone. A familiar formation, a familiar style of play, none of this zonal marking at the set pieces nonsense and all of a sudden it seems so simple. What might have helped was that being Dutch, how else would he have played if it were not for Mourinho’s 4-3-3? Either way, HIddink is a top class manager with astute tactical nous and a personality that makes managing even Drogba look like child’s play. And for that, we will miss you Guus.

For the future: Apart from saying wholesale changes to anybody whose over the age of 30, there’s a few key departments i think need changing. Working from the front, Didier Drogba. Two solutions, either we keep him if he decides to turn up and play like he knows he can, or sell him straight away because he’s beginning to be a pain in the ass. Also along with Malouda and Cole, we need one special winger to tie up the front three, that said I honestly believed Quaresma would prove to be that missing link, not sure where i went wrong there. Ballack and Deco need to go, young blood needs space to grow and there just isn’t enough there to justify their ridiculous wages. The likes of Ribery, Van da Vaart, David Silva and Kaka come to mind. Someone whose young, talented, quick and with an eye to unlocking the opposition. The defence will need another left back, the loss of Wayne Bridge hasn’t been felt yet but we wouldn’t want to have a repeat of Chelsea Liverpool a few years back and playing Duff at left back now would we. In terms of management, it looks set to be Carlo Ancelotti, say what you will about him, I personally don’t rate him and i can just see him falling flat like Scolari evidently did.

Arsenal FC

This Season: I guess the picture pretty much says it all does it not (Funny how Adebayor and Bendtner look so happy together). Arsene Wenger deserves a ton of praise for having the courage to stick to the philosophy that he’s had of breeding young talent through the beautiful way of football. WRONG. I’m sorry but that’s about as far as it goes for me, when will Wenger learn that releasing players prematurely to cash in on their value is not the right way to go about things. If we’d had all followed this same approach to everything, United would be without it’s Scholes, Giggs and Nevilles, Chelsea would be without it’s Lampards and Carvalhos of this world and we’d be left with a bunch of overrated babies learning to pass the ball sideways across the face of the goal.

Yes, it is stylish when they get it right and on form they could pass the ball through the smallest gaps in the best defences in the world but man is this team in need of a kick up the ass or two. The signing of Arshavin, which arguably goes against Wenger’s philosophy, shows that by spending a bit of money and being a little bit more direct that certain players can absolutely change games. If they actually decided to shoot half of their opportunities rather than attempt to walk it into the goal, they’d be a lot higher up the table. Sometimes I even begin to wonder if they know what it means to strike a ball at a goal. And to say this team is beaming with talent? Fabregas couldn’t stand up to a mild gust of wind, Adebayor is lackadaisical at the best of times, Almunia looks like he’s on a permanent hangover and lives on the corner of Brixton Tube Station, Diaby wishes he was Essien, Gallas is an epic *bleep*, Rosicky is secretly undergoing Wolverine-like experimentation because where else could he be, Silvestre looks like ET, Van Persie runs like a freaking spastic and Bendtner is a freaking spastic. Ahem, OK they have the likes of Song and Walcott who are turning out to be real gems of the game but again how many of those Arsenal players could you imagine fitting into United’s lineup. One? Two? Struggling now?

For the Future: The obvious more signings of experienced and physically solid players. They’re missing players like Flamini and to an extent Thierry Henry, far too much. However things don’t look too great if the latest rumblings are true that the Gooner Warchest has shrunk to £13m.

Anyways sorry for the gooner-bashing but meh, I just can’t be nice about them after all I guess and I’m kind of waiting for the hate mail anyways.

Again there’s a million other points up for debate but I don’t have a million pages to type on.

Anyways thanks for reading and let me know what you think.

Peace out