Premier League 2014-15 Season Preview: Part 1

It's back. And nobody was watching that golf nonsense anyway.

At last. Welcome back, football. Like dust,  football just never goes away. It always looks like the same stuff, but it's always a bit different. And with that in mind, it seems a nice moment to think about what's going to happen this season. First up:
 

Who will win the league?

 

Mourinho's horse metaphor was an apt assessment of last season. Though his 'little horse' comment was mischievous, the smokescreen it established meant a new perspective on Chelsea's less glamorous results - precisely what the Portuguese wanted.

To borrow the metaphor, thoroughbreds always win championships, and in Manchester City there was only one of those last season. Now there are two. Mourinho's raid on his Champions League nemeses, Atletico, has added the requisite grit at the back and bombast up front. Fabregas returns to London from Catalonia a changed man, able to play a forward's role as well as his more familiar central midfield position, and his role in Mourinho's attacking midfield - where he is known to favour pace and physique above agility (if he can't have both) - will intrigue.

 

Costa and Terry argue. That's one problem sorted then.

Inevitably for a Mourinho team, it's likely to come down to the GA column in the table.  Chelsea's united front of Ivanovic, Terry, Cahill and Azpilicueta now has Filipe Luis in it and Thibault Courtois behind it. With Kalas and Zouma in the wings, you get the feeling only an assault of the elemental kind would dissuade resolve. Aspiring Premier League chairmen should see what Roland Emmerich or perhaps Alejandro Jodorowsky have up their sleeves.

In what may be a blessing in disguise for Chelsea and their po-faced arsonist/ coach, Louis Van Gaal's arrival undoubtedly means United are once again the club to watch this season. A relatively comfortable start could see them challenging the early leaders before Liverpool come to town on December 13th to resume hostilities.

 

It's hard to assess which of these clubs will be the superior by that point, with both in need of some rebuilding to some extent. Of the two, Brendan Rodgers' need to replace the explosive results of Luis Suarez appear the more challenging, on the face of it.

Van Gaal, maybe thinking deep thoughts. Maybe not.

 

But Van Gaal (right) and United should start behind their neighbours in more than the alphabetical sense. Rodgers' rebuilding project has taken in a few dead ends, with some deals - Iago Aspas stands out - more bemusing than bewitching, but he's two years ahead of United, where a paradox of having more net income than every other club in the league, but a lack of quality options to choose from, is proving a tricky hurdle. 

 

Herrera has finally arrived and provides ballast for Carrick, but their proposed 5-3-2 shape demands at least one additional centre half, as well as a potential upgrade at right wing back based on current options. Encouragingly Robin van Persie doesn't appear to be an international that suffers tournament hangovers - in his last two major tournaments he has scored more goals than the previous season. Question marks over a considerable portion of a squad Ferguson won a 20th title with are still a big reason for more modest aims this year.

 

United's goals are clear and distinct; rebuild, aim for Europe, maybe a trophy. For Liverpool, their success may blur priorities. They arguably blew their best ever chance to claim the Premier League and Europe may offer irresistible opportunities to a side that were deadly in individual matches last season, despite conceding 50 goals.

 

Dejan Lovren, presumably just out of the gym in that vest

Anfield may be in redevelopment in more than the bricks and mortar sense, but Rodgers' newest recruits from the south coast, and their title-chasing colleagues, will receive spinetingling confirmation of their manager's relentless dedication to putting Liverpool back on their f'ing perch come midweek, midseason.

Even the less boisterous Liverpool fan riles at the suggestion Europe does not miss their contribution. And they make a good point, and should the squad still be visiting John Lennon airport in March next year, expect their league title to falter - and the temperature to rise a bit on Merseyside.

 

Whilst Arsenal have markedly upped their spending this summer, there remains little supplementary firepower for Giroud, although Alexis will undoubtedly add menace to an already scintillating forward line.

 

Arsenal seem committed to a certain kind of football, stockpiling aesthetic brilliance as if a football Cold War were about to descend, and their need for a holding midfielder to support Flamini, and a replacement for Vermaelen remain issues.

We've won something! Can everyone stop going on now?

 

They have kept pace with those directly around them, but they need to start throwing a few elbows at their rivals mid-race if they want to be out in front near the finish. Key games at the usual haunts  - Liverpool, Chelsea and the Manchester clubs - await. For a team that thrives on confidence, their need for positive outcomes is crucial to success.

And so to last season's champions and this year's other big favourites. Three titles in four years, and consecutive championships, would put City in the company of just Chelsea and their illustrious Stretford neighbours. Statements made, markers laid, etc etc.

 

And if everything goes to plan, this season should be a straight fight between Chelsea and City for the title. That plans are being made and adhered to is still a source of miraculous joy for most City fans, but there you go.

 

Van Persie and Mangala will play as derby rivals this season

Mangala and Sagna's arrival removed City's weaknesses in defence at a stroke and Fernando's arrival asks an awkward question of Javi Garcia and potentially the unfortunate James Milner. Joe Hart meanwhile faces the unenviable task of improving on his outstanding form in 2014 with the arrival of Willy Caballero, sub in nothing but name having played seven more matches than the England international for Malaga last season.

 

FFP has meant City's movements have been prudent this summer, and there's little doubt Mangala will close the door after him following his signing. Yet Sunday's loss to Arsenal demonstrated the disjointed movements of a spineless team, and it will again fall to Kompany, Toure, Silva and Aguero to provide the nitrous power that rocketed City to 102 goals and the top position in May.

As has been said elsewhere, when Mourinho has to win - at Chelsea the first time, and at Real in his second season - he does. And there's plenty to suggest City will work very hard to improve on last season's second round exit from Europe, with a deeper squad to play deep into two draining competitions.

 

So bearing in mind all of the above, and taking into account personal bias, here's my top four for May 2015:

1st: Man City

2nd: Chelsea

3rd: Man United

4th: Arsenal (sorry, Arsenal fans)

 

Next: Who's going down? Who's the worst signing? Who's the best? Plus: why tracksuits should be banned from touchlines, new rules for referees and the relationship between bad managers and 'banter' finally investigated.

 

Pics thanks to the BBC, the Mail, Bleacher Report, CNN and Zimbio

World Cup 2014: Thanks for the memories

A strange and surreal moment occurred last night, early in extra time. Courtesy of the BBC's Guy Mowbray we discovered that Germany had gone unbeaten in 27 matches. Argentina, their cup final challengers, had gone 23 games unbeaten. As this alarmingly meaningless number was burbled over the mic, Argentina's maestro Javier Mascherano executed a perfect sliding tackle on Bastian Schweinsteiger. Which got you more excited?

'The purpose of art is washing the dust of daily life from our souls', said Pablo Picasso. And it's hard to see how football gets more exciting following a World Cup that sought, demanded, emotional responses. A host country that belted out its national anthem that brought tears to the eyes. A classic rock track, retouched by a swarm of boisterous Argentines, just for the occasion. James Rodriguez. There were so many examples of the beautiful game here that the numbers game feels remote. Silly.

Stat after stat was fed by Lineker to Hansen, like Polo mints to a former champion thoroughbred put out to pasture. The first time since 1946 this. The only time in history that. Even FIFA are not immune. They, in their own way, are beginning to compartmentalise a game that burst at the seams here. Their award of the Golden Ball to Lionel Messi felt fraudulent; it was dubbed 'a marketing trick' by Diego Maradona shortly afterwards. When no one can see the point of the award given, it calls into question the legitimacy of that award. Messi performed well, but Maradona, as ever, had his finger on the pulse of the sport's still-beating heart.

The game does not need the bits businesses can't do without. Numbers are the boring half of a story well worth listening to. The World Cup should be like the world's best ever holiday photo collection. Every picture should tell a brilliant story - and there were so many. The aforementioned Rodriguez, a star in the remaking. The Costa Ricans. Tim Cahill's astonishing strike versus the Dutch. Neymar's bravura performance - at times he appeared to be stooped with the weight of expectation.

Perhaps the best example of Brazil's success was the USA. As a team - as a nation - their watershed moment was as authentic as they come; an almost, last-gasp sort of a match against a fancied Belgian side who were on the ropes as the US players summoned unknown reserves and tore into them. They could have won. Even better - millions of people wanted to see them win. And they weren't all American.

Brazil offered so much to so many. It's a spiritual home for the game - a genuinely great choice by FIFA. Its infrastructure, as noted by many journalists, was good, not the horror show many were led to believe. Live television showed matches in airplanes - a brilliant idea, and one that should be implemented for the next World Cup and, if necessary, European Championships. And the fans were everything a major tournament needed to grab the attention undivided.

So FIFA ought not to forget the intangibles when next flinging the merry-go-round for its biggest global moneyspinner. Accidents will happen and mistakes will be made but there can be no doubt this was a huge, huge success for all involved.

So of course - here's my tournament highlights. Where possible I've added some relevant context. Numbers be damned.

Player of the tournament: James Rodriguez

Who else? Golden Boot winner having played two games less than Thomas Muller, it feels almost asinine to point out Rodriguez's emblematic qualities for the most tear-streaked Copa in recent memory. Besides a near-assault by Brazil's hustling defence and midfield in their quarter-final punch-up, Rodriguez did the near-impossible: he took Falcao out of the picture. When you consider the fact that the centre forward was so important to the nation's tournament plans that the president of Colombia went to see him following his surgery, Rodriguez's achievements are all the more amplified. And that goal. Pffffft.

Team of the tournament (playing 4-2-3-1)
Neuer; Lahm, Hummels, Blind, Mena; Mascherano, Kroos; Cuadrado, Robben, Rodriguez; Muller.

Best match

Undoubtedly Holland 5-1 Spain. A watershed moment; the moment everyone knew this World Cup would be different. The Brazil demolition will perhaps live longer in the memory, for its extraordinary historical connotations, but it was essentially a 30 minute match. Van Gaal had dismantled the famous Dutch 4-3-3 and but for some slipshod play from David Silva, Holland very nearly went in 2-0 down at the break. Instead, Van Persie's extraordinary salmon leap (left)past a baffled Casillas, and one of the great solo performances from Arjen Robben cut the Spanish to smart little red ribbons. From that point on all bets, metaphorically speaking, were off.

Honourable mention: Belgium-USA may have unintended consequences for soccer in the States. Billed as a fairly tight match before kick-off, the game appeared to become a 90 minute physical exam for American goalkeeper Tim Howard, who now holds the record number of saves made in a match with 16. For Belgium, everybody bar coach Wilmots tried. Hazard had a go. Orige had a go. Belgium's defence had multiple gos from set pieces. But the man, like Margaret Thatcher but with more animal rights persuasions, was not for turning. To pick the ball out of his goal, you understand.
When two goals did arrive for Belgium in extra time, the Americans simply went for the jugular - and nearly brought the Belgians down. 'Not good for my heart' was all Wilmots said at full time. For millions of Americans, Brazilians and Europeans around the world, the truth was exactly the opposite.

Best dressed manager

Without a shadow of a doubt Louis van Gaal (left) and his backing group of orange-tied note-taking coaching staff. Whoever thought of this arrangement - and the uniform basis has the distinctive style/structure yin-yang of van Gaal's best arrangements - ought to be provided with some sort of fashion medal. Preferably by someone like Kraftwerk, who'd probably love this sort of thing.

Honourable mention: Jogi, Jogi, Jogi. Eternal cool, and now a World Cup winner. The only manager in football who could drink a cognac and smoking Marlboro Reds in the dugout without getting automatically sent off, the man didn't wear a single suit in the entire tournament. Bravo.

Best goal

The shrinking gap between video game goals and real life goals continues apace. Some quite astonishing aerodynamics went into Robin van Persie's airborne header-lob, but people do tend to overlook the cross from wing back Daley Blind that was so accurate van Persie didn't even break stride to befuddle Casillas.
Tim Cahill's crossbar smash-in may prove to be the moment to prompt the paradigm shift between real goals and goals scored on FIFA on X Boxes everywhere. A goal so unique that you (probably) couldn't score it on a computer, it was that good.
But the best still has to be Rodriguez's jaw-dropping effort versus Uruguay. So good, the Colombian commentators went nuts even by their usual standards. And the look on his face - 'did I just do that?!' - is one that should guarantee a place in the greatest of greatest hits.

Best national anthem

Chile. Just listen to this, and feel the hairs on the back of your neck stand up.

Best set piece

Yes this category's mainly included because you'll probably never again see Thomas Muller act so comically in a football match. But there were some genuinely good ones. The USA's straight ball, almost deadpan in tone, from a free kick, right through the Belgian defence at 2-1 down had hearts in mouths everywhere. David Luiz's whomp versus Colombia made every British journalist momentarily re-consider their appraisal of him as 'a bit dodgy'.
But the winner  - sorry, England - is Italy's inspired corner-kick routine from which Claudio Marchisio scored the opening goal. A goal of simple brilliance, with the ingeniously illusory element provided by - of course - regista di tutti registas Andrea Pirlo. Bloody marvellous.

Pics courtesy of The Guardian, 101 Great Goals and Eurosport Australia