Is this the future of
the Premier League?
For a while now the Premier League has been in danger of becoming a more level playing field. The influx of TV money has not increased the power at the top, but rather pushed everyone from the bottom upwards. The knock on effect has never been more devastating than this season. Whilst the top clubs continue to flatter to deceive in Europe, the league has evolved into an impossible to predict week by week hotpot of drama. The season reaches its half way point on Boxing Day with Chelsea in 15th, 3 points off the relegation zone and Leicester City top with 38 points. But even beyond those two, we have Palace level on points with the teams in 4th and Watford just one point further behind. Watford!? A team who still play each week with 9 or 10 of the players they came up with last year? Just 12 points separate 4th from 17th – an extraordinarily bunched group when you consider Leicester sit 9 points ahead of that and villa some 10 beneath. So the key question remains. Is this the future? Will we see a time again when 3 or 4 clubs dominate with 15-20 point gaps from 3rd to 5th as there has been in the past? It looks unlikely. The Premier League is a brutishly tough league now and the fear factor is utterly gone. Promoted clubs go to Old Trafford, Stamford Bridge, Anfield and all and play open and expansive football with little threat of being torn to pieces. The odd slaughter still happens of course, but one of the strangest trends to emerge over the past few years is that this often seems to involve two supposedly bigger teams, rather than first battering last as used to happen in the past… and still does with alarming regularity in La Liga (10-2 anyone?)
For a while now the Premier League has been in danger of becoming a more level playing field. The influx of TV money has not increased the power at the top, but rather pushed everyone from the bottom upwards. The knock on effect has never been more devastating than this season. Whilst the top clubs continue to flatter to deceive in Europe, the league has evolved into an impossible to predict week by week hotpot of drama. The season reaches its half way point on Boxing Day with Chelsea in 15th, 3 points off the relegation zone and Leicester City top with 38 points. But even beyond those two, we have Palace level on points with the teams in 4th and Watford just one point further behind. Watford!? A team who still play each week with 9 or 10 of the players they came up with last year? Just 12 points separate 4th from 17th – an extraordinarily bunched group when you consider Leicester sit 9 points ahead of that and villa some 10 beneath. So the key question remains. Is this the future? Will we see a time again when 3 or 4 clubs dominate with 15-20 point gaps from 3rd to 5th as there has been in the past? It looks unlikely. The Premier League is a brutishly tough league now and the fear factor is utterly gone. Promoted clubs go to Old Trafford, Stamford Bridge, Anfield and all and play open and expansive football with little threat of being torn to pieces. The odd slaughter still happens of course, but one of the strangest trends to emerge over the past few years is that this often seems to involve two supposedly bigger teams, rather than first battering last as used to happen in the past… and still does with alarming regularity in La Liga (10-2 anyone?)
Is all of this of the detriment to our European chances? To the
future of the national team? Of course it is. Has it resulted in a better, more
entertaining and unpredictable league in return? Yes, yes it has. Bring on the
second half.
United fans should be
careful what they wish for.
According to reports coming out of Old Trafford, Van Gaal has two games to save his job. Lose either match over Christmas (away to Stoke, home to Chelsea) and he will be shown the door with one of two scenarios happening. Ryan Giggs taking over until the end of the season… or Jose Mourinho taking over from January. All of this surely sounds like music to the ears of many a United fan, bored to a near comatose state by the football over the past few months, results have now turned to go with the performances; and United sit on a worse run than even Moyes ever achieved. But are the two options outlined above really any better? Do United really think having the callow Giggs as manager for half the season will result in more chance of a top four finish than Van Gaal? And what of Jose? A manager who we now know will only ever be a short term solution. A manager who, whilst extremely talented, is arguably the most disliked by fellow fans in the game. And what of his football? Jose has only ever managed one team that could be considered entertaining (Real) and even they had lost their way by the end. His football is clean sheet first, expansive second, just like Van Gaal. And none of that even takes into account how he will react to his current experience? Time will tell of course, and for now the job remains Van Gaal’s to lose. This run surely can’t continue… but at the same time, it’s hard to pick out a player who is suddenly going to turn it around for him.
According to reports coming out of Old Trafford, Van Gaal has two games to save his job. Lose either match over Christmas (away to Stoke, home to Chelsea) and he will be shown the door with one of two scenarios happening. Ryan Giggs taking over until the end of the season… or Jose Mourinho taking over from January. All of this surely sounds like music to the ears of many a United fan, bored to a near comatose state by the football over the past few months, results have now turned to go with the performances; and United sit on a worse run than even Moyes ever achieved. But are the two options outlined above really any better? Do United really think having the callow Giggs as manager for half the season will result in more chance of a top four finish than Van Gaal? And what of Jose? A manager who we now know will only ever be a short term solution. A manager who, whilst extremely talented, is arguably the most disliked by fellow fans in the game. And what of his football? Jose has only ever managed one team that could be considered entertaining (Real) and even they had lost their way by the end. His football is clean sheet first, expansive second, just like Van Gaal. And none of that even takes into account how he will react to his current experience? Time will tell of course, and for now the job remains Van Gaal’s to lose. This run surely can’t continue… but at the same time, it’s hard to pick out a player who is suddenly going to turn it around for him.
Saints are in a rut
Five games without a win, with the League Cup battering from Liverpool sandwiched in between, Southampton are in real trouble of unravelling. Their defensive solidity has never recovered following the injury to Fraser Forster, coupled with the loss of Morgan Schneiderlin to Manchester United. But it’s upfront where they’ve struggled of late. The trouble for Saints is that in Pelle, Mane and Long they have three streak players. Capable of hitting eight goals in five matches one minute… and then going on long goalless runs the next. It’s safe to say Saints are currently very much in the latter situation right now. How Koeman must wish he could get the talented Jay Rodriguez back on the pitch again to give them something different in the final third. Saints have Arsenal away on Boxing Day before the fixtures turn a little kinder heading in to the New Year. Koeman needs his team to find their fluidity again and quickly. Whilst a good run can carry you to the cusp of Europe this season, the reverse is also true. The last thing Saints need is a relegation battle.
Klopp is not a miracle cure
Since the victory away to Manchester City, Liverpool have laboured past a woeful Swansea before playing Newcastle, West Brom and Watford and winning none. They have scored just three goals in that four game run, which was what they managed in the first half in that scintillating performance that announced them as a genuine team once again. Klopp tried to play the same way on Sunday, but his team never recovered from the absolute howler that gifted Watford the opening goal. After that Pool fell victim to the quick, counter attacking football coupled with high pressing that Klopp has sought to instil into his own players. Watford were full value for their win and Klopp now has a much better idea of the size of the job on his hands. Liverpool have regularly managed to rouse themselves for the bigger games over the years, but have continued to let themselves down in fixtures that it seems, on paper, they should win at a canter. The squad is young and talented, but they lack the sort of striker their system craves whilst Daniel Sturridge remains on the treatment table. Defensively, if anyone gets behind them they collapse like a pack of cards. Moreno is a sham of a defender. Superb when marauding forward but totally inept when put under any serious pressure. Liverpool have a terrible goalkeeper and an even worse back up one. Martin Skrtel still gets games by virtue of there being no credible alternative, but Klopp could do a lot worse than just buy an entirely new back five in January. Fourth is still achievable by virtue of every serious challenger for that position being equally as shit, but Klopp needs to go back to basics after this performance and rouse his team for the Boxing Day visit of… yeah… Leicester.
Barely believable Leicester related stats of the season
·
10% of all goals this season have been scored by
Jamie Vardy, Riyad Mahrez or Odion Ighalo
·
Vardy and Mahrez have score more between them
(28) than 16 of the 20 Premier League’s entire squads…
·
Mahrez is, statistically, the best player in the
whole of Europe’s top league this season
·
No team has ever finished outside of the top 4
having been top by Christmas
·
5 of the last 6 teams to be top at Christmas,
have won it
·
N’Golo Kante has made almost 20% more
interceptions than any other player in the league
·
Leicester have lost less games this season than
Barcelona and Real Madrid. And the same as Bayern Munich
·
Robert Huth has played 30 games for Leicester.
And stepped off the pitch with his team having lost... once…
Team of the Weak (in
brief)
Bogdan – An absolute horror show.
O’Shea – Torn apart by Oscar.
Funes Mori – Torn apart by Leicester.
Fonte – Looks half as good as he did 12 months ago.
Moreno – Can’t defend. Can’t tackle and inexplicably not booked.
Wanyama – Not worth 2m right now, let alone 20m.
Mata – Looks to have completely gone. Jose coming probably won’t help…
McClean – Unstable.
Shaqiri – Has shown only flashes of ability. Can’t buy a goal.
Rooney – Garbage.
Pelle – Garbage Man.
O’Shea – Torn apart by Oscar.
Funes Mori – Torn apart by Leicester.
Fonte – Looks half as good as he did 12 months ago.
Moreno – Can’t defend. Can’t tackle and inexplicably not booked.
Wanyama – Not worth 2m right now, let alone 20m.
Mata – Looks to have completely gone. Jose coming probably won’t help…
McClean – Unstable.
Shaqiri – Has shown only flashes of ability. Can’t buy a goal.
Rooney – Garbage.
Pelle – Garbage Man.
What you may have missed
Chelsea fans chanting “where were you when we were shit” to their players, before booing Costa and Fabregas from the field; Jamie Vardy not actually scoring a goal… but still setting up two for others; Everton playing with total attacking abandon… and forgetting they have to defend; Harry Kane reminded everyone that he isn’t a flash in the plan; Dele Alli trying to do the same… and so far succeeding; Crystal Palace moving to level points with Man Utd and Spurs in 4th; West Brom losing their heads; Newcastle and Villa treating us to one of the worst 45 minutes, followed by arguably the best 45 minutes of the season in an inexplicably low scoring, end to end, littered with errors match up; Liverpool fans not talking about the title anymore; or even the top four; West Ham keeping a clean sheet for three games in a row and finally… Sepp “I am still Fifa President, I am not guilty, I am not ashamed” Blatter absolutely, resolutely refusing to go quietly into the night…
Chelsea fans chanting “where were you when we were shit” to their players, before booing Costa and Fabregas from the field; Jamie Vardy not actually scoring a goal… but still setting up two for others; Everton playing with total attacking abandon… and forgetting they have to defend; Harry Kane reminded everyone that he isn’t a flash in the plan; Dele Alli trying to do the same… and so far succeeding; Crystal Palace moving to level points with Man Utd and Spurs in 4th; West Brom losing their heads; Newcastle and Villa treating us to one of the worst 45 minutes, followed by arguably the best 45 minutes of the season in an inexplicably low scoring, end to end, littered with errors match up; Liverpool fans not talking about the title anymore; or even the top four; West Ham keeping a clean sheet for three games in a row and finally… Sepp “I am still Fifa President, I am not guilty, I am not ashamed” Blatter absolutely, resolutely refusing to go quietly into the night…
Merry Christmas
No comments:
Post a Comment