Football

Why we should stop looking back on South Africa 2010 with rose-tinted glasses (Original upload: 07/08/2020)

10 years is a long time. People my age were in their last year of primary school, fresh off finishing their SATs, loving life – with an exciting summer of football ahead known as the 2010 World Cup. The nostalgia trip of seeing clips and songs from South Africa 2010 makes memories flood back to many people – myself included. But was it actually a GOOD World Cup?

Bad point #1: The matches

This element to the World Cup I remember vividly. South Africa 2010 had the second lowest goals per game rate of any World Cup tournament, at just 2.23 goals per game. Not a good starting point, especially when you look at the results of the matches. Let’s take the games on a round-by-round recap. *SPOILERS INCOMING*

GROUPS: The group stages sucked! I remember coming home to many a group game, only to be left completely underwhelmed by the lack of action, and critically the lack of goals. I won’t lie, there are some bleak score lines. EIGHTEEN of the 48 group stage games finished 0-0 or 1-0 – in other words, not memorable fixtures. The group stage had very few notable elements from a neutral perspective – obviously a lot of England fans can remember Rob Green’s gaffe vs the USA, South Africa’s goal in the opening match is probably an iconic moment in the eyes of South African fans, but other than that the memories are very few and far between. Notable score lines include Serbia beating Germany 1-0, Slovakia beating reigning champions Italy 3-2, and hosts South Africa beating 2006 finalists France 2-1. Nevertheless, the group phase seemed like a drab formality for the majority of contending teams.

RO16: The first knockout phase brought in an increase of goals (yay!) but not really an increase in excitement. Argentina vs Mexico and Netherlands vs Slovakia (3-1 and 2-1 respectively) both contained goals for the two teams in each game. This gives an impression of competition; however, Mexico and Slovakia’s goals were both consolations, coming once they were 3-0 and 2-0 down. This false pretence of competitiveness is exemplified by Germany vs England. Yes, Matt Upson’s header gave England hope at 2-1 down, however England were never really in with a chance against the Germans. Despite Lampard’s non-given goal. Other formalities included Brazil dispatching Chile 3-0 and Uruguay beating South Korea 2-1. A hard fought 1-0 win for Spain over the Ronaldo-led Portugal side was probably the highest quality fixture of the round. To round it off, Paraguay and Japan played 120 MINUTES of football and failed to break the deadlock, with Paraguay ending the pain of watching by winning 5-3 on penalties. So, little improvement in game quality overall.

I will give some credit to USA vs Ghana (1-2 AET), which was a good game, eventually settled in extra time by Sunderland legend Asamoah Gyan.

QUARTER FINALS: Moving toward the business end of the tournament, we’ll start off with the Germans routing Argentina 4-0 in Cape Town. The free-scoring German squad, propelled by Golden boot winner Thomas Muller, really brought this tournament goal average up. An absolute heart breaker for Ghana against Uruguay provided massive drama. Serial headcase Luis Suarez produced one of many career-defining moments of controversy by producing a great save to deny Ghana in the 90^th minute – forgetting that he was meant to be a striker. The following penalty was slapped against the bar by Sunderland hero Gyan, thus handing karma a massive L as the African team eventually lost on penalties. Boo.

The Netherlands ousted out an underwhelming Brazil side 2-1 in the quarters, no doubt helped by a straight red for Felipe Melo when he stamped on Arjen Robben. In the final QF, Spain yet again ground out a 1-0 win, this time over Paraguay. Again, the quarters had improvement over previous games, but not a significant improvement.

SEMI FINALS: A cracking game between Uruguay and the Netherlands ended up 3-2 to the Dutch. This game included a SCREAMER from Giovani van Bronckhorst, a suspect free kick from Jabulani wizard Diego Forlan, and meant karma finally caught up to Luis Suarez. In the other semi, Germany vs Spain, a Puyol header from a corner meant Spain won 1-0 AGAIN. They were pretty good at this.

FINAL: the absolute state of this. The big game was completely overshadowed by poor refereeing, dirty fouls and play acting. I can’t really say anyone was a winner as a result of this game. First off, it was a miracle that De Jong wasn’t sent off for booting Xabi Alonso in the chest – easily one of the worst attempts at tackling I’ve ever seen (to be fair, there was poor refereeing on multiple occasions, not just the final). That’s just the start of it. The Dutch committed 28 fouls in the final, with Spain not being much better at 18. In the 120-minute-long final, that averages out to a foul roughly every 3 minutes! The Dutch also finished with 8 yellow cards and 1 red, with Spain racking up 5 throughout the game (although one was Iniesta for taking his top off during celebrating, understandable).

 

Regardless of the lack of discipline, a tightly contested contest was finally taken by Spain winning 1-0, AGAIN. They deserved to win the final in my opinion – more possession, more attempts on target, and generally looking the better team through trying to actually play football. The Netherlands did not cover themselves in glory; the legendary Johan Cruyff described them as playing “anti-football”, and playing in an “ugly and vulgar” manner. I couldn’t agree more. The final works well as a summary of the games in South Africa 2010; lacking goals, lacking entertainment, lacking quality.

 

Bad point #2: Notable team performances

A secondary point which really drags down this World Cup in my opinion is the performance of the host nation and African teams in general. By being knocked out in the group stages (more spoilers I know), South Africa became the first hosts in history to fail to reach the knockout rounds of the World Cup. This is detrimental on multiple levels, most notably on national interest of the host nation. African interest in the first tournament on the continent was also lacking with Ivory Coast losing in the group stage, despite possessing many talented players in their squad such as Drogba, the Touré brothers, and Solomon Kalou. Thankfully, Ghana got all the way to the quarterfinals, which was an excellent achievement with the youngest team in the tournament.

Reigning champions and previous finalists Italy and France really didn’t help this tournament either. Both were bounced out in the group phase, despite having world-class talent such as Thierry Henry, Franck Ribery, Eric Abidal, Daniele De Rossi, Fabio Cannavaro and Gianluigi Buffon at their disposal. They both also had relatively easy groups given to them. Finally, from a personal perspective, ENGLAND. Slated by many to have a good chance at going far in the tournament, England limped through the group stage, only to be then trounced at the hands of our bitter rival Germany in the first knockout round. This meant a fair number of casual supporters in the UK lost interest in the World Cup a bit too early on. Not even Fabio Capello could find a winning midfield formula for Lampard and Gerrard. Such a waste of some legendary premier league players in the 2006 and 2010 world cups. I won’t lie, this has set me up for a lifetime of expecting very little from England in major tournaments, which is probably for the best.

 

Bad point #3: off the pitch wackiness and corruption

About five years ago, The Telegraph uncovered that FIFA was, in fact, corrupt.

Morocco had apparently won the vote for the 2010 World Cup, however some rigged vote counting meant it was awarded to South Africa. South Africa’s sports ministry is also alleged to have paid disgraced former FIFA exec Jack Warner significant sums in order to get votes from CONCACAF nations. However, this is all just alleged (of course) as the apparent $10 million fee was a FIFA payment to South Africa given BACK by South Africa to be used in the Caribbean to develop football in Trinidad and Tobago (Warner’s football federation). Awfully convenient, and awfully confusing. With enough research I could probably end up writing for hours, so for now let’s just say South Africa 2010 has some issues with the credibility of its hosting.

(FIFA laid blame on South Africa but admitted corruption, a decent summary can be found here: https://qz.com/africa/640707/south-africa-paid-millions-of-dollars-in-bribes-to-host-the-2010-world-cup-fifa-says/)

Other issues off the pitch included the fact that the official ANTHEM for South Africa 2010 was “Sign of a victory” by R Kelly of all people. Now this is not the World Cup’s fault that R Kelly is… a man facing many, many horrific charges, but it does not reflect well either way. “Waka Waka” (the official SONG) and “Wavin’ Flag” are absolute bangers, though.

Finally, Vuvuzelas completely ruined the atmosphere of the games. I know they’re a commonality at South African matches, and are part of the unique atmosphere of South African football, but they made an awful noise. Additionally, they are apparently rather damaging to the ears if you have the lack of fortune to be next to someone using one. To me, they were detrimental to what I would typically consider a good atmosphere. I even prefer empty stadiums to vuvuzelas. Honestly. Speaking of empty stadiums, group stage fixtures had some issues, with some games having more than 10,000 empty seats while they were being played. Despite this, South Africa 2010 did still have a quite high average attendance, so I will not be too harsh on the fact that there were empty seats for Algeria – Slovenia.

 

So, there you go. I don’t like the 2010 world cup. I will say that I still hold some good memories from it – but I feel they are more attached to that point in my life of leaving primary school and a long, warm summer. There were some memorable goals, some banging tunes, a great logo, and some great kits. But, to me, the lack of good matches, controversial awarding of the tournament, shoddy refereeing and vuvuzelas mean that I don’t think South Africa 2010 was a good World Cup.

 

 

A change of culture: Arsenal’s new style under Arteta – a case study (Original upload: 18/07/20)

As Arsenal pull off an upset victory over Manchester City, I sit back in surprise at what I have just witnessed; an incredibly solid defensive performance from, of all teams, the Gunners. What on Earth just happened??? Let’s use this FA Cup semi-final as a case study. As a side-note, please don’t expect any ground-breaking analysis here – just what I saw. If its all obvious and a waste of time, thanks for at least coming to look!

The first thing that needs to be pointed out for me is the clear change in approach with regards to defensive work rate. Arteta appears to have managed where others before him have failed by making every single player on the pitch willing to sacrifice themselves in the pursuit of victory. You can see it from the attackers, who were constantly dropping back behind the ball to add a further line of defence, and smart-pressing City’s centre backs into playing the ball back to Ederson or into a confined channel where the full back is trapped. Kudos as well to the centre midfielders – I do not think Granit Xhaka is a good player at all, but today what he lacked in ability he made up for in tenaciousness. A determined performance indeed.

If we delve into formation work now, Sky Sports list Arsenal as starting in a 3-4-3 formation, pictured below:

So, I think it is fair to say a 3-4-3 was not what Arsenal actually played. While the wing-backs of Maitland-Niles and Bellerin were definitely outlets when possession was regained (and with 29% possession, this was not often), in reality they tucked into a flat back 5 in defence. With the back 5, the game plan revolved around a very narrow approach; force City to move the ball out wide and cross, where Arsenal had a distinct height advantage. The plan of congesting the middle was a further important prevention tactic against City’s style of play. Tight marking from the centre-backs meant when Jesus dropped in short to get the ball off of the midfielders, he was never given the opportunity to turn. In turn, if a defender was dragged out by going short, the versatility of the back 5 meant the gap left could be covered quickly, preventing midfield runners bursting through past Jesus.

Moving on to the midfield, again defensive shape instilled by Arteta made sure that City would have to go outside, and would be frustrated by the lack of space available in the final third. Full credit to Aubameyang and Pepe – not defensive players at all by trade, but in order to get a result they were willing to forego their attacking luxuries and tuck in. This created a midfield bank of 4 in front of the back 5; the angles that the midfield four offered city meant that very often the only option for the likes of Gundogan and De Bruyne was a pass out to a full back, or a forced/high-risk pass into a congested midfield zone. Another point to mention is also the distance between the midfield and defence -there was not a lot of ground between them, meaning the happy hunting grounds of David Silva and De Bruyne (between the two lines) was not a viable option. Very defensive, but very well executed all round.

This photo above says it all really – 10 Arsenal players in their box, behind the ball, one outlet available next to the referee. Even here though, you can see the flat back 5, with four midfielders in front + the lone striker.

And the one outlet is all they need.

Unbelievably, I am not yet finished complimenting Arsenal (I will chuck some personal opinion about how I feel about this style of play at the end). Their attacking front three are almost perfect for counter attack football. Lacazette is happy to be a pivot point from which to begin a counter (e.g. the first goal), and the athleticism of Pepe and Aubameyang in particular is a nightmare for defenders caught high up the pitch. Additionally in Aubameyang’s case, he is typically not a player who needs more than one chance to score, as evidenced by his efficiency in this game. The style was much more direct than previous Arsenal teams, who seemed to want to labour and find comfort in possession before moving up the pitch. For this Arsenal team today, outlet balls into channels to get City backpedalling really was the way, executed perfectly in the second goal. Don’t get me wrong, they still tried to play out from the back from time to time, but Arsenal picked their moments to when it was actually viable (apart from the Mustafi error in the first 15 minutes).

It pains me to say, but congratulations to Arsenal on putting together a very solid 90 minutes against one of the best teams in world football; a fully deserved win.

BUT

Do I think this is a style of play that will work every week? No. Do I find this style of football visually appealing? Also no. The stats in the game are FIFA-esque, and sitting so many men behind the ball is not an embodiment of attacking football (though Mourinho might approve). It was not the style of football which Arsenal have been known to play in the last 15-20 years. It was not the possession-based, fluid attacking, wonderfully crafted moves that waltzed Arsenal to perennial Champions League qualification, but it was almost refreshingly gritty and resolute. This may hurt some Arsenal fans, but it appears Arteta accepted that they are not on the ability levels to go toe-to-toe with the best teams and try to beat them at their own play style, instead taking inspiration from teams who try and not concede first then try and score afterwards. A bit like what Southampton did to City just a week or two before.  However, when Arsenal themselves play the likes of Southampton, they may find this tactic will grow a bit stale. There’s no doubt that Arsenal have some attacking quality to provide an alternative option, but what would the cost be defensively? Would a switch to a back four re-expose the likes of Luiz and Mustafi (who both had fine defensive performances today)? I think reverting back to an old formation such as 4-3-3/4-2-3-1 may put players back into old habits; I would bet for sure that in such formations Pepe would not put in half as much defensive effort as before.

Time will tell, but maybe, just maybe, Mikel Arteta has started his blueprint.

What if we had a Premier League all-star game? (Original upload: 16/09/2018)

The idea of a Premier league all-star game has been suggested before, but largely untouched by the organisers; I find this odd considering the amount of money they could rake in from such a venture. The format and running of it, however, could be very complex. I’m going to try and break down how I would run something like an all-star game.

First of all, when are you going to stage such an event? Well, from the 2019/20 season, there will be a two week-winter break in the premier league season. What better time to put on a football spectacular to feed the football-starved fans over the break? It would only be a few days of training and a fun game for the players, so makes sense in terms of timing. An alternative, if players really want a full two weeks off, would be to put it at the end of the season, as an end of season entertainment. This would be more suiting to holding the event on international shores, so would be dependent on where the match should be held.

Personally, I think it only fair to have the event held at a different premier league ground each season. Now obviously they have differing capacities, so a game held at the Vitality stadium with its small (11,000) capacity makes no sense at all. So, maybe it would be best to hold it at any large stadium in the UK, perhaps with a minimum capacity of 40,000- this way there is still plenty of choice. Much more likely to happen is the playing of the game elsewhere, much like preseason friendlies. Games held in America, Asia, and all around the globe are excellent money makers, but not necessarily fair on the true football fans (no offence to fans around the world).

Now, how would you select the teams? There have been calls for the teams to be split between north and south. But, premier league has three new teams each season, so to maintain a even 10-10 split, there would be teams who change side each year. This may help to spice up the teams a bit, but just provides an organisational headache as much as anything else. Also, this may add an unnecessary level of political divide to the match. I had thought about Europe v Rest of the World, but who knows what the talent distribution would be like, and will also complicate the voting format. Its an idea, but the one I would prefer is to just have a pool of 40 players to choose from, with a televised draft showing off each pick. This completely rips off the NBA all-star idea, but I’m all for it. Both teams would have a squad of 20, with the only rule being that they need two goalkeepers in their squad. This way, there is an extra televised event for more money, and the teams will be different year-on-year. If the coaches are the ones who pick their squads, this allows for spicing up of tactics and formations, leading to an interesting game. 

The players themselves will be entered into the all-star selection ‘pool’ via a combination of fan votes (via twitter, premier league app, anything), media votes, and fellow professionals. In the pool of 40 players, there will be the 4 keepers, 14 defenders, 14 midfielders, and 8 attackers with the most combined votes. This, again, is complete copy and paste from the NBA all-star system, which I absolutely do not apologise for because their system is the best and most logical.

In fact, purely for making money, I will rip off the NBA even more. The team selection ‘draft’ can be sponsored and televised in a one-off show. The two teams can be named after sponsors, with special edition kits showing the branding and colours of their sponsors sold each season. Update them every season and you have fresh merchandise. The Premier league is sponsored by Nike- this is an opportunity for them to rake in some more cash. Furthermore, the style of the game can be further revenue focused…

I propose splitting the game into four 20 minute quarters. This way, you can have advert breaks in between each quarter. This will also lengthen the amount of airtime as a result. In addition, this is beneficial to the players. Not only is the game shorter, but they get three breaks during the game rather than just half time. I would also include rolling substitutions, so players can come in and out of the game, meaning fans not only see more of their favourite players, but players also get more of a rest during the game. This will reduce injury risk from tiredness to an extent too. This can work for the players financially too-  potential for extra sponsorship for being selected, contract clauses, the works. In terms of the rest of the rules, I would not meddle with the game too much- maybe I would do away with offside, just to guarantee goals. This may trivialise the game however. Instead, maybe give two points for goals from past a certain line. (Yes, I stole this idea from FIFA 19, but it would be quite awesome).

I truly believe this is a billion-pound idea, and will therefore be sending my CV into the premier league, cos this is genius.
-For real though, this is a lucrative idea for the league, giving fans a potentially amazing game watching their heroes, a way of making enormous amounts of dough for the Prem, and would be a fun weekend (maybe week of prep) for the players, which would also be not too tiring or risky for them. Have I missed anything? Could this blueprint be improved? Let me know if you want in on my ground-breaking scheme.

Hope you enjoyed!

 

SMALL POST EDIT: it appears this idea has been done a lot. I’m aware, I have tried to put my own spin on it. If this lacks any originality, fair enough! Not intentional from me. Sound.

 

Fullbacks count you know: best Premier league defenders (Original upload: 28/08/2018)

The inevitable struggle to do weekly posts has happened sooner than expected. However, I got bored so here is who I think is the best defender in the prem.

Some players who will NOT be mentioned include the likes of Vincent Kompany, Laurent Koscielny and John Stones. With Kompany, I cannot give a player such a high rating if they haven’t made more than 30 league appearances in a season since 2012, despite the high rankings he gets on FIFA. Laurent Koscielny is undoubtedly a good defender, but I wouldn’t say he’s up there with the best simply because Arsenal’s defence has been shaky for years; he may not entirely be to blame but defenders of quality are either leaders or lead by example. Finally, John Stones, Laporte, Lindelöf (who I don’t rate but will include for the point) are all a little too inexperienced, and haven’t proven anything to me for a significant period. I don’t doubt that they will at some point.

Anyway, I’ll give you my top 3. One of the top defenders in the league in my opinion is Virgil Van Dijk. Considering his price, it is just as well that he is! The effect he has had on the Liverpool defence has been quite clear to see. I certainly feel more confident in our ability to keep clean sheets when I watch. This is exemplified by the three straight clean sheets that Liverpool have started the season with, especially in games such as Palace away when we are so prone to conceding and dropping points. Statistically, Van Dijk doesn’t rank very high among defenders; 97th in tackles and 31st in interceptions. This is more down to his style of play I think, and his leadership skills are one of the key aspects to his game. He has had a brilliant impact on Liverpool, but I do not think he is the best defender in the league.

Second in my rankings goes to Jan Vertonghen. Simply put, he is a quality defender. Vertonghen is competent on the ball, always defends well, and was the regular centre piece of the spurs defence last year (36 prem appearances), which conceded the third fewest goals in the season just gone. Obviously, not all the credit can be given to him as he plays in a back four/three of quality players, but he is the standout player for me. Despite being surrounded by the likes of Kieran Trippier, he didn’t have a settled centre back partner last year, nor formation, switching between 3 and 4 at the back. This ability to produce in different scenarios shows exceptional standards. Last season Vertonghen was the 7th highest in tackles and 9th in interceptions for defenders; even the stats back up his quality. However, to me, he still is not the best defender in the league.

For me, the best (and also most under-appreciated) defender in the league is Cesar Azpilicueta (as ever, a long surname. I will refer to him by his affectionate, fan-given nickname, ‘Dave’). Versatile enough to play centre back or wing-back in a 3 at the back system, or full back in a 4, his utility player style makes him invaluable. ‘Dave’ ranked 4th in total tackles by defenders last season, and 17th in interceptions. This displays how much effort and ability he has on the defensive end to gift Chelsea the ball back and allow the creative players to do their thing. That being said, ‘Dave’s’ attacking ability should not go unnoticed as he was 2nd in assists by defenders last year; his ability going forward is almost as underrated as he is as a player. Never the one to make headlines, rarely beaten by his opposing player, rarely highlighted as making mistakes, he is exactly what you look for in a defender; hard-working, efficient, understated, consistent, and not to mention clean. He was only booked once in the prem last season in 37 appearances-impressive stuff for any player, let alone a defender.

I think any of the three are a fair choice for the title of best defender, but to me ‘Dave’s’ ability to play anywhere at the back and his ability to be dependable gives him my pick. That being said, I don’t think he is the best defender in the world, which is a list that I may do at some point later-depending on if I get bored enough.

Hope you enjoyed!

Prem Predictions part 2: Who will win? (Original upload: (05/08/2018)

The season is one week in, and all the top six (apart from Arsenal) have kicked off with a victory. By season’s end in May, however, ranking of the ‘big’ teams will be re-written, leading to the inevitable merry-go-round of massive transfers and manager sackings, followed by one player leaving for Real Madrid or Barcelona. Still, just because that part is predictable, doesn’t mean I can’t have a go at predicting how they’re going to finish, right?

First of all, the easiest choice to make is who I think will be champions; MAN CITY won by such a comfortable margin last year, I can’t see any team getting past them, and maybe not even applying pressure (a la Spurs) to Guardiola’s side. They’re still young, and their strength in-depth is outstanding. They comfortably beat Arsenal on the opening day with Leroy Sane and Kevin de Bruyne on the bench. The centre-back pairing is ageing slightly, but the development of Stones and Laporte into a proper young partnership will mean that’s not even an issue. On top of this, City signed Riyad Mahrez over the summer- a pointless signing for me, but nonetheless means their attack and squad depth is given more power. Pep has had another summer to improve these youngsters, and continue moulding their play to his philosophy even further. Honestly, the league should be so easy for them I expect City to go full tilt at the champions league instead.

Second place is again a rather simple choice in my mind; LIVERPOOL have made significant improvement in the last few transfer windows, and reaching the champions league final with a midfield of Milner, Hendo and Wijnaldum is nothing short of exceptional. The attacking trio will still cause mayhem this season, and I believe Naby Keita in midfield will tremendously help our midfield energy even further. Also, don’t sleep on the signing of Fabinho from Monaco-he will be able to seriously help cover the defence, which although improved is not amazing. That being said, the defence is not as bad as everyone makes out. It looked relatively solid toward the end of the season, and a full season of Van Dijk hopefully will elevate it again. If they can stop inviting pressure on themselves and not concede from stupid things like set pieces, Liverpool will be sound, and a relatively distant second.

Now, third through to sixth is all over the place really. All four of the teams could finish in any of the places in my opinion. Rather unfortunately, I’m going to go with MANCHESTER UNITED to finish third. I think they are going in a very bad direction, especially with Mourinho at the helm. You can’t go round blaming players, when ultimately I think he needs to look at himself. United have all those attacking options, yet their style of play seems so conservative, in particular against the rest of the top six. That being said, the signing of Fred should give Pogba and the other attacking players more freedom, which can only be beneficial. Lukaku, Sanchez, Rashford, Martial et al should be able to provide goals and make sure United get a decent haul of wins. The defence looks pretty bad, its caught between youth and being too old- fully expecting the defence to be carried by De Gea. I expect a pretty rough start for Man U, but after January they’ll sort themselves out and finish respectably, in that typical, infuriating man united style.

ARSENAL are the team I tip to finish fourth (classic), and this is purely on the back of being carried by a massive season from Aubameyang. He is a goal machine, and will show it in this first full season of him leading their attack. I think post-Wenger Arsenal are shaping up quite nicely already. Sokratis (not going to attempt his surname) should be a natural leader to step into the back four, and Bernd Leno should be so much better than Cech, who should honestly just hang up the old scrum cap. This being said I still don’t trust the defence fully. I hope Emery can get Arsenal playing with a bit more intensity and passion, as that seemed to be lacking in the later days of Wenger’s reign. I like the signing of Torreira, he had a good world cup and will provide some much-needed bite to the midfield. Or at least ball winning, rather than consistent cards like Granit Xhaka. I expect Arsenal to be better than last year, but still falter at points in true Arsenal fashion. Gotta love it.

So for fifth (the London teams have got no love here really) I pick CHELSEA. They had a pretty weird window, where it sounded like they were losing three of their best players (Hazard, Willian, Courtois) but so far have only lost Courtois. The replacement keeper from Bilbao is an interesting choice, and really expensive, so I hope Arrizabalaga can perform for his own sake. I feel like the Chelsea team is decent, but with Morata and Giroud as your main striker options I don’t feel like we’ll see bucket-loads of goals from them. Thankfully for Chelsea Hazard and other attacking threats should be able to help-if Eden isn’t going to Madrid. I’m not sold on the midfield containing Ross Barkley, and the defence doesn’t seem quite set, like the new boss hasn’t quite made up his mind who the starters should be yet. At the moment, if David Luiz is one of them, it doesn’t look solid to me.  Like I said earlier, any team could finish third-sixth, and Chelsea could surprise and finish top 4. But for me, I see them missing out on champions league football for a second successive season.

So, in sixth I go with TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR. This is partially because they made literally no additions to the squad in this transfer window, which to me makes it seem like they are falling behind the rest of the top six. Their starting eleven is incredibly strong, but there simply isn’t a lot of depth in their squad to deal with the sheer number of games in all competitions. In addition, due to this I think they are one key player injury away from finishing sixth, but by quite a distance. Fortunately for spurs, their team is still young and developing, they are defensively solid and should be able to still apply pressure. Davinson Sanchez stepping up after a good world cup could mean they can even afford to lose Alderweireld(?). I understand why Tottenham didn’t invest (they have a stadium to pay for after all) but the lack of depth means I see them slipping slightly behind the others.

The top six in the league are streets ahead of the others, but maybe a team like EVERTON could string a good season together and stir it up a bit. As it stands though, this is what I’m going with. There is every chance that this list will be wildly incorrect (as usual), but we will wait and see. I may do a mid-season prediction round-up in January, to see how good/bad my predictions actually turned out. Finally, feel free to let me know how wrong I am.

Hope you enjoyed!

 

The (potential) worst of the league: 2018/19 Prem Predictions part 1 (original upload: 30/07/2018)

As we are only a few weeks away from the start of the premier league season, this seems like a good time to make predictions of who will be successful, and who will be stuck in the relegation quicksand. And that is where we start today-relegation candidates. Obviously, this is all subjective, so you may not agree.

20th PLACE: CARDIFF CITY
Unfortunately, somebody has to be last, and for me Cardiff are looking the weakest team in the league. Obviously they had an excellent season gaining automatic promotion, but they simply haven’t put in the level of investment that the other newly-promoted teams have. Their team is still largely built on championship players as things stand, and I’m not sure if they will make the necessary step up. They have been linked with Salomon Rondon to boost their attack, but he wasn’t exactly a revelation when he played for West Brom. It will be nice to see Cardiff back in the prem, but I think it will be a short stay (yet again, however this time they’re not sporting an attack lead by Frazier Campbell.)

19th PLACE: HUDDERSFIELD 
Honestly, this was a toss up between Huddersfield and Brighton. Maybe I just want a team with blue and white stripes to get relegated-who knows. Huddersfield are no doubt a good side, who play an aesthetic brand of football, but I do doubt their long term ability to stay in the league. Yes they have invested this summer (peek Terence Kongolo for £17.5m from Monaco) but I’m still not sure they will survive this premier league season. They scored the joint-fewest goals in the league last season, and I don’t see their signings as a sudden goal boost. Their attack just unfortunately doesn’t seem up to it, and to me they won’t be in the prem next year if they score below 30 goals again in a season. Call it the difficult second album of premier league seasons…

18th PLACE: BURNLEY
This is the choice which I think could be the most wrong. I have reasons for this choice though! Burnley had a brilliant season last year, and managed to qualify for Europe; this could be their undoing. If they make a decent run in the Europa league, I guarantee their league form will falter massively. They haven’t made a signing (yet) this transfer window, so I highly doubt their squad depth. Tiredness or injuries could prove their undoing, so if they have a good European campaign, I expect them to be stuck in a relegation battle. Examples: Leicester, as league champions and having a very successful champions league season, struggled a lot in the league and spent a fair amount of time in the relegation zone. Southampton, although in the Europa league, were nearly relegated the season just gone; however they had a solid FA cup run too. Leicester and Southampton, in those scenarios, had better squad depth than Burnley in my opinion. Obviously, I could be very wrong here, but I’m willing to risk a bet on this prediction.

…So there you have it. I think there are about 7 teams that could realistically be relegated, however these are the three who I think will suffer the drop. If you think I’m wrong, feel free to let me know how stupid my ideas are and how Burnley will make the top six. Hope you enjoyed!