NEW SEASON STARTS HERE AND NOW

Now that the race for the premiership has been finalised by the cowardly display of Liverpool against Manchester City, we at Football Is Simple have decided to ignore the 2008.09 season as the outcome is already certain but turn our minds to what the other teams need to do to prevent Manchester United winning the premiership four times in a row.

I can confidently say now that Manchester United will win the league next year. This assessment is based on what the other teams in the chasing pack are doing today; will normally do or can’t help but do repeating the same old things that keep them from being winners.

Now Alex Ferguson is not a magician; he is a red nosed man who just knows how to win. Unlike what the Man United fans will tell you, he has owned the premiership for 17 years . He has been able to marry the old players like Paul Scholes, Ryan Giggs and Gary Neville (to a lesser extent) with the new kids on the block. Something no other manager has been able to do, no matter what the Wenger and Arsenal fans tell you. They are a well oiled machine of a team with a winning mentality. The manager knows when or who to add to complement the players he already has and keeps on winning. This year they might repeat as Champions league winners no matter what the former special one thinks.

Next year, Liverpool will make another stupendous attempt at challenging for the league but will falter again. For them to win the league, they will need to either sack Rafa Benitez or give him overall control of everything in Liverpool football club. Sacking him will be a better option because keeping and handing him overall control of buying players like Robbie keane and Jermaine Pennant will not improve this team. Rafa needs to improve his squad around Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres; he needs better quality players with special need for a creative midfielder who can add some flair and guile to a basic footballing side. Every game played without Gerard shows how much this team depends on him and Rafa’s belligerent attitude with the purchase of players has given Liverpool a very predictable style of play which will not win him or Liverpool any points for positive play.

The ultra conservative play of two holding midfielders is a reflection of Rafa’s philosophy – we better not lose as against going out to beat anyone. Yesterday, he has decided to pin his mast to beating Middlesbrough, Sunderland and Man Utd away from home because he couldn’t beat Man city at home. The man has the cheek but I don’t see how beating united at home helps you when you have drawn games at home to Stoke, Boro and Man City amongst others. Beating Man Utd is not a deal breaker anymore; it is beating the lesser lights that matter. I expect the lovers George Gillett and Tom Hicks to sack Benitez and a summer sales of every one except Carragher, Gerard and Torres.

As for Chelsea, whatever happens they will be without a manager at the end of the season. So before they start replacing the old and aging team in place they will need to find a manager. Roman Abramovich has proven he doesn’t know his football that well because he has made muddling mistakes in the past including the purchase of Adrian Mutu, Andrei Shevchenko, sacking Jose Mourinho, appointing and then sacking Avram Grant and the sacking of Felipe Scolari. So where will Roman turn to next. Is he going for an Italian? Someone else who will need an interpreter just to get to the car park; how will he explain what he wants done on the pitch? Is he going back to Mourinho; a good move but will need ponying up some serious dosh because Jose doesn’t do rebuilding scenarios; he likes his money already in place to pick the best players greedy enough to want to play for two contesting egomaniacs. Of course this will not happen because he was not sacked for any footballing reason but because the owner and manager clashed on who was the real “special one”. Or will he go dutch and try Frank Rijkaard, another good move but will need time to blend a team that he will try and build. Is Chelsea ready to wait for that to happen?

They will also need a full overhaul of players to make a team; today Chelsea has a strong set of players who can fit into most teams but have proved not to make a team yet. Michael Ballack, Deco, Didier Drogba are taking massive salaries and producing nothing; they will be older and not any better next year so should be shown the door. The other striker is a bully who scores easily against the lesser lights but can go scoreless for months. A creative midfielder and wingers are a must. Without them, the logjam created by Lampard and Ballack in the midfield will continue.

Defensively, they are good but they need a second unit of defenders and not the mishmash of Essien or any other midfielder playing out of position or the atrocity that is Ivanovic.


Besides playing in the UEFA cup next year, Arsenal has the most to do to regain any relevance in the premiership race. This season has shown the professor that youth is good but is not a substitute for experience. Arsenal also has a lot of players who are either past it or have not even got there yet. It will be easier to name the players who have potential and can stay. Besides Cesc Fabregas, Theo Walcott, Gael Clichy, Bacary Sagna, Andrei Arshavin, Robin Van Persie and William Gallas; the others can be given away. No team will win anything with a midfield of Denilson and Alex Song or Abou Diaby or Emmanuel Eboue. A strike force of Emmanuel Adebayor and Nicholas Bendtner is poor no matter the team they are against. Nicholas Bendtner believes he should play more or he will leave. I know Arsenal fans who will find the taxi fare.

Arsene Wenger’s belief in kids can only be justified when he wins something, but the rate they are moving they will not be doing so soon. Thierry Henry, Robert Pires, Edu, Patrick Vieira, Gilberto and Mathieu Flamini are still playing top level football in other teams so you wonder why Wenger disposed of their services. Wenger then makes the most ridiculous transfer moves by chasing another offensive midfielder when he actually needed a defensive midfielder. Manuel Almunia is not a goalkeeper who inspires confidence in his team mates, fans or any one else who has any feelings for this once great team.

So Arsenal needs a new goalkeeper, at least one centre back who is at least above 6’ 2. They need a battling midfielder in Gilberto’s mode. They also need two strikers who can score that are not called Bendtner or Adebayor. They just concluded the 4th 0-0 draw in 7 games. They also need a healthy season that doesn’t rob them of their best players – Tomas Rosicky, Theo Walcott, Cesc Fabregas.

Arsenal also needs a radical rethink of their transfer policies and playing tactics. He doesn’t have Pires or Freddie or Bergkamp any more. He should understand that and teach his boys how to be more direct and stop this nonsense of trying to pass/bore the opponents to death. Depriving the opponents the ball is not a score line yet; make something of the final ball and the old Arsenal might be back.

If the board say they have the money to spend, why doesn’t Wenger want to spend it? The Arsenal youth team were taught a good lesson by Burnley in the Carling cup so it is obvious they are not good enough yet or ever will be.

Why can’t Arsene Wenger be sacked?