Once more unto the breach, dear friends: AFR previews the 2012-13 Premier League
Once more unto the breach, dear friends: AFR previews the 2012-13 Premier League
It was nice of the International Olympic Committee to keep us all occupied for the last few weeks, but now that those other sports that you never really cared about are off the television and consigned to memory for the next four years, we’re reminded that we’re about to go through another ten months of crushing disappointment and delirious euphoria all over again – and let’s not pretend that we’re not looking forward to it.
Doubtless, you’d like to see what some of the best football writers who could be bothered to stop eating cheese and actually write something for us have to say about the impending edition of The Greatest League The Universe Has Ever Known.
Andi Thomas; football writer at SB Nation and others
Top four:
1. Manchester City, 2. Manchester United, 3. Arsenal, 4. Chelsea
Bottom three:
18. West Bromwich Albion, 19. Reading, 20. Southampton (with the caveat that I am really not sure and it could be any three from about seven)
One thing I’d like to see this season:
Everton do well. I’ve no particular affection for the club but there’s something fascinating about David Moyes. Every season he stretches, bends, improvises, manipulates and … well, manages under financial restraints that would bring out other men in a fit of the hissies; every season his sides play palatable football, bloody one or two aristocratic noses, and generally manage not to be a complete disgrace to either themselves or football. That last is not faint praise. Not in the Premier League.
Oh, and plenty of clips from Michael Laudrup’s playing days, please. Not a dry pair of trousers in the house.
Any other business:
‘Of the twenty Premier League managers’, I say to you, 'nine of them are in their first full season at their respective club’. Then I nod sagely and stroke my chin. 'What does it mean?’ you cry, possibly. 'Well, I don’t know’, I reply. 'That’s the point! AHAHAHAHA!’
Sorry. Anyway, yes, that’s the point. There’s an unusual amount of mystery floating around the Premier League this season, and not just from the new teams. Can Liverpool learn to pass the ball again? Can Aston Villa exorcise the stench of McLeish? How in the name of almighty Pazuzu are Chelsea going to play 347 tiny midfielders at the same time? Obviously, all new seasons come with questions, but this one feels peculiarly unclear. The league – thunderingly predictable title-race aside – is primed for something entertainingly chaotic.
(Those nine: Paul Lambert, Roberto di Matteo, Brendan Rodgers, Chris Hughton, Mark Hughes, Martin O'Neill, Michael Laudrup, André Villas-Boas, Steve Clarke.)
Andrew McGowan; football writer at Near Post Flick
Top Four:
1. Manchester City, 2. Chelsea, 3. Manchester United, 4. Arsenal
Bottom Three:
18. QPR, 19. Wigan, 20. Reading
One thing I’d like to see this season:
Rationality. Long-term forward planning. An appreciation that success in football is about more than your next three results. These characteristics are as alien to the walnut-panelled boardrooms of the Premier League as laidback on-set camaraderie is to Christian Bale. Open-minded clubs have taken a chance on interesting coaches this season, rather than falling back on the merry-go-round of usual suspects - most intriguingly, Number 2 to the stars Steve Clarke at the Hawthorns. He - and others - need the opportunity to work without a 2-0 reverse at home to Stoke setting knees jerking.
Any other business:
Alexander of Macedon rode into Corinth, and asked Diogenes the Cynic what favour he might do for him. Diogenes, gruff barrel-dweller and philosopher of note (and therefore an approximate counterpart to Tony Adams) brusquely invited the young general of legend to stand out of his light. Similarly, the glittering festival of goodwill that was the Olympics has receded, and the spittle-flecked, hoarse, barrel-domiciled EPL has elbowed, shirt-pulled and kvetched its way back to the forefront of our consciousness. And - let’s be honest - we couldn’t be happier. (Pseud’s Corner? Pfft.)
Manchester City haggle in the shadow of Financial Fair Play - for appearances as much as any fear of sanction; United wonder whether a teenager from Crewe can fill the gap Father Time has cruelly opened in their midfield, whilst pursuing a near 30 year-old striker with legs of finest porcelain. But beneath the top two it’s a season of reinventions and fresh starts. Chelsea are trying to transition from football’s version of The Expendables to a crack unit of mini-Matas in one summer. Tottenham are gambling that Andre Villas-Boas won’t be sleeping under his desk with Opta printouts for a pillow by October. Arsenal seek on-pitch leadership. And Liverpool have got their hands on the coveted 'Fashionable Ways of Playing Football’ dossier and are thumbing it enthusiastically….
Max Grieve; AFR editor and others
Top Four:
1. Manchester United, 2. Manchester City, 3. Chelsea, 4. Arsenal
Bottom Three:
18. Swansea, 19. Reading, 20. Wigan
One thing I’d like to see this season:
I’d quite like Alex Ferguson to retire at the end of it all. In reality, I know that he’ll still be whispering in the ear of a melting fourth official as the Messiah and the Antichrist fight to the death in the Battle of Armageddon, but it’s becoming tiring, and I’d like a change. So can we just let him have this one, so that he, Giggs and Scholes might actually be allowed to die? I also have a feeling that Pep Guardiola’s waiting for Ferguson’s death or the battle – whichever comes first – and he’d make United much more likeable.
Any other business:
Roberto di Matteo will be found out for what he is – a strangely handsome luck merchant – and will be sacked/hurled into the water with concrete blocks strapped to his ankles in December when everyone realises that he won’t ever win another Champions League, let alone the Premiership. Buses and a back seven won’t work through an entire league season, and it’ll be interesting to see if di Matteo actually knows what he’s doing with Hazard, Oscar and Marin when Chelsea take it upon themselves to move the ball forward. As the Italian gurgles his way to the bottom of the Thames, Chelsea will somehow find a way to wrestle a Champions League place off one of their London friends or Liverpool (if they’re so fortunate), probably at the hands of John Terry – a terrifying yet inevitable prospect.
Nicol Hay; football writer at AFR and others
Top four:
1. Manchester City (at a canter), 2. Arsenal (at a bewildered vertigo), 3. Liverpool (at a relieved exhale), 4. Manchester United (They’ve yet to address the yawning gap in their team while others around them have improved immeasurably - but I still can’t imagine a world where Ferguson can’t bully 11 young men into the Champions League)
Bottom three:
18. Southampton, 19. West Brom, 20. Norwich; Mark Hughes’ dignity
One thing I’d like to see this season:
Clint Dempsey stay at Fulham, and lead England’s most likeable club on an exhilarating tilt at the Champions League places. I don’t care that they’ve become a cuddly toy - a predictable neutrals’ choice as safe as a tapioca sandwich. Fulham are bloody lovely, play exciting football and I want Uncle Martin Jol to tuck me in and read me a story.
Any other business:
For years now, EPL preview pieces have 90% composed of the words 'With a bit of luck, this could be the season that Liverpool turn things around’ - but this season, armed with a manager with a clear tactical plan and some coherent player recruitment designed to fit that plan at something approaching their realistic market values, Liverpool - gah - with a bit of luck (I’m actually writing this) might just turn things around. Spurs also have a manager with a clear tactical plan, but a classic display of negotiatory intransigence from Daniel Levy has allowed André Villas-Boas to recruit only two players to fit that plan so far. If Luka Modrić’s transfer gets stretched out to a Berbatovesque eleventh hour, Villas-Boas will have no time or funds for reshaping Spurs, and find himself trapped in Chelsea 2011-12 Part 2: The Revenge of the Inappropriate Squad. Which would be a shame, but also quite funny - a phrase that could and should be the Premier League’s motto.
Eric Beard, AFR Editor-in-Chief
Top four:
1. Manchester City, 2. Manchester United, 3. Arsenal, 4. Tottenham
Bottom Three:
18. Reading, 19. Wigan, 20. Southampton
One thing I’d like to see this season:
The Michael Laudrup project succeed. As unbefitting as the Swansealona tag may have been least season, I expect more of the same flowing football from Swansea City with Michael Laudrup in charge. The Real Madrid legend has quietly been stealing La Liga’s riches, and the 26-year-old playmaker Miguel Pérez Cuesta, or Michu, should set Wales alight, despite his meager 1.5 million euro transfer fee from Rayo Vallecano. Laudrup was limited by Mallorca’s financial troubles when he was in charge of the island club in Spain, so there’s reason to believe that seeing Michael work as a manager with the same amount of freedom that he had on the pitch will be spectacular.
John Ray; football writer at AFR
Top four:
1. Manchester City, 2. Manchester United, 3. Chelsea, 4. Liverpool
Bottom Three:
18. West Brom, 19. Norwich, 20. Reading
One thing I’d like to see this season:
Paring this down to “one thing” is hard, but how about Southampton getting Gaston Ramirez (rumored) and scoring a sack of goals with Jay Rodriguez and Rickie Lambert up-top? I’m not a Saints supporter, but only bad luck has befallen them since Le Tissier departed and it’s always nice when a promoted team “takes the Premier League by storm” (except when pundits let it get out of hand and perpetually laud and coddle. This will also happen). Out of the 3 teams promoted they look the most inclined to attack. This hypothesis is grounded in facts: they scored the most (85 goals) in the Championship, Reading have a bunch of noted “big lads” (Pogrebnyak, Leigertwood, and Jason Roberts come to mind), and West Ham are managed by Big Sam. It’ll also be nice to hear the real “When the Saints Go Marching In” for the first time in a little under a decade.
Any other business:
Kagawa looks brilliant, but Manchester City’s squad depth makes them the prohibitive favorites for the league. If Ferguson had managed to bring in someone, anyone, anyone at all at CM or LB I would consider this race much tighter, but continuing to rely on the health of a now 31 year old Patrice Evra, a pair of 38 year olds, Anderson, and Michael Carrick seems like a massive gamble. Manchester City have only solidified their’s with the signing of Everton’s Jack Rodwell, a recurring Fergie target, who can play at DM or CB. Mancini’s 3-4-1-2 looks like an interesting tactic and having better cover than Savic looks promising.
Quickfire: Arsenal could finish anywhere. Brendan Rodgers will do well at Anfield. Carlos Tevez and Mario Balotelli will open a successful screen printing shop in Manchester. Roberto di Matteo will be out of depth again, and Torres will win the golden boot with 26 goals. Aston Villa will finish above Everton on their way to a Champions League place in 2014-15.
