First and foremost, accept my sincere apologies for
not writing more entries "From the Offside Position". I had every intention of providing
weekly entries, but school, life and watching football got in the way of
blogging. The beauty of this block of time is how much has occurred in the past
two months to talk about. I will write two entries: this one will focus on the
EPL title-race; I will release another entry discussing the Champions’ League
& how my predictions held up!
ARSENAL:
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| Arsene Wenger - has the ultimate strategist finally run out of pieces to play? |
The entry for Arsenal will be short, since they have fallen out
of the title-race since my last entry. They have received a mere 6 pts in their
last 6 games – faring the worst start to a Premiership season, since the
Premierships 1992 inception – demonstrating their inconsistency. Arsenal this
season has been more frustrating to watch than in previous seasons – they put
on two master-class performances (coming back from 4-0 down to win 7-4 vs.
Reading in the FA Cup; winning 5-2 against increasingly impressive Tottenham in
the league), but failed to impress in most performances. While there are
patches of the lineup that are putting in good performances – namely Cazorla – the
rest of the team seems to be in a state of disarray. If the form continues this
season following the sale of additional big-name players, expect to see
transfer requests from additional players and a more sustained plea for the
removal of Wenger from the helm. Arsenal is in a position where they can still
have hope of qualifying for a Champions’ League spot, so we will need to keep
watching to see how they fare.
CHELSEA:
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| Roman's way: Abromovich has appointed his 7th coach. Will this policy ever allow Chelsea to be a football hegemony? |
“Chelsea always chokes” was a motto I lived by when I first
started watching the EPL when I saw the perennial fourth place finishers
stumble during title-challenge after title-challenge. While Chelsea have – with
the help of a billion dollars – moved acres from that state, they appear to
have justified this motto, as they find themselves 10 points adrift of the
front-runner and entering a recognizable tail-spin. While this might not be
shocking for individuals who have followed Chelsea for years, what makes it
truly shocking is the incredible form they were in till mid-October. At one
point they a four-point lead on the table and looked to be masterfully
utilizing some of the best young talent in Europe to lead a deadly assault on
multiple fronts! Where it went wrong? After Chelsea lost that dramatic (admittedly
poorly officiated game) to Manchester United, Chelsea have only WON FOUR POINTS
IN SIX GAMES!! This streak includes a loss to West Bromwich Albion (who have
admittedly been on fire this season) and draws with Fulham, Swansea and
Liverpool (who is now for all intents and purposes a terrible team that Chelsea
should be thumping).
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| Torres: the lone man up front? Truly a gamble. |
Of course there are two stories here: the first one is the shocking dismissal
of Di Matteo by oligarch owner Roman Abromovich. Chelsea have yet to register a
win under Rafael Benitez (whose selection warrants an entire blog entry on its own),
the most desperate man in the business. While the October record under Di
Matteo was atrocious, there is questionable logic with firing a recent Champions’
League-winning manager heading into the most busy part of the season … and
replacing him with a coach WHO CAN’T COACH IN ENGLAND IF HIS LIFE DEPENDED ON
IT!? Useful morons have provided the statistic that under Roman’s 8 coaches
they have won 1 more trophy than United, who have remained loyal to one. This might
be the case, but upon closer inspection you will see that the majority of those
trophies were with coaches who stayed longer and who were installed during
better occasions (RDM’s appointment and Champions’ League win being the anomaly).
While the ultimate failure of Chelsea to
win the league – or possibly even qualify for Champions’ League – will justifiably
fall on Benitez’s head, there remains a second bigger issue: Chelsea’s squad is
actually not that good.
Chelsea spent money like a teen girl at an H&M blowout this summer …
on similarly-qualified midfielders. There is no denying the quality of their
midfield – Hazard, Mata and Oscar are some of the best – but there are a lot of
players being forced into roles they shouldn’t have to play, such as Ramires
(side note: where the hell is Marin??). Also: their defense is aging and
over-reliant on the increasingly sluggish PR-nightmare that is John Terry. The
biggest point: Drogba was never replaced and Torres – despite having
Xavi/Iniesta spoonfeeding him the golden boot award in Poland-Ukraine – is NOT
A PLAYER to base your attack around. Chelsea should have focussed less on
bringing in Oscar and Marin, and more on landing Falcao or Lewandowski. 9
trophies under Abromovich is easy to blind people, but the fact remains: Chelsea
is as frustratingly managed as Arsenal.
MANCHESTER CITY:
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| Yaya Toure: one of the most consistent players in the league. |
Manchester City remains in the thick of the title race,
although with an unconvincing form, gaining a mere 8 points out of their last
15. If it wasn’t for Manchester United’s faltering away loss to Norwich, City
would be six points out of the leader. City have demonstrated this season that
they are the genuine article and can compete domestically (European competition
still eludes them as they crashed out of the Champions’ League today playing
Borussia Dortmund’s reserves). They are tied for the second-most goals in the
league and have a GD that is currently +1 better than Manchester United. The
standout players have been a resurgent Carlos Tevez, Eden Dzeko and Yaya Toure.
Mancini – despite crashing out of Europe – has managed to maintain the favor of
the owners, and will now have all his focus placed on the domestic title, which
will make him quite lethal. Unlike Abromovich, the City owners allow
considerable flexibility for Mancini and understand why switching canoes
mid-stream might prove disastrous. This weekend’s game versus Manchester United
will be huge; a six point gap going into the Christmas season where United
usually shines could leave their Red neighbours with a runaway title win. City
definitely have the player resources to mount another title challenge, although
their ranks are also surprisingly thin (injury has already demonstrated its
effects on them in trying to compete domestically and in Europe). Injuries to
key players such as Toure, Aguero (again) or Kompany could quickly cause City
to fall into the tail-spin that has overcome Chelsea and Arsenal.
MANCHESTER UNITED:
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| Robin Van Persie: Converting doubters with every strike. Cries of "overpriced and guaranteed to be injured" are being regretted. |
While I am obviously biased, I feel that Manchester
United are odds-on favorites to win the title this year. Namely, they are
pulling away from the herd despite not hitting top form. Going forward United
have been lethal – scoring 37 goals in 15 games (9 more than their closest
competition), this is with Wayne Rooney only contributing to 4 of those goals!
The goal threat this seasons has largely been through the ever-improving Robin
Van Persie, although goals have come from all across the park, with Chicharito
putting in a few impressive performances as well (just as I was starting to
for-see an imminent transfer for the young Mexican). Rooney – while not in
goal-scoring form – has been quite the revelation as a play-maker behind RVP and
Wellbeck/Chicharito, filling in for the injured Kagawa and has contributed
greatly to their playmaking and for crucial ball-marshalling in the middle of
the park. Where United suffers – STILL! – is defensively; they have allowed 21
goals between their posts, with only 7 teams letting in more. Ferdinand is
looking slower and slower and Vidic’s absence looks to be increasingly
long-term. Furthermore, United may have put too many eggs in the Vidic basket, because
during his brief stint in good health he didn’t appear to play too well. The
young guns have been pretty inconsistent, with Smalling being particularly
unimpressive for me. Rafael – while great going forward – has a major gaff
almost every single game. Johnny Evans – while still suffering through patches
of uncertainty – is looking a bit more confident in recent games and perhaps
might be the padlock that United need to lock up their stalls for the rest of
the season. However, injuries to Evans and Ferdinand (quite, quite likely on
any given day …) would leave United’s defense in the hands of second-rate
clowns. If SAF and owners want to guarantee a twentieth title, they will use the
winter transfer market to bring in an experienced, cool head (a la Vidic) to
act as back-up / replacement for the vulnerable CB position.
END OF THE SEASON PREDICTION:
1. Manchester United
2. Manchester City
3. Tottenham Hotspur
4. Everton
5. Chelsea
6. Arsenal
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