Liverpool and the Midfield Puzzle

For The upcoming 2011/12 season Liverpool have been very active in the transfer market bringing in players like Charlie Adam, Stewart Downing and Jordan Henderson to an already packed midfield that boasts some of Liverpool’s key players.

You could easily accuse the Reds of having a bloated midfield with Steven Gerrard, Lucas Leiva and Dirk Kuyt joined by Raul Meireles, Alberto Aquilani, and Maxi Rodriguez all pushing for a starting place. Then of course there’s the youngsters, Jay Spearing and Jonjo Shelvey, and fringe players Christian Poulsen and Joe Cole, all presumably behind Kenny’s newcomers. That’s 13 midfielders and wingers all together (with Milan Jovanovic sold to Anderlecht) that Kenny Dalglish must find a role for within his squad.

So with all these midfield players and two talented forwards in Andy Carroll and Luis Suarez to take into account when picking a starting XI, how does Dalglish solve a midfield Puzzle like the one at Liverpool FC?

Taking into account a lot of the deadwood within the team, Joe Cole and Poulsen in particularly will certainly have to impress in training to get a starting place in the team, with rumours circulating that Cole might even be shipped off to West Ham or QPR. Then we have the ‘will he won’t he leave’ saga surrounding Aquilani who certainly looks set to be a creative element in Liverpool’s midfield if pre-season is anything to go by.

However, even if Liverpool got rid of a few of these players, Dalglish will still struggle to find a role for all of these players. A 0-10-0 formation certainly isn’t possible and it will be very difficult to get the best midfielders like Downing, Gerrard, Kuyt, Aquilani, Meireles, Lucas, Adam and Henderson all into one giant midfield system.

So what does this mean then for Liverpool? No Europa League in the upcoming season means players like Shelvey and Spearing will find it harder to get first team experience, especially if Liverpool make a push for good League and FA Cup runs this year, they’ll need the best players to play week after week. However a lack of space on the pitch should, in theory spill over to a stronger bench, something Liverpool have lacked really since pre-Benitez era and it’s a problem that has persisted until now. Then you have to consider that so few places in the starting XI will surely create greater competition within the squad to for a starting place, which should result in stronger performances on match day that should mean better results.

If we look at the attacking midfielder role within Liverpool as an example, Steven Gerrard has been first choice for years with no-one in the squad really competing for his place. Now we have the likes of Meireles, Aquilani and Henderson all wanting to play in that role Gerrard has turned into his own. So we have to assume that anyone who is charged with the task of playing behind the striker and creating chances will be the best man for the job on that day, rather than just being selected due to reputation. Next season Liverpool fans could find that a player’s status within the club and to the fans will account for nothing when it comes to squad selection, which can only lead to good thing to come.

The hardest part of the midfield puzzle however will be the formation Kenny Dalglish uses to not only take advantage of his huge choice of midfielders, but also to take into account the striking partnership of Carroll and Suarez. It would be too easy to assume that Dalglish will go with a flat 4-4-2 formation just because that’s what he did last season and with past teams. Last season he didn’t have the central or wide midfield options he has now and it’s this tactical flexibility and the variety of different types of players that may prove to be Liverpool’s greatest solution to this puzzle.

Looking at this squad it would be easy for Liverpool to play any variety of 4-5-1 (i.e. 4-2-3-1, 4-3-2-1, flat 4-5-1, 4-1-4-1), or to utilise both Carroll and Suarez in a 4-4-2 variant (i.e. 4-1-3-2, 4-1-2-1-2, Diamond 4-4-2 or 4-4-1-1). However it would be just as easy to adapt a Barcelona style 4-3-3 formation, making use of Lucas, Adam and Aquilani and their passing abilities in a midfield trio similar but not as good as, Xavi, Iniesta and Busquets, with Suarez playing on the right in the “Messi” role and Downing on the left, offering crosses for Carroll in the centre of a front three.

With an almost infinite amount of possibilities for tactical style and formation, the overflowing midfield selection will undoubtedly become Liverpool’s greatest asset next season, with a team for every occasion being more than possible. Counter-attacking? Go 4-2-3-1 with Lucas and Adam sitting deep. All out attack? Go 4-3-3. Want to limit the oppositions passing ability? Go 4-3-2-1 with Gerrard and Aquilani behind the striker. For every team and for every system that will be used against Liverpool, the sheer depth of the squad should allow them to have a counter-system in place to give them the best chance possible.

This midfield puzzle will perhaps still persist for awhile, certainly until January when the next transfer window opens and Liverpool have the opportunity to drop more deadwood or bring in more variety, because the bottom line is some of the players in the squad still aren’t good enough. The youngsters will improve and some of the newer and older players will adapt to new systems. The strength in depth Liverpool have for midfield may perhaps protect weaknesses at the back if our pre-season ‘form’ continues into the new Premier League season (however with Reina in goal as opposed to Doni, we should see more clean sheets than 0-3’s).

The best way to solve this midfield puzzle however looks to be a combination of squad selection and tactical system. If Liverpool can nail down that right system to play against the opposition and pick the correct players, what appears to be a bloated midfield choice could become Liverpool’s greatest strength.

After all, if Liverpool can’t be certain who they’re going to pick week in and week out, how can their opponents ever hope to feel suitably prepared?

Is David Moyes losing Patience?

Last weekend saw two teams managed by Glaswegians, Owen Coyle and David Moyes, unfortunately only one team turned up with the typical Scottish fight, pride and passion. That team was Bolton who smashed Everton 2-0 to force the Toffees into a potential relegation battle. One managed looked proud and inspired as his squad played a good looking game of Football for 90 minutes. The other looked a jaded character, fed up and ready for the coach trip home.

That man was David Moyes and after nearly nine years at Everton you have to wonder whether he can take a team that was once aspiring to European Football and a fourth place finish, any further. Without a doubt David Moyes has proved himself a more than competent manage with many Everton fans I’m sure, regarding him as World Class. Unfortunately for Moyes several cracks have begun to show around Goodison Park which has seen a traditionally competitive team slip down the table over the years. Now they sit just three points above the relegation zone in 13th.

It would be easy to blame David Moyes but a closer look at Everton’s team and the club setup tells a chilling tale which would suggest their manager is a miracle maker. Last weekend Moyes admitted "I've thought we were in a relegation battle since the third weekend of the season." When you take a look at the first team squad you can understand why.

With no funding available to him at the beginning of the season, the big signing for Everton and Moyes was Jermaine Beckford. The ex-Leeds hitman who banged in goal after goal to help Leeds soar up the table, then he hit a dreadful goal drought which saw the fans and players lose confidence and patience in the lad. This year it has clearly been a struggle for him to adapt to the Premier League after the colossal jump from League 1.

However Beckford was supposed to be the man to cover for the ever-so-fragile Louis Saha, another great goal scorer but you can’t guarantee his fitness from one week to the next and its hurt Everton in the one place they can’t afford to strengthen and that’s up front. This season Tim Cahill and Marouane Fellaini have been drafted in as makeshift strikers on so many occasions, it’s no surprise then that between them they’ve bagged 10 league goals, the same amount that Saha and Beckford have scored between them.

The squad however isn’t just in dire need of rebuilding up front, all over the pitch there are problems for Everton. Mikel Arleta looks like a shadow of his former self from last season, yes he’s had his injuries, but when he’s had a good run of games he hasn’t performed like everyone knows he can. It may just be that seeing Spain win the European Championship and the World Cup without him being involved, may just be getting to him a little this season, especially as the media have questioned his exclusion from the Spain squads and as a player he must be asking questions of himself as well.

Then of course there’s Jack Rodwell, the onetime future of England who seems to be fighting fitness at the moment as well as a regular place in the Everton midfield. In contrast to the rapid rise of Jack Wilshere this season it seems Rodwell isn’t improving as quickly as Moyes, and Everton, had hoped for. If anything he’s stalled and that big money move may be a while off just yet.

Whilst Everton may be seemingly suffering from a lack of squad depth at the moment they have found a hidden gem this season with Seamus Coleman, who’s made his way up the Everton ranks for a place at right back and occasionally as winger, smashing five league goals in along his way. But it will take a lot more than one really in form player to turn the sinking Merseyside outfit around.

Their next three games are crucial though, with Chelsea in the FA Cup this weekend a win could lift spirits for their upcoming league games. Everton then take on Sunderland at home, a game that ended up 2-2 at the Stadium of Light and since Sunderland have dipped a little form-wise, Everton can expect a hard slog. Then it’s a trip up to Newcastle who will be looking to definitely take all three points from Everton, especially after the 1-0 win for the Toon earlier this season, thanks to a Ben Arfa wonder strike. It’s a tough run of games for sure.

It will be very interesting to see where Everton end up at the end of the season, relegation would seem unlikely with the few quality players in the squad. There are certainly 7 worse teams below them in the league right now, but with Moyes losing faith in the squad and the club not giving funds to strengthen the team, it will be interesting to see if Moyes decides to stay on as manager at Everton. After all he has led them to a fourth place finish and the last four years he’s guided them to top half and UEFA Cup finishes. Either way Everton Chairman Bill Kenwright should do all within his power to keep Moyes on and provide them the funds he badly needs and wants to strengthen a squad that not too long ago was a constant threat to 4th place. But at the minute it seems unlikely with no new plans for a stadium and the stadium-share with Liverpool has been thrown out window for a long time.

It is a shame however to see a decent top-half of the table club struggle as much as Everton this season and with Liverpool slipping away as a powerhouse within English Football, it seems these days both Merseyside clubs have lost the standing within the Premier League as teams to be respected.

Fernando Torres we loved you so...

His armband said he was a red, Torres, Torres. You’ll never walk alone it said, Torres, Torres. The ever endearing song the Kop used to belt out at its much loved striking hero, Fernando Torres, for the best part of four years summed up everything the fans thought of this great Anfield legend and great Liverpool number 9.

The former Liverpool number 9 was once simply adored by the fans for all his time at the club despite the fact that for the last two and half years almost the Spanish striker has been badly out of form as the club’s position and stature in the Premier League has plummeted. It seemed that even the arrival of another Anfield legend in Kenny Dalglish couldn’t convince El Nino to stay on and play for the club he once confessed to loving as he grew up as a child.

Fernando Torres for a time was the badly needed striker that could win Liverpool the title. In his first season he scored over 20 goals for Liverpool, a feat many Kop strikers at the time were struggling to accomplish. He linked up fantastically with the likes of Gerrard, Xabi Alonso, Mascherano and even Dirk Kuyt. But as Alonso left for Real Madrid and Mascherano for Barcelona, Liverpool have looked like a shadow of their former selves and the “will he won’t he” sagas floating around Torres come every transfer window since his arrival seemed to test his seemingly unending loyalty to the club.

However his recent switch to the “Pride of London” Chelsea F.C. seems to reinforce what everyone thinks lately, that there’s no loyalty in football anymore. Many Liverpool supporters seemed to think Torres would never leave the club, that his contract was somehow like a marriage certificate, he couldn’t leave, it wouldn’t be allowed. The problem here lies in the notion of loyalty that hangs around Liverpool. The saying around Anfield is “no one is bigger than the club” and to ask for a transfer or go to a rival club is something that a Liverpool player simply does not do. Liverpool let’s go of you, not the other way round.

The truth is however, loyalty in Football probably doesn’t exist. The idea that Torres is a lifelong Liverpool fan has probably been taken too far by PR people and Liverpool fans. The sad, sad truth is that Torres’ heart probably never lied with Liverpool. His first love is and always will be Athletico Madrid and I’d dare say Torres still remains fiercely loyal to the club and probably the reason why he did not return to Spain to go to Real Madrid or Barcelona. Instead he chose Chelsea, and for a man who has won the European Cup and the World Cup, he’ll most likely want to win a League title at some point. With Chelsea it is more likely to happen unfortunately.

In reality Chelsea is the only club big enough and rich enough to afford El Nino and for Liverpool and for Torres himself, it was probably the right deal. To put it into context, Chelsea have paid £50million for a player that has been out of form for the past two years, injury prone and out of sorts. Torres will have to start scoring quickly and consistently for the London club otherwise he’ll quickly look like another expensive flop, another Shevchenko. Chelsea will also have to adapt their strategy for a striker who has expressed how he prefers to be the lone target man, in a team that combines the attacking trio of Drogba, Anelka and Malouda. Then of course there’s club captain, John Terry, who has a dislike for the Spaniard, which many Liverpool and Chelsea fans will know has a long history behind it.

As Torres leaves as Liverpool fans we have to look at the future. Luis Suarez made his debut against Stoke in good fashion, nicking a tidy goal, complete with nimble footwork and placement. Let’s ignore the fact it was unlucky the defender couldn’t clear it off the line quicker because even coming from the Dutch league, Suarez has more Van Nistelroy about him rather than another Afonso Alves. Then of course there’s the Andy Carroll, a true lad in every sense of the word, who jets off to Dubai to get over injury and gets smashed on 30 Jagerbombs only to aggravate his injury further by falling off a bar stool. His ability may be under scrutiny at the moment but at least the Liverpool Christmas parties will be significantly better.

At the end of the day Liverpool have lost one legend yet gained to promising talents, that potentially can link up together incredibly well and it will be the first time for a fair few years that the Merseyside club will have two damn good strikers in the team. Dalglish loves his striking duos and maybe just maybe, as Liverpool players we may finally see a striker play up front, rather than out wide and out of position. After all, that’s all we really want.

At the end of the day though, good luck to Torres at Chelsea, he may no longer be a Liverpool player but I’m sure he’ll receive a warm reception from Liverpool fans who still sing him a song: Fernando Torres! Terry’s bit on the side!

Are there enough English managers in Football’s Top Flight?

The number 4 is a very crucial number that sums up everything wrong about English football at the minute. Forget the influx of foreign players or even foreign owners that don’t know anything about the game or how to run a football club. Instead take some time to consider how many managers in the Premier League are actually English? The answer is of course just 4; Ian Holloway, Harry Redknapp, Steve Bruce and Alan Pardew. Of course there are plenty more in the lower leagues, but out of 20 Premier League clubs only 1/5 are actually English. This is a horrendous amount when put into perspective against the other major leagues of Italy – 18 Italian managers out of 20, Germany – 16 German managers out of 18 and Spain – 16 Spanish managers out of 20.

Some may argue that the amount of domestic managers is irrelevant when the Premier League is the best in the World; whilst I tend to agree you have to look at the evidence that suggests otherwise. The recent Ballon D’or award boiled down to a final three of Iniesta, Xavi and eventual winner Messi, all of whom play in the La Liga and play for Barcelona, managed by the Spaniard Pep Guardiola. The best manager of the year award went to Real Madrid’s Jose Mourinho and even the International Federation of Football History and Statistics, boasts that Spain has the best domestic league in the World, with the Premier League in second place.

It’s not just a lack of managers or coaches in the Premier League however, it’s a severe lack of coaches across the entirety of England. Before the World Cup only 2769 English coaches held a UEFA Pro Licence, which allows you to manage in the country’s top flight on a permanent basis and allows you to manage in the Champions League. Germany had 34,970, Italy 29,420, Spain 23,995, and even France had 17,000. The figures show a severe lack of depth within the English coaching system which affects the overall quality of a countries youth development and national team performance. The England National team for instance haven’t reached a final since 1966; Spain, Germany, France and Italy however, have been in a combined 8 finals since 1998 in the World Cup and Euro Cup.

With Fabio Capello to step down after the 2012 Euro Cup, the FA have already stated their intention to appoint an Englishman as manager of England, a wild idea considering the last one was Steve McClaren, but the past most successful England managers have been Sir Bobby Robson and Sir Alf Ramsey, both of which were English, one of the them won us the World Cup.

The question is however which current English managers in the Premier League would take the England job and who would have success? Harry Redknapp is the obvious candidate and many wanted his appointment after the World Cup in South Africa last year, but would he take it now Spurs are becoming a dominant force in the League? Have Ian Holloway and Steve Bruce got the credentials or experience to even warrant being considered? Is Alan Pardew even worth mentioning? Then of course there’s the unemployed Roy Hodgson, probably one the most successful English managers without a job at the minute, but would he be welcomed as the next England manager?

Whoever it ends up being, we should wish them success and give them our support. Because with the way the Premier League is going at its current rate, English managers are going to be as hard to come by as decent English players in an import heavy league.

It would perhaps be of benefit to the ‘English’ way of playing football if more Englishmen were given chance to manage the bigger clubs in England, instead of owners getting managers who’ve had success abroad. However before that happens there has to be a drastic improvement on the standard of coaching and that begins at youth level. The quality of youth coaching is detrimental to the development of our national team and the development of coaches themselves, just look at Germany for proof.

English coaches need to improve drastically in order to even stand a chance of getting a Premier League job and for the England team to stand a chance of winning another major tournament. It’s a necessity though to create coaches that think beyond hoofing the ball 60m up towards Peter Crouch or Wayne Rooney otherwise the England team is going to continue to suffer the embarrassment that met them in South Africa over and over again.

As of right now we’re nowhere near solving the problem. The FA are striving to improve their coaching systems and are currently looking for more people to step into football coaching, focusing on youth development and working their way upwards. But for now all we can do is hope that the number of English Premier League managers begins to grow, we’ve fallen way behind other countries and whilst our clubs may continue to do really way, we need to consider the future of our National team for our country’s pride which has taken a substantial hit over the years.

Has an Influx of Foreign talent in the Premier League affected the Development of the National Football Teams of the other Home Nations?

Many will agree that England in South Africa for the 2010 World Cup were not great. In fact they were bloody awful. An embarrassment to the Nation? Perhaps, but shocking nonetheless.

People have quite rightly come out and criticised the players, Capello, the tactics, the lack of fight, the lack of spirit, the lack of ability and mostly the lack of form carried over from the Premier League season. Then others began to scratch the surface and see how deep-rooted the problems the England National Team actually go.

The major criticism was the coaching ability, or lack of coaching ability, found in this country among the most impressionable talents, the youngsters found in the school parks and in the Under 8’s Leagues. The future talent pool of English Footballers was taken a harsh look at by Sir Trevor Brooking, who made a comparison between World Cup Top goal scorer, Thomas Muller , 21 and Chelsea Reserve Daniel Sturridge 21. He made the comparison that Muller as a promising youngster in the Bayern Munich Squad, had cemented a secure spot in the First Team, getting regular action on the pitch and scoring goals, later became the top goal scorer at the 2010 World Cup, just a year later after getting regular first team football at high league level. Daniel Sturridge on the other hand made just over a handful of League appearance, mainly as a sub and his future potential is beginning to look questionable.

So as we can see the main problem seemed to be the inability to get promising youngsters regular first team football. The solution then, is the Premier League’s 25 man Squad registration system, which I’m all for, as a requirement is the team must have 8 registered Home-grown players, which have been playing in the English Football system for 4 years since under the age of 21. However criticism then begins when you realise foreign players like Cesc Fabregas of Arsenal, qualify under this rule too.

However in comparison to the other Home Nations, you have to say England did marvellous! Now this is in no way meant to be insulting to the National Teams of Scotland, Wales and both Ireland and Northern Ireland, but at least England qualified for the World Cup. The English performances at the World Cup and European Cup are actually quite good compared to the rest of the UK and Ireland.

So has an influx of foreign talent into the Premier League really affected how well England plays? Have the foreigners of the Premier League, who change the dynamics of the game, and force teams to be better, have they really hampered the abilities of our National Team? Or have the likes of Carlos Tevez, Didier Drogba, Ruud van Nistlerooy, Fernando Torres and Dennis Bergkamp, not actually forced our English players to play better week after week, year after year since the Premier League's beginning all the way back in 1992? The Premier League after all, is regarded as the best League in the World, and since the start of the Premier League in 1992 England have only failed to qualify for the 1994 World Cup, led by Graham Taylor and the 2008 European Cup led by Steve McClaren. Both of whom are now regarded as poor choices as manager.

That stat alone should go some way to show you that the foreign players of the Premier League have served the National team well, so well in fact that every World Cup England has been in since the creation of the Premier League, they've advanced past the group stage. Not too bad in retrospect really, when many say the League has too many foreign players. With 66 different individual countries represented in the Premier League, I'll let you be the judge if there's too many foreign players, but most cities have that many different nationalities represented within their respective area.

The main problem for me caused by the influx of foreign players in the Premier League is the detrimental affect it has had on the likes of the Scottish, Welsh and Irish national sides. Particularly the Republic of Ireland National Football team who in 1990 were a very good side, but today they struggle to qualify. What's gone wrong?

Firstly we can blame the poor quality of the Football Leagues in the other home nations. The Welsh League is regarded by many in England as the lowest professional tier in Football, very much akin to League to or even the Conference League. Just look at the Cardiff Football team, their Welsh League is so bad Cardiff want to play in England, and even then they're only a mid-table Championship side (although with Craig Bellamy at the helm that may change). The Irish League is almost a joke with no team ever qualifying for Champions League and the SPL is such a two-team league it may as well be called the Scottish La Liga.

This doesn't mean to sound disrespectful to the respected teams of each league or any fans, but these comments generally match the quality that each league represents. My biggest gripe however is the way that some of these leagues are set out, mainly the SPL.

For those that don't know the SPL uses a Split format, which ends up with every team playing certain teams 3 times, once home and possibly twice away. However all are not happy with this highly unusual format, in fact Rangers manager Walter Smith branded the format as "unfair" and called for an 18-team league to be considered. The SPL has defended the split format, however, and dismissed the possibility of expanding the league due to a lack of strong enough clubs within the Scottish Football League. It’s a sad state of affairs for Scottish Football when you can’t find 18 “strong” teams for your top flight.

It should also be noted that in the Scottish league, a large proportion of SPL clubs' squads are being made up of Scottish players (73% in 2004–05). The figure in England is much closer to around 40% which would suggest that despite a lower amount of top English players in English teams, the National Squad still does a lot better than Scotland’s National Football team.

In fact when you take a look at Scotland's National Football team, the majority of players are either playing at Championship Clubs (e.g. Middlesbrough) or SPL teams. Their best player in the Squad is arguably Darren Fletcher of United, who many see as a fringe player of the United Squad until recently. Then again had Owen Hargreaves not been out the squad for an extended period, would Fletcher still been selected as often?

The states of other National Teams from other Home Nations and Ireland aren’t much better. For a long period of time David Healy was N. Ireland’s best striker, a player who struggled to make an impact at just about any level of competitive Football in England. Of course before Healy there was George Best, but he never really bothered to play for the National Team, and whilst the man was very gifted at Club level, but we never really witnessed his true potential on the World’s finest stage. Now the Welsh National Football team possess some decent players such as Craig Bellamy (Now at Cardiff in the Championship), Gareth Bale, one of Tottenham’s star players and a quality left back, but after those two? Joe Ledly in the centre isn't a bad player but his lack of high level competitive Football really shows in the International games, and the team overall suffers from severe lack of depth.

It is perhaps the Republic of Ireland’s National Football Team taking the biggest dip in quality however. In the early 90’s, Rep. of Ireland lead by “Big” Jack Charlton was quite a force to be reckoned with. The achieved the quarter finals at Italia ’90 and even qualified for USA ’94. The team used to have some damn fine players as well, Roy Keane for one, former Liverpool striker John Aldridge, and a whole host of players from top Premier League Clubs, all of which were getting regular Football. Nowadays the ROI Football team lacks the many quality players required to mount a decent challenge in the competition. The only standard out players in their squad today, are arguably Robbie Keane, who can hardly be called “World Class” and Shay Given who’s Manchester City’s no.2 ‘Keeper now behind Joe Hart – an Englishman.

When we consider the impact of foreign players on the Premier League and the National Football teams of the Home Nations, the 2010 World Cup in South Africa gives us some interesting statistics. For example The Premier League was the best represented league at the tournament, with 108 players, while Italy's Serie A provides 75 names and Spain's La Liga 57. Along with Germany and holders Italy, England were the only country at the finals to have a squad chosen entirely from their domestic league, which goes dividends to show just how strong an asset the Premier League is for the National Team. The Germany squad had a very successful tournament and the Bundesliga has grown in popularity and technical ability and skill. Yet as a result, a lot of top foreign talent has moved into the German league this season, on top of the talented foreigners such as Ribery and Robben, who were already playing in Germany.

So whilst many bemoan the fact that the foreign players have hampered the England National Team, look at the other top football leagues of France, Germany, Italy and Spain and look at how well their National teams have done recently (less so Italy and France at this year’s World Cup) and in the past. Maybe those foreign players are actually helping the technical development of domestic players.

Just look at the next crop of young English talent, Connor Wickham, Jack Wilshere and Jack Rodwell – all fantastic prospects playing alongside the top foreign talent in their respective leagues, maybe the English Football Association needs to look at the coaching quality for youngsters in this country, rather than allowing the media and managers to lambast the amount of foreigners in the Premier League.

3 Days until a new Season Dawns...

Yes, just three days at the Premier League starts all over again. Another 38 games will decide the winner of the 10/11 season, with the usual suspects of Manchester United and Chelsea looking like the only real contenders for the title. United though have already succeeded in getting the first honours of the season, winning the Community Shield in comfortable fashion, hammering Chelsea 3-1 with débutante Chicharito getting on the score sheet in the progress, as well as Dmitar Berbatov looking like the player he was at Tottenham, scoring a beautiful chipped goal. However let's not forget that it was Hilario in goals for Chelsea...

Martin O'Neil has resigned just three days before the season has even begun, well...we might as well get the managerial sackings started, after all every year someone loses their job. My money would be on Roberto Mancini to be next, too many signings, no squad stability and heavy pressure to succeed might prove too much for the superstar Italian to stay committed to the Eastlands outfit. I think Roy Hodgson will be safe enough, after all Liverpoool could barely afford to get rid of Benitez!

This season will also mark a comeback for the veterans of the England squad who flopped at the World Cup in South Africa. Those who deserved to be booed: Lampard, Rooney, Green, Carrick, Barry, Terry, Glen Johnson. Those who maybe don't deserve to be booed but will be: Gerrard, Lennon, Wright-Phillips, Milner, Defoe, Upson. Those who we still can't work out why they went: Joe Hart and Emile Heskey.

With that in mind, this season and today in fact, should be an opportunity for the youngster of English football to try and make their mark. Jack Rodwell really does need to have a brilliant season to prove he's the sort of midfield player the future England squad needs, same goes for Wilshere and James Milner (who failed to convince some whilst in South Africa) and of course the enigma that is Adam Johnson, some think he's crap, others think he should have been in South Africa for the World Cup. Carlton Cole is another one who needs to have a great season, more because some West Ham fans still think he's a waste of space, England fans have already labeled him, perhaps unfairly as another Emile Heskey (who scores more often than not at both levels). Then of course there's Joe Hart who might be reduced to bench fodder or the man who forces Given to retire, most likely the former unfortunately. Finally Michael Dawson; good player who should do well if he remains injury free.

Then of course there's the race for fourth which will begin much, much earlier than it did last year. Many will have you believe Tottenham are the favourites yet again, but Man City will get third or Second...no. Liverpool in theory have the experience and pedigree for fourth place finish, whether they get it might rely yet again on the form of Gerrard and Torres, but the arrivals of Wilson and Joe Cole may give the squad some freshness and depth which they've lacked for a few years now, plus they haven't lost any of their stars.

City will win something. They have to. Spurs on the other hand are very hit and miss, hopefully with Redknapp at the helm they'll be more hit and should challenge the whole league table. Obviously I want Liverpool to do well, but I'll have to wait awhile to be convinced because a season that begins away at Arsenal cannot bode well.