Premier League Preview: Fulham-ManCity

Fulham

Roy Hodgson was one of the managers of the season last year. Getting Fulham into Europe is no easy task, en route Fulham beat Manchester United again no easy task. With a limited transfer budget it is tough to see Fulham matching their exploits of last season but with such a solid squad atmosphere and very proffesional players who knows?

Having signed Bjorn Helge Riise for 1.5 million and Stephen Kelly for an undisclosed fee and no key departures this summer it it is not easy to make a case for Fulham improving as a side. However, continuity would be more than enough for Hodgson this season.

Prediction 9th

Hull City

Wow, what a season Hull had last year. Their first season in the Premier League was less a roller coaster and more a large mountain. After a wonderful start, winning at Arsenal in the process there was even talk of European qualification for the ‘Tigers’, however, after a mauling by Manchester City and that infamous half time team talk on the pitch Hull fell dramatically perhaps a little fortunate to stay up on the last day of the season.

Having signed Steven Mouyokolo and more importantly Stoke’s Seyl Olofinjana, Hull will hope they have enough to survive again. The reality, though, is that if they do not significantly strengthen further they can only go one way…down. Manager Phil Brown has complained that players do not seem to want to sign for Hull and this could ultimately be their downfall.

They have kept the nucleaus of their squad but this does not seem enough to rectify the fact that during the last half of the season Hull were the worst team in the division.

Prediciton 19th

Liverpool

This is a massive season for Liverpool. If they fail to capitalise on last season and do not improve to take the league title then you have to wonder how long Torres and Gerrard will put up with it. The two stars seem to be carrying the team and with the loss of Xavi Alonso a huge blow, Alberto Aquilani will have to be one hell of a replacement to help improve the side.

The signing of Glen Johnson should provide a boost to the attacking elements of Liverpool, however, he is yet to convince defensively and at £17 million he could prove another costly mistake a la Craig Bellamy and Jermaine Pennant.

With apparent financial worries this may be the last year Liverpool can hold their players together and you have to think that if the season does not go to plan players will leave in the summer. Also Benitez may buckle under the pressure and decide to move on should a top job in Spain beckon.

Keeping Gerrard and Torres fit will be the key, if they do this they could make a real title challenge, if not they will most likely be well off the pace.

Prediction 3rd

Manchester City

A year on from the Dubai big money take over, it is still a shock to many to see Mark Hughes as manager. Hardly known for his elegant teams Hughes has somehow kept his job despite a disappointing first season in charge. He will have to deliver the goods this season to keep his job and if he fails to do this transfer budgets cannot be the excuse.

The talk of the off-season (bar Real Madrid), Manchester City have spent big and have got everyone talking. Not least by their signing of former Manchester United player Carlos Tevez, it is strange to see City have the financial advantage over their fierce rivals but they fought off apparent interest from Chelsea and Liverpool also to secure Tevez’s signature.

Arsenal also seem to have given in to City selling two of their best players in Kolo Toure and Emmanuel Adebayor. City will now feel they have a chance of taking the ‘Gunners’ expected last Champions League place.

Another coup is the signing of Gareth Barry who last season said he would only leave Aston Villa for Champions League football, however, it turns out that money is more of a factor and after rejecting Liverpool last year. £12 million could look a bargain come the end of the season.

The most expected transfer of the summer also happened as Roque Santa Cruz’s sulking finally won through and Blackburn let him go for a cool £18 million.

With so many forwards it is hard to see where they will all fit in. Tevez and Adebayor are unlikely to accept anything other than starting roles and Robinho and Santa Cruz won’t be expecting to miss out either.

Reinforcements at the back are still needed and should City sign Lescott then they could possibly challenge for Europe. However, missing out on John Terry, Samuel Eto’o and Kaka could prove their undoing as most of their signings will not be majorly feared by the top clubs. Adebayor, Toure and Santa Cruz had poor seasons last year and Tevez was mainly a substitute at United.

Prediction: 6th

Madrid the Real deal?

Real Madrid ‘the galacticos’ have had a bit of a renaissance this summer. After a few years out in the cold with little European success or extravagant spending, re-instated president Florentino Perez has spent a cool £220 million on players in the last few weeks.

The club that do not tolerate any failure appear to have lost all sense of sanity in a desperate attempt to dominate world football again. Having smashed the world transfer record in signing Cristiano Ronaldo for £80 million, they have once again helped create a frenzied transfer market whereby the world’s top players are no longer affordable to most of the big clubs. Real have also paid around £60 million for Kaka, £40 million for Karim Benzema and £30 million for Xavi Alonso.

The only other club capable of this kind of spending at the moment are Manchester City but even their £32 million British transfer record signing of Robinho now looks like pocket money. So in spending big Real have alienated the world’s top clubs and hence not many big name signings have happened elsewhere this summer.

Usually frequent spenders Manchester United and Chelsea have been relatively quiet in the transfer market and have not made any big name signings whatsoever. Content to keep the core of their squads for this season Europe’s best appear to be relying on Madrid’s plan of world domination falling flat on it’s face.

So will it? Well the apparent second coming of ‘the galacticos’ again sees the worlds top players all forced into one team and expected to instantly perform. However, this is no easy task and the first group of ‘galacticos’ failed in setting the world alight. With players such as Figo, Zidane, Ronaldo, Casillas, Raul and Roberto Carlos playing in their prime Real Madrid only won the European Cup once and the league title twice. Hardly awe inspiring stuff but admittedly better than most of clubs would settle for.

One of the problems with a team full of world class ‘stars’ is that they all want to be the stand out player. Rather than having eleven players gelling together to play the greatest football ever seen, there were eleven individuals on the pitch playing for themselves and not the team. Hence, free flowing football can not exist because the understanding and communication between players is not high enough.

So why will it be different this time around? It seems that ‘the galacticos’ did not work and may prove to be a failure again. Although important, money is not everything in football, more important factors such as a great manager and a great team of hard working players who love the club need to exist for a club to prosper.

Manager Manuel Pellegrini did well at Villareal. Pellegrini revitalized the team after acouple of poor seasons and has worked well on a limited budget to get Villareal into the Champions League year after year. The step up to Real Madrid though is huge. At Real the pressure will be immense and the need for instant results is always a hard burden to bare. Pellegrini has little experience of dealing with the primadonna types that he will have to control day in day out at Madrid. However, he has built up good teams who play for each other and if he can implement this at Real then he can be a huge success.

So to the players and to analyze where they might improve from the last bunch.

Cristiano Ronaldo is the biggest signing of the summer and probably of history. The only saving grace being that the deal was tied up very quickly in early summer and so did not drag on in the usual hysteria the surrounds such deals. Ronaldo is very much an individual, he likes to score and create out of nothing, rarely will he pass the ball if a shooting opportunity arises. Very much a primaddona type, however, it seems to work for him and this did not negatively effect his form for Manchester United or the teams results. If Real get to the level that Manchester United have been these past three years with Ronaldo then they will be more than satisfied.

Another world footballer of the year Kaka has also signed for Madrid as part of Perez’s revolution. A well respected man, Kaka attributes all of his success in life to God and this humble way of life means that he is far from the primaddona type his peers so easily become. Kaka is an ideal signing for a side looking to gel well and play together as a team.

Lesser key signing Benzema is probably the most unknown player who Real have paid big money for this summer. Benzema is a world class forward who is expected to be the next Henry in France. However, he is yet to prove his talent at the highest level and this will prove a massive step up from the recently tame French league. Whilst goals against Manchester United in the Champions League have helped secure his fame on the world stage, it is yet to be seen how he will perform for Real Madrid.

Finally, Xavi Alonso who made the long awaited move from Liverpool may well be the last piece in the jig-saw. Again, very much a team player who is not greedy, Alonso may adapt well to the team in the same way that he had an instant impact when he moved to Liverpool.

So, maybe the new ‘galacticos’ have a better chance of success then the old ones did. However, I don’t think the rest of Europe will be quaking in their boots yet. Real will need to prove themselves on the pitch rather than in the transfer market to gain the kind of respect they so desperately crave and with the standard of Europe’s other clubs at the moment success is certainly no guarantee.