Premier League Preview: Manchester United-Sunderland

Manchester United

A strange off season for the ‘red devils’ has seen the world’s most expensive player leave the club. The big talking point of the summer for most United fans has been the departure of Cristiano Ronaldo, the footballing sensation leaving for an amazing £80 million. Losing Ronaldo can only be seen as a huge blow to the team, there were many times last season when Ronaldo single handedly won them games and looked the best player in the world. However, £80 million is a lot of money even to a massive club like Manchester United and given Alex Ferguson’s track record of signings the money will almost certainly be well spent. So there are definitely two sides to the argument on the sale of Ronaldo, some fans are gutted at losing perhaps the best player in the world, whilst others believe the money will help Fergie strengthen his squad to be better than it was even with Ronaldo.

The strange thing is Ferguson has had no intention of spending the money this summer. Earlier in July Ferguson announced he had made all the signings he wanted to and was happy with the squad he had. The only really notable signings being Antonio Valencia from Wigan for £16 million and the surprise signing of Michael Owen on a free transfer from Newcastle. Fans are unlikely to believe that either of these players can fill Ronaldo’s boots.

Michael Owen is a world class forward when fit, the problem is he is hardly ever fit. Ferguson has taken a gamble on him but should Owen get injured United’s squad begins to look a bit bare. With the loss of loanie Carlos Tevez, United’s forward line is weaker than it was. Berbatov has not justified his big money move yet and Rooney will need to score a lot more goals if United want to win the title for the 4th season running. Ronaldo’s goalscoring will be sorely missed and some players will have to step up and fulfill their potential to help United lift more trophies this season.

Always strong at the back, Nemanja Vidic and Rio Ferdinand will be hard to get past, there is no reason to expect any different.

The nucleus of the team has been kept but the holding core has been withdrawn, it is hard to see how this will not draw the other teams closer this year. This season may be one too many for United to win the title and without some more world class signings they may lose out.

Prediction 2nd

Portsmouth

What on earth has happened to this club? Last season talk was rife of massive foreign investment, rumours of an Arab takeover and even talk of Sven Goran Eriksson taking charge. Whilst this has failed to happen the club has hit a downward spiral, reporting massive debts and scrapping plans for stadium expansion, it is tough to see how the tide can turn.

The sale of Glen Johnson and Peter Crouch for a combined £26 million may seem acceptable but none of the funds have been invested in new players. With two star players gone it looks like this season will be a real struggle for Pompey. Fans are seething and with such a passionate following the club will be in for a rough ride should they not perform this season.

A shame perhaps because manager Paul Hart has done such a wonderful job since taking over, he has saved the club from almost certain relegation in the hands of Tony Adams. Portsmouth may just have enough in their ranks to survive this season but their future looks bleak and it probably will not be too long before they are relegated.

Prediction 16th

Stoke City

The heroes of last season return to fight again. Stoke were undoubtedly the overachievers of last year finishing a fantastic 12th having come up from the Championship the season before. Perhaps not the most beautiful football team to watch but they could not be criticized for their resilience and incredible home form. The Britannia Stadium was a fortress last year and if Stoke can repeat this then there is no chance of relegation.

Manager Tony Pulis was probably the manager of the season in the Premier League and although his tactics are not liked by many they get the results and at the end of the day that is all that matters.

Probably the least busy team in the transfer market this off-season, Stoke have only signed Sunderland’s Dean Whitehead for £3 million. The only sale being Seyi Olofinjana to Hull again for £3 million. This will not worry fans however as last years team has more than enough battling qualities in them to survive this league.

Stoke will look to capitalize from some poor sides down at the bottom this season, not just promoted teams but also the Hull’s and Portsmouth’s who really look set to struggle. Staying alive should be no problem for Stoke this year.

Prediction 13th

Sunderland

Sunderland fans should be buoyed by the signing of manager Steve Bruce. One of the best out their with mediocre teams on limited budgets Bruce could finally be the man to help Sunderland reach the heights their fans so desperately crave. With one of the best chairman in the game in Niall Quinn, there is no reason Sunderland cannot start to think about Europe in years to come.

Darren Bent is a great signing for Sunderland, a bit pricey at £16.5 million but he is a proven goalscorer anywhere he goes and guarantees you at least a few each season. Lorik Cana is again not cheap at £5.4 million but the former Marseille player could be a star of the future is he develops well.  Frazier Campbell has also been signed and fans will be hoping this former Manchester United youth starlet can fulfill his promise. Bruce does have the knack of picking out players of great potential, look at Antonio Valencia, Wilson Palacios and Amir Zaki all top class players who were found by Bruce.

Selling Michael Chopra, Dean Whitehead and Greg Halford will not set alarm bells ringing in the North East, Sunderland have done well to hang on to their main stars.

This is a big season fro Keiran Richardson, Manchester United’s academy product has always had the potential to be a quality player and certainly showed glimpses of that last season. If Bruce can get the best out of him then Sunderland will be a creative attacking force. Sunderland should also benefit from Bruce’s defensive knowledge making them a tough team to beat.

Relegation is not an issue that Sunderland will have to deal with but this is a building season and fans should be happy with a mid-table finish looking to push on next season.

Prediction 12th

Has the football league ever had it so good?

The new football league season kicks off today and fan of the teams in the lower divisions of English football must be licking their lips at the opponents they will face. 

In the Championship, Newcastle and Middlesborough will be the big scalps of the season. Teams like Peterborough and Blackpool must be so pleased to be able to say that they are in the same division as these massive football clubs. It is only a few years since Kevin Keegan’s famous, ‘I would love it if we beat them rant’ at Alex Ferguson, when it looked as if Newcastle United would be Premier League champions. Middlesborough themselves were playing in Europe only a handful of seasons ago.

A league including other big clubs such as with Leicester, Nottingham Forest, Derby, Bristol City, West Brom and Sheffield Wednesday is sure to rouse the fans. Clubs that could all make a case for deserving to be in the Premiership for the size of their fan bases, will be sure to throw up a lot of interesting match-ups and fierce rivalries in the coming weeks. It looks like it could be one of the best Championship seasons in years.

Yet it is not just the Championship that now has all the big non-Premier League teams. League One can now boast an wonderful line up of once great clubs. Playing in the third tier of English football this season are most notably, Leeds United, Norwich City, Southampton and Charlton. All of whom have played in the Premier League within the last five years. Leeds United of course made the semi final of the Champions League in 2001 but since then have infamously collapsed into relative obscurity in League One.

Even League Two has hit the headlines in recent weeks. Although not boasting the same array of big clubs, the oldest club in the world Notts County have just signed up Sven Goran Eriksson as director of football. Eriksson is one of the highest profile managers in the world and arguably one of the best. With new rich Arab owners Notts County could be a club to watch in the next few seasons as they look to climb from the fourth league to the top.

Whatever happens it looks as if it will be a very exciting season this year.

The Psychology of Choking

Ever since sport began athletes who have been expected to win have failed. Top class performers week in week out can let themselves down on the big occasion for no obvious reason. The term ‘choking’ in sport has nothing to do with a lack of oxygen to the lungs and brain but rather an apparent mental breakdown from an athlete completely incoherent with their previous form.

Some of the most memorable ‘chokes’ are heartbreaking to watch. Any England fan will tell you that penalties are not their friend and you would expect top professional footballers like Beckham, Waddle and Pearce to slot home from 12 yards. So why are so many penalties missed in the professional game?

Tennis player Dinara Safina is also known as a ‘choker’, Safina races to a grand slam final time after time looking untouchable until in the final she capitulates and looks no more than a very average player and is thrashed.

Perhaps the most dramatic ‘choke’ of the past few years was Jean Van Der Velde. The French golfer only needed a six on a par four hole to win the British open. Something every pro golfer would be expected to do in their sleep. Somehow though after a perfect drive he managed to get it into the water and after continual mistakes ended up getting a 7 and eventually losing the open on a play-off.

So why do such talented professional athletes ‘choke’, some people thing that it is a result of pressure getting to them and throwing them off their game. This may be true as scientists have started to conclude that ‘choking’ is the result of thinking too much. Over stimulating the thought process seems to encourage doubt and a sense of vulnerability. The obvious solution seems to be to think less, to focus and get in the zone of playing rather than notice the external distractions. Although theories such as these are hard to prove they do seem to add up.

Whilst it is a bit much to suggest that less intelligent people who do not think will be good at sport under pressure. Let me leave you with one interesting stat. Of the 35 England players who have been selected for the past three world cups, only 5 had had fathers with more than ‘basic formal education’.

Are A.C. Milan The New Real Madrid?

A few years ago Real Madrid were the talk of the football world. Along with the galacticos Zidane, Figo, Roberto Carlos, Ronaldo (the original one!) and Raul the team seemed unbeatable.

Real Madrid had spent a record amount on players splashing out a cool 76 million euros on Zidane. This is the team who won the most European Cups in history. Despite all of this and even with an amazing team of stars they still underachieved. They just could not manage to dominate European football the way they were expected to.  The team was far from unbeatable and they were known around the world as a failure. The lack of passion and performance from their ageing Galacticos was plain to see.

Pundits commented that this proved once and for all that no matter how good your team is, if the players do not gel together then they can never be the best team in the world. It didn’t matter how many stars Real Madrid had, their lack of leadership and teamwork cost them and hence they have gone over 5 years without winning the European Cup.

It appears though that despite the problems of the mid naughties Real Madrid, a couple of years on A.C. Milan have started following down the same path.

It all started a couple of seasons ago when Milan signed Ronaldo from Real Madrid. Ronaldo was in the twighlight of an admittedly impressive career. However, he would soon get injured after having a very miniamal impact on the team, leaving for South America to finish off his playing days back home. This was a poor signing by anyones estimations, perhaps forgivable because it could have been a risk worth taking had Ronaldo found his old form.

This should have been a clear warning that signing great players towards the end of their careers was a mistake, especially for a team who are looking to rule world football.

Yet this season Milan have not changed their transfer policy and have signed another ageing Brazilian star in Ronaldinho. Now, whether or not Ronaldinho will turn out to be a great signing is yet to be seen and with strong rumours circulating that Milan are on the cusp of signing Beckham it seems that the club are happy to go for the ‘golden oldies’.

With a squad full of high profile over 30 year olds such as Shevchenko, Pirlo, Ambrosini, Zambrotta, Nesta, Seedorf, Inzaghi and Gattuso the fans of Milan must be getting concerned that come two or three years time their team will lose about half of its squad. The future just does not look that promising for this illustrious club at the moment.

The main problem is that A.C Milan have not qualified for the champions league this year and aren’t leading what appears to be another weak Serie A this season. This is bad news for a team who won the Champions League only 18 months ago. So why haven’t Milan adopted an Arsenal like approach and tried to sign quality youngsters rather than players who are past their prime?

The answer is not clear but perhaps part of the reasoning behind it is that high profile signings create more publicity and may help boss Ancelloti to hold onto his job by getting the fans behind the team. Milan have fallen from grace and for them to finish 5th in the Serie A last year was tragic. Ancelloti was not sacked however so perhaps his transfer policy is still convincing the fans and the board that Milan can be a force under his guidance within the next couple of years.

All is not lost for A.C. Milan, they still remain one of the richest clubs in the world and do have some potential within their younger players, they have already brought through Kaka who has become one of the best players in the world and with young Brazilian Alexandre Pato a particually exciting young player it may not be as bleak a future as one may think. Only time will tell as to whether A.C Milan will turn their fortunes around but they will have to improve if they want to be considered as the world’s best team in the near future.  If they continue going down the road that they are currently travelling around then they may be labelled as the new ‘Real Madrid’.