Wednesday, September 01, 2004
Silly Season Is Over

After over a week,I think it'd be a good time to start talking about one of my favourite subjects again.EPL football.First,let me breathe a sigh of relief that ESS and Starhub have finally agreed on a price for the broadcasting rights of the matches.Now all football fans can just sit with their legs on on their chairs with a mug of beer and a packet of peanuts or keropok at their friendly neighbourhood kopitiam for a good old-fashioned rousing EPL match.Of course,the sophisticates have their boat quay pubs but actually,when have football fans ever been associated with sophistication?So in actual fact,we,the normal fans,know that these are posers...

Yes,the silly transfer season is over.So it ended with one of the biggest transfers in EPL history.Wayne Rooney to Man Utd for an excessive £30 million.Imagine that.£30 million for an 18 year-old and a rather graceless one at that.Good luck to Man Utd for their purchase.I fancy that it wouldn't make a difference.There are two teams which are too good for it even if they had bought the entire Real Madrid team over.And we know who they are.The rest of the transfers passed me by with no significant additions to note so I will not comment on them.It was barely three weeks ago that I made a prediction about how the end of season table would look like.I've had to change that within the period of three weeks.But of course,I had that without the benefit of seeing how all transfer dealings will be concluded.And seeing that there is an international break,what better time to analyse the teams again and make a more calculated prediction of how things will end.I will do this using the format of predicted final league positions.But I do this in clusters,rather than specifics.

1-3:No change here.I still fancy Chelsea to win the title although the team is playing drab football,it is the kind of stuff which wins championships.Just look at Greece.And Chelsea does have a good team,no matter how people seem to neglect that fact.And Mourinho is one of the best and astute tacticians I have witnessed for a long time.He seems to know exactly what tactic to employ against which type of team.And defences win you matches.Even if it is hard to admit and terrible to watch at times.And Chelsea has one mean defence.I have to admit though,the scintillating form of the blistering Gunners might make my predictions look airy-fairy.The cavaliar approach of Arsenal means that indeed,it is difficult not to see them create at least half a dozen chances in every match and putting at least half of those away.Jose Antonio Reyes,Thierry Henry and Dennis Bergkamp are in majestic form.Robert Pires can't even get into the first team.And Patrick Vieira and Sol Campbell are not back yet.This team is a monster.It'd still be interesting when Arsenal and Chelsea meets though.Will defence or attack prevail?Take your pick.I have largely left out talking about Man Utd because I don't fancy them one bit.They will be comfortably third but no more.Yes,they bought Rooney.But in a team already overloaded with an abundance of strikers like Van Nistelrooy,Smith,Saha and Bellion,they don't need one more.It's the defence which will be their undoing.In particular,central defence where they need a partner for Rio Ferdinand.And the ageing legs of Roy Keane will cost them as well.

4-8:Liverpool,Middlesbrough,Newcastle,Aston Villa and Tottenham will occupy these slots.It is difficult to look past Liverpool for fourth place despite their various shortcomings but they have a good team and have good strength in depth and will ultimately prove too powerful for the rest of the group here.Cisse and Baros look a mismatched pairing right now but I think with time,they will come good.It's a tossup between Boro and Newcastle as to which team is better but Newcastle is in turmoil right now.By the time they sort themselves out,it might be too late to catch up to Boro.A good successor to Sir Bobby Robson is a must and has to arrive soon.Boro,of course,have one of the best squads on paper in the EPL.And once they gel,as they seem to be doing nicely,they might be quite devastating,especially with the Viduka and Hasselbaink strike partnership.David O'Leary has assembled an interesting looking squad at Aston Villa but the team's lack of depth will be exposed over the length of the season.Already,the lack of defensive cover for their central defence pairing of Olof Mellberg and Martin Laursen is an obvious weakness.Still,they have one of the best strikeforce in the EPL in Carlton Cole,Darius Vassell and Juan Pablo Angel.This trio will bail the team out time and again.Spurs is my team.And I like the look of this team a lot.But they are still too much of an unknown quantity for me to fully pledge my faith in them.But they've looked good and solid and have had a fabulous start.That is all I can ask for at the moment.

9-13:This gets a little tricky.Bolton,Fulham,Birmingham,Everton,Charlton.The biggest surprise inclusion here is Everton.A Wayne Rooney-less one at that too.But David Moyes' side has surprised me with their resilience and team spirit.How far spirit alone can carry a team that obviously lacks quality is a moot point but they have looked surprisingly solid so far without the boy wonder.Good end to their season?I can only hope.I have an affection for them.The rest of the selection is probably self-explanatory.Bolton's merry band of old fogies might be doing great right now but I doubt that a team of mainly 30+ year old veterans can have legs to carry them throughout the entire season.Fulham is an established mid-table side and that's where I have placed them.Birmingham might have bought a lot of new players in the close season but the worst mistake was in buying Emile Heskey.I wonder whether the purchase of Dwight Yorke just before the transfer deadline means Steve Bruce has seen the folly of his ways but even Yorke might not solve his problem.A lack of goals will surely be the Blues' undoing.Charlton is having a right-on roller-coaster season.Alternatively looking brilliant and abysmal,they flatter to deceive despite the numerous big-name signings they have made.Danny Murphy already looks a bad buy and I am glad he did not go to Spurs.Thanks,Mr Curbishley.Your interception was most welcome.

14-17:Man City,Blackburn,Portsmouth and West Brom.Man City is the most unpredictable club in the top flight but remains a side too good to go down.Oh,they said that of Leeds and West Ham too.But Nicolas Anelka and Shaun Wright-Phillips should provide that extra touch of quality which makes the difference.Blackburn and Portsmouth,well,they are solid but average teams,despite having some very good talents within their ranks.Yakubu's goals should keep Pompey up while in Barry Ferguson and Javier De Pedro,Blackburn have two very solid midfielders who can also provide that extra spark.West Brom have bought most wisely amongst the three promoted sides and in Kanu,they have a matchwinner.Of course,the deadline transfer of Welsh hitman Robert Earnshaw may also have a big say in their fight against relegation.Will he be able to translate his form in the lower divisions onto the biggest stage?It will be an important question to answer for West Brom.

18-20:Bye bye,Norwich,Crystal Palace and Southampton.Norwich and Palace simply do not have the quality to stay up.Southampton will be the established club to make way this season.They simply looked awful in some of their matches.Nuff said.

So this is it.My revised predictions.I hope the actual results come as close to this as possible as I will not change this again.Come the end of the season,the biggest laughing stock could well be me instead of say...Southampton.