From summer transfer madness to opening day gladness

AUG 15 — Here we go again. The 2009/10 English Premier League (EPL) season starts tonight.

Unusually, it has taken me a bit longer than usual to switch back to football supporter mode than in past seasons. This has a lot to do with the fact that the summer transfer activity has been rather dull, despite the crazy amounts of money passing hands.

Yeah, I know you think my indifference is due to my favourite club, Arsenal’s, limited incoming transfers. Actually, limited is an understatement, when there’s only one player of note, Thomas Vermaelen, who joined us in the summer from Ajax Amsterdam.

You must understand I have grown accustomed to the Gunners’ lack of purchasing power and their limited buys for close to 10 years now. As long as Arsene Wenger is at the helm, we will not be a typical big-spending team. Not that there’s anything wrong with that.

I believe it will pay off in the years to come, and the club won’t be in a precarious state like some other clubs are in these days, financially-speaking . . . stand up Liverpool.

Sometimes I wish our government was under Wenger’s management . . . being colour blind whilst believing in sound policies for the young, such as education, skills-training, healthy living, and especially in developing all-round (total football) capabilities.

Also, the coffers won’t be blown on some wasteful mega projects (players) and the country will grow sustainably, thereby leaving something for the future, instead of economic turmoil and heavy debt. By the way, Wenger has an economics degree, so, if anyone out there wants a two-in-one solution for a healthier Malaysian economy and an improvement to our FIFA ranking, you will find no better man.

But I digress.

So, the reason for the lack of substance in summer transfer activity is that all eyes have literally been on two clubs, Real Madrid and Manchester City. It is simply because that’s where all the money has been coming from. I’m talking ‘stimulus package’-sized loads of moolah here.

After breaking records and spending hundreds of millions of Euros, does any other club’s transaction really matter to the football media.

Who would’ve thought that just three short years since Chelsea’s last league title, that Roman Abramovich will still be owner and yet, not be in the news with the best offers for the best (and some mediocre) players.

So, on that note, in the EPL this weekend, I think most attention will be on the City and United teams from Manchester.

Manchester United (MU), as defending champions, will be watched to see how they re-group after the departure of Cristiano Ronaldo and Carlos Tevez. If last Sunday’s Community Shield is anything to go by then MU fans need not worry unless they suffer an injury crisis.

Manchester City’s start will be watched even more closely after the addition of some big-name (and some big-headed as well) players from rival clubs in the EPL. Chelsea did it a few years back, so can City now do the same?

Here’s what I think of the usual suspects (and a pretender or two) that will be gunning (pun unintended) for the EPL crown and Champions League qualification over the next nine months.

MANCHESTER UNITED will start their campaign playing host to Birmingham. MU’s season will come under scrutiny after a disastrous summer that has seen them replace Tevez and Ronaldo with – in Fergie’s own words – two youngsters and an old codger.

However, their fans will be optimistic after seeing Nani’s tormenting of Chelsea last Sunday. MU fans are hoping it is not a false dawn from the young Portuguese. Many, however, believe he can finally come out of the shadow of Ronaldo. If he can do that, then surely Rooney and Berbatov will too.

MU have some youngsters who impressed last season and under the guidance of the red-nosed one they can only improve. I think it will be a different looking side with MU now going back to the traditional 4-4-2 that brought them much success in the nineties.

LIVERPOOL finished an impressive second last season and only four points off the top spot. This season they will have to match that to silence their critics but it may prove a tall order with the departure of midfield dynamo Xabi Alonso and Alvaro Arbeloa.

The Reds have to replace the duo with an injury prone Alberto Aquilani, who will need to regain his fitness and then adapt to the much more demanding English football, and Glen Johnson who, despite his recent spell with England, is still an unproven talent at a big club.

I don’t see Liverpool carrying the EPL come May 2010 as they may still be too reliant on the Steven Gerrard-Fernando Torres combo, which will greatly miss Alonso in the middle of the park.

CHELSEA have a new man in charge this season, Carlo Ancelotti. He comes with bags of Champions League experience. However, his domestic track record with AC Milan has been nothing but disastrous over the last few seasons.

Considering how Claudio Ranieri and Sven-Goran Ericsson have proven it takes much less to win the Serie A, than it does the EPL, it might be too much to expect from the Italian to win the EPL in his first season.

The midfield formation Don Carlo tried out last Sunday might not be suitable in the EPL. Nani demonstrated why with the acres of space the Blues’ afforded him in the first half. So, Chelsea need wingers who can run at full backs to help give them attacking options as well as good cover on the wings. Currently, only the injured Joe Cole and new signing Yuri Zhirkov have that to offer.

But on the other hand, the English grit of Frank Lampard, John Terry and Ashley Cole will keep Chelsea strong in their half of the pitch, while the ability of Ancelotti to bring the best out of Didier Drogba, Andrey Shevchenko, Nicolas Anelka and Claudio Pizarro altogether, will see Chelsea prove too strong on the attack for most, if not all, EPL opponents.

Yes folks, I do believe that Ancelotti can pull it off for Chelsea but only thanks to the great depth of talent at his disposal. I cringe as I say that, before moving on to the team that I’d really want to win the title.

ARSENAL’s season has appeared to come to an end even before it has started. Individually, there are some players with loads off skill and ability, like Cesc Fabregas, Andrei Arshavin, Eduardo – all in their early 20s – and a couple of even younger players. But as a team, they have lost a lot of experience with Emmanuel Adebayor and Kolo Toure’s departure. Ade may have been a case of ‘good riddance’ for most Arsenal fans, but still his experience does count.

However, the fact that many of the youngsters are starting to gel, plus players returning from injury, such as Tomas Rosicky (eventually, we hope), the Gunners have an outside hope of winning the title, but surely will remain in the top 4 as they have the past 12 years.

MANCHESTER CITY, having spent the most this summer, will have to prove that they can achieve success for all that investment. Sheikhs may have money to burn but they are not stupid. While winning the title may be farfetched for City, they can spring a surprise by making a late bid for Champions League qualification.

They currently have a surplus of strikers and to be honest I’m wondering how all of them are going to be kept happy. It would be ironic if Carlos Tevez warms the bench for the Manchester derby in September.

An improvement from last season’s 10th place is a must or else Mark Hughes’ head will be on the chopping block. Actually, I am willing to put my money on his head being on the chopping block, sliced neatly with a huge sword brought in especially from the emirates and then quietly rolling away, by the end of the year.

Thereafter, with a much more qualified coach, with better credentials, City will start to move up the table from the relegation zone.

EVERTON had a great season last time around coming in fifth. It was their second consecutive fifth-place finishing.

True, they have not made any significant signings this summer. However, Manchester City may have helped the blue half of Liverpool a bit with the extension of Jo’s loan at Everton. I believe the young Brazilian and Luis Saha can strike a lethal partnership, and with David Moyes managerial nous, Everton will again finish in the top six for a Europa League qualification spot.

Finally, ASTON VILLA were great in the middle of last season but ran out of steam towards the end of the race. Now that they have lost their captain, Gareth Barry, to Manchester City, the loss will simply be too great for the club to handle.

Despite the entry of Stewart Downing, who finally gets to play for a bigger club, Villa will not be in the running for the title let alone a top four ranking.

Footnote: I really have no time for other teams, like Spurs, Hull City, Blackburn Rovers, because even if one looked long and hard, one just couldn’t find any pedigree in their management as well as staff and players, that could count them worthy of competing with the best of the EPL, ‘footballistically’-speaking that is, as Wenger would put it.