There Is Only One Sinnacle

I’m going to pat myself on the back for picking Chelsea in my EPL predictions last year when most people had Manchester United or Liverpool. Hopefully I can continue this trend. Truth be told I also remember the rest of my picks being off the mark but who cares when you get the winner right.

20th Blackpool

Blackpool punched above their weight the entire season in the Championship and managed to finished sixth. Come the playoff naturally the lowest seeded team would go on to win the lottery as Blackpool now sees themselves lavished with the riches of the Premier League.

Quite a nice turn around for one of the best quotes in the game Ian Holloway who two years ago was out of football after sending Leicester down to League One.

When you a small club like Blackpool you can do two things. Pretend your a big boy and spend beyond your means trying to stay up, knowing by doing soon it can cripple your club long term like Hull or you can pocket the 50 million or so in TV money then the parachute payments the years after when they go down. Can’t blame Blackpool to stay within their means and slowly open up the purse strings if they do stay up like Stoke City has done. Make no mistake however they will go down as this is a thin sqaud even with a rash of late signings and key players from last year like D. J. Campbell and Seamus Coleman returning to their parent club after successful loan spells.

Players in: Craig Cathcart (Man United, undisclosed), Ludovic Sylvestre (Mlada Boleslav, undisclosed), Eliot Grandin (CSKA Sofia, undisclosed), Malaury Martin (Monaco, free)

Players out: Daniel Nardiello (released), Hameur Bouazza (released), Al Bangura (released), Danny Mitchley (released), Joe Martin (released), Stephen McPhee (released), Ben Burgess (Notts County, free)

Key man: Charlie Adam

Odds to win league: 5,000-1

19th Wigan

After finishing 16th last year I’m tipping Wigan to slide even further down the table and out of the EPL. I can see what Roberto Martinez is tying to do in molding the club after his style of player but too many massive defeats leaves me questions if these Wigan players are going to buy into what Roberto Martinez is trying to sell. From a neutral point of view Wigan may be an entertaining team to watch with Mauro Boselli top scorer in the last Copa Libertadores partnering up with Hugo Rodallega up front. Add to that young players like Victor Moses and James McArthur Wigan may have something down the line but this squad is just too thin to especially at the back to predict a mid table finish.

Players in: Ronnie Stam (Twente, undisclosed), Mauro Boselli (Estudiantes, undisclosed), Antolin Alcaraz (Club Brugge, free), James McArthur (Hamilton, undisclosed), Ali Al-Habi (Bolton, loan)

Players out: Titus Bramble (Sunderland, undisclosed), Tomasz Cywka (Derby, free), Mario Melchiot (Umm Salal, free), Paul Scharner (released), Tomasz Kupisz (released), Jason Koumas (Cardiff, loan)

Key Man: Charles N’Zogbia

Odds to win the league: 3,000-1

18th West Brom

Picking West Brom to go down is usually a slam dunk when writting these previews as West Brom like Birmingham before them have been classic examples of yo-yo teams.

This time is will be Roberto Di Matteo who will try to keep West Brom up and much like many of these clubs on this list not a ton of money has been spent in the transfer market with former Villa man Nicky Shorey being the only player of note.

On the flip side West Brom return most of the team who got themselves automatically promoted last year. Keeping talented younger Graham Dorrans who had West Ham drooling for his services is a win onto itselt. I like the fact West Brom have kept the team who took them to the EPL. It’s a way of saying thanks and giving them confidence that they can have a go of it in the top flight. So while it wouldn’t shock me if they pulled a Birmingham and were safe the entire season I’m still picking them to be the last team sent down.

Players in: Boaz Myhill (Hull, undisclosed), Pablo Ibanez (Atletico Madrid, free), Gabriel Tamas (Auxerre, undisclosed), Steven Reid (Blackburn, free), Nicky Shorey (Aston Villa, undisclosed)

Players out: Andwele Slory (released), Robert Koren (released), Filipe Teixeira (released), Jonathan Greening (Fulham, undisclosed), Borja Valero (Villarreal, loan), Joss Labadie (Tranmere, free), Marcus Haber (St Johnstone, loan), Luke Daniels (Bristol Rovers, loan)

Key Player – Chris Wood (have always liked him from set pieces)

Odds to win the league: 3,500-1

17th Wolverhampton Wanderers

Could easily see Wolves and West Brom switch places as it could be Wolves who suffer from the dreaded sophomore slump. In order to stay up Mick McCarthy will need Marcus Hahnemann to stand on his head like he did last season.

One of the reasons I’ve picked Wolves to edge out West Brom is the fact Steven Fletcher and Kevin Doyle offer a decent front line, something West Brom couldn’t match up with. I’m actually a big fan of Steven Fletcher who could turn out to be one of the best buys of the season. He held his own last year with Burnley and liked him when he was at Hibs previously. Picking Stephen Hunt off the bone that is Hull is another wise signing. Hopefully for Wolves it won’t be three times unlikely as Hunt as gone done with Reading and Hull.

Players in: Jelle van Damme (Anderlecht, undisclosed), Steven Fletcher (Burnley undisclosed), Stephen Mouyokolo (Hull, undisclosed), Stephen Hunt (Hull, undisclosed), Adlene Guedioura (RSC Charleroi, free)

Players out: Jason Shackell (Barnsley, undisclosed), Mark Little (Peterborough, free), Daniel Jones (Sheff Wed, free), George Friend (Doncaster, free), Chris Iwelumo (Burnley, undisclosed), Andrew Surman (Norwich, undisclosed), Nathaniel Mendez-Laing (Peterborough, loan), Stefan Maierhofer (MSV Duisburg, loan), Sam Vokes (Bristol City, loan)

Key Player: Steven Fletcher

Odds to win the league: 3,000-1

16th Bolton

Owen Coyle had the summer to mold this team into his own image but going from Gary Megson to Owen Coyle is a complete 180 for these players who will now get to express themselves. Do they even have the skill set to do so? Nothing against Owen Coyle but he is still largely unproven in the top division. He had a decent run with Bolton to finish off the year but really there was little pressure on them from March onwards as Portsmouth, Hull and Burnley pretty much sealed their own faith.

Love the Martin Petrov and for this to work it will be Petrov who will lead the way with his set piece and crossing skills to the likes of Mr Bolton Kevin Davies and another free transfer Ivan Klasnic who will know Bolton will after spending the second half of the season on loan.

Another coup for Owen Coyle is keeping near England defender Gary Cahill. Sign of the times that teams are tightening there belt as in years past Gary Cahill would of been sold.

Players in: Martin Petrov (Manchester City, free), Robbie Blake (Burnley, free), Marcos Alonso (Real Madrid, undisclosed), Ivan Klasnic (Nantes, free)

Players out: Nicky Hunt (Bristol City, free), Ali Al-Habsi (Wigan, loan), Ricardo Vaz Te (released), Zoltan Harsanyi (released)

Key Player: Martin Petrov

Odds to win the league: 2,500-1

15th Newcastle

You can only kick someone when they are down for so long before you start to feel sorry for them. This sums up my feelings on Newcastle. It’s rare that I have said this in my life but give full credit to the Newcastle fans. They could of sulked last season being in the Championship but instead they were behind their team 100% filling up St James park week after week. Another postive was unlike Liverpool, ownership issues stayed behind closed doors last year.

Much like West Brom, Newcastle will give the core of their players the chance to prove themselves again at the top tier of English football after it was many of them who helped get Newcastle sent down to being with. This time it does appear these players have learned from that mistake and don’t take life in the EPL for granted which should help them stay up.

Players in: James Perch (Nottingham Forest, undisclosed), Dan Gosling (Everton, free), Sol Campbell (Arsenal, free)

Players out: Nicky Butt (released), Fabrice Pancrate (released)

Key man: Kevin Nolan

Odds to win the league: 1,000-1

14th Blackburn Rovers

If it wasn’t for Sam Allardyce somehow pulling a rabbit out of a hat I’d be ranking this team way down as there is little that I like about it.

Even today I still do a double take at the fact Blackburn finished 10th in last season. While it isn’t pretty to watch have to give credit to Sam Allardyce for getting the most out of his players. A running theme for many English clubs is the fact there has been little in the way of improvements thus far in the off season. Only Mame Biram Diouf coming over on loan from Manchester United being the only player of note.

Players in: Hugo Fernandez (Union Deportiva Cornella, undisclosed), Mame Biram Diouf (Man United, loan)

Players out: Steven Reid (West Brom, free), Marcus Marshall (Rotherham, free), Andy Howarth (Bury, free), Michael Hall (Accrington, free)

Key Player: Ryan Nelsen

Odds to win league: 1,000-1

13th Fulham

Dream season for Fulham last season making it to the Europa League finals and spending most of the season in the top half of the league until a late slide due to focusing on the Europa League found Fulham finishing in 12th place.

This season looks to be a cluture shock for both coach Mark Hughes who goes from running a club with billionanire Arab owner to running a club with a multi millionanire Arab owner. Also working against Mark Hughes is the fact it took quite long for Fulham to appoint him as there head coach. Not having a full pre season will set this club back some. Fulham seaosn has already gotten off to a horrible start with Philippe Senderos missing most of the upcoming year with a blown knee. Hopefully this isn’t an omen for the reason of Fulham’s season.

Players in: Philippe Senderos (Arsenal, undisclosed), Jonathan Greening (West Brom, undisclosed)

Players out: Chris Smalling (Manchester United, undisclosed), Erik Nevland (Viking, free), Elliot Omozusi (Leyton Orient, free), Stefan Payne (Gillingham, free), Christopher Buchtmann (Cologne, undisclosed), Wayne Brown (Bristol Rovers, free), Toni Kallio (released), Andranik Teymourian (released)

Key Player : Clint Dempsey

Odds to win the league: 750-1

12th Birmingham

Don’t expect a sophomore slump from Birmingham who suprised everyone by finishing 9th last season. On the flip side don’t except Birmingham to improve on last year’s 9th place finish. This Birmingham team remains me of Sunderland last season where bigger things where expected of them only to have an average season.

The key to Birmingham’s fortunes will be Ben Foster who comes over from manchester United. How will Ben Foster replace Joe Hart who had a fine season with Birmingham last year. If Foster can stay fit and play up to the standard of Joe Hart Birmingham should finish mid table or higher. If not it could be a season to forgot for Alex McLeish’s men.

Players in: Enric Valles (NAC Breda, free), Ben Foster (Manchester United, £6m), Nikola Zigic (Valencia, £6m)

Players out: Gary McSheffrey (Coventry, free), Gregory Vignal (released), Jared Wilson (released), Lee Carsley (Coventry, free), Artur Krysiak (Exeter, free), Robin Shroot (Cheltenham, loan), Franck Queudrue (Panionios, free), Colin Doyle (Coventry, loan)

Key Player – Nikola Žigić

Odds to win the league: 750-1

11th Stoke City

When Tony Pulis is done coaching he should offer advice on how to take a club which isn’t a massive club and lead them to not only survive in the EPL but also thrive all things considered. Piece by piece Tony Pulis has built a team able to complete in the EPL. Pulis has also not spent money like there is a hole in his pocket. Pulis has waited to the right player at the right price and Pulis must feel he found the right player in Kenwyne Jones who on his day can be a terror in the box. That works out quite well when you have throwing machines Rory Delap feeding you balls in the box.

Players in: Florent Cuvelier (Portsmouth, undisclosed) Kenwyne Jones

Players out: Andy Griffin (Reading, undisclosed), Steve Simonsen (Sheffield United, free), Amdy Faye (released), Diego Arismendi (Barnsley, loan), Ibrahima Sonko (Portsmouth, loan), Nathaniel Wedderburn (Northampton, free), Louis Moult (Bradford, loan)

Key Player – Kenwyne Jones

Odds to win the league: 1,000-1

10th West Ham

Have to give credit to West Ham for being active all summer long in trying to improve themselves. The first order of business was hiring Avram Grant who was basically sold a bill of goods in Porsmouth and did the best he could. It may not be Chelsea but Grant will get to call the shots and signing former German international Thomas Hitzlsperger to go along with players he knows well in Frederic Piquionne and Tal Ben-Haim are good start.

West Ham is another example of a team who gained by not losing as paper. After rumours all summer it does look like Scott Parker will contiune to be the face of this team going forward.

Players in: Winston Reid (FC Midtjylland, undisclosed), Thomas Hitzlsperger (Lazio, free), Pablo Barrera (UNAM, £4m), Frederic Piquionne (Lyon, undisclosed), Tal Ben-Haim (Portsmouth, loan), Winston Reid, (FC Midtjylland, £4m)

Players out: Guillermo Franco (released), Ilan (released), Josh Payne (Doncaster, free), Bondz N’Gala (Plymouth, free), Matthew Fry (Charlton, loan)

Odds to win the league: 1,250-1

9th Sunderland

Sunderland will benefit by not having the expectations placed upon them like last year but make no mistakes there will be heat on Steve Bruce to make things right after a season where Sunderland went winnless for three months.

After a season of disappointment somebody is going to pay the price which happened to Kewyne Jones as he was sold to Stoke. Now even more so it will be up to Darren Bent to bag in the goals but can he repeat his career year of last season? To help in that regard Danny Welbeck has been sent on loan from Manchester United but the biggest improvement for Sunderland should be in there backline. After a rough first season Michael Turner will have Titus Bramble to go along with loan signings John Mensah and Nedum Onuoha shore up the back four.

Players in: Titus Bramble (Wigan, undisclosed), Cristian Riveros (Cruz Azul, free), Marcos Angeleri (Estudiantes, undisclosed), Simon Mignolet (Sint Truidense, undisclosed), Ahmed Al-Muhammadi (ENPPI, loan), John Mensah (Lyon, loan)

Players out: Daryl Murphy (Celtic, undisclosed), Jamie Chandler (Darlington, free) Roy O’Donovan (Coventry, undisclosed), Marton Fulop (Ipswich, undisclosed), Lorik Cana (Galatasaray, £5m), Nyron Nosworthy (Sheffield United, loan), Conor Hourihane (Ipswich, undisclosed), Oumare Tounkare (Oldham, loan), Michael Liddle (Leyton Orient, loan), Jean Yves Mvoto Owono (Oldham, loan)

Key man: Darren Bent

Odds to win the league: 750-1

8th Aston Villa

One of two things can happen here. Either the remaining Aston Villa players will rally around themselves to show up Martin O’Neill who left on the eve of the season or O’Neill’s departure will cause a tailspin to mid table.

Even without James Milner still believe there is enough talent for Villa to stay in the top half of the talent. The service out wide should still be good with Ashley Young and Stewart Downing now it’s up to Gabriel Agbonlahor to take the next step and maybe Nathan Delfouneso can start to fulfill his promise this season.

Players in: None

Players out: Wilfred Bouma (released), Marlon Harewood (released), Stephen O’Halloran (Coventry, free), Andy Marshall (released), Jack Dyer (Burton, free), Nicky Shorey (West Brom, undisclosed)

Key man: Ashley Young

Odds to win the league: 200-1

7th Tottenham

The good news I do think Tottenham will make the Champions League after knocking on the door for many years. On the flip side I do think it will come at the hands of their place in the league. Champions League football is a different beast. It isn’t the Europa League where you can gloss over it. These mid week games will mean something and when you have a team with the likes of Ledley King and Jonathan Woodgate it’s going to leave the likes of Michael Dawson to carry the load. For Tottenham to compete in Champions League football next year, forget about signing a midfielder or striker a defender or two is what’s needed.

Players in: Sandro (Internacional, £6m)

Players out: Jimmy Walker (released), Sam Cox (Barnet, free), Lee Butcher (Leyton Orient, free), David Button (Plymouth, loan), Oscar Jansson (Northampton, loan), Adel Taarabt (QPR, undisclosed), John Bostock (Hull, loan)

Key Player – Jermain Defoe

Odds to win the league: 28-1

6th Everton

Never pictured myself saying this but one of the key reasons Everton is yet again going to finish outside the top four is the fact it looks likely Landon Donovan won’t be back. The good news is Mikel Arteta has resigned for an extra five years and unlike last year they don’t have to deal with the Joleon Lescott rumours heading into this season.

With no new signings of note it’s hard to get excited for this team but David Moyes knows how to get the best out of every single player. It just won’t be enough to lead them into the Champions League.

Players in: Joao Silva (Desportivo Das Aves, £500,000), Jan Mucha (Legia Warsaw, free), Jermaine Beckford (Leeds, free), Magaye Gueye (Strasbourg, undisclosed)

Players out: John Ruddy (Norwich, free), Dan Gosling (Newcastle, free), Carlo Nash (Stoke, free), Lucas Jutkiewicz (Coventry, undisclosed)

Key Player -Mikel Arteta

Odds to win the league: 150-1

5th Manchester United

Go big or go home and I’ve found myself dropping Manchester United out of the Champions League spots. In short between 2007-2009 those Manchester United teams had an identity. This Manchester United I’m still not comfortable with Wayne Rooney being the centrepiece of this team.

New boy Javier Hernandez has been a head turner thus far but the true test will come this winter. How will Javier Hernandez be able to handle the cold winters England has to offer? Most likely going to look like a fool at the end of the year but sometimes you have to hit rock botton before you come up again. For Manchester United finishing 5th would be rock botton.

Players in: Chris Smalling (Fulham, undisclosed), Javier Hernandez (Guadalajara, undisc)

Players out: Ben Foster (Birmingham, undisclosed), Zoran Tosic (CSKA Moscow, undisclosed), David Gray (Preston, free), Craig Cathcart (Blackpool, undisclosed), Cameron Stewart (Yeovil, loan), Matthew James (Preston, loan), Ron-Robert Zieler (Hannover, free), Tom Heaton (Cardiff, free), Mame Biram Diouf (Blackburn, loan), James Chester (Carlisle, loan), Daniel Drinkwater (Cardiff, loan), Joshua King (Preson, loan)

Key man: Wayne Rooney

Odds to win the league: 2-1

4th Manchester City

On the bright side Manchester City can say they finished ahead of Manchester United in the standings but don’t see them fighting for a title.

Too many chefs in the kitchen is the term which comes to mind when thinking about Manchester City. Sometimes less and more, add in distractions from highly paid players who are wasting away on the bench and Roberto Mancini has an impossible job on his hands. Too many players from too many parts of the world will cause City to not fulfill their potential.

Players in: Yaya Toure (Barcelona, undisclosed), Jerome Boateng (Hamburg, undisclosed), David Silva (Valencia, undisclosed), Alex Henshall (Swindon, undisclosed), Aleksandar Kolarov (Lazio, undisclosed), Albert Rusnak (Kosice, undisclosed)

Players out: Valeri Bojinov (Parma, undisclosed), Javier Garrido (Lazio, £2.5m) Martin Petrov (Bolton, free), Benjani Mwaruwari (released), Sylvinho (released), Robert Mak (Nurnberg, £500,000), Gunnar Nielsen (Tranmere, loan), Filip Mentel (Dundee United, free), Ryan McGivern (Walsall, loan), David Ball (Swindon, loan), Paul Marshall (Walsall, free), Kieran Trippier (Barnsley, loan), Adam Clayton (Leeds, loan), Andrew Tutte (Rochdale, loan)

Key Player – Robinho (joking) No clue to be honest who will stand out for Manchester City.

Odds to win the league: 11-2

3rd Arsenal

It could easily be Arsenal and Manchester United flip flopping between 3rd and 5th place. It still annoys me that Wenger refuses to make a splash on the transfer market. To Wenger’s credit the transfer market is pretty weird this summer thanks to years of spending finally catching up to terms. You can’t picture Wenger spending 25 million for David Luiz. For that money there want a sure thing and those are hard to find these days with Manchester City driving up the price. Wenger also had to deal with Barcelona trying every trick in the boot to sign Cesc Fàbregas. Credit to Wenger for standing up to Barcelona and credit to Fabregas who everyone knows wants to play for Barcelona but won’t turn his back on Arsenal to do so.

Players in: Marouane Chamakh (Bordeaux, free), Laurent Koscielny (Lorient, £10m), Kyle Ebecilio (Feyenoord, free)

Players out: Eduardo (Shakhtar Donetsk, £6m), Philippe Senderos (Fulham, undisclosed), Fran Merida (Atletico Madrid, free), Luke Ayling (Yeovil, free), Mikael Silvestre (released), William Gallas (released), Francis Coquelin (Lorient, loan), Luke Freeman (Yeovil, loan), Sol Campbell (released), Sanchez Watt (Leeds, loan), Kyle Bartley (Sheff Utd, loan)

Key Player – Cesc Fàbregas

Odds to win the league: 6-1

2nd place – Liverpool

What I like about Liverpool is the fact there is little pressure on them this season. Most people yet again except Liverpool to stay outside of the top four. Unlike last year Liverpool won’t have to deal with the pressure o title or nothing.

Personally I loved seeing Rafa Benitez fail. There was something about it I enjoyed. How he would never completely taking the blame for his teams poor play. It was either injuries or bad ownership. Both had something to do with it but so did Rafa’s tactis and man management.

In comes Roy Hodgson and you have a person few can knock. I can’t even imagine Sir Alex Ferguson playing mind games with Hodgson. You have to respect his love for the game and the job he did at Fulham. I also think unlike Rafa, Roy Hodgson is going to let his players do what they are best doing. Rafa always had his players doing what he wanted them to do, be it if they were comfortable or not doing it.

Players in: Joe Cole (Chelsea, free), Jonjo Shelvey (Charlton, £1.7m), Milan Jovanovic (Standard Liege, free), Danny Wilson (Rangers, £2m), Fabio Aurelio (re-signed)

Players out: Yossi Benayoun (Chelsea, undisclosed), Albert Riera (Olympiakos, undisclosed), David Martin (MK Dons, free), Mikel San Jose (Athletic Bilbao, undisclosed), Fabio Aurelio (released), Robbie Threlfall (Bradford, free), James Ellison (Burton, free), Philipp Degen (Stuttgart, loan)

Key man: Fernando Torres

Odds to win the league: 14-1

1st Chelsea

I was actually thinking of picking Liverpool to win the league but I just love the Ramires signing. He is the perfect player for that team who with his pace and skill will burst open EPL midfields. Also love how Carlo Ancelotti handles egos on the field and in the boardroom. He has a way to keep everyone happy and more importantly on the same page. It also doesn’t hurt Chelsea that they can count on Frank Lampard and Didier Drogba for 50 goals between them in a season. Look for Carlo Ancelotti to build upon his success from last year with a deeper run in the Champions League as well.

Players in: Yossi Benayoun (Liverpool, £5m), Matej Delac (Inter Zapresic, £2.7m)

Players out: Joe Cole (Liverpool, free), Michael Ballack (Bayer Leverkusen, free), Scott Sinclair (Swansea, £500,000), Juliano Belletti (Fluminense, free), Deco (Fluminense, undisclosed), Miroslav Stoch (Fenerbahce, £2.5m), Tomas Kalas (Sigma Olomouc, loan), Liam Bridcutt (released), Seth Nana Ofori-Twumasi (Peterborough, free), Rhys Taylor (Crewe, loan), Danny Philliskirk (Oxford, loan), Ryan Bertrand (Nottm Forest, loan), Ben Gordon (Kilmarnock, loan)

Key man: Frank Lampard

Odds to win the league: 13-8

In what was actually a pretty entertaining game Greek Champions Panathinaikos defeated Champions League holders Inter Milan 3-2 in front of 17,169 at Toronto’s Rogers Centre.

The game itself I’m not going to spend too much time harping on. It’s the attendance that I’m going to touch on. Good on Toronto for staying away from this game. The first thing which came to mind when looking at the attendance is the promoters of this game must of taken a bath putting it together. It was almost brush league with ads on TheScore promoting this game as a match up you will never forget. Come on this isn’t the World Cup, it’s a friendly. Promote it for what it is an interesting match up between two teams and two cultures who have a large following in Toronto. Instead it was presented in some grand fashion. Another reason I’m pleased with the attendance is the fact you can only go to the well so often with these stupid ticket prices. The worst seats in the house shouldn’t cost 40 dollars and the best seats shouldn’t hit close to $200. When you factor in parking and the hassle of getting to Rogers Centre it just meant people were going to turn up there nosies.

First it was Juventus-Fiorentina, then it was Manchester United vs Celtic (which was a can’t miss from a box office point of view) and finally Inter vs Panathinaikos. The 3rd time wasn’t the charm it appears as Inter Milan doesn’t seem to have the Toronto following as Juventus or even A.C Milan seem to have. Panathinaikos has a large Greek following but they have been there three times in the last year. You can only except fans to spend so much on this friendly games which don’t mean anything.

Now to make it more interesting the people who put together these events should actually make it mean alittle something. Follow the New York Red Bull blue print and create something like the New York Football Challenge. Granted it’s not the Champions League but it isn’t a one off game either. Invite four teams, one Portugese side, one English or Spanish side, one Italian side and one Greek side and your set. You have covered all the major hotbeds in soocer in this city. You can even have TFC and three European clubs but that may be tricky due to the amount of games TFC has to play this time of year.

Bottom line is I like seeing international teams make a stop in Toronto but there comes a point were paying hundreds of dollars to see teams who may not even play there best players seems foolish. For this to be done right more value for money is needed.

I was going to name it Ricardo Quaresma all stars but decided at the last minute to name it the Diego Milito All Stars. Basically what this means is much like Diego Milito being picked up by Genoa for a song two years ago below are five players whose value have dropped in recent years but with the right club could prove their worth and end up being sold for a ton of money ala Diego Milito’s transfer to Inter Milan a year later.

Sebastian Giovinco – One of the great things about football unlike basketball is players from all shapes and sizes can play the game at a top level. At five foot five Sebastian Giovinco isn’t the tallest of players but has a world of talent. The problem lies in Juventus playing 25 million a year ago for Diego (he too could join this list in a matter of months) who at 5’8 isn’t a monster either plus plays in the same position Giovinco likes to feature in. A team can have one small player in the midfield, playing two and you run the risk of getting run over by bigger and stronger clubs. Hench the problem with Giovinco where Luigi Del Neri is now the 4th coach in Giovinco brief time at Juventus who will try to find a way to make Giovinco succeed before his talents go to waste.

Clubs I’d like to see Giovinco move too: Arsenal, Genoa

Giovanni Dos Santos – Let’s make one thing clear, Giovanni Dos Santos deciding to leave Barcelona for Tottenham was one of the biggest mistakes a player has made managing his career. When Dos Santos was trying to adjust to life in England Juande Ramos was sent packing and Harry Redknapp quickly grew tired of Dos Santos spending too much time enjoying the night life. Loan moves to Ipswich and Galatasaray followed without much fan fare but it’s when Dos Santos puts on the Mexican national jersey where flashes of his game are on display. At 21 Dos Santos is way too young to give up on but with the crowded midfield at Tottenham it looks like only a matter of time before another club comes calling trying to get the best out of Dos Santos

Clubs I’d like to see Dos Santos move too : Club America, Sporting Clube de Portugal

Joanthon de Guzman – Every other play on this list can be had for less than their talents would suggest they are worth. Joanthon de Guzman can be had for nothing. It’s rare where a 22 year old who has almost cracked the Dutch national team can be had for nothing. Granted there are questions of de Guzman keeping fit since the last two years he has spent mostly on the sidelines but a year ago at this time rumours of a 10 million pound move to clubs like Chelsea and Arsenal were in the papers.

Clubs I’d like to see de Guzman go too – Toronto FC, Valencia

Julio Baptista – In the lead up to the World Cup, Dunga was asked why did he gave Julio Baptista a call up when he isn’t an every game starter for Roma. Dunga simply replied to the effect that Julio Baptista is behind Francisco Totti who is a god in Rome. There lies the problem as Totti isn’t leaving Roma anytime soon. The former Sevilla, Real Madrid, Arsenal man is built like a brick truck whose game is very unBrazilian like but whose talents in midfield are rare to find with his combination of skill and brute strength. Another reason I’m a fan of Julio Baptista is because he rasies his game in big games. Off the top of my head can recall him scoring in the last Copa America final against Argentina and winning goals in key matches for Real Madrid and Roma against Barcelona and Lazio.

Teams I’d like to see Baptista go too – Sao Paulo, Atletico Madrid

Klass-Jan Huntelaar – Two years ago at this time Klass-Jan Huntelaar and Ajax were rubbing their hands just waiting for a big money offer to come in. Six months later after a panic buy by Real Madrid in Janauary 2009 Klass-Jan Huntelaar has been the forgotten man amongst elite strikers. When Florentino Pérez came back into the fold as Real Madrid president players from the old regime had to go in order to make way for Perez’s lavish signings of Kaka and Ronaldo. Off Huntelaar went to A.C Milan where big things were excepted as a dream partnership with Huntelaar and Pato where talked about but the 26 year old produced a decent but not overwhelming 7 goals in 25 games, many of those games having Huntelaar coming off the bench. Ask Wayne Rooney, confidence is a fragile thing for a striker once it goes it takes something special to get it back. Unless Massimiliano Allegri can restore Huntelaar confidence look for plenty of clubs to try and grab Huntelaar at a bargain.

Teams I’d like to see Huntelaar go too – Tottenham, PSV

One can’t be shocked to see CONMEBOL chosing not to invite the United States after sending in a B team to the 2007 Copa America but that shouldn’t stop the United States from picking up the phone and begging CONMEBOL (The South American governing body for Football) to let them in again.

The United States needs to build on the momentum created by last year’s Confederations Cup and this summer’s World Cup and the Copa America is the perfect event for this to take place. I mean come on CONMEBOL why in the world did you invite Japan? Is that going to add something to the event? Mexico is a given as the 11th team but Japan doesn’t add anything as the 12th. It’s time for the United States Soccer Federation and CONMEBOL to kiss and make up.

It may not be the World Cup but the Copa America with a first choice American team could be a great television property for the likes of ESPN or Fox Soccer Channel. (who will have to cut a cheque to Goltv in order to get the rights I’m sure) With the Copa America you have a television property where most of the games can be played in prime time in a time of year where sports on TV is light. You have the World Cup in 2010, Copa America in 2011, Euro 2012, then you have the build up to the 20104 World Cup. This would keep soccer in America strong and give hard core and casual soccer fans something to look forward too each summer.

If your thinking what about the Gold Cup? Come on it’s the Gold Cup, this event is a dud and only exists to set up a United States-Mexico final. I know it’s needed in some fashion but the Copa America can offer so much more. The United States can potentially be set up with four interesting match ups in Brazil, Argentina, Mexico and Venezuela (The latter for political reasons.) It’s a great tournament that should come close to the European Championship but the two events don’t even come close. CONMEBOL can use the United States to gain a foothold for this event in the American market and the United States can use this event to play against some of the best teams in the World more than once every four years. It’s a perfect match but one unlike to happen anytime soon sadly.

Part of me has been wondering what is Lurent Blanc thinking watching this French team fall apart. He might think that he is in for the toughest job in sports, coaching a bunch of players who made fools of themselves during the last month. On the flip side after the horror that was Raymond Domenech these French players will just after do anything Blanc due to the sheer joy of being rid of Domenech.

Switching gears for a moment, you know who else has to be pleased at the moment? Karim Benzema that’s who. Benzema must be sercetly thrilled the stink that was France’s World Cup campaign did not land on him. Never will Benzema have to answer the question what went wrong and how do you feel about shaming your country?

As for the players who did shame their country. This World Cup team is a joke. Reading a twitter post summed it up nicely. “This world cup has turned out like ww2! The French surrendered early, USA arrive last min and we’re left to fight the Germans!” (credit to @hillmania)

Did these players truely understand what it is ike to wear a National team jersey? I find it unreal how selfish and pity most of these players were. They will forever be remembered for this. A team with so much talent playing so poorly means this group is rotten to it’s core and much like France failure to make it to the 1994 World Cup heads will need to be chopped and Laurent Blanc will need to clear out this squad.

Players like Éric Abidal, William Gallas, Patrice Evra, Franck Ribéry, Djibril Cissé, Sidney Govou, Thierry Henry, Nicolas Anelka either due to age, talent, or professionalism need to go. For Blanc to succeed a clear message needs to be sent that it’s out with the old and in with the new. The good thing for France is they have a ton of talent to build around. Laurent Blanc needs to build around Hugo Lloris, Gaël Clichy, Yoann Gourcuff, Abou Diaby, Mathieu Valbuena, André-Pierre Gignac, Karim Benzema, Aly Cissokho, Lassana Diarra, Moussa Sissoko, Hatem Ben Arfa, Jimmy Briand, Loïc Rémy, Bafétimbi Gomis. Every single one of these players age 25 or young just to highlight the talent France has.

In the end best wishes to you Laurent Blanc. Not all is lost but you have some work cut out for you.

I’m still walking on a cloud right now. I have an extra spring in my step. To see Jose Mourinho and his Inter team beat the best team of the last decade is an amazing achievement. In a one game elimination anything can happen but over a series of two legs just didn’t see a way for Inter or any club for that matter to beat Barcelona, especially with the second leg at the Camp Nou.

With that I want to get some things off my chest. The next time I hear about Inter playing “anti-football” my eyes may pop out of my head in anger. You know what is anti-football? Doing what Sergio Busquets did to get Thiago Motta sent off. That is anti-football. What Inter did was a tactic, one Barcelona could not break through.

Everyone knows how Zlatan Ibrahimović rarely shows up in big games, just look at the fact he’ll be watching the World Cup this summer. This is nothing new but after the World was calling on Messi to have a new chapter in the bible solely devoted to him, Mourinho, Dejan Stanković, Javier Zanetti, and Esteban Cambiasso did a pretty good job in making him human.

Happy as I am about Inter winning I’m equally as angry over the way Barcelona have acted during the last 48 hours. For a team that prides itself in class they sure looked like a bunch of hypocrites lately. From the club on down to it’s fans this is what Inter had to deal with.

- Bus being attacked on way to hotel
- Fireworks being set off until the middle of the night
- Luis Figo being given a “warm welcome.” It’s been 10 years now, let it go. Figo helped put Barcelona back on the map in the mid 90′s. Move on.
- Spanish tax police wanting to question Samuel Eto’o if all days.
- Victor Valdes racing over to Jose Mourinho and grabbing him.
- The kicker being the person who turned on the sprinklers at the end. Talk about sore losers but there is no rain on Inter’s parade.

What bugs me most about Barcelona is how they pride themselves on being the oppsite of Real Madrid yet they are a lot like them. At least Real Madrid knows they are the bad guy, buying up some of the World’s greatest players. They don’t make excuses for how they operate.

Barcelona on the other hands keeps pointing fingers at Real Madrid and shaking there head over the money spent buying Kaka and Ronaldo. Yet Barcelona are not signing free transfers with the likes of Zlatan Ibrahimović (The Marian Hossa of Football) and Dmytro Chygrynskiy. I’m sure a lot of clubs would love to be able to spend 60 million plus Samuel Eto’o on two players. Barcelona goes on about Cesc Fabregas the same way Real Madrid went on about Cristiano Ronaldo. Yet Real Madrid are the evil empire and Barcelona are everyone’s second favorite team?

Truthfully I had no idea what I was going to title this post so boring Avram Grant it is.

Two years ago around this time I remember hating Avram Grant. He after all took over for Jose Mourinho at Chelsea and around this very time had them within inches of first place in the league and marching to the finals of the Champions League. To be fair anyone who replaced Mourinho mid season especially after it seemed like he was pushed out I was going to hate.

Then came the Champions League finals and just remember that afternoon thinking how badly I wanted Manchester United. Not because I’m a fan of United but due to the Ronaldo factor and how I didn’t want to deal with living in a world where Avram Grant won the Champions League title that Mourinho was suppose to win.

Everything then changed soon after John Terry slipped and Manchester United went on to win the Champions League. Here you had Avram Grant who knew he couldn’t win over the press in comparison to Mourinho. After every dropped point Grant had to deal with questions about the safety of his job. He also must of known that come the end of the season anything less than the Champions League would get him replaced. Yet after John Terry slipped and hit the post there was Grant to support Terry after the game. Avram Grant had nothing but praise for Terry aftwards, Terry is on 125k a week and Grant was about to be shown the door. Even knowing that he kept his head up and handled everything about as classy as one could considering he was in a no win situation.

It took 18 months for Avram Grant to get another kick at the can, this time with troubled Portsmouth. It amazes me how loyal he has been to the club considering all the false promises he has had to deal with. No one could of blamed him if he walked away at any point in the season. Yet here he is against all odds who is taking the scraps of what is left over from the Harry Redknapp era and taking them to the FA Cup final against none other than Chelsea.

I truely hope this has a story book ending, you can tell those players respect and play hard for Grant each and every game. It would be a great story if Grant got a measure of revenge against the team who dropped him and took Portsmouth to the FA Cup title. He already got one over on former Portsmouth boss Harry Redknapp in the semi finals, Here’s hoping there is one more trick up Grant’s sleeve.

While watching Manchester United and Chelsea this weekend a thought occurred to me. I hate all these top teams this year. If either Manchester United, Chelsea or Arsenal win this season there will be something which bugs me about it. I do have a lot of respect for each team but below will be the reasons why winning the EPL title will bug me.

Chelsea – I picked Chelsea at the start of the season and I would still kinda like them to win just to pat myself on the back but a Chelsea victory would bug me. The John Terry saga has left me with a bitter taste in my mouth and I’d love to see him not pick up another major title the rest of his career. The picture of lifting the EPL trophy over his head just rubs me the wrong way. I do like Carlo Ancelotti who is a class man and class manager but he still is in Mourinho shadow. It makes me smile when I hear Mourinho talking about winning big titles and Chelsea winning some things since he has left. I’m hoping this continues.

Manchester United – Sir Alex Ferguson said he’d love to knock Liverpool off their perch onto of English football way back when. Well, I’d love to see Manchester United fans quiet down a bit and get served some humble pie like Chelsea did to them this weekend. I have all the respect in the world for Sir Alex Ferguson and the way he runs a football club but Manchester United fans who take on this personal sense of superiority over cheering for a club who sees them as little more than cash registers is something I can’t stand.

Arsenal – I generally like Arsenal fans. I’ve yet to met a dumb one. Biased I can understand but I never hear an Arsenal an say something over their club which makes me roll my eyes. That being said I take a sick pleasure in watching Arsenal not win a thing over these last five years. Few coaches take losing worse than Arsene Wenger so I enjoy his finger pointing at everyone but himself routine when Arsenal come up short. It also bugs me if Arsenal would win the league because they have come up short time and time again when facing Manchester United and Chelsea. I know a season is 38 games long and it says something about Arsenal who don’t drop points often against weaker teams but a Championship club should not go 0 for 4 against the next two top teams in the league.

Ahhh…..what could of been. Mourinho back in the day when he was coach of Benfica for a brief time.

I still have a bounce in my step after seeing Inter advancing in the Champions League. While Retro to most of you as this never appeared on this site, someone wrote an opinion (which he is entitled too) that Mourinho was over rated a couple of weeks ago. This was my reply

He won everything at Porto. Turned cast offs into European players of the year and players Porto would make huge profits on. He has already proven he can win on a shoestring budget.

Look at Frank Rijkaard, do you think he is going to win a Champions League anytime soon at Galatasaray as an example? It takes someone truly special in this era to win a Champions League with a club not playing in an elite league.

The fact he has already done this makes him better than 90% of the managers out there.

The whole let’s discount what he did at Chelsea thing cause of all the money they have behind them is also foolish. How many teams spend major money only to end up failing? Mark Hughes was given all the money in the world and couldn’t hack it. It’s one thing having money, it’s another turning a group of men into a group of winners. Let’s face it, Chelsea were a group of professional losers out there. Yeah they were a good team but you always knew in a big game they would come up short pre-Mourinho. They had no real history. He gave them that swagger and the believe no club is better than them. In his first year in England, in a new league, in a new country he changed the rules of the game and made Arsenal play catch up (which they are still doing) and Manchester United (who too there credit, did.)

You can even make the case Mourinho is partly responsible for the explosion of the EPL. Every good story needs a bad guy and he plays the bad guy role to a tee. Combine that with a certain charisma and it made him the perfect lightning rod during his time in England. His arrival came at a perfect time when some people were starting to get tired of Manchester United and Arsenal flip flopping league titles with Liverpool, well being Liverpool. I’m not here to pour anymore salt on the wound.

At Inter, the team already won successive league titles when he arrived. line is also laughable. One of the successive league titles was given to them on paper thanks to Juventus cheating. The second league title was won with Juventus in Serie B and A.C Milan docked points to start the season. Then the last title Inter almost threw away as they had a double digit lead at x-mas only to win it on the final game of the season with a victory against Parma. Besides Mancini sealed his faith wanting to quit after the Liverpool defeat in the Champions League.

Again, new team, new country. No excuses, no “three year plan, or it’s going to take time.” Mourinho is all about winning now and as a fan you respect it. His team’s will always be tough to beat, another sign of a great coach.

Inter isn’t tired of his act. Massimo Moratti loves his act. Inter were another club who were known as professional losers. Again another example of a club who spent a lot of money at the turn of the last decade with little to show for it. Now Mourinho comes there and turns Inter into the top club in Italy. Again Mourinho sets the bar right now for A.C Milan and Juventus to try an jump over when in year’s past it’s always been the reserve.

Mourinho also likes to mess with people’s heads. Any talk about Liverpool is just to mess with Rafa Benitez since the two are unlikely on each others x-mas card list. Why would Mourinho no matter who owns Liverpool want to go there considering he still has a job to do at Inter, plus if he really wanted to leave he could of sought out the Real Madrid job again last summer. Going to Spain has also been on of Mourinho goals. He throws out the return to England but the English press love hearing it.

I’m not going to say Mourinho is the best coach in the world as these things are subjective but I can say with his resume they is no club in the world who wouldn’t consider themselves lucky to have him if a coaching job were to open up.

Every top club has black marks, no coach is perfect, well unless your name is Pep Guardiola but he doesn’t have to deal with the “oh your a great coach because Barcelona spends a lot.”

You can point out Wenger has never won a European title or S.A.F in close to 25 years at a major club like Manchester United has only won two as examples. Both are still great coaches. I can understand why people don’t like Mourinho, he is easy to dislike but I don’t care if he has devil horns there is no denying he is one of the world’s best coaches.

Finally got around to watching the Chelsea Blue Revolution documentary which covers Chelsea rise in English football from 2004 to 2007. Don’t ask me why it took me so long to finally get to watching this. I was entertained by the documentary but in the end I felt so much more could of been told.

The first thing which bugged me about this documentary is that’s it’s only 90 minutes in length. Why in the world is this documentary 90 minutes? This isn’t Fahrenheit 911 which is a documentary meant to have commercial appeal. Blue Revolution is meant for hard core Chelsea/Football fans. It simply doesn’t make sense to really only give 30 minutes per year considering all the news Chelsea were making during this time period.

Events such as Luis Garcia goal against Chelsea in the Champions League, The battles between Barcelona and Chelsea were all touched upon with archival footage from press conferences most of us have already seen before. The best parts of this documentary is when the players sit down and talk about their experiences at the club. The problem is there was too little of that. You had John Terry, Frank Lampard and Didier Drogba but what about the rest of this club? Everything about this documentary felt hurried where really this should of been three hours in length. What Chelse fan would complain about the extra time for a behind the scenes look at the club?

Also no Roman Abramovich. Would it of been too hard to ask him these two questions which started the Chelsea Revolution. What made you want to buy a football club? What then made you then decide to buy Chelsea? That’s all I wanted. Peter Kenyon did a good job in this documentary but he can’t answer those question.

My favorite parts of this documentary where some of the behind the scenes look at the club. Chelsea were in Los Angeles preparing for the season and they had this huge house party where you saw John Terry on the staircase with Snoop Dog of all people walking down the same stair case as examples.

But of course my favorite parts of this documentary were the ones during with Jose Mourinho. During this one clip where he is in a video training session he goes to his players, “I’m not saying you have to win this game…..pause…..but you can not lose.” The way he delivered that line for some reason killed me. The other moment which I enjoyed was when the camera followed Mourinho to Madame Tussauds where his wax lookalike was being unveiled. After all the press were gone Mourinho and the Madame Tussauds people where in a back office and they were like anytime you want to bring your family by to the museum just let us know beforehand and we can arrange a tour for you. Mourinho was like no, can’t do that. My family doesn’t like to be out with me cause it always turns into a commotion, then explained a story of him and his family being hounded by the press at Euro Disney now his kids prefer to go out without him. Now I know this is a documentary about Chelsea and not Mourinho but that was the insight I wanted to see more out of from the players/coaches with regards to all the things football wise which occurred at Chelsea during 2004-2007.

Below is a clip from the documentary