There Is Only One Sinnacle

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Once I heard about Rafa Benitez lashing out at Massimo Moratti basically drawing a line in the sand asking Inter to back him in the transfer market or sack him my first reaction was how long Rafa was biting his lip wanting for the right time to make this request. Rafa couldn’t make this request after losing to Leece for example so Rafa waits til the Club World Cup which is an event whose idea I like but let’s face it beating TP Mazembe great story as it was is like beating a Serie B team in the Coppa Italia.

I love how Rafa Benitez keeps biting the hand that feeds him. From Valencia, to Liverpool and now Inter Milan anytime something is going wrong it’s the clubs fault. When Rafa beats Real Madrid in the Champions League he is a genius. When Liverpool don’t advance out of the group stage the following year it’s ownerships fault. If I was Moratti I’d send him back on the first plane back to Spain.

For a smart man Rafa Benitez should of never took the Inter job to begin with. You can’t top what Jose Mourinho did with this Inter team last year, it’s foolish for an elite coach to even try. Benitez coming out and saying Inter will play much better football than they did last year was also dumb to say. Inter scored the most goals in Italy. In the Champions League while they parked the bus in Barcelona they also took them on to a tune of a 3-1 victory in the first leg. Last year’s Inter team also played three strikers up front against Chelsea at Stamford bridge. To say you can play better football not only insults Mourinho not that he cares about such things but more importantly it insults all those Inter players who give it everything they got all last year.

I can just picture Wesley Sneijder saying to Rafa at practice “this is not how we did it last year.” just to annoy him. Does Rafa have some right to be annoyed at the lack of transfer funds? Yes, he has some right but it isn’t like he was going into this blind. I’m sure he knew what the deal was going into the season. Have Inter had some bad luck with injuries this season? Yes but cry me a river these things happen. What shouldn’t happen even with injuries is a club who won everything last year shouldn’t be 13 points back of first place. (with two games in hand) There is nothing to this Inter sqaud to suggest they are going to turn it around but of course somehow this is Moratti fault and not Rafa’s who contiunes to deflect blame from himself. It worked in Liverpool, it won’t work in Milan.

To repeat a previous point Rafa was stupid to take on the Inter Milan job. Inter was Mourinho’s team, it was always going to be an uphill task without blowing up the club which he has no power to do. Rafa should of sat back enjoyed some time off and waited for the Liverpool job or another top level gig to come open as Benitez would be on the top of this list. Now Benitez is this close to getting the sack with his repetition bound to take a beating everywhere outside of Liverpool.

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The only difference between Roman Abramovich and Newcastle owner Mike Ashley besides a couple of billion is the fact once upon a time spent wisely and lavishly to the tune of three EPL titles in six seasons.

What they do have in common is the fact they poke their noses into football affiars way too much. If these rumours of Carlo Ancelotti leaving at the end of the season are true can you blame him? Furthermore how much of a mess is Chelsea at the broadroom level when Ancelotti was able to handle Silvio Berlusconi for eight seasons but wants to pack it in after two in Chelsea?

Here you have Abramovich who ran off one of the best coaches in the world in Jose Mourinho. After that right or wrong you have to admit it was a tad cruel sacking Avram Grant when he did all he could do to keep Chelsea in the EPL title race and was one John Terry slip away from winning a Champions League. Scolari was a mistake which Abramovich had to write a big cheque to make him go away. With Mourinho not coming back anytime soon Chelsea found the perfect coach in Carlo Ancelotti. While he didn’t win the Champions League he did return the club to the top of English football winning the EPL and FA Cup double while having to deal with distractions like the John Terry-Wayne Bridge saga.

The main reasons why Chelsea fans should be asking questions of Roman Abramovich is the simply fact that Chelsea hasn’t spent much in the transfer market the last two seasons but still except to win the Champions League. Once upon a time the first club papers would link to Carlos Tevez is Chelsea. We all know now aside from one summer signing Chelsea won’t be flashing an open chequebook in the transfer market. That in itself is fine, Abramovich has poured enough money into Chelsea he can justify not wanting to spend 100 million. What he can’t justify is the bloated board room staff each having their own agenda and usually not making Carlo Ancelotti job any easier. If Ancelotti leaves will fans finally start asking questions of how Abramovich is slowly running Chelsea out of the top tier of European football?

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I don’t know what it is about me but I tend it take a soft spot for fans who cheer for suffering teams and Liverpool fans fit that bill at the moment. Once they turn things around I no longer hold a soft spot for the club and move on to my calling in life being a Ronaldo and Jose Mourinho fan boy. See this goal on the weekend for example…..Grande Jogador.

Back to Roy Hodgson now. It’s like the earth axis has tipped over. You have Liverpool fans wanting their coach gone and Newcastle fans being mad over their coach getting the sack. Roy Hodgson however hasn’t done himself any favours by trying to deflect blame onto former coach Rafa Benitez and twisting his words around when it comes to club legend Kenny Dalglish.

To keep it simple Roy Hodgson seems like the type of person who if given a Ferrari would never put it in top gear. Now, I know many non Liverpool fans right now wouldn’t suggest Liverpool is too football what Ferrari is too cars but it’s sure is a step up from the likes of Fulham and coaching Finland.

I remember Hodgson last game in charge of Finland in a Euro 2008 do or die qualifier against Portugal. Finland had to beat Portugal to make it to Euro 2008. Granted, I know the odds were long that day (9 to 1 in fact, I put $125 on Finland thinking if Portugal wasn’t going to make it to Euro 2008 I might as well get a grand to make me feel better.) but how in the world do you play to a 0-0 tie when only a win would do? Scolari on his last legs as Portugal coach wisely knew Hodgson was one dimensional. As Portugal didn’t make a mistake at the back by not trying to grab a lead caused Finland to never have the chance to score. I remember writing breifly about this game in an article defending Scolari as every Portuguese person was forgetting what he accomplished previously in his time with the National team. Then he goes on to take the Chelsea job in the middle of Euro 2008 and Portugal flatlines but anyway this is what I wrote at the time.

Scolari has had to deal with criticism over Portugal’s lack luster Euro 2008 qualifying campaign that saw them finish second behind Poland and only barely able to clinch their spot on the last day in a 0-0 tie against Finland

While it made for a nervous 90 minutes the end result would have been the same be it a 5-0 win or 0-0 draw. Scolari crafted a smart game plan utilizing his remaining roster to maximum effect. With first choice defenders Ricardo Carvalho and Jorge Andrade injured, Scolari gave Pepe his first start for the national team pairing him up with former Porto team mate Bruno Alves to go along with another Porto defender in Jose Bosingwa. Having three players in the back four that are used to playing together was key in holding a Finland team in check. The fact that it was not an epic performance hasn’t pleased many in the press who still dream of the days where Portugal would win with style, but never after the opening round.

The Second Guessing Of Scolari April 2008

Roy Hodgson can make a bad team decent by basically trying to play 10 men behind the ball but my problem with Hodgson is every gameplan is the same from week to week. It cautious football and when that’s your only trick up your sleeve it isn’t going to take you to the top four no matter who you have in your lineup.

Paul Konchesky is another problem as in no way should Roy Hodgson have the last say in transfer dealings with the likes of Konchesky and Christian Poulsen being bought in and Alberto Aquilani told to leave. Raul Meireles is a winner but that is only one out of three.

My last problem is the fact there is no youth in this Liverpool lineup. When was the last time Liverpool produced a home grown player? Now I know little of that is Hodgson fault but If I’m a Liverpool I want to see Daniel Pacheco, Danny Wilson, and/or Jonjo Shelvey. All three of them would be seeing playing time at any non top four club. Hodgson does have control over their playing time. But Hodgson either by his lack of trust in young players or by his lack of trust in his position with Liverpool refuses to give any of the three an extended look at this point.

In the end tis the season to fire coaches (ask big sam today) and if Liverpool really want to attract top players you need to ask is Roy Hodgson the type of coach that top players will flock too? If the answer is no than he has to go.

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.