da dobrowin： Manchester United. Chelsea. Arsenal. Liverpool. For years this quadruplet of footballing giants bossed England , each using their own individual styles to bring success (or at least valiant attempts) to their clubs, but all good things must end, and with the Premiership becoming ever more competitive, we have to ask, are others ready to be accepted into the elite?
da pinnacle： Clubs will always have their highs and lows, my own club Derby County had a period at the top of the premiership some years ago. These days they sit in the Championship on their rocking chairs, reminiscing glorious times with Leeds and Nottingham Forest , but the trio who were once unbeatable are all struggling to even get into the top league, let alone top it. So it is important to remember that as great as teams seem, it won’t last forever and some years down the line, these powers could well be facing relegation.
So let us assess the six teams in my opinion will be battling for that elite:
Manchester United:
Being just 18 years of age I’ve grown up as United as the backbone of every top four, and despite money troubles beginning to surface, you couldn’t possibly rule this team out. Always seemingly an older squad, Ferguson has worked on decreasing the average age this year, which although pundits questioned, has so far breathed fresh life into the team, seeing them muster a terrific result against tough cookies Tottenham on Monday night. Prediction: 1st
Chelsea:
I held a conversation with a Chelsea fan during the close season, who, despite being a fan of his club through thick and thin, admitted he felt he was watching the slow decline of his club, and after thinking about it, I guess I understood. The greatest managers and high quality players have played for Chelsea in recent years, and yet Chelsea usually vary between outstanding and shocking, but as manager after manager faces harsh sackings you wonder if Chelsea have expectations too high. With a squad of relatively old players you feel they are going to struggle more now. People have seen Liverpool and Arsenal crumble recently, and I feel Chelsea’s time in the big four is almost up. Prediction: 2nd
Manchester City:
The big spenders have, to my annoyance been praised in the last year for contending with the big four. I would’ve thought a squad as good as this with this much money spent should be challenging for 1st not 4th but that is why I am not a professional manager. Despite this rant, there is no doubt in my mind that we are seeing a permanent entry to the force, and I feel ultimately they will lose to Chelsea in the battle for 2nd due to their lack of experience fighting at this level. Prediction: 3rd
Liverpool:
After a lot of “umming and ahhing” I decided to award my final place to Liverpool. I have to admit last year I had already decided the end had arrived for Stevie G and the boys, but it was clear the players were still very much capable to achieving more and lacked desire and belief. Enter “King Kenny” who, with a couple of good signings and his aura fulfilled the reds beliefs in their abilities, seeing them manage a great end of season display. Now I expect him to push them a little bit more with his squad improvements and see Liverpool set themselves back as an Elite club. Prediction: 4th
[ad_pod id=‘vip-2′ align=’center’]
Arsenal:
I almost couldn’t decide between Arsenal and Liverpool for 4th place. I have always admired Arsenal having grown with their fantastic unbeaten run and players such as Thierry Henry and Robert Pires gave me great respect for them. At first I was very much in favour of Wenger’s youth plan, but in my opinion he did it wrong. If the Frenchman has chose to bring in a load of youth players to play with the heavily experienced winners such as Henry, then the younger players would have grown up knowing success making it easier to achieve. However they only have weight on their backs and no experience at winning so only seem to fluff every great chance they get. With the exit of Nasri and Fabregas, I hope this will give younger players the chance to play as having those two around will only lower morale but I fear, for this season at least, top four is just out of reach. Prediction: 5th
Tottenham:
Which just leaves Tottenham Hotspur. Allthough undoubtedly a good team with great players and a manager I admire, I feel in order to break into the top four you need to use a specialised trait that you use to your advantage be it youth, experience, money, reputation etc, and I simply consider Tottenham to be the jack of all trades, good at everything, master at nothing, and that is what I consider is ultimately holding them back. If Redknapp wants to bring Champions League football back to White Hart Lane, he needs to find a specific area to strengthen and make them the best in England at that area whilst remaining strong in other areas. This is not an easy task but I believe Redknapp (hopefully future England manager in my opinion) has the capability to pull it off. For now though I predict disappointment. Prediciton: 6th
So there you have it. These are of course only my thoughts and so not the right answers, but please let me know if you agree/disagree and your own thoughts in the comments below, or feel free to debate with me on Twitter @tomster93.
Article courtesy of Tommy Holland from This is Futbol
[ad_pod id=’unruly-2′ align=’right’]