The Managerial Circus

From June 1st to August 31st, more commonly known as Silly Season, is usually a time when rumors concerning football players around Europe arise and if they are to change clubs or not during the summer. Even though Champions League winners Bayern Munich have made a large signing in Mario Götze, Barcelona have managed to convince Brazilian wonderkid Neymar to join the Catalonian side, the main focus around Europe during this summer is the transfers concering the managers and the top clubs, especially in the premier league.
With Sir Alex stepping down from his throne as the undisputed most succesful manager in football-history, the termination of Roberto Mancini after failing to secure the FA-cup (a 1-0 loss to relegated Wigan) and the end of Rafa Benitez interim-period, this left the top-three English clubs searching for new managers.
"The football-worlds' worst kept secret". This is what media referred to when talking about the return of Jose Mourinho to Chelsea. Ever since the beginning of 2013, Mourinho has hinted he has wanted to the club he managed between 2004-2007. After the semi-final overall loss against Dortmund in the champions league, Mourinho hinted even more that he wanted to return to Stamford Bridge. "In England I'm loved, especially by one club." After that moment is was only legal issues to be discussed before Chelsea could announce the return of the fans-favourite manager.
Manuel Pellegrini to Man City had a story similar to that of Mourinhos. Since Mancini was sacked, the main name has been Pellegrini, with the only thing that delayed the announcement were legal issues aswell, concerning Malaga and their financial issues. All in all City waited a month extra and saved a large amount of money by delaying it.
As for David Moyes and Man United, for most people this signing can't have been too much of a surprise. Over the years Sir Alex has praised his fellow Scotsman, for the fantastic job he has done at Goodison Park, especially with the restrained budget that Moyes has had to battle with.

So which of these managers will succeed and take home the title in May next year? All the fans at the different clubs expect a title, but only one can bring it back. The most pressure is definitely on David Moyes. I doubt that anyone in their right mind expects Moyes to repeat the amazing success of Sir Alex, but the United fans still expect something similar to what Sir Alex could deliver. Mourinho has a lot to prove aswell after his somewhat disappointing spell at Real Madrid. In my opinion has the least pressure on him since the Man City owner Sheik Mansour has shown to be patient regarding results at the Etihad Stadium. Russian billionaire and Chelsea owner has shown to be the complete opposite. Even though Mourinho is extremely loved at Chelsea, the pressure is going to be massive from the higher profiles at the West-London club.
Regarding who will win the EPL, I can hardly see any other team except these three winning. If Chelsea can manage to bring in Cavani or Lewandowski (or if Torres somehow miraculously returns to  his form he showed on Merseyside) I think they are going to be hard to beat. Regarding second place i think that Man City will finish as the runners-up. With new signings Jesus Navas and Fernandinho (probably one or two more big names to come) and the exciting style of play that Pellegrini brings, I really think both the above mentioned teams to edge out Man United for the first two spots at the end of the season. Why the Red Devils won't finish amongst the top two is because i don't think Moyes can (at least in his first season) manage to balance the midfield and centre-halves as well as Ferguson did. Even if United manage to bring Barcelonas youngster Thiago Alacantra to Old Trafford i don't see them being able to clinch 1st or 2nd place.

Isco set to move, Lewandowski set to stay

Malaga wonderkid seems keen to move on from the highly in-debt club. Isco has been highly rated throughout the last year, especially with his performances taking Malaga to the UCL quarter finals, where they so nearly knocked out eventual finalists Dortmund. After a sublime strike against Norway in the U21 European championships the other day (and an overall amazing performance throughout the tournament) the value of the young spaniard has only increased. Different sources report on different club adresses for Isco. Some place him in Man City, whilst others are convinced that he will move to the Spanish Capital and Real Madrid. Fellow U21-teammates Morata, Carvajal and Nacho have all been trying to convince Isco to join Los Galacticos.
So which team will Isco join this summer if he leaves?

Let's look at the facts:
- Malaga are not going to play any form of European football (financial problems etc.)
- Isco plays as an attacking midfielder
- Mesut Özil (Madrid) and David Silva (Man City) also play as attacking midfielders.
- Isco wants to play champions league football.

Isco is an amazing talent, but he won't put aside either of the two above named midfielders (at least not initially). With the talent he has, he has to start the majority of the matches, to consistently improve his game. At the same time he has to play Champions League football to develop as a player. So this only leaves a few clubs to which he can join, bearing in mind who can afford him naturally.
- Shaktar Donetsk
- Borussia Dortmund
- PSG
- (Arsenal)

He probably won't want to move to Ukraine, since he can't maximize his development in that sort of league. PSG spent almost €45m on Lucas Moura and are probably waiting on some dividend on him before they make a major investment like Isco. If you look at the techinal play of Isco, he is perfect for Arsenal, and would work fantastically alongside Santi Cazorla and Wilshere (provided the latter is injury-free). However Arsenal (Arsene Wenger) is renown for holding tight to his wallet during the transfer windows, even though on paper Arsenal can afford both transfer fee & the potential wage demands of a player of Iscos' caliber. In mu opinion though, the ultimate team for Isco to join is Borussia Dortmund. With Mario Götze making the forbidden transfer to Bayern Munich a month or so back, the spot behind the tall striker Lewandowski is yet to filled. Isco and Götze are born the same year, he will get to play in a great league, his style of play is extremley coherent to that of Dortmunds. Financially they have around €35m to spend after Götze left, so a transition like that shouldn't be to complicated.

Whilst we are on the subject of Dortmund, Manchester United target Robert Lewandowski it set to stay. At least according to Dortmunds general manager Hans-Joachim Watzke. After his 4 magnificent goals against Real Madrid in the UCL final, the 24-year old Polish striker valued has increased and the European top clubs want to sign him, in particular Premier League champions Manchester United. But if we are to believe the general manager at Signal Iduna Arena, David Moyes can start to lay his energy on another striker to play alongside Robin van Persie next season.

Silly Season - Yet again

Last year I wrote - on an external site - a lot about the transfers and rumors in the EPL.
Starting from today I'm going to continue.
Every transfer window there are several names where the rumors never stop. This year isn't an exception. Names like Lewandowski, Cavani, Suarez, Bale will all be mentioned time and time again.

Latest update from today:
Napoli striker Edinson Cavani is being chased by City, Chelsea & Real Madrid. Napoli aren't likely to be able to hold on to him before the window closes, and after his father talked to the spanish media (Marca) the odds are now on Real Madrid signing the striker. In my opinion it's not gonna happen. Madrid want Suarez and Bale, Suarez even wants to move to Madrid. Since Suarez is unhappy at the Kop and Madrid want him, they aren't likely to sign two £50m strikers, especially since they already have Ronaldo already. Add a £80m Welshman, then Madrid have bought for £180m, so you can all do the math. Cavani won't go to Madrid if they buy either Bale and Suarez.

As for confirmed transfers: Iago Aspas has made the move from Celta Vigo to the red side of Merseyside. A central attacking midfielder (can also play as a striker) in his mid 20s, a great signing by Rodgers overall. However, assuming Suarez is gonna leave, Aspas is definitley not gonna be able to fill his shoes perfectly. Liverpool need to sign one more top class striker if they want to challenge for Champions League football next season.

Aston Villa have also made a fantastic signing. During the fall of 2012, Jores Okore was the shining star for Nordsjälland in their Champions League debut. Okore has now signed on for Aston Villa and will try and ensure that Villa don't concede as many goals as last season. I have a feeling that the 20-year old defender will be crowd-favourite at Villa Park.

Preview Swansea-Newcastle

In my mind the two big suprises during last season, with Swansea, against all odds, managed to stay in the top flight division rather comfortably, and Newcastle being able to clinch 5th spot ahead of Champions League winners Chelsea.
Swansea made a very positive start to the season, especially with Rayo Vallecano signing "Michu" seemingly unable to miss the target for the Welsh side. During the matches around Christmas, Swansea weren't showing the same impecable form, but have still managed to stay in the top 10. With Michael Laudrups side clinching their first ever major title last weekend in a 5-0 thrashing over Bradford City, form and confidence couldn't be better. One thing definitely worth mentioning is how Laudrup has encouraged his side to play attacking football, despite who their opponents are. I for one have been amazed by the quality that Laudrup has been able to get out of his relatively cheap side. A lot of the success is definitely thanks to the signings of earlier mentioned "Michu" and Pablo Hernandez, both for the combined sum of £8,5million. I think that this afternoon match against Newcastle will be no exception for Swansea to play their lovely attacking football, and don't bet against "Michu" finding the back of the net.
Regarding Newcastle, the success hasn't even been close to last seasons. Even though last seasons 5th finish was very suprising, nobody thought that they would be fighting for survival in late January. Unlike Swansea, manager Alan Pardew was very busy during the January transfer market, signing five frenchmen to the Magpies. Before these additions to the squad were made, Newcastle had already lost the likes of goalscorer Demba Ba to Chelsea and were in desperate need of attacking players, since Papiss Cissé clearly wasn't delivering. However since the "french revolution" was introduced at St. James Park Newcastle have shown the form they had throughout last season. The key major signing, in my mind, is Moussa Sissoko, who instantly managed to find a goal-winning pass in his first match, only to clinch two goals a week later in a 3-2 win over Chelsea. With a 4-2 win over newcomers Southampton last weekend, the Tyneside team should have all the confidence they need for a thrip to Liberty Stadium.

Even though both teams are in great form, i give the edge to Swansea, mainly because Swansea have been extremely strong at home, whilst Newcastle have been rather poor away from home. Nevertheless, the match will be very exicting, where Swansea will play their attacking football, and Newcastle, hopefully, managing to play their counter-attacking with the new Frenchmen at the rudder.

Rise of a young star

Last night Middlesbrough hosted FA-Cup holders Chelsea in this years competition. A rather comfortable 2-0 away win for the Blues in the end, goals being scored by Moses and Ramires (arguments can be made that Torres got the final touch), but none of these mentioned players caught my attention any more than they usually do. Instead a Dutchman was my Man of the Match. Born in mid-february 1995, the newly-turned 18 year old Nathan Ake was a giant in defensive midfield for the Londoners. He hardly missed a pass, but even more importantly he made challenges so clean, you could of thought he had played at this level as long as the bush-haired Carlos Puyol. Ake reminds one a lot of teammate David Luiz, not only do they have rather unique similar hair-styles, but the lethalness that Luiz provides when closing in on an opponent. In one sense Ake was better than Luiz usually is. Luiz being rather renown for making silly mistakes in dangerous areas, Ake was flawless, beautiful ball control, making simple choices (as a defensive midfielder should) but without necessarily playing cowardly.
Naturally Middlesbrough are not either of the Manchester clubs, opponent wise, so the young Dutchman's future is far from gold and diamonds at this stage. But in my mind Ake will not have a problem will the majority of the Premier League clubs if he was put up against them tomorrow. I can't stress enough how talented this 18-year old is and how much I look forward to seeing him dominate the midfield area at Stamford Bridge for the next decade.
One thing worth mentioning is that apart from a stoppage time substitute this was Ake's first senior appearance, and I have never seen anyone dominate like that on a debut.

AVB vs Benitez

One used to be employed and one is employed by Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich, they are both from the Iberian peninsula and they both manage London clubs.
During the summer of 2011 Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich had caught the eyes of the young Portuguese manager Andre Villas-Boas. No one could blame him, Villas-Boas had gone through the domestic league undefeated and won the Portuguese title with Porto basically without any competition,
so naturally Abramovich hired him on a three-year contract. Clearly there was a bright future for AVB, a high wage and basically infinite money to spend on new players. Anyone who knows anything about English football, knows that this was not the case. After a 1-0 away defeat to West Brom, Abramovich fired AVB, where Robbie di Matteo took over and Chelsea went on to win the Champions League and FA Cup. Nowadays Rafael Benitez is Chelsea's manager and everything is far from good. Constant failures from Benitez, such as FIFA:s Club World Cup, where they lost the final to Corinthians. They had a 2-0 lead against both Southampton and Reading, which both ended in 2-2 draws.
So why is AVB so successful without unlimited funds, and Benitez unsuccessful with unlimited funds?
Naturally they are different types of managers, and arguments can be made for Villas-Boas is a better manager than Benitez. I for one agree that AVB is the better manager at the moment, even though I doubted him during his Chelsea-spell in 2011-2012.
If i start with Benitez, what has he actually changed tactically since he took over the reigns from di Matteo? He has the same formation, basically the same players in the starting 11, so one might argue that he hasn't really done that much. In all truth he actually hasn't changed much, only one thing might be considered as changed. He is using Victor Moses much more than Di Matteo and when he does there is more options attacking wise for Chelsea, besides the delicacies of Mata and Hazard. To be fair to Rafa, when Moses is playing, Chelsea play much better football, even though results don't necessarily show it. During the match against Sparta Prague last week Eden Hazard scored an absolute screamer to make sure Chelsea made it through to the last 16 in the Europa League. Against Man City a few days later Benitez decided to substitute Hazard, while at a 1-0 deficit to the likes of Oscar. Without taking away anything from Oscar, Benitez can not make a decision like that and expect to be successful in winning the match. Just days before Hazard showed he can decide a match and that was the thanks from Benitez, in my mind outrageous. Don't get me wrong Benitez is a good manager in general, but making decisions like that doesn't exactly increase your popularity with the fans at Stamford Bridge.

Looking at AVB, why couldn't he succeed at Chelsea but is doing it at White Hart Lane?
Simply one answer: Gareth Bale. Without it making it seem like I have a schoolgirl crush on Bale (considering my latest post), he has been simply phenomenal. So what has AVB done to motivate him? He did what Pep Guardiola did to Messi, AVB let Bale have a free role. Looking at the spectacular hat-trick Bale scored at San Siro, all three goals were exactly the same, Bale ran down the left flank and ended up shooting from a bad angle and putting the ball back in the net. This season basically all of Bales goals have come from the centre of the field. In my opinion he is much more lethal with a clear angle towards goal than without and this is a major key to Spurs success throughout the latest weeks. With Bale in this form Spurs can beat any team in the world, lets just hope that Bale maintains the immense form he is in, otherwise, in all truth Spurs may not even make it to a top four finish this season.

Gareth Bale - Britains best player

Last night Tottenham surpassed Chelsea and overtook the third spot in the EPL thanks to their 3-2 away win at upton park. During the latest weeks Tottenham have won matches without actually playing at high standards, the reason to the "success" is simply thanks to the Welshman Gareth Bale. 8 of the 10 latest spurs goals speaks for itself. With pace that only can be matched by a handful of premier league players he has been a nuisance for the various opponents back four. Not only is it amazing the amount of goals Bale is scorin for spurs but the quality of the finishes, the decisive goal last night being a prime example of that. You can argue that van Persie is more important for the league leaders, however a lot of van Persies goals could have been scored by welbeck, chicharito or Rooney , not taking anything away from the sublime season that van Persie is having. Bales goals have meant the world to spurs and their fans, managing to reach the third and final direct qualification spot to the champions league. If Bale keeps up with this fantastic form it will be hard for Villas-Boas and Daniel Levy (Spurs chairman) to hold on to the Welshman during the summer transfer window. The only way to keep him is to secure champions league for next season. In my mind a player of Bales quality has to play in the world best club competition. We all remember what he did at San Siro against Inter in 2010. Gareth Bale - without a doubt Britains best player