Aug 07

Premier League Verdict: The Observer fans’ network previews 2010-11

The hopes, fears and expectations for all the teams this season

Arsenal

Having been so spoilt by success at the start of Arsène’s tenure, it’s understandable that so many Gooners struggle to come to terms with reality. Aside from throwing us the occasional bone, with the likes of Arshavin, Wenger continues to unearth bargains, unable or unwilling to compete with the big spenders. Competition for a Champions League berth is tougher than ever so treading water is definitely no longer an option. Our young team needs to show they’ve matured and compete in the big games. However, without a match-winning goalie it’s going to be tough to improve on last season’s finish. Last season 3rd Prediction 3rd

The new boys The arrival of Chamakh and Koscielny was hardly the sort of statement of intent that most Gooners were hoping for. Wenger apparently admitted the limitations of our timid keepers, so why hasn’t he broken the bank to install an imposing personality between the sticks?

Men to watch If he spends half as much time on the training pitch as he appears to spend styling his sticky-up barnet, Chamakh could prove to be a big hit. Samir Nasri has looked sharp in pre-season and, having watched events in South Africa on the box, perhaps he and Theo Walcott will benefit from the fact that they’re both fresh and feel they have something to prove.

Best youngsters From Jack Wilshere, to JET (Jay Emmanuel-Thomas) and Emmanuel Frimpong, we wait with bated breath, for our homegrown stars to prove their first XI credentials.

Target for the boo-boys Almunia and Fabianski are the most likely targets.

Hate figure Cashley Cole, Greedybayor and Harry Redknapp.

Title winner Chelsea

Going down Blackpool, West Brom, Wigan

Bernard Azulay, GoonersDiary.Blogspot.com

Aston Villa

O’Neill has always left much of his transfer activity until just before the deadline but, given so much is required, to have done nothing by the start of August is alarming. The manager’s very lengthy honeymoon is definitely over. The Villa Park crowd is sometimes a little over-demanding, but the football has been very uninspiring at home of late and the squad he refuses to rotate is of his own creation. A poor start to the season could easily see these murmurings of discontent get much louder. We need 100% focus on the cups, including the Europa League, and I’d be delighted with a semi, a bit of a European tour and some real gung-ho tactics against the big clubs at home. Last season 6th Prediction 8th

The new boys We should crack on and sell Milner: £24m is way over the top and, while I respect the club’s stance in holding out for more, we shouldn’t be so principled that we miss out on a crazy offer. One side issue: our scouting system must be awful. During O’Neill’s reign, we’ve made just one major signing from a non-UK club.

Men to watch Ashley Young is top-class, while if we play to Gabby’s strengths then he can star. We need big seasons from Dunne, Collins and Friedel again.

Best youngsters The manager seems to have soft spots for Delfouneso and Albrighton, but Barry Bannan in midfield and Ciaran Clark at the back could come through this season.

Target for the boo-boys For me, Downing is absolutely hopeless. Totally overrated, limp in the challenge and shuts his eyes when he heads it.

Hate figure Blues and their feral fans have always been a source of amusement and animosity. Arsène Wenger seems to delight in winding us up.

Title winner Chelsea

Going down Blackpool, Newcastle, Wigan

Jonathan Pritchard, Observer reader

Birmingham City

There’s a feeling of restrained optimism as we approach the opening game – the feelgood factor is balanced by the weight of history and the knowledge that last season’s ninth place, although deserved, was well above expectation. The core of the team remains and, given that Big Eck is not one for radical changes, expect more of the same this season. We’ll be hard to beat – especially at home – but to make progress, we need to improve in front of goal (only 38 goals last season). We need to break with more pace, and show more guile in our approach play and better composure in finishing. We’re better than more than half the teams so there should be no need to worry about matters at the bottom of the table. Last season 9th Prediction 12th

The new boys McLeish acted quickly to replaftce two departing loan players: Foster in for Hart and Zigic in for Benítez. The only other signing to date is Vallés. Everyone – fans, management, board – agrees we need to strengthen the squad: some pace up front and out wide. And a left-back.

Men to watch Barry Ferguson was superb last season and will be again this year. I’d expect Foster to show the kind of form that will see him push for a place in the England squad.

Best youngsters Jordon Mutch is the most likely to feature on the periphery of the first team; Fraser Kerr made the pre-season tour to China.

Target for the boo-boys More moaners than boo-boys really. But I won’t name somebody before the start of the season. I’ll keep an open mind until at least half-time on the opening day.

Hate figure A couple of players managed to con referees and get soft penalties last year – I’m sure they’ll be deservedly reminded of that.

Title winner Chelsea

Going down Blackpool, West Brom, Wigan

Kevin Cummins, Observer reader

Blackburn Rovers

I am expecting another season of progress, but nothing too earth-shattering with the budget as it is. A good cup run similar to last year’s Carling Cup adventure would be a bonus. We haven’t had the best of summers so there’s no reason to go overboard about our chances of making an impact, but I’m not too worried as we have a young, vibrant and underrated squad. Last season 10th Prediction 10th

The new boys We’ve done nothing of note other than release Steven “hospital patient” Reid to WBA. We haven’t signed anyone, we haven’t really threatened to sign anyone and we have very little money. We badly need a new striker, mainly as we have only two recognised hit

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Jul 20

Football transfer rumours: Didier Drogba to Manchester City?

Today’s tittle-tattle is cruising for a bruising

The Mill was kept up all night by sirens. Not the mythological seductive scantily clad kind who try to tempt you into the nearest river for a bit of how’s-your-father, mind (The Mill’s not been that lucky since it tripped over a rabbit’s foot sticking out of a cracked paving stone and landed a £4,000 insurance claim). Nah, these were the very real, ear-splitting, somebody’s-in-trouble-Guv type that blare out at 3am WHEN THERE IS NO TRAFFIC ON THE ROAD SO WHY BOTHER? variety. But hey, you’re a Mill who came up in the wrong end of town, whaddya gonna’ do?

On the subject of sirens, Manchester City’s Italian beauty Roberto Mancini is doing a pretty good impression of one right now. The long-haired temptress is keeping cool in the heat by fanning himself with £20m outside Stamford Bridge and refusing to leave until Didier Drogba accompanies him on the Virgin Pendolino back home to Manchester.

If Drogba’s passion is stirred then expect Carlo Ancelotti to turn up at Anfield with a wheelbarrow (a very, very big one at that) of cash and start throwing it over the Shankly Gates until enough of it lands to secure the services of Liverpool’s beautiful-but-knacked Spain striker Fernando Torres. And if Drogba isn’t turned on, Mancini will increase the size of his cash fan to £35m and direct his attention towards Internazionale’s brooding striker Mario Balotelli.

And now he’s happily married, the free-agent Sol Campbell has just about plucked up the courage to tell the new Mrs Campbell that they’re going to be setting up home in Sunderland. The Mill doesn’t know how long you have to be wed before you can avoid an annulment, but expects the happy couple haven’t yet reached that mark.

Over at Old Trafford, Sir Alex Ferguson has been busy mixing messages in a huge bowl and sending them out to assorted confused tabloid hacks. The Sun simultaneously has him pushing “hard to get the cash” for the fleet-footed Werder Bremen and Germany midfielder Mezut Ozil as well as admitting that Manchester United are “comfortable with the squad we’ve got.”

West Ham are hoping to scupper Liverpool’s attempts to sign the Nice and France striker Loic Remy by upping their offer for the player from the club’s asking price of £12m to £15m. With the Merseyside club about as indebted as a randy stag would be to his best mate after finding out that he’s switched their weekend away from Amsterdam to Eastbourne, last year’s relegation-battlers could successfully gazump Liverpool and prove that football is, well, just silly these days, isn’t it?

If he finds enough grease to squeeze his avuncular frame through the Craven Cottage entrance, big Martin Jol will write David James, Robbie Keane and Stephen Ireland’s names on a piece of paper, neatly fold it and insert it into the top pocket of Mohamed Al-Fayed’s suit jacket, before patting the 77-year-old Fulham owner on the cheek passive-aggressively.

North of the border, financially-challenged Rangers want goal-shy free-agent Marlon Harewood to prove just how bad the SPL is by actually scoring real goals in the league so they can make a good case for the Old Firm joining the Premier League. While Celtic will let Aiden McGeady run all the way down the hard-shoulder of the M74 and M6 until he ends up in the arms of his former manager Martin O’Neill at Aston Villa. That is, of course, after he’s sent £10m worth of beans to Parkhead.

And finally, Joey Barton (now there’s a man who knows his sirens) reckons England is the team for him. After watching Fabio Capello’s crack selection make the Jabulani ball look like it was triangular in South Africa, the fast-food-shop bothering Newcastle United player reckons every midfielder in the country must fancy their chances of playing for England (yes, even that fat lad called Macca who plays in the Liverpool Zingari League). “Watching some of the performances at the World Cup over the summer I think that, on form, I’m as good as anybody in the country.” After looking as rusty as an oil-starved garden gate in his 15 Championship appearances last season and regularly wasting possession, the Mill would have to agree.

Transfer windowManchester CityChelseaGregg Roughleyguardian.co.uk

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Jul 19

Joe Cole joins Liverpool on four-year contract

• England international moves to Anfield on a free transfer
• Cole becomes Liverpool’s second signing of the summer

Liverpool today signed Joe Cole on a four-year contract, subject to a medical due to take place “in the next 48 hours”.

The 28-year-old England international has moved on a free transfer after his contract with Chelsea expired at the end of June. He had also been linked with Tottenham Hotspur and Arsenal, who will both compete in the Champions League next season, but has chosen instead to move to Anfield where he becomes the second signing of the summer after Milan Jovanovic, the Serbian winger who joined from Standard Liège earlier this month, also on a free transfer.

The capture of Cole was seen as a key factor in proving to the likes of Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres, who have both been linked with departures after a disappointing seventh-placed finish in Rafael Benítez’s final season in charge, that Liverpool can still compete for quality signings. He will be seen as a replacement for Yossi Benayoun, the 30-year-old Israeli creative midfielder who has joined Chelsea for £5m.

Hodgson is still on the look-out for a new left-back with Fabio Aurélio having left and Emiliano Insua on the verge of completing his move to Fiorentina. After that the Liverpool manager will hope to secure commitments from Gerrard and Torres about their futures.

The former Liverpool midfielder Jamie Redknapp, whose father Harry was keen on signing Cole for Spurs, said reports the player was holding out for the most lucrative contract were unfair.

“From what I know, compared to other players in the Premier League now, he’s not being greedy at all,” Redknapp told Sky Sports News. “He just wants a good deal and rightfully so – he’s a free agent and he’s worked that situation nicely – but I know he’s not asking for anything astronomical, like what is being portrayed in the press.

“He’s just looking for the right club and he needs to play football now. He missed a lot of time at Chelsea last season with his knee injury and didn’t quite get back to the level he showed previously. He needs to go somewhere, be loved, and play football and get back to being the Joe Cole we all know.”

LiverpoolChelseaTransfer windowSimon Burntonguardian.co.uk

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