Arsenal - Still need a strong defensive midfielder.Aston Villa - Delph will struggle to fill Barry's shoes.
Birmingham City - Benitez looks exciting when fully fit.
Blackburn Rovers - Need to get Kalinic fit to start making up for Santa Cruz's goals (McCarthy and Roberts are past it).
Bolton Wanderers - Front three needs rejuventation.
Burnley - Can Graham Alexander keep pace with the Premier League?
Chelsea - Avoid injuries to Terry, Lampard and Drogba.
Everton - Let Lescott go, he doesn't want to be there.
Fulham - Zamora needs to be scoring on more consistent basis as opposed to relying on everyone else to.
Hull City - Don't panic buy because most other players turned you down.
Liverpool - Don't start with Lucas.
Manchester City - Gareth Barry is the key to City's success.
Manchester United - Lack excitement without Ronaldo, Rooney to try and make up for it.
Portsmouth - Loan signing Piquonne needs to find his feet fast or Pompey will be propping up the table.
Stoke City - Find back-up tactic for Delap - throw - goal.
Sunderland - Keep Darren Bent and centre backs fit, Ferdinand set for a big season.
Tottenham Hotspur - Going to struggle to find best XI due to sudden quality in squad (when fit).
West Ham United - Will rely heavily on Cole and Noble for goals.
Wigan Athletic - Martinez's status as an unknown in the Premier League will work to his advantage.
Wolves - Will stay up courtesy of Ebanks-Blake's goals and Kightly's industry (when fit).
Delph will fill Barrys shoes and better just give him time. Apparently there is off field problems with Villa at the minute, relating to John Carew possibly, Also what a result by Arsenal!! superb
ReplyDeleteYeah I know/hope he will. He's only 18 so he'll come on leaps and bounds before a bigger club comes knocking providing Villa don't make it into the Champions League in the next 3 or 4 years.
ReplyDeleteAnd John Carew? Haven't heard anything about him. Apparently a few months back City were interested but haven't heard anything recently.
And Arsenal blew me away, but they were up against an Everton side that weren't all there with Lescott saga dragging on. Put them up against a more physical team and you will see them struggle. Everton didn't close down anywhere near enough to challenge on Saturday.
I don't doubt what you said about Arsenal still needing a strong defensive midfielder, but Alex Song played an outstanding game for them there against Everton. He was very strong, kept Fellaini in check by outdoing him for every 50/50 ball which is clearly not an east task. I disagree w/ your decision that Arsenal need a midfielder the most right now though. Bendtner is a perfect winger, he's outstanding at taking people on, he uses his size to keep posession in the midfield, so that was a big boost. We still have Walcott, Nasri, Wilshere, Arshavin, Bendtner, Merida, and Rosicky on the wings, Fabregas, Denilson, Song in the middle. I think you're right that we need a solid defensive mid, but I think the area that needs to be addressed most is by far the defense. There just isnt much depth there. You got your starting 4 in Sagna, Vermaelen, Gallas, and Clichy. Then you have Gibbs and Silvestre (who doesn't really count anymore, ha). Eboue and Song could be put there, but it looks like Song will play a major role in the midfield and Eboue will be a 2nd half sub. Great blog so far though Nate!
ReplyDeleteCheers PJ.
ReplyDeleteYou're right you have the wingers, but like you listed there Fabregas, Denilson and Song - 3 players. Defensive midfield needs reinforcements. Fellaini is still recovering from a virus he got during the summer so has lost a lot of weight hence why he was pushed about so easily.
But after watching them destroy Everton, it made me worry if either Vermaelen or Gallas got injured. No depth there. Yes there is Djourou and Song can play there but a class one is needed.
But then it occurred to me - would someone like Brede Hangeland be happy with sitting on the bench week in, week out after playing so much first team football for Fulham over the past 2 years? He would be a great signing but I don't think the player himself would be too happy with the move after a couple of months.
We shall wait and see who (or if) Arsene brings in, no doubt it will be a quality, astute signing bringing value for money - the typical Wenger signing.