Category: Analysis

There is a lot of extremely good English young talent who I’m sure will be England regulars in a few years, so on this article I’ve named a few.

Tom Davies

The Everton midfielder has been a very influential player for the Toffees since sparking onto the spotlight after a truly magnificent performance against Manchester City where he scored his first goal for the Merseyside- based club. And it looks like he will grow up to be a real leader for Everton, and his England career could get started very soon if his good form continues.

Jordan Pickford

Pickford got the chance to show that he should be Sunderland’s first choice keeper after an injury picked up by Mannone, and he took that chance well, keeping Sunderland in lots of games and putting damage limitation on some of Sunderland’s scorelines and Moyes realised his good goalkeeping skills and has made him top in . So if any of England’s keepers get injured, don’t be surprised if Pickford comes in to replace them, as he has done before.

Mason Holgate

When playing, Holgate has kept many frustrated and surprised strikers at bay and most memorably bossing Sergio Aguero in Everton’s game with City. The Everton youngster has only had experience playing with the English youth groups, but he could make his full national team debut in the near future.

Rob Holding

Holding has played a full ninety minutes nine times this season which may not sound like a lot, but if you think of the good defenders Arsenal have in his position, you realise what a good player he is, so an England debut could be coming his way in the next few years.

With there being many fringe players at United, here is my view on them and whether I think they should leave United this Summer.

Luke Shaw

Shaw has not played a full ninety minutes since playing Wigan on January 29th, and the Englishman, when fit, has not been included sixteen times in the United squad this season in all competitions. Because of the lack of playing time, Luke Shaw is probably getting a bit frustrated at United so I think he’ll leave the club this Summer or maybe United will sell him because if Mourinho’s not a fan of Shaw, there’s no point having him at the club.

Matteo Darmian

Darmian moved from Torino in the Summer of 2016 and had a great first season, but this season has been different as he’s gone down the pecking order at his preferred left back position. However, in my opinion, he should stay at United because Antonio Valencia, United’s first choice left back is getting a bit old for a footballer at thirty one, so he may leave United soon meaning Darmian can take his position in defence.

Marcus Rashford

Rashford flew on to the scene after scoring twice on his Europa League and his Premier League debut and nailed down a starting place in the United attack. But since the arrival of Ibrahimovic, it’s been hard for Rashford to get regular game time, so I believe Rashford should go on loan this Summer to a club which will play him more times than United do and come back fit and ready to Manchester in the build-up to the 2018/19 season.

Bastian Schweinsteiger

Schweinsteiger has not featured in the Premier League this season and he’s only played one hundred and thirty four minutes in cup games, and it looks like him and Mourinho at the same club are not the right fit. So, I think at thirty two, Schweinsteiger should leave United and live the rest of his footballing years playing in the MLS or the Chinese Super League.

As the Chinese Super League has just started here are some of the best players in the league.

Carlos Tevez, Shanghai Shenhua

Tevez moved from Boca Juniors this January to China and he’s rumoured to be the highest paid player in the world. The Argentine made his debut in the Chinese League on Sunday and he scored once and set up Giovanni Moreno for both of his goals. This is now Tevez’s seventh club he has played for, along with spells at Manchester United, West Ham and Juventus.

Hulk, Shanghai SIPG

Hulk is a burly centre forward who joined Shanghai SIPG this summer. Hulk was previously at Russian club, Zenit were he scored fifty six league goals in his four seasons there which is an impressive tally. Hulk has also enjoyed success internationally playing for Brazil and he’s scored eleven goals in forty seven appearances for them, he also made five starts in Brazil’s World Cup 2014 campaign.

Axel Witsel, Tianqin Quanjian

Witsel was very close to sealing a deal to Juventus, but the Belgian star said he made his decision to move to China this January because it was important for his family. Witsel was an important player in Zenit’s 2014/2015 league win and was one of Zenit’s best players when he played for them if not the best.

Oscar, Shanghai SIPG

Oscar was frustrated with the amount of playing time he was getting at Chelsea so he moved to China. Oscar marked his Chinese Super League debut with two assists and I’m sure that there’ll be many more because of the quality Oscar has. The Brazilian moved to Chelsea in 2012 and has had some great seasons there and considering the age he’s at, he could come back to Chelsea to ease off his career.

With there being many Premier League rejects playing for clubs in Europe I thought it would be a good idea to let the readers know how they’re doing.

Edin Dzeko, rejected by Manchester City, now at Roma

Edin Dzeko scored seventy two goals for City in his career after joining from Wolfsburg in 2011. But after a poor 2014/2015 for Dzeko, City sent him on loan and made the move permanent this season. The Bosnian striker is now excelling in the heart of the Roma attack and he’s scored nineteen league goals this season which is enough to make him Serie A’s joint top scorer with top players, Andrea Belotti and Gonzalo Higuain.

Mario Balotelli, rejected by Liverpool, now at Nice

After Balotelli’s high expectations at Liverpool he disappointed and was sent packing to Nice this Summer. This season so far for Balotelli has been wonderful for him, but he has missed a fair few matches from suspensions and injuries.

Angel Di Maria, rejected by Manchester United, now at PSG

Di Maria’s transfer to United was the second biggest buy from a Premier League club, but his performances didn’t live up to his transfer fee after just three goals in United 2014/2015 league campaign. But now at PSG he is one of Ligue 1’s best wingers and most memorably this season he scored twice against Barcelona.

Radamel Falcao, rejected by Manchester United, now at Monaco

After a poor spell at United where he only scored four goals, Chelsea took him up on loan hoping the Falcao who scored two goals in the Europa League final and who was up with Messi and Ronaldo challenging for the golden boot at Atletico Madrid would turn up. Unfortunately Falcao didn’t and he only scored one goal for the Blues. After that loan spell he returned to Monaco this season and the Colombian striker is doing exceptionally well, having scored sixteen goals in Ligue 1. Falcao also returned to haunt Manchester a few weeks ago by scoring twice against City with one goal being an excellent chip right over Caballero.

Bafetimbi Gomis, rejected by Swansea, now on loan at Marseille and expected to move permanently this summer

After scoring six goals in the Premier League for Swansea in 2015/16, Swansea sent Gomis on loan to French club Marseille. Gomis is now doing really well there and has scored sixteen goals in the league this season; the same amount as Falcao. Gomis is currently injured, but he’s expected to return in a few weeks.

The Premier League is filled with many great strike forces, so below I thought it would be good if I rated them.

1. Manchester United

Attack: Martial, Mata, Mkhitaryan and Ibrahimovic

Backup attack: Lingard, Rashford and Rooney

United have got an absolute perfect attack with Ibrahimovic giving height, strength and power upfront and Mata and Mkhitaryan giving pace and creativity on the wings. The depth is also reasonably good.

2. Manchester City

Attack: Aguero or Jesus, Sterling, De Bruyne, Silva

Backup attack: Navas, Aguero or Jesus, Iheanacho, Sane, Nolito

City’s attack’s main strength is their playmakers- De Bruyne, Silva and Sterling who can create chances all day for either Jesus or Aguero to get on the end of. Furthermore, the sky blues attack has incredibly good backup if ever any of the first team get injured.

3. Chelsea

Attack: Costa, Hazard and Pedro

Backup attack: Willian and Batshuayi

The Costa and Hazard partnership has been the key to Chelsea’s attack this season with both of them scoring just under half of Chelsea’s Premier League goals this season. But that’s not even mentioning Pedro, who’s been a secret weapon for the blues, setting up six of their goals this year in the league and scoring six for himself. The only thing that could be improved in Chelsea’s attack is their depth because if there’s an injury to Costa, Hazard or Pedro, they will struggle majorly for goals.

4. Arsenal

Attack: Sanchez, Walcott, Ozil, Iwobi

Backup attack: Perez, Giroud, Welbeck, Oxlade- Chamberlain

Arsenal’s attack is very pacy – meaning when they play oppositions which have an old defence, they do very well but sometimes they can find themselves unstuck against solid defences.

The depth of the Arsenal attack is good because when the game needs some pace and energy Wenger can bring on strikers Perez and Welbeck, who have a natural ability of changing games.

5. Spurs

Attack: Kane, Alli, Eriksen and Son

Backup attack: Lamela, Janssen and N’Koudou

The Spurs attack is very much like the City attack with Alli, Eriksen and Son making the assists for Kane who has already scored 16 this 2016/2017 season.

Spurs need to get Janssen and N’Koudou (both summer signings) going because if Kane or Alli gets injured then Spurs will struggle.

Here are my views but I would like to know who do you think has the best strike force in the Premier League in the comments section.

As I’ve only written articles on the Premier League so far on this blog I thought I would write something on the other European leagues, so below you can see what’s been happening in those leagues.

Bundesliga

Top four:

1. Bayern Munich
2. RB Leipzig
3. Eintracht Frankfurt
4. Borussia Dortmund

Top Scorer: Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang

The Bayern Munich dominance in the Bundesliga could come to an end this season,as surprise team Leipzig are hot on their heels in the league. Leipzig were in the Bundesliga 2 last season but got promotion and are somehow now second in the league.

Borrusia Dortmund are only fourth in the league which is poor as they’re probably Germany’s second best team and they are below Frankfurt who finished 16th in the league last season.

Serie A

Top four:

1. Juventus
2. Roma
3. Napoli
4. Lazio

Top scorer: Edin Dzeko

Juventus are set to march onto their sixth consecutive league title but Roma still have a chance of winning the league because of top scorer Edin Dzeko, who netted his 17th Serie A goal of the season yesterday.

Napoli have fared rather well this season despite losing their striker Gonzalo Higuain to Juventus and also with their replacement striker for him Arkadiusz Milik getting injured for a spell of time.

Ligue 1

Top four:

1. Monaco
2. PSG
3. Nice
4. Lyon

Top scorer: Edinson Cavani

For what seems like a long time PSG are struggling in Ligue 1 after the departure of manager Laurent Blanc. A main reason that PSG are finding it difficult this season is the exit of Zlatan Ibrahimovic last summer who was such an influential player for them and he scored a large majority of PSG’s goals.

This season in Ligue 1 seems to be the one of Premier League rejects doing well in the French League as players such as Gomis, Balotelli and Falcao’s combined goal tally this season is thirty six.

La Liga

Top four:

1. Real Madrid
2. Barcelona
3. Sevilla
4. Atletico Madrid

Top Scorer: Lionel Messi

La Liga is very tight at the top of the league with just three points separating the top three- Sevilla, Barcelona and Real Madrid. Sevilla have suprised Barca and Real with their excellent form as their were many doubters of Sevilla after manager Unai Emery parted company to manage PSG in France.

With the teams at the bottom of the league very close together on points I decided it was best to analyse which teams could stay up this season and who could go down.

Middlesbrough

Why they could stay up: With the attacking talent in their team Middlesbrough do score quite a bit, and also they’ve a great manager in Aitor Karanka.

Why they could go down: They’re on a bad run of form in the league and if their results don’t improve they’re heading straight to the Championship.

Leicester

Why they could stay up: Many players from last season are still here so if they can recreate their form of last year then they could stay up.

Why they could go down: There just seems to be no mentality in the club that they can achieve what they did last year, and the players don’t seem to believe in Claudio Ranieri.

Swansea

Why they could stay up: Paul Clement has got Swansea on an exceptional run of form and they seem to brimming with confidence to stay up.

Why they could go down: The start of the season’s poor form has not put them in a great position in the league and also Swansea have struggled to completely replace Ashley Williams so their defence still is quite poor.

Hull

Why they could stay up: Marcos Silva has signed some quality players for Hull and furthermore they are on a good streak of form which is racking up the points for them.

Why they could go down: Hull’s midfield is now very weak with the departure of Jake Livermore and Robert Snodgrass and the injuries of Ryan Mason and Markus Henriksen so that could cost them in many games.

Crystal Palace

Why they could stay up: The defence has been poor for all of the season so the signings of full backs Schlupp and van Aanholt and centre back Sakho could tighten it up. Another reason why they could stay up is their manager- Sam Allardyce has never ever been relegated from the Premier League before in all the clubs that he’s managed.

Why they could go down: Palace’s loss against Sunderland has had a major impact to the confidence of their players and fans, and one thing you need to have when you’re facing a relegation battle is confidence.

Sunderland

Why they could stay up: As much as it looks like Sunderland are going to get relegated, they always seem to get themselves out of the bottom three and they’ve been in the Premier League for six seasons in a row now.

Why they could go down: If Defoe gets injured then Sunderland will almost certainly go down as he’s scored half of Sunderland’s goals in the Prem this term.

Verdict: I think the clubs who will get relegated this term will be Leicester, Middlesbrough and Crystal Palace because Palace aren’t winning enough games and have got such low confidence compared to Hull and Sunderland. The reason I think Boro will go down is their very inexperienced in the Premier League and they don’t look like they’re going to pick up any form. As far fetched as it sounds I think that Leicester will go down because the belief in the players is poor and the star players last year seem to be completely different footballers.

With the transfer market finished and a lot of big moves for players I reflect on those moves down below.

Dimitri Payet to Marseille from West Ham for £25m.

When a player hands out a transfer request- which is what Payet did, it’s almost certain that he’s going to leave the club, but if I was him I wouldn’t be looking to play for a team like Marseille as their sixth in the table and if he moved to a big club, then he would still get game time as he’s so good and would have the opportunity to win trophies.

Joey Barton to Burnley as a free agent.

I don’t understand why he left Burnley this summer but anyway Burnley looked like the only club who wanted to sign him, and also he will play a big role in Burnley’s team as centre midfielder Dean Marney is out for the rest of the season.

Saido Berahino to Stoke from West Brom for £12m

It think Berahino will be a great addition to Stoke’s team although he needs to rediscover his fabulous form of the 2014/15 season where he scored twenty goals in all competitions. I think also that Berahino will benefit massively from his move to Stoke as he’ll play regularly for Stoke because they don’t have many options up front.

Jose Fonte to West Ham from Southampton for £8m.

Exactly like Dimitri Payet, Fonte handed out a transfer request to his club Southampton which he has loyally stayed at for about seven years. Which is quite odd as surely if he had spent so long at Southampton he would have an attachment to the club and not want to leave.

Memphis Depay to Lyon from Manchester United for £21.7m

Memphis understandably found it hard to adapt to life in the Premier League because of his young age and the amount of attacking talent which United have who play in his favoured position, so if I put myself in his shoes what I would decide to do would be – move abroad on a few year loan spell, then when he’s developed into a better player and grown older he could be one of United’s main men. So I don’t think moving on a permanent basis to Lyon is a wise idea.

Week in week out I see mistakes that referees make and it’s getting a bit ridiculous. I don’t see why football shouldn’t have computer replays, because poor refereeing decisions effects the game hugely, for example when Feghouli got sent off against Manchester United, which if it hadn’t been given it could have changed the result of the game.

The way I would format my idea would be that the there was a referee to keep order and make decisions that are not that massively important,for example an obvious free kick in a team’s own half. With the ref on the pitch, I would put a person who had studied the full rules off the game and making the important decisions, for instance if he thought it was a penalty he would talk to the ref through a microphone and the ref would give the penalty.