Good morning Tommy Harmers and self harmers.
Given the wholesale absence of transfer activity at The Lane, unless you genuinely wish to count the un-anaesthetised tooth pulling that is the Nkoudou deal, here’s a look at a few of the teams that I believe will be causing us trouble this season.
The Woolwich disproportionately fascinates too many of you, so we’ll start there.
I’ve highlighted what I perceive as similarities between our club and theirs, and the activity this window only proves to explain how squeaky the Gooners are getting.
In comes just one first team grade player. Granit Xhaka – Borussia Monchengladbach, £34m, Takuma Asano – Sanfrecce Hiroshima, undisclosed, Rob Holding – Bolton, £2m.
Whilst 3 seniors in Mikel Arteta – retired, Tomas Rosicky – released, Mathieu Flamini – released, have all departed.
Following Arse fans on social media, the Wenger Out Brigade are astonished that they’ve not also bought a striker and will spend another term ‘hoping’ Giroud can deliver.
Gooners I’ve spoken to who are happy with Wenger to continue, fall into the same category as you Spurs fans who see a top four finish as being the ideal, and anything else a bonus.
Champions League football wil be a curse.
Cheatski have shipped in 2 blue chip players in Michy Batshuayi – Marseille, £33.2m, N’Golo Kante – Leicester, £32m, whilst over a dozen Blues boys have been moved on sold, loaned etc.
It is difficult to believe that the appointment of Conte and Mr Abramovich lurking menacingly in the background that we will witness another disastrous term at The Bridge.
No Champions League is an almost unquantifiable bonus.
Leicester City obviously sold a key player in Konte, and shopped modestly in reply.
In come Nampalys Mendy – Nice, £13m, Ron-Robert Zieler – Hannover 96, £2.6m, Luis Hernandez – Sporting Gijon, free, Raul Uche Rubio – Rayo Vallecano, undisclosed, Ahmed Musa – CSKA Moscow, undisclosed, and Bartosz Kapustka – Cracovia, £7.5m.
It looks as if Ranieri is very much looking to build upon the harmony that existed within the group last season. It’s worth remembering that City won the league whilst coping with change, they didn’t get to field the same XI every week and so the Foxes’ squad is clearly something worth protecting.
Champions League football wil be a curse.
Liverpool fans should expect another season of transition under Klopp. He’s great form for building his own sides at clubs, then achieving.
Sadio Mane – Southampton, £36m, Loris Karius – Mainz, £4.7m, Joel Matip – Schalke, free, Ragnar Klavan – Augsburg, undisclosed, Georginio Wijnaldum – Newcastle, £25m, Alex Manninger – free
Mane and Wijnaldum are good signings and Matip is very handy – especially on a free, but will this be enough to see them storm the top 4? I’m unconvinced.
The Chelsea-esque exodus points heavily at the last vestiges of Brendon Clown Face’s regime. Jordon Ibe – Bournemouth, £15m, Martin Skrtel – Fenerbahce, £5m, Joe Allen – Stoke, £13m all get their sandwiches wrapped in a roadmap.
Man City are taking things seriously again and seeking to give Pep the ammo he will need.
Ilkay Gundogan – Borussia Dortmund, £21m, Nolito, Celta Vigo, £13.8m, Leroy Sane, Schalke, £37m, Gabriel Jesus – Palmeiras, £27m, Marlos Moreno – Atletico Nacional, £4.75m all come in whilst about 10 fellas you’ve never heard of who probably never saw the first team except on TV all shuffle off into the ether.
Will Pep struggle with the Premier League? The straight answer here is that everyone does.
Manchester United‘s purchases list sends out a pretty blunt message. Paul Pogba – Juventus, £89m, Zlatan Ibrahimovic – free, Eric Bailly – Villarreal, £30m, Henrikh Mkhitaryan – Borussia Dortmund, £26.3m.
You can whine all you like, but those are crackerjack players and Jose thrives on being able to assemble his teams without interference and this is what Woodward has dome here.
Bastian Schweinsteiger and Juan Mata are unlikely to make many/any first team picks, which is nuts, but that is how Jose works.
I expect MUFC to come out swinging. No Champions League is an almost unquantifiable bonus.
Lastly, West Ham. I loathe them, but shan’t allow that to defy common sense.
Andre Ayew – Swansea, £20.5m, Manuel Lanzini – Al Jazira Club, £9.4m , Arthur Masuaku – Olympiakos, £6m, Toni Martinez – Valencia, £2.25m are all good signings. In particular I think Ayew could well make a name for himself in London.
The stadium deal still grates with thick people, but the bottom line is that it will be a roaring success for myriad reasons I’ve listed previously.
What inspires confidence in me about West Ham is Slaven Bilić. He was just about the only part of the Euros worth watching.
Through gritted teeth, the FC Porn Barons are my outside tip for greatness.
So; 8 into 4 don’t go.
Predictions for the top of the table?
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Manchester United
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Chelsea
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Manchester City
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Leicester City
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Tottenham
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Arsenal
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Liverpool
Wildcard: West Ham to potentially to disrupt the above.
Why will Tottenham struggle?
Because we have failed to reinforce.
Players like Mason etc haven’t improved.
None of the yoofs coming through are Premier League standard yet.
Therefore the squad is too light, the burden too great.
Retraction:
It has been brought to my attention that in the blog https://theboyhotspur.com/eriksen-proving-poch-levy-mediocrity/ contained the the line: ‘One man who’s benefiting from the redevelopment is Haringey MP David Lammy to date has trousered £75,000 in bungs from property developers’.
This blog has been deleted as the use of the word ‘bung’ was inaccurate.
Whilst significant sums of money where paid to Lammy only a small proportion of the £75,000 counted at the time of publishing could be specifically attributed to property developers.
This blog ought to have research the information as well as the Standard did, and in future provides a commitment to do so.
