Premier League 2016–17: Welcome aboard the madness
It’s back. The madness. The narrative.
It’s back. The insanity. The battle to be crowned champions. The battle to survive. The battle to settle for a safe, mid-table finish and continue to partake of Premier League riches.
Oh yeah, it’s back. The most exciting football competition,or the least-tactically developed, depending on how you see it.
While it is commonplace to drum up non-existent excitement when it comes to the Premier League, this season promises to offer genuine excitement on the pitch and on the touchline. Given the transient nature of sport, it is easy to forget that it was only 4 months ago that Leicester City did the improbable. It is worth repeating again and again that Leicester- guided by the avuncular Claudio Ranieri- are the defending champions.
As the Foxes prepare for their title defence, the rough and tumble of the Premier League(aided by television money riches) means the Premier League continues to be a potent combination of the new, the relatively new ,the old and the really old.
In the first part of this two-part preview I look at the new,shiny things of Premier League 2016–17
The New
Pep Guardiola makes his much-awaited entry to the Premier League with Manchester City securing his coveted services. Despite his role in changing the footballing landscape in the last 8 years with his work at Barcelona and, to a lesser extent, at Bayern Munich, there are some lingering doubts about whether he can replicate his Barcelona success at other clubs. Can he do it on cold Tuesday night at Stoke? That said, he has set such high standards that guiding Bayern Munich to 3 successive Champions League semi-finals was considered a “failure” in some quarters.
City is his toughest assignment, however, with ageing fullbacks, an injury-prone captain and a free-form style characterised more by individual brilliance than by any defined style of play- something Guardiola will be expected to build. So far, the cheque-book has been liberally used with Ilkay Gundagon, Nolito, Leroy Sane and John Stones making expensive moves.It would be interesting to see how youngsters like Sane and Stones fare under Guardiola.
City also seem to be stockpiling young talent from South America with the highly-rated Gabriel Jesus & Marlos Moreno moving for sizeable sums. They will ply their trade in some other country on loan, but it will be interesting to see if this is a one-off or a deliberate strategy.
On the other side of Manchester, United did away with Louis Van Gaal’s services after failing to qualify for the Champions League and hired Guardiola’s arch-rival Jose Mourinho to guide them to “where they belong”. And, in keeping with trend, they have made four expensive, headline-grabbing signings. Whilst there is much excitement over Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s arrival in England, Henrikh Mkhitaryan, signed from Borussia Dortmund could become one of the best players in the league. And then there is the return of the prodigal son Paul Pogba(#Pogback) for a world record transfer fee.
United, under Van Gaal, were defensively very stable but functional and toothless in attack. There are still some issues which need to be ironed out. The central midfield continues to pose questions as an ageing Carrick is accompanied by Maurone Fellaini and the not-so-trusted pair of Ander Herrera & Schniederlin. Juan Mata must be wondering what on earth he has done to be stalked by the Mourinho shadow. It’s no secret that Mourinho does not rate him and he may be well served to seek a move away from Manchester. Then, there is the small matter of the Europa League and Mourinho’s propensity to utilise only a small group of players.
Managerial changes in Manchester have taken the focus away from Chelsea where Antonio Conte becomes the latest man to take charge of the poisoned chalice at Stamford Bridge. Michi Batshuayi has arrived from Marseille to provide more goal scoring options. N’Golo Kante, Leicester’s midfield talisman last season, has also been snapped up. He is the typical Conte signing — all graft and work ethic something Conte’s Juventus showed in abundance. It would be interesting to see how Conte handles stars like Hazard who hasn’t exactly shown great work ethic-the cornerstone of Conte’s teams. A mooted move for Romelu Lukaku has been doing the rounds but it remains to be seen if they are willing to cough up 65 million euros for a player who was once on their books.
Managerial changes have also taken place at Everton and Southampton with Ronald Koeman pitching his tent in the Merseyside and Claude Puel swapping the balmy south coast of France(Nice) for the south coast of England. Everton have also prised away Steve Walsh(of Mahrez & N’Golo Kante fame) from Leicester as they seek to get their recruitment right after Roberto Martinez’s mixed record in the transfer market. They have recruited Ashley Williams from Swansea after letting go of John Stones- albeit for close to 50 million euros. They are also being linked to Yannick Bolasie of Crystal Palace for an eye-watering 30 million euros(the magic of the Premier League).
Puel, on the other hand, comes on the back of guiding unfancied Nice to 4th place in Ligue1 last season. As is the norm every season, the bigger clubs have prised away Southampton’s best players- with Sadio Mane going to Liverpool and Victor Wanyama moving to Tottenham. Graziano Pelle, too, has moved to China. But given the strength of their youth academy, they should not struggle too much and have made smart signings in Nathan Redmond, Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg and Alex Mccarthy.
Quique Sanchez Flores left Watford at the end of last season and the Pozzo’s have plumped for Walter Mazzarri to lead the Hornets this season. Mazzarri comes on the back of a poor tenure at Inter Milan and the jury is still out.
Of the promoted sides, Sean Dyche’s Burnley are back in the top flight after a hiatus of just one year. Even in the era of Premier League riches, they seem intent on keeping their wage bill intact as they have not splurged in the market. On the face of it, the signings of Johann Berg Gudmundsson and Nick Pope from Charlton and the loan signing of John Flannagan from Liverpool seem unremarkable.
In stark contrast, Aitor Karanka’s Middlesbrough- having finally achieved promotion after 3 years of trying- have made some eye-catching signings. While it’s easy to go down the narrative of “signings fix all problems”, it’s remarkable that players of the calibre of Alvaro Negredo, Victor Valdes, Marten De Roon & Victor Fischer(from Ajax) have decided to join a newly promoted club. It’s a testament to the financial power the Premier League wields and also to Karanka’s pan-European connections.
Hull, the third promoted side, seem to be heading nowhere. Steve Bruce left the club after guiding them to promotion; their best player(Diame) left for relegated Newcastle and they don’t have a manager. They look doomed for relegation.
There’s also been a new managerial appointment at Sunderland with David Moyes replacing Sam Allardyce. The Stadium of Light seems to be the worst place to salvage a managerial career and Moyes desperately needs a good stint(and some good luck) after his disastrous reign at Old Trafford and an equally mediocre stint at Real Sociedad.
