Written on Thurday, 29th July.
Liverpool are in action tonight against Rabotnicki from Macedonia. It should be a wwalk in the park for Roy Hodgson's team, although we are unlikely to see much of Liverpool's team that will face Arsenal on 15th of August at Anfield. It is quite nice to see competitive club football back - unless you are a Celtic fan.
They were beaten 3-0 last night by Portugal's Braga, a fairly difficult draw, and I can't see them turning it around/ Lennon is an inexperienced manager with a squad which has been changing all summer and still is. A Uefa cup campaign is probably the best thing for Celtic anyway - they need to concentrate on becoming the best team in Scotland again before focusing attention on European glory. Lennon is the right man for that job, but in Europe you get the feeling he might get a bit lost.
Big story flying around the last couple of days is that Mark Hughes should be made Fulham manager in the next 24-48 hours. I think that is an excellent move by Fulham. Having missed out on Jol Mark Hughes is as good an option as they have at their disposal. He is a good young manager who gets the best out of players - look at his Blackburn success with the likes of Santa Cruz and Bentley, then his work with Bellamy at City. He took him from one of the most disliked and inconsistent players in the country and made him into a potent attacking threat once more. Of course the papers are beginning their speculation on who will be in and out at Craven Cottage. The positive thing for Fulham is that if I were Duff, Zamora, Schwarzer etc. the appointment of Hughes would convince me to stay, rather than to go.
A host of City squad players are being touted as joining the Welshman at Craven Cottage, Bellamy's name being the most common, which may get in the way of any hopes Spurs had to bring the Welshman to White Hart Lane. Spurs had a bid for Scott Parker very publicly rejected by West Ham yesterday. I think this follows on form what I said in my post on Tuesday that Spurs don't appear to have the funds to invest in the highest quality. Parker is not a player (for me) who would really improve their squad. He would add depth, no question, but he wouldn't improve their options. Perhaps Spurs feel they can't attract the top quality but they were signing the likes of Modric and Pavlyuchenko before they hit the big time Champions League.
A couple of other transfers to discuss. Sol Campbell has left Arsenal for a second time, this time to join Newcastle United. A good move for both parties I think. Sol has a lot to prove and if he adds just one thing to the Newcastle set up it will be fight, desire and commitment. He is a legend. A fucking weird bloke but a complete legend. Newcastle are probably in for the kind of season that will require all the guts they can get - and Sol has guts. Unfortunately for the toon army, another of their players with undoubted commitment has a serious injury to contend with. Stephen Taylor probably wont be available until Christmas. A good player - I would have him at Arsenal.
One bizarre move is Luke Young to Liverpool, which looks set to actually happen. Young's career has seriously dipped since joining Villa - he hasn't played an awful lot. I can only think he is being lined up as back up for Glen Johnson so Liverpool wont have to be continuously shifting Jamie Carragher out of central defence, where their vice-captain belongs. It could be a very shrewd move by Hodgson. Young is a player with a lot to prove, sometimes they can be the best signings - ala Campbell and J.Cole.
Rounding up, Ferguson has defended the Glazer family in the face of the Green and Yellow brigade - he once again insists that United wont and don't need to sign any more players.
Interesting time ahead.
More soon.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment