Inappropriate - indecent even. Thats how it feels to be posting EPL in this most momentous of weeks on the TS website.
Its been a truly beautiful couple of days with the opening of SuperCoach and if truth be told, I feel a bit like Kyle Sandilands would at a Germaine Greer book launch.
However, I did promise a post a couple of weeks ago on how the top three might go until the end of the season, so join me over the break for more.
<!--more-->
Spurs
Redknapp has said that if you don’t enjoy watching his Spurs team play then you shouldn’t be watching football. It’s hard to argue with that theory, Spurs have been imperious at times this year.
They have an outstanding starting XI that basically picks itself (apart from CB where King plays when he’s fit). Parker may not be fantasy relevant, but for me, he is the man that has completed this team. Spurs reliance on his ball-winning and consequent passing has meant that Modric and Co can play with more freedom.
With Lennon, Modric, Adebayor, VDV and especially Bale in the ranks it’s a fearsome attacking line-up. Bale often gets double-marked and sometimes triple-marked which also leaves room for the others to weave their magic.
The downside for Spurs is their lack of depth, Defoe (when fit) has shown that he’s an able deputy for the injury-prone VDV but if they find the likes of Adebayor, Bale and Parker out they will struggle. Man Utd and Arsenal for instance, have had much bigger injury problems and cope, Spurs I’m not sure will manage that.
At the moment they’re only Defoe’s (relatively) big toe away from victory at Man City and 1pt clear of them, however they’re not and they’ve now got 5pts to make up on the leaders. I wish them all the best but fear there’s as much a chance of them making that gap up as there is of Redknapp receiving a tax rebate. I’ll gladly be proved wrong. Third place!
Man United
There’s been some tough moments this year for United. That 6-1 mauling at Old Trafford by their noisy neighbours, a defeat to then bottom club Blackburn in a manner that’s almost unthinkable for a Ferguson led United team, as well as getting kicked out of a rather mediocre looking UCL group. There has also been the horrendous run of injuries that seem to afflict United every year.
Despite this United are level on points with City who until recently were sweeping everyone aside. Rather ominously for City it is this time of year that United usually start hitting their straps. Long winning streaks and Ferguson cranking up the pressure on any potential obstacle to add to his gluttony of trophies.
It’s 48 trophies and counting. Not all of these came at Old Trafford. He won ten of them at Aberdeen where he broke the Old Firm dominance. (To put it in context, no other team apart from Rangers and Celtic have won the SPL title since Ferguson left in 1986.)
His mind games – which once left Newcastle’s Kevin Keegan close to tears in a never to be forgotten post-match interview – are legendary. And we can expect them to move up a notch as we approach the business end of the season.
As for the players, it’s fair to say that at this moment in time they’re not up to the same quality of previous United teams. Rooney, Nani and Young are all exceptional players when on form, as they proved at the start of the season by helping United take five off Bolton and eight off Arsenal. Their form has been sporadic since then which has helped to expose United’s weaknesses.
There has been a dearth of creativity in Central Midfield, which is why Scholes was begged to come back. Or you could choose to believe SAF that Scholes knocked on his door saying he wanted back in. Their other most creative force is Cleverley but he’s another who’s suffered from injury. They’ve also missed the industry of Fletcher whose harrying nature is essential to United gaining possession.
They’ve also had a shaky looking back four, make that five, for most of the season. The only time they looked solid was when Vidic was available, their Number 1 (or 2?) De Gea hasn’t emanated confidence either.
Despite their problems, they are the champions and they wont give up their title easily. They might not be the best United side but they have more experience than City at winning titles and it could yet be theirs.
Man City
For City to win the league this year it was/is important for Mancini to keep a large squad of huge egos happy. He’s done not a bad job either, he’s managed to get rid of a couple of the more tempestuous ones in Bellamy and Adebayor (loan). While the little mercenary Tevez is thankfully on the other side of the world, where hopefully he’ll stay! He will no doubt spend his days telling anyone who’ll listen how hard his life is, in between counting his silver.
There are others like Balotelli who admittedly still has his red-mist moments and Nasri who is no stranger to falling out with team-mates, but Mancini does appear to have them all reading off the same page. The players will realise that they’ve got a chance to become absolute legends to some of the most loyal fans in existence.
It’s not going to be easy though especially since the majority of the players lack the experience of winning league titles, unlike their neighbours. They are an excellent team though and have world-class players in Yaya Toure, Silva and Aguero with others like Hart, Richards and Kompany who are outstanding players.
They’re going through a sticky patch at the moment but they’re well capable of keeping clean-sheets as well as scoring a barrow-load as they’ve already proved.
Mancini himself his shown he has what it takes to win titles when he won an unprecedented three consecutive Serie A titles with Inter and I believe with his managerial ability and tactical awareness he’s going to add an EPL title to his name... just.
Runci's Top Corner: Manchester Reign
Discussion in 'Blog' started by loongy, Feb 2, 2012.
Comments
Discussion in 'Blog' started by loongy, Feb 2, 2012.