Alive

Just in case some people only know whether I'm alive or not based on the output of this blog, then I'd like to take the time to inform you that I am still breathing, despite my lack of recent posting. I'm just not too big on international games, that's all.

I have a full program of Premier League watching tomorrow however (and what a program - Liverpool v Man Utd, Blackburn v Arsenal and Man City v Chelsea), so expect backlash from those games (there's usually a lot of backlash when I'm forced to watch Liverpool play).

Also, here's my quote of the week:

"Real quality doesn't need to show effort."

Unsurprisingly, one Dimitar Berbatov uttered those words. I used to look down on his laziness - now I look up to it. And what's more, just like Jose Mourinho, he's a man of the Word. Who knew?

Movers and Sheikhers

Do we now have a 'Big 5'? Or are one of Arsenal or Liverpool going to be replaced in the 'Big 4'? This would appear to be Man City's intention, because you don't spend £33m on a player to guarantee yourself Intertoto football, that's for sure.

When writing about the transfer deadline day, I can only really start with City. Being taken over by Arabs certainly had an immediate impact for the lesser Manchester club. City were reportedly putting in bids for all kinds of big names - Villa, Gomez, Berbatov, Robinho. With the exception of Gomez -- whom nobody else seemed to want -- they were competing with Real Madrid, Man Utd and Chelsea in the transfer market. That's just crazy talk. City? In bidding wars with the Madrids of this world? Surely not.

And what's even crazier is that Man City actually managed to out-bid Chelsea and land Robinho for a cool £33m. In other words, they out-Chelsea'd Chelsea! The question is, was it a wise thing to do?

On paper, I don't think it was. People are calling Robinho 'one of the best in the world', but he's not. He's got unquestionable ability no doubt, but he has yet to produce a very lengthy run of form to suggest that he's up there with players like Messi, Fabregas, Deco, Kaka etc. Ask yourself these questions - why would a player move from Madrid to Man City? Why would a club like Madrid sell 'one of the best players in the world'?

One of the possible answers to the first question is that he knew he wouldn't be getting games for Madrid. He knew they didn't want him. An answer to the second question is that Madrid simply wouldn't sell one of the best players in the world. They'd pay him whatever he wanted in order to keep him in a white shirt. It's perfectly obvious that Madrid are in the habit of pursuing the players considered 'the best in the world' when you look at their shenanignas throughout the summer and down the years. So if in fact they already possessed one, why would they let him go? Again I say they wouldn't, which is why I (nor Madrid) don't consider Robinho to be one of the best, and therefore he's not worth anything close to £33m.

I would say paying that kind of money is a massive risk, but that would be the equivalent of me saying that buying a choclate bar I've never before tasted would make me a risk lover. I can afford to splash 80c on some unproven confectionary, and this Arab group can easily afford £33m on some unproven players. While that makes me a little nauseus, it's nevertheless a fact of life.

Robinho could turn out to be a real star of course. I'm not saying he definitely won't. All I'm saying is that he's not yet the finished article, so expectations need to be kept down a touch.

A reliable source of mine says 'Man City to fall to pieces...you heard it here first'. I find that to be a little premature, because City were a pretty decent side before Robinho signed, so there's no reason to suggest they'll suddenly collapse. They can't buy anybody else until January, but maybe that's the best thing for them. It will give them a chance to properly examine the squad and see where the need to strengthen things up a bit. I mean could you imagine what would have happened if City had more time to spend this summer than a day? Merely adding Robinho to the mix is a much easier task than adding 5 or 6 big names (duh), so this will give City a chance to get their feet wet in terms of dealing with the big names of world football, and not be overwhelmed.

Will they crash and burn? Will they become a real footballing force? Their next game (against Chelsea, which is just perfect) will shed a little more light on those questions, that's for sure.

And if City turn out to be only an average team this season, then as Barry Glendenning said on Football Weekly, we'll be reading in the papers that they're 'No Great Sheikhs'. Heh...Sheikhs.

As for the big 4, Liverpool didn't really do anything special. Just the usual business of securing yet another deal for a winger who costs between 6 and 10 million, and in all likelihood will be a major disappointment, just as the preceeding several dozen were.

Chelsea didn't really do anything either, except not sign Robinho, which may turn out to be a blessing for them. The last thing they needed to do was to spend another collosal amount of money on someone who isn't worth it, so they've at least avoided the potantial of that happening anyway. And if any of the big 4 are adaquetly supplied in the midfield department, it's Chelsea, so the non-capture of Robinho isn't really a blow to their title credentials me thinks.

United signed Berbatov for something like £30m, which is again crazy money. I've made some of my feelings known on Berbatov already in this blog, but what I will say is that if it was between Berbatov and no one at all, then they had to get The Moody One. He's a nice player to watch, and he could do very well for United, but I would have serious question marks over his attitude and his big game temperment. I've seen him give up on too many occasions not to be concerned about it.

Also, what will this mean for Rooney and Tevez, and even Ronaldo for that matter? Will Ronaldo finally start crossing the ball again? Will Tevez or Rooney play on the left, or will one of them be benched? Can Tevez or Rooney play on the left to good effect? We shall wait and see.

As for Arsenal, well they did sod all on the deadline day, which is not especially surprising given that, unlike me, Wenger probably wouldn't spend 80c on a chocolate bar, not to mention a few million on a player.

I said before that they needed to buy a central midfielder. They didn't, and they will most likely pay for that against the big teams. Out of all the candidates for the position, I think Song might be the best equipped, but Wenger seems content to start him on the bench every game. Right now Denilson is the starting midfield partner for Fabregas, but he has yet to prove himself worthy of the position. He's promising, but he's not there yet.

Eboue has been good so far this season, but you can't ignore the fact that Arsenal have played 5 very easy games. When Eboue comes up against the big guns, his incompetence is plain for all to see.

Because of the lack of a steady, reliable partner for Cesc, I think Arsenal will struggle to make a title challenge this season. They may prove me wrong, like they did many last year, but Wenger is gambling with his teams chances. There is of course the possibility that someone will step up to the plate, much like Flamini last year. I mean if you had told me a year ago that Flamini would be an integral part of the Arsenal midfield I'd have burned you at the stake for heresy. Maybe someone like Song, Denilson or Diaby will prove the doubters and the sceptics wrong. But that's what Arsenal are relying on - maybe's.

Hype

I watched both Tottenham and Chelsea play over the weekend, with neither team looking very impressive. Tottenham suffered the embarrassment of losing to a Djibril Cisse debut goal...for a second time (that's gotta hurt), while Chelsea just about scraped past Wigan, despite Frank Lampard's best efforts. First, to Tottenham.

Berbatov needs to be sold, and soon. This much is clear. What I don't understand is why a club managed by Alex Ferguson want to sign him. Yes he's a talented player, but he's got an abysmal attitude, and in my mind, he represents a big gamble. If Berbatov comes in, then in all likelihood that means Tevez gets relegated to the bench. Tevez isn't a genius, but he works as hard as anyone when United don't have the ball, and he chips in with his fair share of goals too. Think of all the time on the ball any backline will get if United are relying on Berbatov and Ronadlo to chase things down. Sure you might have a red-faced Rooney running around like a red card waiting to happen, but will that be enough given the sheer unwillingness of either Ronaldo or Berbatov to do any sort of defensive work? I think not.

And then there's Berbatov's present attitude. I see no reason why he can't give his all for Tottenham right now and then move along to United should a deal go through. A real pro should concentrate on playing football for his present club, instead of talking about 'following his dream' and moving to Manchester. That sort of talk stinks of Cristiano Ronaldo, and I'm beginning to wonder why Ferguson is putting up with these heartless, soulless footballers who think of little else than money and fame. (Read this if you want to see how a proper player approaches the game). Maybe Ferguson just doesn't care enough anymore, which is certainly not good news for United. (My gut feeling is that they might struggle this year, but just like those damn Germans, you can never right them off).

Against Sunderland, Tottenham looked a bit all over the place. Not the good kind of all over the place that Barcelona exhibit so well, but the kind of all over the place that leaves Jermaine Jenas as your most attacking threat. Spurs, like Arsenal, lack any real bite in midfield, but unlike Arsenal, they also lack any real goal threat. A lot of people tipped Darren Bent to step up the the plate this season, but so far my prediction that 'a rubbish player is still a rubbish player no matter who plays behind him' stands. That may change, and he may start banging in goals (though I hope not, for fantasy football's sake), but if I were Juande I'd start looking to buy a new main striker, and soon.

Talk of Arshavin coming in has yet to cease, which perplexes me. Arshavin is a talented player no question, but is he what Spurs need? Maybe I'm wrong here, but to my knowledge he's basically the exact same player as Luka Modric. Now I do love the playmakers of this world, and if I had my way every starting 11 would be full of them, but I'm also well aware that that would not be a good idea, especially if you have ambitions of, you know, winning games and stuff. As intrigued as I would be to see Modric and Arshavin line up alongside each other, I don't think that would be the answer to Spurs' problem. In fact I'm sure it wouldn't.

Simply put, they need a defensive midfielder and a striker. If they get both then they may push for fourth place. If they don't, then mid-table mediocrity it will be, and the magic Juande could find himself conjuring up his tricks elsewhere. (Right now his record is actually worse than that of Martin Jol's. If you ask me, I think Ramos is just getting by on his looks, but that's neither here nor there).

As for Chelsea, it seemed like everyone just wanted to hand them the Premier League trophy after last weeks destruction of Portsmouth. I mean I wouldn't have been surprised to hear of a bookie paying out on Chelsea winning the league already, given that one bookie actually payed out on Stoke going down [!]. Funny stuff.

Admittedly, Chelsea were good. But they weren't that good. Two of their goals came directly from David James mistakes (England's number one people), and another from the penalty spot. In the second half, Chelsea really were average at best, and they continued that trend in Wigan over the weekend.

But for a sublime freekick from Deco (reminiscent to this one scored by the greatest player of our generation), Wigan would have secured at least a draw, and maybe even a deserved win. Chelsea looked their age in the middle of the park, and Anelka looked out of sorts, as he has done since he moved to Chelsea in January.

Frank Lampard continued where he left off for England in midweek by remaining a ghostly figure throughout this match, while Joe Cole was just very, very poor (though of course none of this was mentioned on MOTD 2). The Wigan midfield worked their socks off, no question, but against high quality opposition mere hard work shouldn't be enough to deter them. If Chelsea continue to play like this away from home, then while they may not concede many goals, they may not score many either.

That said, if you forced me to put money on a team to win the league, I'd probably back Chelsea, but only just. I certainly don't think they are invincible, and just like last season, I think things will be quite competitive at the top - provided Arsenal sort out those problems I mentioned previously, and Liverpool, um, eh...Ah who am I kidding? Liverpool really don't have a chance of winning the league, but that's another post for another day.