As Chelsea look set to complete the signing of Valencia playmaker, Juan Mata and continue in their pursuit of Tottenham Hotspur’s Luka Modric, The Blues’ long-awaited summer rebuild finally looks underway. With further investment in youth seeing Oriol Romeu join from Barcelona and Anderlecht’s Romelu Lukaku making his long-awaited move to Stamford Bridge, Chelsea manager Andre Villas-Boas will be looking to usher in a new era at the club.
The latest twist to the early stages of what is shaping up to be the most exciting title race in recent memory is that Manchester City have ended their long running pursuit of Samir Nasri by finally managing to land the Frenchman for a fee of £22 million. The midfielder will add to the attacking guile and fluidity that has been on display in the opening two games of the season that has yielded two convincing wins, seven goals and an immediate return from the marquee signing of Sergio Aguero. The shackles finally appear to have been taken off by Roberto Mancini and the impending addition of the mercurial Nasri to such flair is ill-boding for the rest of the league.
Over the years I’ve learned not to turn Sky Sports down whenever they offer me work. But there are rare occasions when I’ve just had to say ‘Sorry, No, I can’t do it’.
Two wins from two has seen Wolves make their best start ever to a premier league season, with striker’s Doyle and Fletcher catching the eye, the wolves faithful can surely expect a season which offers more than a bottom half slog. Over the years the words indifferent, inept have all marred the clubs performances, with the weakened side sent to Old Trafford being the perfect example. But signing’s like centre half Johnson and creative thinker O’Hara have proven to be shrew business, so can Mick McCarthy’s side take their giant killing mentality to clubs in and around themselves?
Sitting in the Matthew Harding stand at Stamford Bridge last weekend something was blindingly obvious – Chelsea desperately need a creative midfield player.
All of those decisions are excellent examples of the approach referees should take to acts of dissent: zero tolerance. But officials are still given too much space for leniency, too much leeway to decide to ‘let the game flow’, or, as Howard Webb would have it, ‘not wanting to spoil the game’.
What type of quizzer are you? Do you sit drunk and clueless in the corner? Or are you halfway to Nerdsville with a tank top on and a smart-arse smile? Can you admit to watching Eggheads – even if only in a moment of weakness? No matter which category you fall into – try our pub quiz and prove to yourself that the years of watching and talking about footy have not been a complete waste of time. But please try not to cheat, for as my headmaster used to say “You’re only cheating on yourself”, which ironically is not what his wife said to him, when she caught him in congress with his secretary.
So the ‘Fabregas Saga’ has finally and boringly come to a close ( although the Nasri one may still rumble on longer ), Eboue has gone and Arsene Wenger has now amassed a pretty impressive war chest to spend on new signings. And after a dismal home defeat to Liverpool, and yet another red card, he may have to splash the cash quicker than he anticipated to bolster his suspension hit squad.