Saint’s exodus: A sad sight for English football.

It has been a depressing transfer window thus far for all of the supporters of Southampton FC. A team that with a little investment would have been challenging for a Europa place, will now be hoping to finish outside the bottom three.

This sorry situation started midway through last season when Nicola Cortese, Chairman and widely regarded as the mastermind behind Southampton’s rise back into the Premier League left the club. This threw Mauricio Pochettino’s future up into the air, and as you know, he left for Spurs at the end of the season.

Unsurprisingly, as soon as the season ended, rumours of a Saints exodus were rife within the media, with Saints fans’ favourites Rickie Lambert and Adam Lallana the first to pack their bags; both heading for Liverpool. Despite the reactions from some fans’ on social media, neither player can be begrudged for wanting to move to Anfield. For Rickie Lambert, the opportunity of playing for the club he had supported all of his life was just too big a chance to turn down, and at 32, after 5 years at Southampton helping them back into the Premier League, owed the club nothing and deserved the opportunity. As for Adam Lallana, after 14 years at the club,  the lure of Champions League football was too much to turn down. As with Lambert, Lallana has played a massive, massive role in helping Southampton return to England’s top division.

Now, the problem I have with the exodus at Southampton is the departure of the young, academy graduates, Luke Shaw and Calum Chambers. I appreciate that Manchester United and Arsenal are two of the biggest clubs in the country, but just because they come in for you, does not mean moving is the right thing to do. – Especially in Chambers case.

At 19 years old, Chambers’ number one motive HAS to be game-time – (See Jack Rodwell) – Game-time which would have been almost guaranteed at Southampton. Instead, he will spend his first season at Arsenal fighting it out with fellow English Right-Back Carl Jenkinson as Matthieu Debucy’s number two. Game-time has to take precedent over money for the first few years of a players career in order to reach their maximum potential.

A good example would be that of Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, another Southampton academy graduate. I am not for one minute saying The Ox is not a good player, he’s a great player, and will go on to be a brilliant player for club and country, but just imagine how good he would be now if he had stayed at Southampton and developed a little more before making a lucrative move to a big club. In the three years since his move to Arsenal he has played 55 times in the Premier League, and A LOT of those appearances would have been from coming off the bench. Had he stayed at Southampton, one could argue that he would have made double the amount of appearances, of which most would have been starts.

Elsewhere in Europe, they know that game-time is the most important tool in developing a player. Lets take Julian Draxler for example. Plays week in, week out for Schalke, and as Germany’s next big talent, I wonder how many chances he has had to move to a “bigger club” and quadruple his current wages? A lot of chances, I would imagine. Lets be honest, he will probably end up at Bayern Munchen at some point, but because the German’s are sensible, and know the right way to develop a player, this won’t happen until he is 22/23, with a few seasons of playing every-week in the  Bundesliga behind him. If Julian Draxler was English and had come through a smaller English clubs academy, he would have moved to an Arsenal or a Manchester City at 17 and never have developed into he potential world class talent he is now.

As for the young English players, I believe it is imperative that more football people in the game are on hand to offer them advise on the best ways to improve their careers’. Whether that advise comes from the FA, the England manager, or elsewhere. It seems very too many young players’ nowadays are being tainted by the greediness of agents, hoping to make a lot of money in no-time-at-all by selling their clients to the reserves and benches’ of the top clubs.

Finally, I imagine you will hear may pundits commend teams like Liverpool for placing their faith and investing in young English players next season… But is stripping a club dry of the young English talent it works so hard to develop, and limiting them to half the amount of games they would have gotten if they had stayed really a commendable practise? I think not. Soon enough, teams such as Southampton are going to think “forget this, we’ll ditch the academy and find some bargains from across Europe. Its a lot easier.”

Now I am just crossing my fingers that the Ross Barkley to City rumours are garbage.

Thomas D Page.

Premier League title predictions.

Title Prediction.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, the season doesn’t even kick off for another 3 weeks, I’m well aware of this fact! But for this exact reason, it makes it even more entertaining for me to make some extravagantly bold title predictions now. There is absolutely nothing I enjoy more than eating through my collection of hats at the end of each and every season, because I’ve been so drastically wrong with my predictions & had some opinions at the beginning of the season that just seem damn ridiculous come May. Fortunately for me this is the first year I have bothered to share what I think, so here goes, written proof of my probable failure…

6th Place: Arsenal.

I know Arsenal fans hate hearing these words, but sorry, they just aren’t a good enough team anymore to be challenging anywhere near the top. Its been coming for a few years now, and they have ridden their luck to make the top four in recent seasons. Now they are seemingly incapable of attracting world class players and perhaps  even unwilling to try. Sure, this will all change if they actually do manage to bring in Luis Suarez, but lets be realistic – they wont. Look what happened with Higuain  The guy wanted to move to Arsenal, but Arsene bottled it and he move to Napoli (a considerably smaller club). Don’t get me wrong, I have a lot of respect for the way Arsene Wenger tries to manage his football team, but it isn’t the 90’s anymore and unfortunately it has all been about money in recent years and you can no longer pick up a Thierry Henry for fifty pence in 2013. It seems Wenger is reluctant to conform to this new way of approaching things. However, we know he has the money available, now he just needs to start spending it, instead of just talking about spending it. They need some truly world class players! Yeah, sure, Arsenal already have some brilliant players; Cazorla is a wonderful player, Willshere is one of Englands biggest prospects in years and Walcott on his day can be unstoppable  but is all too often invisible.They lack the type of real world class players that would make a Manchester City or Chelsea fan wish they played for them. As much as signing Luis Suarez would make a huge difference to my current prediction, if I were an Arsenal fan, I’d be extremely concerned with the lack of a big physical presence in the centre of the field, with Diaby constantly plagued by injury, they are far too lightweight and will be bossed around the centre of the park by teams with these kind of players, And no, Arsene. You can not bring back Patrick Viera or Ray Parlour.

Brendan Rogers summed it up perfectly for me: If Suarez joined Arsenal it would be no more than a ‘sideways step’. And considering Liverpools recent demise, it shows you exactly where Arsenal are. Sorry, Gooners! Not your year! – 6th!

5th place: Liverpool.

Liverpool above Arsenal?! Liverpool above Arsenal?! Liverpool above Arsenal?! I know what you’re thinking (unless you support Liverpool and have probably convinced yourself you’ll have the league wrapped up by Christmas) its a brave call, yes. However, maybe not as brave as it sounds; I really like the look of the Liverpool squad going into this year. They are pretty solid in every position on the pitch, and with, or without you know who, they have enough quality to finish above Arsenal and make a strong case for the Champions League places. Daniel Sturridge has really impressed me since he quite rightly left Chelsea to pursue his wish to become a central striker. What a brilliant decision it turned out to be. As a Chelsea fan, i struggled to watch Liverpool matches towards the end of last season. Daniel Sturridge was in outrageous form! Where did this Sturridge come from?! Why didn’t we play him down the middle?! Both questions i never thought I’d ask when I was laughing about how much Chelsea managed to get for him in january. On top of this, a player that for reasons I don’t quite understand, has gone under the radar a little – Philippe Coutinho – The guy looks like Sturridge a magnificent signing already and has already developed a near telepathic relationship with Sturridge  through a number of assists and chances created. Wherever he finds the ball on the pitch he looks dangerous and his dribbling skills are too much for any defence to handle. Next season he will become one of the most sort after and highly rated players in the Premier League. The midfield area could do with a couple of new quality signings, as I’m still not convinced by players such as; Allen and Henderson, but other than that, I think this season will be a much better one than last year. And of course, Steven Gerrard will be ever present in all areas of the pitch. On top of this,  Liverpool will not suffer like Arsenal from lack of physicality in the centre, Lucas Leiva loves a challenge, doesn’t he?!

So, yeah, my opinion is that Liverpool with have a much more successful campaign this year. And lets not forget just what a quality manager they have as well. Oh wait, did i forget to mention Mr Suarez? OOPS. Oh well. Doesn’t matter. Getting better! – 5th!

4th place: Manchester United.

Nope, no typo present. Manchester United are my pick for forth place. They just aren’t as good a team as any of the three I have placed above them. For a while now I have looked at Manchester United, and with the exception of two or three world class players, seen a very average looking side. Robin Van Persie is a world class player, as is Wayne Rooney (is he leaving?) and Shinji Kagawa has the potential to be at that level. But other than those three, do United have any truly elite players? Nope. Not at all. Sure Vidic and Ferdinand are pretty handy players, but Vidic will inevitably get injured early on and miss the whole season and Rio? Well he’s not a young man anymore, is he?! The main problem United have is in midfield. Its just not good enough for a Manchester United midfield. Nani and Valencia both showed tremendous promise and never really lived up to expectations. Didn’t Nani say he was the new Ronaldo or something?  Michael Carrick is a good player, but is he really Manchester United good? Nope again. Ashley young is either fantastic or useless and usually the latter. Tom Cleverly? Yeah he’s alright. Not exactly Paul Scholes tho, is he?! On a brighter note, like I said, Kagawa has the potential to be special and if United are successful in their pursuit of Cesc Fabregas then that will instantly make them a much stronger side.

For years, you can just tell that Sir Alex Ferguson was bleeding an extra 20 points a season from his players and this year, it’ll tell. They need two quality midfielders and a centre back, at least! It’s going to be a mighty task for Robin Van Persie to reach the heights he did last year, and if he doesn’t, and Rooney goes, there will be big trouble at Old Trafford.

Sorry about the negativity  United fans. I just don’t think you have a good enough squad of players. -4th!

3rd place: Tottenham Hotspur.

Yes, rejoice Spurs fans! It’s finally going to be your year! After cruelly being denied a Champions League spot by Chelsea winning the competition two years ago, and Arsenal making a late charge last year to secure themselves Champions League Football, Tottenham will finally deliver what they so desperately crave.

To get it out of the way early, I have Tottenham to finish third with or without Bale. Personally I think they should cash in now. It looks as if Real Madrid are willing to part with at least £80million, which is a disgusting amount of money. Yes, Gareth Bale is an absolutely outstanding footballer easily capable of playing for any team in the world, and of course, would be a huge miss! But, £80million?! The re-investment Spurs could do with this amount of money could buy them three or four world class players and cement themselves as credible title contenders for the first time in years! Anyway, enough about Gareth Bale. It’s starting to bore me now! – Real Madrid always get their man!

What really excites me about Tottenham this year is their new signing – Paulinho. This guy is an absolute steal at £17m and is proven at international level with Brazil and didn’t hurt his credentials with a solid performance against Chelsea for Corinthians last year. This is the player that will most influence Spurs’ play next year. He can pass, he reads the game exceptionally well, is a tough tackler and chips in with a fair amount of goals as well. An absolute bargain, trust me! Other than this, there isn’t anywhere Spurs look short to me. Perhaps a tad upfront, but hopefully they’ll be able to ship Adebayor off, and with the likely addition of Roberto Soldado to accompany the horribly under-rated Jermaine Defoe, they’ll be in the hunt for sure! Andre Villas Boas should be able to count on players such as Moussa Dembele, Sandro and Dempsey to perform more consistently than they managed last year. Defensively they look rock solid, and will be hoping Jan Vertonghen makes a speedy recovery. Oh, and they have one of the best Keepers in the world in Hugo Lloris.

Exciting times for Spurs fans! – 3rd!

2cnd: Manchester City.

Right, this was the toughest decision of the lot, to chose between the two best sides, on paper. After a few minutes thinking and a little bias, I’ve decided City will come second.

They are an absolutely outstanding team on paper and it’ll now be about trying to fit the swarm of new singings in with the existing group and hoping they quickly gel. What confuses me about Machester City is that, in the last six months, they have sold Balotelli for £20million and Carlos Tevez for £12million. Both are tried and tested world class players and in their place have spent £42million bringing in Alvaro Negredo and Stevan Jovetic. This baffles me a little because i feel neither are as good as Balotelli or Tevez and it has cost them £10million more to do this than they had made. Another signing I didn’t quite understand the logic behind, was that of Fernandinho. Im not doubting his quality, he’s a fantastic player. But £30million?! Really?! For an unproven (in a top league), barely capped, 28 year old Brazilian from the Ukrainian league? Im not so sure! Especially if you consider that Tottenham’s singing, Paulinho, the 24 year old, frequently capped Brazilian midfielder that plays in the same position as Fernandinho, that cost nearly half as much. But, I suppose money really isn’t the issue when you’re Manchester City. On the other hand, they have managed to bring in Spain international Jesus Navas from Sevilla for an absolute steal at £15million. Wonderful player, and of course he’ll fit in straight away. Its not if Manchester City have a lot of attacking midfielders already…

I don’t see any lack of quality in this City side in any position, which isn’t really suprising, but if I were to improve anywhere it would be adding another Centre-Back and if they really fancied blowing some more cash, then maybe another central Midfielder too. Manuel Pellegrini won’t have many excuses available if his side fail to win the title this year after their £90+ million spending spree, which is likely to increase before September 2cnd, but they still wont win it.

Close but no cigar. – 2cnd!

1st: Chelsea.

Yes, Chelsea will win it! It’s just what Jose does! Walks straight into a club and wins them the league. It’s his thing! And i see absolutely no reasons why he wont do this again. Now Sir Alex Ferguson has retired after 26 years, there is no one better than Jose Mourinho at getting every last bit of effort out of his players.

This Chelsea side has a phenomenal amount of world class stars, including last years standout performers; Mata and Hazard. On top of numerous new singings including Andre Schurrle and Marco Van Ginkel, who both look to have the potential for greatness, Chelsea welcome back last years loanees, some of which include; the man being forged into the new Didier Drogba – Romelu Lukaku, the promising Belgium – Kevin De Bruyne and the fit again Michael Essien, which is like a new singing it itself. Also staying around is the resurgent Fernando Torres, who found fantastic form whilst away with Spain, which will excite Chelsea personel and fans alike, and the evergreen midfielder and Chelsea legend – Frank Lampard, who will be looking to add more silverware to his vast collection and maybe even another contract extension.

As far as improving the team in concerned, I dont think there are many area’s left to fill. I would be a bit wary of possible defensive frailties, especially now the ageing John Terry is becoming a bit more susceptible to the odd injury or two, so would maybe add a promising young centre back, or they could decide to keep Chalobah as cover instead of loaning him out. Mainly, I think it’s just upfront Chelsea need to concentrate on (hence their pursuit of Manchester United want-away; Wayne Rooney). If Chelsea fail to sign Rooney, Mourinho will have to some how and unlike last year, ensure his strikers are contributing enough goals to seriously stand a chance of winning the tittle. But I thin they’ll manage it.

It’ll be a close one, but they’ll do it. – 1st!

Agree or disagree?