Tuesday, August 26, 2003

Soccer Review 2003,brought to you by Mohamed Zaini.

The Epl has started weeks ago.It was a wonderful start for most debutants.Quite a number of them scored on their debuts.Even the new teams whom just got promoted did quite well.This season is going to be very exciting & I hope that more teams other than the usual Man utd & Arsenal will pose more challenge & threat to fight for the League title.

*Chelsea has looked very convincing among the rest,having spending 100million pounds on new players(Hernan Crespo Deal included).So far,most of the new signings has justified their worth to the millionaire owner & not forgetting their fans.They looked settled already & will definitely be the main contenders for the title.
*Newcastle is also another team that has impressed me.Only 1 major signing(Lee Bowyer) but with their current young squad lead by experienced ex England captain,Alan Shearer,they are also firm favorites for the title although their centrebacks & the depth in their reserves looked abit suspect.
*Liverpool will be the darkhorse this year in my opinion.Although they signed Harry Kewell & Steve Finnan for quite a bargain.Their pre-season matches haven't been impressive & so were their first 2 games of the new season.They have pool of talented players but they haven't seen them gel yet to produce the kind of liverpool we used to witness.The Dribbly Macca,Fowler Blaster,Vision Redknapp,Hardworking McAteer,Computer Game James,Show Stopper Collymore & the list goes on.In fact none of these players who left for liverpool had really been a success.Macca did well in his first couple of seasons(Champion league & La liga),Westerveld did have an impact with Real Sociedad but the rest?This may also looked as the last season for players like Gerrard,Owen,Heskey,Kirkland etc.They haven't been tasting real success & I believe they will not leave unless Liverpool has a change of management post.
*Man Utd has been quite impressive with their new line ups & also kind of new squad.Lots of young lads emerging from the benches & also new young stars transferring in such as Djemba Djemba,Bellion,C Ronaldo,Howard & Kleberson.As dangerous as they can be,they are the firm favorites this season.
*Arsenal hasn't been in the transfer news that much as other clubs did.1 major signing(Lehmann)to cover up for the post left by Dave Seaman.They also purchased young players like Senderos & Clichy.If you notice,Wenger has little budget to spend on new players hence therefore he got all 3 of them for less than 3million pounds & most significantly they are all defensive players.Arsenal has been very shaky in defence ever since Tony Adams,Winterburn,Dixon,Seaman & soon Keown leave the club.They looked most suspect in the centre.Kolo Toure has been channelled to partner Campbell for this season.Other than that they are still a very dangerous side,especially in attack.Firm favorites too.

Besides all those 4 top-notch teams,teams such as Leeds United,Everton,Manchester City,Tottenham & Middlesbrough will still pose a threat & also may cause upsets for the favorites.Who knows,they might be even the champion afterall.For the lower halves,it still early to predict who will go down & who will struggle.Bolton,Portsmouth,Fulham etc has the players but they doen't have the depth in squad to last long for the rest of the season.So till you catch the next Soccer Review again,I'm Mohamed Zaini.Thanks,goodbye

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