Supposedly Chelsea have already won the 2014-2015 Barclay's Premier League title. Supposedly fans from Manchester, North London, and Liverpool needn't bother draping themselves in their assorted reds and sky blues, since doing so would insinuate they have a chance at claiming the title next May. Supposedly the loss of 2013/14 PFA Player of the Year, Luis Suarez, will be far too much for a young yet still attack-minded Liverpool side to overcome. Supposedly Louis Van Gaal has no where near a title-winning defense to compliment his powerful but at times injury-prone front line at Manchester United. Supposedly Arsenal still aren't ready to take their strong form of mid-seasons past into March or April, when every point seems that much more important. Supposedly Manchester City haven't strengthened enough during a summer where they've seen so many of their rivals do just that.
Well, supposedly I'm the only one who thinks that all of these assumptions being made on the outlook of the new season need to be quashed immediately.
Last September, football magazine FourFourTwo ran with a cover photo depicting the six managers (looking suspiciously slim I might add) of the six top clubs in England for its annual Barclay's Premier League season preview, proclaiming 2013-2014 "The Year of the Boss".
While the magazine questioned which man would become the new "Don" of the Premier League, following the retirement of the legendary Sir Alex Ferguson, one year later we are yet to find that man. Despite Manuel Pellegrini's title success in his debut season at Manchester City, it was achieved in not so convincing fashion after late season stumbles from Chelsea and Liverpool. Regardless of Liverpool's brief return to the top of the table and their free scoring ways of old (and we're talking like 70's and 80's old), Brendan Rodgers watched his team unravel when it mattered most. Arsene Wenger managed to fling a rather irritating monkey off his club's back after a decade of no silverware by winning the FA Cup, yet Arsenal's Premier League run floundered much more unconvincingly months before the finish line. We all saw the season Manchester United had under David Moyes' not-so-fantastic watch, which has led many to predict a return to the contention now that a proven, silverware winning manager has been placed in charge (but frankly Louis Van Gaal would have to name Tom Cleverly his captain, bench Robin Van Persie, and watch his team wrack up disappointing results all while snacking on a packet of Cheetos to come anywhere near close to how despised his predecessor became).
After a year of searching for one the league's top managers to take sole possession of the void left by Ferguson, there was seemingly only one man and one club who sat poised to assert their dominance over their competitors in the upcoming season. Jose Mourinho and his Chelsea squad, though left trophy-less at the season's end last May, seem to be the one team that made strides forward during the summer transfer period while their competitors supposedly slipped up or failed to address their own weaknesses. The acquisitions of Felipe Luis, Cesc Fabregas, Diego Costa, and Didier Drogba, coupled with the steady shedding of dead weight and past their prime club legends David Luiz, Frank Lampard, Ashley Cole, Demba Ba, and Samuel Eto'o has left Chelsea as the winners of Summer 2014, and according to the media and public opinion, the 2014-2015 Barclays Premier League winners.
......But that's why we play the games.
Any 38 game season can be easily compared to a marathon. You think you know exactly how much of a long, difficult and drawn out war it is, until about mile 10 (in this case, late November) when you realize "Holy shit I've still got 16 miles left to go in this thing." I mean, if you know me you'll know I've obviously never run a marathon before, but that's how I imagine it going (except for me this inner dialogue would probably occur a bit earlier.....like around mile two). Regardless of this widely recognized truth, prognosticators seem to have crowned Chelsea champions before the first meaningful kick of a football. While I certainly hope they're correct, the realistic side of me knows that every season has far too many twists, turns, and mountains to climb to warrant looking at a team sheet and simply deeming one team the best. The intangible factors that can propel the league's minnows to overachieve and drag some of it's giants down to the middle of the table can strike at anytime. Chelsea themselves are one horror tackle like this....
After a year of searching for one the league's top managers to take sole possession of the void left by Ferguson, there was seemingly only one man and one club who sat poised to assert their dominance over their competitors in the upcoming season. Jose Mourinho and his Chelsea squad, though left trophy-less at the season's end last May, seem to be the one team that made strides forward during the summer transfer period while their competitors supposedly slipped up or failed to address their own weaknesses. The acquisitions of Felipe Luis, Cesc Fabregas, Diego Costa, and Didier Drogba, coupled with the steady shedding of dead weight and past their prime club legends David Luiz, Frank Lampard, Ashley Cole, Demba Ba, and Samuel Eto'o has left Chelsea as the winners of Summer 2014, and according to the media and public opinion, the 2014-2015 Barclays Premier League winners.
......But that's why we play the games.
Any 38 game season can be easily compared to a marathon. You think you know exactly how much of a long, difficult and drawn out war it is, until about mile 10 (in this case, late November) when you realize "Holy shit I've still got 16 miles left to go in this thing." I mean, if you know me you'll know I've obviously never run a marathon before, but that's how I imagine it going (except for me this inner dialogue would probably occur a bit earlier.....like around mile two). Regardless of this widely recognized truth, prognosticators seem to have crowned Chelsea champions before the first meaningful kick of a football. While I certainly hope they're correct, the realistic side of me knows that every season has far too many twists, turns, and mountains to climb to warrant looking at a team sheet and simply deeming one team the best. The intangible factors that can propel the league's minnows to overachieve and drag some of it's giants down to the middle of the table can strike at anytime. Chelsea themselves are one horror tackle like this....
.....from losing the one man who can capitalize on all those glorious chances Eden Hazard and co. can conjure up and being left with Fernando Torres (no comment) and Didier Drogba (who can hardly play 90 minutes of football anymore at his age). These scenarios exist for every club, whether they're clubs clawing for survival or billionaire owned super teams who can afford to spend more on one player than most clubs can spend in one transfer period.
We live in a world where news and people's opinions on that news are presented to us on social media and other media outlets. We are constantly bombarded with so much information that we and those working in the media jump to conclusions prematurely in order to be the first to make predictions for the world to hear. If media pundits and bloggers are the first to predict Chelsea will win the title and it happens then we all feel this validates them as a journalist, whether they know the tactics of exactly how Chelsea did it or not.
This is why I'm not going to make a prediction as to who will win the Premier League, the Champions League, or any of the trophies up for grabs this season. Yes, Chelsea significantly strengthened their squad not only in places of need, but in depth as well, adding players who've won trophies and know what the toil of a league-winning season is like. But Manchester City have just as much claim to a trophy they've become accustomed to fighting for until the last day and command a squad with far more diversity in attacking options than any I've seen in a while. Liverpool have spent their Suarez cash well by acquiring a slew of players rife with potential, experience, and talent. Just because they haven't brought in a household name like a Cesc Fabregas doesn't mean their signings lack the relative experience and talent to help them build on a frightening (for myself and City fans at least) campaign. While the gripes with Arsenal and Manchester United are understandable, I refuse to truly count out two managers of the stature of Arsene Wenger and Louis Van Gaal, both armed with talented squads and the resources to build upon them should they need to in January.
We play the games for a reason. So lets sit back, stop trying to let everyone know how right we are, and just ENJOY the end-to-end drama that is the Barclay's Premier League.
