A totally biased and prejudiced preview of the 2024/25 season: Part 3
The five clubs previewed below will also be previewed by Martin Tyler and me in two Last Trophy segments in episode 22 of The Joy Of Football podcast, out soon
Leicester City
Three years ago Leicester won the FA Cup and for the second successive season came fifth in the Premier League. Their Final team was: Schmeichel (now Celtic); Forfana (now Chelsea), Evans (now Man Utd) subbed by Albrighton (released in summer), Söyüncü (now Fenerbahçe); Castagne (now Fulham), Tielemens (now Aston Villa), Ndidi (still Leicester), Thomas (spent last season on loans to Sheffield United which was terminated and then Middlesbrough) subbed by Morgan (now retired); Pérez (now Villarreal) subbed by Choudhury (still Leicester); Vardy (still Leicester aged 37), Iheanacho (now Sevilla) subbed by Maddison (now Tottenham).
When they beat Southampton 5-0 just before the end of last season, the starting line-up was: Hermansen; Pereira, Faes, Vestergaard, Justin; Ndidi, Winks, Dewsbury-Hall; Fatawu, Vardy, Mavididi. Fatawu scored a hat-trick. Since then they’ve sold Dewsbury-Hall.
So it’s a very different team, but is it a different club? The League champions team of 2016 was stuffed full of strong personalities, the Cup winners were brimming with talent. Now it needs a lot of players to prove themselves in what may be a struggle.
I thought they were far too strong to get relegated a year ago, so it was no surprise when they came up as champions. Now I need to be convinced that they’re strong enough to stay up.
What I grudgingly like Ricardo Perriera, full-back, wing-back, inverted midfielder, is a really good player when fit, but he’s struggled to be fit enough. He can be a major asset this season. And Alan Birchenall, whom I watched play for Chelsea in the 1960s, is a big personality as club ambassador, pitch host and impassioned supporter of the club he then represented for six years. If you’ve never seen the Alan Birchenall-Tony Currie kiss, they’d played together for Sheffield United, google it. It was huge news at the time.
What gives me anti-Leicester hope Their players.
Prediction Haven’t got a clue.
Liverpool
How weird is it that come the middle of August Liverpool hadn’t bought one player this year? Surely you need some freshening up. They’ve made changes to their sporting director roles with the former specialist in that job, Michael Edwards, returning to the organisation but this time the ownership company, Fenway Sports Group, as chief executive of football
How brave is it that Edwards and Co chose Arne Slot to succeed Jürgen Klopp as manager? No Dutchman has ever managed a team to winning the League in England. Four have won the FA Cup, Ruud Gullit and Guus Hiddink, both at Chelsea, and Louis van Gaal and Erik ten Hag, both at Manchester United. Ten Hag has also won the League Cup. But it’s not been good news in the League.
Poor Frank de Boer had the worst time as a permanent manager, if you can call it that. He lasted four matches at Crystal Palace, all lost without scoring, before being sacked. It is the shortest reign of any permanent Premier League manager.
Liverpool generally support their managers, and departed Jürgen Klopp is not surprisingly placed in the top drawer for the club with the likes of Bill Shankly, Bob Paisley and Rafa Benitez. But the fact is that while two Champions League triumphs this century is worthy of pride, one Premier League trophy is not. Klopp won one of each plus one FA Cup and two League Cups.
Fenway Sports has done superbly with Anfield development, has listened to supporters, but maybe has fashioned the club into something different to that which the older supporters grew used to. A club that competes for the major trophies, but rarely touches them.
What I grudgingly like Like? I love Mohamed Salah. I did his first ever English language interview when he was at Chelsea, and he’s absolutely one of the best players in the world and should never have been sold by my club. He has a reputation for selfishness as a player, but he has more assists than almost any other top goalscorer because he is nothing of the sort.
What gives me anti-Liverpool hope Van Dijk, who had an outstanding Euros, is 33 years old. How many seasons does this world class centre-back have left?
Prediction Fourth. New manager following a legend, no new blood, it’s crucial for them that Salah is available all season round.
Manchester City
There may be a lot of question marks about the financial structure of Manchester City and the City Group, and concerns about the politics of its owners, and rightly so, but there can’t be any doubts about the quality its football management.
Now everyone copies Pep Guardiola’s moving of a defender into midfield in possession, but people forget he only developed that role when he changed tactics up front. Since moving Lionel Messi to centre-forward in 2009, having sold Samuel Eto’o and given up on Zlatan Ibrahimović, he seems to have doubted out-and-out strikers. He never seemed to love Robert Lewandowski or Sergio Agüero like he did his midfielders, and when Agüero finished at City he didn’t replace him and used a rotation of attacking midfielders in the role. Messi at Barcelona all over again.
So that was the overload before he and Txiki Bergiristain, the director of football, decided to bring in the new goalscoring sensation, centre-forward Erling Haaland, whom he clearly loves, and he used rotating defenders to create the midfield overload instead. Pep just stays ahead of the crowd.
And how many City stalwarts have been signed and you think… really? Who knew about Ederson, Akanji, Dias and Savinho? Who didn’t think: ‘Overpriced!’ when they bought Walker, Stones, Aké? And they’ve all been outstanding apart from just signed Savinho who will be.
City will compete and come close in every tournament they enter, including the Club World Cup if it happens. Liverpool spent years running them close and once topped them. Now it’s Arsenal’s turn. Maybe Arsenal can do the same. But City won’t not be in the picture for every trophy while Guardiola is still the coach… unless they’re found guilty of financial misdemeanours (cheating) and he decides to stay.
What I grudgingly like Like? I love Kevin De Bruyne. How did Chelsea let him and Salah leave? I first saw him play as an undynamic left-winger for Genk and wondered what all the fuss was about until he set up their equaliser with his left foot against Chelsea in a Champions League match. He’s gone on to be the best midfielder in the world for years, at first along with Luca Modrić but recently alone. He does a lot of walking these days, watching the action, seeing the spaces, then shuffles into them to receive the ball and … kills.
What gives me anti-City hope Some stalwarts are getting older: De Bruyne, Walker, Stones. Some seem to be missed more than others: Rodri! What happens if Haaland misses a chunk of the season? And when the Premier League charges will finally be judged!
Prediction Second. But that’s probably more in hope than belief. And they’ll win the first Fifa Bloated Club World Cup.
Manchester United
Why has United lost its DNA? It’s been unstoppable wingers and quality forwards for most of my life. Connelly and Best, Law and Herd; Coppell and Hill, Macari and Pearson; Strachan and Olsen, Hughes and Whiteside; Kanchelskis and Sharpe, Hughes and MacClair; Beckham and Giggs, Cantona and Cole; then Yorke and Cole or Sheringham and Solskjær; Ronaldo and Giggs, Rooney and Tevez; Park and Nani, Rooney and Chicharito.
Possession football? No way. Try and win the game in the first 15 minutes. Front foot football. Glory, excitement, dream the impossible!
All gone! And suddenly you’re left with this extraordinary fact of history. In the years when Sir Matt Busby and Sir Alex Ferguson were managers, United won the League 18 times. In the years that they weren’t, they’ve won it twice: 1907/08 and 1910/11.
Since 2013, their last triumph, wingers have included Valencia, Januzaj, Young, Rashford, Mata, Martial, James, Depay, Antony and Garnacho. Forwards as well as Rooney and van Persie have been Martial, Lukaku, Ibrahimović, Greenwood and Højlund. It’s just not sparked.
And I’ve seen a lot of them over the last two seasons. They’re always so boring. Maybe the dreams are over. Somehow, sometime, a new one needs to be established.
What I grudgingly like They still give youth a chance. Mainoo and Garnacho have been two of their best players in 2024. And while I can see Casemiro didn’t have a good year last season, the previous one he looked one of the best signings in the Premier League. He’s had an unhindered pre-season, and maybe he can reach those levels again.
What gives me anti-United hope In the 20-teens I used to say the four most creative players for Chelsea, most assist makers, were Hazard, Fàbregas, Hugo Lloris and David de Gea. De Gea, for me, was never the best goalkeepers in the world or the Premier League, and often not even the best in Manchester. Yes, he made a lot of world class saves, he had extraordinary ability, but he always made mistakes. And I feel the same about Andre Onana.
Prediction With everyone fit, which they’re not, their defence should be better than in the second half of last season, but I just can’t see them scoring enough goals to make the top four. Europa League qualifiers again.
Newcastle
If Nick Pope stays fit, Fabien Schär stays on the pitch, and someone good is signed to fill in for Sven Botman, Newcastle’s defence will be fine. Their attack is fine. If Sandro Tonali gets fit after his long suspension, their midfield will be strong. They have no Europe, unlike last season. They must be looking at a top four spot again.
But what about winning something? Everyone harks back to 1969 and the Inter-Cities Fair Cup (my Newcastle supporting friends still celebrate the Intertoto Cup), but for a domestic trophy you have to go back to 1955 and the FA Cup. Newcastle’s absence of trophies is inexplicable.
It’s weird how their spending is curtailed by Premier League finance rules when they’ve got the richest owners in the world. They’ve actually made money on transfers so far this summer, not invested more than they’ve received.
If you haven’t been there, it’s one of the best cities in England to visit, and one of the best grounds to watch football in – although if you’re in the away end you need an oxygen mask, firstly for the climb to the top, so many stairs, and then for the lack of air when you get there. Probably some binoculars too.
It’s a weird ground, actually, with the stand opposite the dressing rooms restricted in height because there’s a very handsome conservation area behind. It’s all unique.
What I grudgingly like I first saw Schär playing for Basel in 2013 against Chelsea, semi-finals of the Europa League in 2012/13, and Group stage of the Champions League in 2013/14. Four games. He and their right-winger, some guy called Mohamed Salah, stood out. He was cultured with the ball and pretty good without it. It was no surprise when he went to Hoffenheim, but it was that he didn’t get a big club after that. Especially as cultured defenders came into fashion. I just wish he didn’t appear so grumpy so much of the time.
What gives me anti-Newcastle hope Something always goes wrong.
Prediction Third. But they won’t win anything!
To be continued…
Next, and last, up: Nottingham Forest, Southampton, Tottenham, West Ham, Wolves
The five clubs previewed above will also be previewed by Martin Tyler and me in two Last Trophy segments in episode 22 of The Joy Of Football podcast, out soon