THE pre-season preparations have begun in earnest as clubs have been warming up for the season by playing against opponents of varying strengths and domains. I have been very impressed with some of these clubs while others are yet to convince me.
Watching all these warm-up matches is impossible, but duty requires that I watch as many as I can. And thank goodness, most are played back several times later that one could hardly miss any.
My main purpose of seeing these friendlies are two-fold, namely to see how the new recruits fit into their new clubs and to also appraise the readiness of these clubs for the impending hectic season. Following are my thoughts on some clubs from the games I’ve seen thus far:ARSENAL: The Gunners looked very strong in the Barclays Asia Trophy which they won by dispatching Everton 3-1. New recruit Petr Cech kept goal in the final and showed why he could help Arsenal bridge the gap between BPL success and the underachievement of the past 11 seasons.
After winning the last two FA Cup trophies, Arsenal have set their sights on winning the Premier League. And on the evidence of what I’ve seen of Arsene Wenger’s boys during this pre-season, they should challenge for the league crown and go far in the UCL. Whether they will win any of these major trophies or not remains to be seen. But the early signs look good.
LIVERPOOL: The Reds have not overly impressed me in their tour of Asia and Australia despite winning their two warm-up matches thus far. Some of their familiar failings were still very evident against admittedly weaker oppositions. Lack of fire power remains an issue, though that could soon be corrected with the imminent arrival of Aston Villa’s Christian Benteke.
The midfield remains light weight with no real leader at the heart of the engine room. Simply put, Steven Gerrard has not been replaced in any semblance even with the acquisition of freebie James Milner who is yet to take command in his preferred central midfield position.
Nathan Clyne has also failed to sparkle at right back while the defence still looks shaky even against weak opponents.
But there have been some positive lights. Adam Lallana has looked like a bargain new signing after an inauspicious start to his Anfield career while youthful Joe Cortez has looked brilliant at various defensive roles so much that Brendan Rodgers has decided to keep him with the first team instead of the initial plan to loan him out for the season.
However, Liverpool’s target to return among the elites cannot totally rest on the impressive form of these two.
MANCHESTER UNITED: The Red Devils began their pre-season by narrowly beating Club America 1-0, thanks to a late, late strike by new recruit Morgan Schneiderlin. United have made more headlines in this pre-season off the pitch than on it through recruitments.
Midfielders Schneiderlin, Bastian Schweinsteiger, and right full back Matteo Darmian have followed Memphis Depay to Old Trafford in what I feel is becoming an overdose in United’s engine room.
Angel Di Maria and influential goalkeeper David de Gea’s futures are yet to be resolved. Victor Valdez has fallen out of favour while courted centre-half Nicolas Otamendi is some distance away from realizing his wish to switch to OT.Simply put, United are top-heavy in midfield where they already have Juan Matter, Anders Herrera, Marouane Fellaini, Michael Carrick, and Danny Blind. When you add the two new recruits, it’s difficult to see how LVG will keep everybody happy in that department.
Yet, the defence remain mortally weak while the Red Devils might become vulnerable without de Gea either through injury or departure.
One would have expected LVG to address his weak rear-guard. But of course, there’s still time to strengthen as window still has over a month to close.
BAYERN MUNICH: Pep Guardiola’s team whipped Valencia 4-1 in their most high-profile pre-season thus far and looked very ready for a successful title defence in Germany and another credible assault on the UCL. On their pre-season form, Bayern wouldn’t mind if the season begins tomorrow.
BPL reigning champs Chelsea were yet to feature in a warm-up as at press time while Real Madrid had an inauspicious start under new boss Rafael Benitez by losing via penalty kick to AS Roma after a goalless draw. Manchester City also made a lethargic start to their pre-season with a narrow win over the weekend. But none of these great clubs could be rated from the little we have seen from them in the summer.
Watch this space as the rest of the summer trial matches unfold.
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