Milan: fashion center and now a haven for washed up strikers

Andriy Shevchenko has announced to Chelsea management that he wants to return to Italy at the end of the season. Italian press claims that he met with Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich and that little resistance was offered to the suggestion.

Former Real Madrid striker Ronaldo was the last wash-up to land on the shores of Italy, after a lackluster spell, it appears his career may be over due to injury. For Shevchenko the loss of Ronaldo leaves an opening for a cut rate return to his former club.

He should have better luck there with Alberto Gilardino a world class flop and only Pato to compete with for a place.

The Shevchenko's have apparently already been house hunting in their old stomping grounds.

Wouldn't it be comedy to see Mourinho take over at Milan now?

Football’s top 10 highest paid players in the world revealed

A survey came out today that publishes a list of the highest paid footballers in the world. Chelsea, Manchester United and Liverpool all represent the Premiership and dominate the list while AC Milan and Barcelona are the only non-English sides listed. It certainly appears the money is in England now.

The list in order:

1. Kaka (AC Milan) 6.6m pounds
2. Ronaldinho (Barcelona) 6.31m pounds
3. Frank Lampard (Chelsea) 6.04m pounds
4. John Terry (Chelsea) 6.04m pounds
5. Fernando Torres (Liverpool) 5.86m pounds
6. Andiry Shevchenko (Chelsea) 5.77m pounds
7. Michael Ballack (Chelsea) 5.77m pounds
8. Cristiano Ronaldo (Man Utd) 5.69m pounds
9. Theirry Henry (Barcelona) 5.69m pounds
10. Steven Gerrard (Liverpool) 5.69m pounds

Pressure getting to Grant

Chelsea manager Avram Grant has hit out at the media for its post defeat coverage of their Carling Cup final to Tottenham.

Strangely, he hit out at the lack of respect for giving him no credit for achievements. What achievements Avram? I thought you lost, and as of yet, have won nothing. What have you achieved? I think the media has fairly given you credit for stabilizing the team, but more than that there is nothing to show that you are actually up to the job.

While Grant insists that he is in charge, there is no doubt that the hand of Abramovich has played a heavy hand in the running of the club.

While Chelsea have remained competitive, their defeats have come at the hands of Manchester United, Arsenal and Tottenham. The draw to Liverpool didn’t help, did it? Nor the draw with Olympiacos.

In comparison, Jose Mourinho suffered only 2 losses in 2+ years in charge to the biggest clubs in England.

I would suggest this is more evidence of the slow decline in Chelsea’s fortunes. As it continues to become clear they cannot deal with the largest clubs in England any longer, the comparisons to Claudio Ranieri will start.

Ten Cate in row with Captain

Henk ten Cate has never been the calm type. In fact, he has often been criticized by former players for his temper, aggressiveness and often abuse coaching methods. It appears the former Ajax manager has not let anyone down at Chelsea after a furious row has been reported taking place the day before the Carling Cup final.

Ten Cate joined Chelsea to bolster Avram Grant's staff back in October after leaving Ajax. He confirmed a ‘difference of opinion’ regarding the intensity of a training session but eye witnesses see it much differently.

Terry and ten Cate squared each other up and apparently let loose with a tirade of swearing and yelling – all done in front of owner Roman Abramovich. It was also ten Cate who stepped to Terry after the captain complained. They were separated by other Chelsea players. While ten Cate thinks everything is fine, it may not be as after the session, Terry refused to accept an apology.

Apparently there was a lot of tension among the Chelsea players as players were left guessing at team selection for the final.

Tottenham win League Cup over Chelsea: tale of the missing manager

Tottenham Hotspur have ended their 9 years without a trophy with a 2-1 win over London rivals Chelsea yesterday in the Carling Cup final at Wembley.

Jonathan Woodgate proved the hero as the January transfer window signing proved in the right place and a touch lucky to pull Tottenham ahead just minutes into extra time.

It’s an unusually high number of mistakes from Chelsea keeper Petr Cech this season, a testament to the increased amount of pressure he has been under as clubs are attacking Chelsea more.

Chelsea were listless in the first half until Didier Drogba scored from a 40th minute free kick. Chelsea took control of the match for a while but Tottenham were resilient (2 words you don’t see next to each other very often) and battled back to earn a penalty 20 minutes from time. It should have ended at the 90 minutes but for Didier Zakora’s comic enterprise in front of goal: with only the keeper to beat he shot directly at Cech and then ballooned the ball over the bar on the rebound.

The win guarantees Tottenham UEFA Cup football next season, a competition that Tottenham manager Juande Ramos had won twice consecutively with Sevilla.

It was a tale of the missing manager

Jose Mourinho left Chelsea early in the season and was replaced by Avram Grant, a Russian billionaires puppet. Ever since, Chelsea have been lucky they have a very professional group of players because it could have gone much worse. That extra 2% Mourinho brought was missing from the side as they often looked void of ideas.

If you look at Cheslea’s fortunes this season under Grant you might suggest he deserves some credit, maybe a bit for stabilizing the side, but nothing else. Chelsea are no longer feared and tactically don’t really look any more attacking under the Grant regime than under Mourinho. The formation has not really changed and the team is not scoring any more often, but what they have been is much more vulnerable in defense and seem incapable of beating teams of similar means in the Premiership.

A listless draw against Olympiacos serves to suggest the club is in decline as their mortality surfaces again and again.

Here is the stat of stats: Mourinho ‘s record. Seven Cup Finals from FC Porto to Chelsea, played seven and won seven. Avram Grant is 0-1.

Avram Grant has inherited one of the best squad in the world but he can’t and won’t make it count. Anelka out wide? Come on.

In the end Tottenham deserved their victory. They out-fought their bigger rivals and held on. Chelsea were left surrounding the referee at the end of the game, when they should have surrounded their owner and manager for taking Mourinho away.

Argentine teen striker swooped up

Chelsea have beaten out Manchester United and Liverpool and completed the signing of Argentine teenager Franco Di Santo on a four and a half year contract from from Chilean side Audax Italiano.

Di Santo is an Argentina Under 20 international and joins Chelsea for a 3m pound fee. Standing 6ft 4in the forward tends to tower over South American opposition, even at his height the inevitable comparisons to Maradona persist.

Di Santo holds an Italian passport and takes the spending by Avram Grant to 27m pounds during the transfer window after signing Nicolas Anelka and Branislav Ivanovic.

“It is going to be a dream to be next to Didier Drogba, Frank Lampard, Shaun Wright-Phillips, Andriy Shevchenko and Nicolas Anelka. I am going to watch how they play and if I am called on to be part of the team, I will give my maximum ... To be changing next to Drogba will be something out of another world.” –Di Santo

City’s worst nightmare: Premiership giants at the gate

Micah Richards is holding out for big money. Stalled contract talks have England’s big 4 clubs watching closely as the finest young defender in world may be on his way. Arsenal, Manchester United, Liverpool and Chelsea would probably climb over each other for a shot at Richards. Should a move away from Manchester City become a reality, you’ll see a bidding war that has never been seen for a defender before.

City fans hope that the stall is part of the process of negotiations, with Richards apparently wanting 70k pounds per week and the club offering around 50k pounds. The offer on the table would see Richards the highest paid player at the club by a mile. But 70k is not too much considering the talent and the big 4 won’t hesitate one iota forking up the cash. A defender with his pace and leaping ability is a very rare commodity and City has had a lot of success this season because of him. Just consider how many goal saving tackles that have been shown on Match of the Day.

Richards departing would be a nightmare for City fans and you can’t blame the club, they are doing everything they can to keep him. Will money trump the young man’s loyalty? It usually does.

You can’t fault Micah Richards for having aspirations but if City should land in the Champions League next season there is no reason to leave. Personally, he should stay 2-3 more years regardless and really cement his abilities in a place which will be forgiving and appreciative.

A two horse race already?

While the points may not yet tell the tale, the trend going into the middle of the season is for Arsenal and Manchester United to pull away in a two horse race. Chelsea and Liverpool are talented, but the top two looks to have more horsepower and edge to pull away.

If you notice, Avram Grant has lost twice to the top 4. That 2% that Mourinho added has cost them, while they have beaten teams they should have beaten, they have lost to Arsenal, a team they have not lost to for over 2 years. Losing John Terry, that happened last year as well, remember?

Liverpool have the same syndrome. A draw was at least demanded at home for their onset of players, but another loss to the top 4 sucks the air out of their confidence. Its not Benitez can’d do it. They beat Chelsea solidly early in the season, before Mourinho left. They have what it takes, but the rotation policy doesn’t explain their inconsistency. Winning the Champions League didn’t send them to the next level. They are a player or two away, and Fernando Torres is truly El Nino.

Chelsea is out of it as far as I am concerned. Liverpool, with the potential of a group of very fit players at the end of the season could make a strong run if they hit a stretch of form. I know what Benitez is trying to do, and I respect his confidence that at the end of the season he will be there with so many combinations tested that he may play his best 11 for a stretch of 10 games and win them all.

Arsenal and Manchester United are not going to pull away from eachother. The gap between them is so close. It looks like William Gallas, scoring the winner at the weekend really looks like the team’s new Patrick Viera and a side with so much pace and incredible passing is hard to beat not to mention attractive to watch. With Crisitano Ronaldo the owner of the team and a great defense who can bet against United? There is so much stability there, and is the team that can cope with injuries better than any other team in the Premiership.

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Arsenal prevail in war of attrition against Chelsea

It was a great match. Poised, competitive, at times hard nosed and at times flowing. Arsenal were too much for Chelsea though as William Gallas sealed the three points just before the half and it remained there despite lots of attacking football to end 1-0.

Arsenal, in truth, deserved the result. They created more chances and defended better. They have Manuel Almunia to thank for some good saves and an all around faultless display. You can’t say the same for Peter Cech, as it was his error that led to the goal as he came for the ball during a corner and missed it completely to gift Gallas the chance. Gallas rose well above Tal Ben Haim, on as a substitute for the injured John Terry, and nodded the ball into the unprotected goal.

Chelsea threatened after the half, especially in the last 20 minutes as Arsenal appeared to tire. They had a flurry of close calls but could never squeeze that extra bit of quality out of themselves to salvage a point. Arsenal need to do a bit of fitness work though, they looked wooden-legged in the last 10 minutes but had 4 amazing chances on the break as Chelsea were entirely pushed forward looking for that equalizer.

It was a hard fought game, testy at times. Ashley Cole was booed throughout and was regularly whacked by the Arsenal players. Gael Clichy was excellent in defense, quick, he cancelled out Shaun Wright Phillip’s attempts to play down the wing. Centrally, Gallas and Toure were excellent.

For Chelsea, they seem quite capable of winning the easy ones, but this makes it 2 losses in a row against the Premiership’s big guns since the departure of Jose Mourinho.

The Blues lost to Manchester United in Avram Grant’s first game in charge, now to Arsenal. It’s much as I suspected: Chelsea have lost that extra 2% that Mourinho added, and at this level, that extra 2% is the difference between losing 0-1 and winning 2-0.

Arsene Wenger had never beaten Jose Mourinho in 2 seasons, now the new guard has lost in their first attempt. In time, you might see this trend continue and it will be Avram Grant’s undoing. All along I have considered him lucky to have such a professional team, luck only gets you so far.

As for Arsenal, yet another determined display. Coming on the heels of dropping 5 points last week, this is as welcome a result as Arsene Wenger will ever see. With their nose still ahead in the Premiership chase he will need to see a few more to make it happen this year.

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Chelsea on the verge of 16 year old starlet

Chelsea are busy negotiating to sign 16-year-old Malmo FF striker Marko Mitrovic who has been dubbed 'the new Zlatan Ibrahimovic'. The young Swede has been capped at the youth level and has been courted by Blackburn, Arsenal, Inter Milan, and Dutch outfits Feyenoord and PSV Eindhoven, but it appears Chelsea are leading the chase.

With the imminent departure of Didier Drogba, Chelsea need to strengthen this area of the club, and while this may be a signing for the future, its a certain sign of intent.

Malmo's sporting director Hasse Borg has admitted that they are in talks with Stamford Bridge. Malmo is also the club that fostered Zlatan Ibrahimovic. On trial over the summer, he has already played two games for the Chelsea juniors.

Note: I was interviewed for the second time today by New Zealand's BSports Radio in Auckland. It was a lot of fun, email me if you want to listen to the interview.

He needs to leave to get his career back on track

Shaun Wright-Phillips was completely left out of last night's Champions League victory over Schalke by Chelsea manager Avram Grant. While the team won, for Wright-Phillips it’s time to go. What better place than a resurgent Manchester City?

The England international struggled to win a place since Jose Mourinho signed him from Manchester City for 21m pounds in 2005 but had been gaining playing time until Avram Grant took over. He doesn’t look to feature in the new manager’s plans and should end the frustration and go somewhere where he will play. He wasn't even on the subs bench last night.

He has only made 29 Premier League starts in just over two seasons.

Sven has come out and said that they need to sign 2 more top players in January, well here is one of them.

The Normal One and his ordinary team

Harsh or not, Chelsea were never really in it and were never going after more than a draw anyway. Manchester United beat them solidly and the red card did nothing more than distract from the inevitable result anyway: Chelsea fought but in the end were ordinary.

The first 20 minutes saw some amazing technical football. Pinpoint 50 yard passes, excellent movement, trickery; it all made for a tempting encounter. But soon after the game began to grind as it became clear that United were getting the better of the rub. Slowly, and red card aside, Chelsea began to retreat into a shell and as the minutes passes play more and more for a draw.

The crowd said it all as they began to sign their favorite Mourinho song and call the team “Steve Clark’s Blue and White Army”. Why wasn’t Clark, a man more than capable, given his chance? I can guarantee the players would have reacted better.

Jon Obi Mikel’s red card was used as a talking point for the disappointing result, but it was just a way to deflect the barbs. Chelsea went down a goal on the stroke of half time and spend the first 25 minutes of the second half swimming around the pitch soaking up United’s pressure and not even looking like getting in a scoring position. The funny thing is that Chelsea were already starting to do that before the red card.

I’ll give the Chelsea players some credit, they came out fighting. Even Andiry Shevchenko (who had more to prove than anyone) and his worn out legs gave it a go but it never jelled, did it? He got no support as Essien and the rest of midfield kept their distance from the front man, guess the only support he has is in the directors box, maybe Ballack will support him when he returns. For the rest of the players, I am sure they would have traded the billions for Mourinho in a second.

The stats tell it all: United were ahead on possession, shots on target, and corners were 10-1. And they were ahead in all these categories before the red card. The most telling stat, Chelsea had one single shot on target, can anyone remember who it was?

Did anyone else notice who was sitting with Abramovich?

Well, next stop is Rumor Central. Did anyone else notice who was sitting with Roman Abramovich at the game versus Manchester United yesterday? None other than Dutch national coach and former Ajax and AC Milan star Marco van Basten.

Means nothing you say? He was there by someone else’s invite you say? When has a national team manager ever come to a game and sat behind the owner who was looking down the barrel of an ordinary manager and not have it mean something?

If Marco van Basten was there to see Dutch players, then I don’t know who save for Edwin van der Sar or Salomon Kalou who hardly played. No, friends, if Avram Grant can’t make it happen you can bet Chelsea have shown the world their cards and made it clear who they have in mind to replace him.

That director’s box can sure tell a story. Against Rosenborg ‘ol Roman sat there and laughed it up with a little cutie. Yesterday, everyone (even van Basten) jumped to attention when Roman applauded, the most comic being how he was the only one clapping when Shevchenko came off and everyone suddenly started clapping as well. As Mel Brooks said, “it’s good to be the king“.

Special One can’t coach in England and why Chelsea lost the plot

Tottenham fans will just have to sign and Jol over. Even if the post at White Hart Lane were open, Jose Mourinho has agreed not to return to the Premiership until next season as part of his multi-million pound settlement with Chelsea.

It must appear I am obsessed with this story, and to some degree I am. I am still shocked at the idiocy of it all. Maybe it’s just my failure to understand Russian businessmen or the arrogance of the super rich. Maybe I just liked Mourinho and didn’t want to see him leave. I would sure like to know to what degree Avram Grant actively undermined Jose Mourinho to get his job. Maybe I am just a conspiracy theorist, I don’t know.

One thing I do know is that if Mourinho cannot take another job in the Premier League until next season, then it means Chelsea think he’ll return to haunt them. If so it means they know what they had in their hands and save for the inability of an owner to let the man do his job, he was the Special One. Chelsea have the richest owner, but he can’t manage the club. If Mourinho went to another Premiership club and beat them, well, you can just see the white handkerchiefs from the crowd now.

Look at it this way: you own a Formula 1 team, and you hire a designer who designs a world-beating car and brings you 2 World Championships in 2 years. Then, you tell the designer the car was not pretty enough and you wanted a more attractive car. So, good soldier you designer is, tries to do it, but in the process you see him turning inside out as two things start to happen: he starts to betray his principles and starts to feel like his effort so far was not good enough.
Can you think of a more corrosive force?

What manager on earth says to himself “hey, I am going to play attractive football and once my team does that, I am going to try and get results”?? None. And that’s why Roman Abramovich should sell Chelsea because he’ll never succeed being the hands on owner that he is.

Good management means hiring good people and letting them be creative and getting results with their quirks intact.

The problem with having the best manager in the world is that your owner and fans start to take winning for granted and assume trophies. While Abramovich probably reasoned that since his team was good enough, they could loosen the ropes and play more attractive –you know, step it up another level. It doesn’t work that way: a team has a certain character and you accept it for what it is. Another level is not necessarily another level.

The best example I can think of is Bolton. When Sammy Lee took over, he said he wanted to see more attractive football, but what he’s gotten is a slew of players who have forgotten the basics. Sammy Lee went for attractive rather than results, assuming he already had a good team. He did. But the focus was lost and that is what happened to Chelsea when the king proclaimed he wanted something prettier, what he got was a mess.

Sensational twist emerges in Mourinho departure

It has been revealed that Avram Grant began his preperations to become Chelsea manager over a week ago. It has emerged that Grant contacted the Isreali FA and demanded a coaching license. He was quoted as saying "I need a Pro License and I need it in a hurry".

Grant and everyone around the departure claims that the decision was taken in an emergency meeting but he and insiders apparently knew in advance and was likely a player in the drama as it has also emerged he was querying the players for information about the training sessions. Grant was confirmed as Chelsea's new manager the day after Mourinho left.

Grant contacted Amnon Raz, an Isreali football official a shocking six months ago and asked about getting Pro Licence. It didn’t go any further at the time. But the latest call took an altogether different tone. Grant wanted to know the fastest way of getting the certification required to manage in the Premier League.

It appears clear now that Roman Abramovich appointed Avram Grant in case the relationship with Mourinho did not improve, there was never any meaning behind the position he invented nor the intention to work cooperatively with the manager. Grant had every incentive to undermine, backbite, and look for a way to unseat Mourinho.

He has done just that and I am certain the players know it. I can’t imagine anyone on the team save for a few of Mourinho’s whipping boys including Andiry Shevchenko will want to play for him.

The story thickens when it appears Grant faxed details of his career to Isreal on Thursday and was immediately granted a letter to UEFA asking to treat the situation with haste.

While the upper echelons of the club try and paint over the emerging turmoil, only the pitch will demonstrate how quickly a club can become dysfunctional. It’s no way to treat a manager that has brought more success in 3 seasons than 50 previous years.

Chelsea to become revolving door

You think rumors that Jose Mourinho might have lost the dressing room might be true? Well, look at the quotes below and judge for yourself. Mourinho sits by the phone waiting for a call from Tottenham, Barcelona, Inter Milan and Real Madrid. Coaches all over Europe are wondering if Mourinho’s claim of “I am waiting for the phone calls. I want to enjoy my life but I want to work” will mean they don’t work.

Along with Mourinho's exit have been a number of key coaches and scouts. Avram Grant looks woefully unqualified to fill the hole left at the club and I doubt he can get the players to play for him. It has been revealed that at the end of training Grant would milk the players for information about whether they were satisfied with the training sessions.

Defender Ricardo Carvalho: "It is a very sad day for me and the team. I had a big offer from Real Madrid but I stayed at Chelsea because of Mourinho."

Florent Malouda: "I joined Chelsea because of my first meeting with Mourinho."

Michael Essien and Paulo Ferreira have already declared their dismay and likeliness to want to go and Frank Lampard, who waited to sign a new contract, is a 99% certainty to go and will likely follow Mourinho wherever he goes.

Claude Makelele: "This news was like a bomb for me. I would never have believed we would see the exit of the coach just two months into the season”

Didier is said to be furious with the club and friends say it's a matter of when and not if he'll leave the club.

Mourinho the next manager at Tottenham??

Jose Mourinho has quit Chelsea in a shock move. Will he become the new Tottenham Hotspur manager and stay in the Premiership?

Bookmakers have already set the odds at 5:1 to take over from Martin Jol and I think its even more likely than that, why? He likes London and wants to school his kids there. He’s said that many times already. I see no reason he wouldn’t stay also because he loves the style of football in the Premiership even though he’s accused of defensive tactics.

Spurs seem bent on pushing Martin Jol out of the door, but lets not forget that there will be a host of clubs all over Europe throwing cash at The Special One. We can start with Barcelona where he used to be an assistant. There have been rumors at the Catalan side that Frank Rijkaard is on his way out.

This could get interesting. I for one hope he stays in England.

Chelsea lose manager, and it was not by mutual consent

Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho has shocked us all by quitting as manager of Chelsea, the team which he’d let to 2 Premiership titles and seemed to all but own in his time there. The press releases claim mutual consent but that’s just a lie.

Apparently the club held a crisis meeting to discuss the indifferent start to the new season. That’s the line anyway.

The truth is that the relationship with owner Roman Abramovich was too overbearing, lack of funds he was receiving to recruit new players too little (complaining that his squad were like eggs bough from a cheaper supermarket), interference with his job too much, and lastly a reported row with captain John Terry before and after their Champions League tie with Rosenborg.

The rumored row with Terry took place after Mourinho inquired with the medical staff if there was something physically wrong with Terry to explain his form. Apparently this pissed the England captain off and heated exchanges took place. Dunno.

A second wave of rumors insist that he was dismissed, but I don’t believe it. The club are playing Russian style politics to try and save face at losing the best manager in the world.
Mourinho, even from his time in Portugal, has never tolerated interference and would not at Chelsea. The owner’s style was much too involved for his liking and over time the inevitable took place. I thought to myself it might have been better if Mourinho would quit because I didn’t see the club having a great season and it started out as lackluster as I expected.

To get the best from Mourinho you just have to leave him alone. Chelsea couldn’t and have lost out because of it.

To me, the club certainly risk becoming a laughing stock, or an embarrassment of riches riding high on the wave of mediocrity. With a crucial game against Manchester United coming, it could begin there.

Chelsea have named new-boy Avram Grant who has massive shoes to fill and has already established himself as the owners boy. He’ll play who he is told to play and be an all around lackey to the dominant owner who he’s probably been a mole for since he arrived.

Personally, I will miss Mourinho’s character and unpredictability. My prediction is a wayward season as the club will be managed on the pitch from way-on-high and will suffer because of it as did Real Madrid when they tried the same tactic. Chelsea are becoming Chelski every day.

So, can the Mourinho to Tottenham rumor start here?

Chelsea offer trial to 17 year old wonderkid

17 year old midfielder sensation Kaby has been on trial at Cheslea as the club appear ready to head off interest from a number of clubs to sign one of the brightest talents in world football. Boavista’s Kaby is widely viewed as the finest prospect in Portugal at the moment.

Kaby was born in Guinea Bissau in West Africa, but has a Portuguese passport because of his adopted father, who happens to be Mamadu Bobo Djalo, a member of the coaching staff at Boavista. The Portuguese FA are keen for him to stay in the country so that he becomes eligible to play in the national team, theoretically, he can leave for England and eventually play for the England team instead since he's never been capped for Portugal.

The deal is whispered to be incentive laden and could reach in excess of 5m pounds.

Liverpool look like champions

I’ve been very impressed with this season’s Liverpool squad, so much so that I’d have to say I think they are going to beat out Manchester United, Arsenal and Chelsea for this seasons Premiership crown.

Yes, I know it’s very early going but Liverpool have shown they can win, win ugly and win big -something that you saw Manchester United do last season and Chelsea the season before. For all the boredom that their match against Sunderland, they won ugly; against Chelsea they lost a bad penalty decision in a match that should have saw them take the 3 points, and against Derby County they won big. Despite being up 2 and then 3 and then 4-0, they kept sniffing for goals. Something Tottenham, up 3-1 against Fulham didn’t do.

The new depth in the Liverpool lineup is paying serious dividends and so is the pairing up front. Rafael Benitez, that awful beard aside, had made exactly the right decision to play Dutchman Dirk Kuyt alongside Fernando Torres. They play well together, attack the box and offer lots of different threats. When you are defending against strikers, it’s much easier when they are not multi-faceted, but with Liverpool now, you have 4 strikers that can all bring different things to the game and a pair of starters with pace and a great nose for goal. So far, Fernando Torres has been the best signing of the season so far.

The biggest difference I see in the top 4 teams so far this season is how efficient Liverpool are in front of goal. Arsenal are traditionally wasteful, Manchester United are squandering chances and great build up play and winning 1-0 when they do, and Chelsea are uncharacteristically squandering opportunities as well.

While the new look Chelsea are definitely more open and exciting to watch, as Roman Abramovich has requested, they are more vulnerable. I know Jose Mourinho thinks this is a mistake, as I do, but it looks like the meddling owner will have to learn the hard way. Chelsea are built on compactness and relentless pressure turning into opportunities. With this new open style they are exposed regularly as they were against Aston Villa and aren’t really creating great chances. Villa won because Chelsea were all over the place. It was a great game to watch but not the way a Champion plays.

In fact, it seems like Liverpool look like the Chelsea of 2 seasons ago and Chelsea are trying to be Manchester United of last season. You decide which is working.

As for Manchester United, they have a great squad. Owen Hargreaves looks top class and the buildup play is excellent. Nani looks worth every penny, and Ronaldo should be even more deadly this season than last. Unfortunately, losing Wayne Rooney for so many weeks will dent their chances, and they seem to have a lot to integrate into their side.

As for Arsenal, no team is more fluid in midfield and confident on the ball. They also have an excellent defense. But again, and again, the same complaint: they should be winning 3 and 4 to nil and too often scrape by. Robin van Persie is definitely top drawer but Emmanuel Adebayor is a lost cause. He’s causing more problems on the pitch than he is solving and should be dropped. He’s out of sync and should be in sync by now. Arsenal made a mistake not getting a top notch striker and it will cost a very talented team their chance.

For these reasons, Liverpool seen to have put it together just at the moment that their main contenders are all under shifting sands. For my money, Liverpool are good value for their first place and will raise the crown for the first time in a very long time.