Here we are then, 70 million squid later (or is it 80? I’ve lost count) and the question on everyone’s lips is can we win the title? Call me stupid if you like Claudio Ranieri but I say we can. But then, this is nothing new for me. I thought the same last season. In fact, in over forty years of supporting the blues I don’t think I’ve ever started a season not believing we could win whichever league we were in. But this is different. After almost daily arrivals of world-class players at the Bridge this summer, you’d have to say there’s room for a little more optimism than usual.
Of course, most clever-trousers pundits are claiming that even with all our new superstars it won’t happen for us this season. It takes longer to get team spirit going. The players have to gel. It all takes time. Well stuff that. We already had an excellent team that many of us thought was good enough to do the job last season so we must be in with a shout at the very least. Anyway, where did all this guff about gelling come from? How come every, pundit and journalist is suddenly talking about it?
Why, in this world of managers getting the old Spanish archer (El Bow Geddit?) after a few bad results they’re all now saying a team needs time to gel? Until recently, all those smart-arse football pundits knew about gel was that it is was something Posh slapped on Beck’s barnet during their more intimate moments.
The simple fact is that no club has ever bought so many top players all at once before and as we all know, there are even more on the way. Where will they all fit in? God knows but whatever team we put out won’t have a single weakness in it.
As far as Bridge and Johnson are concerned, all they need to do is slot into an established and very successful defence, if they get picked of course. Personally, I’d stick with Baba and Melchiot but nobody asks me about it.
As for Seba, Duffy, Geremi and Cole, they are all blessed with such exceptional ability and a superior talent for the game that you could put them in any team anywhere and they’d be an inspiration. Such highly talented players don’t need to gel. It comes naturally. They have natural skill, a concept not always understood in this country.
Of course the kidology has already started with Fergie saying our players will need time to find a system, Wenger saying they’ll need to get to know each other and Houllier saying just buying players doesn’t make a team. Well, they would, wouldn’t they?
Even Claudio Ranieri says it’ll take two seasons. Excuse me but didn’t he say that last season? Ok, I know, he doesn’t want to put pressure on the lads but does he really believe it?
Perhaps my four years as coach of a junior side doesn’t quite put me on the same level as any of those illustrious managers but I think they’re all wrong.
In the normal way, new players might need time to adjust to a different playing method but with a bunch of top players like these all you need to do is put them on the pitch together and they’ll frighten the living daylights out of any opposition.
Anfield was a good example not only of our improvement but also of how referees interfere in matters far beyond their remit. Owen blasts his penalty hopelessly wide and we’re all overjoyed. But in an act of charity on a scale not seen since Mother Teresa last bathed the starving lepers of Bombay, the ref let him have it again. Perhaps Steve Bennett felt sorry for the poor lad making such a git of himself in front his adoring fans in the Kop. Who knows? Let’s face it, if you give Michael Owen two goes at a spot kick, he’s likely to convert one of them and so he did to draw them level at one all.
But despite this and despite our two previous results against Liverpool I never felt in any doubt we would come back and win the game.
That’s three points we didn’t get last term.
Jimmy Hasselbaink’s renewed vigour was an indication he could be back to his old form, which is almost like signing another new player. With Mutu up there next to him I think they’ll bag a hatful together.
Indeed, if Crespo, Makelele and Smertin all decide to take the Abramovitch rouble, the squad, already the strongest in the league, will be such that we could field completely different teams on alternate weeks and still win most matches. Over optimistic? I don’t think so.
Of course, you can’t be sure. One of the great qualities of our beautiful game is that no facts or figures can enable even the biggest Mr Brainy Bollocks to accurately predict the outcome of any match. Even a top team packed with international mega-stars that has won its last ten games can’t be sure of winning the next one. Even if it was playing against the bottom team that hadn’t won for months, was decimated by injuries, had gone into receivership, sold its best players and just sacked its manager. Quite obviously, this is one of the most endearing aspects of the game and one reason why we love it so much. Hereford United can beat Newcastle United. Sutton United can beat Coventry City. Wrexham can beat Arsenal. Anyone can beat Manchester United - please.
If it wasn’t like this, and everything went according to the form book we’d all win the pools every week. But we wouldn’t win much.
Notwithstanding this, the only real problem on the horizon would seem to be getting the better of Real Madrid in the Champion’s League Final. They’ve got quite a handy side too.
However, without wishing to dampen the incredible excitement surrounding our beloved club just now, perhaps the question we should be asking is not whether we can win the title or the Champion’s League but where exactly did all this dosh come from? Cynics might argue that it should really be feeding the hungry folk of Siberia rather than buying fabulous International footballers.