The Round Football Column 8.14.08: 166th Edition - Premier League Preview - Part Four

Posted by  on 08.14.2008

Michael Owen, Jermain Defoe, Dave Kitson and Kenwyne Jones are all decent to very good strikers, but will it help their teams do anything? Thoughts, one click away.

No witty intro today.

Literally nothing.



Onwards.

NEWCASTLE

Good old Kevin Keegan. He's a brilliantly entertaining human being, isn't he? For that reason I hope he can make some serious waves at Newcastle this season. Even if it's only the Carling Cup, just let them win something for expletive's sake.

As I write this I still think they're incredibly short in areas, but you can always trust Shay Given and the new centre-back partnership of Coloccini and Taylor has the potential to be The Magpies tightest in any sort of memory.

I was watching The Premiership Years 2000/2001 on SKY last week and it made me remember how good Michael Owen and Mark Viduka used to be (four goals against Liverpool, anyone?), compared to how pedestrian and sluggish they are now. I'm more optimistic about Obafemi Martins and James Milner having better seasons, but Owen needs to prove why people still rave about him so much. I don't get it, but maybe he really does still have it.

It doesn't matter how many negatives I find with this lot, because I know they'll somehow have enough St. James' Park moments under Keegan to do okay. I don't know if that will still suffice, but what do the North-East faithful realistically expect?

KEY MAN: Shay Given

ONE TO WATCH: Damien Duff

ROUND FOOTBALL COLUMN VERDICT: Keegan won't be able to reignite the mid-90's glitz and glamour, but he can certainly give the fans their best season since the Bobby Robson days. I'm surprised by their lack of transfer activity, though.

PREDICTION: 10th


PORTSMOUTH

No one can believe the likes of Lassana Diarra and Jermain Defoe are at little old Pompey, but that shows what a few years of hard work and good results can do to a team's cache. Harry Redknapp was slowly building a good team at Fratton Park and his work culminated in FA Cup triumph at Wembley in May.

The big signing of Peter Crouch and the appearance in the usually-big-four-dominated Community Shield will appease the fans and money men, but shouldn't this be the time when they do what Tottenham are trying with a more substantial assault on the top four?

The sale of Muntari is actually a good piece of business in my book, because there's absolutely zero chance he's worth £12.7 million. No chance. However, it's still a big sale and a significant loss. Then there's the very real concern of David James and Sol Campbell being about half as impressive as they were last season. Everyone's expecting them to be superb again, but age has got to catch them up at some point. Surely? Plus, Jamo's in my bad books for that pathetic challenge on Kenwyne Jones during Trinidad & Tobago v England. The idiot nearly ended his career.

Anyway, back to the real business and like everyone else I think they have the potential to do very well. The Crouch and Defoe partnership could be epic, Glen Johnson is looking better, Niko Kranjcar is a very exciting player who will get even better (despite being horrific in the Community Shield) and Lassana Diarra is a genuinely incredible talent. Plus, Harry Redknapp is a superb manager - horrible FA Cup Final tactics aside - with a really strong set of backroom staff.

KEY MAN: Lassana Diarra

ONE TO WATCH: Marc Wilson

ROUND FOOTBALL COLUMN VERDICT: Everyone's raving about them in the build-up and rightly so, but the lack of creativity in midfield is a problem and the competition outside the big four is stronger than ever this season. They might not do as well as people think.

PREDICTION: 8th


STOKE

Watching the Prem, La Liga, Serie A and at least trying to have a social life means that there sometimes isn't enough time in the weekend to watch the Championship. However, when I did have the chance to watch the odd live game last season it was clear that West Brom were the only really decent team in that league. So many teams seemed to play physical tactics, and Stoke were the epitome of that.

It won't work in the Premier League, it's as simple as that. I really like Ryan Shawcross, Dave Kitson and Liam Lawrence, and it'll be interesting to see what they can in the home games, but aside from that I'm expecting horrible football, even worse tactics and severe batterings.

KEY MAN: Liam Lawrence

ONE TO WATCH: Ryan Shawcross

ROUND FOOTBALL COLUMN VERDICT: Their raw energy will get them far more points than Derby and the likes of Dave Kitson can win them games, but I'd be shocked if they didn't get relegated.

PREDICTION: 20th


SUNDERLAND

The theory of Sunderland doing well last season is a myth. They spent a shit-load of cash and only finished 15th – plus they were shocking for big spells. I'm happy to jump on the Roy Keane bandwagon, because it seems like he's a very effective man-manager. However, he's in desperate need of a director of football to buy him a better, more affordable squad. He wasted so much cash and doesn't seem to have received much stick about it.

Having said that, they had some really good moments and racked up a very impressive home record largely due to a very passionate Stadium of Light support. Having such a strong home record and only finishing 15th obviously highlights a painful points tally on their travels, and that must improve if they are going to even think about squeezing into the top ten.

The summer activity has been interesting, but with sod's law ever-present in Wearside it was disappointing to see the two strongest targets (Taiwo and Kaboul) fall through. I don't trust Diouf and no one ever should, while the acquisition of Tainio in a central midfield space that seems like it's been promised to him seems a little bit odd. The big problem clearly lies in central defence, though. Amongst the errors we did see some great goalkeeping from Craig Gordon in spells, while the full-backs, Bardsley and Collins look decent. That leaves the central defence as the problem. Pascal Chimbonda is a very good coup from Keane and with Bardsley perhaps doing enough to stay at right-back, it could be the former Tottenham player's job to tighten-up the centre. That won't be enough, though. Nosworthy, Higginbotham and McShane are simply not good enough for this league, especially the latter two, and I think Keane knows that.

It's not all negative, though – far from it. They'll probably amass another impressive home record, Kenwyne Jones should continue his impressive progression when he returns from injury and the likes of Steed Malbranque and Kieran Richardson can win them games.

KEY MAN: Pascal Chimbonda

ONE TO WATCH: Kieran Richardson

ROUND FOOTBALL COLUMN VERDICT: There will be no cheeky flirting with that young girl called relegation, but Keane won't be making history in Sunderland as early as he's suggesting to the North-East press. Not with this squad, anyway. The Black Cats have a lot of decent players, but only a couple of very good ones. They have until August 31 to start making it about quality rather than quantity.

PREDICTION: 13th


Final column tomorrow.

Done.