The combination of the marquee signings around the league being a hit as well as the development of a number of Australian (and NZ) players led to the league being more interesting and certainly more watchable than ever before.

This season is the season after the breakout and in a lot of ways it is as important as last year. The league needs to show that it actually turned a corner and became the league it is going to be, as opposed to a one off year that will simply be remembered fondly when looking back. If this coming season is much the same as last year, or potentially even better, the A-League will really have arrived as a league to be taken seriously on the world football stage, as well as a league to be taken seriously as a football code here in Australia.

The A-League is never going to be the EPL. It is never going to be truly elite and will never be the place for Australian players looking to develop into top players to stay. But it can certainly be an entertaining league where young Aussie players showcase themselves, older Aussie players return and foreign players take seriously.

It can definitely be what the MLS has become in the US. There are plenty of bigger names who head there later in their career, players looking for a break and of course the development of local talent. The MLS also has developed a very sustainable and hardcore fan base and now isn’t really considered a bit of a joke as it once was.

So with this year being a year to capitalise and push on from last year’s success, let’s take a look at the 2013/14 A-League Season.

Fox Sports have handily provided a page detailing the changes to the playing rosters so we can see just who looks to have headed in which direction.

A lot of reports suggest that many consider Melbourne Victory and Brisbane Roar to be the highest rated teams this year, suggesting the West Sydney Wanderers and Central Coast Mariners may have slipped a little.

In terms of the Wanderers I tend to agree. That is not to say the Wanderers won’t be good, but I think a lot of what they managed last year will be very difficult to replicate and therefore I expect them to regress purely because they overachieved last year. They have brought in Tomi Juric and Dean Heffernan who will add value, but I think the loss of Joey Gibbs hurts as he is a real prospect up front and is a very good signing for Newcastle. It will also do Gibbs the world of good to learn from Emile Heskey. Matthew Spiranovic just recently signed up and he is a huge signing for the Wanderers, so their defence will be interesting to watch as Spiranovic attempts to push for a World Cup spot.

The Wanderers will still rely a lot on Shinji Ono and Aaron Mooy to create, but there’s no reason to think they won’t do the job expected of them.

The Mariners have lost a lot of players as you can see on the link earlier. The question is whether the players who have joined can pick up that slack. Marcos Flores certainly fits that bill as he is a legitimate star of the league. Matt Simon also returns to the A-League and is a proven performer. The Mariners will also be reliant on new defensive signing Marcel Seip doing the job previously done by stalwart Patrick Zwaanswijk.

The hype around the Victory and Roar makes sense too. Whilst the Victory have lost stars in Flores and Rojas, as well as the solid Billy Celeski, coach Ange Postecoglou has recruited very well. Mitch Nicholls re-joins his old coach from Brisbane and after an Italian experience to forget James Troisi is a big coup, as he also looks to secure a spot in the Socceroos side in Brazil. Pablo Contreras is also a big signing if he has much left at 35.

The Roar haven’t lost too much after a disappointing season last year. The signing of Liam Miller is big and a team including Miller, Thomas Broich and Besart Berisha is always going to be dangerous. But with everyone expecting a bounce back year from the former champs, the pressure and eyes will be on them to deliver.

Sydney FC are also expected to improve this year after just scraping into the finals last year. With this probably the final year that Del Piero will play for the Sky Blues they will need to make the most of the opportunity. They have signed pretty well and have quite a deep team now. A case can be made for several different line-up options being their best 11, but one thing that matters is that Terry McFlynn needs to be nowhere near the first team.

McFlynn is now no longer captain and if he is prominently involved then Farina will have gotten a lot wrong. They simply have too much depth now to be playing the worst player in the entire league in such a crucial midfield role.

Melbourne Heart have signed Harry Kewell, which is the big news, but their other signings could end up being much more important. Orlando Engelaar unfortunately broke his leg already but the club have now signed Malta captain Michael Mifsud. I remember watching him back in his Coventry days and it will be interesting to see how he goes for the Heart.

Newcastle have a team I love watching. Their attack involving Heskey, Virgili and Goodwin is brilliant to watch and now they also have Nathan Burns and Joey Gibbs. Their chances will rely heavily on whether new signing Kew Jaliens will improve their defence, but I’ll be watching a lot of their games. I love Craig Goodwin.

Perth have made a lot of changes, but the main thing I’ll be watching is young gun Daniel De Silva. This kid could be anything and has the potential to be our best prospect since Cahill and Kewell. I just hope he gets enough playing time to showcase his talent and maybe even be recruited by a big European club.

Wellington have signed Carlos Hernandez who will be a big recruit for them. The only question is whether the big in the previous sentence ends up relating to his performance or his actual weight. If he is fit and ready to go he is capable of anything. Also of interest is Ernie Merrick taking over the coaching job from All Whites coach Ricki Herbert.

I finish with Adelaide and honestly I’m not particularly excited by them. Bringing in Michael Zullo could be good for them and for his chances at making the Socceroos, but most of their other signings are ones that we need to judge on performance as I simply know nothing about them. I don’t expect that much from Adelaide this year, but if their signings prove to be master strokes, that certainly could change.

At the end of the day all that matters is that the quality of the matches lives up to last year as opposed to who is winning those matches. As a Sydney FC fan I am hopeful the Sky Blues send ADP off with a fairy tale finish, but overall for the A-League what is important is capitalising on last year and cementing themselves as a high quality league worthy of the interest of the Australian public.

I can’t wait until kick off.

The post A Season to Capitalise appeared first on Something Clever.

We’re down to the real business end of the season. 6 has become 4. 4 will soon become 2. It is preliminary finals time and two mouth-watering battles await us this weekend.

Here are my thoughts on both matches.

South Sydney Rabbitohs v Manly Sea Eagles @ ANZ Stadium, Friday night

Both sides enter this contest in vastly different physical shape. South Sydney will be refreshed after a week off. The break has been invaluable for them and, in particular, their prized possession, Greg Inglis. On the other hand, Manly limp into this game following two extremely physical encounters and a number of their key players will line up on Friday night with some question mark over their fitness.

South Sydney has been a more consistent side than Manly this season and has defeated them on the road in both their encounters this season.

Everything points to a relatively comfortable South Sydney victory but will this play out in reality? The bookmakers certainly think this will be the case. I am not so sure, or confident, for that matter.

South Sydney enter this game as warm favourites. With favouritism comes pressure and expectation. Fans from Mascot to Matraville to Maroubra can smell a grand final appearance and many have already purchased their tickets in anticipation of seeing their side on the biggest stage on the first Sunday in October.

If I have one criticism of South Sydney, it is the fact that their attack is fairly predictable, or for a better word, one dimensional. South Sydney love playing a game of smash and bash. It is a simple, direct game plan which is highly taxing on player fitness, but which can be extremely effective against the lesser physical sides. It is premised on picking a physically intimidating side, with smaller or more mobile players often being the sacrificial lambs.

Such a plan was highly successful against Melbourne two weeks ago. They outmuscled Melbourne in the first 30 minutes of that match and set up their victory. However, they tired noticeably in the second half of that encounter.

Will such tactics be a recipe for success against Manly? I, for one, don’t think so. For one, Manly has a far stronger pack than Melbourne.

Manly has also shown this finals series that they are up the physical challenge. The only query for mine is whether the past two weeks has taken too much gas out of their tank.

If the smash and bash fails, I struggle to see where the Bunnies points will come from outside a moment(s) of magic from Inglis. Coach Toovey will be hammering home to his players the importance of limiting Inglis’ involvement, something Melbourne did well a couple of weeks ago.

I certainly don’t think $1.42 South Sydney v $2.95 Manly is a true reflection of the contest. The nucleus of this Manly side has been here and done it before on the biggest stage. Outside of Inglis, it is probably the biggest game each of the South Sydney players have played in their careers. I overheard a former South Sydney great say earlier in the week that this is an even money contest. I tend to agree.

Sydney Roosters v Newcastle Knights @ Allianz Stadium, Saturday night

Like South Sydney, the Roosters enter this game as clear favourite and are expected to progress to next week’s finale. However, I expect the Roosters to handle the favouritism tag far better than their cross town rivals.

The boys from Bondi are littered with talent from 1 through to 13. They are the best defensive outfit and possess the competition’s most destructive attacking weapon in Sonny Bill Williams. They have had the benefit of a week’s break and will enter this fray cherry ripe.

Newcastle are the Cinderella story of this season’s finals series. Most pundits expected them to bow out in Week 1 of the finals but they have continued to defy the odds and ride into the SFS this weekend on a real wave of momentum. As we all know, momentum cannot be underestimated at this time of the year. Take Parramatta and the Wests Tigers as examples of this in the last decade.

Like almost all big matches, it will largely come down to defence. Newcastle has been superb defensively against Canterbury and Melbourne in the past two weeks. However, they face an opposition this weekend that contains far more attacking aces than both of those sides.

The Roosters are not a one dimensional attacking outfit. They can play laterally or direct up the middle. They are dangerous on the left and right edge and have “finishes” who make finding the try line a habit. Jennings and Tuivasa-Sheck are two such names.

Without taking away too much from their achievements so far, Newcastle have arguably defeated two opponents not in the best of form. Canterbury scraped their way into the finals and Melbourne were quite “un-Melbourne like” this finals campaign.

One thing that is assured this Saturday night is that the Knights will turn up. They will stick to their successful strategy of low risk football based around good field position, high completion and defence. Halfback Tyrone Roberts had a blinder last weekend and a repeat performance is needed. However, I don’t think they have the artillery to outscore the Roosters and repelling the Roosters’ attack will be a far greater challenge for them.

I would love Newcastle to win and keep the Buderus fairy tale alive but I just don’t see it happening. They will be extremely brave but I expect the Roosters to get the chocolates and proceed to next weekend’s decider. The Merewether hotel will be jeering at the result but cheering their Sunday and Monday night profits.

The post NRL Preliminary Finals Preview appeared first on Something Clever.

Unfortunately, the on-field action was overshadowed by a numerical howler on the part of the officials in the Sharks v Cowboys match. Let’s hope that the footy, rather than the officiating, dominates the headlines this weekend. The last thing we want to be hearing about are conspiracy theories.

Here are my thoughts on Week 2 of the finals series.

Manly Sea Eagles v Cronulla Sharks @ Allianz Stadium, Friday night

The battle of the beaches kicks off Week 2 of finals action. Both teams enter this contest with injury clouds surrounding key players. Todd Carney has been ruled out and Brett Stewart is in extreme doubt.

Manly to my mind were far more impressive than Cronulla in their respective matches last weekend. Cronulla struggled to get the ascendency up front against the Cowboys despite having a clear advantage in the forwards whereas Manly really muscled up against the Roosters.

Success in September is built on winning the physical battle and defence. Manly proved last Saturday night that they are physically and defensively very strong, limiting the Roosters to a solitary try from a grubber kick. Although their attack was continuously repelled by the Roosters, they do possess many attacking weapons and have the ability to put on many points on the scoreboard.

The loss of Todd Carney is a big blow to Cronulla. Despite being below his best last week, Carney is an X factor type player and a match winner in his own right. In his absence, I struggle to see where Cronulla’s points will come from. Coach Flanagan will be forced to adopt a direct “up the middle” game plan which relies on the likes of Paul Gallen, Andrew Fifita and Co continually getting over the advantage line and creating second phase opportunities for Michael Gordon. If Manly defend like they did last week, they should be able to counter this. I don’t expect Cronulla to play too laterally.

The only concern I have about Manly is if they can rebound physically from their brutal contest 6 days ago. If they can, and I expect they will, they will have too much firepower for a Cronulla side which has already ridden its luck this finals series. Expect Cronulla’s defensive left edge of Jonathan Wright and Sosaia Feki to be worked over and face an attacking avalanche. Feki will likely be peppered by an aerial bombardment from Daly Cherry-Evans so it could be a long night for the rookie.

Manly to win this one comfortably for mine and set up a mouthwatering battle next weekend with sentimental favourite, South Sydney. Northies should expect to turn a good profit in the Shire this weekend.

Melbourne Storm v Newcastle Knights @ AAMI Park, Saturday night

I expect this game to be far closer than Friday night’s encounter. The Knights were particularly impressive in wearing down and eventually overpowering the Bulldogs. They played what you call smart finals football – executing a conservative game plan based around high completion and an accurate kicking game in a nutshell. It was a typical Bennett orchestrated finals performance.

Melbourne put in a mixed performance against a fired up Bunnies outfit focused on exacting revenge. They were caught off the pace early and before they knew it they were chasing the game. To their credit, they slowly worked their way back into the game and were the better side in the second half. At 14-6 down, they were on the receiving end of a horrible video referring decision, a decision which halted their momentum and revitalised a tiring Bunnies outfit. It was a huge decision in the context of the match. If the decision had gone in Melbourne’s favour, I believe the eventual outcome of the game would have been different. But that’s footy for you.

As impressive as the Knights were last weekend, they played an opposition far inferior to that which Melbourne encountered. I have found it particularly hard to establish a form line around the Bulldogs, who have been very inconsistent this season. Melbourne will not hand over the cheap possession that the Bulldogs did last weekend and they are a far more disciplined outfit than the boys from Belmore.

Nevertheless, the game will be an arm wrestle. It will resemble trench warfare and I expect it to be a close, low scoring affair. The likes of Willie Mason, Beau Scott and Jeremy Smith will fancy their chances of dominating their less experienced forward opponents. If Melbourne can match the Knights physicality, a moment of magic from one of the “Big 3” may prove to be the difference.

Melbourne has won their past 7 encounters against the Knights and I expect history to repeat itself, just. A parochial Melbourne crowd will get the Storm over the line and into their 8th preliminary final in the last 9 seasons.

* * *

For the sports multi, take Manly and Newcastle, both at the line.

Something’s got a hold on me and it’s Week 2 finals action – bring it on!

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Here are my thoughts on Week 1 of the finals series.

South Sydney v Melbourne Storm @ ANZ Stadium, Friday night

Historically, Melbourne has had the wood on the Bunnies. In the corresponding game last season, Melbourne put the Bunnies to the sword. Melbourne’s start was electrifying and the Bunnies could not go with them. The game was over in the first 30 minutes.

The Bunnies this year are a different proposition. They are arguably the competition’s most talented side personnel wise and they play a scintillating, yet structured, brand of footy. Combined with their physical presence, they have been a daunting proposition for most opposing sides. To beat the Bunnies, you need to match them in the arm wrestle and limit the involvement of Greg Inglis.

Inglis is the absolute key to South Sydney. If he’s not fully fit, the Bunnies cannot win the premiership in my opinion. He is their most important player by a country mile. Their whole game plan hinges off him returning the ball strongly and giving them “front foot” possession. This immediately gives their intimidating forward pack momentum which enables the likes of Reynolds and Sutton to attack against a retreating defensive line.

Unfortunately for the Bunnies, Inglis does not appear to be fully fit. He has more tape around his knee than an Egyptian mummy at present.

This presents the Storm with a great chance to knock off the Bunnies this weekend. Craig Bellamy will be drilling in to his players the significance of victory this Friday night…a week off and a home preliminary final. Such a prize almost guarantees the Storm will be right up for this game. Victory, however, will depend on the accuracy of Cooper Cronk’s kicking game. Expect Cronk to pepper the wingers or be willing to put the ball over the sideline or even dead in goal to limit Inglis’ involvement. If Cronk has his kicking boots on and executes accordingly, I expect the Storm’s 9 year winning run against the Bunnies in Sydney to continue, just!

Cronulla v North Queensland @ Allianz Stadium, Saturday afternoon

Only the most optimistic, one-eyed Cowboys fan would have had their team featuring in this year’s finals series 7 weeks ago. Neil Henry was made the scapegoat for a side which had horribly underachieved until then.

Henry gets the axe and suddenly the Cowboys rediscover their mojo. They are now playing with confidence and a kind of carefree attitude which makes them unpredictable, yet extremely dangerous. Their two most important players, JT and the man they affectionately call “Mango”, are firing on all cylinders. The Cowboys are the team with the most momentum in the bottom half of the Top 8. Having won 4 of 6 in Sydney this year, I think it’s fair to say that their “Sydney hoodoo” no longer exists.

The Sharks have performed admirably this season in the midst of adversity. They have done remarkably well to make the finals series, despite the on going distraction of the ASADA investigation. Central to the Sharks’ chances, are the effervescent, Todd Carney. League’s former bad boy has turned a new leaf at the Sharks and for once his footy, rather than off field antics, is doing the talking.

Focusing on tomorrow’s battle, Cronulla has a more dominant forward pack, whereas the Cowboys have more firepower out wide. There are injury concerns over a number of key players going into this contest. Carney has a hamstring niggle, Fifita has a calf strain and Matt Scott is returning from a broken finger.

If it rains, as is forecast, I’m leaning towards the Sharks as the forward battle will be even more important. If it stays dry, it enhances the Cowboys chances greatly and perhaps JT will be the difference. It will be an intriguing battle. Hold off on your bets until the final line-ups are announced.

Sydney Roosters v Manly Sea Eagles @ Allianz Stadium, Saturday night

This will be a brutal affair with very little separating the two sides. It is the most even contest of the weekend in my opinion. Both sides have powerful, yet skillful, forward packs with electrifying backlines. Defensively, they are both extremely sound and the most effective at executing the up and in style “umbrella” defence and forcing attacking units into error.

Daly Cherry-Evans, Jamie Lyon and David Williams are the best right attacking edge in the competition. On the other hand, the Roosters possess the most potent left sided attack in James Maloney, Michael Jennings and Daniel Tupou.

Jared Waerea-Hargreaves is a big loss upfront for the Roosters but I don’t think this tips the scales in favour of Manly. League’s most ill disciplined player, Luke O’Donnell is a capable replacement and an experienced finals campaigner who surely will be ready to make amends for his brain fade against the Tigers a few weeks ago.

What will separate the sides come Saturday night…a simple answer, SBW.

SBW is the best forward in the competition. His ability to offload the ball in the tackle and create second phase play is second to none. He can go to the line and put a player into a gap or steamroll his way through a brick wall. He is the complete footballer and a moment of SBW brilliance could well be the difference on Saturday night.

I also expect home ground advantage to play a factor in this game. Roosters’ fans are notorious for jumping on the bandwagon in good times and Manly supporters don’t like crossing the Spit, let alone Harbour Bridge.

Expect a bumper tri-colours crowd for the main course of the double header. They, together will SBW, will get the Roosters over the line in an absolute cliffhanger.

Canterbury Bulldogs v Newcastle Knights @ ANZ Stadium, Sunday afternoon

I just can’t get a read on the Bulldogs this year. At the start of the season, they were undermanned with the likes of Sam Kasiano, James Graham and Ben Barba on the sideline. With a near full strength line up, I expected them to gather momentum in the latter half of the season and charge into the finals as a serious premiership contender.

To the contrary, they have limped in to the finals with a series of mixed performances. Opponents this season have been able to effectively counter their short passing, lateral game plan. For the Bulldogs to win this weekend, Sam Kasiano and Ben Barba both need to have blinders. Kasiano may, but I can’t see Barba doing so. Injury combined with multiple off field distractions have dominated his season. He is nowhere near the player he was 12 months ago. I can’t see him turning the tide and rediscovering his 2012 touch this week.

On the other hand, the Knights come into Sunday’s encounter with some nice momentum. They are almost the forgotten side of the Top 8 with very few pundits expecting them to seriously challenge for the premiership.

They may be affectionately called Dad’s Army, but I really like the make-up of their side – a good balance of experience and youth, often a successful recipe at this time of the season. Jeremy Smith and Beau Scott provide some real steel to their forward pack. Tyrone Roberts is a much underrated halfback and I expect him to neatly steer the Knights around the paddock, showing experience beyond his years. Having the most successful finals coach of the modern day era plotting the Dogs downfall is also an invaluable asset for the Knights.

I expect Mad Monday festivities to be in full swing in Belmore next week with the Knights living to fight another day.

Good luck if your team is still alive in 2013 and happy punting!

The post NRL Finals Series Preview – Week 1 appeared first on Something Clever.

The English lower divisions are already back in action and this weekend they are joined by the top flight, with the season kicking off with Liverpool taking on Stoke City at 9:45pm Saturday night AEST. So in the spirit of the season, I felt it was my duty to prepare you for the upcoming season, although this won’t be a full on club by club guide with details on transfers and predictions for everyone, but rather just an overview of major changes and points of interest.

So for the first time in 27 years, Manchester United will not be managed by Sir Alex Ferguson. He has been replaced by former Everton manager and fellow Scot David Moyes. Now to give credit where it is due, Moyes is a good manager who had some pretty successful years with Everton with limited resources. Overall I think it is a pretty sound hire by United, as Moyes is likely to try and carry on Ferguson’s vision and structure and not completely tear it down and do it his own way the way someone like Jose Mourinho might have.

However, David Moyes is still no Alex Ferguson and I can’t for the life of me think that losing Fergie won’t cost United some points during the season. If Alex Ferguson isn’t worth a few wins a season then no manager is. For that reason alone I think Manchester United will struggle to retain their title. Then on top of that you have the issue of Wayne Rooney potentially leaving or at least wanting to. At this point in time United are quite a top heavy team in that they are quite reliant on their star players more than they used to be. Should Robin van Persie get injured then I think they are in a lot of trouble, which can be said for most teams, but it is something that rarely has been the case for the Red Devils in the past. It would be unlikely they finish outside the top four, but I’m not totally ruling it out depending on what happens with Rooney and if van Persie has a similar season to last year.

Crosstown rivals Manchester City on the other hand are poised to once again challenge for the title. Their squad is fantastic, as it should be with the money they have spent on it, but they too have a new manager in Manuel Pellegrini so it will be interesting to see what impact that has on their season. As always they have brought in some great players to strengthen their squad and of those leaving only Carlos Tevez would probably still be pushing for a first team place. As long as Pellegrini isn’t an abject failure, I can’t see City finishing outside the top 2.

The other team I think will be in the top 2 with Man City is Chelsea. First and foremost they are welcoming back ‘The Special One’ in the aforementioned Jose Mourinho. Mourinho is a writer’s dream for all his antic and quotes, but he is also a fantastic manager. Their squad is solid and I think Mourinho will get the best out of them. It is pretty amazing to think that the three teams I just discussed all have new managers though, isn’t it?

In the next three are North London rivals Arsenal and Tottenham as well as my beloved Liverpool. If I had to pick today which club finishes highest out of those three sides I would say Tottenham, but it is close and anyone’s guess, especially with all three teams still in the transfer market.

Tottenham have a super talented squad and added to it with the signing of Roberto Soldado and Paulinho. I really like their team and as long as they hold on to Gareth Bale they are in for a very competitive season. Unfortunately for Spurs fans, that is a big ‘if’ and I don’t think anyone really knows which white jersey Bale will be pulling on by the end of the season, Tottenham’s or Real Madrid’s.

In a similar boat is Luis Suarez at Liverpool. The Reds are still in their rebuild mode but with a bunch of good young players and some interesting new signings, Brendan Rodgers is finally starting to build a side that can once again compete and push for a top 4 place. Whether it is this year or not remains to be seen and the Suarez situation changes everything if he leaves on the eve of the season. At the time of writing however it appears as though he is going to stay and certainly not be sold to rivals Arsenal.

The fact that Arsenal look unlikely to sign Suarez, as well as missing out on most of their other main targets, leaves them in a tough spot. They have a good team as always but that’s about it. There is a growing group of fans calling for Arsene Wenger’s head and if they fail to bring in any of the gun signings they were after that unrest will grow further. I can’t see them slipping below 6th, but it is also entirely possible they finish 6th if they can’t improve their squad. Then again, they also could finish as high as 3rd if everything comes together.

The new teams in the EPL this year are Cardiff, Hull City and Crystal Palace replacing QPR, Reading and Wigan. Hull have made a number of interesting and solid signings and will hope it will be enough to stay up. It will be tough for them but they are capable. Palace adds yet another London club to the EPL, but I’d be surprised if they can hold their place. They would need Marouane Chamakh to become what Arsenal thought he was when they first bought him, but to be honest I can’t see it. It’s not impossible, but if I had to bet on a team going down it would be Crystal Palace.

Cardiff on the other hand are a fascinating case. For years they were on the cusp of being promoted and becoming the first Welsh team into the EPL, when all of a sudden their nemesis Swansea got promoted and have become a solid EPL team. Now Cardiff join them for the first time in what is sure to be an epic battle for supremacy of Wales. I can’t wait for their derby matches. Cardiff already had a team that I considered Premier League competitive and added a few solid signings, so I can definitely see them being able to stay up, but they need some luck as all promoted teams do. But it would be great if they could stay up a while and we could see a few years of Swansea and Cardiff doing battle in the top flight.

What about the other sides?

Aston Villa I think might struggle mightily this year, which would be a very big name club to be relegated if that were to happen.

Everton start the Roberto Martinez and could really go either way. Fulham have replaced Schwarzer with the very good Maarten Stekelenburg in goals, but need a better season than last year.

Newcastle also need a better year than last year and have signed Loic Remy to try fill the hole created when Demba Ba left for Chelsea.

Their local rival Sunderland just missed out on relegation last year and have overhauled their squad, hoping to survive this year.

Norwich have also made a number of changes, but all they really want at this stage is to solidify their Premier League status.

Southampton haven’t made many waves this off season but like Norwich will be looking to just stay solid in the middle of the pack.

Stoke have ended the Tony Pulis era and replaced him with Mark Hughes. Will they no longer play their much maligned but successful, physical style? If so, will it cost them?

West Brom had a great season last year and have brought in some old veterans to try improve on that. Anelka, Lugano and Gera? That’s a bit of a retirement village, but West Brom look to be doing well.

West Ham also had a decent season last year and just added Stewart Downing to go along with Andy Carroll and Joe Cole as part of the ‘Failed Liverpool Squad’. They could go either way depending on injury as they aren’t deep, but could be dangerous if they can keep their best side on the field.

I’m sure I left out plenty of talking points and you are welcome to comment with what you are looking forward to. Overall though I’m just excited to have the EPL back and look forward to many late nights on the weekend once again, especially if my jinx of watching Liverpool games is over and I am no longer sent to bed by fellow Liverpool fans.

Enjoy kick off.

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