2013-2014 Season Preview: Focus on the managers – Part 1

First there is David Moyes, then Manuel Pellegrini, then Jose Mourinho. All are new manager in the group most would agree are the genuine contenders for the 2013-2014 premier league title, although in Jose Mourinho case, it’s more like ‘second term’. Put Arsene Wenger in the picture and you have the genuine top four contenders...
Manchester United is the defending champion and is the only team in the group so far with little transfer activity. There is only Guillermo Varela from Penarol, signed at the beginning of the transfer windows and possibility of him going out on loan is rift. The team is largely intact from last season with Paul Scholes the only player missing – through retirement. However the bigger picture here for Manchester United is the change of manager. Out goes the legendary Sir Alex Ferguson and in comes David Moyes from Everton. Unproven at this level but with full backing from the board after being handpicked by Sir Alex, David Moyes has ‘out of the world’ expectation to succeed probably the greatest football manager of all time. David Moyes’ job did not start with a bang, unconvincing pre season results, rather unsuccessful in securing a marquee signing so far, and the Wayne Rooney saga, all pointing to the fact that it is not going to be straight forward transition.

 

The expectations that David Moyes has to deal with should come as no surprise, it is after all the biggest club in the country if not the world. Understandably issues after issues will appear and David Moyes must be ready for it. The better yardstick for David Moyes will be the first competitive match – The FA Community Shield against Wigan Athletic. This where the world (or rather Manchester United fans) will see how David Moyes pick his team and how he plays them in formation. He is unlikely to get full credit if Manchester United wins the Shield, neither will he be overly criticized if he wins it unconvincingly. Should he lose the critics will be having their field day. Either way David Moyes only needs to put his ‘feet down’ and get on with the job – David Moyes’ way, after all it got him this job in the first place. An excellent start will see David Moyes further seals his mark as Manchester United manager and his first real test comes in the form of Jose Mourinho of Chelsea at Old Trafford.

 

Chelsea has Jose Mourinho, starting his second term after a successful first stint yielding among other trophies – two premier league titles. After Mourinho, Carlo Ancelotti managed one premier league title but it is the FA Cup where Chelsea has the bragging rights. In between there are League Cup (under Mourinho), Champions League (Roberto Di Matteo) and Europa League (Rafa Benitez). Chelsea still has the core group of players during Mourinho’s first stint (Petr Cech, John Terry, Frank Lampard, Ashley Cole, Michael Essien), plus another group of youthful exciting players – David Luiz, Ramirez, Mata, Oscar, Hazard and Moses. Despite raking in trophies Chelsea grabs more headlines with owner Roman Abramovich’s ‘trigger-happy attitude’ when comes to sacking managers. In between Jose Mourinho first and second stint there are six changes, all sacked with the exception of Guus Hiddick. All managers that came are high-rated yet none survived more than two seasons. Remember Chelsea’s Luiz Felipe Scolari? The poor chap! Being a World Cup winner he did not even last one full season, and he started his Chelsea reign with a bang! Wins after wins and goals were coming from everywhere, he is winning praises from every corner. As the season progress results started to reverse and eventually costs him his job. However, despite the managers’ fiasco the trophies keep coming in. This shows that Chelsea has a strong squad, built from the Claudio Raineri and Jose Mourinho (first stint) time. In addition the existing players – the core group of players in Terry and Co seems to have larger than expected influences on the team, including the manager hired by Abramovich. But these groups of players are starting to show their age (if not influence) and the younger group may need to step up to stamp their mark on the ‘new’ Chelsea.

 

There is not much significant movement for Chelsea in the transfer market either. Chelsea did sign Mark Schwarzer (goalkeeper), Marco Van Ginkel and Andre Schurrle during the beginning of the transfer window. Schwarzer looks more like a backup option while Van Ginkel and Schurrle are relatively unknown and more likely to be bench warmers at Chelsea, at least at the start of the season. At the same time Jose Mourinho has been insisting that his primary target is still Manchester United want-away forward – Wayne Rooney. New signings so far gave indication that Jose Mourinho intended to use existing squad he inherited, with only tactical changes to their play. It is also worth highlighting that Jose Mourinho is now older, wiser and more experience compare to his first stint (he refers himself as the ‘Happy One’). Mourinho being the factor and with the squad he inherited should put Chelsea as favourite for the title.

 

To be continue:- 2013-2014 Season Preview:Focus on the managers – Part 2