We have not even reached the half point I know. Is there a pre-season decision/action taken by a club or manager we could think of that had a significant impact on the league? Selling the Rat ? - Not much choice there as he was determined to go and Barca were keen to get him. Appointing LVG? No huge shakes so far and United still nowhere near the top. He is still trying all sorts of systems and injuries to defenders may have forced his hand. For me, the decision of Wenger not to take Fabregas back when offered could be the most critical. He could have strengthened his first team with a player with excellent premiership credentials. He didn't do that but more crucially he allowed Chelsea to take him, who now are stronger as a result. Now the title is Chelsea's to lose. No wonder Arsenal fans are mad. If only they had taken back their prodigal son...
Very surprised you aren't having a pop at Liverpool Christian! My take on it is slightly different to yours, although I agree with the fact that some managers have been somewhat forced into some of their situations, namely LVG's injuries in defense and Liverpool's injury to Sturridge. I think the biggest mistake so far has been Arsene not buying a holding midfielder and a quality centreback for the umpteenth year in a row. I agree that Fab would improve them but it wouldn't help them that much defensively, they are in dire need of defensive reinforcements. They probably need two centrebacks to be honest, it's diabolical to go into a season only 6 defenders, and two of those being left backs, so essentially Chambers was covering CB and FB... The next biggest mistake imo was Balotelli. As you say Suarez was always going to leave, so the money was mainly spent on a lot of squad players that may only come good in the future. Playing CL football required them to flesh out their squad, so there's no problem with that, but the major issues were not addressed in the summer: buy an adequate replacement for Suarez, and buy a defensive mid because their defense was terrible last season. Clearly Balotelli has been a dismal failure so far, but more than just the poor form, it's the fact that there was no way he was ever going to fit into LFC's style of play, and that's what Rodgers should have realised. Secondly Gerrard is not a defensive midfielder, it's clearly obvious and again the blame has to be laid at the manager's feet for not resolving this. LVG may not have gotten too many points so far, but how he wants the team to play is clear, and we have a good feeling regarding where the team is going, in stark contrast to a year ago. This is why MUFC fans are so content with the situation, and which many rival fans can't seem to understand. I don't think Pellegrini could do too much differently, some of his star players are out of form, but I don't see it as a tactical issue or due to poor transfer business, unlike the situation at LFC and AFC.
I like the decision by Chelsea and Man City to pretend that one didn't sell Lampard to the other ................
I think Chelsea would still be walking the title with or without Fabregas. I don't see him or any of there players as essential, maybe with the exception of Costa. Chelsea just have an all round strong squad of players this season. On the flip side had Arsene Wenger signed Fabregas, he may not have splashed the cash on Alexis Sanchez, so Arsenal may be in an even worse position than they are now. Fabregas is also a creative midfield player, an area Arsenal are very strong in anyways. I wouldn't say Fabregas is that much better than any of the other creative midfielders that they already have
Agree with TB on Arsenal - Fabregas, Ramsey, Wilshere and Cazorla would be too much to fit into one midfield imo without some of them having to compromise. What they have missed out on is Matic, Blind and Fernando. Three other PL clubs signed top class DMs in the summer, and Arsenal made no real effort to compete for any of them, or any other DM. Flamini simply isn't good enough. Dunno if they needed a top CB - Koscielny and Mertesacker did form a good partnership last year. What they needed was some good quality backups to cover for them - someone to replace Vermaelen, and probably one more. Re: Liverpool, buying Balotelli wasn't the worst mistake, it was seeing him as the sole replacement for Suarez. Like when Utd sold Ronaldo, we bought Obertan as a bit of a gamble, hoping he would come good and end up as a long term replacement, but we also bought Valencia as a guaranteed quality replacement for Ronaldo. Had Liverpool actually gotten Remy, Sanchez, Falcao or any of the other proven quality strikers who moved in summer then no one would have cared about Balotelli. But buying him and Lambert as the only replacements for Suarez was basically asking for trouble given Sturridge's injury record. Utd made mistakes as well tbf - Rojo isn't the type of defensive leader we need right now. We do need a leader at the back, someone who will be vocal and manage the line. Evans, Jones and Rojo are all good CBs who can do a job, but need someone alongside them to make sure they always know what that job is. Doesn't need to be a world class CB like Hummels, someone like Vlaar will be just as good, as what he may lack in outright quality he will make up for in leadership and consistency. Pellegrini did make a bit of a mistake, in that he failed to adequately freshen his title winning side. That was the one thing that made SAF stand out from all other managers in the PL - every time Utd won the title he would look to challenge the team, bring in more players, and ensure the players never took anything for granted. I don't think Toure, Silva et al are really out of form at City, I just think they can't be arsed to really push themselves in routine PL games any more after winning a couple of titles. Same as in 2012/13 when they were so poor after winning the league. They are the proverbial 'names in the envelope' who let the team down and prevent them from retaining the league. Pellegrini didn't buy anyone who might threaten his main men at City, so they have no competition and are getting rusty - that was a mistake. Biggest mistake of the pre season, imo, is Liverpool failing to get a proven replacement for Suarez who could guarantee them 15-20 goals over the whole season. After that, Arsenal's failure to sign a quality DM, Utd's failure to sign a leader at CB and City's failure to sign anyone to challenge their existing players are the biggest mistakes of the summer, in that order.
Can City really afford to spend the money needed to challenge the likes of Toure and Silva for a place nowadays? What with financial fair play clamping down on clubs spending more than they bring in. With 20'000 empty seats most weeks, and having to do buy 1 get 1 free on tickets just to have a sellout for big CL games. They aren't really a club that can rely on there revenue and support to fund big money signings. Without the Arabs millions, they are going to struggle from now on
