By Shaun Orange

Manchester United’s lackluster start to the new season persisted with their defeat to Zenit St Petersburg in the UEFA Super Cup. This fixture, featuring the winners of last season’s Champions League and UEFA Cup, is not as renowned as the other continental competitions; all the same it is a European event and is mentioned on your CV if you triumph.

Thus, Manchester United’s defeat at the hands of the Russians will be one that they will brood over for some time. The importance of the match though in Monaco was illustrated in Ferguson sending out his strongest side.

However, they were undone by some class and a string of their own shortcomings. The latter was highlighted by Paul Scholes being sent off. And for those who might suggest like Ferguson did after the game, “that it happens”, well it should not. No way should a player with Scoles’ experience be sent off in a game like this, more so with them trailing.

Then again this is the sort of mentality that exists in this team and players like Scholes. To underscore the point, one need not go back further that Ferguson’s first European Champions League success. Scholes did not play in the 1999 final against Bayern Munich at Barcelona’s Nou Camp Stadium, because along with his then captain Roy Keane, he was suspended.

But what is more worrying is Man United’s start to the new campaign. This season they are defending the Champions League and Premiership titles, yet they have got off to a rather poor start.

The Red Devils beat Portsmouth on penalties to win the Community Shield in the season’s opener at Wembley Stadium. Then they drew before winning the second of the league matches. Now they have been beaten by Zenit and while the alarm bells might not yet be ringing at Old Trafford, they are on standby to go off real soon.

Ferguson, in the wake of all this, has turned to moaning about his players out injured, the latest being Owen Hargreaves who went down with a knee just before the Zenit showdown.

But if the truth be told, Wayne Rooney and Carlos Tevez, up front for Man United, could not really get past the Russian defence, and for that credit goes to coach Dick Advocaat.

The Dutchman has been responsible for turning around the fortunes of Zenit, who last season won both the UEFGA Cup and their league championship title.

Ferguson will surely get things right, but in his case it must be sooner rather than later. This is because if they come up against their main rivals for the English league title, playing the way they are, they could come unstuck and that would merely make it more difficult for them.

And with this scenario, one wonders just how far this team can go without Cristiano Ronaldo in it. That Ferguson even reported Real Madrid to FIFA about the Spaniards “tapping up” his star player (something the world governing body threw out), perhaps gives us some indication as to how much they depend on him.

There is no doubt they need him and the sooner he returns the better for a team who have started the new campaign listlessly.

By Shaun Orange

There is a still a wee-bit of time to do a deal or two before the transfer window slams shut until January. And make no mistake about it, there will be hurried negotiations behind closed doors all over the place as managers, chief executives, agents and players bid to conclude theirs in time.

But there are two interesting ones that have gone through on the eve of the curtain coming down on three months of wheeling and dealing, and these are the moves of James Milner and Louis Saha, the latter subject to a medical.

Milner, the 22-year-old England international winger who signed a four-year contract to switch from Newcastle to Aston Villa, has got to be seen as a classy piece of business by Martin O’Neill, whom it must be added has really got his way this summer. The Irishman stumped Liverpool in their bid (up to now anyway) to sign England midfielder Gareth Barry, and added to an already decent-looking squad with a few other shrewd signings. But the capture of Milner’s signature will be viewed at Villa Park as the icing on the cake.

This youngster has great potential and is seen as a player who will go a long way, given his aptitude and general approach to the game and how he conducts himself off it. If there was one question to beg in the transfer, then it must: how and why did Kevin Keegan let him leave St. James’ Park? More so, with him trying to consolidate his own side.

The fee of £10 million might have had something to do with it, but it couldn’t have been about dollars alone. Anyway, O’Neill is definitely the happier of the two managers, and has good reason to be.

Everton boss, David moyes, who missed out on taking Albert Riera and Shaun Wright-Phillips to Goodison Park at last had some joy at sealing a deal to lure Saha from Old Trafford. The Frenchman still has to pass a medical before crossing over officially, but it is expected he will, and this despite him suffering numerous injury setbacks at the English champions over the last few seasons.

Saha had lost Alex Ferguson’s faith, but if he can get himself fully fit, then the Toffees could benefit enormously from his experience and nose for goal. The 30-year-old Saha is a replacement for Andy Johnson who moved to Fulham. A two-year deal, whose financial terms were not released by the club, is a good package for Saha. And now the Merseysiders will be hoping he can really prove himself and stay fit.

He was certainly one of the top strikers round when Manchester United moved in top sign him from Fulham in 2004 and if he can regain even part of that form, Everton should be more than grateful.

Indeed, his signing and that of Milner’s switch to Aston Villa, make for interesting activity just as the transfers window comes to a close.

By Shaun Orange

England’s four teams in the European Champions League have all got top billing in their respective groups, the result of some excellent results over the past few years that culminated in the first all-English final last season – Manchester United and Chelsea.

Liverpool are the top seeds in Group D, while Arsenal are the tipped side in Group G, and it is the Gunners who could fall by the wayside earlier than the other three clubs, with which they make up what is now known as the Premiership’s “Big Four”.

The Emirates outfit are drawn with Portugal’s FC Porto (champions in 2004), Turkey’s Fenerbahce and Dynamo Kiev of the Ukraine. On paper it looks like Arsenal should coast through the round-robin phase of continent’s biggest and most lucrative club competition. But a closer analysis of the threat that the three pose is much greater than most would think. Porto, for one, are no pushovers, and their triumph under Jose Mourinho is testimony to this. Man United will also reluctantly stand up and concur, if only because they were taught a lesson at Old Trafford not too long ago.

But maybe Arsenal’s biggest dangers lie with visits to the notoriously unfriendly Turkish club and a skillful, even if under-performing, Ukrainian team. The Turks have no fear for any side that comes to town, and that applies to all of Europe, including teams with a celebrated pedigree. Those like Arsenal, who have yet to lift the gigantic European Cup, are regarded in an even lesser light.

But Dynamo Kiev could really throw the group wide open. All they need to do is to play to their full potential at home and then steal a result on the road. With only two sides going throw, it would make things especially interesting.

Liverpool, likewise, could come unstuck against PSV Eindhoven, whom they have met and beat at the same stage . No doubt the Dutch will be more than keen to exact a measure of revenge and that could have a telling effect on the pool standings.

France’s only winners of the tournament, Marseille, are also on the up these days and may yet prove a tougher task than they are being made out to be. The same could be said of Atletico Madrid.

Cup holders Man United should easily see of the challenges of Villarreal of La Liga, Celtic from north of the border and Aalborg, the rank outsiders from Denmark. Villarreal might not take it lying down and Celtic could also make it difficult for the champions in their all-British showdown, but the Red Devils will be tipped to win the silverware again this season and should reach the knockout stage without too much hassle.

Chelsea, who lost on a penalty shootout to their English rivals in Moscow last May, will also be expected to waltz through the group stage, ahead of Italy’s Roma, French club Bordeaux and CFR 1907 Cluj of Romania.

So, if things go the way they look like they might, Arsenal and Liverpool could find themselves just hanging on to make it to the last 16.

By Shaun Orange

Defending champions Manchester United registered their first win of the season with their 1-0 victory over Portsmouth on Monday, and it was a bitter pill for Pompey to swallow.

That narrow defeat came after they were well and truly humbled by Chelsea (4-0) in their opening league fixture a week earlier. And, it also came after the Red Devils beat Harry Redknapp’s side on penalties to win the Community Shield two-and-a-half weeks ago.

That Redknapp welcomed a possible post for him as coach of the Great Britain team at the 2012 London Games a day earlier did not count for anything. That Ferguson has distanced himself from such a job will probably have made Portsmouth’s loss even more difficult to take for the 61-year-old Redknapp.

All the same Pompey were consigned to their second defeat in their opening two league games and Man United were relieved just to secure their first win of the new campaign.

Indeed, Ferguson will be mighty pleased that they picked up their first maximum points of the season. However, the Scot will also probably be bit concerned that they victory was not as empathic as it was expected.

Man United have struggled in these early stages of the campaign and in the pre-season, and the Old Trafford team are still in pursuit of an out-and-out striker. Burdened with a long string of injuries, Ferguson has had to do without the services of Cristiano Ronaldo - their talisman in the double-winning season last term, which saw them prevail in the Premiership and the European Champions League.

Further to that Ryan Giggs, Louis Saha, Wayne Rooney (who is back in the frame) and Carlos Tevez, among others, have been or are, sidelined through injury or personal matters. This has only execrated their problems and to state the obvious, Man United are nowhere as good as they would have expected to be at this stage.

They have managed just two goals in their last three competitive matches, and that is testimony to their deficiencies up front.

The pursuit of Tottenham’s Bulgarian ace Dimitar Berbatov is still on the cards and the Red Devils remain optimistic that they will secure his transfer to Old Trafford sooner rather than later.

But even the arrival of the highly-rated Berbatov might not be enough to mask the disjointedness of the Premiership and European champions. There is something lacking quite badly in Manchester United’s approach and it is evident for all to see in their results.

Of course, it would be grossly wrong for anyone to suggest that those at Old Trafford hit the panic button, but there is a dire need to get things back to a level of normalcy as soon as possible. This is club is too big to be written off so quickly, but Manchester United are a worried team at the moment, and that is despite the win over a Portsmouth side that could have done with a better draw to the opening to the season that had them play Chelsea and Man United in their first two games.

My thinking is that if Berbatov comes into the side before the transfer window shuts at the end of the month, then they will be even more relieved that they are with the Portsmouth result. If they do not, things could really go awry, and that is the last thing the champions would want.

By Shaun Orange

Harry Redknapp has been linked with a possible post as manager of the Great Britain team at the 2010 London Olympic Games. This would be a huge way for British soccer to say thank you to one of the most loyal servants of the sport.

The job has in the past thrown up the name of Manchester United’s Alex Ferguson, but that call has lost its momentum with the Scot giving the idea the cold shoulder. Now Redknapp, the boss at Premier League club Portsmouth, is beginning to look the likely candidate.

And while the next Olympics might seem a lifetime away, what with the Beijing Games having just come to a close, the appointment of the man to lead a team from the United Kingdom might come a lot sooner than most people think.

The key issue to bear in mind here is that soccer is the national sport of these nations and there would be no greater satisfaction for GB to win the gold on home soil – the land where they say the game was born.

Redknapp is seen as the best of England’s own managers and what pride he would attach to leading the team in his own backyard. Of course, to win the gold would make it almost unbelievable.

In the wake of Steve McClaren’s sacking after England failed to qualify for the 2008 European Championships, Redknapp appeared as a front-runner for the hot seat. But that was before the English Football Association ((FA) named Italian Fabio Capello as the new manager.

Redknapp views the post as one that cannot be turned down. Speaking to the (London) Sunday Mirror he said that he was “absolutely flattered” to have his name “being mentioned about managing the Great Britain team”.

And the shrewd tactician that he is, the 61-year-old added that he had “some great managerial jobs” during his career “but there is no doubt this would be the icing on the cake”.

A Londoner himself, Redknapp said that the fact that the Games will be held in the capital made it “even more appealing.”

However, before anything of this has the chance of materialising, the matter dealing with the objection from the football associations of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland will have to be overcome.

So, in the meanwhile, Redknapp, and whoever else might have ideas of managing a Great Britain team at the 2010 London Olympics will just have to be patient.

By Shaun Orange

Arsenal came unstuck this weekend against a Fulham side they were supposed to beat without too much of a hassle. And almost immediately the Gunners” detractors will have been pointing out that the notion that Arsene Wenger’s outfit is too young to challenge for the title this season, is spot on.

There might be some substance in that, but that one defeat alone cannot be used a barometer to determine whether or not their whole campaign will be littered with results that go against them, like the one in Fulham’s case.

However, having said that, the Emirates team does look a little thin on experience and in this league where even the faintest of frailties are exposed and unforgivingly punished, Arsenal will do well to rebound without delay.

Yet Arsenal did have their chances, and the missed penalty by Robin van Persie merely underlined how things fell for them on the day. That Emmanuel Adebayor was denied by the woodwork added to their pain. Still, Fulham were deserved victors in the London derby at Craven Cottage and Wenger conceded after the final whistle that they were not good enough in their performance.

To make matters worst, the Arsenal manager said he did not know why they underperformed. He cited their first-half display as “not good as they expected it to be” but he did give Fulham their due.

The Frenchman said that their hosts played “very well and were sharper”. Indeed, the Cottagers were a step ahead of their more illustrious opponents and it will have given Roy Hodgson’s team a huge morale boost ahead of their League Cup fixture with Leicester City next Wednesday.

Arsenal, though, were not the only big team to have the air knocked out of them. Tottenham, who spent in the region of £50 million this summer, lost their second match on the trot when Roy Keane’s rejuvenated Sunderland went to White Hart Lane and left with all the points – thanks to a 2-1 victory.

There is little doubt that Spurs coach Juande Ramos has to resolve the Dimitar Berbatov issue at once, if he is not to see his side suffer further misery. Berbatov’s request to leave the club so as to pave the way for a move to Manchester United has clearly shaken Tottenham.

Perhaps the best thing for Spurs to do would be to let the Bulgarian striker leave. No he is an excellent international forward whom Ramos would like to keep at White Hart Lane, but his present standing within the club is doing more damage than good. Thus, he should be sold.

Stoke, one of the promoted sides, also pulled off a major shock when they consigned Martin O’Neill’s Aston Villa to a 3-2 injury-time win. Villa got off to a flyer last weekend, thumping Manchester City, only to be dealt a heavy body blow by a side that has yet to lose in their return to the Premiership.

Hull, another of the promoted sides, did equally good by holding fancied Blackburn to a 1-1 draw.

The third of the newcomers, West Bromwich Albion, slipped to a 2-1 defeat at Everton, but it was nowhere near as bad as Arsenal losing to Fulham.

By Shaun Orange

I said a long time ago that I liked Martin O’Neill as a manager. I always thought that, since his days at Leicester City, he was good at his job, that he has a unique ability to get his players “to play for him” and that it shows in the teams he manages.

My view has not really changed, apart from the fact that I thought the way he handled the Gareth Barry saga was a little shoddy, to say the least.

I fully accept that Barry is Aston Villa’s best player and has been for some time now. And granted, it is incumbent upon the manager to thrust forth the club’s interests first, and if that means endeavouring to keep the top players at the club, then that’s what the manager should be doing. But he should not do it to the detriment of the club.

And while Villa got off to a blistering start last weekend with their fabulous 4-2 home victory over Manchester City, and will be expected to see off Stoke as well this weekend, they may yet be undone by what I now term O’Neill’s mathematical shortcomings.

The Aston Villa manager I think has gone too far with what he perceives to be the gospel, just because he believes, or at least tells us, to be the correct thing.

The latest and quite extra-ordinary issue to come from the Irishman is his valuing of Ashley Young.

For some really bizarre reason O’Neill has told the world that Young is worth not a penny less than £30 million.

This is the 23-year-old winger, capped three times by England, whom O’Neill paid Wtaford £9.5 million for in January last year.

To suggest that this boy is good is to understate his talent. But for O’Neill to honestly value him at £30 million is taking it a little too far.

It is obvious, and it should be so, that O’Neill will try his utmost to keep Young at Villa Park because Young is indeed a wonderful talent and has the potential to develop into a true world-beater. But O’Neill should not do it at the cost of adding to the travesty of a transfer system which he himself is critical of, given the some outrageous money being spent on players these days.

There is nowhere Young is worth £30 million; if he went for £20 million then Villa should be (very)grateful – but certainly not the price tag that O’Neill has put on the player.

The lad, according to the club, is expected to pledge his future to Villa in a new contract, which O’Neill and company hope will be penned “sooner rather than later”.

I just hope that Young makes the right decision when the time comes. And for his good, I sincerely hope that if he does stay at Villa Park, O’Neill pays him what he is worth – that should be around £120,000 a week (going by today’s rates that O’Neill used in the formula to value the player in the first place).

I say this because I still like the way O’Neill gets football played – not necessarily the way he delves in the transfer market. And there is a difference there!

By Shaun Orange

Roy Keane ranks among Manchester United’s most successful captains. He helped the Old Trafford club dominate the Premiership like no other team. And now, as manager of Sunderland, he is strengthening his squad in their second season in the top flight with a view to holding their own, even against the big guns.

Keane took his tally of signings this summer to six with the transfer of strikers Djibril Cisse from Marseille and David Healy from Fulham to the Stadium of Light.

Sunderland started their new campaign with a loss to Liverpool last weekend, but it was by no means a shoddy performance. If anything, the Black Cats can draw inspiration from the display rather than the result. The defeat was largely due to another exquisite individual strike from the Reds' brilliant center forward, Fernando Torres.

 Rightly so, Keane said after the game that they were disappointed with losing because they gave as much as they got against one of the “Big Four”.

The arrival of Cisse and Healy this week will bolster Keane’s resolve further to get the Black Cats to do better than their 16^th spot in the standings last term. That finish might not seem altogether a bright one, but under the circumstances, coming up from the Championship League, they did a decent job of just staying up.

The signings of the two forwards this week will augment to a great degree the earlier arrivals of Teemu Tainio, Pascal Chimbonda and Steed Malbranque from Tottenham Hotspurs, and El-Hadji Diouf, who switched from Bolton.

This quartet gave a good account of themselves on their debut for the Black Cats against Liverpool and will almost certainly start again when they travel to White Hart Lane for what promises to be a feisty clash with Tottenham on Saturday.

The inclusions of Cisse and Healy should add to Sunderland’s firepower up front, although there is a good chance that Cisse might start ahead of Healy.

But any illusions that the Black Cats’ fans might have that the Tottenham game will be an easy one after Spurs were embarrassed by Middlesbrough on the opening day of the season, should be done away with at once.

Spurs will be bent on getting it right after being built up as the “next best team” behind the “Big Four” only to succumb to a resolute ’Boro side, managed by one of Keane’s foes from his playing days – Gareth Southgate.

Still, Keane will be optimistic that they can at least come away from London with a point. Travelling to a side like Tottenham will always be difficult and with this in mind, a draw would not be considered a poor result for the Black Cats. But with their new signings in the squad, Sunderland might well be thinking of an outright victory. And given the manner in which they started the new season, a Black Cats win cannot be ruled out as the unthinkable.

On the contrary, they have every chance of picking up all the points.

By Shaun Orange

There is a big toss-up between John Terry and Rio Ferdinand, on who will get the job as England’s next captain.

Either way it looks a close call and were it not that the Italian in charge of the Three Lions, Fabio Capello, was the strong man that he is, these two central defenders might well have been alternating the armband. But as things stand, one of the two will be named to lead out the team against the Czech Republic in the friendly on Wednesday.

The odds are on Ferdinand to get the nod from Capello, but in some ways the Italian might just be cooking his goose. Ferdinand is good central defender, but not the best. And neither is he captain of Manchester United. Terry, for his part, is the best in his position in England, and he is captain of Chelsea.

Both are good leaders of teams, but Ferdinand has a lot more to prove than Terry. In fact, if it were my call, I would say that David Beckham should get the call ahead of Ferdinand, but behind Terry.

Terry’s as a player and as a skipper is far more stronger than Ferdinand, and while I do accept that there will be nothing anybody says or does that will sway the thinking of Mr. Capello on this matter, making Ferdinand the captain could well work against the team. That might sound a little harsh on the lad, but that is just how it is.

I do know that Alex Ferguson and a player or two in the Old Trafford set-up have come out in support of Ferdinand, claiming that he is “the best in the world”. Well, they might think so, or maybe not believe so but say so, yet the fact remains that Ferdinand is prone to making serious blunders when under pressure. And as any calculating tactician will tell you, the last thing you want when your team is about to be, or being, vanquished by the opposition, is a captain who suddenly goes cold.

For me, there is a lot of that in Ferdinand. He loses his cool too quickly, although I must hasten to add that he does say "sorry" afterwards. The incident after Man United’s defeat to Chelsea at Stamford Bridge last April springs to mind here (and that is not even on the field of play, or during the game for that matter). Please remember, that he is NOT the captain of Manchester United.

Terry appears, and rightly so, to have gotten over his waywardness. His issues with the bottle and brushes with law are things of the past (touch wood). He certainly appears, from the outside at least, to be in control of what he does and what he says. And that is fundamentally important for a captain of any team, let alone England’s national football squad.

The catcalls might point to his (costly) missed penalty in the European Champions League in Moscow. But don’t dwell on that, it happens to the best of players – and in England’s case the list is rather long.

So, Capello will let us know whom he wants as his captain. If it is, Terry we can accept it; if is Ferdinand, we might live to regret it.

By Shaun Orange

As premature as it might seem, Chelsea have thrown down the gauntlet in their challenge for the Premier League championship title.

It would not be unreasonable to suggest that their main adversaries in the fight for the domestic game’s most coveted prize – Manchester United, Arsenal and Liverpool will laugh off any such notion.

They might well do that in public but certainly not when they take stock of the manner in which the Blues dismantled Portsmouth, the team that a week earlier held Man United to a goalless draw in regulation time before conceding the Community Shield in a penalty shootout at Wembley.

Chelsea’s performance in their opening fixture of the new season, played out before a full-house at their Stamford Bridge ground, was nothing short of a comprehensive lesson in soccer, and in particular the first-half was ruthlessly efficient.

Their England midfielder and definitely one of the biggest stars in the European game, Frank Lampard, said after the annihilation of Pompey that that was perhaps as good as they could have played, and how right he was.

From the get-go Chelsea were like a well-oiled machine, firing on all cylinders, and they left the watching world in no doubt that if they perform consisitently like that, or better, then they will take some beating.

Under new manager, Brazilian Luis Felipe Scolari, who himself is a winner of the World Cup – leading his country to their record fifth triumph in 2002, Chelsea look like they can go on to set a few new benchmarks of their own.

They are still chasing Scolari’s compatriot striker Robinho, whom they hope to lure from Real Madrid before the transfer window slams shut at the end of this month. But even if the immensely talented and lively forward doesn’t make it to Stamford Bridge, this squad has the potential to do better in a single season than any other club from England has managed in the past.

The inclusions of midfield maestro Deco and his Portuguese team-mate and right-back Bosingwa, were clearly solid additions and only the injury to Michael Ballack was a worrying matter for the Blues. The extent of the German's ankle injury was not immediately known, but it did raise some concern because it was a similar injury that kept him out for nearly half of the season last term; with Ballack only returning to action in pre-season.

What must also surely cause some disquiet among Chelsea’s chief rivals is that Ivorian striker Didier Drogba and his Ukrainian team-mate upfront Andriy Shevchenko are yet to take their bow this term. Drogba mainly is a threat to any side and many a team in the Premiership – if not all, will bear witness to that.

Arsenal and Liverpool also won (both 1-0) and will have reason to remain buoyant in the face of Chelsea’s quite outstanding exhibition at Stamford Bridge. However, Alex Ferguson’s Man United were not so good and had to settle for a draw with Newcastle; and that after the Magpies had led – albeit for a minute or so.

The Old Trafford side will know by now that they cannot, or will not, be able to drop too many more points if they are to successfully defend their league title. Chelsea, they will have seen, mean business this season. And how interesting that would be – to have the “Big Four” all at their best!

By Shaun Orange

Of the teams who were expected to make a good start to the new campaign, Tottenham suffered the worst humiliation. That came after a comprehensive defeat to Middlesbrough at the Riverside Stadium on the opening day of the new season.

It was certainly no less than Gareth Southgate’s home team deserved and it will have left the highly-rated Spaniard Juande Ramos in no doubt that all the hype surrounding his off-season spending spree, which reached almost £50 million, counts for absolutely nothing when it comes to the game itself.

Ramos is an experienced coach and will understand that their season, which promises so much, is not all lost on the opening game.  

The White Hart Lane boss knows that it will take time for his new players like goalkeeper Gomes,  Giovanni, Luka Modric and David Bentley – all making the debut for Spurs, to settle in and find their feet.

But he will also be cognizant of the fact that when you spend the kind of money that he did in the close-season, the club’s management and the fans expect results; and unlike he understands the game – they will be insisting on nothing short of instant success. That is just how it is in this game – big money means big results (instantaneously).

Over and above this, Ramos will be bitterly disappointed with their first result. If you are a team strong enough to break into the top-four of the Premiership, then playing a side like Middlesbrough should real mean a win, more so in the season’s opener.

Tottenham are being touted as the next best side behind the “Big Four” of Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool. And for them to lose against Middlesbrough – never mind a draw – will obviously be seen by many as a result that shows that the White Hart Lane outfit are not yet up to the task of taking on the “Big Four”.

It will also come across as the point being made that Spurs will again flatter to deceive, just like they have on numerous occasions in the recent past. They get everybody and everything all worked up about going to do well, and then fall flat on the faces – when the going starts getting tough.

But somehow, I think that it might be a bit different this time around and that Ramos will get what he wants out of a side that has ambitions of playing in the European Champions League, something that is guaranteed by finishing in the top-four of the standings.

It will not be an easy task, of course. But Tottenham’s season is not all lost on the Middlesbrough result. Ramos, nonetheless, will want to turn things around and do it real quick.

If not, the rot will set in and then it will become a monumental task further into the season. At the moment it is just one poor result – nothing more that. The skeptics might want to take note of that, because that’s what the Riverside result really is.

By Shaun Orange

For many, Chelsea start the new season as the team to beat. Officially, one could say, Manchester United are favourites. Nonetheless, in the eyes of more than just a few, the Blues will be the club to emerge as champions in May.

But regardless of where one’s allegiance might lie when it comes to England’s two top sides, Chelsea have openly declared their intentions to wrest the Premiership championship from the outfit that took the title from them two seasons ago and look like having a good chance of doing that.

They have being in fine fettle in the pre-season, impressing on the visit to Asia, winning hordes of new admirers, but more importantly bolstering an already quality ensemble of world-class stars with the signing of Deco, the immensely gifted attacking linkman who has the capacity to present the ball at the feet of strikers and wingers - in full stride.

The Portuguese international of Brazilian birth has the extra-ordinary ability to split wide open read-guards with sound reputations and accomplish it with such ease that it really looks quite simple. He has been the architect of many a win at Barcelona, whom Chelsea paid millions to cross over to Stamford Bridge, and with Portugal national team, whom he has represented since attaining citizenship a few years ago.

It goes without saying that Luis Felipe Scolari, head coach of the Portuguese squad for six years until this summer’s European Championships, was the swaying influence in Deco’s transfer to the Premiership.

No doubt the diminutive midfielder will be have been relishing working with Big Phil again, even while discussions were still on-going for his switch to the London club.

Deco adds a new dimension to a Chelsea midfielder that was for a long while regarded as the most durable in England and among the finest in the world. It is not only his remarkable brilliance with the dead-ball that makes his peers look on in awe, but rather a refined aptitude to dictate play from both deep and attacking positions.

There is little or no doubt in the minds of the purists that Scolari has a patented role for the Portuguese star. When fully fit, he will almost always be in the starting line-ups of the games that matter most. Deco is that kind of player – one who can sublimely turn a game on its head with but only a deft touch in his own half; or maybe whiz the ball through a crowded penalty-area for someone else to reap the benefits.

That Deco is joining a squad loaded with internationals and one that has the potential to embarrass even the best in Europe, only makes his arrival in London all the more intriguing.

He could well prove the pivotal player in a season of any Blues success. Chelsea will not start as favourites to win the Premier League title this season, but Deco could be the one to make an impact for them.

By Shaun Orange

Manchester United will start the new season this weekend as favourites to retain the Premiership title and make it three in a row for Alex Ferguson’s team.

However, the English champions will almost certainly not have it their way. Chelsea, runners-up to the Red Devils in both the league and European Champions League last term, look menacingly dangerous and could end up with the unique league title and European Cup double of their own next May.

Ferguson has largely kept faith with the squad that won him a tenth Premiership title and a second Champions League crown. But he remains keen on bringing in a top-class striker to augment a frontline that is both handicap by injury and the weakest link in their armory.

Tottenham’s Berbatov is apparently Man United’s top target. And if they get their man, then Old Trafford’s whole lookout changes quite dramatically. A forward of the Bulgarian’s quality would bolster the Red Devils to such an extent that they would probably made out-right favourites to a third league title in a row.

But failing to secure the services of a leading hitman up-front would seriously hamper Man United’s chances. And as things are, with Wayne Rooney, Cristiano Ronaldo and Louis Saha all sidelined, the Red Devils could find it difficult in kickoff to the new campaign.

Last season Chelsea were bedeviled by all sorts of issues at the beginning of the campaign, and eventually had Portuguese coach Jose Mourinho sacked, and replaced by Avram Grant, who acted as a stop-gap measure for the Stamford Bridge club.

 With Brazil’s World Cup-winning boss Luis Felipe Scolari at the helm now, Chelsea will relish a greater stability about the team and can look forward to getting off to a flying start.

They showed some good form in the pre-season build-up and will hoping to take that form straight into the new league season.

The arrival of Brazilian-born Portuguese international Deco has got be viewed as a coup for the London side that definitely appears top be much stronger through their ranks and with Scolari poised to make point of his own, Blues will relish having another crack at Man United for league and Champions League honours, with one eye on the League and FA Cups.

Arsenal and Liverpool, the other two clubs in the elite “Big Four” bracket look able enough to maybe finish in the Champions :League spots, but perhaps are not really up to scratch just yet.

The Gunners side is by and large a shade to young to challenge for the domestic game’s biggest prize – the long-haul league. Meanwhile, Liverpool, even with talisman Steven Gerrard and wonder-striker Fernando Torres in the mix, look like struggling again this term.

Rafael Benitez, the Anfield manager, does have a team on paper that could make a few noises but unlikely to get the better of Man United and Chelsea; maybe Arsenal, but not the other two.

Tottenham, with the £50 million or so that Juande Ramos has spent strengthening his squad, could come close, but is also expected not to make that much of an impact to set off the alarming bells at any of the “Big Four.”

The promoted clubs, West Bromwich Albion, Hull and Stoke, could straight back to Championship League, unless of course they show enough character to hold their own in the last quarter of the season, That is the most crucial part of the campaign, and Man United and Chelsea, are likely to prove that.

By Shaun Orange

Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson is still trying desperately to lure a striker of some substance to Old Trafford, and is now hoping that he can do it before the season gets underway this weekend.

The Red Devils won the Community Shield at Wembley Stadium last Sunday, but only managed to overcome Harry Redknapp’s Portsmouth team after a lottery penalty shootout. And that result has left no-one in any doubt that the league champions will struggle this season unless they can indeed buy a recognised forward, and do so without delay.

Already Ferguson is without England star Wayne Rooney – laid low by a virus picked up in Nigeria, Portuguese winger Cristiano Ronaldo – recovering from ankle surgery, and Louis Saha – the French striker who has spent more time on the treatment table at Old Trafford than on the pitch.

Worst still, Ferguson could well lose his only remaining out-and-out forward if the English FA (Football Association) act on video evidence that should be brought against Carlos Tevez.

The enormously talented Argentine was most definitely in breach of soccer’s code of conduct when he clearly and deliberately man-handled Portsmouth defender Hermann Hreidarsson, catching the Pompey player by the throat.

The pint-sized South American, who is in the throes of securing a permanent transfer to Manchester United from West Ham, was not penalised on the day, given that neither the referee nor his assistants saw the incident. But thankfully for television replays, Tevez could be seen reacting angrily to the tussle with Hreidarsson and gripping the Scandinavian by the throat.

As this was just the season’s curtain-raiser, the FA might be found to be reluctant to act on the matter, and more so because the player involved is from Manchester United. Well lesser players have fallen foul to evidence presented through the lens of a television camera and now the Football Association must be strong to stand up to Manchester United and Ferguson, and bring Tevez to book.

He was out of order and should be made to pay for his misdemeanours, which include the Argentina international stamping on Hreidarsson.

There will be no excuse for the FA not to drag Tevez before their disciplinary committee and throw the book at him. The custodians of English football have done it on countless occasions involving “lesser” clubs and this time they will be ridiculed perhaps unlikely any other time if they do not act against the violent and unsportsmanlike behaviour of Tevez.

Of course, it will be noted that Manchester United, and Ferguson, have previously fallen foul of the football rules, only to escape sanction for one reason or another.

This time, however, Tevez cannot dodge censure. Needless to say that if he does, then this season we will almost surely see players getting off scot-free for half-strangling opponents – something we could do without.

By Shaun Orange

In a single season Fernando Torres established himself as one of the best strikers the English Premier League has had since its inception in the campaign of 1992/93.

And then at the European Championships in Austria and Switzerland last month he drove home the point Liverpool fans made that he was among the finest in the world. In the process he helped lead Spain to triumph in the continental showpiece.

Now, as the Anfield club prepare for an assault on the Premiership crown, seeking to claim the most coveted of titles in English soccer, the deadly marksman has declared that it is his intention to ensure that they win the league championship; and much more.

There is no denying that Torres has the talent and pedigree to develop into one of the game’s grandest names yet. The aptitude, skill and flair that he boasts is unlike anything that Liverpool have had since the days of Kenny Dalglish and company. And coincidentally those were the days when the Reds dominated the game, both at home and in Europe.

Anfield coach Rafael Benitez, Torres’ Spanish compatriot, has done more than enough to make Liverpool a force again in European soccer. A Champions League triumph in 2005 and a couple of semi-final berths since have amply seen to that.

But like Torres, Benitez wants the Premiership more than anything else and his yearning for the league crown is something that is shared by Liverpool’s fans, flung across all the continents. But it is also one thing that cannot be achieved easily, and both of Anfield’s most influential Spaniards recognise this without coaxing.

But having said that, Liverpool appear at this time to have a squad that has the capacity to at least challenge for the league title, and that is something they have been unable to do in more than 15 years.

The recent arrival at Anfield of Irish striker Robbie Keane from Tottenham has prompted a growing belief within and outside of the club that now they do indeed have in place a squad just about on par with Manchester United and Chelsea, the favourites to fight it out for the Premier League honours.

Benitez is still keen on signing Aston Villa’s Gareth Barry, although the manager’s ambitions for that buy took a huge knock a couple of days ago when Anfield boss Rick Parry noted that the asking price of some £18 million for the England midfielder was “too high”.

Still, the Anfield coach has at his disposal some quality players, almost all of them internationals. And if he can just quit rotating his players every next game they might well end up in a position to have a say in where the Premiership title goes in May.

But he should also be mindful, as should Liverpool’s faithful supporters, that Torres alone cannot clinch the league, and that it is a long haul to win the biggest title there is in English soccer.

By Shaun Orange

Arsene Wenger, the French coach who has a supreme gift of turning young raw talent into top-class footballers, will look to his pre-season preparations with a fair degree of satisfaction; if not more.

Arsenal all but wrapped up the Amsterdam Tournament with the 1-1 draw with Spanish side Seville on Saturday. That result left the London team unbeaten in their off-season friendlies and will have given Wenger much heart as they look forward to a busy three weeks ahead and what should be a long and testy league campaign.

But the Gunners manager will draw more than that from their preparations, which also included what has now become an annual visit to Austria. He will be excited by the performances of some of his youngsters, and perhaps no more so than the prospect of Mexican forward Carlos Vela taking the Premier League by the scruff and imposing himself on the English game with such a dominance that even he (Wenger) will be left in awe.

Of course, the crafty manager will mention none of this in public, and maybe not even to his closest aides. But deep down, one gets the feeling that he will hoping for just that – for Vela to come through and play his first season in England in such a manner that even the skeptics will be left in no doubt about who he is, and what he has to offer.

Naturally, Wenger will not be focused solely on Vela. He has quite a few other youngsters in his side that require the same nurturing and will need to spread himself far and wide to accomplish that.

Illustrative of this was the fact that when they drew with Seville in Amsterdam, the Arsenal side had an average age of just 19-and-a-half; and the displays that came across were enough to suggest that Wenger will not be too concerned about changing a lot to his squad.

But the Frenchman gets his first real test of the new season when they return to Holland in the week for the European Champions League qualifier against Arnhem, the club now coached by former England boss Steve McClaren.

There will almost certainly be changes in that team, compared to the one that played Seville, but it should not be wholesale changes, and Wenger should go with some youth, complemented by a bit more experience.

In fact, he is likely to adopt that approach to the domestic campaign as a whole. And that is why I believe that Arsenal will struggle more this season that they did last term. In the 2007/08 campaign they led the championship for long periods but collapsed spectacularly in the run-in as the inexperience of the young boys showed.

This season I do not think they will even get the chance to hang around at the top, never mind finish in the top-four. Actually, if Arsenal are in the top-five come next May, then they could consider themselves having done well.

There is no doubt in my mind that they will struggle badly this term and only because this time Wenger’s faith in a group of youngsters will be exposed for just what it is.

The 2008/09 English Premier League season gets underway in earnest at London's Wembley Stadium on Sunday. And while some will have us believe that this is nothing more than just a charitable fixture – the Community Shield (formerly the Charity Shield), there is a great deal riding on the outcome.

Manchester United, who go into the tie with Portsmouth as favourites to add to Alex Ferguson's huge collection of silverware, the league champions will be heavily burdened by a side that has been struck quite damagingly by injuries, suspensions and non-availability.

Indeed, all of Wayne Rooney, Cristiano Ronaldo, Ji-sung Park and Danny Welbeck have been sidelined by one injury problem or another. Also, Anderson and Dong are in Beijing hoping to return with Olympic gold, while Nani is on the suspension list.

All this means is that Manchester United's attacking options are nothing short of extremely limited. In fact, Carlos Tevez and the aging Ryan Giggs are the only recognised forwards for the club that won both the English League and European Champions League titles last season. Nonetheless, the Red Devils will give it all they have got and could yet upend Harry Redknapp's Pompey.

But it is unlikely to be an easy task against a side that will be keen on building on their FA Cup success – Pompey's first major trophy in some fifty years.

Traditionally, this season-opener has thrown up surprises, so much so that if Portsmouth do come away with the right result, it might not be entirely deemed an upset. And that is perhaps Manchester United's biggest fear going to London.

Ferguson will know that the battle proper for supremacy will probably be fought out with Chelsea for the bragging rights of who is the best in England, and for that, the long-haul league championship is what really matters most.

But to fall against a mediocre side like Portsmouth would roundly be viewed as Manchester United going into the league season with chinks in their armour. The absence of Ronaldo, who is recovering from ankle surgery, and Rooney, laid low by a tropical bug (supposedly picked up on their trip to Africa), will almost certainly have adverse effects on a team that likes to attack, and do so with great flair.

Of course, that will be missing at Wembley on Sunday, and for that reason, Edwin van Sar, Manchester United's Dutch goalkeeper, rightly pointed out that if they are to make an impression in the season's curtain-raiser, then they will need to keep Portsmouth from scoring. He might draw consolation from the fact that in their eight friendlies played in the pre-season build-up, Manchester United kept six clean sheets. And with Gary Neville expected to return to the side after more than a season out through injury, his experience will be welcome.

Notwithstanding this, Manchester United will still have to put on a good showing if they are get the defence of the league title off to a good start, but Pompey will be aiming to thwart that. And maybe with it, we could be in for a rousing tie at Wembley.

My guess is that Pompey will take the honours.

By Shaun Orange

Chelsea boss Luiz Felipe Scolari issued a veiled warning to Manchester United boss Alex Ferguson when he said that he was happy with the progress made on their excursions to Asia – the build-up to the Premier League championship race.

In fact, Scolari said, “now I know the players very well, and I have more confidence”. That was in reference to him familiarising himself with the squad he took charge of after the European Championships in Austria and Switzerland, where he coached Portugal.

The Brazilian, who led his country to World Cup glory in 2002, is seen as just the right match for Ferguson, often perceived to be a “bully” who does not hesitate to use his influence (of being Old Trafford manager) on the game to the advantage of his team winning – whether it be with psyching-up the opposition or officials, or both.

Scolari is by far a more fiery character than Avram Grant, whom he replaced at Stamford Bridge or Jose Mourinho, before that. Not only is he physically big but he speaks with much authority about the game and anything else in general really.

That he chose to point out that he was up to the task in the Premiership, on the eve of Manchester United’s Community Shield clash with Portsmouth at Wembley are clear signs that this man has no fear (maybe a little respect, and even that might be pushing it) of taking on the league champions.

Some might query the absence of mentioning Arsenal and Liverpool in this equation; well I do not believe that these two pretenders will figure in the shake up at the end of the season.

Yes, the Gunners did themselves proud for most of the last campaign and spent quite a bit of time at the top of standings, but when it came to the crunch in the run-in to the end of the season they buckled; and buckled badly.

Liverpool were never in it and even if they get Gareth Barry, as many now suspect that they might, the Reds will find it difficult – as they have in the recent seasons, to beat Manchester United and Chelsea in the Premier League.

With Scolari at the helm of Chelsea things will almost certainly be more difficult for the opposition, and with just two clubs only the fight for the league honours, the Red Devils will want to be wary (if they are not) of the threat that the Brazilian will pose.

Both teams have not added exceptionally great talent to their squads in the off-season. But with the composition of the sides that figured last term more or less still intact, they need not be unduly alarmed.

These are the two best sides in Europe, never mind England. So, when Scolari starts raising the ante by saying that he is “happy’ and raraing to go, the rest of the league had better take notice – Ferguson included. It’s in their interest to do so, and the sooner the better.

By Shaun Orange

Portsmouth, for all their guts and glory in lifting the FA Cup season, get the honour of raising the curtain on the new campaign, along with Premier League champions Manchester United, when the two clash in the Community Shield this weekend.

For Harry Redknapp’s Pompey, this is a rare occasion; the last time they won the Cup was half a century ago. So, make no mistake about it, they will savour the moment just like they did when they hoisted the famous silverware aloft at Wembley Stadium last May - the same venue for Sunday’s showdown.

For all intents and purposes, Portsmouth are a well-drilled and organised team; the credit for that goes to their wily manager. In a bit of a surprise, the Fratton Park boss let industrious midfielder Sulley Muntari sign for inter Milan in a move that yielded £12.7 million. Nonethless, Redknapp has been busy consolidating a squad that finished eighth last season, and that might even have been better had they not taken their eye off the ball right at the end of the season, as they turned their focus to the FA Cup final.

At Wembley, Redknapp will soak up the sun and blaze of media attention that goes with the one-off match, in which more importance is attached to the charitable organisations who will hearty benefit from the proceeds. The managers also use the fixture to blood new recruits and try out different formations in a form of fine-tuning their sides ahead of the start of the new term the following Saturday.

Redknapp, one of the most experienced coaches in the domestic game, will know that the action proper begins when the Premiership kicks off. And when he peaked at the fixtures, he will have drawn his breath somewhat. A dose of fire and brimstone awaits Pompey at the start of the league season, when they travel to Chelsea’s Stamford Bridge on August 17 for their opening game and then a week later host Manchester United at Fratton Park.

The return of Peter Crouch, an £11 million buy from Liverpool, Omar Alieu Koroma from Banjul Hawks, Glen Little - a free transfer form Reading and Ben Sahar - on a six-month loan from Chelsea are the new arrivals in the off-season. Of course, Redknapp is not yet done shopping, and despite fears that he might not have as much dough as he would have liked, he is still expected to add to his squad.

Indeed, the latest to come out of Fratton Park is that Reading's Nicky Shorey and Younes Kaboul of Tottenham could be in the Pompey line-up come Sunday. That would please Redknapp a great deal, but a couple of real good results in the league against the two top teams in the England game over the next two-and-a-half weeks would be even better.

Nonetheless, Redknapp will expect his team to compete with Manchester United at Wembley on Sunday and continue with the decent form of their pre-season matches. It could tell us something about what to expect from the Fratton Park side as they make the most of enjoying their reward for winning soccer's oldest and most famous cup competition, before embarking on the rigours if their league championship campaign.

By Shaun Orange

Real Madrid, who have anything but given up their pursuit of Manchester United star Cristiano Ronaldo, were dealt a heavy body blow in their last fixture of the Emirates Cup in London over the weekend.

The Spanish champions, who have made no secret about their desires to sign the English Premier League’s Player of the Year from Old Trafford, will have to do without Wesley Sneijder for quite a while, following a terrible knee injury sustained in their game against Arsenal.

While tests are still to be carried out to determine the extent of the injury that involved Abou Diaby, it is almost certain that he has torn ligaments in his knee and probably won’t be back in action until around Christmas time.

That is a massive blow for the Spanish giants, who under club president Ramon Calderon have publicly declared their intent to not only sign Manchester United’s Portuguese winger, but also win the European Champions League trophy for a record tenth time.

If it were another club making such bold statements, one would be inclined to just laugh them off. But this is Real Madrid and when they go after something they have said they want, they often succeed.

In this case, they might not get their wish to have Ronaldo play at the Bernabeu Stadium this season, but they could well go on and put together a good showing in the Champions League.

All the same, without Sneijder there, at least for the group stage matches, they could find it a little tougher than they might have liked.

But even then, Sneijder’s injury is being viewed by some as the motive for Calderon to step up his efforts to take 23-year-old Ronaldo to Spain’s capital. And while the president ducked the issue when probed in London, the club’s negotiators will no doubt have been put on high alert by the latest developments (if they were not already).

One also gets the feeling that Real Madrid will want to bring an end to all the speculation surrounding a possible move to the Bernabeu by Ronaldo, sooner rather than later. Several players in the Real squad have expressed concerns that the talk about Ronaldo was having an adverse effect on their change room.

And the latest to say so (at the weekend) was none other than Ruud van Nistelrooy, himself the last player to quit Old Trafford for the Bernabeu.

Calderon’s deliberate sidestepping of the Ronaldo saga may also just be the sign that while he is not prepared to say anything about it - unlike he did earlier in the off-season, they might be readying themselves for a big shout in the next few days.

The thinking behind this is that the transfer window is drawing ever so close (August 31) and while it is not uncommon to have clubs conclude transfers in the final minutes leading up to midnight on the last day of the month, Real would rather have this done and dusted before then.

Should they pull off a Ronaldo deal and Sneijder returns to action with the drive and dynamism that we know he has, then Real would be a great deal stronger than they are right now; so much so, that the Champions League would begin to a decent bet.