We’ve all got a fans favourite, or know of a player that the manager simply adores to pick every week. Then there are those players who you simply cannot work out why they make the team on a regular basis. Perhaps these individuals possess images of an explicit nature of the club’s manager or Chairman, or perhaps large bribes may be changing hands.
Either way, there are plenty of footballers in the Premier League that are overrated, either by reputation, price tag or simply as an overhyped youngster coming through the ranks. These days, most English footballers are overpriced of course, but some ridiculously more than others. You take a look round the starting XI’s of the Premier League clubs and wonder how some of the names on the team sheets are still getting a game in the Premier League. We’ve picked our current overrated Premier League XI, and found enough individuals to make up a bench as well!
Click on Rob Green to unveil the Premier League’s overrated XI
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West Ham United will look to bounce back from their 4-1 home defeat to Manchester City when they visit Leicester City in the Premier League this weekend.
The Hammers are currently 15th in the Premier League table – just three points clear of the bottom three.
Defeat to Leicester this weekend would leave David Moyes’ side extremely vulnerable ahead of their home match against Manchester United next week.
The West Ham fans have been discussing their preferred team for the clash with Leicester, and it would be fair to say that they want Moyes to make changes from the City clash.
Indeed, Josh Cullen is wanted as a midfield starter, with Mark Noble and Cheikhou Kouyate dropping to the bench following their struggles at the weekend.
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The supporters also want Javier Hernandez to come into the XI despite suggestions that the Mexican has already decided to leave the club at the end of the season.
A selection of the Twitter reaction can be seen below:
Manchester United’s Player of the Year awards were a long-winded affair, spanning over hours of interviews and talks before revealing what we were all expecting: David De Gea as top performer and Juan Mata claiming Goal of the Season for his second strike against Liverpool. But if you had sat through the awards bash, and waited for the manager to make his speech, you would not have been disappointed. Louis Van Gaal showed exactly why he is the right man for the job at Old Trafford.
The red wine may have been flowing before Van Gaal took to the stage, but his emotive speech seemed to come from the heart. He spoke so highly of the Manchester United support and hailed the faith they showed him from the beginning. Even in United’s poor run of games at the start of the season, they backed him, and he praised them for that. “How is it possible that the fans are supporting me?” he said, off the back of “10 games 13 points”.
The fans already respect him as a manager – he brought them back into the top four which was his objective all along. But after this, you cannot help but love him even more. He is a million miles away from the manager David Moyes was. Moyes was out of his depth, of course, but he could not get the fans on his side no matter what. He put his foot in his mouth, especially claiming his squad aspired to be like their bitter rivals Manchester City.
Van Gaal is happy with what he has achieved in his first season, which has had its ups and downs. The manager knows this, and addressed this in his speech. He showed he is human and cannot get it right at all times.
Louis Van Gaal understands the importance of being at Manchester United, and the fans are lapping it up. He showed his passion for his new club through both his speech, and a little viral vine that occurred after United’s last home game. When meeting fans outside the ground, he joins in a rendition of his own song – “Louis Van Gaal’s Red Army.” How can you not love that?
The manager has promised big things for next season, and based the delivery of his speech, you can believe it. He said that everyone at Manchester United “have to produce more… Because we have the best fans in the world.” What a speech. What a man.
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Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers is hoping to sign highly rated Brazilian defender Douglas on a free transfer this summer, according to the Daily Mail.
Douglas is out of contract at the end of the season and is not expected to sign a deal at FC Twente, leaving him able to talk to clubs about a free move when the transfer window opens.
Newcastle were close to agreeing a £4million for the Brazilian last summer but the central defender opted to stay in Holland for one more season to allow his contract to run down.
Liverpool are desperate to replace the retiring Jamie Carragher and have been linked with a whole host of defenders in recent weeks including Swansea’s Ashley Williams and Tottenham’s Steven Caulker.
The Reds will not splash the cash this summer, unlike recent years, and the free signing of Douglas would be the perfect switch for the club and the player.
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According to The Sun, Tottenham Hotspur want £40m plus Luke Shaw in order to sell Danny Rose to Manchester United in this summer’s transfer window.
What’s the story?
United are again being strongly linked with a move for Rose, who is widely expected to leave Spurs ahead of the 2018-19 campaign.
Red Devils boss Jose Mourinho is a firm admirer of the England international, and still sees him as a key transfer target despite the fact that the left-back has only featured on 14 occasions for his current club during the 2017-18 season.
According to The Sun, Tottenham have informed their Premier League rivals that Rose will be allowed to move to Old Trafford this summer, but the London club want £40m plus Shaw.
Shaw has had a number of problems with Mourinho at Old Trafford, and has been tipped to leave Old Trafford this summer as the former Southampton youngster looks to move on from what has been a difficult couple of seasons.
Would the deal suit both parties?
A swap deal involving Rose and Shaw would certainly be appealing to both Mourinho and Tottenham boss Mauricio Pochettino. After all, both managers would be acquiring excellent left-backs.
A price of £40m plus Shaw does seem very steep, however, when considering that Rose has been unable to dislodge Ben Davies in the Tottenham XI this season.
Pochettino worked with Shaw at Southampton and sees the Englishman as a potential superstar, whilst Mourinho believes that Rose would be the perfect player to work alongside Ashley Young, who has been excellent for the 20-time English champions this season.
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It would not be a surprise to see the two individuals move in opposite directions this summer, but United would surely be reluctant to part with £40m as well as a player that still has incredible potential despite his issues since suffering a serious leg break.
Mourinho’s side might well be better off coming up with a counter offer of £15m plus Shaw, which would still represent excellent value for both clubs.
West Ham are set to shake up the club by looking past Sam Allardyce when his contract runs out this summer. Instead, they are reported to be looking for someone new, and that man might just be the polar opposite of Big Sam.
According to the Daily Mirror, West Ham are considering Marseille’s Marcelo Bielsa to replace Allardyce. The Argentinian tactician is a bona fide philosopher of football, and would certainly represent a change of direction from the last few years the Hammers have spent under Sam Allardyce. Even if this is only paper talk, this appointment would be wonderful news to anyone who wants to see excitement and drama in the Premier League next season.
Here’s what you need to know about Bielsa: he is mad.
At least, that’s the persona. He may not be as mad as we think he is, but there are signs of madness, and the man nicknamed ‘El Loco’ – ‘The Madman’ is nothing if not passionate about the game.
Anyone who knows South American football however, knows that it’s nothing particularly special to be nicknamed ‘El Loco’, there are several ‘El Loco’s. But Bielsa has the stories to back them up.
As coach of Athletic Bilbao, Bielsa’s team charmed English football by the way they so gracefully disposed of Manchester United in the Europa League in 2012. But the Argentinian’s coaching methods were very much under scrutiny in the Basque country. For two reasons: one, because he is a man known for his thorough coaching and tactical methods and two, because he was getting results. Bilbao were playing wonderful football – and getting to the final of the Europa League while selecting players from only the small Basque region attests to this. It was a great feat.
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But speaking of ‘great feet’, one story to come out of this scrutiny of Bielsa’s coaching was when the coach drew on his shoes to show his players which part of the foot they should kick with. He then proceeded to walk around for the next few days with the marks still on his feet!
Bielsa is so driven to study the game – he watches DVDs of players and of games for hours a day – and to get his teams to play exactly as he wants them to. So micromanagement of this sort is hardly surprising.
He clearly knows exactly what he wants from his players, and is so sure that his coaching methods will make them bend to his will that he names his teams for big matches on the Fridays before games.
But all of this is enough to get the press on his back somewhat. His devotion, his pride and his obsession are portrayed as a madness, a pathology. A journalist in Spain once asked him in a press conference why he continuously took 13 steps from his technical area to the bench during the game. Over and over again he’d repeat this ritual, this rosary. Bielsa didn’t even know he was doing it. But worse still, there was someone sitting there actually counting how many steps he was taking. Just sitting there on the lookout for a story, an example of madness.
But then there are times when he hands them something to write about on a plate. He once confronted a group of angry Newell’s Old Boys fans with a hand grenade when they came to his door demanding explanations for a 6-0 defeat. He retreated to a convent for three months while out of work, abstaining from all modern conveniences and simply read books about football from morning until night.
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So Bielsa is certainly a colourful character. But he would be more than just a punchline if he came to England. To West Ham, at least, he’d be more than just a jester of a coach, there to give the newspapers something to write about or to do something funny to entertain us all. He’d be the defender of the faith, so to speak, the man who would bring attacking, beautiful football back to East London.
Although they may have had good reason, for West Ham fans it’s been years of whining about Big Sam’s ‘long ball’ approach. The Upton Park faithful would love to see a manager who is so passionate about playing football in the right way, a man who lives and breathes the game and has a theory on the right way to play. If there is one English club that a man like Bielsa could thrive at, it must be West Ham.
The fans are so starved for success that there’d be no unrealistic expectation, no demands of silverware. Just a few seasons of attractive football is all they would request. And Bielsa could certainly provide that. He’s the very antithesis of Sam Allardyce, so how could the fans fail to fall in love with him?
In the modern game, the role of a manager has drastically changed. From the days of being involved in almost every aspect of the club, you are more likely to find a new managerial appointment being described as a ‘head coach’ rather than a ‘manager’, and thus with it the indication that their role will be sufficiently limited to their efforts on the training ground and on match days, with little or no influence upon the business side of things.
Although it makes sense in the current climate of Premier League club’s becoming business and financial institutions in their own right, which operates and determines success almost completely independently to results on the pitch, my underlying concern is that the seperation of monetary issues and footballing issues has in effect taken the power of the transfer market away from those who need it most – the managers.
Whereas in the past, it was not unusual for managers to rely upon the knowledge of their coaches and their own scouting network to provide them with acceptable transfer targets, creating a consensus which would also be discussed in financial terms with the chairman, it appears more and more that the actual influence a manager has altered from having the final say, or at least their say carrying considerable weight to an overall decision, to little or no say, despite the fact that ultimately it will be the manager or head coach who will bear the full brunt of responsibility for a team’s failings.
The most promenant example which comes to mind is the story of Manchester City this season. Whilst perhaps Roberto Mancini deserves his fair share of due criticism for not getting the best out of his star-studded cast throughout their almost non-existent title defense, and similarly, at the start of the campaign, the Citizens failed to adapt to the Italian’s impractical use of a 3-5-2 formation, some blame has to be attatched to the club’s backroom officials for failing to bring in new recruits of a high enough standard in the summer.
Whilst Manchester United bought Robin van Persie, in a £20million deal that essentially handed them the Premier League title, Sporting Director Brian Marwood oversaw the purchases of Jack Rodwell, Scott Sinclair, Matija Nastasic, Javi Garcia and Maicon. Whilst perhaps the three youngsters are prospects of the future, Javi Garcia has had a rather unceromonious and average inaugural season, whilst Maicon appears to be firmly into his twilight years.
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The fact is, none of these players, excluding Nastasic, possess the current ability to be holding down a regular first team place, or keep the likes of Yaya Toure and David Silva, or even Gareth Barry, on their toes in fear of losing their slots in the starting XI, whilst no additions were made up front, despite Mario Balotelli’s future being in doubt for some time, and the Italian finally imploding his own City career by January.
Mancini has openly discussed how he has felt let down by those in control of the club’s transfers in press conferences this season, as reported by the Daily Mail. The Italain stated at the end of the summer after being quizzed by reporters about a lack of transfer activity; “These questions you should ask other people. I don’t know what I can say. After three or four months… nothing. You should talk to Brian Marwood for this.’Not me. Talk to Marwood please… No I’m not happy. I don’t want to say anything at the moment. For me we have a good team. But we need to continue to improve.”
Despite his glaring indication of disappointment, it is Mancini’s job which is currently being scrutinised and held up for review in the British media, and no doubt also behind closed doors.
It’s a similar story at Newcastle; this season, the Magpies have shifted from the Premier League’s overachievers to the top-flight’s most underperfoming team.Although I am not a fan of Alan Pardew, and I believe many of the club’s poor showings this year can be attributed to his failings as a manager in terms of tactics, motivation and understanding of his opponents, he has been by no means helped by Mike Ashley and Graham Carr – whom share a power vacuum over transfers which excludes the former Charlton and West Ham boss – who brought in just one summer signing in Vernun Anita, despite Newcastle having one of their most hectic and fixture-filled seasons to date with their qualification and involvement in the Europa League.
But, considering the finer details, perhaps it is more understandable. Even Alan Pardew’s biggest fan would admit that his knowledge of European football, and thus his pool of sourcing new signings, is sufficiently lacking, with the majority of his purchases at former clubs coming from the lower tiers of the English leagues.
Similarly, despite being offered an eight year contract by Mike Ashley, it would take a brave man to bet on Pardew seeing out its full tenure, and separating transfers from footballing duties at least creates some longevity and stability in the club’s overall transfer policy, which counteracts the managerial merry-go-round of hiring and firing that has encompassed English football in recent years.
As well as the culture of managerial appointments being an underlying factor in removing transfers from a head coaches’ sphere of influence, another is the rise in power of the modern owner. Whereas in the past, owner’s may have had the power to veto specific transfers on grounds of it being financially impractical, it has now become the norm for owners and chairmen to be directly involved in sourcing players, with the most obvious example being Roman Abramovich.
The club’s inability to hold on to a manager for more than a matter of months has given the Russian billionaire free reign in terms of bringing in players, which has no doubt been a factor in Fernando Torres’s torrid £50million move to Stamford Bridge. Whilst to a businessman and a football fan, the move may have made sense, in practical terms the Spaniard was never the perfect fit for a team based around organisation, physique and stability. Furthermore, he was never Carlo Ancelotti’s signing, and he was never Andre Villas-Boas’s signing, he was the owner’s signing.
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I fear their recent purchase of Andre Schurrle will suffer a similar fate. Despite it being just two months away from the end of the season, by which time Chelsea should have appointed a new manager to replace the outgoing Rafa Benitez, the club’s officials have brought in a new recruit, without even considering the implications for their new head coach. It may be quite simply that he is not preferred by the future Blues boss, and thus, the club will face another battle between success on the pitch and actual financial investment; the same dilemma which lead to Torres becoming horrendously over-played, despite his poor form.
In the modern game, there are several deviations from the past that due to the rise in the business side of the game, one most accept, despite presenting relatively little business sense or defying the traditional logic of how a club should be run. However, whereas in some cases, the seperation of transfers and first team duties can be of benefit, due to the limited attributes of a particular coach in terms of their prowess in the transfer market, overall I believe it has sufficiently weakened the position of managers in the Premier League.
It limits them from installing their own vision upon the club, and furthermore, presents the opportunity for a rift to develop between a head coach and club officials, such as Sporting Directors. It can create a contrast in views that if left unresolved can result in a team’s eventual demise, and I believe it contributes more to the hire and fire culture than it does alleviate the risk from an owner’s perspective. More trust should be given to managerial appointments in the transfer market, or else they must stop being held fully accountable for their team’s failings.
The battle to become Liverpool’s long-term right-back has evolved into a Mexican standoff with Nathaniel Clyne’s recent return from injury, reminding Trent Alexander-Arnold and Joe Gomez that potential alone won’t be enough to keep them in Jurgen Klopp’s long-term plans. All three bring something slightly different to the role; Clyne offers balance and experience, Gomez athleticism and defensive solidity as part full-back, part centre-half, and Alexander-Arnold local-lad enthusiasm combined with prodigal offensive flair.
But there’s no question who Liverpool fans think should emerge as Klopp’s primary choice for the No.2 berth heading into next season. When we asked Reds supporters earlier this month to choose between the three right-backs, and the prospect of signing a new one altogether this summer, it was Alexander-Arnold who won our poll with a clear majority – 54% – voting his favour.
And after a second impressive performance against Manchester City, the Premier League’s champions in waiting, in as many appearances, it’s becoming only more obvious why Liverpool fans value the emerging academy product so highly – especially as his journey along the learning curve of what has quickly become one of modern football’s most important positions over the last decade has steadily increased in prevalence.
It wasn’t so long ago Klopp’s decision to start Alexander-Arnold in a big game came under scrutiny, after twice being sucked towards the ball at Old Trafford to afford Marcus Rashford the space to fire Manchester United to victory in the Northwest derby. The 19-year-old was culpable for the same error against Crystal Palace too, allowing Wilfried Zaha to drift into the space between him and his corresponding centre-half to lure Loris Karius into a penalty-conceding challenge.
But Manchester City, albeit never quite at their best against Liverpool, have provided the biggest tests Alexander-Arnold’s defensive qualities will face this season and the return leg of the Champions League quarter-final at the Etihad Stadium on Tuesday night marked the second the England U21 has passed with flying colours, especially considering his direct opposite for those 180 minutes was Leroy Sane – one of Europe’s most exciting forwards with nine goals and twelve assists in the Premier League this season.
Indeed, while the German international once again endured a frustrating evening, Alexander-Arnold’s defensive contributions in a match that was all about City trying their best to rack up a cricket score to reverse the 3-0 deficit truly stood out – registering the most tackles and interceptions of any Liverpool player, while even finding opportunity to briefly impact at the other end with one accurate cross into the box.
No doubt, Alexander-Arnold still isn’t quite the finished article, especially for Klopp’s system which implores his full-backs to get forward and provide width. Despite technical ability being widely seen as the teenager’s greatest strength, he still completed only 70% of his passes against City and suffered two unsuccessful touches – on another day, a team of City’s calibre could have punished him dearly for that sloppiness in possession.
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But the real question over Alexander-Arnold since his emergence in the first team has regarded his defensive prowess, not whether he has the quality to contribute going forward, and Klopp’s willingness to throw him in at the deep end against top quality opposition has seen that side of the Liverpudlian’s game rapidly improve. Despite Gomez holding down the role for most of the first half of the season, and a full England international in Clyne returning to fitness too, the right-back slot for 2018/18 now well and truly feels like Alexander-Arnold’s to lose.
Tim ‘Tactics’ Sherwood will be at the FA Cup Final in a few weeks’ time, while Steven Gerarrd, Brendan Rodgers and the anyone associated with the red half of Merseyside will be, if they can bring themselves to, watching on their TVs and thinking of what might have been. The limp semi-final loss was the latest in a long line of high profile defeats for the Reds, who, had things been a little different about a year ago, would be champions of England, and may well still have Luis Suarez up front.As ever, the buck stops with the manager, and Rodgers has to answer some serious questions. It’s now three trophy-less seasons at Anfield for the northern Irishman while Champions League football is, barring a miracle, off the menu for 2015/16, so could it be time for a serious change? Perhaps, and here are FIVE reasons why…[interaction ]
Big game bottler
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Over the course of the last year to 18 months, Brendan Rodgers has lost the majority of the games that matter. Last season saw a depleted Chelsea arrive at Anfield to play for a draw with the campaign close to its end. All the Reds needed was a point to keep their Premier League title in their grasp, but, albeit via an unfortunate Steven Gerrard error, they slipped (sorry) to defeat and Manchester City surged on to lift the top prize.
Once is forgivable, but this term has thrown up two cup semi-finals for Liverpool, who have now choked on both occasions. Chelsea beat them in extra-time in the League Cup, and, of course, the Aston Villa episode is still fresh in the memory.
Add to that the losses at home to Manchester United and away to Arsenal, and the crunch games in the chase for top four action have been thrown away, too.
Surely this cannot be coincidence and Rodgers’ actions must be having an influence when the going gets really tough. Just look at Jose Mourinho, he rarely drops the matches that mean everything…
So many transfer mistakes
Luis Alberto, Iago Aspas, Dejan Lovren, Fabio Borini, Oussama Assaidi, Rickie Lambert, Nuri Sahin, Mario Balotelli… the list goes on.
Rodgers’ record in the transfer market is frankly abysmal. Only Philippe Coutinho and Daniel Sturridge have been successes during his reign and although the transfer committee work together on deals, the Northern Irishman has a big say in the process.
It was telling at Wembley when, even though over £100m was spent during the summer, Lambert was Rodgers’ only real option to change the game late on. How long can Liverpool’s money men fund this madness?
Changes formation more times than most change underwear
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3-4-2-1, 3-4-3, 4-5-1, 4-3-3… all of these were on show at times at Wembley on Sunday. In a desperate attempt to wrestle the game back within his team’s grasp, Rodgers shuffled his options to the point that the majority of his players appeared unsure of their actual tasks.
Okay, it’s good to be proactive, but the fact that this many alterations were ‘needed’ illustrates how out of line it was to revert to the 3-4-2-1 system, which had been producing negative results and performances in recent weeks.
Last season was much the same as Rodgers eventually settled on the 4-4-2 diamond set-up, which was rather enforced by Daniel Sturridge and Luis Suarez’s desire to play centrally. Although exciting, that set-up saw defensive frailties exposed and magnified.
Klopp is available…
It’s not every day that top managers become available and it’s even rarer if they are open to picking your club… but Liverpool are in this very position with Jurgen Klopp.
The German will leave Dortmund at the end of the season after agreeing to cut his contract short and reports suggest that, although he would like to manage Manchester United, Liverpool are a side firmly in his crosshairs.
The outspoken boss would certainly bring a new lease of life to Anfield in a period in which the fans are growing frustrated, while his proven record at BVB – he’s had a budget akin to that of QPR – in which he’s won two Bundesliga titles and reached the Champions League Final shows he’s got pedigree.
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Klopp has also nurtured youngsters such as Marco Reus, so he could potentially sway Raheem Sterling towards staying.
Too weak to drop Steven Gerrard
Sentiment and football tend to go hand-in-hand, but the FA Cup semi-final and Liverpool’s last major chance to do anything this season was surely a time to put it all aside to maximise the chance of getting the result.
However, albeit a Lucas injury has an influence, Gerrard was thrust back into the XI after letting his side down with an idiotic stamp at Manchester United, despite it being well known that at, 34, he’s simply too slow to function in a Rodgers team nowadays.
The narrative of one last shot at glory – the FA Cup Final is on his birthday – in his last game has been talked about, but, as much of a shame as it may be, there will be no fairytale ending to Gerrard’s journey at Anfield.
Reading boss Nigel Adkins will welcome back Russian striker Pavel Pogrebnyak for Saturday’s clash against Arsenal.
Adkins takes charge of his first game at the Emirates Stadium and will be delighted to have Pogrebnyak available after he served a three-match ban following his sending off against Wigan.
Fit-again trio Jimmy Kebe, Adam Federici and Danny Guthrie are also in contention to make the starting line up so Adkins has plenty of options, but Jason Roberts is still out with a hip injury.
Everyone seems to have returned safe and well from international duty, and although Adkins has not had much time to prepare for the game, he still thinks they are capable of getting a result.
“Our spirit can take us a long way,” stressed Adkins. “We’ve got a great game coming up and we’re going to relish that.
“It’s an interesting challenge, some players won’t get back until Thursday afternoon. It’s a great challenge to pull all that together, but Andy and I are really looking forward to it.
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“Reading have good players who fight for each other. We’re going to scrap for every point. Forget about the future, we’re concentrating on the here and now and giving ourselves every opportunity against Arsenal.”