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There is no poetry in the British fields, you don’t see dribbling or juggling in the South American way. It is another concept of football, less baroque, although highly attractive, since beauty has different faces. There are tons of quality in the teams, only that it is played differently from other countries, without so much tactics.
Extra muscle, speed, concentration, fight, verticality. They are not footballers but gladiators encouraged by the roar of the mass, momentarily absent. The game maintains a vigorous intensity during the 95 or 96 minutes without going down a decibel. Such momentum perhaps reduces brilliance. What is sold is combat, dedication, attitude, energy, desire for victory. Very seductive too. And they all fulfill the slogan: play from south to north, without speculation. The back or side touch is not listed in England.
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The exquisiteness is in the packaging and in everything we see when we open it: beautiful stadiums, the immaculate green rectangle, neatness, punctuality, good taste. The entire staging is part of an irresistible product called Premier League. Even the presentation of each game on TV is packaged at the source and it is a wonder that planetary consumers devour with pleasure. Any match is a well presented and appetizing dish.
Be part of a premise: the frame must be impeccable. It’s one of the pull factors, and the grass is legendary in them, despite the rainy and cold weather for much of the year. That is why the groundsman historically occupies a preferential place in the structure of each club. In the simple soccer organization chart of yesteryear, there were the president, the manager and the person in charge of the field. Sir Alex Ferguson recounts that his day in Manchester started at 6:30 am walking the lawn with tea in hand while chatting with the groundsman about the state of the ground. Until not so long ago, our cancheros were self-sacrificing old men who earned a pittance and nobody ever assigned them importance or budget.
There are also glittering names. Just review the list of technicians and see there Guardiola, Klopp, Ancelotti, Lampard, Mourinho and Bielsa arouse interest.
There are two other substantial elements. One, Fair Play, which is not just a slogan devoid of content, is strictly adhered to or the penalties are harsh, even for an inappropriate or insulting statement. And there are the arbitrations, impeccable, without favoritism. For the judge it does not matter Liverpool as Burnley. And the VAR is not a Spanish or South American festival, it is used for what is strictly necessary, with criteria and impartiality.
In this context of beauty and equanimity, clearly positioned as the most attractive league in the world, a new season is born, without an audience for now (there will be soon), but with the same or more expectation than in recent years due to the number of suitors to the crown. And also because the competitive base is widening; two clubs with a long tradition return to the fore: the Leeds United, a colossus in the times of Jackie Charlton, Billy Bremner and DT Don Revie returns to First after 16 years; and the ancient Everton, that with the leadership of the laureate Carlo Ancelotti and a dozen figures arrived last summer and in this he seeks to green splendors. It will be, from today, James’s Everton, due to the noise that his presence generated in the city of The Beatles.
Yerry Mina and James Rodríguez, in Everton practice.
Klopp’s Liverpool will try to defend the crown, but it remains to be seen if they will maintain such a high level of performance. The club and the coach maintain a prudent transfer policy and, for the moment (the transfer book closes on October 5), it has only been reinforced with a moderately priced Greek side Kostas Tsimikas (13 million euros).
His archrival will again be Guardiola’s Manchester City, that to his already rich squad he added Nathan Aké (45 million), a Dutch defender of exceptional elasticity and determination, and Ferrán Torres (23 million), an interesting leader of Valencia.
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But, apparently, this time there will be new actors in the fight for the title. One is Frank Lampard’s Chelsea, who has broken the market by spending 223 million euros on four stellar hires: Kai Havertz (80 million), Timo Werner (53 million), Ben Chilwell (50 million) and Hakim Ziyech (40 million). And he’s still looking for an archer. Lampard had already improved his face in the previous cycle, now he is expected to point directly to the crown. The other is Manchester United, who has a vast and young payroll, to which he added the rising midfielder of Ajax Donny Van de Beek (44 million). There are Rashford, Martial, Pogba, Maguire, Bruno Fernandes, Greenwood, Daniel James… United have been a contender again since Ferguson retired almost seven and a half years ago.
Behind them, but with a refreshing tailwind, comes Arsenal, whose life has changed Mikel Arteta. He came at a turbulent and bad moment for the team, he straightened it out, he won the English Cup and the Community Shield no less than Chelsea and Liverpool. He reinstated the joy in the troop and in the fans and, although it is difficult for him to reach heaven, he has already escaped from hell. It will do a lot, a lot of damage. And he has a great scorer like Aubameyang. In the same step we place Tottenham, which Mourinho is obliged to improve on pain of being considered an ex-coach. The Spurs are managed with forced austerity (they continue to pay for their sensational stadium that cost 1,170 million euros). But they managed to retain Harry Kane and there is Son. Mou will find a way to fight.
Marcelo bielsa he chose to keep the team that gave him the joy of promotion to Leeds, a very risky bet. A good goal for Leeds would be to keep the category in this first year. In turn Everton, or rather Ancelotti, is compelled to qualify for the European cups and, if possible, break the barrier of the big six, the big six who always share the cheese. Mr. Moshiri has put up so much money that he will be impatient to see it. Ancelotti is a traditional system coach with magnificent locker room management: the players empathize with him and he brings out the best in them. His “siamo tutto bene” formula has given him extraordinary results. It is not pigeonholed into a scheme, it adapts to the players it has and has a clinical eye to give them the best location on the court. The club winked at him by bringing him Allan and James, two exes he asked for. From the outside there is harmony, illusion and everything indicates that Everton should be mixed.
A base formation for Carletto would be with Pickford (head of the English National Team), Captain Coleman, Yerry Mina, Keane and Digné; double pivot with Doucouré and Allan; two links -André Gomes or Bernard or Sigurdsson- and James; above, Calvert-Lewin and Richarlison. With three Brazilians and two Colombians, the Blues are one of the teams with the most South Americans in the championship.
Wolverhampton, latest revelation (7th), and Leicester (5th) aspire to another year with smiles. The sure thing is that they will knock down more than four. For all these reasons, the tournament promises to be an exciting 38-date brawl. There is a lot of rooster curled.
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The peculiarity of the Premier is that all clubs have very large squads due to the number of games they play. Everton, without entering European competitions, could play up to 50 matches between the league, the English Cup and the League Cup. Those who intervene in the international arena could add even thirteen more. All tight in eight months. And there are the games of selections (James could have 21 commitments to Colombia in 2021 if the pandemic doesn’t spoil tournaments.)
Today an illusion starts. Between now and May, James is going to get a country out of bed on Saturdays and Sundays.
Jorge Barraza
For the time
@JorgeBarrazaOK
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