• Home
  • E-Paper
  • Archive
  • Contact us
  • Daily Pakistan
Sunday, October 1, 2023
  • Login
Daily The Patriot
  • Home
  • Top Stories
  • National
  • City
  • World
  • Sports
  • Showbiz
  • Technology
  • Editorial
  • Opinion
  • E-Paper
    • Archive E-Paper
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Top Stories
  • National
  • City
  • World
  • Sports
  • Showbiz
  • Technology
  • Editorial
  • Opinion
  • E-Paper
    • Archive E-Paper
No Result
View All Result
Daily The Patriot
No Result
View All Result
Home Sports

Premier League returns with a stronger Man United

by Daily Patriot
August 13, 2014
in Sports
0
Premier League returns with a stronger Man United
0
SHARES
6
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

LONDON: The return of the Premier League this weekend cannot come quickly enough for English fans still lamenting their national team’s worst-ever World Cup showing. With the league’s riches, global reach and non-stop drama, it remains England’s projection of footballing power.
But as the waning impact of English sides in Europe last season demonstrated, the Premier League’s allure remains under threat from Spain. Gareth Bale left Tottenham for Real Madrid last year, and the new season begins with Luis Suarez at Barcelona rather than Liverpool.
Liverpool cashed in around $130 million for the Uruguay striker, who is banned from football until the end of October for biting an opponent at the World Cup in Brazil. But Liverpool is now without the player who led the club to a rapid return to the elite, and the Premier League marketing machine is without one of its most recognizable names.
Replenishing the Liverpool squad with a trio of players from eighth-place Southampton at a cost of $80 million doesn’t seem the obvious way of turning last season’s second-place finish behind Manchester City into a first championship since 1990. The 27-year-old Suarez, whose 31 goals earned him the player of the year titles, has been replaced by 32-year-old Southampton striker Rickie Lambert, who played just three minutes for England at the World Cup.
“(Suarez) left Liverpool after his time as a world-class talent,” Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers said. “But we will move forward.”
Manchester United seems more likely to make a big jump forward than Liverpool. Louis van Gaal has replaced David Moyes, who took over from Alex Ferguson as manager last season but wilted in the Old Trafford spotlight as the team fell from champions to seventh place.
Moyes arrived a year ago without a trophy to his name, but Van Gaal already has an aura of authority gained from years at Ajax, Barcelona and Bayern Munich. He also led the Netherlands to a third-place finish at the World Cup last month. With United out of the Champions League for the first time since 1995 — and out of Europe completely — the 63-year-old Dutchman can focus on returning United to the top four.
“He’ll find the competition in this league will be different to any other league that he’s worked in,” Rodgers said. “This is a league where the top team plays the bottom team and on any given day you can lose.”
Van Gaal has set about repairing a squad he described as imbalanced and “broken” in a summer that has seen veteran defenders Patrice Evra, Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic leave and Ryan Giggs retire.
United spent about $90 million on signing Spanish midfielder Ander Herrera from Athletic Bilbao and teenager defender Luke Shaw from Southampton, which has seen an exodus of players to rival clubs and manager Mauricio Pochettino leave to take over at Tottenham.
Dithering in last summer’s transfer window contributed to United’s unexpected fall. The unwillingness of Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger to spend early in previous off-seasons has contributed to title challenges collapsing since 2004. Jolted by the failure to claim the trophy last season — finishing fourth after spending more time at the top than any rivals — Wenger seized the chance in July to take Chile striker Alexis Sanchez from Barcelona for $60 million.
Wenger opens the season without the burden of failure, having ended a nine-year trophy drought in May by winning the FA Cup. Mesut Ozil, Per Mertesacker and Lukas Podolski went on to become World Cup winners with Germany, but must now swiftly return to the Arsenal fold.
“It always makes it difficult mentally to be sharp and hungry straightaway again,” Wenger said.
It is a challenge Manchester City must also confront in trying to defend its second title in three years. By winning the Premier League and League Cup, City enjoyed its most successful season since 1970, but only sustained success will confirm the Abu Dhabi-bankrolled team as England’s new force.
While City hasn’t made any headline-grabbing additions, goalkeeper Willy Caballero, midfielder Fernando and defender Bacary Sagna should add depth to make a greater impact in the Champions League.
Few managers have been as shrewd as Jose Mourinho over the summer. He has generated $115 million for Chelsea by offloading out-of favor defender David Luiz to Paris Saint-Germain and striker Romelu Lukaku to Everton. Raising cash to reinvest in the squad was vital after Mourinho ended his first season back at Stamford Bridge empty-handed, unable to replicate the glory years of 2004-07.
Midfielder Cesc Fabregas was enticed to join Chelsea from Barcelona rather than returning to Arsenal, striker Diego Costa and defender Filipe Luis were bought from Atletico Madrid, and 36-year-old Champions League winner Didier Drogba is making a crowd-pleasing return to the Blues.
“Why I like the Premier League so much is that at this moment, nobody knows who is going to win the title,” Mourinho said.
The favorites to be relegated are the newly-promoted trio. Leicester is back after a decade away, Burnley returns after a five-year absence and Queens Park Rangers won promotion after one season out of the top flight. The three will earn $100 million-plus from the league even for finishing at the bottom, a windfall that highlights the Premier League’s status as the world’s richest football competition.

Related

Daily Patriot

Daily Patriot

Next Post
Ajmal move reveals ICC’s firm hand

Ajmal move reveals ICC's firm hand

Latest News

رضوان Rizwan
Sports

Experimented in warm-up but fielding needs to be improved: Rizwan

by Daily Patriot
September 30, 2023
0

National team wicketkeeper-batsman Muhammad Rizwan has said that we have tried to read the Indian condition but we have to...

Read more
Anushka and Virat expecting second child: Indian media

Anushka and Virat expecting second child: Indian media

September 30, 2023
American media reports have said that the supreme leader of the Afghan Taliban, Haibatullah Akhwandzada, had instructed the Afghan people not to fund the outlawed TTP.

Afghanistan arrested more than 200 TTP terrorists involved in Chitral attack

September 30, 2023
Terrorist incidents during Eid Milad-ul-Nabi in Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

Terrorist incidents during Eid Milad-ul-Nabi in Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

September 30, 2023
Security forces foiled an attempt to infiltrate into Pakistan from Afghanistan and killed 3 terrorists. According to the Public Relations Department of the Pakistan Army, ISPR, the security forces conducted an operation near the Pakistan-Afghan border in Zhob and foiled the attempt of the outlawed TTP terrorists to infiltrate into Pakistan from Afghanistan. According to ISPR, TTP terrorists were coming from Afghanistan to Pakistan near Sambaza and 3 terrorists were killed and some were injured in the action of security forces. According to the Public Relations Department of Pakistan Army, during the operation, 4 jawans also martyred, Havaldar Sattar, Lance Naik Sher Azam, Lance Naik Adnan and Sepoy Nadeem fought bravely.

Infiltration attempt from Afghanistan to Pakistan failed, 3 terrorists of TTP were killed

September 29, 2023
  • Home
  • Top Stories
  • National
  • City
  • World
  • Sports
  • Showbiz
  • Technology
  • Editorial
  • Opinion
  • E-Paper
Call us: 051-233-1674

© 2023DAILY PATRIOT - For the latest news updates from the Daily Patriot. Download Our Apps image description image description

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Top Stories
  • National
  • City
  • World
  • Sports
  • Showbiz
  • Technology
  • Editorial
  • Opinion
  • E-Paper
    • Archive E-Paper

© 2023DAILY PATRIOT - For the latest news updates from the Daily Patriot. Download Our Apps image description image description

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Create New Account!

Fill the forms below to register

All fields are required. Log In

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In