Welcome back to Season 2 of The Talisman.
The Premier League returned this weekend and with that return comes new yellow card rules, new team-expectations, new transfer-records, and our favorite thing, new story lines.
Its no small feat to introduce a new goalkeeper to your team but this season many of the higher up the table competitors also introduce to us new coaches. We have many rebuilds to consider as well as one-season wonder tags we’ll want to think about removing (or keeping).
*Top 6 Premier League predictions to come after the transfer window is closed*
Matchday 1 of 38
Manchester City vs Burnley
The reigning League Champions kick off the season where they left off, hot goalscoring form and clean sheets. Burnley, who is led by the presumed next Man City manager after Pep, Vincent Kompany have unclear expectations for me this season.
While we all expect City to either retain their League title or lose it on a tight margin, the team has not necessarily improved this window. Club captain Gundogan is gone and the ever so reliable right-winger Riyad Mahrez has left as well.
City have had to sit by and watch Arsenal recruit Declan Rice while they replace Gundogan with one of the worst performing midfielders of the year last season in Mateo Kovačić.
Addition by subtraction - Phil Foden made 32 appearances in the League last but only 23 of those appearances came from starting berths. There’s obvious players who we’ll look to lead City this year but its the homegrown Foden who may need the largest step up if City want to keep winning trophies.
Chelsea vs Liverpool
The marquee blockbuster match of the weekend, Chelsea are back with a new manager in Mauricio Pochettino and a semi-rebuilt team. Liverpool similarly are also completing a big renovation to their midfield which like most DIY construction jobs is still a work in progress.
Chelsea and Change are becoming synonymous. Going into the season with a new goalkeeper is a big move in itself but reconstructing a new style of player and incorporating young players into the process is even more challenging.
Yet, with all this instability around Stamford Bridge, Liverpool could not capitalize. Alexis Mac Allister, who is an absolutely top signing, was asking to play in a deep 6 role for the reds. He was joined in midfield by Dominik Szoboszlai, a name I’m upset I’m going to have to learn, and forward player Cody Gakpo.
At time of writing, Chelsea has completed the signing of Moses Caicedo. The Ecuadorian starting alongside Enzo Fernandez is arguably the most entertaining midfield to watch in the league. Having missed out now on yet another top level midfielder (Mason Mount, Jude Bellingham, Declan Rice) Liverpool are in big trouble.
Arsenal vs Nottingham Forest
Arsenal and Mikel Arteta have a vision this year. The club made an absolutely enormous jump last season to challenge for the title only to bottle it in the end when the nerves and pressure broke the team’s spirit. At the time, its painful to see your team drop-off on the title but for now, this experience has to be drawn upon to help them leap forward once more. Arsenal took a big step but are we be looking at a club with small feet but big toes?
Declan Rice is an exceptional signing especially as the transfer window has continued to progress, his transfer fee remains wildly reasonable for a player who immediately walks into your starting 11 and elevates the way the team can play.
Julien Timber I really enjoy as well albeit he may have picked up an injury which may put him out for months.
Its the Kai Havertz signing which I don’t understand. I don’t see the vision, I’ve tried reviewing different explanations of the 8 position he would play but right now for me the signing feels like a 2 birds 1 stone efficiency pickup. Havertz can play as a forward and he can play in midfield. He not particular dominant or strong at either position but he can do it.
The Forest match showed a different, much more possession heavy style of play from Arsenal. I expect as the season progresses we’ll see more of the tactical tweaks Mikel Arteta has made to the system, notably how involved or uninvolved last years’ marquee signings Gabriel Jesus and Oleksandr Zinchenko actually are in the team’s new system.
Manchester United vs Wolves
Everyone, and I mean everyone was predicting Manchester United to thump Wolves to open the Premier League season. Wolves are moving like a pre-relegation team this Summer, changing their manager 2 weeks before the season starts and selling off their star players (bye bye Neves) without replacing them.
Manchester United similarly have been working on their rebuild themselves this summer. Andre Onana, a new goalkeeper comes in fresh off an impressive Champions League final resulted in De Gea leaving the club which meant there are no longer any Sir Alex Ferguson era players left on the team. Mason Mount, a Chelsea youth academy gem, was picked up and given the iconic #7 shirt to come in and play a deeper midfield role. Harry Kane, went to Bayern Munich so United missed out there but according to Erik Ten Hag, it was Rasmus Højlund who the club was after to lead the forward line.
With elite level ball-playing goalkeeper and Mason Mount in a deeper midfield role the team is expected to make major changes to their playing style. Ten Hag has talked about turning United into a transitional team this preseason. Without going full route 1 ball up to the forward to battle the opposition CBs, United want their players to be able to pick out long forward passes to their attacking players who they want to abuse their pace.
Alejandro Garnacho, who just turned 19 in July, is expected to be have a prominent role in the team. Between Garnacho and Rashford, it’s difficult to think of 2-man combination of players with more pace and ability to run with the ball.
Tottenham vs Brentford
Tottenham, similar to Chelsea have also changed managers and goalkeepers but until the other big 6 clubs, Spurs also lose their greatest player of all time in Harry Kane. The North London will now have 2-weeks to replace the goals and playmaking brought by Harry Kane.
There is obviously never a great time to lose an all-time great players but for Spurs, could this have been the best time to lose Harry Kane? Is it a blessing in disguise?
James Maddison has been brought in and handed the #10 shirt as well as the co-captaincy. Maddison goes a long way in replacing Kane’s playmaking, but with only Richarlison to feed the ball to up top, your ceiling as a team is low.
Newly appointed captain Heung-min Son will want to improve from his abysmal numbers he put out last season but under new manager Ange Postecoglou the system has changed.
One game in to his Tottenham reign and you can already see Guardiola’s influence on Ange’s tactics, Tottenham are taking a hard turn onto tika taka street. If ever there was a time to rebuild the team without Harry Kane it is best that this rebuild is takes place under the leadership of a manager with a strong footballing philosophy.