Premier League 2008/2009 Preview Part.5 (T-W)

16 Aug, 2008 Jonathan F England, Europe, Latest, Premier League

Just-Football’s 2008/2009 English Premier League preview now concludes with a look at the remaining four clubs:

Tottenham Hotspur
(Last season – 11th)

What to say about Tottenham Hotspur? Well, Spurs might finally realise the potential that derives from their large fanbase and years of carefree spending by actually making the top four this season. There, I said it. One of the most overused phrases in English football. These days merely suggesting it feels like a bit of a cliche really, what with the amount of times it has been trotted out in various season previews over the years. In the past I have generally been reluctant to buy into the hype. This year is different though. This year they could do it.

Tottenham made an abysmal start to their league campaign last season and by the time Juande Ramos took over in October the North London outfit were stuck in the relegation zone, remarkable when you consider the amount of money they had spent during that summer. Ramos, a tactically astute and extremely meticulous coach, did his best to transform the mentality within the club by addressing fitness and discipline as well as changing the personnel and tactics. A mini-revival saw Spurs end up in 11th and they also won the Carling Cup. With a clean slate and the chance to start on a par with all teams, Ramos now has the chance to show exactly what he can do over 38 games.

His summer signings have been nothing short of fascinating, and Tottenham fans will no doubt be licking their lips at the array of attacking talent he has brought to the club. Giovani dos Santos is the bargain of the summer at £4.7 million, Luka Modric was coveted by several top clubs around Europe (not Arsenal though, Arsene Wenger expressed his opinion that the Croat is too slight for English football) and David Bentley is a vastly talented young player who is improving all the time.

Add to this their replacement of the inept Paul Robinson for the excellent Heurelho Gomes, a keeper who set the Eredivisie record at PSV for the highest percentage of clean sheets, and you can see why fans at White Hart Lane are allowing themselves to be optimistic. Spanking in twenty goals in five pre-season outings, including a 5-0 win over Serie A runners-up Roma, only adds to the air of excitement.

Spurs this season look to have quality in all areas. If Ledley King and Jonathan Woodgate can stay fit (something which at face value looks about as likely as Paul Jewell winning a game of football), then a back four of Gareth Bale, Alan Hutton, King and Woodgate supported by Gomes is certainly good enough to challenge the top four. The return of Bale from injury is a huge boost, and Hutton should only improve in his first full season. A midfield combination of Bentley, Jermaine Jenas, Modric and Giovani, while perhaps a bit physically weak, is jam-packed full of imagination and artistry and should provide goals aplenty.

The only problem now for Ramos could be upfront, ironic really considering last year it was their strongest department. ‘Mr. Tottenham’ aka Robbie Keane now has his lips surgically connected to a Liverpool badge and Dimitar Berbatov, according to rumours, is Old Trafford bound. Darren Bent has scored eleven goals in a very promising pre-season, but they may need one other quality striker to really push for a top four spot.

When you consider the inventiveness of the side, the composition of the back four and the tactical nous Juande Ramos can provide, Tottenham may prove to be this season’s surprise package. Genuinely this time.

Ins: John Bostock (Crystal Palace, £700,000), Heurelho Gomes (PSV Eindhoven, undisclosed), Luka Modric (£15.8m), Giovani dos Santos (Barcelona, £4.7m), David Bentley (Blackburn, £15m), Cesar Sanchez (Real Zaragoza, undisclosed).
Outs: Pascal Chimbonda (Sunderland, undisclosed), Paul Robinson (Blackburn, £3.5m), Teemu Tainio (Sunderland, undisclosed), Joe Martin (Blackpool, undisclosed), Robbie Keane (Liverpool, £20.3m). Anthony Gardner (Hull City, £2,5m), Steed Malbranque (Sunderland, undisclosed), Jake Livermore (Crewe, loan), Younes Kaboul (Portsmouth, undisclosed).

West Bromwich Albion

(Last season – promoted)

West Bromwich Albion were deserved winners of the Championship last season and make a return to the Premiership after a two year absence, but like with their promoted counterparts Hull City and Stoke City they face a season’s worth of battle and struggle if they are to avoid dropping straight back down again.

The problem for West Brom going into 2008/2009 is that you could argue their squad is actually worse off now than it was last season. In Kevin Phillips and Zoltan Gera the Baggies have lost two of the best players they had during their promotion campaign and it remains to be seen whether those brought in to replace them can do as good a job. Phillips weighed in with 22 league goals en route to the Premiership and his experience, personality and clinical finishing will be badly missed. Gera meanwhile contributed with 11 strikes of his own and his clever footwork and incisive passing were vital weapons in the Baggies’ arsenal. That both left on free transfers only adds to the bitter taste.

As a replacement for Kevin Phillips manager Tony Mowbray has brought in Luke Moore from Aston Villa for a fee of £3million. Moore is a promising player with bags of pace, but the consensus amongst Villa fans was that he lacked the work-rate and determination to truly make the most of his potential. At the Hawthorns he has the chance to prove them wrong. Mowbray will probably rotate the three main strikers Moore, Roman Bednar and Ishmael Miller; on the evidence of last season the latter pair both look to have what it takes to cut it in the Premier League.

Defensively Mowbray has sought to strengthen with the signings of Abdoulaye Meite, Gianni Zuiverloon, Marek Cech and Scott Carson. All four appear competent purchases. Zuiverloon is technically very gifted, though at times prone to lapses in concentration, while Cech is an impressive signing from Porto; an accomplished defender who comes at a good price. Scott Carson, despite the high-profile misdemeanours with England th
at have blighted his early career, is still a worthy keeper and Meite is an experienced Premier League player now, one who offers athleticism, versatility (he can play across the back four) and power. Another player to look out for at the Hawthorns is Chris Brunt, a quick witted and nimble young winger who at one point attracted the attention of Everton and Manchester City.

West Brom played some of the most aesthetically pleasing football around last season, but they now enter a league in which other teams can pass it just as well as they can if not better. They certainly appear the best equipped of the promoted teams. Whether they have enough to finish anywhere other than the bottom three however remains to be seen. They face a tough season ahead.

Ins: Luke Moore (Aston Villa, £3m), Scott Carson (Liverpool, £3.25m), Do-heon Kim (Seongnam Ilhwa Shunma, £500,000), Roman Bednar (Hearts, £2.5m), Gianni Zuiverloon (Heerenveen, £2.3m), Marek Cech (Porto, £1.4m), Graham Dorrans (Livingston, £100,000), Abdoulaye Meite (Bolton, £2m)
Outs: Luke Steele (Barnsley, free), Zoltan Gera (Fulham, free), Martin Albrechtsen (Derby, free), Curtis Davies (Aston Villa, undisclosed), Kevin Phillips (Birmingham, free), Stefan Morrison (Swansea, free), Luke Daniels (Shrewsbury, loan), Lee Baker (Kidderminster, free).

West Ham United

(Last season – 10th)

When Alan Curbishley took over at West Ham United in December 2006 he looked around, assessed the topsy-turvy nature of the club’s recent past and gave his opinion on how to remedy the situation.

‘We need a bit of stability because in the last four or five years we’ve had a cup final we lost, a play-off final we won and then last season was played out across the back pages.’

Lo and behold, in Curbishley’s first full season, with his vision of stability etched into the club’s psyche, West Ham hit 10th on January 1 2008 and stayed in the exact same position for the rest of the season. ‘A bit of stability’ pretty much embodies Alan Curbishley. ‘A bit of stability’ should be his middle name.

Staying 10th for such a substantial period of time did little to endear Curbishley to the West Ham fans however. After an encouraging start to the season the Hammers won only five of their remaining nineteen league games between January and the season’s close, amassing just 20 points, and the poor run of form included three consecutive 4-0 defeats that nearly cost the manager his job. West Ham fans are not the most forgiving bunch and, unenamoured by what they perceived as dour football, took to booing their performances. Even after winning 2-1 at home to Derby, the players left the pitch to a chorus of jeers.

If you assess Curbishley’s first full season in charge reasonably however he actually did quite well. Deprived of several players through long-term injuries he managed to patch together a team and finish in mid-table comfortably; a dramatic improvement when you consider their close shave with relegation the previous year. Dean Ashton, Julien Faubert, Kieron Dyer, Craig Bellamy, Freddie Ljungberg – all were injured for prolonged periods of time at some stage during the season, and as Curbishley fairly pointed out when defending himself from the critics, he was rarely able to play his strongest eleven. If his squad can avoid injury in 2008/2009 we should learn more on how far the former Charlton man can take West Ham.

The mood of pre-season pessimism at Upton Park has not been lifted by the summer signings. Keen for high-profile arrivals they have instead had to make do with the relatively unknown trio of Jan Lastuvka, Balint Bajner and Valon Behrami. Behrami is an impressive full back-cum-winger who at 23 has room to develop into a fine player, and his arrival looks to be the manager’s best bit of business. Bajner and Lastuvka are unknown quantities.

With players of the calibre of Ashton, Matthew Upson, Scott Parker and Bellamy, West Ham should end up pushing for mid-table at the very least this season, but if the Curbishley trait of dropping off in the second half of the season occurs at Upton Park again in 2008/2009 then ‘Curbs’ might find himself blowing bubbles all the way to the job centre.

Ins: Valon Behrami (Lazio, £5m), Holmar Orn Eyjolfsson (HK Kopavogur, undisclosed), Jan Lastuvka (Shakhtar Donetsk, loan), Balint Bajner (Liberty Salonika, undisclosed).

Outs: John Pantsil and Bobby Zamora (Fulham, £6.3m), Richard Wright (Ipswich, undisclosed), Freddie Ljungberg (released), Nolberto Solana (Larissa, undisclosed)

Wigan Athletic

(Last season – 14th)

Wigan Athletic finished a respectable 14th in the league last season largely thanks to the efforts of Steve Bruce who replaced Chris Hutchings, sacked in November 2007. At the time the club were stuck in the relegation zone but Bruce, casualty of the failed takeover at Birmingham City, left his job at St. Andrews and brought just the type of enthusiasm and fresh ideas needed at the JJB Stadium. This season, having bought shrewdly in the transfer market I do not expect Wigan to struggle down at the bottom of the table. Instead, challenging the other teams around mid-table should be a reasonable ambition for the Latics.

The players brought in by Bruce give him more options than he had previously, while the midfield and attacking areas look sturdy enough. Chris Kirkland has always been a dependable goalkeeper and will certainly challenge for a place in the England squad should he carry last season’s good form into 2008/2009. In midfield Wigan have quite an exciting crop of players, and creating chances for the front pairing of Emile Heskey and Amr Zaki should not be too much of a problem. Luis Antonio Valencia was one of the star performers during the 2006 World Cup and for him not to have been a regular at the club under Paul Jewell and Hutchings was a gross oversight on their part. Bruce corrected this transgression immediately, Wigan benefited as a result.

With Wilson Palacios and Olivier Kapo also available to the manager the Latics have a good amount of fl
air and artistic unpredictability in midfield. Michael Brown is as dirty as they come and will be employed for the rough stuff; no doubt he will be looking to break a leg here or there. Daniel de Ridder has also been signed from Bruce’s former club Birmingham. He adds craft and accurate set piece delivery to Wigan’s makeup.

Upfront Amr Zaki was one of the stars of the 2008 African Cup of Nations and it will be intriguing to see how he adapts to the Premiership. He definitely has the necessary power, pace and aggression to fit in. Alongside these attributes he is also a composed finisher. If he can settle in sufficiently his partnership with Heskey will leave many a league defence battered and bruised.

The one questionable area of the team is the back four. It is not bad per se, but a defence containing Titus Bramble will always be prone to bouts of the jitters. Having said that Maynor Figueroa is a promising left back and Mario Melchiot a good leader. The worry though is that in terms of strength in depth it lacks somewhat. With a relatively small squad I cannot imagine Wigan challenging for a place in Europe, but Steve Bruce has brought together a talented group of players that should prove capable of progressing to the next level, that of a solid mid-table outfit.

Ins: Amr Zaki (Zamalek, loan), Olivier Kapo (Birmingham, £3.5m), Daniel de Ridder (Birmingham, free), Lee Cattermole (Middlesbrough, £3.5m).
Outs: Andreas Granqvist (Groningen, £600,000), Julius Aghahowa (Kayserispor, undisclosed), Salomon Olembe (Kayserispor, free), Josip Skoko (Hajduk Split, free), David Cotterill (Sheffield United, undisclosed), Marlon King (Hull City, loan).

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England, English Premier League, Previews, Tottenham Hotspur, Transfer News, West Bromwich Albion, West Ham United, Wigan Athletic

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About Jonathan F

The boss of this here... Creator and Editor of Just-Football.com and world football analyst, watcher, freelancer and all-round enthusiast. Write for FourFourTwo, have also written for ITV, When Saturday Comes and others. Open to offers.

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