Sky’s three wise men primed for big kick-off
But for the first time since the 1992/93 campaign the voice of Andy Gray won’t be heard.
His dramatic exit earlier this year means the expert analysis now falls on Gary Neville, Graeme Souness and Jamie Redknapp. How people take to the spiky Neville will be fascinating but Souness will always remain forthright.
Take Chelsea for instance. Ditching the experienced and successful Carlo Ancelotti for the 33-year-old André Villas-Boas represents, in the Scot’s view, an enormous gamble.
“I think it’s an enormous risk Chelsea are taking, getting rid of Ancelotti, someone who was a big club manager,” he said.
“I was 33 when I became Rangers boss but I had been in and around top dressing rooms all my life, in and around top players.
“Is it one good year at Porto? I worked in Portugal for two years at Benfica.
Winning the league with Porto isn’t the hardest thing in the world to do. They’ve got a set-up there that more or less guarantees them to win something every year.
“I just think it’s an enormous gamble by Chelsea. Carlo Ancelotti was great for them, someone who’s been around winning the big trophies at big clubs all his life.”
Redknapp though, believes the man taking the biggest risk is Villa-Boas, not Roman Abramovich.
“It’s a gamble to a certain extent for Villas-Boas,” he said. “If you go to Chelsea and don’t win the Champions League in two years you get sacked and all of a sudden your credibility — from going from being the best manager in the world when you went there, it can go in at any given second, so that’s the predicament when you take over Chelsea.”
Liverpool is a subject close to the hearts of both Souness and Redknapp.
Both believe the club have progressed since Kenny Dalglish’s return but Andy Carroll needs to become consistent.
“Andy Carroll has to sort himself out, has to realise what’s expected of him.
“When you play for Liverpool, whoever you play against, it’s their biggest game of the season.
“You’ve got to meet that challenge. There’s no picking and choosing when you’re going to give it 100%,” was Souness’ scathing view.
“Liverpool’s season will be decided by how well the new guys do. They’ve had a group of players there that haven’t been able to sustain that challenge from the start to the finish so it really depends on how these new guys settle in.
“In Stewart Downing they’ve got outstanding quality. Is he going to be an influence in every game? We’ll have to wait and see.
“There’s no doubting his quality. Is it on show enough? The boy [Jordan] Henderson is just a young lad who will certainly take at least a year to find his feet there.”
One of the things where there’s a divergence of views between Souness and Redknapp is Liverpool’s title hopes. Souness, albeit tentatively, believes his former side could win it. Redknapp is less optimistic.
“I think they’re still a little bit short from winning the title,” said Redknapp.
“I know they need more players, another central defender because Jamie Carragher can’t keep doing it forever although he’s still as good as there is. That’s probably somewhere they’ll need to strengthen because they need a good centre-half to win a league.”
Arsenal have endured a difficult summer as Arsene Wenger tries to keep hold of Cesc Fabregas and Samir Nasri and Redknapp feels he should let the duo go.
“I can fully understand Cesc Fabregas’ predicament,” he said.
“He wants to go back to Barcelona. He’s got an opportunity, unlike many people in their lives, to go and play for the best football team in the world. He knows he’ll go there and win medals. How can you begrudge him that?
“The Nasri one, you’re going to lose him next season on a free transfer. I would be thinking you’ve surely got to sell him as well. He doesn’t want to be there.”
It promises to be an intriguing season, albeit with predictable likely champions.
“Manchester United are the favourites and rightly so, Redknapp said. “They’ve strengthened well. I think Phil Jones from Blackburn is going to be a future England captain. Ashley Young adds something to the team. He’s a typical Sir Alex signing, a match-winner.”
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