It’s the turn of three of the big names of English football
and season previews for Manchester United, Everton and Liverpool. So sit back
and enjoy as Geoff Park waxes lyrically about Danny Welbeck’s finishing prowess,
Zaid Shoubber gets worried about ending up with a team of Borini’s and Luke
Kelly sits in the corner unwilling to swap his David Moyes cardigan for some
knock off DW merchandise.
Fans Preview No. 4 – Geoff Park: Manchester United
1. New season, new hope (or new fears...) - how are you
feeling heading into season version 2013/14?
For most clubs a new manager brings hope and a sense of
expectation for a improvement on what has gone previously but I think it's fair
to say that's not how most United fans feel at the moment. Nothing against
Moyes, in fact I think it was a reasonable choice, but to follow-up on from SAF
is an impossible job and given how strong Chelsea and City look, this could be
a tough first year for him. I don't expect disaster but with the tough set of
early fixtures there could be a bit of pressure on Moyes by mid-September.
Unless we can sort out a couple of top class signings in the next few weeks I
would be surprised to see us win the league - the League Cup is more likely.
Top three and quarter finals of the champions league would be my guess.
2. Everyone enjoys some 'wheeling and dealing' (TM H.
Redknapp) so how would you assess your team’s summer transfer business?
It is common for rumours regarding Manchester United to fill
the back pages of papers for weeks on end but this summer feels to have been
worse than others. To start with it was Lewandowski, then Thiago Alcantara and
now Fabregas, not forgetting Baines and Fellaini, (and they are just the
obvious ones) but to date we haven't bought a player that will be seen outside
the League Cup. A lot will depend on what we achieve in the remaining three
weeks of the transfer window but at present we look short of quality right
across the midfield.
The other matter of course is Rooney - what to do with Mr
Rooney? Well, if PSG could turn up with a £30m bid the matter could be closed
quickly but I don't think we'll be so lucky. From my point of view he can go
but not to Chelsea! That would leave us with Van Persie, Welbeck and Hernandez
and Chelsea with Rooney, Torres, Ba and Lakaku, which given they would be
supported by Mata, Hazard and Oscar, is quite an attacking force. I think Moyes
would play him regularly, probably in behind Van Persie, but we may not even
get the chance to find out.
3. Come May 2014...
...we'll (still) be wishing Welbeck could finish.
Fans Preview No. 5 – Zaid Shoubber: Liverpool
1. New season, new hope (or new fears...) - how are you
feeling heading into season version 2013/14?
For the new season I unfortunately think it will be similar
to the last, although maybe we'll gain one or two places and finish 5th. Can’t
see us challenging for Champs League to be honest, altho I really hope we do.
If Suarez stays then I hope at least by xmas we'll still technically be in the
hunt. But a positive 5th place finish will bode well for next year I feel.
2. Everyone enjoys some 'wheeling and dealing' (TM H.
Redknapp) so how would you assess your team’s summer transfer business?
Summer business has been alright. Disappointment Reina’s
gone and don’t really know anything about our new players, but worried they'll
all be 'Borinis'. BUT as long as we keep Suarez then I'll generally be happy as
we've got a young team who should get better and better.
3. Come May 2014, your team will be...
5th. Happy enough with it, but 4th would be sooo much
better.
Fans Preview No. 6 –
Luke Kelly: Everton
1. New season, new hope (or new fears...) - how are you
feeling heading into season version 2013/14?
Pensive. The comfortingly dour security blanket of wee Davie
Moyes has been cast off, and nobody is quite sure what to wake of it. People
were briefly excited by the cosmopolitan possibilities of being managed by A
Foreign, only to then be slightly underwhelmed as his much-heralded
"knowledge of world football" seemed to boil down to signing half of
Wigan whilst being consistently linked with the other half. There have been a
few glimpses of a new style in pre-season, but I'm yet to be convinced that
playing with a defensive line that confidently struts north to situate itself
on the edge of the opposition penalty area is really the way forward. It could be great, it could be awful; all
that's really been proved so far is that Change is Bad and should have been
avoided at all costs.
2. Everyone enjoys some 'wheeling and dealing' (TM H.
Redknapp) so how would you assess your teams summer transfer business?
Oddly underwhelming. Kone has been the only major outlay so
far, and the most damning indictment of him is that he doesn't seem to offer
much more than what we had already. Personally I've never been a huge fan of
Big Chebes (who spends most of his time on the pitch looking mystifyingly
disgusted at not winning a penalty for falling over on the halfway line), and
Jelavic is frighteningly close to a vision of what Van Nistelrooy would have
been right without his all-round game and link-up play, but £6m for a 30
year-old is still difficult to justify. Keeping hold of everyone else is
arguably an achievement in itself, but part of me was looking forward to
getting £25m in for Fellaini and going on a comedy lottery-winners buying
spree, stocking up on bewildered looking Chilean 3rd-tier inside-rights - maybe
even signing a David Moyes Memorial Scottish U21 Goalkeeper just for the fun of
it. There's still time I suppose...
3. Come May 2014, your team will be...
Man City. Loyalty's overrated.
Part 3 to follow!
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