A brand new season of English Premier League is upon us, which will be kicking off in about a few days from now. It is already the most anticipated season ever of the Premier League with a host of changes made by most of the teams with regard to their players or even the manager or backroom staff.
Manchester United has been one such club where the changes have been very evident. The club appointed Jose Mourinho as their new manager sacking Louis Van Gaal at the end of the season. The club has also dominated in the transfer market so far, spending the mega-bucks for the likes of Erik Bailey and Henrikh Mkhitaryan while Zlatan Ibrahimović was snapped up as a free agent. The final touch was the signing of Paul Pogba for a world record sum of £89m. While having a transfer window like that will instantaneously all but guarantee the title in some other European Leagues, the EPL is a different scenario altogether and let’s look at why even after all the aforementioned activities the Red Devils won’t have a free run to the league title.
Strengthening Of Rivals
It is an undeniable fact that the English top flight is the most competitive in the world, here even the teams which fight relegation can turn a 3-1 deficit and win the game 5-3, or you can defeat a top 4 team in one week but get outwitted by a team in the lower half the next. The competition is so fierce that one can never predict safely beforehand the result.
This season, the competitive edge would be even greater as with the added security of money in the league, clubs of the bottom half are also able to attract talents, paying them wages of nearly £100,000 per week. Chelsea, Manchester City, Liverpool and as usual Arsenal are always there but this time around there would be serious challenges from Tottenham Hotspur, Leicester City and West Ham United making it the most open title race ever.
Arrival Of Shrewd Tacticians
The 2016/17 season of the Premiership would not only be a battle between the players but also between the managers, it has always been that way but the arrival of some heavy names mean that even the teams outside the top 6 now have that power of tactically outplaying the big boys. Pochettino, Puel, Mazzarri, Karanka, Bilić, Guardiola, Wenger, Klopp, Conte, Koeman, Mourinho, Guidolin, Ranieri… next season is going to be one hell of a tactical battle.
Pressure Of The Fans
After spending huge amounts of money again, there would be more added pressure around Old Trafford. Jose Mourinho’s ability to win titles coupled with the presence of some of the biggest names of world football is reason enough for some fans to already declare their team as champions. The general mood would be very positive which is a good thing but there won’t be a high level of tolerance shown or time given by them to the players to adjust to the new league. Each week the players would be under immense pressure to deliver and especially during tough conditions which might affect their gameplay resulting in mistakes due to which the team will suffer ultimately.
