The Premiership - What Went Wrong?

Filed in archive General on February 5, 2006

source: newsfromrussia.com

Remember when English football fans used to laugh at their Scottish counterparts? 'How can you follow a league when the same two teams win every year?' they'd say. But now it seems the English Premiership is even less competitive as just one team dominates, and you all know who I mean.

Chelsea, backed by Abramovich's billions, are strolling to their second successive uncontested title. There have been complaints that Chelsea 'bought' the title, and the limitless rubles certainly haven't done them any harm, but money doesn't guarantee success (just ask Inter Milan fans). The real reason for Chelsea's dominance lies elsewhere.

Manchester United and Arsenal, for so long the dominant forces, have allowed their squads to grow thin. This results in alarmingly regular losses that would have been 'shock defeats' in happier days. I'm thinking of United going down 4-3 to Blackburn and Arsenal 3-2 to West Ham recently. The top players inevitably need rest, and if their replacements aren't good enough to get results then Chelsea will continue to dominate.

Alex Ferguson has failed to replace his squad players. Remember the days when he could put out a second-string team and still get results? They're gone, and they're gone because of Fergie's failure to buy good squad players. The likes of Liam Miller, Eric Djemba-Djemba and David Bellion were never good enough to compete at the highest level.

He started the season with a midfield shortage, especially with Keane advancing in years. With the loss of Keane and Scholes and no replacements coming in United's midfield is threadbare, and a team with a threadbare midfield cannot expect to win titles.

Arsenal's problem is similar but lies in central defence. Sol Campbell is ageing and injury prone and may never be back to his best. His current crisis of confidence must terrify Wenger. Kolo Toure has done well as a converted central defender and Philip Senderos shows signs that he may become a quality player, but again it's thin, and it's a problem that should have been dealt with long ago.

Both teams won this weekend. United, with a makeshift midfield, beat Fulham 4-2, while Arsenal and their improvised defence best Birmingham 2-0. But neither can expect to topple Chelsea until they fill out their squads enough to avoid the upsets.