Vein of Form: EPL Preview Pt. 1
20. Derby
I know starting off the 2007/08 English Premier League preview by stating Derby will finish in dead last is not exactly going out on a limb. But it is the obvious and safest bet this coming season. While I fancy myself a professional football journalist of the highest order, I fully admit the rest of my predictions could be well off target. Derby are going to be in the EPL for the single purpose of being the 20th club in the league. They won't score, they won't stop the opposition from scoring and they will be about the same level as Watford last season.
19. Wigan
They were very difficult to watch at times and were it not for another bit of Paul Jewell magic they could easily have gone down. But they turned it around at just the precise second turning was demanded and will defy many expectations with a 3rd straight season in the top flight. And then it will all come to a hault. Wigan don't draw the crowds that make them worthy of being a Premiership level club. Jason Koumas has arrived and will do well enough to earn a contract from a mid-table side next season. Jewell is out as manager because he needed a nap or something so when the magic is needed, I don't believe Chris Hutchings will be able to wave the wand. I think Leighton Baines is a very very good player and should be considered for an England National Team senior role soon. I also think much like Koumas, he'll be playing in the EPL next season while Wigan are back in the Championship.
18. Birmingham
One season removed from the top flight Birmingham have made it back up. It will be short lived though as the lineup doesn't reveal the talent or depth to survive at the top. Steve Bruce did a fantastic job to get his club back up again. And he will have a massive fight on his hands to avoid finishing in the bottom two. He has reportedly come close to signing Egyptian striker Mido but it looks like no deal will get done. But why does he even want him? Mido is a pain in the ass and stick him in a relegation fighting side he's only going to bring everyone around him down. Bruce is savvy enough to know that a player like Mido would be a bad signing over the course of the season, but he also needs someone to produce goals. And with or without the crabby Egyptian, the goals are just not going to come in quantities that will ensure survival.
17. Fulham
There are plenty of players on the Fulham squad that VoF will be pulling for. Call me biased for writing from America, but I can't help but want Brian McBride, Carlos Bocanegra and Clint Dempsey to have fantastic seasons. McBride is fit enough to once again lead the club in scoring and Bocanegra looked deserving of the captain's armband during the Gold Cup. Will his leadership and intensity carry over to the EPL? Dempsey had a mediocre Gold Cup but was at times sharper and more determined than his teammates which I have to believe comes from the confidence built when he scored against Liverpool a relegation preventing goal. Manager Lawrie Sanchez has players like David Healy, Diomansy Kamara, Papa Bouba Diop and (hopefully) a healthy Jimmy Bullard. Sanchez will need to equal the job he had previously done with the Northern Ireland national team to save Fulham from relegation. Make no mistake: this side could easily go through a bad spell and get trapped in a situation where they cannot recover. No other club in EPL history has had their fate so much in the hands of American players.
16. Bolton
Big Sam realized that he had taken this club as far as they would ever go. UEFA Cup football and for a short time within breathing distance of the Big 4. New manager Sammy Lee is going to have a hell of a time keeping the Bolton ship from sinking. Nicolas Anelka is probably on his way somewhere else. Nothing against Bolton, this is just what Anelka does. Allardyce was able to tap into a player like El-Hadji Douf and bring out the best of the most annoying player in the EPL. Lee probably won't have that connection and fans should be worried a meltdown could be in the making if the club stumbles out of the blocks. Captain Kevin Nolan still has several people calling for him to be a regular in the England squad. I'm not convinced he is anything more than a great leader of a mediocre side. Put him in the fire against top competition or in a Champions League match and I suspect he would go missing. Jussi Jaaskelainen remains one of the better goalkeepers in the league and he will be tested. Bolton cannot expect to rely on the likes of Gary Speed, Stelios Giannakopoulos, Ivan Campo and Kevin Davies again. They just can't. If they do Bolton could easily be fighting relegation. It is going to be dark days ahead at the Reebok Stadium.
I know starting off the 2007/08 English Premier League preview by stating Derby will finish in dead last is not exactly going out on a limb. But it is the obvious and safest bet this coming season. While I fancy myself a professional football journalist of the highest order, I fully admit the rest of my predictions could be well off target. Derby are going to be in the EPL for the single purpose of being the 20th club in the league. They won't score, they won't stop the opposition from scoring and they will be about the same level as Watford last season.
19. Wigan
They were very difficult to watch at times and were it not for another bit of Paul Jewell magic they could easily have gone down. But they turned it around at just the precise second turning was demanded and will defy many expectations with a 3rd straight season in the top flight. And then it will all come to a hault. Wigan don't draw the crowds that make them worthy of being a Premiership level club. Jason Koumas has arrived and will do well enough to earn a contract from a mid-table side next season. Jewell is out as manager because he needed a nap or something so when the magic is needed, I don't believe Chris Hutchings will be able to wave the wand. I think Leighton Baines is a very very good player and should be considered for an England National Team senior role soon. I also think much like Koumas, he'll be playing in the EPL next season while Wigan are back in the Championship.
18. Birmingham
One season removed from the top flight Birmingham have made it back up. It will be short lived though as the lineup doesn't reveal the talent or depth to survive at the top. Steve Bruce did a fantastic job to get his club back up again. And he will have a massive fight on his hands to avoid finishing in the bottom two. He has reportedly come close to signing Egyptian striker Mido but it looks like no deal will get done. But why does he even want him? Mido is a pain in the ass and stick him in a relegation fighting side he's only going to bring everyone around him down. Bruce is savvy enough to know that a player like Mido would be a bad signing over the course of the season, but he also needs someone to produce goals. And with or without the crabby Egyptian, the goals are just not going to come in quantities that will ensure survival.
17. Fulham
There are plenty of players on the Fulham squad that VoF will be pulling for. Call me biased for writing from America, but I can't help but want Brian McBride, Carlos Bocanegra and Clint Dempsey to have fantastic seasons. McBride is fit enough to once again lead the club in scoring and Bocanegra looked deserving of the captain's armband during the Gold Cup. Will his leadership and intensity carry over to the EPL? Dempsey had a mediocre Gold Cup but was at times sharper and more determined than his teammates which I have to believe comes from the confidence built when he scored against Liverpool a relegation preventing goal. Manager Lawrie Sanchez has players like David Healy, Diomansy Kamara, Papa Bouba Diop and (hopefully) a healthy Jimmy Bullard. Sanchez will need to equal the job he had previously done with the Northern Ireland national team to save Fulham from relegation. Make no mistake: this side could easily go through a bad spell and get trapped in a situation where they cannot recover. No other club in EPL history has had their fate so much in the hands of American players.
16. Bolton
Big Sam realized that he had taken this club as far as they would ever go. UEFA Cup football and for a short time within breathing distance of the Big 4. New manager Sammy Lee is going to have a hell of a time keeping the Bolton ship from sinking. Nicolas Anelka is probably on his way somewhere else. Nothing against Bolton, this is just what Anelka does. Allardyce was able to tap into a player like El-Hadji Douf and bring out the best of the most annoying player in the EPL. Lee probably won't have that connection and fans should be worried a meltdown could be in the making if the club stumbles out of the blocks. Captain Kevin Nolan still has several people calling for him to be a regular in the England squad. I'm not convinced he is anything more than a great leader of a mediocre side. Put him in the fire against top competition or in a Champions League match and I suspect he would go missing. Jussi Jaaskelainen remains one of the better goalkeepers in the league and he will be tested. Bolton cannot expect to rely on the likes of Gary Speed, Stelios Giannakopoulos, Ivan Campo and Kevin Davies again. They just can't. If they do Bolton could easily be fighting relegation. It is going to be dark days ahead at the Reebok Stadium.
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