Has Manchester United thrown itself out of the top 4 this season?

Rodgers is driving Liverpool in the right direction

Liverpool players celebrate alongside manager Brendan Rodgers.

Winning the title is an extremely long shot for Liverpool. But Brendan Rodgers is bringing back the ‘former’ most successful club in England back to where it was. When he was appointed as the Liverpool manager, Rodgers supposedly asked the owners 3 years to make Liverpool worthy of the English title. Till now, he has done all the right things, be it getting rid of the deadwood in Carroll, Adam and Downing, handling of the Suarez antics or bringing in promising new talent. Liverpool’s brilliant start to the current campaign speaks volumes of Rodgers’ positive progress.

The major area which needed mending was the defense. Liverpool allowed 47 goals into their net last season, most of them in the away games. Some ‘real steel’ has been added to the slim back-line with the signings of Kolo Toure, Mamadou Sakho and Tiago Llori. Sakho, especially is the one to keep an eye on as he will try to stake claim against the likes of Van Persie and Sergio Aguero. Almost every area on the pitch is now strong for Liverpool and without any midweek European distractions, they will be fresh to take on teams every weekend. Coutinho and Sturridge are now proving to be blockbuster signings and add to that the return of Luis Suarez, it’s a completely different ball game. A team with quality, depth, a meticulous coach and an optimal number of matches, surely has the potential of making it to the top 4 this season, and Liverpool is just that.

Spurs might have splashed the cash, but can Andre Villas-Boas manage without Bale?

Tottenham Hotspur manager Andre Villas-Boas

Gareth Bale was the only hope for Andre Villas-Boas and Tottenham Hotspur last season, making his mark in world football with scintillating displays. But Spurs eventually ended up in the Europa League places and lost Bale to Real Madrid. AVB is young in the manager business and is still learning the trade. His time at Chelsea would surely have taught him some good lessons on player management. While he is renowned as a manager more into the tactical side of the game, during his time at Porto, Chelsea or Spurs, he stuck to the same set of tactical principles. When the opponent got one over him, he didn’t have any strategy to counter those tactics, resulting in his team losing or drawing matches. It has been a pattern since his time at Chelsea, as the players didn’t know what to do after the 70 minute mark in most of the matches.

At Spurs, this summer has seen the arrival of seven new players adding depth to all departments. So far, it has been a drab showing in the 3 matches that have been played. AVB opted to field the 4-3-3 formation, the one which he has been using since his days at Porto. His flexibility with formations will be questioned when Spurs start falling down the table. The new signings will take time to settle in and also for the manager to make his tactics work. So one might expect Spurs to mount significant challenge in the later months for the Champions League spots. But there is the distraction of Thursday night football in the form of Europa League, which could destroy any sort of League ambitions AVB and Co. Everything else remains to be seen.