The five early signs of the season so far

Careless Defence

It has not been a great opening set of games for premier league defenders, from the comical defending by West Ham defenders on two successive matches to even the shaky moments by the usually solid defences. Maybe it is just the early season rustiness. Martin Skrtel, Agger, Vidic, Kolo Toure, Coloccini, the usually top notch defenders have all been shaky to downright careless in their defending. Gone are those days when top teams used to concede only 15 to 20 goals a season. City have already let in four whereas United three. The defending is sure to improve as the season progresses but may be it could be a sign that the league is moving more towards a “one goal more than the opponent” mentality. That should be highly entertaining for the neutrals.

Brendan Rodger’s Liverpool

Much has been talked about Liverpool after their rather strange loss against West Brom in the opening game. Much credit should be given to them for coming back strongly against a Manchester City side with a better set of players. The influence of Rodger’s philosophy was evident in the Liverpool’s game. Yes it is at its infancy stage, but then the signs are absolutely positive. If they can keep this up and add a couple of players by the end of August, then things can look rosier at Anfield this season. A word about Joe Allen. If we get to see more of what he did against City throughout the season on a regular basis, then the 15 million would turn out to be an absolute bargain! For a British player to be that comfortable with the ball is something that is pleasantly surprising. Besides intelligent use of the ball, he also made good tackles. What more can a manager ask from a player?

Reinforcements for Man City

Moving on to the Champions, who have been made to work in the opening two games. Mancini was indeed not joking when he mentioned about the need for more signings. City is over reliant on Silva and Yaya Toure. Nasri is just not able to step up in the big games and they need cover for Komapny and Lescott. Kolo Toure was skinned by a young Sterling at Anfield and it should be a frightening thought for Mancini when they face more established opponents. Expect at least a couple of more additions by Mancini.

Attack, attack, attack!

It is rather pleasant to see the smaller teams go all out in attack and not be intimidated by the consequences of such a style. We saw that by Southampton at Etihad, and Swansea have been swashbuckling to say the least. Except for the opening ten minutes against Chelsea, Wigan seemed to be the better team going forward. All this augurs well for a tight contest below mid table onwards. The big teams will be made to work hard against these smaller opponents this season.

Manager Casualities

Sam Allardyce is my favourite to be the first managerial casualty this season. He has gone on a recruitment over drive and spent an insane amount of money (10 million pounds for Matt Jarvis is beyond any sense for a club of West Ham’s resources). He has made too many changes and the squad will take time to get it right. A team that has just been promoted cannot afford to take that long to get their act right.