Comment: Hoping for success, with a cheque

English Premier League’s few seasons have been a testimony to the power of money, experience and the ‘big four’. Since its inception in 1992, the league’s top four slots have been dominated by Manchester United, Arsenal and Liverpool with Chelsea joining in following the Abramovich-invasion.

Away from the headline-hoggers were the underdogs and the also-rans, the likes of Tottenham, Everton, Manchester City and Aston Villa. Their stay with Europe’s elites was occasional and short and it usually proved to be more of a bane than a boon, with the sides lacking the strength and depth to compete on multiple fronts. Consequently, these sides prioritised their league performance because that is where the managerial jobs were, and still are, won or lost.

There has been a re-distribution of monetary and managerial muscle along with an influx of high-quality players as more and more money has been pumped in. Manchester City, with their untold riches from Abu Dhabi, and Tottenham Hotspur, with some astute defensive purchases, have given the opposition warning bells. Their approaches have differed with City overhauling their whole team by buying the likes of Carlos Tevez, David Silva, Mario Balotelli and the Toure brothers. Spurs, on the other hand, have brought in William Gallas and Rafael van der Vaart with manager Harry Redknapp redeploying unsettled performers like Roman Pavlyuchenko, Gareth Bale and Tom Huddlestone effectively.

Despite the millions in the pockets, and their league position notwithstanding, Roberto Mancini prefers to play a Serie-A style ‘broken team’ with seven defensive-minded players. Ostensibly, the Italian plays a 4-5-1 with Silva and James Milner as wide midfielders and Tevez as the lone striker with Yaya Toure, normally a midfielder with a defensive mindset, as the most attacking midfielder in his formation.

City have scored 19 league goals this season, a number smaller than Bolton (26), newly-promoted Newcastle (22) and Blackpool (21) as well as Tottenham (21), all below them in the table. Success in cracking the ‘big four’ will mean nothing to the fans if Mancini cannot win the league or qualify for the Champions League, particularly if the lack of success remains bereft of fluent football and apt use of the attacking talent assembled at a cost.

Tottenham, in contrast, are sixth in the league and have defeated defending champions Inter Milan in the Champions league and have the bench strength to challenge on multiple fronts. Redknapp, forever an object of fun for his ‘bare bones’ remark and on a more sinister note, the financial implosion of Southampton and Portsmouth after he took them to success and left, has enhanced his managerial prestige with astute man-management. He has coaxed the best out of Pavlyuchenko and Peter Crouch and encouraged a reticent Huddlestone to impose and express himself as a ‘sit-n-knit’ midfielder. Most importantly, his transformation of Bale into possibly the best winger in the league is commendable. Lastly, Redknapp has arguably made the signing of the season in van der Vaart, a scorer of six and creator of many more.

While money remains a strong factor in determining who comes out best at the end of the season, utilising the available players and implementing the experience gained from recent failures remains as important.

The writer is a freelance sports columnist

Published in The Express Tribune, November 28^th, 2010.