EVERTON
After the Moyes era at Everton, the club employed Roberto Martinez and would argue they played even better under the Spaniard in charge, but at the end of the season it was still the same story as the previous three seasons. Everton failed to qualify for any European competition for the fourth season running. However there were lots of positives Everton could take in from the season, they finished fifth, 7 points away from Arsenal in fourth. Players like Steven Naismith, Seamus Coleman and Gareth Barry looking ever green in midfield, along with youngsters like Ross Barkley, James McCarthy, John Stones and Romelu Lukaku all made quite the impression, especially Lukaku scoring 15 goals, Everton would hope to keep that momentum into the next season.
This Season:
Everton continue to keep hold of their key players, such as Leighton Baines, they have secured their last seasons’ loan players like Gareth Barry and the very promising Romelu Lukaku. Roberto Martinez used to battle relegation season after season at Wigan but the challenge is new for him at a club well interested at the top half of the table. Having been tested the first time, he has done well, making Everton play with much creativity and freedom, however there’s little doubt he would continue to do so, thing is, if he can make the team more consistent there is no doubt they could improve on their last season’s position.
LIVERPOOL
A lot of things to remember and forget from last season for the Reds, as last season looked like the season for that Premier League title they so want badly. They were never contenders in the first place, a spot back in the Champions League places seemed good enough for the kop, but the sublime attack of Suarez and Sturridge nicknamed ‘SAS’ with the magical Coutinho, youthful pace of Sterling and Captain Gerrard made them dream of overreaching. However it was not to be, Liverpool scored a lot upfront but conceded a lot at the back, from a thrilling victory over Man.City to defeat at the hands of Chelsea and a 3-3 draw against a resilient Crystal Palace, Liverpool’s challenge was over.
This Season:
Liverpool and the Premier League said goodbye to the World Class, Luis Suarez. He proved an absolute menace scoring 31 league goals without a penalty. The transfer put an end to a long saga and list of ‘Suarez’ questions -Brendan Rodgers once toasted to that-, the Uruguayan signed for FC Barcelona for a large sum. Hard to replace a striker like Suarez, but Liverpool have wasted no time in spending that transfer money. Rickie Lambert has been allocated from Southampton to help fill the void, Adam Lallana also joined from the same outfit. Emre Can is considered a hot prospect in Germany and he joins the reds, while Dejan Lovren follows the duo of Lambert and Lallana to join from Southampton for the different reason of sealing that leaky defense. Suarez departure makes it very hard to consider Liverpool as title contenders but the talent in the team is enough for Rodgers to tinker with and lead them to Europe’s elite competition again.
Tottenham Hotspur
Often known as the other half of North London, bitter rivals with Arsenal and always looking to chase the top four spot, since they made it into the Champions League in 2011 they have been desperate to get back into it with Europe’s elite. Gareth Bale left the club for a world record transfer fee and Spurs spent all that money on acquiring the likes of Roberto Soldado, Erik Lamela, Paulinho and a host of others, but all that money amounted to the pursuit of nothing but major quacks, the new players hardly clicked along with new boss André Villas-Boas, who didn’t last just like his stint at Chelsea. After the Portuguese’s dismissal, assistant manager, Tim Sherwood, took charge but the outcome couldn’t be prevented, the defence faulted and inconsistency prevailed often. Spurs faced humiliation rampantly, 5-1 and 6-0 losses to Manchester City home and away respectively, 5-0 and 4-0 to Liverpool, home and away, again, respectively and a 4-0 loss to Chelsea amongst other bad results saw the Spurs faithful witness a season of mixed woes as they finished just one position over the disappointing Man Utd, a terrible season in contrast to the last one.
This Season:
The season starts with a new boss in charge, Mauricio Pochettino arrives from Southampton to guide a usual unfortunate Spurs to have some sense of direction and that direction should be upwards. Pochettino’s style at Southampton has always been pleasant to the eye since his controversial arrival at St Mary’s. However, Pochettino’s task this time isn’t that simple, he has to get Spurs to gel and play as a team, rejuvenate the players’ forms and solidify the defence all at once, Spurs do have the players to challenge for that Champions League playoff spot hopefully they can find the character to do so in Pochettino.
