Home Sports The Fun As Hell Teams: Our 2017-18 Premier League Preview, Pt. 2

The Fun As Hell Teams: Our 2017-18 Premier League Preview, Pt. 2

Sports By · October 18, 2024 · 0 Comment

My colleague Patrick Redford already laid out which Premier League clubs to watch when you’re trying to take a nap; so unless you enjoy soccer’s equivalent of eating your way through a tub of raw broccoli, steer clear of those guys (except Everton) and allow me to tell which clubs are going to be fun as hell, and thus actually worth your time. Liverpool The ’Pool Boys already had plenty of goal scorers—last season they racked up 77 goals, fourth-best in the league—but in June, they went ahead and bought Mohamed Salah from AS Roma for €35 million. The Egyptian international is dazzlingly fast and, especially when paired with Liverpool’s most lethal attacker Sadio Mane, he’s going to leave defenses in shreds. There’s also Roberto Firmino and Divock Origi, both of whom contributed double digit goals to last season’s haul. And then adding to the embarrassment of riches, there’s winger Philippe Coutinho, who was the club’s leading goal-scorer last season; and 19-year-old Dominic Solanke, who still has a lot to prove but is already being heralded as one of England’s next best hopes. Even without their midfield marshall Adam Lallana, who’s out until October with a thigh injury, Liverpool’s attacking abilities are scary good. Just look what Lucas and Emre Can teamed up to do at the end of last season. This is a team that believes in the virtue of the 4-3 victory, and refuses to concern itself with traditional ideas like “don’t have your players spend the entire game sprinting at full speed” and “try to play defense.” Led by the trendily bespectacled Jurgen Klopp, Liverpool plays a style of soccer known as the gegenpress, which means their attackers are constantly pressing opponents as soon as they lose the ball. This puts a shitload of pressure on opposing defenses, and creates turnovers deep in enemy territory that lead to pretty goals. Liverpool are clinging tightly to Coutinho despite Barecelona’s best efforts to pry him away, and if they do end up losing him that will certainly put a damper on their title hopes. They have also been intent on signing Dutch international Virgil van Dijk, but those efforts appear to have stalled over a possible breach in procedure. With jughead James Milner mostly manning the defense, van Dijk’s services would’ve been a boost to the back line, but as the maxim goes, the best defense is a good offense, and Liverpool have plenty of that. Manchester City City manager Pep Guardiola employed a possession-heavy, attack-focused plan last year that resulted in a disappointing third-place finish in the league and an early Champions League exit. City pressed the ball and played a high line in an effort to smother opponents and score as many goals as possible, but this strategy too often left the back line scrambling and failing to deal with counter attacks. In his second season, Pep might be softening this approach; he’s at least splashed some money around to shore up the defense. City replaced sometimes brilliant but many times head-scratchingly bad goalkeeper Claudio Bravo with Benfica’s Ederson. I say unfortunately because it’s truly a spectacle to behold watching a world-class athlete derp his way out of a starting position. So Bravo likely won’t be around to hate, but luckily for those jonesing for some City schadenfreude, John Stones, the erstwhile Everton lad who looks the part of a heroic English footballer more than he is one, is always good for a couple major bungles in front of his own goal. In addition to Ederson, City brought on right back Kyle Walker from Tottenham and Benjamin Mendy from Monaco to join stalwart Vincent Company on the back line. Like Liverpool, City have a disgusting wealth of goal scorers in Kevin De Bruyne, Gabriel Jesus, Raheem Sterling, Yaya Touré, Leroy Sané, and Sergio Agüero. They will play some of the best attacking soccer in the league, and should be in good position to win the whole damn thing if the defense doesn’t once again succumb to the pressure created by those all-out attacks. Anyway, watch this team if you want to see lots and lots of spectacular goals; they might score 15 against Brighton & Hove Albion to kick things off. Manchester United All the way down on the other end of the coaching spectrum, far away from Guardiola, there’s Jose Mourinho. The two preeminent managers of a generation are coaching against each other once again in the league’s most ferocious rivalry—it’s the stuff TV producers dream of, and at least last season, the Manchester derbies certainly got the Hollywood treatment. The tension is fun if fading, but thankfully there’s a new duo at United to add some intrigue this season: Paul Pogba and Romelu Lukaku. After languishing at Everton for another mediocre year, Lukaku was out the door before the season even ended. Pogba, whom he met when they were both teenage phenoms, did his part to help broker a deal, and after weeks of speculation, Lukaku officially joined Manchester United for €85 million. If their on-field chemistry is anything close to their off-field friendship, expect Pogba and Lukaku to put together some bangers this season. Here’s some Instagram evidence of Paul and Rom getting up to BFF shenanigans:
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