By Dapo Ajala

At this stage of the season, the league table does make strange reading with 6 points separating the 6^th and 18^th-placed teams. The topsy-turvy state of the table is likely to continue till the end of the season, no doubt causing a lot of headaches for our fantasy football players, and we could see teams being relegated this season despite achieving the magic 40-point mark.

 

Considering Chelsea’s 85 points accrued last season was the most point gained in a season without securing the title, plenty more surprises should be expected for the 2^nd half of this season. Whoever you support, the Premiership promises a fantastic finale this season.

 

The “Big Four”

 

Manchester United

The defending league and European champions seemed to have faltered with a loss against Liverpool early in the season but have been steady if not spectacular since then.

With the purchase of Bulgarian hitman Dimitar Berbatov, much was feared by opponents about the potential to improve the already-potent front-line; safe to say that the new-forward line is still work-in-progress

Much was made of their recent and successful trip to the FIFA World Club Championship in Japan, but Fergie has never been one to rest on his Laurels. With Cristiano Ronaldo returning to full fitness, other teams will do well to stop the Red Devils.

Rating: 8/10

Key player so far: Wayne Rooney. Steady in production and keeping United attack line ticking in absence of the 2008 Ballon d’Or winner.

 

Chelsea

Still seem to be struggling with a post-Mourinho hangover despite being on their 2^nd manager since “the great one”. Big Phil is slowly imposing his style but with two defeats at Stamford Bridge in the current campaign, things are not as well as they could be despite the array of talents within the squad.

 

Bad luck with injuries so far has hindered Chelsea’s assault on the Premiership title but talisman Drogba’s recent return from injury and suspension is perfectly timed for a customary battle for the title after the festive period.

Rating: 7/10

Key player so far: Nicolas Anelka. Leading the league in goals scored. He has reliably and impressively led the line in the Ivorian’s absence.

 

Arsenal

Puzzling denials by the boss in terms of need for reinforcements in certain areas of the team, in-fighting in the early stages of the season leading to the sacking of the captain, and bad luck with injuries have contributed to the Gunners demise this season. Losing Cesc Fabregas at a crucial time this season will not be an easy blow to deal with either.

 

This team’s football is reminiscent of a carefully composed symphony when they are allowed to play, sometimes though sacrificing efficiency for a beautiful and clinical game. However, never count out Arsene Wenger’s young and talented side, even with the current gap to the leaders.

Rating: 6/10

Key player so far: Emmanuel Adebayor

 

Liverpool

Morale-boosting win over the current holders of the title earlier in the season got everyone noticing Liverpool, the only difference this time is that there are less doubts than previous seasons as to whether they can sustain the pace and win the top-flight league title for the first time in 18 years. Many teams will pay to be in Liverpool’s position right now, certainly easier being ahead than chasing.

 

Interestingly, Rafa Benitez is not employing his squad rotation as much as previous seasons; perhaps he is finally embracing a philosophy of stability and employing one’s best 11 for every game. This could indeed be their season.

Rating: 9/10

Key player so far: Xabi Alonso. Nearly sold before the start of the season, but Rafa must be thanking his lucky stars that deal was never finalised.

 

The Pretenders

Aston Villa

So far the only team seriously threatening to displace Arsenal from the “Big Four” clique this season. Their all-out, fearless attacking style, coupled with a steely defence is certainly making everyone to take note and show more respect. Expect them not to tail off like they have in previous seasons.

Rating: 8/10

Key player so far: Ashley Young. Tormentor extraordinaire, who has given every opposition defence a torrid time, has not been found wanting at all so far this season.

 

Hull City

Surprise of the season so far with our fantasy football players having picked up loads of bargain players who are now outperforming other expensive flops in the standings. Phil Brown’s team has embodied hard work and sheer determination, their apparent lack of talent has not been too evident.

Very good candidates for survival in the Premiership, especially after handing out home defeats to North London rivals Arsenal and Tottenham.

Rating: 9/10

Key player so far: Deiberson Geovanni. Famously scoring the goal that handed Manchester United the derby defeat last season and surprisingly released by Manchester City in the summer. Found a new lease of life at The KC Stadium and his 6 goals so far has kept The Tigers dreaming this season. There was a reason Barcelona paid €18 million for his services in 2001.

 

The Stragglers

Tottenham Hotspur

Serially touted to break the “Big Four” hence to describe this season as a disappointment would be a gross understatement. Change of managers has brought a change in fortunes but the state of the league so far has meant that they are still down at the wrong end of the table despite a decent run of form. Many fantasy football players gambled on Tottenham players at the start of the season but those same players were traded more than most in the first few weeks of the football season.

 

Having a key player such as Ledley King only available every 4 games through injury is a handicap but selling the free-scoring duo of Robbie Keane and Dimitar Berbatov at the beginning of the season hasn’t turned out to be a clever move either. Look out for reinforcements when the transfer window opens.

Rating: 4/10

Key player so far: Luca Modric. The creative Croatian is now starting to look like the player the Spurs hierarchy saw when they forked out so much for him during the summer. The team will climb up the table if his recent form continues.

 

Man City

All wins so far this season have been by three goals or more and consequently lie just above the relegation zone with a positive goal difference. Inconsistency has marred their season so far as Mark Hughes seeks the winning formula and more importantly build a team around Robinho. City possesses incredible talent with the likes of Ireland and Shaun Wright-Phillips, but the potential will remain there until reinforcements are shipped in during the coming transfer window.

 

Just in the way the old Beatles song reminds us that money can’t buy you love, it seems that money can’t buy you the title in a short space of time either. Manchester City are a work in progress and to expect miracles this season will be like waiting for the next sailing of the titanic. Definite pretenders, there is always next season though.

Rating: 5/10

Key player so far: Shaun Wright-Phillips. Back to his previous best that convinced Chelsea to pay over the odds for him three seasons ago. His mazy runs in midfield are creating the space Robinho needs to display his talents.

 

The promoted hopefuls

Stoke City

Have amassed five points more than West Brom, still one of the favourites to go down despite many gritty performances.

 

West Brom

Propping up the table, no major surprises there but haven’t embarrassed themselves in fairness. The league will be tough this season.

By Dapo Ajala

So Tottenham Hotspur have handed over a dossier to the Premier League (PL) to back up their complaint regarding Manchester United’s pursuit of star striker Dimitar Berbatov. Interestingly, the North London club are claiming a year’s worth of evidence has been handed over in an attempt to prove that United have contravened relevant PL rule(s).

I am not a legal expert and shall not pretend to be one but logic rather than a degree in Law is probably enough to make one’s mind up on the matter. The relevant sections and clauses within the aforementioned rules are as thus (stay with me as we trawl through this document please):

 Rule K3

“Any Club which by itself, by any of its Officials, by any of its Players, by its Agent, by any other Person on its behalf or by any other means whatsoever makes an approach either directly or indirectly to a Contract Player except as permitted by either Rule K.1.2 or Rule K.2 shall be in breach of these Rules and may be dealt with under the provisions of Section R.”

 Fear not, Rule K 1.2 basically says that a club has liberty to approach a player with a view to negotiating a contract provided the contracted player’s club has given written permission to the approaching club. Rule K2 applies where the contract of the player concerned is coming to an end, and is therefore not applicable to Berbatov’s and Keane’s case. Section R is about the punishment if rules are broken, let us leave that for now.

 So PL rules tell us that Emeka, who plays for Mushin United may be approached by Ipaja Rovers, provided Mushin United gives written permission to Ipaja Rovers. PL rules (K6) also prohibit Emeka and/or his representatives from (directly or indirectly) approaching Ipaja Rovers without a written permission from his current employers.

These were the same set of rules Jose Mourinho, Chelsea, and Ashley Cole fell foul of; leading to a financial rap all round for the accused by the powers that be.

Let’s not forget that an old boys’ culture exists in football where these rules tend to get circumvented but its ok provided no one has evidence. For one to be accused of “tapping” and suitably punished, you have to be caught with your hand inside the cookie jar rather than someone simply noticing that a cookie has gone missing. Humans will always attempt to bend the rules; it is in our competitive nature, it can even be fun at times to do so provided you don’t break the rules.

 Recent reports have irked fans all over but this is causing the uninformed football fan to be unable to discern between a manager saying he’ll like to add Dave to his squad and the manager actually meeting Dave in a pub car park without permission from Dave’s club.

Freedom of speech exists after all and despite what Sepp Blatter says, it is obvious to the sane man that that there is no slavery in football and people can express wishes as they like.

“Robbie is a great player. He’s sharp around the box and is a great finisher,” were quotes attributed to Liverpool’s Jermaine Pennant regarding Robbie Keane. “With Torres up front as well, it will be a great partnership. They could be as good as anything in the Premier League.” This is no worse than a manager uttering a similar statement regarding a player contracted to another club.

 Now let us consider recent shenanigans recently reported in the press and generally classified as “public courting”. Football’s well-loved gum-chewing OAP, Sir Alex Ferguson allegedly made comments reported in some of the leading British newspapers as “We have made Tottenham an offer on Berbatov and we have good expectations that this deal will go through.”

This came a few days after the Manchester club previously stated that they had “made a bid for one player who would enhance us a great deal”, saying he had “good expectations” a deal could be struck. Note the difference?

 Latest reports now reveal comments attributed to Alex Ferguson were apparently made during a routine “meet the fans” session. The Scandinavian supporters’ club put 2 and 2 together and assumed the old chap was talking about Berbatov, hence publishing the quotes the British press have bandied around and generally hailed as “cool confidence”.

 This could have been filed under the “general transfer gossip” section provided Ferguson has not now been accused of “sheer arrogance” and being “hypocritical” by Spurs chairman Daniel Levy.

Levy’s hurt and outburst can be understood since he’s representing a “smaller” club and effectively feels bullied by one of the big boys; hypocrisy charge of course is related to Real Madrid’s bullying of the Manchester hierarchy earlier in the summer.

To make matters worse, this has all happened in the same week where murmurs from Liverpool suggest that arguably the best front partnership in the Premiership (albeit for a team that struggled badly last season) is about to be destroyed in a manner not dissimilar to your big brother “accidentally” stepping on your best-ever favourite train set.

 In Levy’s case, the poor fella can see it coming and yet knows there’s nothing he can do about it, especially since the players in question have reportedly told the club of their wishes to move on to other pastures. He can only do what’s best for the club and make sure potential buyers cough up as much as possible.

Interestingly, no quotes have actually been attributed to Robbie Keane in this saga but we have constantly heard snippets from Berbatov’s agent throughout last season and it is no surprise his tactic is finally working in engineering a move away. Spurs fans will no doubt be disappointed, Robbie only just declared at the end of the previous season how much he loved the club…what a difference a summer break and a wedding makes.

 

The section referring to Public Statements (K8) is probably the bone of contention in this case:

“A statement made publicly by or on behalf of a Club expressing interest in acquiring the registration of a Contract Player or by a Contract Player expressing interest in transferring his registration to another Club (or club) shall in either case be treated as an indirect approach for the purposes of Rules K.3 and K.6.”

Simply put, Emeka making a public statement of his desire to transfer his registration to Ipaja Rovers would contravene rule K8, or would it? If only Man U did actually mention a name! It seems as long as no names are mentioned, you can say whatever you want.

Liverpool’s all-summer courting of Gareth Barry is another interesting situation but as far as can be postulated, certain forms of official bids and requests have actually been exchanged albeit mostly ending in Liverpool being told to get lost or pay over the odds. Fair to say that Liverpool have done nothing wrong (within the PL rules) in this instance.

Real Madrid’s open courting and disgraceful attempt to destabilise Cristiano Ronaldo all summer is beyond the remit of this article but would easily be filed under “annoyance and daftness” rather than be considered a case for tapping. How many times has the Spanish club been told that the boy is not for sale? Senor Calderon even went as far as publicly declaring that the boy just needs to say he wants to leave, and then Real can make the necessary steps to put in a bid.

What about the great one’s recent statement? “For Lampard, it will be easier to play with Chelsea until the end of his contract rather than break it now, all of a sudden,” the new Inter boss told reporters this week. “It seems to me difficult for him to be able to come here now, it’s easier that he comes next season.” Even if Inter were a PL club, Jose would not be breaking any rules since lardy Lamps has only 12 months left on his contract and as such clause K2 doesn’t apply.

My old tennis coach use to tell me to do to the other players exactly what I don’t like being done to me, which usually was someone testing my backhand groundstroke; it sure hurts more when you’re being beaten at your own game and what comes around goes around!

Based on the evidence on display in recent press alone, I can predict United and Liverpool will not be found guilty of any wrongdoing; especially if the bastion of one accusation is based on an inexistent quote

In my mind, it is simple; I would not send out my CV to other companies to seek better employment if the code of conduct I signed up to explicitly says that I should not consider such naughty ideas. If I do and get my hand stuck in the cookie jar then that’s obviously my fault.

Everyone knows the score - football needs to grow up and everyone should stop whingeing.