Have Manchester United made the signing of the season? | OneFootball

We are deep in Premier League predictions territory here, with the latest predicting Chelsea or Spurs will completely implode.

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Premier League predictions ahoy

So it seems I’m one of those childless people who doesn’t take holidays in August and therefore need the Mailbox more than ever to help pass the day. With that in mind I thought I’d offer up some predictions ( I finished top of my work World Cup predictions league, so write these down and head to the bookies).

* Who will win the league: definitely not United. Getting that in so when we inevitably hit a rough patch rival fans can’t claim we thought we would win the league (United fans took a poll and agreed I speak for all of them). Honestly, it is probably Arsenal, but I’m not convinced given how tired half their team look, long-term absence of Saliba etc.

* The rest of the Top 4: City, United, Liverpool. Maresca will keep the wheels on but not much more than that, United have a more balanced squad than some of the others, and I really rate Iraola. One of Chelsea and Tottenham will completely implode, and while Emery is a miracle worker, I think Villa will just miss out.

* Relegated: Hull, Coventry, Ipswich. Nothing interesting to say here, just seems to make sense.

* Which club will be a pleasant surprise: Not sure they qualify here, but I think Forest could challenge for the European places again. Glasner is like a less experienced Emery, but with the benefit of no European football to distract him. Unless he goes rogue and carries on winning domestic cups, which far too many clubs seem to ignore instead of prioritise.

* Golden Boot: unless he gets injured, it is Haaland. Annoyingly I think Isak will score a boatload, and more pleasantly, Sesko to get 15+

* Signing of the Season: Tielemans just makes so much sense – stepping away from United, Anderson is the best of the big money signings, and I think Tomiyasu is a smart move on a free.

* Flop of the Season: Even for free I think Henderson is overpriced. Honestly I can’t shake the impression he is the d*ck in every office who for some reason senior managers like but everyone who actually has to work with them thinks they are incompetent. Also, maybe I’m just sore, but £85m for Fernandes is A LOT of money.

* Manager Sack Race: Arbeloa to mimic De Boer with Fulham bottom of the table before stabilising and finishing 14th

Arsenal got the rub of the green

A bit contradictory from James in the mailbox this morning. He’s worried Bruno G will not get away with all the fouls he dished out last season for Newcastle when playing for Arsenal. He then goes on to say a big reason they won the league was because they got no red cards all last season.

Why do you think Arsenal had no red cards last season? Because they made every single tackle/push/shirt pull/shout at the officials within the letter of the law? No, it was because the referees favoured them hugely last season, the Premier League wanted a new champion.

I won’t make a huge list of the instances Arsenal were punished inconsistently as compared to other teams, as I’m supposed to be working right now, but there’s a reason all neutrals (not just rivals) called them ‘VARsenal’ most of the season. It wasn’t just jealousy at their league position. The last thing you need to worry about with new signings is punishment by referees. I’d be more worried about Legoman sucking the fun out of his game and persuading him set pieces are the way to win games. Samuel

Arteta’s Arsenal = Slot’s Liverpool

I have just had a read of Dave Tickner’s article on how Arsenal should “p*ss” the league. The second article I’ve read in the space of a couple of days which says Arsenal will win the upcoming Premier League title.

I’m sorry but this has shades of Liverpool-under-Slot. Guaranteed the title by the media after winning it and signing big name players and then they flopped big time.

Arteta’s Arsenal are far from convincing – the team doesn’t have an obvious, regular goal threat apart from at corners and if the referees do crack down on this then Arsenal are potentially in trouble. Add to this that Arsenal have struggled to sign the players they want and that Maresca already knows City and this title is far from a foregone conclusion! Yes, Arteta has been at the helm for a while but his team have relied a lot on pushing boundaries/rules. Let’s see how successful they are if referees do crack down… Spaniard in London

The FIFA circus continues

I wrote in a couple of times last week when the FIFA sell-off scandal was in full swing. My first mail was along the lines of “This is heinous but he’ll survive it anyway”. The second came after UEFA’s threat to boycott the next World Cup, and had more of a “hang on a sec!” thread running through it.

There seemed to be a turning of the tide at that point, some hope that sense would prevail. But now, after most of the dust has settled, I woke up this morning to read that Infantino has been retained as FIFA president having been backed by the federation’s executives?? Huh?

These are the same executives who came out and spit roasted him, one after the other, over the past week or so. Arsene Wenger and Matthias Grafstrom specifically put the boot in, Carlos Cordeiro threw the kitchen sink at it and flat out resigned.

All that internal strife was on top of UEFA lambasting him multiple times, along with multiple world leaders condemning his actions. Yesterday Luis Figo even piled in as the clowns met in Morocco, calling Infantino “craven” (great word). Meanwhile, reputable news sources were reporting that Morocco had been offered the 2030 World Cup final in return for continued support of Infantino. Surely the temperature was at such a pitch that he couldn’t survive any longer?

No, diddums, I was so wrong. Not only is he somehow still in situ having been backed by the execs who’d twisted the knife, but the statement coming out of that crisis meeting yesterday included the following passage: “With the project withdrawn, it was agreed that Fifa will no longer tolerate any attacks on its integrity, good governance and due process and will take all necessary measures to protect and safeguard its name and reputation”.

They’ll no longer tolerate attacks on its integrity? Is that not the most tone deaf, pathetically inappropriate response to this whole farrago imaginable? Lessons learned: Nil. Humility demonstrated: Nil. Demonstration of intent to change: Less than Nil. Taking steps to “protect and safeguard name and reputation” is not the same as reform from within.

I’m actually more disheartened now than I was this time last week. The spinelessness that must have been evident in that room yesterday is off the charts. Either those executives have had their palms greased enormously, or they’re waiting in the long grass like snakes to oust him at a later date while publicly backing him. Either way, that’s not the type of leadership group we should want at the head of the game.

I fully expect everything to go VERY quiet for the next few months as Gianni hides in the long grass, licking his wounds from a place of relative security. If someone declares their candidacy to run against him in November, maybe that changes. But unless that turns out to be the case, we are staring squarely at another term for a man who could scarcely have demonstrated less suitability for his remit. And so this sorry, rotten state of affairs will quite possibly be allowed to rumble on far longer than it should have. Keith Reilly

The usual Mailbox/BTL nonsense

Harold, this is a tiny internet football backwater where the same 20 people have the same arguments in the comments over and over, year after year. So pinging a wind up email based around more than a kernel of truth is far less boring and time consuming than engaging with some of the eejits BTL.

Yes preseason results are notoriously meaningless, but as a hook on which to hang the truth that Liverpool have a laughably thin defence, it works. Chuck in a few mild (again, truth based) barbs, and it’s infinitely more fun writing that email than attempting to engage in debate with the aforementioned eejits. It’s football. A game. And it’s ripe af for lampooning, a fact amplified by the ridiculous zealotry of some fans (Arsenal and Liverpool fans being the current prime offenders, largely). Don’t take everything so seriously. RHT/TS x