Football and football

Chelsea manager, Jose Mourinho, said after his teams loss to Aston Villa on the weekend that he expects a more open race for the Premiership trophy this year. He told BBC that the teams that occupy a the few rungs under the top four spots, have spent more money to acquire better players and will give the top four teams a run for their money. I think "the special one" is getting a bit of himself. It is almost a month into the season and May is far away.

Mourinho's words remind me of another sport that is dear to my heart. College football. College football kicked off this past weekend and we have seen, what would the be equivalent of a Football Championship league team knock off say, Liverpool or Manchester United. The college football system here in America is designed in such a way that you play the smaller teams in your normal schedule but you run the risk, no matter how small, of loosing to them. I don't think that risk is as great in the EPL.

I think the issue in these early weeks has been injuries. Manchester United lost Rooney one game into the season. Frank Lampard has been ruled out for international duty so, one can assume he might not be kiting up for Jose anytime soon. Chelsea are also at a loss due to the absence of Ballack who might not be back until October because of an ankle issue. Liverpool has it's on issues to deal with. The Anfield boys are struggling with the injury to Steven Gerrard, who has a broken toe. The only top four team that seems to be in form is Arsenal.

I don't normally disagree with "the special one," but I am going to have to here. Sure, the smaller clubs went out and bought great players during the transfer window but the big sides are having to deal with losses among their squads. I don't think it's that the teams have better players now, it's that the normal Premiership manager doesn't plan for things like this. They dump half their transfer budget to get one good international that will drive the fans wild until his breaks something. Then, the manager spends the rest of the season rebuilding the house that was built on a foundation of one instead of a foundation of 25.