Bet Chelsea

Frank Lampard is physically an exceptional footballer. Until last season the 30 year old barely missed a game. His coverage of the picth in a normal 90 minutes exceeds nearly every player in the Premier League. But the rub is that he is 30. Chelsea’s capitulation in giving him a five year deal is an odd call. the more so as he is not the only thirtysomething around Stamford Bridge these days. Deco is 30. Didier Drogba is 30. This is a good team but as Sir Alec Ferguson has pointed out you don’t win championships with old players, especially considering the intensity of Premiership football.

Euro 2008 was a clear pointer to the fact that youth can prevail in the likes of Holland and Russia. across town Arsene Wenger, that most intellectual of football coaches, has plainly committed the club to youth. And it makes good business sense. Today he sold right back Justin Hoyte to Middlebrough. Hoyte is 23 and has been with the club since he was 11. Arsenal also received a percentage of the money that Spurs spent on David Bentley. Wenger’s policy is good business and produces good football. And he has not been scared to pay the money for teenagers like Theo Walcott and Aaron Ramsay.

Lampard’s deal values him notionally at £30million which is rather more than Jose Mourinho would have paid to take him to Internazionale Milan, although Chelsea perhaps consider that anyone else they might have brought in would have cost similar in wages plus the transfer fee. Lampard said he was very happy. You bet, Frank. There a reccession on the way, unemployment is rising and you just trousered £30million.

Lampard has always been a lucky player for Chelsea. A great many of his long speculative shots have caught a fortunate deflection. He almost plays for it. This is the luck that deserts him when he puts on an England shirt. Roman Abramovich better trust he bought the lucky Lampard and that as has happened with England and Steven Gerrard the Chelsea midfield is not now so crowded he will get shunted out of the play.

Bet Premier League

Fernando Torres skips past Standard Liege’s Mohamed Sarr but there were few signs last night that Rafa Benitez’s re-arranged side would be knocking at the door of the Premier League title or the later stages of the Champions League. There are good odds on Sunderland grabbing some points off them in the late fixture on Saturday too which suddenly look attractive. The £20 million Robbie Keane was substituted. Steven Gerrard was not fit enough for the 90 minutes although he added some fizz when he came on. Pepe Rainer saved a penalty and the Belgians made most of the running. Benitez’s seemingly thwarted desire to bring in Gareth Barry from Aston Villa suddenly seemed an inspired thought because this was a team without inspiration lobbing long balls up to Torres. As the TV commentary said: where was Peter Crouch? Maybe Benitez is on borrowed time, saved over the years by his luck and the sublime spirt of Gerrard. On last night’s display Tottenham could well fancy their chances of finishing above them in the league. Unlike Sir Alex Ferguson Benitez’s spending seems increasingly to be a churn without yielding real quality. A baffling selection of unknowns, promising kids who might develop better at another club where they could get first team football and only Torres as his real star buy. Torres is favourite to be top goalscorer thisyear, but who is going to provide the service?

There is an interesting postscript to the story of Steven Gerrard being awarded an honorary degree by Liverpool University. In his epic book about black power politics sport and boxing, Redemption Song, Mike Marqusee is talking about the basketball player Michael Jordan. For Jordan, read Gerrard. “Exactly how are wealthy celebrities like Jordan supposed to set an example for those who are neither rich nor famous? Most poor people can work as hard as Jordan has, can be as law abiding, self disciplined and self effacing, and will still reap little reward for their efforts. There is, in short, no way we can emulate Michael Jordan, unless we are among the minute fraction of the population with the physical attributes required by big-time professional sport.”

Even girlfriend Alex Curran is having some difficulty keeping a straight face as Liverpool midfield maestro Steven Gerrard is awarded a degree by his home city university. The citation says, in case you wondered, ” Steven epitomises the university philosophy of Dream, Plan, Achieve,” said vice chancellor John Moores. “As a young boy he excelled in the sport he loves and ensured his talent was recognised, looking upon challenges as opportunities and pursuing each available avenue”.

Oh, so that is ok, drop out of school, play footie and you still get a degree anyway. Great academic role model

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Robbie Fowler joins up with Paul Ince at Blackburn which is an interesting one, although Blackburn might be 15/1 against relegation which could be a good bet, even if a bit depressing for a bright young English manager…Peter Crouch’s much heralded move from Liverpool to Portsmouth where he teams up with Jermaine Defoe looks another shrewd Harry Redknapp move and probably securing their contention in the top half of the table and maybe even a Uefa possibility. Portsmouth are a romantic 500/1 against winning the Premiership but stranger things have happened. Who won the FA Cup last year anyway? And goals is what you need and those two could score 20 apiece next season. Meanwhile Anfield welcomes the Swiss defender Philipp Degen on a free. The much injured full back arrives after three years in the Bundesliga Borussa Dortmund. Also arriving is Andrea Dossena , a stopper with 63 appearances for Udinese who finished sixth in Serie A last year and his perfromances against the top flight clubs impressed.  Plus also there is Steven Gerrard’s new pal Gareth Barry from Aston Villa, which looks like Rafa Benitez accepting that for Premiership football an English style midfield may be more effective tha silky Spanish skills. None of these three set the pulse racing the way a move for David Villa to partner Fernando Torres up front might. But Benitez this week ruled out such a move. It looks like more tinkering round the edges and another season of missed opportunity perhaps for the Reds. They are 1000/1 against relegation and 8/1 to grab that elusive title.  Gareth Southgate has signed the former sprinter and Dutch Under 17 international winger Marvin Emnes who scored eight goals for Sparta Rotterdam.  Southgate has also bagged Paris defender Didier Digard who will have endeared himself by turning down Newcastle and saying that club looked in a mess.  Middlesbrough are 8/1 to be relegated which is the same odds as Liverpool for the title,  neither of which look likely. West Bromwich Albion have bought the promising 21-year-old defender Gianni Zuiverloon turning down other clubs he said because he liked the Baggy style. West Brom are another team in the relegation odds mix but at 2/1, that looks a bad bet.  Another interesting move will be Steve Sidwell to Aston Villa. Can Martin O’Neill regenerate the career of the former Reading midfielder who was eclipsed in the Chelsea galaxy?  Similar questions will be asked at the Emirates where the long saga of Samir Nasri’s departure from Marseilles was completed for an undisclosed fee while Alexander Hleb looks set for the Deco role in the Barca midfield for £15million. There is also speculation that Marseilles fans are planning to have a £22 million whip round to get Didier Drogba back from Chelsea.

Each time that Rafa Benitez gets his ducks nicely in a row then that Scotsman, that Portugese, that Frenchman comes along and spoils it. And this year there is another Spaniard in town with Juande Ramos at Spurs. Each time Benetiz says he needs more money but the squabbling Americans umm and err over the cash. His great success was Fernando Torres, but he probably needs more class and the cash for David Villa would be a tantalising proposition. The trouble is the money men seem more interested in building the new Stanley Park stadium about which they now talk as if it is a leading edge football team. It could well be the world’s first 4-3-3 architectural build.

But Benitez has often bought strangely and there are conundrums to his management style. Peter Crouch is surely the foremost shock tactic attacker in the league and should be brought on with a winger to feed him on 75 minutes in every game and yet the rumours say he will be sold which could make Portsmouth with Jermain Defoe a force to be reckoned with. And then there is Steven Gerrard, to some England and Liverpool’s footballer of a generation, albeit his trophy cabinet is more naked than www.sapphicerotica.com. Is he the disrupting force that stops the others from playing? The solution of playing him up front as Torres strike partner also changes the complexion of the team.

Dirk Kuyt played tirelessly for Holland at Euro 2008 on the right and obviously would rise to the kind of fast end to end movement that Van Basten believed in rather than the slow slow Spanish style push and shove. And where in this mix does the luring of Gareth Barry from Aston Villa quite fit, unless it be to free Gerrard even more?

The Anfield faithful believes it is entitled to the Premiership title again. They are 7/1 The Anfield faithful believes that they can be champions of Euope again. The odds are 14/1. On Saturday August 16 they open the campaign at Sunderland, for once perhaps they can get off to the kind of start they need and not be looking up the table from mid September onwards. Roy Keane may have other ideas.

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