IT'S ALL IN YOUR SPORT'S
END OF YEAR REPORT!
By your man in-the-know - 'big hearted' FRANK WORRALL.
HERE’S how the big six in football’s Premier League have fared over the last year – and how they can improve – and a rundown of the year’s happenings in the worlds of Formula 1 and golf.
MAN UTD
DESPERATELY need a quality midfielder, particularly after the sad news of Darren Fletcher’s digestive/bowel illness - which could conceivably put him out of the game for good, certainly for a season. Who to buy? Wesley Sneijder of Inter Milan is surely the man: arrogant, confident, bustling and a winner. He will cost £35million and wages to match – but, come on the Glazers, you are sucking United fans dry with match-day costs…time to put something back into the club. The central defensive dilemma now Vidic is injured? Put Phil Jones there, with Ferdinand or Smalling. And get rid of Jonny Evans, Fergie – he just ain’t good enough to represent Man United.
MAN CITY
NEED a quality centre-half and maybe another quality midfielder if they are to keep up their title challenge. Joleon Lescott is not good enough; neither is Kolo Toure. And Gareth Barry is OK in some games but not speedy enough in the big matches that decide the winners and the losers. Who to buy? The man Chelsea will also be after – England centre-half Gary Cahill, a snip at £8million (because he only has a year left on his contract) and mercurial Belgian midfielder Eden Hazard.
CHELSEA
I WOULD let Frank Lampard go. Yes, I know he is a Blues legend and still popular among fans but he is not happy with the squad system and that can only lead to resentment against rookie boss Andre Villas Boas. Great to see how Villas Boas has brought on youngsters like Danny Sturridge and Juan Mata – and brought Didier Drogba back to life. Can he resurrect the career of Fernando Torres, too? Well, it is Christmas…the so-called time of miracles, so maybe it is now or never! Who to buy? Gary Cahill to plug the gap at centre half and thus make life easier for John Terry.
ARSENAL
WOULD be great if they could get Karim Benzema from Real Madrid as has been suggested. But would the French striker really want to leave Madrid, just as Jose Mourinho seems on the brink of establishing a team to rival Barcelona? I cannot see it, but it would be a massive coup if Arsene Wenger could grab him. He is a world-class talent – as he demonstrated when he destroyed England while playing for France earlier this year.
TOTTENHAM
THE main aim for Spurs is to keep what they have. If they can keep hold of the likes of Modric and Bale they have a good chance of continuing to challenge for the title – although obviously a world class centre half (Gary Cahill gets another honourable mention!) would be welcome. Will they sign Carlos Tevez? Why would Harry Redknapp want to bring in a divisive dressing room influence when things are going so well? If Sir Alex Ferguson can’t handle him, then nobody can – he is a mercenary who only has loyalty to his own cause, not a particular team’s.
LIVERPOOL
KING Kenny Dalglish is on the right tracks. He has brought in players who can play at more than one speed – the likes of Downing, Suarez and Bellamy – but the elephant in his room remains £35million Andy Carroll. My belief is that Carroll will turn out to be an excellent signing and eventually come to be loved as both Liverpool and England’s first choice No 9. But Kenny needs to give him a decent run and make sure that Downing gets the ball into him. For a big man, Carroll is excellent on the ground as well as in the air – as his showing for England against Ghana earlier this year proved.
MOTOR RACING
LEWIS HAMILTON had a dreadful year – while fellow Brit and McLaren team-mate Jenson Button was wonderful yet again. Jenson does not attract the headlines or seek out the limelight like Lewis, but, in his own steady way, he continues to outshine the boy wonder. Lewis needs to calm down and settle down and maybe the return of his father to his side would help him. Jenson, meanwhile, will do what he always does – go about his business with pride and professionalism. Jenson I salute you – you are very much understated and, I believe, underrated…but you proved yourself to be the top driver at McLaren last season. Yes, better than Lewis Hamilton – and who would have anticipated that scenario when Lewis won the world title back in his debut season?
GOLF
RORY McILROY continues to hog the headlines – and deservedly so. The young man from Northern Ireland is a rare talent and he will surely become the world No 1 within the next couple of years. He has everything that Tiger Woods had when he became golf’s standard bearer – except the over indulgence in women! Rory’s success at the US Open, after his meltdown at the Masters, was the sporting story of the year. He deserves to be the BBC’s Sporting Personality of the Year – and you can help him earn that accolade by voting for him. And, plug, plug, if you fancy a bit of sporting reading over Christmas, why not have a read of my book Rory McIlroy: The Biography, published by John Blake and available from amazon…
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Rory-McIlroy-Biography-Frank-Worrall/dp/1843587521/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1323878060&sr=1-1
Anyway, have a good holidays (as they say in America) and Happy Christmas and a great new year from me and Weekly Sport publisher, Duncan Williams.
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