This weekend, the 2023/24 Premier League season will begin. Various nuances colored ahead of the opening of the Premier League. Starting from the excitement in the player transfer market to the preparations for the Premier League teams during the pre-season tour.
The activities ahead of the opening of the competition can be one measure in seeing the preparation and performance of each team in the coming season. The fruit of a good player transfer can lead to the quality of the team’s performance throughout the season, including measuring the team that has the chance to emerge as a champion.
Man City’s achievements are quite phenomenal. In addition to winning the European Champions League and FA Cup, Man City strengthened their dominance in the Premier League. Last season, for three consecutive seasons, Coach Pep Guardiola’s team red the Premier League trophy.
During his six seasons as Man City coach, Guardiola only once left the Premier League championship stage. What’s more, Man City always rises to the championship stage. In total, from six seasons, Guardiola was able to present five trophies for the team nicknamed The Citizens.
Inevitably, during the last decade, Man City’s dominance in the Premier League cannot be doubted. This dominance is independent of policies and strategies in player transfers.
Guardiola has the discretion to recruit/manage his players and coaching staff. So, the squad currently owned by Man City is the fruit of Guardiola’s hands. The continuing effect of Man City’s dominance can continue in the 2023/24 season because the players have united with Guardiola.
Moreover, Man City does not remain silent on the current transfer of players. Recruiting R. Kovacic from Chelsea aims to fill the hole left by I.Gundongan and Gvardiol will strengthen Man City’s rearguard. This means that the depth of the Man City squad is maintained. As a result, he continued, the balance of the team will also help Man City carry out the competition during the season.
Another advantage of Man City is Guardiola’s bold move in conducting experiments. When the team has limitations in the squad due to injury factors, Guardiola does not hesitate to rotate and try players from other positions to fill in the positions left behind.
Of course, the move could be made because Guardiola knows his players well. This is one of the factors that strengthens Man City’s dominance. So, will Man City’s dominance collapse?
Indeed, it is not impossible to undermine Man City’s dominance. Sooner or later the dominance of Man City will end. Two things that other teams really need are squad depth which balances the team’s performance throughout the season. Arsenal certainly do not forget the experience of last season. Since the start of the 2022/23 season, Arsenal has raced alone at the top of the standings. However, the situation is different when entering the second half of the season.
In which, Arsenal’s performance was suddenly inconsistent. The basic reason is the player injury factor which is not covered by other players. It’s the same with Manchester United. Player injuries affect the tactics of Erik Ten Hag. So, MU also failed to challenge Man City and Arsenal at the top of the Premier League standings.
The temporary changes made by Arsenal and MU during the transfer market could be the start of challenging Man City’s dominance in the English league. Arsenal have a big chance to challenge Man City because the squad formed by coach Mikel Arteta is starting to have the character of a winning team. It was proven when Arsenal won the Community Shield trophy by beating Man City via a penalty shootout.
In that match, Arsenal were no less dominant than Man City. Arsenal even complicated Man City’s defense several times and managed to lock in the movement of striker Erling Haaland. Arsenal are really a serious challenger to Man City when considering last season’s performance and the current steps in player transfers. Arsenal have a squad depth that can maintain consistency until the end of the season.
MU took exactly the same steps. Even though it’s only been one season, coach Erik Ten Hag seems to be slowly returning the character of MU’s game. It’s just that, Ten Hag was faced with an inadequate squad depth. The purchase of Jason Mount, Onana and Hojlund in the transfer market is very clear to be Ten Hag’s step in maintaining MU’s consistency throughout the season.
From the perspective of player transfers and last season’s performance, Arsenal and MU are seen as very strong against Man City next season. Meanwhile, Newcastle United could become a dark horse that will again disrupt the top four. The purchase of Tonali from AC Milan and several other players was Newcastle’s attempt to maintain last season’s performance.
The challenge for Newcastle is to play in the European Champions League. This could interfere with the team’s performance to appear stable in the Premier League if it is not accompanied by a qualified squad depth. Furthermore, teams like Chelsea and Tottenham are still have a gap to challenge the dominance of Man City. The reason is that the two teams are temporarily trying to build their squads after appearing quite sluggish last season.
Then, what about Liverpool? Liverpool faced instability issues last season due to player injuries. This new season, this problem can be solved because most of the injured players have returned. Furthermore, Liverpool strengthened their squad by buying two midfielders in the transfer market, namely Alexis Mac Allister and D. Szoboslai. The midfield problem became one of the issues from Liverpool’s decline in performance last season.
If the squad that Klopp built in his seventh season as Liverpool coach appears consistently, it is not impossible for Liverpool to be like lions waking up from sleep next season. Yes, Liverpool can be a lion waking up from sleep when considering the composition of the squad and Klopp’s steps in the player transfer market. Man City’s dominance is not eternal. Sooner or later, that domination collapses as long as other teams appear consistently because of the condition of a qualified squad.
ASL
