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Home , Emre Can, Juan Mata, Luke Shaw, Samir Nasri

TUESDAY, AUGUST 12, 2014 SPORTS Liverpool looks to do better without Suarez LIVERPOOL: Back in the Champions League and scorer with 31 goals last season, was sold to There is also the fear among some pundits that games, and has adopted an attacking style that is back in the title conversation, Barcelona for $130 million, leaving a huge hole in Liverpool could go the way of Tottenham, which fun to watch and overwhelmed many opponents Liverpool has come a long way in a short time under Liverpool’s squad. brought in a slew of players on the back of selling last season. . Rodgers has spent the proceeds of Suarez’s sale to Real last summer but failed to He also has the backing of the fans and his club’s Yet, to satisfy the lofty expectations of one of on a string of signings - , find the right mix and balance. Avoiding falling into hierarchy. “We will improve,” Rodgers said after the England’s two biggest clubs, it’s time for Liverpool to and have arrived from Southampton, that trap will be one of Rodgers’ biggest tasks. final game of last season. “We’ll be ready to fight make the next step. And that means winning tro- exciting winger Lazar Markovic joined from Benfica In a sense, Liverpool had it easy last season. There again. Now we’ve got the belief.” phies. After finishing eighth in 2012 and seventh in and holding Emre Can moved from Bayer was no European football to clog up the schedule Captain has retired from interna- 2013, Liverpool made a giant leap last season by Leverkusen. With Belgium striker Divock Origi join- and the team was eliminated early from the two cup tional football and can devote all his energy to pushing Manchester City all the way in the title race ing from Lille for 10 million pounds ($17 million) but competitions. The Reds could concentrate on their Liverpool, where he starred in the midfield quarter- and coming up just short, two points behind in sec- spending this season on loan at the French club, league challenge, playing just one game a week and back role last season. And attacking ond place. And it could have been so much better - Liverpool’s outlay is almost 100 million pounds getting away with having a lack of depth in their and should only the team held a five-point lead with three matches ($170 million). squad. That won’t be the case this season. But in get better. There is much to be excited about among remaining, only to stumble with a first champi- Yet, Lambert will be the only new striker in the Rodgers, Liverpool has one of the brightest man- Liverpool fans - not least a return to the Champions onship since 1990 in reach. squad and, at 32, is hardly an adequate replacement agers in English football and he has done nothing League for the first time since the 2009-10 season - Going one better this season is the aim, but it will for Suarez. It means most of the attacking burden but impress since taking over in the summer of but losing Suarez, and failing to replace him with a be tough - especially with their best player no will be placed on , now England’s 2012. He is tactically astute, changing formations to player close to his ilk, is likely to prevent them mak- longer around. Luis Suarez, the Premier League’s top No. 1 striker but prone to injuries. great effect from match to match as well as during ing that step up to title winners. — AP MAN United set to begin new era under Van Gaal

MANCHESTER: Fom the gloom and constant disap- pointments of ’ tenure to hope and antici- pation under new manager , the mood at Manchester United has shifted dramatically heading into the new Premier League season. Order appears to have been restored at after United’s most tumultuous year in a generation, when Moyes turned the club from English champions into something of a laughing stock in the space of 10 months. And it’s all down to the appointment of Van Gaal, the kind of charismatic, authoritarian coach United should really have gone for in the summer of 2013 to usher in the post-Alex Ferguson era. It’s barely been a month since he took over after his World Cup duties Arsenal’s French manager Arsene Wenger (right) gives instructions in this file photo. with the Netherlands and it’s always hasty to make judgments based on preseason results, but things are After trophy drought ends, already looking up for England’s biggest team. United is yet to lose under Van Gaal, beating Arsenal sets sights on EPL Liverpool and Real Madrid on the way to winning a preseason tournament in the United States, and looks to have warmed to the tactics and change of forma- : For nine torturous years the Mesut Ozil. Having sustained tion (to a 3-5-2) of the Dutchman. Players like Wayne absence of a trophy eluded Arsene top-four finishes while funding the move Rooney and look energized. “He’s a tough Wenger. That burden was lifted when to the in 2006, Arsenal is manager but he’s been great since he came in,” Rooney Wenger celebrated in May after clinching in financially sound position and sure it said. “He’s given us all a different way of looking at the FA Cup. can now retain top talent rather than it football, which we haven’t had before.” It was a joyful moment, but still tinged being picked off by rivals. “We are less vul- It’s a huge contrast to life under Moyes, who never with what-ifs. Arsenal spent longer than nerable now, that is for sure,” Wenger said. garnered the respect of the squad due to his lack of ANN ARBOR: Manchester United’s (left) talks with Jonny Evans in this file any side at the top of the Premier League “In the last two years we bought Ozil and top-level experience as a manager. photo. — AP but still ended up in its familiar fourth Sanchez - five years ago we would have Van Gaal has coached - and won league titles - in are likely to be more incomings before the transfer Evans, Phil Jones and aren’t in the same place after struggling against its title rivals. lost Ozil and Sanchez.” Spain, Germany and the Netherlands and has the grav- window shuts on Aug. 31. It will be a strange season class as Ferdinand and Vidic - but the same was said of A Champions League spot for a 17th suc- Striker , and midfielders itas to take on the rebuilding job at United that proved for United, which failed to qualify for any European Van Gaal’s Dutch team at the World Cup and it reached cessive year was a minimum achievement - Samir Nasri and Cesc Fabregas were too much for his predecessor. Already, aging defensive competition for the first time since 1990 after finishing the semifinals, only missing out on a place in the final how Manchester United would take such among the players to exit the Emirates trio Nemanja Vidic, and have in seventh place last season - 22 points behind Premier on penalties. Even if United fails to bridge the gap to predictable consistency now - but still prematurely after being sold at their peak. been moved on and Van Gaal has signaled that some League winner Manchester City. title favorites City and Chelsea, fans at Old Trafford still Arsenal is without a Premier League title Although captain Thomas Vermaelen was fringe players will be jettisoned. That could include the But United will have noted how Liverpool benefit- are likely to see that kind of attractive, expansive, since 2004. allowed to join Barcelona for $25 million likes of , Anderson and Javier Hernendez, as well ed last season from no European involvement to finish attacking football that had become commonplace “The only thing we need to improve is last week, frugality no longer appears to as Marouane Fellaini, who has flopped since joining second, and it would be foolish to write off the team’s before Moyes’ troubled reign. our away record against the so-called big- be Wenger’s philosophy. “We have more from Everton for 27.5 million pounds (then $43 million) chances of regaining the title. Van Gaal’s likely front With retired from playing and now in last summer. ger teams,” said Aaron Ramsey, whose money available to buy today than we had line of Rooney, Robin van Persie and Juan Mata is one the dugout as Van Gaal’s assistant, this will be the first The only signings have been left back of the strongest in the league and Herrera brings ener- season without a member of the famous “Class of 92” intelligence and influence in midfield was five years ago,” Wenger said. “We can com- and Spanish central midfielder for a gy to the midfield that was lacking last season. in the squad. It’s certainly a new era for United - and in a defining dynamic of last season. “If we pete better. For years we have lost top combined 50 million pounds ($84 million) but there Defensively, United appears vulnerable - Jonny Van Gaal, it has a proven winner to kick it off. — AP had managed to nick the odd point or win players without the ability to replace them in those games it would have been a lot because of financial management.” closer last season, and maybe even we The Premier League’s longest-serving would have won.” manager, Wenger would hope for no more Everton dreaming For once, though, Wenger has been lay- humiliations like the 6-0 drubbing by ing the foundations for Arsenal to stay the Chelsea last season in his 1,000th match of big after course in the title race by investing in the charge. Lukaku signing squad - and early. The images of Wenger At least this season began brightly. playing footvolley on the beach in Rio de Another trophy was added to the sparse LIVERPOOL: After reining in its spending in Janeiro and commentating for French TV Emirates trophy cabinet - the Community recent years, Everton splashed out a club- at the World Cup were mistakenly per- Shield - by overwhelming Premier League record fee of 28 million pounds ($47 million) ceived as overlooking his Arsenal duties. champion Manchester City 3-0 at Wembley on Romelu Lukaku to signal its intention to But Wenger was wrapping up early Stadium on Sunday. compete with the top teams in the Premier deals for once, spending $50 million on The emerging English core to the squad League once again this season. bringing Chile forward Alexis Sanchez was on display: Chambers, who was Everton manager Roberto Martinez hailed from Barcelona and a similar amount to assured on his debut in central defense, the arrival of the Belgium striker from Chelsea bolster the defense with winger Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and mid- as a “very significant day in the history of our from Newcastle and from fielder . Now they have to club . a footballing statement of what we Southampton. It comes a year after the show they have what it takes to win want to do.” Martinez’s squad has barely $65 million-plus club-record signing of English football’s ultimate prize.— AP changed - his two major signings, Lukaku and midfielder Gareth Barry, were both there on loan last season - but there’s still a sense of optimism swirling around Goodison Park Mourinho can’t afford ahead of the new campaign. And there should be, with Martinez prov- another trophyless season ing a breath of fresh air in his first year as David Moyes’ replacement and guiding the LONDON: Perhaps only Jose Mourinho shrewd ability to work the transfer market team to a fifth-place finish last season. The could survive as Chelsea manager following to comply with UEFA’s Financial Fair Play haul of 72 points was a record for the club in a trophyless season. Surely another year of regulations. the Premier League era and just as impressive failure would stretch the patience of owner At the same time, two well-paid mem- was the style and attractiveness of the foot- Roman Abramovich again. bers of the old guard have been allowed to ball Everton produced. —AP When his six years in exile from Stamford leave in their 30s: left back to Bridge ended last year, Mourinho could rea- Roma and record-scorer to sonably claim that time was required to New York City FC, via a loan spell at Pardew looks to rebuild the squad he inherited from the Manchester City. years of chaotic management. Cole was replaced with another addition alleviate doubters MINNEAPOLIS: Manchester City midfielder (21) kicks a shot on goal in this file Still, finishing just four points behind from Atletico, Filipe Luis, while goalkeeper photo. — AP Manchester City in the title race showed has been recalled from a at Newcastle that Chelsea was far from being a spent three-year loan at the Spanish capital club force. Unexpected setbacks against lower- to challenge Petr Cech for the No. 1 jersey. NEWCASTLE: After finally getting access to First England, next Europe ranking sides denied Mourinho a third Drogba wasn’t the only crowd-pleasing Newcastle’s transfer kitty, Alan Pardew must hope the Premier League success to add to the 2005 signing of a trio of exciting attackers in the offseason and 2006 titles, with an envied 78-match helps him win over the growing band of doubters at for ambitious Man City unbeaten league run at Stamford Bridge St. James’ Park. ending. Pardew faced the wrath of Newcastle’s passionate MANCHESTER: Manchester City reclaimed its position the first team since 2008. The club appears to have A more clinical strike force was neces- supporters last season during an insipid second half of as the top team in English football by winning the learned its lessons from 2012, when it relaxed after the Premier League campaign that exposed the lack of sary. signed from Spanish Premier League and the League Cup last season. Next ending a 44-year wait for an English league title and depth in his squad and the lack of ambition in the in the firing line for the club’s ambitious Abu Dhabi failed to make the kind of signings that could have led champion Atletico Madrid - the Spaniard’s boardroom. Not a single player arrived on a perma- inability to score at the World Cup over- owners: Conquering Europe. to a period of prolonged domestic dominance. nent deal in either - even after the In its three years in the Champions League, City This time around, bound by a transfer spending looked by Mourinho - and 36-year-old sale of star midfielder in January - while twice has failed to get out of the group stage and last of 60 million euros ($80 million) for breaching UEFA re-joined two years after the team went out early in both cup competitions year was eliminated by Barcelona in the last 16. Financial Fair Play regulations, they have bought wisely clinching the Champions League for with the management’s focus entirely on staying in That’s a poor return for one of the world’s wealthi- and strengthened areas where they were short last Chelsea. “Didier’s still the same. He’s been a the Premier League. It ended up placing 10th. est clubs and for a team crammed with talent in every season - namely in defense and central midfield. nightmare to play against in training,” Unsurprisingly, frustration among fans grew but department. “We won the league two times in three Willy Caballero arrived from Malaga and is pushing Chelsea captain said. “He’s still Chelsea’s manager Jose Mourinho they will be delighted to see Pardew spend around 30 years and finished second. We won the FA Cup, first-choice goalkeeper , while physically strong, sharp and hungry as well.” million pounds ($50 million) this summer, notably on (League) Cup - we have won everything in England,” gives Pellegrini a strong option as an alternative right Spain striker has survived addition to the squad as former Arsenal Ajax captain Siem de Jong - a real coup for Newcastle - City playmaker Samir Nasri said. “Now we have to see back to fans’ favorite after joining from at Chelsea despite more than three years or captain Cesc Fabregas was convinced to and strikers Remy Cabella and Emmanuel Riviere. the bigger picture and try to do something in the Arsenal as a free agent. On Monday, France center back inconsistency and contributing just five join Chelsea from Barcelona. “The club are The arrival of Cabella and Riviere, from Montpellier Champions League. Eliaquim Mangala - a long-term target - joined from FC league goals last season. But Romelu evolving. One day we’ll all be gone,” Terry and Monaco respectively, adds two more names to “With the players we have, that is what we need to Porto for a reported 32 million pounds ($54 million), Lukaku was allowed to make his loan to said. “It’s time for these players to continue the legion of French players at Newcastle and should do. Everyone has to be ambitious.” Winning the easily the club’s most expensive acquisition of the off- Everton permanent despite confirming his to keep winning trophies for this club and help make up for the loss of Loic Remy, who returned Premier League, it appears, is the minimum require- season. Fernando, a 12-million pound ($20 million) goal scoring prowess with 15 in the last keep the fans and owner happy.” And to Queens Park Rangers after a loan spell. ment at Etihad Stadium nowadays. But neither of City’s recruit also from Porto, will provide depth to central league campaign. Mourinho, who called his team “little horses” “It’s taken us a while to build and we have had to recent championship successes have come easy. In midfield as will Frank Lampard, who will spend the first It would have been hard to turn down and complained about the lack of “killer” lose one or two great players along the way, Cabaye in 2012, City scored twice in injury time to win its final half of the season on loan from MLS side New York City particular,” Pardew said. “But we always knew that the $47 million on offer from Everton for the striker last season, seems satisfied for now. match and beat great rival Manchester United to the - one of the clubs jointly owned by City - after his once this summer came, we could make a bigger step, title on goal difference. And last year, City won its last departure from Chelsea. Belgium striker who could never convince “We got exactly what we need and what we maybe, and hopefully that’s reflected in performanc- Mourinho of his worth on the pitch. With want,” Mourinho said preparing for his sec- five matches to overhaul Liverpool in a title race that The new recruits may lack the name recognition of es.” Time will tell if Pardew sticks to his word and con- again went down to the last weekend. City never has those from recent years but they join an already-strong $66 million also banked from offloading ond season of a four-year contract. “The tinues to keep his calm on the touchline after getting done things the easy way and it seems that’s not about squad and Pellegrini’s biggest success arguably is out-of-favor to Paris Saint- squad is one which I like very much and I a lengthy ban last season for head-butting Hull mid- to change even in the era of the Sheikh Mansour keeping hold of key midfielder Yaya Toure, who hinted Germain, Chelsea has demonstrated a look forward to starting the season.” — AP fielder David Meyler. — AP regime, when more than $1 billion has been spent on he could leave City at the end of last season.—AP