As 2013 is about to come to an end, it has been a roller-coaster ride in the first half of the 2013/14 English Premier League season. We have witnessed the retirement of the great Sir Alex Ferguson, with former Everton manager David Moyes being his successor, the return of Jose Mourinho to Stamford Bridge and a new face among the top guns in Manchester City manager, Manuel Pellegrini.

The current champions, Manchester United have not had the best start to the campaign as they have lost five out of their 18 games, including three home defeats at the hands of West Bromwich Albion, Everton and Newcastle United, whereas their neighbors City have been doing otherwise by scoring a total of 53 goals in 18 games, almost 3 goals per game. Arsenal and Liverpool have been the surprise packages of the league. Aaron Ramsey and summer signing Mesut Ozil have been influential for the Londoners while Luis Suarez and co. have helped the Merseyside team fight for a Champions League spot.

Although it is only halfway through the season, there have already been arguments all around the world over the best player in the league.

Alvaro Negredo and Sergio Aguero have been a lethal combination for the noisy neighbors by scoring 21 goals between them. The physical appearance of the Spanish international, along with the tough of brilliance of the Argentinean have proved critics wrong and have steered them into second place.

Aaron Ramsey is a class above the rest. He has been involved in 18 goals in 26 games for the Arsenal this season scoring 13 goals and assisting five. The only downfall to his and Arsenal’s season was injuring his thigh against West Ham United which will keep him out for 2 to 3 weeks.

For me, Luis Suarez is by far the best player in the Barclays Premier League. Despite missing the first five games for biting Branislav Ivanovic last season, he has amassed an incredible 19 goals in only 13 games. This figure has made him not only the top goalscorer in the league, but also the leading goalscorer in all of Europe’s top five leagues, ahead of Cristiano Ronaldo who has scored 17 goals in 15 games for Real Madrid. In the absence of skipper Steven Gerrard, Luis Suarez captained Liverpool to back-to-back victories over Tottenham Hotspur’s and Malaysian-owned Cardiff City, before losing out to Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium in an extremely close encounter. In my opinion, if Luis Suarez consistently keeps up his performance for the Reds, he will undoubtedly carry them to success in the near future, as well as being a serious contender for the 2014 Ballon d’Or.

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Nicklas Bendtner is planning the next step of his career despite his involvement in Arsenal’s first team squad this season.

The Danish international has been widely criticized by the North London faithful since his return from several unsuccessful loan spells, but was given another chance by Arsene Wenger because of the inability to recruit a striker in the summer.

Olivier Giroud is the only other recognised striker, and he may be alone in the not-too-distant future. Bendtner told the Danish press he envisages himself playing for, wait for it, ‘Real Madrid or Barcelona’ next.

After being asked, ‘how do you envisage to continue your career?’

‘Real Madrid or Barcelona,’ said the self-proclaimed ‘greatest striker in the world’.

Arsenal have not trusted Bendtner with many minutes so far this year, and when he has been brought on/started it has been a last throw of the dice rather than a tactical ploy.

However it is doubtful he would get any more minutes at two of the best sides in the world, especially with the likes of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo taking up forward positions.

What happens in the future is anyone’s guess (though it is extremely likely this WON’T happen), but the Dane will surely be leaving the Emirates Stadium within the next year.

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Wayne Rooney’s future at United was the subject of much speculation and uncertainty over the summer after Ferguson claimed towards the end of last season that the 27-year-old had asked to leave the club.

Though Ferguson has now retired as manager of Utd, his presence at Old Trafford as a director has reportedly kept a question mark hanging over Rooney’s long-term future.

He was a target for Chelsea in the transfer window, but United stood firm and refused to sell the England international to their Premier League rivals.

Ferguson’s successor David Moyes has been happy with Rooney’s early-season form and labelled the forward ‘world class’ after he scored twice in Tuesday’s 4-2 win over Bayer Leverkusen.

Rooney’s brace in the UEFA Champions League took his tally to 200 goals for United and Ferguson is also happy with how his former player is performing.

“Wayne was fantastic. I’m pleased to see that. He’s got his energy back, his purpose to attack. As a director, I’m delighted to see him back to how we remember him.”

“Wayne was fantastic,” Ferguson told MUTV. “I’m pleased to see that. He’s got his energy back, his purpose to attack.

“As a director, I’m delighted to see him back to how we remember him.”

Ferguson added: “What is important and key to the team is if Vida (Nemanja Vidic) stays fit. With Van Persie and Rooney, there are forwards that can win games, Valencia’s back to his best and it’s amazing how a shirt number can affect a player.

“De Gea’s maturing, Evra was normal and Carrick is continuing from last season. There were lots of plus points.”

Ferguson has also defended Moyes after his fellow Scot came in for criticism following United’s 1-0 defeat at Liverpool earlier this month.

Moyes had earlier enjoyed a 4-1 success at Swansea in his first Premier League game before a 2-0 victory over Crystal Palace last Saturday secured his first home win as United manager.

“I loved the Swansea game, enjoyed Saturday and Tuesday,” continued Ferguson. “I enjoyed the Swansea game, United were terrific, but the Liverpool game was agony. I spoke to David about this after the Liverpool game.

“We’ve gone there over the years, 20-odd times, and played worse than that and won games, and I can’t believe the criticism of United in that game.

“I thought David was right. They played well, could have done with a goal, but in the context of my experience of going to Liverpool, I can’t remember when they hardly got in our box. I was frustrated with that because we deserved more.”

The 71-year-old also remains convinced that he made the right decision to retire at the end of last season after over 26 years of unprecedented success as United boss.

He said of retirement: “I’ve enjoyed it. Obviously some things you miss and some you don’t. You miss the banter in the dressing room and the humour on the training pitch, and the relationships built up over long periods with so many of the coaching staff.

“Some things you don’t miss – press conferences on a Friday played over and over again for the whole day.

“I’ve relaxed about retiring and I left at the right time. It was a great period of my life at United.”

Ferguson also denied suggestions he may have had influence over referees during his career after former official Mark Halsey referred to having a “good relationship” with the ex-Red Devils manager.

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Live Super Sunday

Man City vs Man Utd
September 22, 2013, 3:30pm
Sky Sports 1 HD

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Kyle Walker issues an apology after reports emerged over the weekend that he had taken a ‘legal high’.

Kyle Walker, Tottenham defender who is currently with England on World Cup qualifying duty, was the subject of front page headlines on Sunday after photographs emerged of him taking the ‘legal high’ nitrous oxide.

The incident took place in his hometown city of Sheffield during a night out this summer, and Walker was quick to issue a statement apologizing.

“Apologies for not commenting sooner on a story about me today. I’ve been training and am focused on Tuesday’s game for England,” he said via his Twitter account.

“Now I know the health risks, it was poor judgement on my part.”

“I won’t be doing this again and hope that no one else is influenced into putting their health at risk by my actions.”

Walker was named as the PFA’s Young Player of the Year in 2012 and has won seven caps for England since making his debut against Spain in 2011.

Clever Bets Review

We at Clever Bets believe that this whole situation is ridiculous and it should not be a public matter whatsoever. For this to become a main headline in papers and major sporting outlets really demonstrates how footballers have no room to breathe in this current society. They are unable to party in a legal manner with friends without making the headlines for inhaling from a balloon. Spurs defender Kyle Walker is another example of the ‘role model curse’.

By Chris

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