Aabhas Sharma: A few good men

A total of $1.2 billion — that’s the amount clubs in the English Premier League (EPL) have spent during the transfer window on buying players. Some marquee names — Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Paul Pogba,  and some potential superstars such as Leroy Sané, Gabriel Jesus — are plying their trade in England. Yet this EPL won’t be about the players, but all about the managers. And why wouldn’t it be?

José Mourinho, Pep Guardiola, Antonio Conte, Jürgen Klopp, Arsène Wenger and Claudio Ranieri are the headline acts in England. Between them, these six men have won 21 league titles across Italy, Germany, Spain, and England.

It’s like getting Bob Dylan, John Lennon, Syd Barrett, Eric Clapton and Jimi Hendrix on stage performing together. This year’s EPL is the Woodstock of football and promises to be a rock and roll affair for the next nine months. What makes the season more intriguing is that each manager brings his own style, charisma and tactics which means that the world’s footballing eyes will be on England.

With Mourinho you know what you’re going to get — if you’re not with him, you’re against him. He comes into Manchester United after a disastrous campaign last year that saw him getting the sack at Chelsea. His ego has been battered and United is the perfect platform for him to restore his credibility. His teams have always been solid at the back and he will make United hard to beat. Manchester United need someone who isn’t intimidated by the size of the club and the job at hand — Mourinho is an ideal appointment in that sense.

Across town from Mourinho is his nemesis, Guardiola, who is in charge of United’s bitter rivals Manchester City. Guardiola is regarded as the finest manager in world football and City are odds on favourite to win the title. It’s because of what Guardiola does — he gets his teams to play attacking football and makes them hard to beat at the same time. There won’t be “tiki-taka” in his first season but if the first three games of the season are any indicator, then Manchester City will be the team everyone will want to beat. City already look like a different team — they’re more assured with the ball at their feet, they press the opposition more and the likes of Kevin de Bruyne and David Silva would thrive under Guardiola’s style of football.

While Mourinho and Guardiola have been the main talking point — they share a chequered history when they managed Real Madrid and Barcelona, respectively - Conte’s name comes as an afterthought in this world championship of managers. Conte, in fact, could turn out to be the shrewdest appointment of them all. The highlight for me during Euro 2016 was a moment when Italy were playing Spain and Conte was his animated self on the touchline. A ball was kicked out of play and Conte was incensed at the referee’s decision and kicked the ball away in anger. It showed what he brings to Chelsea — passion, desire and a winning mentality. All three aspects were sorely lacking last year, which saw Chelsea finish a lowly 10th. Conte is Italian and coaches from Italy have a tendency to play a defensive style of football. Conte, however, is not your typical Italian coach — he likes to play with three defenders at the back and likes wingbacks who can bomb forward at every given opportunity.

Liverpool clearly do not have the talent compared to City, United or Chelsea but what they have is Klopp — a manager who is a master at getting the best out of what is at his disposal. Klopp’s teams work hard, press harder and like to play on the counterattack. This is Klopp’s first full season at Liverpool and he has signed the players who would fit his style of football. Klopp’s achievement of winning back-to-back titles with Borussia Dortmund in Germany was exceptional. He might just find it difficult to repeat that in England — but as a manager he is capable of instilling belief that has been missing at Liverpool for many years now.

Wenger is the old daddy of English football as he has been with Arsenal for 20 years now. The last 10 of them, however, have been a big disappointment as Arsenal has failed to mount a serious title challenge. The flip side of clubs having new managers is that Wenger is the only one who has the stability and is familiar with the club. But will that be enough and can Wenger finally win that title and walk away on a high? Unlikely, as Arsenal has a talented squad but their mentality is being questioned, and rightly so.

Last year’s fairy tale champions Leicester City won the title because Ranieri showed his astuteness in managing the team. It was a once-in-a-lifetime achievement and Ranieri is rightly being talked about in the top bracket of managers. However, impossible dreams don’t come true very often and Leicester would struggle to repeat their achievement.

With such a star-studded line up leading the clubs, this season might as well be won and lost in the managerial dugout rather than on the field. The football world has never seen such a stellar cast of managers competing against each other. It promises to be one hell of a ride.

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