The "A" Team Brings its "A" Game to the Premier League

Let’s go right back to the start of the alphabet to see if we can create teams of current Premier League players with some of those early letters, starting with the A Team.

Goalkeeper – Adrian (West Ham United)

Defenders – Azplilcueta (Chelsea), Agger (Liverpool), Amat (Swansea), Alonso (Sunderland)

Midfielders – Arteta (Arsenal), Joe Allen (Liverpool), Charlie Adam (Stoke City)

Forwards – Aguero (Man City), Adebayor (Spurs), Agbonlahor (Aston Villa)

Subs or Squad Players – Albrighton (Villa), Alcaraz (Everton), Assaidi and Arnautovic (Stoke), Aluko (Hull City), Altidore (Sunderland), Anita (Newcastle)

There’s not a lot of defensive cover on the bench but that’s not a bad side, especially in an attacking sense. With Sergio Aguero, Emmanuel Adebayor and Gabby Agbonlahor bearing down on an opposing defence, there are sure to be goals, with a supply line coming from Arteta in particular.

There weren't many “A” goalkeepers to choose from, in fact West Ham’s Adrian was the only one currently playing. However, he has been in fine form so certainly an inspired choice! Defensively, there is a mixture of experience and inexperience so it would be up to Agger and Azpilicueta to guide the other defenders through each game. There are plenty of options on the bench for an attack minded team but there isn’t a lot of depth to this squad.

It’s not often the B team is stronger than the A team but we will find out soon. Stay tuned.

Football Alphabet - Premier League "R" Team is Full of Attacking Flair

I might go back through the alphabet and do a few more of these. I, at least find them quite intriguing - to see the kind of team/s that can be created with players whose names all start with the same letter of the alphabet. I already did a “J” team and a “K” team and below you will find the “R” Team.

Goalkeeper – John Ruddy (Norwich City)

Defenders – Rafael (Man United), Danny Rose (Spurs), Liam Ridgewell (West Brom), Winston Reid (West Ham)

Midfielders – Aaron Ramsey (Arsenal), Ramires (Chelsea), Thomas Rosicky (Arsenal), Gaston Ramirez (Southampton)

Forwards – Wayne Rooney (Man United), Loic Remy (Newcastle United)

Subs and Squads Members or Reserve Team

Robles, Riise, Rosenior, Rat, Reither, Rangel, Richardson, Rodwell, Routledge, Rodallega, Rodriguez

Without intending to be critical of central defenders Ridgewell and Reid, I can’t see this team keeping many clean sheets, although possession statistics are likely to be the roof with that midfield! However, with Rafael and Danny Rose bombing forward at every opportunity, they could be susceptible to counter attacks.  John Ruddy has flirted with the England squad on a few occasions and despite Norwich’s poor form this season, he is a solid number one.

The midfield is, in my opinion, fabulous! Aaron Ramsey was arguably the player of the season until he picked up an untimely injury and Thomas Rosicky although not a frequent starter has shown something like his best form this season. Gaston Ramirez has had a fairly stop-start Southampton career so far and is not a guaranteed starter but the Uruguay international has plenty of ability and adds plenty of flair to an already creative midfield. Chelsea’s Ramires is perhaps the only one of the quartet that adds a bit of steel and defensive cover, so he would be absolutely essential in this team.

Up front we have two of the in-form strikers of the season so far. Wayne Rooney has been far and away Manchester United’s best player this season and Loic Remy is enjoying his spell with the Magpies and proving he is a genuine Premier League quality striker.

If there is an injury crisis, there are plenty of decent options on the bench in most positions – so the “R” Team on the whole has plenty of strength in depth. Check out the J and K teams to see which you think is the best.

D for Dembele, De Bruyne and Dzeko - Premier League Football Alphabet 2013/2014

At the time of writing, we have seen all but two of this year’s Premier League teams in action, with Manchester City and Newcastle United in action tonight. We are working our way through the alphabet and have reached the letter "D". Slim pickings I am afraid but there are still a few exciting players we can talk about.

Mousa Dembele is now in his second season with Spurs and he will hope to be as influential in the Tottenham midfield as he was last season and perhaps even more so, now that the landscape is changing around him. With Tom Huddlestone, Jake Livermore and Clint Dempsey already departed and Scott Parker likely to follow suit, Dembele will now be accompanied in the centre of the field by the likes of Brazilian playmaker Paulinho and Etienne Capoue. The Belgian is big and strong and gets through an enormous amount of work but Spurs fans will be hoping he can weigh in with more goals, especially if Gareth Bale leaves the club.

Another Belgian, another midfielder and another great player - Kevin De Bruyne is not a new Chelsea signing but he might as well be given that his first season was spent out on loan at Werder Bremen in the Bundesliga. It seems that Jose Mourinho likes the look of him and after notching 10 goals for the German side last season, it seems the Blues have yet another goal scoring midfielder on their hands.  He is still only 22 and already has 3 goals for the Belgian national team and his place in the Chelsea starting line up for the opening day victory against Hull City might have a few Fantasy Football managers checking out his value.

Edin Dzeko is a goal scorer. He struck 66 times in 111 appearances for Wolfsburg and so far has 30 in 76 appearances for Man City. That’s almost 1 in 2 for City and many of those appearances came from the subs bench, so his goals per on field minutes will be very high. Carlos Tevez has departed but Negredo and Jovetic have arrived, whilst Sergio Aguero is still at The Etihad Stadium so the competition for places is stronger than ever for a starting place in the starting City eleven. If new City boss, Manuel Pellegrini gives the Bosnian striker more pitch time, he could score an absolute hat full this season.

Premier League Football Alphabet 2013/2014 - C for Cardiff City, Chelsea and Crystal Palace

This is it football fans, the premier league season is (at the time of writing) less than 16 hours away. Liverpool, minus the still suspended Luis Suarez will entertain Stoke City in the day’s early kick off. However, our football alphabet is still at the letter C, so unless Coutinho or Crouch light up the opening fixture, let’s concentrate on Chelsea, Cardiff and Crystal Palace and their chances for the coming season.

Chelsea - Many people have Chelsea as favourites for the title this season and we certainly wouldn’t disagree with them – not unless there are dramatic developments before the close of the transfer window. Despite a very uncomfortable season at Stamford Bridge last time out, with both Roberto Di Matteo and Rafa Benitez departing, they still finished a very comfortable 3^rd in the table and won the Europa League.

At times, they played some outstanding football, with the likes of Juan Mata, Eden Hazard and Oscar lighting up the midfield with silky skills. Now add the likes of Andre Schurrle, Marco van Ginkel, Kevin De Bruyne and Romelu Lukaku to the mix and an already impressive outfit looks even stronger. John Terry, Frank Lampard and Fernando Torres are also still holding the fort and the blend of youth and experience looks special. Speaking of special – one Jose Mourinho has returned as manager, to the club where he had so much success  and this combination of great players and great manager might just make Chelsea the Champions come May 2014.

Cardiff City - Not the blues but the reds have joined their Welsh rivals in the Premier League and on the surface at least it would appear that a season of struggle for survival could be ahead. Swansea managed to prove everybody wrong when they came up and stayed up but the Bluebirds (or is it the Dragons) may need to splash the cash a bit more to give themselves a fighting chance. They have been trying though – Andreas Cornelius has been brought in from FC Copenhagen to score goals but the English Premier League is...“leagues” away from the Danish Superliga. Steven Caulker from Spurs was a good bit of business and one would suspect that Cardiff will need lots of clean sheets to give themselves a chance. Craig Bellamy won’t look out of place back at this level but he is now in the twilight of his career so fans will have fingers crossed for 2 or 3 big signings before the end of August – or January if push comes to shove.

Crystal Palace - Like Cardiff, the newly promoted Eagles could be in for a tough time. Zaha has gone to Man United, Glenn Murray is injured, Chamakh has yet to prove he can do the business at this level and manager Ian Holloway lost out to Fulham for the signing of Darren Bent. The positives are that it will be 11 v 11 once out on the pitch but unless some serious business is done before the window closes, Crystal Palace unfortunately look like a Championship squad in a division that may be beyond them

We are all for the underdogs here at Sporting Voices though, so we wish the best of luck to Cardiff City and Crystal Palace in the Premier league. We don’t think Chelsea will be needing much of that luck but wish them all the best regardless.

It’s Pre Season at Sporting Voices - Getting Ready for the Big Kick Off

With the UK currently basking in something of a rare heat wave, (even the Ashes cricketers are struggling with the temperatures) it may not seem like the new football season is just around the corner. However, any football connoisseur will be fully aware that their favourite teams are already being put through their paces in what is sure to be a very interesting pre season.

Fans up and down the country have been aware of their club’s fixture list for a week or two and will already be plotting travel and possibly accommodation for those long away days. Monthly budgets will be being worked out, with match day tickets and travel very much in the equation.

The English pre season is always a time of great anticipation and uncertainty so we thought that it was a perfect time to launch our new sports arena - Sporting Voices. It’s basically a bunch of passionate sports fans writing about and chatting about what they love most – sport!

If it’s a sport (even vaguely) it’s fair game to talk about it at Sporting Voices. It will certainly be a game of two halves because in sport, there’s winning and there’s losing and we hope that the sports content will reflect the highs and the lows, the victories and the defeats, the goals and the grand slams, the promotions and relegations as well as all those controversial decisions. Was it in or was it out? Was it over the line? Did it get a nick or not?

We hope you will join us for what is sure to be a roller-coaster ride through the world of sport – Welcome to Sporting Voices!