How to build a title winning team?

Background

Chelsea have brought in Ziyech(£33.4) and Werner (£48m), and are in advanced talks to add Havertz (£80m) to that list. Manchester United are in advanced talks to bring in Jadon Sancho (£90m). And Arsenal are looking extend Aubamayang for another three years (£70m – lost transfer fee and wages). The question arises whether buying more attacking players will necessarily bring them close to winning the big trophies and actually, how do you build a team that challenges for the title.

Article

How to build a title winning team? To go through 38 matches, home and away, playing in the coldness of winter, a brutal schedule of 6 games in 18 days, injuries, suspensions, bad refereeing decisions and player revolts. Within all this, you have win football matches whether your performance is optimal or not. This is the reality of winning a premier league title. So what do you need to get a team together that can compete for it? First, we will focus on the types of players you need to bring in either via the transfer market or in house to make that step into proper title contenders. We go back to five teams which were regenerated by their managers since their last title win.

Manchester United 1992-1993 (26 years)

Manchester United should have won the title in 1992 narrowly missing out to Leeds United. Defensive full backs Irwin and Parker had been added followed by the arrival of the brilliant goalkeeper Peter Schmeichel. They took Cantona away from Leeds in the 1992-93 season and this proved to be the final piece in the jigsaw. With the demise of Arsenal and Liverpool, the top spot had been filled by Manchester United.

Blackburn Rovers 1994-1995 (69 years)

Blackburn was a team that was fast tracking it’s way with extravagant spending. Among the defensive players brought in were Le Saux, Berg, Warhurst and Pearce. Added to this the tough tackling Batty and a top goalkeeper in Flowers. The cherry on top was a front partnership of Shearer and Sutton.

Chelsea 2004-2005 (50 years)

Similar to Blackburn, many players had come into the club to accelerate the title charge. Hiring Jose Mourinho was a massive step and he set about his task by bringing in a top goalkeeper in Petr Czech and strengthening the defence with Ferreira and Carvalho. The attach upgraded with the arrivals of Robben and Drogba. The original Makalele was of course already there.

Manchester City 2017-2018 (4 years)

After a turbulent first season with goals going in all over the place, the defensive area was strengthened with the arrival of a top goalkeeper in Ederson and defensive upgrades in Laporte, Walker, Mendy and Danilo. The attack was enhanced with the arrival of Bernando Silva.

Liverpool 2019-2020 (30 years)

Liverpool missed out by a point in 2019 (97 points) and won the champions league, so this was when really they had built their title winning squad. The 2017/18 season saw the arrivals of Van Dijk and Robertson alongside Salah. In 2018/19, incoming was their top goalkeeper Allison and a proper holding midfielder in Fabinho. Keita also arrived that summer to increase the competition for those three midfield positions.

Title Winning Teams

The Spine

In football, we talk about the spine of a team. Goalkeeper, Centre Half, Centre Midfield and Centre forward. A good title winning team has this strong centre which generally allows those around them dips in form. As we can see below, there was a clear spine to each of the teams. These players have to be consistent, mentally strong and be able to perform to their best for the majority of the games.

Title winning spines: United in 1993: Schmeichel, Bruce/Pallister, Ince and Cantona; Blackburn: Flowers, Hendry, Batty, Shearer; Chelsea: Czech, Terry, Makelele, Drogba; Man City: Ederson, Laporte, Fernandinho, Aguero; Liverpool: Allison, Van Dijk, Fabinho, Mane

Manager

Of course, quality of players matter but much much more important is how good the manager is. Alex Ferguson, Kenny Dalglish, Jose Mourinho, Pep Guardiola and Jurgen Klopp. The reality is that a great manager is needed to win the premier league. Players need to be managed, looked after and they need to be kept challenged. With the salaries they are on, they need an inspiring manager who can get the maximum effort out of them, day in, day out. The manager also needs to be strong enough with the club’s hierarchy to ensure that players coming in are what is needed for their respective philosophies. And on match days, the manager needs to control the game from the touchline, through their half time talks and the substitutions. There is no place for sentiment or fear when deciding whether to keep players on the pitch.

Transfer Nous

Even with clubs with billionaire owners, FFP makes it impossible to buy everyone, there is a limited amount of money. How you spend that money is so key. Kepa cost more than Allison, yet the affect of both on their team’s results have been so contrasting. This of course brings in the scouting teams, the mystical director of football and buy in from the manager. With this, the right players can be bought in to make the team stronger in the areas needed. The ability to take an underachieving player and make them great, the ability to maximise a limited players strengths for the overall team good and the guts to spend big money on a single player that will solve your problem, this is where the transfer team of a club really need to be primed.

Conclusion

So looking at all the above, there is general agreement that the transfer dealings done this summer so far will not be causing any sleepless nights at Anfield or the Etihad. Sure, Chelsea will have an awesome attacking force but there are still major flaws in three quarters of the spine – goalkeeper, defence and midfield. They have Kante there but rumours are that they are looking to sell him and he hasn’t looked himself for the last year or two. Manchester United, same again. As great as Bruno Fernandes and Pogba are with the dynamic front players, there is a gaping big hole behind them similar to Chelsea’s that needs to be filled. The rest, they are miles away. Tottenham at least have a manager who once was world class so there is hope if not the money the others have. As for Arsenal, let’s not even go there. So expect another battle between City and Liverpool next season unless of course a lot happens between now and October 5th.