Forget the players; the coaches hog the spotlight this time

LONDON – The six biggest stars of this Premier League season won’t score a goal or make a save.

They won’t even be allowed on the field during play. The arrival of coaches Jose Mourinho, Jacques Santini and Rafael Benitez has added even more spice to a championship which, until Chelsea’s emergence last season, had become something of a two-horse race.After leading FC Porto to the Champions League title last season, Mourinho has joined Chelsea.Santini, no longer national team coach of France, has moved to Tottenham while Benitez, having won the Spanish title and UEFA Cup with Valencia, is now in charge of Liverpool.That means longtime rivals Arsene Wenger of defending champion Arsenal, Alex Ferguson of Manchester United and Newcastle United’s Bobby Robson have three big opponents in the new league campaign, which starts Aug. 14.While the players do battle on the field, the managerial mind games will be just as crucial.Of the three newcomers, Mourinho, who begins with an eye-catching opener against Manchester United, appears to have the best job – and the toughest.The man who led Porto to the UEFA Cup and then Champions League in successive seasons is armed with the seemingly limitless revenue injected into Chelsea by billionaire Russian owner Roman Abramovich.Mourinho replaced Claudio Ranieri, who was fired despite taking the Blues to second place in the league and the semifinal of the Champions League.Ranieri had already signed two players – Dutch winger Arjen Robben and Czech goalkeeper Petr Cech – before his departure and Mourinho has added five more – Didier Drogba (from Marseille), Paulo Ferreira (FC Porto), Tiago Mendes (Benfica), Mateja Kezman (PSV Eindhoven) and Ricardo Carvalho (FC Porto).Like last season, when Ranieri bought 12 players, Chelsea will have to get used to the new faces, and the upheaval may cost the Blues a chance to win their first league title for 49 years.”I’m a new manager, I have a lot of new players, we have a different style of play,” Mourinho said.Chelsea’s only league title was in 1955, and another failure this time will mean the club from fashionable West London will have gone half a century without a championship triumph.Mourinho isn’t worried that he has no experience of English soccer.”The Premiership is a new competition to me,” he said.”But, two years ago, European competition was new to me and we won the UEFA Cup and then the Champions League.”With Liverpool fans frustrated at not having won a league title since 1990 and getting tired of Gerard Houllier and his puzzling moves in the transfer market, the club decided to go for another overseas coach.Benitez hopes to get the best out of Michael Owen, Steven Gerrard, Milan Baros and the Anfield talent Houllier left behind.He has added Malaga defender Jose Miguel “Josemi” Gonzalez, along with a French striker Houllier had already set up – Djibril Cisse of Auxerre.If Liverpool fans have found it tough recently, they should look at Tottenham.Spurs’ last league title was 43 years ago and Santini has the job of bringing the glory days back to White Hart Lane.Santini’s defending champion French team flopped badly at Euro 2004, however, losing in the quarter-final and lowering his value in the process.Spurs released several of their old timers – Christian Ziege, Gus Poyet, Darren Anderton and Serhiy Rebrov.Helder Postiga, a disappointment in his only Premier League season, was sent back to FC Porto.The likely outcome is that the title race should be a lot closer than in recent seasons with four clubs – Arsenal, Manchester United, Chelsea and Liverpool – the main contenders.The Gunners won their 13th league title by 11 points from Chelsea, and Wenger has made few changes to his squad despite the departures of long-serving Ray Parlour and Martin Keown.His only worry has been constant transfer speculation surrounding his top midfielder, Patrick Vieira, who now seems to be on his way to Spanish soccer giant Real Madrid.Wenger, whose team played easily the most attractive soccer of last season, won the title by simply sticking to the same tried and trusted squad, with Vieira an integral part.The same formula should work again as Arsenal aims to win back-to-back titles for the first time since 1935.Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson, whose team won the title eight times in 11 years before Arsenal’s triumph last term, has signed Alan Smith from Leeds United to team up with Dutchman Ruud van Nistelrooy in attack.French international Louis Saha is another option up front.”I haven’t won anything since I was a kid,” said Smith, who also wants to be a regular on the England team.”Now I am at a club where players have won championship after championship and they are still prepared to break their necks to win another.”They want to win it so badly this year and I want to be part of it.”Watch out for Middlesbrough to climb, maybe to the top six, after the signings of strikers Mark Viduka and Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink, Parlour and experienced defender Michael 5.- Nampa-APThe arrival of coaches Jose Mourinho, Jacques Santini and Rafael Benitez has added even more spice to a championship which, until Chelsea’s emergence last season, had become something of a two-horse race.After leading FC Porto to the Champions League title last season, Mourinho has joined Chelsea.Santini, no longer national team coach of France, has moved to Tottenham while Benitez, having won the Spanish title and UEFA Cup with Valencia, is now in charge of Liverpool.That means longtime rivals Arsene Wenger of defending champion Arsenal, Alex Ferguson of Manchester United and Newcastle United’s Bobby Robson have three big opponents in the new league campaign, which starts Aug. 14.While the players do battle on the field, the managerial mind games will be just as crucial.Of the three newcomers, Mourinho, who begins with an eye-catching opener against Manchester United, appears to have the best job – and the toughest.The man who led Porto to the UEFA Cup and then Champions League in successive seasons is armed with the seemingly limitless revenue injected into Chelsea by billionaire Russian owner Roman Abramovich.Mourinho replaced Claudio Ranieri, who was fired despite taking the Blues to second place in the league and the semifinal of the Champions League.Ranieri had already signed two players – Dutch winger Arjen Robben and Czech goalkeeper Petr Cech – before his departure and Mourinho has added five more – Didier Drogba (from Marseille), Paulo Ferreira (FC Porto), Tiago Mendes (Benfica), Mateja Kezman (PSV Eindhoven) and Ricardo Carvalho (FC Porto).Like last season, when Ranieri bought 12 players, Chelsea will have to get used to the new faces, and the upheaval may cost the Blues a chance to win their first league title for 49 years.”I’m a new manager, I have a lot of new players, we have a different style of play,” Mourinho said.Chelsea’s only league title was in 1955, and another failure this time will mean the club from fashionable West London will have gone half a century without a championship triumph.Mourinho isn’t worried that he has no experience of English soccer.”The Premiership is a new competition to me,” he said.”But, two years ago, European competition was new to me and we won the UEFA Cup and then the Champions League.”With Liverpool fans frustrated at not having won a league title since 1990 and getting tired of Gerard Houllier and his puzzling moves in the transfer market, the club decided to go for another overseas coach.Benitez hopes to get the best out of Michael Owen, Steven Gerrard, Milan Baros and the Anfield talent Houllier left behind.He has added Malaga defender Jose Miguel “Josemi” Gonzalez, along with a French striker Houllier had already set up – Djibril Cisse of Auxerre.If Liverpool fans have found it tough recently, they should look at Tottenham.Spurs’ last league title was 43 years ago and Santini has the job of bringing the glory days back to White Hart Lane.Santini’s defending champion French team flopped badly at Euro 2004, however, losing in the quarter-final and lowering his value in the process.Spurs released several of their old timers – Christian Ziege, Gus Poyet, Darren Anderton and Serhiy Rebrov.Helder Postiga, a disappointment in his only Premier League season, was sent back to FC Porto.The likely outcome is that the title race should be a lot closer than in recent seasons with four clubs – Arsenal, Manchester United, Chelsea and Liverpool – the main contenders.The Gunners won their 13th league title by 11 points from Chelsea, and Wenger has made few changes to his squad despite the departures of long-serving Ray Parlour and Martin Keown.His only worry has been constant transfer speculation surrounding his top midfielder, Patrick Vieira, who now seems to be on his way to Spanish soccer giant Real Madrid.Wenger, whose team played easily the most attractive soccer of last season, won the title by simply sticking to the same tried and trusted squad, with Vieira an integral part.The same formula should work again as Arsenal aims to win back-to-back titles for the first time since 1935.Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson, whose team won the title eight times in 11 years before Arsenal’s triumph last term, has signed Alan Smith from Leeds United to team up with Dutchman Ruud van Nistelrooy in attack.French international Louis Saha is another option up front.”I haven’t won anything since I was a kid,” said Smith, who also wants to be a regular on the England team.”Now I am at a club where players have won championship after championship and they are still prepared to break their necks to win another.”They want to win it so badly this year and I want to be part of it.”Watch out for Middlesbrough to climb, maybe to the top six, after the signings of strikers Mark Viduka and Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink, Parlour and experienced defender Michael 5.- Nampa-AP