The Hipster’s Guide to Europe

Premier League

Chelsea have attempted to return to the swagger of seasons past. Since his departure from the club in 2007, Jose Mourinho has developed a bit of middle-age paunch and appears to be in the midst of a mid-life crisis. Gilets, ill-fitting tracksuits and ghastly raincoats were a feature during Mou’s tenure in Madrid – his clothes perhaps reflecting his tumultuous time in charge. Which Mourinho will we see this season? The suit wearing, smoldering one or the track-suited one?

Michael Laudrup. Ah. THE HAIR. AND JEANS! Football fans alike were purring at the thought of the Dane managing Swansea last season. And he didn’t disappoint. Swansea finished 9th and won a trophy – Capital One Cup – qualifying for the Europa League this season. Swansea. Europe. Laudrup. Swansea have bought well this summer. Remember Michu? Cost £2m, you know! Well, he has a new strike partner, in £12m (or 6 Michu’s) Wilfried Bony – Bony and Michu: Bony M.

Watch out for Norwich – linked with the likes of Fabio Quagliarella, Toby Alderweireld and Ola Toivonen, the East Anglian side have made some clever summer signings – Leroy Fer, Nathan Redmond, Martin Olsson, Ricky Van Wolfswinkel, Gary Hooper and err, Carlo Nash. Chris Hughton’s side could surprise us this season.

Bundesliga

1st vs 2nd. Champions League winners vs Champions League runners-up. Bayern vs Dortmund. Pep Guardiola vs Jurgen Klopp.

Jurgen Klopp is already a Hipsters wet dream of a manager. No, he’s not just a German Tony Pulis – baseball cap and tracksuit. He is much more. The glasses. He swears in press conferences. In English! When asked about the Champions League final….“so shit”.

Klopp will becoming up against stiff competition on the touchline this season – a certain Pep Guardiola. Fresh from his New York sabbatical, Pep will be bringing with him his usual sartorial elegance. Expect plenty of talk about false nines, a midfielder playing a centre-back and season ticket prices. Cheap as chips. Allegedly.

La Liga

Ten years on from the glory days of finishing 2nd in La Liga, Real Sociedad’s 4th placed finished surprised many. After ten games, they were in 17th place but just two defeats in 28 from November until the end of the season saw La Real leapfrogging usual fourth place finishers, Valencia on the final day of the season, thus qualifying for the Champions League where they will face Lyon. Coach, Philippe Montanier may have departed, but La Real have replaced him in a Barca-esque fashion, appointing assistant, 35-year-old, Jagoba Arrasate as manager.

Serie A

Napoli have splashed the cash this summer, under new manager, former-interim manager of Chelsea, Rafa Benitez. Edinson Cavani and his luscious locks have decamped to France. Benitez has taken it upon himself to sign three Real Madrid rejects: Jose Callejon, Raul Albiol and Gonzalo Higuain. After last seasons 2nd place finish, can they stop Juventus completing a hat-trick of Serie A titles? By the way, Napoli’s camouflage kit should have hipsters swooning everywhere! Look at Marek Hamsik modelling it.

Slick Swans brush Malmo aside

22 years on from their last appearance in a European competition – where they were thumped 8-0 by a Monaco side manager by Arsene Wenger – Swansea handed out a spanking of their own last night to Swedish side Malmo. The Swans were comfortable 4-0 winners against a side already half-way through their domestic season and fresh from pulling down Hibernian’s pants a fortnight ago.

Following on from their League Cup success last season, Michael Laudrup has continued to build and fine tune his side ahead of his second season in charge. A dispute during the summer over signings and the influence of the Dane’s agent threatened to end Laudrup’s association with the club. However, both sides appear to have settled their differences which has since seen Swansea invest heavily on new players.

Laudrup has continued to exploit the Spanish market with the trio of Jose Cañas, Alejandro Pozuelo and Jordi Amat arriving from Real Betis respectively. Five players made their debuts for the Swans in the Europa League victory, scorer of two goals – Wilfried Bony – the equally impressive Jonjo Shelvey, while Amat slotted in centre-back alongside Ashley Williams. Pozuelo and Cañas both made cameos from the bench late in the game, with Pozuelo finding the net after some slick passing movement.

Michu, Swansea’s best player last season and scorer of 22 goals, capitalised on a slip from the Malmo defence to get his and Swanea’s account underway, the Spaniard also linked up well with the new man Bony – a £12m summer signing from Vitesse – the 24-year was top scorer in the Dutch Eredivise last season with 31 goals looks set to take the Premier League by storm this season.

The Swans finished 9^th place last season with relative ease and in no danger of relegation despite their form tailing off subsequent to their success in the League Cup winning just twice in their remaining 11 games of the season. Laudrup has continued to build on the foundations left by Messrs Martinez, Sousa and Rodgers as the club have become more clinical and less probing than they were under their previous manager.

After a raft of impressive summer signings the Welsh side can again aim for a top half finish in the Premier League, perhaps even finishing high enough to qualify automatically for the Europe League next season, provided they find the balance that comes with playing both European and domestic football.

In praise of Swansea City

Ten years after the almost dropped out of the Football League and in the year of their centenary, Swansea City triumphed at Wembley to win the first major trophy in the clubs history, which will also see the club play in next season’s Europa League. The Swans journey has been a fairytale one – one that differs from their final opponents Bradford – both clubs have gone in opposite directions in the last decade.

The Bantams were simply out-classed by their Premier League opponents and while it is easy to be patronising about Bradford they could have no qualms about the result itself. However, their journey to the final itself is something that should be acknowledged – particularly the victories over three Premier League clubs: Wigan, Arsenal and Aston Villa. Bradford beat more top flight opposition on their cup run (3) than QPR have done in 27 games this season (2). It was Michael Laudrup who paid the League Two side the biggest compliment: “This final will remain in the history books, a small part because of us, a large part because of Bradford.”

On many levels, Swansea are the model club for Football League clubs, both on and off the field. Philosophy is a term that is continually bandied about in football these days, but Swansea are a club who have put that into practice. Kenny Jackett, Roberto Martinez, Paulo Sousa and Brendan Rodgers have all played their part in the Swans revival, lying the foundations and now Michael Laudrup has added the finishing touches with something tangible – a trophy. The faces may have changed in the dugout but stability remains. Chairman, Huw Jenkins personifies that stability – he does not deal in knee-jerk decisions.

Laudrup, whose stock continues to rise, has been touted as a future Arsenal, Chelsea or Real Madrid manager, Swansea has played a part in his own revival as a manager. This was the Dane’s first trophy since 2005 with Brondby in his homeland. To his credit, Laudrup has added substance to Swansea’s already stylish play – the foundations were already there but a frequent criticism of the Swans last season was they lacked a killer punch, or rather passed the ball for the sake of it. Laudrup has made the club more attacking and has added his own hallmarks to the side.

Michu, Chico Flores, Jonathan de Guzman, Pablo Hernandez, Ki Sung-Yeung have all played huge parts in Swansea’s season, all of whom were signed by Laudrup. It was also a great moment for the likes of Ashley Williams, Leon Britton, Gary Monk and Angel Rangel most of whom have made the journey up the leagues with Swansea and played in yesterday’s final. Laudrup said that this was one of his most successful moments as a manager: “As a manager it’s absolutely at the top, winning a trophy for the first time in 100 years”

It was probably Leon Britton that best summed up Swansea’s success: “We did what we’ve always done: pass the football”