Best League in the World

 

Wow, so the season is over for all but Man United fans with the imminent Champions League Final on the 28^th May. What a season it was. The Title was decided in the 2^nd to last week and there were 5 teams that could realistically win it at Christmas. The relegation battle was amazing to watch. It was the most exciting season of football in all my years of watching football. This truly is the best league in the world.

20^th - West Ham. They were the 1^st team  to know their fate at the bottom of the table. The Hammers lost their “must-win” match against fellow relegation candidates,Wigan, in game week 37. I feel for West Ham. I have always enjoyed their football philosophy. They produce their own players and had a number of them in their unsuccessful season. Maybe they needed a little more experience to battle the big boys of the league. They were to my mind, very unlucky at times. The Gungan, Avram Grant did give it a real go by signing Robbie Keane, Wayne Bridge and the Demba Ba (to name but 3) to try salvage their season. That didn’t work and the Hammers saw their fate early. It must be said though that the one success of their season was their captain and ‘player of the year’ nominee, Scott parker. I am sure he will be snapped up by a top 6 team. In truth arsenal need his courage, determination and leadership. I really hope that West ham will find their way back to the top flight.

19^th – Blackpool. The fairytale club almost lived through their own fantasy in the top flight. They retained the same team (bar a few signings) that gained promotion from the Championship and still competed at times. They even beat Liverpool Home and at Anfield in front of the Kop. They were breathtaking at times and had they won at Old Trafford on the final day, they would have won more away games than the crowned champions. That is the philosophy of their fantastic manager Ian Holloway. Their attacking and exciting football was fantastic to see from the smallest club in the league. Their form after Christmas was their slow puncture as they found themselves falling in to the relegation battle. I was hoping that the fantasy would continue and it almost did. They bounced in and out of the relegation zone on the final day, and were even sitting in 16^th place at one point. It must be said that their defensive naivety was their major problem this season because they could score goals.

Their star player, Charlie Adam, was a revelation in the first half of the season and was nominated for ‘player of the year’. His free kick against man United on the final day to level the game was testament to his class. Sir Firgi was quoted in saying that his corners were worth 10 million alone...He will certainly be leaving for an established premier league team, maybe even Liverpool.

I hope we see Ian Halloway and Blackpool’s awful tangerine kit back in the top flight again in 2 years time. I will be following their progress for sure.

18^th – Birmingham. I am happy they got relegated. They were boring and predictable. They played with a deep defensive line and 10 behind the ball. Their highlight (and one of mine) was beating Arsenal in the Carling Cup Final. Interestingly, they will be in the Europa league with Spurs next year while in the 2nd division of English Football. The good news for them is that they surely won’t lose players? Who do they have to lose? And they retain a decent manager in Alex McLeish.

17^th – Wolves. All guts, thats it. They really did fight to stay in the premiership. I wanted them to go down instead of West Ham because I don’t like their manager, the colour of their kit and their style of football. But, they really did give it a go in the final weeks of the season and they secured safety on goal difference. Wolves fell in and out of relegation 3 times on relegation sunday. It was their 2nd goal in their 3-2 loss to Blackburn that kept them up. Wolves will be relegation candidates next season again.

16^th – Wigan. To me this is the fairytale story of the league. Roberto Martinez kept Wigan up with a young team (and some truly awful players) with a great football philosophy. He was even question about whether he would change his style of play to secure survival, and answered “No”. He is one of the gentleman of the game and he has a managed to keep his cosmopolitan team up. Wigan did not win back-to-back league games all season until they REALLY needed it in the final 2 games of the season. Amazing considering you might only pick 2 or 3 players that actually stand out. I am happy they are staying up even though I predicted them to finish bottom. They will, like every year, be down there again and I am sure Roberto will have a couple signings in mind to strengthen a weak defence. 

15^th – Blackburn. Ah, how I wish they went down instead of Blackpool. Blackburn are a team that don’t play enjoyable football, have annoying players and are not memorable. There is nothing really to say about them except that they stayed up and that they have an exciting player named Junior Hoilett. The Canadian scored crucial goals for them at crucial times. Christopher Samba was their other stand out player. He, lets be honest, should be in a boxing ring instead of a football pitch, he is scary. He led the league stats for the most blocked shots...I think he is a good player. He is fast, strong and at 6.6 ft tall, is obviously good in the air. I could see the Congolese defender doing well at Liverpool or Arsenal where a powerful defender is needed.

14^th – Bolton. In the past they were possibly the most direct team in the league. Well done to Owen Coyle for changing that and now Bolton actually play football and pass the ball instead of hoofing it forward. They had a good 1^st half of the season and were 6^th at one stage with a dream of Europa league football next season (Big Dream). The wheels fell off a little, and they dropped down the table. Their stand out player was the Chelsea loanee Daniel Sturridge. He of course will be returning to Chelsea though, unfortunately for them. I wonder where they might of ended up should Johan Elmander kept his goal scoring form up. He was one of the stand out players in the early weeks of the season.  Oh well, they are safe and live to fight another season, but do so without Johan Elmander, Jlloyd Samuel, Joey O'Brien and Tamir Cohen as they have not renewed their contract at the Reebok.

13^th – Stoke. The FA Cup finalists had a very good season. They finished in their highest ever league position and ended arsenal’s title dream (lovely to watch this fixture because the Arsenal children cannot play against their aggressive approach) and of course were beaten FA up Finalists. I enjoy Stoke City. They are not as predictable as seasons past (use wingers), they actually play better football and maintain their rigid approach. I like Tony Pulis because he has limited resources and makes it work. They are a established top flight team now and with a little more depth they could build on their FA Cup campaign to achieve more success. The Rory Delap long throw (Arsenal’s arch enemy) is their most famous attacking weapon and with Stoke comprising the tallest players in the league (average height of 6ft3), they do take advantage of weak defenders.

12^th – Newcastle. A big team that should really be challenging for honours. They did well considering they were promoted last season. Newcastle leave a sour taste in my mouth because of their treatment of Chris Houghton. The manager that got them promoted, playing good football and competing with the top flight again. He was sacked for God knows what reason, only for Alan Pardew to take over... I don’t like Alan Pardew purely because I remember him ruining West Ham a couple season’s back. This is all after promising Alan Shearer the job after relegation. The owner is the spineless coward who never backs his manager.

They did well to finish mid table. Their stand out players were Andy Carroll (before he left for Anfield), Joey "the thug" Barton and their defensive midfielder Cheik Tiote. The midfielder was fantastic at breaking up play and even chipped in with the odd goal, hey arsenal fans? They will remember the equalizing screamer of a goal that brought Newcastle level to 4-4 in injury time.

I hope they struggle next season, but if they invest in a goal scorer, a decent defender (Chris Samba would actually be perfect), they might finish in the top 10 next season.

11^th – West Brom. What a turn around. Roy Hodgson did an amazing job in the 2^nd half of the season with WBA. He was appalling with Liverpool, and found himself in a relegation place early on. I feel for the man because he is such a good manager, but the Kop didn’t give him the time to make it work and was fired at Liverpool. WBA swooped and he changed them right away and led them out of a relegation fight and into a comfortable mid table position. All in 4 months. They don’t have any real stars to mention except the bargain buy, Peter Odemwingie, who couldn’t stop scoring to maintain their progress up the table. I am happy for Roy who” feels wanted again”. His progress at WBA mirrors the efforts he put in at Fulham, who he led to a Europa Cup final last season. Who knows whats next for WBA under Roy.

10^th – Sunderland. Steve Bruce’s men were in the top half of the table fighting for a Europa spot in the first half of the season before injuries to all but one of their strikers stopped their progress. I am a fan of Steve Bruce. He did a good Job at Wigan before leaving to the Stadium of light. He will spend money in the summer to strengthen his attack. He needs to replace his successful loan players like Danny Welbeck (Man United youngster is going back to old Trafford), Sulley Muntari (going back to Inter) and Nedum Onuoha (back to City). I am sure Steve Bruce will look to bring defensive stability and strikers (at least 2 or 3). Depth is needed in order to compete for a top half finish next season.

9^th – Aston Villa. This is a great finish considering the inconsistency that plagued their season and were around the relegation zone for much of the season. They have a good squad. A squad that has under achieved. They have a good manager, but he seemed to clash with the leaders in the team though. The youngsters struggled a little to compete but they have a good group coming through Albrighten, Baker, Delph, Hogg, Osbourne and even Agbonlahour... Their future can be bright, but I see them losing Ashley Young (reports say to Man United) and Stewart Downing (who has chosen not to renew his contract and Liverpool need wide players ?). Villa have a nucleus of a team that can compete with experience and youth. They need to find Steven Ireland’s best form, and need to get back to the great counter attacking football that Martin O’Neil got out of them. Their players suited that 4-3-3 system a lot more.

With Gerard Houllier suffering with heart conditions (2^nd episode while managing an English club), I cannot see him carrying on for health reasons. So will Gary McCallister be allowed to continue with Mr.Houllier? They will need an experienced manager if they are to achieve their ambitions. If they do bring in experience, I see them in the top 10 with the calibre of player they have.

8^th – Fulham. Mark Hughes has carried on where Roy Hodgson left off. Fulham are an established Premier league club now and with some more investment, I am sure they will be a consistent mid table team. Depth is the problem for Mark Hughes. The Man United legend has done a good job but you feel that he has to make sure he keeps his assets like Clint Dempsey and Bobby Zamora (they also need keep him fit and firing). Hughes will have to find successors for Danny Murphy (highly underrated) and Damian Duff if the long term future and aspirations of the club in the Premier League. Hughes was quite a shrewd manager with signings at Blackburn, so I am sure he has  players in mind to continue the clubs progress. The club have qualified for the Europa League again, but snuck in via the Fair Play stats.

7^th – Everton. I have not hidden my admiration for David Moyes. I think he is an incredible manager. Everton are lucky to have him. He has continually progressed with Everton and the 3^rd longest serving premier league manager has a very small budget in comparison to his competitors for European football (Liverpool, Villa, Spurs and Arsenal next season, haha). Moyes has continually brought through young players and bought players from the lower leagues and got them to compete in the top flight, examples are Jermaine Beckford, Jo Lescott, and Sheamus Coleman (nominated for ‘young player of the season).

Should Everton have some luck with injuries, and they are able to keep their star players like Cahill, Leighton Baines and keep Louis Saha fit to build their squad around, I am sure that Everton will be competing for Europe again next season. Everton need to buy about 6 players. They need a striker, 2 midfielders and another defender or 2. Everton’s youth academy is quality but they often lose their most prized assets to bigger clubs. They do however need the money to continue competing. Jack Rodwell might be the next academy graduate out the door. Hopefully it’s to Man United. I rate the England Under 21 International.

6^th – Liverpool. What a rollercoaster of emotions for the fans of the former most successful English league team. They were in the relegation zone 3 games in to the season and were only 4 points about the relegation zone before Christmas when Kenny took over from a struggling Roy Hodgson. It must be said, Hodgson took control at Anfield at an extremely difficult time for the club. This was before the American investors and the financial stability. Hodgson in my opinion was a good decision (who can question the man’s credentials, look at what Hodgson has done forWBA & Fulham before this) considering the state that Rafa Benitez had left the club. Liverpool had the most contracted professional players in the league, and they still had no real quality.

The investors came in, the fans wanted a management change and got it. In comes King Kenny. There is a change of atmosphere at Anfield and results start to improve and Liverpool start competing and beating the top teams in the league, and even completely outplaying the eventual champions Man United and Chelsea (top 2). They eventually finished 6^th. A great fight back to a season that looked like it could be their worse in 30 odd years? It is, however, the first time in 12 years they failed to make Europe.

In the January transfer window, Liverpool lost one of their cult hero’s, Fernando Torres for 50 million, a British record transfer fee. They replaced him with 2 world class players though and in my opinion (not based on El Nino’s current form, but from a business point of view and for the overall make up of the squad) got the better deal.  Andy Carroll and Luis Suarez (both 22) came in. Suarez looks to be a great signing at 22 million pounds. He has added a competitive edge and creativity up front partnering the energizer bunny Dirk Kuyt (Bucktooth and Orc).

The future is looking up for Liverpool, and they have bought young players like Jonjo Shalvey, and are bringing players through the ranks to add depth to the squad. They will have to get rid of dead wood like Fabio Aurelio, Nahbil El Zhar, Paul Konchesky, Milan Jovanovic, David Ngog, and Christian Poulson to name a few. I feel that Liverpool will spend a lot of money again in the summer. But with Kenny signing a 3 year deal with the club, there will be a fair amount of strategic planning and signing of younger players to secure a bright future for the club.

Liverpool need to buy a number of players to compete with Man United and Chelsea. They need wide players, possibly 3 or 4. They need another striker, a left back and a commanding centre back. It must be said that there is no quick fix to building a strong squad that is ready to challenge for the league. The future will be exciting for Liverpool fans.

5^th – Tottenham. Spurs won the race for the Europa league spot ahead of Liverpool. There was even talk of Harry Rednapp of winning the title? Spurs just didn’t have the firepower this year to compete throughout the season. I am a big fan of Harry Rednapp and wanted them to qualify for the champions league again. This season for Spurs will be seen as the season of mixed emotions. They  played fantastically well in the champions league and competed with the world biggest clubs. Spurs, however, didn’t have the squad to deal with losing players like Gareth Bale, Raphael Vd Vaart and Luka Modric to injuries. I am sure they will get rid of dead wood like David Bentley, Jono woodgate and maybe even Ledley King. There biggest challenge will be keeping their stars with City, Chelsea and Real Madrid with endless amounts of money. I for one would love to see both players in Man United”s new Kit next season...

Spurs will continue to spend to attempt to regain their Champions League spot they lost to Arsenal. They will be stronger next season with more depth.

4^th – Arsenal. What can I say about Arsenal that i have not already said. They are the biggest chokers in the league. The manager does not take responsibility for their weaknesses and should not be the manager next season. There are few positives at the end of the season for the Gunners, and that is maybe the form of a new star Samir Nasri. Arsenal had the opportunity to win 4 cups in February and ended up with nothing... again. They didn’t even get direct Champions League Qualification. Huge changes need to be made.

I feel that Arsenal will fall out of the top for next season and be replaced with Liverpool. Please click the link to my previous post on the Gunners... . http://uncoveringfootball.blogspot.com/2011/05/gunners-have-no-ammo.html

3^rd – Man City. Money Bags achieved exactly what they set out to after spending 340 million pounds on players in 2 years. City have managed to take down the famous banner at Old Trafford by winning the FA Cup. They also managed to finish 3^rd (because Arsenal choked) and now have automatic Champions League qualification. The pressure was on Roberto Mancini, and in all fairness, he delivered exactly what the owners wanted. What is next for the B team of Manchester? Well, I would imagine another unbelievable summer of transfer madness. I think they will throw money at every big name player like Sergio Aguero, Zlatan Ibrohimovic possibly even Kaka. They will discard of good squad players like Shaun Wright-Phillips, James Milner, Shay Given, Nedum Onuaha, Jarome Boateng, Jo, and Michael Johnson (if he ever plays again) to name a few.

City qualified for Europe and never really found a decent consistency level that got anyone thinking that they would threaten the “top 3” but should they keep their spine of their team, their players stop doping, and the manager doesn’t change the squad too much, they might just compete on a European and domestic league level.

2^nd – Chelsea. Who would want to go and play or manage a plastic club like Chelsea. I would be ashamed to say I support this team. Chelsea finished 2^nd, and still the manager got sacked. The manager had won 2 trophies in 2 years. What more can a club owner ask for? It is absolutely diabolical! I cannot stand the sight of Chelsea and it makes me so happy that Man United, a team with stability, a football philosophy and history pipped them to the title. Carlo Ancelotti did a wonderful job at Chelsea except for a couple months where his team lost form and they dropped out the top 4 for a couple weeks. I would say that was not his fault but the Russian’s when he showed Ray Wilkins, Ancelotti’s assistant, the door. Wilkins planned the training sessions and played a big part in the team’s game plan. Carlo is better off... who would want to manage at this club?

I feel there will be plenty changes at Stamford Bridge. This is an aging squad and I am sure Mr. Abromovich will want some new faces to go with his new manager.

Please have a look at a previous post and comment... http://uncoveringfootball.blogspot.com/2011/04/russian-revolution.html 

Champions – Man United. The Red Devils did it. They did it with all the criticism, all the doubters. Most people say that this team is not as good as past teams, and that this team does not have the fantasy of old... I say 'So what', they won the league by 9 points, were unbeaten at home all season, and they scored the most goals. They They also did this in arguably the most competitive league season to date...This team has been exciting to watch, and exciting to support. It was not always straight forward, but they kicked on when it mattered, and won the games that mattered. This team is build on team spirit, unsung heroes, class and BMT when it’s called upon. I am so proud to support a team that has a  tradition of developing young players and playing attacking football until the final whistle goes.

We have an new star, Javier Hernandez, and is without a doubt the signing of the season, and the Man United fans’ player of the year. Man United also had the joint top goal scorer, Dimitar Berbatov, and the Player of the Year, Namanja Vidic.

Man United will have to find replacements for the legend Edwin vd Sar in goals. Although, prior to writing this I read Man United were persuing David de Gea, the Spanish goalkeeping prodigy. I am delighted.

With the young academy players like Tom Cleverly, Danny Welbeck and Kiko Mecheda coming back from loan, I see this squad only getting stronger. Sir "The legend" Fergi has also stated that they will sign 3 players.  

The future is bright.  Man United won the Youth Cup this season... This is an important milestone for the next generation at Old Trafford.

Man United are now the most successful team in English league history. 19 times...FACT.

Now for the Champions League final against Barcelona. You would be naive to think that this is a far gone conclusion.

I cannot wait for next season!

Over and Out

Fletch