After Spurs signature win today I felt the urge to recap what has been an up and down year for the EPL. Certain teams seem to be breaking through and it's setting the stage for another interesting summer and maybe a season for the ages.
This season will be remembered in my opinion as a transition year. It will have a black eye for the goofy coaching changes that occurred along the way. I worry that success by Southampton and Sunderland after their changes will encourage this behavior in the future.
Here's how I viewed each team from the bottom up as we stand today.
Reading canned their manager and hired the manager from Southampton who had been canned. That's not a good resume builder for Adkins, but at least Southampton will stay up and he won't be responsible for dragging both teams down. In reality he was unjustly fired and didn't have a chance to save Reading who was already on life support.
QPR are the LA Lakers of the EPL. They aren't that loaded with talent, but boy did they try to be. This team wasn't built right. I always felt like they were grasping at star power instead of key position players. They too fired their coach, and this was the one that I agreed with. Mark Hughes needs anger management. Harry tried his best, but he needed a training camp or a winter break (huge EPL flaw) to get things turned around.
Wigan may stay up, but it has to be frustrating to be a Wigan fan. Martinez looks like he's heading for greener pastures every summer and the team hangs on to it's EPL spot by a thread. This just isn't healthy.
Aston Villa had a run of poor play that had me question if they could compete in the MLS. Thankfully for them they were able to stop the bleeding. I think a big part of the reason was not letting go of Lambert and giving him time. This side just has no fire power and no defense. How that translates into anything is beyond me. They will be fighting for their lives until the bitter end.
Newcastle went from competing for a UCL spot to taking the slip and slide to the bottom of the table. I started to worry for Pardew as right after he signed his huge extenstion the season fell apart. Letting Ba go was questionable and brought them so little in return it was embarrassing. I have to remember he has a bad knee that could end his career at anytime, but it added insult to injury for sure. I don't think they will go down, but if they were too it could spell disaster for the club both financially and emotionally. They might end up in the third division in a few years.
Stoke just do what they do. They stay out of the headlines and stay mid pack. They are close to the bottom, but you figure they will earn enough to stay up.
Sunderland went from stable and ok to threatening to hit the bottom. I thought O'neil's termination was ill fated especially considering they hired Di Cano, but they have some life and look safe to stay up. What the future holds is anyone's guess, but I don't see Di Cano hanging in longer than a year or so. I can't wait to read all the stories after he loses a few. The English press will have a field day.
Norwich have done enough to stay around and never have really threatened for the top or bottom. I just have to wonder if Lambert isn't kicking himself for not sticking around. He will be if Villa fall. Still it's harsh to play Monday morning QB on that situation. Norwich had some good results, but Villa as side would have always been tagged to do better. Really no difference between 16th and 13th if you think about it.
Southampton were the side I was most disappointed in after the firing of Adkins, but they seemed to know what they were doing. The side stabilized quickly after and were never in danger of the drop after the very slow start. This will probably have many boards considering mid-season changes that I think are almost always the wrong move unless Mark Hughes is your manager.
Fulham are the most annoying team in the league. I would rather be a QPR fan. Fulham love to draw games. They are the best in world at it. I won't watch a Fulham match unless it was at gunpoint.
West Ham had a great season in their return to the Prem. Big Sam got some big wins that kept them out of any trouble, but I think this is about the best they can achieve. They will benefit from the new TV deal for certain, but will the new Stadium be a blessing or a curse? At the end of the day Andy Carroll isn't the answer to anyone's problems. Unless you are looking for a great party!
Swansea and WBA make up the two biggest let downs for me. Both sides started strong, which insured they would have no trouble staying up, but they stumbled mid season and haven't been able to stay consistent. Swansea got some hardware winning the league cup, but they will be pressured to keep Michu who they stole from Rayo for peanuts. If the big dollars come calling I think they will crack. There coach has done enough to have him rumored with Real Madrid. (That's almost exactly like coaching for Chelsea if you think about it. Both sides have fired UCL winning coaches the season after) WBA needs a marquee goal scorer and they may be able to break through. Credit the current coach and big Roy for leaving this side in good shape. I just wish these sides hadn't run out of gas in the new year.
I give Liverpool a lot of credit. I think the ownership group knew that this was going to be a project. The landscape of football is changing and Liverpool want to change with it. The similar style conversion in Arsenal has stalled and failed to bring trophies, but that has a lot to do with management not the style. The Boston group see what's happening in Barcelona and want to embrace that. Rodgers is an manager that wants the same vision and style. Liverpool's slow start and lack of strikers early made getting into a Europe a tough proposition. They are just a player or two away from being very dangerous. If they can keep Saurez in check and stick to the plan I think they will be a game changer in the EPL next season. Perhaps missing Europa will be a boost for them.
If Everton were going to get over the hump this was the season. Chelsea, Liverpool, and Arsenal were all off form at some point. There was a spot to be had, but the other draw happy EPL side just lacked the goal scoring and couldn't notch those wins against the bigger clubs. They did well for the most part and might find themselves in Europe, but this was their big chance. Funny that David Moyes is being questioned while having one of his best seasons there.
Spurs are having a revival year. Dropping Modric hasn't hurt them at all. Dempsey hasn't been great, but he has given them big goals in big games. Bale has broke the ceiling. He's not the best player in the EPL, but he has proven he can score big goals and might have a bigger upside than first thought. I think key to his success has been the amount of attacking talent and the right coach who knows how to use him. AVB has come to Spurs and made them look much more dangerous. They have scored big wins over big sides. The win over Man City was mega impressive considering they were trailing and City has been in really good form lately. If they can keep Bale one more season Spurs could contend for league and the UCL, but they need a spot. Chelsea or Arsenal will have to be put to the side. It's the best story in the EPL left to finish. AVB did what Chelsea wanted him to do for them. Make them a fast passing slick team. The difference his club supported him in doing it. The results are encouraging.
Chelsea have played in more competitions than any side in the history of the world or at least in recent memory. They are deep and needed to be deep this year. Their first major mistake was firing Di Matteo early on. It was one of the biggest blunders in ownership history. I'm going to blog on the year that was and save my thoughts for now, but in a nutshell Chelsea have fallen just short over and over again. They've played so many games this year they have everyone seeing blue. I just think they will falter and end up fifth. At that point who do you fire with the coach already leaving???
Arsenal are in third 5 points back of City who hold a game in hand on them. Arsene Wegner is a magician. People need to realize something. They point to the system and say it doesn't work in the EPL and the coach needs to go. The real reason they can't get over the hump is that they can't afford to keep everyone and they are hoping they are just rich enough to take advantage of financial fair play to stop losing future talents. Early on you had to feel losing RVP was killing them, but RVP has disappeared as of late and was a non factor against Real Madrid. Hmmmmm, starting to wonder if they didn't make the right move, but I know if he had stayed they could have won the league and the UCL this year. Scary that he was there the entire preseason. Ultimately the right move may have been just to keep him and lose him for nothing. Could have broke the trophy drought.
Man City look like the best team in England this season at times, but they haven been a little snake bitten. They've had the opposite luck of last year. Losing key players to injury at the worst times and catching a UCL group that included the German Champions, the English Champions, and the La Liga Champions. The three best leagues in Europe with Ajax mixed in for fun. It was the super group of death. Still haven't figured out how the UCL pulled that one off. It's tough to be hard on them for not getting through there. Balotelli needed to go and they got some of their money back, but they still have some house cleaning to do this summer. Nasir has to go. For City this off season will need to be addition by subtraction. The FA Cup would be a nice consolation prize for the ex-champs.
Man United proved this season that a good early start in league play makes all the difference. This is the blue print for success in the UCL and League. If you can draw a safe UCL group, unlike Man City, you can basically focus all your energy on the league and heavily rotate your side. United lost some games in the first half, but they almost never had a long stumble and they crushed the weaker competition. Once they got ahead they stayed ahead and were able to focus on the UCL. They got hard done there, but lately they seem to have run out of gas. They spilled a game back to Chelsea in the FA Cup and lost replay a few weeks later. They got beat at home by City, but the foundation of a big lead have them ready to clinch tomorrow. To me City is a better side right now and Man U are hardly a favorite against any of the top 5 sides in the league right now. RVP has gone flat after the super start and the rumors around Rooney aren't helping either. I wonder if this will be the off season where Sir Alex stops buying strikers and starts grabbing quality midfielders. He will find that it's much easier to score goals when you can give good service to all that talent upfront. Yet, I feel he will spend most of the season romancing CR7 while patting Rooney on the back as he's pushed out the door.
This season has not been the best for the EPL, but with a bigger TV deal in place for next year the league should not be down for long. Some of La Liga's best are heavily rumored to be moving with Falcao headed to the EPL and CR7 having question marks surrounding him. They are already fighting over the best Dortmund has to offer. This upcoming season reminds me of the NBA the year after Lebron went to the Heat. So many storylines and something has got to give.
I hate to say it, but the FA needs combine the League Cup and the FA Cup. I know it would break tradition, but it's killing the league. England perhaps has the worst weather to deal with in the winter and they are the one league that is playing fixtures with no break. While the Germans, Spanish, and Italians rest up for the UCL. I can't see them doing it, but it needs to happen. That or the top EPL sides need to get even more conservative with the sides they put out for the League Cup and treat it like it isn't important.
Onward and upward.
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