I agree it's always a shame when another season comes to an end and especially as things seem to fly by faster each year. The appointment of Mourinho at Man United, the arrival of Guardiola at noisy neighbours City, the double managerial sacking at Swansea, Gabriel Jesus and his quick rise to stardom, the downfall of Arsene Wenger and Italian Conte celebrating his 4th successive league title. So much has happened, too much actually. Let's try looking back anyway.
1) Chelsea
The announcement prior to the Euros of Antonio Conte signing a 3-year contract at Stamford Bridge was applauded by many, including myself. A slow start to the season with heavy defeats against Liverpool and Arsenal made Conte decide to change formation from 4-2-3-1 to 3-4-2-1 and that move proved to be the turnaround for Chelsea. Countless consecutive clean sheets and a masterclass of attractive counter-attacking football meant Conte's men skyrocketed to the top of the table and were favorites for the title even before the turn of the year. The tandem Costa/Hazard worked perfectly with the former still linked with a move to China, while the Belgian's performances have put him back on Real's radar. A deserved trophy for Chelsea in the end and I feel this success story won't end anytime soon as Conte looks to strengthen his squad to cope with the inevitable fixture congestion due to participation in Europe's elite competition. The celebratory drinks are on John Terry....
2) Tottenham Hotspur
Very few mutations in the summer meant Tottenham were able to continue right where they had left off in 2015/2016, namely playing the kind of extraordinary football Holland became famous for in the mid 1970's. Fluent attacks, multiple goalscorers, creativity, power, pace and defensive solidity. We've mentioned every single Spurs player throughout the season as they all have had their fair share of involvement. The sensational Walker and Rose bombing forward in the early stages of this campaign, while back-up wing-backs Trippier and Davies have done the same thing last few months. Eriksen and Alli belong amongst the top midfielders in the world and Harry Kane's shot on target stats are reaching Aguero-esque levels. The English international has hit 20+ goals for a third year with an insane number of four PL hattricks and all of that at the young age of 23. Tottenham finished the season in style with two truly monstrous away results and we can only hope the
Lilywhites will be able to create the same magic at Wembley.
3) Manchester City
The most wanted manager in football flew into the Etihad Stadium having collected silverware in every season. City met the sky high expectations as they led the pack by fine margins after the first ten gameweeks. However, the fact they constantly conceded unnecessary goals, with John Stones in particular not looking too sharp, saw City drop points in the subsequent months. The slump was perhaps best illustrated by the fact Aguero missed 7 matches through suspension. Guardiola has always been speaking highly of Brazilian wonderkid Gabriel Jesus and he has turned out to be a player who can make a difference, either up front or from a wing position. City's at times somewhat rollercoaster-ish season consisted of highs and lows with the controversial Claudio Bravo under scrutiny more often than not. Although he ended up with no prize, Pep will hope to build on this nice third finish and thus CL qualification.
4) Liverpool
Gegenpressing. It consists of trying to force the opposition into making defensive mistakes by pressing high on the pitch with the whole team. The trio of Mane, Firmino and Coutinho seemed unstoppable for months as
Reds fans started dreaming of the first title since decades. Things changed with an injury to Coutinho in December, Sadio Mane's departure to the AFCON tournament, an out-of-form Firmino and long-term injuries to Lallana and Henderson. Liverpool's results were so horrendously awful in January that critics started to talk about possibly sacking Klopp. Sublime against top sides, uninspired when travelling to the likes of Burnley, Hull and Sunderland. A lack of squad depth needs to be addressed in the summer with Virgil Van Dijk a target in defence where also a new left-back is needed. The future looks bright, but the battle to win the Premier League won't get any easier next year.
5) Arsenal
The consistently inconsistent
Gunners blew everyone away with a spectacular opening game against Liverpool, despite their main stars still recovering from a busy summer. Koscielny and Ozil had been playing at the Euros, whilst Sanchez never seems to have a summer off. Arsenal are characterized as a side always playing attractive football, but never actually competing for the title. #WengerOut has been trending on numerous occasions. Planes have been spotted in the air during matches urging Wenger to leave. Their season seemed all but over after the Palace defeat which prompted the French manager to switch to three at the back and thereby changing formation for the first time since 1998. Slowly but steadily some confidence came back to the fore, although it was too little too late as Arsenal fail to reach the so much needed Champions League millions. A FA Cup Final is still to come, but what does the future of Wenger, Ozil and Sanchez behold?
6) Manchester United
Jose Mourinho; lively and upbeat in August, angry and grumpy in May. The most arrogant manager in football signed Pogba for a world-record fee, Wayne Rooney remained captain, Mkhitaryan was never allowed to really flourish in an attacking role and we've seen more youngsters make their United debut than under the stewardship of Van Gaal. An underwhelming season on the pitch, but also the club which generates the most revenue according to the annual
Deloitte Money League. Man United games hurt on the eye and the excessive amount of draws kept them in sixth the vast majority of this campaign. Zlatan's superb displays are the only true highlights and you have to wonder what's next. More big money moves perhaps involving Antoine Griezmann as well as Monaco's Mbappé, although it remains to be seen if United will ever really become an attacking force like in the Ferguson era with Mourinho's mind always set on keeping other teams out rather than giving it a go yourself. To round off with something embarrassing; United have scored less goals than... Bournemouth.
7) Everton
The
Toffees hit the ground running with new manager Koeman at the helm and I'd say finishing seventh is an excellent result overall, although they've had their ups and downs. From getting hammered 5-0 by Chelsea to destroying Man City 4-0 at Goodison. For large parts of the season they had a lot of possession, but were simply a bit too reliant on Lukaku. Recruitment is going to be massively important now as a replacement needs to be brought in for the Belgian striker and attacking midfielders are also welcome. Barkley, Mirallas, Valencia, Kone, all of whom are not good enough if Everton genuinely want to compete with the big teams. A right-back could be on the cards too with Coleman suffering a double leg break during the last round of international fixtures. Could Koeman go shopping in the Eredivisie again?
8) Southampton
Saints manager Claude Puel has received a lot of stick for their quite often dull displays. No goal in the last five at St Mary's, fans booing players off the pitch and rotation all around. Watching Southampton games works better than counting sheep, but isn't 8th place as high as realistically possible? Redmond lacks an end product, Jay Rodriguez is more injured than fit, Gabbiadini has never scored much in Italy, Boufal likes dribbling and Austin was out for five months. The rumours about Redmond, Long and Bertrand falling out with Puel doesn't bode well for the Frenchman, though I think he will still be in charge over the summer.
9) Bournemouth
Eddie Howe deserves plaudits for being one of the best managers in the league IMO. It's always a pleasure to see them attack and create chances which Josh King has been converting like crazy in recent months. They may have a hard time keeping the opposition out, but you can't expect too much from a club with such limited resources and facilities. Stand out results are most definitely the 6-1 demolition of Hull and a glorious 4-3 against Liverpool, courtesy of a late Nathan Ake header. Those were the days! Howe's positive attitude towards how the game should be played speaks in favour of his chances of maybe managing a top team in the future. Until that moment arrives, his work ethics, passion and professionalism will almost guarantee Bournemouth a spot in the top flight.
10) West Brom
Tony Pulis' set-piece specialists have been on the beach ever since reaching the 40-point mark and their position on the table is truly remarkable. Attending a West Brom game must be like watching paint dry and the opposition always find them frustrating to play against. It's worth mentioning Darren Fletcher started every league game, whilst good old McAuley has come out as WBA's second-highest goalscorer, haha. Striker Rondon hit a cracking hattrick against Swansea before a barren streak forced Pulis to drop the Venezuelan to the bench. Robson-Kanu ain't exactly a worthy PL forward, though. Matt Phillips, however, has impressed a lot and it's unfortunate that he's been injured for a while now. Pulis wants new players and we'll see if Chinese owner Lai is cooperative.
A rocky start at the London Stadium followed by uncertainty surrounding Slaven Bilic meant
West Ham were under pressure for most part of the season. Goals shared by Lanzini, Antonio and Ayew saw them crawl out of the danger zone and clinging on to 11th place.
Former champions
Leicester looked like the Titanic as they dropped all the way down into the bottom three under Ranieri until he was given the boot. Their remarkable rise since even led to the CL quarter-finals and more Vardy parties!
Stoke had to do without the long-term injured Butland, though Grant has been an outstanding deputy. It's in attack where they've had problems with Peter Crouch needed to score goals. Arnautovic has been wishy-washy, Shaqiri only creates a few touches of magic per season and Berahino hasn't been in form for god knows how long.
Crystal Palace have been on quite a rollercoaster ride with Pardew getting sacked right before Christmas as Palace at the time were more leaky than me while watching a Vicky Vette video. Allardyce turned it around like he has done his entire career and the signings of Milivojevic and Sakho have been key to more defensive security.
Speaking of managers getting fired,
Swansea chairman Huw Jenkins got rid of both Guidolin and Bradley before Paul Clement was given the job. Fernando Llorente turned out to be an excellent striker for the
Swans and was found on the end of crosses, crosses and more crosses, lol. Fifteen goals for the Basque!
Burnley finish 16th mainly thanks to their tremendous results at Turf Moor. Having struggled away from home, Dyche's dudes have had a great season back in the Premier League. Gray, Barnes and Vokes took turns to shine in attack, while Tom Heaton has been immensely important between the posts.
Another season and another manager for
Watford; that is how the Pozzo family run the club. A big problem was that Mazzarri doesn't speak the language and then it's tough getting your message across and tactics right. The
Hornets turned off after reaching 40 points and it is just enough for suvival.
Remember when
Hull City had Phelan in charge and not even 11 fit players? The opening game when they defeated the champions had all of us in shock, only for it to be short term as Phelan couldn't get his team on the right track. Fired after 2017 had just started, Hull turned to maestro Marco Silva, who restored faith in a possibly good end to the season, only to capitulate in gameweek 36 when they lost a crucial game. My guess is we will see Silva at the highest level next year.
Woeful
Middlesbrough have scored a goal in only 18 of 38 games and that says it all. Karanka went, Agnew came, nothing changed.
Sunderland had been flirting with relegation for years and they finally went down. The appointment of Moyes was the first sign of bad things to come with Defoe not getting on the scoresheet anymore a second indication that the
Black Cats had run out of their nine lives. The players in that squad are terrible and Moyes is to blame as none of his signings were good enough.
Fantasy Premier League
1) Drew - "No Dramas" - 2357 points
2) Gert-Jan - "Dutch Warriors" - 2329 points
3) Ramilles - "Ramilles XI" - 1867 points
4) Rokkerr - "Roks Rockers" - 1815 points
5) Paul - "Kickers" - 1449 points
6) Handcock - "Brooklyn City FC" - 1387 points
Important dates:
5/24: Europa League Final
5/27: FA Cup Final
6/3: Champions League Final
6/17 - 7/2: Confederations Cup
Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away.