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Ah! It’s that time of the year again. The time of year when Arsenal look around for world class defenders and strikers and end up buying a slightly built attacking midfielder, Liverpool fans declare that next season will be theirs, Newcastle United spend just enough to stay afloat and the Glazers begrudgingly part with some of the money they have taken away from Manchester.
That’s right – the league has ended and the oh-so-not-fun summer of transfers and speculations is upon us! Before we get to that though, let’s hold on for a moment and take a look back at the teams’ performances during the recently concluded not-all-that-exciting season of the world’s most exciting league!
Chelsea – 9/10
Dominant from the first kick of the season to the last, Mourinho’s men never looked like they were going to end the season as anything but Champions. The first half of their season was peppered with displays of astonishing attacking brilliance, the second more reminiscent of Mourinho’s disciplined old Chelsea outfit. Call them boring if you want, but as they showed once again, Mourinho’s Chelsea know how to win.
As dominant as their displays in the league and the Capital One Cup were, a team of their ambition will, however, be disappointed with their FA Cup and Champions League outings.
Manchester City – 6.5/10
Mercurially brilliant, infuriatingly inconsistent, unbelievably lethargic – all adjectives that could be used to describe Man City’s superstars and their team’s performances this season. Sergio Agüero may have finally got that Golden Boot, but none of the others rose to the occasion.
They slipped and slid through a season where they never really clicked into high gear. They may have finished second but did not come close to touching Chelsea. Their abysmal showing in Europe continued – against MSN’s Barcelona, they looked naïve school kids – and they didn’t fare too well in the domestic cups either.
On the whole, a rather disappointing season for a club of City’s ambition.
Arsenal – 7.5/10
The signing of Alexis Sanchez showed real intent, and the Chilean superstar shone throughout (running Hazard close for the title of best attacking player in the league), but another inconsistent first half of the season meant that by the time Wenger had instilled some discipline into the side, it was too late to do real damage.
The second half, though, was encouraging for Gunners’ fans as their team showed the kind of steel that had been missing for large parts of the last decade.Their European season ended with a familiar feeling of “it slipped through our fingers”, but winning the FA Cup for the second consecutive season is a special achievement.
A bit more consistency and they could well challenge for the title next year.
Manchester United – 6/10
Louis van Gaal’s philosophy has taken time to get properly assimilated and for large parts of the season, United looked clueless and rudderless on the pitch. They still somehow found ways to win though and the team settled as the season progressed.
With Europe not present as a ‘distraction’, United should have performed better in the domestic cups – but they were abysmal for the most part in them. Encouragingly for United fans though, they seem to have gotten over the deadly lull that seemed to have engulfed them during Moyes’ reign and big-name signings apart, most of the players performed well (see Fellaini, Marouane and Young, Ashley).
Tottenham Hotspur – 5.5/10
Yet another new manager, yet another inconsistent season at Spurs. The team seemed unable or unwilling to adapt to Mauricio Pochettino’s tactics for the majority of the season, but they did show tantalizing glimpses of their potential.
The story of their season was undoubtedly the emergence of Harry Kane – a man who looks like he just stepped out of the East Stand to play for his boyhood club, and plays like his life depends on it. Kane’s goals lit up an otherwise mediocre season, where Spurs never really made any progress from last season.
Liverpool – 5/10
Oh Brendan! From second, and within grasping distance of their first Premier league trophy, to an abysmal sixth – the fall has been slow, and painful.
They never really made up for the loss of Luis Suarez (an admittedly tough task), and missed the pace and ruthlessness of Daniel Sturridge for most of the season. The Merseysiders had a stop-start-stop season, the period between December and March being the only one where they played some good football.
Hugely disappointing after the brilliance of last season.
Southampton – 8.5/10
No one expected Southampton to finish seventh. Most, in fact, expected them to be relegated – their best players and managers having left for seemingly greener pastures before the season began.
Ronald Koeman, though, walked in and with the confidence and poise he used to display in defence for Holland and the many great clubs he turned out for and managed to make this the an incredible season for the Saints. Only Chelsea conceded fewer goals, and at times, no one played more attractive football in the league – at one point the possibility of Champions League place finish was not beyond the realms of possibility.
Swansea City – 7.5/10
A club record points haul of 56, handed to them by a season old manager (who, by the by, played for them for nigh on ten seasons – through 4 tiers) while overcoming the mid-season sale of their best player? That’s the stuff fairytales are made of. An excellent season for the Welshmen.
Stoke City – 7/10
Another club that attained a record high Premier League points tally, Stoke City have thrown away the stigma attached to their football under Tony Pulis’ reign. Mark Hughes men now play some very attractive football, while having lost little of their renowned defensive solidity.
Crystal Palace – 6.5/10
Palace were awful under Neil Warnock, but they got transformed by the appointment of Alan Pardew. By the end of the season, they were playing flowing, beautiful football with players like Yannick Bolasie and Jason Puncheon showing off their attacking talents. Promising times lie ahead.
Everton – 4/10
If there is one thing Liverpool fans can be happy about this season, it is the performance of their neighbours. Playing at times like they were walking through knee-high sludge, Everton’s style of play was passive, predictable and decidedly mid-table. Roberto Martinez needs to get his act together.
West Ham United– 5/10
A season that started out so promisingly petered out in the second half when the attacking bravado of the first half simply up and disappeared. It was a tame end to what should have been a path-breaking season.
West Bromwich Albion – 6/10
West Brom were 16th in December, and looking at the very real possibility of relegation – but the appointment of Tony Pulis in place of Alan Irvine saw them go from shaky and unstructured to organized and disciplined. A fine season for a club many had expected to go down.
Leicester City – 7/10
As April dawned, the Foxes lay rock bottom, with almost no hope in front of them. Nigel Pearson, though, stuck to his guns and engineered the most remarkable run of successes to guide Leicester to safety. A remarkable, yet much deserved ending for a team that never stopped playing easy-on-the-eyes attacking football.
Newcastle United – 3/10
Newcastle were at their mercurial and unpredictable best (or worst, your perspective on things really) under Pardew but were absolutely horrendous under the completely inept John Carver.
Carver led a team that lay in ninth in December, to within touching point of relegation. If the season had dragged on for a couple of more weeks, they would have gone down – and comfortably so.
Sunderland – 3/10
Were it not for Dick Advocaat, the Black Cats would be playing in the Championship next year – as simple as that. The great Dutchman brought some much-needed steel and solidity to Sunderland and the Wearside club will be looking to build on it.
Aston Villa – 4.5/10
Under Paul Lambert, Aston Villa appeared to be dying a very slow death. Watching them was torturous to the ever faithful Villa fans, and even more so for us neutrals. But, like so many sides this season, the late change in manager worked wonders.
The under-appreciated Tim Sherwood spread his unique brand of contagious joy across Villain ranks. That FA Cup final appearance should do them the world of good (Just forget the scoreline, though, will you?).
Hull City – 3/10
Steve Bruce’s men never really got their act together this season and the failure of big money signings (Tom Ince and Abel Hernandez to name but two) and the ridiculous drama off the pitch (Hull City to Hull Tigers – really Mr. Allam?) did not help one bit.
Disappointing season for a club that held great promise before the season began.
Burnley - 4/10
Sean Dyche’s men were tremendously hard-working, pretty well organized and pushed themselves to the utmost, but in the end the gap in quality was too much to bridge. Burnley go down – yes - but with their heads held high.
Queens Park Rangers – 2/10
Hopelessly inept under both Harry Redknapp and his replacement Chris Ramsey, they looked like they had already been relegated for much of the season. They shone in patches (especially under Ramsey), but those patches were few and far between and will most likely end up losing their star performers Charlie Austin and Robert Green.
In short, no joy to take away from the season for Rangers fans.
