Through all the fame and championship medals, and the exciting relegation battle, I can’t help but feel that this English Premier League season felt just a little bit out of the ordinary. Let me explain why.
Steven Gerrard’s final season sums up the last six years at Liverpool.
It’s always sad to see club legends leave, especially when they are home-grown and have been a part of the club their entire career.
With Steven Gerrard, this past season will have to go down as his worst. Often on the bench, Gerrard had to make room for younger players such as Adam Lallana and Philippe Coutinho.
It is unusual to see Gerrard go but we must come to terms with it, it makes it different to other stories as it is amazing how his career has spanned for that long at one club and he hasn’t won the league. His season was riddled with bad performances, a rapid red card, and an under par season for the team.
Which brings me onto my next topic, Frank Lampard joining Manchester City after leading Chelsea. No one saw that coming.
Lampard left Chelsea at the end of last season after a career spanning 13 years and more than 600 games for the Blues. He looked for a new challenge, and at the age of 36, he is not necessarily young enough to cope with the hectic schedule and endurance needed for the Premier League.
Lampard joined the new MLS side based in New York, New York City FC, which was created by former Premier League champions, Manchester City. Controversy arose as Frank Lampard, who had interest from sister club Melbourne City FC in Australia, actually joined Premier League rivals Manchester City.
It is not exactly a Sol Campbell story, but still, would you want your club legend jetting off to a rival that is fighting you for the title? I wouldn’t think so. Which asks this question, was this deal about money? Or could Lampard not bear missing football for a whole season? I think the latter.
Chelsea were able to walk to the title with no real competition.
Chelsea were on top of the table from day dot, and were not knocked off their throne once during the season. They were very close where they ended 2014 in front of Man City by only goal difference.
In the second half of the season, City slumped, not picking up many points in March and Chelsea only suffered two losses in the second half of the season, one of them coming against West Brom, two weeks after winning the title.
They were able to basically walk to the title, and were not challenged by any other team, Eventually winning the league with three games left and 87 points. And their performance in Europe was woeful. Considering managerial changes, and underdone squads, are we going to see Chelsea dominate the Premier League scene next year as well?
The English clubs’ performances in Europe was also woeful.
Probably the biggest news for English clubs was their performance in the Champions League and Europa League. It’s fair to say that this was their worst year in Europe with Man City knocked out by Barcelona, Chelsea kicked out by PSG, Arsenal out by Monaco and Liverpool knocked out miserably in the group stage.
In the Europa League, Everton were the last team in Europe knocked out in the round of 16 by Dynamo Kiev, both Tottenham and Liverpool were knocked out as well.
This poses the next question. If the biggest teams in England cannot compete against the bigger teams in other leagues, is the Premier League still the best league in the world, or is it just the richest market?
In my opinion this season was woeful with no competition and teams performing below par. I hope there is more to it next season with the introduction of Watford, Norwich and AFC Bournemouth to the mix.
What do you think, Roarers?
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