Manchester City were crowned champions of England for the second time in three years after defeating West Ham 2-0 in the final match of the season. Here is the report card for the top seven.
1st – Manchester City
Criticism will be directed at the fact that the club have an extremely rich owner and have bought some of the best players in the world.
What also needs to be mentioned is the quality of play from midfielders David Silva and Yaya Toure. Edin Dzeko’s finishing, especially when it mattered late in the season against Everton and Villa, was of high quality. They won two of four trophies available in a successful season. Well managed.
Best player: David Silva
2nd – Liverpool
Played an exciting brand of football with outstanding contributions from a front line of Luis Suarez, Daniel Sturridge and Raheem Sterling.
Got on a real roll with 11 straight wins and some beautiful attacking play. However, the slip against Chelsea from all-time great Steven Gerrard will be hard for him, and Liverpool fans, to forget. If he doesn’t lose control of the ball and slip, it could have been Liverpool’s year.
Best player: Luis Suarez
3rd – Chelsea
No trophies for this club will put Mourinho under some pressure next season.
He came unstuck after his disrespectful comments that Arsene Wenger was a ‘specialist in failure’. Wenger – who still has a chance to win one more trophy than him this year. Mourinho lacked strikers. In fact, his best striker was probably playing at Goodison Park.
Best player: Eden Hazrd
4th – Arsenal
Led for a long time in the premiership but some heavy losses away to Manchester City, Liverpool, Chelsea and Everton showed they were short of a title winning team.
Best player: Santi Cazorla
5th – Everton
Excellent season from Everton who pushed for a top four spot before fading. Coach Roberto Martinez got the best out of his team, who played a more passing-orientated style of play.
With a solid defence consisting of experienced players – such as Phil Jagielka, Sylvain Distin, Leighton Baines and Seamus Coleman – Everton were not easy to break down. Romelu Lukaku provided goals up front.
Best player: Seamus Coleman
6th – Tottenham
Couldn’t buy a goal early in the season under Andre Villas-Boas, but once the shackles were broken they started scoring and became more a force. They were too inconsistent though. When they lost, they could really concede. Liverpool towelled them up twice.
Best player: Christian Eriksen
7th – Manchester United
Huge flops. This was the worst Manchester United team in living memory. David Moyes was out of his depth and they were horrible at home.
They look like a club in need of a clean out with Phil Jones, Marouane Fellaini and Tom Cleverley looking out of their depth at this club. Moyes was the wrong choice and Ferguson shouldn’t have been at matches for the year. It was poor on all accounts.
Best Player: nobody
What a great season. Now take a breath and get ready for the World Cup!
Dylan Arvela
Roar Guru
You only did the top 7 which is a pretty poor effort..
Beardan
Roar Guru
Dont worry too much about Wiki j binnie. Go with your memory... sounds like you are doing alright relying on that! Good work!
Beardan
Roar Guru
sounds like a 'specialist in failure' to me.
Beardan
Roar Guru
I saw Southhampmton play against Everton. Luke Shaw was super impressive. He is a strong defender but it looks like he can deliver going forward as well. Should play alot for England after the great man Baines.
Mantis
Roar Guru
Yep
Mantis
Roar Guru
Im a QPR fan. I hate Mark Hughes big time, which is a shame because I didnt mind Stoke.
Beardan
Roar Guru
I make no apology for not watching Stoke City play.
Beardan
Roar Guru
Just keeping things interesting AZ_RBB. If I wanted to make it boring I'd change my name to Gary Freeman.
Adam
Guest
Hopefully you found some time to view another team that wasn't quite 'top'. Southampton were quite brilliant at times this season
Kyle Stewart
Roar Pro
Are you serious? How can I expect you to grade the teams if you don't watch the games. We soccer fans love to stick the boot when journos write articles without watching the games and getting facts. We ask them to not write articles so I politely ask you to stop writing your useless garbage
langou
Roar Guru
"lacking in common sense" is "not very common" Does that mean having common sense is common?
AZ_RBB
Guest
A little concerning when the author of the article is the one makes those comments.
HardcorePrawn
Roar Guru
Interestingly, I see most of the inflammatory comments have disappeared. Good work Mods.
HardcorePrawn
Roar Guru
You're just being offensive now. To state that anyone disagreeing with you, or who finds a flaw in your argument, is lacking common sense or being silly just smacks of insidious trolling. And bear in mind that most people in their late twenties should be able to recall the 89-90 season, so enough with your insults, and "olden days" and "walking sticks" bull. You made the statement "This was the worst Manchester United team in living memory". Stick to your original statement and stop moving the goalposts to suit your argument.
j binnie
Guest
Bearden - You are getting yourself into hot water here for no reason at all .I first saw Man Utd playing in 1953 in a Coronation Cup semi-final against Rangers and my memories of that game are still quite good.Playing at outside left that evening for United was a young lad called Roger Byrne who in just a few years became one of the finest attacking fullbacks in the game.He also captained United and England for many years until he was lost in the Munich crash.Now I don't need a walking stick or a computer to remember these football things in fact it could be said I could have many arguments with Wiki if I cared to do so, for their information is "donated' and can be wrong. Let me give you an example. Wiki Ray Richards one of the 1974 Socceroos and you will find he was born in,1946,married in 1956!!!!,had his first child in 1958!!!!!, and his second in1960!!!!, all before he was apparently 14. Now I knew Ray very well and he left Brisbane in an unmarried state around 1969 !!!!!!!!! aged 23. Who do you believe?????? So much for computer information Keep up the good work Bearden but forget era's ,era's are in people's minds and are determined by how good their memories are.Ok? jb
SuperEel22
Roar Guru
Jose Mourinho took over the 3rd best club in England. He spent $100 million pounds and took Chelsea to become the third best club in England.
j binnie
Guest
Hardcore. I think you will find that was Sir Alex's first year in charge. Good job they gave him longer than Moyes.jb
HardcorePrawn
Roar Guru
You've written a "Premier League report card" on this past season, yet haven't seen the team that finished ninth since 2011? And you accuse me of embarrassing myself?
Beardan
Roar Guru
I should have written 'not in the olden days' or 'since colour TV was invented'. Anyway, I mean the modern era just to clear it up. Comparing the two United teams still remains silly and lacking in common sense, which sometimes around here is not very common.
Ben of Phnom Penh
Roar Guru
I believe it was the term "in living memory" that people are referring to Beardan, so you may just have to cop that one on the chin as a few posters here were born in the 50's & 60's :)