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?
Wynter
Roar Pro
EPL has never been the 'Best' league, it's historically been the most competitive which has earned it the title of most entertaining but entertainment isn't dominance. I feel people have never made this distinction and the name has just stuck. England Sides and Italian Sides have both won the CL, distinctive of being held by Europe's 'best' team 12 times, with Spain having the record at 14. But even then, no league in the world has ever been truly 'dominant' with the exception of Italy, from 89-98 CL 9/10 finals had Italian sides, that's never been close to being replicated apart from Spain when the CL first started before global transfers etc; became the norm. Today no league is close to outright being the best, Germany was the best league in the world in 2013 as was Spain in 2014, both nations also had both finalists in the CL final that year but that's coincidental/not because their leagues were phenomenal in those years, at the moment Italy, Spain, England and Germany aren't distinct from each other, there's no way to say this league is better than that one and historically it's never been the case either. I'd say it's partly Britain's Empire Complex but the rest of the world has seemingly always claimed it but that's because coverage of the EPL is so easy to access compared to other nations leagues.
Bondy
Guest
One could suggest the EPL has slid in quality just after Ronaldo left and no team from the EPL will win the European Cup next year either ...
Matt Horne
Roar Rookie
The EPL has essentially split into 3 mini-leagues. The Big 5 with their bottomless pockets chase the title. Another 5 or so teams (Spurs, Everton, Southampton, etc) chase the dubious honour of the Europa League. Everyone else fights to avoid relegation. Its the same every season. Yawn.
AZ_RBB
Guest
Sounding like a broken record now but yeah poor EPL season. Chelsea can't be blamed for being the only decent team in the competition. They played some brilliant football in late 2014 and were a joy to watch. The players, in particular Fabregas and Hazard played with immense technical ability They basically had the title wrapped up in December. I think because they took their foot off the pedal by the time they came across PSG they simply were used to the intensity and paid the price for it. Can't say I saw much of City but they were widely panned throughout the season, same with United bar that good run earlier this year. Arsenal will be happy with winning the coveted "Most points between December 28 and April 6" title. That'll give Wenger another 5yrs in the job. Southampton were awesome in every game I saw them in but seriously need to bulk up their squad if they want to make it into Europe in the near future. As always, Tottenham drifted between being the best team in the land and the worst. I can see Crystal Palace stepping up a notch next season. If Bojan hits some form for Stoke they might cause some trouble as well.
Fadida
Guest
That's me Fuss. I'd watch every game of the round pre A-League. Now I'd see bits of games and struggle to see a whole game though
Eden
Guest
When you consider the biggest club is in a rebuild phase it makes sense that the quality is below standard. There are other factors like mourinho's win first philosophy making them unspectacular, and man city never hitting top gear for whatever reason. Losing a single player like Suarez ad sturridge out of form made liverpool an also ran. The Europe performance of Chelsea and arsenal were very poor. Man city shouldn't be expected to beat barca but should put up more fight. And worst of all my beloved everton were completely overwhelmed by managing the Europa schedule and them got bundled ou miserably :( I do think stronger Man U and arsenal will make next year more interesting
Brick Tamland of the pants party
Guest
As far as the chase for the title goes all the big leagues in Europe were fizzers this season apart from La Liga i think and surprise surprise who was battling it out in that league, even the Eredivisie winners PSV were miles out in front. English sides were very average in the respective Euro comps this season though.
Fussball ist unser leben
Roar Guru
Agree. I used to be an avid fan of the English league back in the day. But, during the past 10 years, my interest has waned. I only watched a few of the bigger fixtures this year and was totally underwhelmed by what I saw, despite the matches featuring some of the best football talent on the planet. It could just be that I no longer have the same emotional attachment to any English team but, based on what I read on social media, fans in the UK also feel their game has lost something. It could be loss of real football fans on the terraces due to exorbitant pricing, or a lack of local lads on the pitch, or basically the same teams filling the top 4 spots every year. Yes, the English League has never been more popular around the world. But, I'm 1 football fan who has totally lost interest.
fadida
Guest
Agree it was a very poor season. Mourinho typically won the league, but he also had the best squad, and criminally they were tedious to watch. Man City were below par, United inconsistent and dull at times. Arsenal were Arsenal, winning when the pressure was off, losing whenever they threatened to challenge. Liverpool werer poor, Spurs underachieved. Southampton were a revelation, but the rest of the league weren't worth a cracker. Best league in there world my arse-nal. Teams are out to concede 1 less than their opponents rather than score 1 more. I miss the days of Man U ripping teams apart with pace and going for the jugular. None of this score and shut the game down. Looking at you Mourinho