Season Report Card

Dub13

So in your opinion has this been a good (EPL) season taking everything into consideration,football player,title race,relegating battle,exciting games played,off field antics.

Marks out of ten and reasons why.

Headshot

so much for the respect campaign

CHD

The whole Liverpool fans thinking its there year thing was fun. Made a few quid. 10/10 for that.

Highsider

Fergie embarrassing himself with his "alliance" with big sam was quality. Worth the entrance fee alone:D 10/10

Dave!

-Liverpool providing a serious threat to United's league retention hopes
nerve-wracking, but exciting !
-About 10 teams involved in a relegation battle for half of the season
pretty fun to watch !
-Spurs being rock bottom after 10 games or so, and challenging for Europe at the end
gnarly !
-Newcastle possibly being relegated
tragic, but fair
-Hull being in a European spot at the start of the league (after doing so well against the 'big 4'), and then capitulating and free falling to the relegation zone
madness

Pretty good season IMO

Headshot

for me the stoke game,villa game and the spurs game

also some utd fans finally got to see kiko,bright future id dare say

PHB

I actually thought this season was pretty dull from my own point of view.
I was always fairlyish confident of United winning post-Christmas, unlike last season where I was terrified until the final whistle. When it came, it was more like relief than celebration.

I thought all the top 4 sides played below their best, Chelsea especially underperformed. Arsenal and Liverpool were hit by injuries. United were hit by injuries and played fairly bad attacking football (adjusting to the inclusion of Berbatov I think) but got through on defence.

Liverpool were probably the most enjoyable part of the year, because they left so many things so late, last minute goals all over the shop.

I think next season will be much much better, as I expect the entire top 4 to truly be at their best, in a weird climax of squads and squad building.

NabyLadistheman

Standard of refereeing is under-mining the whole thing. Howard Webb "England's best Ref" performances towards the end of the season highlight the poor poor state of things. REFEREE'S = FAIL

Headshot

forgot to mention

seeing liverpool come so close to the title but yet so far,brings a smile to my face

Fratton Fred

It was good to see the big four get beaten more regularly, hopefully that means the gap has closed a bit.

other than that, a pretty dull season all round imho.

That_Guy

From a Newcastle fan's point of view it was and still is a horrendous season.

As for the entire season it wasn't too bad. Close at either end of the table throughout.

I'm glad that tactics were key to earn success unlike City who bought players in at ridiculous prices. Money doesn't buy you success in this league in one gulp.

Good to see Roy Hodgson doing a tremendous job with Fulham this season on such a limited budget.

I'd give the overall season 6/10

UnitedIrishman

PHB wrote: »

I actually thought this season was pretty dull from my own point of view.
I was always fairlyish confident of United winning post-Christmas, unlike last season where I was terrified until the final whistle. When it came, it was more like relief than celebration.

Agreed, strangely enough (and I don't mean this as a slight on Liverpool) but I was always more worried of Chelsea this year, even when they were 3-4 points behind Liverpool. With Liverpool there's an unpredictability about how they'll play and of course what team they will put out. Chelsea are like a machine, they just go and win 1-0 or whatever, move on, next game.

That said I did enjoy the banter between United fans and Pool fans down the local during Saturday games given how close the two finished.

Highs: From a United point of view, almost a perfect season.

As for the rest of the league, seeing Stoke show that with the right coaching and gameplan that you can succeed without big names or signings. Fair enough they did sign Beattie but they were exceptionally well organised and as someone who coaches a bit, I liked that about them.

Villa's rise was good to watch too and its a pity they fell away at the end. But it's only a matter of time before someone does grab that 4th spot again ahead of Arsenal. I can see Everton doing it next year with one or two more signings.

Others include: seeing Newcastle fans delighted believing they'd stayed up after beating Hull.. only to lose the following weekend; (not necessarily PL) watching one of the best teams ever assembled in Barcelona and their style of play.

Lows:

Chelsea after the Barcelona game - granted I know I'd be ripping too losing like that, but what can you do. At least Lampard and Terry walked off with a bit of dignity and fair play to them because the latter has been involved in it in the past.

Phil Brown's half-time talk against City... madness. As Kevin Campbell said on Setanta, the players should have gotten up and walked into the dressing room regardless. Look out for Brown's book "The quick-fire way to lose the dressing room", out next year.

Lack of top quality games - there was no outstanding game among the top 4 this year. Arsenal vs United at the Emirates was the closest and even then we were shocking bad. United vs Chelsea was a no-contest, same with Liverpool vs United, Liverpool vs Arsenal was a good game but compared to last years ties there were no real tight affairs with both great defending and attacking.

Tom65

That_Guy wrote: »

Good to see Roy Hodgson doing a tremendous job with Fulham this season on such a limited budget.

+1 Seems like a really nice guy, and a great manager. I'd love to see Fulham improve further next year.


From the perspective of a United fan, the first half of the season was more interesting generally (mass relegation battle, Hull doing well, Villa nudging Arsenal out of 3rd, Spurs doing so badly) but United were mostly underperforming. Second half of the season (mid-March aside) United performed better, but the rest of the league looked more regular: Villa fell away, Hull went into freefal, and so on.

As a Man Utd fan, depending on how the CL final goes, I can't complain. Otherwise, this season promised a lot up until December and then became more predictable.

PHB wrote: »

I was always fairlyish confident of United winning post-Christmas, unlike last season where I was terrified until the final whistle. When it came, it was more like relief than celebration.

I would've gone the other way. Last season I was fairly confident we were going to win it. This season, after the games again Liverpool and Fulham, I couldn't shake the feeling we might have another stumble in us. It wasn't until we beat Wigan that I was confident of winning it again.

I agree about the Big Four underperforming though. Chelsea could mount a series title challenge next season if they continue the form they had in the second half of this season next year (I know they'll be changing managers).

Boggles

10/10 for Ferguson.

Having the balls and skill to give all the trophies a right good rattle.

Double Treble.

Dismissing Rafas rant as "disturbed" - Legendary!

Saying he wouldn't sell Madrid a virus - legendary!

---

One blot on the copy book would be the Tevez affair, then again since the day he signed it was coming, so no one can say they were surprised.

Deal should have been done before Christmas, apart from that business as usual.

Helix

it was an interesting season, but definitely sub standard in terms of quality

some awful rubbish peddled by most teams

Eirebear

As an outsider with only a footballing interest in the Premiership i cant say it was the most exciting i remember.

I enjoyed watching Man Utd whenever i saw them this season, and watching Rafa try and take Ferguson on at his own game was almost keegan-esque at times.

Other than that it was the usual procession...a promoted team has a great start and falls towards the relegation zone, the "big Four" stay firmly where they are expected to after a decent challenge by another side (usually villa, everton or spurs)

Evertons inconsistency lets them down as usual.

Arsenal flatter to decieve as usual.


lots of games between the likes of stoke and hull that i really couldnt care less about.

Nothing to write home about really.

rossie1977

outside of liverpools performances in march and april this season has been about as exciting as watching paint dry, i am sure man utd fans enjoyed those endless 1-0 wins, for the neutral it was zzzzzzzzzzzzz, topped off with worst cup final in living memory, lets hope the fa cup final has some life to it

Boggles

rossie1977 wrote: »

outside of liverpools performances in march and april this season has been about as exciting as watching paint dry, i am sure man utd fans enjoyed those endless 1-0 wins, for the neutral it was zzzzzzzzzzzzz, topped off with worst cup final in living memory, lets hope the fa cup final has some life to it

United had 9 1-0 wins this season, they had 7 last season, hardly endless.

10/10

Liverpool made an interesting challenge but that made seeing the trophy being lifted all the sweeter

Good relugation battle with 2 teams I didn't expect to be down there now (Newcastle, Boro)

EDIT: And if it was to get even better, Liverpool would lose 2-0 nil and Chelsea would win 4-0, to see Liverpool drop to 3rd would be the icing on the cake:D

applehunter

Liverpool vs Man Utd. is more interesting than the rivalries with Chelsea/Arsenal.

Liverpool will probably feel they left it behind them.

The league has lost some of its magic though.

7/10

eagle eye

6/10

Nothing new really, same champions, same top four teams. Only surprise is at the bottom of the table.

thegen

I suppose the two non football highlights were Rafa's Rant and the ridiculous Sam and Ferguson lack of respectgate thing.

10/10

leninbenjamin

5/10

Highs

• Pulis managing to keep Stoke up with the squad he has. Phenomenal achievement
• Hodgson's performance with Fulham. Amazing really that a club so small could be realistically pushing for a European spot given the state of football these days
• From a fan's perspective, the Arsenal unbeaten run given the weakness of the defence and the spine of the team in general
• Arshavin. Thought the physicality of the Prem wouldn't suit his game. Glad i was wrong
• The relegation battle this season has been quite interesting
• Some pretty entertaining high scoring games
• Me predicting Scolari would flop

Lows

• United winning despite not playing well. I know it's a fantastic achievement to win it 3 times in a row, but the lack of a real challenger post Xmas really dulled it for me
• Arsenal's underperformance and general disinterest from certain players
• Villa imploding (i know as an Arsenal fan this seems odd, but Villa continuing the push for the top 4 would have made the league far more interesting)
• City's general ****ness. Despite the cash, they really haven't added anything to league this season
• Newcastle's implosion. I know most people here would be glad to see the back of them, but i really do hate seeing a club fall apart due to sheer incompetence
• Samba playing as a lone forward

Overall I think as a season it started off well, but just stopped being interesting around Christmas. Nothing really to write home about.

eagle eye

I suppose its understandable that you give credit to Hodgson and Pulis and not to Harry Redknapp. You being an Arsenal fan that is.

leninbenjamin

eagle eye wrote: »

I suppose its understandable that you give credit to Hodgson and Pulis and not to Harry Redknapp. You being an Arsenal fan that is.

ha! i had an internal argument with myself over whether to or not. you can guess what won.

fair play to Harry and all, but i'd have rather they stuck with Ramos

Dub13

In fairness Harry started with a much better base.

That_Guy

Dub13 wrote: »

In fairness Harry started with a much better base.

+1 Harry had money to burn whereas Hodgson has very limited funding to spend on players.

RasTa

10/10.

Champions again and another Champions League final.

You can't ask for any better.

eagle eye

Dub13 wrote: »

In fairness Harry started with a much better base.

2 points from 8 games is hardly a sound base in fairness.
49 points in 29 games, versus 45 for Fulham and 39 for Stoke.

Rikand

We sacked Ince and stayed in the Premiership. Overall, I'm pretty happy!

Jazzy

im happy.
challenged for the title and only lost it with a week to go.

the same sloppy play during liverpools lull was my main gripe. wasnt as sloppy as the season before tho! so hopefully next year there will be none

utd winning the league was fairly bent

ROCKMAN

If it wasn't for the magic 18 and the fact it was Liverpool in the race , I would be marking it as a 6/10 season, these two factors brings it to a 8/10.
I do agree with a few posters the quality was not the greatest this year , I felt all the top 4 performed below par for large parts of the season

Dub13

eagle eye wrote: »

2 points from 8 games is hardly a sound base in fairness.
49 points in 29 games, versus 45 for Fulham and 39 for Stoke.

I am not talking about the points total they started out with.Look at the players spurs have compared to the players Fulham & Stoke have,also the money spurs have compared to them its no match.

Xavi6

Crap season.

Predictable champions, same top 4, City still mediocre, 'Arry still in the middle of a circle jerk, and no international tournament at the end of it for escapism.

Highsider

Excellent season imo. Gave the mancs a good run for their money this season which was the goal at the start. Considering the injuries we had with our two top men dogged all season long by niggles we showed the strength in depth of the squad. Special praise for Kuyt who shut the doubters up with some excellent displays. Progress all around the pitch with the exception of Carra and Babel who where muck. Well done to United once again who proved they are worthy champions winning without playing well for long spells of the season. Enjoy it while it lasts lads. Next season it's our's.;)

legs11

Highsider wrote: »

Excellent season imo. Gave the mancs a good run for their money this season which was the goal at the start. Considering the injuries we had with our two top men dogged all season long by niggles we showed the strength in depth of the squad. Special praise for Kuyt who shut the doubters up with some excellent displays. Progress all around the pitch with the exception of Carra and Babel who where muck. Well done to United once again who proved they are worthy champions winning without playing well for long spells of the season. Enjoy it while it lasts lads. Next season it's our's.

dont you just love em :pac: