EPL - A Review of the Season!
The football season is over and champions have been crowned - some clubs regaining their glory after a very long time and some buying their way to glory! Yeah, that's right! Money plays a huge and critical role in football these days!
EPL was very interesting last season with Chelsea becoming only the fourth team after Manchester United, Arsenal and Blackburn Rovers to be crowned champions since the Premiership was started in 1993-94, if I remember right.
Ever since Blackburn won their title in 1995, the Premiership title has always been either with ManUtd or Arsenal. But this time, Chelsea has managed to outgun the Gunners and bury the Red Devils. They became the Premiership Champions thanks to Roman Abromovich, a modern Kubera. Roman took over Chelsea two seasons ago and thanks to the huge spending, Chelsea took away the Chief Executive Peter Kenyon from ManUtd and then began attracting a lot of good footballers with the lure of money!
Chelsea had performed well in the previous season, finishing second behind Arsenal and exiting in the semi-finals in the Champion's League. But this clearly was not enough for Roman and consequently, Claudio Ranieri was sacked as coach and Mourinho, who had just won the champion's league with Porto was brought in. A few more expensive players were brought in but the key to their title was the work done by players like Terry, Lampard and Cech. The players brought for huge amounts of money did not make much impression though. Mourinho kept shooting his mouth and got into a lot of trouble with the game's law-makers and his alleged illegal approach for Arsenal's left-back Ashley Cole resulted in a huge fine for both himself and Cole.
Chelsea started well but there were lots of 1-0 victories. Meanwhile, Arsenal continued their impressive run and was nearing a record 50 unbeaten games. Champions a couple of years back, ManUtd was going through a horrible phase with most of their first-team players out with injuries and managing just a draw in a lot many games. For ManUtd, it looked like that was the end of their title hopes! But they still had pride to play for.
Date: October 24, 2004
EPL was very interesting last season with Chelsea becoming only the fourth team after Manchester United, Arsenal and Blackburn Rovers to be crowned champions since the Premiership was started in 1993-94, if I remember right.
Ever since Blackburn won their title in 1995, the Premiership title has always been either with ManUtd or Arsenal. But this time, Chelsea has managed to outgun the Gunners and bury the Red Devils. They became the Premiership Champions thanks to Roman Abromovich, a modern Kubera. Roman took over Chelsea two seasons ago and thanks to the huge spending, Chelsea took away the Chief Executive Peter Kenyon from ManUtd and then began attracting a lot of good footballers with the lure of money!
Chelsea had performed well in the previous season, finishing second behind Arsenal and exiting in the semi-finals in the Champion's League. But this clearly was not enough for Roman and consequently, Claudio Ranieri was sacked as coach and Mourinho, who had just won the champion's league with Porto was brought in. A few more expensive players were brought in but the key to their title was the work done by players like Terry, Lampard and Cech. The players brought for huge amounts of money did not make much impression though. Mourinho kept shooting his mouth and got into a lot of trouble with the game's law-makers and his alleged illegal approach for Arsenal's left-back Ashley Cole resulted in a huge fine for both himself and Cole.
Chelsea started well but there were lots of 1-0 victories. Meanwhile, Arsenal continued their impressive run and was nearing a record 50 unbeaten games. Champions a couple of years back, ManUtd was going through a horrible phase with most of their first-team players out with injuries and managing just a draw in a lot many games. For ManUtd, it looked like that was the end of their title hopes! But they still had pride to play for.
Date: October 24, 2004
Venue: Old Trafford
Match: ManUtd vs Arsenal
Arsenal, on a 49-match unbeaten run in the league, was playing away at Old Trafford against ManUtd. A win or a draw would mean accomplish a 50-match unbeaten run and achieving this in their arch-rival's ground would just be the icing on the cake!
For ManUtd, it was a matter of pride and prestige. They had been playing rather badly compared to their rivals but they had to beat them that day! It turned to be a very physical match and an apparent trip by Campbell on Rooney inside the penalty-box resulted in a penalty!
As Ruud van Nistelrooycame forward to take the penalty, I was reminded of the ugly scenes the previous season when Arsenal players roughed up Ruud after he missed a penalty. Luckily, Ruud scored and he buried his demons from their previous league match. ManUtd went on to beat Arsenal at Highbury too during the return leg and completed a successful double! Unfortunately, they finished third behind Arsenal in the league and lost the F.A.Cup final on penalties.
Chelsea was going great guns both in the domestic league and the Champion's league. Arjen Robben and Frank Lampard were impressive with their form and though the strikers weren't doing well, Chelsea managed to win their first domestic title in 50 years apart from winning the Carling Cup by beating Liverpool in the finals but lost to them in the semi-finals of the Champion's League. (More about the Champion's League in my next blog.)
In a thrilling final match day of the season, Southampton, Crystal Palace and Norwich city were relegated to first division and West Brom managed to stay up for one more season in the Premiership.
More than a month from now, the new season will be starting. Clubs have already begun to strengthen their squads by bringing in new players. But a new imbalance has been created in the market because of Chelsea's money power, and their arrogance that their riches could buy any player they want was dealt a blow when they couldn't get any of the world-class strikers they wanted, including the likes of Henry, Adriano, Eto'o, Shevchenko, Torres, Trezeguet. With the summer transfer window still open, there is still a lot of time left for the clubs to buy or sell players.
Watch out for some interesting facts about football later!
For ManUtd, it was a matter of pride and prestige. They had been playing rather badly compared to their rivals but they had to beat them that day! It turned to be a very physical match and an apparent trip by Campbell on Rooney inside the penalty-box resulted in a penalty!
As Ruud van Nistelrooycame forward to take the penalty, I was reminded of the ugly scenes the previous season when Arsenal players roughed up Ruud after he missed a penalty. Luckily, Ruud scored and he buried his demons from their previous league match. ManUtd went on to beat Arsenal at Highbury too during the return leg and completed a successful double! Unfortunately, they finished third behind Arsenal in the league and lost the F.A.Cup final on penalties.
Chelsea was going great guns both in the domestic league and the Champion's league. Arjen Robben and Frank Lampard were impressive with their form and though the strikers weren't doing well, Chelsea managed to win their first domestic title in 50 years apart from winning the Carling Cup by beating Liverpool in the finals but lost to them in the semi-finals of the Champion's League. (More about the Champion's League in my next blog.)
In a thrilling final match day of the season, Southampton, Crystal Palace and Norwich city were relegated to first division and West Brom managed to stay up for one more season in the Premiership.
More than a month from now, the new season will be starting. Clubs have already begun to strengthen their squads by bringing in new players. But a new imbalance has been created in the market because of Chelsea's money power, and their arrogance that their riches could buy any player they want was dealt a blow when they couldn't get any of the world-class strikers they wanted, including the likes of Henry, Adriano, Eto'o, Shevchenko, Torres, Trezeguet. With the summer transfer window still open, there is still a lot of time left for the clubs to buy or sell players.
Watch out for some interesting facts about football later!
posted by Lucas @ 3:30 PM
2 Comments:
Chelsea look an unsurmountable challenge.I am sure Arsenal's 49 is going to be broken.They just have all what a manager wants. Essien and SWP are add-ons. Both Ruud and Drogba were off-colour. If only Scholes was as good as Lampard, Giggs and Keane were a bit more young and Ronaldo was a bit more clinical in finishing,ManU would have come real close.Arsenal has been having the better of Chelsea but they are basically a rhythm team. If they don't have that flow or when someone disrupts it like last season, they falter. Nobody can predict how big a title challenger they are going to be.Not to be left behind,CFL holders Liverpool having a big and varied squad and also a shrewd spaniard at the helm. This is going to be a cracker of a season.Would be great if Kop can do what Chelsea did last season. Also expecting Arsenal to improve their poor European record and Fergie to retire.
This piece of news on the odds against managers to retire(Souness-top,Fergie 14/1,Wenger 66/1,Mourinho 83/1) should have already sounded bells for Fergie.
I am really intruiged as to what Liverpool can do this season? Can they win the league title? It is difficult to predict that since the squad is not too experienced in EPL. But I would love to see Liverpool do well!
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