Last summer I wanted to do an extensive preview/prediction post on the Premiership but procrastination and a bunch of other stuff got in the way, which kind of happens a lot on this blog, so I quickly jotted down some thoughts. Here is how those predictions look at the end of the season:
Champions
I picked Chelsea to win the title and got this one right. You can go with the Blues on any given year and more or less have a 1 in 3 chance of being right, so it is not exactly a crystal ball situation but I think we should all be impressed by my having predicted they would lift the trophy more because they held steady while their rivals were weakened than because of any marked improvement. Considering it only took 86 points to win, lower than any of the last 3 seasons, my pick looks pretty savvy.
Top 4
I didn't do so well picking the rest of the Champs Leaguers. United were always going to finish up there. But I was totally shocked by Liverpool's drop in form. If I said if there was one of the big clubs falling out of the top 4 it would be Arsenal (though I doubted it) and that didn't happen. I also thought the most likely candidate to break into the elite stratum would be Everton and they wound up not even making the Europa League.
Relegation
I picked Portsmouth and two of the promoted clubs (Burnley, Wolves, and Birmingham). I also said the acquisition of Jozy Altidore and Alvaro Negredo would lift Hull out of danger thought I saw them in peril as the season began. About 8 hours after that post news came that the Negredo deal fell through and Altidore went on to more or less flop in the Prem. A correction on yesterday's post: Burnely will NOT be in the Europa League. The Prem's fair play spot has been given to a Scandinavian league.
Other Stuff
I thought West Ham would outperform Sunderland and that was a huge miss. I am shocked at how directionless and sloppy Zola's squad was at times this season. I don't know the amount of points off hand but I think they probably gave up at least 10 points they had sewn up by being careless and losing focus.
I tipped Wigan's Hugo Rodallega to have a breakout season and I think I was half right. The Colombian was Wigan's leading scorer with 10 goals including a highlight reel finish on opening day and a stoppage time winner later in the season. All in all a good campaign but his production really faded late in the season.
I predicted the top scorer would finish with at least 25 goals and this year's golden boot, Didier Drogba, in fact finished with 29. Wayne Rooney was runner up with 26. This is significant because last year's top scorer finished with 19. I win.
Showing posts with label Premiership. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Premiership. Show all posts
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
Monday, May 10, 2010
Prem Wrap Up I
With all 2o teams in action simultaneously on Sunday the Premiership was the first of the elite European leagues to wrap up its season. Looking back it was a pretty good season for a neutral observer/general fan of the game. At this level there really aren't many shockers over the course of a 38 game season but there was enough drama and quality play to keep me interested. Here are some thoughts on the way things ended:
1. Chelsea are just champions and I think their margin of a single point over Manchester United is maybe a touch misleading. They won all 6 games they played against the so-called "Big 4", they set a club record for goals in a season, and they had the best goal difference by a wide margin. Ancelotti's triumph in his first season outside of Italy is impressive and in the likely event they win the FA Cup for the domestic double will minimize the pain of the getting bounced from Europe in the round of 16.
2. After United and Chelsea there really is a gap to the rest of the elite teams. On their day Arsenal and co. can run with anyone but they continue to lack the depth, stability, and consistency to take the points available game after game after game. This is as much a question of resources as it is of culture. The atmosphere present at Stamford Bridge and Old Trafford is missing elsewhere.
3. The race for the final Champs League spot was fantastic, maybe even as engaging as the title pursuit itself. Although by game 37 it was down to a winner take all match between Manchester City and Spurs, for most of the season it seemed like 5 teams had a legitimate shot at 4th (those two plus Liverpool, Everton, and Aston Villa) and all played enticing football for stretches of the season. It is too early to tell but I think this season was not an aberration and the future will look more like the spring of 2010 than previous seasons.
4. The Portsmouth debacle is really sad. There really is not much to say other than a bunch of people in suits did really, really, really stupid things and the players on the field along with Avram Grant did an admirable job of playing on under terrible circumstances. Their relegation was inevitable but this is one of those things that bum me out about the game. It is really weird/awesome/funny/bizarre that in the same season Portsmouth were relegated and reached the FA Cup final AND Burnley were relegated by qualified for the Europa League.
Tomorrow I will be back to revisit my Prem Predictions from last summer.
1. Chelsea are just champions and I think their margin of a single point over Manchester United is maybe a touch misleading. They won all 6 games they played against the so-called "Big 4", they set a club record for goals in a season, and they had the best goal difference by a wide margin. Ancelotti's triumph in his first season outside of Italy is impressive and in the likely event they win the FA Cup for the domestic double will minimize the pain of the getting bounced from Europe in the round of 16.
2. After United and Chelsea there really is a gap to the rest of the elite teams. On their day Arsenal and co. can run with anyone but they continue to lack the depth, stability, and consistency to take the points available game after game after game. This is as much a question of resources as it is of culture. The atmosphere present at Stamford Bridge and Old Trafford is missing elsewhere.
3. The race for the final Champs League spot was fantastic, maybe even as engaging as the title pursuit itself. Although by game 37 it was down to a winner take all match between Manchester City and Spurs, for most of the season it seemed like 5 teams had a legitimate shot at 4th (those two plus Liverpool, Everton, and Aston Villa) and all played enticing football for stretches of the season. It is too early to tell but I think this season was not an aberration and the future will look more like the spring of 2010 than previous seasons.
4. The Portsmouth debacle is really sad. There really is not much to say other than a bunch of people in suits did really, really, really stupid things and the players on the field along with Avram Grant did an admirable job of playing on under terrible circumstances. Their relegation was inevitable but this is one of those things that bum me out about the game. It is really weird/awesome/funny/bizarre that in the same season Portsmouth were relegated and reached the FA Cup final AND Burnley were relegated by qualified for the Europa League.
Tomorrow I will be back to revisit my Prem Predictions from last summer.
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