Man City lifted the trophy for the second time in three seasons.
It may be hard to believe, but another season of the Barclay's Premier League has come and gone. There was no shortage of story lines this season between manager antics, the resurgence of a traditional power, and the title race again coming down to the last day. If those stories don't suit you, how about the fall of a league giant or perhaps one the greatest relegation escapes in recent memory? It was all there this year.
First off, congratulations are in order for Manchester City, who clinched their second title in three years by virtue of a 2-0 win over West Ham at the Etihad yesterday. No disrespect to Liverpool, but City was the class of the league this season. The biggest reason for this is defense. City only yielded 37 goals this season, while Liverpool gave up 50. Crystal Palace gave up 2 fewer goals than the Reds, and Hull City only gave up three more. You can't say enough for Manuel Pellegrini and the job he did for City this season.
Of course the best defense in the league this year went to Chelsea. They only gave up 27, ten fewer than City, who were in second place. Unfortunately for Jose Mourinho's squad, they once again lacked the fire power to score with the likes of City and Liverpool. Samuel Eto'o and Fernando Torres both scored some big goals along the way for the Blues, but neither proved able to score consistently and make themselves a constant threat up top. Still, 3rd place and a run to the Champion's League semifinal is a decent year for Chelsea, and they'll certainly be looking to spend big this summer, with both Diego Costa and Edinson Cavani's names being bantered around the rumor mill. It will also be interesting to see if Mourinho brings Romelu Lukaku into the fold after he had another great year on loan.
Back to Liverpool though. What a tremendous season they had. If not for a stinging home defeat to Chelsea and last week's huge stumble at Crystal Palace, they might have really pushed City to the limits. However, the defense issue reared it's head at Selhurst Park, as Palace scored three goals in the last 11 minutes to tie Liverpool and all but end their title hopes. Brendan Rodgers has brought Liverpool back into the Champions League and back into title relevance, but look for them to try to fix some of their issues at the back this summer.
But now, let's get to some awards, highs, and lows. Let's start with a refresher on the Champions League Spots and teams that were relegated.
BPL Champions League Qualification Spots--
Manchester City
Liverpool
Chelsea
Arsenal. (Playoff Qualification Round).
Teams Relegated From the BPL--
Cardiff City
Fulham
Norwich
As for the relegated folks, I seriously feel for Cardiff supporters. I loved watching their matches and the passion they bring, despite having some flake of an owner try to alter their club identity to fit his National promotion agenda. To that I say good riddance, Vincent Tan. Fulham was just bad this year, and they were all over the place both in the transfer market and in the manager scene. Hopefully they can find some stability in the Championship and bounce back up next year. Norwich? Meh. They had a good run, but just couldn't sustain it. Even the firing of Chris Hughton late in the season couldn't help them as they became the victim in Sunderland's great escape.
Surprise Team of the Year: CRYSTAL PALACE
Palace looked to be in serious trouble at midseason, bleeding goals and scoring none themselves. They were mired in the bottom three and looked to be a good bet for relegation. Then they did something incredibly smart, they hired Tony Pulis. Pulis had been instrumental in Stoke's BPL rise, but was let go after last season as the Potters wanted to go in a different direction from Pulis's defensive style. As it turns out, that defensive style was just what the doctor ordered for Palace. They found themselves not only propelled out of the bottom three, but all the way to an 11th place finish. I'll be looking forward to seeing them in the league again next season.
Disappointment of the Year: MANCHESTER UNITED
Is there any way that this can go to any other club? The appointment of David Moyes turned out to be a complete disaster as United fell from champions to seventh, behind Moyes' old club Everton. The defense was a complete screw up for most of the season and United suffered with injuries in the attack with Wayne Rooney and RvP missing significant time. Moyes bought Juan Mata in January, but that seemed nothing more than a booby prize in the end as the former Chelsea man failed to be a game changer in the midfield and was often a defensive liability. In the end, Moyes was sacked and Ryan Giggs guided United to an unremarkable finish, but at least he wasn't Moyes. That brings us to our....
Story of the Year: David Moyes, damaged goods.
Moyes was the hand picked successor to Sir Alex, and hey, he won the Community Shield, but it was all down hill from there for United. A decent run in the Champions League wasn't enough to save Moyes, as he often looked like he was in way over his head with the pressure on, something he didn't have to deal with much at Everton. Is he really damaged goods now? It will be interesting to see where he ends up. Somebody will give him a shot.
And now finally here is the Puddle's Best XI for the Barclay's Premier League, 2014. I'm sure all the players mentioned will value this extremely high honor.....ahem.
GK--David De Gea: Manchester United
Defenders--Branislav Ivanovic: Chelsea. Gary Cahill: Chelsea. Vincent Kompany: Manchester City. Leighton Baines: Everton.
Midfielders--Adam Lallana: Southampton. Steven Gerrard: Liverpool. Yaya Toure: Manchester City. Eden Hazard: Chelsea.
Forwards--Luis Suarez: Liverpool. Daniel Sturridge--Liverpool.
Player of the Year--Luis Suarez: Liverpool
Manger of the Year--Brendan Rodgers: Liverpool.
One last note, I want to thank NBC Sports for the tremendous job they did in their first year with the BPL broadcast rights. It was so awesome to be able to watch any match I wanted to, live or on demand. Now we just need to get Rebecca Lowe on twitter.
I hope you all enjoyed the BPL season as much as I did. With the World Cup and the summer transfer window coming up, there will be plenty to talk about this summer, but I can't wait for August.
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