Barclay's Premier League Best XI and Review 2014

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.

Cardiff City Wins Promotion to Barclay's Premier League

Craig Bellamy and Cardiff City have clinched promotion to the EPL (BBC.co.uk)

It's been a long time coming, but Cardiff City have finally secured promotion to the Barclay's Premier League, where they'll play next year.  As it turns out, they'll be bringing at least one familiar face with them, Craig Bellamy, lately of Liverpool fame.  The Blue Birds clinched a spot in next year's top flight by securing a point in a 0-0 draw with Charlton yesterday.

Cardiff have lead the nPower Championship for the last 21 weeks, and the promotion caps a tumultuous year for the club.  Last summer the club's new Malaysian owner forced a change of kit color from Cardiff's iconic blue to red.  Earlier this season he also began to talk about changing the club's name to the Cardiff Dragons, which not everyone has been thrilled over.  However, for now, both owner and supporter alike will rejoice the club's promotion to England's top flight.  Now the question remains as to whether their owner will spend the money it takes to keep them there.  However, money is not always the key to staying in the EPL, just ask QPR.

Cardiff, who lost last year's League Cup final to Bellamy's Liverpool, will be the second Welsh club to feature in the Barlcay's Premier League.  They'll join this year's League Cup winners Swansea City.  This also means that the heated South Wales derby will return and take place at the Premier League level for the first time.  That should be really great for everyone involved.

There are still two promotion places left in the Championship.  Cardiff top the table with 84 points.  Hull City look to be in a good position to sew up the second automatic spot in second place with 77 points.  The next four teams in the standings, Watford (77 pts), Brighton (66 points), Crystal Palace (66 points), and Leicester (64 points) will participate in a playoff for the final spot if the table holds.  Last year's relegates Bolton Wanderers and Nottingham Forest sit right on the outside looking in with 63 points.   In case you're wondering about the other two sides to be relegated from the Premier League last year, both Wolverhampton and Blackburn sit just barely above the bottom three, which would drop them into League 1, the the third division of English football.

But for now, congratulations to Cardiff, and welcome to the Barclay's Premier League.

EPL Moves: Bellamy Leaves Liverpool, Lukaku Loaned

Welsh International Craig Bellamy has returned to Cardiff City on a new deal.

There have been some interesting moves out of the Barclay's Premier League today, particularly from Anfield.  First off it has been announced that Craig Bellamy has left Liverpool to return to Wales and League Championship side Cardiff City.  Bellamy won the Carling Cup in his second stint at Liverpool last season, but had been vocal about the fact that he'd like to return to Wales and be closer to his family.  Two seasons ago Bellamy played for Cardiff on loan from Manchester City and really enjoyed it.  He is expected to join the Blue Birds in training next week and will be available for selection when they open up league play vs. Huddersfield next Friday.  The transfer fee was not disclosed, but Bellamy has signed a new two year deal with Cardiff.

However the Reds will be gaining a different Welsh International to help fill the void.  Sky Sports is reporting today that former Swansea City man Joe Allen has finalized his move to the red side of Merseyside.   The deal was finally completed after Allen attended Liverpool's Europa League match yesterday at Anfield.  He'll be reunited with former boss Brendan Rodgers.  Allen scored 4 goals in 39 appearances across all competitions last year for Swansea.

Chelsea FC was also active today, this time in the loan market.  They've sent striker Romelu Lukaku on loan to West Bromwich Albion for the season.  The man hailed as "the new Drogba" had a hard time getting into the team last year with so many forwards ahead of him, failing to tally a goal in 8 appearances.  He'll now join West Brom after playing with the Blues on their USA tour this summer and will hopefully gain some experience with the Baggies.

2012 Carling Cup Final: Cardiff City vs. Liverpool

Joe Mason puts Cardiff up 1-0 (Carling.com)

There's always something special about a cup final, even if it's not huge like the Champions League. Cup finals are fairly unique to footy, and the teams always get up to play when there's silverware on the line. Certainly both Cardiff and Liverpool got up for this one. Cardiff was trying to become the first non-English side to win a English league major trophy since 1927. Liverpool was trying to win it's first trophy in six years.

The Reds announced their intentions quite quickly, as Glen Johnson cracked a shot off of the crossbar in the second minute. Liverpool would go on to control most of the possession in the early minutes, as well as in the entire match. However, a theme started to emerge. Despite Liverpool's possession and good build up play, they were having a hard time working the goalkeeper. Andy Carroll got a couple of header chances. One went wide in the 15th minute, and had another easily saved in the 18th.

Cardiff on the other hand drew first blood on what was only really their second attack of the match. In the 19th minute Kenny Miller slipped a ball through the Liverpool defense to Joe Mason in the six yard box. He deftly put the ball between Pepe Reina's legs to give Cardiff City the improbable 1-0 lead.

Liverpool didn't miss too much of a beat after that as they continued to possess and attack. Unfortunately, they turned out to be very wasteful. Both Andy Carroll and Jose Enrique sent shots into orbit, and even Steven Gerrard had a tough time finding the target, The first half came to an end with Cardiff City still clinging to their 1-0 lead.

The second half was pretty much a direct continuation of the first, with Liverpool dominating possession, but not converting their chances, Jordan Henderson went way off target in the 47th, and Charlie Adam had an effort blocked in the 52nd. Liverpool did find their breakthrough in the 60th though. Luis Suarez hit the post after a corner kick, but the rebound went right to Martin Skrtel, who calmly kicked the ball into the net to equalize at 1-1.

Cardiff was certainly stunned after that, and the fatigue started to show on the faces of both sides. The Blue Birds did get a couple of chances to win it late on though. Ben Turner hit a header just barely wide in the 83rd, and Kenny Miller scraped the paint off of the top of the crossbar in the 88th. At full time we were still tied at 1-1, and went into extra time.

The first fifteen minutes of extra time were fairly uneventful, but controlled by Liverpool. Luis Suarez did have a potential winner cleared off the line in the 92nd, and Craig Bellamy went not too far high in the 105th, but after the first 15 minutes, it was still 1-1.

So the two teams switched sides and got it on one more time. This time, Liverpool was able to poke their heads in front. In the 108th minute, a Cardiff player hit a bad clearance right to Dirk Kuyt in the area. It took Kuyt by surprise a little bit, but even as he tumbled over backward he managed to poke a shot toward goal that snuck in the bottom corner to give Liverpool the 1-2 lead. Cardiff wasn't out though, they had some heroics of their own up their sleeve. In the 118th minute, Ben Turner got a rebound given up after a corner and nutmegged Reina once again to tie the match at 2-2 and send the Wembley crowd into a frenzy.

Since the extra time couldn't sort things out, the match went to the penalty shootout. Steven Gerrard went first for Liverpool, and had his shot saved. Kenny Miller then hit the post for Cardiff, and Charlie Adam sent his kick into the cheap seats for Liverpool. Don Cowie drew first blood for Cardiff by beating Reina, only to have Liverpool come back level with a professional strike from Dirk Kuyt. Next up for Cardiff was Rudy Gestede, but he also hit the post and put the advantage in Liverpool's hands. Stewart Downing scored next for the Reds, and Peter Whittingham equalized for Cardiff at 2-2. Then Glen Johnson hit the roof of the inside of the net to make 3-2.

That left it all to Anthony Gerrard. He's the younger cousin of Liverpool's Steven Gerrard. If he missed his kick, his older, more famous cousin would lift the Carling Cup. Yeah, kind of sounds like a Hollywood script. Anthony did indeed miss his kick, quite horribly, giving Liverpool the Carling Cup 2-3 on penalties. As soon as it happened, Steven went not to his team, but to his younger cousin to console him. It was a real class move on his part.

This really was one of those matches where it really stinks that someone has to lose. I know it's cliche, but it's true. Cardiff played their tails off all match long and truly left it all on the pitch. In the end, penalties is a cruel way to decide a trophy, but congratulations to Liverpool for winning the Carling Cup!