British Expatriate Network

Man U won but at least for most of the season there was an actual competition.
Chelsea won't be happy so I bet Mouriniho will have to go.

Ars***l looked very vulnerable and if Spurs had had a better start we may well have pipped them for 4th spot. But we're back in Europe again.


Necastle, Man City, Villa, Blackburn etc. all had shit seasons but they stayed up. They should relegate 6 or 7 teams.

I felt sorry for Sheffield U. There's not much going on up in that city, so for them, this was the highlight, and that manager seems like a good bloke. It was good to see Charlton go down. I bet Addick is up there, swearing like mad at the moment. Him aside, they're still a shit team.

Would have liked to have seen West Ham go down again. But there again, them staying will guarantee Spurs six points next season. D

Now its the boring summer, no football except for that kiddies MLS stuff. Thats like watching paint dry.

That's enough of imy nsightful and penertrating analysis, suppose I'll now have dedicate my weekends to picking up birds.

Manure are worthy winners - they played the best football. Vidic made Ferdinand look crap (which he is) and Manures midfield was fantastic - Ronaldo was as good as anyone I've seen in the Premier League. Chelski were unbearably dull - yes they had a massive amount of injuries this year, but with those players they should be playing good football. Shevchenko was shite, Ballack looked bored, Diarra was awful, and Terry is still conning everyone that he's any good. Carvalho, Cech and Drogba were excellent. Arsenal seemed to be playing a game of keep-ball all year - they looked better than any club but couldn't score for toffee. But they had alot of injuries oto - but they need a striker. Eto'o maybe?

I'm glad Charlton went down because they were terrible. Watford were worse but people liked Boothroyd - he makes me laugh with his idiotic "we'll never stop fighting" bollocks after losing 5-0 for the third game in a row. Sheff Utd were fairly awful too and Warnock is getting alot of stick today in the press. He'd make a good pundit but does he have to talk such bollocks after every game? I would have liked West Ham to go down just cuz they'd have to sell everyone again. But I really wanted Wigan to go down - their crowds are pathetic. And the fans are delusional - they were criticising Paul Jewell all year - this is a club that have been promoted straight from Div 1 to the Premier League.

As for my club - Liverpool - another stupid year in the league. An awful start and another amazing unbeaten run. But we're still 15 points behind the top 2. The team is decent enough but some people just didn't perform. Reina was excellent all year. Carragher was the best defender in the league again. Alonso was superb. Kuyt just amazed me with his endless running even if he didn't score more. The three big signings from last year - Bellamy, Pennant and Gonzalez were average. Luis Garcia was great but injured all the time. Finnan did well but he's probably on his way. Riise was good but stuck in defence. Kewell was injured all year. Sissoko was injured half the time. Mascherano looks tasty but for an Argie he can't pass at all. Benitez doesn't seem to like Crouch who had a great year but never really got a run in the team. And lastly, Stevie G seemed off the boil most of the year. But that's in the league - in the Champs League - man we looked good in that competition! I really think we'll win it again.

Players of the year? Ronaldo really was awesome. I don't think you would find one person in Britain who still hates him or even thinks he was a villain in the World cup. He's really done exactly the right thing - kept his gob shut, stopped diving, and played sublime football. He's player of the year easily. Carvalho, Fabregas, David James, Gary Speed, Agbonlahor, Arteta, Robbie Keane and Seol Ki Heon were very good all year. The most surprising player of the season for me is Dimitar Berbatov. 10 million is an absolute bargain for someone who has just amazed at how easy he fitted into the premier league. You can see how much the rest of Spurs love playing with him. Oh and Moo - what happened to Ledley King? 2 years ago he was the most promising defender in the league - now he can't get a game for Spurs. And I should mention Joey Barton - he's the newest media darling in the UK - supposed to be the next big midfielder challenging Lampard and Gerrard for best midfielder. Let me put this simply - he's shit. Seriously, how anyone can view him as a decent player is beyond me.

He was injured most ofhte season. Thats the reason we was crap for most of the time. Thank god we could score like crazy, but without King, our defense was as wide open as a tart's underneath.

King only just came back a couple of weeks ago. Even with him back our defence looks a little shaky. I'm not sure what the issue is as the defenders are better than the goals against suggests. Maybe it's just practice playing together when everyone is fit. Dunno.
I just hope we can keep Berbatov....also I'd like to see Defoe stay. I've always thought he was class and I'm amazed he's stayed as long as he has.

We should ditch, Mido, Lee, Tainio, Gahly, Gardner, Staltari, Rocha and Malbranque and bring in some realy top class players.

I think we should hang onto Malbranque...he's skillful, has lots of energy and scores a goal or two. I like Tainio but we could do with better. As far as Rocha goes, he's ok but I'm not convinced yet. I agree on the rest though.

One of the comments of the year was Martin Jol explaining why he picked Tainio ahead of Malbranque in the UEFA cup - he said he needed one player on the field to kick anyone that moved. Lee was almost a Roma player in January so he'll be off - apparently he didn't like the church at the Roma training ground when he went over there! Mido will go - again. Gahly is ok but shouldn't have chucked his shirt at Jol so he's off. Gardner is crap. Stalteri is ok but should go. I think Jol should buy Wayne Bridge - seems like the obvious place for him to go to me.

I'm not really convinced that my beloved Spurs can do it unless we are bought out by some Azerbaijanian billionaire who can lure the likes of Kakka, Eto etc etc.

To me it wasn't a complete suprise that it was between Man Utd and Chelsea going into the final stretch of the season. Ronaldo looked pretty good this season and weathered the post world cup storm. Both teams had defensive crisis at different times this season but Man Utd seemed to ride out the storm (apart from that stormy night in Milan wink ) Arsenal and Liverpool were again inconsistant on the road, Arsenal tried to walk in every other goal and Liverpool's home record was pretty good but it just seemed that Liverpool's away record was patchy again this season.

After a slow start start I thought Berbatov was great (I had him in my fantasy team!!) I thought Jol was going to get the sack but he seemed to turn things around. Reading was a good story this season, where as Newcastle and Man City were a disappointment. Martin O'Neil started off well at the Villa then regressed and looked pretty good towards the end of the season.

I think if someone would have said to me at the start of the season that Watford, Charlton, (bless him, Addick) Sheff Utd, Wigan, Fulham and West Ham would have all been in a relegation dogfight I don't think I'd have been suprised wink
I think that Tevez has been amazing going into the final stretch of the season. I feel for Sheff Utd, what with the aftermath of the Tevez/Mascharano loan deal but Sheffield's destiny was in their hands and they blew it.

The TV coverage was pretty good, a live game at 10AM, 1215PM and a live game on a Sunday morning at 11AM was a welcome addition. I just wish I had Setanta and it would have been really sweet!!! wink

As a neutralish EPL football fan I think it was a pretty good season.

Agreed, very pleased with progress of Spurs the last couple of years, there perennial mid table position is turning into a resident upper table position which means Europe and, lets face it more money. Jol seems to be a safe pair of hands.

I am disturbed by how team success in the EPL is almost directly tied to capital investment and that makes me worry for the future of the game.

I dunno - lets see how Everton, Portsmouth and Reading do next year. If Everton finish in the top 6 without splashing too much money there is hope for us all. Cahill was injured all year and their strikers never really did a job - I'm confident they would have challenged Arsenal and Liverpool with Cahill fit. Reading have done a Wigan, and Coppell even stated that if they got into Europe he would play a B team in it because it would be very harmful to staying in the top flight. But they lost Sidwell and one of their 3 strikers is surely off.

I'm very interested to see what happens in the north East next year. Allardyce could do well at Newcastle - it won't be long ball that's for sure - he has the three shortest strikers in the EPL (Owen, Martins and Rossi). But they could die on their arse. I hate the stupidity of Toon fans who think Newcastle are the biggest club in the league after Manure and Liverpool. Roy Keane is back the EPl and I'm extremely excited about that. He really was the best player in England for some time, and his first year as manager has been phenomenal. Sunderland need to buy a big-time striker though - I imagine they'll go fish in Holland for someone. Huntelaar, Mitea, Farfan, Nguyen, Charisteas and Koevermans are all looking to move to England. One of them has to be the dog's bollocks.

The Wigan/Reading parallel is a good one.
I wonder where Sidwell's going?
CoughChelseaCough :wink:

Rossi went back to Man Utd, he's out on loan in Italy.

Even though he's not in Holland I bet an EPL team goes after Van Der Vaart