Official Premier League 2015-2016 Season (Page 6 for 2015)

[Sload Soap]

That was a sweet game to watch. A couple of years ago Di Maria would never have got sent off like that but since the red nosed bully left the refs aren't scared anymore.

[Sload Soap]

That's another year done. Haven't updated the thread in a while but here is the final standings with the champions league teams in blue the Europa league in green and the relegated teams in red.


P W D L GF GA GD PTS
1 Chelsea 38 26 9 3 73 32 41 87
2 Man City 38 24 7 7 83 38 45 79
3 Arsenal 38 22 9 7 71 36 35 75
4 Man U 38 20 10 8 62 37 25 70
5 Spurs 38 19 7 12 58 53 5 64
6 Liverpool 38 18 8 12 52 48 4 62
7 Southampton 38 18 6 14 54 33 21 60
8 Swansea City 38 16 8 14 46 49 -3 56
9 Stoke City 38 15 9 14 48 45 3 54
10 Crystal Palace 38 13 9 16 47 51 -4 48
11 Everton 38 12 11 15 48 50 -2 47
12 West Ham 38 12 11 15 44 47 -3 47
13 West Brom 38 11 11 16 38 51 -13 44
14 Leicester City 38 11 8 19 46 55 -9 41
15 Newcastle United 38 10 9 19 40 63 -23 39
16 Sunderland 38 7 17 14 31 53 -22 38
17 Aston Villa 38 10 8 20 31 57 -26 38
18 Hull City 38 8 11 19 33 51 -18 35
19 Burnley 38 7 12 19 28 53 -25 33
20 QPR 38 8 6 24 42 73 -31 30

In the end Chelsea basically strolled to the trophy so we didn't have excitement of seasons past. Not to take away from Chelsea, they didn't play the nicest football but they did play winning football (I myself quite like their defensive stability, having been bred on Italian football).

For all City and Arsenal's frequently magnificent and intricate football, they still never looked like convincing title challengers for large stretches of the season. Indeed, Southampton spent longer in the top four than Arsenal this season. And United spent £150 million to get fourth, so err, well done, lads.

Relegation wasn't much more interesting either. QPR were dreadful from the off, Burnley had punched above their weight to be in the league to begin with and Hull were toothless to the end. I sort of feel bad for Hull; their team couldn't score but at least they tried. Newcastle had a run of nine straight defeats and were just the worst to watch. Awful club. Leicester City pulled off maybe one of the greatest escapes from the drop which was fun, even if the pressure to avoid the drop made their already unstable manager Nigel Pearson call a journalist an ostrich.

Biggest disappointment have to be Liverpool however. Yes they lost their best player in the summer but they spent the Suarez money and more only to receive a deeply flawed team that were both wonderful and woeful in equal measure. Manager Brendan Rodgers will probably be getting the axe in the close season and their current best player Raheem Sterling is basically forcing the club to sell him. A tough summer ahead for Liverbirds.

Staying with Liverpool and misery, Steven Gerrard "celebrated" his long tenure with his boyhood club by having his final game at Anfield be a dreadful 1-3 loss to Crystal Palace and then his final league game being a 6-1 drubbing away to Stoke City (which is also the worst defeat Liverpool have suffered since the 50's). Poor old tax dodging, DJ punching Stevie G. His future now lays in LA with the Galaxy, following in the footsteps of that other tax dodging man of the people, David Beckham.

Two other players hanging up their boots yesterday, Didier Drgoba, Chelsea's wonderful but rather cheaty striker and "Fat" Frankie Lampard who is not fat. It was interesting having Gerrard and Lampard both book off to America on the same day as it reignited the old argument over who was better. For me there was never any argument: Lampard every time.

Elsewhere, while some teams underperformed some, like Swansea and most notably Southampton, both had excellent seasons. Southampton were mooted by some for relegation but ended up spending most of the season pushing for a Champions League place. Ronald Koeman gets my nod for manager of the season, not just coming into the broiling waters that the Premier League can be but taking an unfancied team and improving them despite losing most of their talent in the summer. Top marks.

So that's the league. We still have the FA Cup final between Arsenal and Aston Villa to come, and Norwich City are currently winning the play off final to secure the last promotion place into the league alongside Watford and Bournemouth.

The big one though is an intriguing looking Champions League final between imperious Spanish champions, Barcelona and less imperious Italian champions, Juventus. Not quite as clear cut a game as some are making out, especially considering Juventus' excellent battling performance to knock Real Madrid out in the semi-finals. Oh, and Sevilla and Dnipro are in the Europa league final, but no one gives a shit about that.

Overall: some excellent football played as usual but generally a feeling of disappointment and malaise about the Premier League as a concept. We get bombarded with the notion that this is the greatest league in the world but this is getting increasingly harder to qualify when a Spanish team sits in the final of both European competitions and all the English teams fell out in the quarters or before.

The English teams will get richer but that doesn't necessarily equate to better. We'll see though. Hopefully the increase in money into the league will make it more open and competitive but it's hard to shake the felling that all it will really do is further separate the top four teams from the rest. As good as people say La Liga or the Bundesliga are, it is still full of teams that are so financially incapable of competing with the Real's, Barca's and Bayern's that 8-0 thrashings are a worryingly regular occurrence. The PL isn't quite that lopsided as yet and I hope it stays that way.

Not going to make any predictions for next season but I expect an expensive and busy summer transfer market for all. Now time to start watching the MLS! Go New York City!

[Blu]

Bump! The first two weeks are at a close. Arsenal would've been relegated if the season ended after one game. I bet you're excited that your Citizens annihilated Chelsea yesterday, Sload.

I think it'll be between Arsenal and City this year, to be honest.

[Thierry Henry]

I think it'll be between Arsenal and City this year, to be honest.

That's a brave call leaving Chelsea out of the mix.

Even taking into account their poor start, Mourinho is highly likely to have them right up there during the final stretch of this campaign.
He certainly has some work ahead of him, though, to turn this mini slump around.
Fabregas looks out of sorts. Ivanovic looks old. Terry looks even older. Hazard is misfiring.

Even though I think he's a high class manager, I'm certainly not what you'd call Mourinho's biggest fan. The way he recently treated his own medical staff was way out of line.
Highly influential character with great football acumen, but for me he comes off as a boorish person who tends to make his footballing successes all about himself.

[Blu]

I think it'll be between Arsenal and City this year, to be honest.

That's a brave call leaving Chelsea out of the mix.

Even taking into account their poor start, Mourinho is highly likely to have them right up there during the final stretch of this campaign.
He certainly has some work ahead of him, though, to turn this mini slump around.
Fabregas looks out of sorts. Ivanovic looks old. Terry looks even older. Hazard is misfiring.

Even though I think he's a high class manager, I'm certainly not what you'd call Mourinho's biggest fan. The way he recently treated his own medical staff was way out of line.
Highly influential character with great football acumen, but for me he comes off as a boorish person who tends to make his footballing successes all about himself.

Haha, you definitely have a knack for tact. I think he's a pompous ass. I don't know that Chelsea will be title contenders unless they sort that backline out and start firing on their offense.
I think we have our own problems to sort out. Our backline can't hold a cleansheet yet. Ozil setting up great chances, but doesn't take clear ones of his own. I'm willing to give Giroud one last chance, but deep down I don't know that Walcott and Giroud are it.

Liverpool and Man U are tight defensively so far, which is a complete reversal from last season.
Chelsea and So'ton are leaking goals, what is going on with the start of the EPL?!

[Sload Soap]

I can usually tolerate Mourinho's attitude but he's just coming across as petulant this season and we're only two games in! Apparently there are some mitigating circumstances, his dad has been seriously ill for a while, but when he said our 3-0 over them was a "fake" result I just thought "fuck off, Jose".

I mean it was fake in a way; we should have beat them by six. And the way he treated his medical staff is laughable and should have seen him hit with a fine. He's extra pissy at the moment though because people are seeing through his tactics on the pitch as easily as they are off it.

Anyway, City look good, Liverpool and United look okay, I guess. Not sure on Arsenal still. Cech is a good signing, even if he has had two dodgy games, but they still lack a commanding midfielder in the vein of Viera. I really thought they'd make a move for Kondogbia but Inter beat them to it. As has been pointed out, they lack the ability to command games which leaves them in positions where mid-table teams like West Ham and Palace can do them damage. Coq Au Vin is a bit young and naive at times, although I do rate him.

But yeah, way too early to call anything and the transfer window is open for 12 more days so plenty could change.

[Thierry Henry]

Goodness me some of the results lately.

Still early doors but some of the big boys really need to get in gear and soon.

Credit, though, to where credit is due. The so called "lesser" teams sure are putting on quite a show!

[Sload Soap]

To be honest, the weekends results don't really shock me that much. Liverpool have been fully capable of getting tatered like that for a few seasons now, Crystal Palace are a solid team while Chelsea are in poor form and Swansea play better football than United. Arsenal really labored again at Newcastle as well, albeit, they got the win. So, for another weekend, only City look like they know what they're doing.

International break now, but before that the madness of the final day of the transfer window. Are United and Chelsea preparing some megabucks bids? Those Bale and Pogba rumours won't go away...

[Razzmatazz]

Can't see Bale going, he's just done his first full interview in Spanish at Madrid. He seems happy there and anywhere but Bayern or Barca would be a downgrade IMO.

Great season so far in the Premier League, although my team (Spurs) have been awful. The Everton game highlighted how drastically we miss the 4-4-2 system of a few years ago. I must have shouted at Harry Kane ten times during that match, as he was playing defensive mid for much of the game. He's a goalscorer, not a Rooney style "has to be everywhere" player.

Man City look strong and if they get cover for Aguero, the title is theirs. Chelsea are suffering from Mourinho's "3rd season syndrome" and wouldn't surprise me if he moves on again next year. He's been quite erratic so far this season, and more petulant than usual. Can't believe how poor players like Ivanovic and Fabregas have been. De Gea leaving United shows how far behind United have fallen behind the likes of Madrid, selling their best player to them for a meagre 29 mill. Never understood how goalkeepers are worth less than outfield players, when they are essential to your team.

[Thierry Henry]

De Gea leaving United shows how far behind United have fallen behind the likes of Madrid, selling their best player to them for a meagre 29 mill. Never understood how goalkeepers are worth less than outfield players, when they are essential to your team.

Is De Gea leaving confirmed?