Sportsmail’s reporters look back on this historic season to pick out the best, and worst bits of the campaign; Biggest disappointment of the season
Ian Ladyman: Mauricio Pochettino. At the end of last season, he had led Tottenham to the Champions League final and it seemed from the outside as though he was ready to take his team to the next level. We were wrong.
Dominic King: How things ended for Pochettino at Spurs. He had given the fans hope, pride and expectation over five years. That relationship should not have ended as brutally as it did.
Chris Wheeler: Tottenham. Last season’s run to the Champions League final could have been the start of something special. Instead, this campaign fizzled out and Pochettino was gone in November.
Goal of the season
Sami Mokbel: Son Heung-min v Burnley. Picking up the ball just on the edge of his own area, he just kept going, and going, and going. He made some defenders look stupid en route before slotting past Nick Pope.
Matt Barlow: Son v Burnley. Twelve touches in 13 seconds, a sprint with the ball from the edge of his own penalty area leaving Burnley defenders in his wake, and a neat dink over the diving Pope.
Riath Al-Samarrai: Son v Burnley. A 70-yard run, pursued at one point or another by seven men, five of whom attempted challenges. The finish was really sweet as well. Stunning.
Howler of the season
Dominic King: VAR. Almost everything about VAR. The number of goals that have been disallowed for shoulder blades or toes being slightly ahead of a digital line is a joke. It is the joy killer.
Chris Sutton: The Sheffield United goal that was not given against Aston Villa last month. United clearly scored — we all saw it. But goal-line technology didn’t award it and VAR simply failed to do their job.
Adrian Kajumba: The goalline technology fail in the Aston Villa v Sheffield United game at the start of Project Restart just pips David de Gea’s butterfingers moment against Watford in December.
Manager of the season
Sami Mokbel: Wilder. What a season Sheffield United have had. They were favourites for relegation but Wilder has comfortably guided his team to a top 10 finish. No star names but the Blades have a top manager.
Matt Barlow: Wilder for his fearless first season in the top flight. Adventurous, innovative and brilliantly opinionated. The perfect antidote to some of the Premier League’s affectations.
Ian Ladyman: Wilder. His team went from the middle of September to the middle of June only losing to one Premier League team that wasn’t Liverpool or Manchester City. Amazing.
Game of the season
Chris Sutton: Norwich 3 Manchester City 2, September 2019. The rest of the season did not go according to plan, but this win will go down in the club’s history. It was absolutely exhilarating to watch.
Sami Mokbel: Norwich 3 Man City 2. A game to encapsulate the Premier League’s unpredictability. A rare high for Daniel Farke’s team. Norwich went down, but they’ll always have that win over the champions.
Adrian Kajumba: Norwich 3 Manchester City 2. One of the shocks of the season. Carrow Road was jumping and Pep Guardiola’s men were stunned by the cheaply assembled Premier League new boys.
Hero of the season
Chris Wheeler:
Rashford. The Manchester United player’s crusade to feed 1.3million underprivileged kids during lockdown and force a Government U-turn deserves all the praise possible.
Adrian Kajumba:
Rashford for his campaign against child poverty. When footballers were being questioned, Rashford slapped down those accusations with his tireless charitable efforts.
Jack Gaughan:
Rashford’s activism in forcing the Government to U-turn on free school meals was a clear example of the social responsibility many top-flight footballers now feel.
Matt Barlow: Supporters back in stadiums, obviously. It just isn’t the same without them. And a thorough reassessment of the whole wretched VAR thing would be most welcome too.
Martin Keown: Call me old-fashioned, but I’d most like to see supporters back in the stadiums. I’m looking forward to the day we will have a real roar coming from those stands once again.
Credit: dailymail.co.uk
The post The good, bad and ugly of this year’s Premier League appeared first on The Chronicle Online.
Read Full Story
Facebook
Twitter
Pinterest
Instagram
Google+
YouTube
LinkedIn
RSS