English Premier League 2008/09

Manchester United retained the title for this years' EPL though they weren't the invincible this season though - in fact they were mauled at home by Liverpool whom I thought was the best if they had everyone healthy. But then that is a key part of the long season as well - a good squad that can hang on without too much dependency on few individual players. The fact that ManU made it to the finals of the Champions League also talks highly about their consistency and depth of the squad. Their second string could easily get the better of a Hull City side who were fighting for relegation.

Overall pretty good season with some fight at the top and a scramble at the bottom as usual. Spots for the Europa league were also fought closely.

Team of the Year - in my view it was Fulham who barely escaped relegation last year which finished 7th to claim a Europa league ticket. Everton was another team who did very well, but that was kind of expected out of David Moyes' team. West Ham United and Aston Villa did well too, but fell short in the end.

Manager of the Year - has to be Zola in my book, with no real experience, he turned it around for West Ham. It is not just the results, but the way the team plays and things behind the field, everything was influenced by the ex-Chelsea Italian. I am looking forward to the next season where he will be in charge from the very beginning. Guus Hiddink did really well too to get Chelsea out of the rut and almost upstaged the eventual champions Barcelona in the semis. Another manager who turned around things at Tottenham was Harry Rednapp. But these are experienced folks who are expected to perform at this stage.

Flop team of the Year has to be Newcastle United without doubt - they deserved to go down despite bringing Shearer as the manager. It was Mike Ashley, the owners' screw up totally. There were no leaders among the players either - Michael Owen was a true disappointment and was sidelined for the last few matches. Gareth Southgate was another manager who disappointed - though the quality of the players weren't that bad, the team never clicked and surely this is something the manager has to take the blame.

Scolari should rank as the biggest flop as a manager - may be he would have realized that club and country football are two different things. Didier Drogba was handled very poorly by him and the team played without any spirit under him.

But as usual the big 4 held on with Aston Villa challenging them a bit but falling short badly in the end. Arsenal struggled a bit to hold off their challenge, but overall it was a descent performance from the young team. Wenger needs to have some experience at the back and in the midfield if he has any aspirations to challenge the first three. Manchester City was a big disappointment and Robinho seems to be another selfish player who is more interested in his performance than that of the team. If I were Mark Hughes, I would build a team without him. Their away record was pathetic to say the least. Stoke city impressed at the bottom with spirited display and Hull City hung on after the initial flourish.

It is the usual break, things will roll again in couple of months and I am planning to blog a bit more often on Premier League with my analysis.