Premier League Review || The Rest

the-gorilla (75)memberin World Of Football ⚽ • 3 years ago

It's time to finish off my "mini-series" with "The Rest". We've covered "The Big-6" (North and South), "The Closing Pack" and "The Promoted-3" and these remaining teams are there to make up the numbers. Aston Villa, Newcastle, Crystal Palace, Southampton, Brighton, Burnley and Sheffield United.

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At this point, I'll give you some credit for continuing reading. This can only mean 1 of 3 things:

You support one of the aforementioned teams
You are avoiding doing something more productive
You think this might be entertaining somehow.

I'm betting that for most of you, it's number 2.

Aston Villa (11th)

Having narrowly avoided relegation on the final day of last season, I don't think much was expected from Aston Villa this time around. It's often thought that Aston Villa are a one-man team and for a large portion of the season, they were and this man was rightly included in the Premier League Team of the Season - Emi Martinez.

I might have mentioned that I play Fantasy Football and I didn't get Martinez into my team. Week after week, I'd watch as Martinez made save after save, picking up more bonus points than any other keeper. Given my analysis of Arsenal highlighted their perceived weakness in goal, why Arsenal let him go is a mystery to me. They've also got one of the most exciting players in the EPL in Jack Grealish. My hopes rest upon him if England are to succeed this summer.

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Achieving 11th place is their best league finish since the 2010/11 season (when they finished 9th (source), the late, great Gerard Houiller was in charge at the time. The only downside this season for me is Dean Smith's inability to tell the truth about injuries. I don't know who he thinks he's fooling but knowing some Villa fans, even they're pissed off with his nonsense.

Verdict: Pleased

Newcastle (12th)

It hurts me to see Newcastle finish this high. With 8 games to go, I was hopeful that Fulham's flowing football would overtake the tripe that Steve Bruce was dishing up and see Newcastle get relegated.

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But the return of Callum Wilson from injury and Saint-Maximin regaining some fitness allowed them to play their defensive, boring way and hit teams on the counter-attack. It worked well and unfortunately for us, we'll have to put up with it again next season until Mike Ashley sells up and a new owner gives him the boot.

Verdict: Newcastle will be delighted. Football fans around the world will be very disappointed

Crystal Palace (14th)

And if I thought Newcastle played crap football, where better to go next than to Crystal Palace? It wouldn't be right to contribute to World of Football without mentioning Cristiano Ronaldo or Lionel Messi and how amazing they are. Neither of them have played for Crystal Palace and I don't think even they'd make this team exciting.

Perhaps I'm being harsh on Palace. In Zaha and Eze, they have 2 creative players with a bit of flair but Hodgson demands a lot of them defensively and I think this has curbed their ability to entertain this season.

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It's another decent, mid-table finish for Palace and Roy Hodgson has done a decent job in cementing them as a boring, rather pointless mid-table team. Now that Hodgson's left, hopefully to spend a bit more time in the garden, it'll be interesting to see who the replacement is and what they can bring to the table. If the rumours surrounding Nuno Espirito Santos are true, then they could kick on (why he'd go there, I have no idea though). Otherwise, I think they could be in for a tough transition period which could see them have a tough time next season.

Verdict: Satisfied

Southampton (15th)

I can't decide what to make of Southampton's season - at one point flying high in 3rd place, before winning 1 game in 14 and dropping down to 14th.

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They've struggled to cope with Danny Ings' constant injuries in particular and despite seeming to have an ok squad on paper, I don't really feel that they have an identity / style of play at the moment. Although they do have a reputation for playing with a high line which gets beaten too easily, too often.

So like I say, I'm undecided here.

Verdict: Satisfied?

Brighton (16th)

If the Premier League table were ordered by the number of shots a team has, Brighton would have finished 7th (source). I watched so many of their games this season in which they dominated possession, created loads of chances, and then lost.

Considering the quality of football they played, this is one team that will feel extremely unlucky to spend most of the season around the relegation spots.

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I can only put this down to a lack of quality up front and their ability to perform at crucial moments. They defended well and you wonder why the likes of Maupay and Welbeck weren't able to score more. Perhaps if Welbeck had avoided injury, they would have finished higher and they certainly need to keep him fit if they want to avoid more of the same next season.

Verdict: Disappointed and will consider themselves incredibly unlucky

Burnley (17th)

When you look at the Burnley squad, you see a solid, hard working group of players with Dwight McNeil probably the only player with the quality to unlock a defence. When you take this into account, I don't think it comes as a surprise to see them at the wrong end of the table.

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They've always relied so much on being solid defensively with Pope, Tarkowski and Mee absolutely crucial in keeping opponents out. So it was no great shock that their 1st league win this season coincided with Ben Mee's return from injury. It was a tough season for Burnley and being a club that has the smallest resources from all of the clubs in the Premier League, survival could be considered a success. But having cemented themselves as another rather pointless Premier League team, they'll need to find some way of doing more if they hope to stay up again next season.

Verdict: Disappointed

Sheffield United (20th 👋)

After a 2-0 loss to Wolves on the 1st day of the season, Sheffield Utd were riding high in 13th position, if you were to tell me they'd have 2 points in their first 17 games, I'd have laughed. This was the worst Premier League start in history and on course to smash Derby's record of just 11 points in a Premier League season.

Despite this though, it was a surprise that they parted ways with Chris Wilder when they did. With relegation as good as guaranteed by Christmas, surely their best chance of regaining promotion was with the man that had got them there in the 1st place?

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Sheffield United's biggest problem was in attack, closely followed by their midfield, defence and goalkeeper. They failed to create chances and failed to take the few chances they created. As a friend of mine once said "they couldn't finish a happy meal".

As I said, without Chris Wilder, I don't think we'll be seeing Sheffield United back in the Premier League any time soon.

Verdict: Embarrassed

This concludes my Premier League review, I hope you've enjoyed it.