The Time to Look Forward

Two rounds left of the Premier League season, UCL final and FA Cup Final only days away... this is the bittersweet time for fans of the beautiful game. One may look back on moments of brilliance, of calamity, of conspiracy, and wonder what could have been. But as I've learned more and more with each passing season, the best thing is to revel in the reality and look forward to the future.

And the reality is that this was a strangely beautiful year for the English game. Kicked off immediately following a massively disappointing World Cup campaign, and by late summer it looked as if this would be a forgettable season, with Chelsea running away with the title after a flying start.

But that flight soon hit major turbulence, as the champions crashed to their worst run of form in decades around the holiday period. United surged on, as they do, and would not be caught. Arsenal continued their tradition of springtime capitulation.

So, maybe things at the very top were relatively ordinary. Elsewhere in the table, though, drama flourished.

Aston Villa fell from grace. Liverpool, with the help of a Merseyside legend, clawed their way back to near where they should be. Spurs played some of the most exciting--and attractive--football on the continent. Mancini's cautious ways nearly halted the best squad money can buy, but City dug out that Champions League place they need and will surely win some silverware tomorrow. And as always in the relegation battle, it's been riveting: a Blackpool side who play through midfield and West Ham proving they are certainly not too big to go down.

We're not crowning any champions yet, at least not until tomorrow, but all clubs, managers, supporters and players deserve accolades for making this the most exciting season in years, and the one where the so-called "Big Four" was finally dismantled.

It's time to hand out some awards:

PLAYER OF THE SEASON: Ryan Giggs. No, he won't win any individual awards this season. And no, he wasn't the one to rip Maicon to shreds at the San Siro. But the evergreen Giggs has been absolutely priceless in United's big games of the season. He, not Rooney, Hernandez, or Nani has been their most important player in what will go down as an historic United season. Some may argue that he simply did not play enough matches to be Player of the Season-- but he couldn't. He's 37 years old. And again, when United needed to win, he propelled them on.

(HONORABLE MENTION: Samir Nasri, Raul Meireles, Leon Osman)

MANAGER OF THE SEASON: Sir Alex Ferguson. I know-- it kills me to give both of these to MUFC. But credit where credit is due: Fergie did a great job with a very ordinary squad this year. United lacked the spark that has been so pivotal to their previous title winning sides, but still managed to grind out first place through determination, a holistic team effort, and big moments from big players.

(HONORABLE MENTION: Kenny Dalglish)

YOUNG PLAYER OF THE SEASON: Jack Wilshere. The obvious choice. In a season where Fabregas went missing, Wilshere has been class. He can play a number of roles in midfield, and his emotion for the game and for his club has been refreshing. The boy has a very, very bright future.

(HONORABLE MENTION: Danny Sturridge, Phil Jones, Javier Hernandez)

SIGNING OF THE SEASON: Javier Hernandez. It's simple: the number of goals he has scored for his club, considering how little money they paid for him. A source of boundless energy, and a surprisingly fitting foil to Rooney, he has deposed Berbatov, the club and league's leading scorer.

(HONORABLE MENTION: Rafa Van der Vaart, Luiz Suarez, Peter Odemwingie)

WORST SIGNING OF THE SEASON: Fernando Torres. A brilliant player, a good person, and one horrible, cringe-worthy season. Cursed by his price tag, but the seasons to come will redeem him.

There you have it. It's quite possible that by the end of this weekend, the title and the FA Cup will be decided. Come back to WSOTA for reaction and recap. Also, I will be covering the Champions League final at Wembley, live. Pictures and reactions to follow.

Feel free to post your comments, discussions, and pictures of Michael Ballack stuffing Patrice Evra.

Don't Call It A Comeback

It’s been quite some time since WSOTA had a post, but I’m looking to bring some life back to the old blog. It’s been an interesting year in the Prem, so there’s not a whole lot of time for nostalgia… but enough to say that it’s good to be back.

A quick recap: -Obviously, coming off a World Cup year, players looked a bit dull early on and have looked more than a bit fatigued as the season’s passed. The usual suspects (Ferguson, Redknapp, Wenger, et al.) are clamoring about the restructuring of international friendlies to mostly deaf ears.

-An additional official on each end line has been added to European competition. In all the games I’ve watched, they’ve made a grand total of zero calls and made no impact whatsoever. Oh—and goal line technology still doesn’t exist.

-Chelsea came roaring out of the traps after the summer and looked like they were going to run away with the trophy… until they hit the worst skid they’ve had in a decade, and fell out of the top 4. United have been how they always are: ruthlessly efficient, consistently getting results and consistently scoring goals after the 85^th minute. They have lacked a bit of flair and attacking prowess at times, though, despite Berbatov picking up some slack in the early months. Arsenal were pushing them hard for a bit, but then reverted back to what they always do and imploded: crashing out of the CL, losing the Carling Cup final to Birmingham, and taking big blows to their title hopes all in the space of about 10 days.

-Man City, United’s “Noisy Neighbors”, have been a Jekyl and Hyde show all season. Led by the swaggering Tevez (who has either professed his love for City or announced his retirement each weekend), they’ve been brilliant on some days and toothless on others. At this stage, they look likely to finish in the top four, which Mancini will swear was his only goal. City and Liverpool both crashed out of the Europa League, by the way.

-Liverpool drudged along in the bottom half for most of the season, but have mounted a late fight back. Luiz Suarez (I’ll talk more about transfers in a sec) has been brilliant, and they’ve climbed into the top 6. But a European place looks out of reach. Still, credit to King Kenny for turning things around on Merseyside.

-Spurs have been much like City, although Spurs fans won’t like that comparison. They show up for big occasions and look dazzling, but then can’t score on relegation sides. Bale has been scorching for them, terrorizing Inter Milan on their way to a good CL run that has surely ended in Madrid. Van der Vaart also looked like the signing of the season early on, with he and Modric providing tons of creativity and Lennon and Bale setting fire on the wings. All that said—they’ll still finish 5^th and miss out on the CL.

-TRANSFERS: Where to start? As mentioned above, I’d say Van der Vaart is still in pole position to be signing of the season, but Suarez for Liverpool looks promising, and Chicharito Hernandez has been in great form for United. My personal favorite signing: Stephane Sessegnon for Sunderland, whose pace and dribbling has been spectacular. A few clubs lost their minds in the January window: Villa spent 25 million on Bent, Liverpool spent 35 million on Andy Carroll (who still had a month of injury left), and West Ham nearly bankrupted themselves on Wayne Bridge’s wages. Still scratching my head on that one. Unfortunately though, the biggest transfer dud has been Chelsea’s: 50 mil on Fernando Torres. But I’ll get to that in a bit.

-There’s been a lot of talk about the Prem being “weaker this year”, because the gap between the top teams and the cellar dwellers is smaller. It’s all a load of hooey: of the 8 teams left in the CL quarters, 3 are English, 2 are Spanish, 1 Italian, a German and Shakhtar, this year’s over achievers. Pretty standard stuff. I think the tightness of the table speaks to the strength of the Prem, not the weakness. And whatever the cause, it’s a positive thing—I much prefer to follow a League where 5 teams are in for the title from the start, instead of two.

Whew. That’s a big recap. It’s been an eccentric football year for sure, but some things never change… Rooney’s still behaving like a shaved ape, Arsenal are still ‘too immature’ to challenge, Messi’s still unplayable, and Nicklas Bendtner still thinks he’s the best striker in the world.

Stay tuned with WSOTA. We’re going full speed ahead.