Nineteen games in, the half way stage. How quick has that gone?
Every team has played each other once and the league table is starting to take shape, to a point where we can start thinking about how it will all end. One of the major factors deciding the fate of many clubs will take place in the first month of the new year.
Transfer window month, known by some people as January, will take centre stage in the coming weeks on every fans favourite sports television channel Sky Sports News HQ. I cannot wait myself. I am finding it tough to put my excitement into words.
Before we embark on such an electrifying January transfer journey, we must have a look at the season so far. I have come up with a really imaginative format for this. The ‘Season Thus Far’ Awards.
The Best Team
The league table does not lie, said some wise bloke at some point in time. Except on this occasion. LEICESTER CITY, regardless of the background story of them going from (this time last year) relegation fodder to Champions League chasers, are the best performing team in Premier League so far this season. When you add in the fact that yes, they used to be pretty rubbish, how can you look past them? Arsenal may be top, but that is merely on goal difference. Plus, the Foxes (37) have scored more goals than the Arse (33), and as many Arsenal supporters (both glory hunting and otherwise) will tell you, it is all about the entertainment. Sorry Arsene, Claudio is outdoing you my friend, with a squad that cost a damn sight less.
The Best Player
The best player does not lie, said some wise bloke at some point in time. Except on this occasion. RIYAD MAHREZ recently said in an interview that he felt his team ‘could not win the Premier League’. True, it will be tough, but this is not an impossibility, especially with this man on form. The Foxes star has scored thirteen times from 39 shots so far this term, as well as assisting team mates for goals on seven occasions. Trusted statistics website Who Scored have Mahrez positioned in third between Messi and Ibrahimovic for his performance thus far. The Algerian international is a joy to watch.
The Best Manager
The best manager does not … just kidding! Right, before you accuse me of being a closet Leicester City fan, I must categorically state that I am not, I just bloody well wished I was! CLAUDIO RANIERI just about pips Watford’s Quique Flores to this one. The Italian, once known as the ‘Tinkerman’, will probably be referred to soon in most of Leicestershire as ‘God‘. He has continued the fantastic work Nigel Pearson did at the back end of 2014/15 and his record stands at eleven wins, six draws and just two defeats. TWO. During the first half of last season the Foxes fans had seen their team lose TWELVE times. Quite an improvement.
The Best Win
For me it has to be BOURNEMOUTH’S fantastic victory at Stamford Bridge against last season’s Premier League title winners. You may point to Chelsea’s lack of form this campaign as a reason to not award it to this particular match, however, when you consider that Cherries manager Eddie Howe referred to it as the clubs biggest ever win it puts it all into perspective. Bournemouth have risen through the divisions and are now competing with the biggest teams in the land week in, week out. That in itself is massive. Instead of taking it all in and admiring the view, Howe has got his team fighting for every point. With four key Cherries players out injured they have had to rely on some fresh blood so far and it was former Palace man Glenn Murray who scored the winner in this one to send the away supporters into wild celebrations.
The Worst Team
ASTON VILLA are really, really struggling … Sorry, I had to stop typing for a moment there to wipe away the tears …. of laughter! The Birmingham based club are currently on a record eighteen game win-less league run and are for this stage of a Premier League season the team with the third lowest amount of points behind Sunderland (six in 2005/06) and Derby County (seven in 2007/08). They will be relegated, unless they can somehow persuade Lionel Messi to join them on loan until May, and even then it might be a tough job for the magical Argentine.
The Worst Performer
This is a tough one as it needs to be someone who has played a consistent amount of games, rather than a terrible performance in one particular fixture. I am going to go for Chelsea centre back JOHN TERRY. He has played in fourteen matches this season, that is probably about ten or eleven too many. He has all of a sudden really started to show his age. He looks completely off the pace, and it is beginning to show why former Blues boss Jose Mourinho was so desperate to land Everton man John Stones in the transfer window. There is no doubting that Terry has been one of the world’s best defenders in recent years but such was his standing that this really highlights his and his teams loss of form. Going forward he must be seen as a back-up surely?
The Worst Manager
Discounting any gaffer that has already been given the push, it has to be current Manchester United manager LOUIS VAN GAAL. The Dutch coach appears very rigid in his approach and his teams tactics and performances this season seem to be really upsetting fans in the red half of Manchester. They are used to teams that, well, attack. He has assembled what some might consider a talented enough squad and he has them playing with about as much excitement as a Tony Pulis training session. Soon to be sacked, I am sure of it.
So there we have it. My awards for this first half of the season. Do you agree? Let me know who you would nominate for each award by tweeting @TheEaglesBeak, @BaggiesFacts or @TheWatts22.
Cheers for reading for this first half of the season. I will be back with the usual statistical review after each round of games in the Premier League in the New Year.
Happy New Year!
