Another One Bites The Dust

Another season bites the dust, and it didn't disappoint. From exhilarating title races, monumental transfers, and nothing short of a footballing miracle. This year had it all. Personally, it’s been a rough one. Being a Manchester United supporter, to put it bluntly, what I watched these last nine months was a disaster. Honestly, I wish this season never existed. Unfortunately, that’s not possible. So, we might as well get it out of the way now.

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Let’s talk about the elephant in the room shall we: Manchester United. The gift that keeps on giving. Since Sir Alex Ferguson left the club in 2013, we’ve had some bad years. One that springs to mind is the miserable title defence in 2013/2014 where we finished seventh in the league under David Moyes. But, if you think that was bad, what unfolded this year was even worse! My initial expectations were for us to finish in the top 4 and maybe win a trophy, as we hadn’t won anything for nearly five years. Then the unthinkable happening: the return of CR7. His return coupled with the signings of Jadon Sancho & Raphaël Varane from Borussia Dortmund & Real Madrid made me think we could achieve something more. Despite these signings, what transpired was much of the same: a series of insipid displays & baffling decisions.

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The sacking of Ole Gunnar Solskjær certainly didn’t helped. I wasn’t his biggest fan and I thought he should have been sacked sooner. His tactical ineptness and his happy-go-lucky manner meant he clearly wasn’t the long-term solution. By the time he was sacked, the team was already capitulating. Humiliations against Liverpool and Watford meant something had to change. His replacement, Ralf Rangnick, had his work cut out. He hadn’t managed for two years and his first job back was at a club in crisis. I’ll give him this; he tried to stamp his authority on the team by switching the formation from 4-2-3-1 to 4-2-2-2. But he didn’t know what United fans already knew. These players have and will continue to throw their toys out of the pram when things aren’t going well. I could single out certain individuals for their pathetic performances, but let’s be real, only David De Gea and Cristiano Ronaldo have performed for us this year. Everyone else, they don’t deserve to wear the badge. Somehow, we managed to qualify for the Europa League group stages but if it wasn’t for the two aforementioned players, we would have finished mid-table. I think that’s enough about United for now. Let’s get to the good stuff.

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I believed the Premier League title race was over by mid-January. Manchester City were firing on all cylinders and looked like they were going to coast to the title. Liverpool though, had other ideas. How they managed to nearly catch City I will never know. The biggest complement I can pay to Liverpool is their ability to stay in the fight. They may get knocked down a few times, but they’ll never stay down. They managed to stay in the fight all the way to the last day of the season. Unfortunately for them, they got knocked out in the last minute of the 12th round. The football that City and Liverpool produced this year was something else. Some would say that being a United fan, it would be hard for me to say this. In truth, it isn’t. I have no problem recognising greatness when I see it, and those two teams proved how great they are.

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The race for the European places was really compelling. It seemed like Arsenal were in pole position to join City, Liverpool and Chelsea in qualifying for the Champions League. But not for the first time, Arsenal bottled it. Losing back-to-back games against Spurs & Newcastle effectively ended their chances and allowed Spurs to take fourth. Yes, they probably should have made the Champions League but they showed signs of progression. They are building something with their young players, Saka, Martinelli, Ødegaard etc. If they can keep their young core, it might not be too long before they will be playing in Europe’s elite club competition once again. Switching gears, shoutout to West Ham for what they achieved. They qualified for the Europa Conference League and made it to the semi-finals of the Europa League. The job that David Moyes has done at West Ham has been phenomenal. Props to him, considering what he endured during his time at United all those years ago.

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I was happy to see Norwich, Watford, and Burnley get relegated. Norwich constantly yo-yoing between the Premier League and Championship is annoying to say the least. Watford’s history of constantly hiring and firing managers is so short-sighted and idiotic that, quite frankly, they deserved to go down. Burnley though, are slightly different. It’s not that I wanted them to go down, it’s more that I didn’t want Leeds to go down. Since Leeds got promoted in 2019/2020, they’ve been a breath of fresh air. No one can deny they're good for the league. I’ve felt for a while that Burnley have outstayed their welcome. Sean Dyche must be Harry Houdini for keeping Burnley in this league for as long as he did with the resources at his disposable. He'll definitely bounce back and prove that Burnley were stupid to sack him in the first place.

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Normally, I would end with a hot take but I want to finish by talking about Christian Eriksen. When he suffered a cardiac arrest at Euro 2020, I thought he was done playing football. How wrong I was! In January 2022, he made a sensational return to football by signing for Brentford on a six-month contract. Not only was he able to resume his career, he helped Brentford finish mid-table in their first season in the English top-flight. How's that for an impact. I know this a football blog, but to end I’m going to quote NBA legend Kevin Garnett. If Eriksen can return to football after staring death in the eye, then anything is possible.