A Premier League Retrospective – More fizzle than fireworks

As the final whistle blew at Wembley crowning Chelsea with their first double in club history, the Blues fans at Stamford Bridge let go a collective sigh of relief before launching into celebration. Portsmouth supporters, long resigned to their relegation and uncertain financial future, celebrated as well. It may be decades before Pompey set foot in Wembley again, but for the moment their beloved team was full of heart even while their bank account remains in need of a jolt to stop the cardiac arrest.

By Sunday both groups, likely still hung-over from the raucous night before, joined the fans of the other 18 Premier League teams wondering what a summer of transfers and the 2010-2011 season might hold for them. But rather than jump to speculation on the next record breaking transfer headed in/out of Manchester or wondering which relegated team might immediately bounce back, let’s take a few minutes to explore the ending to the season that was.

With several weeks left in the season, the table showed real promise; both the title race and the struggle for the final Champions League place involved two serious contenders and a dark horse with an outside chance. Like most competitions the English teams contested this year, the results flattered to deceive.

Ultimately a title decided by a point on the final day screams of a dramatic nail biting finish, but Chelsea’s victory over Wigan was anything but. The only dramatic thing about the last few weeks of the Premier League was the decided mediocrity of the finish.

Chelsea’s 8-0 demolition topped off an unsatisfying, although fruitful, run stretching back to Chelsea’s triumph over Manchester United. In a match more memorable for questionable refereeing decisions than beautiful football, Chelsea held their nerves slightly more than the Red Devils and eked out a win.

Followed by a 1-0 victory over a sorry Bolton team and a lacklustre loss to Tottenham, the Blues put together perhaps their only solid game during the run-in against an ambivalent Stoke squad. The next week Chelsea tamed a Liverpool side as dogged as a housecat and half as dangerous to essentially claim the title.

When Tottenham and Manchester City met in the final rounds of the league and the final berth to the Champions League on the line, one could be forgiven for expecting fireworks. But the two upstart clubs showed all the explosiveness and entertainment of a wet paper sack – neither showed any intent to go for it with so much at stake. Perhaps the weight of the moment crushed the attacking spirit of two clubs more suited to disappointment in recent history.

The English teams’ Champions League campaigns themselves lacked the quality to bedazzle. Manchester United fizzled without Ronaldo, Chelsea was forcibly reminded what it’s like to be “Special”, and Arsenal remembered how the shoe feels on the other foot as Barcelona turned them into training cones. The red team from Merseyside may have played as a few matches as well, although they are probably best forgotten.

As a Premier League supporter, perhaps the exploits of the league’s clubs spoiled me the previous few years. When compared to the massive English successes in the Champions League between the so-called Big Four, desperate relegation battles ala West Ham, and the ferocity of skillful football played by the best teams, this year’s version feels lacking.

While not particularly terrible or great, the usual panache and passion of the Premier League went missing. Perhaps the collective anticipation of the World Cup shaded my expectations of its domestic English brother; nothing is immune to the shadow of an event as large as the World Cup.

But with an exciting summer of transfers ahead, the reappearance of several familiar faces (Newcastle, West Brom) from relegation adding new twists to the storylines, and a wintery World Cup in South Africa soon to be on display, I’m going to wave au revoir to the season that was.

Like the two footballers who fizzled from the spot in the FA Cup Final, there’s always a choice how to react to disappointment. As any footballer knows, form is fleeting but class is permanent; I expect the upcoming season of the Premier League next year to say a lot more about the latter.

(photo via Trippenbach on Flickr)

Chelsea, England, English Premier League, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United