The Behind The Goal Awards 2014

What a season it has been in the Barclays Premier League. One of the closest title races for years has gone all the way to the final week of the campaign, and while it should be won by Manchester City now following Liverpool's dramatic collapse at Crystal Palace, you cannot take it for granted the way it has gone in recent weeks. At the bottom, Cardiff City have been relegated after just a single season in the top flight, along with Fulham and almost certainly Norwich City. Sunderland's upturn in form has come at exactly the right time, and Gus Poyet has got the Black Cats over the line for another year in the Premier League.

Leicester City and Burnley will join the elite next season after romping to the automatic promotion positions in the Sky Bet Championship; the latter defying this blog's prediction of an 18th-place finish. Derby County and Queens Park Rangers' play-off positions were nailed on for most of the season, but Wigan Athletic and Brighton and Hove Albion were made to sweat for theirs; the Seagulls not securing a top-six finish until stoppage time at Nottingham Forest on the last day. We await the play-offs with excitement once again.

It's also been another enjoyable year on a personal level as I have continued Behind The Goal for a second season. Once again, thank you for taking the time to read my work and supporting the page.

Here are the 2nd annual Behind The Goal Awards. If you agree or disagree with any nominations or winners, let me know either on this page or on Twitter @adamgray50.

Player Of The Year:

Nominations: Wilfried Bony, Steven Gerrard, Eden Hazard, Daniel Sturridge, Luis Suarez, Yaya Toure.

He has won the PFA and the Football Writers' awards, and now he has the hat trick. To score 30 goals in a season is not to be sniffed at, and the way in which he has rebuilt his reputation a year after the incident with Branislav Ivanovic is commendable.

The winner is Luis Suarez.

Goal Of The Season:

Nominations:

Christian Benteke (Aston Villa v Norwich at Villa Park)

Graham Dorrans (WBA v Man City at the Etihad)
Pajtim Kasami (Fulham v Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park)
Pablo Osvaldo (Southampton v Man City at St Mary’s)
Wayne Rooney (Man Utd v West Ham at Upton Park)
Tomas Rosicky (Arsenal v Tottenham at White Hart Lane)
Jonjo Shelvey (Swansea v Aston Villa at the Liberty Stadium)
Luis Suarez (1st goal, Liverpool v Norwich at Anfield)
Alexander Tettey (Norwich v Sunderland at Carrow Road)
Jack Wilshere (Arsenal v Norwich at the Emirates)

All types of goals in this list, and any could have won, but the winner is this beauty from an early season London derby.

Best signing of the season:

Nominations: Wilfried Bony,Fernandinho, Romelu Lukaku, Nemanja Matic, Jason Puncheon, Willian.

This award goes to a player whose team would have been in serious relegation trouble without his signing. To come into the Premier League and score 15 goals for a mediocre side is no mean feat, and Swansea must be praised for taking a punt on a striker from Dutch football.

The winner is Wilfried Bony.

Manager Of The Year:

Nominations: Steve Bruce, Mark Hughes, Roberto Martinez, Manuel Pellegrini, Gus Poyet, Tony Pulis, Brendan Rodgers.

It is difficult not to give the award to Brendan Rodgers, considering how close he has taken Liverpool to the title, but the winner has taken his Crystal Palace team to a scarcely believable 11th place at the time of writing. I think people forget how bad they were under their sacked former manager Ian Holloway. They looked embarrassingly out of their depth at this level, yet they now have the potential to establish themselves as a tough-to beat, mid-table outfit.

The winner is Tony Pulis.

Premier League Rookie Of The Year:

Presented to the player playing his debut season in the top flight.

Nominations: Wilfried Bony, Gerard Deulofeu, Christian Eriksen, Fernandinho, Adnan Januzaj, David Marshall.

Any player that can adapt to the speed of the English game and instantly fit in will impress me, and it is no surprise that the likes of Borussia Dortmund are reportedly interested in his services, so for the same reasons as Christian Benteke won it last year I shall award it to one of the best, if still slightly underrated strikers in the league.

The winner is Wilfried Bony.

The Jose Bosingwa Award for Flop Of The Year:

Named in honour of its first winner, whose season was so bad it deserves permanent recognition.

Nominations: Jozy Altidore, Andreas Cornelius, Marouane Fellaini, Erik Lamela, Roberto Soldado, Ricky van Wolfswinkel.

These players have either flattered to decieve (Altidore), failed to live up to a big price tag or reputation (Lamela, Soldado), sent back to their former club (Cornelius), or just been plain rubbish (van Wolfswinkel). But the winner sums up his team's dreadful season on and off the pitch. There's no way he's good enough to play for Manchester United.

The winner is Marouane Fellaini.

Boob of the Year:

Nominations:

Manchester United appointing David Moyes

Tottenham wasting the Gareth Bale money
Cardiff sacking Malky Mackay to appoint Ole Gunnar Solskjaer
Arsenal signing an injured Kim Kallstrom and not a striker in January
Andre Marriner sending off Kieran Gibbs instead of Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain against Chelsea

The winner is Manchester United appointing David Moyes. Little explanation necessary.

 

TWIF 2.06: Champions elect; Champions League; Championship

This Week In Football, it's all about the champions. There was another story too, but you're probably sick of reading about that already!

Chelsea right to rest the starters

Chelsea's shock Barclays Premier League defeat to Sunderland this past Saturday night has virtually handed the championship on a plate to Liverpool ahead of the teams' clash at Anfield on Sunday. The game, which could have been a title decider, comes three days before Chelsea's Champions League semi final second leg against Atletico Madrid. Jose Mourinho's threat to rest his starters for the Liverpool game has been met with some criticism, but in my opinion, he would be stupid not to keep what is left of his first team fit for Europe. Even if the Blues do beat Brendan Rodgers' champions-elect at the weekend, Liverpool have to drop points somewhere else not to win the title, and Mourinho knows it. It's a shame that Chelsea feel they can't win the trophy, and that the closest title race for years has become a slight anti-climax, but what would be a bigger shame is for their Champions League challenge to fizzle out so close to the final in Lisbon having chased a prize they are unlikely to win anyway.

 Champions League round up

Mourinho has always faced criticism for his defensive approaches to big games, but is he bothered? Not a bit. Should he be? If Chelsea win on Wednesday, he'll just show you the way to the final. The goalless draw at the Vicente Calderon arguably puts the Blues in the ascendancy, but they will be desperate not to concede an away goal which would leave them needing to score two. Atletico Madrid are more than capable of scoring of course, but I do think Chelsea have enough to go through even if they fail to keep a clean sheet.
Bayern Munich's grip on the European Cup has slipped somewhat following their 1-0 defeat against Real Madrid, but Pep Guardiola will be very thankful that his charges only conceded the one goal. Despite dominating possession, they didn't do enough with the ball and failed to create enough clear-cut chances, and those they did have were wasted. Carlo Ancelotti's game plan would have been to exploit Bayern down their right hand side on the counter attack, and that is exactly how the goal from Karim Benzema came about. It wasn't until the arrival in the second half of Javi Martinez, with Philipp Lahm moving to right back, that Bayern were able to cope with Real without the ball. Despite the off-day, Bayern will still fancy their chances of going through, but if they allow Fabio Coentrao and Cristiano Ronaldo the sort of space they had at the Bernabeu, they will do well to keep another clean sheet. It's great though that we have absolutley no idea what the final will be though even now.

Champions!

Congratulations to Leicester City, who finally secured the Sky Bet Championship title this week. They have been the best team in the division by a long way, and it goes to show what can happen if a board remain patient with a manager and a young team. They have swept all before them and will deserve the milestone of 100 points should they reach it in their last two games. They couldn't beat Forest though, could they? :)

TWIF 2.05: Moyes and Davies under Derby day pressure

This Week In Football I look at two managers facing battles to save their jobs following, or ahead of, derby day fixtures.

Manchester United's 3-0 home defeat to Liverpool was a shocking new low in what has been a horrendous season for the Barclays Premier League champions. Shocking in that Liverpool only managed to score three goals. Two penalties from captain Steven Gerrard and a goal from Luis Suarez gave Brendan Rodgers' side an unbelievably easy victory. Liverpool would have been disappointed it wasn't six or seven. What would have hurt the home fans the most would have been the players' lack of urgency, fight, and ultimately discipline. To concede three penalties is pretty shameful, and to be honest, referee Mark Clattenburg could, maybe even should, have given Liverpool five. United were getting overrun in midfield; it looked like 12 men against ten at times. Juan Mata was out of position again. If you don't play him in the No.10 role, you may as well put him in goal. The gulf between the two old rivals was apparent for all to see, and it proved that David Moyes, despite his defiance in press conferences before and since, is on borrowed time at Old Trafford. If United are knocked out of the Champions League by Olympiacos and then lose at home to Manchester City in the Premier League, I am reasonably confident that the United hierarchy will act. We all expected a transitional season, but 7th in the table is an absolute failure.

Speaking of managers who may be up against it, Billy Davies is allegedly facing a battle to hang on to the Nottingham Forest hot seat after a poor run of results and an FA charge, which has brought a touchline ban, subject to appeal. It gives me no pleasure as a fan of his and of the club to see his position brought under threat by an increasing band of supporters who have had enough of his antics and percieved lack of tactical nouse. In all fairness, find me another team in the Sky Bet Championship who wouldn't struggle to maintain a good run of results with almost their entire starting XI out with not insignificant injuries. The Billy Out Brigade will point to the fact that the club is in no better position now than a year ago, when they ultimately missed out on a play-off place on the final day, but he needs to be given the chance to see out the season. If Davies isn't the manager, who will be? Last time he left, he was followed by Steve McClaren, Steve Cotterill, Sean O'Driscoll and Alex McLeish, a glorious period in the club's history it wasn't. On Saturday Forest travel to the iPro Stadium to face local rivals Derby County. Needless to say, the Reds fans aren't all that confident, illustrated by their struggle to sell out their ticket allocation for the match. Following the reverse fixture at the City Ground in September in which Forest won 1-0, Derby sacked Nigel Clough. I am just hoping that the roles aren't reversed on Saturday afternoon.

TWIF 2.04: Mata signs, Januzaj dines, FA Cup round five.

This Week In Football Manchester United made the biggest move of the January window, as another Old Trafford star went out for dinner.

United start rebuilding, but they need more than Juan player.

Manchester United may be out of the title race in the Barclays Premier League, but the signing of Juan Mata from Chelsea has reminded the world that they aren't quite finished yet. It may have come too late in terms of their title defence, but the Spaniard's arrival may be the catalyst for a push up the table and into the top four. He alone won't win games for David Moyes, and there is no doubt that United are still four or five players short of a championship-winning squad, but this signing can definitely set the wheels in motion, whether in what is left of this January window, or in the summer. I don't buy Arsene Wenger's argument that Chelsea are trying to sabotage Arsenal and the other title contenders by selling Mata to a team who still have to play them all except Chelsea for a second time. After all, he has been quite happy to let the likes of Ashley Cole and Robin van Persie go in the past to rivals. Short memory as well as short sight, Arsene?

Januzaj's girl cries fowl over Nando's date.

Adnan Januzaj was in the news on Monday when it was revealed that he took a girl to Nando's on a date. No different from a lot of other 18-year-olds I would have thought, except Januzaj has probably got a bit more money than them. Not that money should matter. Call me old-fashioned, but the size of your wallet shouldn't be important. Melissa McKenzie, of Liverpool, obviously saw pound signs in her eyes when a Manchester United footballer came calling, but when she wasn't taken to the poshest restaurants and hotel, felt like she missed her chance to get into the VIP's circle. Shame on you darling, for trying to sleep your way into the papers, and as for a Scouser selling her story to The Sun, surely she knows what her city thinks of that particular publication.

Top four draw opens Cup up.

The current top four in the Premier League were drawn together in the 5th round of the FA Cup with Budweiser in Sunday's draw; Manchester City will welcome Chelsea to the Etihad Stadium, and Liverpool will travel to the Emirates to face Arsenal. From a neutral point of view, it's a shame that two of them will go out so early, but then again last year it did the competition, and particularly Wigan Athletic, no harm that a so-called lesser club's path to the final was made easier by the draw. It could be great news too for Wigan's former boss Roberto Martinez's current club Everton, who if they beat Swansea City in the 5th round, may suddenly think it could be their chance.

Tweet me with you opinions @adamgray50

Barclays Premier League Preview 2013-14 Part 1: Race for the title

For the first time in many years there is a genuine three-horse race for the Barclays Premier League title, made all the more fascinating by the fact that all of the three clubs are being led by new managers. We all know what we're going to get with Jose Mourinho, as he begins his second spell in charge of Chelsea, and Manuel Pellegrini at Manchester City brings his obvious talent. The biggest job however is obviously that of David Moyes, who takes on the unenviable task of picking up where Sir Alex Ferguson left off.

Moyes has already found himself under pressure following a less than impressive set of pre-season results, and of course having to deal with the Wayne Rooney transfer saga. It sounds silly, but this past Sunday's Community Shield was close to must-win for the former Everton boss. Talk amongst the Old Trafford fans has been about a lack of new signings, but it was Robin van Persie's double at Wembley against Wigan which proved that the champions aren't too bad a team without newcomers. I feel though that without another midfielder, possibly a replacement for Rooney, and of course Sir Alex in the dugout, United may fall short of title no.21.

Few were surprised when Mourinho returned to Stamford Bridge after a turbulent couple of years at Real Madrid. If he has the same effect as his first season the last time, Chelsea are going to be very tough to beat. For me, that Blues team of 2004-05 is the best in Premier League history - and I include the Arsenal invincibles in that, for the record - but I'm not too sure the spine of this team is as strong. John Terry and Frank Lampard, loyal servants of the club and the manager, aren't the players they were, and there are doubts as to how much he fancies David Luiz and Juan Mata. The personnel at the Bridge are more used to playing with more attacking prowess than Mourinho's teams are known for. Mourinho has the same problem as a long list of predecessors in the job, which is to get the best out of Fernando Torres, who must know that time is running out unless he can finally produce a 20+ goal season.

For all the talk about Moyes, Mourinho and the other transfer sagas, Manchester City have gone about their business very quietly, amazingly quietly really. They have no doubt been the busiest of the big three in the transfer market, and not only have they added in quantity, they have added in unquestionable quality in the shape of Alvaro Negredo, Stevan Jovetic, Jesus Navas and Fernandinho. Too many of their key names underperformed last season - in fact only Pablo Zabaleta had a better season than in their championship year of 2011-12 - but if the likes of Sergio Aguero, Yaya Toure, and maybe most crucially Joe Hart, get back to their best, they are going to be a force. As well as those, Pellegrini will likely use Edin Dzeko in a more leading role, which I am excited about. For me, he is possibly the most under-rated striker in the league. I may be in the minority, but I am predicting City to win the league back from their neighbours come May.

Come back later this week for Part 2 when I look at who will be in the relegation battle.