Premier League Review: Bottom 5

QPR - 20th (30 points)

QPR have never had much luck when it comes to England's top flight of football. They looked like a team ready for the top following their play-off win at the end of the previous season though.

They didn't get off to a winning start, but it didn't take them too long to get their first points on the board with their win against Sunderland. Their home form was good and they earned some good results there including a 2-2 draw against Manchester City.

The Christmas period wasn't exactly great for the team as they didn't pick up a single win. They didn't stop scoring goals though, mostly due to the brilliant form that Charlie Austin was in. He was in fine form throughout the season, and it was arguably him that kept the hopes of their Premier League survival alive.

In February, Harry Redknapp left the club due to health issues and was replaced by Chris Ramsey who greatly improved the team's terrible away form, at the cost of their home form it seemed. After a win against Sunderland at the Stadium of Light in early February, they went on a losing streak which ended in style with a big win against West Brom.

Consistency was a problem for QPR in the second half of the season which proved to be costly in their downfall, but if they can keep their key players over the summer, they'll have a solid foundation behind them as they try and fight their way back up.

Burnley - 19th (33 points)

Being one of the newly promoted teams, Burnley were predicted to be relegated almost instantly. Going into their first game against Chelsea, the team that many predicted would win the Premier League this season, people just didn't give them any chance. Even though they lost the game, the fact that they had scored the opening goal meant that fans saw that they could be a threat to their opposition. Sean Dyche's team worked hard on the pitch and it saw them get their rewards. At the end of August, Burnley held Manchester United to a goalless draw at Turf Moor and things really began to look up for them going into the international break.

Only, things didn't exactly go as expected. Following the draw with United, they went on a dismal run of eleven games without a win. A big problem for Burnley was the one in front of goal. They were without one half of the strike partnership that lifted them up the Championship table last season and it really showed.

Then in early November, they turned it around. At Turf Moor, they battled to a 1-0 victory against Hull City which gave them a lift. In the run-up to Christmas, Burnley managed to rack up some good results, and got Danny Ings back on top form in front of goal which gave them a big boost going into the New Year. These results included a brilliant comeback to earn a draw against Manchester City and a hard fought win against Southampton.

However, following this good run of form they just couldn't establish any consistency. Dyche stood by his team throughout, but they just didn't show up in a lot of games which caused them to drop many needless points. They regularly fell short in front of goal, and they finished off the campaign as they League's lowest scorers. Every so often, they managed to give their supporters some morale boosting wins over Manchester City and Hull City towards the very end of the season.

Despite that win over Hull in May, the results elsewhere during that weekend caused their relegation fate to be confirmed. Overall, it was a mixed season for Burnley, but with enough bright sparks to give them optimism when looking forward to the next season.

Hull City - 18th (35 points)

Many people had high hopes for Hull's season after their last one. They recorded one of their best points tallies and were narrowly beat in the FA Cup final by Arsenal; so they definitely showed a lot of promise. Steve Bruce also brought in some big names to the club that looked like they would help the team further improve on the season before.

This didn't go to plan though. Their record signing Abel Hernandez didn't police up to expectation in front of goal, Robert Snodgrass and Mo Diame suffered serious injuries that kept them out for big parts of the season and Jake Livermore tested positive for cocaine towards the end of the campaign. Loan signings Hatem Ben Arfa and Gaston Ramirez also didn't make the impact that Steve Bruce had hoped for.

Hull did get through their first Europa League qualifier in August but didn't make it to the group stages after falling just short. They started the season with a terrible run of only one win in 16 games. Although the team was playing well, they kept dropping needless points in games they possibly could have won. Due to this run of games, by Christmas they sat in the relegation places.

They did pick up two good wins over the Christmas period against Stoke and Everton though. However, just like Burnley, they couldn't find any consistency which let them down in the second half of the season. They did get a good result against Manchester City, a game they could have won if not for a last minute goal and they almost earned a draw against Chelsea if not for another late goal in that match. 

Against the big teams, Hull had a knack for putting in a big performance, but at the end of the season, this didn't happen. They suffered consecutive defeats to Arsenal, Burnley and Spurs in May which left them needing a win against Manchester United on the final day of the campaign. Their goalless draw, coupled with Newcastle's win, just wasn't enough to save them. 

Aston Villa - 17th (38 points)

Like many previous seasons, this one brought on a fresh relegation battle for Villa. Paul Lambert didn't get his team into a rhythm at the beginning of the season as he only racked up a few wins, including ones against Stoke, Hull and Liverpool. It didn't go too well though and in February, the club were still seeking a new manager.

Aston Villa was another team that didn't enjoy the Christmas period as they struggled to pick up three points overall, never mind in just one game. One thing that did prove to be a highlight in their season though was the FA Cup. 

Another bright spark in Villa's season was Tim Sherwood. Many of the fans didn't see him as their ideal replacement for Lambert, but they soon changed their minds. Within five days, he had led the team to two consecutive victories over rivals West Brom and that was only the start. 

Towards the latter end of the season, Sherwood led his team to victories against both Sunderland and Spurs which started moving Villa away from the danger of relegation and had the fans dreaming of a Wembley finish to the season as well as they progressed further in the competition. 

Their form remained consistent unlike the teams below them, but when those teams did find form, Sherwood's team kept their cool by picking up important points, including those from wins against West Ham and Everton.

One of their best results of the season came at Wembley when they faced Liverpool in the semi-final and knocked them out to the surprise of many people. Even though Christian Benteke had returned to form, the results after that went downhill, including a heavy 6-1 defeat to Southampton.

Although Villa were pulled back into the relegation battle towards the end, their survival was confirmed before the final day. Their form at the end of the campaign took its toll though and the crushing defeat to Arsenal in the FA Cup final was one of the only downsides to the Sherwood reign.

Sunderland - 16th (38 points)
Gus Poyet came up with some magic at the end of last season to keep Sunderland in the Premier League. Even though they went the first six games without a win, they did earn 5 draws, including ones against Manchester United and Spurs, which suggested they were in for a better season than before. They did follow this with a win against Stoke to give them a further boost.

However, they couldn't follow this up. Humiliation followed in the shape of an 8-0 loss away to Southampton. They rallied back in terms of performance, but couldn't put together one that would win them the three points until their game against Crystal Palace. The one thing lacking from their season was consistency and Poyet just couldn't stabilise this. 

The best result during Poyet's tenure was the last gasp win against Newcastle through Adam Johnson's last minute goal. They weren't close to the drop at this point, but things soon took a turn for the worse. In the next 12 games, they only managed one win, which was against Burnley, and they were also knocked out of the FA Cup by Bradford. 

Poyet's last match in charge ended in a 4-0 home defeat to Aston Villa. All of the goals were scored in the first half which sparked a mass exodus from the stadium. The club acted quickly in finding his replacement and installed Dick Advocaat when they were just one point above the relegation places.

His reign started with a defeat, but just like Poyet he gave the fans hope through a derby win. Although, again, just like Poyet, the game after that ended in a loss, so it looked as if Sunderland might be dragged into a last day relegation battle. This didn't happen though, as Advocaat turned things around and went on a five-game undefeated run which meant their survival was confirmed with one match to spare.

Premier League: Final Day

At the beginning of the season, whenever somebody reads down for the last matches of the season and sees a date like 'May 24th', it seems like it's a long time away. However, the season is one that goes quick, just like any other time period and it leaves fans and teams alike wondering where all the time went. It also marks the moment when teams can either celebrate or feel the weight of the world fall onto their shoulders. Just like any other last game, this is what it proved to be for so many people. 

Both Burnley and QPR had already been relegated prior to the final weekend, but both would want to go out with a good result that would give their moral a boost ahead of the awaiting Championship campaign. It seemed that since Burnley had been relegated, they felt a lot of pressure lift off them as their results improved, and the final day was another example of this. They faced Aston Villa away, and they faced a tough task as the home team looked completely different to the one they faced earlier in the season due to Tim Sherwood. It was their star man Danny Ings that created the headlines once again after his sixth minute goal gave Burnley the three points that ended their season on a high note. 

For QPR, the story couldn't have ended more tragically. The faced Leicester away from home and that would prove to be a big task as well. Everyone thought that Leicester would be the ones that would be panicking about the last result, but they somehow managed to claw themselves away from danger with relatively little struggle after laying at the bottom of the table for the majority of the season. Leicester certainly ended their season in style after turning 5 goals past Alex McCarthy in the QPR goal to heap the misery on the already relegated team. Charlie Austin did step up and give QPR a consolation goal though after Leicester's fourth, but that's all it proved to be in the end. 

The other two teams in danger of relegation going into the final match were Hull City and Newcastle. Hull needed a win to stand a chance of staying up and if this happened, Newcastle would need a win, but otherwise they would only need to match their result. Hull faced Manchester United at home and gave their all throughout the game. They did have the ball in the back of the net twice, but both were rightly ruled offside. They also looked like they had been handed a gift when Marouane Fellaini got sent off for a stomp on Paul McShane's leg not even 20 minutes after he was sent onto the pitch. The home team couldn't take advantage of this though, and the game ended as a draw, making them the third team to be relegated this season. 

Newcastle faced West Ham at home, which looked like it would be a tough fixture for them after the poor run of form that they have had in the latter end of the season. However, it was like a completely different team was sent onto the pitch on Sunday because Newcastle knew they needed a result to stay in the Premier League. Moussa Sissoko got them the first goal 10 minutes into the second half, but this was overshadowed by the second goal in so many ways. Jonas Gutierrez, who not so long ago didn't look like he would be playing football again for a while, stepped up and wrapped up the three points for Newcastle in what could potentially have been his last game for Newcastle. This was the result that confirmed Hull's relegation, as it took them out of reach. However, West Ham did receive some good news in the shape of Europa League qualifiers due to finishing top of the Fair Play league. 

Then, there was the shock result of the day. Steven Gerrard had already said his farewell to Anfield the previous week, but this was the game that marked his last as a Premier League player. They faced a Stoke team that a lot of fans would expect them to beat to give Gerrard a send off very different to his one at the Liverpool stadium. It just wasn't meant to be though. Stoke held nothing back as they hit Liverpool for 6, 5 of which came in the first half alone. Gerrard was the player that brought one back for Liverpool to reduce the deficit slightly. Peter Crouch then came onto the pitch and made sure that his old team didn't have the last say in the game, marking a devastating end for the Liverpool captain. 

Although everything at the top of the table had been decided, Chelsea rounded of their winning season in style. Although, Sunderland did take the lead and give the champions a scare, their top players were once again on hand to rack up the three points expected of them. Manchester City also cruised to a 2-0 over Southampton, which included a goal for Sergio Aguero who won the golden boot for the 14/15 season. Joe Hart was also among the awards as he kept his 14th clean sheet of the season to win his 4th golden glove. Arsenal and Theo Walcott in particular shone in a 4-1 over West Brom to allow the top three to show their strength one last time before they sign out for the summer. 

The Managerial Position

The role of the manager in the game of football nowadays is all about the result. If a manager isn't getting the results that the owners expect, than they can pretty much kiss their jobs goodbye, apart from in a few positive scenarios. However, in the modern game, the manager is focused on in the media for more than just the results that they can get their team to produce...

Jose Mourinho is one of the best known managers worldwide. He's had major success in some of the top leagues in the world and wins trophies at every single club he works at. A success story all round? Not exactly. It's not often that he doesn't have a complaint about the media or the referee or something that happened in the game, which doesn't just draw the attention of the media, but also that of the FA. He's been in bother with the FA quite a few times, but doesn't seem like he will ever hold back on what he truly feels about what happened in the game, or how he feels about something that has been said in the media. It could only be a matter of time before he says something that could give him a lot more to think about than just a fine. 

Another manager recently in trouble with the FA was Louis van Gaal. It's the first charge of conduct he's received in his managerial career and he wasn't exactly too happy with it. He is pretty much in agreement with Mourinho that he should have the right to say what he wants about the game that had been played. That isn't the only thing that has drawn attention to the Manchester United manager in recent weeks though. On Sunday in a post-match interview, Sam Allardyce said that United had turned into a 'long-ball team' which seemed to upset van Gaal as it wasn't his philosophy. This meant that when he turned up to his press conference and was asked questions about that statement, he brought out what looked like PowerPoint slides that showed his team were not a long-ball team and proved that they could pass their way towards the opponent area. Not exactly your typical press conference... 

Earlier today, Paul Lambert became the third manager to get sacked so far this season. Aston Villa lie 18th in the table, meaning they're in the relegation zone, which they dropped into after their loss to Hull City. They also haven't been very clinical up front this season after scoring only 12 goals in the Premier League this season. They had a goal drought of just less than 11 hours which lasted until their goals against Chelsea at the weekend, but it just wasn't good enough for a team in the top flight. Not many people would have been surprised to see Lambert go though, and it did look to have been a long time coming. This followed the news that Harry Redknapp had left QPR earlier in the month, and it probably won't be the last news about a manager losing their job due to poor results before May.

The most shocking news of all managers, in my opinion, is Nigel Pearson. He served a ban and paid a fine in December for getting into a row with one of the Leicester fans, and then seemed to be walking on extremely thin ice after an incident that happened against Crystal Palace at the weekend. James McArthur slid into him after trying to tackle a Leicester player and accidentally tripped him up. This was followed by an episode where Pearson pinned McArthur down by his neck and looked to have him in a strangle hold before letting him get up and then pulling him back again by his shirt. Pearson has said it was all in good spirits and he didn't mean any harm by it, but that still begs the question of why he did it in the first place. The other thing that really shocked me was that the FA didn't do anything about it! Even after the explanation, it deserves a punishment as it isn't setting a good example to people who watched the game. I guess we'll never truly know if there was some malice behind it or not. 

Sometimes, the manager can be in the lime light even more than the players depending on which view the media chooses to focus on. To me, the manager is in a role that should be calm, collected and have the ability to turn games around for their team and this should be focused on from a positive point of view. However, when wrong choices are made by said 'responsible' members of the game, there always really is only one story that the people want to hear about.

Tactical Choices

I just want to write this post about some of the decisions that Louis van Gaal has been making with the Manchester United team sheet. A lot has been said in recent weeks about the formations and the players that he has chosen and the decisions behind that. 

I'm going to focus on today's match against QPR as an example of this. He started the match with a 3-5-2 formation. It is his philosophy and a formation that he has had a lot of success with in the past. It is not one that United have had success with in the past though. Whenever the team play in this formation, to me, they just seem lost and look like they don't know what they're actually doing on the pitch. The most successful way for a United team to play has been in 4-4-2. Van Gaal wants them to embrace his philosophy and won't play them that way. Due to the fact that he was known as a "tactical genius" at the World Cup, this just doesn't seem to add up that he would allow them to play this way for so long. It could just make things go from bad to worse, however. 

Another thing that seemed to confuse the team today was that Angel Di Maria started up front and Wayne Rooney played in behind them in midfield. Rooney has looked comfortable playing in this position in recent matches but Di Maria looks like he's completely lost and has never stepped foot on a football pitch before in his life. Every time the ball came to him, he seemed to panic and couldn't make a decision that would benefit anyone in his team. None of the players were able to string many passes together either without passing it to an opposition player or without it going out of play. 

Now, this formation is good for keeping possession and in some way that should benefit a team. The team just can't create any chances though. They can pass the ball and when they get to the 18 yard box, instead of crossing it in; they pass it back and end up with the ball being at their goalkeeper's feet. Every time Antonio Valencia got the ball, he seemed afraid to cross the ball in. Also, Daley Blind didn't seem to be able to get onto the ball much in the first half, which doesn't benefit the team. If he had been playing in a more central role he might have been able to influence the game much better.

At some point in the game, van Gaal seemed to realise that this system just wasn't working for them. QPR seemed to be outplaying United in many ways. Still, even at half time, he brought on Marouane Fellaini for Juan Mata, but he still didn't change the formation. He left it the same for another 15 minutes! After the first 20 minutes, it was clear that United weren't going to win the game if they didn't change something. 

Finally, just before the hour mark, van Gaal brought off Jonny Evans and replaced him with James Wilson, allowing the players to play in their favoured 4-4-2 formation. The players instantly looked comfortable and within a minute of the change, Fellaini scored the opener, and the assist came from Antonio Valencia who ran at his defender. 

Even though QPR had some chances, the United players were finally comfortable and seemed to deal with the chances better. Di Maria had moved back into midfield and he looked a lot more dangerous, he was running at players and creating passes that troubled the defenders. Everything looked up after the change, especially when Wilson finished off the match with a nice finish that ended the game 2-0. 

Hopefully, for the United fans, van Gaal will stay with the 4-4-2 formation, especially looking forward to the FA Cup game next weekend. They've been calling out for him to use the preferred formation and allow the players the freedom they get in it. It looks like if he does continue to use this formation, he could just go back to the winning run he had a little earlier on in the season. If he doesn't? Well, United could look to be losing a lot more points than they had imagined...

FA Cup Third Round [2015]

The FA Cup is a great way to end the very hectic football calendar after Christmas. It just has everything that none of the leagues in England can give you. By throwing all of the teams together, it really does bring out the best from the rest. 

The third round of the competition is always an interesting one. It is the point where the Premier League and Championship teams get thrown into the mix and it really does just have all of the ingredients possible to bring about so many upsets. But it is a well known fact that everyone one loves an underdog.

Over the weekend (so far) there have been many surprises. Blyth Spartans led Birmingham City 2-0 at half time causing a lot of people to suddenly believe in the lower side. However, it just wasn't meant to be as a 6 minute period completely changed the game. Birmingham scored 3 in that time, meaning that Blyth got knocked out of the competition 3-2 after the 90 minutes. 

Another match that had people everywhere getting excited for a possible upset was the game between Derby County and Southport. A lot had been made about this fixture in the build up and Southport weren't ready to roll over and let Derby play the game that they wanted to. Derby have been flying high in the Championship, so a lot of people were expecting a lot when the game went into the final minutes of stoppage time. It just wasn't meant to be though, with Luke Foster conceding a penalty in the last minute which Chris Martin tucked away neatly. Talk about a heartbreak in the cup...

Then, there was the game between Stoke City and Wrexham. Everyone was expecting the Premier League team to stroll against the Conference team, but the match proved to go against expectations. For a little while at least... Wrexham eventually took the lead through Carrington. The lead lasted only 7 minutes though, because Stoke came back into it, and in 15 minutes turned the game around, making the final result 3-1. 

There was, of course, the game that caused the actual upset. The game took place between QPR and Sheffield United. Even though QPR haven't been in top form recently, a lot of people still expected them to beat the League 1 side. It just wasn't meant to be though. QPR didn't play at their best and Sheffield took advantage of this, going on to win 3-0. First heartbreak of the weekend? Not exactly. There was an all Premier League clash between Leicester City and Newcastle United. The bottom side looked to have no chance against their opposition, but proved a lot of people wrong when Ulloa gave them the lead in the first half and they managed to take that through to the end of the game. 

However, there were the obvious results that fans expected certain teams to win. It wasn't always easy though. Manchester City beat Sheffield Wednesday 2-1 in the end, but had to come back from a goal down and had Milner to thank for his two goals that won them the game. Manchester United beat Yeovil Town 2-0, including a wonder strike from Ander Herrera, but the game was made difficult for them by a resilient Yeovil side. Chelsea beat Watford 3-0, although it did take them until the second half to break the deadlock. Finally, Arsenal beat Hull City 2-0, but that game also wasn't as easy as the score line may suggest. Hull enjoyed a lot of the ball but just didn't create any clear cut chances and Alexis Sanchez put on a man-of-the-match performance. 

So, will there be any shocks in the remaining games? AFC Wimbledon host Liverpool tonight, Burnley host Tottenham and Everton host West Ham. Only in the FA Cup would you be able to hear fans around the country wondering if the smaller teams could knock out the Premier League big teams, but isn't that the beauty of it all. The draw is also tonight, so football fans around the country will be waiting to see who their teams, if they're still in, will be getting in the next round. Will there be any more shocks to see then? Only time will tell.