Premier League 2015/16 review: January - May

Premier League 2015/16 review: January - May

The second half of the 2015/16 Premier League season continued much like the first, with Leicester continuing to amaze fans and annoy bookies as they racked up the points that would ultimately see them be crowned champions on 2nd May. Newcastle, Norwich and Aston Villa were relegated, Manchester United qualified for the Europa League and Leciester, Arsenal, Tottenham and Manchester City qualified for the Champions League.

 

 

 

 

January

In the first round of games of 2016, Liverpool lost 2-0 to West Ham at Upton Park, Aguero scored the winner for City in their 2-1 win against Watford, Jermaine Defoe scored a brace against Aston Villa and Manchester United secured an important win over Swansea, which ultimately eased the pressure on manager Louis Van Gaal. On 12th January, Newcastle fought back against Manchester United and drew 3-3, West Ham ruined Bournemouth 3-1 (which involved two amazing free-kicks from Payet and Enner Valencia) and Aston Villa won their first Premier League game under Remi Grande with a 1-0 win over recent strugglers Crystal Palace. The following day, Joe Allen rescued Liverpool a point in another 3-3 game against Arsenal at Anfield, Jermaine Defoe scored a hat-trick against Swansea in a 4-2 away win and Leicester City continued their amazing run in the Premier League with a 1-0 away win over Tottenham.

On the weekend games, there was a massively controversial equalling goal by John Terry against Everton in the 98th minute, which was offside, and therefore lead to a huge social media outcry for action replays (lets see how far that gets). Tottenham rolled over Sunderland 4-1 and Manchester United won 1-0 at Anfield, with Wayne Rooney scoring his second-ever goal at Anfield (and waited 4,020 days). Liverpool then won a crazy nine goal thriller away to Norwich (4-5), Tottenham rolled over Palace at Selhurst Park which was outlined by a wonder goal from Alli, Sergio Aguero gained City a point away to West Ham. January ended with Arsenal losing to Chelsea and Everton shockingly losing to newly managed Swansea 2-1 at Goodison.

February

February started with Jamie Vardy silencing the haters with a wonder goal against Liverpool in Leicester's 2-0 victory.  Manchester United actually looked like a decent side when they beat Stoke 3-0 and Everton actually won at home against Newcastle (what a wonder dropping Howard and Stones does). They followed this up with a very comfortable 3-0 win at the Britannia Stadium. Villa picked up their third league win of the season against Norwich and Arsenal stayed in the title race after beating Bournemouth. However, the biggest result of early February was Leicester winning 3-1 at the Etihad and making them the official bookies favourites for the title for the first time this season.

Chelsea pumped Newcastle 5-1, Everton and Palace continued to struggle in the league as they lose to West Brom and Watford respectively and Stoke bounced back against a below-par Bournemouth side. Then, a fantastic Super Sunday came around that saw the top four (Leicester, Tottenham, Arsenal and Manchester City) face off. Danny Welbeck returned after nine months out to score a 95th minute winner against Leicester and generated 18,000 tweets a minute after Arsenal's 2-1 win. Tottenham won 2-1 at the Etihad to make them serious title contenders, with Christian Eriksen keeping a cool head whenever he is called upon. As a filler game on the Sky Super Sunday package, Aston Villa were humiliated 6-0 at home to Liverpool and furthering the feeling among Football fans that they are all but doomed to the Championship.   

March

Everton actually won a game, okay it was against Aston Villa, but three points is three points. West Brom fought back to gain a 2-2 draw with Leicester. Liverpool pulled off a 3-0 win against Manchester City, who are falling down the Champions League spots. In one of the biggest North London derbies in recent years, Arsenal saved themselves from local humiliation through Alexis Sanchez's equaliser to make it 2-2. Everton continued their awful home form in the Premier League as they lost 3-2 to West Ham after being 2-0 up.

Steve McClaren was then sacked as Newcastle manager after losing 3-1 away to Bournemouth (Rafa Benitez replaced McClaren for their game away to Leicester, which they lost 1-0). Two days before that Monday night game, Bournemouth pulled away from the regelation battle by beating Swansea 3-2. Everton then lost to Arsenal 2-0 in what, for me at least, was the worst Everton game I have ever seen due to the sheer lack of ambition. Anyway, my team's lack of care aside, Chelsea fought back against West Ham for a 2-2 draw. Manchester United further crushed Manchester City's title hopes thanks to Marcus Rashford's cool 18th minute strike. March finished. March ended with Leicester five points clear at the top of the table, three teams fighting for fourth spot (Manchester City, West Ham and Manchester United) and three teams continue their fight for Premier League status (Norwich, Sunderland and Newcastle).    

April

Newcastle didn't help their hopes of staying up when they lost to Norwich 3-2 at Carrow Road. West Ham had an amazing 3-3 draw with Arsenal, in a match that West Ham should have won five or six to Arsenal's three goals. Newcastle did then give some hope to their fans, as much as YouTubers like The-True-Geordie probably don't want it, by beating Swansea 3-0 at St James' Park. This was helped by Sunderland beating Norwich 3-0. Tottenham beat Stoke 4-0 to keep their title hopes alive and to keep the pressure on Leicester after they only just got a 2-2 draw with West Ham after Jamie Vardy was controversially sent off.

Everton were then destroyed 4-0 at Anfield (what's new?).  Leicester put themselves three points within winning the Premier League title as Ulloa perfectly stepped in for Vardy with two goals. Spurs gave their titles hopes a huge dent as they drew 1-1 with West Brom, with Craig Dawson scoring at both ends. Newcastle added another twist to the relegation battle by beating Crystal Palace 1-0, thanks to Andros Townsends stunning free-kick goal, and the Geordies got another morale boost as Sunderland only just managed a draw away to Stoke from a last-minute penalty from Jermaine Defoe.

May
To the disappointment of neutral fans, Leicester didn't wrap up the title race as they drew 1-1 with Manchester United. However, the title race was then ended by Chelsea drawing with Tottenham at Stamford Bridge, which handed Leicester their first-ever top flight title and completing the most amazing story in English Football History. Sunderland then beat Chelsea 3-2 to significantly boost their survival chances, especially with Newcastle drawing 0-0 with Aston Villa and Manchester United beating Norwich 1-0.

The final day of the 2015/16 Premier League season wasn't actually the final day, as a suspicious package was discovered at Old Trafford before kick-off and therefore lead to the game being abandoned, rescheduled for Tuesday night and one company being absolutely financially destroyed by Ed Woodward and co. On the 'last day', Arsenal finished above Tottenham after the Gunners beat Villa 4-0 and Spurs bottled it against relegated Newcastle, 5-1 (therefore leading to Spurs fans being destroyed on Twitter as it was 'St Totteringhams Days'). West Ham missed out on Europa League Football next season in the Olympic Stadium as they lost to Stoke City 2-1 and in the final game of the season, Manchester United beat Bournemouth 3-1 but didn't reach the Champions League place as they didn't score 19 goals, subsequently allowing for Manchester City to retain fourth spot for Pep next season.


PFA Team of the Year: David De Gea (Manchester United), Hector Bellerin (Arsenal), Toby Alderweireld (Tottenham Hotspur), Wes Morgan (Leicester City), Danny Rose (Tottenham Hotspur), Riyad Mahrez (Leicester City), N'Golo Kanté (Leicester City), Dele Alli (Tottenham Hotspur), Dimitri Payet (West Ham), Jamie Vardy (Leicester City), Harry Kane (Tottenham Hotspur).

Claudio Ranieri won his first-ever top-flight title.  



Leicester City: From 5,000/1 to Premier League Champions

 

Leicester City: From 5,000/1 to Premier League Champions

Before the season started, I predicted that Leicester City would finish 13th in the Premier League. I didn't know much about Claudio Ranieri's tactics, except from the fact that he had the nickname 'Tinkerman' from his time at Chelsea, and wasn't really sure how his appointment would affect the squad. I assumed from Gary Lineker's tweet (which said 'Claudio Ranieri? Really??') that Leicester fans weren't all that happy with his appointment.

Ooh, how we were wrong!


On 2nd May, Leicester City were crowned Premier League champions after Tottenham drew 2-2 with Chelsea at Stamford Bridge. The media ate it up more than a Twitter beef (I'm now realising that I'm contributing to this but let's move swiftly on) and it has been deemed a miracle by some media outlets, obviously by Piers Morgan and Suzanna Reid from Good Morning Britain. Now almost every single Football or general Sports organisation will have analysed the death out of the Leicester City squad, possibly game-by-game or player-by-player importance in the starting XI but I will be breaking down Leicester's season in terms of how it happens and what it means for the other Premier League clubs, the players and the club has a whole.


First off, Leicester's team spirit is amazing. You often hear about the amazing foreign teams that have built up the ethos of a modern club based upon the brother-like connection that players make, much like Atletico Madrid have done under Diego Simeone in the last few years. Leicester have proven to the World that it doesn't matter how much you spend on the overall squad, as long as you don't have egos and keep yourselves grounded you can achieve anything. Another aspect of Leicester's title win is the integrity that Ranieri has shown in keeping his faith firmly within the players that were largely left over from Nigel Pearson's mixed reign as manager. This is by Ranieri only fielding 23 players during the course of the title 'challenge' and the overall cost of the squad being £57 million (with the fact that they didn't sign anyone in January being unheard of for a future champion). These almost forgotten aspects of a Footballing squad in the modern game were brought back by the 'Tinkerman' and this fantastic group of players, whom many have come from a rugs-to-riches lifestyle, in terms of a Footballing journey.


So what does this mean for the club itself? Worldwide recognition for sure, with Twitter exploding the day of Tottenham drawing with Chelsea to hand Leicester the Premier League. For next season, many have predicted mid-table if some of their key players leave, such as Mahrez and Vardy, but I predict that they will have a fairly decent season and finish eight, but will keep their key players because they've just won the Premier League and will be in the Champions League next season! What more motivation do you need to stay at a club? As for the other Premier League clubs, it just shows that anyone can have a fantastic season when you have time spirit and don't blindly spend for the sake of having money.


Can anyone 'do a Leicester' next season? Simply, no. What Leicester have done is one of IF NOT THE greatest Footballing achievement of all-time, especially when you consider how they were written off to be relegated by the majority at the start of this season.



5 WWE Storylines That Had Real-Life Implications

5 WWE Storylines That Had Real-Life Implications

 

I get it.

 

Wrestling isn't real (nether is Star Wars but let's move on).

 

Wrestling is built on storylines that are often centred around the babyface (good guy) vs heel (bad guy) idea, in order to provide the audience with the best form of 'sports entertainment' possible. However, sometimes a feud between two Wrestlers can become real due to the Wrestlers' personal feelings to each other or events outside the ring. In this list, I will be outlining five WWE storylines that had real-life implications during their duration.

 

 

5. CM Punk vs Jeff Hardy (2009)

In 2009, CM Punk vs Jeff Hardy was the best feud in WWE, with spectacular matches on PPV late in the year. This is how WWE would like you to remember the feud as the feud between the two was very real indeed. Aside from the World Heavyweight Championship, the feud was focused around the contrast between Punk's straight-edge lifestyle and Hardy's living-in-the-moment lifestyle. Punk at one pint told Hardy that he knows a thing or two about narcotises, just that Hardy doesn't know that he has to go to a Doctor to get them. A week after leaving WWE to apparently leave to heal up, Hardy was arrested for attempting to ship illegal drugs.

 

But definitely just remember the PPV's, as WWE want you to.  

4.Matt Hardy vs Edge (2005)

When you talk about blurring the lines between fiction and reality, look no further than the Matt Hardy vs Edge feud. During Hardy's injury from WWE in late 2004 to early 2005, girlfriend Lita started to spend more time with Hardy's real-life friend Edge. Hardy sounded off on the two online and was subsequently fired. However, fan demand saw Hardy resigned to WWE, attack Edge in a work invasion of RAW and go on to have a reasonable feud with his former best-friend. This is still one of my favourite feuds, not just because it was one of the first I was invented in.   

3. End of an Era (2012)

When the Undertaker returned and challenged Triple H to a match at Wrestlemania 28 for a rematch of their bout at Wrestlemania 27, Triple H rejected as he had he would have to finish the Deadman. Taker then said that Triple H couldn't do what his best-friend Shawn Michaels couldn't do because Shawn was always better than Hunter (much is massively true). Tripe H accepted and with HBK as the guest referee, it was an emotional rollercoaster. What makes it even better fans was that the three men had amazing respect for one and other and this showed as the Undertaker's Wrestlemania streak continued to 20-0. The final shot of the three at the top of the ramp is an iconic picture and has got to be one of the WWE's favourite ever photos.

2. Summer of Punk (2011)

This storyline takes place in the late part of 2011 when CM Punk pushed himself into the main event scene as he cut a viciously honest promo in Vegas, won the WWE Championship at the second annual Money In The Bank (in his hometown of Chicago) and left the WWE (for eight days). The rest of the storyline was absolute rubbish, with Punk losing on three consecutive pay-per-views, but what makes this storyline so memorable is the real nature of Punk's promos, discussing Kevin Nash's return as WWE continuing the status quo, the fact that Cena was always favoured as the good guy and how he was subbed for Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson for the Wrestlemania 28 main event. For me, there isn't a more honest portrayal of a Wrestler's frustration and as Punk said himself, it was six years of pent-up anger in the making.   

1. The Montreal Screw-Job (1997)
It's the most famous Survivor Series moment all-time, where Shawn Michaels, Vince McMahon and various others screwed Bret Hart out of the WWE championship before he left for arch-rivals WCW (World Championship Wrestling). Bret had stressed that he wasn't going to drop the belt in Canada but unfortunately for Bret, he forgot that Vince McMahon rules all in WWE and will therefore crash anyone's momentum if he has to. Add into the mix that Bret hated Shawn Michaels for his backstage political antics, which I can't blame him for to be honest, and you have the number one Wrestling storyline that had the realist implications and shocking aftermath.