_____________________________________________
| W | L | Pts | |||
| 1 | Chelsea | 38 | 26 | 3 | 87 |
| 2 | Man City | 38 | 24 | 7 | 79 |
| 3 | Arsenal | 38 | 22 | 7 | 75 |
| 4 | Man Utd | 38 | 20 | 8 | 70 |
| 5 | Tottenham | 38 | 19 | 12 | 64 |
| 6 | Liverpool | 38 | 18 | 12 | 62 |
| 7 | Southampton | 38 | 18 | 14 | 60 |
| 8 | Swansea | 38 | 16 | 14 | 56 |
Swansea finished higher than they’ve ever done,.
Garry Monk’s boys clearly over-achieved compared to their resource-base.
Spurs, 23 points below Chelsea, had wanted fourth place.
But finished six points below Man United
Arsenal and the Manchesters also under-achieved.
But the Big Four is invariably the same Big Four.
The Suarez Season of 2013-14 was exceptional because it allowed Liverpool to shove Manchester United out of the Champions League.
Sometimes I wonder : How do managers think in the summer?
Do they think mainly about signing and re-signing players?
Or about trying to unload expensive bad apples?
Or is it mostly about financial balancing?
When managers break down their season, and look objectively at what they want to improve, do they really study the matches they lost?
While Arsenal and Man City lost seven games and didn’t challenge, United lost eight.
When I look at the arithmetic of United’s fourth place, I’m not impressed.
So United fans sure won’t be either. They’ll think: 17 points behind Chelsea? WTF!
Spurs 5 Chelsea 3? Did that mean anything?
Mourinho once said that kind of score was basketball and that he hated scores like that.
But Cesc Fabregas laughed it off. He said: When we looked at the video, we played well – but every time Spurs attacked, they scored.
Just looked at Arsenal’s fixtures in August.
They only leave London once, to go to Newcastle.
Are you thinking what I’m thinking?
No excuse for not making a winning start in those four weeks.
Petr Cech and his best friend Christophe Lollichon will raise the standard of the Arsenal team, just as Gary Neville and Jamie Carragher raised it last season.
The merciless dissection of mistakes on MNF, especially the blunders by sated German hero Per Mertesacker, gave Arsenal the kick up the arse that they badly needed.
The analysis Neville & Carragher did was something that could not have been done on a Sunday, let alone a Saturday night.
By using the extra time available to them, and pinpointing the incompetent defending they saw, GNev & Carra shamed Arsenal into becoming more professional.
Secretly, Wenger probably welcomed their MNF analysis of his debacle at Stoke.
Since he doesn’t like confrontations and doesn’t bollock his players, he needs someone who will.
Which brings me to Arsenal’s new goalkeeper.
Cech shouted a lot at the Chelsea players when the team played badly.
I don’t know whether most Gooners realise that.
Petr Cech is not as mild-mannered as he looks and sounds.
He’s an intelligent guy and a very nice with it, yes. Absolutely.
But Cech helped to enforce the collective standard of concentration that won his team 13 trophies.
He’s a champion and a European Champion.
A proven winner.
As a great philosopher once said, in Latin : Trust one who has done it.