The football season of 2021/2022 has come to an end in Europe and what a season it has been.
Football fans here in T&T have looked intently at the various games on a weekend and sometimes mid-week. While many look on at the top leagues such as the Spanish La Liga, the German Bundesliga, the Italian Serie A, the French Ligue 1 and many more, too numerous to mention, the one that has many fans glued to their television sets on a weekend is the English Premier League.
Somehow, the Premier league is the one where fans seem to support one team or another. It is by far (arguably for some) the most competitive of all the European leagues and even though the champions for the last five years have been Manchester City (4 times) and Liverpool (once), it is never a foregone conclusion that when they are playing, they will overrun the opposition.
Many experts in England, before the start of the season, predicted the winner would come from either Manchester City or Liverpool with a couple others suggesting early on that the reigning European champions Chelsea could upset the big two. Unlike the other leagues, it is the rough and tumble playing of many clubs that ignite the passion of the English fans.
Football, in England, is like a religion and if you have never been to a Premier League encounter, the atmosphere is electrifying and the home support can stir many clubs to victory. A club can look completely different from a home game to an away game simply due to their supporters.
As a result of restrictions imposed last year because of the pandemic, clubs had to play to an empty stadium and the contrast between some clubs and the results was truly astounding. Once the fans were back, it was almost impossible to get last minute tickets to games and if you did not book your tickets early on, you would have had to revert to looking at the game on television or maybe a ticket scalper to buy an overpriced ticket.
The Premier League is the ultimate package. In addition to the rough and tumble, tough tackling and fans supplying the atmosphere, there is also real quality football as all the top players want to experience the atmosphere in England playing for the various clubs. When one goes through the list of names of the international stars that grace the fields of the Premier League both past and present, it’s like a “who’s who” in international football. Without doubt, the Premier League continues, year in year out, to produce exciting football and this year was no exception.
By mid January, the league appeared all sewn up with Manchester City some 14 points clear of Liverpool at the top of the table and all the experts had predicted that City would have won the league by mid-April. Liverpool had other ideas as by the end of April, the gap had closed to just one point and in some instances, they had gone past City depending on who played first.
There is no doubt these two teams are the best in England and they have pushed one another to amazing heights as the battle see-sawed for the coveted league title. Because of the fighting spirit and crowd support of other teams, it is never a given that they would just have to turn up at the ground and win the game.
West Ham, for example, in the second to last game of the season nearly caused a huge upset as City had to come from two goals down to earn a creditable draw. Liverpool, on the other hand, had to battle a master tactical move from Antonio Conte’s Tottenham Hotspurs and come from behind to earn a 1-1 draw. On the topic of Conte, many world class managers are in charge of Premier League clubs which also makes for tactical football at its best.
Entering the final round of the league matches last Sunday, Manchester City had a better goal difference and a one point advantage over their title chasing rivals Liverpool. With City playing Aston Villa at home, it was almost a foregone conclusion that they would win the league in a canter even though Liverpool also had a home game against Wolverhampton Wanderers.
The twist in the tale was that Aston Villa is managed by former Liverpool legend Steven Gerrard and the team included another former Liverpool legend in Philippe Coutinho. Everything was made to be a fairy tale finish to the season where these two Liverpool legends were to be flies in the ointment and deny City the title by at least holding them to a draw.
Meanwhile, Liverpool had to live up to their part of the fairy tale by winning their game at home; what a stunning climax to the end of the season. Steven Spielberg could not have written a better script. Before you could settle in front of the television, Wolves scored after three minutes but that was not supposed to be part of the script. However, after 24 minutes the scores were tied at one a piece but still City had their noses in front.
In the 37th minute, the script was now starting to unfold. Villa went 1-0 up but Liverpool needed to score again to go in the lead. In the 69th minute, the Liverpool fans were going berserk as Villa went two up and the scorer was Coutinho. It did not matter as Liverpool were still being held 1-1 but in the 76th minute, City started to blow Villa’s house down like a tornado and within five minutes scored an incredible three goals and even though Liverpool scored twice, the fairy tale ending was not to be as City held on for a 3-2 victory winning the Premier League title by just one point. What an end to a fascinating league.
The English FA could not have planned it better and so it means the fans can’t wait for the season to start again in August and with a World Cup starting in November, 2022 it will surely be remembered as one of the greatest years in the history of football.
Whether you supported Manchester City or Liverpool, football was the winner in this year’s Premier League. Thank you. What an amazing season!