On and off the field, we have certainly had a Premier League season to remember. From affairs, to beach balls, championship races that went right to the wire - this year's campaign has had everything with plenty of memorable moments. Here's my top five countdown.
#5
Arsene Wenger's biblical pose in the crowd
Although Arsene doesn't see much, we certainly saw this. Back in August the Arsenal manager was sent to the stand after kicking a water bottle in protest of a disallowed goal in his team's 3-1 defeat to Manchester United. He took Mike Dean's instructions quite literally and stood on the edge of the stand in front of screaming fans with his arms out asking, "Is this OK?" Arsene could so often be a mixed bag of the same old complaints but this took it to a whole new level and so early in the season it set us up for what we had in store.
#4
Emmanuel Adebayor's goal celebration v Arsenal
There's sparking reaction against your old club's fans and there's this. In a dramatic 4-2 win against the Gunners at Eastalnds in September, after a brilliant goal the Togolese sprinted literally the length of the pitch and slid on his knees causing the Arsenal faithful to have to be held back by stewards as they all tussled to get a piece of him. The celebration instantly became one of the most notorious in Premier League history and countless former players and pundits spoke out aginst it. But people are still talking about it now.
#3
Shake-gate. Wayne Bridge and John Terry
This single moment confirmed weeks and weeks of press speculation. All we had read about was how upset Wayne Bridge was at his former best mate for shagging his ex and then he announced his retirement from England. Everyone was relishing Chelsea and Man City and I went as one of my limited Stamford Bridge appearances. I was sat in the East stand opposite the drama but joined in a collective ooooooooh building up to the moment. Unfortunately no-one could really tell what happened and everyone was asking each other, "Did he shake it? Did he shake it?" And we didn't know and got on with backing John Terry and booing Wayne Bridge (wrongly) and watching the only home defeat of the season. When I watched the highlights and picked up the papers the next day I certainly knew he didn't shake it.
#2
Jimmy Bullard's celebration v Man City
This was a classic from one of English football's favourite characters. In the same fixture when Phil Brown berated his players on the pitch at half time in the 2008/2009 season, Hull's cheeky chappy scored a penalty and brought the players over for an inspired celebration. Afterwards he said it was not his idea but trust him to do it. The fact that it was Jimmy made it all the better. Hopefully he can find himself a Premier League club next season.
#1
Beach Ball at Sunderland v Liverpool
This was simply pure bad luck and a once in a lifetime incident that would happen to a goalkeeper. A shot from Darren Bent deflected in off a Liverpool souvenir beach ball and sent Jose Reina the wrong way, resulting in a 1-0 defeat for the Reds. No-one would have ever thought twice about at novelty items like balloons or beach balls being a factor in football matches before then but they certainly did afterwards, especially Man Utd fans. This also summed up Liverpool's dire season when nothing went their way.
Just missing out was that look from Steven Gerrard when his partner in crime Fernando Torres was substituted by Benitez against Birmingham in April. This also summed up Liverpool's season in terms of the frustration of fans and players alike with Benitez.
One game had a few memorable moments in it as well, Manchester Utd 4-3 Manchester City at Old Trafford in September. The twists and turns made us believe that Utd would drop points against their "noisy neighbours" for a while but in the end the all-to-familiar outcome that bothered all but Utd fans - a late goal - sealed it for the then champions.
So these are the moments that will stick with me about this Premier League campaign. Anything you would put in?
JT
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You forgot to mention that the beach ball goal went against one of the most basic laws of the game and should of been disallowed.
ReplyDeleteOther than that, it has got to be the moment when the entire nation gasped in fear as Rooney limped off at the end of Man U's first leg loss in Munich.