The 2010/11 campaign of the world's most popular football league is finished, but there's always an opportunity to have a closer look. The following would browse through the Prem from A to Z.
by @Nicopoleides
Aerial. Manchester United scored more headed goals than any other side. Javier Hernández and Dimitar Berbatov were two of the contributors to the Red Devils' 18 successful headers. The most headed goals scored by individuals were six, and there is no shocker that there's a Stoke City player among those. Kenwyne Jones, former Toon striker Andy Carroll and the blue merseysider Tim Cahill bagged six goals from headers each.
Bicycle kick. 77 minutes played in the Manchester derby at Old Trafford and a Nani cross went in from the right-hand side. There was no hesitation from Wayne Rooney in the box, and that bicycle kick is in my opinion the obvious goal of the season.
Celebration. A lot of goals were scored in this campaign, almost three a game on average. We need to go back to the 1967/68 season to find more than 2,80 times to celebrate every game, like it was this year. 3,03 goals a game was the answer of 67/68, never beaten ever since.
Deflection. No side scored more deflected goals than Manchester City, 8. Someone ready to overtake the Frank Lampard syndrome?
Eighteen. Arsenal's flying dutchman Robin van Persie touched the Premier League record of 18 goals from January 1st onwards in a single season, and is currently the joint holder of that record alongside Thierry Henry and Cristiano Ronaldo.
Fastest. Maxi Rodriguez of Liverpool needed only 32 seconds to put the ball behind Fulham's Mark Schwarzer at the 9th May 2011, the fastest goal of this campaign. The Argentinian went on to seal a hat-trick in a 5-2 hammering to make sure the Whites lost their fourth home game in the EPL 10/11. Neither Manchester United, Chelsea or Arsenal were able to perform better than the liverpudlians at the Cottage.
Goal-line technology. The entire football world was able to spot Frank Lampard's frustration when his World Cup 'goal' aganist Germany was disallowed, even if it was clearly behind the line. But no Lamps frustration when the ref signaled for a goal when Tottenham's Heurelho Gomes acted clumsy and gave the englishman a 'goal' at Stamford Bridge almost a year later. Goal-line technology needed, FIFA. No more to say about that.
Hat-trick. What are the similarities of Didier Drogba, Theo Walcott, Andy Carroll, Dimitar Berbatov(3) Kevin Nolan, Mario Balotelli, Leon Best, Robin van Persie, Carlos Tévez (2), Louis Saha, Dirk Kuyt, Wayne Rooney, Maxi Rodriguez(2) and Somen Tchoy? They all went on to grab at least one hat-trick this season. 17 hat-tricks in EPL 10/11 makes this campaign equal the records of 95/96 and 97/98. Still Tyneside's beloved Alan Shearer is the man with the most Prem hat-tricks (11).
International duties. Players featuring the the FIFA WC 2010 struggled to make a good effort, especially in the 2010 half of the Prem. Lampard and Gerrard were suffering injuries, Rooney is his own story, Torres showed lack of form, Evra wasn't on top and the list goes on. On the other hand, players like Adam, Carroll, Wilshere, Nani, Scholes, Berbatov and Bale has performed very well. Of course there is exceptions, but is this actually random, FIFA, or is a longer vacation in front of the season needed?
Joint top-goalscorers. Former teammates Carlos Alberto Tévez and Dimitar Ivanov Berbatov shared the honour of being the most lethal players of this campaign, equalling eachothers' 20 times of finding the net. This is the first time in this decade that the title is shared; the last time was in 98/99 when Jimmy Floyd Hasslebaink, Dwight Yorke and Michael Owen made 18 goals each.
King Kenny. Roy Hodgson made Liverpool less entertaining than they had been for years and the opponent goalkeepers had quite a good time. 13th-placed scousers, with just 26 points in 22 games, shouted for change, both ownerial and managerial. Double luck for the merseysiders as King Kenny entered the dugout and from the 22nd January onwards only champions Manchester United (35) and runners-up Chelsea (33) captured a higher amount of points than the scousers' 32. And please mind United had a game in hand.
Long throws. Stoke City's Rory Delap should be a well-known lad for most of Premier League fans with his characteristic long throw-ins. The potters made 570 long throws throughout the season (compared to 2nd-placed Bolton Wanderers' 288...) , but only scored four goals from them. Is Tony Pulis a handball manager?
Milestone. Or perhaps music is the term for this one? Dudley Junior 'DJ' Campbell sealed the 1000th goal of the Prem campaign with his strike against Bolton on 14th May.
Narrow margin. There is 380 games in a complete Premiership season, and this year 138 of them ended with a one-goal victory. Despite Man United had been under-fire of critisicm aimed at their 'boring' way of play, the Red Devils were in charge of the biggest win, 7-1 to poor Blackburn Rovers, and Carlo 'Eyebrow' Ancelotti's Chelsea went on for the biggest away victory, a 6-0 hammering of Wigan Athletic at the renamed DW stadium.
Offside. Darren Bent was caught offside 67 times, 20 more than any other player.
Prepared. Liverpool's Martin Skrtel and Everton's Leighton Baines played every single one of the 3420 minutes in 10/11, and were the only outfield players to do so. No doubt the two prepared well in the pre-season.
Que sera sera. Manchester City went on to Wembley and won their first major trophy for 35 years, beating Stoke 1-0 in the FA Cup final. Quite a few quid needed to bring down the Ticker banner at Stretford End.
Relegation. 33 points in 38 games were not even enough to secure the 19th spot for West Ham United, as the Hammers finished bottom, heading for the Championship alongside Birmingham and Blackpool. With 33 points in the previous season, 2009/10, they would have escaped the entire relegation zone.
Super-sub. Javier 'Chicharito' Hernández scored five times coming off the bench, more than any other player in the league. Though the Mexican (11 sub-apps) wasn't able to level Newcastle's Nile Ranger's record of 23 appearances as a sub, a top rating in the Prem.
Turnaround. Both Rooney and Tévez wanted a transfer this season, but as the form (and goals) kept on coming, both made a turnaround. El Apache is still considering his future at Eastlands, but Rooney seems to stay put in Mancunia. These emotional turnarounds can be too hot to handle for any supporter, especially when it's not even silly season.
Upset. A lot of Liverpool supporters had a go at Fernando Torres when the Spaniard signed for Chelsea. The consolation is that the £50m man has scored less goals for the blues than Bébé has done for Man United.
Vintage wine. And Ryan Giggs. Both just getting better as the years goes on.
Woodwork. If all the balls which hit the woodwork had found its way into the back of the net, Arsenal would have been champions with a couple of games to play, hitting the aluminium over 20 times. Still there was no single player to get that close to scoring more than Kenwyne Jones and Didier Drogba, with 6 times each.
Xenophobia. No side won less points than Owen Coyle's army on the road. Bolton Wanderers' eleven points are not suited to impress anyone, and their fear of being away from home has got to be reduced in front of the next season. Only two away victories (at Upton Park and Molineux) is level with relegators West Ham and Birmingham.
Yid Army. Tottenham Hotspur delievered an impressive 2009/10 campaign to secure the Yids a well-deserved Champions League spot. But with ten games to play in Europe (five abroad), it may have become too much for Harry Houdini's men. This season have the Lillywhites been unable to turn close games into their favour, and no Champions League football is to be played at White Hart Lane in the upcoming season. Let's hope they'll avoid ending up like Portsmouth if Harry leaves for Chelsea, like he's rumoured to do.
Zebra. Good to have Newcastle United back in the top-flight, but the Toon were unfortunately unable to make St. James' Park a fortress. The departure of Andy Carroll didn't make that easier, but a safe 12th spot was no matter what the most important report at Tyneside. A striker seems needed to improve their W6 D8 L5 record at home.
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