The top 10 things the Premier League taught us - Total Football Magazine

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Money can buy you happiness

It took until the 93rd minute of the final game of the season for Manchester City to be crowned Premier League champions, but finally Roberto Mancini can silence his critics by showing them the title.
His and the club’s first title since his arrival in December 2009 has come at just the right time too, after the team crashed out of both the UEFA Champions League and Europa League in disappointing fashion earlier last season.
After announcing a world record loss of £361m last season, and a staggering current wage bill just shy of £174m, Mancini’s team of superstars can finally flaunt the Premier League trophy to their fans.
The question now is whether they can maintain this feat with their existing squad, and go some way to recording their first profitable year since 2005.

Good players need time to gel

The glitz and the glamour of Manchester City has, at times, often left their rivals in the shadows.
Sir Alex Ferguson also had quite the spending spree last summer, hoping to achieve his 13th Premier League title with the signings of the highly-rated trio of Phil Jones, Ashley Young and David de Gea.
However, undergoing constant tactical changes with line-ups tarnished by injuries, the team took time to play as a unit and often looked fragile at the back.
Fundamentally, this cost Ferguson the title, and only time will improve the team performance and enable them to mount a strong title challenge next season.

Bargains are to be had if you know where to look

Big-name transfers such as Sergio Aguero and Mario Balotelli dominated the media, but there were still plenty of surprise packages that made an impact in the Premier League last season.
Sunderland’s playmaker Stephane Sessegnon has changed countless games with his dynamic, accurate play, whilst Newcastle’s front-line partnership of Papiss Cisse and Demba Ba have perhaps been the biggest surprise last season in turning the team into a top six outfit.

England’s national prospects are high

With maturity comes experience, and vice versa. Any player breaking through into a Premier League starting line-up obviously possesses enough ability that fans can only dream about.
The likes of Tottenham’s Kyle Walker, Arsenal’s Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Manchester United’s stalwart Phil Jones featured heavily in their respective campaigns last season and it won’t be long until they become driving forces in the national team too.

There is no ‘Top 4’ anymore

With Liverpool, Tottenham and Arsenal in a relegation battle back in September and Chelsea also off to a slow start, space was given for other teams to grace the top places in the league table.
Newcastle did just this, and after putting in several strong performances their presence near the top of the pile was looking lengthy.
Having only been recently promoted in 2010, Newcastle were tipped by many to begin their slide down the table at any moment – yet the downfall never came.
They came under pressure as Chelsea, Tottenham and Arsenal all sprang into action, rocketing up the form table and before long Newcastle were in amongst the big boys.
Come May, any one of the four teams could have finished third. Who said the Premier League was predictable?

Joey Barton still can’t get it right

A 12-match ban earlier this month during QPR’s defeat to Manchester City on the last day of the season all but sums up the hothead’s season of turmoil.
It wasn’t uncommon that his on-field escapades, assists and goals for QPR were praised one week before his violent actions were condemned by the press the next.
His constant Twitter rampages have also landed him in hot water in the past, and public apologies are now becoming the norm for Barton.
Missing almost one-third of next season due to his latest suspension, QPR manager Mark Hughes now faces a tough decision regarding Barton – try and ship him off, or pay his bills knowing he won’t potentially play until November.

Why always Balotelli?

With the prowess and elegance of Balotelli also comes the ignorance of youth and the Italian is another one known for notorious misbehaviour.
At just 21 however, this could be credited to his lack of experience in the game, and it’s fair to say as the season has progressed his misconduct has become slightly less.
What is for sure is that without Balotelli, the Premier League would be far less entertaining for spectators and critics everywhere and his cheekiness on-the-pitch only demonstrates this.

Players feel pressure

Luis Suarez, Andy Carroll, Fernando Torres. All three strikers have spent most of their season frustrated, managing to hit the back of the net in the Premier League just 21 times in 82 appearances collectively.
However, goals tend to come in quick succession when scored. Both Suarez and Torres last season have scored hat-tricks, and possess the ability to do it time and time again with more game time.
With Suarez holding the unfavourable record of the lowest shots-to-goals ratio in the Premier League last season, his lack of goals is not for want of trying.
The same can be said for Torres and Carroll, and with more game time perhaps the goals will begin to come – especially, for Torres, now Drogba has left Chelsea.

Entertainment

With 1,066 goals scored in the Premier League at an average of 2.8 goals per match, last season has been full of high-octane entertainment.
Huge score-lines meant highlight reels needed dramatic editing last season, and these weren’t always against relegation-fighting teams.
Manchester United beat Arsenal 8-2 on the same day Manchester City beat Tottenham 5-1.
Chelsea scored three against Arsenal but still lost 5-3, whilst Arsenal were also on the receiving end of a similar score-line in their 4-3 defeat to Blackburn.
To top it off, the 20,000th Premier League goal was also scored in December, by Aston Villa’s Marc Albrighton during their 2-1 home defeat to Arsenal.

Survival of all three promoted teams

In two decades of the Premier League, only once before last season have all three promoted teams avoided relegation the following season.
Despite losing their final day fixture, QPR survived the drop by a single point, whilst Swansea and Norwich both finished 11 points away from the relegation zone.
By James Hartnett