Premier League 2011/2012 wrapup

Man City had the most talent and won the league. Amazing finish in extra time. David Silva was my favorite player to watch in the Premier League. I don't know where they would put Hazard but I do know where they would put Van Persie. I still think Dzeko is a good fit but Mancini won't play him. I think Tevez is still an excellent player but he is a bit of a head case and I think he is a better fit for the 2011 4-3-2-1 than the 2012 4-2-3-1. I'm still not sure how good a player Balotelli is although I am sure that he is an immature head case. Despite getting totally burned on QPR's second goal I still think Vincent Kompany is the best central defender in the Premier League.

Man U was Man U. SAF is a great manager - he's had 2 to 10 times as much to spend on the squad as anyone else but year in year out he continues to get results. Rooney had a great year. I'm still not sold on DeGea but he did seem to improve over the course of the season. I'm sad to see Fletcher go - I thought he was on the verge of a Bastian Schweinsteiger re-invention breakout season. Anderson will never put it together. The Giggs/Scholes madness has got to stop - the next generation needs to step up and Tom Cleverly is not the answer. Sneijder would be a good fit.

Arsenal came far better than I thought they would. After losing Wilshire, selling Cesc and Nasri AND not getting any viable defenders I thought Arsenal would finish mid-table. But Wenger is an amazing coach, Van Persie stayed healthy and had an amazing year, Arteta stayed healthy and turned out to be a very good fit, and Szczesny looks good. With Podolski in hand I think Wenger feels like he has some leverage on Van Persie. If he has the money in hand Wenger will try for Hazard (who would be a great fit) and he might take a flyer on Yoann Gurcuff from Lyon.

Spurs finished over Chelsea because they kept Modric (my second favorite player to watch in the Prem). Scott Parker was a huge upgrade, Adebayor was a huge upgrade and Kasey Keller is ageless.

Newcastle finished much higher than I thought they would. Then again, Joey Barton out and Ben-Arfa and Cabaye in is going to move you in the right direction.

Chelsea finshed lower than I thought they would because AVB implemented a new system with the old players instead of the old system with new players. Lampard and Drogba are still better than Mata and Torres but not by much and not for much longer. John Terry is older and slower but he's still a better center back than David Luiz (who seems to have a good ball sense but zero positional sense, I would try him as a holding midfielder). They need a new coach, a new system that the new coach can implement and new players who can play the new system that the new coach is implementing. I came around on Ramires this year but I still think Kalou is crap and Malouda looks like he's done. Depends on the coach but some combination of Sturridge, Kakuta, Romeu, McEachran, Mata and Torres has to form the attack of a new side.

Liverpool were crap, even worse than I thought. I've slagged Lucas in the past but the team was much worse without him. If you keep buying above average players from mid-table teams you eventually turn into an above average mid-table team (yes I am looking at you, Messrs Downing, Henderson, Adam and Carroll). Suarez is a good player but none of the other pieces fit around him right now.

And over in Serie A ...

Congrats to Andrea Pirlo, who in addition to being a great player crafted the most exquisite "fuck you" to Silvio Berlusconi ever.

Goodbye to Clarence Seedorf and Gennaro Gattuso, who along with Pirlo formed the heart of those great Milan sides.

And thanks for all the memories to Alex DelPiero, who was one of my very favorite players over the past 15 years, starting from when I first saw him come on as a substitute against Dortmund in the 1997 Champions League final.