10 Things We Learned in the Premier League

By: Daryl | May 12th, 2008

Giggs 10 Prem medals 1. Ryan Giggs has more Premier League medals than Andriy Shevchenko has goals
Giggs scored the decisive second for Man Utd against Wigan to earn himself a tenth Premier League winners medal yesterday. That’s a lot. Meanwhile Andriy Shevchenko was scored his ninth ever Premier League goal for Chelsea. That’s not a lot.

2. Bolton’s players should drink more
Alex Ferguson was a little concerned this week that Bolton’s players wouldn’t be in any shape to play Chelsea as they’d “been out celebrating all week.” If that’s true then maybe Bolton have stumbled on a new tactic, because a 1-1 draw away to a determined Chelsea is an excellent result. Either Bolton play better with a hangover, or Fergie’s still good with the mindgames.

3. Fox Sports Australia is definitely broadcast live
Because no-one would deliberately broadcast this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eel36Rnv_Vc

4. John Terry is unbreakable
Or rather, he’s very breakable. But he just doesn’t care. How many other players would dislocate their elbow and then announce after the game they’ll be fine for the Champions League final?

5. Roy Hodgson knows what he’s doing
Eyebrows were raised when Hodgson took over at Fulham. The man has managed all over Europe (including Inter Milan) and at the international level (Switzerland, UAE, Finland) but because he didn’t do well with an already disintegrating Blackburn team in the ’90s, and because he talks through his nose, no one in England rates him. But now he’s dragged Fulham from relegation certainties, to Premiership survivors. And he apparently pocketed a tidy £1m for doing so.

6. But Lawrie Sanchez doesn’t
Sanchez also made his name at the international level, with Northern Ireland. But when asked to recreat that success in the Premier League he took it a little too literally and tried to buy as many Northern Irish players as he could. Even worse, after leaving them in all sorts of danger earlier this season, Sanchez claimed on Saturday that Fulham would already be safe had he still been in charge. Yes Lawrie: safely relegated.

7. Joe Hart > Andreas Isaksson
Hart’s had a great season. Isaksson has mostly been on the bench. And now we know why. The Swedish keeper was beaten a total of eight times yesterday, as Middlesbrough steamrolled Sven Goran Eriksson’s side 8-1.

8. Carson Yeung is a genius
The Hong Kong billionaire has been “in talks” to buy Birmingham City for the whole season, managing to unsettle the whole club enough for Steve Bruce to leave and everything to fall apart. The result: relegation. So now the club are worth a lot less and Yeung can pick them up at a bargain bin Championship price.

9. Leaving presents take many forms
If Gareth Barry does leave Aston Villa this summer, then at least he signed off with a goal. If Richard Dunne leaves Man City (apparently he’s available for £1m) then he signed off by [possibly] costing them a UEFA Cup spot. Man City were the Premier League Fair Play leaders on Sunday morning and so on course for the extra fair play UEFA Cup place the Premier League was randomly awarded recently. But one red card later (albeit a harsh one) and now it’s ~~Newcastle~~ unclear who tops the Fair Play league and gets European football next season.

10. 2008/9 belongs to Theo Walcott
This wasn’t quite his season, but I doubt we’ll be able to say that next year. The Arsenal youngster closed out the season looking very much like a faster (and less sciatica troubled) version of Thierry Henry to score against Sunderland yesterday.