Rewind back to the summer of 2012 when the magpies defied all expectations and finished 5th, fans were going into that transfer window full of expectations. The lure of Europa League and a team full of young ambitious players gave Newcastle the perfect platform to kick on and buy some players who could take the team to the next level. However, the club found themselves fighting for their Premier League status until the 37th game of the season when they beat an already relegated QPR side.
Here we try and argue why Alan Pardew should be fired as manager:
At the time of writing, Tottenham have just been linked with Inter Milan's Fredy Guarin and as he isn't too well known by many, I've decided to put together another scout report for fans to find out a bit more about him.
Guarin is a Colombian midfielder currently plying his trade over in Italy for Inter Milan, however he started off at Colombian side Envigado. After enjoying loan spells at Boca Juniors and Saint Etienne, he joined French club Saint Etienne permanently in 2007. He forced his way into the team and before long was moving again, this time to Portuguese side FC Porto. He stayed at Porto for 4 years, becoming an especially prominent figure in his final season there. After making 63 league appearances for Porto he went on loan to Inter Milan before joining permanently in May 2012. Since joining Inter he's impressed many and has been a regular in the squad ever since.
As an enormous La Liga enthusiast, I (@TheTacticsRoom on Twitter) have thoroughly enjoyed the league season. Some of the world’s finest players ply their trade in Spain, and this is my selection of the players who have impressed me the most over the course of the year.
After lengthy speculation over a move to Liverpool, Mkhitaryan has decided to join Champions League and Bundesliga runners-up, Borussia Dortmund, so here's a quick scout report on their newest signing.
At 24, Mkhitaryan is currently contracted to Shakhtar Donetsk but he began at Armenian side, Pyunik FC, making his debut there at the age of just 17. In his last season at the club he notched 11 goals in 10 games. This record caught the eye of Ukranian side Metalurh Donetsk at the end of the 2009 season. It was quite a successful move for him as he scored 14 goals in his first season and this tally included a debut strike. His next club would be Ukranian giants Shakhtar Donestk who he joined in 2010 for around 5.7m euros. This season he managed the top scorers award in the league and has attracted interest from a number of clubs around Europe.
Whilst it may not have been as exciting as last year, I'm sure you'll all agree that this season has still been extremely entertaining. Although there wasn't a huge amount of final day drama, there were some big scores throughout the season, one which won't be remembered for good defending! In this article I'll be going through the next 5 teams in the league with the following ones coming in the next instalments. I've also managed to get a few comments from a fan of the respective clubs to see what they thought.
Liverpool
If you were to sum up Liverpool's season in one word then in my opinion it should definitely be 'inconsistent'. At times, Liverpool have looked extremely impressive and brushed teams aside with ease such as Swansea and Fulham. However, for as many times as they've been able to do that, they've also succumbed to a really disappointing result against a lesser team, putting in a very mediocre performance.
Rodgers was left short-changed at the start of the season when he put all his eggs in one basket to sign Fulham's Clint Dempsey and the American snubbed him for Spurs. This left him with a lack of attacking options and when Borini sustained an injury, the only striker they had was Suarez. The situation was made most evident when they travelled to Upton Park and because Luis Suarez was suspended, had to play Jonjo Shelvey up front due to having no recognised strikers available!
Whilst it may not have been as exciting as last year, I'm sure you'll all agree that this season has still been extremely entertaining. Although there wasn't a huge amount of final day drama, there were some big scores throughout the season, one which won't be remembered for good defending! In this article I'll go through the first 5 teams in the league with the following ones coming in the next instalments. I've also managed to get a few comments from a fan of the respective clubs to see what they thought.
Arsenal
Arsenal enjoyed a very happy final day and somehow they just managed to sneak into the Champions League yet again. Despite this, I know a number of Arsenal fans who have been underwhelmed by how their season went. Many have been calling for Wenger's head (and I'm not just talking about Piers Morgan!), claiming that he is running out of ideas and Arsenal need a change.
They didn't enjoy a particularly strong start to the season and it was their excellent end of season form that brought them home in the end with some inconsistency wedged in between. Goals were not a problem however as they managed to hit 5 goals or more 7 times! There were also low points however and they came especially in the form of cup defeats after they were knocked out by Bradford and Blackburn.
