20 Biggest Disappointments of the 2014/15 Premier League Season So Far
We’re often drawn to emphasising what is best about the Premier League, a division which might not be “the best league in the world” but does at least provide us with enough storylines to fill the back pages, the magazines and websites such as this one.
Sometimes, though, it is better to focus on just who or what has been a huge letdown in 2014/15. Which players or elements of the season have really disappointed?
Here is a list of 20, and I promise that they aren’t all about Liverpool.
Emmanuel Adebayor
1 of 20
From criticising his own fans, to only finding the net once since August, to losing his place in the team to Harry Kane, it has turned into a season to forget for Tottenham Hotspurs’s temperamental Togolese titan Emmanuel Adebayor.
Now into his 30s and with support for his talents dwindling, you have to wonder just where a forward once of Arsenal, Manchester City and Real Madrid will wind up next.
The Continued Absence of Daniel Sturridge
2 of 20
With Luis Suarez gone and everyone impressed by Daniel Sturridge's feats last season alongside the Uruguayan, this was supposed to be the season when Liverpool’s No. 15 struck out on his own and established himself among the very best Premier League and Champions League forwards.
He scored the winner in the Reds’ opening game of the season against Southampton, but then he only played twice more before never being seen again following his training-ground injury on international duty. Two failed comebacks later, his side’s struggles have been a direct consequence.
Everton's Defence
3 of 20
Everton won many friends in their first campaign under Roberto Martinez last season, when they were able to combine fluid, pleasing football with defensive solidity.
This campaign, whether it is because of Tim Howard's form, Sylvain Distin's advancing years, injury to John Stones or, more convincingly, the rigours of Europa League football, that simply hasn't been there, and mid-table mediocrity has been the result.
Alan Pardew's Comeback
4 of 20
It was all set up perfectly, and Newcastle United supporters were about to finally get their way.
The loss at Stoke City on a Monday night in late September finally looked to be the final straw for unpopular boss Alan Pardew, and Magpies fans could look forward to their club bringing in a boss they could really get behind.
Then the Magpies drew at Swansea, and then they embarked on a six-match winning run that included beating Tottenham, Manchester City and Liverpool in the space of six days. Pardew's smile got wider, and his job got a lot safer.
Radamel Falcao
5 of 20
Seen as the transfer coup to end all transfer coups, Manchester United's signing of Radamel Falcao on loan from Monaco was the biggest story of deadline day, and yet it has all fallen a little flat since then.
Seven appearances have brought just one goal, albeit the winner against Everton, and suddenly you begin to see just why Monaco (or more specifically Jorge Mendes) was so keen to hawk him around Europe to the highest bidder.
Sadly, that knee may never be the same again.
The Mounting Pressue on Nigel Pearson
6 of 20
Everything in the Leicester City garden was rosy when they remarkably beat Manchester United 5-3 at the King Power Stadium in late September, but events have taken a dramatic turn for the worse ever since.
The answer, then, must of course be to sack the manager if you listen to a growing army of critics, as Nigel Pearson did after the recent 3-1 defeat to Liverpool.
It's a great shame when a good, promising manager has to resort to such things, and the hope has to be that Pearson drags Leicester out of trouble and his reputation back up at the same time.
The Inevitability of the Title Race
7 of 20
This time last season, Arsenal were threatening to run away with the league title before they remembered that they were, well, Arsenal. When the Gunners fell flat on their faces, the baton was then spectacularly picked up by Liverpool who went on a winning run that few expected.
Chelsea and Manchester City were always there, of course, with the latter deservedly taking the crown, but this season it already seems as though no one will be good enough—or rich enough—to mount a serious challenge to the two big beasts.
It'll still be an interesting tussle, but just not as compelling as last season's.
Simon Mignolet
8 of 20
Liverpool's excellent attacking play last season meant that we could almost brush off their frequently madcap defending, but when you're not scoring goals, conceding them becomes a bigger problem, and the Reds' biggest problem right now is their goalkeeper.
Simon Mignolet currently spends matches wearing the look of a nervous man perched atop a high wire. He's seemingly just waiting for the next calamitous mistake and the headlines, tweets and Vines that will follow.
His nerves are infecting the whole team, and that cannot be allowed to continue.
Arsenal's Dependence on Alexis Sanchez
9 of 20
When Arsenal signed Mesut Ozil (who we'll come to later) last summer, it was seen as the sort of headline addition which would drag the Gunners to the next level and elevate them to genuine title challengers. Instead, they just became the same team but with the guy who used to be good for Real Madrid bolted onto it.
With the signing of Alexis Sanchez has come a better—or at least more effective—player, but a broadly similar problem.
Sanchez shines out as a beacon among increasing levels of mediocrity, and so instead of elevating Arsenal, he has begun to look like their only hope.
Mario Balotelli
10 of 20
Liverpool scored 53 goals in their 19 home matches last season, yet have managed just seven in eight in the current campaign.
That isn't all Mario Balotelli's fault, obviously, but the Italian's failure to grasp this unlikely opportunity given to him by one of the most high-profile clubs in the world and instead simply fall into the same old traps is really disheartening.
This could be his one last shot at the big time, and he's wasting it.
Roy Keane's Time at Aston Villa Was so Predictable
11 of 20
Granted most were about a month too early with their predictions, but the divorce between Aston Villa and assistant manager Roy Keane was always on the cards from the moment he breezed into Villa Park in the summer.
You can't really run a football club when the assistant manager is more high-profile than the manager, and whether it was about his beard, his book or his boiling-over temperature, Keane was never really suited to being the quieter, more considered Paul Lambert's second in command.
Villa can get on with playing football now.
Hull City's New Signings
12 of 20
Abel Hernandez, Gaston Ramirez, Hatem Ben Arfa. Steve Bruce went on the attack in the closing days of the summer transfer window and it was all very exciting.
However, bar Hernandez hitting the ground running with a couple of goals, none of the trio has really made a lasting impact at a club whose only two successful summer buys have so far been Andrew Robertson and Mohamed Diame.
Hull City were threatening to become the great attacking force of the East Riding, but instead they're just very... Hull City.
Dejan Lovren
13 of 20
From being the £20 million man who was going to lead Liverpool's defence to being overlooked for Kolo Toure. It wasn't supposed to be like this for Dejan Lovren.
The Croatian has also had to suffer the indignity of seeing a Southampton side he was so desperate to leave in the summer become noticeably better at the back in his absence, proving that sometimes change isn't for the best.
Mesut Ozil
14 of 20
You can't blame someone for being injured, but you can point to disappointing form before the injury and claim that perhaps it was a factor in the problem.
Arsenal fans are desperate for Mesut Ozil to succeed—so much so that any decent game will be held up as an example of the World Cup winner's quality—but as the second-most expensive player plying his trade in England right now, you really expect more for your money.
Hopefully he'll come back better and stronger, but there have to be serious doubts about that.
Injury to David Silva
15 of 20
There is a rather different attitude to the injury to David Silva than there is with Ozil, with the current affliction suffered by Manchester City's Spaniard leaving us shorn of one of the very best players in the division.
With Sergio Aguero now facing a period on the sidelines, City will be desperate to get Silva back as quickly as possible as the challenge to hunt down Chelsea continues into the New Year.
Robin van Persie
16 of 20
Off the back of a successful World Cup and having seen David Moyes ushered out of the door and replaced by a man he has a close relationship with, this was supposed to be the campaign when Robin van Persie rolled back the years and again demonstrated the stellar form he showed for Arsenal in 2011/12.
Instead, the Dutchman has scored just four goals and delivered even less impressive performances.
The last-minute equaliser against Chelsea was a highlight, but rather like that Manchester United performance, it just left you wondering why he can't play that well all the time.
Lazar Markovic
17 of 20
OK, so Luis Suarez has gone, but Liverpool were supposed to be developing some exciting new attacking talents over the course of this season, with the 20-year-old Lazar Markovic the most eye-catching of their summer arrivals.
Instead of shining, though, it is actually difficult to remember anything that the former Benfica man has done in a red (or yellow) shirt.
He's young, of course, and so should be given a grace period, but a couple of decent performances would be welcomed, too.
Alan Irvine
18 of 20
West Bromwich Albion's summer appointment of Alan Irvine was a surprising and underwhelming one, but maybe the dour Scot, who learned at the feet of David Moyes, would surprise us?
Maybe he'd be charismatic? Or play exciting football? Or lead the Baggies to an unexpected top-half finish?
Or maybe he'd just be a grey man with an equally grey team who always seems to be about three games away from the sack?
It's the last one, isn't it?
Arsene Wenger
19 of 20
Doing your job in the face of enormous pressure mustn't be very fun at all, and so that is why every football fan deserves to give Arsene Wenger respect for the job he has done at Arsenal—especially Arsenal fans themselves.
Constantly being on the verge of a crisis will take its toll, though, and Wenger no longer appears to have either the willingness or application to do anything other than what he's always done.
When that's the case, the only course of action has to be to do something you've never done before, and simply walk away.
Rio Ferdinand
20 of 20
Rio Ferdinand's Queens Park Rangers record: Played 7, Won 1, Drawn 1, Lost 5, Goals For 4, Goals Against 15.
Books sold? Priceless.
