86 Points

So, the English Premier League ended last night. Nothing exciting, except for the match between Aston Villa and Newcastle at Villa Park. It was a relegation dog fight between 4 teams - Middlesborough, Newcastle, Hull City & Sunderland. It's kinda funny cos 3 northeast English teams were involved, n I was rooting for Newcastle. It'll be a waste if they go down, due to the "talents" they have on the pitch n oso their magnificient 55,000 seater St James' Park homeground. But it has proved once again, u're never too talented to be relegated. It happened to West Ham, n it happened to Leeds. Last night, it happened to Newcastle, going down along with Middlesborough n West Brom. With all 4 teams involved in the fight for survival losing their respective matches, there was no change to their positions.

Newcastle & Middlesborough were in the Premiership for 15 & 11 yrs respectively, n it's kinda sad to see them go. They couldn't blame anyone though, for the football they played whole season was terrible to say the least. Now we'll see how are they gonna manage themselves when they start in the lower tier of English division next season. Boro's notable talents include Stewart Downing, Tuncay Sanli & Alfonso Alves. Newcastle has Michael Owen, Alan Smith, Damien Duff, Steven Taylor, Joey Barton, Ofefami Martins n Mark Viduka. All these players are gonna be sold at cut prices to keep their balance books healthy, cos the lower division doesn't promise lucrative TV rights like the Premiership, so top players with high wages will likely be offloaded.

Moving to the top half of the table, both Tottenham n Fulham lost their matches, which means Fulham will qualify for the Europa League next season, an incredible achievement considering they were almost relegated last season. The usual big four teams of England qualified for the Champions League, with my Liverpool securing 2nd place with 86 points, breaking their previous premiership record of 82 points in 2006.

Seriously, 86 points is good enough to be English Champions, but I guess Man Utd is just too strong this season, finishing on 90 points. 86 points would have been good enuff to win 12 of Liverpool's past 18 English titles. This simply shows how competitive the EPL has become.

Pool won Tottenham 3-1 last night, with Sami Hyypia playing his last match for Liverpool. It was emotional, tears could be seen on him after the final whistle. This marks the end of a remarkable 10years association to the club, winning almost every trophy possible, except for the EPL title. He's a Legend, a great defender, an amazing character. At 35 yrs of age, I thought he would haf hung up his boots, but he was looking for more n signed a 2yr contract with German club Bayer Leverkusen. Good bye Sami, u'll be missed.

video of him after the final whistle

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YaO0tubQWd8


Liverpool fans pay their tribute to Sami Hyypia for his excellent 10years contribution

An emotional end to his Liverpool career after the final whistle

Bye Sami, Hope u'll be back one day as coach in Liverpool. I practically grew up watching u play football, from 14 to 24 years old.