Eight conclusions from unusual season

From The Dugout

The plaudits have been distributed. Leicester City are champions, while in finishing second, Arsenal achieved their highest position in 11 years.
Chelsea’s season imploded, Manchester United slipped into Europa League ignominy while Manchester City fared only slightly better. Here are the top eight conclusions from the just ended season.

There are no lost causes
Leicester City’s title triumph came completely out of the blue, re-affirming that there is no such thing as a lost cause for those with a fighting spirit.
Winning a league title came despite most pundits predicting their relegation. For Claudio Ranieri, the title was his first in 28 years of management; yet more proof that football does indeed mirror life.
If you stay in the fight, chances are you will eventually win it.

Teamwork is everything
You will bear with me for using Leicester as a reference so often. They were such a paragon of excellence. Leicester proved teamwork is everything by winning the title with a team assembled with such a small budget.
The players cultivated friendship on and off the pitch, playing for each other, and off each other. The fact there were no expensive signings with big egos helped tremendously.
Money is overrated
The top three positions were occupied by teams assembled for a fraction of the money spent by Manchester City, Manchester United, Liverpool and Chelsea.
Leicester’s title winning squad cost just £57m (an estimated Shs280b), about the same amount of money Manchester City splashed out on Kevin de Bruyne. Money may be important but a big heart is better capital for a football team.

There is room for innovation
Dutch coaches once again provided a glimpse of the inspired coaching that has put Rinus Michels, Johan Cruyff and Louis van Gaal in the pantheon of coaching greats. The sight of John Obi Mikel playing centre back in Chelsea’s 1-1 draw with Liverpool - a match they should have won, proves the future belongs to football innovators.

Arsenal lack ambition
I did not know whether to cry or laugh, when I saw Arsenal fans falling all over themselves because they finished ahead of Tottenham Hotspur. This was a title available to the Gunners.
Instead, they won only half of their second round games, and just five out of their last 10.
Meanwhile, £175m lies in the clubs bank vaults waiting to be spent but Arsene Wenger believes Olivier Giroud can lead Arsenal to the title. He cannot.

EPL, Championship gap narrowing
Both the Players Football Association (PFA) player of the year Riyad Mahrez and Football Writers Award winner Jamie Vardy were playing in the Championship two years ago.
Elsewhere, stars like Odion Ighalo, Troy Deeney, Wes Brown, Ritchie De Laet and Kasper Schmeichel outdid English Premier League (EPL) stars.
In fact, Championship players run faster, hustle harder and are hungrier to prove themselves.

Wayne Rooney is a midfielder
Forget about his goal scoring feats for Manchester United and England. Wayne’s best position has always been attacking midfield.
He has good ball winning ability, can thread a pass - long and short and has an eye for goal.
I am in agreement with one Liverpool fan, who I have watched with football for years, who always insisted the man is a midfielder - albeit a high scoring one.

Quick transition key
The speed with which Tottenham Hotspur and Leicester City translated defence into attack was a hallmark of their Premier League success.
Do you recall Riyad Mahrez’s over the top, 40-yard pass for Jamie Vardy’s wonder goal against Liverpool?
That is an example of quick transition at it’s peak. Spurs did the same, time and again, most notably in the 4-0 demolition of Stoke City.

MIDDLE GROUND
Wayne Rooney insists he is willing to permanently give up his role as the spearhead of Man Utd’s forward line to move into a midfield berth. Rooney won the man-of-the-match award for his influential display in midfield during Utd’s 3-1 win against Bournemouth on Tuesday and is keen to keep that role in the future.
Aware that he is no longer the same bundle of energy that burst onto the Premier League stage as a teenage striker with Everton, the 30-year-old has impressed in a deeper midfield role under gaffer Louis van Gaal in recent months.
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