COMMENT: Steven Gerrard's slip cost Brendan Rodgers
the title, allowing Manuel Pellegrini to enjoy a winning start to his
tenure at the Etihad Stadium
It was the year Arsenal finally broke their trophy drought, when Manchester City reclaimed the Premier League title and the footballer of the year left for Spain for the second summer in a row.
Manchester United suffered a crisis and sacked ‘the chosen one’, the title race went down to the final day of the season, while the Premier League flexed its collective financial muscles with an unprecedented summer spending spree.
But more than anything, 2014 was the year when Liverpool blew it.
It was one of the most thrilling title races in years as the Reds competed with City and Chelsea for top spot in the final weeks and months of the season.
Brendan Rodgers’ side got their noses ahead with a sensational run of 11 wins in a row, fans danced in the streets around Anfield and the team played some thrilling attacking football. Iit felt like everything had come together at the right time for one of those historic Liverpool triumphs.
Manchester City were on their heels but it felt like Liverpool were the best team in the country, an almost unstoppable force. ‘We go again!’ roared captain Steven Gerrard to his team-mates after the 3-2 home win over City.
Then everything imploded with the 2-0 home defeat to Chelsea. The balloon was popped.
Now, with Luis Suarez playing for Barcelona on the back of his disgraceful World Cup bite and the team floundering in mid-table, it is difficult to see Liverpool getting a better opportunity to win their first title since 1990.
And of all people, why did it have to be Gerrard who made that costly slip to allow Demba Ba to score? It was the defining moment of the year and marked the beginning of the end for the 34-year-old, who subsequently endured a dreadful World Cup, retired from international football and has been in poor form for Liverpool.
The almost unthinkable scenario of Gerrard playing for a club other than Liverpool may well become a reality in 2015 if his performances do not improve quickly.
The top flight has been dominated by City and Chelsea this year to such an extent that if the league was decided in the calendar year, both teams would finish on 88 points – 12 more than Liverpool – with Manuel Pellegrini’s side winning by one goal on goal difference.
Chelsea are well set and on the verge of something special this season, but they too messed up an excellent chance to win the title last term and are only three points ahead of City at the halfway point of the current campaign.
So Manchester City have to be the team of the year. In Pellegrini’s first season in charge, they kept their cool when playing catch up in the title race, in large part due to games in hand, and managed to win the Premier League trophy back.
Pellegrini may have been able to call on the best player in the country in Sergio Aguero, but he became the first South American to win the Premier League title and his achievements have been somewhat overlooked given he also won the Capital One Cup.
The fact that the Chilean won two titles in his debut season and also guided City into the Champions League knockout stages (albeit only just) makes him the standout candidate for the best manager in 2014, especially after Rodgers and Tony Pulis faded away as contenders.
City must have watched their neighbours over the last year with some amusement as Manchester United sacked David Moyes after a disastrous 10 months. The 20-time champions replaced him with Louis van Gaal and in their desperation to return to the Champions League splashed out more than £150 million on new signings including a British transfer record £59.7m for Angel di Maria.
So far, at least, the change appears to have worked, but United executives might reflect that they missed out on the signing of the summer given Alexis Sanchez’ performances since arriving at Arsenal.
On the back of their FA Cup triumph in May – their first trophy since 2005 – Alexis should have been the man to inspire a genuine title challenge but the Chilean is having to do it on his own in north London, with Arsene Wenger looking jaded and under pressure.
Wenger really should have stepped aside on a high at the end of last season to allow a younger man to take charge, but the Frenchman will still feel confident of reaching his minimum target of a top four finish this season.
Elsewhere, Tottenham have done what they always do by sacking managers and staying exactly where they were anyway; Sam Allardyce has found the formula to win games and keep West Ham fans happy while Southampton sit in fourth place having defied the Doomsday predictions with excellent transfer business.
Down at the bottom, last season's promoted teams are scrapping to stay up but I can't see Burnley and Leicester surviving. There will certainly be some panicked spending in the January transfer window as clubs in the danger area look to spend their way out of trouble.
Finally, the year has unfortunately been punctuated with some deeply unsavoury moments.
Nicolas Anelka’s departure from West Brom after his quenelle gesture, Malky Mackay’s racist text messages and Dave Whelan’s general stupidity have resulted in some ugly headlines and taken the focus away from football.
Let's hope that such views are consigned to the past, where they firmly belong, in 2015.
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