3rd July 17

I am so busy it's unreal. But anyway, Wimbledon has started.

Murray off to a flier 

Andy Murray brushed aside any concerns about his form as the weather put up a more stern fight than Alexander Bublik, with the World Number One winning in straight sets: 6-1, 6-4, 6-2. The closest Bublik came to disrupting the Briton was picking up three break points when Murray was serving for the second set, only for Murray to turn around the game with almost contemptuous ease to move two sets clear. And whilst the third set was consistently delayed by rain, Murray had a break in the bag immediately and never at any point did any outcome other than a Murray win look likely. 

And he did so in style. Despite the flawed nature of his opponent, with Bublik shooting himself in the foot with double faults at crucial moments on more than one occasion, Murray nevertheless played some genuinely outstanding tennis on his favourite Grand Slam court, in order to rattle off victory in comfortably less than two hours on court, although in practice it was well over two hours with the rain delays. 

The main concern for Murray will be how his hip problem hampers his fitness, but it doesn't appear to have had a tangible effect on his form, in this match at least. It was the perfect start for Murray as he played some dazzling drop shots, some magnificent cross-court winners and one or two outrageous backhand slices. Murray pulled out all of his tricks to bamboozle his opponent, who simply had no answer to the top seed. Winning so quickly and so comfortably will have done him the world of good, as he needs to minimise his time on court as much as possible, both with his hip injury to consider, and also factoring in how Wawrinka was able to utilise his lack of game time to fell the British player at Roland Garros. If it comes to a semi-final or final against Nadal or Federer, fitness could prove a critical part, and Murray currently is coming in at a disadvantage. 

But for now, Murray can be pleased both that he avoided an early upset, and with the emphatic nature of his win. He absolutely loves playing on grass, and particularly playing at Wimbledon and it absolutely showed with this fabulous win. On this form, it looks like his biggest obstacle to defending  his Wimbledon title will be his own body, as that hip injury will be looming large over the next week and a half. 

The Hard and Fast Section

• Germany win the Confederations Cup. And the U21 Euros. Wow.
• John Terry to Villa confirmed. Interesting. 
• Geraint Thomas in yellow on Le Tour.
• Du Plessis to miss first test. Blow for Saffers. 

20th June 17

Bit late but what a final performance from Pakistan.

Pakistan Champions in Style

The signs were there, following Pakistan's thrashing of England in the Champions Trophy semi-final, that they could cause a real upset. But even following that performance, India remained firm favourites, for plenty of reasons, not least the fact that they had hammered Pakistan just two weeks earlier. 

And yet, Pakistan didn't just win this final, but they absolutely thrashed their arch-rivals, butchering them with the bat and humbling them with the ball. Fakhar Zaman scored a sensational hundred to launch his side alongside Azhar Ali before Babar Azam and Mohammed Hafeez kept the momentum going, and Pakistan scored a tournament high score of 338/4. 

It was, in the context of the match but also otherwise, a quite magnificent hundred by Fakhar, who played some downright extraordinary shots to plunder India's hapless spinners, with Ashwin going for 0-70 and Jadeja 0-67. And it wasn't just the slower bowlers who suffered, as Bumrah was clattered for 0-68. Truthfully, India's bowling was bang average, with Kumar providing some tight overs and Pandya, India's best player on the day, turning in a decent 1-53, removing Fakhar for 114. 

But by then the damage was done, and Hafeez's cameo simply piled on the pain. There were worries that Pakistan, who've batted second in every previous match in this tournament, wouldn't be capable of setting a big total, and that India could chase anything, but the former was well and truly laid to rest, before Pakistan set about proving the latter false as well. 

They were off to a phenomenal start with the ball, as Mohammed Amir's opening six over salvo yielded the wickets of Rohit Sharma in the opening over, Virat Kohli in the third, despite him being dropped on the previous ball, and then finally Shikhar Dhawan in the 9th over. Amir's spell was 3-16, and the mantle was duly picked up in the middle overs by the phenomenal - man of the tournament - Hasan Ali, whose 3-19, bolstered by the bowling of Shadab and Junaid Khan, saw off any Indian resistance, with only Pandya making a decent score (76), before being run out. India were reduced to 72-6 and finally bowled all out for 158, a humiliating 180 run defeat. 

This was the culmination of everything good that Pakistan have produced in this tournament up until this point, as they hit form at exactly the right time. A batting performance with energy, verve, and some sumptuous shots, led by a truly outstanding innings from one of cricket's most exciting prospects, despite making his ODI debut in this tournament at the age of 27. A bowling performance with pace and punch from one of cricket's most controversial but exciting fast bowlers, and the control and pressure from the best player in the tournament, with figures of 1-70, 3-24, 3-43, 3-35 and 3-19, taking 13 wickets from 44 and a half overs with an economy of 4.29.

Overall, this was a fantastic display from Pakistan with both bat and ball and a remarkable turnaround in just a few weeks. Worthy champions indeed. 

The Hard and Fast Section

• The Lions final prep match ended 34-6.
• Brooks Koepka takes the US Open. Wonderful display of golf. 
• Mourinho and Ronaldo investigated for tax fraud. Oh boy.
• Salah is close. So close. 

15th June 17

England crashed out of the Champions Trophy

Pakistan Perfection Smashes Hosts

England, the favourites and hosts of the ICC Champions Trophy, crashed out at the semi-final stage as a limp performance with bat and ball was punished with brutal efficiency by a phenomenal performance by Pakistan. How much of the result was down to Pakistan's brilliance and how much is down to England's poorness is up for debate, but this was a day where everything went right for one team and wrong for the other. 

Bairstow and Root got England off to a strong start and despite the loss of Alex Hales for 13, they were cruising at 80-1 off 16 overs, which became 127-2 off 27 overs as Morgan took up the mantle when Bairstow holed out in the deep for 43. But from there, England imploded. Pakistan had been ramping up the pressure, slowing the run rate and their middle overs bowlers: Hafeez, Shadab and Hasan Ali were keeping it very tight. Hasan in particular was phenomenal again, taking 3-35 off his ten, removing Bairstow, Morgan and Stokes, whilst Shadab took 1-40, the crucial wicket of Joe Root. 

The crucial factor for England was stagnation. Morgan scored 33 off 53, Root 46 off 56, and then even Stokes managed just 34 off 64 without scoring a single boundary. Stagnation built the pressure and the wickets tumbled, with none of Pakistan's bowlers even going at 5 runs per over, and England toiling to what seemed to be a below par 211. Whether they failed to adjust quick enough, Pakistan bowled really well or something drastic happened with the pitch, it's hard to quantify, but the pitch didn't do England the favours it looked like it might have, given how Pakistan bowled on it.

Whatever the case, England simply never got control of the innings, were totally unable to take wickets, and Pakistan made 211 look woefully inadequate, chasing it in 37.1 overs and losing just two wickets in the process. Mark Wood bowled quite well to apply some pressure, and Ball and Rashid were both solid, but Plunkett, Stokes and Moeen were never in the game, and England simply never got close to squeezing Pakistan the way that they had squeezed England. 

And part of that is due to some excellent batting from Fakhar Zaman and Azhar Ali who, unburdened slightly by the slight nature of the chase, were able to settle and score runs more quickly and were able to release the pressure when they needed to. Although neither made a huge score: Fakhar stumped off Moeen for 57 and Azhar bowled by Ball for 76, the half-centuries that they made were more than enough to see Pakistan well over the line. 

For Pakistan this was a huge performance and a huge result. Going into this tournament they'd been all but written off, and that was magnified when India thrashed them in their opening game. But since then they've been able to bowl first and reduce their opposition to meager totals, which has released the pressure on their batting order whilst chasing. And against England pressure was the key, and they were magnificent. 

As for England however, this was a maddening blow. The team who has spent two years improving their ODI game, to the point where they were arguably favourites for the tournament, even ahead of India. who performed sensationally in the group stages, wiping out two of the best teams in the world in Australia and New Zealand, had a bad day at the office at the worst possible time. But whilst it's a bitter disappointment, England have to still accept that they've made massive progress over the last two years and keep improving ready for the World Cup in 2019. 

Oh and maybe sort out this pitch nonsense because we shouldn't be having controversy over the pitch in an international semi-final. 

The Hard and Fast Section

• Nadal is the king of clay. Yet again. 
• Hamilton slashed the gap to Vettel. Great drive. 
• A second defeat for the Lions. Dreadful tour so far. 
• England aren't that good at football. Discuss. 

8th June 17

Andy Murray marches on.

Murray Makes Roland Garros Semis

Andy Murray roared back from a set down to beat Kei Nishikori 2-6 6-1 7-6 (7-0) 6-1 to take his place in the semi-finals of the French Open. Murray will play Stan Wawrinka, who cruised through in three sets at the expense of Marin Cilic, on Friday, knowing that he has a real chance of reaching the final, against the same opponent he beat in last year's semi-final. 

Whilst Murray has struggled for form at times in this tournament, he has been able to raise his game in every match he has faced up until this point, and it was no different in this one. Murray was sluggish and Nishikori was rapid out of the blocks, playing some phenomenal tennis to take the first set 6-2 and put the world number one on the back-foot. 

The turning point came early in the second set. At deuce on the Murray serve in the third game, the umpire called Murray on time despite the Briton having already thrown the ball up. Murray was incensed and went on to slam home the next two points, shouting and pumped up as he stared down the official. The fire had returned and Murray went on to win the next four games to take the set 6-1. That said, he also benefited from Nishikori's service game imploding. In the first set it had been Murray's shambolic serving that had cost him dearly, but in the second it was his opponent gifting him double faults to break. 

With the match level, the third set was a pulsating affair, Murray twice breaking only to immediately hand momentum back to Nishikori. Having broken to move 6-5 up, Murray will have been disappointed to have been broken back, but he comprehensively outplayed his opponent in the third set tie-breaker, which proved decisive. Murray won the breaker 7-0, and went on to cruise through the final set - winning it with two more breaks of serve. It was another example of Murray improving as his afternoon went on, whilst simultaneously his opponent couldn't keep up their momentum.

And whilst Murray's performance didn't hit his best levels, something that Wawrinka will have noted as he swept aside his opponent in clinical fashion, equally there were signs that Murray is capable of stepping up to the level required to match Stan blow for blow. Over the last couple of weeks, Murray has played some average tennis and some scintillating tennis and often both in the same set. But one element that has been consistent is that he's played as well as he has needed to to win comfortably, and no player yet in this tournament, including the well-fancied Del Potro and Nishikori, have been able to take more than one set off of him. 

Nevertheless, Wawrinka is yet to drop a set in this tournament, and the world number one will have to up his game to reach the final. Before the tournament began, Murray would have been targeting the semi-finals and all things considered he's done well to reach that target, but now it's time for him to kick on. 

The Hard and Fast Section

• Pakistan win in the rain vs South Africa
• India set Sri Lanka tough chase of 322
• Nobody say the words Virgil Van Dijk to me. 
• Sarries, Saints and Clermont in same Champions Cup group. Tasty. 

7th June 17

England are into the last four of the Champions Trophy.

Rampant England Storm Past Kiwis

England dominated with bat and ball to beat New Zealand by 87 runs and qualify for the semi-finals of the Champions Trophy, ahead of their final game with Australia, a match that they could lose and still top the group. 

It was not a match in which England were perfect, as 310 was nothing more than a good score, even on a pitch that certainly favoured the bowlers, but they batted well for large spells, with Hales, Root, Stokes and Buttler all looking in good nick, the latter with a ridiculous ramp shot out of the ground. Even though none of them were able to kick on and convert their scores into a big innings, England still set a very competitive total, and their bowlers did the rest. 

And the fact that they could rely on their bowlers to not just defend a total of 310, but rip through New Zealand, even without their best pace bowler in Chris Woakes is terrific news for England, as that is the side of their game that has been questioned. But as soon as Ball and Wood picked up the new ball they were in business; keeping it tight and causing problems, with Ball's fourth delivery crashing into Luke Ronchi's middle stump to set the tone. 

Martin Guptill looked dangerous until clutch bowler Ben Stokes found an edge, but the big wicket came when Wood removed danger-man Kane Williamson with a snorting cross-seam bouncer for 87 off 98, with New Zealand needing 153 off 29.4 overs. It was a chaseable total with one of the world's very best at the crease and well set, but as Williamson fell so did New Zealand. 

The main beneficiary was Liam Plunkett, who after Ball picked up his second wicket in Ross Taylor, ripped into the lower order, taking 4-55, with Adil Rashid doing his bit by taking 2-47. After Williamson left New Zealand 158-3, wickets fell at regular intervals as New Zealand collapsed to 233 all out in less than 45 overs. 

But wickets weren't necessarily the only key factor, although losing Williamson was the death knell to New Zealand's chances. Ball and Wood in particular kept things tight all day, leaving New Zealand always chasing in bowler friendly conditions. They were going at below 5 an over for the majority of their innings, building the pressure and the required run rate to the point that they simply couldn't accelerate. Ball conceded just 31 runs off his eight overs, Wood 32 off his nine. 

The only main downside for England is the continued poor form of Jason Roy, who felt his way into the match, scoring just 13 off 23. And just as he was getting confident, stepping across his crease, he ended up stepping too far, only to be bowled around his legs by an intelligent piece of bowling from Milne, who removed both of England's openers but went for 79 runs. It was a similar story for Corey Anderson who took crucial wickets but was spanked, removing Root, Morgan and Moeen but going for 55 runs off his 9 overs. 

Nevertheless, this was comprehensive for England, and a seriously impressive display against one of the better teams in the tournament. New Zealand will be hoping that their opponents can do them a favour and be equally impressive against Australia, or they will be crashing out of this tournament. But from the Kiwis perspective, there's every reason to think England will beat Australia, meaning that a win against Bangladesh would see New Zealand through, although probably to face India.

The Hard and Fast Section

• South Africa in trouble vs Pakistan. 
• Djokovic out in straight sets. 
• Nadal cruising into the semi-finals. 
• Halep and Svitolina in a cracker. Pliskova through.
• Lions suffer embarrasing tour defeat. 

5th June 17

Andy Murray is in the quarter-finals at Roland Garros.

Murray Finds Top Gear

I didn't get a chance to review what was an absolutely fabulous performance by Andy Murray against Juan Martin Del Potro on Saturday to move into the 4th Round of the French Open, winning in straight sets against the Argentine: 7-6, 7-5, 6-0. So I'm going to try and combine that with this look at his equally straightforward 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 win over Karen Khachanov, as the world number one is hitting form at the right time. 

It looked for long periods of a gripping first set with Del Potro as though it might be an entirely different story, with Del Potro in fine form and Murray struggling, falling a break down early on. But the Briton fought back with Del Potro serving for the set, and after a long game, was able to break back to take the set to a tiebreaker. 

And what a tiebreaker it was, as Del Potro stormed into the lead, only to be pegged back again by Murray, who saved four set points before taking the breaker 10-8, in what was one of the best tie-breakers of tennis I've seen. It felt like the final set rather than the first set, and Del Potro's broken reaction to it seemed to indicate that it was for him too. Indeed he simply didn't get going, and could well have been 4-0 down before he got going in the second set. 

However, Murray let him off the hook, and Del Potro was able to break back to take the second set to 5-5 as Murray failed to serve out for the second set. But the Argentine found himself broken again straight away and as Murray took the second set 7-5, Del Potro's resistance was completely gone. It was a washout in the final set, Murray not breaking sweat and winning in 28 minutes. 

It's a shame that such a scintillating first set between two tough competitors fizzled out so completely, as Murray carried on playing well and Del Potro couldn't keep his momentum going. But it was terrific news for the world number one, who was able to sweep into the 4th Round without having to work too hard but finding his form sufficiently. 

And that form was prevalent as Murray swept aside the Russian Khachanov in straight sets, albeit with his opponent not putting up the sternest resistance. Murray was staunch in defence and precise in attack, creating just one break point in the first set but only needing one to take it 6-3, giving away just one unforced error and not giving the Russian a sniff on his serve. 

With Murray so comfortable in the first set, he looked certain to win in straight sets, and truthfully the second and third sets were a similar story. He broke early in the second, and was pegged back immediately through a very sloppy game on his own serve, but immediately stepped it up, made it three breaks in a row and cruised through the second set. 

Similarly in the third, he broke immediately, moving 2-0 up, and when Khachanov broke him for the second time in the match to level the set at 4-4, for the second time Murray broke back immediately. From there it was a straightforward task to serve out the set and make it a second straight sets win in three days. 

From here, Murray's quarter-final opponent on Wednesday will be Kei Nishikori, who overcame injury and a first set whitewash to beat Fernando Verdasco in four, with both Marin Cilic and Stan Wawrinka winning to set up their quarter final, with the winners facing each other in the semi-finals. And whilst Murray at the start of last week would have been glad to make it this far, with his current game as good as it is, he has every chance of reaching the final, even if Rafa Nadal looks totally unbeatable. 

The Hard and Fast Section

• Cheick Tiote has died at 30. Devastating news. 
• Australia cruising against an average Bangladesh performance. 
• Hazard has broken his ankle. Ouch. 
• What an ending to the Northants v Durham match. 

2nd June 17

Well that looked hairy for about ten minutes.

England Off To A Flier

We know how good this England batting line-up is. The answer is very good. Even so, allowing Bangladesh to make it to 260-2 in the 45th over was alarming. England have danced this dance before, and despite rallying well, Bangladesh set them a potentially tricky target of 306. Whilst you'd back England to make over 300 batting first, there's still no telling exactly how well they could chase it. 

But as I said, we know how good this England batting line up, and Joe Root, Alex Hales and Eoin Morgan make 306 look like a woefully inadequate target as England cruised to an 8 wicket win in their opening match of the Champions Trophy. Root, the anchor of the innings, scored 133 off 129, with his long term partner Hales holing out on 95, with England cruising at 165-1 when he did so. But Morgan came in and did his job superbly, walloping a quickfire 75 off just 61 balls to help Root over the line, although he did survive a scare when he holed out, only to get a reprieve through the third umpire as the ball just landed short of being caught. 

In any case, this was a totally comprehensive batting display that will have done England the world of good after their collapse to 20-6 on Monday. And such a collapse never looked like happening once Root came to the crease, although Jason Roy suffered another failure which will be a cause for concern in the England camp. 

But the bigger cause for concern will be the side strain that meant Chris Woakes could only bowl 2 overs, and will miss the rest of the tournament. With their best pace bowler missing and short a spinner with Adil Rashid dropped, not to mention having to manage Ben Stokes, England toiled in the field. But Liam Plunkett was the man who stepped up, taking 4-59 including the crucial late wickets of Tamim Iqbal and Mushfiqur Rahim. 

As for Bangladesh, it was Tamim who was the star of their show, with 128 off 142 balls, a score that could have been match-winning or at least the top score on another day. And he was more than adequately supported by Mushfiqur, who added 79 off 72 as the two put on 166, 7 more than Root and Hales. 

So plenty of positive signs for Bangladesh with the bat, but ultimately they had no answer to England's superior firepower, and their bowling attack was overwhelmed by three of the best and most experienced batsmen in the tournament. This match was a perfect summary of England's strengths and weaknesses. In terms of weaknesses, their bowling attack can be a tad one-dimensional and lacking in bite and control without Woakes and Rashid. But in terms of strengths? And the reason that they are firmly amongst the favourites for the tournament? They look like they can score anything, chase any target. Their batting is just phenomenal. And Joe Root in particular showed that in spades. Oh and he was injured for about half of his innings. The legend.

Murray Cruises Through In Paris

Andy Murray survived an early scare to cruise through in four sets for the second time at Roland Garros, beating Martin Klizan 6-7, 6-2, 6-2, 7-6. Murray started scrappy again, taking time to find his form and perhaps a tad fortunate to take the first set to a tie-breaker, which he duly lost anyway. But as Klizan started to tire, Murray took full advantage, and began to find his levels as the match went on, rattling off seven straight games to take the second set and losing just two more on his way to taking the third.

But Murray couldn't quite find his levels consistently and nearly handed Klizan a way back into the match as the Slovakian secured a break at 5-3 in the 4th set, only for Murray to break straight back and take the set to a tie-breaker, which this time he won, and with it the match. 

For Murray, it's a case of finding form and building his physical and mental strength ahead of the second week of a tournament where reaching the semi-finals probably wouldn't be a bad result for the Briton. And whilst his first two matches will have helped him significantly, the learning curve will have to stop as he plays Juan Martin Del Potro in Round Three, and nothing less than his best will be good enough. 

But for now, Murray is on the right track. 

The Hard and Fast Section

• New Zealand vs Australia today. Tasty. 
• Nadal, Djokovic and Muguruza in action today. 
• Griezmann to stay at Leti. Their transfer ban upheld.
• Ederson to City confirmed. Yaya Toure staying too. 

31st May 17

Andy Murray and Jo Konta had mixed fortunes in Round One at Roland Garros...

Murray Finds His Feet

The British and world number one cruised through to the second round of the French Open with a 6-4, 4-6, 6-2, 6-0 win over Russian Andrey Kuznetsov. What will be more promising for Murray and his team is the manner of the victory. With morale low and illness taking its toll, there was very much a sense that Murray would do well to even scrape into the second round against a tough opponent, let alone play with any sort of conviction. 

And whilst the first two sets of the match merely underlined that view, a pivotal period at the end of the second set and start of the third gave Murray some momentum, and with that, he found his form, brushing aside the Russian with two almost perfect sets of tennis. 

It did take Murray a while to get going, as he was sloppy in the early stages, but Kuznetsov wasn't playing particularly well either, and he handed Murray an early break of serve, only to break back. But Murray was able to grind out the first set, breaking the Russian in the 10th game to take the set 6-4. 

But Murray simply couldn't keep his form going, as Kuznetsov broke straight away to move into the lead at the start of the second set. Murray broke back immediately, but the Russian won four straight games after that, as he started to dominate the match. 5-2 up in the second set, Murray needed to  break Kuznetsov twice in a row to stay in the set. But whilst he didn't manage that, he did break once, and found something resembling form at the end of the set, despite Kuznetsov managing to force a hold to level the match. 

If Murray's return to form began at the end of the second set, it flared into life in the third, as he came out like a house on fire, breaking Kuznetsov easily to move 3-0 and then 4-1 up. The turning point in the match arguably came when Kuznetsov lobbed Murray in sensational style, only for the Briton to somehow chase it down and flick the ball back over the net. But that was merely a touch of class that confirmed that Murray was near his best; the world number one had already been playing at top form for a couple of games by that point. 

From there Kuznetsov simply had no answer as Murray broke him for a second time to take the third and crucial set 6-2, and went on to steamroller him 6-0 in a sensational final set. What had threatened to be a frustrating and tense afternoon for Murray turned into a stroll in the park by the end. It was arguably the perfect day for Murray, as he was able to feel his way into form against a tricky opponent but was forced to play well; by the end he was somewhere near his best. Hopefully, Murray can use this win to springboard his Roland Garros, and keep playing somewhere near his best for the next two weeks. 

Konta Crashes Out

For Johanna Konta it was sadly the opposite story, as she crashed out 1-6, 7-6, 6-4 to Taiwanese world 109 Hsieh Su-wei. Konta had started brilliantly, and her opponent simply had no answer to her sensational first set of tennis. It helped that Konta was able to serve herself into a rhythm nicely, and her service game was never even close to disrupted until mid-way through the second set. As a result, Konta, serving first, was able to get stuck into Hsieh early on, and used her power game to give the world number 109 no chance. 

But Hsieh was able to get a bit of form together at the start of the second set, serving better and although Konta still looked the more likely to break, Hsieh was still playing well. Then midway through the second set, Hsieh's momentum grew, as she was able to attack the Konta serve for the first time. Whilst Konta managed to save four break points in that game, and then was able to scramble, holding her serve to take the second set to a tiebreaker. By that point though, there was only one winner, as Hsieh was playing the better tennis and won the tiebreaker comfortably to level the match. 

There was only one winner in the final set. Hsieh broke early but failed to hold her nerve and let Konta straight back into it. Nevertheless, Konta's unforced errors just kept coming, and Hsieh broke again straight away, before holding her serve twice more. Konta had her moments towards the end of the match, but truthfully she'd looked a beaten woman for the back half of the match. 

It's a real shame for Konta, given that she had started so well and looked really really good for the first half of the match. But she fell away and wasn't able to regain any form, although in her defence she did well to hold out under pressure and grind a few crucial games. It all counts for naught though, as the number seven seed is out of Roland Garros in the first round yet again. 

The Hard and Fast Section

• Wenger in. Two more years confirmed. 
• Nuno appointed Wolves' boss. 
• Stokes likely to feature against Bangladesh. 
• Tom Wood gets 6 week ban. 

30th May 17

Some brilliant motorsport at the weekend, so let's have a look at two of the biggest events on the calendar.

Vettel Wins Well in Monaco

On a day where the overcut proved to be the tactic of choice, which all three of the big teams used to their advantage, ultimately team tactics barely played a part as Sebastian Vettel took full advantage of Lewis Hamilton's horrendous qualifying performance to move 25 points clear of his title rival. For all the talk of team tactics being utilized to switch the Ferrari drivers, and that certainly played a role as overtaking is nigh on impossible in Monaco, the simple truth is that Vettel drove vastly quicker than his teammate, and could well have got past him regardless of which way round the drivers were pitted. 

But as much as this was a race where Vettel was the superior driver, it was also a day where the overcut - staying out longer with clean air to drive into, worked a treat. Whilst Vettel was streaming off into the sunset to overcut his teammate, Daniel Riccardo was securing a podium for Red Bull with exactly the same tactic, as his pace took him past the scrap between Max Verstappen and Mercedes' front-runner Valteri Bottas. It was a frustrating day for Verstappen whose pit stop took 0.8s longer than Bottas', only for the young driver to end up less than a second behind Bottas as the Finn left the pits, and Verstappen to be stuck behind him for the remainder of the race. 

The other main benefactor was Lewis Hamilton whose own racing strategy did a fantastic job of limiting the damage that was done on Saturday. It was clear that if the top five cars all finished, Hamilton would be capped at 6th place, so for him to finish 7th, unable to overtake the frustrating Carlos Sainz and accepting that risking a DNF was stupid, is a good race for him. Whilst Lewis will be frustrated to have lost ground on main title rival Vettel, he'll also accept that things could have been a lot worse. 

But whilst the top seven were largely set after the first round of pit-stops, without a single memorable overtake in the race, as is traditional at Monaco, the back half of the race was lit up by a series of mad crashes, including one extremely dangerous clash between Jenson Button, filling in for Fernando Alonso who was at the Indy 500, and Pascal Wehrlein. Button was too aggressive, smashing into the side of Wehrlein who ended up sideways in the barrier but mercifully wasn't injured. Then Marcus Ericsson crashed trying to get past the safety car, and Sergio Perez managed to run Stoffel Vandoorne off the road before slamming into Daniil Kvyat. 

Overall though, although neither Mercedes nor Red Bull will be overly unhappy with the way that the race panned out, this was Ferrari's weekend. A massive 1-2, a big win for Vettel, and stretching their lead both in the Drivers and Constructors Championships. Mercedes have some catching up to do. 

Sato Wins Emotional Indy 

For all the talk of Fernando Alonso, who made a fantastic fist at the Indy 500 title before his engine blew out (a feeling that will be all too familiar for the Spaniard), it was another former F1 driver, the Japanese driver Takuma Sato who claimed the race win after a frenetic final few laps, in which he duelled with Helio Castroneves, who had run an almost perfect race up until that point. 

Castroneves, the three time winner, had been driving brilliantly all day, riding the yellow flags well and picking his moments. But Sato, who surged past Max Chilton, who had led the race for the majority of the big half, and rookie Ed Jones, timed his move to perfection and Castroneves had no answer. 

It had looked for large periods like the trio of Fernando Alonso, Alexander Rossi and Ryan Hunter-Reay for Honda/Andretti would be the three that would be competing for the title, but with Alonso and Hunter-Reay both suffering Honda engine failures, and Rossi suffering a problem with a pitstop that put him back in 7th and unable to pounce near the end, it was fellow Andretti rider Sato who took the glory. 

It was a race that could have ended very differently however, after a red flag on lap 53 for a truly horrendous crash. Jay Howard hit the wall and skidded back across the course, in the process slamming into Scott Dixon. Dixon went flying, and his car bounced three times after smashing into the safety barrier. It was nothing short of a miracle that Dixon was able to climb out of the wreckage of his car, let alone without a serious injury. The race was stopped for 20 minutes, but if Dixon had been seriously hurt or worse, it would have put a very different gloss on proceedings. 

As it was, it was Sato's historic victory, the first for an Asian ever in the Indy 500, that took the headlines. It was a thumping race, and one that will be memorable for multiple reasons. 

The Hard and Fast Section

• Murray through. Konta out. More depth tomorrow. 
• England imploded as South Africa took the last ODI.
• Tuchel and Spalletti gone. Lots of change. 
• Wenger In. Two more years. Oh boy. 

26th May 17

So, Liverpool Player Ratings, it's been a hell of a season for the Reds and whilst it's been far from perfection, a lot of players have really impressed me this year. Going from best to worst rather than by position this year. As ever, minimum of five league starts: the only main squad casualty from this is Alberto Moreno, but it's harsh to give him a rating given that he's not even played 300 league minutes, especially since that rating would be low.

Liverpool Player Ratings

Phillipe Coutinho - 9/10: Player of the season. 13 goals and seven assists in what amounts to about 25 games of game time is a seriously good return. Not only that but the quality of Couts' goals has been magnificent, including three free-kicks and six goals total from outside the box. Liverpool's all-round best forward has not just scored big goals, but produced some utterly masterful performances. When he plays well, Liverpool play well. 

Sadio Mané - 9/10: What a debut season Sadio Mané has had. 13 goals himself, with six of those against members of the top seven, Mané has offered a constant threat, with directness, pace and serious quality. Hasn't gone three league games without scoring in his Liverpool career, and adds something unique to this team, which simply hasn't looked the same without him. 

Emre Can - 8/10: I freely confess that I love Emre Can. It took him a while to get back to full fitness and into the side early on but once he did he instantly stepped up, playing vital roles in wins over Palace and Watford, turning in a top performance against Man United and man of the match in Liverpool's unfortunate defeat to Bournemouth. Despite struggling with an injury in January and February, he's been Liverpool's best player in 2017, with a string of incredible performances in March-May, including two unstoppable winning goals against Burnley and Watford. 

Joel Matip - 8/10: The biggest criticism people have made about Matip is his injuries which says it all really. He's had some iffy performances in 2017 next to Klavan and Lucas, but truthfully where Matip has struggled has largely been down to organisational problems, and in terms of top performances, Matip is by far and a way Liverpool's top performing defender. 

Georginio Wijnaldum - 7/10: I was very torn between 7 and 8 for Gini and Lallana. But whilst Wijnaldum produced some massive goals and performances in the back half of the season, particularly very late on but also in February and March, it took him until New Year's Eve to produce a top class performance for the club. There were too many performances where Gini went missing in smaller games early on to give him an 8, but an encouraging first season nonetheless and very much a potential fan favourite. 

Adam Lallana - 7/10: Lallana has the opposite problem to Gini. Whilst he started the season like a house on fire, notching seven goals and seven assists in the 2016 half of the season, it took him until the final day of the season to add to that tally. An excellent performer in some of Liverpool's best performances this season, and certainly a large part of why they were so good, but on the other hand, a massive contributing factor in why they were so bad, when they were so bad. 

Simon Mignolet - 7/10: Another player who had a strong case for scoring higher than 7, Simon Mignolet has significantly upped his game since returning to the side in December. Since April's game against Stoke, where he pulled off possibly the save of the season, he's been absolutely pivotal to Liverpool's final run in. But his start to the season underlined why he was being dropped for Karius and he's not immune from criticism in January or February either, as he made some reasonable errors across the Christmas period. 

Jordan Henderson - 7/10: A recurring theme on this list is players whose seasons were blighted by injury. Hendo played as a defensive midfielder this season and after a bad start against Arsenal and Burnley, took to it like a duck to water. Easily Liverpool's most consistent player, it's hard to remember the last time he turned in a bad performance. Dictated the play well from deep. 

Roberto Firmino - 7/10: This time last year, I had Bobby Firmino as my player of the year, and a player I was buzzing to see develop for Liverpool. It's been another extremely solid year for Bobby, with 11 league goals, but having played up front all year, it would have been nice to see a more productive output. When he's been good he's been sensational, but he's also been very inconsistent and blown hot and cold all year, similarly to Gini and Lallana, he's not been consistently good enough. 

Divock Origi  - 6/10: Down to the players that have had decent seasons, but not lived up to their potential. There's no denying that Divvy's goal return of seven goals and three assists in less than 1500 minutes is good, with five goals in his fourteen league starts, but whilst goals are a good metric for a striker, they're not the only thing that's important and for large swathes of his opportunities, Origi's all-round play hasn't been up to scratch. 

Daniel Sturridge - 6/10: A season of few opportunities for Studge, limited by injuries and by team selection. Seven league starts have yielded two goals and one assist, but his general play has been solid, even he's not been able to play in his favoured position all of the time. Encouraging, but not encouraging enough. 

Nathaniel Clyne - 6/10: Here's where we start to get into the controversial ones. I think Clyne's had a very solid season. Defensively he's been very solid, albeit with a few small errors here and there. In attack, Clyne hasn't been bad either. But neither has he excelled, and whilst his lack of end product has been drastically overstated, as he creates plenty of chances, he nevertheless hasn't done enough. 

James Milner - 6/10: Milner is another player who's not had a bad season, especially considering how out of position he's been for the entire thing. Whilst he's been defensively susceptible at times, his attacking play has largely been good, especially in the front half of the season. His penalties have also been vital. Overall, he's not had a bad year. 

Dejan Lovren - 6/10: For all the flak that Dejan Lovren gets on a weekly basis, and with much of that deserved, the simple truth is that Liverpool look a much better side defensively when he's partnering Matip. Of the nine league games he's missed this season, Liverpool have kept just one clean sheet, and whilst he's too error-prone to get a high mark, he's been surprisingly solid for large portions of the season. 

Loris Karius - 6/10: Karius will get a lot of hate in post-season ratings, but in my opinion he's been treated unfairly. Whilst he made a couple of high profile errors, it was harsh to drop him, even if Mignolet absolutely vindicated that decision. Eleven goals conceded in ten games and three clean sheets across those games isn't worse than Mignolet. 

Ragnar Klavan - 5/10: Klavan hasn't been significantly worse than Lovren overall, but he has been worse. Big errors have cost him a regular starting spot, and 21 goals conceded in 15 starts is really not great. Just three clean sheets in those games, all of which with Lovren steadying the ship alongside him, but it was a pairing that never looked stable. 

Lucas Leiva - 5/10: I love Lucas as much as the next guy, and the wave of nostalgia around him means he will be remembered fondly. But he was a car crash at CB. Four shipped against Bournemouth, three against Leicester, and two against Hull. He was solid enough in defensive midfield in the latter stages of the season, providing the fans one or two fond moments with some good play against West Brom and Everton. But yeah. Not good. 

The Hard and Fast Section

• Stokes back in action. Good news for England. 
• Zabaleta on a free transfer to West Ham. Huh. 
• City bringing in Bernado Silva. Yikes. 
• Murray drawn against Kuznetsov at Roland Garros. 

25th May 17

Okay so today's blog is brought to you by guest writer Ben Howarth. Liverpool Player Ratings for the 2016/17 season will be coming tomorrow, so for now, enjoy Ben's take on the season of his beloved club, Wolverhampton Wanderers. I'm going to do more of these if I can over the next week or so. 

Wolves Season Review

Out of Darkness Cometh Light

Wolves have been using this trite phrase on marketing and season tickets for years now. But this season, after the exercise in existential tedium the prior campaign turned into, had so much potential to deliver on the promise.

After a Summer of rumours and speculation FOSUN, a Chinese conglomerate represented at the club by Jeff Shi, bought out Liverpudlian businessman Steve Morgan on the 21^st July and promised slightly surreal levels of investment. The gossip columns had a field day. The headline linking Mario Balotelli to Molineux will forever remain a personal favourite – a sign that sports journalism is indeed dead and now all we witness are the spasms of its decaying corpse.

Kenny Jackett’s days were numbered. Our Chinese owners got into the traditional British football spirit of things by offering him their full support before kicking him out unceremoniously less than a week later. Despite being a club with half a squad and no manager optimism remained high. First we were linked with Marco Silva. The fans scoffed. A foreign manager who apparently can’t speak English? No chance of thriving over here. He duly disappeared from the running and hasn’t amounted to much anywhere else.

Next we apparently had a Spanish chap called Julen Lopetegui all lined up. Again, scepticism was high. Again, he dropped out the running. Some tinpot minor football power wanted him to run their national team. Fans sighed a sigh of relief, another pretender defeated. Lopetegui moved quietly into retirement and anonymity.

Then we signed Walter Zenga as head coach.

The Zenga Bus

The 87 days that followed were occasionally entertaining, but sadly predictable. Zenga brought great passion, promises that Wolves had a massive Italian following (yes, really) and some truly great chants. He also delivered, at St James’ Park, one of the best Wolves performances in the Championship within recent memory. On that balmy afternoon one of our many new Portuguese wingers, Helder ‘the best thing to come out of Portugal since Peri-Peri Sauce’ Costa came of age and ran a beleaguered Magpie’s backline ragged. The centre of the park was dominated by Romain Saiss, our highly rated new Moroccan hard man, who had Jonjo Shelvey so sewn up that the Voldemort enthusiast resorted to some traditional British racism. Optimism reigned. At least the play-offs called. The Zenga bus was rolling in the right direction.

Then all the wheels fell off. Our only fully fit and scoring striker from the start of the season, Jón Daði Böðvarsson, stopped doing so. Nouha Dicko came back promising many goals, between them they provided 6. Our defence, never the most resolute aspect of the club, began to resemble a sieve that had been shot multiple times by a tank. We went from upper mid table, to below even Aston Villa in 18^th and, having won a mere 4 of his 14 games in charge, Zenga was given the boot. The man had admirable passion and formed a deep connection with our hardcore fan base. Unfortunately, he was also about as tactically astute as Harry Rednapp’s Mum. Shine on Walter you crazy diamond, but please do it away from Wolverhampton.

Mitigating circumstances

Much as it might pain me to admit it, perhaps not all of Walter’s failures were brought about by his many obvious weaknesses. FOSUN’s acquisition of Wolves came about a mere fortnight before the season began and the squad they inherited was, with the best will in the world, crap. The trolley rush that followed was not dissimilar to Arsenal’s entertaining 2011 deadline day rush. 13 players were brought in, either on loan or permanently. Most were linked in one way or another to the ‘super agent’ Jorge Mendes. Of these 5 were Portuguese – every one of whom spent at least some time playing on the wing. At one point Wolves managed the seemingly impossible and played 3 of them (Costa, Caveilero and Teixera) on the wing in a 442. Yes, it was one of those seasons.

Some of the other signings made more sense. The highly rated Borthwick-Jackson came in on loan from The Special One at Old Trafford (Agent: Jorge Mendes. Me, implying anything? Surely not). Unfortunately, Cameron appeared more fussed about his hair and keeping his boots clean than playing football. He returned to the Manchester United youth side mid-season. Jón Daði Böðvarsson also seemed a good buy. Fresh from dumping Woy, Wazza and the lads out of Euro 2016 he started like an Icelandic freight train, and continued to show enough later in the season to believe he could be a club stalwart for years to come. Also, he allows us to legitimately do that thunder clap thing. Money well spent. Richard Stearman returned on a year loan, after we’d sold him to Fulham 12 months previously for ‘football reasons’. Eyebrows were raised, but dear Richard is an experienced centre back and we have a young defence. It made at least some sense.

The less said about Prince ‘formerly known as a footballer’ Oniangue, Paul ‘even I don’t know who I am or why I’m offside 37 times a game’ Gladon, Ola ‘so nondescript the writer can’t think of a nickname’ John the better. The loan signing of Joao Teixera is worth an honourable mention. He looked good for at least a fortnight. then he was so bad we somehow managed to sub-loan him to Forest, who literally never played him. Likely to be an answer on Pointless sooner or later.

The squad didn’t even begin to look balanced before the excellent January additions of Andreas Weimann and Ben Marshall brought about by Zenga’s able successor – Paul Lambert. Would Zenga have been able to settle the ship with a transfer window? Maybe. Was it worth risking given trajectory? Absolutely not.

Enter Lambert – Let’s go to Liverpool

As the astute reader will no doubt have noticed, Paul Lambert was FOSUN’s next choice as head coach. He solidified our defence admirably and noticeably improved the style of our play. Under Zenga there was no continuity in tactics. Lambert utilised our pace out wide to turn us into an excellent counter attacking side. Unsurprisingly, this meant that we were a lot better away from home than at Molineux. A table made up purely of our home results would have seen Wolves playing in League One next season, and deservedly so. He also had the worst ‘blip’ in results I’ve ever seen a manager survive; losing 5 games back to back in February – making it the worst February in our recorded history. And let me tell you, we’ve had some proper stinkers. Safety was secured with 4 games to spare. Everyone was embarrassed that it was even a possibility. But, aside from a few deluded denizens of the internet, most credited Lambert with stabilizing the club and felt that he could kick on next season. There was also the small matter of the FA Cup.

This season saw the best FA cup run for the Old Gold in nearly 15 years. A third round draw away at Stoke was viewed by most, including your humble guest blogger, to be a solid way of exiting the competition respectfully and concentrating on the league. Instead, an understrength Wolves side deservedly beat a full strength Stoke team. To say that this provoked bemusement would be an understatement – who the hell were these players and where were they most Saturdays?

More surprise was to come in the next round – away at Liverpool. Richard Stearman justified his entire season’s wages with a beautiful headed goal in front of the Kop inside 2 minutes. Andreas Weimann, brought in on loan a mere week earlier, won himself an immunity from any and all criticism, by leaving Karius prostrate and rolling home a second shortly before half time. In truth, it could have been more. Helder Costa added a good £5m onto his price tag when he is inevitably snapped up by a bigger club this summer by running the length of the pitch, leaving a succession of pampered Anfield starlets in his wake. Origi clawed one back in a scramble with 5 minutes to go but the Reds never seriously threatened to steal the Mighty Wanderer’s thunder and had to slink back to their changing room shortly after with their pride in tatters. The like hadn’t been seen at Anfield since 2010 and Stephen Wards apotheosis, but those are memories of a happier time. Can we play them every week?

To add insult to injury, the Liverpool-Wolves tie was televised. Similarly, the cameras came to Molineux for their showdown with Chelsea in the next round. Antonio Conte didn’t make the same mistake as Klopp and named a strong team, showing a great deal of respect. Yet when the unlikeliest of potential heroes George ‘occasionally a footballer’ Saville rattled the woodwork of Begovic’s goal in the first ten minutes, Chelsea were visibly rattled. Unfortunately, that was the closest the boys in gold got and Chelsea eventually ground them down, with Pedro scoring an excellent goal in the 65^th minute and the other, less impressive, Costa adding a second at the death. Conte introduced the best player in the Premier League, Kante, to shore up Chelsea’s defence for the last twenty minutes, in perhaps the most effective tribute to Wolves’ efforts. The players were rightly applauded off the pitch by the largest crowd at Molineux since it became an all seater stadium.

Where next?

So in summary, calamitous start to the season, Lambert in, stability, excellent cup run. What’s more, there was enough shown at the end of the season to hope that perhaps next season light could really ‘cometh out of darkness’. The horrifically injured Jordan Graham re-emerged for the final few matches and, at home to Preston on the final day, looked to almost immediately be back to his best. With the potential return of Ebanks-Landell from his triumphant season at Sheffield United (who have subsequently become the least moral club in the country) and a full preseason with our many signings, Wolves fans were cautiously optimistic.

And yet.

News has recently emerged than Paul Lambert’s position has become untenable. Apparently, he wanted the final say on transfers. FOSUN, in bed with Mendes, felt that this was unreasonable. The issue has now rumbled on for a fortnight with multiple managers, each as uninspiring as the last, touted for the job whilst Lambert clings on, a dead man walking. Transfers are on hold. A deal to bring in Weimann permanently, which looked a shoe in, is now up in the air. A decision on the excellent, but perpetually crocked, Silvio likewise has been left in limbo. The air of optimism which saw an immense number of season tickets bought, especially for a club who have had two utterly uninspiring seasons back to back, has swiftly been dispelled.

Out of Darkness Cometh Light? I’ll believe it when I see it.

Player of the Season: Helder Costa for his immense ability comes in second, but is just edged out by Dangerous Dave Edwards. The two are tied for league top scorer (10 goals) but only one of them has been a servant for 10 years and literally never stops running. Seriously, the Duracell Bunny needs to watch his back.

Highlight of the season: ‘Costa with the free-kick…and arriving is STEEEEEEEEEARMAAAAAN…THE OLD GOLD IS GLEAMING AT ANFIELD’

Lowlight of the season: Wolves 0-4 Barnsley. Specifically, the 73^rd minute onwards. It was 0-0 before then. In the words of Walter, “It is a shame not only for me but for the fans as well, the club and everybody.”

Overall score(s) – The Zenga Bus 2/10. The Lambert Cup Revolution 9/10. The Lambert League stabilisation 6/10. Overall C- (Could do better, please see me)

The Hard and Fast Section

• Morgan and Woakes KO'd South Africa. Very promising. 
• Man United saw off Ajax to win the Europa League.
• Gary Monk and Big Sam are gone. Madness. 
• Vettel flying in Monaco practice. 

23rd May 17

Okay, so yesterday was Part One of my end of season review, and today is Part Two, featuring the bottom half of the Premier League and some really interesting seasons.

Premier League Season Review Part Two 

11. West Ham 

For Slaven Bilic's team this has to go down as a bad campaign. After finishing 7th last year, and building a brand new stadium and promising to spend £30m on a striker in the summer (which didn't happen), West Ham fans were anticipating another assault on the top four. Instead they got a side that lost five of their opening six games, won just three of their opening fifteen and never rose above lower mid-table. A mid-season spurt turned things from being actively bad to just mediocre, but five defeats in a row in March/April meant that they needed a strong finish just to stay out of the relegation battle. 17 points down on last season. 

Player of the Season: Manuel Lanzini - Only just pipping Antonio who scored lots of early goals. Lanzini was more influential over the whole campaign I think. 

Best Result of the Season: West Ham 1-0 Spurs. Their only win against the top seven all season. 

Worst Result of the Season: West Brom 4-2 West Ham. Having thrown away a 2-0 lead the previous week to lose 4-2 to Watford, West Ham were 4-0 down inside an hour to West Brom. Shocking. 

Overall Score: 4/10

12. Leicester City 

Whilst Leicester were never expected to repeat their title-winning feat, I still don't think it was reasonable to expect them to end up nearly getting relegated. And whilst the sacking of manager Claudio Ranieri in February helped keep the Foxes up, as they went on to win their next five games having lost the previous five, there's no denying that Leicester were poor for the majority of the season. What they did do well was pick up 25 points from their nine games at home against teams in the bottom half, but their away form was ugly, their performances against better sides were ugly, and whilst they rallied well late on, they can be largely disappointed with this season I think. 

Player of the Season: Kasper Schmiechel - Whilst Vardy ended up with 13 goals, their keeper was just about the only player to give 100% and play well across the season. 

Best Result of the Season: Leicester 3-1 Liverpool. Right when they needed it, the new manager bounce appeared. Putting 4 past City in December very close too. 

Worst Result of the Season: Spurs 6-1 Leicester. Plenty of poor results against top sides, but shipping six to the team you pipped to the title last year in front of your own fans has to sting. 

Overall Score: 5/10

13. Stoke City 

After a car crash start to the season that saw Stoke bottom of the table until mid-October as they failed to win any of their opening seven games, it became clear that this was not going to be a season of improvement for the Potters. Whilst Stoke rallied to mid-table by Christmas, a shocking end to the season which saw them win just two of their last eleven games meant that they finished 13th, their worst finish and lowest points tally since 2013. A big step backwards for sure. 

Player of the Season: Joe Allen - Six goals and two assists from midfield, Allen has been one of the few bright sparks of a bad season for Stoke. 

Best Result of the Season: United 1-1 Stoke. Very little to choose from with their 1-0 win on the final day the only win against teams finishing higher. Drawing at Old Trafford with United in form is good.

Worst Result of the Season: Palace 4-1 Stoke. I was with a Stoke fan when this happened. It was ugly. Very ugly. 

Overall Score: 5/10

14. Crystal Palace

Given that Palace are one of the few sides finishing ahead of where they were expected to, and given that they looked like relegation material for significant periods of the season, it would be arguably unfair to call this a bad season for Palace. Indeed, they were only one point worse off than last season. And yet, they lost 12 of 15 games between October and the end of January, notching just one win. Four wins in a row around March, picking up 19 points from 8 games at a crucial point in the season including wins at Anfield, Stamford Bridge and over Arsenal kept them up. Big Sam to the rescue again. 

Player of the Season: Christian Benteke - Wilf Zaha and Mamadou Sakho are both candidates but goals keep you in the Premier League, and Benteke provided 15 of them. 

Best Result of the Season: Palace 2-1 Chelsea. Demolishing a wretched Arsenal comes close, but beating an in-form Chelsea at the Bridge and being only the second team to take points off them there? That takes it.

Worst Result of the Season: Sunderland 4-0 Palace. Losing 4-0 at home to the worst team in the division is about as bad as it gets. Sunderland would win only one more game in their remaining 14.

Overall Score: 6/10

15. Swansea City 

Swansea are another team it's tough to judge as a coherent whole. They were woeful and all but relegated under Bob Bradley, but Paul Clement's resurgence saved them. It's very much a good season in the sense that they didn't go down, picking up 13 points from their last five games in a last ditch survival surge, but picking up three points from 11 games after winning on the opening day, losing four straight games in December and picking up one point from six games in a pivotal period across March and April really does spell a tale of woe. Overall a disappointing season, but one that they survived intact. 

Player of the Season: Gylfi Sigurdsson - Llorente's goals might have been huge, but Sigurdsson's quality was evident throughout, with nine goals and 13 assists. Massive player. 

Best Result of the Season: Swansea 3-2 Liverpool. One of only two teams to win at Anfield all season, Swansea's only win against the top six came at a pivotal time for them. 

Worst Result of the Season: Middlesbrough 3-0 Swansea. Losing 3-0 to the team in the league that scores the least goals? Yeah this compounded Swansea's place as relegation battlers. 

Overall Score: 6/10

16. Burnley

Burnley are the only newly promoted club to survive this season, and frankly the fact that they never looked like going down is a huge achievement. Whilst their final points tally of 40 and position of 16th make things look a bit worse than they were, overall to keep their Premier League status means that they've achieved their goal. Their fantastic home form has been the key to that all season, with 10 wins at Turf Moor and four of their six home defeats coming to the top six. Whilst it took them until their penultimate away game to register a win on the road, they ended up not really needing more away wins to stay up.

Player of the Season: Tom Heaton - Consistently brilliant for the majority of the season, Heaton is a player who won plenty of points for his side. An extremely good keeper. 

Best Result of the Season: Burnley 2-0 Liverpool. Their only win against the top six, but one that resonated early on that Burnley would be tough to beat at home. 

Worst Result of the Season: West Brom 4-0 Burnley. Burnley suffered some hammer blows away from home, but getting obliterated at the Hawthorns was as bad as it got. They were horrendous. 

Overall Score: 7/10 

17. Watford 

Six straight defeats to end a season, not to mention sacking your manager, tends to put a rather bad gloss on a season. Not that finishing 17th and only getting 40 points represents a good season, but Watford hit a very bad patch at the end, having been consistently okay for most of the season. Watford never won three games in a row in this campaign, but until that final run they didn't lose more than two in a row either. Nevertheless, just five league wins and 18 points in 2017 is a horrendous back half of the season, and their front half wasn't much better. Overall a pretty poor season, but it was only their second season back in the Premier League and they never looked like going down, so a bit of context needs to be applied. 

Best Result of the Season: Watford 3-1 Man United. Winning at the Emirates runs it close, but this terrific early win over Man United is their overall best result. 

Worst Result of the Season: Liverpool 6-1 Watford. Losing 5-0 at home to City on the final day was also pretty shoddy, but shipping six at Anfield is the kind of terrible defending that typified Watford away from home. 

Overall Score: 5/10 

18. Hull

Yikes Hull. They really went through the ringer. Written off before the season started. No manager. 13 fit players. A relegation dogfight for the majority of the season despite a reasonable start. Marco Silva and a slew of January signings bringing home. Clawing their way out of the drop zone. And then losing 2-0 at home to Sunderland and 4-0 away at Palace allowing Swansea to leapfrog them to safety having been in the box-seat with only three games to play. Ugly, ugly ending to what ended up being a really long and painful season. Only one away win all season clinched their demise. They always looked up against it, but relegation remains a bitter pill to swallow. 

Player of the Season: Robert Snodgrass - Struggling to score goals or defend, it's hard to pick out a standout. The fact that Snodgrass was comfortably Hull's top scorer despite not being a striker and leaving in January says it all. 

Best Result of the Season: Hull 2-0 Liverpool. *sigh*

Worst Result of the Season: Bournemouth 6-1 Hull. Shipping 7 to Spurs, losing to Sunderland at home with safety in their own hands and the 4-0 to Palace all ran it close. But 6 goals. To Bournemouth. Christ. 

Overall Score: 4/10

19. Middlesbrough

Boro looked reasonably okay for large swathes of the season, as their strong defence earned them four wins in 2016, along with a handful of decent 0-0 and 1-1 draws. But whilst they continued to get a healthy amount of 0-0s in 2017, what wasn't healthy was their inability to put the ball in the back of the net. Nine goals in 2017, just the one win, and just the ten points. An absolute calamity of the back half of the year saw Boro very, very relegated. They scored the least goals, their defence fell apart, and everything just went horribly wrong, as they scratched for momentum. One win. In twenty one games. And it was a 1-0 win at home to Sunderland. Oh dear. 

Player of the Season: Ben Gibson - Defensively Boro had a solid enough season and Gibson did well to ensure that. Goals were always the problem. 

Best Result of the Season: Boro 3-0 Swansea. The only time Boro scored more than twice all season, and the result that took them to 18 points from 17 games. It all went downhill from there. 

Worst Result of the Season: Bournemouth 4-0 Boro. On the verge of going down, Boro travelled to Bournemouth needing a win to keep their survival hopes just about alive. They were 2-0 down and down to 10 men inside 20 minutes. Disgrace. 

Overall Score: 3/10

20. Sunderland

Oh Sunderland. What is there to say. David Moyes' appointment, their signings, their form, their team. Everything was just an absolute shambles from first kick til last. They weren't bottom of the table from the beginning until the end but they were pretty close. 189 days spent rock bottom of the league, only 21 days total outside of the relegation zone. It took them until November to register a win, They won just two games in 2017, picking up just ten points, same as Boro. Truthfully they never looked close to staying up, and sure enough they were relegated with an absymal 24 points. Two points from ten games in March/April at the pivotal point in the season? Wretched.

Player of the Season: Jermain Defoe - How he scored 15 goals in this side remains a mystery. Him and Pickford are the only two players who are good enough for the Premier League. 

Best Result of the Season: Sunderland 4-0 Palace. If you're going to win just once in 17 games, might as well make it one to remember right? 

Worst Result of the Season: Southampton 4-0 Sunderland. Of all the dismal performances in Sunderland's season, this one sums them up. At home to a mid-table club and they turned in one of the worst team performances in Premier League history. Abysmal. 

Overall Score: 2/10 (Only because a 1/10 is reserved for Aston Villa/Derby levels of bad)

The Hard and Fast Section

• Conte named Manager of the Year. Rightfully. 
• Sangakkara retiring from first class cricket. Legend. 
• Hockey legend Macleod retires from internationals. Champion. 
• PGA Championship this weekend. No Rory. 

22nd May 17

So the Premier League season is over! Last year I did a full round-up of each team's season, which was a lot of hard work. This year I want to try and focus on other things, specifically other sports, so I'm going to do a series of round-ups this week, starting with a general overview of each team's season. There'll be some Liverpool-centric ones, a team of the year piece and maybe some other stuff.

Premier League Season Review Part One

So this is a general overview of how each team's PL season generally went. I'm going to do this is two parts since it's very long, but this is the top ten.

1. Chelsea

Chelsea were the worthy title winners, with a terrific run before Christmas, winning all 13 games in October, November and December. Despite a stuttering start to 2017, they were hardly playing poorly and managed to get deservedly over the line with 16 points from six games in February and March, followed by six straight wins to get over the line and finish the campaign with a flourish. The first team to win 30 games in a season and the only team to come out with a higher points tally in PL history is Chelsea themselves. 

Player of the Season: Eden Hazard - 16 goals and the lynchpin to Chelsea's attack, scoring at crucial times in crucial games. 

Best Result of the Season: Chelsea 4-0 Man United. Just an absolute blitzkrieg. 

Worst Result of the Season: Arsenal 3-0 Chelsea. Shambles that day, but it turned their season. 

Overall Score: 9/10 

2. Spurs

It's easy to mock Spurs for not being able to chase down Chelsea, but the truth is that Pochettino's men had a fantastic season. They scored the most goals, conceded the least, improved drastically on last year and there have been plenty of seasons where 86 points would be enough to win the league. Winning 12 of their last 13 games, losing just twice in 2017, Spurs really ran Chelsea right to the end, despite most pundits assuming they'd drop off. Just dropped too many points in October and left themselves too much to do overall. 

Player of the Season: Harry Kane - 29 goals in 30 games is an insane amount. The best striker in the league and the best English striker since Gary Lineker. 

Best Result of the Season: Spurs 7-1 Hull. Plenty to choose from, but this is hard to look past.

Worst Result of the Season: Liverpool 2-0 Spurs. Comprehensively outplayed from first kick to last.

Overall Score: 8/10

3. Man City 

City are a tough one to gauge. The way they started the season, the hype around Guardiola and the talent at their disposal means that the fact they were never really in the title race is a huge disappointment, but they played some lovely football and were the best of the rest. Ultimately they just couldn't keep their momentum up. They lost three games in December, then hit a rut in their big games in March/April, failing to win four in a row. 12 points better off than last season represents progress, but they're still a solid 10/15 points off where they need to be. Rocky start for Guardiola. 

Player of the Season: Kevin De Bruyne - There are few standout individuals from City's team, but 18 assists and nearly 100 key passes is a pretty unreal creative performance from a central midfielder.

Best Result of the Season: Man City 5-0 Palace. With very few standout performances against the top sides, this one was a one-sided obliteration. 

Worst Result of the Season: Everton 4-0 Man City. Easily the low-point of Pep's season. His team were utterly destroyed. 

Overall Score: 6/10 

4. Liverpool 

Liverpool had a flying 2016, and were looking very hot at the turn of the year. And despite a wretched couple of months at the start of 2017, as they dropped plenty of sloppy points, they roared back to get over the line and secure the top four spot that would have been their target at the start of the season, despite spending comfortably less money than Arsenal, Man United, Man City or Chelsea. A season that didn't quite fulfill its early promise, but remains a huge step in the right direction for Klopp's Reds. On their day, they can beat anyone in this league, and just about did. Almost nobody had them down to finish this high or with this many points. 

Player of the Season: Phillipe Coutinho - 13 goals, 7 assists and played some truly awesome football, all despite missing about two months of the campaign.

Best Result of the Season: Liverpool 6-1 Watford. Despite some top performances against the big clubs, this one was a proper demolition job to send the Reds top of the table. 

Worst Result of the Season: Bournemouth 4-3 Liverpool. Plenty to choose from, but the way this one went down is just plain shambolic. 

Overall Score: 8/10

5. Arsenal 

More than slightly unlucky to finish outside the top four with 75 points, but ultimately the final position is what you're judged on, ignoring the fact that they've only picked up more than 75 points twice in the last eleven years. Still, there's no denying Arsenal have been patchy for long swathes of 2017, with some truly awful results and a horrendous away form. 7 wins out of 8 at the end almost papered over the cracks, but not quite. Europa League football for the first time this century. 

Player of the Season: Alexis Sanchez - 24 goals, 10 assists. Absolutely insane season and talent. Carried Arsenal this year. 

Best Result of the Season: Arsenal 3-0 Chelsea. An early dismantling of their big rivals that convinced us things might be different this year. 

Worst Result of the Season: Palace 3-0 Arsenal. Conceding three to Liverpool, West Brom and Chelsea was all terrible, but this disgustingly poor performance takes the cake. 

Overall Score: 5/10

6. Man United 

Whilst Man United fans could justifiably argue that their cup exploits detract from their league position, that doesn't change the fact that a club who spent over £150m in the summer and were tipped as 2nd favourites for the title, with a manager whose goal was to win the title, not only never challenged for the title, but were barely in the race for top four, spending a record amount of time in 6th place and finishing there. An awful home record for draws, a really poor league campaign and won less than half of their games in 2017. They ended up nearly 25 points off their primary target. 

Player of the Season: Zlatan Ibrahimovic - Mostly by default, but scoring 17 goals is still no mean feat, and overall it's a good season for Zlatan.

Best Result of the Season: Man United 2-0 Chelsea. A season of few league highs, but beating table-topping Chelsea a few weeks ago represents a serious coup for a team that only won two games against the top seven. 

Worst Result of the Season: Chelsea 4-0 Man United. The Mou giveth and the Mou taketh away. A result that showed just how far Man United were from competing at the top end.. 

Overall Score: 4/10

7. Everton 

Considering how poor Everton's last couple of seasons were under Martinez, for Koeman to instantly launch a serious assault on the top six is an achievement. Yes they fell away at the end, but to produce a sustained challenge to what has been the strongest top six in years represents pretty much where Everton can reasonably expect to be. Finished 15 points clear of the mid-table battle that they fell into last year. But their results against the top sides demonstrate that they simply aren't on that level yet. 

Player of the Season: Romelu Lukaku - Goal machine. 25 goals is a huge achievement and he was the standout in a team with few standout performers. 

Best Result of the Season: Everton 4-0 Man City. A huge achievement that saw Everton's young players announce themselves on the big stage with a terrific performance. 

Worst Result of the Season: Chelsea 5-0 Everton. Yikes. Enough said. 

Overall Score: 7/10

8. Southampton 

Despite a good cup campaign, Southampton are sadly one of a handful of mid-table sides to go backwards this season under Claude Puel. They're at least ten points down on each of the last three years, 17 down on last campaign, and although they've still finished 8th, they were nowhere near the top teams. Inconsistency has blighted their entire campaign, but six defeats in seven games around the turn of the year are where their season really went off the rails and they struggled to get it back on track after that. Six league wins in 2017 is awful for a club of their increasing stature.

Player of the Season: Virgil Van Dijk - The fact he only played 21 games says it all. Brilliant defender who held Saints together. 

Best Result of the Season: Saints 3-0 West Ham. No wins against the top six, so this big early win against West Ham is about as good as it gets. A 4-0 win over Sunderland ran this close. 

Worst Result of the Season: Palace 3-0 Saints. Losing 3-0 to a Palace side that had lost six on the bounce. Christ. 

Overall Score: 5/10

9. Bournemouth 

For Bournemouth to finish in the top ten of the Premier League at only the second time of asking (ever), is absolutely phenomenal. Whilst 46 points is hardly a huge points total, it still represents a big step up for Bournemouth, especially given that even staying in the Premier League at the second time of asking would be considered an achievement, let alone finishing 12 points and nine places above the drop zone. Just two defeats in their final 12 games, and 11 points from their final five shows a strong finish which can hopefully keep their momentum going into the next campaign. 

Player of the Season: Josh King - 16 goals for the versatile forward is better than most Premier League strikers; despite not playing as a striker very often. 

Best Result of the Season: Bournemouth 6-1 Hull. Almost as good as Spurs. 

Worst Result of the Season: Everton 6-3 Bournemouth. Bournemouth are the only team to both score and concede six goals in a game this season. 

Overall Score: 8/10

10. West Brom 

West Brom had a phenomenal 2/3s of the season, and were on course for a 55 point season when they hit the 40 point mark with 12 games to go, calling many to name Tony Pulis manager of the year. A complete collapse since then, with just five more points accumulated is extremely disappointing, and highlights the limited nature of West Brom's ambition, but nevertheless it remains a good season for the Baggies as they make the top ten with two points more than last year. 

Player of the Season: Gareth McAuley - Any defender who scores vital goals is a big boost to the team, but he was also a huge part of West Brom's solid defensive performances this campaign. 

Best Result of the Season: West Brom 3-1 Arsenal. Destroying the Gunners was their most high profile win, but trouncing Burnley 4-0 ran it close. 

Worst Result of the Season: Man City 4-0 West Brom. Very few actively terrible results, but getting beaten 4-0 at home, even to Man City is a pretty poor showing. 

Overall Score: 7/10

The Hard and Fast Section

• Exeter v Wasps after two sensational semi-finals. 
• Rugby Players unanimously reject a longer season. 
• England's Women announce their Cricket World Cup squad. 
• Alonso on the second row for Indy 500.