Top 10 Posts Of 2009

It’s been the best year ever for EPL Talk not only in terms of site traffic but also, I believe, based on the quality of articles and the interaction of the EPL Talk community of readers (i.e. you) via the comment sections.

So, before 2010 arrives, it’s time to look back at the top 10 most read posts of 2009:

1. ESPN Adds Premier League to Soccer Line-Up. Out of the more than 1,500 articles that EPL Talk published in 2009, this is the one that gives me most pride. Not just because it was an exclusive, but because it was the perfect story that summed up what you can expect to read on EPL Talk: an article about the experience of watching soccer.
2. FIFA 10 Gameplay Impressions. When an EPL Talk reader named Scoorey volunteered to write an article about FIFA 10, little did I know that he was the five times FIFA champion of Australia and that he was able to secure a first-person visit to FIFA headquarters to share his impressions about the game before it was released in stores worldwide.
3. Steven Cohen Blames Liverpool Fans For Hillsborough Disaster. This was the story that was the toughest to write because I had to make sure that the facts were solid, but I believe it was a story that had to be written because soccer fans in this country were getting sick of the misinformation that was being fed to listeners, many of whom were too young to know what really happened on one of the darkest days in this sport’s history.
4. 09-10 Premier League Kits: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly. 2009 hasn’t been the best year for football kit designs. In fact, it’s been one of the worst in recent memory, so here was my critical analysis of the best and worst designs as well as the ones that were borderline.
5. 6 Famous Premier League Footballers On Twitter. When I read the headline for this article, I chuckled to myself because there are so many more footballers on Twitter now than when the article was originally written. But at the time, six was a lot.
6. Could Andrei Arshavin Be Arsenal’s Defensive Midfielder? When Arshavin joined Arsenal, it was quite a mystery where the Russian wunderkind would play. Not a traditional striker nor a traditional midfielder either. But one theory had him playing the role of a defensive midfielder. Only Arsene Wenger knew at the time.
7. 2009-2010 Premier League Table Predictions. One of the funnest articles I write each year is my predictions of what the final table will look like before the first ball of the season is kicked. It’s fun because I sometimes get egg on my face, or sometimes get it pretty close. Here are my predictions for previous seasons: 2008-2009, 2007-2008, 2006-2007.
8. Top 5 Essential iPhone Apps for Soccer Fans. What did we do before iPhone apps? Here’s my selection of the top 5 (at the time) that are essential for soccer fans.
9. Manchester United: Summer Transfer Targets. It’s interesting to look back from just this past summer to see which transfer targets Manchester United were chasing, who they bought from the list and who they’re still chasing even in this upcoming January transfer window.
10. Jimmy Bullard’s Goal Celebration. Rounding out the top 10 is one of the most remarkable and irreverent videos of the year starring the one and only Jimmy Bullard lecturing his fellow Hull City players.