Tuesday 1 August 2017 22:25, UK
Thierry Henry reviews the seasons of Chelsea, Tottenham , Manchester City, Liverpool, Arsenal and Manchester United following the conclusion of the Premier League.
Chelsea won their fifth league title ahead with a seven point cushion over second-placed Tottenham, while Liverpool and Manchester City won the last-day race for the final top-four spots.
Arsenal had to settle for fifth place, missing out on the Champions League for the first time in 20 years, while Jose Mourinho guided United to a sixth-placed finish, but will take his side to Sweden for the Europa League final on Wednesday.
The FA Cup winner is also yet to be decided with the newly-crowned Premier League champions taking on the Gunners at Wembley on Saturday.
But with the Premier League season over, Henry offered his verdict on the performances of the top six on Premier League Daily...
When people talk about having special players, you also need some guidance, structure, discipline, a plan and Antonio Conte brought that to the club. Let's be honest, Chelsea have won the league before so it's not like he changed the mentality so much because they have winning mentality.
Conte had the right approach that people want to see. You arrive at a club, you look at what is happening, you assess the situation and see that they want to play in a certain way so you try it and see how it goes. It didn't work so he then said 'OK, now I'm going to do me. You are going to have to follow me and trust me and if you do, we will be successful' - and they were.
It is going to be a different ball game for them next season. They are going to be in the Champions League and they are going to need a bigger squad. It was 'easier' for them to play one game a week, it was a bit more difficult at the end when the FA Cup came along and disrupted the Premier League schedule so they are going to have to deal with that next season but trust me, if there is one guy who is going to be in their face and make sure they are not going to slip, it is Conte.
It is vital to keep not only Dele Alli and Harry Kane, but the guys at the back, Victor Wanyama, Hugo Lloris - I'm not going to name the whole squad obviously - but it is vital to keep those guys and add quality around them.
What you saw at the end with the six at Leicester and seven against Hull was a team that swore last year that they were not going to give up if it happens this year. You saw a team that was still playing the same way against both sides while they maybe were not, so that's why you saw that massive gap between those teams.
Who are they going to bring? Are they going to spend big in a transfer market? That is not very like Tottenham if I can say it, but they are going to have to do it if they are going to compete against the top team and close that gap with Chelsea.
Pep Guardiola is not going to be happy. Don't get me wrong, I thought they were going to challenge for the title and they didn't. He wanted to win the league so no excuses.
He's going to have more of an idea about the league next year and somehow his team played way better at the end of the season. Was it because it was the end of the season? Was it because of the opposition? I don't know, but it looks like the plan worked a bit better.
He also was asking his full-backs to stay a bit more instead of bombing forward so they were a bit more balanced on the counter when they were losing the ball. Other than that, he will take it as one season of learning about the league. Was it enough? No it wasn't enough, obviously. He wanted to win, I'm sure, everything.
He is finding a way to play better and change that generation. Pablo Zabaleta was at the end, Aleksandar Kolarov was at the end and a lot of guys had been there for a while and he's trying to change that by bringing some youngsters into the squad. I'm sure he's going to try to bring some more next season and try to challenge for the title. It's the first season he was unable to win anything so it's a new thing for him.
He has learned a lot about himself as a manager and how competitive the league is in England. For him, it's about playing well, so I'm sure next year he's going to try and manage that better and bring some big names to City.
Liverpool are a team that entertain. Although they started well, you knew at one point they weren't going to win the league. To get into the Champions League for that club is very important in terms of progression.
If you want to attract players, it's better when you're in the Champions League. Of course, Liverpool are a massive club but it's easier to talk to 'big players' when you are in the Champions League. They deserve to be where they are and they've had a good season.
To play that pressure and hectic game at 100 per cent is really difficult to do in the Premier League, but Klopp said they should do it better. However, I don't know whether they were equipped in terms of depth in the squad and strong enough to maintain it. A lot of players were lapsing at points, especially Adam Lallana, who was one of the guys that was running the most this season. Sometimes you need to be more passive and control the ball, like Chelsea did.
The competition is definitely getting better but is it a disappointment? Yes it is if we're talking about this season. If you bring in the fact that Arsenal qualified for the Champions League for 20 years in a row then it is the only time they haven't while Arsene Wenger has been at the club.
But in terms of what they wanted to do at the beginning of the season, then it is a disappointment because everyone wants to play in the Champions League, especially big players and fans want to see their clubs there. I don't think it is going to go down as a good season in the league, although they have the chance to win the FA Cup next weekend.
I was listening to what Wenger was saying and I agree that they lost a lot of games but they also won a lot of games in the dying minutes or with lucky decisions at times. Yes they got more points than what they used to have sometimes when finishing in the top four, but the bottom line is they didn't qualify for the Champions League.
It doesn't mean next season is going to be bad or go the wrong way, but at the end of the day, you need to judge a team at the end of the season and at this moment in time, it is not good enough in terms of where they wanted to be.
Are they entertaining? Are they a nice side to watch? At the end of the day, it will be the EFL Cup and the Europa League - if they win it. Then they will be in the Champions League and it will be a successful season. Whether you like Jose Mourinho or not, it will be a successful season.
Everyone would love to see Wayne Rooney finish his career at Manchester United, but I doubt it. I think he might have to go. When you have a player like Rooney and he's not playing, what's the point? If he's not part of the team, then he should go. That's exactly what John Terry said when he left Chelsea.
It was always going to be difficult for Paul Pogba. They don't use Pogba where he should be playing - he's not a holding midfielder. He likes to play higher or off the left. You lose a bit of him when he plays deeper. When you have a price tag like his, people are always going to talk. It could be good if someone comes in during the summer with a bigger price tag, then people might leave Pogba alone. I think his second season can be better. He's got much more to offer.
