As we bring the curtain down of another enthralling decade in the beautiful game, we look back at the main moments that shaped the last ten years in football.
2010 - Lampard's 'goal' a game changer
Nope, it's not Fulham getting to the Europa League final, but rather a huge no-goal that turned out to be a real game changer.
We kicked off the deacde with a historic World Cup being held in South Africa which brought the good (the first African World Cup), the bad (those vuvuzelas!), and the ugly (the Netherlands in the final) and while we could pick out that we saw one of the great international sides of all time Spain win the second of their three major tournaments in a row, there's one other incident that had a much bigger impact on football.
📆 The start of the decade saw this 'goal' from Frank Lampard at the World Cup
— Sporting Life Football (@SportingLifeFC) December 31, 2019
📺 Didn't help England but helped bring in goal line technology....pic.twitter.com/4g4Pwfzxls
Frank Lampard's strike against Germany in their last 16 clash hammered the bar and landed miles over the line, only for the goal to be ruled out by the referee. England went on to lose 4-1 so, while the goal may not have changed that game, it certainly helped change THE game as the saga that surrounded it helped persuade FIFA to introduce goal line technology.
We now don't even think about it when the referee looks at his watch to decide if a ball is over the line - and fast forward to last year's epic title race as Manchester City saw that technology twice come to their aid against Liverpool and Burnley en route to becoming champions.
2011 - Number 19 for United
Sir Alex Ferguson vowed to "knock Liverpool off their perch" while at Manchester United, and their title-winning effort of the 2010-11 season was the culmination of that mission as it was the 19th league title for the Red Devils, seeing them overtake Liverpool's record of 18 and become England's most successful title winners.
It's a record that had been held dear down the M62 at Anfield, and one that had been looming large as Liverpool's star had dwindled while Ferguson had dragged United up and made them the dominant side of their time. Mission accomplished!
2012 - Agueroooo
“I swear you’ll never see anything like this ever again,” bellowed Martin Tyler as Sergio Aguero struck his late, late goal to give Manchester City the most thrilling title victory we’ve ever seen. And Tyler may just have been right!
It was a game, a goal, a desperate passage of play of extreme emotions that encapsulated brilliantly the extremes between winning and losing in top level sport, and just what a thin line divides those monumental highs from stomach churning lows.
It’s easy to forget just what a turnaround this was, as City trailed ten-man QPR 2-1 after 91 minutes when seemingly throwing away a glorious chance for a first Premier League title – leaving Man Utd laughing up at Sunderland after winning their game.
However, Edin Dezko’s goal brought the impossible into the realms of just maybe, before Aguero did the rest. It wasn’t just the manner of the victory, but the importance of the ‘noisy neighbours’ finally toppling United. The Blue Moon was rising…
2013 - Fergie’s farewell title prompts a crumbling empire
Sir Alex Ferguson's farewell speech to Manchester United in 2013
— Football Daily (@footballdaily) October 16, 2019
🗣"When we had bad times the club stood by me, your job now is to stand by our new manager" pic.twitter.com/3fwFCghbWA
Sir Alex Ferguson may well have called it quits the year before had Man City not claimed the title in such gut-wrenching circumstances for the Red Devils, and it was no surprised at all when the great man returned to mastermind his 13th league title, and United’s 20th overall, by a tidy 11 points in 2013.
It gave Sir Alex 38 trophies from his 26 years in charge at Old Trafford in a stint we’ll never see again in management, but the title victory and his following departure also showed just what a special talent he was given that it remains the club's last Premier League victory.
Through David Moyes, Louis van Gaal and even Jose Mourinho they’ve never looked even close to champions despite having bags of money to spend, and the departure of Ferguson not only ended their most successful spell but also ushered in an era of frustrating underachievement.
Without its emperor, the Old Trafford empire crumbled.
2014 - Gerrard slips up
📆 We're going through our moments of the decade - a few cruel people coming up with this one....#LFC pic.twitter.com/TJ7ehyYg0R
— Sporting Life Football (@SportingLifeFC) December 31, 2019
It just felt like Liverpool’s year – a phrase that Reds fans are continually mocked for uttering most seasons – but this actually did look like the case as Brendan Rodgers’ swashbuckling crew came out of nowhere with a withering late run at the title.
A pulsating 3-2 win over Man City set them up for the success they craved and if they could get over the hurdle of facing old foe Jose Mourinho and Chelsea they’d be almost home. Of all opponents, it had to be Mourinho, of all players to cost them, it had to be Steven Gerrard.
You can’t blame the captain for a simple slip, it’s rotten luck at just the wrong time, but it was a dagger to the heart that Gerrard and Liverpool could just not recover from as Chelsea won at Anfield to effectively end their title dreams. Even a draw would have done.
Yet it was written in the footballing stars that their inspirational leader, the club’s soul and heartbeat on the pitch would ultimately be the one who cost them the ultimate prize. Gerrard has done almost everything, won almost every trophy with his beloved Reds – apart from one. Football’s a cruel game sometimes.
2015 - Jose does it again
Chelsea have proven throughout the decade that switching managers is not necessarily a bad thing with multiple coaches able to come in and bring them the league title, but it was especially significant when the returning Jose Mourinho, in the second season of his second spell, led them to a superb title victory - losing just three games in the process.
Of course, we all know it went sour again at Stamford Bridge the following year, but it proved yet again that Mourinho was indeed a special one, even if he's only special in small doses.
With what we now know, 2015 may also have changed the football landscape when a certain Jurgen Klopp arrived as Liverpool manager...
2016 - The Leicester miracle
This is the undoubted achievement of the decade, of many a decade in fact, as Claudio Ranieri's relegation candidates managed to shock the footballing world as 5000/1 outsiders to win the Premier League title. In a team full of unheralded journeymen, Jamie Vardy and Riyad Mahrez produced incredible seasons to fire the Foxes to an implausible title success.
Ranieri got his tactics spot on, defending deep and organised before springing forward with Vardy and Mahrez proving just too quick and deadly for the opposition. It was a perfect storm with all the big major sides suffering a down year and leaving the door wide open for someone to stride through, we just never expected Leicester to be that team as Tottenham had looked to be the ones to benefit.
The way they kept their nerve down the stretch was staggering, as even loyal Leicester fans who had placed a speculative wagers were cashing out in droves as the club got closer to glory.
In the end though, it wasn't even close as they finished ten points clear of second place - which is sometimes surprising to see was Arsenal - as Tottenham managed to also achieve something special by finishing third in a two-horse race.
2017 - The birth of VAR
The Australian A-League game between Melbourne City and Adelaide United may have passed many by in April 2017, but it was the first top flight professional league game to be staged using a new system called VAR to help referees with video replays.
Though that game passed off without a hitch, we now know that this was the can of worms being opened, a Pandora's box of technology and its impact on the rules of the game, even the spirit of the game - the start of a host of new questions flooding into football, questions we all thought we knew the answers to only to find out we haven't got a clue.
What is handball? When is offside not offside? What part of the body can be offside? Who draws those lines on the TV screens? Why don't the referees use those little monitors at the side of the pitch? Yet again, football had changed forever, and a couple of years down the line we still don't know if it's for the better or not.
2018 – Man City record breakers
After coming away empty-handed from his first year in charge of Man City, Pep Guardiola ensured he made a real impact on the Premier League in 2017-18 season as his side produced the best campaign in the competition's history by totally dominating the title from start to finish and smashing several records along the way.
They captured the title with five games to spare and famously won 100 points and scored 100 goals while also breaking records for the most wins, away wins, consecutive wins, goal difference and biggest winning margin as they finished 19 points ahead of the pack.
We'd never see a title-winning performance like it, or so we thought...
2019 - The greatest title race ever
If Man City's title success in 2018 was all about their dominance, this one was all about their resilience as they emerged victorious after a brutal slugfest with Liverpool that saw two dominant forces go toe-to-toe for the entire season until in the end only one point could separate them.
But how they had to scrap for it! With Jurgen Klopp's side forcing them to go on a 14-match winning run to end the season just to finish that one solitary point in front - and all this after their head-to-head at the Etihad had been sealed by a couple of centimetres with John Stones' clearance.
There was then another centimetre or so in a goal at Burnley and a thunderbolt from the blue by Vincent Kompany to help beat Leicester in the penultimate game to effectively clinch it. It was a title race full of drama, twists and turns and endless quality and character shown by two almighty sides, who in any other year would have walked the title race.
What a fitting way to settle the final Premier League title race of the decade.
