Premier League 2022-23 review: gripes of the season

Surely we are at the stage where we do not need to constantly criticise players who have not reached the level a fan wants them to in the first few months of the season? We can all now look at Jack Grealish being integral to Manchester City’s title-winning side and realise what happens when someone with incredible talent is allowed a year to settle in. Grealish has worked out what he needs to do after making the big leap from doing what he wanted at Aston Villa to learning a new role in the best team in the world. This season, Darwin Núñez has been questioned after not providing the goods at Liverpool, while Antony’s consistency for Manchester United is under scrutiny. Players should be allowed time to show their worth; it does little good berating them for their failings after arriving in a new country to play at a higher level. That said, if they are still underwhelming at the end of next season: fill your boots.

It is interesting to see longer periods of stoppage time being added in the final fortnight of the Premier League season. The concept mirrors what was happening during the World Cup, when we would regularly see eight or nine minutes stitched on to the end of the match. One of the reasons behind it is the modern love affair with running down the clock. Cramp is becoming rife within the game: everyone seems to suffer from it, whether it is goalkeepers or strikers. As injury time ticks on, players will then moan that they have been forced to make up the time they have been desperate to waste, complaining when the opposition score an equaliser despite setting up their own downfall.

Everyone that attends a football match or watches one on TV is routinely bombarded by adverts from gambling companies that want people