Introducing the So-Fars: MiB's Mid-Season Awards 🏆

Tradition has to start somewhere, and although this is the first edition of the “So-Fars,” think of this now as your irreverent toe-dip into the beckoning and overwhelming pool that is awards season. While we’re aiming for the heights of the Oscars, but would settle for the Golden Globes, in reality, this is probably more a footballing version of Michael Scott’s Dundies, meaning they’ve been put together with meticulous care, but perhaps doesn’t carry the same prestige as the aforementioned.

In true Men in Blazers fashion, we’ve blended conventional footballing wonder like goals and saves, with our favorite terrace songs and shock results to give you a full perspective of the beautiful game’s true tapestry. Now, in this helter-skelter season, the Premier League is a feast more moveable than anything Ernest Hemingway could have fathomed, so please remember that these are the So-Fars, not the Finished-s, but please stay with us for the full awards in May, which will probably deem most of the following redundant.

The Best Match of (the First Half of) the Season: Man United 4-4 Bournemouth 🤩

Ruben Amorim and Andoni Iraola’s footballing philosophies aren’t so different, but even the most optimistic fan didn’t expect this match to explode like Mentos in full-fat Coke. We won’t go through every goal individually, but the sight of two attacking teams with deceptively defensive formations going for the jugular and exchanging blows like Ali and Frazier was pure cinema. There were simple tap-ins, goalkeeping errors redeemed by worldie saves, a Bruno set piece masterclass in front of the Stretford End, and intertwining narrative arcs that personified everything we love about the game. It was beautiful chaos and Old Trafford was viscerally loud, causing vibrations not heard in Manchester since Oasis united the red and blue halves of the city last July. Matheus Cunha posted immediately afterward, “We wanted more, you deserved more,” but when he reflects, he’ll recognize that he and the other 21 men on that pitch gave us an all-time classic. 

The Set Piece of the Year (aka This Season’s Most Crowded Category): Mikel Merino’s Equalizing Header at St. James’ Park 🚩

A lot of people scoffed when Mikel Arteta promoted set-piece coach Nicolas Jover to supporting actor on Arsenal’s sidelines, but it’s proven to be a masterstroke. This season, the Gunners have scored 15 goals this way and are now widely known as “Set Piece FC.” While the rest of the Premier League have upped their set-piece game to attempt to meet their standards, it’s only right to hand Arsenal this award, and specifically to Mikel Merino’s equalizing header away at Newcastle that epitomized the surgical work that’s gone into their methodology.  Malcolm Gladwell suggests that 10,000 hours of practice leads to expertise, but Jover was hired four and a half years ago so the rest of the footballing world are, and will always be, playing catch up.

The Goal We’ve Rewatched the Most Times: Tyler Adams’ Half-Field Stunner 😮

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and while this category could be argued and debated in bars, terraces and on couches endlessly, King Tyler Adams’ audacious lob against Sunderland has to take the crown. He is, of course, an American hero, and pertinently our own American hero, but for a defensive midfielder with only 12 career goals across international and club football to become the first U.S. player to win the Premier League’s goal of the month is chef’s kiss material. With a heady cocktail of gumption and chutzpah, the New York boy intercepted a loose ball in his own half, lacerated through Sunderland’s midfield and with his third touch said, “Fuck it,” lobbing Robin Roefs who could only performatively scramble backwards. After the terrible news that Tyler suffered an MCL tear that will keep him out for some time, we hope this award finds him as well as he can be.

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The “Winston Wolf from Pulp Fiction“ Fixer of the Season: Sean Dyche 🌳

It’d be remiss to not mention the previous victims of Evangelos Marinakis’ indiscriminate wrath before giving Sean Dyche whatever the macho version of flowers are, but incredibly both Nuno Espírito Santo and Ange Postecoglou also managed Nottingham Forest this season. Their very capable squad understandably couldn’t handle the flip-cup transition of low-block attrition to an all-out YOLO attack, so Dyche was recruited to settle things down. Not that football’s ultimate repair man was necessarily waiting by the phone or refreshing his emails, but the Nottingham local was jobless and his hometown was in need. Like an Adidas-tracksuited Luke Skywalker returning to save Tatooine, by taking his boyhood club out of the relegation zone and conquering giants Porto in the Europa League, and Spurs in the PL, Dyche could finally become the hometown hero he always deserved to be, even with the Tricky Trees’ recent dip in form.

The Top Terrace Banger of 2025: Arsenal Unleashing “Are You Tottenham in Disguise” on Bayern Munich in the UCL 🏟️

There are a couple of honorable anthems to mention here, like non-league legends West Didsbury & Chorlton AFC and their brilliant adaptation of Brit Pop legends Pulp’s, “Disco 2000.” Three miles down the road at the other end of the footballing spectrum are Manchester United, whose loyal away fans turned Selhurst Park’s clumsy play of Daft Punk’s “One More Time" into an homage to Joshua Zirkzee that’s become a staple ever since. But the gold goes to Arsenal, who will be hoping that this isn’t their only piece of silverware this season. Having dispatched local rivals Spurs 4-1 days before, the Gunners unleashed their classic “Are you Tottenham in Disguise?” on German gods and fellow UCL favorites, Bayern Munich. Like any great song, its beauty is in its direct simplicity and it performed a terrace chant’s primary function: living rent free in the heads of a silenced opposition.

The “What Did We Just See?!” Award for this Season’s Most Surprising Result: Liverpool 0-3 Nottingham Forest 😱

There are many contenders for this prize because before a ball was even kicked, few would have foresaw Sunderland snatching a 2-1 win at Stamford Bridge, or despite the eventual winner making sense, a riotous 5-4 victory for City at Craven Cottage. But if any result were to surmise Liverpool’s shock capitulation this season, it’s their 3-0 loss at Anfield to Sean Dyche’s resurgent Nottingham Forest in late November, a result that even in a historically chaotic run of poor form was a shock to witness. It came before Mo Salah and Slot’s public spat, and after an upturn in form that was perhaps the kick in the plums the champions needed because at this point in time, the Liverpool manager’s job seemed in genuine jeopardy. For Forest, this sort of victory was unfathomable under Big Ange, and was further confirmation that at last, they had hired the right man. 

The “With Arms Wide Open” Save of the Year: Bart Verbruggen’s Double Against West Ham 🧤

Being a goalkeeper is a thankless task left for the bravest mavericks in the game, so we earnestly salute every one of them for their acrobatic services to the footballing world. Jordan Pickford became an actual wall vs. Manchester United, and his fingertip save against Joshua Zirkee deserves a mention, as does this somewhat understated but physically miraculous near-post claw from Burnley’s Martin Dúbravka against Wolves, but we’ve used a cheat code for our winner because it’s actually two saves for the price of one. In seconds, Brighton’s Bart Verbruggen pulled off a pair of worldies against West Ham’s Jarrod Bowen and then Crysencio Summerville, displaying the sort of valiant aerobics that Tom Cruise would be proud of. Because of the strength and accuracy of each attempt on his goal, even on their own, each stop would be worthy of recognition, so both MiB and Scott Stapp couldn’t be more sure of Verbruggen’s award-winning credentials.

Know someone else who can spell “Bart Verbruggen” off the top of their head? Consider sending this their way.

The WTF 8D Chess Signing of the Season: Granit Xhaka to Sunderland 💰

The Premier League doesn’t have a ton to thank Erik ten Hag for, but in a backhanded way, the former United manager is the reason we’re once again graced by the welcomingly disruptive presence of Granit Xhaka. After winning the Bundesliga at Bayer Leverkusen before falling out with ten Hag, the Swiss international arrived back in England with the glass-smash impact of Stone Cold Steve Austin. The $23 million the Black Cats paid was a bargain-bin price, and after being made captain immediately by Régis Le Bris, it’s hard to argue that any other player in the division has had a comparable influence on both the performances and culture of a singular club. Like Neutral Milk Hotel or Emily Dickinson, maybe the granite man was under appreciated and ahead of his time during his Arsenal stint, so it was full circle satisfaction to witness his relish in doing battle against his former club.

The “Sometimes Maybe Good, Sometimes Maybe Sheet” Surprises of the Year: Sunderland & Liverpool 🤔

Sunderland 📈

Let’s not forget that Sunderland won promotion last season via late goals that were perceived to be imbued by heart and passion rather than skill and thought. It should also be remembered that in a sweeping summer recruitment drive, most experts had them as favorites for relegation this season, with many suspecting that Régis Le Bris was a ready-made French detective rather than an elite football coach. From their opening day destruction of Graham Potter’s West Ham (remember him?), to that historic last-minute 2-1 win at Stamford Bridge, and their heroic draw away at Liverpool, the Black Cats have not only purred in the Prem, they’ve scratched, bitten and clawed up much bigger beasts.

Liverpool 📉

There’s a tragic asterisk on Liverpool’s very tough season so far in the devastating death of Diogo Jota during the summer. It’s impossible not to draw correlations between that unprecedented tragedy and their poor form, but even with that in mind, on the pitch, everything that could go wrong for the incumbent champs has. Record-breaking signings, Florian Wirtz and Alexander Isak, have been sub-anonymous in relation to their massive fees. Alisson has spent much of the season on the sidelines, while Virgil van Dijk and Ibrahima Konaté have been vastly calamitous in defense. And then there’s Mo Salah, whose public spat with Arne Slot has caused more ructions in Liverpool than Ringo Starr replacing Pete Best in The Beatles. Despite a recent upturn in form, the fact that a debutant Premier League-winning manager has had his future at Anfield come into question is a sorry state of affairs for any defending champion.

What awards would you like to see added at the end of the season? Which recent goal do you think will stand the test of time? Did you also wonder at first if Régis Le Bris was actually French Inspector Gadget? Email us with all your thoughts, questions, or boldest predictions for 2026. Courage.