2007-08 EPL Thread

[Abagadro]

define wrong part of town?

Most of the fanbase is in the ethnic areas of downtown Salt Lake City. Because Salt Lake City is despised by the rest of Utah as it is perceived as being full of brown people, academics, homos and Democrats (not to mention at the time being run by the Anti-Christ Rocky Anderson), the State Legislature did a back room deal with the suburb of Sandy to put it there while allocating county-wide tourist taxes against the wishes of the county government. Sandy is only slightly less white-bread/Mormon as Provo is. It makes it a big journey through lousy traffic to a place with no place fun to go after the game.

[lamaros]

That free kick by Hargreaves was just sick today.

I think the wall was focusing on Ronaldo so much they forgot to jump. Pretty silly when you consider exactly the same thing happened (Hargreaves scoring from that position with Ronaldo over the ball) in a game a little earlier in the season.

If I had to have my house on a penalty I'd want Ronaldo taking it.

Arsenal were really good today though. If they buy a decent Center Back and Forward then they'll be a lot better next year.

[Abagadro]

Oh it was most definitely successful because of the surprise factor but the dude practically buried it in the side netting. Well disguised and no chance.

[HaemishM]

That free kick by Hargreaves was just sick today.

Yes, yes it was. Congrats on putting Lehman in there, Arsene, seeing as how it didn't seem to make a lot of difference when it counted. Almunia could have missed that shot just as well.

But really, Adebayor lost them that game. Arsenal looked like Liverpool with the amount of open net shots they missed. Another fucking title to the Red Devils. Fuckers.

Reading losing to Fulham was a heartbreaker. I just don't know what it is about Reading this year, they can't seem to stay consistent. Hopefully Mr. Madjewski spends some money in the summer window.

[eldaec]

Chelsea are still just about in it - I hope to hell they beat Man U, because...

1) It just devalues a competition when Man U win.
2) Avram Grant might keep his job - and he is easily the second funniest thing in English Football.



Don't try and reason with me on point 1.

[lamaros]

Yes, yes it was. Congrats on putting Lehman in there, Arsene, seeing as how it didn't seem to make a lot of difference when it counted. Almunia could have missed that shot just as well.

Almunia was injured.

Lehman made two good saves and didn't make a single mistake from what I could tell.

Go Heskey!!!

[HaemishM]

I didn't realize Almunia was injured, but really, it likely wouldn't have made a difference either way. He can't score 'em.

Also, Avram Grant beating out Sir Alex for a title would really be laugh out loud funny, if it didn't involve Chelsea and Roman Abramovich winning a title as well.

[sigil]

As a side note, I find it quite humorous that the Henry to Seattle rumors continue.

[HaemishM]

Thierry Henry to SEATTLE?

That's actually more LOL funny than Schevchenko to LA. Henry seriously does not have the body to take the kind of pounding he would take from the MLS's crude defenses. He's barely able to play in La Liga where they have some actual defense.

[rk47]

Go Heskey!!!

Gotta love my friend

"This is so much better than bank's annual rates dude!"
"what are you talking about?" 
"Chelsea v Wigan. Chelsea win 1.20!" 

We all know what happened. 

[sigil]

In this post massive spoilers:
AND YOU'LL NEEEEE - VERRRR WALK ALONE!!!!
YOU'LL NEEEEEEE- VERRRR WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAh SHIT!




Riise is a dead man.
 

ROFL

[Tige]

 

He's gonna need therapy.  Lots of it.

[naum]

In this post massive spoilers:
^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H




^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H

ROFL

Sheesh, that was a brutal faux pas…

[sigil]

sheesh, this scheme of alternating shades just owned the hell out of me. . .


belatedly fixed

[lamaros]

Who knew the absence of one player could ruin what was meant to be an exciting game?

I can't believe I got up at 4:30, missed sleep and work and got this bloody headache, for all that. Should have snoozed when I saw the team-sheets.

[HaemishM]

Yeah, Riise. Fuck me. Boring as hell game for 94 minutes, then he shits the bed. Thanks, JOHN! He's had a really poor season all year long. Just atrocious form.

The Man. U. - Barca game was pathetic. Everyone on both sides must have taken the anti-finish pills, from Ronaldo on down.

The Rangers-Fiorentino UEFA Cup match was more entertaining than either of the Champions' League ones.

[eldaec]

I haven't seen that many Chelsea games this year, but that was typical of their performance against Liverpool in the other matches.

I believe Liverpool will play better next week.

And if Chelsea don't improve, Liverpool will get through.

Man U - Barca is tougher to predict. But Man U will have to play better next week.

[lamaros]

Man Utd - Chelsea was a good game.

Hope it's a one off and Chelsea falls asleep for the rest of the season though.

[sigil]

Fulham keep teasing me, bastards.

Also, This.

There's six shirts here that I will probably get.

Also, just to put it on the radar of some of you.

ESPN2's Thursday game should be a pretty good game. Toronto hosts Red Bull New York in a game that has a decent amount of story lines. Toronto is on a winning streak and has one of the leagues best midfields, while New York is getting several people back including  Angel. Guevara plays the team that traded him out of the league, Altidore looks to be in great form. Combine that with a packed stadium and more thrown paper than anything short of Times Square on a New Years Eve and it should make for a decent couple of hours.

[HaemishM]

Fulham keep teasing me, bastards.

Also, This.

There's six shirts here that I will probably get.

That El Nino shirt is tempting.

I'm really digging the MLS play this year, currently watching the Chivas/Galaxy game from this weekend. Boy those defenses are leaky. I love the Toronto crowds. The damn field always looks like a parade just went through and they pack those seats every damn week no matter how bad the team is. I'm glad to see the team is actually decent. Even San Jose is putting it together.

GO FIRE!

[sigil]

Fire? Fucking Fire?

Oh yeah, Mapp is from there, and they actually play there.

Quality of play is definitely up. Columbus have adapted to Schelotto and that deal is looking more and more like freaking genius.

Anyone who makes Alejandro Moreno look like a great player has got to be strong.

The East is brutal, The west is weak, but  Houston is better than their record suggests.  They need a goal scorer, as it looks like ther D is starting to Gel. Also, Onstad.

And I think more people are going to develop the Deep Love/HATE relationship about Landon Donovan this year.  Also, The Galaxy as the Raiders of MLS. Flashy stars, people with serious personal issues on the starting XI, weird managment and a solid, if unconventional coach. That game against Chivas was great fun to watch.

Poor Brad Guzan went from being signed by Villa to giving up a five spot to the Gals in about two months. He's got to be drinking heavily by now.

[HaemishM]

Justin Mapp is the man. Ok, maybe he isn't international quality, but he's a good fit for the MLS and he's from about 20 miles away and does bring the Fire down for an exhibition every year. One year I'll actually make it to the game.

I have no worries about Houston, they will put it together. They started the exact same way last year. I actually think Dallas is a better football team, with crisper, more European passing style. Cooper and Toja are awesome. The Galaxy as the Raiders of the MLS is an apt comparison. No one else would have Abel Xavier, I think. And Guzan is better than that, he just needs some help back there.

[sigil]

Going to Houston for three games this year, would be more, but I'm not looking forward to shelling out the gas money.

I keep forgetting about Dallas because they are Dallas and the enemy, but yeah, they're pretty good. Davino has really solidified that back line and Toja, Cooper and Alvarez always make me nervous.


Don't forget that LA picked up Joey Franchino, he of the all night benders and drunken public urination with Gary Flood at the Red Sox Game a few weeks ago.  Guillit didn't even know he'd been picked up, never saw him play even on film until he went to his first  practice and then stuck him in at halftime in his first game. Amazingly, Joey's been great in his time there. Just amazing, though.

It's like MLS is entering that awkward Puberty stage, where you have moments of magic mixed in with the mediocre and occasionally just plain bad.

Also, we've got a real mix of styles going as well. You've got  some real south american/ latin flavor ball in Columbus, Kansas City and DC and almost retro English style (Send 50 Driven crosses into the box and eventually one will be put in) in Houston. Which, if you think about it, is all kinds of fucked up.

[sidereal]

I need these

[sigil]

As a Spurs Supporter, The Magic Juande apeals to me. :)

[Hoax]

I'd buy the nutmeg one if it wasn't $20+shipping.

I watched Bolton v Spurs this weekend, wow, that was bad.  I haven't seen any football really in awhile.  Thanks to Basketball/Hockey/general tiredness towards sports...

[sigil]

Spurs have a definite case of not giving a shit right now.

[sidereal]

I wouldn't give a shit either if I'd lost Gareth Bale for the season.

[sigil]

Of all  possible ways to emulate Ledly King, Bale seems to have picked the typical Spurs choice of being injured. Why couldn't he pick up "be an annoying drunk at victory party" ?

[Abagadro]

I'm convinced that the current situation is one of the reasons that European football baffles Americans. Chelsea and ManU are battling for the Premier championship which will be decided based upon the points generated by two games each against scrub teams. Meanwhile, these two teams are set to go head-up for the UEFA Champions League final (played in Moscow even though between two English teams in the same league), which is different from the FA cup which was most recently also a game between Chelsea and ManU, which has nothing to do with the UEFA Cup, which has nothing to do with the World Cup. So Chelsea and ManU within the space of a year are battling for three completely separate "championships."  It makes the head spin if you aren't familiar with the entirety of world-wide football.

[lamaros]

I think a lot of sports are like that when you don't grow up with them.

Take the AFL here in Australia:

We have 16 teams in the competition. 10 are from one State, Victoria. The competition takes place over 22 rounds, in which each team players each other at least once, but sometimes twice (always twice if you are one of the big four Melbourne based team - Essendon, Carlton, Collingwood and Richmond) within those 22 rounds. However there is no fixed order from year to year as to when you play a team, or where, and in some cases one team will play another team four times over two seasons before they play another team once. Popular Melbourne clubs like Essendon and Collingwood play interstate only 4 or 5 times a year, while the teams in NSW, QLD, SA and WA will play half or more in other states. After the 22 rounds are complete those teams in the top eight of the ladder will play each other in a finals series to determine that years winner. Those in the top four play each other, with the winners going on to the lest round. Those in the bottom four play each other with the losers going out and the winners go on to play the losers from the top four. The winners of those games then go on to play the winners of the top 4 games for the right to play in the grand final. The winner of that is the years champion. And that's without even getting to the rules of the game itself...

Chelsea and ManU are battling for the Premier championship which will be decided based upon the points generated by two games each against scrub teams.

Not sure what you mean by that? Goal difference is the difference between goals scored and goals conceded in all 38 premiership matches.

Meanwhile, these two teams are set to go head-up for the UEFA Champions League final (played in Moscow even though between two English teams in the same league),

You forgot to add: Both privately owned, one by a Russian and the other an American. One coached by a Scot, the other by an Israeli. And the two teams between then have only 9-10 players, out of 22, expected to play in the final who are English.

EDIT: P.S. Try and find an explination of how the soccer league in Brasil works if you want something really confusing. It's such a complicated mess that even SI's Football Manager game, which thay've done for 16 years and research carefully and extensivly for every iteration (so detailed that it's databases of players are used as reference points by real life scouts), cannot properly provide a simulation of how they work.

[HaemishM]

The fact that Chelsea and Man. U. be in the Champion's League final just makes me sick. I'm not sure I even want to watch it after seeing last year's excruciating FA Cup tie. It was almost as bad as the first league of this year's Liverpool-Chelsea semi.

Also, fuck you Rafa for taking Torres out to put in Babel.

[naum]

Barcelona needs some finishers.

Messi is amazing.

As someone who watches the soccer channels now after a lifetime of non-soccer (maybe playing an occasion in high school gym class like once or twice — basically just running around and kicking the ball as far as I could…) and taking in World Cup every four years (used to be only time soccer would be on TV and even then it would be PBS hourly game caps), I find all the cups and league play and all the different national leagues to be really interesting. It means I can watch games on tape with interest as I have no clue who won them.

[eldaec]

You have to give some credit to the Chelsea team for achieving what they have without a manager for most of the season. It's just such a shame they all put on that tiresome affected aggression the whole time - no wonder everyone hates them.

As for Liverpool, if at the start of the season someone had told me our champions league campaign would involve breaking the record for the biggest win ever in the competition, beating Inter home and away, and beating Arsenal in a fantastic 4-2 victory at Anfield, only to play well in a semi but be knocked out by a freak own goal (and another offside goal in normal time second leg), I'd have been happy enough. Plus a Man U - Liverpool final would be the only thing uglier and nastier than a Man U - Chelsea final. So all in all, it's hard to get too upset.

Plus having the season end a couple of weeks early can only help shift the ownership situation along.



As for the Torres -> Babel switch, apparently Torres was feeling his hamstrings. Some managers make that shit up, but I'm inclined to believe Benitez since he has a history of just biting reporters heads off if they suggest he made a bad tactical sub, rather than lying about it. Plus Torres hasn't been rotated or subbed off in 'live' matches since the first couple of weeks of the season - so I doubt Benitez would start now.

[HaemishM]

It better have been some tight hammies, otherwise it makes no sense. Torres needs to be out there for every second until his legs fall off.