EPL 2007 Thread

[HaemishM]

Barca over Werder Bremen, because Barca plays wonderful football, German teams are typically boring.

Die in a boot fire. You should watch Bremen some time. They are my Bundesliga team of choice. Klose, Frings, Hunt, Klasnic, Diego, those motherfuckers are not boring players. They play with pace and skill and right now they are tearing up the Bundesliga. They've scored 27 goals in 9 games (I think it's 9 games). They are anything but boring.

Fuck Barca. They've been overrated this year, especially since Eto'o went down. I've watched them against Valencia and Real Madrid in La Liga and Bremen in the Champions League, and they look flat as Liverpool did against Man. U. They haven't played with spirit and don't deserve to beat Bremen.

EDIT: I will modify my criticism of Barca to say that Messi has been playing quite well. But most of the others have not been.

[Hoax]

They aren't the same team w/out Eto'o I'll give you that because he is (and has been since at least 2000) friggin awesome.  As for Bremen, bah I say you can't convince me German football isn't mostly boring at a minimum after watching Sporting v Bayern Munich on Tuesday.

Spoilers from today's game(s):

Porto won and Arsenal drew in a very very odd yet entertaining match versus CSKA Moscow.  Seriously I hope you Tivo'd it because it was bizzare as fuck.

[HaemishM]

Bayern Munich IS a boring team. They have Podolski, and he's good, but the rest of the team doesn't inspire near the excitement he does. Seriously, watch a Bremen game if you can, if they are on, it's a helluva match. Diego and Klose have mad skillz and Frings is one of those hit a laser into the goal directly from 40 yards kind of guys. Imagine the way the German team played in the World Cup, and that's pretty close to a Bremen style.

[sigil]

94.9 Radio London didn't get blocked this time, so i've got live audio of the UEFA cup match.

Brugge got an early goal, but  Berbatov fired in a strike three minutes later. Tottenham showing a case of the "arsenals" as the color guy mentioned.

Edit:

Spurs are looking strong now, 3-1 in the 73rd Minute. It's been a highly entertaining  match.

[sigil]

Tottenham 2 - Chelsea 1

Fuck Yeah!

Arsenal 0 - West Ham 1

OMG!

/does the happy dance

Now, I get to watch Bruce arena and Eric Wynalda cover the DC United / Revolution Semifinal (Arena and Wynalda in the same room, that should be fun) then topped off with My Dynamo playing  Colorado at a packed Robinson Stadium.

Throw in a saints win *hope* and it could be an extremely satisfying  Sunday here.

[lamaros]

Wheee Man United!

[HaemishM]

Good weekend for EPL action overall, even though Pompey got embarrassed by Man U. Fucking Man U.

Spurs looked fantastic against Chelsea, and deserved that win. Chelsea played pretty damn well, Spurs were just better that day. I take back all the bad things I've said about Tottenham. Maybe they do deserve top 10 placement. I'm still not sure what got John Terry sent off, but it was looking ugly for a minute there. That game did cement my opinion that Graham Poll is just one of the worst, most douchebaggy refs ever.

Liverpool beat Reading with little trouble. I hope Reading can pick it back up against some of the lesser teams in the league, they deserve to stay around. Maybe pick up a player or two in the transfer period in January to get a run at top 10.

Wigan looked pretty good against Bolton too, while Bolton just looked like they had no idea how to hit the goal.

[sigil]

Jol found his combo up top, and they've worked out their midfield issues. Great effort from the back line, but  Spurs need to  work on maintaining possession when they get up. It got silly there for a while. Spurs did make good attacking runs , but the perfectionist in me sees room for improvement.

Most entertaining match of the year.


Sidenote:  Dynamo face the Revs for the MLS cup. Dalglish got a brace, courtesy of some great play by Brad Davis and Brian Ching. ESPN should have broadcast that game, football lines or no. They packed Robinson stadium, incredible considering they didn't sell a ticket until Monday morning, and the atmosphere there was tremendous.  Houston has really gotten behind the Dynamo, and their success is a good forward step in American soccer.

[Hoax]

ManYoo continues to roll, which is cool I think they have the best squad in the prem.  Liverpool, god I hate Liverpool I hope PSV beats the shit out of them come Nov 21/22 or whatever it is.   

I watched most of the highlights this afternoon from the recent spat of games so very good goals.  I can't believe how bad Johnson the baldy was molested in the box in that one game (Everton v Fulham I believe) what an utter crock of horseshit he couldn't get even one of the three calls they showed on the recap.

I really like Watford, for no good reason per say, something about King/Francis/Young's playing style makes me smile, hope they can stick around.

[sigil]

I keep an eye on them for  Demerit.

[Jobu]

Most entertaining match of the year.

Yes, it really was quite good. Top notch performance for sure. I honestly figured they wouldn't recover in the midfield so well or quickly without Carrick orchestrating things anymore. And I'm very surprised Ghaly wasn't pulled in the second half for his profligacy with the ball. He gifted Chelsea with far too many chances for an attacking break to make me comfortable, were I Martin Jol.

[eldaec]

It's starting to get to the point where Liverpool would quite like to get beaten by PSV.

Finishing top of the group will give probably mean a 2nd round vs one of...

Barcelona
Inter
Roma
Real Madrid
Celtic
Lille

Finishing 2nd probably means a 2nd round vs one of...

Milan
Moscow
Lyon
Valencia
Bayern Munich

So, of the first batch, I'd want to avoid everyone bar Lille (Celtic I'd want to avoid because the clubs have a history, it's a friendly history, but one that tends to help Celtic more than LFC).

In the second batch Moscow, Lyon, Valencia can be considered decent draws.

Either way, there are far fewer weak teams scraping through this year - the second round is going to be a bloodbath.

I don't imagine either Liverpool or PSV will be all that bothered if they win or lose their last two group matches.

[sigil]

Lyon is strong, would they have matchup issues with Liverpool? I wonder, because I see Lyon going far in the league this year.

[HaemishM]

Having watched Barca in domestic and Champions League play, I wouldn't be scared by them. Without Eto'o they are really only a decent squad with some star players. Of course, those players happen to be Ronaldhino and Messi, but still. They are beatable, as is Real Madrid. Valencia is a much better side than you're giving them credit for, especially if Villa, Morientes and Silva are healthy. Valencia has the fast strikers that can give Liverpool's slow ass back line problems and a decent midfield.

[eldaec]

Glenn Roeder has started talking in the third person:

Glenn Roeder has stood up all his life and he will always stay standing up whatever happens to him

That'd be him doomed then.  

Lyon is strong, would they have matchup issues with Liverpool? I wonder, because I see Lyon going far in the league this year.

Every team on that list is strong bar maybe Celtic & Lille, none of the others will consider the campaign memorable if they don't reach the semis.

But I'd be happy with a draw vs Lyon, and I'd expect Liverpool to win, it's not an easy draw, but it's amongst the best of what you can hope for. For the English clubs the key is to avoid Inter, Barca, Madrid, Milan, and Celtic (everyone else will be delighted to draw Celtic - English clubs can do without the Scotland vs England build up). And any of the English clubs would be disappointed to be knocked out by anyone other than the first four on that list, or another English club.

Incidentally the European team rankings (used for seeding etc) can be found here: http://www.xs4all.nl/~kassiesa/bert/uefa/data/method3/trank2007.html
...it seems Lyon are ranked 8th, so higher than I expected, they'll be looking for a 1st seed berth in next year's group stage I guess. (that site also has lots of detail on the byzantine workings of the champion's league seeding and qualifying processes, however complicated you thought it might be, you were wrong, it's worse than that.)

EDIT: In response to Haemish's post, I haven't seen Valencia properly this season, so I'm admittedly basing it on previous seasons since they lost Benitez, if they are no longer a bit of a shower, then I guess I should watch them sometime.

[HaemishM]

You should watch Valencia, they are a cracking good side. Villa is an incredible striker, fast with good moves. Morientes is decent, made better by having Villa on the other side. Silva is good, Joquaim is supposed to be good, though I haven't seen much of him yet, and they have a decent midfield when healthy. One of their midfielders was hurt in the last game I saw (either Angulo or Albayol) and he was a good holding midfielder. Their goalie is really good, big blonde spiky haired motherfucker. I know everyone likes to talk about Real Madrid and Barca but at least in the number of La Liga games I've seen, Valencia is as good if not better than at least Real Madrid. They drew Barcelona playing AT Barca. Their Champions League play has been a bit uneven though, so I may just be talking out of my ass.

[Hoax]

I'm really looking forward to 3 matches on each of the next two match days:


11/21 -- Real Madrid v Lyon
11/21 -- Celtic v Manchester Utd.
11/21 -- CSKA Moskva v Porto
11/22 -- Internazionale v Sporting
11/22 -- Bremen v Chelsea
11/22 -- Liverpool v PSV

All have implications of qualification for the knockout rounds and most should be interesting matches to say the least.  I hope PSV destroys Liverpool, because I hate them.

[Luxor]

Looks like Freddy Adu should be moving in the summer, I wonder if he's going to spend 2 weeks on trial at every big club in Europe? Man Utd got there first though

http://home.skysports.com/list.aspx?hlid=427732&CPID=8&clid=1&lid=4161&title=United+confirm+Adu+arrival

[sigil]

Adu is the name, but Josmer Altidore for Red Bull New York is  further along developmentally and a year younger.

Assuming Bruce Arena doesn't  mess him up, he's going to be a serious talent.

[Hoax]

Liverpool

LOL

That is all...

[HaemishM]

Yeah, Liverpool apparently forgets how to play entirely when they go on the road, especially against the better EPL teams. They are just abysmal. At least in this game they had a good 15 minutes of spirited play before forgetting that they are a top 4 team. The last half was just painful to watch, Liverpool looked like they gave up completely after going down 2 goals.

Goddamn stubborn Rafa Benitez needs to stop being a douchebag and actually start Gerrard in the center now that Momo has gone down. Why not? They can't play any worse than they have already. Can they?

[sigil]

I can't say anything, Spurs got owned by Reading. Fortunately I've be rather ill the past three days and missed all of it.

[eldaec]

I actually thought the press was going way overboard following the Liverpool - Arsenal game.

Arsenal were ahead by a hair's breadth until the first goal destroyed Liverpool's confidence, and if we'd got the first goal, I suspect the same would have happened to Arsenal.

In the end the 3-1 result (Bellamy's goal was disallowed only because the linesman couldn't see a full back standing six yards away from him - idiot) was fair, but if Crouch had managed to get back onside for his offiside goal in the first half, I could easily have seen the reverse scoreline - both teams seemed altogether fragile, and unless something significant changes, I don't see either team running the Buccaneers or Chelsea close. In the meantime it's obviously a big problem for the EPL that it continues to be devalued by the Buccaneers (and to a lesser extent Chelsea) winning things.

As for the Gerrard thing, I don't think that's really the issue. LFC should have the best midfield in the league on a player by player basis, they are all playing like ass when away from home, there is no reason Gerrard can't play on the right if everyone is playing as well as they can and as well as they have done in the past; or even just as well as they do for home matches, Liverpool now have both the best home record and the worst away record in the EPL. 

[Jobu]

Sugar Daddys are all the vogue these days. Now West Ham get their own personal bazillionaire, from Iceland. Will it draw vitriol from the rest of the league like it has for Chelsea and ManU? Maybe only if they start winning a lot. I can't imagine being so rich that I would buy a sports team as an entertaining diversion or hobby. Maybe this way they can actually afford to keep Tevez (assuming they actually want to keep him come January)

[Righ]

Kanu is still sensational.  :-D

[Hoax]

Just wanted to remind everyone in advance to mark their calandar/Tivo for these Champion's League matches:

Tuesday 12/5 brings us Bremen @ Barca and Wednesday brings us two English teams playing to stay both against Portugese sides (who I will be rooting for whole heartedly) w/ Benfica @ Man Utd. and Arsenal @ Porto.

P.S.  Chelsea lost, lol I hate Chelsea so much, too bad Levski Sofia is just plain terrible.

[HaemishM]

Chelsea will beat Levski easily and win the group. The big game will be Bremen vs. Barca, which I'll give even money on. Anyone underestimating Bremen should have watched that Chelsea game. When they are on, they are ON. The good news for them is that not only did they beat Chelsea, but they came back into the Bundesliga and took care of business handily against a decent Bielfeld team this weekend, 3-0. The last few weeks their backs, especially on the wings, had looked vulnerable when attackers ran at them. Not against Chelsea or Bielefeld.

Man. U. did not play terribly against Celtic, but they didn't play great either. Celtic has a chance to win that group from what I can tell, provided they outscore Manchester against what looks like a weak Copenhagen side. I would so love to see Benfica beat Man. U. to knock them out.

Oh, and LIIIIII-VEERRRRR-POOOLLLLL!!!!

[sigil]

Spurs are driving me to drink, but at least they're top ten now.

Mido's out for at least two weeks, but on the  Striker Merry-go-round of Tottenham, that just means there's only 499 left on the bench.

And we still have people playing out of position in the midfield. 

[Luxor]

Spurs striker rotation is amazing. It seems that they could score 6 between them including a mazy solo run from their own penalty area and they'd still be on the bench for the next game. Ditto for Liverpool, although they seem to be stabilizing a tad.

Oh and Haemish, Man Utd is never Manchester unless of course you want to wind up some Man City fans :)

[eldaec]

Oh and Haemish, Man Utd is never Manchester unless of course you want to wind up some Man City fans :)

True, the correct way to shorten Manchester United is to refer to them as either 'Man U', 'That club which has only been as successful in Europe as Nottingham Forest' or 'The Tampa Bay Buccaneers'.




Sorry.

[sigil]

Of course,and a fan of the red devil buccaneers is a ManU'er. ;)

There is a bit of a system going for spurs.

Berbatov is the anchor, Defoe is as well, but there seems to be a chemistry issue between the two. They work great, but not so much with each other. Keane is currently a notch below but a nice change of pace, which is why he normally  switches on  as a Super Sub. Mido fills in the mix.

I'd like to see Jol do a 4-3-3 one time with Mido, Berbie, and Defoe/Keane.

[HaemishM]

Oh and Haemish, Man Utd is never Manchester unless of course you want to wind up some Man City fans :)

I'm ok with that. It's not like I like either team from Manchester.

But I guess I'd just wind up Sheffield fans if I call refer to Manchester United as United.

[Jobu]

Can't we all get back to hating Chelsea?

This was great. Tevez forced to wear a Brazilian jersey as punishment for being a baby when he was subbed.

[eldaec]

Lots of stories are circling the better informed LFC forums this week suggesting that the Dubai investment company that has been talking about buying Liverpool is getting very close to making an offer. Gilette's consortium seem to be second place to buy Liverpool, but they also seem to be getting more serious.

Either way people seem to think Moores is finally going to get bought out within a few weeks. Interesting times.

Popular opinion in the LFC stands is that the sooner Parry (Chief exec) and Moores (chairman) pack their bags, the sooner some effective business management can come in. Personally I think the current leadership has performed better than people give it credit for; I'm not sure new ownership is automatically a good thing - even if it does cover the new stadium and give Rafa a short term injection of transfer funds.

[Jobu]

I'm not sure new ownership is automatically a good thing - even if it does cover the new stadium and give Rafa a short term injection of transfer funds.

With new owners comes the baggage of a new set of expectations. With Rafa's tinkering and their hit and miss slump right now... I'd be worried about them trying to come in with dramatic changes in mind. God, imagine if they canned Rafa and hired Sven! hahahaha!