2009/10 Soccer Thread - A Fresh Start

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So, with the EPL kicking off in just a few short hours, a new thread sounds like a good place to start, one that can contain all the goings-on in the world leading up to the damp squib the World Cup will probably end up being.

Your weekend Premier League Fixtures are...

8/15
Chelsea v. Hull
Pompey v. Fulham
Wolves v. West Ham
Rovers v. City
Bolton v. Sunderland
Villa v. Wigan
Stoke v. Burnley
Everton v. Arsenal

8/16
MU v. Birmingham
Tottenham v. Liverpool

Not a particularly interesting weekend, outside of Everton v. Arsenal and Tottenham v. Liverpool, but pleh, first weekend. The Bundesliga's already underway, Serie A starts next weekend and La Liga (probably the most interesting title contest of them all) ends the month. The group stage of the CL starts in September.

All in all, yay. If anyone's interested, we can try and do Guardian Fantasy Football again this year, although I make no promises about improving on last year's horrific showing by Hudson Valley FC.

In the meantime, here's highligts of Poland v. Greece, Argentina v. Russia and Norwich beating up poor Yeovil.

Good luck to everyone this season (unless you are either [1] a supporter of MU or [2] playing City that particular weekend). Not sure about La Liga being more interesting Pred, that'll be a 2 team race, but I will admit that the two involved have fascinating subplots.

And yes, I'm up for the Guardian FFL, I'm already in 3 leagues in the Premier League's own FFL and trying to avoid my usual trap of picking a good team, as opposed to one scoring loads of FF points.

C'mon ref, blow that whistle !

davet010 wrote:

Not sure about La Liga being more interesting Pred, that'll be a 2 team race, but I will admit that the two involved have fascinating subplots.

Which is why I said it'll be the most interesting title race. :p

Not bad. Not bad at all.
Look for highlights of sixth goal. Arshavin is genius. Guy stands almost in 6 yard box and manages to decieve all defenders around him into running away from ball before slicing it past Howard.

I didn't watch the Arsenal - Everton game because I'm at work, but I did follow it on the Guardian website. The commentary is hilarious and the photo of David Moyes at the top of the page is worth the proverbial 1000 words.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2009/aug/15/everton-arsenal-live-minute-by-minute

pop58 wrote:

I didn't watch the Arsenal - Everton game because I'm at work, but I did follow it on the Guardian website. The commentary is hilarious and the photo of David Moyes at the top of the page is worth the proverbial 1000 words.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2009/aug/15/everton-arsenal-live-minute-by-minute

Well, I followed it on my phone via BBC's minute-by-minute because I was at family gathering (giggling like a little girl every time I've looked at phone). I got home to watch last fifteen minutes.

Calling David Moyes.....calling David Moyes.

"Dear sir, we find that we do not require the overpriced services of one J.Lescott esquire. You, however, plainly require at least £20m. We will therefore offer that for the services of Mr Timothy Cahill, and you may keep Jo."

There is a cruel rumour about that Moyes has threatened that if City don't stop enquiring about Lescott, then he's sending Jo back.

City new player report

Barry - excellent DM display.
Toure - superb at the back, even made the rest look solid.
Adebayor - hit and miss, but scored
Tevez - not had full preseason, but promising

Overall - good outcome, those are the sort of difficult aways that City bottled last year.

I watched the Arsenal game, it was a combination of them being very good and Everton wretched...4-5-1 at home does not smack of confidence, particularly as the '1' was Jo (although the 'service' was laughable). Let's just wait to see how fair into his explanations Gollum gets before blaming City.

davet010 wrote:

Overall - good outcome, those are the sort of difficult aways that City bottled last year.

I've heard that overall Blackburn gave you a lot of trouble. Happy with the display?

davet010 wrote:

4-5-1 at home does not smack of confidence, particularly as the '1' was Jo

Well, with Yakubu out (he's still injured, right?) it's wiser for them to play one striker. This spring when they had no strikers and were forced to do things like playing Cahill in attack it worked great for them.

davet010 wrote:

Let's just wait to see how fair into his explanations Gollum gets before blaming City.

What's your problem with him, exactly? It's perfectly normal that he's unhappy that you approach his best defender and do it at the time where it's hard to sign replacement for him. Not that I blame City here, but what do you expect from Moyes? To sell you Lescott and give you a pat on the back?

Everton were pretty awful but I'll take it. The 4-3-3 looked pretty skinny in midfield at times but it survived long enough to score the first goal which was ace. Its going to be an interesting season because I really don't rate our first XI vs the other top clubs but chemistry and harmony wise it looks like the players are ready to absolutely punish teams that make mistakes. Addition by subtraction with the Ade and Kolo moves with 40m+ in the bank as a bonus.

nice to get a harder away fixture out of the way. Next league game is home to Portsmouth which should be an easy 3 especially considering their current situation then its off to OT. Depending how United start it would be very very very very nice to go to OT and win. Form is huge and if they start slow to mediocre getting a win there which could be a loss when they are at their full stride would be huge. Will be interesting to see how they actually deal with life after Ronaldo but they don't have a hard game till they play Arsenal.... Birmingham, Burnley and Wigan. What a nice way to ease into the season.

UCRC wrote:
davet010 wrote:

Overall - good outcome, those are the sort of difficult aways that City bottled last year.

I've heard that overall Blackburn gave you a lot of trouble. Happy with the display?

davet010 wrote:

4-5-1 at home does not smack of confidence, particularly as the '1' was Jo

Well, with Yakubu out (he's still injured, right?) it's wiser for them to play one striker. This spring when they had no strikers and were forced to do things like playing Cahill in attack it worked great for them.

davet010 wrote:

Let's just wait to see how fair into his explanations Gollum gets before blaming City.

What's your problem with him, exactly? It's perfectly normal that he's unhappy that you approach his best defender and do it at the time where it's hard to sign replacement for him. Not that I blame City here, but what do you expect from Moyes? To sell you Lescott and give you a pat on the back?

1. Blackburn were their usual selves, combative but not massively penetrative. Couple of scares but more time together will sort that out.

2. Yes, Yakubu is still out. But Saha was fit as he came on in the second half, so why not go with him instead of Jo. They've also had all summer to get strikers in, so why hasn't Moyes gone about getting any, particularly as Saha is not exactly Iron Man.

3. I don't have any problem with Moyes deciding not to sell Lescott. I don't have any problems with him not doing so after Lescott handed in a written transfer request, after all, I'd expect Mark Hughes to do the same for any player deemed to be key. But the only one blabbing off to the press about anything to do with the transfer is Moyes, and his nonsensical rant about 'respect' makes me think there is something deeper behind this - indeed that it's an indirect attack on his own board for not giving him any resources. The sequence of events seems to be that City have made 2 formal bids, both refused, and now Lescott has handed in a written request. I wonder how, in Moyes' eyes, that differs from the 6 bids that it took them to prise Leighton Baines out of Wigan, or do they not need respecting because after all, they were only Wigan rather than the 'massive' club that is Everton.

Moyes has made a rod for his own back now. If he had any convictions, then if Lescott goes then he would have no alternative but to resign. He won't do that, though, because he thinks that he's going to be the one appointed to OT once Ferguson goes, which could be as early as the end of this season, so he needs to be at a large-ish club to keep his profile up. It's a real shame that Everton's match at City this Wed has been postponed due to them playing in Europe, could have really driven in the nail then.

jowner wrote:

nice to get a harder away fixture out of the way. Next league game is home to Portsmouth which should be an easy 3 especially considering their current situation then its off to OT.

I think we play Bolton before MU. And after that we've got City, also away.

Team that really impressed yesterday was Wigan. No Valencia, no Zaki, no Cattermole, only 8M spent on transfers, no Steve Bruce and they easily win by two goals at Villa Park. Rodallega's goal will be contender for the goal of season.
Martinez really got the best out of them.

UCRC wrote:
jowner wrote:

nice to get a harder away fixture out of the way. Next league game is home to Portsmouth which should be an easy 3 especially considering their current situation then its off to OT.

I think we play Bolton before MU. And after that we've got City, also away.

Bolton game was moved because of the Celtic CL fixtures.

jowner wrote:
UCRC wrote:
jowner wrote:

nice to get a harder away fixture out of the way. Next league game is home to Portsmouth which should be an easy 3 especially considering their current situation then its off to OT.

I think we play Bolton before MU. And after that we've got City, also away.

Bolton game was moved because of the Celtic CL fixtures.

Ah, thanks.

edit: Saw Liverpool. Rubbish. Tottenham had 58% of possession and around 20 shots at goal.

Mascerano plus Lucas in midfield, Babel instead of Benayoun = Rafa's given up the title chase already.

davet010 wrote:

Mascerano plus Lucas in midfield, Babel instead of Benayoun = Rafa's given up the title chase already.

Maybe he can try to buy Robbie Keane back for 20-25M?
My favorite quote of past season is Liverpool's sporting director saying at this time past year that we should all look out for Robbie Keane because he's gonna bag a ton of goals and he's already great deal for Liverpool.

I'm still surprised that a front two of Torres and Keane was seen by Benitez to be unworkable. I guess it's because he was trying to incorporate Alonso, Mascherano and Gerrard into the same midfield and felt it was too narrow unless he went 4-5-1. I do remember watching Match of the Day last year while Keane was still at Liverpool where they pointed out that he just didn't seem to know what he was supposed to do when picked out wide, compared to his partnership with Berbatov.

If either Gerrard or Torres gets injured for a while, they are really going to struggle to keep their top 4 placing.

davet010 wrote:

I'm still surprised that a front two of Torres and Keane was seen by Benitez to be unworkable.

You know, it would be acceptable were that transfer somehow imposed on him. But Keane was his signing, made at the point where he was sure that he will play three players in central roles (Barry or Alonso, Mascherano, Gerrard). So... what was he hoping for, exactly?
I've probably mentioned it last year, but of all big team managers in Premiership I rank Benitez lowest. He can be brilliant in making his team work in CL games, but overall he's very uneven and his transfer dealings are less than impressive.

davet010 wrote:

If either Gerrard or Torres gets injured for a while, they are really going to struggle to keep their top 4 placing.

Right. Reina, Mascherano, Gerrard and Torres are all they have right now. Maybe Benayoun (is he out with injury, or what?).
On the other hand, with their system they don't really need exceptional players. While in every other team players like Kuyt would fail miserably, in Liverpool they really create synergy, really contributing to the team.

UCRC wrote:

Liverpool stuff

The pre-season odds of Liverpool 4:1 Arsenal 9.5:1 and Man City 11:1 to win the league.

fast forward today and the reality of whats actually going on after one game and its:

League Winner
Chelsea FC 2.80
Manchester United 3.25
Liverpool FC 4.25
Arsenal FC 6.50
Manchester City 12.00

Liverpool at 9-2 ? I got 7-2 on Man Utd for a £20 and a cheeky £5 on City at 14-1, and both of those are better value bets than Liverpool.

UCRC wrote:

Team that really impressed yesterday was Wigan. No Valencia, no Zaki, no Cattermole, only 8M spent on transfers, no Steve Bruce and they easily win by two goals at Villa Park. Rodallega's goal will be contender for the goal of season.
Martinez really got the best out of them.

I watched that Wigan match on Saturday and was kind of shocked. Then again it looks like Aston Villa are picking up where they left off at the end of last season.

I also got to watch most of the Arsenal match while my wife's family was visiting. Wow!

Apparently ESPN is picking up some EPL matches this season in the US. Link

NEW YORK -- ESPN has reached an agreement with Fox Sports International to televise a package of Premier League matches in the U.S. for 2009-2010 beginning Saturday and through the completion of the season in May.

Under the agreement, ESPN2 will offer up to 48 live matches this season, including live presentation of the 12 Monday afternoon matches.

ESPN2 will feature one match each Saturday at 7:45 a.m. Eastern time and select Saturday matches at 10 a.m. (when there are no matches at 7:45 a.m.)

Yeah, Sky over here are prevented by the European Commission rules on fair trade from picking up all 6 of the PL packages. Therefore when Setanta over here went pop, they weren't allowed to bid for that package, so ESPN dived in there. I watched the Arsenal game that they had on Saturday 5.40 pm our time...picture much improved over Setanta, they got a HD channel which Setanta didn't, and some decent TV bods as well...they hired Ray Stubbs (ex-BBC) to anchor the show, and he's fairly non-hysterical, which makes a change from that c*ck Andy Gray.

So from memory, the PL packages in the UK break down like this for 09/10 (last year of old deal) - Sky 5, ESPN 1 and for 2010/11 I think it's Sky 4, BBC 1, ESPN 1.

ESPN now offer me a smorgasbord of other live games. Over the weekend I had

2 live Bundesliga (plus one in its entirety on delay)
1 live Dutch game (PSV V Ajax)
1 live SPL (Dundee U v Hearts)
1 live Portuguese league (Benfica v Maritimo)
and there'll be Serie A once that league starts again. Sky has got SPL and La Liga, so if ESPN have picked up the French league, I should be sorted for European action.

Oh, and there's MLS as well.

We still have Setanta here. I didn't buy it at $14.99/month when I pay $12 a month to get a sports package that includes Fox Soccer (at least 2-3 live EPL matches, live and delayed Serie A, live MLS) and GolTV (live Bundesliga, live La Liga, Brazilian First Division). I also have a few Spanish language channels which get me Mexican League and Mexican internationals.

I am in a ESPN fantasy PL league with Jayavarman and the rest of my family. Anybody else? Happy to give you an invite so that you can see how you measure up against the family.

maxox wrote:

We still have Setanta here. I didn't buy it at $14.99/month when I pay $12 a month to get a sports package that includes Fox Soccer (at least 2-3 live EPL matches, live and delayed Serie A, live MLS) and GolTV (live Bundesliga, live La Liga, Brazilian First Division). I also have a few Spanish language channels which get me Mexican League and Mexican internationals.

yeah, I think Setanta were set up as a separate division in the UK, and aimed to make a splash by buying 2 of the 6 PL packages. Problem was that the picture was poor, the commentators were not too great ( I have a disdain in particular for Steve McManaman, who spent 3 years being paid by City to stand on the pitch and point, rather than run himself), and they didn't develop enough alternative style, it just looked like a cheap copy of Sky.

I understand that their business plan would only work if they got 1.4m households to subscribe, and I think they maxed at about 850,000. So when they went bust, due to the separation of the different divisions of the main group, it was only the UK operation that popped.

£60m strike force, Berbatov and Shrek.

'Best transfer of the summer by a mile, Michael Owen, going to score 25 this season'

'We won't miss Ronaldo'

'Who's Tevez'

Burnley 1 Manchester United 0

Meanwhile City are at the Camp Nou, playing in front of about 90,000. Hope Hughes is ramming home the message about what needs to be done to replicate this sort of game on a competitive basis, rather than friendly. Either that or our owners are busy negotiating with them...I'm watching the game via a stream on City's website and I can tell you two things.

1. City's defense is getting a good workout.

2. We want Yaya Toure...have a word, Kolo.

davet010 wrote:

Burnley 1 Manchester United 0

Not to mention that Birmingham nearly got 1 point at Old Trafford last weekend.
Interesting results in Liverpool and Tottenham fixtures too.

There are three going down this season

Birmingham
Hull
Portsmouth

Do any three from four with Stoke or Burnley and you'll be quids in.

Burnley 1 Manchester Utd 0
Barcelona 0 Manchester City 1

Now whenever Clive Tyldesley refers to 'that magical night in Barcelona', we'll know what he's REALLY referring to

IMAGE(http://cache.daylife.com/imageserve/07lHe5AfYzatd/610x.jpg)

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