2011/2012 English Premier League
 

It's been fun so far! Well....for just about everyone but this guy!



Anyone want to share observations, predictions, etc?

:uhuh:That miss yesterday was brutal! I felt for him.

United is just incredible, going to be so tough to beat. I love City and if anyone is to challenge United this year, I think it will be them. My sentimental favorite is Liverpool.

its amazing how united managed to get so much younger and more athletic without really any trade off (except money of course, which isn't a worry for them) in one off season. young, jones, welbeck (who was theirs, but on load last year) and cleverly bring alot to the table. and apparenly alittle hair goes a long way for rooney's self esteem.

man city looks very strong. their defense with nasri and silva in the midfield and some combo of aguero/tevez/dzeko up front matches up pretty well with united. could give united a run, or at least make it close. i think united still have the edge if they can keep ferdinand (although jones looks good in that spot too) and vidic healthy. especially if smalling can continue to improve as he has been.

arsenal looks horrible which I love. chelsea is a rung down from united and city IMO.

with the moves Liverpool made in the off season I thought they would be better than they are (they're killing me in fantasy league, especially last week). i question whether suarez can stay healthy all year too, and there's a big drop off at striker behind him. would have liked them to hang on to meirales too.

Brutal is right. I don't know why but I like him and really find myself pulling for him to do well. He can't get any lower than what happened yesterday.

On Man U I I question their midfield depth. Even though I don't like him I wish they got Snyder. Anderson has looked good but how long can he keep it up? He already looked a little suspect this weekend. Wellbeck and Cleverly go down and they're already showing weakness. The scoreline didn't represent the flow of play to me yesterday against Chelsea. Don't get me wrong, i think they will win the EPL but I'm not so sure they will have the depth for the UCL or even FA cup. Carrick, Park, and Anderson clearly are not going to hang with Iniesta, Fabergast, and XAVI or Real Madrid. I hope I'm wrong but I doubt it.

True. The one thing they are missing is a top central midfielder. Their style doesn't require one though as they like to attack outside in with nani and young and let Rooney drop back towards the offensive center midfield area. I think they match up better with Barcelona this year but still don't have the edge.

If Ferdinand and vidic are healthy, you'll probably see Phil Jones playing in central midfield as season progresses.
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At least if everyone is healthy they will have more young legs to keep up with Barca or Madrid.

i watched tottenham/ arsenal last night. good game. i'm taking a liking to tottenham. there doesn't seem to be any egos on that team. walker's goal to win it was awesome. nobody wears those skin tight jerseys on that team either. i thought that guy crouch played for tottenham but didn't see him on the field. newcastle/ tottenham should be a good one to watch.

Crouch is at Stoke now. Tottenham replaced him with Adebayor.

Tottenham started well last season but faded badly.
Their problem is depth. They are OK in the midfield (although Bale is irreplaceable) but thin at attack and both Van da Vart and Defoe are injury prone.

Liverpool looks like their main competition for that fourth CL qualifying spot (with Arsenal looking a dark horse at this point). At the end of last season Liverpool was playing the best soccer in the EPL, but Carroll changes how they play (more direct and predictable) and I think it will hurt them.

The upcoming game between ManU and Liverpool (2 weeks) should be telling.

You hit it on Spurs. I think depth was an issue last year because of the addition of all the champions leage games. Andy Carrol has spent alot of time on the bench for Liverpool and I think we will continue to see that though I do think they've put him out for some of their bigger fixtures so far.

My fantasy EPL team is in the top 1% on ESPN.com out of about 100,000 entries. That information is not useful to anyone but I enjoy bragging about it. :uhuh:

As an Arsenal supporter I can not really see them getting into the top four this year with the shape and injuries to the current squad. Our manager has dug himself a hole that will be hard to get out of. It is early days but I would give the nod to Spurs (oh how I hated writing that) over Liverpool as they seem to be playing better and Liverpool are just not firing on all cylinders yet.

Crazy thing about this season is that the top two goal scorers from last year, Tevez and Berbatov, are uninjured and unable to find a place in their squads!

Who is on it?

Losing Wilshere and now Sagna are big blows, but I expect Arsenal to come on strong at the end of the season and I wouldn't be surprised to see them nip Liverpool and Tottenham. I don't see Liverpool or Tottenham getting much better, but I can see Arsenal improving a lot.

Thanks Mr. Skull for offering some hope. You are right losing Sagna is a massive blow however hopefully Santos will be able to fill the gap.

Friedel -Net

Smalling, Micah Richards, Lescott, Bosingwa -Defenders

Lampard, Silva, Ashley Young, Dempsey -Midfield

Rooney, Suarez- Strikers

Bench
Fabianski, Bale, Adebayor, Robert Huth

I've been a little transfer happy and have already swapped out Saha, David Luiz, and a few other players I can't think of.

Richards, Smalling, and Adebayor were really my key pickups as they were dirt cheap and allowed me to stack the rest of the line up.

We should do an s-b group for next season if there is enough interest.

Nice to see that people are into it. I have been a fan for a long time of the EPL but this year I have not been following. I like that the clock runs continuously. There is a real poetry about a good passing game. A good book is Bloody Confused about an American journalist following Portsmouth for a season. I like Liverpool.

The continuos clock is huge. I'm a big american football fan but I'm starting to get fed up with all the commercial breaks after watching uninterupted soccer so much.
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pretty easy to get in a game on a weekday night. a couple hours of soccer when your eating dinner and draining some pumpkin beers down.

i still don't know how you all acquired so much knowledge of all the teams. probably years of following. i'm lucky in i can get in one game and watch that premiere league wrap up show on fsc.

your fantasy league team sucks :hihi:. makes me feel better as i'm looking up at luds. i'm right at about 90%. eveytime i have a good week and think i'll gain a bit, he just pulls away a bit more. and i didn't know the rules so i burned most of my transfers just trying things out and playing with salary cap (didn't realize that those counted, though it was only lineup from week to week).

looks like united, city, chelsea, then either totteham or liverpool to me. I think arsenal is out this year unless they make a big splash in the january transer window (they need a striker, a midfielder, a defender and a goalie, tough to do all that).

I think Arsenal should hold on to their keeper. He has had some howlers but he has also made game saving saves and is young. Tough to do much better.

Pretty sure my fantasy team will start to implode after all the bragging....

I see Arsenal improving drastically in the second half of the season. They have loads of good midfield options once Wilshere is healthy. This kid Frimapong looks like the real deal, as does this O.....-Chamberlian kid. Ramsey, Arteta,and Walcott are plenty good and Song is very solid.
Certainly they need another striker, but I suspect Wenger will find one come Jan. Their defensive backline is not bad, the problem has been injury and Wenger's foot to the floor attack philosophy leaving them exposed. But put Frimapong and Song in D mid, Wilshere in front of them, run OC and Walcott wide, with VP and Gervinho (or whoever they buy in Jan....Forlan perhaps?) at attack and they will be a very hard team to beat once they start to mesh.

I don't see Tottenham getting better than they are now. Liverpool will improve some with Gerard, but I think Daglish blew it giving away Meriles and Aqualani. He has built his team around Carroll and is going to be stuck with a 4-4-2 using "next step down" wingers like Downing and Henderson, when he could have played a formidable 4-3-3 using Kuyt, Suarez, and Carroll up front, Gerard, Meriles, and Lucas behind. Bad move, I suspect, their attack becomes too predictable and Suarez (their best player) becomes a second choice target.

I see Chelsea improving as well, but I don't think ManU will maintain the level of play they began the season with (remember last year how well Chelsea started), and I think Man City will self-destruct at some point.

I'll predict the season ending with Chelsea over ManU at the top, then Man City, then Arsenal squeaking by Tottenham at the wire.

Whatever, it will be fun and plenty interesting. Play on.

Love the lingo too "A cracking good darby!" "He's a diver." They got a bunch of them.
Why the the trainers come out and spray the leg with that cold stuff and make a big show of a non-injury, that's a little annoying. But other than that, it's excellent entertainment.
Ever notice that Americans who like/follow the EPL are not ignorant?

I agree with everything you said other than maybe the comments on the Arsenal back line. When healthy they have the talent but their defensive strategy scares me. Maybe it's because of the injuries and a lack of cohesiveness because they don't have a unit that has played together enought but their team defense is very suspect. I like when teams hold a high line but they don't do it well and seemed to get burned doing it every week. Anyone team makes penetrating runs seems to abuse them heavily.

Man U has a depth issue. I keep saying it. They need to spend in January on the midfield but I think that's unlikely. Man City needs to implode soon and get over it quickly. If it happens late in the year I agree they have problems. Despite embarrassing the embarrassing moments Torres and Chelsea look better and better every week. They also have healthy competition within the team and if you watched them play united a couple weeks ago you know they out played United. If Man U slips up enough I think Chelsea has a great shot but I'm not counting out City either.

Not sure what to say about Liverpool but dropping Meriles definitely hurt them. It might have had something to do with team safety though. :devil2: That guy just makes me think Dinero Taxi Driver every time I see him. Forgetting what game it was but after a goal this year he went on a little hissy fit yelling and flipping off fans. He's a nut but he is a fast nut!

Do they still do that? I think they just go out and look at them now. I do like the term physio.

The best english term is "rubbish" properly pernounced "roobish".

I see this as well. Right now their most irreplaceable player....hard to believe....is Anderson. He is the guy who connects all their outstanding attacking players. Without him, they become very average in the middle. Carrick can distribute, but does so from a much deeper position than Anderson which is a disadvantage much of the time. Anderson is no star, but he does a crucial job for ManU and I don't see anybody backing him up. That is why Snyder made such good sense. Ferguson may well regret not pulling the trigger on that deal.

Yeah. I don't think it was United's decision to not aquire Sneider. Inter said publicly that they would not both part with Eto'o and Sneider and Eto'o went to a russian club. I was surprised to see you consider that Forlan might end up in an Arsenal shirt. I would be surprised to see Inter part with him so quickly but I have not followed his progress with them at all.

My bad. I thought Forlan was still in Spain.

I'm starting to come around on Anderson. He's young and steadily improving. When Cleverly gets back I think they'll compliment each other well. Carrick is ok option on the bench but they could certainly upgrade there.

Should be a good one this weekend.
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Weak looking united lineup today.
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Liverpool let a big opportunity slip away today.
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Did someone say they had a depth issue. :)

Don't they have a champs league match on Tuesday? They need some good results in the group. Mix that with the recent international play the side they put out today makes sense.

I missed the game today
Bummer

Ya gotta DVR everything and then watch what you can watch. The nice thing about being an american soccer fan is that the scores are not in your face 24/7. You have to go on-line and look for them or put on a soccer channel. I highly recommend not "liking" your favorite team on facebook though. That has ruined a few saturdays for me when the score is the first thing I see on there.

I have a work buddy I collaborate alot with out in CO.. He would not stop talkin all week about the MU game that was going to happen today.
Most English soccer fans are total fanatics.

I wen to a night club last weekend wearing a liverpool jersey. The door man...an english guy basically screamed at me. "Liverpool for life......you will never walk alone"! Honestly scared me to death. I'm afraid to know what he would have done to me if he knew I liked United better.

But everyone has a depth problem when you sit your two top strikers and 3/5 best midfielders (with another hurt) and your best defender hurt. They're not that good. Probably could get away with that against arsenal, but not a top side :hihi:. Could have probably gotten away with sitting 2 or maybe 3 of them today but not all.

Giggs looks old.

I think they took Liverpool to lightly.

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I don't think so.

Ferguson has an important Champions League game this week, then Man City next weekend (I think). He will need his best attacking players fresh. He knew Liverpool lacked defensive options in midfield. Charlie Adams, Henderson, and Downing defend very poorly (Henderson is shockingly naive). Gerard was bound to tire having not played 90 minutes in a 3/4 of a year. I suspect he liked his odds playing a defensive 4-5-1 until the last 20-30 minutes, then cutting apart a tired Liverpool midfield with 3 attacking subs.

His strategy may have cost him 2 points ( only because of a wall error), but he still has 6 more crucial points to pick up this week and he has to plan for those while he is picking a team to play Liverpool.

I thought pulling off Lucas was a bad move by Daglish. Even with a yellow card, he is their best midfield defensive player and against a team with ManU's attacking options on the bench, you can't afford to open your midfield and expose the back line.

In any case, the season is a marathon, not a sprint and Ferguson has shown again and again that he knows how to pace his team so he gets the best out of it over the long haul.

I hear you. Think we're pretty much saying same thing. I just think Liverpool gave them more than Ferguson expected. Suarez should have scored early and de gea saved them a few times. Can't wait for man city next weekend. Now that tevez (my man crush) is out I'm back to full on hate for city.
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Mancini is annoying, and Dejong a thug, Nasri a snot, and Barry/Milner/Johnson a bit dull but I could watch Silva, Augero, and Kompany play all day, and I have to admit I've become a Balotelli fan. The guy is talented, amusing, and interesting all wrapped up in one. He had a beautiful goal against Villa, then stared down their fans. The British announcers hate him, which makes it all even better.

The team that is a surprise is Newcastle. They looked the better team today against Tottenham and should have won. Tiote in particular is turning into a first rate player. He reminds me of Makelele, only much better offensively.

:hang:

I hate that barton is on qpr. I was excited when they got promoted as I liked them back in the 90s. And I like wright-phillips. But I really can't pull for a team with barton on it. At least I can pull for Newcastle to get the 4 spot now.

Curious to see if anything comes from the Suarez racism accusations. If true, he certainly lost me as a supporter. Don't think he'd fare to well in a fight with evra if it comes to that.
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