2011/2012 English Premier League

[luds]

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



Anyone want to share observations, predictions, etc?

[Bronko]

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.

[luds]

Originally Posted by Bronko

That miss yesterday was brutal! I felt for him.

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.

[Clogston29]

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.

[Clogston29]

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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[luds]

Originally Posted by Clogston29

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.
Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device

At least if everyone is healthy they will have more young legs to keep up with Barca or Madrid.

[american spirit]

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.

[numbskull]

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.

[luds]

Originally Posted by numbskull

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.

[Joe]

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.

[luds]

Originally Posted by Joe

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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[american spirit]

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.

[Clogston29]

Originally Posted by american spirit

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 . 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).

[luds]

Originally Posted by Clogston29

your fantasy league team sucks . 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....

[Joe]

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?

[luds]

Originally Posted by Joe

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?

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".

[Clogston29]

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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[Clogston29]

Weak looking united lineup today.
Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device

[luds]

Originally Posted by Clogston29

Weak looking united lineup today.
Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device

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.

[striperman36]

I missed the game today
Bummer

[luds]

Originally Posted by striperman36

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.

[striperman36]

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.

[Clogston29]

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 . 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.

Originally Posted by luds

Did someone say they had a depth issue.

Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device

[numbskull]

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.

[Bronko]

Liverpool let a big opportunity slip away today.
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[Clogston29]

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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[numbskull]

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.

[luds]

[Clogston29]

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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[numbskull]

Suarez bit a guy in Holland. Pretty good chance he used racist terms with Evra to wind him up. I doubt he is a racist, however.

Newcastle is a breath of fresh air now that they got rid of Nolan and Barton. The need to replace Obertan, however. Speed is of no use if you thoughts move through molasses. Guiterrez is cool to watch. the guy looks like a clutz but is very effective.

Balotelli is THE MAN. That will be all on that.

Man U lost badly, but didn't get beat. There is a difference. They kept on attacking and might have pulled it back if Smalling's header had been lower. Down to 10 men and down 2 goals it was very plausible they could have salvaged something after Fletcher scored. ManC looked shakey at that point. Ferguson will see this, the team will gain confidence from it and be very motivated for the rematch.

Arsenal looks back in gear and will likely continue to improve.

Chelsea hit a bump. I think they'll get rolling soon enough to give evryone a scare as well.