So ... that happened.
Hard to believe that with less than a month left in the 08-09 Premier League campaign that the weekend seemed to lack any sort of dramatic flair. It all just sort of happened.
Much of this could probably be attributed to the fact that Manchester United played Middlesbrough in the early Saturday morning game and took care of business in tidy 2-0 fashion at the Riverside. That essentially killed off any title chase drama for the weekend and by about 10 a.m. Eastern the only lingering thought would be if Liverpool stumbled Sunday against Newcastle it would be, in the words of Ed Rooney, 'Le jeux sont fait.'
Instead, we press on for another week as Liverpool crosses its collective fingers that Manchester United stubs its toe.
The games themselves? As expected the Manchester United 2-0 win was in the 'meh' category. They did the job, nuff said.
Admittedly, after an impromptu Saturday night karaoke jam-out, there was no way I could get up for Liverpool and Newcastle. Didn't look like I missed much.
At the other end of the table, there wasn't any movement either since all the clubs scraping to avoid catastrophe all lost. Stoke, Portsmouth, Blackburn, Newcastle, Sunderland and Middlebrough all lost. This at least makes the Monday game passingly interesting since it opens a nice window for Hull City.
Sunderland is the biggest criminal here, since it's pretty clear the Black Cats simply want the other teams around them to be slightly more atrocious than they are. Lifeless and listless at home against Everton? Yeah, Everton is pretty good, but put up a fight Sunderland! Show some kind of guts.
Oh wait, the players still get paid so what does this collection of mis-mashed foreign mercenaries care when the club gets relegated? They can even storm their way out of town after it's said and done, too!
Make no mistake, the drop in this economic/sporting world is a death sentence, it just depends how long you stay on death row. Look at the three clubs that dropped out of the league Championship this year -- Norwich City, Southampton and Charlton. All were in the Premier League less than five years ago and now face the abyss.
Of course, there is a different magnitude of death, so to speak. If West Brom goes back down. No big deal. The club didn't spend on players, let alone a shirt sponsor, so their prison issues, err, Coca-Cola patches will fit like a glove.
Newcastle, Blackburn or Portsmouth? I shudder to think. Blackburn's and Portsmouth's finances are so perilous, that the loss of revenue -- even with the parachute payments -- would spell certain, if drawn-out doom unless some innovative minds came to the board room.
As for Newcastle? There's a mess of terrible, bloated Hollywood budget proportions sort of like Waterworld, without the peeing in bottles contraption. Using the word trainwreck isn't strong enough. The only descriptions that come close are words usually associated with war atrocities and lets not bring it down to that level.
The Newcastle scenario remains me of the Red Sox. For years the baseball team was a front office mess and couldn't get out of its way. Then by design or luck or what have you, the Theo Epstein regime steps in and the teams wins the 2004 World Series. The Magpies need someone with a plan to fix the mess. Too bad Bill Parcells doesn't do "football."
Oh right, your promoted teams this year automatically are Wolves and Birmingham. Granted my knowledge is limited, but Wolves Premiership success likely translate into one thing -- if Sylvan Ebanks-Blake isn't poached by a bigger club and if he sticks around can his top-scoring form carry over to the top flight. If you're Wolves, do you take the multi-million price tage Ebanks-Blake carries now, or do you aim to build around him and reap the rewards of sustained surival in the Premiership?
Birmingham...eh. We've seen what the Brum brings to the table. Looking at the roster, it's just about the same team that got relegated last season without Mauro Zarete but in his place Kevin Phillips and Djimi Traoré. Wonder if Phillips spurns Birmingham like he did West Brom last season and stays within the warm busom of the Championship?
For interested parties, your Championship playoffs are Reading v. Preston North End and Sheffield United v. Burnley.
Champions League thoughts -- We probably didn't glean too much about Manchester United and Arsenal at the Emirates on Tuesday. Both teams rested players and got results.
The only thing to watch is the Rio Ferdinand injury/return. Emmanuel Adebayor makes his living chumpatizing guys like Johnny Evans, but Ferdinand is a guy that can out-maneuver the big man from Togo.
How Arsenal gets offense bears watching, obviously. Can they go down mainstreet through Cesc Fabregas? Will Theo Walcott get some space on the wings?
I thought the Gunners would run all over the Red Devils with their young legs. In the return match I'll side with the grit and battled-tested-ness of United. Arsenal probably needs at least two goals to win and I don't see that happening.
While the all-English semi is pretty straight forward, Cheslea/Barcelona just got turned up to 12 after this weekend.
Will Guus Hiddink play Nic Anelka and Didier Drogba and bring the fight to Barca, who in that situation would miss the dirty tactics of Rafa Marquez. The duo looked deadly, albeit against a half-speed Fulham team Saturday at the Bridge.
And what kind of bounce does Barca have after smacking Real Madrid 6-2 at the Bernabeau?
Really, why waste words? This is going to be epic and awesome and amazing and everything else you can think of saying.
Too bad I have to work that afternoon and might not get to see it until way late at night after a "Lost" DVR scenario.
Fantasy Team O' the Week -- Colin Sebastian's Ronaldo's Sunglasses takes top marks with 55 points. Good job. At the top, La Academia seems pretty safe with a 48-point gap on 92% Pure Oxygen!
Hard to believe that with less than a month left in the 08-09 Premier League campaign that the weekend seemed to lack any sort of dramatic flair. It all just sort of happened.
Much of this could probably be attributed to the fact that Manchester United played Middlesbrough in the early Saturday morning game and took care of business in tidy 2-0 fashion at the Riverside. That essentially killed off any title chase drama for the weekend and by about 10 a.m. Eastern the only lingering thought would be if Liverpool stumbled Sunday against Newcastle it would be, in the words of Ed Rooney, 'Le jeux sont fait.'
Instead, we press on for another week as Liverpool crosses its collective fingers that Manchester United stubs its toe.
The games themselves? As expected the Manchester United 2-0 win was in the 'meh' category. They did the job, nuff said.
Admittedly, after an impromptu Saturday night karaoke jam-out, there was no way I could get up for Liverpool and Newcastle. Didn't look like I missed much.
At the other end of the table, there wasn't any movement either since all the clubs scraping to avoid catastrophe all lost. Stoke, Portsmouth, Blackburn, Newcastle, Sunderland and Middlebrough all lost. This at least makes the Monday game passingly interesting since it opens a nice window for Hull City.
Sunderland is the biggest criminal here, since it's pretty clear the Black Cats simply want the other teams around them to be slightly more atrocious than they are. Lifeless and listless at home against Everton? Yeah, Everton is pretty good, but put up a fight Sunderland! Show some kind of guts.
Oh wait, the players still get paid so what does this collection of mis-mashed foreign mercenaries care when the club gets relegated? They can even storm their way out of town after it's said and done, too!
Make no mistake, the drop in this economic/sporting world is a death sentence, it just depends how long you stay on death row. Look at the three clubs that dropped out of the league Championship this year -- Norwich City, Southampton and Charlton. All were in the Premier League less than five years ago and now face the abyss.
Of course, there is a different magnitude of death, so to speak. If West Brom goes back down. No big deal. The club didn't spend on players, let alone a shirt sponsor, so their prison issues, err, Coca-Cola patches will fit like a glove.
Newcastle, Blackburn or Portsmouth? I shudder to think. Blackburn's and Portsmouth's finances are so perilous, that the loss of revenue -- even with the parachute payments -- would spell certain, if drawn-out doom unless some innovative minds came to the board room.
As for Newcastle? There's a mess of terrible, bloated Hollywood budget proportions sort of like Waterworld, without the peeing in bottles contraption. Using the word trainwreck isn't strong enough. The only descriptions that come close are words usually associated with war atrocities and lets not bring it down to that level.
The Newcastle scenario remains me of the Red Sox. For years the baseball team was a front office mess and couldn't get out of its way. Then by design or luck or what have you, the Theo Epstein regime steps in and the teams wins the 2004 World Series. The Magpies need someone with a plan to fix the mess. Too bad Bill Parcells doesn't do "football."
Oh right, your promoted teams this year automatically are Wolves and Birmingham. Granted my knowledge is limited, but Wolves Premiership success likely translate into one thing -- if Sylvan Ebanks-Blake isn't poached by a bigger club and if he sticks around can his top-scoring form carry over to the top flight. If you're Wolves, do you take the multi-million price tage Ebanks-Blake carries now, or do you aim to build around him and reap the rewards of sustained surival in the Premiership?
Birmingham...eh. We've seen what the Brum brings to the table. Looking at the roster, it's just about the same team that got relegated last season without Mauro Zarete but in his place Kevin Phillips and Djimi Traoré. Wonder if Phillips spurns Birmingham like he did West Brom last season and stays within the warm busom of the Championship?
For interested parties, your Championship playoffs are Reading v. Preston North End and Sheffield United v. Burnley.
Champions League thoughts -- We probably didn't glean too much about Manchester United and Arsenal at the Emirates on Tuesday. Both teams rested players and got results.
The only thing to watch is the Rio Ferdinand injury/return. Emmanuel Adebayor makes his living chumpatizing guys like Johnny Evans, but Ferdinand is a guy that can out-maneuver the big man from Togo.
How Arsenal gets offense bears watching, obviously. Can they go down mainstreet through Cesc Fabregas? Will Theo Walcott get some space on the wings?
I thought the Gunners would run all over the Red Devils with their young legs. In the return match I'll side with the grit and battled-tested-ness of United. Arsenal probably needs at least two goals to win and I don't see that happening.
While the all-English semi is pretty straight forward, Cheslea/Barcelona just got turned up to 12 after this weekend.
Will Guus Hiddink play Nic Anelka and Didier Drogba and bring the fight to Barca, who in that situation would miss the dirty tactics of Rafa Marquez. The duo looked deadly, albeit against a half-speed Fulham team Saturday at the Bridge.
And what kind of bounce does Barca have after smacking Real Madrid 6-2 at the Bernabeau?
Really, why waste words? This is going to be epic and awesome and amazing and everything else you can think of saying.
Too bad I have to work that afternoon and might not get to see it until way late at night after a "Lost" DVR scenario.
Fantasy Team O' the Week -- Colin Sebastian's Ronaldo's Sunglasses takes top marks with 55 points. Good job. At the top, La Academia seems pretty safe with a 48-point gap on 92% Pure Oxygen!
Labels: Monday recaps, Premier League, Soccer
The biggest obstacle standing in the way of Arsenal advancing is that they need to keep a clean sheet. With Clichey and Gallas still out, I'm guessing Sylvestre will be back in center half, meaning United are almost guaranteed a goal (even with Almunia in net). So while I can see Arsenal scoring 2, I just can't see them winning 2-0.
I'll be interested to see what Hiddink does on Wednesday. If he pushes for a goal, Barca will score at least 3. Or he might just try to get another 0-0 draw and hope JT doesn't slip again. I know Barca's back 4 are suspect, but I just don't see how they lose this game.
I have waited oh so long to have the honor of being mentioned on TOP and finally the day has come.
Anyways, if I were Monsieur Wenger, I would feed Wolcott the ball on either wing and see if he can have some luck. Evra looked soft against Lennon and John O'Shea is well, John O'Shea.
I know it's just fantasy, and the whole "Captain" thing is pretty random, but it's a heck of a tight fantasy race.
Kent of La Academia.
(On a real note, Racing Club avoiding relegation in Argentina is still better than winning any fantasy league.) :)
Kent, I'm pretty sure you've got me dusted at this point. I was pushing you pretty good there for a long time, but the past couple of weeks the momentum has broken, and I can't see how I can make up that deficit unless something crazy happens. The fact that the Big 4 is rotating everyone makes it all the harder, as when I was really going well I was riding Gerrard / CRon / Lamps / Arshavin week-in, week-out, and that's just not possible now.
I'm just fighting for 3rd now, I hit a slump. Not as bad as I thought it was going to be when I busted out the wildcard in week 2.