So much going on these days it's nearly impossible to catch you're breath -- and that's just for fans watching from the stands or the comfort of their sofas.
There were two matches in the midweek that were massive in shaping the rest of the 2009-10 Premier League season.
Monday Chelsea, thanks to a couple fortunate breaks, stopped its immediate skid and retained its spot atop the table. (What is it with sports? How did the ball find that poor Smalling kid, making his first start in the Premier Leauge, setting up a brutal own-goal?)
That, however, was nothing compared to what happened to Liverpool, as it might, stress, might have saved its season with a 93rd minute miracle through the boots of Fernando Torres at Ice Station Impossible, err, Villa Park.
To call it improbable might not do the match's result justice.
First off, this match was played in a driving slush-storm. You'd half expect Torres, Pepe Reina and the rest of Liverpool's continental army to have played the match in David Puddy-approved fur coats. This was, in the flesh, that nasty, fabled English winter.
After a pretty even first half, Aston Villa began to pick up steam in the second. John Carew had a wide open -- think a car on an isolated road in Montana -- header from a corner, and missed it, allowing Reina to scoop it up after a bobble. A little later Gabriel Agbonlahor ran past the defense and fired a shot that Reina sprawled out to save.
As the game ticked toward its end, Villa besieged the Liverpool goal, but couldn't crack it.
Then, out of nowhere, Carlos Cuellar had a bad touch, Richard Dunne stumbled for a split second to try to clean it up but couldn't get to it before Torres. The ball went back into the middle and a scrum of players and squirted out to Torres -- unmarked -- at the right edge of the area.
You can guess how it ends.
Torres curled it to the far post past Brad Friedel and the three points went to Liverpool.
So, roughly 90 seconds after from six points out of fourth place -- with three teams between them -- Liverpool is now just four back of fourth-place Tottenham and two behind Villa.
What does this all mean? Is it the start of another second-half swoon for Villa? Is Liverpool for real?
How about answering the second part first. As long as Torres stays healthy, Liverpool has a pulse. I was talking with longtime Reds fan Ace Cowboy this week about the theory of Torres shutting it down so he'd be healthy for the World Cup. Obviously the English would go insane if this happened, regardless of any extenuating circumstances. Had Liverpool drifted further and further away from fourth, it would have made sense (hell, selling Torres while he's still retained his value would be the first, albeit painful, way for Liverpool to start rebuilding itself). Now, with fourth place and the Champions League money in reach, Torres is probably going to push it. Can El Nino, though, make it through the season? It could be possible, so long as Rafa resists playing him in the Europa Leauge games.
Does one win cure all the ills of Liverpool? Absolutely not. The team simply needs to get the the point where every single match week-in, week-out isn't a life or death struggle, both on the field and in the hearts and minds of its fans.
To play a more cynical role, games like this might do more long-term hurt to the club, since it releases a temporary euphoria and makes you ignore the other issues at the club. As stated on Deltron 3030, "Crisis precipitates change."
Counting on Torres and Gerrard to save the day every match isn't a sound strategy. Nor is counting on Dunne to lose his footing on a soggy pitch.
As for Villa? That is a true stomach punch to the solar plexus. Does Martin O'Neill's team have the fortitude to fight back and avoid a slide like last season, when Arsenal blew past it?
I say yes.
Villa is a good team, assuming its current first XI can stay healthy and on the field. O'Neill has bolstered the squad with guys like Stewart Downing, James Collins and a few young players like Marc Albrighton and Fabian Delph, the team does have a couple options, though adding a proven Premier League player, or two, in January would be wise.
Arsenal did smoke Villa 3-0 on Sunday, making Tuesday's loss all the more tough to deal with. Villa, though, won't need to worry about Arsenal. It's contending with Tottenham, Liverpool and Manchester City for fourth, and that's a fairer fight, a fight it can win.
Scoring just once in its last three matches, too, is cause for concern.
Villa also have another trump card up its sleeve -- the 2010 World Cup. The core of the team -- Agbonlahor, Ashley Young, James Milner -- and to a lesser extent Downing, Stephen Warnock and even Luke Young (if he decides to un-retire from internationals) all want to impress Fabio Capello and earn a plane ticket to South Africa. This can only be a good thing.
It is the tendency to overreact to a result like this, especially in light of the 38-game season. Yet, this isn't one of those times. This was a clear fork-in-the-road for both clubs, one that saved its season (at least until the next match) and another that will enter 2010 with a renewed sense of soul-searching.
_________
As you know I'm not a huge fan of your standard lists, end of the year stuff, etc.
Since I did have some time while watching matches the last three days, I compiled my best XI, plus bench, for the first half of the season. Feel free to disagree, that's what lists like this are for.
T.O.P. Prem Best XI (First half edition)
Goalkeeper -- Before I make a pick, ask yourself this: Is their a "bad" keeper in the Premier League? Seriously. Even Gomes has cleaned up his act. I really don't think there's all that much to differentiate between the best and the worst keepers in the league.
Call it a cop-out, but I'll just pick my old friend Brad Friedel, though guys like Joe Hart, Pepe Reina, Thomas Sørensen, Brian Jensen and even Shay Given have all had their moments.
Defense -- A word on the defenses. Even the top squad of the "Big Four" have let in goals. Chelsea and Manchester United are Nos. 1 and 2 in goals allowed, but each have looked shaky at times. In fact, United is tied for second with Birmingham and Aston Villa with 18 allowed, just one behind Fulham.
So here is my foursome -- Patrice Evra, Richard Dunne, Roger Johnson and Ashley Cole. Evra has probably been United most consistent player and is in fact its only reliable defender from a health standpoint. Dunne, slip against Liverpool Tuesday notwithstanding, has been excellent and is playing with an inspired fire since being dumped by Manchester City. Johnson has formed an excellent no-name central alliance with Scott Dann. The fact Johnson has moved into the Premier League seamlessly after a long spell at Cardiff City is all the more remarkable. And Cole? For all his warts is a consistent two-way performer for Chelsea. And he's married to Cheryl Tweedy, which is a plus in my book.
Midfield -- Here's my foursome. I think you could win a lot of games with seven scrubs around this quartet, I think. Maybe.
Straight four across -- Aaron Lennon, Cesc Fabregas, Frank Lampard and James Milner.
Not too much explanation here. Lennon, on his game, is the best outside player in the league and only getting better. How Capello even keeps David Beckham in the mix for England with Lennon, not to mention Shaun Wright-Phillips, is asinine. Fabregas? The clear best footballer in the league right now. Nothing he can't do. Lampard? Not a vintage season, but still getting it done for the Blues. And Milner? I think the sky is the limit for him. Wonder which position he settles into.
Forwards -- Six players are in double-digits in goal tally so far, with overall 20 guys with at least six. It's a tough call, but I like my two picks. Didier Drogba is, when he wants, the unstoppable object. When we look back at things, he'll be the prototype of the 21st century forward.
My other selection? A little harder, but based on the first half of the season it has to be Jermain Defoe. He's jointly tied with Drogba on 14 goals, one ahead of Wayne Rooney and Darren Bent. The nod goes to Defoe on consistency and Spurs place in the table is almost directly related to his prowess in front of goal. I could penalize him for a five-goal outburst by Wigan, but it was damn impressive even if it inflated his overall goal haul.
Substitutes bench -- Is it more than the seven allowed by Premier League rules? Yes. But here are the other guys to impress so far.
Lee Bowyer (who knew?); Ryan Giggs (United's most importantly player, amazingly); Ashley Young, Louis Saha (10 goals, no small feat for the well-traveled Frenchman); Darren Bent (blows a little too hot or cold); Tomas Sorensen (three penalty kick saves); Clint Dempsey; Dirk Kuyt (the only ever-present for Liverpool); Thomas Vermaelen; Carlos Tevez (going to have a huge 2010); Ricardo Carvalho (still playing the role of 'The Wolf' at Chelsea).
A couple bonus list-y things:
Best transfer -- Dunne to Aston Villa (Gareth who?); Lorik Cana to Sunderland (given Steve Bruce's team an identity and midfield grit); Damien Duff to Fulham (Calamity at Newcastle, a really useful player at Craven Cottage)
Worst transfers -- Alberto Aquilani to Liverpool (I know Xabi Alonso and you're no Xabi Alonso); Jolean Lescott to Manchester City (not a disaster, but was poor enough along with Kolo Toure to cost Mark Hughes his job.)
Best manager -- Roy Hodgson, Fulham. To quote the them of "The Wire" Season Five, "He does more with less." Fulham is still ninth in the table with a roster that isn't all that much better than the 11 clubs behind him. If Breda Hangeland is injured for any amount of time, though, Hodgson might lose this accolade in May.
Biggest surprise -- Birmingham City. The Blues have lost since Mid-October. If you saw that coming, well, your last name is either McFly or Tannen. Organized defensively and getting better offensively. Watch out if Carson Yeung opens the pursestrings to bring in another quality striker.
Best development -- Modified parity. It's two days before 2010 and we don't know a) who'll win the title b) who'll make the Champions League and c) who'll be relegated. It's like Vince Offer took a Slap Chop to the league, instead of a boringtuna league, we've got pure excitement at both ends and in the middle. Runner up -- The Prem on ESPN. Mmmm. HD.
Things to watch in 2010 -- 1. A Mancini revolution at City? 2. Does Hiddink come back to Chelsea? 3. What happens if Liverpool finishes fifth or worse? 4. Which Premier League star gets injured ahead of the World Cup. 5. Does Arsene Wenger's master plan finally come to fruition? 6. Does Landon Donovan make an impression at Everton?
_________
Lastly, if you're into Social Media/Networking, my friend set up a That's On Point Facebook page. If anything it's a good way to find out when there's a new post. Aside from that, who knows.
Also, I've finally set up a Twitter account -- @thatsonpoint -- as you'll notice, I haven't tweeted anything just yet. Might be a fun way to get some discussion going on the weekends during games, but I'm not making any promises. If you're on there, I will follow you, should you alert me to your feed.
Eventually, if I can figure it up, I'll try to add some widgets to the main page to make it easier to figure this stuff out.
Well, my hand is seriously cramping up. If I don't post between now and Friday, thanks to stopping by all year and best of luck heading into 2010. Should be a good one.
There were two matches in the midweek that were massive in shaping the rest of the 2009-10 Premier League season.
Monday Chelsea, thanks to a couple fortunate breaks, stopped its immediate skid and retained its spot atop the table. (What is it with sports? How did the ball find that poor Smalling kid, making his first start in the Premier Leauge, setting up a brutal own-goal?)
That, however, was nothing compared to what happened to Liverpool, as it might, stress, might have saved its season with a 93rd minute miracle through the boots of Fernando Torres at Ice Station Impossible, err, Villa Park.
To call it improbable might not do the match's result justice.
First off, this match was played in a driving slush-storm. You'd half expect Torres, Pepe Reina and the rest of Liverpool's continental army to have played the match in David Puddy-approved fur coats. This was, in the flesh, that nasty, fabled English winter.
After a pretty even first half, Aston Villa began to pick up steam in the second. John Carew had a wide open -- think a car on an isolated road in Montana -- header from a corner, and missed it, allowing Reina to scoop it up after a bobble. A little later Gabriel Agbonlahor ran past the defense and fired a shot that Reina sprawled out to save.
As the game ticked toward its end, Villa besieged the Liverpool goal, but couldn't crack it.
Then, out of nowhere, Carlos Cuellar had a bad touch, Richard Dunne stumbled for a split second to try to clean it up but couldn't get to it before Torres. The ball went back into the middle and a scrum of players and squirted out to Torres -- unmarked -- at the right edge of the area.
You can guess how it ends.
Torres curled it to the far post past Brad Friedel and the three points went to Liverpool.
So, roughly 90 seconds after from six points out of fourth place -- with three teams between them -- Liverpool is now just four back of fourth-place Tottenham and two behind Villa.
What does this all mean? Is it the start of another second-half swoon for Villa? Is Liverpool for real?
How about answering the second part first. As long as Torres stays healthy, Liverpool has a pulse. I was talking with longtime Reds fan Ace Cowboy this week about the theory of Torres shutting it down so he'd be healthy for the World Cup. Obviously the English would go insane if this happened, regardless of any extenuating circumstances. Had Liverpool drifted further and further away from fourth, it would have made sense (hell, selling Torres while he's still retained his value would be the first, albeit painful, way for Liverpool to start rebuilding itself). Now, with fourth place and the Champions League money in reach, Torres is probably going to push it. Can El Nino, though, make it through the season? It could be possible, so long as Rafa resists playing him in the Europa Leauge games.
Does one win cure all the ills of Liverpool? Absolutely not. The team simply needs to get the the point where every single match week-in, week-out isn't a life or death struggle, both on the field and in the hearts and minds of its fans.
To play a more cynical role, games like this might do more long-term hurt to the club, since it releases a temporary euphoria and makes you ignore the other issues at the club. As stated on Deltron 3030, "Crisis precipitates change."
Counting on Torres and Gerrard to save the day every match isn't a sound strategy. Nor is counting on Dunne to lose his footing on a soggy pitch.
As for Villa? That is a true stomach punch to the solar plexus. Does Martin O'Neill's team have the fortitude to fight back and avoid a slide like last season, when Arsenal blew past it?
I say yes.
Villa is a good team, assuming its current first XI can stay healthy and on the field. O'Neill has bolstered the squad with guys like Stewart Downing, James Collins and a few young players like Marc Albrighton and Fabian Delph, the team does have a couple options, though adding a proven Premier League player, or two, in January would be wise.
Arsenal did smoke Villa 3-0 on Sunday, making Tuesday's loss all the more tough to deal with. Villa, though, won't need to worry about Arsenal. It's contending with Tottenham, Liverpool and Manchester City for fourth, and that's a fairer fight, a fight it can win.
Scoring just once in its last three matches, too, is cause for concern.
Villa also have another trump card up its sleeve -- the 2010 World Cup. The core of the team -- Agbonlahor, Ashley Young, James Milner -- and to a lesser extent Downing, Stephen Warnock and even Luke Young (if he decides to un-retire from internationals) all want to impress Fabio Capello and earn a plane ticket to South Africa. This can only be a good thing.
It is the tendency to overreact to a result like this, especially in light of the 38-game season. Yet, this isn't one of those times. This was a clear fork-in-the-road for both clubs, one that saved its season (at least until the next match) and another that will enter 2010 with a renewed sense of soul-searching.
As you know I'm not a huge fan of your standard lists, end of the year stuff, etc.
Since I did have some time while watching matches the last three days, I compiled my best XI, plus bench, for the first half of the season. Feel free to disagree, that's what lists like this are for.
T.O.P. Prem Best XI (First half edition)
Goalkeeper -- Before I make a pick, ask yourself this: Is their a "bad" keeper in the Premier League? Seriously. Even Gomes has cleaned up his act. I really don't think there's all that much to differentiate between the best and the worst keepers in the league.
Call it a cop-out, but I'll just pick my old friend Brad Friedel, though guys like Joe Hart, Pepe Reina, Thomas Sørensen, Brian Jensen and even Shay Given have all had their moments.
Defense -- A word on the defenses. Even the top squad of the "Big Four" have let in goals. Chelsea and Manchester United are Nos. 1 and 2 in goals allowed, but each have looked shaky at times. In fact, United is tied for second with Birmingham and Aston Villa with 18 allowed, just one behind Fulham.
So here is my foursome -- Patrice Evra, Richard Dunne, Roger Johnson and Ashley Cole. Evra has probably been United most consistent player and is in fact its only reliable defender from a health standpoint. Dunne, slip against Liverpool Tuesday notwithstanding, has been excellent and is playing with an inspired fire since being dumped by Manchester City. Johnson has formed an excellent no-name central alliance with Scott Dann. The fact Johnson has moved into the Premier League seamlessly after a long spell at Cardiff City is all the more remarkable. And Cole? For all his warts is a consistent two-way performer for Chelsea. And he's married to Cheryl Tweedy, which is a plus in my book.
Midfield -- Here's my foursome. I think you could win a lot of games with seven scrubs around this quartet, I think. Maybe.
Straight four across -- Aaron Lennon, Cesc Fabregas, Frank Lampard and James Milner.
Not too much explanation here. Lennon, on his game, is the best outside player in the league and only getting better. How Capello even keeps David Beckham in the mix for England with Lennon, not to mention Shaun Wright-Phillips, is asinine. Fabregas? The clear best footballer in the league right now. Nothing he can't do. Lampard? Not a vintage season, but still getting it done for the Blues. And Milner? I think the sky is the limit for him. Wonder which position he settles into.
Forwards -- Six players are in double-digits in goal tally so far, with overall 20 guys with at least six. It's a tough call, but I like my two picks. Didier Drogba is, when he wants, the unstoppable object. When we look back at things, he'll be the prototype of the 21st century forward.
My other selection? A little harder, but based on the first half of the season it has to be Jermain Defoe. He's jointly tied with Drogba on 14 goals, one ahead of Wayne Rooney and Darren Bent. The nod goes to Defoe on consistency and Spurs place in the table is almost directly related to his prowess in front of goal. I could penalize him for a five-goal outburst by Wigan, but it was damn impressive even if it inflated his overall goal haul.
Substitutes bench -- Is it more than the seven allowed by Premier League rules? Yes. But here are the other guys to impress so far.
Lee Bowyer (who knew?); Ryan Giggs (United's most importantly player, amazingly); Ashley Young, Louis Saha (10 goals, no small feat for the well-traveled Frenchman); Darren Bent (blows a little too hot or cold); Tomas Sorensen (three penalty kick saves); Clint Dempsey; Dirk Kuyt (the only ever-present for Liverpool); Thomas Vermaelen; Carlos Tevez (going to have a huge 2010); Ricardo Carvalho (still playing the role of 'The Wolf' at Chelsea).
A couple bonus list-y things:
Best transfer -- Dunne to Aston Villa (Gareth who?); Lorik Cana to Sunderland (given Steve Bruce's team an identity and midfield grit); Damien Duff to Fulham (Calamity at Newcastle, a really useful player at Craven Cottage)
Worst transfers -- Alberto Aquilani to Liverpool (I know Xabi Alonso and you're no Xabi Alonso); Jolean Lescott to Manchester City (not a disaster, but was poor enough along with Kolo Toure to cost Mark Hughes his job.)
Best manager -- Roy Hodgson, Fulham. To quote the them of "The Wire" Season Five, "He does more with less." Fulham is still ninth in the table with a roster that isn't all that much better than the 11 clubs behind him. If Breda Hangeland is injured for any amount of time, though, Hodgson might lose this accolade in May.
Biggest surprise -- Birmingham City. The Blues have lost since Mid-October. If you saw that coming, well, your last name is either McFly or Tannen. Organized defensively and getting better offensively. Watch out if Carson Yeung opens the pursestrings to bring in another quality striker.
Best development -- Modified parity. It's two days before 2010 and we don't know a) who'll win the title b) who'll make the Champions League and c) who'll be relegated. It's like Vince Offer took a Slap Chop to the league, instead of a boring
Things to watch in 2010 -- 1. A Mancini revolution at City? 2. Does Hiddink come back to Chelsea? 3. What happens if Liverpool finishes fifth or worse? 4. Which Premier League star gets injured ahead of the World Cup. 5. Does Arsene Wenger's master plan finally come to fruition? 6. Does Landon Donovan make an impression at Everton?
Lastly, if you're into Social Media/Networking, my friend set up a That's On Point Facebook page. If anything it's a good way to find out when there's a new post. Aside from that, who knows.
Also, I've finally set up a Twitter account -- @thatsonpoint -- as you'll notice, I haven't tweeted anything just yet. Might be a fun way to get some discussion going on the weekends during games, but I'm not making any promises. If you're on there, I will follow you, should you alert me to your feed.
Eventually, if I can figure it up, I'll try to add some widgets to the main page to make it easier to figure this stuff out.
Well, my hand is seriously cramping up. If I don't post between now and Friday, thanks to stopping by all year and best of luck heading into 2010. Should be a good one.
Labels: aston villa, English Premier League, Liverpool, Premier League, Soccer
Little different look for a post, mainly because I don't have a lot of time to write.
Pretty important weekend, again, in the Premier League.
Since Chelsea is really wrapped up in the Christmas Spirit (Joe Cole loves Egg Nog) and remains in the giving mood, the door is now ajar for Manchester United and Arsenal to pounce for the title.
Move a little further down the table and we've got a legit four and possibly five team race for the final Champions League spot between Spurs, Aston Villa, Liverpool, Manchester City and maybe Birmingham City.
At the butt end of the table, saw off the bottom ten teams, throw them in a hat and pick three. Just look, Sunderland is 10th on 22 points, but only four above 18th place.
Let's look at some of the developments this weekend before previewing the mid-week games.
* Birmingham City 0, Chelsea 0 -- Birmingham, at least because it's organized defense, is legit. Don't believe me? Being the first team to hold Chelsea scoreless should count for something. Brum did even have that weird play when Cucho appeared to score but was ruled offside due to a prone on the ground Didier Drogba. And Cheslea? Something is clearly afoot. The Blues are still powerful, but lack spark. Will Roman Abramovich stand by while the team stumbles? Will Carlo Ancelotti get a chance to right the ship while a certain Dutchman remains unemployed, or at least without anything to do for a while? Chelsea could have run away and hid with the league, but it'll be paying for this last month of mediocrity until May.
* Fulham 0, Tottenham 0 -- A couple good saves for Mark Schwarzer and Gomes. Clint Dempsey did hit a peach of a free kick that fizzed just over the top of the crossbar. He later just missed a sliding attempt to guide a Damien Duff low ball home. Another active performance from the Texan.
* Manchester City 2, Stoke City 0 -- Good result for Man City, though Stoke did push them for times in the second half and were bailed out by Shay Given. Still, positive start for Roberto Mancini who went back to an almost Sven-lite lineup with Stephen Ireland, Robinho and Martin Petrov called into the fold. You also saw Micah Richards and Wayne Bridge dropped in defense in favor of Sylvinho and Pablo Zabeleyta. City are still an ultimate wild card, especially in light of the transfer window opening. Still, by firing Mark Hughes and replacing Mancini -- and his scarf -- City have taken a clear heel turn in the hearts of neutrals.
* Liverpool 2, Wolves 0 -- Steven Gerrard saves the day. Not much more to say here.
* Arsenal 3, Aston Villa 0 -- Strange game. Aston Villa got its footing after surviving an Eduardo miss in the opening minutes and dictated the play. Villa had a lot of the ball and did a lot of nice things, but never pressed Manual Almunia into any trouble. The lack of a finishing edge came back to bite them in the second half when Arsene Wenger rolled the dice and played a gimpy Cesc Fabregas, who only scored twice -- once via a perfectly curled free kick and second by running down a ball to finish a counter attack. Arsenal are now just four back of Chelsea with a game in hand. The announcers during this match made a point that the Gunners scored the most goals and had the most wins in the calendar year of 2009. Interesting. Villa were as good as I expected, but might be best served trotting someone beside Emile Heskey out at center forward. The dude looks about 50 years old and that's just because of its patch of gray hair, either.
* Manchester United, Hull City -- Rooney giveth, taketh and giveth back for United, which turned a nervy game into a route. Jozy Altidore and his inability to hold up the ball with his back to goal earned the ridicule from the English commentators. At his height, he does need to a get a bit stronger.
* Everything else -- Wigan 1, Blackburn 1, featured a game with Charles N'Zogbia vs. Steven N'Zonzi. ... Sunderland 1, Everton 1. Maroune Fellaini finally did something other than look ridiculous with his afro for the Toffees. ... Burnley 1, Bolton 1 ... ZZZZ ... West Ham 2, Portsmouth 0, it's a long way to the top if you want to rock and roll.
Monday:
* Tottenham v. West Ham -- (Live, FSC, 7:30 a.m.) As long as Spurs don't give away any penalties, this should be a stroll. ... Spurs 3, West Ham 1
* Blackburn v. Sunderland -- (Live, FSC, 10 a.m.) Whatever happened to my old friend Morten Gamst Pedersen? Wouldn't he be an ideal January transfer target for some club in Europe, or the rest of the Premier League? ... Blackburn 1, Sunderland 1
* Chelsea v. Fulham -- (Live, Setanta, 10 a.m.) It doesn't get any easier for Chelsea, with this tricky West London Derby on the slate. Didier Drogba probably wants to left on a good note before leaving for Angola and the African Cup of Nations. Fulham is Fulham. If Chelsea give them an inch, they might sneak up and take it. ... Chelsea 2, Fulham 0
* Everton v. Burnley -- If Everton is ever going to kickstart its season, it's here. Not sure the Toffees have it in them, though since the team never seems to put in a consistent 90 minutes. ... Everton 1, Burnley 1t
* Stoke City v. Birmingham City -- Changes are probably on the way for Stoke come January. The team looked good in August/September but now feels stagnant. No reason to think Birmingham's unbeaten streak ends here. ... Stoke City 1, Birmingham City 2
* Wolves v. Manchester City -- (Live, ESPN2, 2:45 p.m.) Was City's nice game Saturday a mirage, or a sign of things to come. It's not like Wolves defense is a brick wall or anything. ... Wolves 1, Manchester City 2
Tuesday:
* Aston Villa v. Liverpool -- (Live, Setanta, 2:45 p.m.) Absolutely humongous game for both clubs fighting for fourth place and what a fine way to end 2009. Villa needs a quick bounce back after fading late Sunday vs. Arsenal, while Liverpool probably want to fire off another salvo before the transfer window opens. At this moment, Aston Villa is clearly the better team from one to 11. The problem is, they don't have the ability to click it into that extra gear like Liverpool occasionally can as long as it has Torres and Gerrard. The difference here is that Liverpool's defense doesn't have the pace to keep up with the Villa attacking players. And is there any other way for Liverpool to cap the year than with a loss? ... Aston Villa 2, Liverpool 1
* Bolton v. Hull City -- (Live, FSC, 3 p.m.) If you're not watching MTV's "Jersey Shore" well, you're a better man than I. Anyway, by now I'm sure you've at least heard of the show. Of the "cast" of eight people, there's this guy Vinne who's been featured about 10 seconds on the screen, basically to show that he got pink eye in the first episode. This matchup is the Vinne of the slate of 10. Sorry. ... Bolton 2, Hull 0
Wednesday:
* Portsmouth v. Arsenal -- (Live, FSC, 2:45 p.m.) Let's see how canny Avram Grant is. Will he pull a Bill Belichek and water down the pitch before game time. Maybe dig some ruts in it. Perhaps drop a bear trap in the area Fabregas likes to roam. Otherwise? Can't see Pompey sticking with the Gunners. ... Portsmouth 0, Arsenal 2
* Manchester United v. Wigan Athletic -- (Live, ??) Dpesn't matter the year, the players, the venue or the coach. Manchester United eats Wigan for lunch. ... Manchester United 3, Wigan 1
Last round: 5-5
Season: 96-90
Pretty important weekend, again, in the Premier League.
Since Chelsea is really wrapped up in the Christmas Spirit (Joe Cole loves Egg Nog) and remains in the giving mood, the door is now ajar for Manchester United and Arsenal to pounce for the title.
Move a little further down the table and we've got a legit four and possibly five team race for the final Champions League spot between Spurs, Aston Villa, Liverpool, Manchester City and maybe Birmingham City.
At the butt end of the table, saw off the bottom ten teams, throw them in a hat and pick three. Just look, Sunderland is 10th on 22 points, but only four above 18th place.
Let's look at some of the developments this weekend before previewing the mid-week games.
* Birmingham City 0, Chelsea 0 -- Birmingham, at least because it's organized defense, is legit. Don't believe me? Being the first team to hold Chelsea scoreless should count for something. Brum did even have that weird play when Cucho appeared to score but was ruled offside due to a prone on the ground Didier Drogba. And Cheslea? Something is clearly afoot. The Blues are still powerful, but lack spark. Will Roman Abramovich stand by while the team stumbles? Will Carlo Ancelotti get a chance to right the ship while a certain Dutchman remains unemployed, or at least without anything to do for a while? Chelsea could have run away and hid with the league, but it'll be paying for this last month of mediocrity until May.
* Fulham 0, Tottenham 0 -- A couple good saves for Mark Schwarzer and Gomes. Clint Dempsey did hit a peach of a free kick that fizzed just over the top of the crossbar. He later just missed a sliding attempt to guide a Damien Duff low ball home. Another active performance from the Texan.
* Manchester City 2, Stoke City 0 -- Good result for Man City, though Stoke did push them for times in the second half and were bailed out by Shay Given. Still, positive start for Roberto Mancini who went back to an almost Sven-lite lineup with Stephen Ireland, Robinho and Martin Petrov called into the fold. You also saw Micah Richards and Wayne Bridge dropped in defense in favor of Sylvinho and Pablo Zabeleyta. City are still an ultimate wild card, especially in light of the transfer window opening. Still, by firing Mark Hughes and replacing Mancini -- and his scarf -- City have taken a clear heel turn in the hearts of neutrals.
* Liverpool 2, Wolves 0 -- Steven Gerrard saves the day. Not much more to say here.
* Arsenal 3, Aston Villa 0 -- Strange game. Aston Villa got its footing after surviving an Eduardo miss in the opening minutes and dictated the play. Villa had a lot of the ball and did a lot of nice things, but never pressed Manual Almunia into any trouble. The lack of a finishing edge came back to bite them in the second half when Arsene Wenger rolled the dice and played a gimpy Cesc Fabregas, who only scored twice -- once via a perfectly curled free kick and second by running down a ball to finish a counter attack. Arsenal are now just four back of Chelsea with a game in hand. The announcers during this match made a point that the Gunners scored the most goals and had the most wins in the calendar year of 2009. Interesting. Villa were as good as I expected, but might be best served trotting someone beside Emile Heskey out at center forward. The dude looks about 50 years old and that's just because of its patch of gray hair, either.
* Manchester United, Hull City -- Rooney giveth, taketh and giveth back for United, which turned a nervy game into a route. Jozy Altidore and his inability to hold up the ball with his back to goal earned the ridicule from the English commentators. At his height, he does need to a get a bit stronger.
* Everything else -- Wigan 1, Blackburn 1, featured a game with Charles N'Zogbia vs. Steven N'Zonzi. ... Sunderland 1, Everton 1. Maroune Fellaini finally did something other than look ridiculous with his afro for the Toffees. ... Burnley 1, Bolton 1 ... ZZZZ ... West Ham 2, Portsmouth 0, it's a long way to the top if you want to rock and roll.
Monday:
* Tottenham v. West Ham -- (Live, FSC, 7:30 a.m.) As long as Spurs don't give away any penalties, this should be a stroll. ... Spurs 3, West Ham 1
* Blackburn v. Sunderland -- (Live, FSC, 10 a.m.) Whatever happened to my old friend Morten Gamst Pedersen? Wouldn't he be an ideal January transfer target for some club in Europe, or the rest of the Premier League? ... Blackburn 1, Sunderland 1
* Chelsea v. Fulham -- (Live, Setanta, 10 a.m.) It doesn't get any easier for Chelsea, with this tricky West London Derby on the slate. Didier Drogba probably wants to left on a good note before leaving for Angola and the African Cup of Nations. Fulham is Fulham. If Chelsea give them an inch, they might sneak up and take it. ... Chelsea 2, Fulham 0
* Everton v. Burnley -- If Everton is ever going to kickstart its season, it's here. Not sure the Toffees have it in them, though since the team never seems to put in a consistent 90 minutes. ... Everton 1, Burnley 1t
* Stoke City v. Birmingham City -- Changes are probably on the way for Stoke come January. The team looked good in August/September but now feels stagnant. No reason to think Birmingham's unbeaten streak ends here. ... Stoke City 1, Birmingham City 2
* Wolves v. Manchester City -- (Live, ESPN2, 2:45 p.m.) Was City's nice game Saturday a mirage, or a sign of things to come. It's not like Wolves defense is a brick wall or anything. ... Wolves 1, Manchester City 2
Tuesday:
* Aston Villa v. Liverpool -- (Live, Setanta, 2:45 p.m.) Absolutely humongous game for both clubs fighting for fourth place and what a fine way to end 2009. Villa needs a quick bounce back after fading late Sunday vs. Arsenal, while Liverpool probably want to fire off another salvo before the transfer window opens. At this moment, Aston Villa is clearly the better team from one to 11. The problem is, they don't have the ability to click it into that extra gear like Liverpool occasionally can as long as it has Torres and Gerrard. The difference here is that Liverpool's defense doesn't have the pace to keep up with the Villa attacking players. And is there any other way for Liverpool to cap the year than with a loss? ... Aston Villa 2, Liverpool 1
* Bolton v. Hull City -- (Live, FSC, 3 p.m.) If you're not watching MTV's "Jersey Shore" well, you're a better man than I. Anyway, by now I'm sure you've at least heard of the show. Of the "cast" of eight people, there's this guy Vinne who's been featured about 10 seconds on the screen, basically to show that he got pink eye in the first episode. This matchup is the Vinne of the slate of 10. Sorry. ... Bolton 2, Hull 0
Wednesday:
* Portsmouth v. Arsenal -- (Live, FSC, 2:45 p.m.) Let's see how canny Avram Grant is. Will he pull a Bill Belichek and water down the pitch before game time. Maybe dig some ruts in it. Perhaps drop a bear trap in the area Fabregas likes to roam. Otherwise? Can't see Pompey sticking with the Gunners. ... Portsmouth 0, Arsenal 2
* Manchester United v. Wigan Athletic -- (Live, ??) Dpesn't matter the year, the players, the venue or the coach. Manchester United eats Wigan for lunch. ... Manchester United 3, Wigan 1
Last round: 5-5
Season: 96-90
Labels: English Premier League, Prem League, Prem Picks, Soccer
Tis the season, so let's keep it clean and come out boxing.
As much as I'm on record as against the loaded Holiday/Boxing Day fixture list in the Premier League, this year it isn't that big of an issue. The traditional day-after-Christmas games fall on the traditional Saturday/Sunday, setting up a viewing smorgasbord on par with the traditional idea of college bowl games on New Year's Day. (Not included the bastardized version we now have thanks to the BCS.)
By the time Liverpool wheezes into Molineux to play Wolves, I might frankly be EPLed-out.
Or not ... likely depends on how much egg nog is consumed the previous two days.
Anyway, since Boxing Day is such an important England tradition, along with the Christmas Party (see, "The Office, Special"; Joey Barton, cigar) and the song topping the pop charts (see, Rage Against the Machine vs. Simon Cowell/X-Factor.); plum pudding; Christmas geese; the term "Happy Chirstmas", etc. I figured it was my patriotic American duty to flip the script.
Father Christmas? Get lost. This is (Roque) Santa (Cruz) territory.
So with Good King Wenceslas, err Landon Donovan, on his way to Goodison Park let's take a look at how our Yankee Cowboys have fared nearing the midway point of the Premier League season.
* Jozy Altidore, For., Hull City -- Let's say the good first, unlike his initial move to Villareal, at least Altidore is getting off the bench and onto the field.
Beyond that? It's been a pretty grim time in Northeast England for the 20-year-old New Jersey native.
It's amazing that after he set up Kamel Ghilas's game-winner vs. Bolton on Aug. 22 in his first ever touch in English football, Altidore has been a total non-factor.
Altidore has made six starts, being subbed out in the second half each time and hasn't scored a goal. Most recently last weekend at Arsenal he wasn't even in the team, with Hull manager Phil Brown favoring the immortal Daniel Cousin.
Let's not forget his late arrival to the KC Stadium and subsequent Twitter apology/disappearance.
There is clearly time for Altidore to integrate himself into the mix at Hull, but the longer the Tigers are mired above the drop zone, the less likely he is to see the field. We're not in the out-and-out disaster region, but it's getting close.
Everything said about Altidore, he does have the chance -- with the World Cup on the horizon -- to pull like a "Sixth Sense" and redeem himself with an strong ending. (Let's face it, are you sitting through that movie again, or can you remember anything beyond the reveal? If Alitdore gets hot in April/May, we won't remember the doldrums of the last three months.) Grade:D+ (At least he is playing.)
Clint Dempsey, Mid., Fulham -- The marvel of Dempsey at Fulham is that he was bought by a manager -- Chris Coleman -- nearly four years ago, survived the cull following the Lawrie Sanchez debacle and has made himself an essential component in Roy Hodgson's solidly mid-table bunch. Many players, especially a young American trying to integrate himself into a new league, could have fallen off or gotten loaned out, only to be never seen again.
Dempsey, who we all know is a freestyle rapper from Texas, has simply let his play do the talking, whether as a right/left midfielder or as a forward, as evidenced by five Premier League goals and solid play in the Europa League.
It's just baffling that Dempsey seems so at ease at Fulham, yet sometimes so lost playing for the U.S. Maybe it's because at Fulham he doesn't need to be an alpha or even beta dog. The Cottagers are a team, first and foremost. With the U.S., perhaps since he's probably the best Yank field player in the best league in the world, he's expected to do too much, and in the end takes stuff off the table?
I don't get it. Neither does Bob Bradley. Regardless, Dempsey is clearly the best field player export from MLS of the decade. Grade: A.
Brad Friedel, GK, Aston Villa -- Loyal readers know I have a man-boner that can be see from space about Big Brad.
Two small nuggets.
1) Freidel finally earned his rendered, albeit cro-magnum-looking, face in "FIFA 10."
2) He simply owes the goal box. The stats -- seven clean sheets and 61 saves, don't matter as much as this.
It would be great, at 38, for the man from Ohio to gain the Champions League. Grade: A-.
Brad Guzan, GK, Aston Villa -- Is it Guzan's fault that Friedel keeps him relegated to Carling Cup duty? At least the 26-year-old is learning from a master, and he is 3-0-0 with 21 saves in Cup duty. Granted backup keeper isn't a big concern, but bringing him as the No. 2 at the World Cup could be troublesome. Grade: INC
Marcus Hahnemann, GK, Wolves -- Credit to Hahneman, at 37, for being back in the Premier League and integrating himself into Mick McCarthy's lineup. That said, he hasn't been that great and let in a true howler vs. Manchester United recently. Grade: C+.
Tim Howard, GK, Everton -- Say this about Howard, he might not have been Everton's best player so far, but perhaps its most consistent, as the Toffees continually field a makeshift defense.
On the plus side of the ledger, the British media have conceded that he's the one American that would clearly start for the Three Lions were he born in Essex, England, not New Brunswick, N.J. This was only reinforced by his penalty save on Jermain Defoe earlier in the month. Yes, he's prone to errors, but about as solid a keeper as you'll find in the world. Grade: B+
Eddie Johnson, For., Fulham -- No way to sugar coat this one, another lost couple of months for the one-time future of U.S. soccer.
It's not pretty and unlike Altidore, he isn't playing. His Premier League stats this season -- 24 minutes, one shot and one yellow card. Ouch. He hasn't even been on the bench since late November, so it's safe to say, he'll be on the move next month.
What makes this all the more disappointing is that with Andrew Johnson hurt for almost the entire season and Hodgson looking for answers at forward, Eddie Johnson couldn't force himself into the equation over guys like Erik Nevland and Diomansy Kamara. Not good.
Where the 25-year-old ends up? MLS? The Championship? Who knows. If Bradley has any faith left in him, he's a better man than I. Grade: D-
Jonathon Spector, Def., West Ham -- Tough season for West Ham, doubly for Spector, who looked to have turned a corner last year.
For whatever the reason, he's not a first choice at either left or right back for the Irons, sitting behind Julien Faubert and Herita Ilunga.
Could he look for a new employer in January, as he tries to gain a starting spot for June in South Africa? At still only 23-year-old, with a solid physical presence and decent skill set, you'd think somebody would want him in their defense, right? Grade: C-
So that's it. Obviously the American keeper in England continues to thrive, while the field player, Dempsey, aside struggles to establish himself.
Good luck Landy.
Saturday:
* Birmingham City v. Chelsea -- (Live, ESPN2, 7:45 a.m.) Skittering form for Chelsea and no Nic Anelka, coming to face the hottest team in the league. The question remains, will Birmingham play like a team that's unbeaten in nine, or wilt when they see the Chelsea road whites? They do have some of the things that trouble Chelsea, namely Seb Larsson on set pieces. I'll be up early for this one. Hope St. Andrews looks good in HD. Maybe my preseason touting of Daniel Sturridge comes to roost in this match? ... Birmingham City 1, Chelsea 1
* Fulham v. Tottenham -- (Live, FSC, 8 a.m.) Pretty evenly, though contrasting, teams. Fulham aren't flashy, but get the job done with a collection of of castoffs, where the sum is greater than the parts. At Spurs, many times its the opposite, with the sum less than the parts. Plus, you can never trust Spurs, especially after a Robbie Keane sponsored Christmas party in Dublin. ... Fulham 2, Spurs 1
* West Ham United v. Portsmouth -- (Live, Setanta, 8 a.m.) Who doesn't want No. 19 hosting No. 20 in the table for Christmas? ... West Ham 3, Portsmouth 2
* Burnley v. Bolton -- For a feel-good story, Burnley are now just three above the drop. ... Burnley 1, Bolton 2
* Manchester City v. Stoke City -- (Live, Setanta 10 a.m.) My friend Suppe was wondering the other day why Manchester City isn't good, or at least good enough to win consistency. Call it the billion pound question. Roberto Mancini must think he has an answer, or at least looks stylish signs giant-sized novelty checks. City is about just as likely to win this match 4-0 as it is for the players (and maybe fans) to have an open revolt during the match. ... Manchester City 2, Stoke City 0
* Sunderland v. Everton -- (Live, FSC, 10 a.m.) A perfect example of how muddled it is in the middle of the table. Everton hasn't won in five matches, but would pull even on points with Sunderland with a win. This is a gritty game that figures to be played in rain, or some crummy weather, right? ... Sunderland 1, Everton 0
* Wigan Athletic v. Blackburn Rovers -- Too bad this one isn't in HD. It would be fun to see the state of the Wigan pitch after a rugby action coupled with the snowy weather in northwest England. ... Wigan 3, Blackburn 0
* Liverpool v. Wolves -- (Live, FSC, 12:30 p.m.) I've run out of things to say about Liverpool for the time being. ... Liverpool 2, Wolves 0
Sunday:
* Arsenal v. Aston Villa -- (Live, Setanta, 8:30 a.m. range) Best game of the weekend, which could be a joy to watch. You wonder if Villa will be extra motivated to nip the Gunners, after seeing them blow by them for fourth place last season. Plus Villa hasn't lost at the Emirates Stadium, which should count for something. Arsenal barely skated past Hull last weekend without Cesc Fabregas. The bigger concern might be if Mikael Silvestre has to line up on the outside of defense and have to check either Ashley Young or James Milner. At this point we kind of, sort of know who Arsenal is. We'll learn a lot more about Aston Villa. ... Arsenal 0, Aston Villa 1
* Hull City v. Manchester United -- (Live, FSC, 11 a.m.) Beating United would make Hull's season, but I doubt Sir Alex is in the Christmas spirit. With a makeshift defense for United, the time has never been better for Altidore to score his first Premier League goal ... Hull 1, Manchester United 2
If you read every week, I'm going to try to post a quick recap on Sunday, with picks for Monday/Tuesday/Wednesday. There are no games the following weekend.
Last week: 5-4
Season: 91-85
As much as I'm on record as against the loaded Holiday/Boxing Day fixture list in the Premier League, this year it isn't that big of an issue. The traditional day-after-Christmas games fall on the traditional Saturday/Sunday, setting up a viewing smorgasbord on par with the traditional idea of college bowl games on New Year's Day. (Not included the bastardized version we now have thanks to the BCS.)
By the time Liverpool wheezes into Molineux to play Wolves, I might frankly be EPLed-out.
Or not ... likely depends on how much egg nog is consumed the previous two days.
Anyway, since Boxing Day is such an important England tradition, along with the Christmas Party (see, "The Office, Special"; Joey Barton, cigar) and the song topping the pop charts (see, Rage Against the Machine vs. Simon Cowell/X-Factor.); plum pudding; Christmas geese; the term "Happy Chirstmas", etc. I figured it was my patriotic American duty to flip the script.
Father Christmas? Get lost. This is (Roque) Santa (Cruz) territory.
So with Good King Wenceslas, err Landon Donovan, on his way to Goodison Park let's take a look at how our Yankee Cowboys have fared nearing the midway point of the Premier League season.
* Jozy Altidore, For., Hull City -- Let's say the good first, unlike his initial move to Villareal, at least Altidore is getting off the bench and onto the field.
Beyond that? It's been a pretty grim time in Northeast England for the 20-year-old New Jersey native.
It's amazing that after he set up Kamel Ghilas's game-winner vs. Bolton on Aug. 22 in his first ever touch in English football, Altidore has been a total non-factor.
Altidore has made six starts, being subbed out in the second half each time and hasn't scored a goal. Most recently last weekend at Arsenal he wasn't even in the team, with Hull manager Phil Brown favoring the immortal Daniel Cousin.
Let's not forget his late arrival to the KC Stadium and subsequent Twitter apology/disappearance.
There is clearly time for Altidore to integrate himself into the mix at Hull, but the longer the Tigers are mired above the drop zone, the less likely he is to see the field. We're not in the out-and-out disaster region, but it's getting close.
Everything said about Altidore, he does have the chance -- with the World Cup on the horizon -- to pull like a "Sixth Sense" and redeem himself with an strong ending. (Let's face it, are you sitting through that movie again, or can you remember anything beyond the reveal? If Alitdore gets hot in April/May, we won't remember the doldrums of the last three months.) Grade:D+ (At least he is playing.)
Clint Dempsey, Mid., Fulham -- The marvel of Dempsey at Fulham is that he was bought by a manager -- Chris Coleman -- nearly four years ago, survived the cull following the Lawrie Sanchez debacle and has made himself an essential component in Roy Hodgson's solidly mid-table bunch. Many players, especially a young American trying to integrate himself into a new league, could have fallen off or gotten loaned out, only to be never seen again.
Dempsey, who we all know is a freestyle rapper from Texas, has simply let his play do the talking, whether as a right/left midfielder or as a forward, as evidenced by five Premier League goals and solid play in the Europa League.
It's just baffling that Dempsey seems so at ease at Fulham, yet sometimes so lost playing for the U.S. Maybe it's because at Fulham he doesn't need to be an alpha or even beta dog. The Cottagers are a team, first and foremost. With the U.S., perhaps since he's probably the best Yank field player in the best league in the world, he's expected to do too much, and in the end takes stuff off the table?
I don't get it. Neither does Bob Bradley. Regardless, Dempsey is clearly the best field player export from MLS of the decade. Grade: A.
Brad Friedel, GK, Aston Villa -- Loyal readers know I have a man-boner that can be see from space about Big Brad.
Two small nuggets.
1) Freidel finally earned his rendered, albeit cro-magnum-looking, face in "FIFA 10."
2) He simply owes the goal box. The stats -- seven clean sheets and 61 saves, don't matter as much as this.
It would be great, at 38, for the man from Ohio to gain the Champions League. Grade: A-.
Brad Guzan, GK, Aston Villa -- Is it Guzan's fault that Friedel keeps him relegated to Carling Cup duty? At least the 26-year-old is learning from a master, and he is 3-0-0 with 21 saves in Cup duty. Granted backup keeper isn't a big concern, but bringing him as the No. 2 at the World Cup could be troublesome. Grade: INC
Marcus Hahnemann, GK, Wolves -- Credit to Hahneman, at 37, for being back in the Premier League and integrating himself into Mick McCarthy's lineup. That said, he hasn't been that great and let in a true howler vs. Manchester United recently. Grade: C+.
Tim Howard, GK, Everton -- Say this about Howard, he might not have been Everton's best player so far, but perhaps its most consistent, as the Toffees continually field a makeshift defense.
On the plus side of the ledger, the British media have conceded that he's the one American that would clearly start for the Three Lions were he born in Essex, England, not New Brunswick, N.J. This was only reinforced by his penalty save on Jermain Defoe earlier in the month. Yes, he's prone to errors, but about as solid a keeper as you'll find in the world. Grade: B+
Eddie Johnson, For., Fulham -- No way to sugar coat this one, another lost couple of months for the one-time future of U.S. soccer.
It's not pretty and unlike Altidore, he isn't playing. His Premier League stats this season -- 24 minutes, one shot and one yellow card. Ouch. He hasn't even been on the bench since late November, so it's safe to say, he'll be on the move next month.
What makes this all the more disappointing is that with Andrew Johnson hurt for almost the entire season and Hodgson looking for answers at forward, Eddie Johnson couldn't force himself into the equation over guys like Erik Nevland and Diomansy Kamara. Not good.
Where the 25-year-old ends up? MLS? The Championship? Who knows. If Bradley has any faith left in him, he's a better man than I. Grade: D-
Jonathon Spector, Def., West Ham -- Tough season for West Ham, doubly for Spector, who looked to have turned a corner last year.
For whatever the reason, he's not a first choice at either left or right back for the Irons, sitting behind Julien Faubert and Herita Ilunga.
Could he look for a new employer in January, as he tries to gain a starting spot for June in South Africa? At still only 23-year-old, with a solid physical presence and decent skill set, you'd think somebody would want him in their defense, right? Grade: C-
So that's it. Obviously the American keeper in England continues to thrive, while the field player, Dempsey, aside struggles to establish himself.
Good luck Landy.
Saturday:
* Birmingham City v. Chelsea -- (Live, ESPN2, 7:45 a.m.) Skittering form for Chelsea and no Nic Anelka, coming to face the hottest team in the league. The question remains, will Birmingham play like a team that's unbeaten in nine, or wilt when they see the Chelsea road whites? They do have some of the things that trouble Chelsea, namely Seb Larsson on set pieces. I'll be up early for this one. Hope St. Andrews looks good in HD. Maybe my preseason touting of Daniel Sturridge comes to roost in this match? ... Birmingham City 1, Chelsea 1
* Fulham v. Tottenham -- (Live, FSC, 8 a.m.) Pretty evenly, though contrasting, teams. Fulham aren't flashy, but get the job done with a collection of of castoffs, where the sum is greater than the parts. At Spurs, many times its the opposite, with the sum less than the parts. Plus, you can never trust Spurs, especially after a Robbie Keane sponsored Christmas party in Dublin. ... Fulham 2, Spurs 1
* West Ham United v. Portsmouth -- (Live, Setanta, 8 a.m.) Who doesn't want No. 19 hosting No. 20 in the table for Christmas? ... West Ham 3, Portsmouth 2
* Burnley v. Bolton -- For a feel-good story, Burnley are now just three above the drop. ... Burnley 1, Bolton 2
* Manchester City v. Stoke City -- (Live, Setanta 10 a.m.) My friend Suppe was wondering the other day why Manchester City isn't good, or at least good enough to win consistency. Call it the billion pound question. Roberto Mancini must think he has an answer, or at least looks stylish signs giant-sized novelty checks. City is about just as likely to win this match 4-0 as it is for the players (and maybe fans) to have an open revolt during the match. ... Manchester City 2, Stoke City 0
* Sunderland v. Everton -- (Live, FSC, 10 a.m.) A perfect example of how muddled it is in the middle of the table. Everton hasn't won in five matches, but would pull even on points with Sunderland with a win. This is a gritty game that figures to be played in rain, or some crummy weather, right? ... Sunderland 1, Everton 0
* Wigan Athletic v. Blackburn Rovers -- Too bad this one isn't in HD. It would be fun to see the state of the Wigan pitch after a rugby action coupled with the snowy weather in northwest England. ... Wigan 3, Blackburn 0
* Liverpool v. Wolves -- (Live, FSC, 12:30 p.m.) I've run out of things to say about Liverpool for the time being. ... Liverpool 2, Wolves 0
Sunday:
* Arsenal v. Aston Villa -- (Live, Setanta, 8:30 a.m. range) Best game of the weekend, which could be a joy to watch. You wonder if Villa will be extra motivated to nip the Gunners, after seeing them blow by them for fourth place last season. Plus Villa hasn't lost at the Emirates Stadium, which should count for something. Arsenal barely skated past Hull last weekend without Cesc Fabregas. The bigger concern might be if Mikael Silvestre has to line up on the outside of defense and have to check either Ashley Young or James Milner. At this point we kind of, sort of know who Arsenal is. We'll learn a lot more about Aston Villa. ... Arsenal 0, Aston Villa 1
* Hull City v. Manchester United -- (Live, FSC, 11 a.m.) Beating United would make Hull's season, but I doubt Sir Alex is in the Christmas spirit. With a makeshift defense for United, the time has never been better for Altidore to score his first Premier League goal ... Hull 1, Manchester United 2
If you read every week, I'm going to try to post a quick recap on Sunday, with picks for Monday/Tuesday/Wednesday. There are no games the following weekend.
Last week: 5-4
Season: 91-85
Labels: English Premier League, Prem Picks, Premier League, Soccer
Another weekend, another set of crazy results.
The 'Big Four' looked more like the Three Stooges, taking a mere four points. (Liverpool is such a non-factor that they've assumed Curly Joe status. What, too dated a reference? C'mon they're making a movie starring Jim Carrey, Sean Penn and Benicio del Toro. That's some Benitez-esque inspired casting.)
While the rampant unpredictability is killing my weekly picks, it certainly is making following this league from afar a lot more compelling.
It's easier to get behind a league when half of the games each round aren't a foregone conclusion before the opening whistle. No, the Premier League isn't marching toward an MLS-style parity party, far from it. It's just good that in December, nearing the midway point of the fixture list, that the best teams have shown they aren't unbeatable and the bottom tier clubs have at least shown a pulse and or fighting spirit.
How long these levels of volatility continue is anyone's guess. Let's just ride it out and enjoy it.
At this point I've come to terms and will just accept it. It's like the song 'Tom Sawyer' by Rush. I have no idea what the lyrics are supposed to imply, I just know I like them.
Does a stanza like, "And the energy you trade/He gets right on to the friction of the day" make a lick of sense?
Neither does the esteemed Premier League as we turn the page from 2009 to 2010.
The "perfect" loss:
Is Rafa Benitez trying to openly get fired? Read this report. Sounds like he might.
It's not the most professional thing in the world to do, but considering the way the club has been run on his watch, can you blame him for wanting to do whats best for No. 1? He signed the five-year new last year, so the club owes him plenty of money, should they cut the cord. With the finance troubles at Anfield, are the idiot American owners going to pay him off to do nothing?
The longer this limbo lasts, the longer Liverpool remains stuck in midtable hell. How can a player be tasked to buy players when his tenure already feels like a lame duck. And why would players want to come to Anfield? The days of Liverpool's name ringing out across the globe are rapidly dwindling.
Losing to last-place Portsmouth on two goals from sheer angles should seal the end? But who is the replacement? Does it matter? Can Liverpool afford to miss the Champions League? Is this a broken record or what?
United we fall:
In a season of shoddy performances, Manchester United's display at Craven Cottage takes the cake.
All credit to Fulham, which played a confident and composed game, including a nice display from Clint Dempsey. It was fairly clear which team had its first-choice lineup/formation and which was trying a three-man defense featuring two converted midfielders and a young Belgian dude. Not even Sir Alex Ferguson can whip up batch after batch of chicken salad out of chicken you know what. A game, yes, you can get by. For a sustained month? Umm, no.
You could tell Fulham, especially the crowd were really "up" for the game. They didn't care which souls were occupying the dreaded red shirts.
After Paul Scholes bad touch allowed Danny Murphy to break the deadlock, Fulham never looked back and ran riot, while United basically curled up into a fetal position and did nothing.
Amazingly, United didn't fall six points behind Chelsea, which stumbled to a 1-1 draw with a semi-inspired West Ham. Consider me offically worried about Chelsea, which once again is falling into the winter doldrums. The Blues have just one win in six matches across all competitions in December. The upcoming matches at Birmingham and against Fulham seem a lot trickier.
Yoos, get lawst:
If you're the sheiks running Manchester City, why let Mark Hughes coach Saturday's back-and-forth 4-3 victory over Sunderland? Why wait until a couple hours after the whistle to make him walk the plank? Better yet, why not have some club crony come out and had him his walking papers WWF style. At least that would be an entertaining way to stripe a man of his dignity.
To simplify it, Hughes was given too many puzzle pieces (and egos) and couldn't put together a consistently winning picture at City. It didn't help either that he brought in Kolo Toure and Jolean Lescott in defense, who's form both dropped.
It's funny, too, that Hughes put together a tough, scrappy team that got results at Blackburn, but City under his reign were the exact opposite. Think the proverbial "Little Girl with the Curl."
Oh well, considering the recycle rate of managers in the Premier League, Hughes shouldn't have too much trouble finding a new job. It wouldn't be the worst decision for Hughes to sit on the sidelines and wait for a job that he actually wants, instead of rushing into the first post that opens up.
So now Manchester City, after splashing out tons of loot on players goes the flashy foreign rout and snares Roberto Mancini to coach. How much affect will the Italian have? Hard to say until perhaps the end of January, when the transfer window opens-and-closes. It's been widely reported that a core of the City team (Shay Given, Craig Bellamy, Gareth Barry) are upset that Hughes got fired. Will players ask out the door? Will Mancini target some of his former Inter players that aren't seeing much of the field under Jose Mourinho in Italy?
Still, I'll go back to what I've been saying all season, until City gets an identity on the field, and or a leader, it will continue to play plenty of 4-3 and 2-2 games. You can buy all the players in the world, but you can't necessary buy 11 players that form a winning team.
Once, twice, three times a penal-ty:
Really referee Mike Dean? Really?
Three attempts to make Frank Lampard take a penalty vs. West Ham? As President Taylor might have said on the most recent season of "24", "How could this happen?"
Better yet, how can the Premier League -- which loves to tell us at all instances how it's the best league in the world -- can't find able-bodied, competent officials? Do they need to start importing refs in from Italy too?
And to be honest, don't guys run into the box before every penalty?
Still beats the zebras calling NFL games.
P.S., Sepp Blatter, instant replay, or at least an official behind the goal for the World Cup would save you a preemptive headache. Just sayin'.
Other stuff:
Wolves, with 2-0 win over Burnley, are now up to 12th in the table. That just doesn't seem right, does it? ... Spurs with an easy win this weekend, what gives? ... Is Theo Walcott the most overrated, or at least over talked about player in the league? ... Geovanni, you might want to reconsider that non-chalant run up to a penalty, eh? ... Birmingham didn't lose, drawing Everton 1-1, but did see defender Roger Johnson limp off. ... The Aston Villa train keeps rolling. ... Just wondering if Brad Friedel, by wearing green and black goal shirts, has an advantage since he blends in a little more with the surroundings than some of the garish, neon shirts wore by other keepers?
Line of the weekend:
"Nothing more than a niggly moment." -- Announcer on the silly "fight" at midfield between Arsenal and Hull City. The Brits sure do love using the word "niggle", which has pretty much assumed no-fly status in the U.S.
Fantasy Team O' the Week:
Weekly top honors go to Rod McCulloch's Raindogs with 62 points, who got 14 points apiece from Frank Lampard and Abou Diaby, plus a sneaky nine from Jody Craddock.
One other thing:
Ever go to that site, "Stuff White People Like"?
We can add, freaking out at the slightest inkling of snow to the list. I live in Connecticut and for days we heard we'd get pelted with snow on Saturday. Turns out it was around a foot. Philly and DC did get creamed. Not my point.
Saturday afternoon I had to get a few things since I literally had no food to eat at my place. The grocery store was overflowing with cars, so much that I couldn't get even get in. I audibled, when to a store in a slightly more "urban" are and had no trouble whatsoever and found a hidden cache of Eggo products.
That's a win.
The 'Big Four' looked more like the Three Stooges, taking a mere four points. (Liverpool is such a non-factor that they've assumed Curly Joe status. What, too dated a reference? C'mon they're making a movie starring Jim Carrey, Sean Penn and Benicio del Toro. That's some Benitez-esque inspired casting.)
While the rampant unpredictability is killing my weekly picks, it certainly is making following this league from afar a lot more compelling.
It's easier to get behind a league when half of the games each round aren't a foregone conclusion before the opening whistle. No, the Premier League isn't marching toward an MLS-style parity party, far from it. It's just good that in December, nearing the midway point of the fixture list, that the best teams have shown they aren't unbeatable and the bottom tier clubs have at least shown a pulse and or fighting spirit.
How long these levels of volatility continue is anyone's guess. Let's just ride it out and enjoy it.
At this point I've come to terms and will just accept it. It's like the song 'Tom Sawyer' by Rush. I have no idea what the lyrics are supposed to imply, I just know I like them.
Does a stanza like, "And the energy you trade/He gets right on to the friction of the day" make a lick of sense?
Neither does the esteemed Premier League as we turn the page from 2009 to 2010.
The "perfect" loss:
Is Rafa Benitez trying to openly get fired? Read this report. Sounds like he might.
It's not the most professional thing in the world to do, but considering the way the club has been run on his watch, can you blame him for wanting to do whats best for No. 1? He signed the five-year new last year, so the club owes him plenty of money, should they cut the cord. With the finance troubles at Anfield, are the idiot American owners going to pay him off to do nothing?
The longer this limbo lasts, the longer Liverpool remains stuck in midtable hell. How can a player be tasked to buy players when his tenure already feels like a lame duck. And why would players want to come to Anfield? The days of Liverpool's name ringing out across the globe are rapidly dwindling.
Losing to last-place Portsmouth on two goals from sheer angles should seal the end? But who is the replacement? Does it matter? Can Liverpool afford to miss the Champions League? Is this a broken record or what?
United we fall:
In a season of shoddy performances, Manchester United's display at Craven Cottage takes the cake.
All credit to Fulham, which played a confident and composed game, including a nice display from Clint Dempsey. It was fairly clear which team had its first-choice lineup/formation and which was trying a three-man defense featuring two converted midfielders and a young Belgian dude. Not even Sir Alex Ferguson can whip up batch after batch of chicken salad out of chicken you know what. A game, yes, you can get by. For a sustained month? Umm, no.
You could tell Fulham, especially the crowd were really "up" for the game. They didn't care which souls were occupying the dreaded red shirts.
After Paul Scholes bad touch allowed Danny Murphy to break the deadlock, Fulham never looked back and ran riot, while United basically curled up into a fetal position and did nothing.
Amazingly, United didn't fall six points behind Chelsea, which stumbled to a 1-1 draw with a semi-inspired West Ham. Consider me offically worried about Chelsea, which once again is falling into the winter doldrums. The Blues have just one win in six matches across all competitions in December. The upcoming matches at Birmingham and against Fulham seem a lot trickier.
Yoos, get lawst:
If you're the sheiks running Manchester City, why let Mark Hughes coach Saturday's back-and-forth 4-3 victory over Sunderland? Why wait until a couple hours after the whistle to make him walk the plank? Better yet, why not have some club crony come out and had him his walking papers WWF style. At least that would be an entertaining way to stripe a man of his dignity.
To simplify it, Hughes was given too many puzzle pieces (and egos) and couldn't put together a consistently winning picture at City. It didn't help either that he brought in Kolo Toure and Jolean Lescott in defense, who's form both dropped.
It's funny, too, that Hughes put together a tough, scrappy team that got results at Blackburn, but City under his reign were the exact opposite. Think the proverbial "Little Girl with the Curl."
Oh well, considering the recycle rate of managers in the Premier League, Hughes shouldn't have too much trouble finding a new job. It wouldn't be the worst decision for Hughes to sit on the sidelines and wait for a job that he actually wants, instead of rushing into the first post that opens up.
So now Manchester City, after splashing out tons of loot on players goes the flashy foreign rout and snares Roberto Mancini to coach. How much affect will the Italian have? Hard to say until perhaps the end of January, when the transfer window opens-and-closes. It's been widely reported that a core of the City team (Shay Given, Craig Bellamy, Gareth Barry) are upset that Hughes got fired. Will players ask out the door? Will Mancini target some of his former Inter players that aren't seeing much of the field under Jose Mourinho in Italy?
Still, I'll go back to what I've been saying all season, until City gets an identity on the field, and or a leader, it will continue to play plenty of 4-3 and 2-2 games. You can buy all the players in the world, but you can't necessary buy 11 players that form a winning team.
Once, twice, three times a penal-ty:
Really referee Mike Dean? Really?
Three attempts to make Frank Lampard take a penalty vs. West Ham? As President Taylor might have said on the most recent season of "24", "How could this happen?"
Better yet, how can the Premier League -- which loves to tell us at all instances how it's the best league in the world -- can't find able-bodied, competent officials? Do they need to start importing refs in from Italy too?
And to be honest, don't guys run into the box before every penalty?
Still beats the zebras calling NFL games.
P.S., Sepp Blatter, instant replay, or at least an official behind the goal for the World Cup would save you a preemptive headache. Just sayin'.
Other stuff:
Wolves, with 2-0 win over Burnley, are now up to 12th in the table. That just doesn't seem right, does it? ... Spurs with an easy win this weekend, what gives? ... Is Theo Walcott the most overrated, or at least over talked about player in the league? ... Geovanni, you might want to reconsider that non-chalant run up to a penalty, eh? ... Birmingham didn't lose, drawing Everton 1-1, but did see defender Roger Johnson limp off. ... The Aston Villa train keeps rolling. ... Just wondering if Brad Friedel, by wearing green and black goal shirts, has an advantage since he blends in a little more with the surroundings than some of the garish, neon shirts wore by other keepers?
Line of the weekend:
"Nothing more than a niggly moment." -- Announcer on the silly "fight" at midfield between Arsenal and Hull City. The Brits sure do love using the word "niggle", which has pretty much assumed no-fly status in the U.S.
Fantasy Team O' the Week:
Weekly top honors go to Rod McCulloch's Raindogs with 62 points, who got 14 points apiece from Frank Lampard and Abou Diaby, plus a sneaky nine from Jody Craddock.
One other thing:
Ever go to that site, "Stuff White People Like"?
We can add, freaking out at the slightest inkling of snow to the list. I live in Connecticut and for days we heard we'd get pelted with snow on Saturday. Turns out it was around a foot. Philly and DC did get creamed. Not my point.
Saturday afternoon I had to get a few things since I literally had no food to eat at my place. The grocery store was overflowing with cars, so much that I couldn't get even get in. I audibled, when to a store in a slightly more "urban" are and had no trouble whatsoever and found a hidden cache of Eggo products.
That's a win.
Labels: English Premier League, Monday recaps, Soccer
"What the fuck happened to our Trailer Park." -- Ricky, 'Trailer Park Boys'
Look, the better pop culture lead-in for today's Premier League pick scenario would have been referencing the classic 'Seinfeld' episode where George made the bold decision to so everything to the opposite of his natural inclination. (Look, I just want to pimp 'Trailer Park Boys' one last time before Christmas.)
Nothing is making a lick of sense.
And our one Desmond Hume-approved constant -- Chelsea is better than everybody else -- is starting to show a couple nose bleeds. (2-1 at home to last-place Portsmouth?!?)
Last weekend the craziness manifested itself in totality.
During the crammed-up midweek fixtures, it was more of the same.
What planet are we living on when Aston Villa sells off its best player -- Gareth Barry -- and suddenly becomes the most consistent team in the league? (English version of the Ewing Theory?)
Are we ready to live in a world where a respected team -- Everton -- is looking toward Landon Donovan -- LANDON DONOVAN -- (emphasis) as short-term salvation?
How is it possible arguably the biggest team in the world -- Manchester United -- can't find four healthy and competent defenders on a week-in, week-out basis?
Where are we where mighty Arsenal is struggling, albeit away, to last season's promotion playoffs winners, Burnley?
How did Birmingham City find the secret tonic to move above the relegation zone and ahead of Liverpool in the table?
All these questions yield few answers.
Here are a couple of my thoroughly non-scientific suggestions.
1. The gap between the haves and have nots has narrowed, at least on the field. (Seems unlikely. Would anyone on Wolves start for a 'Big Four' club? Or even make the bench?)
2. The mid-table teams have gotten a little smarter in their approach. (Getting warmer, though his was inevitable once Newcastle United was relegated, sorry Brad.)
3. Fixture overload. (In the words of Col. Hans Landa, "That's a bingo!")
Is an over-crowded soccer calendar to blame for the wild and rampant unpredictability of the once rather staid Premier League?
Yes and no. This isn't some sort of geometric proof where you can prove that A equals B. Most of this evidence is of the empirical form from a doofus watching games on his living room coach an ocean away.
That said, look at Wednesday's 1-1 draw between Arsenal and Burnley at Turf Moor.
If you're Burnley, this is the only match on the agenda. Manager Owen Coyle isn't worrying about a European competition. He hasn't lost players to injury while on international break. Coyle has a mountain of footage of Arsenal from the season to show his team and breakdown. He can devise a fairly simple and straightforward gameplan.
Plus, on a more esoteric level, the onus clearly falls on Arsenal before the opening whistle even blew. The Gunners were expected to stroll into the tiny stadium and walk off with three points.
To me, this is a huge factor as we get closer to next June's World Cup in South Africa. The tournament prohibitive favorites -- Germany, Brazil, Italy, Spain, etc. -- are all expected (at least from the media/fans) to step on the field and immediately come away winners. The ball is in their proverbial court. Fans want it to be 3-0 within 10 minutes, so they can stop working on their ulcers.
We know this doesn't happen all too often. The longer the underdog sticks around, the tighter the favorite gets. At this point in the 60+ minute all it takes is one bounce of the ball or bad foul conceded and you have on upset on your hands.
If anything, this is a reason to think the U.S. could beat England assuming the scoreline remains 0-0 for a protracted amount of time.
I'm not sure how well this idea applies to the week-in, week-out drudgery of an actual league. It certainly must wear on a player's mental resolve to think they're expected to instantly win every game with ease.
But anyway, back to the Burnley example.
In theory the Clarets are at a disadvantage since they have a smaller team and if a player gets injured for a long spell, they have no replacement.
At the same time, most of the players in the squad are only playing that one match per week. They're keeping the miles on the odometer low. Maybe they're not as skillful or fast as the Ferraris employed by Arsenal, yet they're reliable like a Camry and clearly don't need as much time in the garage for tuneups. (Plus they're a lot safer in cold weather.)
As I've written about at length, look at Liverpool's reliance on Fernando Torres and Steven Gerrard. How much longer can Gerrard keep it up. From the 2000/01 through 2008/09 seasons he averaged a stunning 50.3 matches for the Reds. Factor in England duty and all the travel it entails and its a marvel he's still able to do what he does.
Can Frank Lampard, Michael Ballack, Michael Essien and Didier Drogba run forever for Chelsea?
We saw Cesc Fabregas limp off for Arsenal vs. Burnley. Can the Spanish midfield ace afford the proper time to heal his injured hamstring? Or he forgo the long-term issues for a short term fix as Arsenal still harbors faint hopes of winning the league. Arsenal is using the term "small tear" to describe the injury. From a layman's standpoint, hamstring injuries can hamper baseball players for months, and a soccer player can recover and play again in 10 days? Doesn't seem prudent. (Fabregas is the epitome of a modern player, but how long can his career possibly last at a high level when he's spread so thin?)
Manchester United? We've seen it beset by injuries and it wouldn't be a World Cup year without a Wayne Rooney injury crisis, would it? (Please to no think this is a jinx. The tournament would suffer without the England scoring dynamo. It just seems inevitable something along those lines will happen.)
This sort of thing is likely to happen at all the Big Four teams, and even some of the lesser teams like Aston Villa, Everton, Fulham, etc. with Europa Cup duty. The core of these teams are playing in multiple concurrent competitions, with international duty thrown in on top. It's not like their coffers are over-flowing with money to purchase a Serbian defender in January. (Consider me worried about the fitness level of Clint Dempsey come June.)
You can easily counter my argument -- nobody is shedding any tears for the big clubs. They are who they are and should have large enough squads to cope. (Yet, should we, in a roundabout way, penalize, or at least put a strain, due to success on the field?)
To quote Lou Brown from "Major League", "Over 162 games even tough guys get sprains, sore arms, muscle pulls..."
The thing about soccer, you really can't play at these high levels nursing an injuy. Yeah, I make fun of guys like Tomas Rosicky and Mikel Arteta for having bones man out of glass, but if you've got an ailment anywhere in your legs, running on it for 90-odd minutes isn't exactly rehabilitation 101.
You could counter the argument that the NFL is much more violent than soccer, which it clearly is. However it's only 16 games, plus playoffs for the entire year. Yeah, running around and getting nicked with a slide tackle isn't exactly Kurt Warner's head getting crunched by a 350-pound lineman, but an injury is an injury. Just ask Dean Ashton.
On top of all this, throw in that the sadists in England what a crowded holiday fixture list with games as little as two days apart -- many played in a steady, cold drizzle -- and it's no surprise the quality of play begins to suffer and the league turns all akimbo. Usually I don't see eye-to-eye with Arsene Wenger, but is he the only man in England smart enough to realize scheduling a team, in this case Arsenal, for three matches in one week isn't the wisest decision? This isn't the NBA were a team can basically mail-in the second night of a back-to-back off, either. Factor in players condition there body for routines, too, and adding a congestion of matches in two weeks doesn't make much sense either.
The alternative is shutting things down for a winter break like the Bundesliga and other leagues, but that would mean losing money and we all know sports, especially the Premier League, is a business first and foremost.
Best hope your club has some 18-year-old lighting it up in the reserves. The novel notion of building from within? That'll be a story for another day.
Saturday:
* Portsmouth v. Liverpool -- (Live, ESPN2, 7:30 a.m.) Consider this the "Schadenfreude Bowl." Slightly more exciting that the St. Petersburg Bowl airing later Saturday on ESPN. ... Portsmouth 1, Liverpool 1
* Aston Villa v. Stoke City -- Man oh man, how did James Milner become so good? Is leaving Newcastle United that much of a boost on a career, like leaving a failing marriage? ... Aston Villa 2, Stoke City 0
* Blackburn v. Tottenham -- When and if Tottenham moves out of White Hart Lane and into a new ground, why not take a page from that Stratosphere Roller Coaster in Las Vegas? Let's figure a way to put a similar ride on the top of the new stadium, that way they can increase the non-matchday revenue streams and non-Spurs fans get experience what its like to follow the team. ... Blackburn 1, Spurs 3
* Fulham v. Manchester United -- (Live, Setanta, 10 a.m.) Gun to my head, I have no idea how this match plays out. Fulham are coming off a win in the Europa League and are fairly predictable now that Bobby Zamora has hit a decent run of form. One thing to consider is if Sir Alex sticks with another striker (Berbatov/Owen) to pair with Rooney. He'd gotten away from that for a bit, but reverted to a classic 4-4-2 in the midweek. Probably has to do with the health of Ryan Giggs more than anything else. We can pretty much write in stone Roy Hodgson goes 4-4-2, since he's done that in all 16 matches. Fun Fulham fact, central defenders Breda Hangeland and Aaron Hughes are 16-for-16 in Premier League starts, while outside backs John Paintsil and Paul Konchesky are each 15-for-16. ... Fulham 1, Manchester United 2
* Manchester City v. Sunderland -- (Live, FSC, 10 a.m.) Fun fact: Manchester City have the fewest losses in the league, two. City also has the most draws, eight. Hence, an semi-disappointing eighth place position in the table. Sunderland has slipped into the 'blah' zone with its recent string of mediocrity. Take home form here. ... City 2, Sunderland 0
* Arsenal v. Hull City -- (Live, FSC, 12:30 p.m.) Even without Fabregas Arsenal should win this one, right? Here's a nice nugget, Hull has three points from its last 13 away matches. Maybe we get a heavy does of Aaron Ramsey here. Either that or Wenger does his best to extend his middle finger at the Premier League bosses. ... Arsenal 3, Hull City 0
Sunday:
* Wolves v. Burnley -- (Live, Setanta, 8:30 a.m.) Why the media in England got in a tizzy over Mick McCarthy throwing out a semi-reserve team at Old Trafford is silly. Yeah, you don't want to give away a game, but what chances did he have, really? Why kill you starters in a no-win situation in the crowded fixture time of the season? What are the odds Wolves, even at full strength, hold United to a draw? 20-to-1? That said, he better beat Burnley. ... Wolves 2, Burnley 1
* Everton v. Birmingham City -- Another question, how did Birmingham become the home to the two hottest teams in the league? And since Alex McLeish's "genius" idea to play two strikers on Oct. 24, Birmingham has won six, loss none and drawn twice. Is it really that hard to manage these teams some times? ... Everton 1, Birmingham 1
* West Ham v. Chelsea -- (Live, FSC, 10 a.m.) West Ham, hate to say it, you are LAWST. And with the club's long-standing financial troubles, it's not like they want to fire Gianfranco Zola, OR bring in new faces. As Ron Burgundy would say, "This is grim, real grim." West Ham is sinking like a stone, losers of three-straight and welcome Chelsea to Upton Park. Ouch. At least Santa delivers Portsmouth to Upton the day after Christmas, as well as matches on the horizon with Wolves, Blackburn, Burnley and Hull as well as the return trip to Fratton Park on Jan. 26. ... West Ham 1, Cheslea 3
Monday:
* Wigan v. Bolton -- (Check your guides) This is a lot like a nationally televised NFL game featuring the Browns, which has happened twice in recent weeks except it doesn't have the walking punchline of Eric Mangini on the sidelines. ... Wigan 2, Bolton 1
Midweek: 5-3
Season: 86-81
Look, the better pop culture lead-in for today's Premier League pick scenario would have been referencing the classic 'Seinfeld' episode where George made the bold decision to so everything to the opposite of his natural inclination. (Look, I just want to pimp 'Trailer Park Boys' one last time before Christmas.)
Nothing is making a lick of sense.
And our one Desmond Hume-approved constant -- Chelsea is better than everybody else -- is starting to show a couple nose bleeds. (2-1 at home to last-place Portsmouth?!?)
Last weekend the craziness manifested itself in totality.
During the crammed-up midweek fixtures, it was more of the same.
What planet are we living on when Aston Villa sells off its best player -- Gareth Barry -- and suddenly becomes the most consistent team in the league? (English version of the Ewing Theory?)
Are we ready to live in a world where a respected team -- Everton -- is looking toward Landon Donovan -- LANDON DONOVAN -- (emphasis) as short-term salvation?
How is it possible arguably the biggest team in the world -- Manchester United -- can't find four healthy and competent defenders on a week-in, week-out basis?
Where are we where mighty Arsenal is struggling, albeit away, to last season's promotion playoffs winners, Burnley?
How did Birmingham City find the secret tonic to move above the relegation zone and ahead of Liverpool in the table?
All these questions yield few answers.
Here are a couple of my thoroughly non-scientific suggestions.
1. The gap between the haves and have nots has narrowed, at least on the field. (Seems unlikely. Would anyone on Wolves start for a 'Big Four' club? Or even make the bench?)
2. The mid-table teams have gotten a little smarter in their approach. (Getting warmer, though his was inevitable once Newcastle United was relegated, sorry Brad.)
3. Fixture overload. (In the words of Col. Hans Landa, "That's a bingo!")
Is an over-crowded soccer calendar to blame for the wild and rampant unpredictability of the once rather staid Premier League?
Yes and no. This isn't some sort of geometric proof where you can prove that A equals B. Most of this evidence is of the empirical form from a doofus watching games on his living room coach an ocean away.
That said, look at Wednesday's 1-1 draw between Arsenal and Burnley at Turf Moor.
If you're Burnley, this is the only match on the agenda. Manager Owen Coyle isn't worrying about a European competition. He hasn't lost players to injury while on international break. Coyle has a mountain of footage of Arsenal from the season to show his team and breakdown. He can devise a fairly simple and straightforward gameplan.
Plus, on a more esoteric level, the onus clearly falls on Arsenal before the opening whistle even blew. The Gunners were expected to stroll into the tiny stadium and walk off with three points.
To me, this is a huge factor as we get closer to next June's World Cup in South Africa. The tournament prohibitive favorites -- Germany, Brazil, Italy, Spain, etc. -- are all expected (at least from the media/fans) to step on the field and immediately come away winners. The ball is in their proverbial court. Fans want it to be 3-0 within 10 minutes, so they can stop working on their ulcers.
We know this doesn't happen all too often. The longer the underdog sticks around, the tighter the favorite gets. At this point in the 60+ minute all it takes is one bounce of the ball or bad foul conceded and you have on upset on your hands.
If anything, this is a reason to think the U.S. could beat England assuming the scoreline remains 0-0 for a protracted amount of time.
I'm not sure how well this idea applies to the week-in, week-out drudgery of an actual league. It certainly must wear on a player's mental resolve to think they're expected to instantly win every game with ease.
But anyway, back to the Burnley example.
In theory the Clarets are at a disadvantage since they have a smaller team and if a player gets injured for a long spell, they have no replacement.
At the same time, most of the players in the squad are only playing that one match per week. They're keeping the miles on the odometer low. Maybe they're not as skillful or fast as the Ferraris employed by Arsenal, yet they're reliable like a Camry and clearly don't need as much time in the garage for tuneups. (Plus they're a lot safer in cold weather.)
As I've written about at length, look at Liverpool's reliance on Fernando Torres and Steven Gerrard. How much longer can Gerrard keep it up. From the 2000/01 through 2008/09 seasons he averaged a stunning 50.3 matches for the Reds. Factor in England duty and all the travel it entails and its a marvel he's still able to do what he does.
Can Frank Lampard, Michael Ballack, Michael Essien and Didier Drogba run forever for Chelsea?
We saw Cesc Fabregas limp off for Arsenal vs. Burnley. Can the Spanish midfield ace afford the proper time to heal his injured hamstring? Or he forgo the long-term issues for a short term fix as Arsenal still harbors faint hopes of winning the league. Arsenal is using the term "small tear" to describe the injury. From a layman's standpoint, hamstring injuries can hamper baseball players for months, and a soccer player can recover and play again in 10 days? Doesn't seem prudent. (Fabregas is the epitome of a modern player, but how long can his career possibly last at a high level when he's spread so thin?)
Manchester United? We've seen it beset by injuries and it wouldn't be a World Cup year without a Wayne Rooney injury crisis, would it? (Please to no think this is a jinx. The tournament would suffer without the England scoring dynamo. It just seems inevitable something along those lines will happen.)
This sort of thing is likely to happen at all the Big Four teams, and even some of the lesser teams like Aston Villa, Everton, Fulham, etc. with Europa Cup duty. The core of these teams are playing in multiple concurrent competitions, with international duty thrown in on top. It's not like their coffers are over-flowing with money to purchase a Serbian defender in January. (Consider me worried about the fitness level of Clint Dempsey come June.)
You can easily counter my argument -- nobody is shedding any tears for the big clubs. They are who they are and should have large enough squads to cope. (Yet, should we, in a roundabout way, penalize, or at least put a strain, due to success on the field?)
To quote Lou Brown from "Major League", "Over 162 games even tough guys get sprains, sore arms, muscle pulls..."
The thing about soccer, you really can't play at these high levels nursing an injuy. Yeah, I make fun of guys like Tomas Rosicky and Mikel Arteta for having bones man out of glass, but if you've got an ailment anywhere in your legs, running on it for 90-odd minutes isn't exactly rehabilitation 101.
You could counter the argument that the NFL is much more violent than soccer, which it clearly is. However it's only 16 games, plus playoffs for the entire year. Yeah, running around and getting nicked with a slide tackle isn't exactly Kurt Warner's head getting crunched by a 350-pound lineman, but an injury is an injury. Just ask Dean Ashton.
On top of all this, throw in that the sadists in England what a crowded holiday fixture list with games as little as two days apart -- many played in a steady, cold drizzle -- and it's no surprise the quality of play begins to suffer and the league turns all akimbo. Usually I don't see eye-to-eye with Arsene Wenger, but is he the only man in England smart enough to realize scheduling a team, in this case Arsenal, for three matches in one week isn't the wisest decision? This isn't the NBA were a team can basically mail-in the second night of a back-to-back off, either. Factor in players condition there body for routines, too, and adding a congestion of matches in two weeks doesn't make much sense either.
The alternative is shutting things down for a winter break like the Bundesliga and other leagues, but that would mean losing money and we all know sports, especially the Premier League, is a business first and foremost.
Best hope your club has some 18-year-old lighting it up in the reserves. The novel notion of building from within? That'll be a story for another day.
Saturday:
* Portsmouth v. Liverpool -- (Live, ESPN2, 7:30 a.m.) Consider this the "Schadenfreude Bowl." Slightly more exciting that the St. Petersburg Bowl airing later Saturday on ESPN. ... Portsmouth 1, Liverpool 1
* Aston Villa v. Stoke City -- Man oh man, how did James Milner become so good? Is leaving Newcastle United that much of a boost on a career, like leaving a failing marriage? ... Aston Villa 2, Stoke City 0
* Blackburn v. Tottenham -- When and if Tottenham moves out of White Hart Lane and into a new ground, why not take a page from that Stratosphere Roller Coaster in Las Vegas? Let's figure a way to put a similar ride on the top of the new stadium, that way they can increase the non-matchday revenue streams and non-Spurs fans get experience what its like to follow the team. ... Blackburn 1, Spurs 3
* Fulham v. Manchester United -- (Live, Setanta, 10 a.m.) Gun to my head, I have no idea how this match plays out. Fulham are coming off a win in the Europa League and are fairly predictable now that Bobby Zamora has hit a decent run of form. One thing to consider is if Sir Alex sticks with another striker (Berbatov/Owen) to pair with Rooney. He'd gotten away from that for a bit, but reverted to a classic 4-4-2 in the midweek. Probably has to do with the health of Ryan Giggs more than anything else. We can pretty much write in stone Roy Hodgson goes 4-4-2, since he's done that in all 16 matches. Fun Fulham fact, central defenders Breda Hangeland and Aaron Hughes are 16-for-16 in Premier League starts, while outside backs John Paintsil and Paul Konchesky are each 15-for-16. ... Fulham 1, Manchester United 2
* Manchester City v. Sunderland -- (Live, FSC, 10 a.m.) Fun fact: Manchester City have the fewest losses in the league, two. City also has the most draws, eight. Hence, an semi-disappointing eighth place position in the table. Sunderland has slipped into the 'blah' zone with its recent string of mediocrity. Take home form here. ... City 2, Sunderland 0
* Arsenal v. Hull City -- (Live, FSC, 12:30 p.m.) Even without Fabregas Arsenal should win this one, right? Here's a nice nugget, Hull has three points from its last 13 away matches. Maybe we get a heavy does of Aaron Ramsey here. Either that or Wenger does his best to extend his middle finger at the Premier League bosses. ... Arsenal 3, Hull City 0
Sunday:
* Wolves v. Burnley -- (Live, Setanta, 8:30 a.m.) Why the media in England got in a tizzy over Mick McCarthy throwing out a semi-reserve team at Old Trafford is silly. Yeah, you don't want to give away a game, but what chances did he have, really? Why kill you starters in a no-win situation in the crowded fixture time of the season? What are the odds Wolves, even at full strength, hold United to a draw? 20-to-1? That said, he better beat Burnley. ... Wolves 2, Burnley 1
* Everton v. Birmingham City -- Another question, how did Birmingham become the home to the two hottest teams in the league? And since Alex McLeish's "genius" idea to play two strikers on Oct. 24, Birmingham has won six, loss none and drawn twice. Is it really that hard to manage these teams some times? ... Everton 1, Birmingham 1
* West Ham v. Chelsea -- (Live, FSC, 10 a.m.) West Ham, hate to say it, you are LAWST. And with the club's long-standing financial troubles, it's not like they want to fire Gianfranco Zola, OR bring in new faces. As Ron Burgundy would say, "This is grim, real grim." West Ham is sinking like a stone, losers of three-straight and welcome Chelsea to Upton Park. Ouch. At least Santa delivers Portsmouth to Upton the day after Christmas, as well as matches on the horizon with Wolves, Blackburn, Burnley and Hull as well as the return trip to Fratton Park on Jan. 26. ... West Ham 1, Cheslea 3
Monday:
* Wigan v. Bolton -- (Check your guides) This is a lot like a nationally televised NFL game featuring the Browns, which has happened twice in recent weeks except it doesn't have the walking punchline of Eric Mangini on the sidelines. ... Wigan 2, Bolton 1
Midweek: 5-3
Season: 86-81
Labels: English Premier League, Prem Picks, Soccer
"Kings and sons of god
Travel all
The way to Earth
Coming restless mile
Easing all of them
All of them for you
Strange times
Here." -- "Strange Times", the Black Keys
If I told you that a game involving Chelsea and Everton at Stamford Bridge would finish with six goals, wouldn't you put money toward a 5-1 result in favor of the Blues?
If I told you the match ended 3-3 and Chelsea ended up gaining points on Manchester United?
If I told you a match at White Hart Lane would end in a clean sheet, would you ever in a million years pick Wolves as the club to do it?
Would you believe me when I said the hottest team in the Premier League is Birmingham City, and it employs the hottest player -- Lee Bowyer?
Would you believe that Aston Villa beat Manchester United for the first time since
"Land Down Under", "Maneater", "Come on Eileen" and "Hungry Like the Wolf" topped the pop charts?
Would you believe that Portsmouth, yes last place Pompey, would score a late equalizer on the road and then have the goal scorer -- Younes Kaboul -- sent off for taking off his shirt?
Finally, what would have been the preseason odds that Wigan's Honduran midfielder Maynor Figueroa would hit the potential goal-of-the-year?
The odds of any of these things happening? Slim, like Nic Cage winning an Oscar. Oh wait, that happened. Let's amend that to post-1995 Cage winning the award.
All of them in the same weekend?
Strange Times, indeed.
Cech yo self before you wreck yo self:
Not to give myself a Barry Horowitz pat on the back, well, maybe to do that, but looks like people are catching on that Petr Cech has slipped in nets for Chelsea. It's understandable. To play at the level he was at in 2004-2006 would be nearly impossible. (Even his one-time rival for world's best keeper -- Gigi Buffon -- has taken a step back this year.) And Cech did has his skull crushed.
I know it's a while ago, but those gaffes vs. Turkey at the Euro killed the Cech mystique.
Saturday vs. Everton he caught two bad breaks -- a ball bouncing off his back when he dove to make a save, followed by Didier Drogba trying to head a ball clear, only for it to bounce off Louis Saha's back and into the goal.
When Chelsea won back-to-back titles under Mourninho, the core of the team was Cech, protected by John Terry, Ricardo Carvalho and Claude Makalele. Scoring on the Blues was harder Victorian England or the early 1990s post-Magic Johnson's HIV revelation.
Nowadays, if you've got some "game", you can slip one past Chelsea, as the strength of the team has moved up the field in the Drogba-Anelka-Lampard troika.
Of course, in irony of ironies, Chelsea drop points at home to Everton and end up picking up a point on Manchester United, which is stunning. I was having a Facebook conversation with Chelsea uber-fan Ironic Steel Salesman, deciding that it would be typical United to pull even in the league, despite not being all that good.
Didn't happened. Again, it was a weird week.
Vote Goldie Wilson for Maynor.
Maybe you saw the clip of Maynor Figueroa's behind-the-halfway-line free kick goal vs. Stoke City. I won't link it since the Premier League are grinches when it comes to copyrights and such.
You probably saw it anyway.
Impressive stuff.
The thing about those kind of hits -- seen by the likes of Beckham, Matty Taylor for Pompey years ago, Diego in the Bundesliga -- you have to catch the keeper off his line. (Didn't this happen to Tim Howard just recently, against I want to say, Spurs?)
I'm curious to see if Figueroa's goal has any affect on the Honduras World Cup betting line. With the Brits go all a'twitter over the hit? Will they now actually give Los Cratchcos a chance? It does give me something to aspire to in "FIFA 10" now.
Pee-Yoo
Say it was the injuries or a crowded fixture list, but Manchester United was about as toothless as I've ever seen in its 1-0 loss at home to Aston Villa.
Perhaps the only good chance was a Dmitar Berbatov 1-on-1 strike that Brad Friedel turned away with about 10 minutes left.
As I said before, it would be typical United fashion to sneak into the top spot, with a suspect team.
Didn't happen.
With the crowded two-a-week fixtures coming, can United and its injury ravaged defense keep up?
The S-A-F affect only counts for so much, you know?
On the other side, excellent job by Aston Villa to make Gabby Agbonlahor's 10th minute goal stand up. That is a fantastic showing.
Villa, though, remain a hard team to wax poetically about. They're efficient. They know their roles. Martin O'Neill seems like a guy you'd like to invite over for Christmas dinner.
The team doesn't have too much outward spark, but that's only a problem for us wretched husks that try to write about this kind of stuff.
Perhaps the best Villa story this season is the massive 'Eff-You' mode that Richard Dunne has played with since his longtime club -- Manchester City -- basically told him he wasn't cool enough to hang with them anymore. Never discount a footballer jilted by his lifetime club. It's like someone getting kicked out of a tribe, be it in the animal kingdom, prison gang, secret government agency. Alone, they can either whither and die off, or become the baddest one-man-show on the block.
And this season, have Kolo Toure or Jolean Lescott been any better than Dunne?
A word on Liverpool/Arsenal:
Andrey Arshavin is my totally, 100-percent platonic, heterosexual man-crush.
That is all.
And I won't be fooled by Arsenal as a title contender again. The Gunners weren't all that special Sunday, regardless of what the table says this morning.
... Liverpool? Handwave.
Other stuff:
I guess you can salute Manchester City for coming back from a couple one-goal deficits at Bolton, to save a 3-3 draw. Then again, the team got no juice whatsoever from beating Chelsea last weekend. Again, if you're a gambler stay away. STAY AWAY. They're those crazy young Hollywood starlets. Sure they book good, but they're batshit insane too. ... You are officially a part-time masochist if you follow Tottenham. How can anyone stomach the week-in, week-out drama hovering over this club? Is that part of the fun? To quote my old pal Chris 'Mad Dog' Russo, that isn't a "bad job outta Spurs", that's a terrible job. You can't contend for the top four and drop three points at home to Wolves, especially letting a fourth-minute goal by Kevin Doyle stand out. ... At least Luka Modric returned. ... Oh wait Benoit Assou-Ekotto apparently tried to rumble with a fan. It never ends. (What else can you say? When a player confronts a fan is its NEVER a good thing.) ... Hey, to Wolves credit, Marcus Hahnemann was in goal. America! Fuck Yeah! Last time he was at White Hart Lane, Sours beat Reading 6-4. ... Can Arsenal just let the Robin van Persie injury rest? Does trying to get money from the Dutch Federation help anyone? It's like pulling off a band aid. Just move on and quit bringing it up and using it as an excuse the players can latch onto. ... At the current moment, you'd probably have to say on form, West Ham is the worst team in the league right now, especially since the Mustard Boys -- Hull/Wolves -- have shown some signs of life. ... Speaking of Hull, if they play a 0-0 draw with Blackburn, does it make a sound?
Line of the month:
"Wayne Rooney is a brainy player." -- Ian Darke.
The set-up is the punchline.
Fantasy Team O' the Week:
As Bel Biv Devoe said, "Never trust a big butt and a smile." Well, never trust the injury notes on the Premier League fantasy game. On my team both Ryan Shawcross and Wayne Rooney were listed in the yellow as "doubtful." Both played. No, I'm not bitter I left 10 points in Shawcross on the bench. Nah.
Best team this week was, fittingly enough, Petr Čech Yourself managed by Turd Wellington, which got 26 from Drogba and solid around-the-board contributions.
Looking ahead:
Why the Premier League packs the fixture list in December continually confuses me. It's like if Major League Baseball decided to schedule Sunday double-headers in June for no apparent reason. What would happen? Teams pitching staffs would get ravaged in the short-term and that toll would continue to manifest itself the rest of the season.
So why soccer? We've already seen that players are as fragile as blown glass. To pack in midweek games -- especially for the big teams in European competitions -- seems crazy. Double that when you factor in the English winter. If you're going to double up, why not do it in April when the weather is more tolerable?
Anyway, we have matches Tuesday and Wednesday.
Tuesday:
* Sunderland v. Aston Villa -- (Live, FSC, 2:30 p.m.) Sunderland 1, Aston Villa 1
* Birmingham City v. Blackburn -- Birmingham City 1, Blackburn 0
* Bolton v. West Ham -- Bolton 2, West Ham 2
* Manchester United v. Wolves -- (Live, Setanta, 2:45 p.m.) Manchester United 2, Wolves 0
Wednesday:
* Burnley v. Arsenal -- (Live, Fox Espanol, 3 p.m.) Burnley 0, Arsenal 2
* Chelsea v. Portsmouth -- (Live, Setanta, 3 p.m.) Chelsea 3, Portsmouth 0
* Tottenham v. Manchester City -- (Live, FSC, 3 p.m.) Spurs 2, City 1
* Liverpool v. Wigan -- Liverpool 1, Wigan 0
This weekend: 3-7, ouch.
Season: 81-78
One last thing:
South Africa is so hot right now.
Consider me confused. The World Cup is happening in the country next June, but this movie "Invictus" is out now and it's about rugby.
Hurm?
Aren't those two different sports?
(Sarcasm folks.)
Travel all
The way to Earth
Coming restless mile
Easing all of them
All of them for you
Strange times
Here." -- "Strange Times", the Black Keys
If I told you that a game involving Chelsea and Everton at Stamford Bridge would finish with six goals, wouldn't you put money toward a 5-1 result in favor of the Blues?
If I told you the match ended 3-3 and Chelsea ended up gaining points on Manchester United?
If I told you a match at White Hart Lane would end in a clean sheet, would you ever in a million years pick Wolves as the club to do it?
Would you believe me when I said the hottest team in the Premier League is Birmingham City, and it employs the hottest player -- Lee Bowyer?
Would you believe that Aston Villa beat Manchester United for the first time since
"Land Down Under", "Maneater", "Come on Eileen" and "Hungry Like the Wolf" topped the pop charts?
Would you believe that Portsmouth, yes last place Pompey, would score a late equalizer on the road and then have the goal scorer -- Younes Kaboul -- sent off for taking off his shirt?
Finally, what would have been the preseason odds that Wigan's Honduran midfielder Maynor Figueroa would hit the potential goal-of-the-year?
The odds of any of these things happening? Slim, like Nic Cage winning an Oscar. Oh wait, that happened. Let's amend that to post-1995 Cage winning the award.
All of them in the same weekend?
Strange Times, indeed.
Cech yo self before you wreck yo self:
Not to give myself a Barry Horowitz pat on the back, well, maybe to do that, but looks like people are catching on that Petr Cech has slipped in nets for Chelsea. It's understandable. To play at the level he was at in 2004-2006 would be nearly impossible. (Even his one-time rival for world's best keeper -- Gigi Buffon -- has taken a step back this year.) And Cech did has his skull crushed.
I know it's a while ago, but those gaffes vs. Turkey at the Euro killed the Cech mystique.
Saturday vs. Everton he caught two bad breaks -- a ball bouncing off his back when he dove to make a save, followed by Didier Drogba trying to head a ball clear, only for it to bounce off Louis Saha's back and into the goal.
When Chelsea won back-to-back titles under Mourninho, the core of the team was Cech, protected by John Terry, Ricardo Carvalho and Claude Makalele. Scoring on the Blues was harder Victorian England or the early 1990s post-Magic Johnson's HIV revelation.
Nowadays, if you've got some "game", you can slip one past Chelsea, as the strength of the team has moved up the field in the Drogba-Anelka-Lampard troika.
Of course, in irony of ironies, Chelsea drop points at home to Everton and end up picking up a point on Manchester United, which is stunning. I was having a Facebook conversation with Chelsea uber-fan Ironic Steel Salesman, deciding that it would be typical United to pull even in the league, despite not being all that good.
Didn't happened. Again, it was a weird week.
Vote Goldie Wilson for Maynor.
Maybe you saw the clip of Maynor Figueroa's behind-the-halfway-line free kick goal vs. Stoke City. I won't link it since the Premier League are grinches when it comes to copyrights and such.
You probably saw it anyway.
Impressive stuff.
The thing about those kind of hits -- seen by the likes of Beckham, Matty Taylor for Pompey years ago, Diego in the Bundesliga -- you have to catch the keeper off his line. (Didn't this happen to Tim Howard just recently, against I want to say, Spurs?)
I'm curious to see if Figueroa's goal has any affect on the Honduras World Cup betting line. With the Brits go all a'twitter over the hit? Will they now actually give Los Cratchcos a chance? It does give me something to aspire to in "FIFA 10" now.
Pee-Yoo
Say it was the injuries or a crowded fixture list, but Manchester United was about as toothless as I've ever seen in its 1-0 loss at home to Aston Villa.
Perhaps the only good chance was a Dmitar Berbatov 1-on-1 strike that Brad Friedel turned away with about 10 minutes left.
As I said before, it would be typical United fashion to sneak into the top spot, with a suspect team.
Didn't happen.
With the crowded two-a-week fixtures coming, can United and its injury ravaged defense keep up?
The S-A-F affect only counts for so much, you know?
On the other side, excellent job by Aston Villa to make Gabby Agbonlahor's 10th minute goal stand up. That is a fantastic showing.
Villa, though, remain a hard team to wax poetically about. They're efficient. They know their roles. Martin O'Neill seems like a guy you'd like to invite over for Christmas dinner.
The team doesn't have too much outward spark, but that's only a problem for us wretched husks that try to write about this kind of stuff.
Perhaps the best Villa story this season is the massive 'Eff-You' mode that Richard Dunne has played with since his longtime club -- Manchester City -- basically told him he wasn't cool enough to hang with them anymore. Never discount a footballer jilted by his lifetime club. It's like someone getting kicked out of a tribe, be it in the animal kingdom, prison gang, secret government agency. Alone, they can either whither and die off, or become the baddest one-man-show on the block.
And this season, have Kolo Toure or Jolean Lescott been any better than Dunne?
A word on Liverpool/Arsenal:
Andrey Arshavin is my totally, 100-percent platonic, heterosexual man-crush.
That is all.
And I won't be fooled by Arsenal as a title contender again. The Gunners weren't all that special Sunday, regardless of what the table says this morning.
... Liverpool? Handwave.
Other stuff:
I guess you can salute Manchester City for coming back from a couple one-goal deficits at Bolton, to save a 3-3 draw. Then again, the team got no juice whatsoever from beating Chelsea last weekend. Again, if you're a gambler stay away. STAY AWAY. They're those crazy young Hollywood starlets. Sure they book good, but they're batshit insane too. ... You are officially a part-time masochist if you follow Tottenham. How can anyone stomach the week-in, week-out drama hovering over this club? Is that part of the fun? To quote my old pal Chris 'Mad Dog' Russo, that isn't a "bad job outta Spurs", that's a terrible job. You can't contend for the top four and drop three points at home to Wolves, especially letting a fourth-minute goal by Kevin Doyle stand out. ... At least Luka Modric returned. ... Oh wait Benoit Assou-Ekotto apparently tried to rumble with a fan. It never ends. (What else can you say? When a player confronts a fan is its NEVER a good thing.) ... Hey, to Wolves credit, Marcus Hahnemann was in goal. America! Fuck Yeah! Last time he was at White Hart Lane, Sours beat Reading 6-4. ... Can Arsenal just let the Robin van Persie injury rest? Does trying to get money from the Dutch Federation help anyone? It's like pulling off a band aid. Just move on and quit bringing it up and using it as an excuse the players can latch onto. ... At the current moment, you'd probably have to say on form, West Ham is the worst team in the league right now, especially since the Mustard Boys -- Hull/Wolves -- have shown some signs of life. ... Speaking of Hull, if they play a 0-0 draw with Blackburn, does it make a sound?
Line of the month:
"Wayne Rooney is a brainy player." -- Ian Darke.
The set-up is the punchline.
Fantasy Team O' the Week:
As Bel Biv Devoe said, "Never trust a big butt and a smile." Well, never trust the injury notes on the Premier League fantasy game. On my team both Ryan Shawcross and Wayne Rooney were listed in the yellow as "doubtful." Both played. No, I'm not bitter I left 10 points in Shawcross on the bench. Nah.
Best team this week was, fittingly enough, Petr Čech Yourself managed by Turd Wellington, which got 26 from Drogba and solid around-the-board contributions.
Looking ahead:
Why the Premier League packs the fixture list in December continually confuses me. It's like if Major League Baseball decided to schedule Sunday double-headers in June for no apparent reason. What would happen? Teams pitching staffs would get ravaged in the short-term and that toll would continue to manifest itself the rest of the season.
So why soccer? We've already seen that players are as fragile as blown glass. To pack in midweek games -- especially for the big teams in European competitions -- seems crazy. Double that when you factor in the English winter. If you're going to double up, why not do it in April when the weather is more tolerable?
Anyway, we have matches Tuesday and Wednesday.
Tuesday:
* Sunderland v. Aston Villa -- (Live, FSC, 2:30 p.m.) Sunderland 1, Aston Villa 1
* Birmingham City v. Blackburn -- Birmingham City 1, Blackburn 0
* Bolton v. West Ham -- Bolton 2, West Ham 2
* Manchester United v. Wolves -- (Live, Setanta, 2:45 p.m.) Manchester United 2, Wolves 0
Wednesday:
* Burnley v. Arsenal -- (Live, Fox Espanol, 3 p.m.) Burnley 0, Arsenal 2
* Chelsea v. Portsmouth -- (Live, Setanta, 3 p.m.) Chelsea 3, Portsmouth 0
* Tottenham v. Manchester City -- (Live, FSC, 3 p.m.) Spurs 2, City 1
* Liverpool v. Wigan -- Liverpool 1, Wigan 0
This weekend: 3-7, ouch.
Season: 81-78
One last thing:
South Africa is so hot right now.
Consider me confused. The World Cup is happening in the country next June, but this movie "Invictus" is out now and it's about rugby.
Hurm?
Aren't those two different sports?
(Sarcasm folks.)
Labels: Chelsea, Didier Drogba, English Premier League, Monday recaps, Soccer, tottenham hotspur
"Who am I? ... Where am I going." -- Tony Soprano/Kevin Finnerty, Season Six coma-fever dream. (Look, on closer inspection the final season of the show isn't as bad as you remember when it first aired.)
As Father Time creeps ever closer to 2010, to me, the biggest issue a soccer club can have is an identity crisis. In a perfect, Don Garber-endorsed, world every team in every league would have the stated goal of winning the league. We know that in reality, that's simply not possible.
The playing field in Europe isn't level.
Outside of, maybe, the Bundesliga there isn't much parity in the major leagues of Europe with the top titles usually fluctuating between a small cadre of power clubs. Just look at Turkey where only one club -- Trabzonspor -- has wrested the Super Lig crown away from the Istanbul three-headed monster of Fenerbache, Besiktas and Galatasaray.
Or take the Scottish Premier League, where it's a two-way dual every season between Rangers and Celtic, which conveniently enough are two clubs wondering where they stand in the world.
With over 100 years of rich history, each Scottish club has made an enormous impact on the world game. Celtic might have supporters in every country on earth and made history by becoming the first British club to win the Champions League/European Cup with its famed Lisbon Lions in 1967.
And it was only a year or two ago that Rangers were playing -- and losing -- in the UEFA Cup final.
But where are these clubs now? Chasing at ghosts of games past.
Not to bring it back to "The Wire", but remember near the very end of the final episode when Marlo gets out of jail and goes to the businessman's meeting, bailing after a few minutes of small talk? He goes back to the street and gets in a scrap with some young toughs. They didn't know who is was. His name didn't ring out anymore.
Sadly, that's happened to both these clubs. Quicker they face facts, the better.
Anyway, back to the task at hand, according to the UEFA coefficients the SPL is the 13th best league in Europe and isn't exactly a destination for high-priced, transcendent talents. Celtic didn't even make the Group Stage of the Champions League this season and struggled in the Europa League. Rangers finished last in its group behind Romanian club Unirea Urziceni, which comes from a town of 17,000 people.
Yikes.
So what are these clubs to do? With dwindling interest in the SPL and the EPL denying them access to the riches of the English game, the club directors need to decide if its worth pouring more money into the club at hopes of catching lightning in a bottle in Europe, or recede back and curb expectations.
In short, it's the worst position to be, good ... but not great enough to make an impact of win trophies.
To me, you're better off taking a Fulham 2008-09 approach. It might not be "sexy" but targeting a Top 10 finish and perhaps slipping into the Europa League isn't the worst thing in the world. It beats the alternative of of meandering around without any stated ambition or target.
Look at Everton, which many American fans in the last couple seasons have adopted as a team to root for outside the "Big Four."
David Moyes' little engine that could has chugged and chugged and huffed and puffed and maintained a place in the top six of the Premier League. No small feat for a club with modest revenues in comparison to the big fish of the league.
Now in 2009-10, with a mounting injury crisis, Everton finds itself barely above the relegation zone and heavily linked for a short-term loan for American Landon Donovan.
Did we ever think we'd read that sentence? A respected, traditional-laden club in England turning to the man derided as Landy Cakes? (Man, the English are going ga-ga over the Yanks ahead of the World Cup. This is weird.)
Saying nothing of Donovan's abilities -- he could make an impact, but where exactly does Moyes think he can play? Is is going to displace Tim Cahill -- the club's talisman -- from a withdrawn striker spot? Will be bump Louis Saha, Yakubu and Jo from the forward/striker role? Or "Little Billy" -- who the club just bought -- from the left midfield?
All these questions point to a bigger issue for Everton, and clubs in its position -- when is it time to move on? The Toffee core of Cahill, Mikel Arteta (who I respect too much to give the middle name "Milkbones", but it's getting to Tomas Rosicky-like levels with the Spaniard), Joseph Yobo, Phil Jagielka, etc. brought the club to great heights and, cruelly enough, an FA Cup runner up spot earlier this year. When can the club move away from this core, which is creeping toward 30, to the new crew of guys like Jack Rodwell, Victor Anichebe and Seamus Coleman?
Can you actually rebuild in the Premier League, where the specter of relegation hangs over the heads of every club? You can't just mail in a season like in American sports and reassess things at the end of it, hoping for a high draft pick in the process. There is no social contract in the cutthroat world of the Premier League.
Everton made its push for the top four and the Champions League financial windfall.
Can it keep chasing the dream with the same core, spending more money at the hopes of the honeypot at the end of the rainbow? Or do you make the tough decision that you have to start moving on? Is it worth selling Arteta while his name still carries some credence?
When you're Everton, or any other club in a position like it, you can't buy your way out of mistakes.
And pumping money at a problem that is beyond the control the club, well, that's a recipe for disaster.
Three other little things:
* Let's call it a huge World Cup X-factor. What happens if Ghana can somehow convince Mario Balotelli to shun Italy and play for the Black Stars? Can Sulley Muntari whisper anything into his ear at Inter?
* One thing I'd like to see added to "FIFA 11" or the EA World Cup game -- goal keeper injuries. I've logged major minutes and never seen it happen. It would add some spice when keepers rush at the players feet on 1-v-1s. Of course, gruesome facial fractures don't make for snappy television commericials. (Aren't the "FIFA 10" ads omnipresent, not just on soccer telecasts. I've seen them during breaks on "It's Always Sunny." So there.)
* Jens Lehmann, nuff said.
Saturday:
* Stoke City v. Wigan Athletic -- (Live, ESPN2, 7:45 a.m.) Isn't it something that it hardly raises an eyebrow that reports that Stoke boss Tony Pulis and striker James Beattie had a dustup allegedly over a day off following the team Christmas party? Guess it's in line with Stoke, which is chugging along with a 5-5-5 record. Wigan has proved itself to be the most unpredictable team in the league, but never seem to do much on the road. Doubt they'll have too many traveling supporters to the Britania Stadium, so no refunds will be in order. ... Stoke City 1, Wigan 0
* Birmingham City v. West Ham United -- A while ago we established there's a big blog of teams hovering around the middle of the table. At the moment, Birmingham seems to have the most juice of that six or seven team blob, winning three-straight matches and going six without a loss. Not too shabby for a club that seems to know its role. Maybe it was as simple as Alex McLeish deciding to pair Chucho Benitez and Cameron Jerome, instead of isolating a lone striker up top. West Ham still can't get out of its own way, but has won five-straight at St. Andrews, so it has that going for it, which is nice. ... Birmingham City 1, West Ham 0
* Bolton v. Manchester City -- (Live, FSC, 10 a.m.) Doesn't it just seem destined that coming off the huge Chelsea win that City stubs its toe here? That said, this team is too good to lose, even away, to a lousy bunch like Bolton. Expect almost as many traveling City fans in the building as Trotters fans. ... Bolton 1, City 2
* Burnley v. Fulham -- If you're an actual bettor, this is a red flag, stay away match. Oddly enough, both teams have scored 19 goals, though it seems like Burnley has scored much more since they've been in a couple of those 3-3-type thrillers. I did read that Fulham is putting Eddie Johnson up for sale. If he wants to make the U.S. World Cup team, retreating back to MLS and getting steady burn in March, April and May wouldn't be as bad as trying to establish himself at a new team, should somebody want him. ... Burnley 2, Fulham 1
* Chelsea v. Everton -- (Live, Setanta, 10 a.m.) Chelsea off a loss and Everton off an emotional draw is a dangerous combination. Though not as bad as its top-table rivals, Chelsea is getting some chinks in its armor with now Michael Essien shelved for a month. (We might not see the Ghana ace until February depending on the African Cup of Nations.) If Everton has to start Yobo and Tony Hibbert in the middle of defense, there is no way they withstand the Chelsea pressure, unless Petr Cech screws up a couple free kicks. (Weird Ancelotti called him out and then the Cech keeper publicly admitted his mistake on the Carlos Tevez free kick vs. City last week. Bears watching.) ... Cheslea 3, Everton 1
* Hull City v. Blackburn Rovers -- Another game I wouldn't put one red cent on. There's no way to tell how Hull City comes out in light of the Jimmy Bullard injury. It's an injury they can't replace. Blackburn, which is playing better, has an easy problem to diagnose. Big Sam needs to grab a proven goal-scorer in January. As it stand David Dunn is the club's top scorer at five. Doubt that kind of output carries into the second half of the season. Here's a name to throw out, Darius Vassell. Yeah, he's not good, but he plays in Turkey for Ankaragücü. In November he was evicted from the hotel he was living in since the club failed to pay the bill. He has played in the Premier League and might come cheap or on loan. Basically, a warm body that knows the league and might catch a hot streak for a couple weeks. ... Hull City 1, Blackburn 1
* Sunderland v. Portsmouth -- Even with a recent mini-slump, Sunderland is still pretty good at the Stadium of Light. ... Sunderland 2, Portsmouth 0
* Tottenham v. Wolves -- Thank the scheduling gods, Spurs fans. After that disaster last week at Goodison Park, they return home for a nice lay-up in the form of Wolves. Jermain Defoe will probably be out for blood after missing the would-be penalty winner. ... Tottenham 2, Wolves 1
* Manchester United v. Aston Villa -- (Live, FSC, 12:30 p.m.) Manchester United? Sol Campbell? Stranger things have happened. That said, is Sir Alex that desperate? United has won its last two matches (West Ham, Wolfsburg) with a patchwork defense that would make MacGyver proud. Can they pull off the trick against a quality Villa team that probably isn't in a charitable mood? Aston Villa makes it bread on set pieces, which is something United should be warned about. That all said, United never seem to lose at home to Villa. Not sure why history matters in matches like this, but it does. Manchester United is Manchester United for a reason. And if United can get a few more good weeks out of Michael Owen, Sir Alex would be more than thrilled. ... Manchester United 2, Aston Villa 1
Sunday:
* Liverpool v. Arsenal -- (Live, FSC, 11 a.m.) It took some jogging, but remember last year when Andrey Arshavin announced his arrival in the Premier League with four goals against Liverpool, thus ending the Red slim hopes of winning the title. Yeah, it happened. I doubt there's not nearly that much excitement in this edition of the psuedo-rivalry. (Of all the possible 'Big Four' pairings, this has the least heat, right?) At stake here is at least one team can kickstart its Premier League campaign. Obviously it means more to Liverpool, which has nothing else to play for this season. For whatever the reason, Arsenal is due a classic Arsenal game and against a spotty Liverpool defense the Gunners could put up a couple goals. Plus, I think Cesc Fabreas, Samir Nasri and Arshavin run Javier Mascherano and perhaps even Alberto Aquiliani ragged. Lame analysis, but this game should be fun to watch. ... Liverpool 1, Arsenal 2
Last week: 4-6
Season: 78-70
As Father Time creeps ever closer to 2010, to me, the biggest issue a soccer club can have is an identity crisis. In a perfect, Don Garber-endorsed, world every team in every league would have the stated goal of winning the league. We know that in reality, that's simply not possible.
The playing field in Europe isn't level.
Outside of, maybe, the Bundesliga there isn't much parity in the major leagues of Europe with the top titles usually fluctuating between a small cadre of power clubs. Just look at Turkey where only one club -- Trabzonspor -- has wrested the Super Lig crown away from the Istanbul three-headed monster of Fenerbache, Besiktas and Galatasaray.
Or take the Scottish Premier League, where it's a two-way dual every season between Rangers and Celtic, which conveniently enough are two clubs wondering where they stand in the world.
With over 100 years of rich history, each Scottish club has made an enormous impact on the world game. Celtic might have supporters in every country on earth and made history by becoming the first British club to win the Champions League/European Cup with its famed Lisbon Lions in 1967.
And it was only a year or two ago that Rangers were playing -- and losing -- in the UEFA Cup final.
But where are these clubs now? Chasing at ghosts of games past.
Not to bring it back to "The Wire", but remember near the very end of the final episode when Marlo gets out of jail and goes to the businessman's meeting, bailing after a few minutes of small talk? He goes back to the street and gets in a scrap with some young toughs. They didn't know who is was. His name didn't ring out anymore.
Sadly, that's happened to both these clubs. Quicker they face facts, the better.
Anyway, back to the task at hand, according to the UEFA coefficients the SPL is the 13th best league in Europe and isn't exactly a destination for high-priced, transcendent talents. Celtic didn't even make the Group Stage of the Champions League this season and struggled in the Europa League. Rangers finished last in its group behind Romanian club Unirea Urziceni, which comes from a town of 17,000 people.
Yikes.
So what are these clubs to do? With dwindling interest in the SPL and the EPL denying them access to the riches of the English game, the club directors need to decide if its worth pouring more money into the club at hopes of catching lightning in a bottle in Europe, or recede back and curb expectations.
In short, it's the worst position to be, good ... but not great enough to make an impact of win trophies.
To me, you're better off taking a Fulham 2008-09 approach. It might not be "sexy" but targeting a Top 10 finish and perhaps slipping into the Europa League isn't the worst thing in the world. It beats the alternative of of meandering around without any stated ambition or target.
Look at Everton, which many American fans in the last couple seasons have adopted as a team to root for outside the "Big Four."
David Moyes' little engine that could has chugged and chugged and huffed and puffed and maintained a place in the top six of the Premier League. No small feat for a club with modest revenues in comparison to the big fish of the league.
Now in 2009-10, with a mounting injury crisis, Everton finds itself barely above the relegation zone and heavily linked for a short-term loan for American Landon Donovan.
Did we ever think we'd read that sentence? A respected, traditional-laden club in England turning to the man derided as Landy Cakes? (Man, the English are going ga-ga over the Yanks ahead of the World Cup. This is weird.)
Saying nothing of Donovan's abilities -- he could make an impact, but where exactly does Moyes think he can play? Is is going to displace Tim Cahill -- the club's talisman -- from a withdrawn striker spot? Will be bump Louis Saha, Yakubu and Jo from the forward/striker role? Or "Little Billy" -- who the club just bought -- from the left midfield?
All these questions point to a bigger issue for Everton, and clubs in its position -- when is it time to move on? The Toffee core of Cahill, Mikel Arteta (who I respect too much to give the middle name "Milkbones", but it's getting to Tomas Rosicky-like levels with the Spaniard), Joseph Yobo, Phil Jagielka, etc. brought the club to great heights and, cruelly enough, an FA Cup runner up spot earlier this year. When can the club move away from this core, which is creeping toward 30, to the new crew of guys like Jack Rodwell, Victor Anichebe and Seamus Coleman?
Can you actually rebuild in the Premier League, where the specter of relegation hangs over the heads of every club? You can't just mail in a season like in American sports and reassess things at the end of it, hoping for a high draft pick in the process. There is no social contract in the cutthroat world of the Premier League.
Everton made its push for the top four and the Champions League financial windfall.
Can it keep chasing the dream with the same core, spending more money at the hopes of the honeypot at the end of the rainbow? Or do you make the tough decision that you have to start moving on? Is it worth selling Arteta while his name still carries some credence?
When you're Everton, or any other club in a position like it, you can't buy your way out of mistakes.
And pumping money at a problem that is beyond the control the club, well, that's a recipe for disaster.
Three other little things:
* Let's call it a huge World Cup X-factor. What happens if Ghana can somehow convince Mario Balotelli to shun Italy and play for the Black Stars? Can Sulley Muntari whisper anything into his ear at Inter?
* One thing I'd like to see added to "FIFA 11" or the EA World Cup game -- goal keeper injuries. I've logged major minutes and never seen it happen. It would add some spice when keepers rush at the players feet on 1-v-1s. Of course, gruesome facial fractures don't make for snappy television commericials. (Aren't the "FIFA 10" ads omnipresent, not just on soccer telecasts. I've seen them during breaks on "It's Always Sunny." So there.)
* Jens Lehmann, nuff said.
Saturday:
* Stoke City v. Wigan Athletic -- (Live, ESPN2, 7:45 a.m.) Isn't it something that it hardly raises an eyebrow that reports that Stoke boss Tony Pulis and striker James Beattie had a dustup allegedly over a day off following the team Christmas party? Guess it's in line with Stoke, which is chugging along with a 5-5-5 record. Wigan has proved itself to be the most unpredictable team in the league, but never seem to do much on the road. Doubt they'll have too many traveling supporters to the Britania Stadium, so no refunds will be in order. ... Stoke City 1, Wigan 0
* Birmingham City v. West Ham United -- A while ago we established there's a big blog of teams hovering around the middle of the table. At the moment, Birmingham seems to have the most juice of that six or seven team blob, winning three-straight matches and going six without a loss. Not too shabby for a club that seems to know its role. Maybe it was as simple as Alex McLeish deciding to pair Chucho Benitez and Cameron Jerome, instead of isolating a lone striker up top. West Ham still can't get out of its own way, but has won five-straight at St. Andrews, so it has that going for it, which is nice. ... Birmingham City 1, West Ham 0
* Bolton v. Manchester City -- (Live, FSC, 10 a.m.) Doesn't it just seem destined that coming off the huge Chelsea win that City stubs its toe here? That said, this team is too good to lose, even away, to a lousy bunch like Bolton. Expect almost as many traveling City fans in the building as Trotters fans. ... Bolton 1, City 2
* Burnley v. Fulham -- If you're an actual bettor, this is a red flag, stay away match. Oddly enough, both teams have scored 19 goals, though it seems like Burnley has scored much more since they've been in a couple of those 3-3-type thrillers. I did read that Fulham is putting Eddie Johnson up for sale. If he wants to make the U.S. World Cup team, retreating back to MLS and getting steady burn in March, April and May wouldn't be as bad as trying to establish himself at a new team, should somebody want him. ... Burnley 2, Fulham 1
* Chelsea v. Everton -- (Live, Setanta, 10 a.m.) Chelsea off a loss and Everton off an emotional draw is a dangerous combination. Though not as bad as its top-table rivals, Chelsea is getting some chinks in its armor with now Michael Essien shelved for a month. (We might not see the Ghana ace until February depending on the African Cup of Nations.) If Everton has to start Yobo and Tony Hibbert in the middle of defense, there is no way they withstand the Chelsea pressure, unless Petr Cech screws up a couple free kicks. (Weird Ancelotti called him out and then the Cech keeper publicly admitted his mistake on the Carlos Tevez free kick vs. City last week. Bears watching.) ... Cheslea 3, Everton 1
* Hull City v. Blackburn Rovers -- Another game I wouldn't put one red cent on. There's no way to tell how Hull City comes out in light of the Jimmy Bullard injury. It's an injury they can't replace. Blackburn, which is playing better, has an easy problem to diagnose. Big Sam needs to grab a proven goal-scorer in January. As it stand David Dunn is the club's top scorer at five. Doubt that kind of output carries into the second half of the season. Here's a name to throw out, Darius Vassell. Yeah, he's not good, but he plays in Turkey for Ankaragücü. In November he was evicted from the hotel he was living in since the club failed to pay the bill. He has played in the Premier League and might come cheap or on loan. Basically, a warm body that knows the league and might catch a hot streak for a couple weeks. ... Hull City 1, Blackburn 1
* Sunderland v. Portsmouth -- Even with a recent mini-slump, Sunderland is still pretty good at the Stadium of Light. ... Sunderland 2, Portsmouth 0
* Tottenham v. Wolves -- Thank the scheduling gods, Spurs fans. After that disaster last week at Goodison Park, they return home for a nice lay-up in the form of Wolves. Jermain Defoe will probably be out for blood after missing the would-be penalty winner. ... Tottenham 2, Wolves 1
* Manchester United v. Aston Villa -- (Live, FSC, 12:30 p.m.) Manchester United? Sol Campbell? Stranger things have happened. That said, is Sir Alex that desperate? United has won its last two matches (West Ham, Wolfsburg) with a patchwork defense that would make MacGyver proud. Can they pull off the trick against a quality Villa team that probably isn't in a charitable mood? Aston Villa makes it bread on set pieces, which is something United should be warned about. That all said, United never seem to lose at home to Villa. Not sure why history matters in matches like this, but it does. Manchester United is Manchester United for a reason. And if United can get a few more good weeks out of Michael Owen, Sir Alex would be more than thrilled. ... Manchester United 2, Aston Villa 1
Sunday:
* Liverpool v. Arsenal -- (Live, FSC, 11 a.m.) It took some jogging, but remember last year when Andrey Arshavin announced his arrival in the Premier League with four goals against Liverpool, thus ending the Red slim hopes of winning the title. Yeah, it happened. I doubt there's not nearly that much excitement in this edition of the psuedo-rivalry. (Of all the possible 'Big Four' pairings, this has the least heat, right?) At stake here is at least one team can kickstart its Premier League campaign. Obviously it means more to Liverpool, which has nothing else to play for this season. For whatever the reason, Arsenal is due a classic Arsenal game and against a spotty Liverpool defense the Gunners could put up a couple goals. Plus, I think Cesc Fabreas, Samir Nasri and Arshavin run Javier Mascherano and perhaps even Alberto Aquiliani ragged. Lame analysis, but this game should be fun to watch. ... Liverpool 1, Arsenal 2
Last week: 4-6
Season: 78-70
Labels: English Premier League, Prem Picks, Soccer
If you're not a "Mad Men" watcher, skip the next paragraph or two.
Remember the episode this year when Paul Kinsey stayed late to work on the Western Union telegraph campaign? Remember, how with the aid of the helpful janitor, he cooked up the perfect idea? Remember how he woke up the next morning dismayed since he hadn't written said genius idea down?
That happened to me last night, to a much lesser, much less 1960s stylized scenario, although my terrible facial hair would rival Kinsey's.
Driving Saturday night I had a great idea, including a song lyric about the Manchester City/Chelsea match. Then driving back home, I spent the whole ride trying to remember that idea.
Maybe it wasn't that good.
All that really matters is what was really good and that was Mark Hughes' team notching a 2-1 win over Chelsea at the City of Manchester City Stadium, reigniting a possible Premier League title chase in the process.
I'll get out my Chelsea thoughts first, actually there is only one. As good as the Blues are, every now-and-then they have a hiccup and just don't look to have their cutting edge and lose a game. (Wonder if Didier Drogba's shoulder is actually hurt and something worth watching.)
If I'm a Blues fan, I don't dimiss the loss, but I don't dwell on it either.
And 90 percent of the time Chelsea walks out with a 2-2 draw, considering Frank Lampard had a late 80th-minute-plus penalty kick.
But Shay Given guessed to his right, blocked the save ... and Nigel de Jong's would-be smooch, and we have a title chase again.
City, it should be noted, played much more of a 2007 Blackburn Rovers team, than the would-be Brazil Juniors it's rich owners might want.
Eureka! I remembered my lost lead to the post.
"Is you saying I aint 'ard?" -- Vinnie Jones, "Extras"
Hughes fielded a "hard"/physical team, with guys like de Jong, Micah Richards, Carlos Tevez, etc. Yes, there were the tricky wings of Shaun Wright-Phillips and Robinho, but overall this was a team that unlike Arsenal a week earlier, could physically stand toe-to-toe with the horsepower of Chelsea. Most pundits would have you believe the strong, physical, imposing football played by Chelsea is the way of the future. Teams will have to adapt ... or be Barcelona to withstand it. City, for one day at least, didn't need to resort to 10-behind-the-ball and or thuggery to stand up to the Blue machine.
Is Emmanuel Adebayor a "hard" player? No. But at least he's humongously lanky in stature and gives Richardo Carvalho and Lionheart trouble in the back. (Not the best game for Mr. John Terry, he deflects the ball to Adebayor for the first City goal, protesting without avail for an offside. Then he needs to come off in the 88th minute to get his knee wrapped up in a WWI-style dressing. Of course the announcers said something along the lines of, "John Terry can't bear to sit down and watch the end of this" when the cameras caught he standing on the sidelines. Ugh. This U.S./England stuff is going to be tough to swallow thanks to the lionization of the English press.)
Naturally, not too may teams can do this, and to try to beat Chelsea you need to punch them in the mouth (Bobby Knight-cum-Brian Dennehy, style optional) -- not to mention get a perfectly placed free kick from Tevez that fooled the wall and Petr Cech.
So long story short, thanks to a proper guess by Given -- who everyone on planet earth would agree could have used a break -- we now have a chase.
Broken, beaten scarred:
In the words of Metallica, Manchester United, "Dies hard."
Love or hate Sir Alex Ferguson, but he coaxed a 4-0 road win when he defense ended as Patrice Evra -- Wes Brown -- Michael Carrick -- Darren Fletcher. How many other teams would survive injuries to its first choice center backs (ok Spurs seem to be doing it) then have Gary Neville limp off in the first half?
It will not be that easy next weekend with Aston Villa coming to town.
Then again, if this Darron Gibson kid keeps firing away...
Sorry Jimmy:
Curse me for praising Jimmy Bullard last weekend.
Poor guy got flipped over in Hull's loss at Villa Saturday, landed awkwardly and eventually limped off in tears. It's a shame, too. Fun player to watch, Bullard.
At least the injury isn't to the knee that had surgery and sidelined him for nine months. Still, he'll certainly miss a decent amount of time.
Wonder how much this sucks the wind out of Hull's recent mini-revival?
A humble suggestion to Bob Bradley:
Now that we know the U.S. draw for next June, which includes England, (read this football365.com piece for some great laughes I wish I was talented enough to have written), perhaps Senor Bradley might consider deploying Clint Dempsey in the middle of the park.
Put it this way, Dempsey has arguably been Fulham's best performer so far in the Premier League season, henceforth, he's playing against most of England's ineternationals on a week-in, week-out basis. Like it or not, he's the best outfield American player in Europe right now, a guy who's fought for a spot, claimed it and is now a fulcrum in a top-half-of-the-table squad in England.
Fulham boss Roy Hodgson is confident enough to play him in a central midfield role, and let him take free kicks.
To throw Dempsey outside on the right midfield in the U.S. set up simply doesn't make sense. At the very least, in light of Charlie Davies health, Dempsey should be playing in a withdrawn striker position.
This isn't rocket science. Isn't a U.S. midfield that features Michael Bradley and Dempsey in the middle (possible Ancelotti diamond scenario) giving the U.S. a better chance than Bradley/Clark/Feilhaber/Jones (?)/etc.?
Other Stuff:
Tip of the cap to Seb Larrson, who scored a pair of free kick goals at Wigan Saturday in Birmingham City's 3-2 win. Don't look now by Alex McLeish has Brum up to ninth in the table, a mere three points behind Liverpool. ... As for Liverpool, there are snooze fests and there are SNOOZE FESTS. Blackburn 0, Liverpool 0 was the latter. One chance for the Reds through David Ngog, which Chris Samba poked away. And if not for a valiant charge by Pepe Reina and subsequent forearm shiver into Nikola Kalinic on a stoppage time breakaway then Liverpool walks away with nothing. ... Best play of the weekend might be from Steve Sidwell, who wasn't even on the field for Aston Villa. For some reason Hull keeper Matt Duke came way out of the penalty box. The ball went out of play. Sidwell quickly flipped the ball to Gabby Agbonlahor, who threw it in play to an on-running James Milner, who then chipped it over Duke. One-of-a-kind play. Good stuff. ... Arsenal took care of business, 2-0 vs. Stoke City, but didn't look all that impressive. The floodgates probably would have opened up if Emmanuel Eboue didn't block away Cesc Fabregas' empty net attempt inside the first half hour with the score already 1-0. Arsene Wenger still has talent at his disposal, but he needs some sort of a physical presence/target at the top of the attack. I'm sure he could find somebody cheap in January as a stop gap. ... Maybe my ears deceived me, but didn't the announcer in the Arsenal match say it was something like the 400th appearance for the Gunners by Fabregas? That sounded insane, since he's only 22. As per Wikipedia, Fabregas has 248 total appearances for Arsenal with 173 in the Premier League. ... By contrast it was Steven Gerrard 500th overall appearance with Liverpool on Saturday. He's 29. ... Just when you think Spurs are going to notch a drama-free 2-0 win at Everton, they go and allow two goals in the final 15 minutes, and then get bailed out by a stoppage time penalty ... only for Tim Howard to deny Jermain Defoe with his legs. Insanity thy name is Tottenham. ... Lot of swearing picked up by the mics at Goodison Park on Sunday. Probably not surprising considering the state of Everton, which are on track for a season like the current Tennessee Titans, who won 13 games in the 2008 NFL season only to start 0-6 in 2009. Of course, unlike the Titans, the Toffees don't have Vince Young on the bench to help them rattle off five-straight wins and revive the season. Not sure if a crazy 2-2 draw kickstarts the campaign. ... Thinking about that Spurs/Everton game makes my head hurt too much to say any more about it.
Fantasy Team O' the Week:
Top honors, go to yours truly with 78 points, thanks to Andrey Arshavin, Richard Dunne and Thomas Sorensen.
One other thing:
This show is a couple years old (especially for anyone reading in the UK), but is now getting the Sunday night [adult swim] treatment, so set your DVR for it -- "The Mighty Boosh."
To me, Howard Moon and Vince Noir are the the 2000s continuation of the great comedy duo tradition. They have the timing, the pacing, the quirks. It's weird, but it works.
Maybe this clip cracks you up, maybe it doesn't. It should, because "The Boosh" is comedy gold.
So yeah having said all that, "Venture Bros." and "Mighty Boosh" help to offset the Sunday night loss of "Curb."
Final thought:
Did you ever think we'd see a weekend where Fabregas, Lampard and Defoe all had penalty kicks saved?
Suppose all three, conservatively, convert 80 percent from the spot. For all three to miss, that's a 0.008 percent chance of happening. (Methinks.) Thanks Statistics 110.
Either way, it's anti-trifecta.
Okay, one more thing:
I'm teetering toward Twitter. Do readers want this? Feedback welcome.
Remember the episode this year when Paul Kinsey stayed late to work on the Western Union telegraph campaign? Remember, how with the aid of the helpful janitor, he cooked up the perfect idea? Remember how he woke up the next morning dismayed since he hadn't written said genius idea down?
That happened to me last night, to a much lesser, much less 1960s stylized scenario, although my terrible facial hair would rival Kinsey's.
Driving Saturday night I had a great idea, including a song lyric about the Manchester City/Chelsea match. Then driving back home, I spent the whole ride trying to remember that idea.
Maybe it wasn't that good.
All that really matters is what was really good and that was Mark Hughes' team notching a 2-1 win over Chelsea at the City of Manchester City Stadium, reigniting a possible Premier League title chase in the process.
I'll get out my Chelsea thoughts first, actually there is only one. As good as the Blues are, every now-and-then they have a hiccup and just don't look to have their cutting edge and lose a game. (Wonder if Didier Drogba's shoulder is actually hurt and something worth watching.)
If I'm a Blues fan, I don't dimiss the loss, but I don't dwell on it either.
And 90 percent of the time Chelsea walks out with a 2-2 draw, considering Frank Lampard had a late 80th-minute-plus penalty kick.
But Shay Given guessed to his right, blocked the save ... and Nigel de Jong's would-be smooch, and we have a title chase again.
City, it should be noted, played much more of a 2007 Blackburn Rovers team, than the would-be Brazil Juniors it's rich owners might want.
Eureka! I remembered my lost lead to the post.
"Is you saying I aint 'ard?" -- Vinnie Jones, "Extras"
Hughes fielded a "hard"/physical team, with guys like de Jong, Micah Richards, Carlos Tevez, etc. Yes, there were the tricky wings of Shaun Wright-Phillips and Robinho, but overall this was a team that unlike Arsenal a week earlier, could physically stand toe-to-toe with the horsepower of Chelsea. Most pundits would have you believe the strong, physical, imposing football played by Chelsea is the way of the future. Teams will have to adapt ... or be Barcelona to withstand it. City, for one day at least, didn't need to resort to 10-behind-the-ball and or thuggery to stand up to the Blue machine.
Is Emmanuel Adebayor a "hard" player? No. But at least he's humongously lanky in stature and gives Richardo Carvalho and Lionheart trouble in the back. (Not the best game for Mr. John Terry, he deflects the ball to Adebayor for the first City goal, protesting without avail for an offside. Then he needs to come off in the 88th minute to get his knee wrapped up in a WWI-style dressing. Of course the announcers said something along the lines of, "John Terry can't bear to sit down and watch the end of this" when the cameras caught he standing on the sidelines. Ugh. This U.S./England stuff is going to be tough to swallow thanks to the lionization of the English press.)
Naturally, not too may teams can do this, and to try to beat Chelsea you need to punch them in the mouth (Bobby Knight-cum-Brian Dennehy, style optional) -- not to mention get a perfectly placed free kick from Tevez that fooled the wall and Petr Cech.
So long story short, thanks to a proper guess by Given -- who everyone on planet earth would agree could have used a break -- we now have a chase.
Broken, beaten scarred:
In the words of Metallica, Manchester United, "Dies hard."
Love or hate Sir Alex Ferguson, but he coaxed a 4-0 road win when he defense ended as Patrice Evra -- Wes Brown -- Michael Carrick -- Darren Fletcher. How many other teams would survive injuries to its first choice center backs (ok Spurs seem to be doing it) then have Gary Neville limp off in the first half?
It will not be that easy next weekend with Aston Villa coming to town.
Then again, if this Darron Gibson kid keeps firing away...
Sorry Jimmy:
Curse me for praising Jimmy Bullard last weekend.
Poor guy got flipped over in Hull's loss at Villa Saturday, landed awkwardly and eventually limped off in tears. It's a shame, too. Fun player to watch, Bullard.
At least the injury isn't to the knee that had surgery and sidelined him for nine months. Still, he'll certainly miss a decent amount of time.
Wonder how much this sucks the wind out of Hull's recent mini-revival?
A humble suggestion to Bob Bradley:
Now that we know the U.S. draw for next June, which includes England, (read this football365.com piece for some great laughes I wish I was talented enough to have written), perhaps Senor Bradley might consider deploying Clint Dempsey in the middle of the park.
Put it this way, Dempsey has arguably been Fulham's best performer so far in the Premier League season, henceforth, he's playing against most of England's ineternationals on a week-in, week-out basis. Like it or not, he's the best outfield American player in Europe right now, a guy who's fought for a spot, claimed it and is now a fulcrum in a top-half-of-the-table squad in England.
Fulham boss Roy Hodgson is confident enough to play him in a central midfield role, and let him take free kicks.
To throw Dempsey outside on the right midfield in the U.S. set up simply doesn't make sense. At the very least, in light of Charlie Davies health, Dempsey should be playing in a withdrawn striker position.
This isn't rocket science. Isn't a U.S. midfield that features Michael Bradley and Dempsey in the middle (possible Ancelotti diamond scenario) giving the U.S. a better chance than Bradley/Clark/Feilhaber/Jones (?)/etc.?
Other Stuff:
Tip of the cap to Seb Larrson, who scored a pair of free kick goals at Wigan Saturday in Birmingham City's 3-2 win. Don't look now by Alex McLeish has Brum up to ninth in the table, a mere three points behind Liverpool. ... As for Liverpool, there are snooze fests and there are SNOOZE FESTS. Blackburn 0, Liverpool 0 was the latter. One chance for the Reds through David Ngog, which Chris Samba poked away. And if not for a valiant charge by Pepe Reina and subsequent forearm shiver into Nikola Kalinic on a stoppage time breakaway then Liverpool walks away with nothing. ... Best play of the weekend might be from Steve Sidwell, who wasn't even on the field for Aston Villa. For some reason Hull keeper Matt Duke came way out of the penalty box. The ball went out of play. Sidwell quickly flipped the ball to Gabby Agbonlahor, who threw it in play to an on-running James Milner, who then chipped it over Duke. One-of-a-kind play. Good stuff. ... Arsenal took care of business, 2-0 vs. Stoke City, but didn't look all that impressive. The floodgates probably would have opened up if Emmanuel Eboue didn't block away Cesc Fabregas' empty net attempt inside the first half hour with the score already 1-0. Arsene Wenger still has talent at his disposal, but he needs some sort of a physical presence/target at the top of the attack. I'm sure he could find somebody cheap in January as a stop gap. ... Maybe my ears deceived me, but didn't the announcer in the Arsenal match say it was something like the 400th appearance for the Gunners by Fabregas? That sounded insane, since he's only 22. As per Wikipedia, Fabregas has 248 total appearances for Arsenal with 173 in the Premier League. ... By contrast it was Steven Gerrard 500th overall appearance with Liverpool on Saturday. He's 29. ... Just when you think Spurs are going to notch a drama-free 2-0 win at Everton, they go and allow two goals in the final 15 minutes, and then get bailed out by a stoppage time penalty ... only for Tim Howard to deny Jermain Defoe with his legs. Insanity thy name is Tottenham. ... Lot of swearing picked up by the mics at Goodison Park on Sunday. Probably not surprising considering the state of Everton, which are on track for a season like the current Tennessee Titans, who won 13 games in the 2008 NFL season only to start 0-6 in 2009. Of course, unlike the Titans, the Toffees don't have Vince Young on the bench to help them rattle off five-straight wins and revive the season. Not sure if a crazy 2-2 draw kickstarts the campaign. ... Thinking about that Spurs/Everton game makes my head hurt too much to say any more about it.
Fantasy Team O' the Week:
Top honors, go to yours truly with 78 points, thanks to Andrey Arshavin, Richard Dunne and Thomas Sorensen.
One other thing:
This show is a couple years old (especially for anyone reading in the UK), but is now getting the Sunday night [adult swim] treatment, so set your DVR for it -- "The Mighty Boosh."
To me, Howard Moon and Vince Noir are the the 2000s continuation of the great comedy duo tradition. They have the timing, the pacing, the quirks. It's weird, but it works.
Maybe this clip cracks you up, maybe it doesn't. It should, because "The Boosh" is comedy gold.
So yeah having said all that, "Venture Bros." and "Mighty Boosh" help to offset the Sunday night loss of "Curb."
Final thought:
Did you ever think we'd see a weekend where Fabregas, Lampard and Defoe all had penalty kicks saved?
Suppose all three, conservatively, convert 80 percent from the spot. For all three to miss, that's a 0.008 percent chance of happening. (Methinks.) Thanks Statistics 110.
Either way, it's anti-trifecta.
Okay, one more thing:
I'm teetering toward Twitter. Do readers want this? Feedback welcome.
Labels: Chelsea, English Premier League, manchester city, Premier League, Soccer
Quick trip down memory lane.
It was December 2005. The World Cup Draw? Did anyone in America really even care?
Me? I was pissed. Pissed that the U.S. had drawn about as tough a group as possible. Pissed that there wasn't too much, outside creepy message boards, to air my frustrations.
So, what did I do? I blogged.
And my friend Nick send that post to Will Leitch over at Deadspin, and well, the rest was history.
Four years later, it's a little different. ESPN devoted three hours to the World Cup draw -- WITHOUT Tommy Smyth, no less. WFAN is updating the U.S. fate on the 20/20 updates. Nearly every website on earth has something on the draw. Bill Simmons was Twittering.
In short, information overload.
And more importantly, as bad as 2006 was, 2010 looks the complete opposite for the U.S.
Often I've wondered how much the fate of the U.S. in South Africa comes down to the draw. Is the U.S. actually good? Are they the big fish in a small pond? Bluh, bluh bluh.
As the proverbial ping pong balls fell Friday in Cape Town, the U.S. now has no excuses. None.
England, Algeria, Slovenia? Not exactly murder's row.
In fact, when they pulled out Cote d'Ivoire for the group with South Africa, I nearly threw up, since it seemed they would go to Group C. But somehow they went in with Brazil and Portugal and the U.S. got Algeria -- the weakest of the African teams -- followed by European minnow Slovenia.
Can the U.S. still being the U.S. openly dismiss Algeria and Slovenia? Of course not, but in comparison to the other options the U.S. could have gotten its like facing a crafty lefty throwing up slop like Jamie Moyer, as opposed to a 95-mph fireball from Felix Hernandez.
Again, no excuses. The U.S. even gets to play in venues its familiar with from the Confederations Cup. Plus they get England first, so if you take a even a point there, the road to the knockouts isn't all that daunting.
If there is an immediate worry, it's that the U.S. never plays well as a favorite and is much better as an underdog.
We can worry about 1776, 1812, 1950, the health of Onyewu/Davies, Beckham, the inevitable England pre-Cup crisis, later. Today, we can just enjoy that the chips fell in favor of the U.S. for a change.
One more thing before moving on to other stuff, let's not downplay England. Yes, they are capable of self destruction. Yes, the WAGs scenario is a huge joke. Yes, they'll all be tired after the Premier League season. Yes, compared to Spain or Brazil, it's a better match up for the U.S.
But, please, let's not downplay England. Does the U.S. have a player that's a patch on Wayne Rooney's fanny? Or Frank Lampard? Or Jermain Defoe? Is Landon Donovan or Clint Dempsey going to chase Aaron Lennon up-and-down the wing? Even at his atrophying state, is Jozy Altidore out-muscling Rio Ferdinand?
And most importantly, where will Martin Tyler's loyalties lie?
Still, I'm absolutely giddy about what transpired today. Now I actually want to get tickets from the USSF lottery.
Draw scenarios:
* Seriously, I don't like it, but if you're looking to make an early bet, put some money on France. Put it this way, England jumped up to 6-to-1 after the draw, France is still in the 12-to-1, 14-to-1 range. Yes, there is the whole Raymond Domenech factor, but there is too much talent here.
* I thought the Dutch had a great draw, but they likely would get Brazil in the quarterfinals. Perhaps they avenge the demons of 1998, but I'd doubt it.
* Spain might have the easiest path to the final, since its toughest competition -- Brazi/France -- are on the other side of the bracket (assuming form plays out). Spain could see Italy and Germany, and we saw how that went at the Euro two years ago.
* Portugal, completely overrated. Sorry Ed Melo. I'm pulling for the Elephants, even with my dislike of Didier Drogba.
* Group D -- Germany, Australia, Serbia, Ghana -- is the best group for my money. Could the Germans possibly not get through? I'll go against the grain and say this is a tougher group than the much talked about Group G.
* As for Group G. Look at it this way, you have the best team in the tournament -- Brazil -- and the weakest -- North Korea. Then its Portugal and Cote d'Ivoire slugging it out for one spot, just like every other group. And like I said, Portugal's world standing is a little inflated. Can you really have the dread 'GoD' when one of the four teams in a group has less than zero of a chance to even take a point?
* Didn't feel like making picks this far in advance this time around. Too much can happen between now and June.
Misc. ESPN Draw Stuff:
* ESPN said Group of Death roughly 432 times.
* Ruud Gullit will be on ESPN for the Cup. Interesting. Will the words, "Los Angeles Galaxy" ever be mentioned? ... "The Germans, they don't have any talented players." This should be fun. Guess the memories of 1988 heal slowly.
* Cesar from Nevada Smiths, "2006...I don't want to talk about it." ... Agreed.
* Steve McManaman biting his tongue not to slag off Landon Donovan. That's restraint.
* John Harkes is lawst. He gets a handwave for his tournament picks.
* I will listen to this approximately 4,200 times between now and June 12.
It was December 2005. The World Cup Draw? Did anyone in America really even care?
Me? I was pissed. Pissed that the U.S. had drawn about as tough a group as possible. Pissed that there wasn't too much, outside creepy message boards, to air my frustrations.
So, what did I do? I blogged.
And my friend Nick send that post to Will Leitch over at Deadspin, and well, the rest was history.
Four years later, it's a little different. ESPN devoted three hours to the World Cup draw -- WITHOUT Tommy Smyth, no less. WFAN is updating the U.S. fate on the 20/20 updates. Nearly every website on earth has something on the draw. Bill Simmons was Twittering.
In short, information overload.
And more importantly, as bad as 2006 was, 2010 looks the complete opposite for the U.S.
Often I've wondered how much the fate of the U.S. in South Africa comes down to the draw. Is the U.S. actually good? Are they the big fish in a small pond? Bluh, bluh bluh.
As the proverbial ping pong balls fell Friday in Cape Town, the U.S. now has no excuses. None.
England, Algeria, Slovenia? Not exactly murder's row.
In fact, when they pulled out Cote d'Ivoire for the group with South Africa, I nearly threw up, since it seemed they would go to Group C. But somehow they went in with Brazil and Portugal and the U.S. got Algeria -- the weakest of the African teams -- followed by European minnow Slovenia.
Can the U.S. still being the U.S. openly dismiss Algeria and Slovenia? Of course not, but in comparison to the other options the U.S. could have gotten its like facing a crafty lefty throwing up slop like Jamie Moyer, as opposed to a 95-mph fireball from Felix Hernandez.
Again, no excuses. The U.S. even gets to play in venues its familiar with from the Confederations Cup. Plus they get England first, so if you take a even a point there, the road to the knockouts isn't all that daunting.
If there is an immediate worry, it's that the U.S. never plays well as a favorite and is much better as an underdog.
We can worry about 1776, 1812, 1950, the health of Onyewu/Davies, Beckham, the inevitable England pre-Cup crisis, later. Today, we can just enjoy that the chips fell in favor of the U.S. for a change.
One more thing before moving on to other stuff, let's not downplay England. Yes, they are capable of self destruction. Yes, the WAGs scenario is a huge joke. Yes, they'll all be tired after the Premier League season. Yes, compared to Spain or Brazil, it's a better match up for the U.S.
But, please, let's not downplay England. Does the U.S. have a player that's a patch on Wayne Rooney's fanny? Or Frank Lampard? Or Jermain Defoe? Is Landon Donovan or Clint Dempsey going to chase Aaron Lennon up-and-down the wing? Even at his atrophying state, is Jozy Altidore out-muscling Rio Ferdinand?
And most importantly, where will Martin Tyler's loyalties lie?
Still, I'm absolutely giddy about what transpired today. Now I actually want to get tickets from the USSF lottery.
Draw scenarios:
* Seriously, I don't like it, but if you're looking to make an early bet, put some money on France. Put it this way, England jumped up to 6-to-1 after the draw, France is still in the 12-to-1, 14-to-1 range. Yes, there is the whole Raymond Domenech factor, but there is too much talent here.
* I thought the Dutch had a great draw, but they likely would get Brazil in the quarterfinals. Perhaps they avenge the demons of 1998, but I'd doubt it.
* Spain might have the easiest path to the final, since its toughest competition -- Brazi/France -- are on the other side of the bracket (assuming form plays out). Spain could see Italy and Germany, and we saw how that went at the Euro two years ago.
* Portugal, completely overrated. Sorry Ed Melo. I'm pulling for the Elephants, even with my dislike of Didier Drogba.
* Group D -- Germany, Australia, Serbia, Ghana -- is the best group for my money. Could the Germans possibly not get through? I'll go against the grain and say this is a tougher group than the much talked about Group G.
* As for Group G. Look at it this way, you have the best team in the tournament -- Brazil -- and the weakest -- North Korea. Then its Portugal and Cote d'Ivoire slugging it out for one spot, just like every other group. And like I said, Portugal's world standing is a little inflated. Can you really have the dread 'GoD' when one of the four teams in a group has less than zero of a chance to even take a point?
* Didn't feel like making picks this far in advance this time around. Too much can happen between now and June.
Misc. ESPN Draw Stuff:
* ESPN said Group of Death roughly 432 times.
* Ruud Gullit will be on ESPN for the Cup. Interesting. Will the words, "Los Angeles Galaxy" ever be mentioned? ... "The Germans, they don't have any talented players." This should be fun. Guess the memories of 1988 heal slowly.
* Cesar from Nevada Smiths, "2006...I don't want to talk about it." ... Agreed.
* Steve McManaman biting his tongue not to slag off Landon Donovan. That's restraint.
* John Harkes is lawst. He gets a handwave for his tournament picks.
* I will listen to this approximately 4,200 times between now and June 12.
Labels: 2010 world cup, Soccer, USMNT
Hey gang.
Trying a different approach, since ESPN is on air for three hours.
During the duration of the draw, I'll just throw up some bullet points, meandering thoughts, etc. Consider it a modified live blog. Or I'm just too lazy to set up a Twitter account.
After that, and I post some other stuff elsewhere, I'll chew on some U.S. analysis. F
As always feel free to chime in.
* Love the inclusion of Efan Ekoku on the ESPN panel. He always brings a rational side to Premier League telecasts.
* Steve McManaman? Sure he must absolutely looooooove Bristol.
* Bob Ley? "Teary" Henry? Huh?
* Ummm....that ESPN promo with a healthy Oguchi Onyewu running with the ball at his feet. Thanks to rub it in.
* Yes!!! Lionel Messi's feet still taste like timber is a crackling fire.
* Not sure which American-centric term I dislike the most, Team USA or EPL?
* Mark it down right here. The Thierry Henry handball imbroglio will be the best thing that happens to France ahead of the World Cup aside from Raymond Dommenech finally getting fired. Les Bleus have simply too much talent and to rile them up. Don't you think reading literally thousands of stories how the French don't deserve to be included in the tournament is only going to galvanize them, kind of like the Italians in 2006 with the whole Juventus match-fixing scandal.
* One thing I haven't read in the last two days about the draw is that pretty much EVERY scenario sets up for tough groups for every team. You really can't spread out three creampuffs (South Africa, New Zealand and North Korea) in every group.
* FIFA is probably going to rue not adding a pair of officials behind the goals, but then again since nearly every ref seems incompetent, would two extra necessarily be a good thing? To save yourself a lot of headaches just channel your inner Mike Francesa and realize FIFA is "lawst."
* Only took 30 minutes for a David Beckham sighting. Isn't it an indictment on England that Goldenballs is still being considered? More importantly, does anyone in America care?
* And why is John Harkes talking about England? Can we get a cutaway to McManaman trying to contain his laughter? Eisch.
* This is putting me to sleep.
* Question -- what's the only thing more insufferable that a know-it-all American soccer fan? Answer -- a bar full of them at Nevada Smiths.
* Googling the girl in a Plavix commercial and finding out she was Roger Sterling's daughter in 'Mad Men' might be the highlight in the last 20-odd minutes. (Elizabeth Rice, if you care.)
* Maybe I'm just a curmudgeon, but I zero interest in anything that doesn't have to do with sports.
* Mad props to Jerome Vlacke. The double-face kiss on Charlize Theron took major stones. Well done sir.
* Zzzzzzzzzzz
* Is Charlize Theron reprising her role from 'Arrested Development'? Where is Mr. F?
* Away we go....
* Group A -- South Africa, Mexico, Uruguay, France
* Group B -- Argentina, South Korea, Nigeria, Greece
* Group C -- England, United States, Algeria, Slovenia.
* Group D -- Germany, Australia, Serbia, Ghana
* Group E -- Netherlands, Denmark, Japan, Cameroon
* Group F -- Italy, New Zealand, Paraguay, Slovakia
* Group G -- Brazil, North Korea, Cote D'Ivoire, Portugal
* Group H -- Spain, Honduras, Chile, Switzerland
* Wow...Mexico huge break getting South Africa. Dammit.
* Double wow...US/England. Should be awesome. ... Let's not poo-poo England though. Man-for-man they are still better than the U.S. In comparison, yes, England isn't as bad as Brazil/Spain but really, it's still England.
* Not sure which will be more tedious, the 1776 references or the 1950 for US/England.
* My heart skipped a beat when I thought the Elephants were landing with the U.S. Phew.
* Algeria...thank god. Not bad, but still, a ALL TIME TRAIN DODGE ... for the moment.
* Through the first three pots, nothing looks exceedingly difficult, pending the Brazil/Cote D'Ivoire group. England might in fact have the biggest beef, getting the U.S.
* Attaboy Efan, "It's not a hard group, Algeria and the U.S."
* Alright! Alright! Alright. I love Slovenia in 'FIFA 10' but the U.S. avoided a nightmare. This broke as best as it could.
* So Brazil/Portugal/Cote D'Ivoire...who did the Elephants piss off? Two straight brutal draws?
* Italy, jeez did they pay off Sepp Blatter?
* Pencil in Spain for 3-0-0.
* Looking at a map of South Africa, the U.S. caught another break since its three venues -- Rustenberg, Pretoria and Jo-Burg are all close to each other. (I think I might actually try going now, assuming I get tix through the USSF.)
* Overall, pretty balanced. The fact that the potential No. 1s in France/Portugal landed with South Africa and Brazil/North Korea balanced out the groups.
* Maybe we get put to bed the idea that FIFA is against the U.S. To think FIFA could rig the draw, with the particulars pulling the balls is like saying the Los Angeles PD arranged an elaborate plan to frame O.J. Simpson. Oh wait...
* Be back in a little bit. Feel free to chime in.
* One more thing, I want to start a movement to retire the term "Group of Death." It just seems so played out, doesn't it?
* Coup for ESPN ... FABIO F'N CAPELLO. Too bad his English lead him to stereotype jokes. Well, at least not the type of stereotypes seen on "Jersey Shore."
* Biggest shock of the day, Bob Bradley admitted it was a favorable draw.
* Martin Tyler in HD...it just broke my television.
Trying a different approach, since ESPN is on air for three hours.
During the duration of the draw, I'll just throw up some bullet points, meandering thoughts, etc. Consider it a modified live blog. Or I'm just too lazy to set up a Twitter account.
After that, and I post some other stuff elsewhere, I'll chew on some U.S. analysis. F
As always feel free to chime in.
* Love the inclusion of Efan Ekoku on the ESPN panel. He always brings a rational side to Premier League telecasts.
* Steve McManaman? Sure he must absolutely looooooove Bristol.
* Bob Ley? "Teary" Henry? Huh?
* Ummm....that ESPN promo with a healthy Oguchi Onyewu running with the ball at his feet. Thanks to rub it in.
* Yes!!! Lionel Messi's feet still taste like timber is a crackling fire.
* Not sure which American-centric term I dislike the most, Team USA or EPL?
* Mark it down right here. The Thierry Henry handball imbroglio will be the best thing that happens to France ahead of the World Cup aside from Raymond Dommenech finally getting fired. Les Bleus have simply too much talent and to rile them up. Don't you think reading literally thousands of stories how the French don't deserve to be included in the tournament is only going to galvanize them, kind of like the Italians in 2006 with the whole Juventus match-fixing scandal.
* One thing I haven't read in the last two days about the draw is that pretty much EVERY scenario sets up for tough groups for every team. You really can't spread out three creampuffs (South Africa, New Zealand and North Korea) in every group.
* FIFA is probably going to rue not adding a pair of officials behind the goals, but then again since nearly every ref seems incompetent, would two extra necessarily be a good thing? To save yourself a lot of headaches just channel your inner Mike Francesa and realize FIFA is "lawst."
* Only took 30 minutes for a David Beckham sighting. Isn't it an indictment on England that Goldenballs is still being considered? More importantly, does anyone in America care?
* And why is John Harkes talking about England? Can we get a cutaway to McManaman trying to contain his laughter? Eisch.
* This is putting me to sleep.
* Question -- what's the only thing more insufferable that a know-it-all American soccer fan? Answer -- a bar full of them at Nevada Smiths.
* Googling the girl in a Plavix commercial and finding out she was Roger Sterling's daughter in 'Mad Men' might be the highlight in the last 20-odd minutes. (Elizabeth Rice, if you care.)
* Maybe I'm just a curmudgeon, but I zero interest in anything that doesn't have to do with sports.
* Mad props to Jerome Vlacke. The double-face kiss on Charlize Theron took major stones. Well done sir.
* Zzzzzzzzzzz
* Is Charlize Theron reprising her role from 'Arrested Development'? Where is Mr. F?
* Away we go....
* Group A -- South Africa, Mexico, Uruguay, France
* Group B -- Argentina, South Korea, Nigeria, Greece
* Group C -- England, United States, Algeria, Slovenia.
* Group D -- Germany, Australia, Serbia, Ghana
* Group E -- Netherlands, Denmark, Japan, Cameroon
* Group F -- Italy, New Zealand, Paraguay, Slovakia
* Group G -- Brazil, North Korea, Cote D'Ivoire, Portugal
* Group H -- Spain, Honduras, Chile, Switzerland
* Wow...Mexico huge break getting South Africa. Dammit.
* Double wow...US/England. Should be awesome. ... Let's not poo-poo England though. Man-for-man they are still better than the U.S. In comparison, yes, England isn't as bad as Brazil/Spain but really, it's still England.
* Not sure which will be more tedious, the 1776 references or the 1950 for US/England.
* My heart skipped a beat when I thought the Elephants were landing with the U.S. Phew.
* Algeria...thank god. Not bad, but still, a ALL TIME TRAIN DODGE ... for the moment.
* Through the first three pots, nothing looks exceedingly difficult, pending the Brazil/Cote D'Ivoire group. England might in fact have the biggest beef, getting the U.S.
* Attaboy Efan, "It's not a hard group, Algeria and the U.S."
* Alright! Alright! Alright. I love Slovenia in 'FIFA 10' but the U.S. avoided a nightmare. This broke as best as it could.
* So Brazil/Portugal/Cote D'Ivoire...who did the Elephants piss off? Two straight brutal draws?
* Italy, jeez did they pay off Sepp Blatter?
* Pencil in Spain for 3-0-0.
* Looking at a map of South Africa, the U.S. caught another break since its three venues -- Rustenberg, Pretoria and Jo-Burg are all close to each other. (I think I might actually try going now, assuming I get tix through the USSF.)
* Overall, pretty balanced. The fact that the potential No. 1s in France/Portugal landed with South Africa and Brazil/North Korea balanced out the groups.
* Maybe we get put to bed the idea that FIFA is against the U.S. To think FIFA could rig the draw, with the particulars pulling the balls is like saying the Los Angeles PD arranged an elaborate plan to frame O.J. Simpson. Oh wait...
* Be back in a little bit. Feel free to chime in.
* One more thing, I want to start a movement to retire the term "Group of Death." It just seems so played out, doesn't it?
* Coup for ESPN ... FABIO F'N CAPELLO. Too bad his English lead him to stereotype jokes. Well, at least not the type of stereotypes seen on "Jersey Shore."
* Biggest shock of the day, Bob Bradley admitted it was a favorable draw.
* Martin Tyler in HD...it just broke my television.
Labels: 2010 world cup, USMNT, world cup draw
Due to a little development in Cape Town Friday morning. (International vintage sailing convention.) I'm rattling off the usual Premier League preview/picks a little earlier so it doesn't get buried.
Here are a couple nuggets to hold you over.
* Currently slogging through "Soccernomics." Some of it is fascinating, the rest is skippable. The writers like to cite Michael Lewis' "Moneyball" constantly, but perhaps they fail to realzie that under Billy Beane the Oakland Athletics have never won a playoff series. Then again there isn't a postseason in the Premier League (or most soccer leagues) and Beane does run Oakland like a mid-table team, trying to buy low and sell high.
* One note that made my eyes pop out in the book, it basically calls Freddy Adu a straight bust.
* A tale of two Merseysides. If you're Everton, the Europa League is now your season. If you're Liverpool, it's the ghost of season's past.
* Diniyar Bilyaletdinov might as well just request "Bily" on the back of his jersey, since nobody wants to either say or more specifically pronounce his name. (Remember Andy Gray at Euro 2008?)
Saturday:
* Portsmouth v. Burnley -- (Live, ESPN2, 7:45 a.m.) -- Two-straight HD games from Fratton Park? On paper this is a snooze-through match, yet Burnley certainly have the propensity for exciting, goal-filled matches. Plus it's the worst home team -- Portsmouth vs. the worst road team -- Burnley. Something has to give, the Premier League on ESPN! (Hey, the Worldwide can make the most meaningless, dull mid-season college hoops game sound entertaining, why not two midsized soccer clubs featuring a collective zero household names between them.) From a sporting standpoint, if either Arune Didane or Frédéric Piquionne could actually put a shot on target, Pompey might not be rotting at the end of the table. ... Portsmouth 3, Burnley 1
* Arsenal v. Stoke City -- (Live, FSC, 10 a.m.) Arsenal must lament those international fixture breaks. The one a couple weeks ago seemed to suck the life out of the Gunners. It's like the Gunners went off to their various home locales across the globe as Cheerios and returned as the generic, store brand Honey-Os. Something is amiss. Stoke City isn't exactly a pushover and Ricardo Fuller has given Arsenal problems in the past. Logic says Arsenal should roll, but I don't think it'll be easy. ... Arsenal 1, Stoke City 0
* Aston Villa v. Hull City -- Weird Hull City quirk, the Tigers have given up the most shots on target and taken the fewest. Make you think their recent signs of life will be short lived. Seems like I say this every week, but Aston Villa simply cannot afford to let Jimmy Bullard sink them at home and drop any points here. Villa haven't kept a clean sheet in nine matches, which makes you worry about the defense. Can John Carew, Gabby Agbonlahor, et al, continue to outscore opponents? ... Aston Villa 1, Hull City 0
* Blackburn Rovers v. Liverpool -- Wonder if Blackburn's PK triumph over Chelsea in the Carling Cup will carry over into this match. If Blackburn shows some effort, they could make it hard for Liverpool. Maybe the squad is truly inspired by the off-the-field health problems of Sam Allardyce, but that seems like a lazy sportswriter cliche. Liverpool? I still don't have a read on them. ... Blackburn 1, Liverpool 2
* West Ham United v. Manchester United -- (Live, Setanta, 10 a.m.) West Ham have given up at least two goals in five matches since the start of October. You might be able to get away with that against the lesser teams, but you still can't get into a arms race type match against the likes of Manchester United. West Ham simply doesn't have the firepower. ... West Ham United 0, Manchester United 2
* Wigan Athletic v. Birmingham City -- If you're a connoisseur of midtable scraps, this is like a vintage wine from the 1800s. ... Wigan 1, Birmingham City 1
* Wolves v. Bolton -- Wolves haven't won since September. Bolton has gone four without a win. Yes, desperation should rule the day. Bolton at least still has players who've made an impact on the Premier League in the past, Wolves doesn't. ... Wolves 0, Bolton 1
* Manchester City v. Chelsea -- (Live, FSC, 12:30 p.m.) Sort of a big match? Kind of a big match? On its day, City could beat Chelsea. The way its going now? Hard to say. Do you value a Carling Cup win over Arsenal? Does that give the team a little juice during a string of seven-straight league draws?
This would be a salvo, if City found a way to win. It would re-open the title chase and reestablish City as a legit top four contender.
The problem here, is that City still doesn't seem to have an identity. Kolo Toure and Jolean Lescott in the middle of the defense hasn't set the world on fire. Emmanuel Adebayor seems to come and go as he pleases. Robinho? Please.
To me, if Mark Hughes had his druthers the squad would be hard and physical that wins a lot of games 1-0. The players currently purchased by City? They don't exactly fit that mold.
Chelsea? We know what the Blues are. How City, like every team, keeps them off the scoresheet is a mystery. ... City 1, Chelsea 3
Sunday:
* Fulham v. Sunderland -- Who doesn't get ramped up by a early December possible Europa League place fight? ... Fulham 1, Sunderland 1
* Everton v. Tottenham -- (Live, FSC, 11 a.m.) I haven't gotten a good look at Everton, so I'm curious to see have David Moyes team actually looks like. Spurs? There probably isn't as fun a team to follow week-in, week-out since you never know what to expect. It may lead to an early grave, but it's never boring. ... Everton 1, Spurs 2
Last week: 5-5
Season: 74-64
Here are a couple nuggets to hold you over.
* Currently slogging through "Soccernomics." Some of it is fascinating, the rest is skippable. The writers like to cite Michael Lewis' "Moneyball" constantly, but perhaps they fail to realzie that under Billy Beane the Oakland Athletics have never won a playoff series. Then again there isn't a postseason in the Premier League (or most soccer leagues) and Beane does run Oakland like a mid-table team, trying to buy low and sell high.
* One note that made my eyes pop out in the book, it basically calls Freddy Adu a straight bust.
* A tale of two Merseysides. If you're Everton, the Europa League is now your season. If you're Liverpool, it's the ghost of season's past.
* Diniyar Bilyaletdinov might as well just request "Bily" on the back of his jersey, since nobody wants to either say or more specifically pronounce his name. (Remember Andy Gray at Euro 2008?)
Saturday:
* Portsmouth v. Burnley -- (Live, ESPN2, 7:45 a.m.) -- Two-straight HD games from Fratton Park? On paper this is a snooze-through match, yet Burnley certainly have the propensity for exciting, goal-filled matches. Plus it's the worst home team -- Portsmouth vs. the worst road team -- Burnley. Something has to give, the Premier League on ESPN! (Hey, the Worldwide can make the most meaningless, dull mid-season college hoops game sound entertaining, why not two midsized soccer clubs featuring a collective zero household names between them.) From a sporting standpoint, if either Arune Didane or Frédéric Piquionne could actually put a shot on target, Pompey might not be rotting at the end of the table. ... Portsmouth 3, Burnley 1
* Arsenal v. Stoke City -- (Live, FSC, 10 a.m.) Arsenal must lament those international fixture breaks. The one a couple weeks ago seemed to suck the life out of the Gunners. It's like the Gunners went off to their various home locales across the globe as Cheerios and returned as the generic, store brand Honey-Os. Something is amiss. Stoke City isn't exactly a pushover and Ricardo Fuller has given Arsenal problems in the past. Logic says Arsenal should roll, but I don't think it'll be easy. ... Arsenal 1, Stoke City 0
* Aston Villa v. Hull City -- Weird Hull City quirk, the Tigers have given up the most shots on target and taken the fewest. Make you think their recent signs of life will be short lived. Seems like I say this every week, but Aston Villa simply cannot afford to let Jimmy Bullard sink them at home and drop any points here. Villa haven't kept a clean sheet in nine matches, which makes you worry about the defense. Can John Carew, Gabby Agbonlahor, et al, continue to outscore opponents? ... Aston Villa 1, Hull City 0
* Blackburn Rovers v. Liverpool -- Wonder if Blackburn's PK triumph over Chelsea in the Carling Cup will carry over into this match. If Blackburn shows some effort, they could make it hard for Liverpool. Maybe the squad is truly inspired by the off-the-field health problems of Sam Allardyce, but that seems like a lazy sportswriter cliche. Liverpool? I still don't have a read on them. ... Blackburn 1, Liverpool 2
* West Ham United v. Manchester United -- (Live, Setanta, 10 a.m.) West Ham have given up at least two goals in five matches since the start of October. You might be able to get away with that against the lesser teams, but you still can't get into a arms race type match against the likes of Manchester United. West Ham simply doesn't have the firepower. ... West Ham United 0, Manchester United 2
* Wigan Athletic v. Birmingham City -- If you're a connoisseur of midtable scraps, this is like a vintage wine from the 1800s. ... Wigan 1, Birmingham City 1
* Wolves v. Bolton -- Wolves haven't won since September. Bolton has gone four without a win. Yes, desperation should rule the day. Bolton at least still has players who've made an impact on the Premier League in the past, Wolves doesn't. ... Wolves 0, Bolton 1
* Manchester City v. Chelsea -- (Live, FSC, 12:30 p.m.) Sort of a big match? Kind of a big match? On its day, City could beat Chelsea. The way its going now? Hard to say. Do you value a Carling Cup win over Arsenal? Does that give the team a little juice during a string of seven-straight league draws?
This would be a salvo, if City found a way to win. It would re-open the title chase and reestablish City as a legit top four contender.
The problem here, is that City still doesn't seem to have an identity. Kolo Toure and Jolean Lescott in the middle of the defense hasn't set the world on fire. Emmanuel Adebayor seems to come and go as he pleases. Robinho? Please.
To me, if Mark Hughes had his druthers the squad would be hard and physical that wins a lot of games 1-0. The players currently purchased by City? They don't exactly fit that mold.
Chelsea? We know what the Blues are. How City, like every team, keeps them off the scoresheet is a mystery. ... City 1, Chelsea 3
Sunday:
* Fulham v. Sunderland -- Who doesn't get ramped up by a early December possible Europa League place fight? ... Fulham 1, Sunderland 1
* Everton v. Tottenham -- (Live, FSC, 11 a.m.) I haven't gotten a good look at Everton, so I'm curious to see have David Moyes team actually looks like. Spurs? There probably isn't as fun a team to follow week-in, week-out since you never know what to expect. It may lead to an early grave, but it's never boring. ... Everton 1, Spurs 2
Last week: 5-5
Season: 74-64
Labels: English Premier League, Prem Picks, Soccer
