Beautiful Game 12/13 Thread (Major EPL slant)

[RobVarak]

So worth it to see DMB just laid out crying on the turf at Azteca after the whistle.

Timmy just out of his mind!

[wco81]

Ugly uniforms.

Some interesting results, like Argentina dominating Germany.

[10spro]

Ugly uniforms.

Some interesting results, like Argentina dominating Germany.

Well, the Germans threw some early fire into the friendly when they claimed that they could stop the best player in the world. Argentina took over easily the gameplay once the home team were down by one and let's be frank they didn't have a full lineup either. Key guys like Podoldky, Lahm and Gomez.

Mascherano is becoming the lion he was a few years back, the tandem duo of Di Maria and Messi was just too much for the Germans to control. Gago was tireless and with Messi missing a PK, the score could have been worse for the Germans.

[fanatic]

Just curious...where do you guys go online for EPL analysis? Thanks! I'm suspecting there's more out there than the ESPN/BBC columns I'm reading.

guardian.co.uk
epltalk.com
zonalmarking.net
Men in Blazers podcast at Grantland.com
Football Weekly podcast at guardian.co.uk

Awesome...thanks!

[RobVarak]

Incidentally, I didn't think it possible for me to have any less respect for the Azteca fans than I already did...

Then they threw beer at Ian Darke. That man in a national treasure on 2 continents! For shame!

[fsquid]

Holy f***, we just won in Mexico!!!!!!!!!

Germany?

sadly Germany was too busy looking like s*** against Argentina.

[10spro]

Real's latest offer for L. Modric should be the last fatal dart to the Spurs.

[Feanor]

Just curious...where do you guys go online for EPL analysis? Thanks! I'm suspecting there's more out there than the ESPN/BBC columns I'm reading.

Do you listen to the ESPN FC podcast? I enjoy it a lot.

http://www.espn.co.uk/football/sport/vi ... =5;sport=3

Since Blackburn got relegated and Ryan Nelsen has moved there, I'm jumping on the QPR bandwagon for this season. They should be closer to mid-table than relegation this year.

[dougb]

QPR keep that up and they will be dead and buried by Christmas...not out of the realm of possibility that Liverpool might be joining the bottom half of the table either - yikes!

Doug

[10spro]

Arsenal loses another boy as Alex Song goes to Barca.

[wco81]

Best thing about the Arsenal game was that blonde chick with the denim shorts and cutoff jersey.

[Feanor]

QPR keep that up and they will be dead and buried by Christmas...not out of the realm of possibility that Liverpool might be joining the bottom half of the table either - yikes!

Doug

Yeah, talk about a rough start to the season.

[davet010]

Incidentally, I didn't think it possible for me to have any less respect for the Azteca fans than I already did...

Then they threw beer at Ian Darke. That man in a national treasure on 2 continents! For shame!

Which 2 ? I'm pretty certain Europe isn't one of them. I'm also pretty sure he was on ESPN's coverage of Newcastle vs Spurs (a game that by the end shouted '7th v 8th, right here'), doing his usual clueless job. Apparently he reckons Newcastle 'will give the big teams problems' - what, with a defence of Perch, Simpson, Santon and Taylor ? Problem of not laughing so hard that they injure themselves, perhaps.

There again, I shouldn't blame him - ESPN's football commentary team over here is stuffed full of clueless berks, from Chris Waddle to Keegan and Frank Lebouef, but heightened by the mystifying continual employment of Craig Burley, who is a tedious gobshite who's ratio of personal achievement to noise made is only equalled by Jamie 'Son of a Thief' Redknapp.

[Macca00]

[fsquid]

If you don't like Ian Darke send him on over here full time then. I think he's great. Just because he doesn't suck your oil baron's erection, doesn't mean he's a bad commentator.

[Macca00]

Glad football is back, none of this Olympics sportsmanship bullsh!t - lets get back to blind tribalism, diving, biting, elbowing, refereeing conspiracies, match fixing conspiracies (or real match fixing if you're a fan of Serie A), racist tweets, racist twits, City steamrollering the EPL, La Liga looking even more like a 2 horse race and Messi scoring another s***-ton of goals.





As for Liverpool - this is probably the most I've ever been interested in off/pre-season having lucky enough to see all their games (two in person) - and I wasn't too displeased by today's match. The 3-0 scoreline looks horrific but until the red card (which was utter bullsh!t) there were some nice glimpses of Rogers' work in progress. Actually, the 3-0 maybe did a good job of reminding Liverpool fans that this is indeed a work-in-progress and we're not going to be challenging for a top 4 spot this season.




I had meant to post this before the first games of the season but oh well - care to share your EPL predictions?

1. Champions

City - I think they'll absolutely steamroller the league this year. They already have an incredible squad but I think the way in which they won the league last year will have given them a sense of belief that puts them up their with Fergie's men. Also, with Mancini bitching about their (lack of) transfer dealings and they've now missed out on Van Persie, I can see the Ayatollah (whatever) opening up his chequebook for another massive marquee signing. Can you imagine De Rossi and Yaya on the same team?

2. Top 4:
1st City
2nd United
3rd Arsenal
4th Chelsea (by a whisker)

Until last week I was going to be brave and predict that Arsenal would challenge United for second since I thought they had some great signings this off season. Then they sold their best player to United and now lost Song. That said, I still think they'll finish 3rd, United will challenge as always but it won't come down to goal difference this time. Chelsea, Tottenham and Newcastle will challenge for 4th but I think Torres' goals will seal 4th.

3. Bottom 3:
18th Norwich
19th Reading
20th Wigan (finally)

4. Top Scorer:

Torres - me and Jimmy's friend hardly played at the Euros but looked good in that final and for Chelsea in the Charity Shield. He's the main (and right now only) striker at Chelsea now and I think he'll pip RvP (if he stays fit) for the most goals.


5. Surprise Team/Biggest Climber

Before today I was going to say QPR but then they got twatted, so I'll say either them or Sunderland.





Ok. Now watch me wrong about all of them.....






EDIT: I like Ian Darke too. I just feel a bit uncomfortable when Macca calls him 'Darkie'...

[10spro]

No doubt in my mind that City has all the tools to repeat, but having said that who can forget their memorable last game last season when they almost choked their title away? I think Aguero will have a beast of a year and will be the top EPL scorer as Tevez finds his form. Balotelli is always a threat and Dzeko rounds up a scary offense. If Mancini manages to control these egos, they'll repeat.

United will be a close second again, and RVP will simply score all those goals that they missed last season. Interested to see how S. Kagawa will fit with the forwards and let's face it, sooner or later Howard Webb will come just in time to ref them when they need a point here and there.

To round up the other top teams, I have Chelsea (Hazard will make an impact), Arsenal, Spurs and Liverpool in that order.

For a team that can't score, Reading will have their writing on the wall and certainly QPR won't be too far away either.

My eyes will always be close to La Liga though, as Barca will wrestle the title back from Real.

[fsquid]

Does Dzeko even rate anymore on that squad? He's good, but seemed to fall out of favor in the second half of the season. I'll wait for our token "everyone else sucks" or "bought the title" poster to chime in to set me straight.

[10spro]

Does Dzeko even rate anymore on that squad? He's good, but seemed to fall out of favor in the second half of the season. I'll wait for our token "everyone else sucks" or "bought the title" poster to chime in to set me straight.

And that's exactly what I meant by saying lets see how Mancini handles those high egos. Dzeko sure feels he's too good to sit out as I am sure despite their internal fights, the manager would prefer to start Tevez over him. Wouldn't be surprised if things turn sour for him and asks for a trade, but there are a lot of matches to be played.

[Feanor]

Incidentally, I didn't think it possible for me to have any less respect for the Azteca fans than I already did...

Then they threw beer at Ian Darke. That man in a national treasure on 2 continents! For shame!

Which 2 ? I'm pretty certain Europe isn't one of them. I'm also pretty sure he was on ESPN's coverage of Newcastle vs Spurs (a game that by the end shouted '7th v 8th, right here'), doing his usual clueless job. Apparently he reckons Newcastle 'will give the big teams problems' - what, with a defence of Perch, Simpson, Santon and Taylor ? Problem of not laughing so hard that they injure themselves, perhaps.

Coloccini is only out for a week or two, not the whole season.

[RobVarak]

My God, what has Fox done with this ridiculous Fox Soccer News program? Poor Bobby McMahon is made to sit on a set that looks like the CGI from an old Sega Saturn game while two ridiculous co-hosts who look like rejects from the X-Games deliver the commentary on a far, far narrower range of games than the old Fox Soccer Report used to cover.

On the bright side, we get hard-hitting segments like "tweets from the viewers." Thanks, FSC!

It is a complete disaster.

I don't know if the new continental leagues' deals with the other networks is a factor, but the show was far less comprehensive than the one it replaced. FSR may have had SCTV sets and unpolished hosts, but they knew their stuff and covered a huge swath of the footballing universe in a limited time frame.

This sucks.

[Feanor]

I too was aghast watching that horrible new show last might. As soon as I saw how high that guy's hair was I knew we were in trouble.

They need to bring back people like Jeremy St. Louis, Terri Leigh, Carlos Machado, Derek Taylor and Mitch Peacock. But it seems like a lot of weird s*** has gone down behind the scenes at Fox Soccer Report.

http://unprofessionalfoul.com/2012/01/0 ... er-report/

[Jimmydeicide]

I too was aghast watching that horrible new show last might. As soon as I saw how high that guy's hair was I knew we were in trouble.

Its been unwatchable for a while tho hasn't it. I hated that Derek Taylor but he was Al michaels compared to that Esa Raemon or Owen short arse Irish twat... no thats how Owen is really spelt its a Welsh name.

And incase your all wondering im suprised Jimmy hasn't commented on Liverpools performance yet well im still trying to figure out if West Brom are good this year or not.

I will say this, that wasnt Swansea that was Liverpool do we have a new Coach or is Kenny in the stands.

[Macca00]

Doug and Jimmy,

Just wanted to point out that Liverpool's next four fixtures are against....wait for it.....

City
Arsenal
Sunderland
United

So, come mid-September Liverpool could be in last place with 1 or 2 points. LOL

With Liverpool still trying to get used to Rogers' system I can totally see us getting hammered in one of those games - particularly on the counter attack. I'm really glad we're playing United at home because away I could see them anahilating us (especially if we still don't have Enrique back, and don't forget Agger will be missing 3 of those games).

Happy Monday!

[RobVarak]

I think the Agger penalty was understandable. Long did go down too easily and there was very little contact, but the Dane was truly beaten and extended his arm to grab Long. That arm changes everything.

I thought the Skrtel penalty was nonsense. He was still in possession of the ball and tripped the forward while trying to play the ball. He had no idea that he was there and the attacker didn't have possession.

All in all, I think it was a weird game from which one should probably not draw too many conclusions about the squad as a whole. Some of the individual performances were interesting though. Joe Allen was sensational. If he and Lucas can play together like that, I think SG will be able to stay way up the pitch and this year will be significantly better than last.

I also thought Borini had an absolute howler. Not only was he misplacing passes, but he was doing it so dramatically that I wondered if he was a plant from WBA. I'd write it off as debut nerves, but he had a rep as a poor passer from Serie A, which makes me worry a bit.

Suarez should have had 2, but that's just the way it's been for him all summer. Hopefully just one of those stretches.

Agger being absent for the City game is unfortunate, but as someone said on Twitter, Mancini can just slot Lescott in there so it shouldn't be a big problem.