2007-08 Premier League thread

[BeltOfScotch]

If an MLS thread can actually get stickied on this board, then there's got to be room for a Premier League thread. Matches start bright and early tomorrow, I am pumped for this season.

Title chase is probably between Chelsea and Manchester United. United spent a ton of money but Chelsea is still Chelsea and will surely keep things close all season.

People think this will be the year Tottenham breaks through into the top 4 because of Arsenal losing Henry, but I think the Big 4 will stay the Big 4.

My bet is Sunderland will be this year's Reading, spending most of the season in the top half of the table and possibly flirting with UEFA qualification.

Anybody else following this season as psychotically as I will be?

[prothunderball]

I don't follow soccer but a couple of my friends so, so I'll just try and remember what they say and then come back and post in here, and try and sound like I know what I'm talking about.

my first tidbit: West Ham is gonna suck this year.

[badorties]

If an MLS thread can actually get stickied on this board, then there's got to be room for a Premier League thread. Matches start bright and early tomorrow, I am pumped for this season.

Title chase is probably between Chelsea and Manchester United. United spent a ton of money but Chelsea is still Chelsea and will surely keep things close all season.

People think this will be the year Tottenham breaks through into the top 4 because of Arsenal losing Henry, but I think the Big 4 will stay the Big 4.

My bet is Sunderland will be this year's Reading, spending most of the season in the top half of the table and possibly flirting with UEFA qualification.

Anybody else following this season as psychotically as I will be?

i've just started to follow things a bit on the fox channel, i'm definitely gonna begin a new obsession

[Dan G]

I'm excited for the start of the season, too. I'll be up early listening to games on Sirius, then switching to FSC at 10 to watch a game.

Here's this weekends BPL TV Schedule:

Saturday
Setanta - 07:40am: Sunderland vs. Spurs
Fox Soccer Channel - 09:55am: West Ham vs. Man City
Setanta - 09:55am: Bolton vs. Newcastle
Fox Soccer Channel - 12:00pm: Villa vs. Liverpool
Fox Soccer Channel - 02:15pm: Derby vs. Pompey (delayed)
Setanta - 02:30pm: Everton vs. Wigan (delayed)
Setanta - 07:45pm: Wolves vs. Watford (delayed)

Sunday
Fox Soccer Channel - 07:00am: Arsenal vs. Fulham
Fox Soccer Channel - 11:00am: Man Utd vs. Reading
Setanta - 08:25am: Chelsea vs. Birmingham

If you have Sirius, here's their lineup:

Saturday
7:40 AM Tottenham Hotspur @ Sunderland - Channel 125
9:50 AM Newcastle United @ Bolton Wanderers - Channel 125
12:15 PM Liverpool @ Aston Villa - Channel 125

Sunday
8:30 AM Birmingham City @ Chelsea - Channel 126
11:00 AM Reading Royals @ Manchester United - Channel 125

[Dan 'Hampton]

C.O.Y.S.

I actually wish i had sirius to get soccer programming. The world cup on XM was great too bad that didn't turn into anything else.

[Hottub]

I have not decided if I am going to follow it yet. It always tend to turn into an obsession, and I wind up not sleeping because of the time difference.

[jetdog]

I'm excited for the start of the season, too. I'll be up early listening to games on Sirius, then switching to FSC at 10 to watch a game.

Here's this weekends BPL TV Schedule:

Saturday
Setanta - 07:40am: Sunderland vs. Spurs - Spurs
Fox Soccer Channel - 09:55am: West Ham vs. Man City - Man City
Setanta - 09:55am: Bolton vs. Newcastle - Newcastle
Fox Soccer Channel - 12:00pm: Villa vs. Liverpool - Liverpool
Fox Soccer Channel - 02:15pm: Derby vs. Pompey - Derby (delayed)
Setanta - 02:30pm: Everton vs. Wigan - Everton(delayed)
Setanta - 07:45pm: Wolves vs. Watford - Wolves(delayed)

Sunday
Fox Soccer Channel - 07:00am: Arsenal vs. Fulham - Arsenal
Fox Soccer Channel - 11:00am: Man Utd vs. Reading - Man U
Setanta - 08:25am: Chelsea vs. Birmingham - Chelsea


I' d say 50% of these are guesses, but it will be cool to see how I fair...

[Dan G]

I think it's cool that former Team USA member, Brian McBride, has been appointed captain of Fulham.
I think Claudio Reyna is the only other American to ever be named captain of a team in the Premier League.

[Dan G]

Americans playing in the Barclays Premier League:

Carlos Bocanegra (Fulham)
Bobby Convey (Reading)
Clint Dempsey (Fulham)
Benny Feilhaber (Derby County)
Brad Friedel (Blackburn Rovers)
Marcus Hahnemann (Reading)
Tim Howard (Everton)
Brian McBride (Fulham)
Johann Smith (Bolton Wanderers)
Jonathan Spector (West Ham)

[BeltOfScotch]

I don't really want to, but I'm getting up early to watch Sunderland-Spurs tomorrow. Want to see if Spurs are the real deal and as long as Keano is there I'll always be interested in what Sunderland does.

If anybody doesn't have fancy FSC/Setanta access, watch the asian feeds of the games at livefooty.doctor-serv.com

[BeltOfScotch]

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story?id=452553&cc=5901

Sir Alex Ferguson has confirmed that Wayne Rooney will be out of action for two months after suffering a hairline fracture of his left foot in Manchester United's game with Reading yesterday.

Ugh.

[Dan G]

ManU will be fine without Rooney, since they have Nani and Tevez.

The England National Team will miss him more since they have Euro qualifying matches coming up.

[Dan G]

Lots of games going on today, but not a lot offered on TV.

Wednesday
Setanta - 02:40pm: Portsmouth vs. Manchester United
Fox Soccer Channel - 03:00pm: Reading vs. Chelsea
Fox Soccer Channel - 05:00pm: Fulham vs. Bolton (delayed)

If you have Sirius, here's their lineup:

Saturday
2:45 PM Reading vs. Chelsea - Channel 125
2:45 PM Portsmouth vs. Manchester United - Channel 126

[The Blowhard]

Down with MANUre and Tottenscum! It's all about West Ham United! Come on you irons!

[BeltOfScotch]

Down with MANUre and Tottenscum! It's all about West Ham United! Come on you irons!

Back in my day we didn't use fecal matter to discuss opposing teams, while we supported our own clubs we treated all opponents with class and respect.

In other news, fuck Portsmouth.

[Dan G]

Here's this weekends BPL TV Schedule:

Saturday
Setanta - 7:40am: Portsmouth vs. Bolton
Fox Soccer Channel - 9:55am: Reading vs. Everton
Setanta - 9:55am: Tottenham Hotspur vs. Derby County
Fox Soccer Channel - 12:00pm: Newcastle United vs. Aston Villa
Fox Soccer Channel - 2:15pm: Wigan vs. Sunderland (delayed)
Setanta - 2:30pm: Birmingham vs. West Ham (delayed)

Sunday
Setanta - 8:25am: Manchester City vs. Manchester United
Fox Soccer Channel - 11:00am: Liverpool vs. Chelsea

If you have Sirius, here's their lineup:

Saturday
7:40 AM: Portsmouth vs. Bolton - Channel 125
9:50 AM: Tottenham Hotspur vs. Derby County - Channel 125
12:13 PM: Newcastle United vs. Aston Villa - Channel 125

Sunday
8:28 AM Manchester City vs. Manchester United - Channel 122
11:00 AM Liverpool vs. Chelsea - Channel 125

[BeltOfScotch]

Who needs a Premier League thread anyway? Nobody in America watches soccer. Maybe we should just pretend this season isn't happening.

[Dan G]

66,000+ showed up at Giants stadium last night for a soccer match. Granted, most were there to see Beckham, but they ended up seeing a great offensive game. I'll bet MLS and the NYRB converted some new fans after that display.

Americans are slowly getting into soccer. Just look at MLS from 10 years ago to today and you'll see a steady incline in growth.

As for me, I've followed the Premier League longer than I have MLS. I'm a fan of both and hope more people will discover this wonderful game.

[ShotOfBlueGrey]

chelsea got lucky today, granted I'm a fan but I think that ref was related to tim donaghy,just brutal.....

yes I'm one of the 4 people who follow the EPL....

[Dan G]

chelsea got lucky today, granted I'm a fan but I think that ref was related to tim donaghy,just brutal.....

Referee Styles dropped after Anfield shambles

Referees' chief Keith Hackett has confirmed Rob Styles will not take charge of a match next weekend after his performance in the game between Liverpool and Chelsea at Anfield on Sunday.

Styles controversially awarded Chelsea a penalty which enabled the Blues to equalize after Fernando Torres' opener, before causing confusion by brandishing a yellow card at Michael Essien - who had already been booked - but insisting it was John Terry being booked.

And Hackett, general manager of Professional Game Match Officials Limited, told Sky Sports: 'Accountability exists and we, the PGMOL, do expect referees to get big decisions correct.

'On this occasion it was wrong and therefore Rob will not be officiating next weekend.'

The referees' supremo even apologized to Rafael Benitez.

On Styles, Hackett added: 'I spoke to Rob this morning and obviously he is extremely disappointed with the decision and admitted he got it wrong. I have left a message with Rafael Benitez to apologise.

'Having looked at a video and seen a better angle and a better view, clearly he (Styles) now recognises that he got it wrong and he's deeply apologetic for that. I think, in fact, he too will be making contact with Liverpool in order to offer his apologies.'

Asked about the confusion when Essien appeared to be booked for a second time, Hackett said: 'I'm informed by both the fourth official and Rob he retained the card shown to John Terry then held the card to indicate a direct free-kick, and failed to put the card away. So it was a basic, if you like, admin error as against an error in application of law.

'We'll look at the video to ensure we don't get a repeat of that.'

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story?id=455023 (http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story?id=455023&campaign=rss&source=soccernet&cc=5901)

[BeltOfScotch]

Youtube is done, I haven't seen this penalty call that everyone says is so terrible and Youtube always has videos of EPL league goals. Every single video posted of the penalty call is gone. Ugh.

There's not much they can do about penalty calls that are as apparently bad as this one was, but they really need to use the goalline technology to confirm whether the ball crosses the line. Stuff like what happened in the Fulham-Boro match is unconscionable.

It's hard to be really negative about United's start to the season because they've played so well, but the results are really tough. Hargreaves looked great yesterday.

[Dan G]

The BPL demands that YouTube remove all highlights from their site. Videos posted rarely last long on there.

[jetdog]

Does anyone remember the website that someone posted where you could stream soccer games from around the world? I think it was a Japanese based site, I just can't find it again.

[jetdog]

I am such a moron.

[BeltOfScotch]

Gabriel Heinze to Real Madrid
http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story?id=455777&cc=5901

At least it's over. This is really too bad, he was a solid player for the team but his reputation is pretty much done with a lot of Manchester United fans because of the way he left.

[Dan G]

Here's this weekends BPL TV Schedule:

Saturday
Setanta - 7:40am: Sunderland vs. Liverpool
Fox Soccer Channel - 9:55am: Arsenal vs. Manchester City
Setanta - 9:55am: Chelsea vs. Portsmouth
Fox Soccer Channel - 12:00pm: Everton vs. Blackburn Rovers
Setanta - 4:30pm: Aston Villa vs. Fulham (delayed)

Sunday
Fox Soccer Channel - 1:30am: Derby County vs. Birmingham (delayed)
Setanta - 8:25am: Middlesbrough vs. Newcastle United
Fox Soccer Channel - 11:00am: Manchester United vs. Tottenham Hotspur

If you have Sirius, here's their lineup:

Saturday
7:40 AM: Sunderland vs. Liverpool - Channel 122
9:50 AM: Arsenal vs. Manchester City - Channel 122
10:00 AM: Chelsea vs. Portsmouth - Channel 125
12:13 PM: Everton vs. Blackburn Rovers - Channel 125

Sunday
8:28 AM Middlesbrough vs. Newcastle United - Channel 125
10:58 AM Manchester United vs. Tottenham Hotspur - Channel 125

[BeltOfScotch]

Arsenal vs City - everyone who watches that loses

United-Spurs is a huge match this early in the season because both teams really need the win.

I'd love to see Sunderland pull off a big upset against Liverpool, anything to shut up Rafa.

[Dan G]

http://img218.imageshack.us/img218/8248/managersofpremiershipdu2.png

[Meve]

Does anyone follow the Spanish premeir league? I just started the end of last season and now i have it available to me on World Sports HD.
I tried watching the first game today but they were having some issues. Hopefully I can catch the barcelona game tomorrow.

[BeltOfScotch]

Back from the dead because Chelsea's ridiculously successful manager, Jose Mourinho, left the club last night. Unreal considering all he's won, but there's been tension between him and the owner for a while. Perfect timing as they come to Old Trafford on Sunday. :thumbup:

[jetdog]

Back from the dead because Chelsea's ridiculously successful manager, Jose Mourinho, left the club last night. Unreal considering all he's won, but there's been tension between him and the owner for a while. Perfect timing as they come to Old Trafford on Sunday. :thumbup:

That's a shocker to me, I had no idea things were that bad, Chelsea was a real danger under him, but I guess he can go wherever he wants now after his success there.

[Dan G]

How the hell does Jol still have a job and Jose doesn't?

[PhishHead]

Ha Way The Lads!

[yojimbo7248]

Do any of you go to Nevada Smith's in Manhattan to watch Premier League Soccer? Just checking because I am going to watch Arsenal play Hull there today with my English in-laws. I go there pretty often. They are rabid Arsenal supporters and it's a fun scene at Nevada Smith's.

[KISSjunky]

http://i132.photobucket.com/albums/q30/perkel4346/Chelsea/AIMlogo.gif

[yojimbo7248]

http://i132.photobucket.com/albums/q30/perkel4346/Chelsea/AIMlogo.gif

I didn't think your guys were going to pull that off yesterday. How many seconds in the game when they made that final goal?

[KISSjunky]

93rd min. (injury time) Both goals were late. Didn't watch but caught highlights