2014-2015 Barclays Premier League Discussion Thread

[EbylHusker]

You can't haz, I want him at Real.

 

Liverpool is matching Manchester City pretty well. Just that mental lapse allowed the goal. City still looks quite impressive, physical, and menacing. If Liverpool can get the best out of Balotelli, though, who knows how high they can go.

[GM_Tood]

Bring on the Liverpool "oh it was just three mistakes" crowd. MCFC looked the part of defending champs today (80')

[EbylHusker]

City have obviously been the better team when the game is taken as a whole. Still, they've shown a few stretches where the pace has fallen off and they've lost focus. It'll be interesting to see what Liverpool does with Balotelli, but so far I'm not seeing anything (early in the season as it is) to make me think it won't be Chelsea and Manchester City fighting for the title.

[Michiganball]

Not totally sold on MC yet, really Liverpool had some great chances but couldn't finish. Don't get me wrong they are top contenders, but it's long ways till May.

[EbylHusker]

The f#*k...

 

Mancester United is losing 3-0 to Milton Keynes Dons (who is a League One team...that's 3rd division). Leicester City is losing 1-0 to Shrewsbury Town (that's a League Two team, 4th division).

 

Ok, 4-0 now Milton Keynes Dons up over ManU.

 

Edit - That's in their League Cup in English soccer, similar to the FA Cup but much smaller.

[EbylHusker]

Manchester United didn't field their full team, of course, but you'd expect them to have more than enough quality and depth to win that game. I have no idea what team Leicester City fielded, but I dout it was their full team, and I have no idea what kind of depth they might have. Still, it was a League Two team.

[Michiganball]

This is shocking 0-4 vs a third tier team? Yea, no Rooney and some others but this shows how shallow and depleted of talent Manchester United really is. This is like Michigan loosing to Appalachian state, it could never happen!.....errr ok it did happen.

I've also become a fan of the MK Don's heh, they did actually play hard, somehow I'm thinking Rutgers are going to be that kind of a pain in the rear this year, who knows, underdogs, nothing to loose and bam!

 

As far as Leicester, they are decent but they did just come from championship, so I could see them loosing without fielding their starters.

[Michiganball]

M United still looks crap, film at 11.

[EbylHusker]

Yes, ManU - son, I am disappoint.

 

But damn, the Everton - Chelsea game is fantastic. Second half should be a cracker.

 

Edit - Wow, what a game. If you can catch it on replay, do so. Definitely an instant classic. Oh yeah, and Howard fans (which includes me) will like his actions in the 2nd half where he jumped to the defense of his fullback and gave Costa a piece of his mind.

[EbylHusker]

Leicester City played a good game against Arsenal. They're easy to like, similar to Everton. I still think Arsenal really needs a top tier striker to provide that extra punch, especially when their finesse game isn't quite clicking enough to get them goals.

[zoogs]

Saw part of the Everton game. From 3-2 to 5-3. Crazy! Poor Tim Howard.

[Michiganball]

Yea crazy game with Everton and Chelsea, poor Howard is right. Speaking of Leicester City considering that they just got promoted from the championship league is sort of impressing me, they have had an absolutely brutal schedule so far and manged to come away with a couple points, loosing only to Chelsea 1-0. I dont think they are going to get relegated like Burnley will.

 

Oh yea and Man U still flat despite the record nearly 100 mill signing. It did take Van Gaal over three months with he's last two teams to start winning, so maybe this is just how he does things.

[EbylHusker]

Di Maria had a decent debut, all things considered. Going out and spending money doesn't mean a team should just suddenly start playing well, nor should anyone expect that to be the case. While ManU's roster isn't superb, there is more than enough talent to win these games. It's a mental issue that's hurting their play to the point of something like drawing Burnley. Talent becomes more of an added issue when you're talking about challenging for the league championship. Last season's ManU had no business playing as poorly as they did, so van Gaal definitely has rebuilding to do in the mental game. I still expect them to turn it around this season.

[schriznoeder]

Leicester City played a good game against Arsenal. They're easy to like, similar to Everton. I still think Arsenal really needs a top tier striker to provide that extra punch, especially when their finesse game isn't quite clicking enough to get them goals.

 

Yes, they definitely need another striker. Signing Welbeck from Man U will help, but I'm not sure I would call him world-class. They also need another central defender and a defensive midfielder.

[Michiganball]

Just got around to watching some games I missed from the weekend, if any of you missed the Newcastle-Crystal Palace game it's definitely worth a watch it sort of goes crazy like that Everton-Chelsea game this weekend. You should be able to catch the replay on NBC sports streaming or find a torrent.

 

Team USA playing Czech Republic today at 2:15 est btw. espn/sec 2 I believe.