2014-2015 Barclays Premier League Discussion Thread

EbylHusker said:
You qualify for the Champions League (or Europa League, the one just below it) that takes place during the next season. So because of Arsenal's finish in the BPL last season, they are playing in the Champion's League this season (specifically the playoff to get into the Champion's League proper, which starts with the Group Stage later on, since they finished 4th in the BPL). It's a strange mechanic for those used to other sports, since this year's teams will be playing in the Champions and Europa leagues even though it was last years teams that qualified (though admittedly very often not that much changes).

It's one thing a lot of people don't take into consideration with soccer, especially the good teams that make deep runs into these non-league commitments. Real Madrid last season, for instance, played their league games, all of the Champions League games (since they won it), and their own internal league cup. Good teams from other leagues go through the same thing - it's way, way more games than just the league games, at least for the top teams in the world.

So a lot of strategy comes into play regarding when you can rest players on the easier games so they can be fresh for the big ones, etc. The best managers walk a very thin line with which players to play and when. It's also why the really, really good teams require so much money - their rosters are essentially packed with top players, a lot of them often sitting the bench as "super subs." So when a team like Real Madrid subs in players for a game to rest them, their enormous financial resources allow those subs to actually be good enough to start on most other club teams. That allows the top, top teams to be competitive across multple commitments outside their leagues, which lesser teams simply can't do.

And of course, you also have players with international team commitments, too, which only adds to their workload on occasion.
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This whole mess is just baffling as an American sports fan. There isn't anything remotely comparable here.

 
Yeah, it's a very different mechanic. Unlike most sports we're used to, though, soccer at the professional level is pretty much a year round sport. So the BPL just started this last weekend, and it will end late in next May. So they take a relatively short winter break and then the longer summer break, but the games are still spread out through most of the year. They also play two games against each team, so the 20 team BPL ends up being a 38 game season.

All that aside, what I really like about soccer leagues is the promotion and relegation mechanic. Even if you only follow the top tier of a league, it has a tendancy to really make for a lot of good, high value games even at the lower end of the league. Relegation is a serious blow to a team, as it means a large hit to revenue and very often teams do not come right back up (especially in the BPL) next season. As a player, being relegated might mean you'll never get to play in the BPL again, or if you're a better player, it could very well mean you'll be looking to transfer to another team that is playing in a top tier league.

And of course, promotion up to the next league is always a huge deal, especially if you're talking about going to the top league. Watching some of the Championship League games (England's 2nd division) can be really entertaining, especially if the team is wrapping up a promotion into the BPL. The fans go absolutely insane.

 
EbylHusker said:
Yeah, it's a very different mechanic. Unlike most sports we're used to, though, soccer at the professional level is pretty much a year round sport. So the BPL just started this last weekend, and it will end late in next May. So they take a relatively short winter break and then the longer summer break, but the games are still spread out through most of the year. They also play two games against each team, so the 20 team BPL ends up being a 38 game season.

All that aside, what I really like about soccer leagues is the promotion and relegation mechanic. Even if you only follow the top tier of a league, it has a tendancy to really make for a lot of good, high value games even at the lower end of the league. Relegation is a serious blow to a team, as it means a large hit to revenue and very often teams do not come right back up (especially in the BPL) next season. As a player, being relegated might mean you'll never get to play in the BPL again, or if you're a better player, it could very well mean you'll be looking to transfer to another team that is playing in a top tier league.

And of course, promotion up to the next league is always a huge deal, especially if you're talking about going to the top league. Watching some of the Championship League games (England's 2nd division) can be really entertaining, especially if the team is wrapping up a promotion into the BPL. The fans go absolutely insane.
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I agree that it is a fascinating mechanic, the relegation and promotion. It would be really cool to have that in American sports, but the leagues would never allow it in a million years with all the TV contracts.

 
Ebyl did a great job explaining how complex the sport really is. To add to the Premier League teams regular season schedules, the top 4 play in the Champions League, Usually two or three are in Europa League, the second tier tournament, then you also have the FA cup which is a tournament for all the teams in the pyramid and then League Cup which the a tournament for the the top four divisions of English football. So a team like Arsenal could be playing their regular season and three tournaments during that season. Sometimes it gets crazy just to follow everything that is going on.

To add to what Ebyl said, my team Everton who is usually a 5th-8th place team qualified for Europa this season by finishing 5th last season. What this means for a club like Everton is they needed to go out and get some extra players this season for the extra games they will have to play in Europa. Everton doesn't have a budget like a ManU or Arsenal does so it's much harder for them to get the quantity of players of high quality to play those extra game and not suffer too much playing the Premier league season at the same time.

BTW, I too absolutely love the promotion and relegation aspect. It makes so many more of the games important

 
Go gunners! This first week was excellent, Manchester United already looks to be in trouble despite the great pre season, maybe it's the 3-5-3 they are using. Leicester had an impressive tie vs Tim Howard's Everton, really most games were excellent, I do love that league so. The disturbing thing is, I also pay attention to their championship league as one year you are in the Premiere the next in Championship or vice versa.

Speaking of relegation, also really like the promotion relegation idea, we could use half the teams in the NFL to be relegated as their owners just suck of the communal money pot and make no effort whatsoever to better their clubs. That would be a heck of a motivation and make for more sensible odds of winning the Superbowl.

Rooney's bicycle kick vs Swans

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ManU will do alright this season, but it won't be a great one for them. Playing without some key players didn't help. They'll improve as the season goes along, and should look better overall than they did last season. I expect them to finish a little higher, too. Unfortunately, they have some real issues on defense and they need to bring in some players to fix that in the long run. I don't see the formation as being a problem, except it's still a learning process since it requires a huge amount of dynamic play from the midfield, especially the wingers.

Liverpool's prospects might be improving some IF they get Balotelli and IF Brendan Rodgers can get consistent, high level performances out of him. That's a big ask, but we'll see, assuming he really is going to Liverpool. A new location outside of Italy might be just what he needs.

 
What a Arsenal comeback vs Everton, down 2-0 and score two in the last 10 minutes of the game to get a well deserved point on the road.

Was a bit torn though as they had to get those two passed Tim Howard.

 
I'm still having a hard time believing Real Madrid is letting Di Maria go. Sadly, I think that's a colossal mistake. But ManU picking him up, no matter the price (since Real Madrid is tightening the screws and upping the price), would be a huge boon for them. They desparately need a star winger like Di Maria. Of course, they also need some real defenders, too.

Also, pretty funny to watch Barcelona go up 1-0 on Elche, only to go down to 10 men 60 seconds later.

Edit - And then Barcelona goes up 2-0 right at the start of the 2nd half. lol

 
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EbylHusker said:
I'm still having a hard time believing Real Madrid is letting Di Maria go. Sadly, I think that's a colossal mistake. But ManU picking him up, no matter the price (since Real Madrid is tightening the screws and upping the price), would be a huge boon for them. They desparately need a star winger like Di Maria. Of course, they also need some real defenders, too.

Also, pretty funny to watch Barcelona go up 1-0 on Elche, only to go down to 10 men 60 seconds later.

Edit - And then Barcelona goes up 2-0 right at the start of the 2nd half. lol
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Especially after the year Di Maria had for them last season. It is a team that loves nothing more than the "new car smell" when it comes to their players though...

 
They do rotate through players, yeah. They also acquire many of their players for much less than they sell them for, though.
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Di Maria is just one example out of many in that area. Ah well, Real Madrid's roster will read like an allstar list as it always does. I just think Di Maria is going to be really hard to replace, but we'll see.

Barcelona looked sharp today (granted, it was Elche) and Atletico have brought in a lot of talent to replace what they lost. I'm still annoyed they beat Real in the Super Cup.

 
Cant get into Madrid, you have Ronaldo with he's shaved legs, yes he's male, no he is not a diver, at least not the aquatic type. Then Gareth Bale comes on the field wearing an eight year old girls head band, I simply bust out laughing and turn the channel.

 
Michiganball said:
What a Arsenal comeback vs Everton, down 2-0 and score two in the last 10 minutes of the game to get a well deserved point on the road.

Was a bit torn though as they had to get those two passed Tim Howard.
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Great comeback for the Gunners! I just wish it had never come down to that in the first. The defense needs some seriously work. I'm hoping that picking up another top-shelf defensive midfielder (ala Sami Khedira) will help shore things up a bit.

 
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