Premier League (Official Thread)

[Bucklion]

Not only that, but even under Mancini he played virtually every game he was available for. Mancini liked to change up his lineups, but Zabaleta was one of the few that played regularly, plus he likes to get forward a decent amount so he should be able to get assists & bonus points. He was by far my best defender last season after I had to drop Leighton Baines, because he cost way too much to keep when I added RVP.

Yeah one of the major factors I used when picking most of my guys initially was minutes played...I don't want guys who are maddeningly in and out of the lineup all the time. That said, I was thinking RVP and didn't pull the trigger...oops

 

[Smudger]

Yeah one of the major factors I used when picking most of my guys initially was minutes played...I don't want guys who are maddeningly in and out of the lineup all the time. That said, I was thinking RVP and didn't pull the trigger...oops

It's literally my number one factor. It has to be. Even if your guys don't get you any points, you'll still get points for minutes played. It's the reason I dropped Nathan Dyer last season even though he was dirt cheap, because he started every game at the beginning of the season, but eventually alternated with Wayne Routledge every other game.

RVP was a situation I HAD to go for. I was down 150 points at the time & he was by far the highest scorer in the entire league at the time. I sacrificed basically everything for him, because he was at 14.1 mil or something around there. I had him & Suarez & basically nothing but the cheapest Defenders & Midfielders I could get that regularly played. It definitely worked out well most of the time because he was my Captain every week, but I was completely dependent on those two & when Suarez got suspended, I was finished.

 

[Smudger]

3-0 City. Yaya Toure with a fabulous free-kick goal. Newcastle didn't stand a chance even with XI out there.

 

[Smudger]

Aguero with City's 2nd. Can't find one with the buildup play though.

Steven Taylor Red Card.

Yaya Toure's free-kick goal for City's third.

 

[Fungo Squiggly]

Radio guys just tore apart Newcastle for that attempt at the wall. Advocated taking them to a paintball range and shooting them with paintballs all afternoon. Cisse in particular is taking a whipping.

"It sounds like we have a vendetta or are picking on him, but we aren't....he really is just that bad."

 

[jlb1705]

Fast, strong start against a solid Newcastle squad.

Are they solid though? I think they're pretty much the Iowa Hawkeyes of the Premier League, with Alan Pardew being their Kirk Ferentz. Maybe they won't be as terrible this season since they won't be trying to cope with European competition.

 

[Bucklion]

Zabaleta...assist and clean sheet

If Hazzard comes through again tomorrow (double points), I'll be able to salvage week 1 with something.

 

[HINYG8]

Lampard had a class free kick against Hull.

Chelsea put on a clinic for how to break a wall WIDE open..but Frank didn't need the gap they created to notch this goal.

Made up for the earlier penalty that Lampard hit into a nice save by the keeper.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bg3QWCciJiE"]Frank Lampard amazing free kick goal vs Hull City - YouTube[/ame]

 

[morbitzerker]

Are they solid though? I think they're pretty much the Iowa Hawkeyes of the Premier League, with Alan Pardew being their Kirk Ferentz. Maybe they won't be as terrible this season since they won't be trying to cope with European competition.

I think that's a fair comparison. They're not a top notch side. My point was more to the way City came out of the gate. They needed to make a statement after United and Chelsea each came out with wins, the Reds scoring 4 goals and the Blues looking sharp even though it was Hull City. Man City has a lot of talent and with the Pelligrini and the new signings they needed a big start, that's what they got.

 

[Smudger]

Radio guys just tore apart Newcastle for that attempt at the wall. Advocated taking them to a paintball range and shooting them with paintballs all afternoon. Cisse in particular is taking a whipping.

"It sounds like we have a vendetta or are picking on him, but we aren't....he really is just that bad."

As you can tell in the GIF, he's the only one who didn't jump & looked to not even jostle for position with Kompany in the wall itself. He was probably demoralized like the rest of Newcastle as they were being handled with ease at that point even if they were only down 2-0. That had been dominated all game and were playing with ten men since right before the half thanks to some Joey Barton-esque play from Steven Taylor.

Are they solid though? I think they're pretty much the Iowa Hawkeyes of the Premier League, with Alan Pardew being their Kirk Ferentz. Maybe they won't be as terrible this season since they won't be trying to cope with European competition.

This is a great comparison. Iowa hasn't been much in a few years & Newcastle strongly contended all season for a UCL spot two years ago, but they were a shell of that team last season. Injuries destroyed them throughout the season as there lack of signings in the summer and weak depth across the board wasn't enough to replace what they had the season before. Not to mention the complete disappearance of Cisse all season. Once Ba left for Chelsea, they had nobody left who could score at all. They're definitely not a pushover by any means, but nowhere near as good as they were two season ago. They had an extremely tough task going away to City for the first game of the season, so I'll leave it at that.

I think that's a fair comparison. They're not a top notch side. My point was more to the way City came out of the gate. They needed to make a statement after United and Chelsea each came out with wins, the Reds scoring 4 goals and the Blues looking sharp even though it was Hull City. Man City has a lot of talent and with the Pelligrini and the new signings they needed a big start, that's what they got.

They definitely got the ideal start they were looking for, even if some of it in the 2nd half was helped out by Steven Taylor losing his mind. Didn't matter anyways as City had dominated them to that point regardless. City got into a great rhythm from front-to-back early & never looked back. You could see the players were really enjoying themselves & fully committed as they played extremely hard and with supreme confidence. Impressive game from them I must say.

 

[morbitzerker]

I'm interested to see this Chelsea - Villa match tomorrow. The Blues looked great albeit against Hull, and Villa were the beneficiaries of some questionable cards against Koscielny. McGregor had some good spots and some absolute blunders against the Blues, but Guzan and Villa in general should be a better test for Chelsea. Plus, it's a midweek match so I'm glad we don't have to wait until Saturday.

We've all raved about NBCSports' coverage of BPL, I've been checking out their ProSoccerTalk which is chocked full of BPL news. They've brought out their Power Rankings for the first time.

http://prosoccertalk.nbcsports.com/...ague-power-rankings-dont-doubt-the-champions/

Top 4

...snip

1. Blues
2. Red Devils
3. Citizens
4. Spurs

...snip

I've always followed club football, but this season I'm following much closer than in the past.

 

[Bucklion]

Chelsea leads early on an Own Goal...ouch

 

[jlb1705]

OUT: Bale, Dempsey, Caulker, Huddlestone, Assou-Ekotto (maybe)

IN: Soldado, Paulinho, Capoue, Chadli, Willian, Lamela, Coentrao (maybe), Chiriches (maybe), Halilovic (maybe)

 

[jlb1705]

BTW, I could read "get your own scouts" tweets from Liverpool fans all day.

 

[Dee-Liem]

OUT: Bale, Dempsey, Caulker, Huddlestone, Assou-Ekotto (maybe)

IN: Soldado, Paulinho, Capoue, Chadli, Willian, Lamela, Coentrao (maybe), Chiriches (maybe), Halilovic (maybe)

Funny thing is, the club will still have money left over too (if/when Bale is sold).

Lot better than selling on the final few days and not having done business prior (bringing in the new players). The club would be stuck with a lot of money and no players (if business not done beforehand).