Premier League Preview Thread

[Liverpooldawg]

I recorded it and just got to watch. AWESOME!

[BrunswickDawg]

That atmosphere was awesome. The roar when the cup was lifted was tremendous. I'd love to be at a game like that.

[TheRef]

My goal is to head to King Power for one match. I just want to take part in that atmosphere. Tickets may be a little harder to grab.

[Liverpooldawg]

My goal is to head to King Power for one match. I just want to take part in that atmosphere. Tickets may be a little harder to grab.

Don't settle for just that if you have never been to the UK. As much as I love the EPL ( and the lessor leagues in England) the history over there has taken precedence every time I have been. The first time I went I had to choose between Anfield and a visit to Chester when our ship docked on Merseyside. I chose Chester. I didn't regret it as much as I would have loved to see Anfiled up close. The cathedral was spectacular, as were the city walls, the canal boats, and the Chester Rows. I did see Anfield, and Goodison Park, from our ship on the Mersey. To me visiting the UK is always a choice of priorities. I never have time to see everything I want to see no matter what part of the realm we are in. The history always trumps sport. The problem is picking out WHAT history to see. That isn't easy over there, even if you only go to one city.

[War Machine Dawg]

Arsenal and City played to a 2-2 draw yesterday. Unfortunately, it did little to help either side. If Man U wins their next 2, City will miss the Champions League. Arsenal *could* miss the CL, but looks like they'll be in. Still a chance they could leapfrog Tottenham for 2nd.

Lots of Arsenal transfer rumours swirling, so I won't mention all of them. The three biggest stories I've seen are Walcott snubbing Chelsea for a West Ham move, Xhaka warming up to an Arsenal move, and a potential bid for Sturridge. Giroud has also drawn some interest. Frankly, I'd sell him for a two pence if that's all we could get for him.

And the whole "Arsenal is healthy" thing lasted all of 6 days. Oxlade-Chamberlain is out for the season and will miss the Euros. Ozil missed yesterday's game with a hip. Welbeck went off early with a potential knee injury. The good news is Jack Wilshere came on to replace Welbeck and looked good.

[Liverpooldawg]

Sunderland won so Villa, Newcastle, and my second team Norwich are relegated. We drew 1-1 with the Plastics.

[WeWonItAll(Most)]

Newcastle is officially relegated. It'll be interesting to see who stays and who goes. Especially with some of the top officials in the club. I've seen reports that Rafa is considering staying, but I see absolutely no benefit at all to him coaching a Championship team. However, we're supposedly offering him $5 mil/year and total control of our transfers. He also seems to have the obsessive personality of someone who would want to finish the projects he's started. But again, I see no benefit to him staying except being adored by Newcastle fans if he were to get us back up and successful.

[Liverpooldawg]

Newcastle is officially relegated. It'll be interesting to see who stays and who goes. Especially with some of the top officials in the club. I've seen reports that Rafa is considering staying, but I see absolutely no benefit at all to him coaching a Championship team. However, we're supposedly offering him $5 mil/year and total control of our transfers. He also seems to have the obsessive personality of someone who would want to finish the projects he's started. But again, I see no benefit to him staying except being adored by Newcastle fans if he were to get us back up and successful.

I have never been able to figure Newcastle out. They ARE a big club everywhere except on the pitch. Except for one year under Kevin Keegan they have never really been that relevant since I have followed English football. That is for over 20 years now.

[BrunswickDawg]

I have never been able to figure Newcastle out. They ARE a big club everywhere except on the pitch. Except for one year under Kevin Keegan they have never really been that relevant since I have followed English football. That is for over 20 years now.

I work with a guy from Newcastle who is a football nut. I asked "what happened?" He said "We are Newcastle." I told him I knew exactly what he meant.

[Liverpooldawg]

I work with a guy from Newcastle who is a football nut. I asked "what happened?" He said "We are Newcastle." I told him I knew exactly what he meant.

That year under Keegan they were something like 10 points clear at the top of the table at Christmas and blew it down the stretch. Sir Alex got all in Keegan's head and Newcastle just wilted under the pressure. That was back in the mid to late 90s.

[WeWonItAll(Most)]

I have never been able to figure Newcastle out. They ARE a big club everywhere except on the pitch. Except for one year under Kevin Keegan they have never really been that relevant since I have followed English football. That is for over 20 years now.

It's very bad ownership combined with very passionate fans who have a tendency to turn against the manager very quickly when things go bad (personally, I think this part is due to years of bad ownership causing trust issues with the fanbase). It seems like the owner just got around to realizing just how dire of a situation the club was in after owning the club for a decade+ now. If by some miracle Rafa stays at Newcastle, I think in 3-4 seasons the club could be in a great place. But at the same time, if we aren't in the top 3 ten games into the Championship next season I could very easily see the fans turning on him. It's just a toxic relationship between the fans and the owner in my opinion and that toxicity spills onto the pitch.

[War Machine Dawg]

Arsenal guaranteed Champions League football after Man U lost on Tuesday. Now we play a game to see if we can leapfrog the Spurs, although we need them to lose. But they're the Spurs, so I'm expecting we'll get their help.

Lots of rumours floating that Arsenal has essentially coughed up the cash that Monchengladbach wants for Xhaka with an offer of 34M pounds. Gladbach wanted 35M. Now it's a matter of agreeing to personal terms. Apparently Xhaka wants a deal done before the Euros.

In really shitty news, Welbeck blew up the cartilage in his healthy knee and had surgery yesterday. He'll be out 9 months. It really sucks, because he just missed 9 months with a similar injury to his other knee. And he looked really damn good since coming back. The only positive I can see at all is it might finally force Wenger into going out and signing a legit top tier striker. Relying on Giroud is ridiculous, especially if the rumours of Walcott leaving are true.

Sucks to see Norwich relegated. I was really hoping the 3 new clubs would be able to stay up but 2/3 ain't bad. Sunderland is apparently the Houdini of EPL relegation. Almost every year, they flirt with the bottom all season then wind up doing just enough to survive.

[Liverpooldawg]

It's very bad ownership combined with very passionate fans who have a tendency to turn against the manager very quickly when things go bad (personally, I think this part is due to years of bad ownership causing trust issues with the fanbase). It seems like the owner just got around to realizing just how dire of a situation the club was in after owning the club for a decade+ now. If by some miracle Rafa stays at Newcastle, I think in 3-4 seasons the club could be in a great place. But at the same time, if we aren't in the top 3 ten games into the Championship next season I could very easily see the fans turning on him. It's just a toxic relationship between the fans and the owner in my opinion and that toxicity spills onto the pitch.

It was the same way with the previous owners. It's just weird because they are such a huge club otherwise.

[Liverpooldawg]

Hey Ref. If you don't buy one of these you ain't a Fox. LOL!

http://www.foxsports.com/soccer/stor...hip-day-051216

[War Machine Dawg]

Arsenal successfully leapfrog the Spuds for second. St. Totteringham's Day aGAIN! Gotta thank our helpful Newcastle peeps for the assist on their way down to the Championship. Hurry back.

Granit Xhaka has made some comments today that seem to indicate a deal with Arsenal is essentially done. Looks like Gladbach is trying to hold out for an extra 2M euros in transfer fee. Arsenal has bid 43, but they want 45. I say split the difference, give 'em 44 and get this damn thing done. Then we can finally move on to the inevitable letdown of Wenger failing to sign a quality striker or CB.

[Liverpooldawg]

Huge game for Liverpool tomorrow: The Europa League Final. The trophy is nice, we have won it's predecessor several times, but the REAL prize is the place in the Champion's League group stage that goes with it these days. That would really help with recruiting this summer in a big way.

[Liverpooldawg]

Liverpool up 1-0 @ half. They should have had 3 PKs, two were 50-50 but one was blatant.

[Liverpooldawg]

1-1 15 seconds into the second half

[Liverpooldawg]

2-1 Sevilla 65th. This half is all Sevilla.

[Liverpooldawg]

3-1.......Shellshocked. Those non-calls are looking huge now. Poor defensive play is killing Liverpool. There have been mistakes on all three goals.