English Premier League/General Football(Soccer)

[Handsome Goblin]

I don't even know were this is supposed to be, I don't know if the Giant is even the place for this kind of forum, but I thought I might make a thread about the english premier league/general football(soccer).

Also wondering what people thought of the first weekend of games. I am an Arsenal fan, so I am kind of resigned for the season and not sure if I am up to talking about it :smallannoyed:. Although the other games were great, and of course RvP doing what he does best. If anyone is from the US like I am, Jozy Altidore started for Sunderland which is great even though they lost. Sadly Koscielny got a red card so he will be out the next game, and also lost points for my fantasy team.

That is my take, hopefully this thread can get a start, if no one is interested oh well, I thought I might give it a shot :smallwink:.

[Aedilred]

I might start paying attention to the football once the cricket's over :smallwink:

[Handsome Goblin]

I am already breaking my topic, but just a curious question when is the cricket season?

[factotum]

I am already breaking my topic, but just a curious question when is the cricket season?

We're already on the fifth Ashes test against Australia (who we're beating quite handily right now).

[Jon_Dahl]

I follow the Prem closely every season. I play fantasy football and except for last season I've always been placed among the top 10%.

It's interesting to see how Moyes will able to replace Sir Alex, and how Mourinho's return turns out. I predict Chelsea will win the league, Man City finish second and ManU third. Newcastle, Hull and Stoke will be relegated.

A hot tip for the next round: Fulham to win the second half against Arsenal (odds 3,60).

[Handsome Goblin]

Wow are the odds against Arsenal that much :smalleek:? Also do you have a favorite club Jon_Dahl?

[Raistlin1040]

I am a fanatic. I generally watch 3-4 games a weekend. This week I got Liverpool/Stoke, City/Newcastle, Arsenal/Villa and Spurs/Palace.

I would wager the final table to look something like this

Chelsea
City
United
Spurs
Liverpool
Arsenal
(other teams)
Sunderland
Hull
Palace

[Jon_Dahl]

Wow are the odds against Arsenal that much :smalleek:? Also do you have a favorite club Jon_Dahl?

Yes, I found those odds from Bet365 (an English company, I guess?).
I don't have a favorite club, I like the players and the game, not the clubs. This attitude may stem from my preference to play fantasy football, where basically only the individual performances count.

I was a lower-league and youth referee for two years. Just to let you know, 99% of people don't understand what is a penalizable handball :smallmad:

[Handsome Goblin]

I am a fanatic. I generally watch 3-4 games a weekend. This week I got Liverpool/Stoke, City/Newcastle, Arsenal/Villa and Spurs/Palace.

I would wager the final table to look something like this

Chelsea
City
United
Spurs
Liverpool
Arsenal
(other teams)
Sunderland
Hull
Palace

Sadly, this will be probably true if Arsenal does not get their crap together, and yes I can see were you are coming from about not picking a club, but do you have some favorite players then? Also would you care defining a penelizable handball :smalltongue:.

[Raistlin1040]

A handball that warrants a free kick or penalty is a situation where a ball is deliberately handled by an outfield player or a goalkeeper outside his penalty box. However, intent is hard to judge, so a rule of thumb (that is not in the rulebook) commonly used is the idea of "natural position" of the arm/hands. If I am in a wall and covering my front area with my arms and hands and the ball strikes me, that is considered a "natural position". However, if I'm jumping to block a direct free kick, and my arms are spread out, the position is not natural for the situation and I am trying to gain an advantage. If my arm or hand were to hit the ball then, it would be a handball.

Source: Referee

[Handsome Goblin]

Great definition, I still play the game and sometimes the refs dont even know if it is a handball or not, or they have the rule wrong. That always sucks.

[Jon_Dahl]

Sadly, this will be probably true if Arsenal does not get their crap together, and yes I can see were you are coming from about not picking a club, but do you have some favorite players then?

Vincent Kompany is a great player and I like his personality. It's always a pleasure to see him playing and I feel that he has never played badly. He has guts, more than anyone else I would like to say. From the Championship I like Manuel Almunia because he has been victimized throughout his career and I've seen him play several times over the past decade. He has grown on me. "Fat Frank" has always endured a lot and I respect him for that.


Also would you care defining a penelizable handball :smalltongue:.

Raistlin already did a good job explaining it, but I'll say it in my own words too, as it was taught to me several times by older refs:
If a ball touches an arm that was not in a natural position in regards of movement and posture of the body, a direct free kick or a penalty is awarded. An arm or hand touching the ball as a reaction to the ball's movement also warrants a free kick or a penalty.
Not a free kick or a penalty: The hand was in a natural position in regards to the body. The arm didn't move after the ball was kicked.
You will not find these from the Laws of the Game. These are simply ways for us to determine if there was an infringement.

True story from my own refereeing times:
A chubby and apathic kid was standing in the defence, all alone. The ball was kicked at his direction and it was a long ball crossing half the field. The kid didn't move. The ball struck his arm and bounced back. The kid still didn't move. Everyone could see the ball clearly striking his arm, and I waved "play on". At that moment I felt like the most hated man on the planet, and the small crowd of people really made their feelings known. But nevertheless, "play on".

[Handsome Goblin]

True story from my own refereeing times:
A chubby and apathic kid was standing in the defence, all alone. The ball was kicked at his direction and it was a long ball crossing half the field. The kid didn't move. The ball struck his arm and bounced back. The kid still didn't move. Everyone could see the ball clearly striking his arm, and I waved "play on". At that moment I felt like the most hated man on the planet, and the small crowd of people really made their feelings known. But nevertheless, "play on".

Have you ever had to give someone a card for whining to much? And I have not heard of Manuel Alumnia, I am a pretty young footballer :smallredface:.

[Jon_Dahl]

Have you ever had to give someone a card for whining to much? And I have not heard of Manuel Alumnia, I am a pretty young footballer :smallredface:.

Fortunately I haven't. Youngsters and children didn't shoot their mouth that much.

Actually I could only fully penalise boys; I was advised not to show red cards to girls because "they didn't deserve it". My referee mentor had a fairly condescending attitude towards women. Yellow cards were all right, but I didn't give them either because two yellows => red, so it was better not to risk it.

[Handsome Goblin]

If reffing youngsters and children I would hopefully not have to pull out the cards at all I get were you are coming from.

[Raistlin1040]

Almunia was a mediocre keeper at Arsenal for the better part of a decade and has been pretty good since moving to Watford in the second division last season.

[Jon_Dahl]

Almunia was a mediocre keeper at Arsenal for the better part of a decade and has been pretty good since moving to Watford in the second division last season.

I agree. The conditions at Arsenal were awful. Lehmann, who has always been half-mad and proud of it, bullied him for years. No wonder he couldn't reach his maximum potential there.

As a player, Lehmann was one of the randomest person alive. I let this video speak for itself:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TPbD34RE0JY
It would a nightmare to have a person like Lehmann- delusional, publicly slandering, mistake-prone, cocky, dishonest - as your colleague or classmate. And Manuel endured it all. That's why he's a hero.

[Handsome Goblin]

A hot tip for the next round: Fulham to win the second half against Arsenal (odds 3,60).

:smallbiggrin::smallbiggrin::smallbiggrin:........

[Jon_Dahl]

:smallbiggrin::smallbiggrin::smallbiggrin:........

The second half was a draw, so pretty close. Just one goal away from tripling your bet...

[Handsome Goblin]

I am away playing all day so I havnt had a chance to watch the games was it pretty good?

[Killer Angel]

I am an Arsenal fan,

I have a soft spot for Arsenal, tnx to Nick Hornby. :smallwink:
That said, I agree with Dahl:


It's interesting to see how Moyes will able to replace Sir Alex, and how Mourinho's return turns out.

Go José! :smallbiggrin:
(but that's just me...)

[Handsome Goblin]

So how about Cardiff :smallwink:?

[Raistlin1040]

I agree. The conditions at Arsenal were awful. Lehmann, who has always been half-mad and proud of it, bullied him for years. No wonder he couldn't reach his maximum potential there.

As a player, Lehmann was one of the randomest person alive. I let this video speak for itself:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TPbD34RE0JY
It would a nightmare to have a person like Lehmann- delusional, publicly slandering, mistake-prone, cocky, dishonest - as your colleague or classmate. And Manuel endured it all. That's why he's a hero.Lehmann was nuts, but he was a title winner in three different leagues, won a European Cup, won Best Goalkeeper in Europe twice, etc. There's a reason he was the starter

Almunia was bought as a backup. No one buys a 27 year old Goalkeeper for his "potential". While the best keepers are able to continue into their mid-late 30s, Almunia at 27 was probably close to as good as he was going to get. I think it reflects poorly on him as a player that at 32 (allegedly "peak" keeping age), he was kept out of a starting spot by a 20-year old Szczesny and a 25 year old Fabianski, even with injuries.

In the sense of a "keep your head down and work hard" type of backup, then Almunia is a professional, as a lot of second keepers are. Having to put up with Lehmann is unfortunate for him, but in terms of keepers to be understudy for, it would be hard to argue against Lehmann's ability.

Re: Cardiff/City. We're seeing the same problems with City that we saw last year. When they're bothered to play, they play extraordinarily well. On-paper, they have a better side than anyone, barring perhaps Chelsea (although Chelsea have a notable weak point at striker, with Torres and Ba uninspiring, and Lukaku too raw). However, when they don't show up at the start of the match, they find it very hard to get going when they realize they need to.

Dzeko as a starting striker makes me wonder. He's a great player, but I don't know how well he suits City. His playstyle is more physical and liable to get stuck in than, say, Aguero, and I think that's not working for the best. Wide players like Silva and Navas are so technical and creative, that's it a waste to have them thumping crosses in all the time, rather than build up and create for Aguero. I doubt Negredo gets much of a look for a starter, but it'd be interesting to see if Jovetic gets a shout over Dzeko in a second striker type role.

[Handsome Goblin]

I agree, sometimes there are teams that alwys play to their qualit, but city it seems like they play to there level of competition, and they just needs to put it away and not be complacent.

[Jon_Dahl]

I love the newly promoted Championship teams, especially if the players have little or no Premier League first team experience. They easily self-destruct like QPR last season (which surprised me) or they run amok for a while and slowly fade by the end of the season, mainly because they don't have enough width to cover inevitable injuries and they don't understand yet how to sustain their stamina in that heavy-paced league. There are few of those who rise from the Championship and play smart right from the beginning, like Swansea (don't look at the start of this season too much).

Man City's loss doesn't make things easier considering winning the title, but it really doesn't mean that much. Cardiff on the other hand has everyone's attention now and the scare factor of Wales is now tenfold than what it is was a few days ago.

[Jonzac]

I follow the Prem closely every season. I play fantasy football and except for last season I've always been placed among the top 10%.

It's interesting to see how Moyes will able to replace Sir Alex, and how Mourinho's return turns out. I predict Chelsea will win the league, Man City finish second and ManU third. Newcastle, Hull and Stoke will be relegated.

A hot tip for the next round: Fulham to win the second half against Arsenal (odds 3,60).

I don't know Stoke looks good the first two games.

[Handsome Goblin]

Anybody have a fantasy team?

[Raistlin1040]

I don't really get fantasy sports. There's something very wrong with Arsenal fans putting Van Persie in their team, or an Everton fan making Steven Gerrard their captain. Fantasy teams muddy the waters so much that you can root against your team's interest for fantasy points, especially when a player is playing against your team, or is a place rival. It boggles the mind that last year, when Arsenal were on their miracle run and Tottenham were crashing and burning, that there were Tottenham fans who were putting players like Cazorla and Walcott on their teams, and Arsenal fans snapping up Bale and Vertonghen because they could get a lot of fantasy points, even if those points could come at the expense of real points for their own team in the race for 4th.

[Killer Angel]

Impressive Sunderland, I must say... :smalleek:

[Handsome Goblin]

Ya, I usually try to avoid having players on my team that I dislike but sadly you can only have a certain amount of players from each team.

[Jon_Dahl]

I am an Arsenal fan.

Today we are going to see the clash of archenemies Spurs and Arsenal. I made a bet that we'll see more than 2 goals this evening. Despite the fact you weren't born in the eighties, you still might enjoy this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5APIFXlFhHY

But now they have Lloris, so let's see how things pan out.

[Handsome Goblin]

Wooho:) Only one goal though. And good god why was that goalkeeper allowed on the pitch