Premier League (Fantasy too)

[OldPhiKap]

A great way to start the day in the proper shade of blue. I expected better under Dyche, but in the form Arsenal have been, even hoping for a draw felt like a reach given how Everton had done done. I know I watched with Blue-shaded glasses, but even with Arsenal doubling them on possession, it wasn't a fluke goal, Everton had the better chances. Goodison is better dead than red

Didn’t realize you were a Toffee. Congrats on the win.

Sean Dyche’s interview afterwards was excellent — essentially, “this is a starting point, and it’s only one result,” and there is a lot of hard work ahead. He seems like the right man for the job

[sciencegeek]

Nice win for Manchester United today, but that red card for Casemiro was costly! Hopefully he only has to sit out one of the two upcoming Leeds games. Was pretty bone headed by him to get involved, but looked more like a yellow card in the spirit of things.

[sciencegeek]

Didn’t realize you were a Toffee. Congrats on the win.

Sean Dyche’s interview afterwards was excellent — essentially, “this is a starting point, and it’s only one result,” and there is a lot of hard work ahead. He seems like the right man for the job

Congats on the Everton win, that one was YUGE. Looks like Arsenal had most of the possession, but possession does not win games. Ask Spain about that LOL.

[OldPhiKap]

What in the world is going on with Liverpool? Just getting older and slower? Jürgen Losing the magic?

[Kdogg]

What in the world is going on with Liverpool? Just getting older and slower? Jürgen Losing the magic?

You’re right that they are just getting old. Roster needs an expensive revamp and Fenway Sports don’t want to go down that path. It’s why the club is for sale. The problem is the world is running out of Petrostates looking to sports wash. Qatar seems to be devesting a portion of their teams and I don’t think Bahrain and Kuwait want in. We may be seeing peak EPL prices (as least of the foreseeable future). If we see an increased North American influence look for talk about the Super League to ramp up again. Chelsea has spend more in the transfer window that the Italian, German, Spanish and French league’s COMBINED. That’s not sustainable. Both Liverpool and Chelsea are run by investment pools but Fenway has already got its trophies. Now it’s time to cash out and let the next owner give it a go. Here’s a bias idea of what Fenway is doing.

https://www.thisisanfield.com/2023/0...ons-now-clear/

[Kdogg]

Spurs over City. I feel dirty being happy about this. Kane hit 200 career goals.

[OldPhiKap]

Spurs over City. I feel dirty being happy about this. Kane hit 200 career goals.

As someone who wants Newcastle to stay in the top four, I felt dirty pulling for MC and even worse when they didn’t deliver.

[Deslok]

As someone who wants Newcastle to stay in the top four, I felt dirty pulling for MC and even worse when they didn’t deliver.

Just remind yourself they wear the wrong shade of blue(that and the soccer world could not hear about the city of Manchester for a few decades)

[OldPhiKap]

Just remind yourself they wear the wrong shade of blue(that and the soccer world could not hear about the city of Manchester for a few decades)

Yeah, but they were wearing their third jerseys today — lost looked like Atlanta United (my MSL team).

But Grealish = Jamie Tartt and it is sick that they can just stockpile so much talent. Hate that Haaland joined them, he’s hard to dislike IMO.

[sciencegeek]

Just remind yourself they wear the wrong shade of blue(that and the soccer world could not hear about the city of Manchester for a few decades)

As a Man U fan, I was torn as well! Really wanting Champions League this year.

[burnspbesq]

A great way to start the day in the proper shade of blue. I expected better under Dyche, but in the form Arsenal have been, even hoping for a draw felt like a reach given how Everton had done done. I know I watched with Blue-shaded glasses, but even with Arsenal doubling them on possession, it wasn't a fluke goal, Everton had the better chances. Goodison is better dead than red

Onana was immense for Everton. I was initially skeptical, but it’s increasingly looking like he was one of the best acquisitions of recent years.

Given Those Other Guys’ current form, it is possible to be cautiously optimistic about next weekend’s derby. A win at Anfield in his second match in charge, and Dyche won’t ever have to pay for a meal or a beverage in the blue parts of Merseyside.

Oh, and since the World Cup break Branthwaite has been one of the best center-backs in the Eredivisie. The decision to go to PSV on loan is looking better every week (PSV tried to buy him during theJanuary window, but Thelwell wisely wasn’t interested).

[Phredd3]

Congats on the Everton win, that one was YUGE. Looks like Arsenal had most of the possession, but possession does not win games. Ask Spain about that LOL.

Arsenal opens the door nice and wide, and Manchester City says, "No, thanks. You first." I kinda hoped they'd be a little less polite yesterday.

[OldPhiKap]

Premier League accuses MC of financial improprieties:

https://twitter.com/nbcsportssoccer/...OpEz3NBlXrmLTw

Chelsea, you okay?

[Phredd3]

Premier League accuses MC of financial improprieties:

https://twitter.com/nbcsportssoccer/...OpEz3NBlXrmLTw

Chelsea, you okay?

We've were just down this road and City won their appeal. (2020, I think?) Does this one have more teeth?

[duke74]

We've were just down this road and City won their appeal. (2020, I think?) Does this one have more teeth?

Hope so.

[Deslok]

We've were just down this road and City won their appeal. (2020, I think?) Does this one have more teeth?

My early impression was they escaped because most of the evidence last time was outside the statute of limitations for UEFA financial fair play regulations. But the Premiere League has no such statute, so there is no easy out this time

[flyingdutchdevil]

https://www.espn.com/soccer/leeds-un...run-of-results

Hope this doesn't impact the 3 keys Americans.

Marsh's problem is he went for defense and not offense. His teams are incapable of scoring. Happened at Leipzig and happened at Leeds. Unfortunately, he's back to the drawing board.

[Kdogg]

We've were just down this road and City won their appeal. (2020, I think?) Does this one have more teeth?

Those were UEFA charges that City argued were outside of the statute of limitations. These are Premiere League charges without a statute of limitations. UEFA can really only ban them from European competitions. The EPL can dock them points, fine them and even throw them out. The Italian Football Federation just docked Juventus 15 points for financial misdeals over transfers. These charges are worse. The threshold is going to be less here but it's still going to be hard to prove the biggest claims. Man City has been doing this since it was bought by Sheikh Mansour (an Abu Dhabi royal and in-law of the ruler of Dubai). Even if an owner is filthy rich, the rules don't allow you to just give personal money to a club. Before taking over Liverpool, Fenway Sports was giving them loans (at extremely low rates...even zero percent). Abramovich was doing the same at Chelsea. Still, this loophole is limiting because the loans are on the books. There are several ways EPL clubs can increase their revenues (and thus their spending). There's on the pitch stuff of course (gate and concessions, winning the League, playing in the Champions League, touring, etc). There's the merchandising and kits sales.There's player transfers. And then there are the sponsors. Most of City's sponsors are normal large multinationals (Sony, Puma, etc). But they have several sponsors from Abu Dhabi with ties to the ownership group. What these companies have been doing is overpaying sponsorships to juice City's books allowing them to spend more than they should. The hard part is going to be how do you prove the money wasn't legitimate fair market advertising vs an back door slush fund?

[mph]

https://www.espn.com/soccer/leeds-un...run-of-results

Hope this doesn't impact the 3 keys Americans.

Marsh's problem is he went for defense and not offense. His teams are incapable of scoring. Happened at Leipzig and happened at Leeds. Unfortunately, he's back to the drawing board.

It will be interesting to see how this impacts the USMNT coaching search. Marsch will certainly be one of the names near the top of the list. Also, I wonder how effective Marsch’s zone-pressing system would be with a national team’s limited opportunities to practice as a unit.

[sciencegeek]

https://www.espn.com/soccer/leeds-un...run-of-results

Hope this doesn't impact the 3 keys Americans.

Marsh's problem is he went for defense and not offense. His teams are incapable of scoring. Happened at Leipzig and happened at Leeds. Unfortunately, he's back to the drawing board.

I wonder if they will seriously look at him for the USA job. I am not sure he has proven himself at the club level, especially as of late. I think USA can do better, and need to do better, IMO.