Test you knowledge. Take the ESPN English Premier teams quiz. Can you name all 20 teams in the top flight? http://espn.go.com/sportsnation/post/_/id/6852839/english-premier-league-teams
Took me one minute and 33 seconds, would have been faster, but for some reason I couldn't figure out who went alphabetically between liverpool and everton. I figured Fulham, but only after like 20 seconds. I don't know why I couldn't think of it.
Obviously you know your football. "soccer" Manchester United was the only team I'm familiar with, but I do watch a few games, even not knowing who the better teams are.
Try naming all 92 clubs in the Football League. That is more of a challenge than the 20 in the Premier League. You will likely forget who was relegated from League 2 and who was promoted from the Non-League. It was a great day to watch Arsenal play inept football!! I was a bit shocked to see Sunderland take a point at Anfield. I still believe Liverpool will finish 4th. Norwich had a good result and their supporters turned up at Wigan, which is refreshing since the Wigan support is complete Poor QPR!
Liverpool proved to be exactly what I thought they were against Sunderland. I thought at the beginning of the pre-season, that Liverpool had 1 truly game changing player, who could produce a moment of magic to turn a game. I felt they needed at least 1 more player in that mold in order to force their way into the top 4. They got none in the transfer window. They signed 2 solid players, and one player who I suppose has the potential to be quite good. They also filled a need with Enrique, who is also a solid player(but solid was all they needed at left-back). Downing is good, but in my opinion he is top 6/Europa League quality, not Champions League quality. The only reason I am optimistic at all, is that Spurs still haven't signed a striker, Arsenal look incredibly dysfunctional at the moment, and because we have Kenny as our manager. If any manager can get this squad into the top 4 it is Kenny(well Mourinho and Ferguson could almost certainly do it as well, but you get my point). And in the game against Sunderland, their lack of a second game-changing player hurt them. Suarez ran out of steam in the second half, after being a constant threat in the first. And after he went off, Liverpool had no one else you felt could turn the game for them. PS. I also still don't care for Andy Carrol. I don't think he is a bad player, I just hate the way he makes a team play. He is better at a club like Newcastle, who "the longball to Carrol's head style" works well for. I personally think Liverpools best team is one without Carrol. With a front 3 of Kuyt, Suarez, and Downing. Maybe I am overly pessimistic, and Carrol will come good at Liverpool, but I just can't see it!!
A big striker like Carrol has a purpose. Not only can he finish with his head off a long ball or cross, he also can get the ball and hold it up for players like Henderson, Downing, Gerrard, and Suarez. I would love to see a striker like Carrol at Spurs. Crouch has been a better player than most give him credit for, but Adebayor would be a massive improvement. Samba and Adebayor need to be on Harry's list.
Arsenal are falling apart A top four finish is within reach! Congrats in order for QPR as well. A proper west London club!
That was always going to be a tough one to start the season with, so I wasn't surprised at the result. The score was unfortunate, but it's going to be a learning curve. 0-0 against Wigan, which is something to build from - realistically, it's going to take a few games to start to get up to any kind of speed, but I can still see Swansea having a good chance of staying up. The main thing is they haven't gone mad spending money on 'big names' or ageing superstars (like Cardiff did last year, for example, and look where that has got them - something like 12 players leaving them over the summer!) - at the moment the important thing is to build for the future with financial stability (something Swansea are acutely aware of, having come so close to financial collapse so often in the relatively recent past!), and make the most of the premiership cash instead of wasting it on single season, big ego players. That's a mistake all too many clubs have made in the past when entering the top flight, including Swansea last time around, and it's much more potentially damaging to a club than just getting relegated again. If they do go down, they need to be able to build on the experience and get the same basic squad back up again, older and wiser and with a better chance of staying there. It has to be a long term gradual process of improvement and consolidation for a club, not a panicky attempt at quick, short-term success. At the moment, I think Swansea are doing exactly the right things. Too many clubs (including Swansea City in the 80s) have tried to move too far too fast, and ended up in a complete mess as a result. A club the size of Swansea will never be up there with the likes of Man U., but could build gradually to be a solid Premiership team (perhaps challenging for domestic cup glory of some kind) in 5 or 6 years time, if they continue to go about things in the right way.
Swansea are absolutely capable of staying up and they have several models to look at. Wigan are by no means a big club, but they have managed to stay up. If Swansea do go down, I believe they will be financially secure for the reasons you stated. The reason bigger clubs such as Forest, Leeds, and Wednesday are not able to come back up to the top flight quickly is because of poor transfer policies. Cardiff too are guilty of that strategy, although they still have a good chance of coming to the top flight.
I came to the same conclusion watching Liverpool-Arsenal, that I did watching Liverpool-Sunderland. That conclusion is that without Luis Suarez, Liverpool lack imagination and incisiveness. I still think Liverpool need another attacking player of his caliber, but I am not so sure if they will need it to make the top 4 anymore. Not because I think they are great, but because I think Arsenal and Spurs are even more flawed than Liverpool are. That could all change of course, if Spurs buy a striker and/or Arsenal spend the money from Fabregas and Nasri wisely. However, as constituted, I think Liverpool are the 4th best team in England(though the gap between them and the top 3 is quite large IMO).
It appears the deal for Adebayor is close to finished and that Diarra will also be joining Spurs. I hope that is enough to make Spurs competitive with Liverpool. Arsene will likely buy more small boys with the Fabergas and Nasri money. I feel good about Spurs chances at 4th place, despite how things went at Old Trafford. We always are utterly useless against United anyway. The real Tottenham Hotspur is somewhere between the side that was done in by United and the side that did in Hearts 5-nil.
Things are looking better and better for Liverpool!! Spurs and Arsenal were both horrendously bad, and did not look like clubs who are capable of challenging for the top 4. I know this is only one result, but honestly if both teams don't strengthen before the transfer window closes, I think Liverpool are all but guaranteed a Champions League place.
Wanted to put Rooney as my captain before last weekend's matches, but the stupid computer forced me to keep Suarez in that role. Livid
Well, Spurs did strengthen before the transfer window, and if I were a betting man, I would put my money on Spurs to make it to 4th. I really hope it doesn't happen, but that is my expectation.
I see this topic has died off. Well I will do my best to provide a bit of a spark because proper football should return to the top of this chat! I still believe Spurs will finish top 4 at the expense of either the scum or the Rent boys. United out of the champions league was quite the surprise as well.
Agreed, and I said the same as soon as the transfer window ended. Suarez is amazing, Adam was a very good signing for the money, and Enrique a great one. However, Liverpool still need another creative match winner other than suarez before they can hope to challenge the better teams in the prem. Let's hope they can get some one like Goetze or Hazard in January, or else I see 6th place once again this season(5th at best).
I doubt Liverpool can persuade either of those players to leave their current clubs when both know the chance to play in Barcelona, Madrid, Milan, or London could be in the near future.
