DeGrozz
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2020-2021 Premier League
- Thread starter DeGrozz
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IthacaMatt
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This really needs a bump!
We are in Week Nine right now. It's fair to say that it looks like any of about 8 teams could actually stay in the race for the title until January.
Liverpool is crippled across the back, but still have great determination, and a great offense. Diogo Jota has been outstanding, threatening to take Firmino's place among Klopp's best XI.
Man City is off to its worst start in years. They are having trouble scoring goals without Aguero, Sterling and David Silva, who was allowed to leave after 10 years. Everything offensively is riding on DeBruyne's shoulders right now. I do like the new center back they picked up from Porto to go with LePorte. I think they have their center backs now. They'll get healthy and start scoring goals again, too. But in a sense, I think teams have figured them out a bit. Not sure that they can still win it this year but should certainly be Top 4.
Tottenham Spurs - Jose Mourinho has put together one of his kinds of teams. They are serious contenders, in my book. Their defense is playing well, and they are scoring tons of goals. People always criticize Mourinho for playing defensive football, but he has had lots of strikers who scored 30, 40 and even 50 goals while playing for him. Spurs are legit this year, if they stay healthy.
Chelsea is starting to come together. The defense is on an incredible streak, with 7 clean sheets in their last 9 games in all competitions. Mendy has only given up 3 goals in 10 games so far. Huge turnaround thanks to him, Thiago Silva and N'Golo Kante back to playing at the base of the midfield, shielding the back four. Chelsea has ridiculous attacking options, and a solid midfield in need of a bit of balance. Serious contenders. Sunday's game against Spurs is going to be HUGE.
Arsenal worked hard to fix their defensive problems from the beginning of the season, but in the process, their offense has gone off the boil, with Lacazette and Aubamayong both hitting dry spells for the last half dozen games. Arsenal's midfield is stronger, but their fluidity from back to front is now lacking. Not going to be contenders this season, as Arteta hits his first rough patch as coach.
Man United is a mess. Ole Gunnar is going to lose his job first among the big jobs. It's just not working. I think they need to sell Pogba, just to get his big personality out of the dressing room. There is a lot of attacking talent, and seriously, they shouldn't be anywhere close to this bad with the guys they have back there - David DeGea in goal, Harry Maguire, Eric Bailly, Victor Lindelof and that young man Tuanzebe. Then you have some very good fullbacks in Luke Shaw, Aaron Wan-Basaka and Alex Telles. You have solid defensive midfielders in Scott McTominay, Nemanja Matic, Timothy Fosu-Mensah and Fred as holding midfielders.
It might not be the very best defensive personnel in the Premier League, but it is certainly good enough for Top 4. They say that former Spurs coach Mauricio Pochettino is waiting in the wings to replace Ole.
Of the other midtable teams who are making a push:
Everton started on fire, then James Rodriguez got hurt for a few games, and Everton struggled to score without that creative spark, and fell down among the second tier. But when healthy, they can beat any team on any day. They have a world class coach in Carlo Ancilotti. With a few more players, they might challenge for Top 4 next season. Ancilotti has earned further investment.
This team is wonderful to watch. Dominic Calvert-Lewin has begun to fulfill his promise as a top goal scorer. Richarlison, his sidekick up front, was also out for a few games, and they don't quite have that quality on the bench to fill in when those guys are missing. Still, huge improvements this year. A really fun team to watch.
Leicester City, coached by Brendan Rogers, is another terrific team to watch. They, too, started the season on fire, but some of their talented young attacking players like James Madison, Tielmans, Harvey Barnes and Ayoze Perez (who may be hurt) have gone off the boil from early season. Still, there is a lot of young talent on this team, they still have Jamie Vardy and Kaspar Schmeicel in goal, from that 2017 long shot Championship team. Rogers has gotten better tactically in his time as a coach. His teams play much better defense than when he was at Liverpool, right before Jurgen Klopp. They were Top 4 lock all last season until the end of January, then fell off badly, just missing out on Top 4 at the end of the Restart. Good team with a bright future, but this isn't their year yet. Still, capable of beating any team on their day, when healthy. They are missing Soyuncu in defense right now.
Wolves, last year's surprise team, is playing in Europe again, but their offense looks a bit short of creative spark without Jota, who they sold to Liverpool this summer. They still have a well constructed roster, the terrific Mexican striker Raul Jimenez, a very good midfield, Adama Traore on the right flank in attack, and are well organized on defense with Luis Patricio, the Portugal national goalie. Another very solid team, just a couple players short this year.
Last year, Sheffield United shocked everyone with their unorthodox style of play, with marauding centerbacks in attack. This year, everyone seems to have figured them out, and they can't score. They are in big trouble already.
Leeds, newly promotoed, but a team with a great and proud history in English football, is an entertaining attacking team, featuring Patrick Bamford, a former Chelsea academy prospect, who has a very solid 7 goals in 10 games. I believe they will stay up. They have nice balance, good attacking intent, and they pressure teams relentlessly on defense, like the Klopp teams used to do in Dortmund and his early Liverpool teams.
Aston Villa is the other newly promoted team with a long proud history in the Premier League. Jack Grealish (who reminds me personally of Joey Barton, minus the dirty streak to his play), Ross Barkley (on loan from Chelsea - looks like a big fish in a small pond and is mixing well with Grealish) and Ollie Wakins, a young guy they bought from another Championship League opponent this summer. They have a solid defense led by Tyrone Mings at center back, who is playing for England's national team, and Emiliano Martinez, who Arsenal foolishly let get away, in goal. Their midfield is short of talent but has a good work ethic. Their backs and wingers could be better, they could use a striker. They are playing well now, but their roster needs work. They will hopefully finish middle of the pack this year.
West Ham has a roster that should be playing better than they have the last couple years, but David Moyes has their defense sorted out. They could use a few more attacking players, and too much rests on Mikhail Antonio's shoulders. He's really a winger who is forced to play the 9 because Sebastian Haller, who they bought at great expense a year ago, hasn't settled, and is a part-time substitute.
Crystal Palace likewise has had a better roster than their results would indicate for the last couple years, but like David Moyes, 70 year old coach Roy Hodgson, seems to have gotten the best out of winger Wilfred Zaha again. They have a new attacking winger who look promising named Eze. There are some good players up and down the roster. Scott Dann, who I have always liked, is healthy again in the center of their defense. They are a midtable team, but at least they have stabilized.
That's how I view the "teams that matter" so far this season. I welcome comments about your favorite team, or the best game you just saw. Let's get this place going again. This is going to be the only sport that keeps going while the others are dropping around us.
GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL !!!
We are in Week Nine right now. It's fair to say that it looks like any of about 8 teams could actually stay in the race for the title until January.
Liverpool is crippled across the back, but still have great determination, and a great offense. Diogo Jota has been outstanding, threatening to take Firmino's place among Klopp's best XI.
Man City is off to its worst start in years. They are having trouble scoring goals without Aguero, Sterling and David Silva, who was allowed to leave after 10 years. Everything offensively is riding on DeBruyne's shoulders right now. I do like the new center back they picked up from Porto to go with LePorte. I think they have their center backs now. They'll get healthy and start scoring goals again, too. But in a sense, I think teams have figured them out a bit. Not sure that they can still win it this year but should certainly be Top 4.
Tottenham Spurs - Jose Mourinho has put together one of his kinds of teams. They are serious contenders, in my book. Their defense is playing well, and they are scoring tons of goals. People always criticize Mourinho for playing defensive football, but he has had lots of strikers who scored 30, 40 and even 50 goals while playing for him. Spurs are legit this year, if they stay healthy.
Chelsea is starting to come together. The defense is on an incredible streak, with 7 clean sheets in their last 9 games in all competitions. Mendy has only given up 3 goals in 10 games so far. Huge turnaround thanks to him, Thiago Silva and N'Golo Kante back to playing at the base of the midfield, shielding the back four. Chelsea has ridiculous attacking options, and a solid midfield in need of a bit of balance. Serious contenders. Sunday's game against Spurs is going to be HUGE.
Arsenal worked hard to fix their defensive problems from the beginning of the season, but in the process, their offense has gone off the boil, with Lacazette and Aubamayong both hitting dry spells for the last half dozen games. Arsenal's midfield is stronger, but their fluidity from back to front is now lacking. Not going to be contenders this season, as Arteta hits his first rough patch as coach.
Man United is a mess. Ole Gunnar is going to lose his job first among the big jobs. It's just not working. I think they need to sell Pogba, just to get his big personality out of the dressing room. There is a lot of attacking talent, and seriously, they shouldn't be anywhere close to this bad with the guys they have back there - David DeGea in goal, Harry Maguire, Eric Bailly, Victor Lindelof and that young man Tuanzebe. Then you have some very good fullbacks in Luke Shaw, Aaron Wan-Basaka and Alex Telles. You have solid defensive midfielders in Scott McTominay, Nemanja Matic, Timothy Fosu-Mensah and Fred as holding midfielders.
It might not be the very best defensive personnel in the Premier League, but it is certainly good enough for Top 4. They say that former Spurs coach Mauricio Pochettino is waiting in the wings to replace Ole.
Of the other midtable teams who are making a push:
Everton started on fire, then James Rodriguez got hurt for a few games, and Everton struggled to score without that creative spark, and fell down among the second tier. But when healthy, they can beat any team on any day. They have a world class coach in Carlo Ancilotti. With a few more players, they might challenge for Top 4 next season. Ancilotti has earned further investment.
This team is wonderful to watch. Dominic Calvert-Lewin has begun to fulfill his promise as a top goal scorer. Richarlison, his sidekick up front, was also out for a few games, and they don't quite have that quality on the bench to fill in when those guys are missing. Still, huge improvements this year. A really fun team to watch.
Leicester City, coached by Brendan Rogers, is another terrific team to watch. They, too, started the season on fire, but some of their talented young attacking players like James Madison, Tielmans, Harvey Barnes and Ayoze Perez (who may be hurt) have gone off the boil from early season. Still, there is a lot of young talent on this team, they still have Jamie Vardy and Kaspar Schmeicel in goal, from that 2017 long shot Championship team. Rogers has gotten better tactically in his time as a coach. His teams play much better defense than when he was at Liverpool, right before Jurgen Klopp. They were Top 4 lock all last season until the end of January, then fell off badly, just missing out on Top 4 at the end of the Restart. Good team with a bright future, but this isn't their year yet. Still, capable of beating any team on their day, when healthy. They are missing Soyuncu in defense right now.
Wolves, last year's surprise team, is playing in Europe again, but their offense looks a bit short of creative spark without Jota, who they sold to Liverpool this summer. They still have a well constructed roster, the terrific Mexican striker Raul Jimenez, a very good midfield, Adama Traore on the right flank in attack, and are well organized on defense with Luis Patricio, the Portugal national goalie. Another very solid team, just a couple players short this year.
Last year, Sheffield United shocked everyone with their unorthodox style of play, with marauding centerbacks in attack. This year, everyone seems to have figured them out, and they can't score. They are in big trouble already.
Leeds, newly promotoed, but a team with a great and proud history in English football, is an entertaining attacking team, featuring Patrick Bamford, a former Chelsea academy prospect, who has a very solid 7 goals in 10 games. I believe they will stay up. They have nice balance, good attacking intent, and they pressure teams relentlessly on defense, like the Klopp teams used to do in Dortmund and his early Liverpool teams.
Aston Villa is the other newly promoted team with a long proud history in the Premier League. Jack Grealish (who reminds me personally of Joey Barton, minus the dirty streak to his play), Ross Barkley (on loan from Chelsea - looks like a big fish in a small pond and is mixing well with Grealish) and Ollie Wakins, a young guy they bought from another Championship League opponent this summer. They have a solid defense led by Tyrone Mings at center back, who is playing for England's national team, and Emiliano Martinez, who Arsenal foolishly let get away, in goal. Their midfield is short of talent but has a good work ethic. Their backs and wingers could be better, they could use a striker. They are playing well now, but their roster needs work. They will hopefully finish middle of the pack this year.
West Ham has a roster that should be playing better than they have the last couple years, but David Moyes has their defense sorted out. They could use a few more attacking players, and too much rests on Mikhail Antonio's shoulders. He's really a winger who is forced to play the 9 because Sebastian Haller, who they bought at great expense a year ago, hasn't settled, and is a part-time substitute.
Crystal Palace likewise has had a better roster than their results would indicate for the last couple years, but like David Moyes, 70 year old coach Roy Hodgson, seems to have gotten the best out of winger Wilfred Zaha again. They have a new attacking winger who look promising named Eze. There are some good players up and down the roster. Scott Dann, who I have always liked, is healthy again in the center of their defense. They are a midtable team, but at least they have stabilized.
That's how I view the "teams that matter" so far this season. I welcome comments about your favorite team, or the best game you just saw. Let's get this place going again. This is going to be the only sport that keeps going while the others are dropping around us.
GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL !!!
Last edited:
Day2
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Nice write-up! Yeah, Everton lacks depth. Too many injuries and suspensions all at once cost them. If they can get past Leeds this weekend, they should be on a 3-game winning streak heading into the home match with Chelsea.
December is going to be brutal with so many matches, including ManU in the Carabao Cup. I don’t know if Rodriguez and Allan will be able to stay healthy.
And how soon before Pickford gets demoted?
ROCcuse
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Great write-up IthacaMatt
terrifying injury in Arsenal-Wolves today to Raul Jimenez.
Clash of heads off a corner with the nastiest cracking sound I've ever heard.
Hope he's alright.
terrifying injury in Arsenal-Wolves today to Raul Jimenez.
Clash of heads off a corner with the nastiest cracking sound I've ever heard.
Hope he's alright.
C
creatorsgam
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I had stepped away and came back to the stoppage in play. I played it back and turned up the volume, the sound it made gave me a sickening feeling in my gut, it legitimately shook me. He was moving at first and just went out, frightening moment off a routine set piece. Thing is, between two players tracking the ball, it is shocking that this type of situation with this level of severity doesn’t occur with more frequency.
Wolves coach just spoke and said Jimenez is conscious and, all things considered, doing okay. He is going for a head scan now.
Also, how the heel did they let Luiz continue to play? Bandaged up and bleeding through. I’m sorry but that shouldn’t have been allowed to happen. Subbed off at half was way too late. I hope that gets more attention.
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IthacaMatt
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Cracked skull. OMG that's awful.
IthacaMatt
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Watching tape of Aston Villa v. West Ham and I can't help but thinking that Jack Grealish is precisely the kind of player who would do very well under Jose Mourinho.
The rumors this summer had him going to Manchester United, but I see him doing better for Jose. He's who Dele Alli used to be. I could see him being a missing piece for Jose. Another CB, a big striker like Giroud for late game headers, and Grealish, and that wound be a hell of a team next season.
The rumors this summer had him going to Manchester United, but I see him doing better for Jose. He's who Dele Alli used to be. I could see him being a missing piece for Jose. Another CB, a big striker like Giroud for late game headers, and Grealish, and that wound be a hell of a team next season.
C
creatorsgam
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Chelsea drop a point late and West Brom daw at the Etihad (Sam Johnstone with a couple doorstep saves late, unreal) when they have done nothing on the road. There are more points separating the top 10 than the bottom 2.
Tomorrow brings a massive tie between table leaders Tottenham and Liverpool.
Southampton/Arsenal is a tasty appetizer. Calls for Arteta to get the sack and if he doesn’t start getting points fast he is gone. James Ward-Prowse at Southampton has hit some stunning ’s this season. Just a great slate of footie for a domestic Wednesday.
Tomorrow brings a massive tie between table leaders Tottenham and Liverpool.
Southampton/Arsenal is a tasty appetizer. Calls for Arteta to get the sack and if he doesn’t start getting points fast he is gone. James Ward-Prowse at Southampton has hit some stunning ’s this season. Just a great slate of footie for a domestic Wednesday.
cusefan88
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Sliding into what appears to be mediocrity but the other side of that is much worse? I would argue Arsenal and Syracuse are very similar. Good teams but not always the best. Well known for an iconic season ('03, invincibles) led by iconic player (melo, henry).
DeGrozz
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It's more that Arsenal have been surpassed in the modern game with total spending power. Arsene was able to keep them consistently in a top 4 to 6 position, but struggled to win the major hardware. Because the fanbase still expected their glory days, they soured on him and now it's beginning to become apparent how special he truly was.
I know there are always other factors to poke holes in the theory, but there's no way Arsenal is this awful with Arsene at the helm in 2020.
IthacaMatt
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Emirates Stadium is a money maker and they charge among the highest ticket prices in the Premier League. The problem is that they buy so poorly and then ruin the resale value of a lot of players.
Chelsea just plunked down 220M this summer to buy six guys, but sold enough quality players that they had a net spend of only about 25-30M.
Arsenal let Wenger have too much power for too long, and then they replaced him with all these different scouts, levels of management, specialists - and then just went and fired them all. SMH
I don't think their problems really are finances; it's poor management. Plenty of Premier League teams have smaller stadiums, get less in TV revenues, and still put a better team out there on the pitch.
I love what Wolves have done with Nuno. I love Everton with Carlo Ancelotti, who is a great coach. Everton invested wisely. Wolves always invest wisely. Leicester is another team that has gathered up a bunch of young talent, but have a talisman like Jamie Vardy, and a fine coach in Brendan Rogers.
All of them have less financial resources than Arsenal. So, "Don't cry for me, Argentina."
DeGrozz
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My point isn't about Arsenal's financial situation.
My point is that they are struggling after Arsene had a JB like role in the organization, they are now a rudderless ship and they certainly aren't spending like who they want their peers to be to keep up with the modern game.
Didn't mean to hijack an EPL thread with a bball thought though.
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creatorsgam
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I’d add Southampton here. Feels like they consistently produce quality footballers out of their academy. One of those clubs that produces more results with less resources.
Day2
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How so? Judging from the score, it wasn’t much of a contest. What did we miss?
DeGrozz
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A team in the eighth level of the English hierarchy, playing one of the richest teams in the world in the cup on their home 'field' which was the equivalent of your average town park. Balls being kicked into neighbors' backyards, people on their porches drinking while watching the game, etc... It was awesome to watch.
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creatorsgam
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Liverpool proving that even with firepower up top, it all begins with stout CB’s. Losing VVD was bad, and it somehow got worse at the back through injuries.
Everton about to take 3 points at Anfield, can’t believe I’m writing that.
Everton about to take 3 points at Anfield, can’t believe I’m writing that.
Day2
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creatorsgam
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Pretty crazy scenes from inside Old Trafford and outside the team hotel in Manchester ahead of the United/Liverpool match.
I get the #GlazersOut movement but this sort of thing isn’t going to help the cause.
I get the #GlazersOut movement but this sort of thing isn’t going to help the cause.
cusefan88
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Hurting their assets may get them to sell. That's probably the goal.
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creatorsgam
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Would hope their goal could be accomplished without property damage and hurling bottles at horses and police.
