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2013-14 Premier League Thread

A

andyt

Canes Moderator
Staff member
And so it begins...

NBC is the new TV partner in the US and will broadcast every game either over the air, cable or web. They'll either be on NBC, NBC Sports Network, CNBC, USA or Premier League Extra Time, a service provided to many cable systems. Think of it as NHL Center Ice or MLB Extra Innings for soccer, and without the blackouts. At this time, Time Warner Cable is among the systems that won't be carrying the channels. In addtion, all games will be available on the NBC Sports Live Extra app for smartphones and tablets. The catch is that your cable company has to be a participant and you must be subscribed to NBC Sports Extra.

Saturday
Liverpool v. Stoke 7:45 NBCSN
Arsenal v. Aston Villa 10:00 NBCSN
Norwich v. Everton 10:00 Extra Time
Sunderland v. Fulham 10:00 Extra Time
West Ham v. Cardiff 10:00 Extra Time
West Brom v. Southampton 10:00 Extra Time
Swansea v. Manchester United 12:30 NBC

Sunday
Crystal Palace v. Tottenham 8:30 NBCSN
Chelsea v. Hull City 11:00 NBCSN

Monday
Manchester City v. Newcastle 3:00 NBCSN

All times Eastern.
 
Can we get a ref who has seen a game of soccer before in his life for the second half of the villa match? Just a yellow card for a foul stopping a clear goal scoring opportunity and then the yellow card going to Luna and not chamberlain has me so dumbfounded. My disbelief is already in mid season form.
 
West Ham 2-0 Cardiff
Sunderland 0-1 Fulham
West Brom 0-1 Southampton
Norwich 2-2 Everton

And the days best result.......

Arsenal 1-3 Aston Villa
 
Well we got a makeup second half from the ref clearly. Gabby looked spectacular and Guzan is picking up right where he left off and needs to be the us number one. The biggest issue I saw was just Weiman looked like he just didn't care out there. I don't know if he's out of shape or what, but he needs to look a lot better or be replaced.
 
That penalty call was crap. But if Guzan had been as aggressive on the Gunners' goal as he was later in the match, he'd have had a clean sheet. Arsenal pissed away a huge possession advantage and showed why they need a real striker.

Swansea 1-4 Man U

A brace each for Welbeck and van Persie. Their first goals were really against the flow as Swans dominated possession early. Rooney came on in the 62nd and had an assist on van Persie's 2nd and was a space eater, giving RVP and Welbeck room to operate.

Was any stadium dry today? I saw the games from Liverpool, London and Swansea and it was pouring in all 3 cities.
 
andyt said:
Was any stadium dry today? I saw the games from Liverpool, London and Swansea and it was pouring in all 3 cities.
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Whole of Britain had rain thought the middle of the day today so think every game was played in bad weather.


United are impressive but I still think they are a central midfielder short, if Carrick got hurt for 3 months I don't think they could survive it.
 
Crystal Palace 0-1 Spurs. New guy Soldado scores on a penalty.
Chelsea 2-0 Hull City. The Special One is still undefeated at Stamford Bridge.
 
VinatieriDefinesClutch said:
The biggest issue I saw was just Weiman looked like he just didn't care out there. I don't know if he's out of shape or what, but he needs to look a lot better or be replaced.
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Looked to me like Lambert tasked Weimann with playing back a bit to cover Lowton on the flank. He did look really cautious going forward, but has reportedly been really good in pre season so I'll give him a pass on that one game. I loved how Luna sort of brought the back line together. He's young, but so much more savvy than Stevens and Bennett that adding him to the mix had a huge impact.

I'd still like to see a more veteran option than Baker or Clark to play with Vlaar ... but I think the budget is shot with the raise they had to give Benteke and the fact that they couldn't get Bent sold along.
 
Sure ... and Vlaar has had some real shaky moments in Claret and Sky Blue, but overall I'm happy with him. He's a consistent physical presence, a decent distributor from the back and is by far and away their most reliable defender on set pieces. He's still troubled by speedy angled runs, but who isn't?
 
Oh I agree, though he wasn't beaten by speed, he was out of place because he tried to make a tackle well upfield and left his backline vulnerable. Baker also just can't seem to stay healthy.
 
I laughed heartily at this

Newcastle manager Alan Pardew says Arsenal's bid for midfielder Yohan Cabaye had a "huge bearing" on his side's 4-0 defeat at Manchester City.

The Gunners made a £10m bid for Cabaye on Sunday and Pardew pulled the France international, 27, out of Monday's Premier League opener.

"You prepare for three days with a player of that talent and that was taken away from us," said Pardew.

"It had a huge bearing on the result as well."
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Pardew on Newcastle loss


No Alan, I'd put it down more to your side's lack of class (apart from poor Tim Krul, who was stellar in defeat) and inability to handle the class of Manchester City. That and Steven Taylor's brain fade. Fernandinho and Jesus Navas were most influential in this fixture, and City looked like the 2011-2012 league champions in this one. WOW!
 
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City's going to be a handful this season. They seriously lost focus last year on the heels of that league championship and just never played with any kind of urgency. From what I saw yesterday and in their pre season fixtures, that urgency is decidedly back. And when that team plays like they intend to do you harm, they can score goals for fun. I mean, they bring Negredo and Nasri off the bench and they came on with fire in their eyes. Who else has that much quality waiting around to bite you when you start to tire a bit? It's silliness.

As for Newcastle ... they looked a right mess. Yeah, Cabaye is a huge part of their ability to link up with the forwards, but they were so disorganized otherwise that I doubt his passing would have helped much. Tiote, Ben Arfa and Sissoko in particular are high enough quality players that they shouldn't be looking like a bunch of spectators in a game like that. I think Pardew has run his course as manager, but I wonder when the morons in charge up there will figure that out.
 
Big match today with Chelsea hosting the Villans at Stamford Bridge. It's 1-1 at the half with fluke own goal allowed by the Villans answered by another beauty by Christian Benteke (flipping back and forth between this match and the Champions' League qualifier involving the Arse).
 
Ivanovic scored the match-winner as Chelsea ran off 2-1 winners at Stamford Bridge. Of course, it would happen moments after he fells Christian Benteke with an elbow that should have seen him sent off.


What I saw from Weimann today, though, I liked. He looked quite assured coming forward and struck a vicious shot that Peter Cech did well to parry away. You've got alot to look forward to if young men like Benteke, Agbohlahor, Vlaar and he continue their upward arc in developing.
 
Yeah ... that loss was probably deserved based on time actually engaged in attack, but Villa have this way of hanging around in this kind of game now that they've matured a bit. Weimann benefited today from Chelsea committing resources to cover Benteke and Agbonlahor. He had more room to move than he had against the Arse, and the guy is flat out dangerous on the full run. It's another loss at Stamford Bridge, but a far cry from the 8-0 gutting they took there last season. I like where my club is heading under Lambert.
 
Sigh, my dvr has been acting up lately and mangled this recording so I didn't get to see it. I know it's early, but I think Villa are firmly mid table and well above relegation for the first time in a few years and that's going to make it a much more comfortable season of watching.
 
VinatieriDefinesClutch said:
Sigh, my dvr has been acting up lately and mangled this recording so I didn't get to see it. I know it's early, but I think Villa are firmly mid table and well above relegation for the first time in a few years and that's going to make it a much more comfortable season of watching.
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Depth is still an issue, but I do feel a LOT more comfortable going into this season. Lowton, Weimann, Westwood, Delph and Sylla all gained valuable experience last year, and Benteke is only going to get better with experience as well. Plus, Guzan is still in unbelievable form and looks like he's slimmed down a bit to improve his movement. They are just so much more settled this season. You have to feel better about their ability to compete.
 
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