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2023-24 Premier League Thread

Looking forward to the weekend and the return of the Prem but MAN! Those 4:30 AM fixtures can be killer.

Saturday 21 October
12:30 Liverpool v Everton
15:00 AFC Bournemouth v Wolverhampton Wanderers
Brentford v Burnley
Manchester City v Brighton & Hove Albion
Newcastle United v Crystal Palace
Nottingham Forest v Luton Town
17:30 Chelsea v Arsenal
20:00 Sheffield United v Manchester United

Sunday 22 October
16:30 Aston Villa v West Ham United

Monday 23 October
20:00 Tottenham Hotspur v Fulham
 
When I was visiting my youngest in Portland, I asked her if her local soccer bar would be open for a 4:30 match. She said it would and left me her car keys and address. We rolled in for the 7:00 match and had a full English.

Sadly, the pub closed. It was owned by brothers who supported different clubs. The winner of the coin flip named it The Toffee Club. Had the other brother won, I’m not sure I could have gone there, he’s a Spurs supporter.
 
Ed H in Pasadena said:
12:30 Liverpool v Everton
15:00 Brentford v Burnley
Manchester City v Brighton & Hove Albion
17:30 Chelsea v Arsenal

Sunday 22 October
16:30 Aston Villa v West Ham United

Monday 23 October
20:00 Tottenham Hotspur v Fulham
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For a change it’s beautifully spread out too, so you can have the best games on all weekend, without any overlap.

(Brentford-Burnley is on at the same time as City-Brighton, and has a chance to be a fun affair tho)
 
Montana said:
Also…lol at them giving Klopp the early game coming out of an international break again, 🤣

Will have to check out his pre-match presser.
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TV probably requested the change. I don’t remember all the English broadcast rules, but it and the London Derby are the biggest matches on Saturday. And they‘re locked out of the 3 pm window, right? So if they wanted to get the Merseyside Derby on TV, it was either that or put them in the evening slot instead of Sheffield-Man U
 
Easily the best match Zaniolo has had for us. He only did five things that drove me insane, which is his first time in single digits. Also, a nice cutback to help set up the first goal. Love how in pure Watkins fashion, he missed the target from eight yards out when he absolutely should have scored, and then scored an incredible goal from a super tight angle. I've also really liked how Bailey has looked this season coming on as an impact sub. Him coming on with fresh legs going at tired defenders is very effective.
 
jeffbear said:
Me and Vinatieri are the Villans. We're enjoying this so much that we're nit-picking ... which worries me a bit. Still, beats the crap out of struggling. Oh, what a difference having a real manager makes.
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They’ve become one of my favourite teams to watch when Spurs aren’t on….them and Brighton, almost always deliver an entertaining game.

Stoked for you guys, cause it’s such a great feeling when you’re not only having success but doing it in an entertaining manner.

re: nitpicking; we’re on such a high with Ange, all we complain about is how we need to sign a great backup to Maddison, because he’s been so good we’d be fucked without him, haha.

VinatieriDefinesClutch said:
Love how in pure Watkins fashion, he missed the target from eight yards out when he absolutely should have scored, and then scored an incredible goal from a super tight angle.
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Even tho he missed, that first touch was spectacular tho….and his second goal is maybe some of the best deception I’ve seen this Prem season leading to a goal. Even on replay I keep expecting him to cut inside 😆……and then the finish itself 👌🏼
 
VinatieriDefinesClutch said:
Easily the best match Zaniolo has had for us. He only did five things that drove me insane, which is his first time in single digits. Also, a nice cutback to help set up the first goal. Love how in pure Watkins fashion, he missed the target from eight yards out when he absolutely should have scored, and then scored an incredible goal from a super tight angle. I've also really liked how Bailey has looked this season coming on as an impact sub. Him coming on with fresh legs going at tired defenders is very effective.
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That finish off of the step over that Bailey pulled off for the last goal was ... chef's kiss. He's starting to look a bit more like the player he is for his country now that he's got a settled role off the bench.
 
Montana said:
Even tho he missed, that first touch was spectacular tho….and his second goal is maybe some of the best deception I’ve seen this Prem season leading to a goal. Even on replay I keep expecting him to cut inside 😆……and then the finish itself 👌🏼
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Absolutely incredible touch. It's the frustrating and enjoyable thing about Watkins. He is so good at every thing except scoring easy goals. He missed so many sitters to start the season that it only made sense that his first goal in the Prem this year had to be a crazy angle shot that had no business going in and that has his confidence back. Even when he isn't scoring, he does so much other stuff and is so fast and powerful that he's constantly causing issues for the other team. I keep saying about him if he was even somewhat clinical in front of goal he'd be a 20-25 goal scorer in the league each season and that's really the only thing keeping him from being a world class striker. Step overs are basically a thing of the past since most of the time they're completely ineffective, but we saw two different goals in the game scored off of very effective step overs. The Watkins one was super effective cause the defender was in good position and that threat of cutting onto his stronger right leg froze him and the goalie just enough for Ollie to launch that rocket with his left. And as Jeff brought up, the Bailey one was a thing of complete beauty because he has a severe case of Arjen Robbenism and everyone on earth knew he wanted to cut it back to his left foot so the fake had to be so perfect and fast to open up that space. By just being used as a late game offensive replacement he just gets to do all the things he likes doing and doesn't have to bother trying to defend or keep possession in the buildup.
 
Comfortable and professional win for Villa today minus the comical own goal to prevent the clean sheet. It's really nice to have a team that just takes care of business against lower sides without much fuss. Even in the last Villa run of "success" when I first became a fan in the Martin O'Neill era, they really didn't have comfortable wins against lower sides not really knowing how to break down teams that sat back in defense. This game was the best kind of boring for me personally but near unwatchable as a neutral other than a few moments of brilliance.

The Manchester derby had a predictable result. I thought the penalty was harsh, but ultimately didn't matter. It's a foul, but you see fouls like that or worse on every free kick and they rarely ever get called and NEVER get VAR to tell the ref to stop play to go review it. It looked pretty clear from the refs body language that he did not want to give the penalty, but was basically being told by VAR he had to. That sucked and I think the VAR officials are lucky that United had no shot anyway and just looks like a team in shambles and I for one am here for it. Antony should have absolutely seen red at the end of the match as well. They paid so much money for him, it's amazing. Ten Haag has gotten them to pay over 200 mil for Antony, one year of Casemeiro before he got old and Onana. They are such a cosmic joke of a franchise at this point, it's amazing. They couldn't even just sell the team in a normal way.
 
They talked about the penalty at length at halftime. If that’s the standard now, there are going to penalties on virtually every corner the rest of the season. And Unitied surely is brinken and I’m loving it.

A nice win for Arsenal against hapless Sheffield United, 5-0 behind an Eddie Nketiah hat trick. Sheffield has 1 point from their first 10 matches. Only 1 other team has done that in the Premier League era…Sheffield in the 20-21 season. They finished that season with 23 points, only 17 from safety. They only scored 20 goals that season.
 
Yeah, I'm not a huge fan of that call in the Manchester Derby. If they start calling all the chicken fighting that goes on in the box on corners, it's going to turn into a freaking circus out there, since forwards are just as guilty as defenders. I guess maybe calling a couple of those might encourage players to use their arms less ... but that's leaning way too heavily on peoples' better angels.
 
As a Reds fan, glad they were able to put the match in perspective and still come out focused and together for the match vs. Forest. Klopp called it the toughest game he's ever had to prepare the team for, given what happened to Luis Diaz' parents. Great moment, too, when Diogo Jota brought out Diaz jersey and paraded it around the Kop after scoring the opener.

Oh and Montana: I know so many who are expecting Spurs to, eventually, "go Spursy" and drop from contention. But every match I watch, I become more convinced that Spurs will be the side (even more than Arsenal and Liverpool) who will give City the title race they need. If it wasn't for the great work that Unai Emery is doing with Villa, Ange would be the runaway choice for manager of the year thus far.Jota honors Diaz and his parents.jpg
 
Ed H in Pasadena said:
Oh and Montana: I know so many who are expecting Spurs to, eventually, "go Spursy" and drop from contention. But every match I watch, I become more convinced that Spurs will be the side (even more than Arsenal and Liverpool) who will give City the title race they need.
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I think our starting XI is extremely close to being title contender worthy….but I think ultimately our depth is surely to be our Achilles in the end. Even just missing Udogie last game, we really missed his carrying ability through midfield and they were able to clog us up more than usual….but none of Vicario, Romero, Van De Ven, Udogie, Maddison, or Bissouma have strong enough replacements in the squad for us to survive losing any of them for a significant amount of time.

We do benefit from no Europe so we have an opportunity to remain healthier than usual….but Levy needs to bring in some big time depth in January to maintain our form imo.

That said, I’m pretty confident we continue to beat the teams we’re supposed to beat…and soak up those points. It’s the games versus the remaining top 5 that will be the difference makers. (Can’t wait for Villa x2, and Pool rematch.)

For now I’ll be happy to stay top 4, even happier if we finish above Arsenal…..and anything past that is pure gravy.

Liverpool, Villa, and Brighton get my full support in every game not playing us, and particular vs Arse & City. 🙏🏼


Ed H in Pasadena said:
If it wasn't for the great work that Unai Emery is doing with Villa, Ange would be the runaway choice for manager of the year thus far.
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I think there’s liable to be voter fatigue when it comes to Ange this month, but I think he’s the only manager to win all his games this month, and should have done with 3 clean sheets but VAR oddly allowed a goal that was clearly a handball that directly resulted in a goal…..cause if they do give it to him again, that’s 3 straight manager of the month for him. 🤯
 
Getting Bentancur back is huge….he’ll potential add some nice depth for Sarr, and maybe even Maddison once he gets his pace back.

Brennen Johnson also had a nice appearance on the weekend, instantly hooking up with Mads & Son for that beauty of a goal……so curious to see if he cracks the starting XI here shortly over Richarlison.
 
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