EPL 2024/2025
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There has been some awful pundit insight recently - "Chelsea's return to Premier League form" was actually consecutive games against Southampton and Leicester. Brentford superb at home before Christmas and now superb away is because they are repeating the fixtures like everyone else but had a glut of strong teams away from home before Christmas.
@KiwiPie said in EPL 2024/2025:
There has been some awful pundit insight recently - "Chelsea's return to Premier League form" was actually consecutive games against Southampton and Leicester. Brentford superb at home before Christmas and now superb away is because they are repeating the fixtures like everyone else but had a glut of strong teams away from home before Christmas.
Yeah dropping points against the bottom 3 these days is considered as embarrassing.
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@KiwiPie said in EPL 2024/2025:
There has been some awful pundit insight recently - "Chelsea's return to Premier League form" was actually consecutive games against Southampton and Leicester. Brentford superb at home before Christmas and now superb away is because they are repeating the fixtures like everyone else but had a glut of strong teams away from home before Christmas.
Yeah dropping points against the bottom 3 these days is considered as embarrassing.
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@African-Monkey Fulhams season right there
We've taken 18 points from eight games against the Top 6 but only 14 from ten games against the bottom 6 including drawing three games against the relegation sides.
@dogmeat said in EPL 2024/2025:
@African-Monkey Fulhams season right there
We've taken 18 points from eight games against the Top 6 but only 14 from ten games against the bottom 6 including drawing three games against the relegation sides.
To some extent that is Fulham's style of play - you seem to play best on the break with lots of space to run into. Maybe not enough craft to break teams down who don't give that space.
There isn't much between any of the teams from 3rd to 12th. That's the reason why next season's promoted clubs will probably go down again - every season a team can stay in the EPL (and is a sensibly run club) then their squad gets stronger and stronger. Brighton have faded in the 2nd half of recent seasons, their buying in the summer now means they have massive depth so they don't have to roll out the same 11 week after week. For their 10 outfield players, they have 23 solid players to call on before they would need to find kids and that is with Ferguson, Enciso, Buonanotte and Sarmiento out on loan.
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And while the League Cup Final is still in the memory, here's a list of obscure teams to have made a final
Rotherham (1961)
Rochdale (1962)
Oldham (1990)
Tranmere (2000)
Bradford (2013)
and winners
Swindon 1969
Oxford 1986
Luton 1988 (losing finalists 1989)One strange thing is that Arsenal have won only 2 cups (and lost 6 finals), having won the most FA Cups and have won 11 FA Cups since the League Cup started.
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I'm not a great fan of Newcastle but pleased for them to have finally won another trophy. Ties were against Forest, Wimbledon, Chelsea, Brentford, Arsenal, Liverpool - that's all of the current top 4 so it's a deserved triumph. Liverpool will win the league but the rest of their season has fallen apart within a week. Slot out!
@KiwiPie said in EPL 2024/2025:
I'm not a great fan of Newcastle but pleased for them to have finally won another trophy. Ties were against Forest, Wimbledon, Chelsea, Brentford, Arsenal, Liverpool - that's all of the current top 4 so it's a deserved triumph. Liverpool will win the league but the rest of their season has fallen apart within a week. Slot out!
I quite often lie when I tell supporters of teams I don’t support that I’m happy for them when they win…. I suspect I’m not alone here.
No lies here tho. Genuinely absolute stoked for them. I know I’m not alone here too.
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@KiwiPie said in EPL 2024/2025:
I'm not a great fan of Newcastle but pleased for them to have finally won another trophy. Ties were against Forest, Wimbledon, Chelsea, Brentford, Arsenal, Liverpool - that's all of the current top 4 so it's a deserved triumph. Liverpool will win the league but the rest of their season has fallen apart within a week. Slot out!
I quite often lie when I tell supporters of teams I don’t support that I’m happy for them when they win…. I suspect I’m not alone here.
No lies here tho. Genuinely absolute stoked for them. I know I’m not alone here too.
@MajorRage said in EPL 2024/2025:
@KiwiPie said in EPL 2024/2025:
I'm not a great fan of Newcastle but pleased for them to have finally won another trophy. Ties were against Forest, Wimbledon, Chelsea, Brentford, Arsenal, Liverpool - that's all of the current top 4 so it's a deserved triumph. Liverpool will win the league but the rest of their season has fallen apart within a week. Slot out!
I quite often lie when I tell supporters of teams I don’t support that I’m happy for them when they win…. I suspect I’m not alone here.
No lies here tho. Genuinely absolute stoked for them. I know I’m not alone here too.
The Dan Burn story is great, he actually seems a genuinely nice guy as well. A youngster discarded by Newcastle and via Darlington (and Fulham briefly) he ends up playing as a 2 metre full back for Brighton. Gets a move to Newcastle as a solid fella to help them avoid relegation and now he's in the England squad at 32 and he has won a trophy.
Also Jacob Murphy who nobody really thinks is good enough for a top club yet he keeps delivering and also has one of the great smiles when things go well. Family also originally from the north-east.
And Joelinton who was bought as a goalscorer but has become an essential workhorse in the midfield.
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And while the League Cup Final is still in the memory, here's a list of obscure teams to have made a final
Rotherham (1961)
Rochdale (1962)
Oldham (1990)
Tranmere (2000)
Bradford (2013)
and winners
Swindon 1969
Oxford 1986
Luton 1988 (losing finalists 1989)One strange thing is that Arsenal have won only 2 cups (and lost 6 finals), having won the most FA Cups and have won 11 FA Cups since the League Cup started.
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I'm pleased for Newcastle fans to some extent but can't help thinking that it feels a bit fake, i.e. the Saudi money has bought their way up the table. As a Chelsea fan i have some sympathy with them, its exciting at first, but if we're honest, leaves a slightly bitter taste in the mouth. Trouble is having a parent billionaire is now the only way to reach the top table if you're not already a 'global brand' who can monetise rich muppets in foreign countries by convincing them that they're fans.
I've said before that I started to fall out of love with top level football the second season Chelsea won the league in 2005/06. I am so disillusioned by the whole thing now i not only don't watch football anymore, I have become one of those people who doesn't know when 'big games' are on, nor know who the managers or key players are. People still look to tease me about Chelsea not being very good but I genuinely couldn't name more than a couple of players in the squad and just had to look up who the current manager is.
As a sports nut, my lack of enthusiasm for Premiership football, and now any cricket outside of the County Championship and Test matches is something I wouldn't have believed possible. Rugby's ridiculous distribution of matches across different platforms and lack of profile / marketing means apart from internationals and Premiership matches, I am also losing interest in competitions I would have made an appointment to view in years gone by. Can't remember the last time i watched a Super Rugby match, haven't seen a single European club game this year, never watched a URC match.
Sport is eating itself at the expense of people who want to care or maybe i'm just getting old
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I'm pleased for Newcastle fans to some extent but can't help thinking that it feels a bit fake, i.e. the Saudi money has bought their way up the table. As a Chelsea fan i have some sympathy with them, its exciting at first, but if we're honest, leaves a slightly bitter taste in the mouth. Trouble is having a parent billionaire is now the only way to reach the top table if you're not already a 'global brand' who can monetise rich muppets in foreign countries by convincing them that they're fans.
I've said before that I started to fall out of love with top level football the second season Chelsea won the league in 2005/06. I am so disillusioned by the whole thing now i not only don't watch football anymore, I have become one of those people who doesn't know when 'big games' are on, nor know who the managers or key players are. People still look to tease me about Chelsea not being very good but I genuinely couldn't name more than a couple of players in the squad and just had to look up who the current manager is.
As a sports nut, my lack of enthusiasm for Premiership football, and now any cricket outside of the County Championship and Test matches is something I wouldn't have believed possible. Rugby's ridiculous distribution of matches across different platforms and lack of profile / marketing means apart from internationals and Premiership matches, I am also losing interest in competitions I would have made an appointment to view in years gone by. Can't remember the last time i watched a Super Rugby match, haven't seen a single European club game this year, never watched a URC match.
Sport is eating itself at the expense of people who want to care or maybe i'm just getting old
@Dodge i reckon it's a little from column A, a little from column B.
Getting older means way different priorities. Outside of a few must sees, my weekends very rarely are based around sport watching. This was definitely not always the case. If I've got nothing else to do I'll chuck a game on, but it doesn't take all that much for something to be better.
The other thing is the spread of coverage. On Saturday the Chiefs, Brisbane Lions and NQ Cowboys all played at the same time. I watched the Lions and a bit of the Cowboys, and none of the Chiefs. Why? Two were on kayo and the other needed me to change to a different app. Fuck that noise.
Before unions/sports got cute with rights, I could watch on foxtel rugby, league, AFL and Premier league soccer at the same time simply with the channel up channel down button. Now? That's 3 different apps.
I am pretty sure football in England is along the same lines now?
The money thing is a separate issue
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Premier league football, actually European football has a very "new money" problem. The clubs who were lucky to be big when international sports money exploded have been trying to ring-fence their way to a closed market.
The only guys with the money to compete with these established global giants (based on fuck all but timing) come from "suspect" countries. These older clubs are propped up by Asian shirt buyers and dumb sponsors and we're supposed to accept that is "right" money and rich brown owners are wrong money.
All these clubs are awash in obsence money, I have never understood why we care so much about why some have a slight more fuck loads than another, who also have fuck loads.
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Premier league football, actually European football has a very "new money" problem. The clubs who were lucky to be big when international sports money exploded have been trying to ring-fence their way to a closed market.
The only guys with the money to compete with these established global giants (based on fuck all but timing) come from "suspect" countries. These older clubs are propped up by Asian shirt buyers and dumb sponsors and we're supposed to accept that is "right" money and rich brown owners are wrong money.
All these clubs are awash in obsence money, I have never understood why we care so much about why some have a slight more fuck loads than another, who also have fuck loads.
This post is deleted! -
I'm pleased for Newcastle fans to some extent but can't help thinking that it feels a bit fake, i.e. the Saudi money has bought their way up the table. As a Chelsea fan i have some sympathy with them, its exciting at first, but if we're honest, leaves a slightly bitter taste in the mouth. Trouble is having a parent billionaire is now the only way to reach the top table if you're not already a 'global brand' who can monetise rich muppets in foreign countries by convincing them that they're fans.
I've said before that I started to fall out of love with top level football the second season Chelsea won the league in 2005/06. I am so disillusioned by the whole thing now i not only don't watch football anymore, I have become one of those people who doesn't know when 'big games' are on, nor know who the managers or key players are. People still look to tease me about Chelsea not being very good but I genuinely couldn't name more than a couple of players in the squad and just had to look up who the current manager is.
As a sports nut, my lack of enthusiasm for Premiership football, and now any cricket outside of the County Championship and Test matches is something I wouldn't have believed possible. Rugby's ridiculous distribution of matches across different platforms and lack of profile / marketing means apart from internationals and Premiership matches, I am also losing interest in competitions I would have made an appointment to view in years gone by. Can't remember the last time i watched a Super Rugby match, haven't seen a single European club game this year, never watched a URC match.
Sport is eating itself at the expense of people who want to care or maybe i'm just getting old
@Dodge said in EPL 2024/2025:
I'm pleased for Newcastle fans to some extent but can't help thinking that it feels a bit fake, i.e. the Saudi money has bought their way up the table. As a Chelsea fan i have some sympathy with them, its exciting at first, but if we're honest, leaves a slightly bitter taste in the mouth. Trouble is having a parent billionaire is now the only way to reach the top table if you're not already a 'global brand' who can monetise rich muppets in foreign countries by convincing them that they're fans.
I've said before that I started to fall out of love with top level football the second season Chelsea won the league in 2005/06. I am so disillusioned by the whole thing now i not only don't watch football anymore, I have become one of those people who doesn't know when 'big games' are on, nor know who the managers or key players are. People still look to tease me about Chelsea not being very good but I genuinely couldn't name more than a couple of players in the squad and just had to look up who the current manager is.
As a sports nut, my lack of enthusiasm for Premiership football, and now any cricket outside of the County Championship and Test matches is something I wouldn't have believed possible. Rugby's ridiculous distribution of matches across different platforms and lack of profile / marketing means apart from internationals and Premiership matches, I am also losing interest in competitions I would have made an appointment to view in years gone by. Can't remember the last time i watched a Super Rugby match, haven't seen a single European club game this year, never watched a URC match.
Sport is eating itself at the expense of people who want to care or maybe i'm just getting old
Interesting. I'm almost the complete reverse.
I feel a lot of the "big match" feel has gone from all rugby beneath Internationals. Alot is because I'm not on the ground, and similar or M4L, have insufficient time to manage my life around games.
But Football still has this, and has this at times that really work for me. Sunday 1630 kick off is an absolute joy, quite often there is a decent match at 5:30 on a Saturday and the CL being on a Tues/Wed night is great.
Cricket has almost always been too long to watch at level above much more than "on in the background" so nothings changed there for me. Although with a son who's getting into it, the hundred has been brilliant as has a lot of the T20 games.
Although there is the Saudi backdrop to Newcastle, you only had to look at the fans in the stadium and their reactions to know that this was no skin deep victory. Which I think is exactly why I feel so chuffed for them.
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Leaving aside the ethical issues and the exponential growth in the money sports generate the underlying issue for me is the way almost all sports have become 'product' and the marketers have convinced everyone that more is better, when the reality is the complete opposite.
Wall to wall sport available 24 hours a day and it is, in the main, boringly predictable.
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On Newcastle, I believe their success has been somewhat due to not being able to spend too much money. They have spent big to bring in the likes of Isak, Gordon, Tonali, Bruno, Botman but being restricted has meant building a team around Burn, Schar, Joelinton, Murphy. Chelsea show how difficult it is to throw cash around and still build a team.
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On Newcastle, I believe their success has been somewhat due to not being able to spend too much money. They have spent big to bring in the likes of Isak, Gordon, Tonali, Bruno, Botman but being restricted has meant building a team around Burn, Schar, Joelinton, Murphy. Chelsea show how difficult it is to throw cash around and still build a team.
@KiwiPie said in EPL 2024/2025:
On Newcastle, I believe their success has been somewhat due to not being able to spend too much money. They have spent big to bring in the likes of Isak, Gordon, Tonali, Bruno, Botman but being restricted has meant building a team around Burn, Schar, Joelinton, Murphy. Chelsea show how difficult it is to throw cash around and still build a team.
You only have to look at the success Forest are having now to know you don't need an astronomical budget. It takes more skill to spend less and actually build a proper squad
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@KiwiPie said in EPL 2024/2025:
On Newcastle, I believe their success has been somewhat due to not being able to spend too much money. They have spent big to bring in the likes of Isak, Gordon, Tonali, Bruno, Botman but being restricted has meant building a team around Burn, Schar, Joelinton, Murphy. Chelsea show how difficult it is to throw cash around and still build a team.
You only have to look at the success Forest are having now to know you don't need an astronomical budget. It takes more skill to spend less and actually build a proper squad
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@canefan Forest have spent 360 mill quid since making it back to the PL placing them in the top 6 for player purchases.
