On the Eve of the new Season...

[godsshoeshine]

i cant stand mike as a person to be honest. i mean, there are bigger cunts in the sporting world, but something about him just rubs me the wrong way. thought it was crazy that keegan named him captain, it should be nicky butt all day

southall looks like kenny powers in that clip. good zong too

[vansmack]

Saturday, April 18

10:00am   Aston Villa vs West Ham (Set)
10:00am Stoke City v Blackburn (FSC)
12:00pm   FA Cup Semi Final - Arsenal vs Chelsea (Set)
4:30pm Middlesbrough v Fulham (FSC)
5:00pm   Sunderland vs Hull (Set)
8:30pm   Portsmouth vs Bolton (Set)


Sunday, April 19

8:25am Tottenham vs Newcastle (Set)
11:00am FA Cup Semi-final: Manchester United vs Everton (FSC)
11:00pm Manchester City v West Brom (FSC)

[godsshoeshine]

i would expect my posts to have sour disposition on monday

just a heads up

[Barcelona]

looking forward to the arsenal chelsea game, now I need chelsea to start playing bad and get tired for the champions league.

[vansmack]

More news on the FSC deal with UEFA:

Champions League games on the channel will not be in high-def until the start of the first knockout stage in February 2010

In addition, games from Italy?s Serie A, for which FSC has four live windows each weekend, will have games in high-def. Likewise, two English Premier League games now covered by Sky are produced in HD and available in the United States. That?s the Saturday 12:30 p.m. (Eastern) match and the 11 a.m. (Eastern) Sunday games (presumably starting near the end of 2009)

Fox?s HD format and production will be more akin to the true or ?native? HD, as the industry calls it, used in recent years by HDNet (which is no longer carrying M.L.S. or N.H.L. games) than most of the HD productions available to date on ESPN, which Sternberg called ?up-converted.? That is, a standard-definition feed that is enhanced.

EPLTALK

[vansmack]

Tuesday, April 21

2:55pm Liverpool vs Arsenal (Set)
5:00pm Stoke City v Blackburn (FSC)



Wednesday, April 22

2:55pm Man Utd vs Portsmouth (Set)
3:00pm Chelsea v Everton (FSC)

[godsshoeshine]

not ready to talk about the semi i assume?

[vansmack]

not ready to talk about the semi i assume?

Not much to talk about really, and I don't believe it was the pitch.

Fergie put in two strong central defenders to keep Everton from scoring on set pieces and  gave the kids a shot (which I understand) and sadly they weren't rewarded in PKs.  They deserved a draw and they got it.  I mean the first XI were: Anderson (21), Gibson (21), Welbeck (18), Right Back Da Silva and Left Back Da Silva (18), Macheda (17).  I was a little surprised we didn't see Tosic in for Park.

I would rank the Cups:

Champions League / Prem League

A distant third:  FA Cup

Given that United have been poor over the last 3 weeks, he needed to do what he did.  Now, if we fail to win the Prem or the Champions League, then maybe they gave away the piece of hardware they had the best chance of winning, but I don't believe that to be the case.

I will say this - the future looks bright in Manchester. Welbeck and Kiko were really good together.

[godsshoeshine]

the full back twins crack me up. they even play opposite sides

thought the toon were bad again against spurs. really there isnt much to say other than hull and boro have the harder run in. its the last 3 home games or die

[vansmack]

the full back twins crack me up. they even play opposite sides

I had never seen Left Back Da Silva play until yesterday, and now I'm even more convinced they are the same player.  Hilarious.  The only reason he hasn't played is because Evra has been so strong.

Even the announcer was talking about the only way to tell them apart is that one is married and wears a ring, but on the pitch, you aren't allowed to wear a ring.  Could you imagine if one gets suspended and wears his brothers jersey to play?  The comedy is endless here...

[godsshoeshine]

you know rafa will make the accusation at some point

cant believe one is married

[vansmack]

Two crackers in a row...

I just want to remind folks that Arshavin is Cup Tied.

[godsshoeshine]

which makes it even sillier that wenger didnt play him in the fa cup semi last weekend

he's pretty fun to watch though. good thing fat ash wouldnt spend the £9m or whatever to get him back in january 08

[vansmack]

Other than Arshavin, Arsenal looked like shit.  That backup keeper made me feel like Liverpool could score every time down the pitch.  He's fun to watch, but in a completely different way than Arshavin.

[godsshoeshine]

i really think if givens stupid ass would have waited until the summer, arsenal would have come in for him