On the Eve of the new Season...

[godsshoeshine]

sounds like a lot of money. pretty good story though

chelsea aren't really going to go all season with terry and alex in the middle, right?

[reggie]

signs it's early august: i'm nearly done with "how soccer explains the world", i just spent my lunch looking at vintage tops on ebay, and the toon have "nearly" signed 3 guys that will never play in black and white. oh and it's really hot outside

I have that book, and it's kind of a mess. It should really just be called "10 essays on Soccer." It really has nothing to do with globalization, or that Thomas Friedman/Malcolm Gladwell genre, but it's kind of marketed to be a soccer response to those books. l give it a C. 

[godsshoeshine]

welcome to mid-august, where i'm not interested in discussing a book

[vansmack]

chelsea aren't really going to go all season with terry and alex in the middle, right?

Sounds like my response to an email I just recieved from my Chelsea supporting friend:

"United's not really going to go the whole season with Vidic and Evans are they because Rio is done..."

I'll take half a Rio over a full Terry anyday after watching Chicharito blow right past him last week....

[godsshoeshine]

first off i'm picking mufc to win the prem this year
 
second, i dont think the league is as strong as it was two years ago
 
but on terry (or as cohen calls him "the traitor") he hasnt been as good for a couple of years now. he's coasted on a great combination of reputation, tactics and supporting cast. but i cant see them playing 3 central midfielders every match again this year and alex is no carvalho

[vansmack]

Holy hell what a kickoff weekend.

Spurs and City
Liverpool and Arsenal
Manchester United and Newcastle

[godsshoeshine]

my dvr is going to get a workout

decided to make a full table prediction over lunch today:
01 man u
02 chelsea
03 arsenal
04 shitty
05 everton
06 spurs
07 'pool
08 brum
09 fulham
10 villa
11 stoke
12 mackems
13 wolves
14 toon
15 blackburn
16 wigan
17 bolton
18 w. ham
19 wba
20 blackpool

[vansmack]

Aight, I'll play along:

1. MUFC
2. Chelsea
3. Spurs
4. Arsenal (assuming they change Almunia)
5. City (if no Almuia deal, swap City and Arsenal)
6. Liverpool
7. Everton
8. Aston Villa (sad)
9. Fulham
10. Bolton
11. Stoke
12. Sunderland
13. Birmingham
14. West Ham
15. Blackburn
16. Toon
17. Wolves
18. Wigan
19. West Brom
20. Blackpool

I'll even add Forest, Cardiff and QPR all come up.

[godsshoeshine]

should be interesting if spurs can keep the cl and league campaigns going at once

[godsshoeshine]

trying to decide what's worse: a) the inevitable thrashing the toon is going to take tonight b) the fact that i won't see it until 8 o'clock or c) that so much hd soccer makes almost not care

[vansmack]

b) the fact that i won't see it until 8 o'clock or

Thanks for the heads up.

c) that so much hd soccer makes almost not care

F'off.

[godsshoeshine]

i almost feel bad for enjoying it so much

the hd feed for the everton match didn't work for like 10 minutes so it wasn't perfect

[vansmack]

"11.41 BST: Our man in the know, Harry Harris, reliably informs us that Cardiff are paying just £6,000 a week for Craig Bellamy's services, with Manchester City still stumping up the rest of his £90,000-a-week wages. "

When I read that, I thought to myself, if I had the money, I'd pay Bellamy £6,000 a week to sit on my couch just talk to me about the games.

[godsshoeshine]

i would wager it wouldn't be boring. nothing with bels ever is


if i ever start watching the french league, remind me not to support l'om

[godsshoeshine]

best toon game in years