F:AT Yahoo EPL (again)

Arsenal is the classic tragic contender. Arsenal's golden age was more recent than Liverpool, the early '00s with a incredble, unbelievable undefeated season in 2003-2004. The team hasn't won anything since then ( www.sincearsenallastwonatrophy.co.uk ). After that, the team financed a big, shiny stadium and played the buy players cheap, turn them into stars and sell them for big profits without properly replace them with players of the same caliber. Everybody thought it was going to be different this year, no star players have left, but the team has only made one signing. A 20-year-old French striker with a history of injuries. It's a classic move from manager Arsene Wenger.

That said, Wenger has managed to guide Arsenal to Champions League qualification year after year and the team has a reputation for playing an attractive brand of attacking soccer. And has a reputation for completely imploding in the domestic cups.

If you want a smaller, plucky team I saw go for Swansea. They play really well, make smart transfer moves, play a possession-based attacking style, have an up-and-coming manager and will be competing in the Europa League this year. Or you could follow Sunderland with new signing American striker Jozy Altidore. If he plays as well as he has for the national team, Sunderland will be fun to watch.

As for MLS, it's entirely possible to be a fan of multiple leagues. And due to the time zone difference, you can watch foreign games in the morning and MLS in the evening. As for a team, I say go local or pick a team where you have some ties too. Or pick Sporting Kansas City, they are a good team and fun to watch. I mostly root for Real Salt Lake because I was living in Utah when I started to pay attention to soccer. In Austin, I really wish the Dynamo were on local TV affiliates as I don't get cable. Not even on the Spanish channels. They only show garbage Chivas USA. MLS doesn't really deserve the reputation that it has, it's a lot better than it used to be and it's fun to watch.

Wow. There's only 3 of us? C'mon guys! The season starts tomorrow if you miss out now you'll have a lot of catching up to do.

I am in there. Hey folks, week 1 is easy this year. Just pack as much Chelsea as possible on the pitch--they play twice. Aston Villa too, but they will be getting thrashed.

Use the link , there's something wonky about entering the password by hand.

I was just thinking about EPL yesterday, and how I'm definitely interested in following it as best I can with no cable. Soccer is becoming a big deal here in Kansas City, since Sporting KC is our most competitive professional team right now (except the Royals have looked awfully good since the all-star break). If soccer starts making it to network TV more often, it'll help a lot.

What's a good way to actually follow this stuff if one assumes it'll be difficult to actually watch any games?

Also, is it so nerdy that I'm inclined to root for Cardiff based mainly on my enjoyment of Doctor Who?

San Il Defanso wrote: I was just thinking about EPL yesterday, and how I'm definitely interested in following it as best I can with no cable. Soccer is becoming a big deal here in Kansas City, since Sporting KC is our most competitive professional team right now (except the Royals have looked awfully good since the all-star break). If soccer starts making it to network TV more often, it'll help a lot.

What's a good way to actually follow this stuff if one assumes it'll be difficult to actually watch any games?

I gave up cable a few years ago, so I watch almost no games through the season. (Don't tell the rest of the F:AT EPL group!)

One-stop online catchup? BBC Football An almost daily read for me during the season.

Also, is it so nerdy that I'm inclined to root for Cardiff based mainly on my enjoyment of Doctor Who?

You can support anyone you want, but I would basically count on finding a new EPL team next year, or following Cardiff down a league.

I thought about including Arsenal in that list for Sag, but they're really just an exercise in frustration. Liverpool are the same way, and neither met the "contender" category at all. Spurs don't really meet that either, but they put a better face on it than Arsenal or Liverpool have recently.

Not Sure wrote:

San Il Defanso wrote: Also, is it so nerdy that I'm inclined to root for Cardiff based mainly on my enjoyment of Doctor Who?

You can support anyone you want, but I would basically count on finding a new EPL team next year, or following Cardiff down a league.

Yeah, I don't need that. I'm already a Cleveland Browns fan.

Jeff White wrote: (Chelsea and the Yankees just went in on a merger deal to create New York City FC).

This was a deal between the Yankees and Manchester City.

San Il Defanso wrote: What's a good way to actually follow this stuff if one assumes it'll be difficult to actually watch any games?

I am a big fan of the Guardian's Football Weekly podcast , although I admit I didn't keep up with it very well last season.

JoelCFC25 wrote:

Jeff White wrote: (Chelsea and the Yankees just went in on a merger deal to create New York City FC).

This was a deal between the Yankees and Manchester City.

You are correct. Don't know how I missed it. Got friend who's a big Man City supporter (thanks, Oasis!) been going on about this team for awhile. Well, it's at least going to get him watching MLS now.

I love the fact that I know a guy in Mobile, Al running around saying 'CTID!'...crazy world.

I mostly keep up with the premiere league through espn, the guardian and the men in blazers podcast which is hilarious and covers the USA national team as well.

As for watching games, ihave no cable either, so i will watch whatever is on NBC or stream arsenal games via illegal streams online.

Yahoo have really choked it this year.

The redesign is horrible. You seem to be unable to look at other teams, and there's no message board at all anymore. Not at a league level, and not even overall.

If that turns out to be the case, I doubt I'm going to be able to keep up the interest level to finish a 38-week season. If we get mystery totals in the League Table every Tuesday or so, I can't see it holding my focus.

That's lame, as I think this my 11th season, and shaping up to be the worst implementation by far, somehow even worse than the floating salary cap year where we all had $200m or so by about week 4.

(oh, I think I did fine this week, apart from swapping Lampard for Walcott expecting something useful from Arsenal. I should know better.)

Let's move the chat over here then. No one ever responded to my shitty posts anyway. RVP fucking killed this week. 23 points or something. Worth it at £24, crazy.

Hazard pooped out only 4 pts in Game 1, and I took a chance on Altidore for 6 pts shaping up just fine @ £7, I suppose. Cech was my captain for 14x2 = 28. Could be more as he has two games, whoot!

Best bang for the buck so far is K. Nolan, 17 on a £12 buy.

Yeah, I fielded a mostly-Chelsea team with Cech captaining as well.

Benteke and Soldano went 15 and 16 (Benteke has a game to go), and I also got 4 for Hazard.

Ramires, Oscar (22 total so far), Jesus Navas tomorrow, and a fat 3 from Walcott in mids.

Defense was Cole and Ivanovic (10 each) and Phil Jones for 6.

114, with Navas and the doublegame contingent still to go.

If Navas doesn't play, I have Fernandinho on the bench.

Ugh, you are already killing me. I give up, see you next year!

I *hate* this interface. I was dicking around with my initial line-up and didn't realize I saved everything *except* the change that would have started Vertonghen. Somehow I managed to leave Kolo "I have 6 quid left to spend and need to fill out this D spot" Toure in place. That was basically a 10-pt swing.

That same unsaved change would have had Ramsey's 10 points in the midfield instead of Fernandinho. This is a complete unknown so who knows...

At this point, I went for "I wonder if this will be a long-term value" with Aspas and Soldado up front (next to Aguero). Thanks to the penalty, Soldado did. Aspas, I dunno. I've watched 'em a few times in the pre-season and again this weekend, and I just don't quite understand WTF Liverpool is trying to do with this team. ...

I knew in my heart of hearts that RvP is a fucking goalscoring machine, but I figured Swans would play Utd. a whole lot closer than *THAT* debacle. Doh.

At this point, with Vertonghen, McAuley, and Ivanovic, my back line is probably too expensive for what they produce. Should probably have shelved McAuley and Cazorla in favor of RvP up front and 2 true scrubs [or cheap unknown French guys now playing in Newcastle, anyway] on the bench...

On an unrelated note, much like my dear departed Tangerines of Blackpool, Ian Holloway's Crystal Palace is a hell of a lot of fun to watch. They won't be in the League next season, of course; but it ought to be a fun ride nonetheless. And, now that Mick McCarthy, Roberto Mancini, and gum-chewer in Manchester are all gone, Ian H's after-game pressers are going to be the best show in town.

And, Metalface, Joz'A could be the American love child of Pele and Messi and he still couldn't make Sunderland that compelling to watch. I would second Swans as a team that generally puts a compelling product on the screen, but they're kind of like Everton of late. Good enough to make you want to watch but not quite good enough to be in the hunt for the really big prizes. If someone wants to hop on a bandwagon but still avoid the Yankees/RedSox thing going on in Manchester, Spurs is probably the right choice.