English Premier League/European Football

[sandiego17]

Norwich starting 11 Saturday cost $7mil and Man City"s was over $400 mil. The money divide in EPL is ridiculous. Man City has over $1billion invested in players. You could buy Norwich"s whole operation including stadium for less than $75mil. Seriously you can actually look at their books since they are publicly traded. Something like 80% of teams in top 4 leagues in U.K. operate at a loss. It's not sustainable as it's being run now. At some point there will need to be a super league for the top teams in Europe.

Its worse when you consider net spend. City sells absolutely no one of any consequence, ever. Yes, the sold Sancho, but he was never a part of the first team and the sold him for nothing.

Absolutely hate the idea of a super league. The EPL has made some moves to help with the imbalance. When you look at the net spend over the past 5 seasons, smaller teams like Bournemouth, Brighton and Wolves as well as West Ham and Aston Villa have outspent the likes of Chelsea and Spurs (and LFC). Norwich has 'spent' the least, a negative 47MM pounds net vs. City's 506MM pounds!

https://www.transferleague.co.uk/premier-league-last-five-seasons/transfer-league-tables/premier-league-table-last-five-seasons

[sandiego17]

The first games of the group stage kicks off today with more matches Wednesday as the Champions of Europe begin their title defense in an era where only Real Madrid has ever repeated as champion.

Tuesday's matches:

Napoli v. Champions of Europe and Super Cup Champions - A rematch from the group stages of 2018/2019 in which Napoli won at Stadio San Paulo and Liverpool won the reverse fixture at Anfield, both with identical 1-nil scorelines. The match in Napoli was one of the worst showings of the season for the Reds, if not the worst. Hopefully this showing is much better. Expect both these teams to advance from this group regardless of today's result.
Ajax v. Lille - Last season's Cinderella gets a home match against a decent French side in the Netherlands, interesting matchup. Erik ten Hag is a great manager, hopefully he doesn't end up at an LFC rival in the EPL.
Dortumund v. Barcelona - In a group that includes Inter Milan, dropping points will make advancing difficult. Barcelona has been without Messi, but he is on the roster today. If Dortmund can get the 3 points against a team that struggles outside of Catalonia, that would make this group of death very interesting.
Chelsea v. Valencia - Chelsea in London v. a side that just conceded 5 to a Messi-less Barcelona over the weekend. Still, Chelsea has been a bit inconsistent and has their own defensive issues. I expect the EPL side to prevail.
Inter Milan v. Slavia Prague - With Conte taking over as manager and all the moves made over the summer, Inter is pretty formidable. If they don't screw up and get the 3 points as expected, could find themselves in good position as somebody is dropping points, maybe even both teams, in the Dortmund-Barca matchup. Prague is the kind of level Lukaku feasts on.

Other matches:

Lyon v. Zenit
Benefica v. RB Leipzig
FC Salzburg v. Genk

Wednesday's Matches:

Olypiakos v. Tottenham - The 2018/2019 runner up forced to travel to Greece in what should be a routine victory. But its Spurs.
Atletico Madrid v. Juventus - Heavyweight matchup. The Portugese Ronaldo returns to Madrid to face a familiar side that features Joao Felix, the 'New Ronaldo." Being played in Madrid gives Atletico a slight edge.
Bayern Munich v. Red Star Belgrade - Red Star is terrible away from Belgrade, should be an easy 3pts for Bayern.
PSG v. Real Madrid - Another heavyweight matchup but both teams dealing with injuries. Will be interesting to see how Neymar reacts to his first big match after missing out on his sought after transfer to Barcelona. Will Hazard finally play for Real?
Shaktar Donetsk v. Manchester City - How the fuck City keeps drawing absolutely nobody of any quality until late in any knockout competition is crazy. Luck of the draw, apparently. Still, this is a side that just lost to Norwich and the fantastic Pukki over the weekend and Shaktar is maybe a level above Norwhich. Oatamendi is the only healthy center half, and Oatamendi really is complete and utter shit. Lets go Shaktar!

Other Matches:

Club Brugge v. Galastarray
Bayer Leverkusen v. Lokomotiv Moscow
Dianamo Zagreb v. Atalanta

[sandiego17]

Chelsea v. 6X Champions of Europe and Super Cup Champions - Both teams coming off pretty big wins in league over the past weekend and disappointing results in the UCL midweek while Tammy Abraham promised that Chelsea would take out their frustration on Liverpool. Good luck youngster, Virgil says hello. "He's a center half, he's a number four, watch him defend and we watch him score, he'll pass the ball, CALM AS YOU LIKE, he's Virgil Van Dijk, HE'S VIRGIL VAN DIJK! 6 from 6 would be unbelievable, but this is a difficult fixture every year.
Leicester v. Spurs - Leicester dominated and lost while Spurs looked unplayable over the weekend. But Spurs had to travel to Greece, draw, then travel home Thursday for the early game on Saturday. Lets go Brendan! Still can't believe the English FA does shit like this to teams competing in Europe, this should be a Sunday game. LFC dealt with the same issue and got the 3 points.
Man City v. Watford - City's shit defenders that they spent a ton on all sucked last weekend culminating in Norwhich literally taking the ball from Oatamendi and putting it in the net. Their defense is a mess, but will it matter? Watford is the worst team in the league so far. City will easily win this even if they end up conceding, they'll just outscore the Hornets. Come on Watford, get that first win! Or draw. Any points will do!
West Ham v. Man U - Scum got an undeserved win in an underwhelming performance courtesy of a penalty early on v. Leicester. The bubble blowers picked up a red card, but managed a draw on Monday. Interesting game, both teams with identical records sitting on 8pts. Come on Hammers!
Arsenal v. Aston Villa - Arsenal is good at the Emirates but Aston Villa hasn't been so bad since getting promoted. Arsenal might be a bit to much for Villa in the fixture played in North London.

[sandiego17]

I thought they would take a scalp or two from big 6 teams.

Up the Canaries. Krul doesn't lose penalty shootouts.

[chargerkdb]

Up the Canaries. Krul doesn't lose penalty shootouts.

Leicester, Man City, Tottenham, what a shame they can’t beat the crap teams.

[sandiego17]

CHAMPIONS OF ENGLAND

Lets GOOOOOO!!!!

19

[chargerkdb]

Norwich City Canaries....going back up. After watching this Super League fiasco it’s a pleasure to follow a proper team

[chargerkdb]

I guess the Super league is upon us. Not working through UEFA and not having a promotion relegation will doom it. The big 6 owners in EPL just bullied their way into it. If FA forces points deductions, relegations or even expulsion it could be a massive backfire. How do you follow the financial fair play rules when you’re big gate is playing in front of 4K fans every week with no televised games. You can’t have a million dollar roster to play 46 games in league one and a billion dollar roster to play 20 games in super league. Something needed to be done since the disparity between the haves and have nots is huge. This wasn’t it. Money grab, nothing more nothing less

[Maltheusianwolf]

21 is coming!

[LeicesterBolt]

21 is coming!

I’d be shocked if it’s any team other than Chelsea/ Liverpool/ Man City.

Man Utd have a squad of big names and top players, but they won’t be winning anything while OGS is at the wheel.

[sandiego17]

21 is coming!

Lol.

[sandiego17]

I’d be shocked if it’s any team other than Chelsea/ Liverpool/ Man City.

Man Utd have a squad of big names and top players, but they won’t be winning anything while OGS is at the wheel.

I'm definitely biased, but now that Chelski is shipping goals, not to concerned with them continuing the title push throughout the season. This version of Oil Scum is almost impossible to beat in a 38 game season, but one group has proven they can do it.