NOTE: This is all about 2-3 weeks out of date by now, but I’ll have a new entry on the recent developments in the Premier League up soon.
There are certainly many things that I will miss about London when I come home and there are some things that I will assuredly be glad to have back upon my return. For example, I will miss having public transport that actually runs on time, but I will be glad to have cheap fast food once again. There is something particularly heinous about a “value meal costing” £5 or roughly $8-9. Anyhow, the thing that I will probably miss most about London is the sport scene. Most of all, I will miss Sky Sports 1, 2, and 3.
Sky Sports fills 24 hours of programming time a day on three channels with a steady diet of football (that is, soccer), rugby (league and union), cricket (like baseball, only more tedious), golf, tennis, WWE, and American football (it’s just as easy to follow the Bills here as it is in Chicago). Mainly, it is the first three of those that dominate and provide the marquee events. Now, I can’t be bothered to watch cricket for long spells because it is incredibly boring. It makes baseball look fast paced and exciting. At least in baseball there are outs every so often. Cricket simply consists of long spells of batters lazily running out singles until finally, by the mercy of Zeus, the occasional ball is caught or wicket is hit. Don’t worry if that doesn’t make sense. Just trust me that it is only a sport for the patient who have too much time on their hands. On the other hand, I love rugby (probably my favorite sport of them all) and football. The problem with being a football fan in America is that besides ESPN showing the occasional Champions League game it is simply never on unless you have Fox Soccer Channel on the premium tier of your cable or satellite. It might, I suppose, be possible to get a Sunday Ticket sort of subscription to the Premier League (or at least it ought to be) but otherwise it is not to be found. ESPN also shows the occasional MLS game but there is one problem with MLS. The level of play sucks. There is a reason that the growth of MLS has been slow and painful. The quality of play is simply awful. There are, I’m sure, many football fans in America who simply won’t watch it because it’s so far from the top level of football. That said, I support the MLS and do take pleasure in the occasional game, but it is not in the same universe as the Premier League. To wit: Clint Dempsey is a USA international and was clearly our best player at World Cup 2006. He was, when he left MLS, arguably its best player. Currently he comes off the bench for Fulham, which is the 4th best team in London. Not the 4th best team in the Premier League but the 4th best team in London and that’s giving them the benefit of the doubt that they are better than West Ham, which is probably a 50/50 proposition. Clint Dempsey, one of America’s best players, formerly one of MLS’s best players can’t even crack the starting line-up at a mediocre Premier League side. That says about all you need to know about MLS and the quality of American football. On the other hand, Juan Pablo Angel currently is one of MLS’s most dangerous strikers. The Argentinean formerly was a solid, but relatively unheralded striker at Aston Villa, an average plus Premier League side. Then his career took a bit of a slide and he joined the New York Red Bulls. He immediately became one of the best players in the league.
All of this is to say that quality football is simply not to be seen in the US unless you find can find a pub in the States that will show the games. For that reason, I am trying to soak up as much Premier League goodness as I can while I’m here. Now, with the product so unavailable, you, the American, are probably ignorant of the happenings in the Premier League. Have no fear. I’m here to try to teach you the basics of the Premier League and get you caught up on the major stories of the season so far.
What is it? The Barclay’s Premier League is a 20 team football league. It is the top league of English (and Welsh, technically, although there are currently no Welsh sides in the league) football and arguably the best football league in the world. Only Spain’s 1st Division, more commonly known as La Liga is any competition for this honour. The league itself runs from fall through spring with each team playing each other team in the league both at home and away. With 20 teams, that means 38 weekends of football, leaving only summer as an off-season.
Premier League teams also compete in other competitions. The Carling Cup is the Football Association’s (FA) cup competition that is open to all teams in league football. That is, it is open to teams in the Premier League, Championship, League One, and League Two. The teams in these top four divisions of British football are all professional. In the lower leagues of the FA, the squads are a mixture of pro or, more commonly, semi-pro and amateur. The top 4 finishers in the Premier League each year qualify for the Champions League, which is a cup competition featuring the top sides in European football. Essentially, the champions of each league of the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) qualify for the Champions League and more prominent leagues (England, Germany, Spain, Italy, France) are granted multiple qualifiers. Teams that fail to qualify for the Champions League may earn a spot in UEFA’s second tier cup competition, the UEFA Cup. This year, Chelsea, Arsenal, Liverpool, and Manchester United are playing in the Champions League and Tottenham Hotspur, Aston Villa, and Manchester City are competing in the UEFA Cup. All of these competitions run concurrently. The Carling Cup, Champions League, and UEFA Cup have fixtures on weekdays so that they do not conflict with regular league play, which takes place on Saturdays and Sundays.
These other competitions, especially the Champions League, are fascinating and worthy of their very own primers, but our focus here is the Premier League itself.
What’s at Stake? Ultimately, each team’s goal is to win the Premier League itself. For each fixture, three points are given for a win, one point is given for a draw, and zero points are given for a loss. At the end of the season, the team with the most points is the champion of the league. In the event of a tie, goal differential (or net goals—goals scored minus goals conceded—if you prefer) is the tiebreaker. For many clubs, this is not a realistic goal, however. There are four clubs who currently dominate the league by virtue of their wealth and corresponding powers of player procurement. Since there is no salary cap in football, the wealthiest clubs are free to spend as much as they please with their own budgets as their only constraint. The clubs of this “Big Four” are Liverpool, Chelsea, Arsenal, and Manchester United. These four teams are essentially the only ones who can legitimately be thought threats to win the league. That leaves other sides with different goals. For the next tier of clubs, sneaking in to a top 4 placement by edging out one of the Big Four and earning a Champions League berth is probably their highest reasonable aspiration. Otherwise, they compete for UEFA cup berths and also prestige. More successful clubs are more likely to attract star players during transfer season. Star players can hopefully help a club eventually crack the Big Four. For the lower tier teams, rivalry games and mere survival are probably the main concern. Local rivalry games are known in European football parlance as derbies (pronounced dar-bies not der-bies as in America). Fulham, for example, likely puts a special emphasis on games against their West London neighbors, powerhouse Chelsea. Note that Fulham Road actually is a road passing through Chelsea. Survival is also important. European football leagues operate on a promotion and relegation system. The Premier League is the top of the heap in English football and is the highest level of promotion (however Champions League spots function as promotions of sorts). However, the bottom three clubs in the Premier League each year are relegated to the Championship. That is, they will play the next season in the Championship. The top two Championship sides automatically earn promotion to the Premier League for the next season and a playoff is held for the third Premier League birth. This system functions throughout the FA. Championship teams, for example can be relegated to League One and replaced by League One sides and League One sides can be relegated to League Two and replaced by squads from that league. Since a Premier League spot means greater visibility, more money, and the chance to attract better players, relegation is bitterly feared and competition to avoid the bottom of the table is fierce. This unique system altogether eliminates the possibility of teams who are struggling giving up and tanking.
Who Plays? The best way to answer this is to throw up the table (or standings, if you prefer). Ideally, in a world where I had convenient internet access, I would have an up to date table. Alas, I have no such thing and so will have to settle for a table that is one week out of date. Here it is:
Team Played Won Drew Lost For Against Goal Differential Points
Chelsea 11 8 2 1 27 4 23 26
Liverpool 11 8 2 1 16 8 8 26
Manchester United 10 6 3 1 19 8 11 21
Arsenal 11 6 2 3 23 12 11 20
Aston Villa 11 6 2 3 19 14 5 20
Hull 11 6 2 3 17 18 -1 20
Everton 11 4 3 4 15 19 -4 15
Middlesboro 11 4 2 5 11 16 -5 14
Portsmouth 11 4 2 5 11 17 -6 14
Manchester City 11 4 1 6 23 18 5 13
West Ham 11 4 1 6 15 19 -4 13
Stoke 11 4 1 6 13 19 -6 13
Blackburn 11 3 4 4 13 20 -7 13
Newcastle 11 3 3 5 14 18 -4 12
Sunderland 11 3 3 5 9 16 -7 12
Fulham 10 3 2 5 8 9 -1 11
Wigan 11 3 2 6 13 16 -3 11
Bolton 11 3 2 6 10 13 -3 11
West Bromwich Albion 11 3 2 6 10 18 -8 11
Tottenham 11 2 3 6 13 17 -4 9
The major events of the past weekend were that Arsenal beat Manchester United 2-1 at the Emirates while Tottenham beat Manchester City 2-1. Chelsea beat Blackburn 2-0 while Liverpool dusted West Brom 3-0. The upshot of all this is that Arsenal has leapfrogged Manchester United for third place in the table. Chelsea and Liverpool retain their spots. Meanwhile, Tottenham finally climes out of last place by moving to 12 points. Note that European football grounds’ names often stand in for the team and are thrown around quite liberally. Arsenal formerly played at Highbury but now have a new stadium sponsored by Emirates Airlines and simply known as “the Emirates”. This works for almost all Premier League teams. Liverpool=Anfield, Chelsea=Stamford Bridge, Manchester United=Old Trafford, Tottenham=White Hart Lane, Fulham=Craven Cottage and so forth. This is especially important because football has a notably large home field advantage. Teams score more goals and have more fouls assessed against opponents on home grounds. This is not surprising considering the loud atmospheres featuring singing, chanting supporters that are peculiar to football stadiums. Now a few words about the teams (in table order):
• Chelsea – Chelsea is not historically as important of a club as Liverpool or Manchester United or even Tottenham. They recently rose to prominence after being acquired by Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich who used his deep pockets to assemble one of the most powerful clubs in the world. Chelsea beat Middlesboro, a team solidly ensconced in the upper half of the table, 5-0 on the road when missing seven top players. They were Petr Cech, Ricardo Carvalho, Michael Essien, Michael Ballack, Joe Cole, Didier Drogba, and either Ashley Cole, John Terry, or Deco who were in and out of fitness at the time such that I can’t recall who was the injured player that particular game. Cech is arguably the finest goalkeeper in the world. Ballack has long been Germany’s star player. Cole starts for England. Drogba is perhaps the best player from all of Africa. Essien is among his major competition for that distinction (along with Arsenal’s Adebayor and Barcelona’s Eto’o). These are players that would easily start on any non-Big Four Premier League side. Chelsea was without them all. They still won 5-0 on the road. That’s a testament to their depth and the depth of Abramovich’s pockets. It also makes them fun to watch and yes I am a bandwagon fan of the best team. I admit it at least and I hope that makes it less odious. In my defence, I am living in Chelsea itself right now.
• Liverpool – The most amusing thing I can think of about Liverpool is that they played Atletico Madrid in Champions League and actually started more Spaniards than Madrid. Madrid, while chock full of Brazilians, Portuguese, and Argentineans, only started 3 Spaniards. Liverpool started four (Reina, Arbeloa, Xabi Alonso, and one other who is escaping me at the moment). This is without Fernando Torres, who is their star striker and who scored the winning goal in the European Championship final for Spain against Germany, who was on the shelf with an injury. They are also managed by a Spaniard. This just underscores the international nature of the Premier League. That list of injured Chelsea players? They are from the Czech Republic, Portugal, Ghana, Germany, England, Cameroon (I think), England, England, and Portugal, respectively. Calling it the English Premier League really should only be done to differentiate it from the Scottish Premier League and other “Premier Leagues”. The Premier League is truly international in its player base. This is true not just of the rich clubs but throughout the league. Anyhow, Liverpool us one of the truly historic football clubs of the world and the Reds have been consistently dominant in recent years.
• Arsenal – Arsenal’s manager is Frenchman Arsene Wenger. Wenger is peculiar in his refusal to make consistent big moves in the transfer markets. Instead, Wenger’s way at Arsenal has been to acquire and develop the best young talent and use them as the basis of the team. This has been remarkably successful if somewhat controversial. While many Gunners fans assuredly would like some veteran talent acquisitions in hopes of reclaiming the glory days of 2003/2004, when Arsenal went undefeated in the Premier League, Arsenal’s youth strategy has allowed them to remain firmly in the Big Four without breaking the bank. It also leads to fun games like Tuesday’s Carling Cup fixture with Wigan. The Carling Cup, being the third priority for teams like Arsenal who are in the Champions League, tends to get short shrift. Top teams typically play watered down sides in the early rounds and rest starters. If they should get knocked out, they are hardly concerned. If they make the late stages, they may decide they’d like some silverware and bring out the big guns. This leads to upsets like Burnley, a Championship team, defeating top of the table Chelsea as they did Wednesday. Arsene Wenger basically pioneered this approach. Each year, he uses the Carling Cup to showcase and give experience to his young players. Tuesday his team featured no players older than 23 year old goal keeper Fabianski and an average age of just over 19. 16 year old Jack Wilshere was among the starting eleven. This is extreme even for Arsenal whose stars include 21 year old Cesc Fabregas and 19 year-old Theo Walcott. None of the players started against Manchester United on the weekend. Wigan, on the other hand, played 10 of the 11 players that took the pitch for them on the weekend. They played their A-team, a team load with experience at around 26 years of age on average. How did Arsenal’s kids do against Wigan’s top squad? They whipped them, 3-0. Young Jack Wilshere threaded the needled to find Jay Simpson for the first goal. Then, Carlos Vela found Simpson for his second. Finally, the 19 year old Mexican international Vela scored on a sublime chip for Arsenal’s third. A BBC commentator opined that this squad, essentially Arsenal’s youth team, could finish as high as 6th if they were a regular Premier League squad. I guess the kids are alright indeed in North London.
• Manchester United – Manchester United is frequently referred to by American sportswriters as the “Yankees of football” but more it is equally apt to say that the Yankees are the “Manchester United of baseball”. Simply put, they are the biggest brand name in European football. They have the mystique, the history, and, importantly, the results. Not content to live on the glowing memories of their glorious treble season—in 1999 (or so) they won the Champions, League, Carling Cup, and Premier League in the same year, which is as good as it gets—Manchester United pulled an impressive double last year. They captured both the Premier League and Champions League. This year, they are lagging slightly behind Chelsea and Liverpool but no one dares count them out of the title race. The best reason why may be Cristiano Ronaldo. The Portuguese superstar is arguably the world’s best player and is certainly in the top handful. When put together with lethal strikers like Dimitar Berbatov and Wayne Rooney, he is the key to an explosive offence that is also backed by a high-quality defence starring Dutch keeper Edwin Van Der Sar and long-time standout England defender Rio Ferdinand.
• Aston Villa – Villa are trying to upset the Big Four hierarchy by sneaking in and stealing a Champions League position, and so far they are doing an excellent job of it. Gareth Barry as already established himself as a key part of Fabio Capello’s England squad and striker Gabriel Agbonlahor gives him a capable target man. Villa are no early season fluke. They look to be in it to win it (it being 4th place).
• Hull City – Hull are exhibit A in “the magic of promotion and relegation”. Just a few years ago Hull was a struggling League Two club. Now, Hull has risen through the ranks and is competing in the Premier League. Not only are they competing, but so far they are also avoiding the relegation yo-yo game that plagues newly promoted clubs. It may be a tall task to ask them to remain in the top half of the table, but with Brazilian midfielder Geovanni is sparkling form, relegation for Hull seems a long shot indeed.
• Everton – The other team from Liverpool. American Tim Howard stars in goal.
• Middlesboro – Managed by Gareth Southgate, who looks to be approximately 25, at most, Middlesboro is proof positive that sides relying mostly on homegrown, English players can survive in a Premiership where Arab sheiks (Manchester City) and Russian billionaires (Chelsea) are constantly buying up foreign stars.
• Portsmouth – Inexplicably known as “Pompey” (I’m sure there’s an explanation, actually. I just don’t know it), Portsmouth is fairly boring, but I like their uniforms (or kit, in British lingo).
• Manchester City – City was recently purchased by Arab billionaires, who have vowed to spare no expense in making City a threat to the Big Four generally and their crosstown rivals, Manchester United, particularly. First purchase: Brazil’s Robinho who is what is technically known as “really freakin’ good” and has made City a dangerous offensive club. Man City’s problem: they concede far too many goals. Possible solution: rumours indicate that City may be preparing to offer Juventus a whopping £50-60m for star goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon in the January transfer window. I have a feeling that Man City will be going toe to toe with the Big Four soon enough. It’s just a matter of how soon their owners can buy up enough talent.
• West Ham – Barack Obama has a standing invitation for tickets at Upton Park, West Ham’s home ground. Why? Obama apparently has been to Upton Park before because his sister’s husband (if I recall correctly) is a Hammers fan. I just can’t believe the leader of the free world would be caught watching a game of the team that I consider to be the 5th best club in London (although the table doesn’t reflect that just yet).
• Stoke – Newly promoted, Stoke has drawn headlines for the way some of their goals have been scored. Rory Delapp’s powerful throw-ins have become true weapons for Stoke. Essentially, every time stoke wins a throw-in near the opposition penalty area, it is functionally equivalent to having won a corner. Since teams are not quite sure how to defend such a tactic, many cheap goals have been scored by this method.
• Blackburn – Yawn. The descriptions are getting (mercifully) shorter as I go. Why? There simply isn’t anything to say about Blackburn. Mediocrity is chronically uninteresting.
• Newcastle – Rumours persist that Newcastle will be sold and that manager Joe Kinnear will be replaced. Kinnear is supposed to stay on as long as the owners remain, but his contract comes up every month. Will he be resigned for another month? Only Newcastle management knows.
• Sunderland – I’m convinced that Sunderland is the coolest name of the Premier League teams. I love it. I’m also convinced that manager Roy Keane has the best beard in the Premier League.
• Fulham – One of two southwest London clubs, Fulham is significantly less successful and less well-bankrolled than Chelsea. However, the Cottagers are perhaps more accessible (read: their tickets are both affordable and possible to acquire) making them the friendly home team that you actually have to root for instead of just watching their inevitable, clinical domination. American Clint Dempsey, is, as previously mentioned, a sometimes starter.
• Wigan – Boring.
• Bolton – I appreciate their full name. Bolton Wanderers. It doesn’t sound intimidating but it does give them a certain…something.
• West Brom – I would put money on them getting relegated if you could get decent odds anywhere. Don’t worry, though. I’m sure they’ll be back for 2010-2011 after a spell in the Championship.
• Tottenham Hotspur – Oh, Tottenham. I have a lot to write about Tottenham but I wish to save most of it for my Fulham v Tottenham blog entry. The bare-bones facts are this. Tottenham was seriously underperforming until Juande Ramos was sacked and Harry Redknapp was hired away from Portsmouth. Suddenly, Spurs players starting justifying their salaries and playing markedly improved football, leaving the world to wonder how much of a jackass Juande Ramos must have been. Given Tottenham’s history, a spot in the relegation zone has to be considered an embarrassment but it appears that it will be quite temporary.
The Stories of the Season…So Far
• Chelsea and Liverpool off to a flying start – Despite injuries, the two clubs have been remarkably consistent and have set a torrid pace atop the league table
• Inconsistent Arsenal – Arsenal has been all over the shop. One week they are looking invincible the next week they fall prey to their inexperience and lose to an inferior team. With each bad loss and each Liverpool and Chelsea win, the Gunners title challenge becomes more of a longshot.
• Can Villa Crack the Top Four? – Aston Villa appears to be capable of mounting a serious challenge for a Champions League birth.
• Surprising Hull – Given little chance to stay up by pundits, Hull has been huge surprise. Can they keep it up?
• Tottenham Turnaround – Spurs have been sensational since bringing on Harry Redknapp. Darren Bent is in incredible form and Spurs are firing on all cylinders. How high can Tottenham rise after handicapping themselves with such a poor start?
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