Strawman posted:

Yeah if they get the bookie thing started I will bet on 6-0 to Spurs. Liverpool have lost Suarez and we have Dier and players like Chadli and Lamela who are like having amazing new signings this year. If Spurs go three up it would be awesome for the Yid Army to sing something like, 'the biter left now you suck, the biter left now you suck'

Strawman posted:

Yeah if they get the bookie thing started I will bet on 6-0 to Spurs. Liverpool have lost Suarez and we have Dier and players like Chadli and Lamela who are like having amazing new signings this year. If Spurs go three up it would be awesome for the Yid Army to sing something like, 'the biter left now you suck, the biter left now you suck'

quote:

Stu in Essex: As a United fan here's my thoughts on the defence. We've gone from Rio to Rojo, it's making me go Blind with worry, I'm trying to Blackett out. But I'm not Shaw I Evra can. We need someone to Phil the gaps, but hopefully every cloud has Da Silva lining, Evans knows how we'll cope, but hoping our worries are not getting larger but are now Small-ing.

not not luvd posted:

guaranteed to find some good arse meltdowns today

jre posted:

potentially https://vine.co/v/OBUptl9Jq9Y

irlZaphod posted:

Wenger is a loving fool dosent pay 8.5mill 4 Remy and im seeing all this 18mill for gently caress welbeck im done with dis team im a chelsea fan now

jre posted:

potentially https://vine.co/v/OBUptl9Jq9Y

quote:

Dear Mario,
In this crazy world we live in, someone you've never heard of or will probably never meet, feels, as a Liverpool fan, that its ok to write to you on an internet page to say welcome. But here I am, and there you are, somewhere, preparing for the Spurs game today.

But I'm writing this with real meaning when I say welcome, because you are now at a club that is different, and a club where the fans genuinely care about their team. Now I'm quite sure every fan of any team would say that, but at Liverpool, you're not just a player, you a Liverpool player and that means you're part of our family. You are now one of us, and you are now family (you're welcome round for tea anytime mate).

Welcome to a bond with a set of fans that will not just sing your name, but look out for you, welcome to a ground where the feeling is different, a sense of history, family and warmth, of times shared and where the outside world and press are invited in but never truly part of it, welcome to a place, a sense of place, a culture that sets us apart from the rest of them.

Ewar Woowar posted:

The Mash posted:

Lol I just went on his twitter to check how he'd logic himself out of that one and his argument was that the January window was in the same "year" (calendar) as one summer window and in the same "year" (football season) as another one, and as a result, no matter which January window Fowler would lump in with the 2014 July window, Barton would claim it was in a different "year"

quote:

For fellow Arsenal fans, I give you the chant to soon to be heard echoing round the Emirates once Welbeck starts knocking in the goals.

To the tune of Tubthumping:

'Oh, Danny boy, Danny boy, Danny boyyyyyy.
'We've got Welbeck, he's gonna score again,
You're never gonna keep him down,
We've got Welbeck, he's gonna score again,
He's always gonna turn Spurs down.'

You're welcome,

MrL_JaKiri posted:

Oh Danny Boy, the pipes, the pipes are calling

Russ posted:

a more appropriate song for a sky sports reporter would be Oh Fanny Toy in this posters opinion

Olewithmilk posted:

I play football with this person sometimes and he unfailingly comes in full Arsenal kit so I was surprised to see this today

quote:

Last year, in these pages, the author introduced a metric called Style Points designed to estimate roughly, on a scale of 0 to 10, the aesthetic appeal of each club currently playing in Europe’s five major leagues — a figure which, when combined with a prospective opponent’s Style Point rating, also yielded a match rating capable of serving as a sort of barometer for the capacity of any game to facilitate capital-P Pleasure.

The purpose of this post is to announce for the benefit of this site’s ones, or maybe even tens, of readers that I’ll be producing these Style Point club and match ratings regularly during this year’s football season. What else it’s to announce is that I’ve altered slightly the calculation of Style Points.

Regarding that latter announcement: the two inputs for the original version of Style Points were average short passes per match (per Who Scored) and also estimated roster value (per Transfer Markt). The first number serves as an able proxy, it seems, for aesthetically appealing play. The second one I utilized as a proxy for a club’s fiscal resources — the rationale being that, between two clubs with similarly appealing play, the one which has cost less is more virtuous.

For the most recent iteration of Style Points, I’ve retained the first two variables and added a third — in this case, average shots in the box per match (also available at Who Scored). Shots in the box correlate rather directly with goals and, for those clubs that are able to record more rather than fewer of them, it’s an indication that the short passes they’re compiling are completed in the service of shots with higher expected goal-scoring value.

To calculate Style Points, what I’ve done — after compiling data for shots in the box per match, short passes per match, and estimated market value for every club — what I’ve then done is to calculate the z-score (that is, standard deviations from the mean) of those three variables for each club relative to that club’s respective league, multiplying the last figure by -1 to denote how greater club value is actually a detriment. Following that, I’ve multiplied all three restuls by 0.5. I’ve then added the z-scores together, multiplied the result by five, and then added five — in order to distribute all the resulting figures over an approximate scale of 0 to 10 for each league.

The complete results for the very young season are available via spreadsheet.

Below are the top-10 clubs by Style Points. (Note: BOXz denotes the z-score for shots in the box per game; SHORTz, the z-score for short passes per game; and CASHz, the z-score for estimate market value.)



And the bottom 10:



Some notes of varying import:

At this point, because no European league has played as many even as five games, it’s very possible that what one finds here is influenced quite heavily by a certain favorable (or perhaps unfavorable) single matchup.
That said, Celta Vigo oughtn’t be entirely dismissed for having produced more shots in the box relative to their league (10.5 per game) than every club in Europe’s five major leagues so far but Marseille. To get a sense both of (a) the degree to which taking shots in the box relates to goal-scoring and also (b) how quickly it actually might become reliable, note the clubs ranked third through fifth already by this measure: Roma, Juventus, Barcelona.
Empoli exhibited a distinct (and somewhat effective, in terms of shots taken) commitment to a ball control game in their season debut — this, despite carrying a roster worth approximately one-tenth of Juventus‘s and rated 19th out of 20 in the Serie A by that measure

trem_two posted:

There you have it - Fiorentina and Atletico Madrid are officially more boring than Chievo

quote:

They are "chock full" of players who would be on an MLS bench. Phil Jones? Their center back pairing is less than ours. I'd take Besler over any of there center backs. Steven Gerrard couldn't play at Mike Bradley's level ever. Landon would be a starter for England. Landon didn't make the US team. p Joe Hart and Timmy are a toss up. Fabian Johnson is the best outside back on both teams. The list goes on. England really needs a player like Jermaine Jones. We have 5 midfielders equal to Jack Willshire. The US is a better team, and hence the results.

After a while, results matter. England does nothing.... ever. We got out of our group. England did not. They tied Costa (f'ing) Rica. Telling really; Costa Rica and England are equivalent teams. I am so tired of hearing that we are more athletic, or that we try harder, or that our coach is better. Right now, the US plays better soccer than England.

The EPL colors people's view. The EPL is a great league with many great players. Outside Rooney, and Joe Hart, the 3 Lions are not part of that group of great players.

quote:

Nobody thinks the US is some dominant team, that is on the verge of winning the WC. We are a team, on par or slightly better than Costa Rica for instance. Probably in the range of FIFA ranking 10 to 20. The US is pretty good; but not one of the elite teams. Just like England. And also, guys like Phil Jones would not be on the US roster. I know he plays at MANU, but he sucks. He would not get off the bench at most MLS squads. I am a big Arsenal fan, but Jack W. would not be an impact player for the US. Kyle Beckerman is better at what that type of player does. Yet there Jack is, playing for England. I think Super Jack makes the squad for the US, but doesn't make the field. Clint Dempsey is a better attacking player than any English option. So the line up is for a combined England/US team is mixed, and a combined US / England lineup would still get crushed by Germany or similar teams. England and the US are not as good as the great teams.

One of the differences between the US and England is the US is getting better. All the time. They have surpassed England, who is not improving. And who's fans post stuff like "that was a really good Costa Rica side". Of the the three teams I'd rank them (based on actual results):

1. US
2. Costa Rica
3. England.

With not much space between any of the standings. They are actually 3 teams that have similar talent and results. It seems like that idea is very difficult for 3 Lions fans to acknowledge. They feel like they should be ranked up with Germany and Belgium. But they are world's behind those teams. Those teams are great, but the US, Costa Rica, and England are not in that galaxy.

Ewar Woowar posted:

ephex posted:

I agree with 88%.