DISQUS

...otherwise, very actuarial. ;-)

deep-seated vs. deep-seeded
http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/arch...

...England cound indeed "win" if they win comfortably. Are you saying a 4-0 or 5-0 result wouldn't satisy all the critics?

Chelsea's first less-than-overwhelming win was against Wigan (not Hull). My sister is an actual actuary, and she would revoke your license.

Uggh. I wanted this transfer to go through as much as anyone, but - man! - he looks horrible in that red shirt. They should have shot him in the new white kit.

It's great that Man City has been rescued - a week ago it looked like they would be following the path blazed by Leeds United, which must have been devestating to contemplate for City's lifelong loyal supporters. But this amount of cash is just plain scary. Same goes for Chelsea and their owner. If owners have no regard for their clubs ever being profitable, there is no sanity - let's just skip all the formalites and sell the trophies to the highest bidder. Arsenal gets criticized for having the opposite approach - trying to maintain sanity in transfer fees and pay packets - but the entire league could do with more of that kind of thinking.

Rather than player salary caps (which will never happen unilaterally in England), why not mandate that clubs have 5-year profitability plans. Points deducted for excessive deficit spending.

If Tottenham manage to gel and crack the top four, here's hoping it's those decrepit old fogies at Chelsea that find themsleves staring up at their bums from the fifth spot.

I know it's probably all automated, but still... it's unkind of your software to link "related posts" to news on Joey Barton Behind Bars, etc.

I think Paul was being facetious when he claimed to have gotten yesterday's match predictions spot-on (not just the Italy / Holland mix-up - but the day in its entirety).

I was thrilled by the Holland result (I *hate* the Italians - what a bunch of cheats, divers, and thugs), but you have to admit it was a surprise to see them get beaten so thoroughly.

Hopefully the French will be more exciting to watch once they get a few players back in the squad (Henry... Viera...), but they certainly picked the wrong game to lay an egg in. It will only get tougher in that group for them.

This is a mighty swing of the pendulum for Aston Villa, considering they had "32 Red" in 07-08. Online Casinos are (imo) among the seemier shirt sponsors out there.

What else is a fan to do in the off-season, if not dream about big signings for next year? I enjoy it. Besides, it doesn't cost me to read the bits on the internet.

reminds me of this movie

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0082677/

Brilliant move for Capello to announce that all the Man Utd & Chelsea stars (who would normally dominate the top picks for England) would be given the T&T match off due to having played in the Champions League final. In that one swoop, he stroked all those egos ("you would have been on the first team, but you deserve the rest"), silenced all the media speculation about why some players got chosen over others, and gave himself some room to try out a bunch of players he wouldn't have otherwise.

Either "sex sells" or The Gaffer spent too much time researching the "Top 5 Adults Only Football Sites" piece. Being a student of media, he's seen the hits those sites get. Who wouldn't want to mix a little lowbrow in if it meant getting a piece of that pie?

I always here English pundits saying they're in favour of this because it would improve homegrown talent - all those poor English footballers who can't break into the EPL. If so, it won't be for a long time. If those footballers were any good, and they weren't being given opportunities at home, they would ply their trade in other countries (but no English nationals play for top clubs outside of England - none). It's not a matter of opportunity - it's desire. The better footballers are coming from poorer countries - your Brazils, your Argentinas, Portugals, Bosnias. Richer countries (England, USA) will be all-world only when the matches are played on playstation, and the kids playing would most certainly choose foreigners to make up the teams they won with.

A Quota system will have two immediate effects - it will drive up wages for the few top flight Englishmen there already are. The other effect (the one FIFA is seeking) will be for English clubs to do much poorer in Champions League and other European competitions.

...the hope is that the propped-up wage system will lure more young athletes into football. More chances to play for Arsenal and Liverpool and make tons of cash. But when will that show any benefit - 10 years from now? Doubtful.

Meanwhile the great clubs of today will have diminished to has-beens.

...maybe so, but there's a difference between him checking something out on the sly and me telling him "hey - check this out".

I'm surprised World Soccer Daily even ranks that high. The few times I've ever gone, the "news" has been months old - it's clearly more of a cob web log.

Sell!

Any word on how much Ten Cate made in his few short months at Chelsea? I need to send them a resume.

In 0ur house, the biggest item on Andy Gray's CV is his role as match commentator on EA Sports' FIFA playstation games. It will be awesome hearing him announce real live games. I wonder if he'll use all the same stock phrases. If only they could have gotten Martin Tyler or Clive Tyldsley as well.

Totally nutters. I'd like to see England get it, then USA soon after, but this is just crazy. Just because teams traveling by bus in the Euros face a nine hour drive for the farthest distance... you can't automatically say that's where the bar is set. You don't think they're happily accepting the nine hour bus ride, do you?

Gaffer -

What's up with the picture that accompanied this article? After I've visited a site for a while, I decide whether it's okay to recommend to my son (12 years old and a huge futbol fan). Don't make me regret telling him about epltalk - it's not like this pic has anything to do with the article, but it is JUST the subject line that would attract a young fan.

What? A Croatia preview with no mention that they're without their top scorer from qualification?

Also, I got 404 errors when I tried to access the earlier (group A) postings, so look no further when you wonder why there are no comments.

Very informative, though - thanks.

...anyone notice (if you watched) on Fox Soccer Report on Sunday, they teased at the start of the show: a preview for "Australia/Switzerland". ??!? And amazingly no correction from co-host or anyone else. THAT would be a tough geographic co-host setup.

Avram Grant was very successful at Chelsea. They were tied on points with ManUtd when he took over (iirc) and would have ended tied at the end of the season but for the late Bolton goal that came after it was clear United had clinched. He was 5 points behind Arsenal (and they had a GIH) and he ended 2 points in front of them.

...the problem was not results. Trophies would have saved his job, but without them, Chelsea need to decide who has the charisma to retain their star players and draw new ones to play for the club. Avram Grant simply is not that man. He does not inspire that kind of excitement.

I think it's a harsh result for him, but understandable for the club. The real question is why he was put in charge in the first place.

Clever idea on the ITV ad to take the love affair/loss of the England team head-on, but it takes too long to develop and there's no actual ad for the Euros. The idea that you can root for another team is gotten across quickly in the BBC ad - then it's all 'on topic' : teams, players (smartly focusing on your favorite EPL stars), why someone in the UK might choose one side over another... The BBC ad is much better.