“It’s been a busy few days in the English Premier League, with every side — except for Liverpool and Swansea City, who face off later today — playing two matches since Christmas. Here’s a roundup of everything good, bad, and Ashley Young about the three-day weekend that was.” Grantland (Video)
“By now, Santa has already returned to the darkest depths of Lapland, so it’s a bit late for last-minute requests, but there are a few stocking fillers that would have been very much appreciated in the world of football. Chelsea – at the top of the table – appear to need nothing more than they have already. A couple of alarm clocks wouldn’t go amiss though in Manchester, in time for next season, because both City and United woke up late this season. City at least hold some chance of catching up. United, who probably have more than enough in their cabinet already, will just have to run down the clock, comfortably in the Champions League positions, and wait for next time around.” Football Pink
Brad Jones
“I am drenched and broadly speaking lost, trying to get back from Manchester after having discussed Liverpool’s 3-0 defeat to Manchester United live to a nation who would prefer it if I didn’t swear or blaspheme. Bar one shout of ‘God in heaven’ (I became my dad when I was five) I did alright considering it could be the most frustrating football match I have ever seen. BBC Sport in Manchester is what the future looks like. You could set a phenomenal sci-fi there. Everyone was very nice, you’ll be pleased to learn.” TAW
There are pros to keeping Rodgers, but there are also a boatload of cons
“When in doubt, turn to science, and right now, my beloved Liverpool’s full of doubt. But since we’re not real scientists and the more numbers you bring to soccer, the more odious it becomes, the simple elegance of a pros-cons list is our best tool for figuring out Brendan Rodgers’ future. Unless you slept through the weekend, you know Young Brendan’s future is the subject of much doubt. Lose 3-0 to United, face the music. In this case, that will mean a week’s worth of hot takes on how hot his seat has become …” Soccer Gods
A Season of Failed Balance: Why Liverpool Can’t Have It All
“It took Manchester United all of 12 minutes to score against Liverpool. Goals change games no matter what, obviously, but conceding an early goal on Sunday was a particularly difficult pill for Liverpool to swallow. The Reds were desperately trying to reach some sort of equilibrium after being knocked out of the Champions League, and a match against their biggest rival would’ve been a good place to start.” Grantland (Video)
Tactical Analysis: Manchester United 3-0 Liverpool | Rodgers’ approach allows Van Gaal to use his wing-backs
“There were times where this fixtures involved two of the most in form teams in England, and there were occasions where the gulf in class was evident. But the first Manchester United-Liverpool clash of 2014/15, had a slightly altered flavour to it. Two sides fallen from their respective perches, some longer than others, looking to recover before the stagnation persists. Despite the score-line, neither side truly impressed but even if there’s a lack of performance, United showed they haven’t forgotten how to win football matches.” Outside of the Boot
Liverpool – from ruthless to toothless in nine months
“When Liverpool’s team coach pulled out of Old Trafford last March, it was fuelled by the growing belief that years of domination by Manchester United were finally coming to an end. Liverpool’s 3-0 win, built on the thrilling attacking strategy of manager Brendan Rodgers, hugely flattered a United side in disarray under David Moyes and cast adrift of their resurgent rivals by 14 points.” BBC
“Champions League holders and arguably Europe’s most in-form team Real Madrid were drawn against German side Schalke 04 in the last 16 of Europe’s most prestigious competition. Real, which defeated city rival Atletico Madrid 4-1 in Lisbon last year to win ‘La Decima’ — it’s 10th title — is attempting to become the first team to successfully defend the Champions League. Two of England’s three clubs face tough ties, with Chelsea drawn against Paris Saint-Germain and Manchester City paired with Spanish giants Barcelona.” CNN
Rematches, Wenger reunion headline Champions League knockout draw
“After a group stage in which the main lesson was that Real Madrid and Bayern Munich are still the teams to beat in this competition, the draw for the round of 16 took place Monday. The odds on the two favorites will have shortened considerably after decent draws, and two big guns will fall by the wayside after Paris Saint-Germain was drawn against Chelsea and Manchester City against Barcelona in a pair of repeat matchups from last season. There was also a moment of sentimentality in the draw, as Arsenal was drawn against AS Monaco, where coach Gunners coach Arsene Wenger was manager from 1987-1994. Here’s a breakdown of Monday’s draw…” SI
“For Chelsea, there was a wry sideline smile in defeat. For Manchester City there were sideline tears in victory. After Chelsea lost 2-1 at Newcastle at lunchtime, City listlessly seized its chance with a dreary 1-0 home victory over Everton in Saturday’s evening game. Chelsea’s lead is now just three points. But as José Mourinho told BT Sports after his game ended: ‘We have to ask the other 19 teams in the Premier League if anyone wants to be in our position and I think they would all like to be. But leader there is only one and that is Chelsea.’” SI
“Look at you, Manchester United, just casually sitting there in fourth place, as if that horrendous start to your season weren’t even a thing. After dismembering Hull City, 3-0, this weekend, United are now the proud owners of a three-game winning streak for the first time in 11 months. The easy victory comes after one-goal victories at Arsenal and at home against Crystal Palace. So, is United nearing the end of an 18-month-long post–Alex Ferguson tunnel, or is that light just another misleading string of results, like last December, when a David Moyes–led squad beat West Ham, Norwich City, and Hull City in the space of a week?” Grantland
“Football is unquestionably Britain’s major sport, and its staggering dominance has only increased over the past couple of decades. These days it’s unusual to flick through your Monday newspaper, find the sport section, and be confronted with anything other than football on the front page, but that’s what happened this week after Lewis Hamilton won the Formula 1 championship. This year’s F1 campaign was peculiarly analogous to the Premier League in 2014-15 in the sense that it was utterly dominated by a single team.” ESPN – Michael Cox
“Player confidence is in the news again today. This time, the man with the sickness is Manchester United’s Robin van Persie. Something happens when more than 10 people make a similar observation about a player’s mental state. Once that player confidence card is dealt more than nine times, all you will hear about is that player’s confidence until said player plays out of his or her mind.” Soccer Gods
“How to fix a broken team? With the Premier League keeping things weird for another weekend, that’s the question lingering above many clubs. As it stands, Manchester United and Newcastle are tied for fourth place on 19 points, narrow leaders in a seven-team pack all within a measly two points of the ultra-valuable final Champions League spot. And that doesn’t even include Liverpool, who sit in 12th, just barely eclipsing a one-point-per-game pace.” Grantland
“The rivalry between the 2 sides is not the same as it was in the mid-noughties when flying food and tunnel skirmishes dominated the back pages long after the battle took place on the pitch. The rivalry may have toned down since but coming on the back of the international break, both sides were looking for a much needed win to move up the table. Injuries have had a big part to play in both sides’ campaigns and defensive frailties for the teams meant fans and neutrals alike were expecting a game high on entertainment if not quality.” Outside of the Boot
“Where would Spurs be without those red cards? Three times Mauricio Pochettino’s side has played away from home and seen opponents reduced to ten men; three times the visitors have scored late goals to win the game. It happened on the opening day against West Ham: Eric Dier’s match-winner after James Collins had been dismissed (this was after Kyle Naughton’s red card too). In the last two away games, Spurs were 1-0 down and struggling at Aston Villa and Hull City before red cards, to Christian Benteke and Gaston Ramirez respectively, allowed them to turn it round and win 2-1.” Pitchside Europe
“It’s the derby which has everything – two sides with a simmering rivalry, rich histories and, in recent years, a similar appetite for trophies. When Manchester City and Manchester United meet on the football pitch, there’s generally plenty of goals, drama and even the odd ‘Why always me’ T-shirt. The two teams clash at Etihad Stadium on Sunday, and BBC Sport has compiled an A-Z of one of English football’s biggest games.” BBC
“On Sunday, a little before four o’clock, José Mourinho will leave the tunnel at Old Trafford and walk along the front of the South Stand. He will see ahead of him the touchline along which he sprinted and slid in 2004 after his Porto side had beaten Manchester United in the Champions League with a late goal. And before the halfway line he will turn right, and take his place in the away dug-out. Given he is not a man who seems particularly to regret, he may not even cast a glance to the bench 15 yards in front of him and wonder what might have been but there is another reality, not that far removed from this one, in which he would have been sitting in the home dug-out.” Guardian – Jonathan Wilson
“What’s more strange: that the lead photo for this piece is of a “semi-robotic” mascot named Hammerhead basking in bubbles at West Ham’s Upton Park? Or that if the season ended today, West Ham would be in the Champions League? Usually the top of the Premier League table is pretty predictable. You have the usual mega-club suspects (you know who), a couple of perennial almost-theres (Spurs, Everton), and a surprise who starts strong and fades away down the stretch. That hasn’t been the case this season.” Grantland
“A lot of the big games in the Premier League are built up with their own little sub plots and storylines, and this one was no different, with Mourinho and van Gaal hogging the limelight in the build up to the game. The student, and his teacher, waxed lyrical about each other as we got close to kick off, but all the love was left behind in the press rooms as the two rivals took to the field for an intensely competitive encounter.” Outside of the Boot
“Manchester United have broken their record transfer fee twice in 2014, with vastly different levels of success. Juan Mata has rarely sparkled since his 37.1 million-pound move from Chelsea in January, but Angel Di Maria has been in impressive form, having been signed for 59.7 million pounds in the summer. Jose Mourinho, who visits Old Trafford with Chelsea this weekend, might have predicted how things would go. Mourinho, of course, has coached both, and his perception of the duo tallies closely with their Manchester United performances. He struggled to appreciate Mata in their half-season together at Chelsea, believing the Spaniard was incompatible with his favoured system, and was happy to sell him to United.” ESPN – Michael Cox
“You will doubtless be familiar with the game ‘Six Degrees Of Kevin Bacon’. The central premise runs thus: so formidable is Bacon’s influence on the last generation of American cinema that virtually any Hollywood actor, living or dead, can somehow be linked to Bacon in no more than six steps. If you were to play a similar game in the world of football, there are a number of names you could start with. You could look at Johan Cruyff or Rinus Michels, architects of the Dutch school in the 1970s.” Telegraph
“Both sides have injury issues. Jose Mourinho has continued to maintain that Diego Costa will miss out with his mysterious hamstrings/groins and a bug, while Loic Remy is a major doubt after limping out of Tuesday’s 6-0 Champions League win over Maribor clutching his groin. That could mean Didier Drogba starting as the one forward – a concern, given how off the pace he looked against Schalke 04 in the Champions League, the only other game he has started this season – or Chelsea could perhaps go with a false nine. They did that last season in the stultifying 0-0 at Old Trafford last season, but Andre Schurrle, who occupied the role then, is a doubt with illness. Chelsea are also without Ramires and Mikel John Obi.” Bet – Jonathan Wilson
“Manchester United have broken their record transfer fee twice in 2014, with vastly different levels of success. Juan Mata has rarely sparkled since his 37.1 million-pound move from Chelsea in January, but Angel Di Maria has been in impressive form, having been signed for 59.7 million pounds in the summer. Jose Mourinho, who visits Old Trafford with Chelsea this weekend, might have predicted how things would go.” ESPN – Michael Cox
“The Premier League might be only seven games old, but a common theme amongst some of the top teams is the lack of goals from upfront – only Chelsea, and Diego Costa, can be entirely satisfied with their goal return so far. Here are 5 misfiring Premier League strikers, and how they might turn their season around…” FreeBets
“When Daniel Passarella was Falcao’s coach during his time at River Plate he famously said: ‘He’s like Van Basten, he scores goals, he attacks on all sides and he heads like a god.’ While this was definitely lavish praise from the former World Cup winner, I’m sure he probably wouldn’t have imagined just how good a career his charge would go on to have. And against Everton, a game in which he opened his scoring account for his new club, he showed that his former manager was pretty spot on in his assessment.” Licence to Roam
“The international weekend gives everyone a chance to look back and take stock of the Premier League season so far. Tactics writers are no different, and there have been a number of notable features since the middle of August to consider. Manchester City, Arsenal and Chelsea have all provided us with something to consider since the English domestic campaign began. Let’s take a look at five tactical features that have caught the eye in the 2014-15 season.” Bleacher Report – Jonathan Wilson
“Once upon a time, an international break was extremely useful for almost every Premier League manager. In the days before foreign imports dominated England’s top division, relatively few players were selected by their country — put simply, the majority of players in the division were English, but only around 25 were called up to the England side. Therefore, the majority of the squad would continue to train at the club — although they might, however, use the absence of upcoming matches to spend the afternoons at the pub.” ESPN – Michael Cox
“The Sir Bobby Charlton suite is the most luxurious room in the hotel currently occupied by England at St George’s Park albeit hardly the Ritz. The Gary Lineker pitch (No 11) is, contrary to expectation, more than two six-yard boxes. Yet nowhere at England’s training base is there any room or pitch named in tribute to Jimmy Greaves, the distinguished international lying third behind Lineker and Charlton as his country’s all-time goalscorer. Greaves’s photograph does hang alongside those of Lineker and Charlton on the walls of the corridors that Wayne Rooney will walk along on this morning, heading off out to Pitch 6, the main England practice area. Rooney will soon pass the fabled trio in the record books as well as the corridor, starting with Greaves possibly this week. His elevation will stir sadness as well as admiration. Rooney can equal the maths but not the history.” Telegraph . Henry Winter
“Another week, another dominant performance by Chelsea. This time it was Arsenal that José Mourinho’s squad dispatched without particularly breaking a sweat. And what’s so incredible for Chelsea, and so disturbing for the rest of the league, is that Arsenal didn’t play badly at all in the 2-0 loss. Chelsea still rolled them with ease.” Grantland
“The fixture list has been contrasting for the two teams as they’ve both endured disappointing starts to the campaign. On paper, United had a relatively easy start to the season but in reality it has been far from smooth sailing as they’ve tried to find their feet under Van Gaal. For Everton, playing Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool and United all in the first 7 games isn’t what Martinez would have wanted and their low points tally heading into the game represents just that. As it stood both sides would have fancied their chances of obtaining a result ahead of the International break.” Outside of the Boot
“Captain Wayne Rooney was sent off after scoring but 10-man Manchester United clung on to beat West Ham 2-1 in the Premier League on Saturday. It was just United’s second victory in seven matches under Louis van Gaal, coming a week after a humbling loss at newly-promoted Leicester. It had started well for Rooney when he put United in front after five minutes with a deft volley. Robin van Persie doubled the lead in the 22nd minute with his 50th goal for United, but West Ham pulled one back before halftime through Diafra Sakho’s header. The attacking trio of Rooney, Van Persie and Radamel Falcao combined well up front, until Rooney was sent off in the 59th minute for kicking out at Stewart Downing. At the back, United looked vulnerable once again, although injuries meant Van Gaal had to give 19-year-old center back Paddy McNair a debut. Of more concern to Van Gaal will be Rooney’s absence, which will last three matches if the dismissal is deemed to be violent conduct by the English Football Association.” SI (Video)
Premier League talking points: Wayne Rooney & a two-horse race
“Wayne Rooney’s red card for Manchester United will claim the headlines from an eventful Saturday in the Premier League. The United and England captain must now serve a three-game ban – but the good news for manager Louis van Gaal is that his 10 men held on for a crucial win against West Ham United to ease some of the wounds from the 5-3 collapse to Leicester City. This was among a number of key talking points from Saturday’s games. Here, we look at Rooney’s conduct and some of the day’s other significant incidents.” BBC
“Only one match in the Premier League this weekend ended the way most people expected. Amusingly, that was the biggest match of all: Chelsea’s cagey draw with Manchester City. Mind you, the path to that draw was about as dramatic as it gets, with a down-to-10-men City getting a late goal from, who else, former Chelsea icon Frank Lampard.” Grantland
“In the wake of yet another pasting by legitimate opposition, it seems that some Arsenal supporters feel that Arsene Wenger’s time at the club needs to come to an end, or that it needs to come under massive amounts of scrutiny at the very least. While I can affirm that I have firmly placed myself in that camp, it still must be realized what that could potentially mean for the club moving forward; it may not be all apple pie and dandelions like so many are expecting.” Outside of the Boot
“What a weekend. Manchester United won, 4-0! Alan Pardew personally ensured that Newcastle lost, 4-0! Arsenal’s beautiful attack scored two goals! Arsenal’s woeful defending gifted Manchester City two goals! Liverpool lost! So many unexpected things happening all at once. Let’s wade through the weekend’s results using a little game I like to call ‘Credit or Blame.’” Grantland
“Johan Cruyff has come home to Amsterdam and, on a cloudy day in the old city where he was born, grew up and made his professional debut for Ajax 50 years ago this November, he moves with good-humoured elegance through the crowds calling out his name and trying to touch him. At the Olympic Stadium, walking around an arena which has been taken over for the day by his Foundation, this is an exercise in the familiar art of being Johan Cruyff. The 67-year-old reacts to the adoration, and even being cuddled by a grown man dressed up as a ‘Cruyffie’ mascot, with a wry smile. This is how it feels to have been a football icon for five decades.” Guardian
“A decade on from Euro 2004 and England’s teenage messiah in Portgual has become a fully-fledged pariah. Wayne Rooney was an exciting blur of brutal, brilliant potential 10 years ago. Today he is cast as some tragic disappointment. But what if the problem is that perception rather than his performances? Rooney became one of Europe’s most interesting and modern forwards during the mid-to-late 00′s. Though he arrived from Everton as an already versatile and prodigious young striker, the needs of his new team led to him to progress into being an even more complete and multi-functional player.” Squawka
“As the transfer window closed in early September it was possible to draw the first conclusions about what could be expected for the season based on TPI (Transfer Price Index ©). All figures below are based on current values, so the the latest inflation figures have been applied (using the inflation index of all transfers in the relevant season). Amidst all of the hype in the Sky Sports studio, it was clear from an early stage that all records were about to be broken. Man City were hamstrung by FFP regulations and so were unlikely to spend significantly in an attempt to defend their title, but below them Chelsea and Liverpool had sold expensively (David Luis and Luis Suárez respectively) and so had funds to spare, whereas Arsenal wanted to cement their position in the top four, with Man United expected to spend heavily to regain after they missed out on European football for the first time since football began – as Sky Sports would have you believe. All this came with the first influx of money from the new increased television deal.”
Tomkins Times
“On December 3, 2005, Harry Redknapp resigned as manager of Southampton Football Club. Five days later, he turned up some ten miles away in the city of Portsmouth, where he announced that he had become the new manager of Portsmouth Football Club. Redknapp has a reputation for courting controversy, to put it lightly, and in that sense, this move was about right. Portsmouth and Southampton are the South Coast’s two biggest clubs (historically anyway; Portsmouth is now in League Two, England’s fourth division), and they share a fierce, local rivalry. Fans weren’t thrilled by the move, but it turned out to be far more controversial than a matter of rivalries.” VICE
“When Radamel Falcao was a child, he would watch his father toiling for a series of sides of ever-decreasing quality and it upset him. “I watched my dad play in defence and it disappointed me,” he said. “I wanted him to go up and score a goal.” Radamel García once scored a famous goal against Millonarios in Bogotá, but he was more generally known for two things: his aggression and his religious devotion. “For every foul, another prayer,” as the joke had it at the time. But his son didn’t share the joke. His son wondered why anybody would ever settle for playing at the back.” Guardian – Jonathan Wilson
“Top-level footballers often tend to generate a very specific kind of emotion. In happier times this is a simple sense of joy at seeing them capering about in pursuit of a ball. Dwight Yorke for example – even in the later years when you half expected to look down and notice he was out there running around in a leotard and a pair of plimsolls – always managed to make the basic act of playing football seem unavoidably hilarious. Similarly, the sight of David Beckham scurrying about in an England shirt like a doomed, faithful cartoon horse tended to inspire above all a desire to burst into brave, hot husky tears of moon-faced joy.” Guardian
“It was another record-breaking transfer window in terms of money spent, but sometimes the most intelligent transfers cost extremely little and clubs that take a chance on overlooked players are frequently rewarded with fine performances. Here, then, are five of the bargains of this transfer window…” ESPN – Michael Cox
“It was a weekend that will be known throughout the ages as ‘Black Match Day 3.’ That’s provided we define ‘the ages’ as ‘the next two weeks,’ as the world suffers through the most pointless FIFA international break of the Word Cup cycle. A month from now, nobody will remember the points dropped by a bevy of teams this weekend. But for the next two weeks, it’s going to feel like the end is nigh. This is not the end, though. It’s just the suspended animation of a two-week international break. And even for those teams in the darkest of places, there are reasons for optimism. Here are reasons for all the teams that dropped points this week to feel good about themselves.” Grantland
“The question, often, is not the what or the how but the why. On Sunday, after Manchester United had staggered to a 1-1 draw against Sunderland and Queens Park Rangers had been hammered 4-0 by Tottenham, there was much carping about 3-5-2, the formation United had used in taking one point from their first two Premier League games of the season, and QPR in losing both their opening matches.” Guardian – Jonathan Wilson
“Louis van Gaal has begun his time in charge of Manchester United by playing a 3-4-1-2 formation, an alignment with which he enjoyed success as Netherlands manager at the World Cup. ‘Success’ must be qualified, of course — the Netherlands came third. However, it was a dramatically better performance than was expected, as many tipped them to finish behind Chile and Spain in the group stage. In the end, only a defeat to Argentina on penalties denied them a second consecutive appearance in the final.” ESPN – Michael Cox
“In the lull between the World Cup and the new Premier League season, Manchester United were linked with moves for centre-backs Mats Hummels and Mehdi Benatia. On Wednesday evening, however, the former champions secured the signature of Marcos Rojo from Sporting Club, but some may feel he was not quite the household name supporters were pining for.” Pitchside Europe
“One weekend of Premier League action is in the books. The most important word in that sentence is ‘one.’ It’s easy to get so amped up for the first week that even the smallest hiccups can loom large in the fan’s imagination. It can be difficult to tell the difference between an insignificant blip and the beginning of a long-term problem. To help, here’s a handy Week 1 alarm-o-meter, to help keep things in proper perspective.” Grantland (Video)
“As Gylfi Sigurdsson stroked in what turned out to be the winner, the commentator called it a ‘Smash and Grab’ which was an enormous exaggeration. Yes, Man Utd might have outshot the Swans by 14-5 but in terms of decent chances there were only 3 and all of them ended up as goals.” We Are Premier League
“It risked being lost in all the debris of an opening-day defeat for Louis van Gaal, and amid the understandable calls for urgent reinforcements, but Manchester United’s new manager kept returning to a vital theme, namely the need for players to be ‘not only running, but also to use your brain’. Welcome to England, where physics is still one of the main sciences. Van Gaal spoke after this deserved 2-1 loss to Swansea City about players making poor choices in their decision-making, especially in the first half. He also wrote in the programme about ‘I always train in the brains and not in the legs,’ adding, most pertinently, about an issue he had noted in training that ‘a lot of players are playing intuitively but they have to think’.” Telegraph – Henry Winter
Louis van Gaal endures Manchester United debut to forget
“It is a new season with a new manager but for Manchester United fans the 2014-15 campaign began in all-too familiar fashion – a depressing home defeat. ‘Things can only get better’ and ‘King Louis is here – United are back’ was the message on some of the many scarves and T-shirts on sale outside Old Trafford on Saturday showing United’s new boss Louis van Gaal’s face as their main design feature. Sadly for the United supporters who saw their side suffer seven home league defeats last season, Swansea would prove those statements to be mostly inaccurate, for now at least.” BBC
Van Gaal needs reinforcements
“Over to you, Ed Woodward. Time is slipping away; there are 16 days left of the transfer window. Manchester United’s opening defeat to Swansea City offered almost indelible proof that the club no longer has the personnel to compete to win the Premier League. Louis van Gaal had warned that these things will take time. David Moyes, watching in a Doha TV studio, ought to have allowed himself some schadenfreude towards the executive vice-chairman who sacked him in April. Indeed, the former Old Trafford boss urged time for his successor.” ESPN
“The most popular soccer league in the world began its season on Saturday, and along with the excitement and exhilaration about the games themselves — not to mention the sheer wonderment over the eye-crossing suit that the golfer Rory McIlroy chose to wear while parading his British Open trophy around Old Trafford in Manchester — there was a fair bit of hand-wringing from many longtime observers of England’s Premier League.” NY Times
“Real, competitive European soccer kicks off this weekend. And while Spidermayang and Germany’s Bundesliga, La Liga, and Serie A may still be a bit off, the Premier League starts on Saturday. We can stop pretending that things like the International Champions Cup, the Emirates Cup, or even the David Moyes Memorial Community Shield matter. So, let’s get to the preview, shall we? While we were all distracted by the World Cup this summer, the makeup of some of the top teams in England’s top division has shifted, in some cases drastically. Here’s a look at what’s changed in the upper tier of the league. I’ve ranked the sides by how I think they’ll finish.” Grantland
English Premier League 2014-2015 Season Preview
“The 2014-2015 English Premier League season kicks off this weekend, with Manchester City beginning its title defense, Manchester United beginning life under Louis van Gaal, Liverpool beginning life after Luis Suarez and a host of other challengers vying for the trophy. Can Jose Mourinho lead a new-look Chelsea back to the promised land? Has Arsenal strengthened its squad enough to make a run at the title? Is Roberto Martinez’s Everton top-four quality after falling just short last season? How will U.S. national team standouts Jozy Altidore, Tim Howard, Brad Guzan and Geoff Cameron fare during another year overseas? These questions and more will be answered over the next nine months. In the meantime, read our experts’ 20 in-depth team-by-team previews here, detailing everything from player movement, offseason storylines, players to watch, stadium info and much more…” SI
“Our divisional previews of a year ago were so well received that we decided to go one better and offer a full set for 2014-5 even if bloggers enjoy the luxury of not being obliged to cover irrelevances such as the Community Shield. TTU staffer Ben Woolhead has a little extra time on his hands now after the masterful Newcastle United blog Black & White & Read All Over finally closed its doors after a decade. Here, Ben gives a club-by-club lowdown on the top echelon of English football.” thetwounfortunates
“Ahead of the start of the Premier League this weekend former Manchester United and Liverpool striker, Michael Owen, gives his predictions for how he thinks the table will look at the end of the season and analyses where he thinks the strengths and weaknesses of each squad lie. Writing on his blog on Sportlobster, Owen says it’ll be a victorious Chelsea lifting the silverware come May and that former clubs, Manchester United and Liverpool, are likely to finish third and fourth respectively. Here’s how Owen’s full top ten looks…” Independent
“In 1997, Louis van Gaal arrived at Barcelona. He had initially been approached to be youth coordinator but with Bobby Robson’s side struggling in the league – despite winning both the Copa del Rey and the Cup Winners’ Cup – he was asked to take over as manager, with Robson taking on an ambassadorial role, becoming, as he put it ‘the world’s highest-paid scout’. On Robson’s recommendation, Van Gaal took on José Mourinho, who had become far more than a translator, to be his ‘third assistant’. In his midfield, he had Pep Guardiola and Luís Enrique.” Guardian – Jonathan Wilson
“Before the World Cup I wrote a quick post on Shot Segmentation with the aim to classify the 10,000 or so shots taken during the 2013/14 season into a smaller number of groups to try and quantify the ‘quality’ of opportunities each side has (and concedes). The full background is here, but basically is a case of using a mix of Opta’s big chance metric to get beyond just using location data, combined with location and shot type (e.g., was the attempt a header). It’s not as good as having the full video of every shot but is an improvement on just knowing shot volume.” We Are Premier League
“Manchester City come into the new season on the back of a second Premier League victory in three years. The title was won in dramatic fashion and spirits are high at the club and there is a determination not to give up the crown in as feeble a fashion as in the 2012/13 season. City developed a fluid, inventive, and aggressive style of football last season which was both easy on the eye and incredibly destructive. The sheer number of goals scored on the way to the title, particularly in the few months around Christmas, speaks for itself.” backpagefootball, Season Preview 14/15: MANCHESTER UNITED
“As the summer of Louis van Gaal turns into the season of Louis van Gaal, the Dutch manager seems set to put a tactical stamp on the Premier League, bringing the three–center back system he used at the World Cup to Manchester United. And it’s a harbinger of things to come; outside of England, the back three (or five) has been making a comeback. Here’s what’s behind van Gaal’s — and a handful of other coaches’ — thinking.” Grantland
“First of all, let me state that, beyond the tense rivalries of recent years, I harbour no grudge with Chelsea Football Club per se. Let me be clear: I am fully aware that it could just as easily have been Liverpool FC that Roman Abramovich purchased in 2003, and then, like any fan, I’d have enjoyed the decade of undoubted success that would have followed. Back in 2003, neither Liverpool nor Chelsea were geared towards great success. Both clubs were outside the top three (4th and 5th) and well off the pace, managed by good but not exceptional bosses. Neither club was getting close to the £30m Manchester United had already spent on a single player; at the time, Chelsea and Liverpool could spend around £15m tops. That’s how much the Russian oligarch changed things.” Tomkins Times
“It wasn’t quite an action replay — the departing star bade farewell to Liverpool rather than London and he was headed for Barcelona, not Madrid. Otherwise, it was a case of deja vu: For the second successive summer, the Premier League lost the reigning Footballer of the Year. For Gareth Bale in 2013 read Luis Suarez in 2014. Whereas the Uruguayan stepped up seamlessly to replace the Welshman as the division’s dominant player, now Suarez leaves a vacancy, and not merely at Anfield. The English top flight has lost a marquee talent. One possibility is that the senior citizens will again assert their authority, but the fact is that Robin van Persie, Steven Gerrard and Yaya Toure are already in their 30s.” ESPN
“The Football Supporters’ Federation is calling on fans to join a march on the Premier League and Football League headquarters on 14 August to protest against spiralling ticket prices and demand “affordable football for all”. This demonstration, setting off from London’s Marble Arch, has become an annual fixture, as clubs have shown no inclination to use their TV rights windfalls to reduce historically inflated ticket prices.” Guardian
“According to The Daily Mail, Louis van Gaal intends on basing his new era at Manchester United around a 3-4-3 formation after finding success with it at the World Cup with the Netherlands, but should such a radical set-up worry or excite the fans at Old Trafford? The basic tenets of the Dutchman’s preferred way of playing, and how they could translate to his new job in the Premier League, has already been covered by Squawka in three parts, looking at how his tactical approach could affect how United’s defence, midfield and attack are deployed come August, albeit in the 4-3-3 system he has favoured throughout his career.” Squawka
“Behold, a new season is upon us. With it comes a fresh schedule, a fresh set of fixtures and a fresh set of challenges for all 20 Premier League teams. Yet it’s at the top of the table where the challenges are most heated. Manchester United’s rebuild is firmly underway with Louis van Gaal and some much-needed investment in midfield. Arsenal snared another big-money, marquee signing for the second summer in a row. Manchester City firmed up their title-winning squad from 2013-14, while Roman Abramovich finally gave Jose Mourinho what he always wanted — a proper striker — in Diego Costa.” ESPN
“Transfer speculation dominates football like never before. An incredible amount of coverage is dedicated not to games themselves, but to the possibility that footballers might one day play them for another team. At this point of the year, it makes sense. The World Cup has finished, the club season is a month away and there’s nothing else to talk about. In the old days, newspapers would fill their pages with other sports, but football has become all-consuming, and fans demand constant information — seemingly regardless of whether it’s actually true. Once, the offseason meant no football stories: you’d load up Ceefax and discover nothing was happening. These days, football never stops.” ESPN – Michael Cox
“If there’s one result that sums up the crazy, unpredictable end to this Premier League season, it’s Chelsea’s 2-1 defeat at home to Sunderland. That was Jose Mourinho’s first home league defeat as Chelsea manager, after 78 games, and proved crucial at both top and bottom. Chelsea’s chances of winning the league title took a huge blow, while Sunderland continued their great escape. However, to a certain extent that result was typical of their campaigns, because Chelsea and Sunderland are the two sides in the division that have collected more points against top half sides, than against bottom half sides.” Zonal Marking
“… Time for a slice of humble pie, Manuel? If the Manchester City manager is to win a first-ever league title in Europe this season, he will owe a large share of gratitude to Jose Mourinho. Unable to beat his rival on two occasions and unable to out-think Liverpool with a better team than Sunday’s patch-work Chelsea side, Pellegrini has relied on Mourinho to afford City another chance.” Football 365
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