World Football Postulant

Here is the recent content posted to American Soccer Reader.  Enjoy:

Terry Wins Appeal, Will Play Against United

United Lose Carrick for Six Weeks

Champions League Preview, Sept. 17

Week 4, In Review

Week 5 Preview

Chelsea Held By Man Utd, 1-1

Another Liverpool Scoreless Draw Gives Stoke a Draw at Anfield

Week 5, In Review

Week 6 Preview

The American Soccer Reader tab, above, has been updated with the last month’s worth of writings.  There are some really good pieces that have been published there.  I encourage you to check them out.

World Football Postulant’s second hiatus is over, though during our small break we have been keeping American Soccer Reader updated.  Here’s a brief list of what’s been going on at ASR:

EPL:  Champions League Preview, Sept. 16

EPL:  Chelsea Brilliance On Display in Win Over City

EPL:  For Arsenal, When Is a 4-0 Win About the Negatives?

EPL:  Liverpool Efforts an End to United Anfield Reign

EPL:  Week 4 Preview

It was an amazing weekend in the EPL, but then again, anytime Liverpool and United meet, it’s noteworthy.

I just finished posting my Week 3 review article to American Soccer Reader. Here is a direct link.  I name Player of the Week, Manager of the Week, XI of the Week, talk briefly about how the teams lay giong into the international match break, and rank the tops one through twenty.

Now, I am going to spend some time updating ASR for all the big Premiership news.  There are three main pieces which stick out (off the top of my head):  Dubai, Robinho, Berbatov.  I’m sure I’ll find other news, too.

Aston Villa’s Martin O’Neill is one of the most respected managers in the Premiership, and though his Sunday counterpart is highly scrutinized, Liverpool’s Rafa Benitez is also very highly regarded.  But after Sunday’s match at Villa Park, you would not have been able to convince anybody new to the Premiership that either manager deserved their reputations.  Each had his team play negative football, with the inevitable 0-0 outcome predictable from the match’s opening moments.

Continue Reading »

I got too busy yesterday to publish my thoughts on Shaun Wright-Phillips moving to Manchester City, though I just updated American Soccer Reader with the story.

The move came about pretty quickly.  Not so much the Wright-Phillips moved from Chelsea-part.  That seemed to be a given all summer, and it was somewhat surprising when, over the last two weeks, it seemed Wright-Phillips would not be moving.  If anything, he looked to play less under Scolari than he had last season.  But this week rumors regarding Everton and Manchester City surfaced, and while they were initially denied by Wright-Phillips, the winger moved on Thursday.

Continue Reading »

Liverpool may be one of the eight teams in the top pool for tomorrow’s Champions League group stage draw, but they were the closest of the thirty-two teams to being out of the tournament after the final round of qualifying finished today.

Continue Reading »

The second round of the Carling Cup (England’s League Cup competition) almost finished today. One match, Manchester City’s visit to Brighton & Hove Albion, was rescheduled, with City scheduled for their UEFA Cup match in Denmark tomorrow. They will face FC Mitjylland, down 1-0 after the first leg. The Carling Cup match has been rescheduled for September 22.

This second round saw twelve of the twenty Premiership clubs enter the draw. The only ones who get free passes into the third round were those who qualified for European football through something other than Fair Play. Sorry, City.

The twelve match winners will join those eight Premiership clubs in the third round, the draw for which will be held Saturday.  In this round, three Premier League sides bowed out, while the league’s lowest tier, sees Rotherham United survive while Macclesfield Town gave West Ham United a scare.

Here are the results and the level at which each team plays: Continue Reading »

I wrote a recap of the particulars for American Soccer Reader.  You can see it here.  The only detail left is how much Tottenham paid for their new striker.  The figures I have seen to this point are £14 million to £16 million with no sources reliable enough to quote.  At this point, it looks like it does not matter.  Roman Pavlyuchenko is moving from Spartak Moscow to Tottenham with a significant ripple effect.

Continue Reading »

My Round 2 English Premier League review is up at ASR.  Player, manager, team of the week.  Team rankings.  Excessive verbage.  What more can you want?

Here is a direct link.

OK - I need to go to work.