By Eric Welter

Columbus Crew vs. Aston Villa FC
Saturday, July 28, 2007
Crew Stadium – Columbus, Ohio
Kickoff: 7:30pm
Attendance: 10,317 (although it seemed like perhaps 1000 more)
Weather: Overcast, warm, and muggy with cooling winds in the 2nd half
Final Score: Aston Villa FC 3 Columbus Crew 1

Pre-Match Notes: It was great to hear all the English accents wafting over the muggy, evening air as pockets of Aston Villa supporters sipped beer on the stadium grounds. There were more international jerseys evident in general as Man United, Roma, Chelsea, Liverpool, and Juventus were all accounted for. Many Villa supporters were draped in attractive game scarves available only through special ticket package purchases. Despite the disappointing attendance, there was a palpable energy around the grounds that is often lacking during regular season matches. It was clearly a more knowledgeable and interested crowd than is typically present. By match time, the Aston Villa fans were all standing together at their seats in the southeast corner of the stadium. While they stood throughout, they were a fairly quiet group. In fact, they were clearly drowned out by a strong contingent of Crew faithful augmented by drums and horns. Members of Sam’s Army (U.S. national team supporters) were also evident, occasionally breaking out in chants for the home country.

Match Notes: It was immediately evident from kickoff that the Crew were not prepared for the physicality of Aston Villa. That, coupled with speed and crisp passing, proved difficult for the Crew to handle throughout much of the first half.

In particular, forward John Carew was impressive in the early going. He had little difficulty finding consistent positioning inside the 18-box; often holding off the Crew’s most physical defender, Chad Marshall, with one arm while holding the ball at his feet.

This deep penetration created the space necessary for Ashley Young to bury a rocket from beyond 25 yards to the left corner in the 8th minute. The Crew were scrambling to defend in the box, and left Young unpressured as he carried and then delivered the blast.

After Crew goalie, Will Hesmer, made a scrambling save in the 9th minute, John Carew exerted his strength again. Carew bullied his way into the box, fending off Marshall long enough to execute a terrific give-and-go with Gareth Barry who netted the 11th minute goal.

The Crew struggled against a Villa defense that played very flat and compressed throughout the first half. Instead of playing the ball deep for the speedy Alejandro Moreno, the Crew possessed laterally and ineffectively; looking to get the ball to primary playmaker Guillermo Barros Schelotto.

Once Schelotto started touching the ball, he finally created a Crew opportunity off of a free kick in the 28th minute. Schelotto slotted a ball to Ned Grabavoy who missed wide right from outside the box.

Neither team created many opportunities for the next 15 minutes. After Villa nearly cashed-in on a header in the 43rd minute, the Crew countered with their best first half chance.

Right before the whistle, a sneaky through-ball was chased down in the box by the Crew’s Robbie Rogers. He outmaneuvered his defender, and struck a shot from just outside the six-box that Villa keeper Stuart Taylor denied with a sliding stop. The ball rebounded, Rogers recovered and looked for a shot angle that was finally closed down by two Villa defenders and cleared.

Both teams substituted liberally to start the second half, with the benefit clearly tipped in the Crew’s favor. Aston Villa seemed more passive to start the half, and Kei Kamara used his quickness to single-handedly create difficulties for the Villa defense. He was denied in-close by another great sliding save from Taylor, sent a ball that Grabavoy just nodded wide, and just missed high from 18 yards; all within the first 12 minutes of the half.

The pressure finally yielded a result in the 76th minute. Jason Garey, just on moments earlier, benefited from a partially deflected ball in the 18-box and caught Villa’s Taylor flat with a nicely placed, left-footed goal.

The Crew continued to force the pace, and clearly had the better of the play as the match wound down.

Without Carew, Young, and Nigel Reo-Coker, Villa were clearly a different team and only troubled Crew substitute goalie Andy Gruenebaum once in the second half. That is, until Luke Moore headed in a final goal in injury time off of a Patrik Berger corner that sealed the result for Villa.

Post-Match Notes: Small groups of Villa supporters lingered in the stadium after the match talking and listening to the coaches’ press conference projected on the scoreboard at the south end of the stadium. Two Villa fans were collecting discarded plastic, souvenir Columbus Crew beer glasses and stacking them 30-high to take home.

Recent acquisition Nigel Reo-Coker started for Aston Villa. The Crew rested captain and U.S. national team stalwart, Frankie Hejduk.

Editor's note: Thanks to Eric Welter for that excellent review of the Villa against Crew match. Photographs from his day out at the match can be seen here in the EPL Talk Photo archives.

Labels: aston villa, columbus crew

Lots of news today as anticipation builds for the new Premier League season.

• Don't forget the Community Shield is this Sunday at 10am ET on Fox Soccer Channel featuring Man United against Chelsea live from Wembley.

• Setanta Sports will begin operation of their network in Canada in the coming days.
  
  
• According to a source inside Dish Network, Setanta Sports will be available via Dish as of August 1. Stay tuned to the EPL Talk Podcast for more details!
  
  
• EPL Talk Blogger Michael James is continuing his countdown to the beginning of the Premier League season by providing a preview of all 20 teams and predicting which positions they'll end up in. Read his blog daily here or check out the other ones from the EPL Talk bloggers on the EPL Talk Community.
  
  
• In the latest EPL Talk Podcast episode which features an interview with Phil Lines from the Premier League, he discusses how Sirius is in advanced negotiations to bring three more years of Premier League coverage via radio to North America. If you've considered getting Sirius Satellite Radio, now is the time to order the service so you can have everything you need for the upcoming season. If you do plan on ordering Sirius, please support EPL Talk by clicking the banner ad below:
  

Labels: canada, fox soccer channel, Setanta, sirius

Have all of the major Premier League clubs passed on the opportunity of doing preseason tours in the United States during the summer of 2008?

While Chelsea, Aston Villa and Everton conducted U.S. preseason friendlies in 2007, clubs such as Manchester United, Liverpool, Fulham, Bolton, Portsmouth and Reading toured Asia. This summer Man United and Liverpool, especially, have played in front of massive crowds and have gone a long way to expanding their brand (and selling more lucrative merchandise) within that continent.

Chelsea, meanwhile, has announced that it'll be heading to China in the summer of 2008 and will return to New York in 2009 and Chicago in 2011.

If Chelsea doesn't head stateside in 2008, which Premier League clubs will? Based on the explosion in popularity of the Premier League in Asia and the amount of money the clubs must be making from merchandise, I predict we'll see fewer clubs visiting America in the coming years.

The other thing to take into consideration is that Euro 2008 will be played next summer, which means that the gap of time Premier League clubs will have to take full-strength teams and prepare them for the new season will be reduced.

And in 2009, I wonder how many Premier League clubs will tour South Africa (as Spurs did this summer and Man United did last summer) to create publicity before the 2010 World Cup.

The best bet for America may be for organizers to lure English teams to a tournament in the States. Entice clubs such as Newcastle United, Reading, Sunderland and Aston Villa to play against Major League Soccer teams over a period of one week in California, Texas, Illinois or New York. Question is, would all the matches sell out?

Labels: Chelsea, english premier league, Liverpool, manchester united

In the UK, Setanta Sports has announced that it has acquired three more pundits to join their ever-growing team of professionals presenting the Premier League. Former Match of the Day and Grandstand announcer Des Lynam will be doing more than just Setanta TV commercials. He'll be conducting football-related interviews with the likes of Sir Alex Ferguson and Martin O'Neill for a show entitled The Friday Football Show.

The two other pundits joining Setanta are former Sheffield United manager Neil Warnock and James Richardson, best known to U.S. soccer fans as the host of The Guardian's Football Weekly podcast.

No word on whether Richardson, who will be hosting The Friday Football Show, will end his relationship with Football Weekly, but my educated guess is that he should be able to handle both. The Football Weekly podcast is taped on Monday afternoons. It's unknown right now whether Setanta's Friday Football Show will be recorded at Setanta's studios in Dublin or taped in England. Lynam lives in West Sussex. Either way, Richardson will have plenty of time to return to London.

Of course, there's always the possibility that Richardson's contract with Setanta may preclude him from working for The Guardian. Or Richardson may have been offered enough money from Setanta whereby the former Football Italia host doesn't need to work for The Guardian. Knowing the freelance nature of Richardson, I expect him to be the first voice I hear on The Guardian's Football Weekly podcast when it returns from its summer hiatus in the next 10 days.

Labels: football weekly, james richardson, podcasts, Setanta, the guardian

By John Nicholson

Being a season ticket holder is sometimes held as a symbol of a fans commitment to a club. When you are prepared to invest so much money, upfront, it is an act of faith in the club. It says you care.

The clubs have always been quick to tell us that they want everyone to get their season tickets as soon as the old season ends so that they have money to use in the transfer market. They expect fans to cough up again, usually without actually giving the fans any reason to do so, apart from that tug on their heart strings, that loyalty test.

If your club is mostly packed out most of the time, the only chance of seeing a game is to get your season ticket. But that doesn't apply to most clubs. Indeed, as the season progresses, and as crowds dwindle in parallel to the dwindling quality of football on show, at some clubs, pricing initiatives are often brought in, making it cheaper to just turn up on the day, especially when you account for the fact that many season ticket holders can't go to every home game due to some other commitments or because they have to do shift work. So that money is often effectively lost.

It's never been less true that Premiership clubs need season ticket money to put transfer money into their coffers when they are stoned immaculate on the heavy dope of TV money.

And if you support the 30% of Premiership clubs who no one wants to watch very often such as Blackburn, Wigan, Middlesbrough, Birmingham, Fulham, Manchester City or Bolton, almost no game will be a sell out in the coming season, so you can pretty much pick up a ticket for any game that takes your fancy. And all other clubs apart from the top four will have tickets available for many games simply because not every home game sells out.

In order to further bully fans and punish non season ticket holders, a lot of schemes exist to give priority to season ticket holders for cup games and finals etc. This is presented as a reward to the loyal fans but more cynically is also a way to force the hand of the fan at the start of the season into parting with a lot of money for a product of unknown and almost certainly variable quality.

Of course, football isn't a product like any other but there is nonetheless some disgruntlement amongst fans who feel that they are a milk cow having their udders furiously pulled for all they are worth. Like politicians who only turn up when they want your vote, clubs often only woo fans when they want them to renew their season ticket.

All the promises of 'significant' summer signings that come out in early June are all intended to get fans to believe next season will be a great one but often prove to be false.

The pricing of tickets finally became an issue last season and prices were reduced at some of the clubs that no one wants to watch – though I bet season ticket holders were not sent a refund for effectively over-paying up front – commitment is all too often a one way street in football and fans, many having given decades of support and money, are rewarded by poor quality football played by uncommitted players who stay 18 months before moving on and are then berated by the club for being too quiet or not being supportive enough. But true fans are in it for the long term; they're in it for whole their lives. Longer than any player, manager, chairman or owner will be at the club. Without the fans, no club would exist, though many act as though they could do.

What would clubs do if no one bought season tickets? Do the upfront purchases of a whole season of tickets make the club complacent? If fans withheld their money until they felt as though the team and the club deserved it would it motivate the club, manager and team to put in more effort? To try harder and to play better? It's impossible to tell but it'd be a good experiment to try.

John Nicholson writes each week for Football 365 and EPL Talk. You can listen to John's wonderful stories on episode 30 and 45 of the EPL Talk Podcast, as well as purchase his excellent Footy Rocks book and order one of his unique rock'n roll T-shirts.

Labels: john nicholson, match tickets, season tickets, ticket prices

It over 100 degrees outside, so I had a chance today to catch up on watching preseason friendlies, and here are my thoughts in addition to some Premier League-related news:

• Bohemians 0-1 Sunderland. Preseason friendlies are rarely exciting and aren't the best reflection on how a team will perform in the approaching season. That's the good news for Sunderland. The bad news is that their performance in this match on their Irish tour (viewed via Setanta in the States) was dreadful. I haven't seen so many comical misses in one match as I did today. If Sunderland plays like this during the upcoming season, they'll be the laughing stock of the league.
  
  
• Arsenal 2-1 Paris Saint Germain. Arsenal kicked off their Emirates Cup friendly with a stumbling victory over PSG. At times, Arsenal played their beautiful brand of football. Othertimes during the match, they appeared to be shaky. Watch the highlights here.
  
  
• It's that time of the year when web sites are launching new designs before the season kicks off again. EPL Talk's redesign will go live in the next few days. But in the meantime check out new designs from 101 Great Goals, BigSoccer and Champions Soccer Radio.
  
  
• Former Match of the Day and Grandstand presenter Des Lynam appears in a TV commercial for Setanta in the UK to promote their Premier League coverage (thanks to Tokyo Toffeeman for the link).
  
  
• Interested in working for Fox in Los Angeles as a production assistant presumably for either Fox Soccer Channel or Fox Sports Espanol?
  
  
• If you've had the pleasure of listening to football radio reporter Stuart Hall (pictured above), you know he's one of a kind with his ways of incorporating William Shakespeare and Mark Twain works into his football reports on BBC Five Live. Whether you're familiar with him or not, read the following story to learn more about this fascinating fellow (someone I'd love to interview on the EPL Talk Podcast).
  
  
• After listening to this week's EPL Talk Podcast interview with Phil Lines from the Premier League, you'll have an idea of how mad the Asians are about the Premier League. Now the Asian Football Business Review is reporting that a 24/7 Premier League channel has debuted in Singapore by StarHub entitled, simply enough, "Football Channel."
  
  
• Learn what Konami has in store for Pro Evolution Soccer 2008 here.
  
  
• Apologies for the EPL Talk Community being down. I have a message in to technical support but because it's the weekend, the forums board may not be back up until Monday. The EPL Talk Community is now back online. Have a great rest of the weekend.
  

Labels: Arsenal, des lynam, epl talk community, pro evolution soccer 2008, Setanta, stuart hall, sunderland

The latest episode of the EPL Talk Podcast has been published, which features an interview with Phil Lines from the Premier League.

As Head of International Broadcasting & Media Operations at the Premier League, Lines plays a pivotal role in securing the TV rights deals in 207 countries for the world's most popular sports league. During the interview, Lines discusses how Sirius Satellite is in advanced negotiations to provide the Premier League radio broadcasts for listeners in the U.S. for the next three years.

Plus we discuss the upcoming redesign of the Premier League website, the popularity of the Fantasy Premier League, how the Premier League is evolving in the United States and what it'll take for the Premier League to host a trophy competition in the U.S. similar to this summer's Asia Trophy.

Subscribe to the EPL Talk Podcast today so you don't miss a single episode, or listen to the interview now.

Labels: english premier league, EPL Talk Podcast, phil lines, premier league

The website redesign for EPL Talk is coming along nicely and may be live as early as this weekend or, at the latest, early next week. As soon as it's unveiled, I'll let you know here. I've mentioned it before, but the EPL Talk Blog that you're reading now will be moved to a different location, so thanks in advance for your patience and changing your bookmarks.

Now, on to the news:

• If you're looking for a preview of the 2007/2008 season and the teams that will be playing in the Premier League, you've come to the right place. EPL Talk blogger Michael James (on his English Soccer Talk blog) has begun the hard work of analyzing each team. And he's taken the unique approach of doing it in the order of who he thinks will finish in each position (starting from the bottom and building his way up to the top position). Take a look to see who he thinks will finish where.
  
  
• Soccer shows "Match of the Day" and "Match of the Day 2" from the BBC will both be shown live over the Internet starting this season (as well as on BBC television). That's excellent news for people living in the United Kingdom, but for those of us outside the UK, don't be surprised if you're blocked from viewing the broadcasts.
  
  
• It's not all bad news for soccer fans living outside the UK who rely on the BBC for coverage, though. The Beeb has announced that all of their video on their site (that we have rights to access) is now available as broadband video. Previously, the video was broadband in the UK only and everyone elsewhere received a poorer quality stream. Now we should be able to view the latest football news and interviews in much higher quality from BBC Sport.
  
  
• US u-20 midfielder Danny Szetela could be making a move for Everton, Reading or Middlesbrough.
  
  
• Fingers crossed, I'll have a new podcast episode out tonight featuring an exclusive interview with one of the top people from the Premier League, Phil Lines.
  

Labels: BBC, match of the day, premier league

By Tokyo Toffeeman

Studs! (Ebury Press) is an entertaining retro footie annual using stories, interviews and pictures taken directly from Shoot! Magazine from the 60s, 70s & 80s. Britain's top footballers of the moment, often accompanied by the loving missus, are shown in all their garish glory (kind of living testament to mad and bad football haircuts) whether it be while mowing the lawn, practising their golf swings, decorating the kitchen or celebrating big wins in the communal team bath. We sometimes even get to see them on the pitch looking podgy in simple pre-sponsor traditional kits. Plenty of familiar faces as you've never seen them before (or at least not since you were a nipper).

Featuring prominently in the book is the 'focus on' section where we learn about players' favourite food, team they supported as a boy, biggest drag in the game, person in the world they'd most like to meet etc.

Sam Allardyce's miscellaneous dislikes include the taxman (surprising, eh?), Alan Hansen's professional ambition was to have a long Scottish international career, Joe Royle's best country visited is Israel & Stan Bowles' chosen occupation other than pro footballer would have been bookmaker. George Best's favourite singer was Lulu and Jack Charlton lists guns amongst his miscellaneous likes. Brian Little wants to meet the Queen. Imaginative stuff!

Other highlights include Bobby Moore's take on that ghastly nightmare in Bogota ('I managed to keep cheerful thanks to FA officials on-the-spot, who stayed with me even while I was under house arrest'), a You Are The Ref column compiled by Stan Lover, some Straight Shooting from Jimmy Greaves in which he reveals he always put his left boot on first, not out of superstition but because it took him a little longer to get comfortable. Plus, there is a showbiz stars segment - did you realise Lovelace Watkins was a Man City fan? Heard of the Goal Girl '70 Contest? Read how the judges got the rare chance to see dolly birds in soccer kit.

As it says on the cover, brace yourself for the most exciting football event since 1966!

Labels: barney ronay, book review, studs

Here are more of the top soccer stories that you may find interesting (see below). I should be able to resume full blogging next week. This week, I'm tackling the finishing touches to the redesigned EPL Talk site, which I'm looking forward to introducing to you either this weekend or next week. Stay tuned.

• Setanta Sports has announced that Jon Champion will be joining the Irish broadcasting company as one of their top football commentators. Many of you will be very familiar with his voice. Ian Crocker will also be covering Premier League games for Setanta. The addition of Champion definitely will add a touch of class to Setanta's coverage.
  
  
• In Everton's second and final pre-season friendly in the United States, the side beat Ventura County Fusion at the Home Depot Center 4-0.
  
  
• I almost missed it, but I'm glad I didn't as it was a cracker of a match: Toronto 2-4 Aston Villa. I totally forgot it was on Fox until I watched the match last night and what a fantastic advertisement this was for Major League Soccer as opposed to the Beckham charade from last weekend. Both Toronto and Villa played some fantastic attacking football and the crowd was definitely wonderful to hear. Let's hope Villa's match against the Columbus Crew this weekend is just as exciting.
  
  
• Sorry for the delay with the EPL Talk Podcast this week. I hope to have a new episode ready for your listening pleasure by this Friday night.
  

Labels: aston villa, everton, ian crocker, jon champion, toronto fc

So much soccer news, so little time. Here are some of the top stories that you may be interested in:

• If you want to receive a beta invite to Pownce, one of the hottest new social networking web sites out there, email me at thegaffer[at]epltalk[dot]com with "Pownce" as the subject line. The first six people to contact me will receive one beta invite each.
  
  
• The last time I checked yesterday, the EPL Talk Fantasy Premier League had 184 people registered already. Thanks to everyone who has already signed up. Be sure to check out the forums within the EPL Talk league for several healthy debates about fantasy strategy and more. And if you haven't registered yet, what are you waiting for? Go here for more information on how to sign up for free. If you've never played fantasy football/soccer before, it's extremely addictive and can be quite enjoyable.
  
  
• In the UK, Setanta Sports is launching a sports news channel to compete with Sky Sports News.
  
  
• Portsmouth will be launching Portsmouth TV in the near future and are looking to expand their brand globally.
  
  
• The St. Louis Business Journal is reporting that GolTV has signed an agreement with SCP Worldwide (who tried to buy GolTV but failed) whereby GolTV will be able to show 18 of the World Cup qualifying matches from South America. The remaining 72 games will be shown on pay-per-view, broadband and cable (presumably not on GolTV).
  
  
• The Major League Soccer Talk site has photos and a review of this past weekend's Chicago Fire v Celtic friendly, as well as the latest news about this week's SuperLiga matches.
  
  
• Aston Villa seem to be enjoying their tour of Toronto thus far. Read this interesting report about what antics the Villa players and manager have been up to.
  
  
• Speaking of Canada, The Score will be showing some of the Premier League matches this upcoming season.
  
  
• The Independent newspaper has revealed more about Stan Kroenke than most of us knew before. I'm thoroughly convinced he'll be the new Arsenal owner within 12 months especially by what one of his underlings says in this story.
  
  
• Some of you may know (and couldn't care less) that Garmin will be the news sponsor on the front of the Middlesbrough shirts this upcoming season, but did you know that Boro players will be wearing Garmin devices whereby you'll be able to track their progress on the Internet to read their heart rate, distance and speed?
  

By The Scout

Ever since it was first released, Franklin Foer's book "How Soccer Explains The World" has been widely talked about. With the leagues over for the summer, I was lucky enough to finally get around to cracking open a copy of the book to kick off my summer soccer reading.

The book's stated goal is to use the "metaphor of soccer" to address some of the "failures of globalization". What does Foer see as the "failures of globalization"? Globalization was supposed to homogenize culture and this has not happened, at least not to the extent that was predicted. He also cites the failure of mass investment to eliminate poverty in the countries receiving the investment. Foer attempts to examine this issue in the chapter on Brazilian football. The chapter shows how attempts at globalization and foreign investment have failed to unseat the feudal way that clubs operate. The only connection to globalization, which he fails to make clearly, is how foreign countries (typically a G8 nation like England or Germany) export Brazil's "natural resource" of talented footballers and derive greater value from that resource. Foer starts to touch on the topic briefly in Chapter 6, when he examines the plight of an African soccer player who has gone to the Ukrainian league in hopes of making it big.

Foer fails to recognize that what is now referred to as "globalization" can be viewed as an age-old human desire to conquer and profit through trade, to spread beliefs and exploit new lands. The strength of Foer's argument coupling soccer and globalization is debatable but this does not diminish the book as an enjoyable or read nor as one that has something important to say. In fact, the book is better as an argument against the universality of racism and sectarianism. Whether it is the sectarian battles of Rangers and Celtic in Scotland or Spanish dictator Francisco Franco's oppression of Catalan-based FC Barcelona, soccer is not been exempt from the ills of society. I found the Rangers fan interviewed by Foer to be almost inhumanely sad. I love watching soccer and am passionate about the game but I simply could not get my head around this man's obsession. Here is someone willing to chuck aside everything, including his wife, for Rangers FC. Why? Other than a few hours a week of entertainment and bigotry, what was Rangers providing him? Foer lauds the man for his knowledge of Scottish Protestant history but I think the religious idealism is just a veil to allow these brutish thugs the excuse to hurl insults and commit acts of violence.

In fact, soccer serves as another example of how an idea or medium can be co-opted for the purposes of propoganda by a group with an agenda to advance. What becomes clear from reading this book is not that soccer helps explain the world but reflects the world's ugliness and beauty in equal measures. We can also see that soccer is more often than not, shaped by the culture of the country, rather than being the sculptor itself. For example, look at the cultural rhetoric that turns up in press interviews by the English national team coach. Steve McLaren has often talked of the team's need to show "courage" and "character", qualities that were trumpeted during the Churchill era and even earlier. This chest-beating takes the place of the qualities that make for a truly winning side -- tactics and technical skill.

I should take a moment and say that the book is not all doom and gloom. I found the story of the Iranian women who defied orders to not attend soccer games or celebrations for the national team to be uplifting. The story has been chronicled in the recently released film "Offside". The chapter entitled "that for a nation like Iran to affect a change from theocratic rule to democracy, a secular nationalism must take place. He suggests that the national soccer team has a unifying affect on the country and that soccer has become a pro-Western, liberal mouthpiece for those feeling oppressed by Islamic law. Not knowing the intricacies of Iranian culture, I cannot say whether Foer's theory is accurate or not but it was one of the chapters I gave more thought to and enjoyed the most. (Reviewer's note: Foer has since stated that some of his remarks in the Iranian chapter were taken "more seriously" then he intended. I think it's a bit naive for him to have thought otherwise.)

I also enjoyed the brief description of Valeri Lobanovsky's attempt to apply scientific Marxism to soccer tactics. He believed that soccer could be mastered by uncovering the game's mathematical underpinnings. He created a system of numerical values to signify every "action" in a game. It sounded a lot like a forerunner to the Actim Stats the English Premier League features on its official website.

Despite the book's failure to successfully defend its thesis, it is a marvelous read and Foer has a clean, conversational prose style. Foer does bring to light connections between soccer and a variety of political and sociological elements but the book is better viewed as a fascinating travelogue through some of the darker elements of the soccer world. Foer documents the lives of some of the ludicrously dedicated fans, those that he refers to as having "transcendent enthusiasm", with stunning clarity and shows what happens when fandom slips into fanaticism.

The book is available from Amazon.com, Chapters.ca and many other booksellers.

Labels: book review, franklin foer, the scout

I ask just one question. Now that David Beckham's LA Galaxy debut is over, who gained anything from it? Think about that for a second. Other than generating money, who were the winners now that the friendly is complete?

It certainly wasn't the spectators or TV viewers who were fed a very drab game of soccer. In a match that had the potential of winning new fans to the sport of soccer, the match was a miserable failure lacking the passion, technique and pace that's so synonymous with the finer aspects of the game.

Chelsea certainly didn't gain much from the result. The performance by the men in blue was uninspiring. Plenty of chances fell into their player's laps but sailed over the crossbar or around the post. Judging by this performance, the Blues have a lot of ground to make up before they can hope to compete on the same level as Man United who they'll face in the Community Shield on August 5.

ESPN's coverage of the event was embarrassing at times. The presentation of the match resembled the Academy Awards with interviews on the red carpet with celebrities before the match and, shockingly, cutting away from the game to interviews with Hollywood celebrities while the match was being played.

The winners of the Galaxy versus Chelsea match were the accountants. Whether it was the merchandise sold, the revenue from tickets or the money coming in from the expensive advertising slots, the victors were the people counting the revenue generated from this event. I won't even call it a soccer match because it was anything but that. The match was about hype. It had nothing to do with soccer but everything to do with capitalism.

Labels: Chelsea, david beckham, LA Galaxy, manchester united

By John Nicholson

In the UK, Setanta has started running ads for its new live Premiership coverage, clearly keen to get a whole hoard of new punters to stump up some hard earned wonga for their service. Fair enough.

However, the ads they are running have the song 'Good Times' by Eric Burdon and the Animals in. This is a big mistake. It's is a classic case of someone, probably a coked up advertising exec who only listened to one phrase and not to the whole song. This often happens. One of the most popular songs to have played at your wedding is apparently The Police's "Every Breath You Take" which, if anyone bothered to listen to it is a sinister song of obsession and manipulation. It is not a love song under any circumstances and yet still people waltz up the aisle to it. Surely it would be more appropriate to play Frank Zappa’s "The Torture Never Stops" from the excellent Zoot Allures album. Just a thought if you're looking for inspiration for you big day.

Anyway, back to the Animals. Burdon was born and brought up in Walker-on-Tyne, which is an area of Newcastle in the north-east of England, a town built on coal and hard industry and strong drink.

Burdon, a terrific blues wailing singer, was a hard drinking, hard fighting sort of Geordie that places like Walker-on-Tyne specialize in. As a student I lived there in a flat on Walker Road which was so damp, the mould on the walls made it look like you had flock wallpaper.

After transatlantic success with the Animals, the band fell apart acrimoniously, with Alan Price going solo and Chas Chandler managing Hendrix and later, Slade.

Good this isn't it. Keep up I'll be asking questions later.

Eric kept the name of the band and in 1967 released a brilliant album, called Winds Of Change which is a document of his life after being exposed to west coast hippy culture at the Monterey Pop Festival (where the band played a mesmeric version of the Stones' Paint It Black with a bloke called John Weider on electric violin, who later played in a brilliant rock band called Family who came from Leicester - the only decent band ever to come from Leicester and who had a man called Roger Chapman as a singer who sounded like a sheep singing the blues – he was, and still is, brilliant.

Eric had started smoking lots of dope and taking lots of lovely LSD. California blew his mind, as it is prone to do to impressionable heavy drinkers from the North East of England.

Good Times is on that Winds Of Change album. It was a hit single, reaching 20 in the UK and 7 in the USA as the 'b' side to Warm San Franciscan Nights - which is the better known song. In light of his drug experience, it is a paean to how he felt he had wasted so much time in his life to that point. Hence these lines - which all feature in the Setanta ad.

When I think of all the good time
that's been wasted having good times
When I was drinkin'
I should've been thinkin'
When I was fighting
I could've done the right thing
All of that boozin'
I was really losin'
Good times

Setanta, clearly haven't bothered to listen to anything in the song except the words "Good Times" and probably thought it was just about having a good time, but actually it's really about wasting time, wasting your life and about deluding yourself into thinking you're having a good time when you're really not. It's the sort of self-analysis that a lot of people go through after having their minds blown wide open by acid, as opposed to sitting in front of a television and watching Birmingham v Wigan.

It's not exactly the vibe you want when trying to sell football on the telly to people is it? Ooops.

John Nicholson writes each week for Football 365 and EPL Talk. You can listen to John's wonderful stories on episode 30 and 45 of the EPL Talk Podcast, as well as purchase his excellent Footy Rocks book and order one of his unique rock'n roll T-shirts.

Labels: eric burdon, john nicholson, setanta sports

It doesn't seem that Manchester United will be rushing back to the United States for preseason friendlies anytime soon. Man United Chief Executive David Gill is quoted in The Guardian newspaper as saying that Asia and Africa, instead of America, will be the focus to globalize their brand.

I wonder, though, if Gill would have still said the same thing if Chelsea wasn't playing their preseason friendlies in the United States. It seems to me that Gill's comments may be more of a war of words than a policy from Man United. Albeit, Gill's statement doesn't hold out much hope for the Red Devils returning to the States in the next couple of summers which is unfortunate because the EPL (and the team) is flourishing in the U.S.

Will the fanbase in the States ever reach the point where hordes of fans will welcome Man United (or any other EPL team) such as in Asia? Never. Not even the introduction of David Beckham could create that type of hysteria. It's not in the U.S.'s culture to stand enmasse.

The real reason for United focusing on Asia and Africa instead of America is money. I've written about the growth of the Premier League in both of those continents on the EPL Talk Blog before. The concern for fans of Premier League clubs, though, is whether more sides will avoid the U.S. in future summers and play in Asia as the following clubs are doing this summer: Man United, Liverpool, Portsmouth, Fulham, Bolton and Reading.

While the U.S. won't be able to match the hysteria around the matches, what it does offer is a loyal fan base who would fill the seats in the stadiums and buy the merchandise. What it can't match is the sheer size of the Asian market and the potential for Premier League clubs to sell massive amounts of shirts resulting in the building of a loyal fan base who will continue to buy merchandise for years to come.

Unfortunately for fans of Premier League clubs in America, it's a no-win situation when competing against the Asian market. David Gill's comments paint a disappointing outlook for EPL hungry fans in the United States. Let's see how many Premier League clubs come to the States next summer.

Labels: bolton, Chelsea, fulham, manchester united, portsmouth, reading

Chelsea isn't the only English team touring the States this summer. In addition to Aston Villa, Everton is Stateside and the Merseyside club is already making quite a bit of news:

• If you'd rather not watch Chelsea take on the LA Galaxy Saturday night at 8:30pm ET on ESPN, you can catch Everton on GolTV in their friendly against Real Salt Lake at the same time.

• Real Salt Lake fan Deuce shares photos of Everton arriving in Salt Lake City prior to their friendly against Real Salt Lake today, Saturday, July 21.

• Everton has announced its second friendly of their U.S. tour when they play Ventura County Fusion (of the USL PDL) on Tuesday, July 24 at the Home Depot Center in Carson, California.

The complete TV schedule for EPL matches during the first few weeks of the 2007/2008 season is now finalized, EPL Talk can reveal. Here's what we know so far (the newly discovered listings are highlighted in bold):

Saturday, August 11
Sunderland v Tottenham Hotspur, 7:45am ET, Setanta Sports
West Ham United v Manchester City, 10am ET, Fox Soccer Channel
Bolton Wanderers v Newcastle United, 10am ET, Setanta Sports
Aston Villa v Liverpool, 12:15pm ET, Fox Soccer Channel
Derby v Portsmouth [Tape Delay], 2:30pm ET, Fox Soccer Channel

Sunday, August 12
Chelsea v Birmingham City, 8:30am ET, Setanta Sports
Manchester United v Reading, 11am ET, Fox Soccer Channel

Tuesday, August 14
Tottenham Hotspur v Everton, 3pm ET, Setanta Sports

Wednesday, August 15
Portsmouth v Manchester United, 3pm ET, Setanta Sports

Saturday, August 18
Portsmouth v Bolton Wanderers, 7:45am ET, Setanta Sports
Tottenham Hotspur v Derby County, 10am ET, Fox Soccer Channel
Blackburn Rovers v Arsenal, 10am ET, Setanta Sports
Newcastle United v Aston Villa, 12:15pm ET, Fox Soccer Channel
Wigan Athletic v Sunderland [Tape Delay], 2:30pm ET, Fox Soccer Channel

Sunday, August 19
Manchester City v Manchester United, 8:30am ET, Setanta Sports
Liverpool v Chelsea, 11am ET, Fox Soccer Channel

Saturday, August 25
Sunderland v Liverpool, 7:45am ET, Setanta Sports
Arsenal v Manchester City, 10am ET, Fox Soccer Channel
Chelsea v Portsmouth, 10am ET, Setanta Sports
Everton v Blackburn Rovers, 12:15pm ET, Fox Soccer Channel

Sunday, August 26
Derby County v Birmingham City [Tape Delay], 1am ET, Fox Soccer Channel
Middlesbrough v Newcastle United, 8:30am ET, Setanta Sports
Manchester United v Tottenham Hotspur, 11am ET, Fox Soccer Channel

Saturday, September 1
Fulham v Tottenham Hotspur, 10am ET, Fox Soccer Channel
Manchester United v Sunderland, 12:15pm ET, Fox Soccer Channel
Blackburn Rovers v Manchester City [Tape Delay], 6pm ET, Fox Soccer Channel

Now that Fox Soccer Channel has acquired the TV rights to Serie A beginning with the 07/08 season, the regular 2:30pm ET tape delayed EPL match will be shown later in the evening on Saturdays (and after midnight if Fox is showing a MLS game on Saturday night). For the first few weeks of the season, the tape delayed EPL match will be shown at its 2:30pm ET start-time only because the Serie A season begins later than the Premier League's season.

For the latest TV listings of your Premier League matches on U.S. television, stay tuned to EPL Talk all season long.

Courtesy of EPL Talk reader Peter Pelham, here's his account of the Chelsea 2-1 Club America friendly including images. Thanks Peter!

"A great new stadium (incidentally, demolition and rebuild done in 9 months!) on the Stanford University campus. Approx 47,000 attendance in a 55,000 capacity stadium. The Mexican fans were partying throughout the game whereas the Chelsea fans were mostly silent until near the end of the game.

First half was all Club America and they deserved their one-nil lead.Chelsea started with a mixture of reserves and big guns - Terry, Robben, Cech, Shevchenko but it was only when they brought on Essien, Wright-Phillips, and Drogba in the 2nd half that they showed anything up front. Overall, a fairly tame game - not a lot of goal mouth action- pretty typical of what you would expect for a pre-season.

Nice to see some English footy in the Bay Area (even if it was Chelsea!)"

Photos from the match can be found here. To view the complete collection of photographs about English football from the EPL Talk collection, go here.

I'm on vacation this week in North Carolina, so the quantity of blog postings will dwindle, but I'll try and write when I get the opportunity. It's actually a great week to visit the EPL Talk Community where you can read blogs from six EPL Talk readers and participate in the message boards.

While in Durham (North Carolina) last night, I got the opportunity to watch the second half of the Copa America final. Brazil, despite not playing their typical brand of football, outclassed Argentina all over the pitch. In fact, Brazil appeared to play more like Italy at times and it seemed impossible for the Argentinians to crack their defense. The team in yellow packed their penalty box and gave Argentina little time on the ball.

I missed Baptista's thunderstrike but I witnessed Daniel Alves's beautiful shot into the corner of the net. Will Alves still be playing in La Liga when the new season begins or will he be England bound? My bet is on the latter.

When you think about it, Brazil began the tournament in disastrous style by losing against Mexico. The Brazilians looked awful in that match but turned things around to go on to win the tournament. I'm curious, though, how many Brazilians are pleased with the style of their play on the pitch. Despite winning the tournament, has the team lost their golden touch?

Speaking of the golden touch, be sure to listen to this week's episode of the EPL Talk Podcast which was just released. It includes some interesting stories of "golden showers" during football matches (listen to the discussion between myself and EPL Talk Correspondent Kevin Jones for more details). But the feature interview is with none other than Howard Rogers, the co-host of the World Soccer Daily radio show. Listen to the interview via iTunes or here today.

If you haven't had a chance yet, it's perfect timing to catch up on the latest in U.S. soccer and MLS by visiting our sister site, Major League Soccer Talk. Be sure to listen to the latest episodes of the Major League Soccer Talk Podcast via iTunes or here for interviews with Phil McThomas from Soccer Shout plus interviews with GolTV personalities such as Kelly O'Donnell, Lindsey Dean, Phil Schoen and Hollywood actor Andrew Shue.

Also, don't forget to check out the other EPL Talk sister sites: Championship Talk, La Liga Talk and Champions League Talk.

I may have the fortune of missing Posh Spice's show tonight. I'm in Raleigh today and will be driving to the Outer Banks in the next day or so.

Labels: argentina, brazil, copa america, major league soccer talk

Labels: david beckham, LA Galaxy

• If you missed the Brazil against Uruguay semi-final of Copa America last night, you could have seen a classic. The entertainment value was extremely high as both teams came so close to winning the match within regulation. Uruguay continually threatened Brazil and were unfortunate not to win the match. After ending 2-2 in regulation, the match proceeded to penalties where Brazil squeezed by with a win.
  
  Earlier in the match, there was a comical moment when one of the floodlight pylons shut down and a corner of the pitch was cloaked in darkness. What an embarrassment for the hosts Venezuela. Power was soon restored (after 15 minutes), but it's not often that you see things like this happen during a world-class match.
  
  
• The Carlos Tevez transfer saga continues with the Premier League warning West Ham that they could face additional disciplinary charges if they don't stand up and fight to receive the transfer fee from Man United.
  
  The Premier League finds itself in an extremely position because Sheffield United's case will be heard at the High Court in England this Friday. Reading between the lines regarding this transfer saga, it appears that Kia Joorabchian still owns the player while West Ham owns his registration. In order for the Premier League to escape this transfer cleanly, West Ham will have to receive all of the transfer fee. If not, the case could expose the Premier League and/or West Ham to litigation from Sheffield United.
  
  
• Blackburn Rovers will be dropping sponsor Bet24 at the end of the 2007/2008 season and replacing them with someone else. Rovers has broken new ground by hiring an agency to find a suitable sponsor for the 2008/2009 season.
  
  
• TWI has announced that it'll be producing 900 hours of content during the upcoming 07/08 EPL season for viewers worldwide. They'll be broadcasting all 380 matches live and offering 92 of them in HD. In the United States, of course, we won't see all of the matches and they won't be available in HD on Fox Soccer Channel or Setanta, but this just gives you an idea of how much English soccer we could be experiencing if Fox decides to expand what they already provide us.
  
  
• This week's EPL Talk Podcast has been released (sorry for the delay). It features an interview with Peter Lawlor, the composer and songwriter of the new EPL theme entitled "My Saturday Self" which will played before every Premier League match as well as on the preview and review shows on television.
  
  
• The latest episode of the Major League Soccer Talk Podcast has been published featuring an interview with Lindsey Dean, the GolTV commentator. Host Kartik Krishnaiyer dissects the U.S.'s performances at Copa America and delves deep into the recent U.S. u-20 win against Brazil in the under-20 World Cup.

Labels: blackburn rovers, brazil, carlos tevez, epl, EPL Talk Podcast, major league soccer talk, peter lawlor, TWI, uruguay

The new 07/08 Portsmouth home shirt was unveiled last night. This season, Pompey will be wearing kits from kit manufacturer Canterbury who are more synonymous with rugby than soccer.

Canterbury is to be applauded for a sleek design. The gold trim around the edge of the Pompey shirt looks impressive, and I'll be looking forward to seeing how the shirts look in person after the new season kicks off on August 11th.

If you're a Portsmouth fan, pre-order the shirt today!

Thanks to Ian from Football-Shirts.co.uk for the shirt image.

Labels: canterbury, pompey, portsmouth

Here's the UK TV schedule for the first four months of the 07/08 Premier League season. For the first time, Setanta Sports will be showing the matches in the UK in addition to Sky Sports. Note that Sky hasn't determined which Sky channels their matches will be on, for now:

Saturday, August 11
Sunderland v Tottenham Hotspur, 12:45pm GMT, Sky TBC
Aston Villa v Liverpool, 5:15pm GMT, Setanta Sports

Sunday, August 12
Chelsea v Birmingham City, 1:30pm GMT, Sky TBC
Manchester United v Reading, 4pm GMT, Sky TBC

Tuesday, August 14
Tottenham Hotspur v Everton, 8pm GMT, Sky TBC

Wednesday, August 15
Wigan Athletic v Middlesbrough, 8pm GMT, Sky TBC

Saturday, August 18
Portsmouth v Bolton Wanderers, 12:45pm GMT, Sky TBC
Newcastle United v Aston Villa, 5:15pm GMT, Sky TBC

Sunday, August 19
Manchester City v Manchester United, 1:30pm GMT, Sky TBC
Liverpool v Chelsea, 4pm GMT, Sky TBC

Saturday, August 25
Sunderland v Liverpool, 12:45pm GMT, Sky TBC
Everton v Blackburn Rovers, 5:15pm GMT, Setanta Sports

Sunday, August 26
Middlesbrough v Newcastle United, 1:30pm GMT, Setanta Sports
Manchester United v Tottenham Hotspur, 4pm GMT, Sky TBC

Saturday, September 1
Manchester United v Sunderland, 5:15pm GMT, Setanta Sports

Sunday, September 2
Arsenal v Portsmouth, 1:30pm GMT, Sky TBC
Aston Villa v Chelsea, 4pm GMT, Sky TBC

Saturday, September 15
Portsmouth v Liverpool, 12:45pm GMT, Sky TBC
Chelsea v Blackburn Rovers, 5:15pm GMT, Setanta Sports

Sunday, September 16
Manchester City v Aston Villa, 4pm GMT, Sky TBC

Monday, September 17
Derby County v Newcastle United, 8pm GMT, Setanta Sports

Saturday, September 22
Fulham v Manchester City, 5:15pm GMT, Setanta Sports

Sunday, September 23
Manchester United v Chelsea, 4pm GMT, Sky TBC

Saturday, September 29
Manchester City v Newcastle, 12:45pm GMT, Sky TBC
Birmingham City v Manchester United, 5:15pm GMT, Setanta Sports

Sunday, September 30
Everton v Middlesbrough, 4pm GMT, Sky TBC

Monday, October 1
Tottenham Hotspur v Aston Villa, 8pm GMT, Setanta Sports

Saturday, October 6
Manchester United v Wigan Athletic, 12:45pm GMT, Sky TBC

Sunday, October 7
Arsenal v Sunderland, Noon GMT, Setanta Sports
Reading v Derby County, 2pm GMT, Sky TBC
Fulham v Portsmouth, 4:10pm GMT, Sky TBC

Saturday, October 20
Everton v Liverpool, 12:45pm GMT, Sky TBC
Aston Villa v Manchester United, 5:15pm GMT, Setanta Sports

Sunday, October 21
West Ham United v Sunderland, 4pm GMT, Sky TBC

Monday, October 22
Newcastle United v Tottenham Hotspur, 8pm GMT, Setanta Sports

Saturday, October 27
Portsmouth v West Ham United, 5:15pm GMT, Setanta Sports

Sunday, October 28
Bolton Wanderers v Aston Villa, 1:30pm GMT, Sky TBC
Liverpool v Arsenal, 4pm GMT, Sky TBC

Saturday, November 3
Arsenal v Manchester United, 12:45pm GMT, Sky TBC
Blackburn Rovers v Liverpool, 5:15pm GMT, Setanta Sports

Sunday, November 4
West Ham United v Bolton Wanderers, 4pm GMT, Sky TBC

Monday, November 5
Manchester City v Sunderland, 8pm GMT, Setanta Sports

Saturday, November 10
Sunderland v Newcastle United, 12:45pm GMT, Sky TBC
Liverpool v Fulham, 5:15pm GMT, Setanta Sports

Sunday, November 11
Birmingham City v Aston Villa, 1pm GMT, Sky TBC
Portsmouth v Manchester City, 4pm GMT, Sky TBC

Monday, November 12
Reading v Arsenal, 8pm GMT, Setanta Sports

Saturday, November 24
Newcastle United v Liverpool, 12:45pm GMT, Sky TBC
Derby County v Chelsea, 5:15pm GMT, Setanta Sports

Sunday, November 25
West Ham United v Tottenham Hotspur, 1:30pm GMT, Sky TBC
Fulham v Blackburn Rovers, 4pm GMT, Sky TBC

Labels: premier league, setanta sports, sky sports

Here's the TV schedule for Premier League matches for the first four months of the 2007/2008 season for viewers in the United States. It's by no means complete (the Saturday 10am ET matches and midweek matches have to be confirmed), but here's what we know for sure so far:

Saturday, August 11
Sunderland v Tottenham Hotspur, 7:45am ET, Setanta Sports
Aston Villa v Liverpool, 12:15pm ET, Fox Soccer Channel

Sunday, August 12
Chelsea v Birmingham City, 8:30am ET, Setanta Sports
Manchester United v Reading, 11am ET, Fox Soccer Channel

Saturday, August 18
Portsmouth v Bolton Wanderers, 7:45am ET, Setanta Sports
Newcastle United v Aston Villa, 12:15pm ET, Fox Soccer Channel

Sunday, August 19
Manchester City v Manchester United, 8:30am ET, Setanta Sports
Liverpool v Chelsea, 11am ET, Fox Soccer Channel

Saturday, August 25
Sunderland v Liverpool, 7:45am ET, Setanta Sports
Everton v Blackburn Rovers, 12:15pm ET, Fox Soccer Channel

Sunday, August 26
Middlesbrough v Newcastle United, 8:30am ET, Setanta Sports
Manchester United v Tottenham Hotspur, 11am ET, Fox Soccer Channel

Saturday, September 1
Manchester United v Sunderland, 12:15pm ET, Fox Soccer Channel

Sunday, September 2
Arsenal v Portsmouth, 8:30am ET, Setanta Sports
Aston Villa v Chelsea, 11am ET, Fox Soccer Channel

Saturday, September 15
Portsmouth v Liverpool, 7:45am ET, Setanta Sports
Chelsea v Blackburn Rovers, 12:15pm ET, Fox Soccer Channel

Sunday, September 16
Manchester City v Aston Villa, 11am ET, Fox Soccer Channel

Monday, September 17
Derby County v Newcastle United, 3pm ET, Setanta Sports

Saturday, September 22
Fulham v Manchester City, 12:15pm ET, Fox Soccer Channel

Sunday, September 23
Manchester United v Chelsea, 11am ET, Fox Soccer Channel

Saturday, September 29
Manchester City v Newcastle, 7:45am ET, Setanta Sports
Birmingham City v Manchester United, 12:15pm ET, Fox Soccer Channel

Sunday, September 30
Everton v Middlesbrough, 11am ET, Fox Soccer Channel

Monday, October 1
Tottenham Hotspur v Aston Villa, 3pm ET, Setanta Sports

Saturday, October 6
Manchester United v Wigan Athletic, 7:45am ET, Setanta Sports

Sunday, October 7
Arsenal v Sunderland, 7am ET, Setanta Sports
Reading v Derby County, 9am ET, Setanta Sports
Fulham v Portsmouth, 11:10am ET, Fox Soccer Channel

Saturday, October 20
Everton v Liverpool, 7:45am ET, Setanta Sports
Aston Villa v Manchester United, 12:15pm ET, Fox Soccer Channel

Sunday, October 21
West Ham United v Sunderland, 11am ET, Fox Soccer Channel

Monday, October 22
Newcastle United v Tottenham Hotspur, 3pm ET, Setanta Sports

Saturday, October 27
Portsmouth v West Ham United, 12:15pm ET, Fox Soccer Channel

Sunday, October 28
Bolton Wanderers v Aston Villa, 9:30am ET, Setanta Sports
Liverpool v Arsenal, Noon ET, Fox Soccer Channel

Saturday, November 3
Arsenal v Manchester United, 8:45am ET, Setanta Sports
Blackburn Rovers v Liverpool, 1:15pm ET, Fox Soccer Channel

Sunday, November 4
West Ham United v Bolton Wanderers, 11am ET, Fox Soccer Channel

Monday, November 5
Manchester City v Sunderland, 3pm ET, Setanta Sports

Saturday, November 10
Sunderland v Newcastle United, 7:45am ET, Setanta Sports
Liverpool v Fulham, 12:15pm ET, Fox Soccer Channel

Sunday, November 11
Birmingham City v Aston Villa, 8am ET, Setanta Sports
Portsmouth v Manchester City, 11am ET, Fox Soccer Channel

Monday, November 12
Reading v Arsenal, 3pm ET, Setanta Sports

Saturday, November 24
Newcastle United v Liverpool, 7:45am ET, Setanta Sports
Derby County v Chelsea, 12:15pm ET, Fox Soccer Channel

Sunday, November 25
West Ham United v Tottenham Hotspur, 8:30am ET, Setanta Sports
Fulham v Blackburn Rovers, 11am ET, Fox Soccer Channel

The TV listings are subject to change. As we get updates, we'll update you via the EPL Talk Blog, so be sure to bookmark us if you haven't done so already.

Labels: fox soccer channel, premier league, setanta sports, sky sports

Labels: blackburn rovers, lonsdale, Umbro

It's that time of the year when the Fantasy Premier League is open for you to join. Unlike other fantasy football games, this one is free and EPL Talk even chips in and awards prizes to the winner like we did last season.

The best part is you can join the EPL Talk private league and compete against fellow EPL Talk readers from around the world. Last year, we had almost 200 people competing and the competition was fierce (but fun).

To join the EPL Talk Fantasy Premier League, all you have to do is:

1. Visit http://fantasy.premierleague.com/ and register for free (to relog back on if you've registered before)

2. Name your team and pick your side

3. Click the 'Leagues' link and then enter the following code number to join the EPL Talk private league: 8446-3266

Be one of the first to register to join the free private league today so you can pick your teams and formation.

Good luck everyone and enjoy!

Labels: fantasy league, premier league

Labels: manchester united, the guardian, the independent

Just this past week, Everton released its new away shirt, which is white in color.

Everton's decision to adopt a black third strip is admirable. However the decision to make the sponsor's logo green seems quite odd. Why not make it blue or white and use Everton's colors instead?

Labels: everton, Umbro

Here are some of the interesting tidbits of Premier League-related news that you may be interested in:

• Setanta Sports has confirmed that French World Cup Winner Emmanuel Petit has joined the Irish broadcaster as a soccer pundit. Petit joins Paul Dempsey, Pat Nolan, Les Ferdinand, Angus Young and Steve McManaman on the Setanta team for the 07/08 season.
  
  
• For a preview of Sunderland's 07/08 home and away shirts, watch this video. Order the away shirt here from the EPL Talk Store.
  
  
• Chelsea's state-of-the-art training ground at Cobham in England has been unveiled. Learn more about it and view photos here.
  
  
• Video featuring the unveiling of Manchester United's new 07/08 home shirt can be found here. Pre-order your shirt today from the EPL Talk Store here.

Labels: Chelsea, manchester united, setanta sports, sunderland

Labels: aston villa, nike

Labels: aston villa, nike

I just want to take a pause to thank a new sponsor to EPL Talk.

It's Razorgator.com who have a great selection of those hard-to-find tickets to soccer games throughout the United States.

Razorgator.com has tickets for the upcoming friendlies in the States involving Chelsea, Celtic and many others. Go here for more information.

Thanks for supporting EPL Talk sponsors!

Labels: carlos tevez, Chelsea, claudio pizzaro, manchester united, old trafford

Labels: canada, chicago, soldier field, us soccer, usa

Everton has released its new away shirt for the 2007/2008 season and, for once, the design is simple, understated and classic compared with the other audacious new away shirts from Premier League clubs such as Chelsea, Reading, Spurs and Newcastle United.

Everton's away shirt, like their home kit, is manufactured by Umbro and will be launched next week on July 12.

For me, it's hard not to like the new away shirt design. White is pretty harmless, but it's pretty ironic that Everton decided to adopt the same away color shirt as their cross-town rivals Liverpool.

Labels: everton, Umbro

With the decision by the arbitration panel today ruling against Sheffield United, the precedent has been set for clubs to be deceitful in the future regarding transfers, face the penalty of getting fined but avoid a points deduction.

If West Ham United can do it, what's stopping other teams from following suit in future seasons?

The difference between success and failure is so massive that the £5 million given to West Ham a couple of months is insignificant compared with the amount of TV money the Hammers will make in the 07/08 season. Even the bottom placed team in the Premier League will earn £35 million beginning next season.

Sheffield United, meanwhile, isn't giving up yet. They're seeking professional advice whether they should take the matter to court. Despite the Premier League and arbitration panel ruling against Sheffield United, the club must feel they have an opportunity to win an appeal. Considering the amount of money at stake, the Blades may end up fighting the Premier League.

In the meantime, the clubs that have supported Sheffield United's efforts have offered little or no comment regarding the announcement. Middlesbrough, Liverpool, Charlton and Fulham, where are you?

The sad thing about this affair is who knows how long it'll be before Sheffield United returns to the Premiership again. Will the team quickly fade from our memory and be condemned to Championship football for the next few years? I wouldn't be surprised.

Labels: sheffield united, West Ham United

Labels: dennis hopper, entourage