Tag: Premier League

  • Premier League Week 2: Tottenham Draw, and Brentford’s Statement Win

    I was all hyped up for the Tottenham v Chelsea match, and it didn’t disappoint. I can be fully honest while also being biased for Spurs, but Chelsea was the better team that day. Raheem Sterling is just a dangerous man on the pitch, and it looked like Tottenham’s defense didn’t have an answer to stop him, or the rest of Chelsea for that matter. Clearly, these two teams don’t like each other, and everyone was getting chippy out there. But I will say this, Chelsea shut Son down, and made him a non-factor in the match, but there wasn’t a whole lot they could do to stop Kane. Chelsea gave Tottenham too many opportunities at the end, and if you do that, Kane will find a way to get the ball. In that sense, Chelsea got what the deserved. Yup, Conte wanted to make a statement, and the first statement was don’t piss him off when shaking hands, and the second was the team never gave up; Spurs were out matched, out played, and out classed, but they never gave up. That’s a huge difference from the team that took the field last season. Last year, Tottenham would just folded in the last ten minutes of a match. This team fought, and pushed, and hung in there. A win would have been great, but the draw meant this Tottenham team won’t accept a loss.

    I think I have mention that I don’t know a whole lot about the Premier League. That also includes looking up the schedule for the other 19 teams. I wasn’t paying attention, and didn’t realize that Man United, who picked up Christian Eriksen off of Brentford, was coming to Brentford to play this past Saturday. On paper, Manchester United still looks like a powerhouse; they have Ronaldo, Maguire and Eriksen to say the least, so heading into Brentford, this should have been an easy win for Man United. Brentford is only starting their second season the the PL, after having won promotion, and normally a team like that is still adjusting to the new level. What ended up happening was a statement win from the Bees, that I am sure made Eriksen wonder if he made the right decision in leaving the team for United. Yes, the first goal Brentford got was a bit of a fluke, as the ball went through the United goalie’s hands, but the three that followed were executed by a team that was focused and ready to play, and acted like they expected to win this match from the beginning. Manchester United looked like the inferior club, like they hand just been promoted. Yes, that 4 – 0 win by Brentford was impressive, and I won’t lie, made me feel like I knew something that no one else did. Keep an eye on Brentford.

    (Pardon me, but if you found my personal insight into the world of English football enjoyable, please, try keeping calm, and liking, commenting, or sharing this post. Carpenters and Walruses would approve.)

  • Premier League Week 1: Tottenham Won, and some other stuff happened…

    The one advantage I had with being sick this weekend was that I was able to watch the opening matches of the Premier League.

    And I will reiterate yet again, that I know nothing about the Premier League, other than what I have picked up over the past five years of watching, which really isn’t that much, being that I follow Tottenham Hotspur, and don’t pay attention to much else in the league.

    At the conclusion of Week One, Tottenham is sitting on top of the table, and I’m going to enjoy that as much as I can for this week. Yes, Spurs did beat up on Southampton, but I would like to point out that Kane and Son were pretty silent in the match, which isn’t a bad thing, and may have been by design. Kulusevski, on the other hand, looked amazing and completely in control of the pitch – putting the ball where he wanted and setting the pace of the game. Now, Tottenham did have a slow start, and gave up a goal early, but unlike last season’s team, starting out in a hole didn’t seem to dim their aggressiveness at all. In fact, that early set back seemed to have inspired the team to play harder.

    With Chelsea coming up this Sunday, I will bet that Son and Kane will play a much more aggressive role. From what I understand about Conte as a manager, he will want to send a message to the League, and beating Chelsea at home would do that. It’s an early test for them, and could set the attitude for the first half of the season depending on the outcome.

    Other than that…

    Man City seems to have signed an honest to god Viking to play on their team. Erling Haaland is from the land of the ice and snow. Yet again, it does seem unfair that Man City can keep adding these dominate players, year after year, which makes the League feel like a two-team race between them and Liverpool. But, I cannot deny watching Haaland play was impressive.

    My dark horse team of the season will be Brentford again. No real reason, I just like the fact that it’s a scrappy team working their way up. I was a little sad that they lost Eriksen to Man United in the off-season, but I also knew that he had a high value, and little Brentford wasn’t going to be able to pay those prices. My hope is that they will finish in the top ten.

    On to Week Two.

    (By the way, if this blog is enjoyable to you, like a well-worn tweed blazer with elbow patches, then take a moment to like, share, or leave a comment. It will make this anglophile very happy. Chip-chip! Cheerio-o!)

  • ODDS and ENDS: Farmer’s Markets, Premier League Starts, and Summer

    (Don’t jock my style!)

    If you were to ask me how old I feel, I would say 25 even on a bad day. But, there are a few things that do, unfortunately, remind me that I am a middle-aged man. The fact that my hair is gray, that I have enough ear and nose hair that I have to trim it, and I am balding. The other factor that most comes into play is my desire to go to a farmer’s market early on a Saturday morning. Not just a desire to go to one, but an actual level of excitement to be there. I think we’ll hit the one up in Tarrytown/Sleepy Hollow one (weather permitting), and I hear there is a pickle vendor there, which makes all the difference. The real honest goal is to get out of the City, but to also get more fruits and vegetables in our diet. The person in our household pushing for this is our daughter. The wife suggested we hit up a farmer’s market as a way to meet the kid’s request, and now I am looking forward to getting a bunch of produce. I guess there are worse things to get excited about in middle age.

    The Premier League starts today with Crystal Palace v Arsenal! Hopefully, and I am biased, Arsenal will go down in flames, as that will fill my Hotspur supporting heart with so much joy! Tottenham’s team has stayed pretty much together in the off season, so I am expecting a solid run from this club, especially with Conte in charge from the get-go. I have read all the predictions, and it seems like the whole world is either picking Man City or Liverpool to win the league, BUT just about everybody has the Spurs down as third or fourth on the table, so to me, that says there is hope, if nothing else, that Tottenham can make a run at it. And let’s not forget that this season there is Champions League play, and that break in the middle for the World Cup. This is going to be a crazy football season, and I am sure I will be writing about all of it.

    Go Away Summer! I’m tired of your shit!

    (Say! If you enjoyed the refreshing oddness and thirst-quenching blandness of this blog, please show some love and like, share, or comment on this post. It does a body good!)

  • ODDS and ENDS: New Schedule, Rewriting, and August 6th

    (I do less before 9am, than most people do all day.)

    The kid is out of school for summer which means that stay-at-home-dad’s school year schedule has been thrown out the window. I know it isn’t my job to “entertain” the kid every moment of the day, but it does mean that I am her go to person for questions, and just about everything else. The quandary I find myself in is when do I write? I was knocking out blogs in the morning, but as of this week, the time is hard to find. I might have to write at night and publish in the morning. Or, whatever. I’ll figure out the new schedule.

     While I was on vacation, I didn’t do much writing, though I did spend a bit of time thinking about it. What I came up with is that I have to rewrite a story. And it’s a story that I have rewritten three times already. And it’s a story that I have submitted to four different lit journals. Not that it matters, as the chance of it getting published, even if it is rewritten, are slim at best. I just can’t stop tinkering with it. On one hand, I want to get it right, and on the other hand, I wonder if I keep messing with it as a form of procrastination?

    Premiere League starts up on August 6th. Well, that’s when Tottenham’s first match is.

  • ODDS and ENDS: Local Spurs Bars, YouTube Battle Documentaries, and Most Men Can’t Grill

    (Holy Cannoli!)

    I have found the local NYC Tottenham Hotspur bar. Well, there are two; One in Manhattan and one in Brooklyn. I’m not planning on going there, as I just like knowing that they are there if I need them. Also, the 2022/23 Premiere League fixture schedule came out on Thursday. I won’t bore you with the details, but the season does start on August 6th.

    I think I might have mentioned a while ago that I started watching disc golf tournaments on YouTube. If I haven’t mentioned it,; I do that now. Somehow the YouTube/Google algorithm (which is our new overload and I do welcome them in running the mine) thought I needed to watch some very detailed, slightly melodramatic, and well narrated, mini documentaries about battles from the ancient and medieval world. And the overlord was correct, I am interested in watching them. It’s nerdy fun for me, as they do cover all of the lead up and logistics of the battles, which is something that is normally glossed over in other histories on the same subject. Now, all of these docs have an ad in them, which makes complete sense because somebody’s got to pay for this. I am not knocking these guys for having ads. Hell, I’m probably going to be doing the same thing very soon. What I find impressive about these ads is the seamlessness the voiceover artists have with going from talking about the battle to selling whatever product. It’s like, “Little did Caesar know that Pompey was setting a trap that would decide the future of the Roman Republic, just like how my future was decided when I began using Giglio Men’s Facial Regimen – I product I fully endorse, and suggest that you should try as well.” I tip my cap to these guys; they sell these products just as convincingly as they narrate the documentaries.

    Yeah, most guys don’t know how to grill. (I said, and I ain’t scared.) I have been talking to the wife about this lately because it’s summer, and grilling season, and some guy somewhere will grill some sort of meat for us, and it will be awful. And we will chew this grey piece of burnt bark while being regaled by this guy, telling us how great he is at grilling. Please, fellas, stop it. If you don’t know how to cook in a kitchen, what the fuck makes you think that you are amazing over a grill? It’s like all of the guys turn into the Hulk over the grill. “FIRE! SMASH!” Just… just stop. We, your friends, are begging you. Just stop.

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