World Football Thread XIX: Capello to the Rescue!

[Cort Haus]

Except that the chaser is actually a 'Jerry'.

[duke o' york]

Get in!

Now we only have to match Hull's results over the next two games, and given that their last game is away against the Scum, there is still hope.

[Solomwi]

Get in!

Now we only have to match Hull's results over the next two games, and given that their last game is away against the Scum, there is still hope.

Had no idea you were part of the Toon Army, duke. Of course, I'm just an American who jumped on board after (a) deciding to take an interest in the EPL and (b) reading the infamous side selection column by Bill Simmons, but still , and to pulling our collective heads above water, albeit barely.

[Cort Haus]

"our"

Good grief.

[Cort Haus]

That Bill Simmons is a terrible reason to start following "soccerball". Still, anyone supporting the barcodes after reading that gets all they deserve.

[Solomwi]

"our"

Good grief.

I thought you'd like that.

[Solomwi]

That Bill Simmons is a terrible reason to start following "soccerball". Still, anyone supporting the barcodes after reading that gets all they deserve.

Let's differentiate between starting to follow the league and choosing a side. I did the former when I realized that (a) it's a sport which hasn't been feminized, meaning that defense is still valued and scoring opportunities are actually meaningful (contrast to basketball, for instance), and (b) it doesn't use a playoff, which makes the regular season all important and reduces dramatically the number of meaningless games (contrast to the last few weeks of the NFL season, where playoff teams rest their stars, even when it means a likely loss). Add in the intriguing relegation/promotion scheme and I decided it was worth looking into. Only then did I read the column.

[Krill]

Damn...I want Newcastle to get relegated for hilarity, and letting Shearer to build a new new team. Most of the idiots at Newcastle need to get sacked for incompetence...

[Imran Siddiqui]

Thanks Middlesbrough for being good sports. Still fear the worst though...

[Solomwi]

Indeed. It's still at the very least a goals race, and one end of that, uh, hasn't been a strong suit when playing teams not named Middlesborough lately.

[duke o' york]

But we've got a large goals difference advantage over Hull, Boro' and the Baggies, so we just need to match Hull's results in the next two to stay up. I'm still not hopeful, but a lot more so than I was this time last week.

My ideal results:

Wigan 3-0 Scum
Scum 1-1 Arsenal
Toon 8-0 Fulham (I did say ideal results, so yeah, the score is ridiculous)
Bolton 1-2 Hull
West Brom 0-4 Liverpool
Portsmouth 8-0 Mackems (notice a theme here?)
Villa 0-8 Toon
Hull 2-0 Scum
Liverpool 3-0 Spurs
Mackems 0-8 Chelsea

That would do nicely.

[Solomwi]

I'd take that, but on a more realistic note I'm more worried about Hull pulling a point out against Bolton that the Toon doesn't match than anything.

[duke o' york]

What? Wigan are 1-0 up at half-time, so my prediction still looks good.

[duke o' york]

Damn the evil Scum.

I don't mind the team as such (well, apart from the diving and the whinging): it's the fans who really annoy me. My ex was a Scum fan, and one of my first date questions in future is to ask who they support. No Scum, and no Mackems!

[Krill]

Scum = Scousers or Mancs?