got up at 6am today, drove a bunch of miles in the mud to a good free wifi spot and sorted through a bunch of shitty streams-- finally was able to catch a reasonably watchable 2nd half of the bayern/nurnberg game

it was fun! nurnberg seemed to have parked the bus and bayern was in full attack mode and couldn't score for the longest time. finally both little thiago and little gotze were taken out and replaced by muller and kroos and bayern scored 2 goals.

seems to me bayern is shaping up to avoid becoming a boring side, they were very aggressive, but 2 things concern me:

1) what used to be a fast moving up the right/left channels seems to have been replaced by a slower triangulation. good for possession but bad for counterattack/surprises.

2) the defensive midfield seems a bit "holy". meaning that when nurnber counterattacked (didn't happen a lot though) it squeezed right through the middle -- right where javi martinez used to stop them.

leverkusen / monchengladbach did great it seems (4-2) but i couldn't watch it cuz it was simultaneous and with streams you get the one chance only.

anyway, in spite of all the problems-- thank fuck for streams! i am sort of relieved but still worried and skeptical that he's gonna improve from last year's perfection. (a tall order anyway).

They do seem to be making hard work of games they'd have previously steamrollered through. Obviously a transition phase. The question is a transition to what?

Anyway, Man C play in 10 minutes if you can watch it.

Edit: And FIFA's confirmed it's gonna reschedule the Qatar WC, probably to the winter. Absolute bollocks.

Man City v Cardiff. Amazing game. Exactly why the Prem may not be top in terms of quality but remains the most exciting. No doubt the papers'll be all about what went wrong for MC but all credit to Cardiff. Brilliant!

that's because it's the one you follow! wiliam blake had some thing to say about trees too.

anyway i tried to find that but it was too late and regadlress the channel is not in my cable package (i finally found nbc sports, unavailable. plus other stuff also unavailable, ha ha.well it's not "my" cable package. long story.)

tomorrow it's man u/ chelsea--or am i dreaming? that should be a good fucking show. i'll try to see if i go catch a stream somewhere (hides face in shame).

Yeah, Man U-Chelsea tomorrow.

It's true that I don't watch every league to compare but I do try to keep up with Serie A and La Liga and certainly, of the three, the Prem is more exciting and unpredictable on a week to week basis. I doubt many Italians or Spaniards would even argue with that. What little I saw of the Bundesliga last year suggested it had a great fan culture and produced two exceptional teams but, if you put those to one side, it wasn't that exciting, and nothing much to shout about quality wise. I'd never say the EPL offered the best quality of football although if you took the top half of the Prem and compared it with the top half of any other major European league, I'd say the Prem would have a good shout against any of them - even if their top two teams were ahead of ours. I suppose it ends up depending what different people find exciting. For me it's unpredictability, coming from even the smallest clubs believing they have a chance against even the very biggest, and playing with that spirit, even if they fail. The David v Goliath thing that I do obviously see in other leagues, but not with anything like the same regularity. If I did, I'd say so; I've no deep-rooted need to defend the Prem just because I'm English. I'm as aware of its shortcomings as anyone, but I won't deny its qualities either, just to avoid accusations of parochialism.

i'm currently in an "under construction" farmhouse and watch tv elsewhere, so i have no control of the programming.

so yeah, i'm resorting to streams in desperation-- i'm a fucking criminal. i hope to soon reform and change my evil ways...

...but i'm not about to sign a 2-year contract with a satellite tv provider if i don't know yet where i'll be next month.

mind you, the streams require that i go and steal wifi as well as content. but trust me, the penance is included in the process. rural america remains in the cave ages and this operation is not without its pains.

anyway. there was a new york red bulls thing that i could have watched today (i think it's about to end) but it would have been like salting the wound.

see? long story. you were warned!


ha ha ha. this is like arguing about who has the better girlfriend. you'll find the better traits in the one you love. (and didn't man u win by like 1,000,000 points last year? the bayern super-supremacy was a freak historical thing. anyway, keep an eye on bayer leverkusen this coming CL.)

pfffft! i was raised catholic. i've bought a papal indulgence.

As a West Ham fan, I concede you have the better looking girlfriend.

sure, but you'll probably claim yours is crazier in the sack or knows how to make a great pork pie or really gets you like nobody else would.

Nah, big Sam's obsessed with clean sheets so hardly much sack action worth talking about. And the pies are overpriced.

Anyway, Man U v Chelsea tonight. Gonna be interesting.



And Real Madrid have already assigned Gareth Bale a squad number and selling shirts with his name, even before they've officially signed him. :rolleyes:

Bless 'em.

Yeah tonight's match could be good. If I can get a decent stream I'll give it a watch.

turned out quite a cagey affair in the end, well the first half anyway. I fell asleep at half time.

Seems ridiculous that a manager could face the sack two games into a season but looks like Holloway's on the verge after last night's defeat. Rumours that Warnock's being lined up and even talk about getting Pardew from Newcastle. Daft as it sounds, Saturday's game against Sunderland could be a must win. Wonder what Sonicbebs makes of it all.

Is that Palace's manager? I saw their game with Spurs and liked them.



Arsenal's group is probably the most interesting out of the CL draw.

Looking forward to tonight's supercup final.

YES!

Yes, or Freddy Kreuger as i like to call him..

Last night's match was epic. This one you got to see, símbolos.