Friday, August 15, 2014

West Brom & West Ham, Pulis Resigns From Palace, EPL Weekend Previews!

The Premier League season begins tomorrow.
Sure. Of course, on the eve of the start of the EPL season, SSN Headquarters loses power. Geez Louise. OK, let's try and get something together so we're prepared for tomorrow. We'll begin with one final entire EPL season preview. Daniel Taylor has the honors. And now to the weekend:


Bloody hell. The day before the season and Crystal Palace's manager resigns! Tony Pulis is out at Selhurst Park. Not the best way to begin the campaign for the Eagles.

The final two team previews are here:


El Sid has taken his eye off of Spain for a minute to cast a glance down at Chile. Yes, folks, it's Sid Lowe on Alexis Sánchez.

That's a lot of Ronny...
Richard Williams! He's been quite of late. He's back today with this question: Can Louis van Gaal allay English suspicions of the three-man defence?

We're going to throw in 10 Players With Points To Prove (EPL) right here.


And finally...Antonio Conte has been named to head the Italian National Team. James Horncastle thinks the Italians are rolling the dice.

Enjoy the weekend!

Onward!!

-SSN

Thursday, August 14, 2014

Swansea City & Tottenham, DeAndre Yedlin to Tottenham, Gentleman Ultra's Alternative Serie A Guide To Lazio

Yikes! It'll have to be a quick one today. Let's get rolling...

As expected, Yank In His Hometown DeAndre Yedlin has become a Yank Abroad. His move from Seattle to Tottenham has been confirmed. Good luck to him. Luis Suárez is still banned but can now train with Barca and play in friendlies Good luck to...uh...no.


The Gentleman Ultra is back! We're graced with a guide to Lazio. Grazie, Gentleman! We shouldn't just look at one side of Rome, though. Thankfully, James Horncastle has a little feature on The Wolf of Roma today. That would be Walter Sabatini, by the way.

Two more EPL previews today, two more tomorrow, and then that's it, people!


San Lorenzo are the Champions of South America, says Tim Vickery. Yes, the Pope's favorite side won the Copa Libertadores yesterday. Jonathan Wilson reports on the end of an era. An era without a trophy. As he puts it, "And with that, Club Atlético Sin Libertadores de América, one of the oldest jokes in Argentinian football, had ceased to be."

This is weird...


Michael Cox is a tactical dude. He likes to write about tactics. Today, he's got a club-by-club tactical guide to the EPL season ahead. And all that entails. Tactically speaking, of course.

And finally...does it pay to sell your best player?

Onward!!

-SSN

Wednesday, August 13, 2014

Stoke & Sunderland, Ronny & Real Madrid Win UEFA Super Cup, Jonathan Wilson On Barcelona '99-'00, Raphael Honigstein In Germany

Errr...hello. Now I play in Spain. Now I wear the string.
And a very pleasant Hump Day to you and yours. As we predicted, there were Ronaldo biceps displayed yesterday as the FITTEST PLAYER IN THE WORLD scored twice to lead Real Madrid over Sevilla. Rob Phillips was at Cardiff City Stadium and filed this report. Joe Lovejoy was there, too. And...Mark Lomas has Three Points.

Loyal SSN followers will know that Phil McNulty is the Chief Football Writer for the BBC. Today, Phil released his predictions for the upcoming season. He thinks Chelsea will win the league. He thought Chelsea would win the league last year. Sticking to his guns, he is. Chelsea do have a top striker now in the form of Diego Costa. None other than Spanish Football Expert Sid Lowe thinks Costa is "perfect" for Chelsea. Look out!


Today's EPL previews are here. Stoke and Sunderland. What more is there to say?


Oh, Jonathan Wilson. You're such a wise scribe. Thank you for giving us this fascinating article about Barcelona in the late 1990s. Thanks for reminding us how Louis van Gaal shaped five top managers between 1997 and 2000. Here's the Stat of the Day: In 1997-2000 the present managers of Barcelona, Bayern Munich, Manchester United, Chelsea, Ajax, PSV Eindhoven and Southampton were all either playing or working at Camp Nou. Wow.

Foh Shizzle.
Fast forward a few years and Barcelona now have Neymar. Is he more important to the club than Messi?

Everyone thinks Fellaini is leaving Manchester United. Funny, then, that he scored the winning goal in United's friendly victory last night over Valencia. Was it Screech's final act? If so, nice to score, but not nice to receive the attention he got from the United faithful.

Raphael Honigstein is reporting on Germany again! Outstanding. Today he's talking some Jürgen Klopp and Borussia Dortmund. Excellent.

More Premier League Previews? Sure. SB Nation has a Mega-Preview here.

We out.

Onward!!

-SSN

Tuesday, August 12, 2014

QPR & Southampton, Uefa Super Cup, Sid Lowe On Barcelona, MLS

Good Day! All eyes on Cardiff (OK, maybe not) as Real Madrid and Sevilla meet for the UEFA Super Cup this afternoon (2:45pm EDT on Fox Sports 1). What the hell is the UEFA Super Cup, you ask? It's when the winner of the Champions League and the winner of the Europa League play each other. Duh. You'll get your Gareth Bale in a sort of homecoming to Wales, your first sight of James and Kroos in blanco, and, most likely, Ronaldo's flexed muscles. Just a little something to get you through the week. Check the Team News.

EPL previews. Today it's two clubs who will hope to finish mid-table.


Not enough? You want a club-by-club guide? Here.

New boys. There are a lot of them in the Premier League this season. Here are five new faces aiming to make their mark. Transfers. How about Top 10 for their value?


'Tis Tuesday and that's when we usually check in with MLS. Bird has a Top 11 for the weekend here. Bird also has Power Rankings here. He claims Seattle should be top. Jeff Carlisle disagrees. He think the assGalaxy are the most powerful.


The Cannibal has gone to Catalonia. No, he can't play for a while, but it'll be very interesting to see how Luis Suárez does at Barcelona once his ban ends. His signing certainly represents a change in philosophy by the Spanish giants. Sid Lowe investigates.

Let's get going with EPL predictions, shall we? The man with the huge nose thinks Chelsea will win it all. Southampton legend Matt Le Tissier argues that it'll be Manchester City once again.

That'll do just fine.

Onward!!

-SSN

Monday, August 11, 2014

Manchester United & Newcastle, Arsenal Win Community Shield, James Horncastle On Roma

Happy Monday. Arsenal defeated a half-asleep and still-on-vacation Manchester City in the Charity Community Shield at Wembley yesterday. The match provided some decent moments for the neutral (Barney Rooney filed this report) and we can now say that the curtain has been raised and we're ready for the real deal this weekend. Before we move on, however, here are Three PointsFive Talking Points, and Jonathan Wilson's report. Oh, and just how did all the new signings get on?

Michael Cox is a tactical dude. He likes to write about tactics. Today, he's writing about Manchester United and Van Gaal's philosophy. And what that means. Tactically speaking, of course.
Totti & Batigol celebrate as Thuram looks on...
They'll be playing Il Calcio in Italy before too long. Serie A gets going next month and James Horncastle reckons Roma have what it takes to win their first Scudetto since 2001. Ahhhh, that was a squad we loved. Totti in his prime, Walter Samuel and Cafú anchoring the defense, Batistuta and Montella up front. Hidetoshi Nakata. Abel Babo! What a side. Sniff...sniff. Good memories.


Sticking with transfers, here are the Top 10 Biggest Risks of transfers that have gone through already.

In Major League Soccer, Landon Donovan's farewell tour has officially begun. Here are Five Things from the weekend's domestic action.

We've got two more Premier League previews today. They feature two big clubs with a lot to prove and under a lot of pressure.


Question of the Day: How do Real Madrid keep £500m of talent happy?

Jamie Redknapp tips Chelsea for the title. There. Now you know. Do you care? If so, click here for 'Lil Redknapp's team-by-team season preview.

We'll conclude the beginning of the week with this: Ten hidden gems that are ready to sparkle in the Premier League this season. Bam!

Onward!!

-SSN