# 2014-15 Barclays Premier League Thread **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [August 10, 2014, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2014-15-barclays-premier-league-thread/695248 "2014-08-10T17:07:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 12
**Author:** ![NAF1138](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naf1138/32/3245_2.png) [@NAF1138](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NAF1138)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2015, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2014-15-barclays-premier-league-thread/695248/221 "2015-04-09T13:08:07Z")
> [@LawMonkey](#): > > Incidentally, while the top of the table may be mostly done and dusted at this point (other than City putting its boot on the Trafford lot’s throat in the process of getting back up to 3d, at least), the bottom is just getting interesting. I only caught the second half (and that on radio), but Villa and QPR had quite the slugfest earlier today, all to eventually accomplish… pretty much nothing. Both took a point; I think Villa finished one place higher, as they were no longer tied w/ Hull (and below them on GD). > > Leaving aside Leicester–had I not prior commitments to City, I would’ve fallen in love with the mighty Foxes when they humiliated the Trafford scum, and thus consigned myself to a football life of pain. But I’m a realist, and it’s hard to imagine a scenario where they dig themselves out of the relegation zone, even if they do have two games in hand over QPR. So, leaving aside Leicester, we’ve got three points between #19, Burnley, and #15, Sunderland, right now. (The next team up, WBA, adds another three points; I wouldn’t say they’re out of it, but they look fairly safe right now.) > > It’s gonna be a scrap; I may find myself surreptitiously watching more of these bottom table matches than City. I won’t make predictions, but I’ll admit that a) Hull [del]City[/del] Tigers should be relegated down the pyramid until AA either wises up or fucks off (he’s said he’d give the team away for free if he’s not allowed to change the name; hey, Assem! I’m not doing much right now, and I’d be more than happy to be a caretaker owner to get the side back stable under their proper name before moving on to being a rich, happy MCFC supporter who is also beloved of the people of Hull) and b) I’d hate to see Burnley or AVFC get relegated. Burnley’ve just been such scrappers this season, from Sean “Ginger Triple H” on down to Dave Fishwick of the minibus empire, that it’s impossible to not love them. AVFC is a big club, historically; I want them to stay in the top flight. Of the teams in the bottom, I really want both Leicester and Burnley to stay up. I agree the foxes don’t have a chance, but (having never watched the Championship I can ignorantly say) that they will be back up again soon. Lots of good things happening on that team and a season in the Premiership should give them enough money to keep those good things happening. Likewise, Burnley are a fun team. They are punching above their weight but I feel like if they can hold on this year, even though they are going to lose Ings this summer, they should be able to sick for a while. As for AVFC. Let em drop. Serves em right for hiring on Tim Sherwood. I’m happy to see QPR go back down as well. In my world of perfect mental justice it would be QPR, Hull, and Villa going down, but the world isn’t perfectly just. ---
**Author:** ![Thing\_Fish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecb155/32.png) [@Thing\_Fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thing_Fish)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2015, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2014-15-barclays-premier-league-thread/695248/222 "2015-04-13T03:06:18Z")
God, I hate football. ---
**Author:** ![Red\_Wiggler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/red_wiggler/32/13190_2.png) [@Red\_Wiggler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Red_Wiggler)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2015, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2014-15-barclays-premier-league-thread/695248/223 "2015-04-13T15:19:16Z")
> [@Thing\_Fish](#): > > God, I hate football. Chin up! Spurs could always tank the last few games badly enough to be surpassed by Swansea and avoid all that nasty and embarrassing old Europa League footy again. ---
**Author:** ![NAF1138](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naf1138/32/3245_2.png) [@NAF1138](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NAF1138)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2015, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2014-15-barclays-premier-league-thread/695248/224 "2015-04-15T00:02:37Z")
> [@Thing\_Fish](#): > > God, I hate football. So, what do you think has happened to the team? My theory is fitness has gone. They are just worn out from playing so high tempo all season and being rotated so little. Combine that with the fact that Mason doesn’t know how to play his position and you have serious problems. The blogs (and podcasts) I follow are split on this being Pochettino being to stubborn to make changes to his system (I sort of agree) and him just not having the right players no matter what system he plays (also sort of agree). But it’s a pretty stunning collapse after they seemed so dominant a month ago. That last game was like watching mls, which is not good. ---
**Author:** ![LawMonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d6d6ee/32.png) [@LawMonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LawMonkey)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2015, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2014-15-barclays-premier-league-thread/695248/225 "2015-04-15T00:31:52Z")
Ugh, the derby, the derby… Well, City will be the most dominant Europa League team in history, I have no doubt. (I’ll also say that the Chicago MCCFC Supporters’ Club were a fun lot, and I plan on coming up now and then for other bit matches. Helps a bit after a loss like that to have a nice rousing chorus of “MCFC OK!” and “Who the f_ck are M_n Un\*ted!”) ---
**Author:** ![mascaroni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/dc4da7/32.png) [@mascaroni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mascaroni)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2015, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2014-15-barclays-premier-league-thread/695248/226 "2015-04-15T16:27:24Z")
A new book by a survivor (who lost family) of the Bradford City fire in 1985 is pointing the finger at the chairman of the club at that time. [Extract from The Guardian.](http://www.theguardian.com/football/2015/apr/15/the-story-of-the-bradford-fire-book-extract) ---
**Author:** ![Thing\_Fish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecb155/32.png) [@Thing\_Fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thing_Fish)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2015, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2014-15-barclays-premier-league-thread/695248/227 "2015-04-15T17:08:50Z")
> [@NAF1138](#): > > So, what do you think has happened to the team? My theory is fitness has gone. They are just worn out from playing so high tempo all season and being rotated so little. Combine that with the fact that Mason doesn’t know how to play his position and you have serious problems. > > The blogs (and podcasts) I follow are split on this being Pochettino being to stubborn to make changes to his system (I sort of agree) and him just not having the right players no matter what system he plays (also sort of agree). But it’s a pretty stunning collapse after they seemed so dominant a month ago. That last game was like watching mls, which is not good. Seems odd that fatigue would be a big issue NOW, given that when they were playing better they were simultaneously engaged with Europa League and League Cup; I know that for some time Spurs led the league in games played. It may be that they have lost enthusiasm after falling out of the Champions League race (which would reflect poorly on coaching). I think a big part of it is that they were simply over their heads for much of the season, earning many more points than would be expected based on goal differential and having several poor performances bailed out by last-minute magic by Kane or Erickson. What we are seeing now may just be expected regression to the mean. ---
**Author:** ![Thing\_Fish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecb155/32.png) [@Thing\_Fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thing_Fish)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2015, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2014-15-barclays-premier-league-thread/695248/228 "2015-04-15T18:54:08Z")
[Spurs to play MLS All-Stars in Denver July 29!](http://m.tottenhamhotspur.com/news/tottenham-hotspur-to-play-mls-all-stars-150415/) ---
**Author:** ![Thing\_Fish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecb155/32.png) [@Thing\_Fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thing_Fish)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2015, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2014-15-barclays-premier-league-thread/695248/229 "2015-04-15T19:10:53Z")
Interesting article on a (desperately needed) [Optimistic Perspective on Spurs Season](http://cartilagefreecaptain.sbnation.com/2015/4/7/8356577/an-optimistic-perspective-on-spurs-season), arguing that a clear line can be drawn after the Stoke loss on November 9, when we had 14 points in 10 games and stood 12th in the table. At that point, Poch blew up the lineup (Kaboul, Capouie and Adebayor out, Bentaleb, Vertongen, Dier and Kane in) and since then: Here’s the Premier League table for that 20 game stretch (in other words, this is what the table would look like if we only counted games played since November 23). Arsenal 46 Chelsea 41 Man U 41 Spurs 40 Man City 40 Liverpool 40 C Palace 30 Granted this table doesn’t include last weekend’s atrocity, and as I said above some of those wins were quite lucky, but still it leaves me thinking that things could well be looking up for next season. ---
**Author:** ![LawMonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d6d6ee/32.png) [@LawMonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LawMonkey)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2015, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2014-15-barclays-premier-league-thread/695248/230 "2015-04-15T20:49:50Z")
Obviously you’re all failing to take into account the impact of a resurgent, Klopp-led City Kloppity Klopp Klopping to the Premier League title, maybe an FA Cup and… oh, Europa league glory. Heh. ---
**Author:** ![Jas09](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d07c76/32.png) [@Jas09](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jas09)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2015, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2014-15-barclays-premier-league-thread/695248/231 "2015-04-21T21:16:51Z")
> [@Thing\_Fish](#): > > Here’s the Premier League table for that 20 game stretch (in other words, this is what the table would look like if we only counted games played since November 23). Nice to see that even in the most optimistic glass-half-full accounting of Spurs current squad they are still 5 points behind the Gunners. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2015, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2014-15-barclays-premier-league-thread/695248/232 "2015-04-21T21:23:21Z")
> [@Thing\_Fish](#): > > Interesting article on a (desperately needed) [Optimistic Perspective on Spurs Season](http://cartilagefreecaptain.sbnation.com/2015/4/7/8356577/an-optimistic-perspective-on-spurs-season), arguing that a clear line can be drawn after the Stoke loss on November 9, when we had 14 points in 10 games and stood 12th in the table. I understand focusing on more recent efforts, and as a Liverpool fan i’m also cognizant of the fact that my team did much better after November. Still, i’ve never been very convinced by these sorts of selective stats. “Here’s how awesome my team would have been if we conveniently forget that really shitty eight-week period at the start of the season.” For better or worse, games played in Week 1 count just the same as games played in Week 30. ---
**Author:** ![Knorf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/58956e/32.png) [@Knorf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knorf)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2015, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2014-15-barclays-premier-league-thread/695248/233 "2015-04-21T22:20:41Z")
> [@mhendo](#): > > For better or worse, games played in Week 1 count just the same as games played in Week 30. Indeed, I take no solace from knowing that there have been significant stretches in past seasons where Arsenal were the best side in the Premier League. Truth is, it’s extraordinarily difficult to maintain top form over so many matches, but that is nonetheless what you have to do to win it all. ---
**Author:** ![Thing\_Fish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecb155/32.png) [@Thing\_Fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thing_Fish)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2015, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2014-15-barclays-premier-league-thread/695248/234 "2015-04-27T21:25:00Z")
> [@mhendo](#): > > I understand focusing on more recent efforts, and as a Liverpool fan i’m also cognizant of the fact that my team did much better after November. > > Still, i’ve never been very convinced by these sorts of selective stats. > > “Here’s how awesome my team would have been if we conveniently forget that really shitty eight-week period at the start of the season.” > > For better or worse, games played in Week 1 count just the same as games played in Week 30. Right, but the fact that there were significant lineup changes coinciding with the improvement suggests that there is more going on than just deciding not to count the weeks when they played crappy. ---
**Author:** ![Thing\_Fish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecb155/32.png) [@Thing\_Fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thing_Fish)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2015, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2014-15-barclays-premier-league-thread/695248/235 "2015-05-03T18:08:16Z")
Ugh, tough loss to City today to completely ruin our top 4 chances. Cue the Thomas Dolby – “EU…ROP…A!” Watching the game I felt we completely dominated but looking at the stats it looks more even. Still, a lot of energy and determination from Spurs and if we keep that level of intensity up should get 9 points out of our last 3. So Spurs aren’t playing in America this summer because they need to rest and practice for next season…disappointing but makes sense. Oh wait, now we’re playing the MLS All-Star game. Well, it’s just one game. Oh, and then but also, three days after the EPL season ends, we are playing in _Malaysia_. What? ---
**Author:** ![Subterraneanus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a183cd/32.png) [@Subterraneanus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Subterraneanus)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2015, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2014-15-barclays-premier-league-thread/695248/236 "2015-05-04T23:59:23Z")
“You know, boring I think is ten years without a title. That’s very boring” — José Mourinho Enjoy the summer. ---
**Author:** ![Red\_Wiggler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/red_wiggler/32/13190_2.png) [@Red\_Wiggler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Red_Wiggler)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2015, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2014-15-barclays-premier-league-thread/695248/237 "2015-05-05T12:43:19Z")
With three games left, the relegation fight is high drama. I have a friend who is inexplicably a Newcastle fan and we are fascinated by the pending train wreck. The clubs behind them all gained ground this past weekend with strong efforts while the Maggies looked like a team that didn’t want to be there. ---
**Author:** ![Red\_Wiggler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/red_wiggler/32/13190_2.png) [@Red\_Wiggler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Red_Wiggler)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2015, 12:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2014-15-barclays-premier-league-thread/695248/238 "2015-05-18T12:11:30Z")
The PL will start the 2015-16 Champions League tournament about three points ahead of a resurgent Serie A in the league coefficients (and behind Bundesliga). Should the four contenders have another disappointing tournament while the Italians continue their strong play, PL could fall a place in the league rankings and lose a berth effective with the 2016-17 regular season. That will make for a tense season indeed. ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2015, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2014-15-barclays-premier-league-thread/695248/239 "2015-05-18T12:24:34Z")
^ There is no English side who looks anywhere near Champions League Material. Unlike the last decade, where you could have bet on anyone of the top four to go all the way. ---
**Author:** ![Red\_Wiggler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/red_wiggler/32/13190_2.png) [@Red\_Wiggler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Red_Wiggler)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2015, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2014-15-barclays-premier-league-thread/695248/240 "2015-05-18T13:16:33Z")
> [@AK84](#): > > ^ > There is no English side who looks anywhere near Champions League Material. Unlike the last decade, where you could have bet on anyone of the top four to go all the way. I simply can’t explain why the CL teams didn’t go a little further in the current tourney. The semifinals were probably too much to ask for, what with the talent concentration at Bayern and at the Big Two in Spain but the early round flameouts were disappointing nonetheless. And then there were the even worse performances in Europa League, which also count in the coefficients and where the Italian clubs made up lots of points (Napoli and Fiorentina made it to the semis, for example). It’s all a fascinating process to me. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2014-15-barclays-premier-league-thread/695248.md?page=11) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2014-15-barclays-premier-league-thread/695248.md?page=13)