# 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:** 5
**Author:** ![blindboyard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blindboyard/32/2833_2.png) [@blindboyard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blindboyard)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2014, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2014-15-barclays-premier-league-thread/695248/81 "2014-08-31T14:47:17Z")
I know that cricketers still get caps, with a number embroidered on it to show how many players have played for England before them. ---
**Author:** ![Knorf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/58956e/32.png) [@Knorf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knorf)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2014, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2014-15-barclays-premier-league-thread/695248/82 "2014-09-05T19:36:41Z")
International break, blah blah. I want more Premiere League! Champions League will do, but not till Tuesday! Bah. I want to see what impact Danny Welbeck will make for the Gunners! Also, we should be getting Theo Walcott back soon. \>fidgets\< ---
**Author:** ![LawMonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d6d6ee/32.png) [@LawMonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LawMonkey)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2014, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2014-15-barclays-premier-league-thread/695248/83 "2014-09-05T21:51:57Z")
It is pretty rough. I listen to a fair bit of SiriusXM’s FC channel, which plays a good long chunk of UK sports radio from about 12-5pm Eastern. With no Premier League news of note after the transfer window closed on Monday, it’s been a steady march to desperation: First, fretting about England’s friendly against Norway, followed quickly by excoriating England’s performance in same. Then cricket (and more fretting about the English national team). Yesterday, we had the startup Indian football league, which at least gave us some good ‘goer’/Goa puns. Well, not that good. Today, they were scrambling to fill air with rugby union and League 1. Thank goodness Liverpool and Arsenal have games on Tuesday (not to mention Real Madrid), else they’d be talking about pub teams by Monday! ---
**Author:** ![LawMonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d6d6ee/32.png) [@LawMonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LawMonkey)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2014, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2014-15-barclays-premier-league-thread/695248/84 "2014-09-10T01:31:10Z")
Just realized I had one of my occasional failures to be able to read the calendar that I have. I think it was the pure hope of club football. Thank you all for not laughing at me openly, in the thread. 🙂 Anyway, fair play to England for defeating the [del]wicked[/del] [del]despised[/del] [del]neutral[/del] formidable Swiss; sounded like a good game. (I listened to the commentary on my smartphone app, which I think is basically two guys sitting around their apartment watching the game on TV.) ---
**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:** [September 16, 2014, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2014-15-barclays-premier-league-thread/695248/85 "2014-09-16T18:56:03Z")
Does the EPL often change the dates of games on relatively short notice for TV? Or am I unable to read a calendar? Since I can’t watch games at the usual Saturday morning (Chicago) time, I made note before the season of all the Spurs games scheduled on other days, but now I see we are playing West Brom this Sunday (me having already made other plans), which I could swear wasn’t on the schedule when it first came out. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Greenjeans](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr.greenjeans/32/551_2.png) [@Mr.Greenjeans](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Greenjeans)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2014, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2014-15-barclays-premier-league-thread/695248/86 "2014-09-16T19:00:10Z")
Looks like I picked a bad year to become a Newcastle supporter. ---
**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:** [September 16, 2014, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2014-15-barclays-premier-league-thread/695248/87 "2014-09-16T20:44:43Z")
> [@Thing\_Fish](#): > > Does the EPL often change the dates of games on relatively short notice for TV? Or am I unable to read a calendar? Since I can’t watch games at the usual Saturday morning (Chicago) time, I made note before the season of all the Spurs games scheduled on other days, but now I see we are playing West Brom this Sunday (me having already made other plans), which I could swear wasn’t on the schedule when it first came out. They switched the match because Spurs made it to the group stage of the Europa League, and are playing against Partizan Belgrade on Thursday. Moving to Sunday gives them an extra day to recuperate. ---
**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:** [September 16, 2014, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2014-15-barclays-premier-league-thread/695248/88 "2014-09-16T23:03:51Z")
That makes sense, thanks. I guess I need to apologize for my previous disparagement of the Europa League! On an unrelated note, I see that Borussia Dortmund beat Arsenal today on a goal by a player named\* Immobile\*. How cool is that?! ---
**Author:** ![LawMonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d6d6ee/32.png) [@LawMonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LawMonkey)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2014, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2014-15-barclays-premier-league-thread/695248/89 "2014-09-17T00:34:57Z")
Brings to mind the classic names the Brits gave (and still do) give to their warships–Invincible, Indomitable, and so on. I’ll be sticking my fingers in my ears from 2:45p on tomorrow so I can watch the Bayern-Man City match unspoiled. Would be a terrific win for City if we can pull it off! ---
**Author:** ![Knorf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/58956e/32.png) [@Knorf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knorf)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2014, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2014-15-barclays-premier-league-thread/695248/90 "2014-09-17T03:33:49Z")
> [@Thing\_Fish](#): > > That makes sense, thanks. I guess I need to apologize for my previous disparagement of the Europa League! On an unrelated note, I see that Borussia Dortmund beat Arsenal today on a goal by a player named\* Immobile\*. How cool is that?! From my point of view, not cool at all. ---
**Author:** ![Dead\_Cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9fc29f/32.png) [@Dead\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dead_Cat)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2014, 9:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2014-15-barclays-premier-league-thread/695248/91 "2014-09-17T09:40:02Z")
> [@Thing\_Fish](#): > > Does the EPL often change the dates of games on relatively short notice for TV? Or am I unable to read a calendar? Since I can’t watch games at the usual Saturday morning (Chicago) time, I made note before the season of all the Spurs games scheduled on other days, but now I see we are playing West Brom this Sunday (me having already made other plans), which I could swear wasn’t on the schedule when it first came out. Yeah, this does happen, sometimes for TV, sometimes due to a European or domestic cup competition. Occasionally kick-off times will change as well - nowadays they’re pretty good at scheduling local derbies for the early kick-off well in advance (partly as these matches tend to make good TV for neutrals, as well as the fans of both teams being more interested, and partly as these matches are more likely to have “crowd trouble”, as gratuitous violence loosely associated with football partisanship is usually euphemised), but I can imagine a situation where (say) Aston Villa and Birmingham City were drawn against each other in the FA Cup and promptly got moved to a 12.45 rather than 3pm KO. The theory being that this gives the hooligans less time to get drunk in the pub beforehand, thus reducing alcohol-fuelled violence. Not sure whether or not this actually works, surely there must have been at least one academic study on this? Actually, to answer my own question, here’s something along these lines I found with a quick Google search (warning, pdf): [link](https://www.ucl.ac.uk/scs/people/research-students/justin-kurland/tabbed-box/UCLfootballreportforGOL.pdf). I haven’t read the whole paper, but the conclusion is that there is “no support for the hypothesis that late kick-offs on Saturdays are significantly associated with elevated levels of alcohol-related crime and disorder.” Of course, this is slightly different from what I said above, but pretty close. The paper also acknowledges “police influence over which games do come to have late Saturday starts may mean that those that are played are atypical of the rest of the league. The fact that no elevated level was found may be read as vindicating police decisions about which games to agree to.” > [@Mr.Greenjeans](#): > > Looks like I picked a bad year to become a Newcastle supporter. Was there a good year to pick? 1969 perhaps? 🙂 > [@Thing\_Fish](#): > > On an unrelated note, I see that Borussia Dortmund beat Arsenal today on a goal by a player named\* Immobile\*. Didn’t know Duncan Ferguson was still playing :). ---
**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:** [September 19, 2014, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2014-15-barclays-premier-league-thread/695248/92 "2014-09-19T19:57:28Z")
Well, I guess the Europa League opener was nice for older Spurs fans nostalgic for the days of[overtly anti-Semitic](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Bx140D0CQAE7Ood.jpg)opposing fans…too bad we could only take a point from these nice people. ---
**Author:** ![LawMonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d6d6ee/32.png) [@LawMonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LawMonkey)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2014, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2014-15-barclays-premier-league-thread/695248/93 "2014-09-21T23:28:43Z")
Leicester’s been working their way into my heart as my second team, and they clinched it this morning with that victory over United. Not just for being giant-killers, nor for being Foxes–though those two things certainly help–but for just putting on a great match. They earned those three points, though the dodgy officiating certainly helped. Man City… well, at least we came out of it with a point. ---
**Author:** ![Knorf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/58956e/32.png) [@Knorf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knorf)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2014, 6:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2014-15-barclays-premier-league-thread/695248/94 "2014-09-22T06:26:07Z")
It was another interesting weekend, with Liverpool, Tottenham, Everton, and ManU all losing. Whereas the Gunners showed up this week, with goals and assists from Welbeck and Özil to temporarily silence the haters. Good times. ---
**Author:** ![Dead\_Cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9fc29f/32.png) [@Dead\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dead_Cat)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2014, 11:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2014-15-barclays-premier-league-thread/695248/95 "2014-09-22T11:57:38Z")
Tough time to be a United fan, but can’t complain - sustained success for 20 years was bound to come to an end sooner or later. I was actually pleased City equalised against Chelsea because it keeps it a bit closer at the top (and if they had nicked a winner it would have been even better), City will be happier with the outcome than Chelsea given the way the game went. ---
**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:** [September 28, 2014, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2014-15-barclays-premier-league-thread/695248/96 "2014-09-28T01:40:05Z")
Spurs take a point at the Emirates! Could have been better but beats, say, losing at home to West Brom. Hopefully this is where we turn the season around. Gooner bastards weren’t selling beer in the opponents section:mad:, but I imagine we still got loud enough. ---
**Author:** ![LawMonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d6d6ee/32.png) [@LawMonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LawMonkey)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2014, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2014-15-barclays-premier-league-thread/695248/97 "2014-09-28T04:40:39Z")
Lovely morning of football for me. Watching the Merseyside [del]Darby[/del] Derby as a neutral, it was just a good, exciting match of football–back and forth, fluid, exciting right to that last minute Everton goal! And what a thing of beauty that was! My goodness. That was a match worthy of getting up early for. Next on the agenda, I naturally assumed that we’d have the important match on the TV–and then they’re all talking about Man U? Seriously? Grr. Some scrambling about to find the username and password got me on NBCSN’s streaming service to watch a bit of a rubbish stream (my internet’s fault, not NBC’s) of City at Hull. Lovely start w/ two City goals, and then Mangala went into business for himself with an own goal that couldn’t have been better if it were deliberate, and an unnecessary foul in the penalty area that evened it up. Thank goodness for Dzeko and Super Frankie Lampard. Bottom line, we got the three points that we needed–I’ve not been too happy w/ City’s start to the season. Onward and upward, and hopefully NYCFC can spare Super Frankie for a few extra months. By the time the North London Derby rolled around, I’d mostly had my fill of footy for the day, so I only sorta half-watched, but it looked like a great match–though it seemed Spurs lost it towards the end. Shame (neutral I may be, but when i don’t have a dog in the fight, I tend towards the underdog), but a good match. Still need to watch Match of the Day for the highlights of the rest, including Leicester–while they’re my second team, they’re also the ones I found on my own, so they’re a bit special for me anyhow; I wasn’t pleased to see they lost to Palace, but I suppose they can’t be expected to play a side like Man United every week, eh? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Knorf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/58956e/32.png) [@Knorf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knorf)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2014, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2014-15-barclays-premier-league-thread/695248/98 "2014-10-06T18:44:10Z")
Not happy about seeing Manchester United back in the top four. I hate being right! Not a great weekend for the gunners (at least I’m glad we kept it close), although our thrashing of Galatasaray last week in the Champions League helps. ---
**Author:** ![Knorf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/58956e/32.png) [@Knorf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knorf)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2014, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2014-15-barclays-premier-league-thread/695248/99 "2014-10-23T19:28:59Z")
At this point in the early season, as much as I hate it, it does appear that Chelsea are in a class by themselves, and are probably the BPL’s most likely team to compete far into the UEFA Champions League. Arsenal will get to the elimination rounds of the Champions League, but it’s looking sketchy for Manchester City and Liverpool (really, Balotelli? Give your shirt away _at the half?_) Gunners have to get their act together. No complaining about injuries, which, as bad as they are, are really no excuse, with the depth the team has. (Incidentally, a number of our most painful injuries in terms of loss of talent were from international play.) I really hate to cast doubt on Wenger, but he’s got a lot to figure out and adjust if Arsenal are to have a chance for more silverware this season. ---
**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:** [October 26, 2014, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2014-15-barclays-premier-league-thread/695248/100 "2014-10-26T18:43:10Z")
So, Spurs just managed to lose at home to a relegation candidate…again. This time despite having a better than 2:1 advantage in possession, shots attempted, and shots on target. So my newbie question is, can we write this one off as a fluke or do those stats not really have any correlation with winning? My guess would be that possession doesn’t much matter but that having more shots and shots on goal typically leads to a good result. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2014-15-barclays-premier-league-thread/695248.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2014-15-barclays-premier-league-thread/695248.md?page=6)