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[The Chosen One]

Vardy sold his soul to the devil for this season.

Mahrez looks like Baby Ozil.

[zitothebrave]

I think the amazing thing was the Man U didn't just buy Vardy to try to lock their way into the top 4. They could have offered some obscene sum and then watched Leicester plummet.

[gilesfan]

They haven't really had luck though. They have the goal differential to be legit. THey seemingly score 2 or 3 goals every game and concede about 1. The most goals they've scored in a game is 4. Tottenham has put up some crooked numbers, as they've scored 4 in multiple matches, and have a 5. SO I guess the luck is that they're spreading out goals, but to me that's not really luck, it's how they play. They don't have a particularly proactive style of play and are happy seeing games out.

I do think the small club mentality is a thing. I forget which match of theirs I was watching, I think it was their defeat of City where City came in there thinking they'd have their way and Leicester had their way.

The biggest thing for Leicester though (IMO) has been they have no real weakness. Their defense has been strong, anchored by castoffs like Danny Simpson and Robert Huth. THeir midfield has been really strong with with Mahrez and Kante arguably being their 2 best players. And the life Vardy found at 29, don't think this can stated enough, here's a guy who 5 years ago was playing inthe fifth league. And now he's the top scorer in the premier league.

To me the 2 stories of the premier league have been the stunning performances of Vardy and Dembele. Just last year Dembele was considered garbage by many Spurs fans (including yourself) and now he's arguably their team MVP.

Goes to show you that anything is possible.

Leicester has 48 goals. Opta has their expected goals at 41. They have conceded 29 goals with and expected goals conceded of 36. So instead of a GD of 19, they should have one about 4-5. You do the math on what their record "should" be.

[gilesfan]

Show me where I claimed Dembele was garbage.

You don't really know much about Spurs though, its obvious.

The MVP for the club is Eric Dier by far. Toby is up there as well. You could argue Hugo, but its really a 2 man race between Dier/Toby.

Also, Kane and Lamela would probably get the nod over Dembele as both have been fantastic. dembele has been solid.

[zitothebrave]

You did. Maybe not garbage was the word. But you talked about him being bench warmer.

Dembele has as many goals, better pass success, and has played 700 less minutes.

Funny that the 2 guys you think are MVPs have a combined 3 MoTM performances. Same number as Dembele. Kane you may have a case, Erikson you may have a case. The differentiator for Dembele is how sick his passing has been.

[zitothebrave]

Leicester has 48 goals. Opta has their expected goals at 41. They have conceded 29 goals with and expected goals conceded of 36. So instead of a GD of 19, they should have one about 4-5. You do the math on what their record "should" be.

Expected goals and expected conceded goals is fine and dandy. It's hardly an indicator of what you're talkign about. Their style of play leads to them taking on more shots and taking less. I'm presuming that's primarily what Opta is using.

[zitothebrave]

US gets Colombia, Costa Rica and Paraguay. Gonna be really hard to get out of the group. Looks like Brazil got a cake walk with Ecuador, Peru and Haiti, Mexico has a fairly favorable group with Uruguay, Jamaica and Venezuela. Argentina gets Chile, Panama, and Bolivia. We may not have gotten the best team from Pot B, but we did from Pot C and D and if Columbia isn't the best in Pot B (Chile and Uruguay are really good) they're in the mix.

[zitothebrave]

Arsenal sunk by Barca - Being down 2-0 with Barca having the advantage on away goals. Could have scored 4 goals if Suarez didn't suck at finishing.

[The Chosen One]

Arsenal could have score just as many but couldn't finish.

[zitothebrave]

Arsenal could have score just as many but couldn't finish.

Eh. 8 shots, 3 on goal vs 15 shots 4 on goals. 66/34 possession, Barca were far and away the better side.

[The Chosen One]

Barca was up 79-21 in possession the first half but Arsenal was threatening just as much as Barca.

When watching Barca possession is misleading as they usually pass more than anybody.

[zitothebrave]

Barca was up 79-21 in possession the first half but Arsenal was threatening just as much as Barca.

When watching Barca possession is misleading as they usually pass more than anybody.

You could have a point, but that is Arsenal's game too. Look at their game vs Leicester 72/28 Hull 69/31

Arsenal getting flipped like that is bad. And they were massively outshot. Essentially a 2-1 shot advantage.

[zitothebrave]

[zitothebrave]

Premier league is set for a wild finish.

Leicester is 5 up with 9 to go. City could move up to 3rd with a win in the game they have on Arsenal, or could lose that game and if United wins their 29th game and be level.

It's too early to call. But basically oyu have 6 teams in a battle for the top/Europe. The top battle is most likely between Tottenham and Leicester. City, United, West Ham and Arsenal are all likely as it looks now to be battling out for the best spots in Europe. It's a healthy drop from United (or West Hami f United wins tomorrow) to Stoke, though the wild card team of Liverpool is in the mix, They've got 2 less games played than West Ham and if they win both of those games, then they'll be only 2 points behind them.

For the bottom, it's a lock Aston Villa goes down, they potentially could make it out, because they could get up to 27 points from their final game and hoist themselves to lower mid table. But they're a sinking ship. Don't have the talent, they foolishly fired Sherwood who pulled their asses out of the fire last year, and Garde is clearly stupid as he prefers a ****ty English Journey man to Brad Guzan. While Guzan's form has been bad, he's at least got ability. After them it's a 3 dog race to avoid the drop between Newcastle, Norwich, and perennial losers Sunderland.

One little table weirdness, Everton has a double digit positive goal differential, Something that every team outside of the top 6 is lacking, Stoke has a -3 goal differential and are actually just behind the top 6. Not saying anything of importance, just found it odd that the results have fallen that way.

[zitothebrave]

Can we all take a minute to laugh at Arsenal?

First off falling out of the fa cup vs watford, then basically falling out of the title race.

[zitothebrave]

USMNT has a big home/away vs Guatemala coming up. 6 points would lock them into the Hex assuming that T&T gets 6 vs St. Vincent and the Grenedines (which they should)

Roster has been selected for this big game. I'm assuming 3 will be trimmed off to get down to 23 but maybe 23 isn't a rule here?

Anyway

GK - Howard, Guzan, Yarbrough, Bingham - No real shockers here aside from Bingham. Who IMO impressed in his January game. Looks like Jurgen wants more of a look at him.
DF - Alvarado, Besler, Birnbaum, Brooks, Cameron, Castillo, Omar, Orozco, Yedlin - Real CB heavy, and I'm little surprised that Yedlin and Brooks aren't going with the U-23s. But maybe their clubs wouldn't release them for the U-23s because they don't have to. There's also basically no wide players but Yedlin and Castillo. I"m guessing we'll see Cameron or BIrnbaum play LB with Yedlin at RB and Besler and Brooks in the middle.
MF - Beckerman, Bedoya, Bradley, Mix, Finlay, Fabian, Nagbe, Nguyen - Except for Beckerman, these are pretty much all of the best mids the US has to offer, I hope Jurgen will pair BRadley with Nguyen or Nagbe and not let Beckerman see the field except for later in the game when we're holding a lead.
FW - Jozy, Dempsey, Wondo, WOod, Zardes - Great selection of fowards. Jozy and Demsey will be the starters, Assuming Gyasi doesn't start in the midfield (I don't think he will with Fabian and Bedoya on the team) him and Wood would give great pace options from the bench, and Wondo is a poacher, he's way past his peak, but he still knows how to get in a great position to score.

[acesfull86]

Survey of 25% of MLS players was conducted:

Most underrated - Dax McCarty
Most overrated - Mix

I've been banging those drums for a while; glad to get a certain amount of validation from the players in the league. Altidore came in 2nd after Mix, and Bradley and Dempsey finished in the top 10. Sacha Kljestan made the underrated list, along with guys like Nagbe, Acosta, and Nguyen.

When players are in Europe, it's easy to give them the benefit of the doubt and just assume that they're better than the players in the domestic league. What's happening is these guys are coming back home in droves, they're expected to be a cut above the guys already here, and when they're not, the shine wears off.

Anyone who watched a lot of NYCFC would have to concede Mix was just dreadful last season. The numbers back that up. Now, he's still young, but my question is at what point does JK change his opinions on players based on new evidence? It's easy to stick with a guy when he's the only American playing in a foreign league. But when he comes home and is getting thoroughly out-played by other Americans, don't you eventually have to update how highly you rate him? Not just Mix, I'm talking in general.

I was a JK supporter, but the more I watch MLS and look at his team selections, I can't help but scratch my head. Beckerman over McCarty? Please tell me one thing Beckerman can do more effectively on the pitch at this point in their respective careers. Does JK watch MLS games and look at stats/available analytics?

[yeezus]

It's hard for me to even watch the MLS after watching the BPL and La Liga all weekend.

[zitothebrave]

Survey of 25% of MLS players was conducted:

Most underrated - Dax McCarty
Most overrated - Mix

I've been banging those drums for a while; glad to get a certain amount of validation from the players in the league. Altidore came in 2nd after Mix, and Bradley and Dempsey finished in the top 10. Sacha Kljestan made the underrated list, along with guys like Nagbe, Acosta, and Nguyen.

When players are in Europe, it's easy to give them the benefit of the doubt and just assume that they're better than the players in the domestic league. What's happening is these guys are coming back home in droves, they're expected to be a cut above the guys already here, and when they're not, the shine wears off.

Anyone who watched a lot of NYCFC would have to concede Mix was just dreadful last season. The numbers back that up. Now, he's still young, but my question is at what point does JK change his opinions on players based on new evidence? It's easy to stick with a guy when he's the only American playing in a foreign league. But when he comes home and is getting thoroughly out-played by other Americans, don't you eventually have to update how highly you rate him? Not just Mix, I'm talking in general.

I was a JK supporter, but the more I watch MLS and look at his team selections, I can't help but scratch my head. Beckerman over McCarty? Please tell me one thing Beckerman can do more effectively on the pitch at this point in their respective careers. Does JK watch MLS games and look at stats/available analytics?

1. Basically everyone on the overrated list was a DP (but Mix IIRC) basically everyone on the underrated isn't. If I'm on a list and it involved Jozy, Bradley,and Dempsey, you're not necessarily on a bad list.

2. Mix was bad last year. But he was horribly misused. He was used all over the field, except as a CAM. Early in the season before Lampard and co came in he was pretty solid. It wasn't until he was moved all over the midfield that he started sucking. Mix isn't a wide mid, and he's a one touch player. Neither of those fit in with NYCFC. Would be great if he would go to a team that would use him as a CAM. This year (small sample size obviously) Mix has been played centrally once and wide twice. He sucked or was average out wide and amazing up the middle.

3. I kind of agree with Beckerman, he sucks. he's old. But the thing is he's one of Jurgen's men. He was in his first camp. My guess is he's heading into his final hoorah. If Jones was available I don't think Beckerman gets the call. Similar to if Trapp or Acosta was available.

I'm not sure why Jurgen doesn't give Dax a look. But I'm sure he's scouted him plenty. I think his gripe with Dax is he's playing in the same basic position as Bradley. Jurgen doesn't want a second Bradley.

[holden]

Embarrassing effort by the USA over the past few days. Quite a sad state of affairs.