2016-2017 EPL Discussion Thread

[Jezza]

The fixture has been released for the upcoming season!

http://www.bbc.com/sport/football/premier-league/fixtures

It would be great to hear the predictions of others around here in how the season may transpire. Can Leicester City do the unthinkable and win the title again or at the very least contend for the title? How will the Manchester rivalry of Guardiola and Mourinho shape up? Can Liverpool finally start contending under Jurgen Klopp, and can Chelsea get back into the top four?

Who are going to be the surprise packets? Who is going to struggle?

Promoted Teams:
Burnley
Middlesbrough
Hull

Managerial Changes:
Manchester United - Jose Mourinho replaces Louis Van Gaal
Everton - Ronald Koeman replaces Roberto Martinez
Chelsea - Antonio Conte replaces Guus Hiddink
Manchester City - Pep Guardiola replaces Manuel Pellegrini
Watford - Walter Mazzarri replaces Quique Sanchez Flores
Sunderland - David Moyes replaces Sam Allardyce

[HAL]

I doubt anyone can know with any real certainty at this time who will.

[Pies4shaw]

Looks like I'll be supporting Everton this year - I could never barrack against the great Ronald Koeman. I remember when Manchester United went to Barcelona for a Champion's League game in the 90s, the English commentator (possibly Martin Tyler - but I don't really recall) set the scene at the Nou Camp by describing it as a stadium with "its own museum, its own chapel and its own Ronald Koeman".

A true great of the game - not too many central defenders have been leading scorers for their team in the Champions League: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZxGp5ii-wFM

Here's one of his many magnificent free-kick rockets - this time for Barca in the 1992 Champions League final: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q_zRwnaXaNs

That was the only goal in the game that gave Barca its first-ever Champions League victory. He also played with the PSV team that won the European Cup in 1988.

In a brilliant career, he kicked 193 league goals in 533 games.

He played in the Dutch team that won the 1988 European Championships (he was named in UEFA's team of the tournament) and captained the national team at the 1994 World Cup. In a great era for his nation, he was Dutch Footballer of the Year in 1987 and 1988. He played in Cruyff's Barca team that won La Liga 4 years in a row (1991 to 1994). He was on 4 Dutch title-winning teams at Ajax and PSV before he joined Barca.

What a champ!

Everton wear blue don't they (I'll have to take a crash course, I suppose)?

[Jezza]

Everton are predominately Blue. I predict that Koeman will be a good manager for Everton considering how well he did with Southampton.

You must despise Liverpool, the way we despise Carlton to fit in as an Everton supporter.

[Pies4shaw]

OK. I'll try that on for size, Jezza. My loyalty will be ever-changing, of course. I was a Chelsea man when Gullit and Zola were playing but very much an Arsenal fan when Bergkamp was playing.

You'll have to promise not to tell anyone that my favourite ever English league player was Dalglish!

In the meantime, here's one for you: Iceland's greatest-ever player, kicking all 78 of his goals for your club. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2E2ihEO8SO8

[Jezza]

I never knew you liked Chelsea in the mid to late 90s. Zola was my favourite player growing up and one of the reasons as to why I support Chelsea.

Eidur was another favourite of mine especially when him and Hasselbaink formed a deadly strike partnership in the early 2000s.

I'm confused as to why you've linked a video of the Chaser song about Pauline Hanson

[Pies4shaw]

Oh, ooops - that was for VPT. I meant to link this one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mUd5q27L0oI

Before he went to Chelsea, Zola was a star attraction in Serie A with Parma - he formed a wonderful partnership with the Columbian Faustino Asprilla. You might enjoy these highlights from Parma v Sampdoria - the second goal (from Zola and Asprilla) is a thing of great beauty. You will also recognise a couple of other identities in this one - Roberto Mancini (wearing the number 10 for Samp, in the Footscray jumpers) and Ruud Gullit (doing his Ronald Koeman impersonation, playing for Samp as a central defender). And no, I have no idea what the commentators are saying (I speak no Italian), although they are mentioning Attilio Lombardo (the bald, famous Sampdoria no 7) quite a lot: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aEc0BLTS5cs

[Jezza]

Gudjohnson's bicycle kick against Leeds (#44) was my favourite goal by a country mile.

Great video showing Parma and Sampdoria. The quality of football in that match is brilliant and Zola was an absolute star. He just turned 50 as well.

[roar]

I'm also one who doesn't have an actual team in the EPL but rather, adopt particular teams over certain eras because of players and coaches. I think I became that way when the teams I started following, like QPR, Ipswich and Crystal Palace would be out of the top filght for extended periods. I'm on the West Ham wagon now.

Koeman nostalgia appreciated, p4s. I loved the Dutch team from that era. I still have one of their tops from the late 80's. Ruud Gullit was my favourite player but there were so many champion players on that team, it was a joy to watch. As was watching AC Milan who had Van Basten, Gullit and Rijkard in the same team.

Props for the Martin Tyler quote, too. What a brilliant caller of the game.

[Pies4shaw]

Cheers, roar. As I've explained elsewhere, I got hooked on soccer watching Cruyff and the boys in 1974 and have followed the Dutch ever since (albeit with a degree of confusion when they spent the 2010 World Cup final trying to break Iniesta's legs - I didn't recognise that style of play at all). It won't surprise you to know that the only club side I've ever really "barracked" for was AC Milan, for the 3 reasons you mention. I confess to very mixed feelings about the 1994 Champions League final between Barca and Milan - but by that stage I tended to still barrack for the Italians because I knew all their players from the Serie A coverage on SBS.

[Pies4shaw]

[Yarra Falls End]

[roar]

Ha ha ha, that's fair enough, YFE. Don't worry too much, though, I don't have paytv so my support is really in name only.

Spot on about the Serie A, p4s. I remember watching the highlights show every weekend and it was brilliant. Forwards that used to dominate in the EPL would come to Italy and get no where. There was a very good reason there weren't (and still isn't) many british players in that league and that's because they simply weren't good enough.

I really wish sbs still had the highlight shows for Serie A and the EPL; they were fantastic packages.

[Pies4shaw]

We should continue this at another time, roar - I'm mindful that we're in Jezza's EPL thread, discussing everything except the EPL.

Fwiw, a long-time ago, I picked Arsenal as my team, briefly, in the days when Charlie George and Alan Ball were stars. My father was a Leeds man (Billy Bremner and Lorimer were his favourites) and my brother was a West Ham man (Lampard the Elder and Mervyn Day were the ones he always spoke of).

Anyway, for about a week now, I have been a staunch fan of Everton, although I could not (yet) name any of my great club's players. I have watched with horror as some player manager or other suggested that his star didn't want to come to Everton because it "isn't a big Club".

We will change all of that now we have a proper Dutch manager. There's the first reason we'll win the League. The second is because Ronald Koeman is our manager. The third is because we don't have any soft outside players like Ronaldo, Messi or Pogba on our roster. I was thinking of emailing the club to suggest that, in light of our financial constraints, we might go with a mix of existing and local talent and add in some harder running players - say Garttuso, Donadoni and Deschamps. A couple of proper English centre backs could complement Jaap Stam (is his ban finished, yet?) and I reckon Jarryd Hayne could add the outside run, now he's available. There's half a team for a few dollars, right there - and with the balance, we should get some good quality Dutch players (say Davids, Seedorf, Arie Haan, Neeskens and Rep). Then we can play Total Football (and if we meet any stupid Spanish team that wants to play ticca-taca, they can expect their legs broken). Anyway, we're in this thing to win it and I know RK has been practising his free kicks, with a view to subbing himself in to get us through some of the Cup Ties against more fancied opponents.

I'll be back with a thorough review of our playing roster once I find it.

[Pies4shaw]

So, I've been to my great club's great site and I've taken the "which player" quiz and I've come up with Leighton Baines. So, there you have it. My past favourites have included Baggio, Zola, Maradona, Koeman, Savicevic, Batistuta and Rui Costa, so let's hope Leighton's a class act. I see he's a defender, so I hope there's a bit of the Matthaus, Baresi, Maldini or Beckenbauer about him - those are my idea of defenders.

As for the roster, I recognise a couple of names: Lukaku, Besic, Kone and, frankly, nobody else. I have a vague suspicion Koeman (and his brother Erwin) might be our best player(s). What have I done?