The partisan nature of football is one of the greatest things about the sport. It gives us the chance to get behind one team, to share banter with opposing fans and feel that ecstatic high when our team wins. But do we take things too far? I am not talking about violence or poor behaviour […]

As with most local derbies (national derbies such as El Clásico between Real Madrid and Barcelona, Le Classique between Marseille and Paris Saint-Germain, De Klassieker between Ajax and Feyenoord, etc. excluded), the derby means a little more to one club than the other. While Arsenal always wants to defeat their north London neighbor Tottenham Hotspur, […]

With four kids, business meetings galore, writing for EPL Talk and managing the bloggers who write for the other eight sites in the network, my home life can be a bit of a shambles at times. I finally did my 2009 taxes in August. The house is a mess. My to-do list is way too […]

The playoff numbers look like this... 5 year comparison Conference Semifinals – 2nd Leg Avg +/- Home Teams 2006 15,938 NA New England Dallas Houston DC United 2007 19,838 24.47% New England Chivas USA Houston DC United 2008 19,444 -1.99% Chicago Columbus Houston Chivas USA 2009 21,526 10.71% Chicago Columbus Houston Los Angeles 2010 19,871 […]

After the draw at St. Andrews I contended that Liverpool needed to change the way they played to get results. They were too narrow, with no pace and their full-backs went nowhere. It led to a dour game of football and a nil all draw that kept Liverpool in the lower regions of the table. […]

Trying Something New, & A Brace For Your Thoughts? Authors Note: Due to the fact that I'm not as much of an ego maniac as some might think, this week on the Footballer of the Week, I'm going to let you (the fine readers) decide who gets the award. Simply read through the list of […]

The story of the MLS playoffs coming into Sunday night was the futility of being a higher seed. None of the higher seeds had advanced and the playoffs were seemingly wide-open for a new champion. Then LA took the pitch against Seattle, and they showed the league who should be the favorites for the MLS […]

I was driving down the road the other day when I had a thought. I watch and digest so much soccer on a daily basis that I wondered when was the last time I actually kicked a ball, which is such a central figure of the sport I watch. For me it was a few […]

The most exciting weekend to date in the English Premier League season saw the league leaders drawn back to the pack when Chelsea was upended at Anfield. Meanwhile, Manchester United was up to their old tricks, Arsenal's struggles continued, while Bolton and Newcastle captured imaginations. On this edition of the EPL Talk Podcast, myself and […]

1. Bari was on the brink of returning to form Bari have been going through some tough times recently, and although they lost 3-2 at home to AC Milan, they showed signs of promise. Bari are currently at the bottom of the table with 8 points, and while the situation looks bleak, if Bari can […]

For the first of what we hope will be many times, the EPL Talk Podcast Weekend Review show will be streaming live via uStream, below: Feel free to come to the UStream site to talk about the show and interact with the hosts via UStream's chat room.

Before the season started, I did an article predicting how the current Bundesliga season might unfold. I predicted Thomas Mueller to have a stellar year in front of goal, I envisioned Bayern Munich running away with the league, and I thought Frankfurt and Theofanis Gekas, of all players, would have very little impact at all […]

All across England and around the world, journalists and bloggers are writing about how Fernando Torres was the deciding factor in Liverpool's game against Chelsea on Sunday. The man who scored two world-class goals. The man who is back in top form. And so on. But rather than focus on Torres, who is well-deserving of […]

Well, well, well ... look who's getting the open thread up in time to give you the opportunity to really shape the show. This weekend, the English Premier League was reshaped, with Chelsea returning to the pack, Arsenal's struggle persisting, and Liverpool (yes, Liverpool) giving us one of the most impressive performances of the season. […]

Swansea City made a massive statement Sunday when they defeated Cardiff City 1-0 in the Welsh capital. Cardiff were defeated fairly and squarely by a much superior Swansea side who thoroughly deserved all three points. With Cardiff being one of the favorites to be promoted from the Championship this season, the loss to Swansea will […]