On the Thursday edition of the EPL Talk podcast, Laurence McKenna and myself look back at Tuesday and Wednesday's fixtures, including the claiming of the final FA Cup semifinal spot. Also, we look forward to the weekend's matches in the Premiership, where Chelsea will be pressed to maintain their midweek form against Aston Villa. At […]

The 2010 season is upon us, so to help you get ready, or in case you're bored, here are previews of each of the 16 teams. For each team, I've linked to more than one preview. I always find it interesting to see what different folks say about the same situation. Given the late settlement […]

Cagliari are known to play some fantastic football thanks to their coach, ever since he took over in 2008, Massimiliano Allegri brought an attacking spirit with his attacking 4-3-3. And after bringing this to Cagliari, they've been scaring teams all over the table, with their fast attacking football. And at the beginning of the season, […]

On Wednesday's edition of the podcast we welcome Richard Whittall, the award-winning blogger whose work can be found at A More Splendid Life and Pitch Invasion, where he is the associate editor. In this interview he speaks a writer, musician, and Aston Villa supporter, as we talk about his approach to chronicling the game and […]

It's been three weeks since the launch of the new Fox Soccer Plus channel, and almost three months since the launch of Fox Soccer Channel in HD. But what progress has there been thus far and what do we still not know? As of this writing, Fox Soccer Plus is currently being carried (in standard […]

We may not admit it to our friends, but we've all done it before. It seems sacrilegious to say it, especially on a soccer web site, but here goes: I fast forward soccer games. Gulp, there I said it. It's true. Let me add that I don't do it all the time. In fact, it's […]

Somewhere deep in the bowels of Anfield there is a timer ticking down. That timer shows about 100 days on it now, and tomorrow it will show about 99, and sometime this July the timer will hit zero. At that point, a bell will ring and Liverpool Football Club will have to begin a massive […]

Despite what the headline in Tuesday night's Daily Telegraph says (see above picture), the scoreline in the West Ham United against Wolverhampton Wanderers was 3-1 to Wolves, not 3-0. But it may as well been 3-0 such was the way that Wolves annihilated Gianfranco Zola's West Ham United with three clinical goals that were top […]

Declan Hill's The Fix (uk, us) has quickly become a seminal book in contemporary football, sounding the alarm on the growing problems of corruption and organized crime in world football. Months after Declan's previous appearance on the show, we redress the issue of match-fixing in Champions League and Europa League while looking forward to the […]

Declan Hill, critically acclaimed author of The Fix: Soccer and Organized Crime (uk, us), will be joining me (later today) for Tuesday's EPL Talk Podcast: talking about the ongoing potential for corruption in football; reflecting the issues discussed in his previous appearance; looking toward this summer's World Cup. If you have any questions or discussion […]

You'd be hard pressed to find a single person who had anything negative to say about Park Ji-Sung, the Manchester United midfielder who netted the winning goal Sunday against Liverpool at Old Trafford. In many ways, Ji-Sung is the model professional. You never see him complaining. He always gives 100%. He rarely has a poor […]

With weeks of labor talk dominating the MLS headlines, the start of the season has been sneaking up on me. Seems like a good time for a preview. Eastern Conference 1. Columbus Crew– It's hard to bet against them winning the Eastern Conference this year after watching them – in the preseason, no less, take […]

It seems my fear, dread and worry over the past few months has somehow manifested itself into an Atlantic Ocean-traveling orb of negativity. It's left my old injured knee in Southeastern America, and traveled the 4,000 some miles to Manchester, England and snuck into the knee of the man I place my footballing hopes […]

Another weekend, another twist in the race for the coveted prize of the Premier League. This weekend saw two different league leaders and one team slip a little off the pace. Seeing the reaction of Liverpool's no. 1 fan Gary Neville, you would have thought they had just won the title – especially when listening […]

Watching the Midlands derby on television Saturday between Aston Villa and Wolverhampton Wanderers, a smile crept on my face when I saw an elderly woman in the crowd celebrating after Aston Villa scored a goal. To see her beaming and jumping up and down was a natural and beautiful thing to see. It filled my […]