A Yank trying to pick an EPL team
by jdb on Jun 29, 2010 10:16 PM BST
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PrintSo I'm just some Yank who has caught World Cup fever and has decided to maybe pick an EPL team to try and follow to get into the sport a little more. I'm currently a big American Football fan (Indianapolis Colts, with season tickets) as well as following NHL hockey (Detroit Red WIngs) & college basketball (Purdue Boilermakers)
I knew right off I didn't want to pick a team that was in the Big Four, and also didn't want to pick a team that has crazy billionaire owners trying to buy championships. Also wanted at least a little American presence. My final requirement was to pick a team that doesn't really flirt too hard with relegation - I need to be able to follow the team and hopefully watch at least a few games from across the pond.
In the end, I really like Everton. I've loved watching Tim Howard (and bouncing between elation and heartbreak in his play). I love the history of Everton, or what I've read of it so far and how far back it goes. And how can you get better than a team where one of the nicknames is "The School Of Science" (at least according to WIkipedia, so correct me if Wikipedia is full of it).
I know they sound like weak reasons to pick a team, but I'm coming at this as someone who has never really followed the sport at all until this World Cup.
So... if I'm to jump onto the Everton bandwagon and start following the team, what do I need to know?
- What are my options for watching the team from the US?
- What teams should I hate? :D
- Who are the players to watch?
- Prospects for the coming season?
- Is some newbie who is just learning the sport welcome around these parts? Doubt I'll post much but I'll certainly be reading alot of the old posts here soon to catch up.
Oh, do I have to call it football? Is it okay if I say soccer? 30+ years of "football = gridiron" is going to be hard to change. :)
Anyway, Hi from a clueless Yank :)
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I probably shouldn’t answer because you’re a Red Wings fan but it’s offseason… :p
What are my options for watching the team from the US?
I’m not from the US so I may be wrong but as far as I know you have to check ESPN, Setanta and FSC. If not, there are always some more or less quality online streams.
What teams should I hate? :D
For now it’s enough to hate Liverpool FC. You can’t hate them enough, though.
Who are the players to watch?
If he’s still around next season, Mikel Arteta is gonna amaze you. But the whole team is great, it won’t take you long to find a personal favorite.
Prospects for the coming season?
If you’re talking about promising young players, I’d say Jack Rodwell and Dan Gosling.
If you’re talking about the team ambitions, qualifying for the Europa League is what I’m hoping for.
Is some newbie who is just learning the sport welcome around these parts? Doubt I’ll post much but I’ll certainly be reading alot of the old posts here soon to catch up.
Of course, you don’t have to be an expert. Just don’t lose interest after a couple of weeks, there’s more soccer (I guess it’s not a huge deal to call it that way) than the WC every four years.
Avs AND Ravens?
Oh man, I really should just hate you I suppose, but I’ll save it for the respective NHL & NFL seasons :)
Thanks for the tips. I’ll be lurking for awhile mostly, but I’ll try to pop in as I can.
Now to find an Everton fan or two in Indy…
Bill Polian has forgotten more about football than you ever have or ever will know.
Believe it or not this is what got me into Everton after the 06 world cup.
To start rooting for Everton you need to know that we play a somewhat brash brand of football. Goals are usually scored with heads and so-called “beautiful” goals are few and far between.
To watch games in the US, you either have to hope that ESPN2 is airing the game (they usually air one EPL game on Saturday mornings) or buy Fox Soccer Channel (FSC seems to be showing more Everton games because of the growing US fanbase). If Fox Soccer Channel is not airing the game, then you have to try to find a stream online. I use hostream.net or iraqgoals.net.
Everton have a rivalry with Liverpool (affectionately known as the red sh**e) and generally hate the teams from Manchester as well because of their proximity.
The players to watch on Everton are their very strong midfield. Mikel Arteta is the lynchpin on which the attack is built and he scores some free kick goals. We have a very strong winger in Stephen Pienaar (S. Africa World Cup team) as well. He tends to beat people one on one and make good passes into the middle. Also Tim Cahill (Australia WC team) scores lots of goals with his head. In the defense, our strongest players are Leighton Baines and Phil Jagielka. Both should have made the English national team, but neither got the call. Baines plays left back and is a pretty strong attacker and provider of crosses. Jagielka plays center back and is one of the strongest in the EPL. On the downside of this, Arteta and Pienaar may both be moving on to different clubs this offseason. If they do look for strong midfielders to replace them (Donovan is on the shortlist because of his loan spell at Everton).
Next season, a success would be finishing 4th or higher in the league or a winning a cup. Finishing in the top 4 in the EPL qualifies you for the UEFA Champions League which is the most prestigious club competition in Europe. Outside of the league, Everton will compete in the FA Cup and the Carling Cup. Victory in either of those cups will end a 15+ year drought of no championships. Everton seem to be looking to make an impact in the US fanbase, so new fans are always welcome.
HELLO HELLO MR. WILPON!
It's a grand old team to play for, it's a grand old team to support!
The two previous posts pretty much should have answered most of your questions.
New Everton fans are always welcome!
The fact is, we don’t have many bandwagon fans. Our biggest rival is Liverpool (definitely one of the top rivalries in the EPL). The team’s play can be grinding at times but it never makes me love them any less.
Being able to watch Everton is kind of a challenge from the US. ESPN2 shows a game pretty much every week and its usually big names. I think we made it on that channel twice (both times playing a big team like Man U). FSC and Fox Soccer Plus also plays a lot of games but logically can only play one live game per time slot. I would say with these two channels, I was able to see about 15-25% of the matches live. They also play replays on that and Comcast SportsNet and FSC if your willing to watch it like that. You can also order Foxsoccer.tv which is $14.95 a month, which i think is a ripoff. I usually try to find them streaming (i know its illegal but its their fault that they dont give better options). Veetle.com Iraqgoals and atdhe.net are the best sites but quality and consistent stream is rare. You can miss a lot of important plays and such.
I personally think that Champions League is a reachable goal, but I wouldn’t be extremely disappointed with Europa League.
I call it soccer, call it whatever you want. No ones going to be a troll and say theres only one way to call it. :)
Thanks for the welcome
I don’t plan on abandoning after a couple weeks :) I’m just going to have to get creative on how I watch the games it seems. I’m hoping with ESPN showing some, that their streaming service on ESPN3.com will maybe start showing more than just what is available on ESPN2, sort of like what they’ve done with the World Cup. Especially since it’s coming to the XBox so i could watch on my big screen. A boy can dream I suppose.
I’ll definitely be digging through some old posts from around these parts as I can. I’ll try to be as active as I can, but I’ll probably be a bit of a lurker until I’ve learned more and caught up on everything a bit.
Thanks again for the warm welcome!
Bill Polian has forgotten more about football than you ever have or ever will know.
My take on your questions
What are my options for watching the team from the US?
check out livesoccertv.com for local pubs to watch the games in your area. Essentially your only choices are the 1 ESPN2 game a week, Fox Soccer Channel, or Fox Soccer Plus (which has an extra fee)
Question – What teams should I hate?
Answer – Liverpool is the most obvious which we have the annual Merseyside Derby with. Though I also dislike ManU/ManCity/Chelsea with varying degrees of loathing.
Who are the players to watch?
The stars are Mikel Arteta, Steven Pienaar, Tim Cahill, and Louis Saha in terms of goal scoring. Leighton Baines and Jack Rodwell are two great young players as well. And my favorite under-the-radar players for this upcoming are Marouane Fellaini (who has a great fro), Dinyar Bilyaletdinov the man with a thunderous left foot and hopefully not to be often injured – but dangerous Victor Anichebe. I would also love Landon to come back as well.
Prospects for the coming season?
Hopefully they will break into the top 4. However a good battle for the somewhere near 5th place is likely. The difference between 5th through 8th spots is very small.
Is some newbie who is just learning the sport welcome around these parts? Doubt I’ll post much but I’ll certainly be reading alot of the old posts here soon to catch up.
No worries, I am still pretty new, it’s a great team and fun to support.
It's great to know your a fan
I started getting into the sport the same way through the world cup. Another thing you’ll find is that everton is a great club because the characterize what it means to be an American. It’s not always beautiful but they’ll get it done more often than not and I believe our starting eleven are as good as any as long as we can find a consistent goal scorer
by Sawdawg12 on Jul 1, 2010 5:46 AM BST via mobile reply actions
Welcome to the community!
It’s always nice to have a new fan on board. Its good to hear everyone’s varying reasons for supporting the Blues. I honestly believe our fans our a special breed!
i am a yank who from this world cup will now be tuning into everton a lot more now then i was in the past. i was never really a fan of everton but just a fan of the entire league but because of the american influence on this squad i will now have to call everton my team and support them all the way to the top. go Everton!
Mike Green in regular season- Norris Canadiate. Mike Green in Playoffs- Nowhere to be found
Well I can't say that I'm for sure going to pick up the EPL
but I am interested in more information. If you guys would be so kind as to answer a question or two, or point me to a primer, I’d appreciate it. And before anyone freaks out about the username I’ve had it for years and its a reference to the hockey player, Brett Hull and has nothing to do with Hull City. I just didn’t know how or really care to change my username for this one board when I post on several.
1. Being in the states, live streams at ungodly early hours doesn’t really appeal but post game torrents aren’t bad. Anyone know of a site besides footytorrents that uploads EPL matches?
2. Is there some kind of guide or primer that explains how the EPL, Champions League, Europa Cup and the like work? Soccer (sorry football is American football to this Texan) is vastly different than basically any sport here and some clue as to how and why things work would probably enhance the viewing experience. I can’t say Everton is going to be it for me because I haven’t seen much of you guys but I think the big 4 are out. Buying a championship is like the Yankees or New York Rangers of old. That doesn’t have much appeal but I’d also prefer to follow a team that isn’t a bottom feeder worried about relegation. Everton fits in that niche and everything I’ve seen on the net you guys are really good fans which makes the whole thing for more enjoyable.
3. In conjunction with number two, how does relegation work and is it as dire as it sounds?
4. Any other tips, hints or clues for an interested but fairly clueless American learning about your national sport?
1. Footytorrents is the only one I know if you’re looking for the entire 90 minutes, you can try footytube.com for video highlights though.
2. The EPL is basically a double round-robin league. The CL and EC feature both group stages and knockout games. But it’s probably better to read the wikipedia articles, those do a great job explaining how everything works.
3. The worst three teams of the season (every two years it’s West Bromwich and two others) are relegated to the second-tier league called ‘Championship’. This isn’t the end of the club but one of the worst things that can happen. You lose most of your quality players and of course a lot of money.
4. Watch the games and try to understand why certain things happen. Don’t expect 90 minutes of action, it can get boring sometimes (just like every other sport). And of course don’t be afraid to ask, you’re not the only one around here who just starts following soccer.
5. Never use the words Rangers and championship in the same sentence again :p (I’m an Avs fan but don’t worry, I really like the Stars, Hull being one of the reasons)
by StiflersMom on Jul 13, 2010 11:07 PM BST up reply actions
To add on to StiflersMom...
1. I got nothing, I watch everything live or streaming (didn’t even know about footytorrents – gonna have to use that). one of the good things about living in the East Coast, don’t have to wake up as early.
2. I did a quick search on google and found this site that does a solid job of explaining the EPL – http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/781367/english_soccer_explained_premier_league.html?cat=14
It’s from 2008, but nothings really changed since then.
3. What Stifler said and… The clubs always have a chance to get promoted back to the EPL from “The Championship” next season so it isn’t that bad. That said, richer teams and teams with a lot of history will think it’s the end of the world if they get relegated (ex. Newcastle 08-09). But Newcastle won the Championship and are right back into the Premier League this year.
4. Like Stifler said – keep watching and reading and you’ll understand pretty quickly. It’s not as complicated as it looks, you just need some exposure.
Thanks guys
I figured Wikipedia might be the place to go. The nice part is I’m up early working every other Saturday so I may be able to catch some games live. Those Saturdays I’m not working though will definitely be torrent time. I won’t get up for the Tour de France, I darn sure won’t do it for soccer. That’s why the DVR was invented. Delayed sports when I don’t know the outcome is just as good as live with the bonus that I can pause when necessary and skip the halftime.
StiflersMom, the point with the Rangers was the tried to buy it. Sather was an idiot who gave bad contracts to average at best players so it didn’t work but it wasn’t for lack of throwing money around. Earning a championship because your team is smart about buying and grooming young players and makes the occasional big purchase seems more rewarding. A championship is a championship but there’s something very appealing about winning with your kids.
I'm a Nebraskan who's just starting to follow European soccer
So let me try out some U.S. friendly analogies:
FA Cup = Hoosiers-style all-comers-welcome state tournament
Champions League = March Madness (not really in format, but go with me here)
UEFA Cup = NIT
League Cup = conference tournament?
Relegation = I dunno – falling out of the Big 12 and landing in the Mountain West?
by Cheeseandcorn on Jul 15, 2010 4:33 AM BST up reply actions
This is exactly what I've been searching for
As an American trying to get into EPL the simple stuff like league setup & tourneys had confused the heck outta me. Champions League is ez to figure, but FA Cup, UEFA Cup, Europa Leauge, League Cup…I knew relegation was bad but that was about it. Thanks for this primer.
Anyways, add me the count of fans that found Everton thanks to Landon, but I quickly decided that no matter what happened w/ him & MLS/EPL I was hooked on the Toffees. Not the big 4 or a club that simply trys to buy championships, has a storied/revered history, fabulous old stadium, beyond solid manager. I’m sold, & now that I know where the Fox soccer channel is on my dish i’m ready to follow for a season in its entirety! As they say w/ my beloved NHL team here in the midwest…Lets Go Blues!
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