Rain & Sunshine (a Premier League write up)

It's hard to say for sure whether my understanding of the game is developing, or if I'm just getting really good at consuming the right things. Last weekend, when I discovered that the North London derby would be taking place the following weekend, I made a note to myself to read up on this storied rivalry. Up to this point, I've spent a lot of time dwelling on the kits of Arsenal and Tottenham but considerably less time on the other aspects of these clubs. Having watched both clubs play a few times each so far this season, I was pretty aware that Spurs were coming in on the heels of back to back 3-0 defeats after starting with three straight victories right out the game and that Arsenal had opened the season with a string of losses but seemed to be crawling forward. Simply put, these teams were meeting one another at a pretty interesting time. 

On Friday of last week, the Athletic put up a video breaking down the derby. They had their Arsenal writer and their Spurs writer on to discuss how each club got to the point where they are. The Arsenal writer acknowledged the the mammoth amounts of money that went into their new stadium, the departure of Arsene Wenger and the search for an identity since but still finished by saying "there seems to be a plan." For his part, the Spurs writer highlighted Tottenham's own wildly expensive stadium and the fact that the pandemic prevented fans from attending matches which in turn really fucked with Tottenham's cash flow. He talked about the coaching carousel of the last few years and how now Nuno Espirito Santo's preferred style of play doesn't work with the personnel that he's been assigned. Harry Kane was mentioned once or twice. Perhaps, most crucially, the Spurs writer from the Athletic kinda sorta said that Tottenham does not seem to have much of a plan. 

The match itself on Sunday was just a lot of fun. As it went on, one of the television announcers kept saying that this was the scene of the rebirth of Arsenal, the renaissance of Arsenal, and at one point I think he called them Arsenal 2.0; it was all a blur, really. After not scoring in play all season, Arsenal hammered home three goals in the first half. The young roster looked positively electric. They reminded me of some of my favorite imperfect NBA teams from years past like the Darius Miles-led Clippers; squads that were on high on potential but that couldn't always get it together. The last time that I wrote I said that I felt bad for Ryan from Stadio for being a Pacers fan since he's also an Arsenal fan. All that I meant by that was these last two seasons finishing eight must have been hard since Arsenal usually compete for top four finishes. Setting those two eighth place finishes aside, there's a lot to really admire about Arsenal. For starters, according to Wikipedia, they have the most diverse fanbase of any football club on the planet. They have also had some really great kits like the bruised banana shirt (which I recently saw listed on Depop for $550) and this year's alternate (which I still maintain will look fire when paired with navy blue socks.) 

It must just be weird to think about a club like Arsenal rebuilding in the first place. Are roster rebuilds common in the Premier League? Do teams blow it up? My suspicion is that this not the case. It seems like the unfathomably wealthy clubs stock talent so that they are prepared for any and all tournaments and then everyone else is left hanging on to whatever they can find while hoping that the youth can develop. My NBA-addled mind looks at the work that Arsenal has put in so far and their recent transfer activity and says "there seems to be a plan."

While the derby got a bunch of graphs here, I also enjoyed the matches on Saturday! Manchester City versus Chelsea already sounded like an awesome matchup, and that was before I discovered that City's schedule for the week was Chelsea, PSG and Liverpool or that one time Pep Guardiola and Thomas Tuchel got together for some hanging out that was so intense it intimidated everyone else in the bar. The match itself did not disappoint. I feel that I finally saw the City that everyone is always talking about. They were a joy to watch at times. 

Speaking of joyous occasions, Manchester United lost to Aston Villa. As with in recent weeks, I found myself actively rooting for a Man U defeat. At around the 80th minute or so with the score still even, I sighed a little bit because recent weeks were fresh in my mind. "Time for the dumb, fucking smash and grab," I thought to myself. It was such a pleasant surprise to see that not take place. It was almost as nice as the Villa kits (which, not sure if this is a hot take or not but I think these away kits are even sharper than the claret and blue. The subtle pinstriping on the shirt really puts it over the top for me.) 

Stepping into this week, I'm most curious to find out whether or not I'll see the City team that I saw take on Chelsea again. I'm also curious to see what shakes out on Attack on Titan but this isn't the blog for that. 

Two Worlds Become One (or how the search for a Premier League club is going)

They did a mailbag episode on Stadio today, and one of the questions submitted struck a chord with me. Someone wrote in to say that they lived in the United States and had just begun watching Premier League and that they were looking for advice on which team to throw their support behind. I did not submit this query, but I recognized the line of thinking. 

"Think about what you love, your values or whatever and then try to find a team that aligns with that," is what Musa said and those words have been rattling around in my head all day. He went on to provide an NBA example, which helped me immeasurably. Now that I can follow, and his words on the Brandon Roy-era Portland Trail Blazers made me smile. If Musa weren't a Manchester United fan, I think I'd just take his words as gospel and follow him to Old Trafford. However, I can assure myself that won't happen. 

Ryan, the other Stadio host, also provided an NBA example. He said that he was an Indiana Pacers fan but that it took that one playoff series against the Heat in 2013 to realize it. He actually referred to them as "my Pacers" which made feel a slight twinge of sadness since he's also an Arsenal fan. These last two years or so must have felt just incredibly long. At the same time, that yin yang balance of Arsenal and the Pacers doesn't sound so bad. In a lot of ways, that's where I would like to land with this. I wonder who the Washington Wizards of the Premier League are? 

A quick online search tells me that, ha, The Athletic ran a piece that tackles this very subject. Unfortunately, it was written in June 2020 and somehow feels a little dated in parts. (Also, while holding myself back from a rant, a lot of what they say about the Wizards is tied to the John Wall era which is now very much over.) All that being said, there's a lot of good anecdotal and contextual information about Premier League clubs that I probably wouldn't be able to find elsewhere and the whole NBA comparison model provides something basic enough for me to follow along. (Without dwelling on the comps too much, I must admit I was a little saddened to see that Aston Villa and their great kits were assigned the Philadelphia 76ers as their counterpart. Without getting into it, I may live in Philadelphia but I carry a real disdain for the Sixers. It's a long story. Maybe some other day.) 

Anyway, I wanted to share a few words on how my search for a club was going. Ryan really stressed that you can't get caught up in present day results. After all, this is partnership for life. His anecdote about realizing that the Pacers were his team made me realize that it's going to take me all season. We're only a few weeks into the season so far, and this campaign runs until next summer. There are so many ebbs and flows that have yet to take place. Put simply, there's just so much more to experience. So, for as much as I may admire the Aston Villa or Wolves kit and despite the fact that I seemingly only read about the Big Six or Seven, I still understand that this isn't something I can rush into and that right now is a time for absorbing. (Ryan also suggested watching more football than just Premier League and seeing what grabs you. Bundesliga, here I come.)

This weekend has cool matchups on the schedule, but my mind keeps gravitating toward the North London derby. I don't know if it's because I live in North Philadelphia (and apologies if I've mentioned this before) but there is part of me that wonders if I should throw my support behind either Arsenal or Tottenham. It wouldn't be a popular choice since all American soccer fans only root for Manchester United, Liverpool or City but that's part of the appeal, baby. Both clubs carry a lot of history with them, which is cool, and while each have seen some success here and there, neither have ever been the unquestioned best on the planet, which is the lane that I know best. Both have strong kits too. Oh no, is this what I love? Is this what my values revolve around? Kits? 

Psychic Wound (a Premier League write up)

It's a lot to take in, honestly. The action flows from end to end uninterrupted. The slightest touch can create chaos and heartbreak in an instant. Any and all storylines contain layers. Watching Premier League long enough in one sitting, and it all really does start to feel like that one Lord of the Rings meme. You don't just simply turn the television on and watch Prem; it's more of Matrix type thing. The only way to really do it is to plug in and immerse yourself. Or at least, that's how it feels after following this for the first month. 

Watching West Ham versus Manchester United this morning, I was struck by how technically foreign all of this is to me. In some respects, I can feel my understanding and familiarity go up each week and I'm now able to connect some dots and fill in some blanks. However, a lot of the context continues to elude me. And to quote Tom Scharpling, from his memoir It Never Ends, "So many of the world's problems stem from a lack of context. If you can't understand who someone is, you will struggle to understand why they do the things they do." He's rather obviously not talking about football, but I think it's still applicable here. I can try and follow the ball as it moves up and down the pitch, but in most cases, I know precious little about the pitch itself. The history of the grounds and the tales that are told about classic matches from years past; that information isn't readily available, you have to dig for it. It's the same thing when it comes to the clubs. I can look at all the kits and listen to the crowd reaction and use that to try and find my squad, but in doing so, I run the risk of stepping over so much history. Most of these clubs have existed in some shape or another since the late 18 or early 1900s. Now, I don't expect to learn everything there is know about all of it, but at the same time, I do think that I should, at the very least, know the last 30 years pretty well. And it's bigger than the Premier League too; there's the Champions League, the FA Cup, the Europa (plus, a few that I probably don't even know about.)

Anyway, these thoughts were rattling around my head while I watched Premier League this morning. This was actually my first actual Premier League morning watching all of the matches live. After the other week against Leicester City, I was quite ready to watch Michail Antonio and West Ham take on Manchester United. He has been an absolute joy to watch, and while I may be new, at the same time I can say quite comfortably that Manchester United is my least favorite club in all of soccer. If I didn't already feel this way then I definitely did after the match was over. They snatched another one! This one was even more of a gut punch when you learn that Jesse Lingard, who hit the winner, spent last season on loan to West Ham and is still much beloved by their fan base (they gave him a standing ovation when he checked into the match.) 

Another thing that I kept wrestling with all day while watching was the atmosphere of the crowds. Yesterday, the energy at Villa Park rose to a level normally reserved for Evangelion Unit 01 to grab the forks and bring about the next impact. The opening goal from Matty Cash was nice enough on its own, but it stirred something up in the Villa supporters. Then Leon Bailey checked in and took everything to another level. It sure look like he scored on that corner kick, but it was ruled an Everton own goal. Since he didn't get credit for it, Bailey went ahead and hammered home a beautiful, undeniable goal minutes later. The crowd was rapturous and the vibes were high. 

That was the only match that I caught yesterday. After the West Ham versus Manchester United match ended, I threw in a load of laundry and got ready for Tottenham versus Chelsea, which by my count is my first derby. Based on the way they are talked about other places, I find myself pulling for Spurs, at least a little bit. This is definitely informed from watching the documentary series and learning about their squad. At the same time, though, as the guy I share a workspace with will tell you, I've caught every Chelsea match so far this season and think pretty highly of them too. 

Today, Chelsea appeared inevitable. Like Thanos who came before them, they moved forward according to their own plan. Things were pretty close in the first half, and the broadcast team said that if there were an edge then you would have to give it to Spurs, who were playing without Japhet Tanganga who had to serve a one-match suspension for the red card from last week against Crystal Palace. 

However, the second half was a different story. Thomas Tuchel put N'Golo Kanté into the match and things changed. Romelu Lukaku had a relatively quiet today, aside from the times that the commentators called attention to the fact that he wasn't dominating the game, and despite that, Chelsea still walked with relative ease out of Tottenham today. It's hard to say what went wrong for Spurs exactly, aside from Delle Ali not jumping when Tiago Silva went up for that first goal and then the ball careening off of Eric Dier for the second one. I can confirm that Heung-min Son and Harry Kane played and were active today, but am having a hard time recalling any real quality shots on goal. 

So, that's how it went down this weekend. Somehow, I'm still no closer to a squad of my own. At my most honest, I would say that I have narrowed the league down to a handful of clubs but I still feel that I have a long way to go. Next week already looks strong with Manchester City and Chelsea locking up on Saturday and then a big North London throwdown on Sunday when Arsenal and Spurs meet.  

Deep Distance Dawn

 The pattern is always the same time after time. An international football tournament, the World Cup or the Euro (and maybe to a lesser extent the Olympics,) takes place and positively captures my imagination. For the entire length of the tourney, I'm rapt with attention on my couch. When it ends, I tell myself that that we keep it going and follow the action on the club level. It happens maybe one Sunday morning. 

On many levels, the Premier League and I appear to be a dynamite match. To put it lightly, I am an NBA obsessive. I spend morning, noon and night pouring over an aggregated Twitter feed of basketball musings and rumors. It's not just the on-the-court aspects of basketball that I love, but also everything that surrounds it. The players. The uniforms. Coaching drama. Upset fans. The whole lot, I'm here for it. I noticed fairly early on that with the more hoops that I watched, the deeper that I got and the more I started to notice. The players are right there in front of you, no helmets or hats or pads. After enough time, you start to get a sense of their personalties (on-the court at least, I'm not trying to speak for anyone.) Correct me if I'm wrong, but everything in this paragraph could be applied to following the Premier League. The only thing holding me back is my lack of affiliation, I reckon. In the past, when I would timidly try to watch, without a real, rooted interest, the whole operation just steamrolled right over me. However, that ends today. The buck stops here, as some like to say. I'm diving in. 

Since this is my first, honest foray into the Premier League, I'm acknowledging this head-on and am wondering in as a neutral. The only teams that I know for sure that I will not be supporting are: Millwall, Manchester United, Manchester City and Liverpool. 

Beyond that, I consider myself pretty open and have been conducting a fair amount of research. Admittedly, a lot of my research thus far has centered around who has the most notorious fans and why and who has the best looking uniforms (sorry, kits.) So far, I reckon that there are few early favorites but I still maintain that I will watch for weeks before I truly, know my club. 

Years ago, I used to play FIFA with my brother and always ran with Aston Villa as they have fantastic kits (claret and blue, * chef's kiss *) However, first choice for video game competition doesn't exactly sound like the best basis for picking your football club. What if someone asks me? It's entirely possible that I end up a Villa fan at the end of the day, but I want to do the leg work first. The Crystal Palace home kit might be my favorite of everything I've seen heading into the season, I am enchanted by those slanted lines. 

The other kits that caught my eye also carry a lot of history with them, and concerns two long-time rivals. Both Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur have exceptionally clean kits. Arsenal has also gone with some exceptional kits in years past too (bruised banana, baby.) 

In terms of competing on the field (sorry, pitch,) Leicester City carries with it a certain amount of appeal. Squarely outside the so-called Top Four except when Arsenal and Spurs are competitive and then it's Big Six, Leicester City has crashed the party before and haven't gone away in recent years. Also, just today, they announced they had acquired my third favorite player from this past Euro, defender and, also giant, Jannik Vestergaard (unfortunately my favorite player from this past Euro, Paul Pogba is on Manchester United and my second favorite player from this past Euro, Raheem Sterling suits up for Manchester City.) Again, it's entirely possible that I end up here but still I need to do my due diligence. 

There's part of me that suspects I may get caught up in Chelsea's march for the title. There's near unanimous consensus that Chelsea, City, Manchester United and Liverpool will finish in the top four of the standings with Chelsea and City duking it out. It's a possibility so I'm not dismissing it. 

Anyway, Brentwood meets Arsenal tomorrow. This blog was (probably) never a blog worth blogging about and now it's a blog about football