English Premier League

Here's the deal:

I've always been mildly interested in the EPL. I follow it enough to know the big names and teams, but I'd like to get more into it. For those of you who know way more about it than I do, what are the pros/cons of each team? I'm looking for a squad to get behind, but want to know more about the squads other than the big four (Arsenal, ManU, Chelsea, Liverpool).

Thanks for all replies, and give me a break for not knowing more. I'm an American and it's not that big of a deal here.

Well there's not much in the league past that big 4, but Americans do tend to like Fulham due to Clint Dempsey being there and they generally play nice football. He may leave this summer though so could jump ship to wherever he goes.

Newcastle and Tottenham (and Man United) play the most 'neutral-friendly' styles as they play at a quick tempo with wingers and have a lot of exciting attacking options. Sunderland will play a similar style but with less flair and more defensive emphasis.

Newcastle (Ben Arfa, Pappis Cisse, Demba Ba, Cabaye..)
Spurs (Bale, Lennon, Modric, GOAT Scotty Parker)

Stoke City and West Ham will be most one dimensional - they lump balls into the box a lot for their forwards and use long throws as well as physical play as their backbone which is down to their managers Pulis and Big Fat Sam Allardyce respectively.

Aston Villa and Everton have a lot of history and are nearly always top half, just don't have it in them to consistently push the top clubs - Villa have been fading last couple of years though.

Southampton/Reading/West Brom/QPR will be interesting, they bounce in and out of the league every few years but are aiming for stability.

Wigan play nice football but don't have the budget to do more than fight to not get relegated every year which somehow they end up doing even with half empty stadiums. Roberto Martinez deservedly gets praise for keeping them in the league playing good football though.

Norwich and Swansea are wildcards, both were very good exceeding expectations last year but lost their managers which could make them relegation fodder.

Wow. Thanks for that! Exactly what I was looking for.

Can you comment on the best/worst/neutral managers? I don't want to get behind a club with a jackass as a manager.

Seth said:

Wow. Thanks for that! Exactly what I was looking for.

Can you comment on the best/worst/neutral managers? I don't want to get behind a club with a jackass as a manager.

Click to expand...

5 clubs (Swansea/Norwich/Tottenham/Aston Villa/West Brom) don't have managers right now.

Alex Ferguson (Man United) is the best manager in the league, has won just about everything there is to win. Personally I don't like his personality but can't ignore his success.

Mancini (Manchester City) and Wenger (Arsenal) also have trophies to their name. For me Mancini is pretty funny and Wenger moans too much but a lot don't like Mancini so it's more opinions there. Both get into quite a bit of disputes with other managers on the touchline.

Di Matteo (Chelsea) I really like and other than lack of experience you never really hear a bad word about him.

Pardew (Newcastle) is another touchline warrior who argues a lot with opposing managers, but seems ok and respectful in interviews.

Martinez (Wigan) another nice guy that no one seems to dislike, plays nice football and has shown loyalty to them when he consistently has interest from bigger clubs.

Pulis (Stoke) and Allardyce (West Ham) get hate due to the style they have their teams play, but generally are alright though Pulis is a bit ridiculous with his track suits.

Hughes (QPR) gets into it with other managers sometimes but outside of that is a bit boring, I like how he gets his teams to play though and he's a pretty respectful guy who was a great player in his day.

Moyes (Everton) might leave them for Spurs, good at spotting talent generally and is highly rated but for me a bit of a dick.

O'Neil (Sunderland) decent enough

Rodgers (Liverpool) has been praised by everyone for playing good football with Swansea last year and is expected to do the same with a downward spiraling Liverpool. Biggest wildcard so far.

Jol (Fulham) looks like a toad but is decent enough. has made some good signings for Fulham

Didn't follow Southampton or Reading enough last year to comment on their managers.

Breaker said:

5 clubs (Swansea/Norwich/Tottenham/Aston Villa/West Brom) don't have managers right now.

Click to expand...

Laudrup is the new Swansea manager, Hughton the new man at Norwich, Lambert at Villa and the legend that is Steve Clarke got the West Brom job.

Hard to keep track of with the Euro's!

So, out of curiosity, who do you guys support?

Feña14 said:

Laudrup is the new Swansea manager, Hughton the new man at Norwich, Lambert at Villa and the legend that is Steve Clarke got the West Brom job.

Hard to keep track of with the Euro's!

Click to expand...

Yeah I tuned out any domestic talk with all the ridiculous transfer rumours flying around so missed most of this. Stopped paying attention when Lambert left Norwich and Solskjaer was supposedly going to be new Villa boss actually :lol:. The Euro's have kept me distracted enough though yeah

Seth said:

So, out of curiosity, who do you guys support?

Click to expand...

Manchester City for me, lived in Manchester for most of my life so there was only one choice really.

Thanks again, guys. Another question: What is the best online source for following footy day-to-day? For tennis I use TT and atptennis.com, for what it's worth.

I lived in London in early 80s and still follow West Ham although things have changed so much since then in every aspect.

My outside pick for a shock next year is Everton who finished very strongly.

Seth said:

Thanks again, guys. Another question: What is the best online source for following footy day-to-day? For tennis I use TT and atptennis.com, for what it's worth.

Click to expand...

espn.co.uk
soccernet.espn.go.com

Simple and cover all the leagues/internationals, have live scores, and usually only update when information is confirmed. Sites based on newspapers like The Sun or Daily Mail have too much tabloid nonsense and speculation for me.

jaggy said:

I lived in London in early 80s and still follow West Ham although things have changed so much since then in every aspect.

My outside pick for a shock next year is Everton who finished very strongly.

Click to expand...

They start slow every year though and sometimes lack potency up front though Jelavic could end up being that missing link to get them off the mark quickly.

Breaker said:

Yeah I tuned out any domestic talk with all the ridiculous transfer rumours flying around so missed most of this. Stopped paying attention when Lambert left Norwich and Solskjaer was supposedly going to be new Villa boss actually :lol:. The Euro's have kept me distracted enough though yeah

Click to expand...

Ahh I love the random stories you get in the summer. We're getting Schweinsteiger and Falcao in the next few weeks apparently! Torres will be off to Juventus though oh and Ramires is going to be sold back to Brazil. You couldn't make these thing up during the season. I like to think they have a bucket with players names in and every writer has to pick one out and come up with a story for the name they get, a kind of sweepstakes if you like, funny!

If i were just getting into English football i would be a Spurs fan, not part of the big four can be terribly inconsistent but a great squad they do have, especially with Gareth Bale, Luka Modric and Rafael van der Vaart.

Newcastle is playing some good football, look like a fun side to support.