A Well Rested Premiership Saturday!

Morning, lads! Thanks to the Brits changing their clocks back a week earlier than we have, we've all just had an extra hour of sleep. So, no stumbling around the kitchen trying to remember where we've put the coffee, eh? We start later than usual with a real eye-opener - Chelski v. Liverpool at the Bridge. Grab that cuppa and join me here at 8:45am EST, chaps.

Meeting your idols

I'm a sucker for stories of meeting footballers and these are total class. Enjoy! http://www.theguardian.com/football/2015/oct/30/pele-cruyff-best-barnes-stories-meeting-footballers#_=_

A Thursday Night War of the Roses!

Through the vagaries of Football League scheduling, we have a clash between my beloved LUFC and Blackburn at Elland Road tonight. I can't say that I'm full of confidence about tonight's match given our recent form, scrapping away for draws against the likes of Fulham and Bolton. So, I suppose I wouldn't mind another battling score-draw tonight, which would put us at 14 points from 14 matches. Low expectations, eh?

Join me to follow tonight's proceedings from 3:45pm EST onward.

Debate Night Special!

Evening, folks - I've just poured myself a stiff drink and am settling in to watch the Republican debate preliminaries. The GOP candidate go at it again tonight starting at 8pm on CNBC.

If you're watching, drop by for a drink and a laugh with me.

Capital One Cup Trivia!

Due to the Daylight Savings Time shift, I'm unlikely to see any of the exciting Round of 16 action in the Capital One Cup this week. So, I thought as an alternative, I'd post an intriguing trivia question about the League Cup.

"Which of the current Premiership sides have never won the League Cup in any of its various iterations (i.e., Milk Cup, Coca Cola Cup)?"

Have fun with it!

Premiership Plus Predictions Game - Week 10 Update

If it's Monday, that means that we've just made it through another whirlwind weekend of domestic footer with loads of narrative - Mourinho sent off! Vardy scores again! The Manchester Derby bores us all to tears! And it's time to take stock of our PPP scores. Man City are still on top, but West Ham are back up in the top five, giving WHR some added points. Roma are top Serie A this week, giving Roma fan Swansong four extra points. So, we have a tie at the top between MUR and Simon. Here are the current standings:

1. Man Utd Rules - 33 points
- What's Up Wheaton Simon - 33 pts
3. Swansong - 32 pts
4. West Ham Rising - 29 pts
5. Chelskilad - 25 pts
6. Yellows - 24 pts
7. The Red Devil 1FCK - 23 pts
8. Gooner71 - 19 pts
- The Saint - 19 pts
10. Blue Devil - 13 pts
- The Red Dragon - 13 pts
12. United We Stand - 12 pts
13. Someone Said - 11 pts

Derby Sunday!

It's a huge day in the Premiership today with two mouth-watering derby matches on offer. We start with the Tyne and Weir Derby, the second match in charge for Fat Sam Allardyce at Sunderland. He's "feeling a tingle" at the prospect and so are we.

The late one is still one of the biggest in world football - the Manchester Derby. It's third v. fourth with the prize of landing on the top of the Premiership at the end of the day. Join me for all the fun on the LOB, eh?

A Prem Saturday That Allows for A Wee Bit of Extra Kip

It's a late start to the Prem today with the Foxes vs Palace on Born in the USA and the Hammers vs Chelsea on NBCSN. The late match is the Gunners vs the Toffees on NBC. It's a decent Saturday lineup.

Wednesday Night in the Champions League!

It's another big night in the Champions League with United traveling to Moscow to meet CSKA and Citeh hosting Sevilla. The biggest match of the night is PSG v. Real Madrid. I'm in the office following on Fox Soccer 2 Go - join me, won't you?

Champions League Tuesday!

It's crunch time at the Emirates tonight. After opening losses to Dynamo Zagreb and Olympiacos, this massive match-up against mighty Bayern is really a must-win. It is theoretically possible that Arsenal could still finish second even after dropping the two matches against the Germans, but it's exceedingly unlikely. I'm bunkered in the office this office following this one this afternoon. Drop on by for a cuppa if you're around, chaps.

Rosler Out, Evans in at Leeds!

Dear oh dear. It's another week of turmoil at my beloved Elland Road, as Uwe Rosler has been sacked after only two months of the season. I had a feeling that our string of tough fixtures might put him under pressure with Cellino, but I was hoping that he might get until at least Christmas to prove himself. Cellino isn't a patient man, though, as we've seen from his sacking five managers in the last twelve months. Next up is former Rotherham boss Steve Evans (pictured here in sombrero).

My fear is that this upheaval is going to tip us into a relegation battle for the rest of the season. We should be better than the bottom three but it will likely be a white-knuckle ride for us, counting every point (11 points from 11 matches at present) and looking over our shoulders. Not fun (sigh)....

And Now for Something Completely Different....

Morning, chaps! Now that we've sorted out who is and isn't going to be in France next summer, we can concentrate full-time on the domestic game. And what a match to welcome the Premiership back with. It's Jurgen Klopp's first match in change at Liverpool against fellow wannabe club Spurs.

At 10am EST, we've got Everton v. ManYoo and then we wrap up with the late one between Watford and Arsenal. Join me for all the usual LOB chatter.

Footie Trivia of the Week!

The Premiership is back at the weekend and I couldn't be happier or more excited. If you're feeling the same way, have a go at this brain teaser:

"In the 23 years of its operation, there have been 15 footballers who have claimed the mantel of top goalscorer in the Premiership for a given season. So....

1. Name as many of those fifteen as you can or

(For the ambitious) Name the top goalscorer of each year since the inaugural 1992-1993 season.

2. Which player has claimed the top goalscorer most often? How many times was that?

3. Which club has had the largest number of top goalscorers?

4. Which two players have scored the most number of goals in a given season? How many was that?

5. Which two players have scored the least number of goals in a given season? How many was that?"

Go for it, lads!

Debate Watch 2016!

I'm settling in after a long day at work to enjoy tonight's Democratic Party debate. It's coming to us live from Las Vegas, a place known for its pugilistic battles, starting at 8:30pm EST. It should be a lively one, as its the first chance for these candidates to impress the American people. Hillary Clinton is still considered the front runner in the primaries, but Vermont Senator - and Blue Devil's favored candidate - Bernie Sanders is running her hard and even leading the polls in New Hampshire. The others - Martin O'Malley, Jim Webb and Lincoln Chafee are all polling at approximately "bugger all" to use the Python parlance. So, they'll need to score some knock-out blows to have any impact at all.

So, pour yourself a libation and join me for the usual LOB political banter, won't you?

England are a Perfect Ten!

While we were all working (or celebrating Columbus Day) England did something that they've never done - finish a European Championship campaign with a perfect record. That's right - the goals today from Ross Barkley and Alex Oxlade Chamberlain plus one o.g. from a generous Lithuanian defender meant that England notched their tenth win out of ten qualifiers. England became only the fifth country in the history of the European Championships to make it to the tournament with a perfect record in qualifying. France 1992, Czech Republic 2000, France 2004, Germany 2012, Spain 2012, and now England 2016. Not bad company to keep. Now, they just have to win the thing next summer, eh Woy?

So, here's the question - is this current England side that brushed aside all comers in their group win France 2016? What say you, gents?

Mexico v. USA Live!

Evening, chaps! I'm just home from a beautiful day out with Kate at Allegany State Park and am settling in to watch the USA v. Mexico Confederations Cup qualifier tonight. If you're around and watching, drop on by, won't you?

England v. Estonia Live!

England go into this evening's Euro 2016 qualifier with nothing to lose, having already qualified top for the tournament in France next summer. They're also on a run of form that means that they've won seven qualifiers on the trot in this group. So, it looks likely that Woy will forgo the use of 50-goal striker Wayne Rooney in favor of blooding Harry Kane alongside his North London rival Theo Walcott.

Join me for all of the action this afternoon from 2:45pm onward.

Euro 2016 Live!

I'm marooned at work this afternoon, but I'm using the handy guide that Gooner posted here earlier in the week in order to follow the Euro 2016 matches this afternoon. The Republic v. Germany and Norn Ireland v. Greece are about to kick off. Check in here throughout the afternoon if you're watching, eh?

New Movie about "British Soul!"

I'm excited to hear about the imminent release a new British film about the interesting phenomenon of "Northern Soul," the fascination among a certain section of UK youth in underground American soul records in 1970s, centered around Northern working men's clubs. It stars Steve Coogan and, from the looks of this clip, really gets the authentic atmosphere of the times. Can't wait to see it!

When and where to watch the Qualifiers this week

Here's a quick list of when and where lads. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/soccer-insider/wp/2015/10/06/how-to-watch-international-soccer-on-tv-and-live-streams-this-week/?postshare=6091444141200952

Footie Trivia Question of the Week

Right, then, as we ease into the International Break, here's a head scratcher to keep you thinking for a while:

"Who is the Dutch international currently playing in the Premiership who has played under the same manager for three of his last four clubs, including his current side?"

Good luck, lads!

Premiership Plus Predictions Game - Week 8 Update

Well, that was quite an eventful weekend of Premiership footie, wasn't it? When the dust all settled, two clubs - Liverpool and Sunderland - were without managers - while another (Chelsea) had given their boss Jose Mourinho a temporary vote of confidence. That after Citeh had romped to a 5-1 win and Arsenal had beaten United 3-0. After your thoughtful feedback, I'm assigning 2 points to MUR and Red Dragon for choosing Dick Advocaat as their first boss to be sacked. No one chose Jose to be the first to get a Vote of Confidence, so that's a wash. Here are the current standings:

1. Man Utd Rules - points
2. Yellows - 32 pts
3. What's Up Wheaton Simon - 30 pts
4. Swansong - 27 pts
5. West Ham Rising - 24 pts
6. The Saint - 22 pts
7. The Red Dragon - 21 pts
8. Gooner71 - 17 pts
- The Red Devil 1FCK - 17 pts
10. United We Stand - 16 pts
11. Chelskilad - 15 pts
- Someone Said - 15 pts
13. Blue Devil - 12 pts

The Sack Race Debate

Well, chaps - it was quite an eventful day in the Premiership, wasn't it? But one issue was tossed up by the events that has implications for the PPP and needs to get sorted out.

During the Merseyside Derby this morning, we heard that Sunderland boss Dick Advocaat and the club had come to a "mutual agreement" that Advocaat would be leaving the club. That is, Advocaat had resigned, albeit probably just ahead of being sacked.

Later in the afternoon, after the matches had ended, the BBC reported the big news that Liverpool boss Brendan Rodgers had been sacked.

So, where does that leave us? One manager (Rodgers) was clearly sacked by his club, but that was only after another one (Advocaat) had resigned hours before. Which should count as the "First Manager to be Sacked in the Premiership).

To make all of this clear - two of our PPPers (Man Utd Rules and The Red Dragon) chose Dick Advocaat to get sacked first and would stand to receive two points in the game, while no one was prescient enough to pick Brendan Rodgers.

So, what say you? I'll let the majority decide this one and will abide by that decision. Next season, though, I may make the category more open and just say "The First Manager to Leave A Club." Let me know and I'll assign points accordingly.

It Doesn't Get Any Bigger!

Morning, chaps - we're certainly in for some entertainment this morning. It really doesn't get any bigger than this in English domestic football. We've got the Merseyside Derby first up at 8:30am. That's followed at 11am by Arsenal v. United. Be there!

The Last Saturday Morning Prem Matches Before the International Break

It's the last weekend of  Prem matches before the international break and to be honest the better matches are on tomorrow. we start with Palace vs the Baggies in a return to Selhurst Park for Tony Pubis a. It concludes with probably the probably the pick of the lot today as a surprisngly disappointing Chelsea host a decent Saints side.