A Promotion Six-Pointer!

I'm settling in to enjoy what promises to be a relegation six-point barnburner this afternoon. I'm hoping that the Leeds boys can bounce back from an unexpected League Cup loss to Preston in mid-week to claim the points against rivals Middlesboro. Come on, you Whites! MOT!

Champions League Group Stage Draw

The draw for the Champions League group stage has just been completed. Here's the draw in full:

Group A 
Atletico Madrid
Borussia Dortmund
Monaco
Club Brugge

Group B
Barcelona
Spurs
PSV Eindhoven
Inter Milan

Group C
PSG
Napoli
Liverpool
Red Star Belgrade

Group D
Lokomotiv Moscow
Porto
Schalke
Galatasaray

Group E
Bayern Munich
Benfica
Ajax
AEK Athens

Group F
Manchester City
Shakhtar Donetsk
Lyon
Hoffenheim

Group G
Real Madrid
Roma
CSKA Moscow
Viktoria Plzen

Group H
Juventus
Manchester United
Valencia
Young Boys

Your thoughts, gents?

Premiership Plus Predictions Game - Week 3 Update

If it's Tuesday morning, it's PPP update time, chaps. With that shocking 0-3 mauling of Jose Mourinho's Man Utd, Spurs rounded off an exciting weekend of domestic footie last night. What a difference a week makes, eh? Last week, a Man City title seemed inevitable after their 6-1 destruction of lowly Huddersfield. But the plucky Championship title holders Wolves were able to hold them to a thrilling 2-2 draw, albeit with some help from the referee. That all means that Liverpool, courtesy of a Mo Salah goal, sit on top of the league again. Burnley have joined Huddersfield and West Ham at the bottom.

In the Championship, the Marcelo Bielsa era at Leeds keeps marching on. We're top of the league due to a better goal difference over Boro, who are our visitors at Elland Road on Friday (cor!). The European leagues have all kicked off at this point, with Real Madrid and Juve predictably on top of their respective leagues, and Dortmund in the top slot in the Bundesliga.

That all means that I'm Top of the Pops again! In addition, I should mention that I slighted Someone Said two points last week, forgetting about that Sergio Aguero hat-trick against Hudders. In addition, several of us have picked up points for correctly predicting that Jose Mourinho would receive the backing of the United board.

Here are the current standings:

1. Blue Devil - 41 points
2. Gooner71 - 28 pts
3. Swansong - 21 pts
4. Man Utd Rules - 20 pts
-  MOT the Hoople - 20 pts
6. The Bee's Knees - 18 pts
-  Red Devil 1FCK - 18 pts
-  West Ham Rising - 18 pts
-  What's Up Wheaton Simon - 18 pts
10. Someone Said - 17 pts
-  United We Stand - 17 pts
-  Yellows - 17 pts
13. The Saint - 16 pts
14. Red Dragon - 12 pts

A Spot of Monday Night Footie

A very good Monday evening to you gents out there in LOB land. I'm in the midst of the furore of the opening day of the Fredonia semester. But I'm still going to try to grab a sneaky peek at the Premiership offering this evening. It couldn't be a more mouth-watering prospect. It's United with all of the Mourinho nonsense on board against Spurs, one of the most attractive (at times) and erratic (most of the time) sides. What more could you ask for on a Monday afternoon, eh? Join me!

Early Season Sunday Morning Football

It's actually a Sunday triple header that started with the Hornets defeating place 2-1 at VR as the Hornets are in second place thanks to a perfect start to the season.All the goals were scored in the second half. The 11 AM televised match is the Toon vs Chelsea while the non televised 11 AM match is at The Cottage where Burnley are the visitors. Will the Cottagers win their first points of the season against a Burnley side who played an EL match in Greece on Thursday. Watch the late action and find out

Who's Ready for Some Football?

Morning, chaps. After the first week back at work in earnest, it's nice to hit the weekend and a chance to take a break. First up today is the newly-promoted Wolves against table-topping Citeh. Then come the 10am kickoffs including the Arsenal on NBC Sports. Alongside that is my beloved Leeds on a road trip to our old stomping grounds at Norwich. We end up with Liverpool v. Brighton.

I'll be in and out for the first one but will be around for the Leeds match. Then I have to jump in the car for an MLS road trip up to Toronto to see TFC in their derby day match against Montreal.

Tuesday Night Action!

My beloved Leeds have enjoyed their best start to a new season since I was 10. It's been thrilling to watch Marcelo Bielsa's side over the past two weeks. Here's hoping that it will continue today as the Whites travel to South Wales for a stiff mid-week test against Swansea City. #MOT!

Premiership Plus Predictions Game - Week 2 Update

Evening, chaps - I'm back with the weekly update of PPP standings. With their 0-2 win over Palace this evening, Liverpool rounded off an eventful week in domestic footie. Liverpool are still riding high after two wins and two clean sheets, but Citeh's rout of Huddersfield on Sunday means that they've pipped them at the top on goal difference.

That all means, that, as the one person brave enough not to tip Citeh for the title, I've gone from top to bottom of the charts. The rest of you lot have picked up 10 points for the Champions category. We also settled a few other issues this week. Red Devil picked up a point for being the first in the PPP pool to have their pick sent off when Jamie Vardy got his marching orders against Wolves this weekend. And then just today, Jose Mourinho got the fateful Vote of Confidence from the United board, which means two points for MUR and Swansong.

La Liga and Serie A got off to a start this weekend, but with Sevilla and Empoli improbably perched on top, none of us gains points from that.

So, here are current standings:

1. Gooner71 - 37 points
2. West Ham Rising - 35 pts
3. Red 1FCK - 32 pts
4. MOT the Hoople - 29 pts
5. Swansong - 28 pts
-  What's Up Wheaton Simon - 28 pts
7. Man Utd Rules - 27 pts
8. The Bee's Knees - 26 pts
-  The Saint - 26 pts
-  Someone Said - 26 pts
11. United We Stand - 25 pts
-  Yellows - 25 pts
13. Red Dragon - 24 pts
14. Blue Devil - 18 pts

The First Monday Night Football of the Season!

The league leaders after Week 1 Liverpool travel to the Capital tonight to visit Crystal Palace in the first big Monday night match of the season. I'll be marooned at work this afternoon, but I'll follow along as I can. Enjoy the match, lads!

A Tale of Two Manchesters

A very good Sunday morning, chaps. The day is dominated by two matches featuring the Manchester clubs, who both got off to winning ways last weekend. They'll be chasing Chelsea and Spurs who both have perfect records at the top of the league now. Citeh kick off against Huddersfield in a few moments, while United take on Brighton at the Seagull's nest later on. Join me for all the fun this morning.

The Premier League Matches Get Bigger and Better as the Day Progresses

It starts with newly promoted Cardiff vs the Toon, which is 0-0 early in the second half. The 10 AM televised match is at Wembley as the Spuds host the newly promoted Cottagers. Not sure if that's what Bob meant by moving day. For the second week in a row, the Gunners are involved in a late big one as they visit Chelsea. That is an opportunity to see which of the two new managers has made a greater impact on the side. The first two matches are on NBCSN with the late on NBC. Join me if you can

League Cup First Round Madness!

My beloved Leeds have started the new season in spectacular fashion vanquishing two promotion rivals - Stoke and Derby - in some style. Tonight it's League Cup First Round time, with Bolton Wanderers visiting the hallowed turf at Elland Road. Come on, you Whites! 

A Poser for a Work Day

Hello All,
I thought I would put a little trivia quiz for all you working folks!

Mahrez played for Manchester City at the Emirates on Sunday. His debut meant that he has played for only two clubs in the Premier League and both of them being a City.
Can you name the one player that has only played for THREE Premier League sides and all of them are a City?

Let me know

UWS

Premiership Plus Predictions Game - Week 1 Update

A very good Monday morning to all of you out there in LOB land. As is our tradition, I'll be updating the PPP standings once a week during the season. I'm delighted to announce that, with West Ham Rising and Yellows chipping in predictions right at the 11th hour, we've got a record 14 participants with us this season.

Even more promising, given that I was the only one with the foresight to predict Liverpool as Premier League champions, I've jumped out to an early lead. Now, I'm going to hold off on the temptation to call the engravers, since these point scores are merely emerging. So far it's just 10 points of the champions, 4 or 5 points for the European qualifiers, 3 or 4 points for the relegation favorites, and 3 or 4 points for the promotion favorites.

None of us predicted Paul Pogba's penalty strike, which kicked off the season's goals. However, Swansong did pick up 1 point for choosing Jamie Vardy, as he was the first correct pick in the pool. We still haven't had a red card, hat-trick or many other categories in the pool yet, so that's all to come.  None of us predicted any of the three players - Mane, Pereyra or Richarlison, who are currently top of the goalscoring charts on 2 a piece.

So, here are the very nascent standings for our game after Week 1:

1. Blue Devil - 32 points
2. Red Devil 1FCK - 17 pts
3. Gooner71 - 16 its
4. The Bee's Knees - 15 pts
5. MOT the Hoople - 14 pts
-  What's Up Wheaton Simon - 14 pts
7. United We Stand - 13 pts
8. Someone Said - 12 pts
9. Red Dragon - 10 pts
-  The Saint - 10 pts
-  West Ham Rising - 10 pts
12. Man Utd Rules - 9 pts
13. Swansong - 8 pts
-  Yellows - 8 pts
-->

The First Big Match-up of the Season

Morning, chaps! The season is only a couple of days old and we've already got our first big match-up. It's Arsenal v. City from the Emirates. It doesn't get much bigger than that. The undercard match ain't bad either - Liverpool starting their campaign against the Happy Hammers. So, fix yourself a strong cuppa and join me here on the LOB.

The First Saturday of the Season

Nothing beats the feeling of waking up on the first Saturday of the football season. We've got the whole arc of the season ahead of us. First up this morning, it's Spurs against Newcastle. Then we get the usual 10am EST kickoffs, including the NBC Spurts match Huddersfield v. Chelsea and a full Championship schedule. We then end the day with Championship title holders Wolves kicking off their Premier League campaign against Everton and my beloved Leeds on a road trip to Frankie Lampard's Derby side. Come on in and join me for a cuppa and a natter this morning.

Are You Ready For Some FOOTBALL?

After a memorable summer of World Cup Football... FOOTBALL IS BACK in full force this weekend. After a very disappointing preseason and transfer window, Manchester United open up the entire Premier League season as the host Leicester City. This is the least confident I have felt for any season for many a year... please surprised me United!! Of course, the visitors have been Champions of England more recent than my beloved....that's just wrong!!

COME ON MAN U
COME ON MAN U
COME ON MAN U

Join me
UWS

PS. Jose....ATTACK ATTACK ATTACK!!

Transfer Deadline Day!

For the first time, the FA has decided to end the summer transfer window a day before the beginning of the Premier League season. I like it a lot. For one thing, we know where teams stand right from the start of the season proper instead of getting August surprises that dramatically alter the fortunes of teams. So what business are you hoping that your team will do on this last day? Who would you like to pick up? Who would you like to hang on to?

You can follow all the big moves here: https://www.theguardian.com/football/live/2018/aug/09/transfer-deadline-day-pogba-bernard-maguire-grealish-and-more-live

An LOB Appeal

With the new Premier League season a mere days away, I thought I'd make a special appeal to all of you out there in LOB land. I hope to make this season the biggest and best for the LOB - but I need all of you for this. As usual, we'll be live blogging matches during the season, especially on the weekends but also occasionally on weekday afternoons during the Champions League season. We usually have a hardcore of three participants during most games, but it's always much, much more fun when we have more voices in the mix.

I'd like to ask you to use the LOB as your platform for chatting about footie. Typically, when I'm on the blog on a weekend morning I'll also notice friends chatting away on other platforms - Facebook, WhatsApp, text, even email. I know a lot of us are increasingly using our phone for communications these days; however, I can personally attest that accessing the LOB is just as easy by phone as those other platforms are - and it doesn't drain your battery or data plan as quickly as texts will. Just access the LOB site, click on the link for that day's thread, scroll down to the comment box and natter away.

Looking forward to chatting with all of you. Cheers!

The Bielsa Era Begins!

I'm all set for the beginning of a new era at Leeds United as Argentine maestro Marcelo Bielsa takes the helm for his first match on the hallowed turf at Elland Road. Bielsa has brought in some really interesting new signings, including Boro striker Patrick Bamford and Wolves left back Barry Douglas. And his association with Pep Guardiola promises some loan signings to come. Today's visitors are the recently relegated Stoke City. Let's hope we can keep their losing record going. Come on, you Whites!

The Season's Curtain Raiser

It seems like only last week and you lot were here with me in Fredonia enjoying England's improbable run to the semi finals of the World Cup. But here we are today with the traditional curtain raiser for the new season, the Community Shield. This year it's title winner Citeh against Cup winner Chelski. It's at Wembley and, somehow, it's only on-line at ESPN+. At least we have access to that. So, pull up an easy chair and your favorite device and watch wth me.

The First Saturday of the Season

It's the first Saturday of the English Football League season, chaps, and I couldn't be happier about it. Thanks to the ESPN+ link, we've got wall-to-wall coverage of it all. I'll be in and out during the day, helping Katie out with her big move. But I'll certainly be around for start of the Bielsa era at Elland Road tomorrow. Enjoy the day!

The Championship Season Begins!

The EFL Championship season kicks off this evening. Every season brings a sense of hope for fans. With a new high-profile manager and several key signings this summer, my beloved Leeds are poised to make a big push for promotion. Of course, fans of many other clubs in this highly-competitive league will feel the same way. It should be a fascinating season to watch.