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Aston Villa is one of those teams that typically will finish inside the top ten, sometimes will sniff at the top five, and won't get relegated, but isn't likely to win the league either.
That's the way I do it. Good rub, then very low and slow in the oven makes for a very easily pulled product. I like the consistency of the meat better than the crockpot cooked pork. Takes a while to cook, but mmm mmm good.
I like Leverkusen. Upset that Son went to Spuds this past summer.
Bundesliga is my 2nd favorite league, it's just even more predictable at the top than the EPL. It'll be Bayern at the top, almost always. Otherwise I like their games.
Edit: I take that back, I actually watch more MLS than Bundesliga which probably means it's my 2nd league (Columbus got so close this year!). Bundesliga is still really fun though.
Use way different seasoning for beef in the crockpot. Dice onions, carrots and celery until bottom of pot is covered.. Add a little garlic, a bay leaf, and the liquid. I use either red wine, canned diced tomatoes, or balsamic vinager for the acid. Worchestchire sauce, A-1 or teriyaki for seasoning, molasses, honey or sugar for sweet. I usually do al tab of most of them. Mostly the acid stuff, to just half the veggies height. Add Some citrus zest if you have it. Rub the meat pretty heavy with coarse salt, black pepper and seasonings like wasabi powder, dried onion, garlic powder, red pepper (anywhere from sweet paprika to habanero depending on heat preference. Put the meat over the liquid to self baste and leave on low for 5-6 hours. You can put potatoes around the meet to roast and gravy the liquid to finish if you want. Or remove the meat after 4-5 hours, add a cup of quinoa, Buck wheat, or medium grain rice to the liquid, replace the meat and give it another hour if you want to add a starch and take advantage of flavors in the liquid.
I just looked at the standing, I though Aston Villa was a top notch team with lots of money?
this is a great point! fox carrying the bundesliga is good for everyone. 100% agree nbc sports' production is better, i honestly think its the best sports coverage of any sport by any network on tv right now
Basically, yes.
I think I'll go with best chants, fan songs etc. that's what draws me to watch. I love the fan and announcers. I honestly never played soccer and couldn't tell you what happens 50% of the time, outside of athletic plays near the goal a lot of the the field stuff is boring, but the fans in the stands make it fun to watch.
Wasn't Malleck on that roster too? I was hoping he'd make an impression on the Carolina scouts.
yes, but as the clubs move up, and make more money, they expand stadiums and improve infrastructure, etc. no one makes a meteoric rise in a short time, so clubs are generally prepared for the next level (up through the championship). a lot of clubs are never truly ready for the premier league, which is why so many go back down the year after they move up. the money the more established clubs have is just too wide a gap to make up. you have 8-10 clubs who seem relatively immune to relegation in the modern premier league, then you have 18-20 clubs who just take turns moving up and down for the most part.
Oh there's far more than that! haha.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_football_league_system
i seriously love how much love soccer / football gets on TKP
theoretically yes! below the championship there are two more professional leagues. One of tottenham's players, Dele Alli (who scored a cracking turning volley today) was playing in the third league down last year. Bournemouth (who just got promoted) came up three leagues in five years or something like that.
Yeah, theoretically that's how it goes.
if you are enjoying the English coverage on NBC, you should also check out the Bundesliga (Germany) on Fox. NBC has by far better production, but sometimes i find the Bundesliga product on the field more entertaining to watch. outside of a handful of teams in England, the game can get brutally physical at times which bogs it down, the bundesliga tends to be more free flowing. There are also some young Americans tied in with budnesliga clubs we might see in the coming years (in addition to Fabian Johnson and Aron Johansson who are on their senior clubs already).
Werder Bremen, where Johansson plays, is my favorite club, but they are in a relegation fight due to his and others' injuries. they haven't been able to find the back of the net this year. There's still time!
i picked up spurs around 2010 right before brad freidel got there. didnt want a top four team but wanted a team that wouldnt get relegated. in 2012 another american, clint dempsey, got there which was cool. Under Armour, an american company, now makes there kits (uniforms). all of that adds up to tottnum being IMO the "most american" team now. also this video is incredibly quoteable
Yep.
Does relegation keep going all the way down to local clubs? So theoretically a no name local club could advance up to premier?
I would consider getting to .500 after the last 3 years a huge success.
They also have this:
Ok friends buckle in. bout to drop a bunch of premier league knowledge and (try to) answer all the questions.
1. it's more fun to pick a team that usually doesnt get relegated (obviously).
2. Manchester United (man u), man city, arsenal, and (except this year) chelsea all usually rotate winning the league. they're the "big four". teams like tottenham, everton, southhampton and west ham are usually all fighting to break into the top four or finish 4-8. These teams compete but usually never win or get relegated.
3.teams usually 10-15 is a giant cluster, and the crap teams fall down to 18, 19 and 20. this is the relegation zone. the second tier of english football is known as the championship. its like AAA baseball or AHL hockey. EXCEPT the top three teams at the end of the season are promoted into the premier league and the bottom three teams are sent down. This has huge financial implications due to tv money that is spread basically equally thoughout the premier league. Teams that are relegated usually cant hang onto their stars because of this tv $$ they lose.
i could go on and on about how great relegation is and how even though i love it, it probably wont ever be adopted in the USA. but its basically like swapping the top 3 AAA/AHL teams for the worst 3 MLB/NHL teams based on total points accumulated in a season. (3 for a win, 1 for tie, 0 for loss. (1st tiebreaker is goal differential)).
4. Derby's (pronounced dar-bees) are city rivalries that reach back decades. Manchester derby between city and united, mersyside derby between everton and liverpool, london derbys (theres usually at least 4 london based teams in the premier league.) are all very heated, intense, and close games to watch.
5. Premier league has 20 teams, 19 opponents. you play home and away for a total of 38 games and add up all the points (3 = w, 1 = t 0 = L) to get the winner. **** Here's where the finishing order is important. The top 4 qualify automatically for the Champions League (barring crazy exception) which brings in mega tons of money $$$. finishing 5-7 usually get the Europa League, which is like the NIT compared to the NCAA touney. Still get some money, but its like the JV tournament. in the group stage they dont pair up teams from the same country, but they could meet in knockout rounds/
6. premier league is the deepest, most competitive league bar none. hands down. La Liga (spain) doesnt allocate tv money equally, so Barca, Real Madrid, Athletico madrid all stay rich and buy the best players. The bundesliga (germany) is IMO better team wise than La Liga, but not as deep as the EPL. Teams like Bayern Munich and borussia dortmund are always winning, but sometimes smaller teams (in comparision) like Wolfsburg, Schalke 04, or Borussia Mochengladbach compete in the top spots. League 1 (france) is basically Paris St. Germain (zlatan ibrahimovich's team) killing it every year and then the rest. Serie A (italy) is actually pretty good and competitive but the teams arent as stacked as the EPL. usually teams like juventus, ac milan (not this year) fiorentina, inter, roma and others all compete like its the ACC coastal.
I could go on and on but please feel free to ask more questions!!! esp. if i didnt clarify anything that well.
Obligatory add-on to my response to 1)
1. Arsenal
2. You have no ties to any community in England, nor do most fans you run into here, so we're all technically bandwagon in some way, shape, or form. (Arsenal have never been relegated)
3. bottom 3 of the Premier League go down to the Championship, Top 2 and a 3rd playoff winner (3rd-6th place 4 team playoff) in the Championship move up to the Premier League every year
4. Any of the Derbys, many of which will be scheduled on the same weekend (ManUre v Liverpool is probably the one with the most significant history, but Arsenal v Spuds, Liverpool v Everton, and any of the other cross-town matchups)
5. Champions League gets 4 clubs from England every year. English clubs cannot be drawn into the same group nor can they play one another in the round of 16, but from the quarterfinals on, it is an open draw, so there is a chance any English teams left could play one another.
6. The 2 European competitions pull the top clubs from each country annually (Champions League gets the top clubs, Europa gets the next rung and also the 3rd place group finishers from the champions league). essentially, one club can be playing in as many as 4 competitions simultaneously, their domestic league, 2 domestic cup competitions and a european competition. all the non-domestic league competitions are set up as tournaments.
they were many moons ago. the club has great history, but nearly were relegated last year. it'd be astonishing if they survived this year