EPL/CL 101

I have had a few requests from friends who are just getting into football curious about how the premier league and the champions league work.  So here goes:

Premier league:
The overall message is - whoever has the most points at the end of the season, wins the season.  There are 20 teams in the premier league, and each team plays every other team twice - home and away.  In other words, each team plays 38 games in a season.  The way the points are tallied are as follows - 3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw and no points for a loss.  So, yes, it is possible that the team who wins the premier league loses multiple games in a season.  In fact, that is very often the case.

The top four teams in the league enter into the following year's Champions league competition (explained later), the next couple of teams play in the UEFA league (a knockout format) and the bottom three teams (18th, 19th and 20th) get relegated into the lower division.  Similarly, three teams from the lower division, called the N-power championship, are promoted to the Premier league for the following season.  Here is an example of what this year's table looks like -

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/tables/_/league/eng.1/barclays-premier-league?cc=5901

If you noticed, this season ended with the top two teams (Manchester united and Manchester City) on the same # of points.  In a situation like this, the team with the better goal difference (GD) wins the premier league.  Goal difference is simply = Goals scored - Goals conceded.  Since City had a far superior goal difference, they won the Premier league.  In the case that the GD is also the same, the team that has scored more goals wins the premier league (as was the case back in 1989 - although it was not called the "English Premier League" back then.  In researching this article, I learned that in case the teams cannot be separated at goals scored, a playoff is provisioned between the two teams at a neutral venue.  To my knowledge, this has never occurred to date.

The Champions League
The top three teams fromm the EPL in a season play in the champions League the FOLLOWING season.  Let me embellish - if you click on the above table, Manchester City, Manchester United and Arsenal will be playing in the Champions League in the 2012-2013 season.  Tottenham Hotspurs (team in 4th) is also technically qualified for the champions league, BUT there's a caveat here.  Chelsea FC (in 6th place) are playing the Champions League final on Saturday (for a preview of the game, please visit my podcast site - http://unitedandliverpoolfans.podbean.com) and if they were to win, they would bump Spurs out of that final Champions League spot.

Now, let's talk about how the Champions League actually works.  For simplicity, we will skip the qualifying stages.  The top 3 or 4 teams from various European Clubs (from England, Spain, Italy, Holland, Turkey, Germany, etc.) are entered into a group format.  Each team plays every other team home and away, and yet again, the two teams with the most points enter the knockout stages.  There are 3 knockout stages (2nd round, quarter final, semi-final) and then a final.  Now here's the confusing bit - how are the knockout stages decided.  Instead of a dry explanation, I'm going to use an example:

There are two teams - Manchester United and Barcelona and they are playing in the quarter final of the champions league.  The first game is at home at United.  United wins the game 2-0.  The game at Barcelona ends with Barca winning 2-1.  In this situation, both teams have the one win each.  But, United's goal difference (+1) is better than Barcelona's (0), and therefore United goes through.

But, what if the following situation presents itself - United wins 1-0 at home and Barca wins 2-1 at home.  Now, both teams have one win, both teams have the same goal differential (0) and both teams have scored the same # of goals (2).  In this situation, the team to have scored more AWAY goals, wins the tie.  Barcelona scores 0 goals away from home, while United has scored 1 goal away from home.  Therefore, United goes through to the next found.

Just some practice problems for you to work out - answers at the bottom:
1.  United wins 6-0 at home Barcelona wins 5-0 at home.  Who goes through?
2.  United ties 1-1 at home, Barca wins 2-1 at home.
3.  United draws 1-1 at home, Barca draws 2-2 at home.
4.  United wins 2-1 at home, Barca wins 3-2 at home.


1.  United - better GD.
2.  Barca - they have won more games (1) than United (0).
3.  United - More away goals.
4.  United - more goals scored away from home.

If teams cannot be separated on the away goals rule, they play extra time (2x15 min halves) and a penalty shootout after that.


Please let me know if you have any questions! Enjoy the Champions league final!

Manchester City vs Manchester United - preview

This is it! This is the game that will decide it all.  Tomorrow, Manchester United will make the short trip across Manchester to the Etihad stadium to battle Manchester City for the title.  For those of you who have been living under a rock, here's the scenario - United are currently 3 points above City in the table with three games left before the end of the season.  City and United have one tricky away fixture left - to Newcastle and Sunderland respectively and a home game they should both comfortably win - QPR and Swansea respectively.  So, yes, it comes down to this game.  It's pretty simple - whoever wins this game will win the premier league.  A draw would suit United more.

Likely starting formations

City - Mancini is likely to flood the center of midfield and set up with a 4-3-3 formation.  This is the formation that destroyed United 6-1 earlier this season and is definitely City's best formation.  Although it can seem defensive at times, it is a formation designed to be flexible and powerful.  Moreover, it can be switched to a 4-3-1-2 during counterattacks.

United - SAF will probably try and match the formation and go 4-3-3.  This is the formation United use when playing away in Europe, and it will be how they set up at the Etihad.  It is definitely not United's most effective formation.  United would definitely switch to a 4-4-2 if a goal is required.

Probably starting line-ups

Keepers - Hart and DeGea.  These two pick themselves and are both in good form.

Fullbacks - Richards and Clichy vs Rafael and Evra.  Although Richards is coming back from injury, he is a shoe-in at right back because of his excellent positional awareness.  Plus his speed may set up some counterattacking opportunities.  Clichy will be preferred to Kolarov for the same reasons plus the fact that he can match Valencia for speed.  Besides, Kolarov could be the best defensive sub in the league when a goal is required! Although Rafael was terrible against Everton, his match fitness will see him selected ahead of Smalling.  Also, Rafael tends to do well in the big games (don't remind me about Bayern though).  United's captain, Evra, will be an automatic selection although, in my opinion, this has been his worst season as a United player.

Central defense - Lescott and Kompany vs Ferdinand and Evans.  Joleon Lescott and Johnny Evans have a lot in common.  They are both defenders that are lauded when playing well.  However, they are both capable of defensive lapses and Evans, in particular, will be looking to set things right after he was sent off at Old Trafford in 2011.  In Kompany, City have the best central defender in the premier league.  Ferdinand has been in good form, but may struggle against the speed of City's defense.  He is definitely going to play the sweeper role and sit back and gobble up anything Evans messes up on.

Yes, that actually happened.

Midfield - DeJong, Toure and Milner vs Scholes, Carrick and Jones.  De Jong will be selected ahead of Gareth Barry to nullify the influence of Paul Scholes.  I expect Nigel to man-mark Scholesy and simply play the ball to the other midfielders to distribute.  Toure, as I will talk about later, will be City's key player.  Milner had a good game against United last time and I expect him to be selected for his movement off-the-ball.  His speed will be difficult for United to handle.  Scholesy's distribution puts him ahead of Giggsy in the pecking order; although Giggsy's movement would be a huge asset.  I expect Giggsy to replace Scholesy at about the 60 minute mark as the ginger prince cannot last the full 90.  Carrick has had his best season in a United jersey and will play the quarterback position.  He will be responsible for tracking the runs of Milner and will hopefully make some crucial interceptions.  Jones will be selected for one reason and one reason only - competing with Toure.  Neither Scholes nor Carrick would be able to win headers in the air or track Toure's gut-busting runs from midfield.  Phil Jones has the muscle and speed to do both.  The disadvantage to play Jones in midfield is that he could not make a pass at Pamela Anderson.

Outside forwards - Tevez and Silva vs Nani and Valencia.  Tevez has been in fine-form since his return from the wilderness.  Back in December, Kartik Krishnayer, from EPL talk soccer, predicted that Tevez may be the catalyst that takes City to their first title in decades.  This is the game to ensure that that sentiment is true. Let's not forget that it was another ex-United player that sent United down to the old first division.  United legend, Denis Law, scored the goal for City that relegated Manchester United three decades ago.  Perhaps history will repeat itself and Tevez will score to win City the premier league.  Silva's creativity is stunning and he has been coming back into form of late.  I expect him to trouble Rafael at right back.  Ashley Young is defensively aware and may be selected against Nani.  But, Nani tends to play well against City and I think the Portuguese midfielder may score after cutting in from the left.  Valencia is an automatic selection on the right.

Strikers - Aguero vs Rooney.  Both strikers have been in fine form lately.  City's forwards will be more flexible - with Aguero and Tevez switching positions.

Achilles heel

United - Right back - Rafael, Fabio, Jones, Valencia, Smalling have all played on the right with varying degrees of success.  Sir Alex will be hoping that Rafael will have a good game, or else City's forwards will have a field day.

City - handling the pressure - Such is the strength of City's team that it is difficult to think of a weak link.  However, they have shown that they struggle to handle pressure at times.  When City were odds-on to win the premier league, they experienced their worst form of the season.  To counter that, once United were 8 points clear and Mancini started to declare that the Old Trafford outfit would win the league - City started winning games by five goal margins.  This is a high-pressure game and Mancini will be trying to take the pressure off his players.

Trump cards?

United - Play Park JiSung - Park is a big game player who has been used to nullify creative players in the middle of the park (refer to AC Milan and Chelsea for a perfect example of this).  However, his lack of match fitness and height make this an unlikely scenario.

Will he play tomorrow?

City - Go 4-4-2 - If Mancini decides to throw caution to the wind, he could play Adam Johnson and Silva on the wings and completely throw off united's tactical setup.  Again - an unlikely but fascinating scenario.

Key Players

Yaya Toure - Yaya is one of my favorite players in the premier league.  Strong, fast and tireless, he is a more muscular version of Chelsea's Ramires.  It is very difficult to track his runs from midfield and he will undoubtedly be involved in many counter attacks for the Etihad outfit.

Jonny Evans - Evans has had his best season in a United shirt.  Let's not forget, however, that he got himself sent off at Old Trafford and will need to have a near-perfect game to nullify City's potent strike force.

Key substitutes

Balotelli - He scored twice against United and the mercurial forward will be looking to repeat that form at the Etihad.

Chicharito - Last year's super-sub will undoubtedly be brought on if United find themselves a goal down .  Welbeck may be brought on if a little more ball-retention is required.

Prediction - 2-1 City.  I expect City to win this one as united will be cagey and likely to make some defensive lapses.  I certainly hope I'm wrong!