Sportsbet.io's English Premier League Football Pool Discussion Thread

[hilariousetc]

Seems like a month since there's been any PL action.

it is not like that, PCP Capital Partners (from Abu Dhabi) have minor stake in this takeover (how they will be the owner of Manchester City and Newcastle United, and Barclays as well, it will be up to FA, but they obviously approved the deal) - they will get board member (Amanda from PCP)
Public Investment Fund (PIF) from Saudi Arabia had major stake in this takeover, and they are practically new club owner

third part of the deal is RB media, that will appoint club director
https://www.nufc.co.uk/news/latest-news/pif-pcp-capital-partners-and-rb-sports-media-acquire-newcastle-united-football-club/

Thanks for the correction, apparently PCP tried to buy out Liverpool in 2008 as well (not sure what happened to make the deal fall through though).

But it kind of feels like Amanda Stavely is running the show at Newcastle now, I'm not hearing any news about PIF making club decisions which I think is good news - I think they should just be pumping money and keep themselves away from nitty gritty club details as much as possible with the reputation they have.

I doubt Steve Bruce will last long now. I'd be surprised if he's still there by Christmas. I'm not exactly sure how all the FIFA financial fair play rules work but apparently Newcastle will be able to spend quite a lot of money due to them being a profitable club and not being in any debt. Still don't think it's right that any club can be bought and have money pumped into it like that. I think most teams will be state-owned or by the ultra rich eventually. They can use the clubs to easily promote their other businesses for very cheap or even free much like Mike Ashley did with Sports Direct.


BTW, a lot of people still need to do their picks. Over 20 still.

[1714738136]

1714738136

[1714738136]

1714738136

[1714738136]

1714738136

[1714738136]

1714738136

[NotATether]

Let's be realistic and not think about what we cannot change, but just enjoy the good news ... at least for now. By the way, as far as I understand, a clause was included in the agreement that none of the political leadership or the leadership of the Saudi Arabia Foundation will have the opportunity to put pressure on the leadership of Newcastle. Correct me if I am wrong. 

The government doesn't have any ownership of the club, period. So they have no say in it. It's the PIF who are the majority owners that will mostly run the show now.

BTW, a lot of people still need to do their picks. Over 20 still.

I don't think I've even filled in any of my selections yet 

[tomahawk9]

I don't see Brentford causing Chelsea too much trouble

I thought the same about Brentford in all the matches they played so far in this season. But look what they have achieved so far!

Won against West Ham in the away match
A 3 - 3 draws again Liverpool
Wolves did not do much against then, won the away match by 0 - 2
Win against Arsenal.

Brentford are doing well and they are to get something in this season.

to be fair, both Wolves and Arsenal had a pretty rough start of the season. meanwhile the Bees were super motivated to play in the PL
but, even if Tuchel wants to rest some key players like Lukaku and Rudiger, chelsea SHOULD win this match quite easily with the subs

I doubt Steve Bruce will last long now. I'd be surprised if he's still there by Christmas.

he'll get sacked in the upcoming days/weeks https://twitter.com/FabrizioRomano/status/1448627147703300102

[buwaytress]

Finally got round to doing my picks. Feel free not to do them, gentlemen =p

Fresh money on the table, something in me says we'll get one of the international managers to lead Newcastle by January.

Let's be realistic and not think about what we cannot change, but just enjoy the good news ... at least for now. By the way, as far as I understand, a clause was included in the agreement that none of the political leadership or the leadership of the Saudi Arabia Foundation will have the opportunity to put pressure on the leadership of Newcastle. Correct me if I am wrong. 

Of course. I tend to agree. And football's always been enjoyable to me, even if I do think about what it means to the grassroots audience -- without whom there's no history and nostalgia driving my club forward anyway. And the good news, what is obvious, first and foremost, is a firm farewell to Cashley and the joylessness and disdain for his own club that he seemed more and more eager to display even at games. Good riddance.

Don't know about the clause, the issue people are having now is that the exact details of information passed on to Premier League have actually been hidden by the UK government to protect their relations with Saudi (a key ally and 2nd largest British arms importer) -- despite BBC invoking the Freedom of Information act. It's basically unprecedented that details of discussions related to a business takeover are withheld on grounds of diplomacy. Could set a precedent is all.

[Trofo]

Liverpool hitting their form after international break immediately. Usually top teams play those first games a bit sluggish since almost all their players were on international duty but Liverpool won 5:0 and it could have been as much as 10:0 if they scored just their best chances. Nice welcome for new Watford manager, I am sure Ranieri did not expect a game like this. At least there was nobody in our pool with correct score, I was sort of expecting one of you LFC supporters to hit exact score

[Harkorede]

Liverpool hitting their form after international break immediately. Usually top teams play those first games a bit sluggish since almost all their players were on international duty but Liverpool won 5:0 and it could have been as much as 10:0 if they scored just their best chances. Nice welcome for new Watford manager, I am sure Ranieri did not expect a game like this. At least there was nobody in our pool with correct score, I was sort of expecting one of you LFC supporters to hit exact score

That really was an emphatic win from Liverpool, they made a clear statement from the beginning of the game and they never went back on it.

I was also actually expecting a much more difficult game than this, owning to the fact that Liverpool had drew their last 2 fixtures, while conceding 5 goal during that, Watford to score was an option for me today if not that I found the ~1.4 really valuable for Liverpoool to win.

[BitcoinGirl.Club]

Liverpool hitting their form after international break immediately.

It used to be opposite. After international breaks we used to have jet leg and clueless but this is good for Liverpool. Poor Watford. Firmino was on fire. In last three matches including match against Porto in CL, he managed to score 5 goals! It was a good injury break for him.

That really was an emphatic win from Liverpool, they made a clear statement from the beginning of the game and they never went back on it.

Liverpool going under the radar is good for them. There are not much pressure.

[buwaytress]

Yeah. Disappointed I didn't even get a close score and I have been making 3 or 4 nil predictions away this entire season. This was Watford, yes, but we were missing key players. Also cannot remember the last time I enjoyed seeing all three Mane Salah Bobby get on the scoresheet... Can't wait to see highlights, only saw snatches of the game.

No yellows the whole game. So I even failed my betbuilder, hit everything else except booking points.

Meanwhile, nice to see old boy Ings get his team up front. No real surprises so far... Brentford want to spoil the party maybe? Too bad Coady spoiled my prediction, although Vardy kept us in the game, didn't he, LFC_Bitcoin? Love that man.

[swogerino]

Holy f*ck what kind of results,Manchester United lost,Norwich didn't lose,Aston Villa lost at home and also Southampton won at home against a relatively bad Leeds in these last couple of weeks.I lost a couple of positions and it was a terrible week so far for most of us with a few exceptions.The only one I got was Liverpool and Manchester City.

[boltz]

The last 10 minutes of the game were so tricky as United manage to lose 4-2 in a matter of minutes and Villa had 2-0 against Wolves and somehow they manage to concede to 2 goals and get a draw and then the big surprise came and Wolves manage to score again and win with 3-2. But let's be honest and admit that Wolves is winning by pure luck from some weeks now and in the end this luck will run out of fuel ...so I'm patiently waiting for this process to happen.

[cygan]

i was able to get 5 points so far today and i am also very surprised with the defeat of manchester utd at leicester.
actually the club would have to look at the coach who does not get such a top group going or there is no consistency with this team...

[casperBGD]

Holy f*ck what kind of results,Manchester United lost,Norwich didn't lose,Aston Villa lost at home and also Southampton won at home against a relatively bad Leeds in these last couple of weeks.I lost a couple of positions and it was a terrible week so far for most of us with a few exceptions.The only one I got was Liverpool and Manchester City.

yeah, few unexpected results, but for me, Aston Villa is most shocking, Wolves scored in last minutes, and after in overtime to turnover the score
United was far worst than Leicester, that was highly motivated for a win, they were a one season wonder, but after that they are constant in the top, better results than Arsenal in last few season, and I am finally adapting to seeing them as a top team, not a surprise

Chelsea is on the road to secure a win, 0:1 on halftime

[icopress]

[...] I tend to agree. And football's always been enjoyable to me, even if I do think about what it means to the grassroots audience -- without whom there's no history and nostalgia driving my club forward anyway. And the good news, what is obvious, first and foremost, is a firm farewell to Cashley and the joylessness and disdain for his own club that he seemed more and more eager to display even at games. Good riddance.

Let's not talk about sad things ... I still hope that the public and the leadership of other clubs will take this deal for granted, just like it did with Manchester City. The point is not even that Newcastle has not won any trophies for many decades, the fact is that the Champions League and the Europa League urgently need a reboot, because looking at the statistics I see the same clubs in the leaders.

In addition, if Tomorrow Newcastle defeats Spurs, then for me it will be a clear signal that the club is mentally ready for a dash. 

[Harkorede]

Holy f*ck what kind of results,Manchester United lost,Norwich didn't lose,Aston Villa lost at home and also Southampton won at home against a relatively bad Leeds in these last couple of weeks.I lost a couple of positions and it was a terrible week so far for most of us with a few exceptions.The only one I got was Liverpool and Manchester City.

This happened to be one of those weeks where It's almost impossible to get anything right, I had Wolves to draw and I was really glad after they came back from two goals down, little did I know there's still another goal to come, Man Utd was another surprising result for me, they lacked everything tactical in the match, It was as if they didn't even know what they're doing.

All I've got so far is 2.5 points, and looks like I'd get 1.5 points more from Brentford vs Chelsea.

[Trofo]

Chelsea is on the road to secure a win, 0:1 on halftime

Chelsea won in the end but Brentford gave them hell towards the end. It would be much more fair if they managed to equalize. That Mbuemo guy is really unlucky he scored 2 goals this season and hit maybe 7 woodworks if I am counting correctly, he added another 2 tonight.

United in downward spiral, loosing once again. At least we saw very entertaining match with couple of great goals. Not sure if Tielemans went for that goal, it played out perfectly but from position of his foot I am sort of thinking he wanted to cross the ball somewhere on the far post area.

[buwaytress]

Newcastle's got to be a draw right guys? Still huffing over my picks.

Chelsea is on the road to secure a win, 0:1 on halftime

Chelsea won in the end but Brentford gave them hell towards the end. It would be much more fair if they managed to equalize. That Mbuemo guy is really unlucky he scored 2 goals this season and hit maybe 7 woodworks if I am counting correctly, he added another 2 tonight.

United in downward spiral, loosing once again. At least we saw very entertaining match with couple of great goals. Not sure if Tielemans went for that goal, it played out perfectly but from position of his foot I am sort of thinking he wanted to cross the ball somewhere on the far post area.

Yeah, Brentford deserved a point --  Play like this and 9 times out of 10 we win, said their boss.

And United's loss was predictable. Just not exactly in the way I imagined (I predicted 1-0). They always conceded first, and then relied on their firepower to get them over the line, but I didn't expect them to take the lead, then surrender it... Still, happy with the correct outcome and the additional slam point. Table is tough as nails.

[Trofo]

Newcastle's got to be a draw right guys? Still huffing over my picks.

I am thinking the same plus I am expecting some goals in this one as well. Though pick for the pool but at least I know what I am putting on my ticket - both to score @1.65. Newcastle has been quite attacking this season and now they are playing to impress new owners, both Saint-Max and Wilson are ready and expected in first 11. I am thinking Newcastle scores 2 goals today and Spurs should be good enough to match them.

[swogerino]

I think these two games of today should be a not so easy win for Everton and maybe an equalizer for Newcastle vs Tottenham.They are going for sure to be good games to watch on TV and I think these games will have nothing to do regarding results comparing to the games of yesterday.Some points recovery is possible with these two games I think.

[Harkorede]

Newcastle's got to be a draw right guys? Still huffing over my picks.

I am thinking the same plus I am expecting some goals in this one as well. Though pick for the pool but at least I know what I am putting on my ticket - both to score @1.65. Newcastle has been quite attacking this season and now they are playing to impress new owners, both Saint-Max and Wilson are ready and expected in first 11. I am thinking Newcastle scores 2 goals today and Spurs should be good enough to match them.

Newcastle draw ? I strongly oppose that they'll get as much as draw from match, Tottenham are probably going to get their sh*ts together one way or the other, and I'll give the edge to win it today even if it's got to be narrowly.

West Ham and Everton is about 6 minutes up, and West Ham have indeed started pretty well in attack, this should be entertaining, I guess.

[tokeweed]

I don't see Brentford causing Chelsea too much trouble

I thought the same about Brentford in all the matches they played so far in this season. But look what they have achieved so far!

Won against West Ham in the away match
A 3 - 3 draws again Liverpool
Wolves did not do much against then, won the away match by 0 - 2
Win against Arsenal.

Brentford are doing well and they are to get something in this season.

to be fair, both Wolves and Arsenal had a pretty rough start of the season. meanwhile the Bees were super motivated to play in the PL
but, even if Tuchel wants to rest some key players like Lukaku and Rudiger, chelsea SHOULD win this match quite easily with the subs

Nope, they’re too street smart and that Brentford squad is a well drilled unit.  They may not be pretty to watch but they do try to get things done.  I haven’t watched the match vs Chelsea yet but judging from the result it seems they made it look ugly.