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

[darxiaomi]

Damn, what was Kepa doing yesterday? After all mistakes he made, I don't understand how can he be their 1st choice GK - especially in front of Mendy.

I had Chelsea not to lose, and that bet looked really safe before his mistake. Considering that Chelsea had to replace both Sterling and Pulisic in the 1st half, there wasn't much they could do offensively after that goal.

Yes Kepa dont gave security in this times in the goal, i also think he can cut the ball in that cross, but we have to say also everybody who has played football knows that balls are complicated and also in the TV seems more closely or easy than the real life when you are playing.

[tokeweed]

^  Yup.  I actually have high regard for Eddie Howe and I actually said I fancy him managing a club like Arsenal or a club in the same tier as Arsenal.  I think it was 3 - 4 years ago.  Some time before covid. 

So yeah..  Just amazed how he's evolved.  With Bournemouth score lines would usually be 3 - 2, 2 - 1, mostly over 2.5 goals matches.  With Newcastle, the defense is just solid.  And with that oiler money backing the club, they're gonna be a force that's gonna be hard to deal with.

With only a few signings, the team already appears to be balanced and ready to compete for top four and six at the end of the season; when the oil money is put to use, they may well turn into title contenders next season; they have the resources and a good coach who plays beautiful attacking football. From being the poorest-funded squad in 20 years to one of the wealthiest in the world. How quickly time passes.

But would love to see it.  It's been a while since an English Manager won the league.

never won one. i don't think so

Oh right!  No English manager has won the title in the Premier League era...  So we have two in the top flight that could get a chance.  Graham Potter and Eddie Howe.  I think both have the capability but they'll need a decent squad and the timing like how Arteta at Arsenal is doing right now.  He needed some mishaps from City to get 5 points ahead.  I don't think it could happen s couple of years ago.

As for Graham Potter and Chelsea, does anybody think Chelsea would've fared better if they just stuck with Tuchel?

And what does City's performance say about their upcoming derby vs United?  Another low scoring affair?

[Woodie]

With how Manchester United have been picking up points of late, I don't think anybody will be doubting them to put up another solid performance this night and getting those 3points of course. A Rashford anytime goalscorer and Untd to win 2-0  Anyone??

Damn, what was Kepa doing yesterday? After all mistakes he made, I don't understand how can he be their 1st choice GK - especially in front of Mendy.

Maybe kepas contract guarantees a certain number of games that's why we keep seeing him, if it were me no doubt Mendy would be my number 1 in goal.

[LFC_Bitcoin]

With how Manchester United have been picking up points of late, I don't think anybody will be doubting them to put up another solid performance this night and getting those 3points of course. A Rashford anytime goalscorer and Untd to win 2-0  Anyone??

United should win, sometimes in the early FA Cup rounds, managers rotate the squad & rest some of their stars. United have gone strong tonight though, it’s a really top class starting XI.

Everton are in real trouble, they look like a team that may be relegated. Lampard will be hoping a change in competition, away from their troubles in the PL will give them a boost maybe.

I still expect United to win this comfortably though, your 2-0 prediction seems sensible.

[KTChampions]

With how Manchester United have been picking up points of late, I don't think anybody will be doubting them to put up another solid performance this night and getting those 3points of course. A Rashford anytime goalscorer and Untd to win 2-0  Anyone??
~

If you bet on United to win with a -1 handicap and that Rashford will score, then congratulations on your 97th minute save 
United (and Rashford) are indeed on an impressive streak, but they're playing against City in the next round. It's always an interesting derby and we'll be able to see how serious United's ambitions are this season.

[Harkorede]

Damn, what was Kepa doing yesterday? After all mistakes he made, I don't understand how can he be their 1st choice GK - especially in front of Mendy.

I had Chelsea not to lose, and that bet looked really safe before his mistake. Considering that Chelsea had to replace both Sterling and Pulisic in the 1st half, there wasn't much they could do offensively after that goal.

I was also blaming Kepa all night long even though it was of much advantage to me that they didn't keep the clean sheet but I saw England's No 1 choice in Jordan Pickford concede a very similar goal today and I felt maybe it's the modern day sort of keeper instinct not to react in such situations ? Because both goals looked very similar, and Kepa could have been excused for not being No 1 choice by default but due some issues with Mendy and injury too, but what would be our excuse for Jordan Pickford.

[BitcoinGirl.Club]

Good luck bud, we still halfway to go so there is a big chance for you to win it. And after you get it, use the free bet directly lol. If none of big games play at that time, use it for less popular leagues

We live in hope so I hope I will 😉

This round is one of the worst weekly performance I've ever had in the current season

Too many out of the box results. Too many draws. Leeds - West Ham, Villa - Wolves, Arsenal - New Castle, 3 out of 10 is a lot. Then we had Liverpool losing an easy match, I had no idea why I was backing Southampton etc. See 5 out of 10 wasted for me and then add Leicester - Fullham. But still to have 6 points from the round was not bad at all for me. I always target 10 to 12 points from a round.

[LFC_Bitcoin]

So many games today in the FA Cup 3rd round. Strictly off topic as tris is a PL thread but whatever
Will there be any upsets today, any smaller teams getting through to the 4th round with a giant killing performance?

What do you think guys?

Also may I just say RIP to Gianluca Vialli, a truly elite striker.

[CLS63]

So many games today in the FA Cup 3rd round. Strictly off topic as tris is a PL thread but whatever
Will there be any upsets today, any smaller teams getting through to the 4th round with a giant killing performance?

What do you think guys?

Also may I just say RIP to Gianluca Vialli, a truly elite striker.

English teams are caring about the FA Cup quite much. Because of this they are starting the matches with a lineup close to their main ones. So the probability of seeing a surprise is lower. Today Tottenham barely managed to advance to next stage against Portsmouth despite having star players like Kane and Son on the field. I see Hull City having a potential to make a surprise today. I won't be very surprised if they eliminate Fulham.

[slaman29]

Also may I just say RIP to Gianluca Vialli, a truly elite striker.

RIP Vialli also, he helped Chelsea get their glory days before big money came and he was every bit as important to the national squad in its heroic days of recent times,

English teams are caring about the FA Cup quite much. Because of this they are starting the matches with a lineup close to their main ones. So the probability of seeing a surprise is lower. Today Tottenham barely managed to advance to next stage against Portsmouth despite having star players like Kane and Son on the field. I see Hull City having a potential to make a surprise today. I won't be very surprised if they eliminate Fulham.

For sure, for non big teams (big 4 or big 6 I can't remember which one to use now lol) this is a nice route to get a lot of money and playing time, plus also Europa qualification which is not bad if you don't trust your league position.

Fulham are on top of Hull but personally I think there is less chance of upset from teams who played recently in lower leagues like Fulham or even Leeds, whereas Spurs and Chelsea etc always seem to act surprised playing against tough teams who don't give them space.

I can be wrong of course, you are more right looking at today's results:
Bournemouth lose to Burnley
Nottingham Forest lost to Blackpool

Shock or not? Bournemouth no, because Burnley is #1 in Championship league and Bournemouth #16 in Premier League. Blackpool big shock yes, only won 6/26 games in this season!

[buwaytress]

Yes I know FA Cup but all Prem league ties still count, no?

Nice to see Saints go through and JWP getting back some of his lost goalscoring form. Hoping Brentford go through but Hammers will likely snatch this is it goes to pens.

Wolves are also 14/1 against Liverpool today and I think that's a gross underestimation of the away team -- who face Kelleher in goal, and almost surely a second-string team featuring Milner and no VVD... I still put in some change on Liverpool ML, but only because I support them and for no other reason. 13/10 on a weak team would never be my pick for a regular team...

Shock or not? Bournemouth no, because Burnley is #1 in Championship league and Bournemouth #16 in Premier League. Blackpool big shock yes, only won 6/26 games in this season!

Yeah cup games are nice when you see "lopsided" games like these, that actually aren't that much of a difference in quality as you point out: 5 positions apart but in different leagues, definitely some value over there. You should check out Championship thread if you follow these teams -- I still feel like there's enough quality there and it gives you some clues over next season transfers as EPL has a habit of buying top strikers from there (if they don't promote first).

[casperBGD]

~snip

Fulham are on top of Hull but personally I think there is less chance of upset from teams who played recently in lower leagues like Fulham or even Leeds, whereas Spurs and Chelsea etc always seem to act surprised playing against tough teams who don't give them space.

Fulham is actually in great shape lately, and even this squad was good enough to beat Hull

Everton lost yesterday from United, and Lampard is holding by a straw on his managerial position, Southampton loss would probably be last one for him, although Everton played good game last night, and showed that they can survive this one, although Iwobi is now out as well

[swogerino]

I am not feeling that well for the Newcastle game while all other Premier League teams that played against lower divisions so far have won their games,I don't think I have missed some game.It is always great when there are no surprises from the low divisions as back a couple of years ago surprises were very well happening even to big teams of the Premier League.

I thought why no Premier League games this weekend while all other major leagues were playing,it is because of the FA cup,I am not happy every time there is no Premier League action during a weekend but at least this will cool down the teams a bit so they can focus on their next Premier League game the upcoming weekend.

Edit:Did not see the defeat of Nottingham so surprises were also here.

[Igebotz]

So many games today in the FA Cup 3rd round. Strictly off topic as tris is a PL thread but whatever
Will there be any upsets today, any smaller teams getting through to the 4th round with a giant killing performance?

What do you think guys?

Also may I just say RIP to Gianluca Vialli, a truly elite striker.

English teams are caring about the FA Cup quite much. Because of this they are starting the matches with a lineup close to their main ones. So the probability of seeing a surprise is lower. Today Tottenham barely managed to advance to next stage against Portsmouth despite having star players like Kane and Son on the field. I see Hull City having a potential to make a surprise today. I won't be very surprised if they eliminate Fulham.

Since Manchester City has been dominating the league, the FA Cup and the League Cup have been the only hope for any other top six teams to win a trophy. I recall the FA Cup and the League Cup being a competition for bench players and academy players until Mourinho started fielding his best players for the competition and there was a comment he made ( i cant remember) that made other top clubs start fielding their main squads as well. Arsene Wenger was the only manager who continued to use feeders until things started to get tougher


Newcastle's lost to S. Wednesday... This is insane; I guess Eddie Howe underestimated the Wednesday and was punished for it.

[slaman29]

Fulham is actually in great shape lately, and even this squad was good enough to beat Hull

I have to admit I really underestimated this team, even knowing that their main striker was coming up from the lower league with a good scoring record. Seems like a much cheaper but equally effective "Benzema" who can play even though injured and still comes up with all the goals.

Since Manchester City has been dominating the league, the FA Cup and the League Cup have been the only hope for any other top six teams to win a trophy. I recall the FA Cup and the League Cup being a competition for bench players and academy players until Mourinho started fielding his best players for the competition and there was a comment he made ( i cant remember) that made other top clubs start fielding their main squads as well. Arsene Wenger was the only manager who continued to use feeders until things started to get tougher


Newcastle's lost to S. Wednesday... This is insane; I guess Eddie Howe underestimated the Wednesday and was punished for it.

You forgot that League cup has also been dominated by City and we have to thank Leicester and Liverpool for making sure they don't win FA cup last season also.

Was it really Mourinho who made the cup games "exciting" again?

[swogerino]

Fulham is actually in great shape lately, and even this squad was good enough to beat Hull

I have to admit I really underestimated this team, even knowing that their main striker was coming up from the lower league with a good scoring record. Seems like a much cheaper but equally effective "Benzema" who can play even though injured and still comes up with all the goals.

Since Manchester City has been dominating the league, the FA Cup and the League Cup have been the only hope for any other top six teams to win a trophy. I recall the FA Cup and the League Cup being a competition for bench players and academy players until Mourinho started fielding his best players for the competition and there was a comment he made ( i cant remember) that made other top clubs start fielding their main squads as well. Arsene Wenger was the only manager who continued to use feeders until things started to get tougher


Newcastle's lost to S. Wednesday... This is insane; I guess Eddie Howe underestimated the Wednesday and was punished for it.

You forgot that League cup has also been dominated by City and we have to thank Leicester and Liverpool for making sure they don't win FA cup last season also.

Was it really Mourinho who made the cup games "exciting" again?

I don't think it was Mourinho.I know that in England FA cup is the most valued cup by all the teams because they a couple of other cups going but not as famous as this one,this is the most important one,we saw that with lower league teams beating the hell out of Premier League sides and this says a lot about the importance of such cup.You may think that these Premier League sides underestimated the value of this cup but this is not the reality,the reality is that they were found unprepared during such matches and that is why it is better to bet both teams to score rather than money lines here,a lot of surprise results.

[tokeweed]

Newcastle's lost to S. Wednesday... This is insane; I guess Eddie Howe underestimated the Wednesday and was punished for it.

That's the thing with some clubs.  In their 'off days' they tend to take it easy and play at the level of their competition.  They'll def learn from it, move on and do better next time.  But I didn't watch the match tho.  I did hear some stuff about the ref blatantly favoring Newcastle the whole match and still got a loss against a lower tier club.  Lol.

But yeah, I'm glad that's over and done with so we get to watch the real thing next weekend.  It's the Manchester derby ladies and gents.    And the North London derby the next day!

[slaman29]

Was it really Mourinho who made the cup games "exciting" again?

I don't think it was Mourinho.I know that in England FA cup is the most valued cup by all the teams because they a couple of other cups going but not as famous as this one,this is the most important one,we saw that with lower league teams beating the hell out of Premier League sides and this says a lot about the importance of such cup.You may think that these Premier League sides underestimated the value of this cup but this is not the reality,the reality is that they were found unprepared during such matches and that is why it is better to bet both teams to score rather than money lines here,a lot of surprise results.

It was so important even in Asia that before satelite tv came with all the live shows, national TV and radio even broadcast FA Cup programmes including prematch discussions and it was a big thing that everyone would play to win.

It changed after Champions League qualification was more "valuable" than FA Cup (which doesn't qualify you).

Also lower side PL teams prefer to fight survival (and keep earning more money) than to win FA Cup.

I definitely think some teams no longer value this cup.

[Trofo]

Was it really Mourinho who made the cup games "exciting" again?

I don't think it was Mourinho.I know that in England FA cup is the most valued cup by all the teams because they a couple of other cups going but not as famous as this one,this is the most important one,we saw that with lower league teams beating the hell out of Premier League sides and this says a lot about the importance of such cup.You may think that these Premier League sides underestimated the value of this cup but this is not the reality,the reality is that they were found unprepared during such matches and that is why it is better to bet both teams to score rather than money lines here,a lot of surprise results.

It was so important even in Asia that before satelite tv came with all the live shows, national TV and radio even broadcast FA Cup programmes including prematch discussions and it was a big thing that everyone would play to win.

It changed after Champions League qualification was more "valuable" than FA Cup (which doesn't qualify you).

Also lower side PL teams prefer to fight survival (and keep earning more money) than to win FA Cup.

I definitely think some teams no longer value this cup.

FA cup has history on its side, it is the oldest national competition in the world, only football of course. It still has a lot of charm, but money took away a lot from FA cup. It just doesn't pay nowhere near the money European places in the Premier League and it is normal that clubs prioritize that.

[swogerino]

Was it really Mourinho who made the cup games "exciting" again?

I don't think it was Mourinho.I know that in England FA cup is the most valued cup by all the teams because they a couple of other cups going but not as famous as this one,this is the most important one,we saw that with lower league teams beating the hell out of Premier League sides and this says a lot about the importance of such cup.You may think that these Premier League sides underestimated the value of this cup but this is not the reality,the reality is that they were found unprepared during such matches and that is why it is better to bet both teams to score rather than money lines here,a lot of surprise results.

It was so important even in Asia that before satelite tv came with all the live shows, national TV and radio even broadcast FA Cup programmes including prematch discussions and it was a big thing that everyone would play to win.

It changed after Champions League qualification was more "valuable" than FA Cup (which doesn't qualify you).

Also lower side PL teams prefer to fight survival (and keep earning more money) than to win FA Cup.

I definitely think some teams no longer value this cup.

FA cup has history on its side, it is the oldest national competition in the world, only football of course. It still has a lot of charm, but money took away a lot from FA cup. It just doesn't pay nowhere near the money European places in the Premier League and it is normal that clubs prioritize that.

Maybe but I see a lot of teams from lower divisions valuing this cup a lot and as far as I know it still is the most important cup in England.Today for example we have about a couple of games in the English League Cup but I don't think teams here play as seriously as they do in the FA cup,in this context I think that the FA cup is still the most valued and respected cup in England.

Of course teams having to fight for the Champions League like Newcastle they simply does not want to lose to have another go in their home field where I am sure they will qualify further.Also problematic teams like Chelsea and lower ranked teams in the Premier League like Aston Villa and Nottingham may as well not give this cup the due respect it deserves because they will think more for the Premier League.