Premiership Countdown: 5 Days to Go.
The season is upon us, and what a terrific Community Shield it was.
While not the best classic, it reminded me of the reasons why we love English football so much. Here are just a few reasons (and why I can’t wait for the Premiership season to officially kick off on Saturday):
- The crowd. From the moment the match kicked off, the Liverpool and Chelsea fans were in full voice which accentuated the match for those of us watching on TV from home. Where else can you get fans that add so much energy to the game? In contrast, the fans from the MLS All-Star match against Chelsea were practically silent during the match. And even 93,000+ fans at the Barcelona v Guadalajara were practically silent.
- The commentator. It was so good to hear Peter Brackley’s voice instead of the imbeciles from ESPN/ABC (Dave O’Brien, Alexi Lalas, Eric Wynalda, the list goes on). Instead of distracting the audience from the match, Brackley pulled us in and made the match even more enjoyable.
- The pace. Especially during the first half, the match was played at a blistering speed. Riise’s goal was a perfect example of how fast the Premiership is. How many World Cup games did we see this past month played at the same frenetic pace? Far too few.
- The skill. Whether it was Kalou’s trickery on the right wing, Luis Garcia’s flicks, Bolo Zenden commanding the midfield or excellent saves from Cudicini, the match had plenty of skill on display. Sure, there were patches where it was getting boring, but the majority of the match was played at a very high level.
What did I miss? What were your thoughts watching the Community Shield and your personal highlights?
GD Star Rating
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GD Star Rating
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{ 8 comments… read them below or add one }
Atmosphere? I didn’t see the match but according to callers to FiveLive the Chelsea fans never turned up both literally and metaphorically (who can blame them at 40 quid a ticket?) there being swathes of empty seats in their section and the Londoners didn’t start singing til 20 mins into the game…
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Chelsea has fans? How much did they cost. The Liverpool midfielders were brilliant. I hated seeing Pennant go out for Xabi (or Gerrard, whoever) and I thought Bolo was pretty weak, but then again he is playing aside Sissoko. As for the Blues, Shevchenko played well, got frustrated with Sissoko a lot, which is why he’s so good, but Lampard and Terry were MIA.
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Sisse goal was great. I thought the atmosphere was pretty good, but was at least 2/3 Reds fans – to be expected I suppose. Mourinho may have too much talent in the midfield this year to keep team chemistry good. College Football (American) in the Southeast and Midwest and Football in England have the best atmospheres hands-down in the world.
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Fun game, neither side seemed to go all out provig it nothing more than a heightened preseason match.
In regards to your commentrary regarding the match tele, i agree abc didnt show much but did u watch fsc and their work on the barca madrid tours, how truly aweful. It went from screaming like school girls, to dreadful production, to dimb jocks who cant speak the language, give me the drolls at abc any day. Thank god they are limited to mls and theior 25 fans till the new year.
Go Gunners!
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Fox Sports World Canada could not make up their mind if they were showing the game or not, so I only got part of the match by luck on Sunday morning.
Looked to be a good match though Liverpool looked to be more organized going forward than Chelsea did.
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Liverpool fans seem quite arrogant, don’t you think? Chelsea didn’t play well enough, true, but they’ll loose 6 points to us this season, and if we face them in cup, we win! C’mon YOU BLUES!
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Great match yesterday. Riise’s goal brought me to my feet, and the pace of the game was excellent. In defense of Dave O’Brien, he was the play-by-play man for The New York Mets last season. I got a chance to meet him, and he was one of the nicest, most passionate guys I have ever met. Granted his strengths were definetly not displayed during the World Cup, but I would never question his passion for sports. Having said all that, I’ll take Peter Brackley any day of the week.
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I forgot to mention the most aspect of the Community Shield:
The match proved that Chelsea are not invincible and that the Premiership season isn’t over before it’s even started.
Based on what we saw this past Sunday, it’s going to be a tight race.
Cheers,
The Gaffer
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