https://forms.gle/5WavXdvSzoVEDyE66

Anyway, Arsenal has perhaps the biggest turnaround in any season. From relegation fodder after a month, last in the league, to a top 4 contender in 5 months. Perhaps unprecedented. Things could still go bad but at this point its astounding. 

I am cheering for Vieira at Palace. I have been to Selhurst Park. Not for a football match but my first stay in London was at a hotel near the grounds while I was in uni. 

Anyway, the fight for the top 4 to 6 places, the European competition places is red hot. The league cup is especially competitive this season and I must mention Arsenal again, who fought off Liverpool with 10 men to get a draw at Anfield. Xhaka, left alone because of the defense as the last man does what Xhaka does and gets a red card. The team performance after is nothing short of brilliant and they managed to threaten Liverpool once or twice. 

Arsenal did with 10 men what Sparta needed 300 to do. 

I'd be remiss not to mention Newcastle becoming yet another club with a sugar daddy and it will likely see them in the top 4 within a few years with the massive spending they will no doubt do and a title within half a dozen years or so is my guess. That's usually how it works. It takes a while for the money to do some good. 

 What do I hope? United win the League, What do I expect? Top Four Finish.

Can Liverpool repeat last season, Second season is a lot more difficult than the first. City have done nothing in the closed season, I expect Chelsea to be a bunch of overpriced misfits and as for Arsenal,  well Arsenal fans can look forward to the new season with some belief for the first time in a while.

For those in Thailand, probably only me, there is a good deal with True Vision, don’t get all there Crap but EPL only 2900 Baht plus 50 Baht per month for the full season every game, $120 is good value, but not as good as Vietnam, 1,000,000 VND / $50 per year.

Anyway, I think this just might be Liverpool's season. Its a 2 club league. It looks like Chelsea and Man Utd will struggle. Both managed by club legends and both not living up to expectations. The recent Man Utd - Arsenal match was a good one to see. Draw being a fair result in the end. 

Man Utd looked ordinary and to be fair, so did Arsenal. Two once great sides, struggling to get back to that greatness it what it seemed like. Sorta like if Ali and Frazier fought after they were past it. I think Arsenal will do better this season. The defense is shit and but the rest of the positions range from very good (strikers) to decent enough (midfield). I think 4th is definitely feasible. Not so much that Arsenal are going to get better and grab it but that Chelsea, Man Utd and Tottenham will underperform. 

TOttenham is not looking as good as last season and I think it will be Poch's last season with them if they finish top 4 and nothing else. Rumor mill says he is going to Man Utd to replace OGS. I can see that happening. I think he's taken Tottenham as far as they can go. Surprisingly he hasn't won a trophy since he took over. I think he's been their best manager in the PL for sure and among the best managers they have ever had INicholson's early 60s side being the best). 

The EPL is definitely the toughest league in the world I think and I say that with the evidence of both European cups having all English sides in it last season. 

Manchester United.  ...    I feel like supporting United is like having a tortoise as a pet. I had a tortoise, and they are not entertaining to watch. You don't watch them, but you know you have got a bit of responsibility to show some interest.

"That is what I do with United. I keep an eye on them.”

"I don't watch them every game because, at the minute, that is a waste of 90 minutes. I just look at the result and if they win it is a bonus, I have no expectations any more."

Every Mororcycle from every commune must have come to the provincial capital tonight, a sea of flags, flares, whistle and horns the police gave up and joined in the celebrations total chaos in a good king of way.

Looking forward to Saturday final now, it Vietnam win god knows what it will be like

CTH did offer me a dish and desktop set but the signal comes from Vietnam meaning dish alignment of 122 Degrees SE in Bangkok, my balcony only goes to 100 degrees

I have gone for Apple TV and VPN, I have an IP Address in Sweden and UK, less than 600 Baht / Month Apple TV box was 3,800 Baht so it works out a lot less than True Vision.

Rumours are abound that AIS will allow streaming for 300 Baht / Month, only heard about this on Thai websites so far but it seems the real deal.

I love my Football and come hell or high water I will get it at home, I cannot be arsed with going to a bar at 10PM on a Saturday night to catch a game I much prefer the comfort of my own home.

The downside of UK VPN is the wife is now addicted to Coronation Street and Emmerdale Farm, DOH!

The 3-0 defeat was the wrong result for Scotland, she said, and pledged to do everything in her power to reverse the scoreline no matter how long it takes.

Reports indicate she has already made a succession of calls to Senior UEFA and FIFA officials to seek their support in changing the outcome.

If she cannot get the result changed by conventional methods, Sturgeon confirmed she has not taken demanding a replay off the table.

“I don’t believe this result is in the best interest of Scotland, or of football, and it is clear that changing it would be entirely fair,†she told reporters at Holyrood.

“UEFA’s position that the result is binding just because we lost is short-termist and doesn’t serve the Scottish people in the way they deserve.â€

Sturgeon went on to say she believed England had stolen literally dozens of goals that were rightfully Scottish, and she would organise a wide-ranging consultation and enquiry to examine all aspects of the result and report on how it can best be changed in Scotland’s favour.

Meanwhile, today’s copy of The National newspaper is reporting that Scotland won 18-0 before burning Wembley to the ground.

Real Madrid always get their man, it has happened so many times in the past, Beckham and Ronaldo from United, Bale from Spurs, well LVG and Woodward have just thrown them a big Fxxx You, Cheshire Cat smiles are abound in my vicinity.

In my living (sober) memory this is the first time that RM have been given a bloody nose by any British team, great bit of business

Buzzin'

I would like to see the referee show the yellow or red card to all these players that fake getting hurt.

JC on a crutch, every time a player falls down, he rolls around looking to be in great pain, then 1 second later he is up and back running all over the field...WTF...what a bunch of crap!

These young men must be extremely delicate, in the last ten minutes alone, I have seen six of them, apparently mortally injured.

Luckily, the attendant older men, come to see them and squirt some magic juice, from what looks like a water bottle, on them, which mends the broken bones and sprains and off they go again.

Remarkable! I must see if I can get some of that magic juice, it'd be just the thing for gout.

I did see one incident that mystifies me, two players contesting the ball, attempting to 'head' it to their respective advantages, not only miss the ball, but each other, their heads clearly passing some inches away from each other. Still, both collapse on the ground, writhing in pain and agony, halting the game. Fortunately the magic juice did its job and both recovered to play on. I can only think, that they both possess the soccer equivalent of Star War's force and managed to injure each other invisibly.

At the 85 minute mark now, 0-0 but enormous excitement and cheers, every time someone misses the goal.

16th August;

Arsenal v Crystal Palace

Burnley v Chelsea

Leicester City v Everton

Liverpool v Southampton

Manchester United v Swansea City

Newcastle United v Manchester City

Queens Park Rangers v Hull City

Stoke City v Aston Villa

West Bromwich Albion v Sunderland

West Ham United v Tottenham Hotspur

If Fifa is the misogynist devil you portray it to be, set up your own world football organisation and get on with making the women's game all you think it can be. If you are free to think and act for yourselves, women's football can find avenues Fifa is incapable of travelling down. Design your own future, and maybe even redesign the actual game.

More

Corinne Diacre saw her Clermont Foot side lose 2-1 away to Brest in her first game in charge.

The Ligue 2 fixture marked the first time that a woman had taken charge of a professional men's team in the top two tiers of a European league.

Diacre's spell got off to the ideal start as Souleymane Sawadogo gave Clermont an early lead, but her side lost to two second-half goals.

"It's never nice to lose, but you can't ignore Clermont this season," she said.

Diacre also celebrated her 40th birthday on Monday and was given a bouquet of flowers and a kiss on the cheek before kick-off by her Brest counterpart, Alex Dupont.

She was appointed in June in place of another female coach, Helena Costa, who quit before overseeing a game, accusing Clermont of "total amateurism" and a "lack of respect".

Former defender Diacre made 121 appearances for France and also captained the national side.

Brest finished seventh in the French second division last season, while Clermont came 14th, five points above the relegation places.

And Robben, what a player, love watching him despite the fact he played for the Chavs.

http://www.clarionledger.com/story/opinion/columnists/2014/06/25/coulter-growing-interest-soccer-sign-nations-moral-decay/11372137/

If more "Americans" are watching soccer today, it's only because of the demographic switch effected by Teddy Kennedy's 1965 immigration law. I promise you: No American whose great-grandfather was born here is watching soccer. One can only hope that, in addition to learning English, these new Americans will drop their soccer fetish with time.

I've held off on writing about soccer for a decade — or about the length of the average soccer game — so as not to offend anyone. But enough is enough. Any growing interest in soccer can only be a sign of the nation's moral decay.

• Individual achievement is not a big factor in soccer. In a real sport, players fumble passes, throw bricks and drop fly balls — all in front of a crowd. When baseball players strike out, they're standing alone at the plate. But there's also individual glory in home runs, touchdowns and slam-dunks.

In soccer, the blame is dispersed and almost no one scores anyway. There are no heroes, no losers, no accountability, and no child's fragile self-esteem is bruised. There's a reason perpetually alarmed women are called "soccer moms," not "football moms."

Do they even have MVPs in soccer? Everyone just runs up and down the field and, every once in a while, a ball accidentally goes in. That's when we're supposed to go wild. I'm already asleep.

• Liberal moms like soccer because it's a sport in which athletic talent finds so little expression that girls can play with boys. No serious sport is co-ed, even at the kindergarten level.

• No other "sport" ends in as many scoreless ties as soccer. This was an actual marquee sign by the freeway in Long Beach, California, about a World Cup game last week: "2nd period, 11 minutes left, score: 0:0." Two hours later, another World Cup game was on the same screen: "1st period, 8 minutes left, score: 0:0." If Michael Jackson had treated his chronic insomnia with a tape of Argentina vs. Brazil instead of Propofol, he'd still be alive, although bored.

Even in football, by which I mean football, there are very few scoreless ties — and it's a lot harder to score when a half-dozen 300-pound bruisers are trying to crush you.

• The prospect of either personal humiliation or major injury is required to count as a sport. Most sports are sublimated warfare. As Lady Thatcher reportedly said after Germany had beaten England in some major soccer game: Don't worry. After all, twice in this century we beat them at their national game.

Baseball and basketball present a constant threat of personal disgrace. In hockey, there are three or four fights a game — and it's not a stroll on beach to be on ice with a puck flying around at 100 miles per hour. After a football game, ambulances carry off the wounded. After a soccer game, every player gets a ribbon and a juice box.

• You can't use your hands in soccer. (Thus eliminating the danger of having to catch a fly ball.) What sets man apart from the lesser beasts, besides a soul, is that we have opposable thumbs. Our hands can hold things. Here's a great idea: Let's create a game where you're not allowed to use them!

• I resent the force-fed aspect of soccer. The same people trying to push soccer on Americans are the ones demanding that we love HBO's "Girls," light-rail, Beyonce and Hillary Clinton. The number of New York Times articles claiming soccer is "catching on" is exceeded only by the ones pretending women's basketball is fascinating.

I note that we don't have to be endlessly told how exciting football is.

• It's foreign. In fact, that's the precise reason the Times is constantly hectoring Americans to love soccer. One group of sports fans with whom soccer is not "catching on" at all, is African-Americans. They remain distinctly unimpressed by the fact that the French like it.

• Soccer is like the metric system, which liberals also adore because it's European. Naturally, the metric system emerged from the French Revolution, during the brief intervals when they weren't committing mass murder by guillotine.

Despite being subjected to Chinese-style brainwashing in the public schools to use centimeters and Celsius, ask any American for the temperature, and he'll say something like "70 degrees." Ask how far Boston is from New York City, he'll say it's about 200 miles.

Liberals get angry and tell us that the metric system is more "rational" than the measurements everyone understands. This is ridiculous. An inch is the width of a man's thumb, a foot the length of his foot, a yard the length of his belt. That's easy to visualize. How do you visualize 147.2 centimeters?

• Soccer is not "catching on." Headlines this week proclaimed "Record U.S. ratings for World Cup," and we had to hear — again about the "growing popularity of soccer in the United States."

The USA-Portugal game was the blockbuster match, garnering 18.2 million viewers on ESPN. This beat the second-most watched soccer game ever: The 1999 Women's World Cup final (USA vs. China) on ABC. (In soccer, the women's games are as thrilling as the men's.)

Run-of-the-mill, regular-season Sunday Night Football games average more than 20 million viewers; NFL playoff games get 30 to 40 million viewers; and this year's Super Bowl had 111.5 million viewers.

Remember when the media tried to foist British soccer star David Beckham and his permanently camera-ready wife on us a few years ago? Their arrival in America was heralded with 24-7 news coverage. That lasted about two days. Ratings tanked. No one cared.

If more "Americans" are watching soccer today, it's only because of the demographic switch effected by Teddy Kennedy's 1965 immigration law. I promise you: No American whose great-grandfather was born here is watching soccer. One can only hope that, in addition to learning English, these new Americans will drop their soccer fetish with time.

Ann Coulter is a syndicated columnist. Contact her through her website at www.anncoulter.com.