Opinion

The battle for the 2015/16 Premier League title is well and truly under way, and already we’ve seen fan protests over ticket prices, a new messiah and Diego Costa being suspended. Some things never change, but one this is certain: come May 15th, we’ll have a Premier League champion. It’s time to cast an eye over the pre-season English Premier League title contenders and see how their challenges are shaping up with just over a quarter of the season played.

Innovation is a game changer. The ability to put forward an exceptional idea, a more effective process or a brilliant new device has always been synonymous with success in the soccer world. This can go the other way though, with the worst soccer innovations making clubs and players look extremely silly.

Whether that success is then measured on the pitch, in the television ratings or with regards to the club’s bottom line, the game’s movers and shakers are always looking for bigger and better solutions. 

Have you ever tired of life’s most banal small talk? Footballers, while hardly known for being the wittiest and most eloquent bunch, know how you feel. Game after game after game, they're hit with the same questions regarding the match outcome, their personal performance and what the future holds.

Legendary Arsenal striker Thierry Henry once said that he would have his son study Thomas Muller, should his son take to football as a passion. It was interesting, because one would think that he would have had his son study one of the two best players in the world: Cristiano Ronaldo or Lionel Messi. Henry’s logic was that, while he admires Ronaldo and Messi, they are freaks of nature, inimitable.

They are their national team's’ biggest stars and Barcelona’s strongest weapons. But during the first two rounds of South American World Cup Qualifiers, none of them was able to play for their respective national teams. That raised the question: who in the Barcelona attack trident is the most important player for his national team, Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez, or Neymar? Here we will look at three details: team’s performance with the player, the team’s performance without the player, and player performance.

It’s easy to predict that, without Lionel Messi, even for just a couple months, the 2015-2016 Barcelona season may be in jeopardy of falling short of expectation, nevermind silverware.

I like to imagine somewhere in Merseyside this week, Brendan Rodgers and Jurgen Klopp met at Liverpool Lime Street, at the train station, and had a cup of coffee. In my head the conversation was light and mostly not about soccer. Something like this:

Klopp laughs a shushed laugh at one of Rodgers’s stories about Jose Mourinho from his time at Chelsea, and then there’s a natural pause in the smooth, flowing conversation. This is uncomfortable for both men.

Rodgers: “This is a really good club, you know.”

Football’s refusal to enter the 21st Century – and seeming willingness remain in the dark ages – continues to baffle viewers of the beautiful game. The shameful Diego Costa versus Gabriel incident at Stamford Bridge resurfaced tensions on the role video technology in football can play, a topic that divides supporters like few others. People love football because of its simplicity, but time and again the television viewer is more informed than the man employed to make on-field assessments. How can this be the case?

Sunderland and the North East in general have some of the most passionate fans in the country, week upon week both Sunderland and Newcastle produce great home support and fill out their stadiums. When you consider that they both have capacities of near 50,000 that is an incredible following. But certainly within the last few years they have struggled to generate any foothold in the Premier League.

The Seattle Reign and FC Kansas City are about to face off in the final of the National Women’s Soccer League playoffs tonight at 9:30 PM EST on Fox Sports 1. If you didn’t know that, you are not only not alone, but you have come to the right place.