FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Saturday, August 17th, 2013
NBC’s PREMIER LEAGUE DEBUT NOTES & QUOTES – PART II
Robbie Earle on Manchester United’s victory: “It sent a message to the rest of the league.”
Robbie Mustoe on Aston Villa: “They came back with tremendous character and that firepower we know they have.”
STAMFORD, Conn. – August 17, 2013 – NBC Sports Group began its exclusive coverage of the Premier League today with Premier League Live on NBCSN at 7 a.m., followed by Liverpool- Stoke City on NBCSN at 7:45 a.m. ET, Arsenal-Aston Villa at 10 a.m. ET on NBC, and Swansea City-Manchester United at 12:30 p.m. ET on NBC.
Rebecca Lowe hosts Premier League Live alongside former Jamaican National Team Player Robbie Earle and former English footballer Robbie Mustoe. All matches will be preceded and followed by Premier League Live pre- and post-match shows from the NBC Sports Group International Broadcast Center in Stamford, Conn. NBC’s lead Premier League voice Arlo White was joined by former Premier League star Lee Dixon to present the Swansea City-Manchester United match at 12:30 p.m. ET on NBC.
Premier League Live Post-Match: Arsenal-Aston Villa – 10 a.m. ET, NBCSN
Lowe on Aston Villa’s 3-1 victory over Arsenal: “It [The Premier League] certainly is back and what a start for [manager] Paul Lambert and Aston Villa’s season.”
Mustoe on Aston Villa: “Very confident, very strong, very powerful. They went 1-0 down this game very early on and came back with tremendous character and that firepower that we know they have.”
Earle on Arsenal fans: “To a certain degree, the fans have been let down a little bit by Arsenal Football Club and Arsène Wenger. All this talk about who they were going to bring in and all this talk about now is the time to spend money and nothing’s happened yet… These question marks over Arsène Wenger have never been there before.”
Premier League Live Pre-Match: Swansea City-Manchester United – 12:30 p.m. ET, NBC
Earle on the pressure on Manchester United and manager David Moyes: “They lose today at Swansea, the media will start, Jose Mourinho will start, and the whole of the football world will be saying, it’s not quite the same. And that’s the pressure that’s on David Moyes and his team to get off to a good start. It’s a huge day because the eyes of the football world are on David Moyes and how he starts his reign as Manchester United manager.”
On Manchester United Wayne Rooney:
Earle: “I still think he’ll be a Manchester United player at the end of the season.”
Mustoe: “When I look at it, I think, ‘He’s an excellent player Rooney, he’s been there a long time, he’s been a really important part of what they’ve done over the last nine years when he’s been there.’ Why not enjoy it, why not take it on? It’s a new manager, a new regime, playing behind Robin van Persie, get back to being happy and playing football.”
Swansea City-Manchester United
Arlo White sets the scene for Swansea City-Manchester United: “Hello, welcome to the Liberty Stadium. We’re in the city of Swansea in South Wales, 187 miles to the west of London, and Manchester United, the champions, begin the defense of their Premier League title. This is where they begin a whole new era under David Moyes. Sir Alex Ferguson, of course, ended his 26 and a half year reign with retirement in May, and we are underway. The rain pouring from slate grey skies, Wayne Rooney on the bench for Manchester United.”
White’s call of Manchester United Robin van Persie’s goal: “Moved into the penalty area, Robin van Persie’s there…he’s still there! Robin van Persie with the first goal of the David Moyes reign at Manchester United, it’s come against the run of play, the Golden Boot winner in the last two seasons in the Premier League opens the scoring this afternoon. Swansea nil, Manchester United one.
Lee Dixon on Persie’s goal: “That’s a great finish, but it is sloppy and it should have been cleared [by Swansea]. When the ball gets put into the box, they’ve got men back, they’re in decent position but the right fullback just drops off, played him onside and now they’re playing catch up. Flores misses his kick, and van Persie outstretches Williams and the ball is in the net.”
Mustoe on ability of Manchester United: “If there’s one thing we’ve learned with Manchester United over the years, it’s that they can win in many different ways. They can boss games with possession and win, and they can also go – in big games in the Champions League – and still win without much possession. You just get a dense of the quality they’ve got, van Persie and then the assist from Valencia on the right side just shows you that even though they weren’t playing great, they’re two-nil up.”
Earle on what a strong showing does for Manchester United: “I thought it sent a bit of a message to the rest of the league. They come away from this with a good, convincing win, it puts them in good stead for the difficult games they’ve got over the next four games.”
Premier League Live Post-Match: Swansea City-Manchester United
Mustoe on Rooney: “It’s all business for Wayne Rooney. When he’s out there, he’s going to play the game, but we all know he doesn’t want to be at this football club.”
On Manchester United’s 4-1 victory over Swansea:
Dixon: “Very impressive. They’ve been really, really solid in the back, creative up front, solid midfield. Very impressive game indeed.”
White: “Victory then for Manchester United on the Opening Day. Swansea will be licking their wounds.”
Lowe: “Quite simply ‘job done’ on Day 1 for David Moyes… A really fascinating day in the Barclays Premier League and relief for David Moyes.”
NBC Sports Group’s exclusive Premier League coverage continues tomorrow at 8 a.m. ET on NBCSN with Premier League Live, followed by Crystal Palace-Tottenham at 8:30 p.m. ET and Chelsea-Hull City at 11 a.m. ET.
NBC Sports Group presents the most ambitious, extensive and comprehensive coverage of the Premier League available anywhere in the world. All 380 Premier League matches will be made available live in the United States on the networks of NBCUniversal, on the Premier League Extra Time bonus TV package, and streamed live on NBC Sports Live Extra — NBC Sports Group’s live streaming product for desktop, mobile and tablets. In total, NBC Sports Group will present more than 1,600 total hours of Premier League programming.
– NBC Sports Group –
