How to choose a team....Part 2

This blog marks my 100th post for The Free Kicks Report. I thought for this entry I would re-visit the 5th blog from August 2009 titled 'How to choose a team...' and give an update. The purpose of the first blog was to discuss why people choose a particular team as 'their' team - players, style of play, title contender, etc. and to try and determine my favorite EPL club. Based on those criteria I discussed 10 teams (half the EPL, I know) that were potential selections for myself - ManU, Chelsea, Arsenal, Liverpool, Fulham, ManCity, Aston Villa, Wolverhampton, Hull City, and Everton. I would now like to re-visit those criteria and introduce a new one and see where the lists currently stands.

1) Player Based - There are players on multiple teams that I enjoy cheering for Altidore (Hully City) and Demsey (Fulham), but I've found that I can't support a team just based on 1 man. However, I do believe there must be several players on a team that you like to follow for you to stay with the team. No one will cheer for a team in which they don't really care for the men on the pitch.

2) Style of Play - This criteria has moved up in importance for me as I continue to watch more and more European soccer. I enjoy the fast paced, attacking style of play seen as Arsenal, Manchester City, Chelsea, Tottenham, etc. Soccer is a game of flow and ball control. Nothing is more frustrating than watching your team sit in a defensive shell and have the opposite lobs shots at them all afternoon.

3) Contender - A team doesn't necessarily have to be the top 1 or 2 or even in the best form at the moment. What kind of fan would you be if you jump ship every time your team lost? What I think is most important here is that you see the commitment from the players, manager and front office striving to be that title contending team. Even when Everton were down early this year and as Liverpool have struggled, no one can question there desire for the top 4.

4) FIFA 2010 - Everyone enjoys FIFA and has discovered a player or team that you like to play as. You may even have seen them on a televised game, but this is no reason to think that it is your team. You base FIFA decisions on numbers in the game - budget, stats, coaching openings available, etc.

5) Rivalry - While it is fun to have other people support the team you like. Nothing is the same as trash talking your friends and family over the upcoming match or their team dropping 3 points to a relegation zone team. Over this past season I've discovered that while I didn't have anything against Chelsea one of my cousin's has taken them up as his team, which has made me watch to see them slip up so I can give him a hard time. Even without a team to root for people start to find teams to root against.

Based on re-evaluating these criteria and watching the first half of the 2009-2010 EPL season I can say my initial list of 10 has been reduced to 4. In no particular order - Arsenal, Manchester City, Tottenham and Everton. I enjoy a team based on their style of play (Arsenal and ManCity), key players (Arshavin, Van Persie, Adebayor, Howard, Crouch),  and aggressive management (ManCity and Tottenham have made several keys moves to move up the table). So for now I'll keep evaluating these four teams (and Donovan's arrival at Everton) to see if I will be able to narrow the list down to 1 by the time to the trophy is lifted.

What are your thoughts on how to pick a team? How about the teams I've selected in my final four?