Rejoice! The return of the Premier League means the return of everyone’s favorite clueless coach. The magnificently named Ted Lasso (played by Jason Sudeikis) is a former NFL coach who was famously hired and fired by Spurs in the buildup NBC Sport’s inaugural season of Premier League coverage.
This year, Lasso is dabbling in some “pundintry” with Rebecca Lowe, encouraging Fulham fans to mete out vigilante justice in the parking lot, telling Tim Howard he looks a lot like the Everton goalkeeper and, to his obvious enjoyment, coaching the Saint Catherine’s Fighting Owls.
As with the original Ted Lasso promo, the best parts (and there are many best parts) are when Lasso’s naivety acts as a veil for actual criticism of the Premier League:
“In my mind, you got to have three things to be a Premier League team: 1. You gotta play physical. 2. You gotta give 100 percent until the final whistle. 3. You gotta be sponsored by a Middle-Eastern airline.”
Welcome back Coach Lasso.