Coronavirus & The Premier League

[Stan]

1 minute ago, Rick said:

Can all the teams not just refuse? Surely the Premier League have to give into the clubs if they go on strike. 

Out come the points deductions 'for failing to fulfil a fixture' or some shite like that. 

[RandoEFC+]

4 minutes ago, Cicero said:

Explains why  our game against Wolves went ahead.

Still doesn't explain why United had all their games postponed when it was reported only a small amount of players contracted the virus. 

 

It sounds like if Simms and Branthwaite hadn't played against Chelsea because of our injury crisis, the Burnley game would have been called off because we wouldn't have had 14 "first team" players available without them making... one appearance this season. Also counted as available is Calvert-Lewin who hasnt played since the start of September. 

[Stan]

4 minutes ago, RondónEFC said:

It sounds like if Simms and Branthwaite hadn't played against Chelsea because of our injury crisis, the Burnley game would have been called off because we wouldn't have had 14 "first team" players available without them making... one appearance this season. Also counted as available is Calvert-Lewin who hasnt played since the start of September. 

It's a shite criterion of a rule to be honest. Fully agree with the reasons you state in that the larger squads (read, richer & bigger clubs) don't suffer because they've been able to pack out their teams with better players, whilst the smaller squads do suffer. 

[RandoEFC+]

Say we give debuts to three 16 year olds against Burnley because of this situation. Then Doucoure, Digne and Gordon catch Covid before the next game. We will be forced to play that one too because the three 16 year old debutants from the Burnley game will be classed as "first team" players by the Premier League. That's where we are with this.

[The Artful Dodger]

Rumours is it’s all getting cancelled on 28th.

[Redcanuck]

2 hours ago, Cicero said:

Explains why  our game against Wolves went ahead.

Still doesn't explain why United had all their games postponed when it was reported only a small amount of players contracted the virus. 

 

It's been reported that United only had 9 players available for Brentford and 7 for Brighton.  Not sure if these figures included youth players or not.  Also the Training Ground had been shut down so there was no place to prepare for these games. 

[Dr. Gonzo]

7 hours ago, RondónEFC said:

Say we give debuts to three 16 year olds against Burnley because of this situation. Then Doucoure, Digne and Gordon catch Covid before the next game. We will be forced to play that one too because the three 16 year old debutants from the Burnley game will be classed as "first team" players by the Premier League. That's where we are with this.

Mental how lacking in common sense it seems to be

[Lucas]

12 hours ago, LFCMike said:

 

Just as well, otherwise we'd have to pull three or four forward from the under 11's.

[The Artful Dodger]

Everton’s request for their game to be cancelled denied hmmm I wonder why  

[Honey Honey]

No covid in our squad. If you can't get near the opposition you won't catch anything. That's where the rest of you are going wrong.

[DeadLinesman]

1 hour ago, The Artful Dodger said:

Everton’s request for their game to be cancelled denied hmmm I wonder why  

Because they have enough players to field a team under the rules and haven’t provided evidence to the contrary? 

[The Artful Dodger]

1 minute ago, DeadLinesman said:

Because they have enough players to field a team under the rules and haven’t provided evidence to the contrary? 

The arbitrary number of players required is ridiculous. Everton should make stuff up like every other club does.

[DeadLinesman]

Just now, The Artful Dodger said:

The arbitrary number of players required is ridiculous. Everton should make stuff up like every other club does.

Absolutely they should. No denying that. Victim of circumstance though. 

[Devil]

Going to get silly this, Watford have played 15 games whilst others will be on 19.

You'd assume they are going to be in the relegation battle. How is it fair to expect them to play a large amount of games in a short period to catch up.

The league needs to see sense get clubs to take a two week break and basically have their own mini lockdown. These guys are getting paid incredible wages so I don't think it's too much to ask to get rid of the problem within the clubs.

[Honey Honey]

3 minutes ago, Devil said:

Going to get silly this, Watford have played 15 games whilst others will be on 19.

You'd assume they are going to be in the relegation battle. How is it fair to expect them to play a large amount of games in a short period to catch up.

The league needs to see sense get clubs to take a two week break and basically have their own mini lockdown. These guys are getting paid incredible wages so I don't think it's too much to ask to get rid of the problem within the clubs.

They'll get to play all those games after the transfer window opens. We'd love to have such an advantage ourselves. Perhaps we should have sent Jeff Hendrick on a bar crawl to try and bring the virus back to the squad.

[The Artful Dodger]

9 minutes ago, Devil said:

Going to get silly this, Watford have played 15 games whilst others will be on 19.

You'd assume they are going to be in the relegation battle. How is it fair to expect them to play a large amount of games in a short period to catch up.

The league needs to see sense get clubs to take a two week break and basically have their own mini lockdown. These guys are getting paid incredible wages so I don't think it's too much to ask to get rid of the problem within the clubs.

It's going to create 'scoreboard pressure', like in cricket. Teams will be so far behind because they've not played a certain amount of games, mentally it can create an extra hurdle.

[Devil]

Just now, Honey Honey said:

They'll get to play all those games after the transfer window opens. We'd love to have such an advantage ourselves. Perhaps we should have sent Jeff Hendrick on a bar crawl to try and bring the virus back to the squad.

That's a valid point to be fair, that being said I still feel a break is required.

[Honey Honey]

6 minutes ago, Devil said:

That's a valid point to be fair, that being said I still feel a break is required.

Round 18 should have been cancelled. 4 games played out of 10 is pathetic and impacts the competitiveness of the league. Tottenham 3 games behind Arsenal for example. 

[Waylander]

43 minutes ago, Honey Honey said:

Round 18 should have been cancelled. 4 games played out of 10 is pathetic and impacts the competitiveness of the league. Tottenham 3 games behind Arsenal for example. 

Some might say survival of the fittest squad.

I do wonder about club shenanigans too, have some tried to use this as key payers are not available rather than COV-ID?

[RandoEFC+]

Now it's postponed.

[Stan]

5 minutes ago, RondónEFC said:

Now it's postponed.

At least we won't have to wonder why any more. Must have had enough cases to fulfil the postponement criteria. 

[RandoEFC+]

As to the rest of the conversation, I don't know what's the right or wrong thing to do, there is no simple answer, but in lower leagues, even League One or Two, teams frequently end up with 3-4 games in hand. It's a load of shite making out that 'scoreboard pressure' is some sort of unacceptable competition-breaker. Sport happens at the behest of circumstance. I don't really get this obsession with what's fair and unfair in this context. Stuff happens all the time in sport which dishes up good and bad luck for different teams, you can't control that even before you introduce a freak pandemic to the conversation. Luck is part and parcel of football.

The problem right now is that if you cancel a set of fixtures because about 6 clubs have Covid outbreaks, what happens later in the year when one or two different teams are having their Covid outbreaks and the League doesn't deem it a big enough problem to suspend a set of fixtures? Whatever decision they make, it's going to arbitrarily favour one set of teams or another with fixture congestion further down the line. I do think the best thing they can do is try to stick to the schedule that was published before the season started as best as possible. 

The biggest problem I have with this episode is the lack of communication from the Premier League and the FA. It should be made very clear what the criteria is for having a game postponed because at the moment it comes across to the casual observer as if they're just making it up on a case by case basis.

[The Artful Dodger]

It makes clear sense to have a break whilst so many people are unable to play. It’s unfair on the players/clubs but most importantly it’s unfair on fans who are having games cancelled on the day or just simply can’t travel because of illness/bad transport/or just general worry. Will clubs refund them? Will they fuck.

Pause for a month. This looks like it might have calmed down by then (going by South Africa). At the moment certain clubs are being penalised for ploughing on regardless. 

[Honey Honey]

Personally think there should be some sort of ban on Burnley and Watford playing any new signings in the 4 games in hand they'll have. 

[Dave]

We've had a covid outbreak. I imagine if there's any more tomorrow or Sunday morning the game will be called off.