Coronavirus & The Premier League

[Storts]

4 minutes ago, The Palace Fan said:

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

Ahhhh shame. I was looking forward to boxing day football. Any idea on how many so far?

[Dave]

16 minutes ago, Storts said:

Ahhhh shame. I was looking forward to boxing day football. Any idea on how many so far?

Vieira's had his press conference. He's indicated its a 'couple' but as we saw with Guaita against Southampton, he's not one to show his cards in a press conference.

A midweek game suits me better with trains anyway.

[Storts]

15 minutes ago, The Palace Fan said:

Vieira's had his press conference. He's indicated its a 'couple' but as we saw with Guaita against Southampton, he's not one to show his cards in a press conference.

A midweek game suits me better with trains anyway.

We’ve had enough postponed already so hopefully no more in your squad pre match 

[EDT The Wall]

Hi guys, which matches will play sunday?

Will be postponement only the matches of Liverpool, Everton and Watford, right?

Is it official or it's probably that other matches will be postponement?

[Stan]

1 hour ago, EDT The Wall said:

Hi guys, which matches will play sunday?

Will be postponement only the matches of Liverpool, Everton and Watford, right?

Is it official or it's probably that other matches will be postponement?

Who knows? Games have been known to be called off on the day... 

[Dan+]

They make a rod for their own back. They have a ridiculous break in February yet jam pack the fixtures now. Just spread them out a bit better.

[Stan]

 

 

 

[Stan]

Arsenal vs Wolves off on Tuesday.

[Lucas]

Newcastle lose Saint Maximin and Wilson and the Everton game then gets postponed.

Ah, I see how it is lads, nice one.

[Honey Honey]

14 hours ago, Lucas said:

Newcastle lose Saint Maximin and Wilson and the Everton game then gets postponed.

Ah, I see how it is lads, nice one.

Not sure what the fuss is about. We had 14 outfield first team players for the Man Utd game, 2 got injured for sure, 1 hobbled to the end and another one is now suspended after a yellow card.

Hassenhuttl is rattled by the thought he might not get to play against a hampered Newcastle. 

[Lucas]

1 hour ago, Honey Honey said:

Not sure what the fuss is about. We had 14 outfield first team players for the Man Utd game, 2 got injured for sure, 1 hobbled to the end and another one is now suspended after a yellow card.

Hassenhuttl is rattled by the thought he might not get to play against a hampered Newcastle. 

I'm only messing to be fair, we did virtually the same albeit maybe one game later than we should have. Definitely shouldn't have played the Arsenal game.

I do however think before the president was set, it should have been said across the board that everyone stops for three four weeks or you carry on and have to use youngsters.

Then we'd really see who were being genuine and who was pulling a fast one.

[MUFC]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/59818457

[RandoEFC+]

Wasn't Arteta the first one who got Covid right at the start? Full circle.

[Smiley Culture]

4 hours ago, RondónEFC said:

Wasn't Arteta the first one who got Covid right at the start? Full circle.

Wasn’t his diagnosis what got the ball rolling for the pause in the 19/20 season?

[Honey Honey]

Hassenhuttl will have a meltdown. 

[Smiley Culture]

Massive fan of Sean Dyche saying it how it is regarding scheduling. 

[Dr. Gonzo]

5 minutes ago, Smiley Culture said:

Massive fan of Sean Dyche saying it how it is regarding scheduling. 

I think it's kind of myopic tbh. Him saying that his players welfare is fine is true - Burnley have barely played in December 2021, they're not in Europe and get knocked out of cups earlier than many top flight clubs. And pointing to Frank Lampard playing something like 60 matches a season is all well and good - until you realise most players that were Lampard's contemporaries didn't play anywhere near that number of seasons.

In the past few seasons we've seen so many injuries and rich people at the top of football want to keep adding more and more matches.

If Burnley were hit with injuries the same way as Leeds or Leicester are this season, where at times they've got maybe every player they have in a particular position out injured... would he feel the same way and make the same statements? I think he wouldn't.

[Smiley Culture]

28 minutes ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

I think it's kind of myopic tbh. Him saying that his players welfare is fine is true - Burnley have barely played in December 2021, they're not in Europe and get knocked out of cups earlier than many top flight clubs. And pointing to Frank Lampard playing something like 60 matches a season is all well and good - until you realise most players that were Lampard's contemporaries didn't play anywhere near that number of seasons.

In the past few seasons we've seen so many injuries and rich people at the top of football want to keep adding more and more matches.

If Burnley were hit with injuries the same way as Leeds or Leicester are this season, where at times they've got maybe every player they have in a particular position out injured... would he feel the same way and make the same statements? I think he wouldn't.

Where do we stop though? His points are all valid and fair. Football in December has always been a packed schedule and it’s exacerbated with the added rigours of three international football breaks in the months prior but foreign managers moaning about games is boring. That’s how things have been done for years and if we can’t ask some footballers, with their incredibly talented and learned entourages, to play football then we should just pack up and go home. 

Is there actually that much of an injury crisis, not just a covid problem? I genuinely don’t know because Premier League managers tend to piss me off with their constant moaning about one subject or another (at least it’s not VAR for a change) but I don’t know if there is a genuine problem out there. Maybe they should have kept five subs for another two years up to 2023, though that was crap but you can make an argument for it, due to the sham World Cup next year but even then, I struggle to sympathise for football clubs when plenty have 50+ professionals on their books and plenty have youth sides that  cost millions just for them to play in the lower league Pizza Cup but god forbid we ask them to play proper games in the Premier League. 

Maybe instead of tossers moaning about people daring to have the propensity to schedule football games these blokes should be looking closer to home. Six of their bosses wanted to set up their own competition where there was going to be EIGHTEEN group games per season, a 200% increase from what they do now. The faux anger lasted a week and it was brushed under the carpet much like the actual changes to the Champions League that were ushered in through the back door, four more teams to qualify for the Champions League and there to be ten group games. Why isn’t Tuchel and angry, angry Jürgen moaning about that and not Burnley, for daring to not be quite as good as Liverpool? Pre-covid all these sides would jump on a plane and hammer Asia, Africa and North America to sell shirts, this was never a problem mentioned in November by the managers but a bloody League Cup game where they weren’t even going to play a strong team and instead having squad numbers that add up to about 700, that’s the devil. We’ve just had a third European club competition added, it’s not even registered on manager’s radar.

Dyche has it right, we’re not asking a lot from Premier League footballers to play twice in two or three days, they suddenly fucking do it if a few million pound for appearing in Europe is on the cards but god forbid we ask them at Christmas.

If this is the future of football, shove it. 

[Dr. Gonzo]

2 minutes ago, Smiley Culture said:

Maybe instead of tossers moaning about people daring to have the propensity to schedule football games these blokes should be looking closer to home. Six of their bosses wanted to set up their own competition where there was going to be EIGHTEEN group games per season, a 200% increase from what they do now. The faux anger lasted a week and it was brushed under the carpet much like the actual changes to the Champions League that were ushered in through the back door, four more teams to qualify for the Champions League and there to be ten group games. Why isn’t Tuchel and angry, angry Jürgen moaning about that and not Burnley, for daring to not be quite as good as Liverpool? Pre-covid all these sides would jump on a plane and hammer Asia, Africa and North America to sell shirts, this was never a problem mentioned in November by the managers but a bloody League Cup game where they weren’t even going to play a strong team and instead having squad numbers that add up to about 700, that’s the devil. We’ve just had a third European club competition added, it’s not even registered on manager’s radar.

Tbf Klopp and Tuchel both did say they were against the Super League and hoped it didn't happen. They're going to moan about their squads and the fixture congestion because they're under substantial pressure to win and be in contention with City and it's not looking likely (although I don't really have much sympathy for Chelsea either - they've got substantial depth).

I'm not sure that pre-season friendlies being played abroad to take advantage of the fact the league's marketed itself abroad really changes anything, tbh. That was pre-season friendlies, the matches were primarily to get fitness for the players (and often why many of these fans from abroad would be pissed off they spent shitloads of money to watch a 2nd string Real Madrid go up against a MLS side in years with international tournaments).

Qatar should never have been awarded a World Cup and a World Cup shouldn't ever be hosted in a nation that can't host it safely at the time it's traditionally been held since it's inception. But a counterpoint to this would probably come from all the clubs of countries where the World Cup is played when their domestic seasons run, I suppose.

But in a time of global pandemic and needing to condense seasons, we're now looking at even more condensing of seasons because of that World Cup. Personally, I don't think there's any easy solution. I think the best solution I can think of is not letting the sides in Europe compete for the League Cup and scrapping that new bullshit European competition. But I think a lot of clubs will be against scrapping the Conference League or whatever the fuck it's called, because that's a new source of cash for midtable clubs in bigger European leagues and more money for big clubs in smaller leagues as well. That or having a break after the festive fixture list... but only if international sides aren't going to be having matches at the same fucking time otherwise there's no point. Also clubs shouldn't be allowed to do friendlies during any midseason break either imo - at least ones that aren't behind closed doors.

Because I don't think the injury crisis we faced last season or what Leeds, Leicester and what seems like a lot of other clubs around Europe are facing is normal. The covid situation is more understandable, there's this highly contagious new strain of the virus going around - people are getting sick in huge numbers all around the world, footballers will be a part of that. I think the virus just complicates things in terms of scheduling. But I think the world wasn't really prepared for a super contagious strain of covid as a lot of people just want life to go back to what normal was - the footballing world is included with that.

I'm against pausing the season and especially against the season continuing but only behind closed doors, tbh. But I don't think there's been a lot of consideration for the welfare of players in the last few seasons in terms of how many matches they're being asked to play.

[The Artful Dodger]

16 hours ago, Smiley Culture said:

Where do we stop though? His points are all valid and fair. Football in December has always been a packed schedule and it’s exacerbated with the added rigours of three international football breaks in the months prior but foreign managers moaning about games is boring. That’s how things have been done for years and if we can’t ask some footballers, with their incredibly talented and learned entourages, to play football then we should just pack up and go home. 

Is there actually that much of an injury crisis, not just a covid problem? I genuinely don’t know because Premier League managers tend to piss me off with their constant moaning about one subject or another (at least it’s not VAR for a change) but I don’t know if there is a genuine problem out there. Maybe they should have kept five subs for another two years up to 2023, though that was crap but you can make an argument for it, due to the sham World Cup next year but even then, I struggle to sympathise for football clubs when plenty have 50+ professionals on their books and plenty have youth sides that  cost millions just for them to play in the lower league Pizza Cup but god forbid we ask them to play proper games in the Premier League. 

Maybe instead of tossers moaning about people daring to have the propensity to schedule football games these blokes should be looking closer to home. Six of their bosses wanted to set up their own competition where there was going to be EIGHTEEN group games per season, a 200% increase from what they do now. The faux anger lasted a week and it was brushed under the carpet much like the actual changes to the Champions League that were ushered in through the back door, four more teams to qualify for the Champions League and there to be ten group games. Why isn’t Tuchel and angry, angry Jürgen moaning about that and not Burnley, for daring to not be quite as good as Liverpool? Pre-covid all these sides would jump on a plane and hammer Asia, Africa and North America to sell shirts, this was never a problem mentioned in November by the managers but a bloody League Cup game where they weren’t even going to play a strong team and instead having squad numbers that add up to about 700, that’s the devil. We’ve just had a third European club competition added, it’s not even registered on manager’s radar.

Dyche has it right, we’re not asking a lot from Premier League footballers to play twice in two or three days, they suddenly fucking do it if a few million pound for appearing in Europe is on the cards but god forbid we ask them at Christmas.

If this is the future of football, shove it. 

Brilliant post.

Even if people don't realise it, Kopp and Tuchel are defending the 'product' of football not the actual game which encompasses everyone.

[Honey Honey]

21 hours ago, Honey Honey said:

Hassenhuttl will have a meltdown. 

It's happened. Our game with Southampton has been called off and they've launched a complaint with the Premier League. Moaning that 48 hours is late notice and they want to see which Newcastle players are out.

 

 

[Honey Honey]

 

Lol why do they need to know unless they plan on hiring a private investigator? 

They're 10 points ahead of us why are they shitting the bed?

[Stan]

We only have 13 senior players fit and we've just had a game rearranged (vs Spurs) on 19th

5 games in 15 days. Lovely. 

[Dan+]

Absolute fucking garbage. We'd have been better off just playing them in December.

[Honey Honey]

You'll look like a right pair of Klopp's when you win all the games