Football and the Coronavirus
- Thread starter Robbo
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5 cases of covid, and yet some teams get their games called off with 4.
Academy. Youre trying to tell me you cant get 14 players?
Play the kids if you have to. 5-6 covid cases and the games postponed yet we had similar vs Spurs and it goes ahead? Same with Everton, their is rejected and thry also have injury issues.
This isnt a pop at Leeds btw its for anyone.
It's not just a matter of covid cases, it's how many players you have available including other injuries and illnesses. If you have 14 players on your books, including u21's that have played senior football then you're meant to be able to play. The situation with Leeds is a little complicated by the fact that Leeds only named 17 players in their 25 man squad meaning they're more at risk of being unable to name a side.
There does need to be more transparency on this though (not necessarily with us but with all clubs) because it does seem that either the PL are trying to pressure clubs into playing when they can't or clubs are exaggerating things to postpone games. As I mentioned yesterday, we were told that Leicester couldn't play vs Spurs on the 16th due to a covid outbreak that day, yet 6 days later they named a full 11 and subs bench including all senior players.
There does need to be more transparency on this though (not necessarily with us but with all clubs) because it does seem that either the PL are trying to pressure clubs into playing when they can't or clubs are exaggerating things to postpone games. As I mentioned yesterday, we were told that Leicester couldn't play vs Spurs on the 16th due to a covid outbreak that day, yet 6 days later they named a full 11 and subs bench including all senior players.
Can't see city requesting their game to be called off, they're probably one of the only 2 squads in the league that's so deep they can field a strong 2nd string. Leicester are over their covid 'issues' as shown by a full strength side against us - just a shame they picked up a few injuries
Caporegime
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Interesting to hear Conte say the meeting yesterday was a complete waste of time because the Premier League aren't interested in player welfare and also interesting to hear Guardiola say players are reaching breaking point and could go on strike.
As much as I would love to see that, it's never going to happen and they'll just pick up fatigue related injuries instead.
As much as I would love to see that, it's never going to happen and they'll just pick up fatigue related injuries instead.
Most managers, from the top sides anyway, have always complained about the schedule for a start. As for what's different this year, covid cases are hitting squads and they're having to play these games with smaller squads and less opportunity to rotate. Playing the 26th and again on the 28th is mad (why not the 26th and then 29th?) but having to do so with potentially 5, 6, 7 or even more fewer players than usual is much harder. There's pressure on clubs to win these games so they can't just put the u16s out so they're almost forced into pushing players to play 2 games, sometimes in less than 48 hours.
I'm not sure we're playing the same number of games either. With the introduction of the Nations League we have more competitive International matches than before and with the expanded CL coming there will be even more European football. And then of course FIFA want to throw an extra WC into the mix and an expanded Club World Cup too.
The speed and intensity of the game is ever increasing too and we're already pushing players to their physical limits. At some point we're going to go too far.
The only thing that will stop it is if the players go on strike.
Its getting ridiculous. They want the WC every 2 years. Then they are seemingly trying to create a European competition for every man and his dog so even if you get relegated from the PL you will still play in Europe.
At some point the players will have to put their foot down and say no.
Yeah the managers that moan from the top sides with bigger squads capable of dealing with more games that success or being higher up the table brings. The fixtures are what they are every season, it's a known quantity and i'm fed up of the whining from some teams (yes Arsenal included in the past) about it every Chritsmas. We should just treat Covid as any other sickness, field your team and crack on with it. If that means sticking some youth on the bench so be it. If Leeds can manage with 9 injuries in one of the smallest squads then every team should be able to.
The top sides have better quality squads, not necessarily bigger squads - all PL squads are limited to a maximum of 25 over 21 year olds.
And the fixtures aren't what they are every season. European competitions have and continue to be expanded, we now have stupid competitions like the Nations League being added to the schedule and plans for more World Cups and Club World Cups. And specifically this season we've been playing even more Internationals than planned because they're trying to catch up with the missed games that should have been played 12-18 months ago.
As for treating covid like any other sickness, cracking on and look at Leeds, that's just bonkers. Other sicknesses aren't spreading through squads like wildfire, leaving clubs with half their squads missing. And Leeds haven't managed! They've been hit for cricket scores every other week. If you want clubs to field 15 year olds just to put an 11 out and call it a PL game then fine but I think that's ridiculous.
Look at Everton. Had they not had more new covid cases today then they were being told they would have had to play this weekend with just 15 players available, several of which are kids and one of the few senior players being somebody that's been out injured for months and just returned to training. And if that isn't stupid enough, they'd have then been expected to play with the same 15 players just a couple of days later. The PL is meant to be the best League in the world in the biggest sport in the world, not a circus League.
So many things could be improved with such small changes. Why do clubs need to play on the 26th and then again on the 28th? Why not make it the 26th and then 29th? Does that 1 day make any difference to the Xmas football traditions? Why do we have FA Cup replays? The only argument for them is it gives lower league sides a slightly better chance of getting the big pay day with an away trip to Anfield or Old Trafford. Why not remove all FA Cup prize money from PL sides (you get £2m for winning it iinm) and spread that money out to all non PL sides instead of replays? That way instead of 1 in 100 getting a big pay day, all non PL sides make more money and PL sides don't have to worry about replays. Does anybody value the League Cup anymore? Even EFL sides are resting players in it now. The only purpose of it is to generate a bit more cash for the EFL so why don't the PL just give them an extra £40m per year and scrap it?
First of all I agree with you that it is a bit silly from a football perspective, why do Arsenal have to play at 12:30 on the 28th after a game on Boxing day?! Honestly I can see us having to rotate half our team in one of these matches, maybe Wolves as presumably they'll be fresh as daises with no game this weekend. But I'll play Devil's advocate to explain it.
The main reason I think is because the 28th is a Bank Holiday whereas 29th is not. Because it is a BH, they can play during the afternoon as well as the evening.
This is then compounded by the fact that Amazon are showing ALL the midweek matches. So obviously, they want to spread the matches out as much as possible to maximise viewing time. This means playing having 4 non-overlapping kickoff times on Tuesday, and then two games apiece on Wednesday and Thursday evenings (with the trademark weird Amazon kickoff times so the first half of the first match doesn't overlap). So you can literally sit there and watch 4 full live matches on Tuesday, 1.5 live matches on Wednesday and 1.5 live matches on Thursday. If they didn't play on Tuesday, that's 4 matches worth of advertising that Amazon miss out on.
I'm not saying this is a good way to go about things, just trying to explain it.
This might make sense if we were just talking about this season but the 48 hour turn around of matches predates Amazon buying the broadcast rights for this round of games and the 28th isn't always a bank holiday. No doubt Amazon are loving it and will take advantage of the bank holiday this season though but it's not the reason why fixtures are scheduled 2 days apart.
Given that we've got the League Cup semi's the next midweek (and therefore a blank midweek for most sides) it really shouldn't be difficult to spread games out so that we have matches played every day over Christmas while allowing at least 72 hours between games. Spread the boxing day round of fixtures over 3 days to the 28th and then this round runs from the 29th to 31st (allowing Amazon to get maximum views) and then you can spill over into the following midweek for the 1st-2nd Jan weekend round of games.
Caporegime
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Did you just see Merson utterly raging because Chelsea were made to play with 3 frontmen missing?
I don’t remember him calling for your games to be cancelled when you had no CB’s
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So Tottenham palace is going ahead. Palace requested a last minute postponement due to COVID-19. Multiple reports from palace that the game wouldn’t go ahead..etc before it was rejected. There is a grand total of 1 change to the starting 11 from their last game. This is getting ridiculous if they honestly thought this would qualify to postpone a game.
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Eh? Just look at the history, I literally cannot find a single instance of the premier league playing on the 28th when it was a working day in the past 15 years, I CBA looking back further:
2020: 28th was a bank holiday
2019: 28th was a weekend
2018: No games on 28th
2017: 28th was a bank holiday
2016: No games on 28th
2015: 28th was a bank holiday
2014: 28th was a weekend
2013: 28th was a weekend
2012: No games on 28th
2011: No games on 28th
2010: 28th was a bank holiday
2009: 28th was a weekend
2008: 28th was a weekend
2007: No games on 28th
2006: No games on 28th