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The Official 2020/21 Premier League Thread

United and City both have outstanding fixtures as their wk1 was deferred. No dates scheduled as yet afaik. Pep & Ole get air time for how unfair life is.

Meanwhile, we were playing 3 games a week and everyone just went 'aahhhh'.
 
JerusalemMan said:
I'm glad that Klopp, unlike Solksjaer, isn't pretending this is an issue that only impacts his club.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1325708934708129792
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It’s an absolute disgrace. The authorities don’t give two fudges about footballers. Surely it isn’t beyond the Premier League to make sure that Spurs and United (this week) didn’t have early kick offs less than 3 days after their European games.

Then UEFA will insist on players trekking around Europe to play (mainly) pointless international games this week. In the middle of a global pandemic where every week clubs are losing players for matches to Covid. It’s outrageous.
 
DeanoAustin said:
It’s an absolute disgrace. The authorities don’t give two fudges about footballers. Surely it isn’t beyond the Premier League to make sure that Spurs and United (this week) didn’t have early kick offs less than 3 days after their European games.

Then UEFA will insist on players trekking around Europe to play (mainly) pointless international games this week. In the middle of a global pandemic where every week clubs are losing players for matches to Covid. It’s outrageous.
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Is the issue not due to the tv channels having the final say over the fixtures? So when united have benefitted from the habit every fa cup game televised for the last 30 years or whatever, they will also will be the tv channels pick if they only have the 1230 slot?
The internationals, especialy in the current climate I agree are gonads. No doubt there will be some sponsorship related incentives to have them.
 
MKSpur said:
Is the issue not due to the tv channels having the final say over the fixtures? So when united have benefitted from the habit every fa cup game televised for the last 30 years or whatever, they will also will be the tv channels pick if they only have the 1230 slot?
The internationals, especialy in the current climate I agree are gonad*s. No doubt there will be some sponsorship related incentives to have them.
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Is it the TV companies? I'm not sure to be honest. But f**k me, couldn't we have played on Sunday at 4:30pm and Liverpool and City at 12:00? Or couldn't United have played at 8pm on Saturday rather than the 12:30 slot instead of West Ham and Fulham?

I'm guessing that the 4:30pm Sunday and 12:30 Saturday slots are going to pull in more viewers so they want the bigger teams in those slots? That said, we're in the middle of a pandemic so it's not like everyone is going out on a Saturday night at the moment.
 
DeanoAustin said:
Is it the TV companies? I'm not sure to be honest. But f**k me, couldn't we have played on Sunday at 4:30pm and Liverpool and City at 12:00? Or couldn't United have played at 8pm on Saturday rather than the 12:30 slot instead of West Ham and Fulham?

I'm guessing that the 4:30pm Sunday and 12:30 Saturday slots are going to pull in more viewers so they want the bigger teams in those slots? That said, we're in the middle of a pandemic so it's not like everyone is going out on a Saturday night at the moment.
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I think the issue is also the competing companies as BT only has the one Saturday slot, which is 12.30: from the Grauniad:

https://www.theguardian.com/footbal...the-injuries-caused-by-a-remorseless-schedule

There are multiple causes, and numerous steps that could have been taken to mitigate the demands of the schedule. That they have not been highlights football’s general lack of leadership and the way greed so dominates the thinking that nobody can see beyond their own self-interest. Klopp and Ole Gunnar Solskjær both highlighted the problems of teams competing in Europe and then playing the Sunday afternoon, and with three sides in Europa League action, that meant the best game available to it, had it ignored sides who had played in the Champions League last Wednesday, was probably either Crystal Palace v Leeds or Southampton v Saudi Sportswashing Machine. Enticing as both of those games may have been in the immediate context, it is understandable BT should go for the larger audience of a Manchester United game.

I’m not sure why we were at 12 on Sunday though, I think it would have been a non televised 3 or 4pm ko but they brought it forward as that was the only tv slot available after they’d decided the other 3 games were worthy of the better (later) tv slots?

I guess I feel a bit like the clubs want their cake and eat it, they accept the revenue of European football, tv coverage and the benefits of being the preferred team to show, they can’t expect the tv companies who pay for the rights to not want to maximise their return. Plus I’m sure we had plenty of bricky schedules whilst in Europa that was never given this much attention.
Maybe I’m biased as we can rotate more for Europa so this may work in our favour if the CL teams all suffer!
Do you see the 5 subs rule getting pushed through mid season under the ‘player welfare’ banner?
 
MKSpur said:
I think the issue is also the competing companies as BT only has the one Saturday slot, which is 12.30: from the Grauniad:

https://www.theguardian.com/footbal...the-injuries-caused-by-a-remorseless-schedule

There are multiple causes, and numerous steps that could have been taken to mitigate the demands of the schedule. That they have not been highlights football’s general lack of leadership and the way greed so dominates the thinking that nobody can see beyond their own self-interest. Klopp and Ole Gunnar Solskjær both highlighted the problems of teams competing in Europe and then playing the Sunday afternoon, and with three sides in Europa League action, that meant the best game available to it, had it ignored sides who had played in the Champions League last Wednesday, was probably either Crystal Palace v Leeds or Southampton v Saudi Sportswashing Machine. Enticing as both of those games may have been in the immediate context, it is understandable BT should go for the larger audience of a Manchester United game.

I’m not sure why we were at 12 on Sunday though, I think it would have been a non televised 3 or 4pm ko but they bought it forward as that was the only tv slot available after they’d decided the other 3 games were worthy of the better (later) tv slots?

I guess I feel a bit like the clubs want their cake and eat it, they accept the revenue of European football, tv coverage and the benefits of being the preferred team to show, they can’t expect the tv companies who pay for the rights to not want to maximise their return. Plus I’m sure we had plenty of bricky schedules whilst in Europa that was never given this much attention.
Maybe I’m biased as we can rotate more for Europa so this may work in our favour if the CL teams all suffer!
Do you see the 5 subs rule getting pushed through mid season under the ‘player welfare’ banner?
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Good post and I can understand where the TV companies are coming from but it really feels like players are being pushed too hard and are an afterthought in this. It can't be beyond the finest minds in SKY, The Premier League and BT to come up with a schedule that gives the players a chance to properly recover. I think it's always come up but is more on the radar now because of the condensed nature of the season.

I'm not an expert on player conditioning so the 5 subs thing doesn't make a massive difference in my view. Managers seem to disagree but a lot of them didn't even use the 3 this weekend including Klopp and Guardiola. Personally, I don't like the idea of it, I really don't like the idea of changing the rule mid-season and I absolutely disagree with Ian Wright on allowing it in games between sides in Europe only. If it comes in, it comes in for all games IMO. What you think yourself?
 
DeanoAustin said:
Good post and I can understand where the TV companies are coming from but it really feels like players are being pushed too hard and are an afterthought in this. It can't be beyond the finest minds in SKY, The Premier League and BT to come up with a schedule that gives the players a chance to properly recover. I think it's always come up but is more on the radar now because of the condensed nature of the season.

I'm not an expert on player conditioning so the 5 subs thing doesn't make a massive difference in my view. Managers seem to disagree but a lot of them didn't even use the 3 this weekend including Klopp and Guardiola. Personally, I don't like the idea of it, I really don't like the idea of changing the rule mid-season and I absolutely disagree with Ian Wright on allowing it in games between sides in Europe only. If it comes in, it comes in for all games IMO. What you think yourself?
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I just think sky can say ok we’ll put you on a different schedule but we want some cash back for the lost revenue. Even though we are becoming a big club I don’t really like skewing things to help those with more resources, so maybe the answer is for the league to set a minimum time between any first class match?
I feel the same about the subs rule. I think it benefits the bigger squads. For all the moaning about player welfare the managers still play them!
I think there needs to be a review of international matches, how can you justify an international friendly, during a pandemic? Of course any organisation that can vote in world cups to be hosted in Russia and Qatar is not going to be concerned about player welfare!
 
MKSpur said:
For all the moaning about player welfare the managers still play them!
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This is the bottom line. The clubs have squads, so its up to the manager to use them. Judging the state of players and not playing them when tired is part of the job. If you play them and they get injured then that is a gamble that failed.
 
Think Chelsea look decent (ok ok I know it was Saudi Sportswashing Machine) but they have plenty of excellent options to come in. If fat Frank accepts (as appears) that having Abraham's in as a focal point (giroud as a handy back up) just makes them work better then they have a chance.

Chilwell and Reese James are decent so it's just the whole league problem of CBs to get right. But with the midfielders and forwards they have the defence just has to be solid rather than spectacular. And let's face it Kante is still excellent. Fat Frank's inexperience might be their Achilles heel?
 
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