2021/2022 English Premier League

[J epworth]

Villa does need a new midfielder and they have stated that’s one thing they will be pushing for in January, with Nakamba out for the season. But if it’s like for like Dele Alli doesn’t fit the bill, they are probably looking for a defensive midfielder so Luiz and McGinn can be more creative

[Slava]

Sounds increasingly like we’re in for a number of postponements and such over the coming days. The PL said no more postponements this week after the United/Brentford one and then had to postpone the Watford/Burnley match. But now apparently there are 11 cases at Brentford and other clubs are suggesting a pause in matches.

Sucks as a fan, because obviously this is a super fun time of year! But, at the same time, you want to see the best sides out there and not some mish-mash of U-18’s, U-23’s and first teamers to get the positions filled.

[Slava]

Well Spurs game was postponed again this morning. I heard from a friend of mine this morning that United had 19 (!!) cases. Seems like this is just untenable for the league to keep rolling ahead with games, but I guess we'll see.

[Swift]

Man Utd v Brighton at the weekend is off too.

Premier League says they'll continue to play any games they can which I think is the right move. Absent of an actual lockdown in the UK, I don't see what having a pause on the season right now would accomplish. The players would just go home and live their life as they are, mingling with family and friends etc. then they come back in a couple of weeks but we're still in the same situation, just with less games played.

I have no idea how they're going to jam these postponed games into the schedule though. Gonna be some crowded fixture lists at some point.

[Senator Clay Davis]

Lest we forget too next year was already going to be crammed with the mid-season World Cup. So extending the season any longer probably isn't ideally for anyone. At some point I'm sure pushing the WC back to 2023 will come under consideration.

[Locke]

No VVD or Fabinho for Liverpool today on COVID protocol.

[Swift]

And 4 more games off this weekend, half the fixture list is off.

[d_phaneuf]

Originally Posted by Senator Clay Davis

Lest we forget too next year was already going to be crammed with the mid-season World Cup. So extending the season any longer probably isn't ideally for anyone. At some point I'm sure pushing the WC back to 2023 will come under consideration.

I don't think pushing back the world cup will come up at all.

Season ends on May 22nd for now, they would push this one into late June if necessary, no tournament to worry about next summer, and still have a 6 week break for most clubs.

Not ideal, but much more realistic than delaying a world cup. The only way a world cup gets delayed is of there's a shutdown ahead of or during it

[devo22]

should just cancel the WC. #### Qatar.

[Locke]

A win is a win, I love that TAA goal...he just blasted it.

But man, its hard to enjoy sports right now. Liverpool, Bayern and the Flames are doing well but the world is just sliding back into the 7th Circle of Hell.

[Slava]

Allegedly, Spurs vs Liverpool is still a go for Sunday. Apparently there are thousands of tickets available, which is a shame because it would otherwise be completely full.

I’m dreading our first match in what feels like forever being against Liverpool though. That’s not a great first game back to work out some cobwebs.

[Locke]

Originally Posted by Slava

Allegedly, Spurs vs Liverpool is still a go for Sunday. Apparently there are thousands of tickets available, which is a shame because it would otherwise be completely full.

I’m dreading our first match in what feels like forever being against Liverpool though. That’s not a great first game back to work out some cobwebs.

Yes. Yes it is.

[Slava]

Originally Posted by Locke

Yes. Yes it is.

For some reason, I preferred Leicester. Particularly when they said they had no CBS for the match because I thought Kane might actually have a chance to score!

I have no idea what kind of side we could field at this point, but I’d say it’ll get thumped on Sunday.

[d_phaneuf]

Originally Posted by Slava

For some reason, I preferred Leicester. Particularly when they said they had no CBS for the match because I thought Kane might actually have a chance to score!

I have no idea what kind of side we could field at this point, but I’d say it’ll get thumped on Sunday.

If the game went ahead today it was likely missing lucas, son, emerson, hojberg, and winks from what Conte had been playing as the first xi

But we at least had first teamers available

I believe son and hojberg were in the first group of positive tests so they should be available sunday

[d_phaneuf]

The incredibly dumb thing is spurs wanted this cancelled days ago, after leicester had asked, and wanted to fit the Rennes game in, conte was even willing to play it in France and give up the home game

But because the Premier league most cares about Sky/BT, they wanted to take any chance leicester/spurs could go ahead

So the league have effectively knocked one of their own sides out of Europe

[Slava]

Originally Posted by d_phaneuf

The incredibly dumb thing is spurs wanted this cancelled days ago, after leicester had asked, and wanted to fit the Rennes game in, conte was even willing to play it in France and give up the home game

But because the Premier league most cares about Sky/BT, they wanted to take any chance leicester/spurs could go ahead

So the league have effectively knocked one of their own sides out of Europe

Is that what the outcome was? Last I saw they drew Spurs/Vitesse and hadn’t made a decision on what the outcome was of the Rennes match.

[Slava]

Sucks there are no games this morning (until later). It’s really gotten out of hand for the schedule at this point, and apparently there’s Nations League this summer so they can’t push the schedule back very far. I’m not sure what the solution is to deal with things at this point (unless they come to their senses and skip the Nations League).

[J epworth]

The late cancellation really sucks for the Villa game, Burnley fans already on way to stadium, seen posts of people coming in from Dublin, Amsterdam, and now all that travel for nothing. One cool thing I saw is a local non-league team Stourport Swifts we’re letting any fans with tickets to the Villa game to be able to watch their game for 2 pounds today.

[Locke]

What are the odds that the Liverpool/Spurs game is a go tomorrow morning?

[Slava]

Originally Posted by Locke

What are the odds that the Liverpool/Spurs game is a go tomorrow morning?

Have you guys got players out or rumoured out? I have no idea who is out at this point for Tottenham. It’s nice that it’s 9:30 here though, so if it’s cancelled at the last minute I didn’t wake up at 5:30!