EPL & F.A Cup thread (Featuring Ange at Spurs)

[MartinTyler]

20 minutes ago, Davo said:

They give him a tiny transfer budget and he still takes them to the Champions League final, so they punt him within six months.

And you just know they're going to replace him with Mourinho.

Mourinho's style of play wont go down well with the majority of Spurs fans

[Davo]

1 hour ago, MartinTyler said:

Mourinho's style of play wont go down well with the majority of Spurs fans

Yeah the fans will probably hate it but they actually have a squad that suits him. He likes a lot of big, physical players and they have guys like Alderweireld, Vertonghen, Sanchez, Sissoko, Dier, Wanyama, Kane who are all around 6 feet tall and fairly strong. He's a bit predictable so he'll have to evolve his style a bit to make it work but its possible (for 2.5 seasons).

Also the rumor is Poch to Bayern so he may still do alright out of this.

[Carns]

Poch will do fine out of all this. There are pundits that have been saying it might be time for him to move on to a new challenge anyway, and here is his chance.

Spurs have the bigger challenge to replace him adequately.

[Carns]

Spurs signed Mourinho. Lol.

[StringerBellend]

41 minutes ago, Carns said:

Spurs signed Mourinho. Lol.

We are in no position to laugh, Everton will probably put up the Bat Signal to get Big Sam to return with his trademarked relegation battle football by Jan, or the Ginger One with his stylish Cardigan collection 

[Burgerman]

22 hours ago, Carns said:

Spurs signed Mourinho. Lol.

Spurs fans not happy and I don't blame them, he might get a trophy but when his time is up he will leave a mess behind. Feel for poch as he done an excellent job considering the top teams budgets/transfers money he been up against. 

[Carns]

On 20/11/2019 at 7:20 PM, StringerBellend said:

We are in no position to laugh, Everton will probably put up the Bat Signal to get Big Sam to return with his trademarked relegation battle football by Jan, or the Ginger One with his stylish Cardigan collection 

So, Big Sam before Xmas?

[StringerBellend]

27 minutes ago, Carns said:

So, Big Sam before Xmas?

Moyes is getting his press conference cardigan dry cleaned as we speak 

[WSWJACK]

On 20/11/2019 at 7:20 PM, StringerBellend said:

We are in no position to laugh, Everton will probably put up the Bat Signal to get Big Sam to return with his trademarked relegation battle football by Jan, or the Ginger One with his stylish Cardigan collection 

don't forget you've also got Smoggy's discarded manager hovering in the background.

[Smoggy]

Boro v Spurs in the cup..bit of glamor to the riverside..nothing to lose..if we go out expected..great draw.

Liverpool v Everton lol another sticky game for the toffees.

[StringerBellend]

**** off Everton 

[Carns]

1 hour ago, StringerBellend said:

**** off Everton 

Only a matter of time, surely.

[WSWJACK]

On 05/12/2019 at 9:28 AM, StringerBellend said:

**** off Everton 

Would have liked to have been a fly on the wall in the Everton dressing room pre kick off with DF's special motivation speech, bet the premier league primadonnas were shitting selves !

[HillsPanther]

I get the impression that Brighton was happy to throw the FA Cup match today. No Mooy or Ryan, arguably 2 of their best players. FA Cup probably too much of a distraction if the team is trying to avoid relegation.

[StringerBellend]

49 minutes ago, HillsPanther said:

I get the impression that Brighton was happy to throw the FA Cup match today. No Mooy or Ryan, arguably 2 of their best players. FA Cup probably too much of a distraction if the team is trying to avoid relegation.

Reason #1026 why modern football is f*cked 

lower mid table teams “resting” players for fa cup

[Paul01]

Manchester Utd v Wolverhampton wanderers -

stat for MU

0 shots on target out of 12

[Davo]

Saw a tweet that it’s the third time since the beginning of 2019 that United have had a game with zero shots on target. The previous three games with no shots in target spanned nine years.

[Paul01]

Big news for City Football Group

Manchester City banned from Champions League for two seasons https://www.theguardian.com/football/2020/feb/14/manchester-city-banned-from-champions-league-two-seasons-ffp-uefa?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Copy_to_clipboard

[StringerBellend]

Kopites are gobshites

https://southendnewsnetwork.net/news/liverpool-awarded-1988-89-league-title-after-historic-var-appeal-cancels-arsenals-winner/

[btron3000]

What about all the dribblers online saying Liverpool shouldn’t be given the league if there are no further games.

Never been a lead like it in the history of the top flight.

[Smoggy]

14 hours ago, btron3000 said:

What about all the dribblers online saying Liverpool shouldn’t be given the league if there are no further games.

Never been a lead like it in the history of the top flight.

Its a wind up....they interviewed some Liverpool fans outside Anfield and they tried to look unconcerned...which didnt work..

One guy said " well we will just make our own EPL trophy "

They do deserve to be offical champs and should get the title plus proper trophy but it is going to be fun in the meantime 

[btron3000]

4 minutes ago, Smoggy said:

Its a wind up....

Some people are deadly serious.

I have a mate who is a Man U fan (so of course he is totally unbiased ) and he is seriously saying "Until they have won it mathematically..."

I'm like "Dude, mathematically there has never been a lead like this".

Then another mate (Arsenal) is like "they deserve it but it will always be tainted in some people's eyes".

The last comment is perhaps more concerning than the first one. You expect Man U fans to want Liverpool's drought (and not adding to total league trophies) to continue, but when someone else just buys into the stupidity like people do fake news, that's worse.

[Prydzopolis]

We are in uncharted territory, that’s for sure, so many options on the table but which is the best way to end the season?

Looks like without the Euro’s, the best option on the table is to push back the end of the season but need to wait to see how long they are going to put things on hold.

[Smoggy]

4 hours ago, Prydzopolis said:

We are in uncharted territory, that’s for sure, so many options on the table but which is the best way to end the season?

Looks like without the Euro’s, the best option on the table is to push back the end of the season but need to wait to see how long they are going to put things on hold.

Prob is loan players and contracts. Many expire end of May and will be a contractual and financial nightmare. 

An extended season would need to finish within May or not at all.

[Prydzopolis]

7 minutes ago, Smoggy said:

An extended season would need to finish within May or not at all.

Technically it would need to end before the transfer window opens on July 1. Don’t forget that June is usually when the international games are played. I know Asia have called off WCQ & UEFA have postponed the Euro’s. It leaves some room to maneuver.

[btron3000]

1 hour ago, Prydzopolis said:

Technically it would need to end before the transfer window opens on July 1. Don’t forget that June is usually when the international games are played. I know Asia have called off WCQ & UEFA have postponed the Euro’s. It leaves some room to maneuver.

Don't think the decision has been made on the Euros yet, but postponement looks likely.

Just happens to be the year that the Euros is on all over Europe instead of one country!

[Davo]

The problem with stopping the Premier League season when they have and declaring it the final result is that some teams still have a game in hand.

With City getting their Champions League ban fifth place now gets a CL spot (although I still think they’ll throw enough money at it to make it go away). United are currently in 5th but Sheffield are two points behind and have played one less game. Had they won their game in hand they’d be fifth.

Villa are in the relegation zone but played one less game than 17th place, who are only two points ahead. Pretty sure Villa were supposed to play Sheffield but it got postponed when Villa qualified for the League Cup final, meaning anything other than a draw and you’re changing either the Champions League spots or the relegation spots with that one match.

I don’t think it’s fair for a team to get relegated or miss the Champions League because they played less games than the teams around them, but if you can’t play that game in hand how do you work it out? As funny as it would be for Liverpool to not win the title I agree they’ve done enough to earn it. However if they mathematically haven’t won it how is it different from the Sheffield or Villa situations other than probability?

[btron3000]

28 minutes ago, Davo said:

As funny as it would be for Liverpool to not win the title I agree they’ve done enough to earn it. However if they mathematically haven’t won it how is it different from the Sheffield or Villa situations other than probability?

Do you know what that probability is? 

It was over 99% when they had a 16 point lead at the end of January! Now they have a 25 point lead having played one more game than City, so at least a 22 point lead, in mid-March. If Liverpool were 5 points ahead then I think you'd get quite a bit of opposition to handing them the trophy, and even some Liverpool supporters would feel like they didn't deserve it.  But the level of probability is extreme here.

Also, as you point out, Villa and Sheffield have played different numbers of games than the teams around them and so it's hard to take their current places in the league table as the final ones. Had they played the same number of games there is a pretty strong argument to say "we're keeping the standings as they are". Of course, there would be arguments that they've played different teams etc., but it could be done. But the "different number of games" argument doesn't wash with Liverpool because there isn't anyone within cooee of them.

 

Davo, I think I've pretty much agreed with everything you've ever typed here, except some of your Man U stuff. You're easily one of the best posters here, in terms of using logic and reason as well as humour. So I'm going to put this post in the Man U category.  I think the prawn sandwiches have gone to your head.

[Davo]

3 minutes ago, btron3000 said:

Do you know what that probability is? 

It was over 99% when they had a 16 point lead at the end of January! Now they have a 25 point lead having played one more game than City, so at least a 22 point lead, in mid-March. If Liverpool were 5 points ahead then I think you'd get quite a bit of opposition to handing them the trophy, and even some Liverpool supporters would feel like they didn't deserve it.  But the level of probability is extreme here.

Also, as you point out, Villa and Sheffield have played different numbers of games than the teams around them and so it's hard to take their current places in the league table as the final ones. Had they played the same number of games there is a pretty strong argument to say "we're keeping the standings as they are". Of course, there would be arguments that they've played different teams etc., but it could be done. But the "different number of games" argument doesn't wash with Liverpool because there isn't anyone within cooee of them.

 

Davo, I think I've pretty much agreed with everything you've ever typed here, except some of your Man U stuff. You're easily one of the best posters here, in terms of using logic and reason as well as humour. So I'm going to put this post in the Man U category.  I think the prawn sandwiches have gone to your head.

I don’t remember posting many controversial United related things. 90% would be in the United thread and fairly innocuous. Also in my post above I said Liverpool had done enough to earn the title, which is probably they most un-united thing I could say.

The hypothetical you raised about being 5 points ahead is exactly what I was getting at. Where do you draw the line? I agree that it’s way over 99% but what if it was 75%? Or 51%? Or 50%? Do we relegate Villa because the bookies had Sheffield as the favorite in their unplayed game?

I fully expect Liverpool to be given the title regardless of how many more games are played and I’m completely comfortable with that decision. The implications of that decision just make things awkward down the table.

[btron3000]

36 minutes ago, Davo said:

I don’t remember posting many controversial United related things. 90% would be in the United thread and fairly innocuous. Also in my post above I said Liverpool had done enough to earn the title, which is probably they most un-united thing I could say.

The hypothetical you raised about being 5 points ahead is exactly what I was getting at. Where do you draw the line? I agree that it’s way over 99% but what if it was 75%? Or 51%? Or 50%? Do we relegate Villa because the bookies had Sheffield as the favorite in their unplayed game?

I fully expect Liverpool to be given the title regardless of how many more games are played and I’m completely comfortable with that decision. The implications of that decision just make things awkward down the table.

haha yeah most would have been innocuous but also people don't realise when they are being one-eyed, that's what being one-eyed is!  I just remember thinking a couple of times "hmmm that's a bit biased for him" because I almost always find your posts to cut through the crap and talk sense. It wasn't like I was outraged in a social media kind of way 

You originally said "what is the difference?", implying that the situations with Villa, Sheffield and Liverpool were close to equal. The question of where you draw the line is a much better question I think.

For me, the answer - if the world wasn't controlled by lawyers - would be that the positions they are in now, provided that games played was equal, would be the finishing position. It's not like teams have been waiting until 5 games to go to give it a run, no-one is intentionally in the relegation zone, they've all been trying to get out and some haven't made it. Tough. Though the thought of a 22 team comp sounds good, provided concessions are made with Cup games etc. to avoid burnout.

But the answers can only come when there is a final outcome regarding whether any games can go ahead. If there are two teams that are in the example you give above, and no more games can go ahead, what's stopping them from having a one-off playoff game etc.?  All will be determined by the virus and how it progresses.