Premier League Gameweek 3

SilentWitness

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Setup for your lads to win it. Good transfer window, no Europe and got the rest before the start of the season to make a strong start. It would be kind of poetic for Everton to take the title off Liverpool too. If there’s a surprise winner Everton are a good shout.
I think we have a great chance of getting one of the cups (or at least a very good run) and EL qualification.
 

Corey

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I think a few sports economists have run the numbers on home advantage and come to the conclusion it was almost entirely down to fans influencing the referees in small ways that tipped the balance. Take that away there wasn't much to home advantage.

Funnily enough I did my economics dissertation on home bias among football referees. You're right that pressure from the home fans has been shown to be a key reason for home advantage.

Interestingly, a few studies found that teams with running tracks in their stadiums experience a smaller amount of home bias from referees. The rationale is obviously that since the fans are further away, they are less able to exert pressure on the referee.

I'm therefore not surprised that removing the fans altogether removes much of the home advantage, since refereeing decisions are so crucial in a low-scoring sport like football.
 
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dev1l

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Funnily enough I did my economics dissertation on home bias among football referees. You're right that pressure from the home fans has been shown to be a key reason for home advantage.

Interestingly, a few studies found that teams with running tracks in their stadiums experience a smaller amount of home bias from referees. The rationale is obviously that since the fans are further away, they are less able to exert pressure on the referee.

I'm therefore not surprised that removing the fans altogether removes much of the home advantage, since refereeing decisions are so crucial in a low-scoring sport like football.
Interesting. Thanks
 

Walters_19_MuFc

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Fair play to Moyes and West Ham for turning it round after a poor first game. Despite losing to Arsenal, I felt they were arguably the better team and today looks like they will register their first win against a good Wolves side.
 

diarm

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I think we have a great chance of getting one of the cups (or at least a very good run) and EL qualification.
Sign an improvement on Pickford and you'd be a very good shout for silverware of some sort at least.
 

Hoof the ball

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Feck it, Everton are going to win the league. It's 2020 after all. All kinds of weird shit has been happening this year. Everton to have a freak season under Ancelotti. Leicester to finish second.
 

Dante

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I'm surprised Wolves didn't try to score after the final whistle. United have done it in half our games this season.
 

Ed9

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I quite like Soucek, he's a destroyer who's quite handy on the ball and able to be a constant threat in the box. Felliani vibes.
He's like Fellaini with mobility and stamina of Park Ji-Sung. Very good player.
 

Drainy

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City had almost the exact same schedule and time to prepare for this seasom. It’s up to the coaching team and manager to make sure his squad is ready for the upcoming season. We are way off, and it’s not just tiredness. That excuse is getting exhausting now. Fingers need to be pointed at the coaching staff and the training regime that are currently in place. The players look short in confidence and that’s because they don’t understand what the game plan is.
Maybe it's extremely difficult to complete at the highest level with less preparation time than others. Did you not think of that?
 

RobinLFC

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First time in a while that I've really been looking forward to a game of ours tonight. Alisson and Thiago apparently both passed a fitness test, so really excited to see Thiago (hopefully) start.

And will be interesting to see if Arteta has a plan ready to throw at us. We lost our last two games against them but are 15-3 against them in our last four PL meetings at Anfield.
 

awop

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First time in a while that I've really been looking forward to a game of ours tonight. Alisson and Thiago apparently both passed a fitness test, so really excited to see Thiago (hopefully) start.

And will be interesting to see if Arteta has a plan ready to throw at us. We lost our last two games against them but are 15-3 against them in our last four PL meetings at Anfield.
I think last 2 games were oddities and can't wait for tonight. Liverpool will probably win 1-0 or 2-1 but at least i hope the days of being 4-0 down in 30mn are gone. :nervous:
 

James Peril

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Grealish showing exactly why he would cost 80M and not 25 as someone on here would lead you to believe. Sublime footballer, ball glued to his feet even at speed. Dare I say he is a better player than Rashford over 38 games in the league? Well maybe that’s unfair on Rashford, but Grealish never disappears from any game. At least happy he’s not joining any other team than Man Utd this summer.
 

Idxomer

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Grealish showing exactly why he would cost 80M and not 25 as someone on here would lead you to believe. Sublime footballer, ball glued to his feet even at speed. Dare I say he is a better player than Rashford over 38 games in the league? Well maybe that’s unfair on Rashford, but Grealish never disappears from any game. At least happy he’s not joining any other team than Man Utd this summer.
That was always silly and coming from people who have never seen him play.
 

Wayne's World

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Fulham are without doubt the worst promoted team to come up from the Championship, they are going to break Derby's record low points total this season (or was that Sunderland)
 

marktan

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Fulham are really poor, their only modus of play is lumping it into the box for Mitrovic to attack. They might get a couple of goals but over a season it's not going to do much. Double mark him and there's nothing else. The only player that looks Prem quality for Fulham is Tom Cairney.

Did Fulham even sign anyone in the summer? They weren't great in the Championship and the gulf is even wide now. If not then I suspect the plan is to pocket the cheque this season in the Prem and go again in the Championship next season.
 

marktan

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Grealish showing exactly why he would cost 80M and not 25 as someone on here would lead you to believe. Sublime footballer, ball glued to his feet even at speed. Dare I say he is a better player than Rashford over 38 games in the league? Well maybe that’s unfair on Rashford, but Grealish never disappears from any game. At least happy he’s not joining any other team than Man Utd this summer.
Technically Graelish is on a whole other level to Rashford. What Rashford has though is pace and runs in behind which makes him a better wide forward than Graelish. If Graelish had Rashfords pace he'd be world class.
 

DavidDeSchmikes

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Fulham are really poor, their only modus of play is lumping it into the box for Mitrovic to attack. They might get a couple of goals but over a season it's not going to do much. Double mark him and there's nothing else. The only player that looks Prem quality for Fulham is Tom Cairney.

Did Fulham even sign anyone in the summer? They weren't great in the Championship and the gulf is even wide now. If not then I suspect the plan is to pocket the cheque this season in the Prem and go again in the Championship next season.
Knockaert on a permanent deal, Robinson from Wigan , Harrison Reid from Southampton and Kenny Tete from Lyon
Lemina, Areola and Aina on loan
 

No Love

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How weak is Hector? Totally useless. Hector and Ream combine for one of the weakest CB pairings in recent Premier League history, IMO.