Coronavirus in football 21/22 | Premier League to be suspended?

[DomesticTadpole]

This isn't about Covid though. When Covid wasn't about teams had to play games when decimated by injuries. So are they going to put a youth side out on Thursday against Liverpool or will they have had lots of players miraculously coming back from injury.

 

[ESR10]

4 games in hand now for Tottenham…

 

[Swedish_Plumber]

Same as what happened with Newcastle after they played us. It’s not Covid it’s injuries and it makes a complete mockery of the PL.

They’re happy to exploit fans for their money. And the clubs with all the revenue they have and all the billions they spend on building a squad, all the while complaining of needing more substitutions.

Honestly if I was one of the smaller clubs who are consistently blown out of the water by these financial giants who push for super leagues etc, id be down for points deductions for this shite.

Absolutely farcical.

 

[balaks]

So AFCON and regular injuries are fine?

Yeah by the looks of it if you have some injuries, some suspensions, have some guys off on International duty and you decide to loan out a few players (just this week) thats totally fine to just postpone as long as you have 1 COVID positive player.

 

[balaks]

Same as what happened with Newcastle after they played us. It’s not Covid it’s injuries and it makes a complete mockery of the PL.

They’re happy to exploit fans for their money. And the clubs with all the revenue the have and all the billions they spend on building a squad, all the complaining of needing more substitutions.

Honestly if I was one of the smaller clubs who are consistently blown out of the water by these financial giants who push for super leagues etc, id be down for points deductions for this shite.

Absolutely farcical.

It is a farce - I know people travelling over to London from Northern Ireland tonight for the game - flights and hotel booked.

 

[Annihilate Now!]

Yeah by the looks of it if you have some injuries, some suspensions, have some guys off on International duty and you decide to loan out a few players (just this week) thats totally fine to just postpone as long as you have 1 COVID positive player.

Don't forget you could also submit a false positive if you really need to get it called off

 

[balaks]

Don't forget you could also submit a false positive if you really need to get it called off

Yes thats right - some clubs have honestly just taken the piss completely - Arsenal and Liverpool being two of the biggest culprits.

 

[DavidDeSchmikes]

Arsenal's under-23s played last night.

 

[DomesticTadpole]

Arsenal's under-23s played last night.

So surely that was the game to get called off so they could use some of those players, although don't even have to do that. Promote some up to senior squad, then promote some from U-18's to U23's.

 

[Guy Incognito]

Same as what happened with Newcastle after they played us. It’s not Covid it’s injuries and it makes a complete mockery of the PL.

They’re happy to exploit fans for their money. And the clubs with all the revenue they have and all the billions they spend on building a squad, all the while complaining of needing more substitutions.

Honestly if I was one of the smaller clubs who are consistently blown out of the water by these financial giants who push for super leagues etc, id be down for points deductions for this shite.

Absolutely farcical.

Something like this was bound to happen. The rules are ridiculous.

 

[Cheech Wizard]

This isn't about Covid though. When Covid wasn't about teams had to play games when decimated by injuries. So are they going to put a youth side out on Thursday against Liverpool or will they have had lots of players miraculously coming back from injury.

Oh definitely the latter and those whiny Arsenal fans on here before our game last Thursday can shut up.

 

[Okey]

It's officially a joke now isn't it? There's 2 players I can't account for in Arsenal's squad. 2 Covid cases?! And of course they will play on Thursday, by which time they will miraculously be able to field a team. This after giving away Maitland-Niles and Folarin Balogun just days ago. Oh, both Burnley and Leicester have games that will go ahead in midweek after the postponed one today.

 

[Jimmy Skitz]

It's officially a joke now isn't it? There's 2 players I can't account for in Arsenal's squad. 2 Covid cases?! And of course they will play on Thursday, by which time they will miraculously be able to field a team. This after giving away Maitland-Niles and Folarin Balogun just days ago. Oh, both Burnley and Leicester have games that will go ahead in midweek after the postponed one today.

Burnley asked for the game to be off not Leicester, we were even including James Justin in our squad who isn't really anywhere near ready for first team football to make up the numbers, he was one of 5 players back for the game after being unavailable for Tuesday

 

[Topgun1]

If Liverpool can do it, so can Arsenal. The precedent was set by other clubs so not sure what anybody's complaining about. The fact that Spurs are annoyed by it just makes it sweeter. Of course they'd love to face a depleted Arsenal, well guess what? That ain't gonna happen. Deal with it.

Someone commented on substitutions, and I will say that we definitely should have more substitutions in the PL. It would help with less injuries and also help maintain the intensity of the game until the latter stages which is exactly what fans would enjoy. Put your anti-big club bias away and just look at it objectively.

People accuse big clubs of just looking out for themselves but guess what? Smaller clubs do just the same and even worse, they know they're risking both the health of the players and the quality of the PL by being so backwards. Other leagues have already implemented this reform.

 

[Gawge]

Don't blame Arsenal for gaming the system like other teams have due to the ridiculous precedent that the PL have set.

They shouldn't have allowed 'regular' injuries to be included in the postponement criteria, and they definitely shouldn't have allowed international duty to be included - but they have done that for other clubs so they had to call this game off.

Covid outbreaks should be a different matter, but injured players, players on international duty? Tough. You have elite academy's - use them.

 

[TheGame]

Same as what happened with Newcastle after they played us. It’s not Covid it’s injuries and it makes a complete mockery of the PL.

They’re happy to exploit fans for their money. And the clubs with all the revenue they have and all the billions they spend on building a squad, all the while complaining of needing more substitutions.

Honestly if I was one of the smaller clubs who are consistently blown out of the water by these financial giants who push for super leagues etc, id be down for points deductions for this shite.

Absolutely farcical.

Yep agree with this. It should be Covid related if called off and nothing else. Absolute joke.

 

[acnumber9]

They’ve made this season a complete farce.

 

[bosnian_red]

That's a fecking joke tbh. The league is a shambles this year. Even ignoring the fact that we're shit, if we look at the rest of the league, it just all feels pointless. They've made a joke of the prem with their rules.

I understand postponements due to a sudden outbreak the day or 2 before a game because you can't isolate who is safe in time. But it should be player as soon as you can, with whatever players you have available. If all you have is 9 first team players and 4 reserve/youth players, so be it. If a team can't put out a team, they should forfeit the game. It's a joke what they're doing now.

 

[Bale Bale Bale]

Injured v LFC Soares Saka (knock) Chambers (knock) Tierney (knock) Injured longer term Tomiyasu Kolasinac Smith-Rowe

One COVID case as well and that's it. The rest are playing in African Nations or have been loaned out (2 loaned out just this week). Xhaka also suspended.

Leeds had 9 fit first teamers earlier this season and they were told to play the kids and get on with it.

I'm sure Saka, Chambers and Tierney would have all made a miraculous recovery had the game gone ahead.

 

[Gawge]

If a team can't put out a team, they should forfeit the game.

Oh, you can be sure if the game was not called off they wouldn't be forfeiting, actually the line-up wouldn't even look too strange. I suspect some of the 'injured' players might even make a surprise return.

 

[ESR10]

Xhaka scoring the winner in the rearranged fixture

 

[FootyGirl88]

They’re taking the piss now

 

[Gawge]

Would be really interested in what 'evidence' is needed to be provided to the Premier League in terms of injuries (e.g. the 'knocks' of Saka, Tierney and Chambers).

We are getting to a point of cynicism where surely if you are about to play a team in good form, the sensible thing to just tell the Premier League some of your players have knocks so the game needs to be called off. Then you get to play the game in a few weeks when the team might be off the boil.

 

[Not a plastic hoe.]

This league is a fecking joke.
Leeds had up to 9 cases along with injuries and were still told to play.
Chelsea had 7 covid cases along with injuries and were still told to play against wolves.
Absolute clowns.

 

[Rex Banner]

Absolute joke. What happened to just giving youth players a start? Sets a terrible precedent as well. What happens when a team next has an injury crisis? Do they just get to call off their games? Teams these days have bigger squads than ever. No excuse.

 

[bosnian_red]

Oh, you can be sure if the game was not called off they wouldn't be forfeiting, actually the line-up wouldn't even look too strange. I suspect some of the 'injured' players might even make a surprise return.

Yep. Make the threat real and they'll put out normal lineups.

 

[Acole9]

Clubs are taking the piss now.

 

[BusbyMalone]

Just don't know when they're going to draw the line now. Covid ain't going anywhere soon, so this just goes in indefinitely until they arbitrarily say otherwise? What a joke. The integrity of the league has been compromised, which was understandable at the beginning of all this, but now it's ridiculous.

 

[Leftback99]

Looking at our team tonight we should have asked for a postponement.

 

[DavidDeSchmikes]

 

[awop]

Yes technically we can do it according to the rules but i think we should have played. I think getting shafted in the first game of the season because Sky and the PL would not miss their opener + the iffy Liverpool thing played a part in asking for it. It doesn't make it right but somewhat understandable. Focus will be on the mean cheating Arsenal but the PL is doing it to themselves.
It is also pretty funny to see people whining and telling us to give a chance to U23s or U18s when our matchdays squads are usually the youngest in England and/or Europe.

 

[duffer]

Arsenal sending two players out on loan in the past week makes this extra spicy.

 

[R'hllor]

Sounds its like all over a place a bit.

 

[Rhyme Animal]

Spurs really should have white flags on their corners…

As it fits both their shirt colour and their attitude as a club.

 

[Samid]

 

[DomesticTadpole]

Burnley will get relegated because they will have that many games to play but do not have the squad to cope with it. They have played five less games than some teams.

 

[WeePat]

The decision was reluctantly made to submit the application due to a high number of injuries and Covid-19 cases within the squad.

 

[Cheech Wizard]

Postponing their fixtures as long as they can until Cornet comes back from AFCON and they sign a replacement for wood. They have 5 games in hand Burnley, can’t even remember the last time they played.

 

[DavidDeSchmikes]

 

[MayosNoun]

I hope they go down. They’re clearly at it.