Could United be punished for fielding a weakened team?

032Devil

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Joking apart, there is a growing demand for United to be punished for fielding a weakened team against Leicester which has affected Chelsea, West Ham, Liverpool and Spurs. Could this happen and what are the consequences?

https://talksport.com/football/879618/
 

Ajr

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Argument can be made that if we didn't field a weakened team we would have actually been more tired, therefore fielding an even weaker team surely
 

Devil may care

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Wait a second, that bitter bertie Trevor Sinclair on talkshite is irrelevant nothing will happen except the salty tears will turn to floods.
 

Ødegaard

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No. It is a squad game & it is not like we were playing 10 years old and the janitor.
Are they going to argue to the professional footballers that played the game, bought for millions of pounds are so shite that it brings the game down?

Would they expect us to field the same team 4 times in a week?
 

Adam-Utd

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:lol: good joke.

we played 1 academy player who made their debut.
 

Nick7

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Wolves were fined for making 10 changes against us a decade ago. Personally I think it’s bollocks. The club registers a squad and should have every right to use that squad.
 

SAFMUTD

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Nonsense, we should blame Sheffield as well then for playing shit against the other top 4 and winning against us.
 

Reditus

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There was 8 internationals in the starting line up.
 

Bastian

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Surely this is just clickbait narrative being spun. Any logical thought will conclude that there is no way you can flog these players to death with 3 matches in 5 days. That would be punishment on top of a punishment.
 

Amarsdd

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yeah, let's also punish City for their 9 changes against Chelsea while we're at it even when City had no fixture congestion like we do.
 

Chairman Steve

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I would have fun with this argument and counter-argue that an XI that cost between £150m-£200m is not weak

And them calling that XI weak is insulting towards the team, and even defamation of character.

Remember when Liverpool literally sent their kids to a League Cup game against Villa as they fecked off to the Club World Cup? I don’t remember a peep out of that.
 

Ali Dia

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If Klopp or Pep did this they’d all be saying they did the right thing…

It wasn’t that weak of a team and we finished with the big guns on the pitch trying to get something out of the game. seemed totally legit rotation to me. I’d love to see one of the young lads start again against the pool.
 

pcaming

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Our fielded 11 cost like 100 million pounds, contained premier league and european championship winners, and then you consider the scheduling and player fitness...What case would they really have?
 

Zoo

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The bigger question is how Trevor Sinclair is allowed to carry on working in the media.
 

AshRK

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I doubt there would have been this much fuss if we had fielded a weaker side against Liverpool. It's like these whiners really want them to be in top 4 so that they can start jerking off to Klopp again.
 

Traub

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This team is stronger than the one who lost to Sheffield United at home
 

always_hoping

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How is it any different from what City did against Chelsea? The only difference being City can afford a better second team.
Not much different. City made 9 changes lost and United made 10 changes and lost.

Trevor Sinclair and the rest of talk sport need to cop themselves on.
 

Jonesno.8

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Lost 2 1 not exactly battered by a top 4 side. No chance. Anyone see a lack of desire from the team fielded. Half the team were full internationals ffs.
 

Jonesno.8

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Also beat the scousers and it will considered a great decision.
 

harms

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Sinclair said:
“Without being disrespectful to the players that played tonight, they made ten changes, this is their ‘B’ team,” Sinclair told talkSPORT.

“I think that’s disrespectful and it takes away from the top four race
Ole should’ve said before the game that he wasn’t being disrespectful, looks like it’s a foolproof way to protect yourself from any future criticism.
 

Blood Mage

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Trevor Sinclair can suck a bag of dicks, the drink-driving, wife-beating cnut.
 

hobbers

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Joking aside, Trevor Sinclair is a racist half wit. Literally a half wit. Why he still gets paid to give his inane opinions, even by dross like talksport, beggars belief. His opinion does not equal "growing demand".

Ignoring who brought it up though, come on, how would you rule on what constitutes a weakened side? Everyone who played is registered in United's squad. Everyone who played for City against Chelsea is registered in their squad.

If anyone tried to rule that one player is a first team player and another isn't, that goes against the whole point of having a squad of more than 11 players, of having substitutes, of having young players and youth teams that promote into the senior sides, of having any concept of form, and a total disregard to player wellbeing and health. It would be laughed out at any level of debate.

Also the first eleven today had an average age of 25.
 
Last edited:

charlenefan

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This is what the 3rd thread we've had about what punishment are we going to get now

ESL
Protest/game Postponement
Weakened Team

Maybe Fulham are safe after all
 

Antisocial

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We didn’t play a weakened team - we couldn’t play the players that played on Sunday due to being forced to play twice in three days, so we basically played our strongest rested players.

Had we used the same players as on Sunday then they would’ve been knackered well before the end of the match, and with only three subs allowed, we had no choice. Despite that we still subbed-on three of the players that played on Sunday to chase the match - we did all we could in the circumstances forced on us.

And it’s also worth pointing-out that we narrowly lost to the third best team in the league that played most of their first choice players and had had an extra two days rest compared to us.

So the critics can go feck themselves, basically.
 

stevoc

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The bigger question is how Trevor Sinclair is allowed to carry on working in the media.
Because he talks shite which generates views and clicks. Just like most pundits these days, especially on Talksport.
 

pratyush_utd

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We played 2 youngsters. Rest have played at different times during this season.
 

Shane88

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Joking aside, Trevor Sinclair is a racist half wit. Literally a half wit. Why he still gets paid to give his inane opinions, even by dross like talksport, beggars belief. His opinion does not equal "growing demand".
Gets people talking, social media interaction etc. That's all that matters.

Pundits aren't hired based on intelligence. Look at the state of Robbie Savage, the man barely string a sentence together but his nonsense with Rio will get retweets and views tonight. Micah Richards, another dope, him doing his fake hyena squeal at Keane saying something innocuous will get the same.

Easiest job in the world.
 

JoeyJoJoJrShabadoo

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Ha! No. They were all registered players in the squad.

If Trevor or any other ABU needs further evidence:
*Maguire is registered injured. He had to be replaced by Bailly, who came off bench on Sunday.
*Matic also came off bench Sunday
*Greenwood started the game and he also started Sunday
* We brought on 3 further players who featured on Sunday.

So thats 6 players who played on Sunday and De Gea has started DOUBLE the Prem League games of Henderson.

We didn't start the entire U23 squad ffs
 

Green_Red

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The club submits its squad to the Premier league at the start of the season. They are well within their rights to field any of those players in any game. There's nothing for anyone to complain about. Just a bunch of salty losers.