Could United be punished for fielding a weakened team?

stevoc

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The Premier League caused this with the ridiculous fixtures they gave United. Obviously some idiot at the PL thought it would punish United.

All they had to do was rearrange our fixture with Fulham to this weekend (when it might have been originally scheduled) and let us play Liverpool next Wednesday problem solved.
 

roonster09

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Are people genuinely suggesting that United should have played "equal strength teams in each" just so other clubs didn't get a bit sad about it? :lol:

Why stop there? Maybe we should introduce a rule that if you play an opponent who has had fewer days rest, then you must run 20 laps around the pitch before the match begins to balance it up. Maybe if the other team has injuries, you have to cripple that amount of players in your own team so the other doesn't get an advantage. Or maybe if you buy players worth hundreds of millions, you should also have to give the equal amount to other teams in the league so you don't have an unfair advantage (and maybe Chelsea fans shouldn't talk about disrespecting the integrity of the league, while splashing around their dirty Russian Oligarch cash). What about teams that lose because they've had a player unfairly sent off (with a red card later rescinded) - do we go back and replay the game or retroactively award them points?

There are so many imbalances and injustices already in the league. Man United playing an understrength squad out of necessity barely registers.

As a Leicester fan, I really really really hope you beat Liverpool. Mainly for the obvious reason. But also, seeing all the complaints and outrage would be delicious :lol:
I hope you guys qualify and all this drama is worth it in the end.
 

charlenefan

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The mods need to put a cap on the amount of Chelsea fans that are allowed to post on this forum.

Morally wrong :rolleyes:
I've put them all on ignore, makes this place a happier place and now I can't read their shit I'm rooting for them in the UCL final :lol:
 

talking robot

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Don't managers reserve the right to pick whatever team they want from their registered player list? Has there ever been a single case in the history of the premier league of a team being punished for picking an under strength team? It sounds like fantasy land to me.
 

Sandikan

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There is no "weakened team" business with 25 man Premier league squads these days.
Especially not when you've been stitched with 3 games in 5 days!
 

032Devil

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Don't managers reserve the right to pick whatever team they want from their registered player list? Has there ever been a single case in the history of the premier league of a team being punished for picking an under strength team? It sounds like fantasy land to me.
I think there is a rule that clubs have to play their strongest team to prevent any skullduggery between teams.
 

duffer

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Do you guys not know how Talksport works by now? They deliberately say something dumb to get people calling in.

Nothing from them should be given any sort of attention.
 

OverratedOpinion

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I think as a punishment they should make us play 3 games in 5 days. Can be a never ending cycle, we will play a 38 game season over a 2 month period and eventually our under 12s will get a run out.
 

Ludens the Red

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I think there is a rule that clubs have to play their strongest team to prevent any skullduggery between teams.
This rule was seemingly only ever applied once. Unsurprisingly when Man United were involved. Wolves were fined in 2010 for changing their team against us.
The Pl then had to compensate for this so fined Blackpool a few months later for doing something similar against villa.

It pretty much happens every single season. Depending on how much fuss is kicked up about last night (a lot by the looks of it) you can expect the PL to potentially act. It will fail miserably though because someone at United would be able to point out city did the same on Saturday.

edit-

Just seen @Uniquim post. The rule was changed.
:lol:
 

Solius

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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/
You can't say growing demand and then quote Talksport who have the same amount of credibility as the shit I just did. They're bottom feeders.

To answer the question, resounding no. That would be like making someone run a marathon and punishing them for 'only' stepping over the hurdles you suddenly added towards the end of the course.
 

calodo2003

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I think it was morally wrong but not punishable in my eyes, can of worms because of squad lists etc.

Only 73 league starts between the 11 this season though before tonight and 43 of those are de Gea and Greenwood so 30 league starts between the other 9 doesn't look great.... Mata highly experienced but hasn't started a league game for nearly 6 months...
Missing an ‘s.’
 

Random Task

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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/
You have got to be joking.

Are there even legal grounds to form an argument against a football club using paid employees to perform their duties on the pitch?
 

Fully Fledged

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I think it was morally wrong but not punishable in my eyes, can of worms because of squad lists etc.

Only 73 league starts between the 11 this season though before tonight and 43 of those are de Gea and Greenwood so 30 league starts between the other 9 doesn't look great.... Mata highly experienced but hasn't started a league game for nearly 6 months...
Don’t look to us to help you qualify. If you can’t qualify on your own you don’t deserve to be there.
 

Tom Cato

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Having the games this congested is basically unheard of at this stage of the season. The FA did this to punish the club for delaying the Liverpool game.

The club will have the backing of the clubs medical staff that can give their professional input into the safety of no recovery between bouts of heavy physical strain.

Basically, the FA can go feck itself
 

Oranges038

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I love that people are so outraged at this. It's all because of one game that Liverpool aren't likely to make the CL.

Should just introduce a rule that means they can punish any team that fields a team they don't like for no reason and any reason they can find.

Or just reduce the squad size to 14. 11 players and 3 subs if they don't like managers picking from the 25 players registered.
 

Flying high

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Do you guys not know how Talksport works by now? They deliberately say something dumb to get people calling in.

Nothing from them should be given any sort of attention.
Bingo!

I made the mistake of watching one of their youtube videos when the ESL was going on. Ever since I get spammed with the worst kind of crap, click-bait titled nonsense. If you really feel the need to watch or listen to them, just enjoy the thought of all the angry idiots being wound up by it all.
 

OnlyTwoDaSilvas

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The Premier League revoked the rule around weakened teams in 2011, after they gave Wolves a suspended fine for fielding a weakened team against United. The rule was amended to being allowed to pick any player in your 25 man squad,

United can't be punished for breaking a rule that doesn't exist anymore. And even if the rule still existed, the sanction was never the docking of points. It was a fine. Trevor Sinclair, Richard Keys and all the other embittered "experts" would know this if they spent even 20 seconds Googling it:

The Premier League has changed their rules on so-called 'weakened' teams.

Top-flight clubs will now be allowed to pick any player in their 25-man matchday squad without fear of sanction from the Premier League.

Last season Blackpool were fined £25,000 after manager Ian Holloway made 10 changes for a match at Aston Villa.

And in December 2009 Wolves were handed a suspended fine after boss Mick McCarthy rotated his squad for their game at Manchester United.

The 20 Premier League clubs agreed at their AGM in early June that any combination of players named in their registered 25-man squads will be able to start a match.

The rule has not been totally withdrawn, and clubs will still be at risk of a fine if they select a number of younger players from outside their 25-man squad.
BBC

Outside of the first team squad, we selected 1 youth player and 1 young player who is supposedly going to cost us up to £37m. That team probably still costed well over £150m in total.
 

Maticmaker

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SAF's 'get out' statement when he made 8/9 or10 changes was "I always pick a team I think can win the game', Ole will do the same, as have other managers on many occasions.
Its a nonsense, move on!
 

Schmeichel's Cartwheel

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We have a squad, as long as the players we pick are eligible we should be able to pick who we want. If they wanted to see us full strength they shouldn’t have booked us 3 games in 5 days should they. Incompetent FA is incompetent.

Also, Sinclair is a moron.
 

Annihilate Now!

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We've won enough games and got ourselves into a position where we could afford to play a weakened team last night and the result wouldn't matter.

That's our right to do so, and it's on the other teams that they haven't done enough already so it wouldn't affect them.
 

Random Task

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The Premier League revoked the rule around weakened teams in 2011, after they gave Wolves a suspended fine for fielding a weakened team against United. The rule was amended to being allowed to pick any player in your 25 man squad,

United can't be punished for breaking a rule that doesn't exist anymore. And even if the rule still existed, the sanction was never the docking of points. It was a fine. Trevor Sinclair, Richard Keys and all the other embittered "experts" would know this if they spent even 20 seconds Googling it:



BBC

Outside of the first team squad, we selected 1 youth player and 1 young player who is supposedly going to cost us up to £37m. That team probably still costed well over £150m in total.
Well, that's the end of that then.

Ridiculous and frankly embarrassing for Talksport to even suggest the idea of punishment.
 

Lee565

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Screw the premier league, they booked this impossible fixture congestion just to satisfy tv company's whilst ignoring the potential injury risks this could cause for players, again the same hypocrites that condemned the big bad super league idea as being nothing but pure greed.

Also punishing a team for not having a strong enough squad to rotate just encourages the idea that football needs more oil rich Saudi's in the game that use the sport to gloss over their terrible human rights acts.
 

talking robot

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I think there is a rule that clubs have to play their strongest team to prevent any skullduggery between teams.
Has there been a single case in the history of the premier league of a team being punished for not playing their strongest team?
 

charlenefan

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Something that's not being spoken about is how hypocritical it is of these pundits who were loving the fans protests when it was in direct response to the ESL but now that's all been swept under the rug clubs/us need to be punished for our protests :rolleyes:
 

shahzy

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The City side that had 206 previous league starts between them this season? Compared to the 73 of United tonight? I don't think so no.
So in other words, it's fine because they have the ability to bankroll a second team which is about as good as most first teams in the league because of unlimited money. That's ok, but it isn't ok for other teams who even while rich, can't afford to buy a full 2nd, first team. Right
 

Bullhitter

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No, there's no logic to be found in your assertion that it was morally wrong. Whether you've been objective or not is irrelevant when you still reached the wrong answer.

Doesn't matter what teams benefitted and what teams didn't, and which fans are pissed and which fans are happy. It's not morally wrong by any stretch of anyone's imagination (anyone sane, can't legislate for the delusions of embittered scousers on RAWK).

United, just like every other club, are under no obligation to pick any players other than those chosen by their manager to play. End of story.

The only morally indefensible option would have been playing the same best eleven for 3 matches in a row, in the space of only 96 hours, with zero recovery time. And the risk to those players of serious muscle injuries.
"This isn't FM" umm what?! And you know the fact that Liverpool are rivals is very relevant. And yes, we owe it to both teams to treat both games similarly in normal circumstances. If this was a normal midweek game, then I would have absolutely wanted a strong team to play against Leicester. But I don't think we or any other team owe it to any other teams to the detriment of our own chances in footballing terms.
Morally wrong to rest some players when we are playing 4 games in 8 days? Really mate? At least you have an apt username to go with that comment.
Top 4 wasn't mathematically secured. After villa win, UCL football is guaranteed for next season so the first team played against villa.
so you want United to field first team on both Leicester and Liverpool games?
As in fresh first team on Leicester game and tired first team 48 hours later against Liverpool?

or should we field weakened squad on both matches? Wouldn't that be unfair to other teams like Chelsea and West ham?

Are you guys saying if the Leicester and Liverpool games were in reverse order that United would have done the same thing with their lineups? Surely you all agree if that were the case the second team would have played against Villa at the weekend. That's where the water muddies. When your plan is altered because of a specific opponent rather than simply hands tied because of scheduling.
 

Bullhitter

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Was Klopp morally wrong when he played a side full of youth players vs Arsenal in the Carabao cup which had a scoreline of 5-5?

Nobody talks about it. I wonder why.
Didn't Klopp field a weakened team, in the FA Cup, when they had their Super Cup ?!

Move on.
Cup is totally different, would think that is self explanatory.
 

Bullhitter

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@Bullhitter should Chelsea be fined for hiring an obviously incompetent manager for half the season?
Could argue were were deducted points and that's punishment enough :lol::nono: I did not rate Lampard as a manager by the way and again was able to view him objectively as a manager without being tinted by him as a player so you're barking up the wrong tree if it was an intended jibe him being a poor manager.
 

keithsingleton

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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/
Based on what?

If horses ( 3 mins ) or greyhounds (28 seconds) were to run 3 times in 5 days let alone 90 mins for footballers the welfare issues would be massive. Why should footballers be put through such a rigorous process? Injuries amass then we basically just kick ourselves in the d!ck.

Ole done what any manager with a ounce of sense would do the same thing.
 

OmarUnited4ever

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United, just like every other club, are under no obligation to pick any players other than those chosen by their manager to play. End of story.
This 100%.

Ole is accountable to Manchester United, and this is a league played competitively across 10-11 months, Liverpool fecked up their season with their own hands, not because Manchester United rotated heavily against Leicester, no body cheated or "gamed" the system here, MUFC won't get any favors or quid pro quo from Leicester, the game was contested fairly and Leicester won narrowly 2-1. nothing morally wrong here done by Ole.
 

christinaa

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Cup is totally different, would think that is self explanatory.
It's not so self-explanatory at all.

They had a game which they wanted to win (Super Cup) and fielded a team full of reserves in the game they deemed was less important.

No difference in that.
 

A-man

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If Liverpool, Chelsea and Tottenham didn’t lose to Leicester in the first place they would have been a better position now.
 

Real Name

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It's pretty funny when Chelsea fans talk about it. Not to mention its a hypocrisy at its finest. Its a story just cause Liverpool is affected. When Klopp did the similar nobody bat an eyelid.