FAO Tottenham Hotspur | Fighting Cock Goes Into Meltdown | Glast...gone

Bale Bale Bale

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They're better off out of it aren't they?

Although I'm not sure I like the precedent at all. Do we know if Spurs fought the decision at all or just accepted it because it probably suits them?
We tried to reschedule the game and even offered to play it in France. Rennes said they were washing their hair that day though.
 

Withnail

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We tried to reschedule the game and even offered to play it in France. Rennes said they were washing their hair that day though.
Just reading a bit more. It's seems, along with that, like Uefa didn't really give a feck and wouldn't extend their deadline.

Funnily enough, I imagine they'll take a different approach when it's the latter stages of the CL.
 

Powderfinger

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Was UEFA right to award the win to Rennes? What were Spurs supposed to do? Field a 9 man team?
They could have played the original match but cancelled it unilaterally at the last minute after Rennes had travelled, without getting prior approval from UEFA. That's why Rennes is so pissed. They had eight players Covid positive and UEFA rules are that you have to play if you have 13 players available (including one GK, but all the reporting has indicated that Lloris and Gollini were both available) from their primary squad list, which they obviously had since its a 25 man list and they only had a couple declared non-Covid injuries/suspensions at the time. And they always could have taken players from their B list (U21 players that are submitted separately to UEFA at the beginning of the season) if they needed some for the bench.

In a nutshell, Spurs cancelled the match against UEFA regulations after Rennes had travelled without meaningfully consulting either Rennes or UEFA. They either thought it was advantageous to postpone it and play it later or they decided they didn't want to be in the competition anyway. Whichever the case may be, I can understand why Rennes told them to feck off afterward and also why UEFA is booting them out.
 
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frostbite

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In a nutshell, Spurs cancelled the match against UEFA regulations after Rennes had travelled without meaningfully consulting either Rennes or UEFA.
That's a joke of a club. UEFA should also penalize them for a few million.
 

Red the Bear

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A bit farcical for sure but meh

No ones got hurt rennes gets the without hassle so who cares
 

Bale Bale Bale

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They could have played the original match but cancelled it unilaterally at the last minute after Rennes had travelled, without getting prior approval from UEFA. That's why Rennes is so pissed. They had eight players Covid positive and UEFA rules are that you have to play if you have 13 players available (including one GK, but all the reporting has indicated that Lloris and Gollini were both available) from their primary squad list, which they obviously had since its a 25 man list and they only had a couple declared non-Covid injuries/suspensions at the time. And they always could have taken players from their B list (U21 players that are submitted separately to UEFA at the beginning of the season) if they needed some for the bench.

In a nutshell, Spurs cancelled the match against UEFA regulations after Rennes had travelled without meaningfully consulting either Rennes or UEFA. They either thought it was advantageous to postpone it and play it later or they decided they didn't want to be in the competition anyway. Whichever the case may be, I can understand why Rennes told them to feck off afterward and also why UEFA is booting them out.
A totally objective view of events from the Arsenal fan.
 

FootballHQ

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Is it that different to Orient being expunged from league cup last season? I know Spurs were overwhelming favourites to win that tie but basically the same, Orient couldn't field a team due to covid and didn't get a chance to play fixture at later date.

I think in long run it will do Spurs good. Less games so can have better go at top 4 and you could well get to league cup final and no Man. City this time. With Conte these situations feel more possible than under Nuno so just have to see in three months if going out of conference league was a good thing or not.

We also had to field a youth team in FA cup v Liverpool (at the time with form Liverpool were in that would've been winnable tie for us) and I remember some Spurs fans were demanding we did the same as we were supposed to play Spurs in league 5 days after that fixture. :lol:
 

Bale Bale Bale

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Is it that different to Orient being expunged from league cup last season? I know Spurs were overwhelming favourites to win that tie but basically the same, Orient couldn't field a team due to covid and didn't get a chance to play fixture at later date.

I think in long run it will do Spurs good. Less games so can have better go at top 4 and you could well get to league cup final and no Man. City this time. With Conte these situations feel more possible than under Nuno so just have to see in three months if going out of conference league was a good thing or not.

We also had to field a youth team in FA cup v Liverpool (at the time with form Liverpool were in that would've been winnable tie for us) and I remember some Spurs fans were demanding we did the same as we were supposed to play Spurs in league 5 days after that fixture. :lol:
Yes, it is different.

Spurs were due to play Orient on the 24th, the next round was on the 29th against Chelsea with a league game in the middle on the 27th. When do you propose Spurs to have replayed the game? There were more than two months between the fixture against Rennes and the next round, it could(and still can) easily be fitted in somewhere if Rennes were to cooperate.

In what way is it wrong? You pretty clearly had 13 available players, including a GK, and cancelled the match anyway.
It's pretty clear two weeks after the event, not quite so clear two days before the game in the midst of a significant outbreak where one minute you have players testing negative and the next they're positive. Even the day before the game we had two further players take part in training who were then testing positive in the afternoon, clearly the situation wasn't under control and it would have been incredibly unsafe to send out a team not fully knowing their condition. Sure it was frustrating and inconvenient for Rennes to travel for a game that didn't take place, it would've been even more inconvenient for them to bring the virus home with them however. Spurs had their game away to Burnley cancelled just half an hour beforehand due to snow, was that frustrating for Spurs? Yes. Was it Burnley's fault? No. These things happen. By your logic Spurs are within their right to refuse to replay the game and demand a 3-0 in their favour.

If there's any team here that deserves to be kicked out of the competition, it's Rennes. Spurs aren't the team here refusing to play a game that they are obliged to fulfil. Spurs have tried everything to find a new date to play the game but have been met with a totally uncooperative Rennes, even going as far as offering to reverse the fixture so that it's played in France. Somehow I get the feeling that If the roles were reversed then the totally unbiased and objective Arsenal fan would be calling Spurs out for being arrogant and unaccommodating.
 

FootballHQ

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You could've just played a round later, I mean league cup final didn't take place until late April so would've been time in the season to fit Orient game in at a later date.
 

cyberman

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But spurs had the players to play and didn’t. You can’t decide to ignore the 13 players available or no game wil ever be played just in case other players have it a well
 

Bale Bale Bale

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But spurs had the players to play and didn’t. You can’t decide to ignore the 13 players available or no game wil ever be played just in case other players have it a well
That's fine when you can be confident that those 13 players are ok to play, which would have been the case if the outbreak had happened earlier rather than in the immediate build up to the game. The situation wasn't under control. We had more players going down the day before the game, I don't know what you expect the club to do. Just throw out the last remaining players and hope that they aren't infected?
 

Bale Bale Bale

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You could've just played a round later, I mean league cup final didn't take place until late April so would've been time in the season to fit Orient game in at a later date.
At which point Chelsea are then involved, so you're banking on them cooperating and finding a new date to play that game in an already compacted schedule. If it goes on further then you bring another team into the equation and so on. It's far simpler in the case of Spurs and Rennes as they are the only teams involved given the ample time until the following round of fixtures.

As for the Villa game, I wasn't one of those saying you should be made to play but by putting out a youth side against Liverpool in the Cup it gave others ammunition to say well, if you can do that for Liverpool then why not Spurs as well.
 

Powderfinger

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That's fine when you can be confident that those 13 players are ok to play, which would have been the case if the outbreak had happened earlier rather than in the immediate build up to the game. The situation wasn't under control. We had more players going down the day before the game, I don't know what you expect the club to do. Just throw out the last remaining players and hope that they aren't infected?
That's basically what every club is doing right now in the Premier League. You have some players test positive the day before the match or even the day of the match, but you still play a squad of guys who tested negative, knowing full well that they were in training with the positive guys in the days previous and that its possible one or two of them are actually carrying the virus.

The UEFA regulations were that you had to play the match with 13 healthy players, including a GK. You had more than 13 healthy players including a GK and cancelled anyway. And its not like Spurs appealed to the authorities and Rennes for an exception to the rules, given all the circumstances with respect to the squad and the training ground. You just did it unilaterally without meaningfully consulting either UEFA or Rennes.
 

Bale Bale Bale

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That's basically what every club is doing right now in the Premier League. You have some players test positive the day before the match or even the day of the match, but you still play a squad of guys who tested negative, knowing full well that they were in training with the positive guys in the days previous and that its possible one or two of them are actually carrying the virus.

The UEFA regulations were that you had to play the match with 13 healthy players, including a GK. You had more than 13 healthy players including a GK and cancelled anyway. And its not like Spurs appealed to the authorities and Rennes for an exception to the rules, given all the circumstances with respect to the squad and the training ground. You just did it unilaterally without meaningfully consulting either UEFA or Rennes.
Have a look at the fixture list from the weekend, remind me how many of those games went ahead again?

Those who have managed to go ahead with their games could do so as the extent of their outbreak wasn't as severe, or they had time to get the situation under control - which Spurs did not have in this case.
 
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Powderfinger

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Have a look at the fixture list from the weekend, remind me how many of those games went ahead again?

Those who have managed to go ahead with their games could do so as the extent of their outbreak wasn't as severe, or they had time to get the situation under control - which Spurs did not have in this case.
The Premier League has different rules for cancellation. The point is that nobody is using the argument that you can't play a player unless you are absolutely sure he doesn't have Covid. Because nobody ever can know that. Arsenal had two players test positive for Covid before this weekend's fixture. It's not like they decided that the other players, despite testing negative, shouldn't play because there was a risk that they were infected but just hadn't tested positive yet. The whole approach of the league is premised on the idea that as long as a player tests negative, he is good to play.

Anyway, you are just dancing around the core facts here, which are that UEFA has regulations about when a fixture can be cancelled and Spurs violated those regulations by cancelling the fixture, without consulting UEFA or Rennes.

Spurs are going to lose millions of pounds in prize money and match day revenue due to not being in the knockouts. If they had a real leg to stand on, don't you think they'd be suing UEFA? They're not suing because they know that by the rules they were supposed to play the fixture. If they wanted to get an exception due to reasons X, Y, and Z then they could have called up UEFA and Rennes and asked for one and maybe something would have been worked out. But they didn't.
 

Bale Bale Bale

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The Premier League has different rules for cancellation. The point is that nobody is using the argument that you can't play a player unless you are absolutely sure he doesn't have Covid. Because nobody ever can know that. Arsenal had two players test positive for Covid before this weekend's fixture. It's not like they decided that the other players, despite testing negative, shouldn't play because there was a risk that they were infected but just hadn't tested positive yet. The whole approach of the league is premised on the idea that as long as a player tests negative, he is good to play.

Anyway, you are just dancing around the core facts here, which are that UEFA has regulations about when a fixture can be cancelled and Spurs violated those regulations by cancelling the fixture, without consulting UEFA or Rennes.

Spurs are going to lose millions of pounds in prize money and match day revenue due to not being in the knockouts. If they had a real leg to stand on, don't you think they'd be suing UEFA? They're not suing because they know that by the rules they were supposed to play the fixture. If they wanted to get an exception due to reasons X, Y, and Z then they could have called up UEFA and Rennes and asked for one and maybe something would have been worked out. But they didn't.
But you said all the other Premier League clubs are just getting on with it? Two positives is also a bit different to the situation Spurs found themselves in.

As for Spurs not consulting with Uefa, that's pure speculation.

Antonio Conte has said the club will be taking this further and are confident of getting the decision overturned so we will see on that front, what's clear though is that the club haven't just accepted being kicked out of a competition for having the audacity to catch a potentially deadly virus.
 

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The Premier League has different rules for cancellation. The point is that nobody is using the argument that you can't play a player unless you are absolutely sure he doesn't have Covid. Because nobody ever can know that. Arsenal had two players test positive for Covid before this weekend's fixture. It's not like they decided that the other players, despite testing negative, shouldn't play because there was a risk that they were infected but just hadn't tested positive yet. The whole approach of the league is premised on the idea that as long as a player tests negative, he is good to play.

Anyway, you are just dancing around the core facts here, which are that UEFA has regulations about when a fixture can be cancelled and Spurs violated those regulations by cancelling the fixture, without consulting UEFA or Rennes.

Spurs are going to lose millions of pounds in prize money and match day revenue due to not being in the knockouts. If they had a real leg to stand on, don't you think they'd be suing UEFA? They're not suing because they know that by the rules they were supposed to play the fixture. If they wanted to get an exception due to reasons X, Y, and Z then they could have called up UEFA and Rennes and asked for one and maybe something would have been worked out. But they didn't.
That's not why they forfeited the game. UEFA said that was grand but that Spurs should have kept them informed in writing. There was no mention of consulation that I saw.

My understanding is that when Rennes and Spurs were unable to agree a rescheduled date before the cut-off date, the points went to Rennes as it was Spurs who pulled out.
 

Powderfinger

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That's not why they forfeited the game. UEFA said that was grand but that Spurs should have kept them informed in writing. There was no mention of consulation that I saw.

My understanding is that when Rennes and Spurs were unable to agree a rescheduled date before the cut-off date, the points went to Rennes as it was Spurs who pulled out.
UEFA did not spell out a rationale for the forfeit, other than to refer to their own regulations regarding Covid and match cancellation, which clearly establish that Tottenham should have played the match. The points indeed went to Rennes when no rescheduled date could be found before the cut-off.
 

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UEFA did not spell out a rationale for the forfeit, other than to refer to their own regulations regarding Covid and match cancellation, which clearly establish that Tottenham should have played the match. The points indeed went to Rennes when no rescheduled date could be found before the cut-off.
No, but they didn't immediately forfeit the match because they pulled out or because they didn't keep UEFA informed. UEFA were happy to allow them to reschedule as long as they did so before the cut-off.
 

Oranges038

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All this back and forth over a pointless game in an even more pointless competition that nobody was going to watch anyway, not even Spurs fans.

Spurs and their fans should be happy that they were spared the embarrassment of eventually being knocked out by some shite team like PAOK or Slavia Prague.
 

WeePat

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He's taking a giant shit on the players every week this guy.
 

Bwuk

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How is he? He is being honest. Many of these players are nowhere near good enough and as a squad we are miles off the required quality to compete. He is 100% right.
Spot on.

Spurs had a midfield of Winks, Skipp and Hojberg at one point today ffs.

Kane looks totally done. Reckon if he leaves in the summer it’ll be another Alexis Sanchez.
 

Varun1

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Spot on.

Spurs had a midfield of Winks, Skipp and Hojberg at one point today ffs.

Kane looks totally done. Reckon if he leaves in the summer it’ll be another Alexis Sanchez.
Hopefully we don't go for him then!