16 Dec 2021 22:58:17
Anyone think Newcastle got what they deserved tonight? Players faking injury to get the game stopped when they were under pressure shouldn't be rewarded, no clash of heads, no actual injury, I've got a few bangs on the head in my day and any bang you get that would make you go down like that and need treatment is a bang that you wouldn't be fit to play the rest of a game after receiving it, I think the ref was spot on with this one, might make players think twice before cheating, 2 much of it going on these days.
17 Dec 2021 00:29:13
They definitely did! Think the league need to sort out the rules for postponing games though, maybe 5 1st team players out?
17 Dec 2021 02:15:04
You can only play 14 players in a single game, premier league squads range between 20 and 26 players as far as I know, they are either premier league players or they ain’t in my book, time for them to get on with it they get paid enough, if you have 11 plus 5 on the bench they should be made to fulfill the fixture, just like when we had to play teenagers against salah and co. a team could have 5 or 6 players out injured and they won’t get special treatment so I don’t see the difference tbh
17 Dec 2021 08:09:38
Injuries can't be spread though. Clubs do all they can with testing but it will never be 100% conclusive meaning that a club with multiple cases in the playing and management team are risking other clubs if matches go ahead.
There needs to be clear guidelines on how many players/coaches test positive before a club quarantines itself and suspends matches.
17 Dec 2021 11:38:36
For the ordinary working man, if there’s 10 cases in a factory where a few hundred guys work, the factory does not close down, the sick people stay at home, these footballers have access to any medical needs they may have at the click of a finger. I know the injuries don’t spread but COVID don’t spread if you follow strict guidelines either but footballers think they are above everyone else and rules shouldn’t apply to them, they need to get their act together, get them all vaccinated and stick to the rules. I’m a firefighter and we have had some cases in our station, but we never had more than one case at any one time, we work pretty close to each other when we are on the job but we follow the rules we all got our vaccines and not once has our station being stood down cause of multiple cases, we do this for about 500 quid a week, these guys are earning between 20k and 300k a week but they can’t do the things that us normal folk do even with all the facilities made available to them.
17 Dec 2021 13:15:44
I agree on your point re cheating Whack but I would rather see something done about diving and the persistent offenders like Maddison whose theatrics get worse and worse and nothing seems to be done about it. Re the head injury thing whilst I agree in principle with what you are saying I would be concerned if the ref doesn’t stop play on a potential head injury because if he gets it wrong and doesn’t stop play and you have an injury a la Raul Jimenez or one closer to home when Dion broke his neck in that collision/challenge with Gerald Sibon then the consequences could be really quite serious so personally I would rather the refs play it safe, and as much as anything I think Riley didn’t blow because he likes controversy and also likes to be the story rather than the game.
17 Dec 2021 13:26:02
Whack,agree with everything you said,top football clubs seem to be able to manipulate every situation. The premier league have said 14 fit outfield players and teams should attempt to fulfil the fixture.
If top teams are allowed to dictate whether they play or not, this current situation will run for weeks and then they will belly ache about fixture congestion.
Managers complaining about refs before a game, hoping to influence future decisions, players feigning injury when under pressure and clubs using covid to manipulate things in their favour is spoiing the game as far as far as I am concerned and something needs to be done.
17 Dec 2021 13:33:42
I think there are a couple of problems with what you suggest firstly you can’t mandate people to take the vaccine and an estimate of the number of EFL players who are unvaccinated is as high as 25% apparently.
Secondly it’s the integrity of the league where 3 points can be the difference between the title and relegation, so personally I wouldn’t be too chuffed if Villa got relegated and one of the reasons why that had happened was because one of our competitors were given the opportunity to play against the second string of another PL side and secured the win that kept them up and sent us down.
I do think however procedures need to be agreed on what to do now and I think the fairest thing would be to close the league down for a couple of weeks to allow things to settle down a little.
17 Dec 2021 13:46:09
Whack, the factory workers in close proximity go home. Which of the 25 players don't come into close contact with each other during training?
Football clubs don't have medical teams that can magically do what no other doctor in the world can do right now and eradicate covid.
You're saying football is being put above other people but what you're actually saying is they should be forced to carry on when everyone else is being told to isolate under the same conditions.
17 Dec 2021 13:49:07
Also, you go on about flouting the rules but people catch covid even when being cautious.
Footballers have families who could pass it into them so it's unfair to say it is spreading because of them not following guidelines.
17 Dec 2021 16:28:54
They are training outdoors mate, if there is a positive case just test them all and send home for the day, test results will be available the following morning so anyone that don’t have covid can come in and train, it’s not that hard, and I’m sure that most top flight teams have access to quicker results than the rest of us. no team has positive cases in double numbers so they should be made to field a team from a squad of 25.
And yes they all have families like us all, they get huge amounts of money every week they have the means to be extra careful and should be able to keep their family safe at the same time, the pods and bubbles worked last time there is no reason they shouldn’t be working this time.
17 Dec 2021 16:44:15
I hear what your saying lord but teams are missing multiple first team players every season that’s why we have squads of around 25, the top 3 or 4 teams can field 2 teams of top players any week such is their squad depth, I just think this COVID is being used by some clubs as an excuse so they can get players back from injury and that’s not exactly fair either as every club has to deal with injuries every season, we played a bunch of games last year while missing jack, Bert, Trez, sanson, and it scuppered our season, I think we had a couple of guys missing a game or 2 here and there aswel and we had to suck it up, I think unless teams have over 10 players infected they should be playing their games, a squad is a squad, if they ain’t good enough they shouldn’t be in it in my book.
fifa and uefa need to stop all the international and European games and give the domestic leagues a chance to stay going.
17 Dec 2021 17:28:54
I see what you're saying whack but there are still issues with that argument.
It doesn't matter that they are outdoors, they are in regular physical contact with sweat, saliva and heavy breathing.
While they get test results within 4 hours I think there is the issue of supporters having already made plans and started travelling by the time the results of that day's testing are received. 1 or 2 people at a club being positive is low risk but if there are 4 or 5 of the main squad and coaches who are positive then there is a high risk several more are in the incubation period. It isn't fair on the majority to cancel a match on the day for foreseeable reasons so it only makes sense to have a predetermined number of cases where action is taken.
Having a written rule also stops all the issues we're having where some clubs are getting postponements while others aren't when they think they are in a similar position.
17 Dec 2021 17:53:06
So Whack I understand what you are saying but some clubs are declaring 5 or more players-unavailable due to Co vid. I agree that losing 1 or 2 to injury is part and parcel of a Premiership season but to lose 5 to COVID plus the other injuries a club has to face as part of a normal run of the mill season strikes me as a little extreme. The question I would ask is would you want to play City,Utd, or Liverpool if we had lost Martinez, McGinn, Konsa Watkins and Cash to Co vid bearing in mind we are already without Traore, Trezeguet, Bailey and Nakamba? I don’t really want to play those teams when I have a full squad so I certainly don’t want to play them if I potentially had 9 players unavailable. The thought of Steer in goal against any of the above gives me nightmares at the mere thought of it.
17 Dec 2021 23:02:36
If the 9 of them were injured we would have no choice but to play other players, I know it would be unusual but still it could possibly happen and there’s nothing in place to save a team if it does happen.
on the other hand if any of those top teams were missing 9 first team players all the lower teams would be only to happy to play them.
18 Dec 2021 12:49:00
I get what you are saying but even if the league want to continue if the numbers continue to rise as they are I don’t think the government will allow things to continue and they will take the decision out of everyone’s hands.