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  1. #286
    Astonishing Member FluffySheep's Avatar
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    Yeah I've no idea how he managed to avoid some sort of ban after that. Keepers clash with players a lot but he tackled him with his legs at knee height! Could've easily snapped his leg in half.
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  2. #287
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    Quote Originally Posted by FluffySheep View Post
    Yeah I've no idea how he managed to avoid some sort of ban after that. Keepers clash with players a lot but he tackled him with his legs at knee height! Could've easily snapped his leg in half.
    I feel for Pickford because the 'abuse' he is getting goes too far, but, he needs to think more carefully. He is a very rash keeper.

    Saying that, I'm really intrigued to see how the top four will shape up this season. I can't see Everton maintaining their form.

  3. #288
    Astonishing Member FluffySheep's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by DebkoX View Post
    I feel for Pickford because the 'abuse' he is getting goes too far, but, he needs to think more carefully. He is a very rash keeper.

    Saying that, I'm really intrigued to see how the top four will shape up this season. I can't see Everton maintaining their form.
    Yeah he does get a lot of grief. Everton will need a much more reliable and stable keeper if they want to push on though. I agree in that Everton won't keep it up. Top 8 finish is a strong possibility for them though.
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  4. #289
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    Quote Originally Posted by FluffySheep View Post
    Yeah he does get a lot of grief. Everton will need a much more reliable and stable keeper if they want to push on though. I agree in that Everton won't keep it up. Top 8 finish is a strong possibility for them though.
    Romero would have made the difference.

    I am not looking forward to Spurs vs...LASK?

    Would be good to see Bale start, mind.

  5. #290
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    Manchester United (The team that didn't get any of the players the manager wanted in the transfer window) faced off against Chelsea (The team that signed all the players the manager wanted in the transfer window) ...and they played to a boring 0 and 0 draw, the highlights aren't even worth posting.

    How did Manchester United go from a starting 11 that consisted of players like Roy Keane, Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs, to Fred, McTominay & Daniel James? This is the club that once upon the time went out and bought the best young talent in the world, now they won't spend to get either Erling Haaland or Jadon Sancho.

    The Glazer's have turned United into an indebted farmer's club, the lack of creativity is depressing, I mind as well be watching Newcastle or Brighton play.

  6. #291
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    I'm noticing in the British press there is a lot of resistance to the idea of a European Premier League, citing that rich Americans are trying to take over the sport and the culture. As a hockey fan I can relate to having Americans dominate everything, but a European Premier League would be far better than the current English Premier League.

    European football is currently the only major league sport whereby the best players in the world are separated into different leagues, and it makes no sense. There is no guarantee that Manchester United will play Juventus in the Champions League every year, but what if you could be guaranteed that Ronaldo would come to Old Trafford every year.

    In short, would you rather see the top players from Burnley and Sheffield United, or would you rather have Messi, Ronaldo, Mbappe, Neymar, Lewandowski, and Muller come to your stadium to regularly play.

    I admit as a Canadian I am somewhat divorced from the fan culture, I don't go to the pub and sing songs, but I played soccer, I love the game, and I simply want to see the best product on the field.

    You could replace the current Premier league of teams like Burnley, West Ham, West Brom & Brighton, with teams like Real Madrid, Barcelona, Bayern Munich, Juventus. It is a no brainer.

    There would have to be one major stipulation, they would have to have relegation. If your an English team like Tottenham and your relegated, than you could allow a team like Manchester United could come in once they have better owners and can remain constistently competitive.

    Anyways a boring week in football, but Aston Villa & Leeds had an entertaining game. Jack Grealish is a gem of a player, and Leeds looks really good, but boy do they run the pitch double time.


  7. #292
    Astonishing Member JackDaw's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by The no face guy View Post
    I'm noticing in the British press there is a lot of resistance to the idea of a European Premier League, citing that rich Americans are trying to take over the sport and the culture. As a hockey fan I can relate to having Americans dominate everything, but a European Premier League would be far better than the current English Premier League.

    It’s not just the press that are against the idea. The large majority of fans (certainly those that turn up to attend games as opposed to watch on tv) are against the idea.

    I think you’ve sort of mentioned one of the main reasons yourself..most of the ideas mooted to bring about a “super league” protect a handful of top teams from ever being relegated...so the likes of Man U, Liverpool, Arsenal would never be relegated and would play the likes of Real Madrid, Barcelona, Juventus year after year.

    Most fans see that as a circus rather than a sporting meritocracy, and think eventually the magic would fade. Even the big team supporters feel a special thrill when their team plays Juventus now, partly (at least) because it happens rarely rather than year after year.

    Take away relegation and promotion and you take away the dreams of all the people that support all the clubs outside the English big six...which include clubs with big support bases (Newcastle, Sunderland, Aston Villa, Middlesbrough, etc) and others with fantastic history (Derby County, Nottingham Forest, etc)

  8. #293
    Astonishing Member JackDaw's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by DebkoX View Post
    I feel for Pickford because the 'abuse' he is getting goes too far, but, he needs to think more carefully. He is a very rash keeper.

    Saying that, I'm really intrigued to see how the top four will shape up this season. I can't see Everton maintaining their form.
    I actually think they are a 50/50 shot for top 4...would be surprised if they made a serious push for the title.

    They have one of the top managers in the world, a solid defence, and an incredibly hard working midfield.

  9. #294
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    Quote Originally Posted by JackDaw View Post
    ItÂ’s not just the press that are against the idea. The large majority of fans (certainly those that turn up to attend games as opposed to watch on tv) are against the idea.

    I think you’ve sort of mentioned one of the main reasons yourself..most of the ideas mooted to bring about a “super league” protect a handful of top teams from ever being relegated...so the likes of Man U, Liverpool, Arsenal would never be relegated and would play the likes of Real Madrid, Barcelona, Juventus year after year.

    Most fans see that as a circus rather than a sporting meritocracy, and think eventually the magic would fade. Even the big team supporters feel a special thrill when their team plays Juventus now, partly (at least) because it happens rarely rather than year after year.

    Take away relegation and promotion and you take away the dreams of all the people that support all the clubs outside the English big six...which include clubs with big support bases (Newcastle, Sunderland, Aston Villa, Middlesbrough, etc) and others with fantastic history (Derby County, Nottingham Forest, etc)
    I understand your argument, but realistically mid table clubs rarely ever make the top four let alone win the league. Hell will freeze over before Crystal Palace or Burnley are in the top 4, in short, the premier league is selling a false dream.

    If I live in Manchester or London, as a ticket season holder, I would want to pay to see the best players in the world compete. I would rather see Chelsea vs Paris St. Germain and have Mbappe and Neymar role into town every year than Brighton. There is just too much filler in Premier League.

    I agree regulation would have to be a guaranteed stipulation. The English Premier League would still exist, the top team could get in every year and the bottom English team would be relegated, there is no way I'm letting the Glazer's form a league where they can put out a crap team every year without the fear of being relegated.

    To me it's about putting the best product out on the field, and you can't do that when you have the world's top players are divided between 5 different leagues.

  10. #295
    Astonishing Member JackDaw's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by The no face guy View Post
    I understand your argument, but realistically mid table clubs rarely ever make the top four let alone win the league. Hell will freeze over before Crystal Palace or Burnley are in the top 4, in short, the premier league is selling a false dream.

    If I live in Manchester or London, as a ticket season holder, I would want to pay to see the best players in the world compete. I would rather see Chelsea vs Paris St. Germain and have Mbappe and Neymar role into town every year than Brighton. There is just too much filler in Premier League.

    I agree regulation would have to be a guaranteed stipulation. The English Premier League would still exist, the top team could get in every year and the bottom English team would be relegated, there is no way I'm letting the Glazer's I’ve form a league where they can put out a crap team every year without the fear of being relegated.

    To me it's about putting the best product out on the field, and you can't do that when you have the world's top players are divided between 5 different leagues.
    I’ve yet to see any serious proposal to form an European super league that actually featured promotion and relegation, and applied the same rules to the likes of Manchester United and Liverpool as to teams like Leicester and Burnley...

    Let’s not forget 2 salient points.

    The first is that the Premier League is a massive success as it is...there’s no obvious reason why it needs “fixing”.

    And it’s not that long since Leicester actually won the Premiership.

  11. #296
    Astonishing Member FluffySheep's Avatar
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    The super league is all about money, and football shouldn't be about the money. That's the way it's gone unfortunately but it should be about the fans, the entertainment, celebrating a win and being sad about a loss. You need the lows to appreciate the highs. For example, I watched my local team Stafford Rangers beat Hereford FC in the FA Cup qualifiers last week. That was an upset as Hereford are in the league above. The atmosphere and the feeling of winning that game was amazing, and it lasted for days. Then yesterday, I watched Stafford Rangers play Skelmersdale in the next round of the FA cup, who are 2 leagues below Stafford Rangers, playing for a place in the first round proper of the FA Cup and the chance to play against much bigger teams. Plenty of stakes in the game, and Skelmersdale won 4-1. At the game it was shock, anger, disappointment etc. So from the high of beating Hereford, we then had a low of losing to Skelmersdale. That's what football is all about.

    The super league will take a lot of that away, because if Liverpool lose 1-0 to Bayern Munich, it's not that big of a shock, likewise if Liverpool beat Bayern Munich 1-0. However, if Liverpool lose 1-0 to West Brom, it creates more excitement and buzz because it's an upset. Like Villa beating Liverpool 7-2 the other week. That's the sort of shock and unpredictability we need in football.

    Saying that, leagues such as the Bundesliga might actually benefit from Bayern Munich joining a super league, because it'll make the Bundesliga more competitive and more enjoyable.
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  12. #297
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    Well the funny thing about Leicester is that their owners are actually worth more than Manchester United's and Liverpool's, so to are Aston Villa and the Wolves, so if the midlands wants a few top 6 super teams, the funding is there, if the owners decide to take a serious interest.

    https://www.businessinsider.com/the-...124-billion-11

    Relegation would have to be a mandatory part of the deal, I think it's the only way a European Premier League would get enough support for approval. Manchester United is an indebted crumbling empire, you can only land 5th place consistently for so many years before your no longer the biggest club in England.

    I do agree the premier league is becoming more better, but it's largely because of the influx of talented foreign players, and billionaire owners, now imagine taking that up a step to a European Premier League.

    I sympathize with the local fan who wants to see West Brom beat Liverpool on an off day, but money took over sports the day players started signing multi million dollar contracts, and if it's going to go that way, I want to see the best product on the field as possible, which means the best players playing against each other regularly in the same league.

  13. #298
    Astonishing Member JackDaw's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by The no face guy View Post
    Well the funny thing about Leicester is that their owners are actually worth more than Manchester United's and Liverpool's, so to are Aston Villa and the Wolves, so if the midlands wants a few top 6 super teams, the funding is there, if the owners decide to take a serious interest.

    https://www.businessinsider.com/the-...124-billion-11

    Relegation would have to be a mandatory part of the deal, I think it's the only way a European Premier League would get enough support for approval. Manchester United is an indebted crumbling empire, you can only land 5th place consistently for so many years before your no longer the biggest club in England.

    I do agree the premier league is becoming more better, but it's largely because of the influx of talented foreign players, and billionaire owners, now imagine taking that up a step to a European Premier League.

    I sympathize with the local fan who wants to see West Brom beat Liverpool on an off day, but money took over sports the day players started signing multi million dollar contracts, and if it's going to go that way, I want to see the best product on the field as possible, which means the best players playing against each other regularly in the same league.
    Remember I was putting forward primarily the view of fans who actually turn up to attend live premier League games. I’d actually guess that 90 percent of those don’t want a European super league...certainly the large majority don’t.

    But...put brutally...those guys don’t have much say in the future of the sport. Once TV proceeds, world wide shirt deals, etc pay far more than gate receipts the influence of the “live” fans grows less and less. That rubicon was crossed in football long ago, probably more than 20 years ago.

    When I was a kid the old first division (the ancestor of the Premier League) was built around the loyalty and money paid by the live audience. Every team played on Saturday at 3pm, so fans could have a drink before the game, watch the game, and travel back home at a reasonable time.

    Now teams kick off at different times, different days, often at times that are really difficult for the live audience...because most of the money poured into the game comes from tv, and the big tv companies call the shots.

    Will the game lose its spirit if those big live gates dwindle away? Deep down I believe it will...and perversely then the game will become a poorer tv proposition.

    This season...where games are being played out with no fans at the grounds (due to CORVID regs, of course) might be a precursor of the future.

  14. #299
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    Quote Originally Posted by JackDaw View Post
    Remember I was putting forward primarily the view of fans who actually turn up to attend live premier League games. I’d actually guess that 90 percent of those don’t want a European super league...certainly the large majority don’t.

    But...put brutally...those guys don’t have much say in the future of the sport. Once TV proceeds, world wide shirt deals, etc pay far more than gate receipts the influence of the “live” fans grows less and less. That rubicon was crossed in football long ago, probably more than 20 years ago.

    When I was a kid the old first division (the ancestor of the Premier League) was built around the loyalty and money paid by the live audience. Every team played on Saturday at 3pm, so fans could have a drink before the game, watch the game, and travel back home at a reasonable time.

    Now teams kick off at different times, different days, often at times that are really difficult for the live audience...because most of the money poured into the game comes from tv, and the big tv companies call the shots.

    Will the game lose its spirit if those big live gates dwindle away? Deep down I believe it will...and perversely then the game will become a poorer tv proposition.

    This season...where games are being played out with no fans at the grounds (due to CORVID regs, of course) might be a precursor of the future.
    I hear what your saying but ticket prices for some teams have become so expensive, that the working man can only afford to go to a few games per year unless they have season tickets, but...

    Upon reflection, I think the majority of the fans in the big 6 clubs would be in favour of the idea, simply because they would be seeing a better product on the field.

    Once of the reasons the European football is a lower scoring game is because only a few teams in the league have the ability to afford the expensive forwards, so teams like Crystal Palace & Sheffield United are forced to sit back & play the defensive trap, hoping to catch teams on the break.

    If you had the 20 best teams in the world all playing together regularly you would have more shootouts and exciting games because the majority of the teams would have offensive talent pushing up the field. Manchester City vs Real Madrid & Barcelona regularly is more exciting than Manchester City versus Crystal Palace & Sheffield United.

    Speaking of defensive minded teams, I still think Leicester will break the top 4 if Jamie Vardy stays healthy.


  15. #300
    Astonishing Member JackDaw's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by The no face guy View Post
    I hear what your saying but ticket prices for some teams have become so expensive, that the working man can only afford to go to a few games per year unless they have season tickets, but...

    Upon reflection, I think the majority of the fans in the big 6 clubs would be in favour of the idea, simply because they would be seeing a better product on the field.

    Once of the reasons the European football is a lower scoring game is because only a few teams in the league have the ability to afford the expensive forwards, so teams like Crystal Palace & Sheffield United are forced to sit back & play the defensive trap, hoping to catch teams on the break.

    If you had the 20 best teams in the world all playing together regularly you would have more shootouts and exciting games because the majority of the teams would have offensive talent pushing up the field. Manchester City vs Real Madrid & Barcelona regularly is more exciting than Manchester City versus Crystal Palace & Sheffield United.
    A lot depends on what you value the most. Of course, it’s hard (impossibe, really) to disagree with you that skills displayed would go up.

    But it would..I think..complete the process of severing the link between local communities and the teams...the dinosaur idea that fans of my generation adhere to..that you support your local team however crap they happen to be.

    Incidentally I think a European super league would be incredibly hard to bring about IF relegation and promotion was included. The 4 strongest leagues are the Spanish, the German, the Italian, and the English. Imagine you created the 20 team super league by taking the 3 top teams from each of those, and added 8 others from the remaining European leagues...

    The problems would start immediately. First the German League would fight tooth and nail to retain their three top teams, as would the other countries leagues.

    Second imagine League was formed in 2025, and in proceeding season Man City, Everton, and Leicester had finished 1, 2, 3...how do you think Man U, Liverpool, and Arsenal would react to being excluded?

    Then at end of season how do you decide which would replace the relegated teams? You can’t say “top team in next league down”...because each European country would still have its own separate national league.

    There would be a plethora of practical problems. And there’s no overwhelming reason to tackle those...well because a ton of money is being generated now.

    I agree with you about Leicester.
    Last edited by JackDaw; 10-26-2020 at 10:29 AM.

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