The Premier League Thread

Setting up a defensive wall, for free kicks, could be challenging, even if social distancing is reduced to 1 metre.
Maybe they will be able to use the dummies from the training ground.

 

Oh **** off

Honestly, I knew they were desperate but shorter games and the majority meaning absolutely nothing is far more bonkers than I thought they'd go. Absolute ****ing lunatics.


#integrityoftheleague

 

#Borednow

 

Complete and utter joke.

 

Forget reduced time, the thing that would help social distancing more is reduced players


For safety reasons therefore, teams should be forced to field only a 5 a side team, but still on the full pitch.



(This of course begs the question, who would your Saints 5 a side team be?)

 

Hang on though.... ...given the number of late goals we concede this could really help our push for a Euro spot!!

 

And Liverpool score a lot of late goals, maybe the won't win the league now haha

 

Maybe each game should be a straight penalty shootout, with one outfield player and one keeper from each team. No need for most of the 300-odd people who have to be at every game. 4 players plus a ref. 5 attempts each.

For Saints I nominate JWP to take ours (unless Rickie or MLT can be persuaded to come out of retirement). We should obviously also bring back the keeper who has the second-best ever rate of saving penalties in the Premier League, a certain Fraser Forster.

 

After exhausting every imaginable option, Premier League bosses are considering playing remaining fixtures under the actual sea with clubs recruiting dolphins and other marine life as players to avoid the spread of coronavirus. The season must end, one way or another.

 

I'd watch it.

 

Villa objecting is no surprise, easier coming out with some lame excuses after Brighton and West Ham have.

It could "cost" them £200m? Their odds of staying up are very similar to when they - as essentially newcomers - started the season.

They wont have a home advantage if neutral grounds are used? "Any Villa fan would agree that giving up that advantage is a massive decision"
Did they get the memo that in any situation - if the league re-starts - there will be no fans?

I wonder how all this will effect the relationship between the PL and the Football League, who still want to promote and relegate? Leeds, West Brom etc could be raided for players.

 

Saints not playing at St Marys would obviously be to our benefit!

I am sorry but there are too many considerations to make with re-starting the season which compromise both safety of all involved and the fairness of the proposals. Let's keep it fair to everyone and abandon the season. I cannot see the point of re-starting the season. Football needs to remember that it is about entertainment and therefore playing the game behind closed doors when a lot of fans might not have access to a digital TV service to watch the match and cannot go to pubs seems absolutely ridiculous.

 

Nail on the head Ian. Football has always been an escape for me - something to share a common interest (not606 forum) with others, something to moan about, something to cheer about, something to look forward to. Behind closed doors, shorter halves, having to watch it on TV only, players not fit, no relegation or promotion and the country on it's knees will not be entertaining.

 

According to this fans could be back in stadiums in October.

https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/football-fans-could-attend-matches-21986944

 

Seems a tad optimistic to me.

 

I can understand why clubs want to get the games started, because the risks of some falling into bankruptcy are very real, if television money has to be paid back.
What we genuinely need, but don’t have, is a government that will be the voice of reason, who will play devil’s advocate to the Premier League and put forward the strongest possible case for protecting the club players, staff and, by extension, their families from becoming ill, and potentially dying, rather than a government that is looking for another distraction.
I think that they see this as being it. They want people to stop reading the front pages, of their newspapers, and start reading the back pages again.
The Bundesliga is restarting. Watch, look and learn and then consider if it is right to restart.
Don’t forget that early testing of Bundesliga clubs discovered 10 positive covid-19 sufferers, so even in a country that has handled the pandemic well, the risks are still there.

 

What it has ultimately proved is how unsustainable the game is at the top with all the TV money paying wages. A situation like this was always going to crop up one day.

I think it also shows how vital football is to the business plan of Sky as well. Of the 3 leagues that are determined to return I believe they are the major broadcaster of each which says it all imo.