Match Day Thread Premier League, Cups & Euro Watch

It'll be fine.

 

Mbappe

 

AFCON is where we lost the title

 

Jones could go wide left.
Gordan get a chance?

Jimmy Milner could go there, back to his old school winger days maybe.

 

It's understandable that African nations don't want to be dictated to due to the considerations of European club scheduling - there's probably a political undercurrent to that as much as anything.
However, money talks so I can see it being changed at some point in the not-too-distant future with a few judicious "compensatory" payments.

 

It was meant to be moved to the summer but I think it got delayed due to covid?

edit: moved due to unfavourable conditions as per below post.

 

The 2021 Africa Cup of Nations will start on 9 January after its dates were moved, hosts Cameroon have announced.
The tournament was scheduled to take place in June and July but was changed because of the "unfavourable" weather in the country at that time of year.
It means a number of Premier League clubs could be without first-team players at a crucial stage of the season.
The 2019 tournament in Egypt was the first one to be held in the summer.

https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/51119002.amp

 

It's the rainy season in Cameroon in the summer, so would be unplayable, that's why it was moved.

 

Meh - it's always the rainy season in northern Europe. Wimps.

 

Thr report I read earlier said up to six games. I assume it's six PL games and eight in all competitions?

They can't all be missing for 6/8 games though (bar injury). With them each being from a different nation, at least of them will have been eliminated by the final

 

I'm not sure where leaving on Boxing Day has come from. The rules of the competition say that players must leave "by the Monday of the week before the competition" which means our players could leave on 3 January and get there the Monday before their first games kick off. As for the return date, that will depend how far each country gets. The final is on 6 February and I don't think quarantine comes into the equation so where does late February come from?

 

Let's hope Keita goes all the way

 

Prob be Keita we get back early

 

FFS

 

Monaco and Lyon have both agreed to play their February Ligue 1 fixture in China.

LFP will now ask FIFA permission to play the game abroad.
(L'Equipe)

FFS

 

Only a matter of time before it happened. Other sports do it, see the NFL for example.

 

Yet again, complete ignorance to the entire reason the sports exists and money being in it.... fans!

 

I'm sure he does.

 

The Monaco and Lyon fans should boycott their next game back in France. If the pandemic showed us anything it was that football without fans is nothing. The future of the game is in the hands of the fans. Use that power. It's the only way to change the way the game is heading but incredibly hard to implement mass boycotts or anything similar.

There's a move atm by some Liverpool fan groups to boycott the Newcastle game. That would be more about protesting than having any lasting effect but it would be a strong statement.

 

Their fans should tell them to not come back and seize their assets to form new clubs.