How much time do you have?
Bawita-Bobby!
Wow, what a match!
LIV’s league to lose now.
Spurs gonna Spur
Let’s throw in the EFL Cup and FA Cup discussion here.
So, Extra Manchester Derby!
And a Special Edition of a London Derby, Spurs hosting Brentford, currently 4th in EFL Championship behind EPL irregulars NWC, BOU, and SWA.
Recall Brentford’s embrace of “soccernomics” (not Moneyball!!, but, it is) in this article:
Seems like a good second team to root for. And give them a chance at Europa if they win this Cup. (Knocking off, currently, … Southampton.)
Haven’t watched today yet. On a long day-trip.
Even if Brentford is a Cinderella team, I will be rooting for Spurs. Would like to see them finish better than third for a change…
WHU-BHA 69th minute goal should have been determined from a handball, and not counted.
The Law, as written, my bolding
Handling the ball
For the purposes of determining handball offences, the upper boundary of
the arm is in line with the bottom of the armpit.
It is an offence if a player:
• deliberately touches the ball with their hand/arm, including moving the
hand/arm towards the ball
• scores in the opponents’ goal directly from their hand/arm, even if
accidental, including by the goalkeeper
• after the ball has touched their or a team-mate’s hand/arm, even if
accidental, immediately:
• scores in the opponents’ goal
• creates a goal-scoring opportunity
So, the Referee was wrong, and the talking heads who said that last year’s interpretation would have resulted in no-goal (true) but this year that’s been changed, were wrong as well. The interpretation has not changed, as far as I know.
the specific changes to this section are:
a) defining the part of the arm that is the hand.
b) adding the “teammates’ hand/arm” (then scoring).
c) adding “even if accidental”
d) changing language to “immediately” instead of wording that could be interpreted as “eventually” or “during the course of a team’s possession.”
We’ll see what happens to this referee. Probably gets assigned some unimportant FA Cup match instead of one of the big ones.
That’s Page 104 in the whole text, and Page 160 in the “what exactly has been changed” section.
One of the awesome weeks in sports: matches on nine of ten days. And not pushing most to Peacock.
EVE-MCI today postponed for COVID. It starts…
So many postponed matches, and two teams have two matches to make up. One solution would be to push back the final week back, shove these in there. Or, make them up in that last midweek: play Saturday, Tuesday, Thursday, then on the final Sunday.
And, the two teams making the EFL Cup Final will have their matches on April 25 weekend pushed around. If one of them is MCI, that would make three matches postponed.
This really hurt in the EPL Fantasy since I have DeBruyne and Calvert-Lewin AND both my Chelsea defenders were not dressed today so 4 non-starters.
Funny thing about the table is that Aston Villa is currently tied on points with Man City, Chelsea and Spurs but is listed on top due to Goal Differential! Despite the games not all quite being the same (AV/MC at 14, Spurs 15, Chelsea 16), having a +14 with Man City last at +9 is crazy. A +14 with 4 losses is also nuts. They have 4 3-0 wins to go with a 7-2.
AV keeper Martinez has most clean sheets this season so far. What’s crazy is Ederson is one clean sheet behind him.
LIV lose to SOU. Pretty exciting 1-0 match. I was thoroughly expecting a last-second goal by Mane or Salah to get a point.
We now officially have a season!! Top 10 are 7 points difference. SHU, almost making Europa League last year before losing their last three matches, are heading back down. WBA look that way, too, while the final spot has FUL with two games in-hand three points down from BHA.
Still not halfway through.
Might be able to squeeze in some matches during “FA Cup season.”
This midweek is EFL Cup semi’s. Next Weekend is FA Cup. Then, there are EPL matches every day, from 1/12/21 to 1/21/21 (32 matches total). Then, another FA Cup weekend.
Still have 4 matches unscheduled.
1/17: #1 vs #2.
If by exciting, you mean very few shots on goal, ok. Not very interesting to watch. As a big fan, I wasn’t feeling they were going to get that late goal today…maybe briefly for the last corner when Allison came into box. Didn’t like Hendo in back, rather have Williams or Phillips and Jordan in MF. Tough without VVD and Matip but wish Klopp would just push on a youngster to grow quickly. Thiago just doesn’t have it yet. It will dogfight until end.
I hope Brighton stays up. I like the spread of team around the country instead of another London team.
Looking at 538, that paragon of predictive prognostication, they say MCI is projected to win the league, by NINE points!
They will get 54 more points, 2.35 per match, while LIV will get only 41 more points, 1.95 per match.
I’ll keep this here, post the date 1/5/2021. Sure, it’s possible, but there seems to be a flaw in their model, relying too much on pre-season expectations so late in the year.
Looking at predictions on 9/9, MCI projected to win season by 8 points.
I’d like to see how MCI is now better than their pre-season projection.
The second half of year could be tough on Man City with more games, especially if COVID impacts games and creates more compressed weeks, increasing risk of injuries. Liverpool needs a D pick up in transfer window.
538 is not accounting for that. MCI’s (and LIV and CHE) will have tougher UCL matches requiring full first teams, while MUN could get by playing a few more second-stringers in their Euro league matches.
MCI need to lose this weekend in the FA Cup. The EFL Cup midweek match, too, as that is scheduled for Sunday April 25, a normal EPL weekend.
Also, Everton. That way their tie can be scheduled during the next round’s FA Cup.
Sadly, MCI have not learned to toss away these domestic tournaments in order to win the league.
Spurs through to the League Cup final against a club from Manchester. Trophy drought could end!
Hate to go all political, but what will Spanish-speaking people (all of them) do about their word for “black”? Gotta change it!!
The professor added that English native speakers unfamiliar with South American culture would be likely to take offence to the words used.
The FA submitted that a “follower of English Premier League football would have understandably concluded that the words used were racially offensive.”
Cavani was supported by a video statement provided to the Commission by Pablo Fernandez, who stated that his life-long nickname was “negrito” and that he took no offence at all to the posted message.
Yes, we need to take into account ignorant people who don’t understand the context of messages and find offense first.
Love the FA Cup competition:
LIV-MUN on Peacock Only. Checking the schedule… nope nothing important on NBCSN when the match is on.