Premier League 2023/24

[Kyle]

7 minutes ago, Adam said:

A draw will as good as do it now thanks to goal difference. Which I'll take with Chermiti starting up front!

I do not underestimate our ability to lose 20-0.

[DavidMarrio]

No arguments about the result

But Anthony Taylor is shite. Didn't blow a foul on Areola. He rolls the ball out, Gakpo runs a fair distance and gets it. Claims he was playing advantage so Gakpo has to go back. Areola picks it up and rolls it again. 

Like....not to go on but the refs really are crap

[Adam]

Premier League can't get rid of us that easily!

[Colly]

15 hours ago, DavidMarrio said:

No arguments about the result

But Anthony Taylor is shite. Didn't blow a foul on Areola. He rolls the ball out, Gakpo runs a fair distance and gets it. Claims he was playing advantage so Gakpo has to go back. Areola picks it up and rolls it again. 

Like....not to go on but the refs really are crap

It looked a bit awkward but I don't think it was anywhere near as bad as that Arsenal v Bayern thing. He does point for advantage but doesn't seem to see Areola had collided with the post, from a Laws of the Game perspective it's fine for him to blow up to stop for the injury. From a pure sportsmanship perspective it would have been ludicrous to allow a goal if Gakpo puts it in. Messy but just one of those things, injuries and drop balls are a complete disaster these days.

[Adam]

Is this penalty for Rice literally kicking a player between the legs the best example yet of a referee waving play on because they know VAR can bail them out?

I'm so fed up of what the technology has made the game at the top level. And that's before we mention yet another inches-worth offside call from VAR earlier in the game.

[DavidMarrio]

1 hour ago, Adam said:

Is this penalty for Rice literally kicking a player between the legs the best example yet of a referee waving play on because they know VAR can bail them out?

I'm so fed up of what the technology has made the game at the top level. And that's before we mention yet another inches-worth offside call from VAR earlier in the game.

I wouldn't give Oliver the benefit of the doubt over that. That was awful, it was right in front of him

[Jimmy]

2 hours ago, DavidMarrio said:

I wouldn't give Oliver the benefit of the doubt over that. That was awful, it was right in front of him

He was fucking awful today. Glad to see they've completely abandoned the time-wasting initiative. 

That said, can't concede the goals we did and complain too much. But like that's gonna stop me. 

 

[DavidMarrio]

 

1 hour ago, Jimmy said:

He was fucking awful today. Glad to see they've completely abandoned the time-wasting initiative. 

That said, can't concede the goals we did and complain too much. But like that's gonna stop me. 

 

Oh one hand it was like, he's letting a lot of potential yellow card tackles go here which is good in a sense for a derby but on the other did think he was poor. 

It was interesting to watch. Arsenal capitalised on two set pieces and a counter it was ruthless efficiency. Thought Tottenham played well, you can see that's a team who can develop further. Just the final end ball was poor at times, started to feel very deja vu the amount of times a ball was whipped in straight to Raya

[Jimmy]

8 minutes ago, DavidMarrio said:

 

Oh one hand it was like, he's letting a lot of potential yellow card tackles go here which is good in a sense for a derby but on the other did think he was poor. 

It was interesting to watch. Arsenal capitalised on two set pieces and a counter it was ruthless efficiency. Thought Tottenham played well, you can see that's a team who can develop further. Just the final end ball was poor at times, started to feel very deja vu the amount of times a ball was whipped in straight to Raya

He was shocking, let Arsenal time-waste with repercussion or sufficient added on time. He was desperate not to get involved in anything in order not to "ruin the game". The fact he had a good view of that incident and thought it wasn't a penalty sums him up. Did similar earlier in the season when he didn't send off Kovacic against Arsenal for the most blatant yellow card fouls you've ever seen. 

I thought we were fine. I think the VAR offside is harsh as I just don't trust they have the tech to get that right. I thought Arsenal exploited our weaknesses in the first half, and as I said, you can't be too upset when we shoot ourselves in  the foot and concede two corners and leave Ben Davies 1 v 1 with Saka. 

Hopefully we continue to recruit well, back Ange and learn from this consistent season which has been infinitely better than everything in the past 5 years bar a few good months under Conte. 

[stokeriño]

Knew it was coming, but I love this man.

The average age of Chelsea's line-up against Villa was 24.9. Remove Silva and that falls to 23.1, so it would take nearly two years of those other 10 players just aging up to get the average back. 😅

[Bobfoc]

The wage cap idea has been agreed upon by a majority of Premier League clubs. It will be based on the television revenue of the lowest-earning club.

Presumably, there's some sort of catch because I can't imagine the biggest clubs would willingly compromise their financial advantages.

[Colly]

Spending cap rather than wage cap, so transfers and agents fees included. Both Manc clubs and Villa voted against.

Don't think it's really worth saying much more until details are ironed out, it feels a good idea in terms of making a competitive fairer league, but that's the exact reason why I'm very dubious.

[Gazz]

22 minutes ago, Bobfoc said:

It will be based on the television revenue of the lowest-earning club.

Championship Play-Off winners / Premier League whipping boys getting 38 TV games a season from now on.

[Chris2K]

I'm sure the Saudi League will be overjoyed at the concept of a top league having a spending cap.

[Bobfoc]

I wonder if this will be put forward as an excuse if English clubs don't do well in European competitions.

[gunnar hendershow]

43 minutes ago, Bobfoc said:

I wonder if this will be put forward as an excuse if English clubs don't do well in European competitions.

This was my first thought. What's to stop this from just meaning Real win even more than they already do?

[Szumi]

Honestly just surprised Newcastle didn't vote against it with the other clubs who clearly want to be able to spend a lot of money

[Adam]

I know they've barely said anything about it so far, but it sounds like the idea is to cap spending on things like transfers/wages/agent fees/amortisation to somewhere around the £500m mark.

Now I'm not being funny, but that won't deter Newcastle or anyone else from spending shedloads to compete. It actually sounds like something which won't hamstring PL teams at all, but then maybe that's the point.

They need to do something other than what is currently in place, but I've no clue what. There's quite a balance to strike between making the league competitive top to bottom, and allowing the top clubs to compete on a level playing field with Barca, Real, PSG etc.

[DavidMarrio]

 

If it isn't the battle against relegation, its the battle against being able to pay the utility bills

[Lineker]