2020/21 Premier League Thread: VAR Check Complete - No Cough

[Dolphin Ziggler]

First topic message reminder :

We have our 20 as Fulham take the playoff spot and we welcome back West Brom, Fulham and, most importantly to the nation (apparently) Leeds.

[Guest]

WBA 1-1 Man U FT

City have this title wrapped up

[Duty281]

Was confused about the potential Maguire penalty. He looked offside, but it seemed that that was ignored and instead the referee fixated on the actual incident, before overturning it. And West Brom's goal was odd, with the striker putting his hand across the defender's face in order to score.

[GSC]

West Brom goal was fine I think, Lindelof just declined to attack the ball

[Guest]

City have this title wrapped up

Everton 1-3 Man City FT

10 points clear + GD, and that’s the title for Pep. Strange how it’s all come about, from being totally written off, to now casually strolling towards a relatively easy title. Weird season.

[Afro]

Think they'll stroll across the line now.

The only team good enough, when on form, to go on the kind of run needed to beat them, are 16 points behind.

[Duty281]

Big weekend for the top four race. Chelsea have already coughed up points against an out-of-sync Southampton, now it's time for an intriguing Merseyside Derby. Wonder which Everton will turn up?

[Duty281]

Not a very good Everton performance, though Pickford was at his best. But more than good enough, overall, to account for a toothless Liverpool. Bitter spitter Carragher complaining about Everton's penalty was lovely entertainment.

Henderson hobbled off for Liverpool in the first half as Klopp's cursed season continues. Kabak, though it's early days and he may still improve, looks absolutely awful and lost in defence.

Will Liverpool even make top four? A question that would have seemed nonsensical at the start of the season, but looms large now. This side of Christmas Liverpool have displayed relegation form. Does Klopp go if Liverpool finish outside the Champions League places?

[JDizzle]

No way Klopp goes unless he walks. Even if Liverpool finish outside the top 4. Can’t see anyone who would be any sort of improvement.

Chelsea’s schedule:

Atletico, ManU, Liverpool, Everton, Leeds, Atletico.

Make or break time for the top 4!

[Duty281]

I think Gerrard will be the next Liverpool manager, but of course it all depends on when Klopp goes.

Meanwhile Lingard's making a frantic dash for the Euros after scoring again. Sublime finish from him (thank you VAR) to put West Ham 2-0 up against Tottenham. Season of dreams for West Ham - they're in the top four if they win here.

[dummy_half]

Having said a few weeks ago that the bottom 3 would all go down and none reach 30 points for the season, Fulham are making me re-think this.8 points in their last 4 games has brought Newcastle, Brighton and perhaps Burnley in range, and Southampton also need to arrest their slide (which I think they will).

As for the title, absolutely City's to lose now, as they've been on an outstandingly consistent run while everyone else has been dropping points. Good for Leicester and particularly West Ham to be going so well and in the hunt for the European spots.

My brother is a Leeds fan - I suspect he didn't expect them to be 5 points behind Liverpool at this stage of the season.

[Duty281]

The top four race is the most interesting aspect of the season left. Just thirteen points separating second-placed Manchester United and ninth-placed Tottenham. Liverpool and Tottenham well off where they'd expected to be at this stage, maybe Tottenham's best hope of making the Champions League is winning the Europa? Leicester have probably done their chances of finishing top four a huge service by getting knocked out of the Europa League in midweek. West Ham and Villa still well in the hunt, though most expected them to be fighting a different kind of battle at the other end of the table - this is Moyes' best season in management since, probably, his Everton days, and Villa have given a spirited effort and have been a joy to watch this season, though Grealish's injury may derail them.

Relegation-wise, Newcastle have been in free-fall recently, looking increasingly inept under the bizarre management of Steve Bruce (bizarre because I don't know why chairmen keep hiring him). Brighton, also, getting sucked in. Scott Parker's doing a wonderful job at Fulham and I hope he defies expectation and keeps them up - would be nice to see a young-ish English manager doing well. Big Sam's running out of time to perform his usual miracle and desperately needs three points today. Sheffield United are gone and have been since October or so.

[Duty281]

High farce between West Brom and Brighton. Brighton take a FK and score. Referee Lee Mason disallows it for the whistle not being blown, then he changes his mind and awards the goal. Then VAR takes a look and disallows the goal. Total mess. And the game's already had VAR interfering to give Brighton a penalty (which they missed).

It's the type of fortune West Brom need.

Ends up being an extraordinary win for WBA. Two penalties missed by Brighton and a few other chances they should have converted, including an open-goal miss and a free header from six yards.

[Duty281]

Pretty dull game, as expected, between United and Chelsea. Good point for both. United should have had a penalty in the first half, but not given even after the referee had a look at the monitor.

Was saddened to hear of Glenn Roeder's death. Had no idea he was ill.

[Atila]

Liverpool won today so no doubt, they are "back on track".

[GSC]

City have been excellent by any measure, but a lot of general mediocrity below them.

[Duty281]

Tough night for two clubs battling to survive. Fulham denied an equaliser against Tottenham after a clearance blasted at a Fulham player from close range was deemed to be handball by VAR - seemed ridiculously harsh, even taking into consideration the recent handball regulations. And West Brom also denied an equaliser, a last minute one, against Everton with Diagne's left foot being marginally offside - a fair call, but such a fine margin.

Liverpool meanwhile slipped to their fifth home defeat in a row with an utterly diabolical performance against a half-decent Chelsea team, who are still riding the bounce after Tuchel came in. Remember when Anfield was a fortress? How low are the champions going to finish? 8th? 9th? Not even top half? They look to be in terminal decline.

[hampo17]

Liverpool are been dreadful for a long time now, and will be lucky to get top 6 at this rate. Have injuries hurt? Yes, but when you know that you're two first choice centre backs are out for the season, and you've been playing two of your most important midfielders there for most of the season, and you don't sign a replacement until the last day of the transfer window....well you just deserve a slap.

I said it last year, Liverpool need a striker. They need someone to lead the line properly, Firmino for all the love he has from the fans just isn't good enough.

[Good Golly I'm Olly]

Liverpool are been dreadful for a long time now, and will be lucky to get top 6 at this rate. Have injuries hurt? Yes, but when you know that you're two first choice centre backs are out for the season, and you've been playing two of your most important midfielders there for most of the season, and you don't sign a replacement until the last day of the transfer window....well you just deserve a slap.

I said it last year, Liverpool need a striker. They need someone to lead the line properly, Firmino for all the love he has from the fans just isn't good enough.

Agree on the last line Paul, and I was shocked Klopp took Salah off instead of him last night. Getting to the point Klopp got to with his Borussia Dortmund side, seems they've reached the end of "the cycle" and need a revamp in the summer

[Duty281]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/56291850

"Accidental handball that leads to a goal-scoring chance or a goal for a team-mate will no longer be penalised, say football's law makers."

Will be implemented from the 1st of July.

[Duty281]

Liverpool 0-1 Fulham.

Crumbs. Stylish Scott might be leading his team to safety. Liverpool, for the most part, looked as though they downed tools, only forcing one real save from Fulham's quality keeper (and what a save it was!).

It'll soon be time for Gerrard to leave Rangers.

[Guest]

Fulham look decent and have the momentum. Looks like the Toon or Brighton for that last relegation slot. Toon got Sheff Utd & Fulham in their last two games.

[Soul Requiem]

Gerrard needs at least two more years at Rangers before moving on, a year or two in the champions league will help immeasurably long term.

[Duty281]

Fantastic result for United, with a clinical display. Despite their winning run, City have looked average for the last few games, so I don't think this result is a massive surprise.

[Guest]

Tbh, in terms of City team’s gone by, this will probably be the weakest side to end up winning a title.

As for Mourinho, Bale finally deciding to turn up, might just save his job, and Spurs’ season.

[Soul Requiem]

United will rue all of those recent draws. Despite the winning run of Man City I felt the title was there for them if they maintained any semblance of form.

[wadey101]

United will rue all of those recent draws. Despite the winning run of Man City I felt the title was there for them if they maintained any semblance of form.

To be fair though, United have won so many close games this season when not playing particularly well, so it felt like the draws were always due. Can look at it the other way and say if they'd have drawn or lost a lot of the close games they've won e.g. Brighton, Fulham and Southampton away, then they'd have been no where near challenging

[hampo17]

Has there ever been a bigger drop off than what Liverpool are going through right now? They've had two seasons of amazing football, title winning form in both seasons, only being bettered by a superb City side.

The biggest concern for me is the sudden toothless look of the strikers, they've gone from one of, if not the, best front line in football to a front line that wouldn't worry a Sunday league team.

The board certainly need to invest in the summer, and with Klopp stating today that he has zero intention of taking the Germany job when Low leaves in the summer you'd think they've already identified targets and he's been promised funds.

[Duty281]

I did see some statistics which confirmed this is the biggest ever drop off, points-wise, at this stage of a season for the defending champions. After 28 games, Liverpool have 36 points fewer than at this stage last season - the second biggest drop-off was Leicester with 27 points fewer.

Interestingly, despite the injuries to numerous key defenders, Liverpool's defence isn't that much worse than last season. They've conceded three goals more than at the same stage last season, though their XG-against statistic is lower for this season than last.

As you say, the attack is the biggest concern for Liverpool, with 38 fewer goals scored than at the same point last season. Salah's scoring is, if anything, better than last season, and Firmino's stats are roughly the same as last season. The two big drop-offs have been Mane, who has scored a lot less this season despite his xg being roughly the same (such a drop-off perhaps being expected, as he 'over-scored' last season), and goals from players outside the main three (accounted for 37 PL goals last season, just 14 so far this season). Jota was looking like a breakthrough player before Christmas, hitting a good run of form, but injury cruelly took him out for 2-3 months.

Assists from the duo of Robertson and Trent have also decreased - 25 in total in the PL last season, just 8 so far this season. This is partially due to a drop in performance from both (particularly Trent), perhaps a element of fatigue explaining this, and the notion that they've been more hesitant to get forward this season, due to Henderson often not being available in the midfield to cover, and an inexperienced duo in central defence that need greater protection (about 20 different combos so far!).

For a manager heralded as modern and innovative, Klopp is a throwback in many ways with his reluctance to rotate and reliance on a small core of players, which has been the case over the past 2-3 years. Some of the injuries experienced by his team, and performance drop-offs due to physical and/or mental exhaustion, can be attributed to this. He's also tactically stubborn and rigid, like Wenger, and has shown little sign of being able to tweak things when hitting a bad run, or making the right tactical adjustments when losing players to injury.  

Klopp may stay on past this summer, but there have been recent signs that he's 'lost the dressing room', for want of a better phrase. They're currently seven points off the top four and have a mostly kind fixture list to come. At the moment, though, they're in no sort of form to take advantage of this kinder fixture list. If they don't finish top four then I can't see Klopp staying, unless he wins the Champions League again.

[GSC]

Sheff Utd sacking Wilder because apparently he wasn't overachieving enough

[Duty281]

Horrible injury to Rui Patricio overshadows Liverpool's narrow win over Wolves. Similar to Jimenez earlier in the season. Hopefully not as bad as it first seemed.

Top four race very close with 9-10 games to go. Twelve points separating second-placed United and eighth-placed Tottenham. Villa, in ninth, not totally out of it if they win their game in hand.

The final relegation spot tightly contested between Brighton, Newcastle and Fulham. Southampton have been sinking fast since beating Liverpool, but they'll surely get enough points to stay up. Big Sam probably out of time to perform his usual miracle - he's managed to get WBA tight at the back...it's just they can't score at the other end.

Was surprised to hear Wilder's left Sheffield United. Guessing some behind-the-scenes argument transpired as he's still, rightfully, a popular figure with S. United's fans.

[Duty281]

Actually, West Brom can score at the other end. Five in fact! Yes, Chelsea were a man down for most of the contest, but no team should be shipping that many to West Brom.

Big Sam keeps the survival dream alive for another week.

[Guest]

Fulham 0-1 Wolves FT

Lovely

[Guest]

Burnley 1-2 Toon FT

Saint-Maximin you beauty! 6 pts clear and a game in hand on Fulham. Looks like it could be deja vu for Leicester and bottling a top 4 finish.

[Lowlandbrit]

Imagine that will be that for Fulham. I've been impressed by the job Parker's done though, they really adapted and improved over the season. It'll be interesting to see if he stays there for next season.

[Duty281]

Yes, I've really liked what I've seen of Scott Parker as a manager so far, I think he has a promising future. Does look an uphill struggle for Fulham now, but they do play Newcastle on the last day of the season, so they only need to be three points (or fewer) adrift by then, and Newcastle do have some tough fixtures remaining.

West Ham have walloped Leicester 3-2 after another sparkling performance by Lingard. Think I'm right in saying West Ham have never qualified for the European Cup/Champions League before, but they're in 4th place with seven games to go - and of those seven games only Chelsea represent truly tough opposition. They've had a remarkable season.

[Atila]

Well done United. Good result.  

[Dolphin Ziggler]

I think Parker has done really well, especially how he made adjustments after how awful they started. They play nice stuff but lack a cutting edge.

He strikes me as an ideal Hodgson replacement. More progressive, a Londoner, has worked well without a wild budget, doesn’t seem to be naive as to the challenges of premier league football.

[Atila]

Leicester City must be a little concerned that they could miss out on Champions League football again. With their last two games ending in defeat, they don't have a cushion. A loss in their next game with a win for West Ham and Chelsea and they'd be down into fifth place.

[Guest]

Deja vu for Leicester, same thing happened last season. Poor from Maddison & Co too, in breaching those Covid rules. Reason why Southgate doesn’t fancy him, as he just can’t trust him.

[Duty281]

Big Sam rages against the dying of the light and keeps a faint survival dream alive, as West Brom play some glorious football in the first half on their way to beating Southampton 3-0.

But they're still 8 points adrift with some tough fixtures left and a diabolical GD hampering them.

[DP]

Deja vu for Leicester, same thing happened last season. Poor from Maddison & Co too, in breaching those Covid rules. Reason why Southgate doesn’t fancy him, as he just can’t trust him.

I imagine most of it is sensationalism from the rags but if some of the stories about this breach are true, you'd imagine those involved are going to be in some serious trouble.

[Guest]

Toon 3-2 WHU FT

Thriller at St. James’ Park, which results in the Toon pretty much being safe now. Fulham look gone now.

[Duty281]

Two crucial points dropped for Fulham after a 97th minute equaliser for Arsenal. Crushing blow for Parker.

[Duty281]

https://news.sky.com/story/european-super-league-plans-set-to-be-announced-six-english-teams-involved-sky-news-understands-12279432

Meanwhile the inevitable Super League is a fraction closer.

[GSC]

Tell them to **** off and make it a full time league

[GSC]

It's hilarious and telling that arsenal are part of this

[Duty281]

UEFA/FIFA threatening a nuclear response saying any players who join the Super League will be unable to represent their national teams and unable to participate in all other club competitions. Remains to be seen if they'll follow through, but it could lead to a schism at the heart of the sport.

[GSC]

I don't really see FIFA wanting to get into a war that risks the world cup take place without its biggest stars.

[GSC]

That said, whether it's the super League, uefa, premier League, FIFA, whatever, they're all just arguing to protect their own income.

Spare me the moral high ground and being on the side of the fans, that Poopie doesn't wash. Neither does Gary Nevilles speech while working as a pundit for sky

[Good Golly I'm Olly]

Tell them to **** off and make it a full time league

Hoping it actually goes through and they bugger off - football in this country will be immeasurably better for it in the long term

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