On 31/10/2022 at 18:43, axman2526 said:

They never would but that was not my point. I was not clear enough.

The club's backed down when they had the fans, the FA, the PL, Uefa and FIFA against them. If it had only been the fans against them would they have backed down?

Also it was a secret deal suddenly announced.

They will learn from that. It's not over, there is , or was a court case about Eufa ' s threats against the clubs.

once money l oving Eufa and FIFA get their bribes it's on again I reckon called something else of course

5 hours ago, The Rising Sun said:

Also it was a secret deal suddenly announced.

They will learn from that. It's not over, there is , or was a court case about Eufa ' s threats against the clubs.

once money l oving Eufa and FIFA get their bribes it's on again I reckon called something else of course

The biggest opposition to the Super League was over the lack of merit admittance. If it were a free and open competition set up as an alternative to UEFA, the response would be massively different.

I don't think anyone in their right mind would opposed a free, open and transparent alternative to UEFA, one run by clubs that have paying members - except UEFA, FIFA and the governments that corruptly finance them

8 hours ago, SydneyChelsea said:

The biggest opposition to the Super League was over the lack of merit admittance. If it were a free and open competition set up as an alternative to UEFA, the response would be massively different.

I don't think anyone in their right mind would opposed a free, open and transparent alternative to UEFA, one run by clubs that have paying members - except UEFA, FIFA and the governments that corruptly finance them

Unfortunately though we would still end up playing probably twice as many games in Europe. 

What I'd give for a football season to be limited to 40 odd games. Cut the PL to a 16 team division, get rid of the league cup and have European cups be 16 teams in each. 

The quality would be higher and I imagine the money would actually go up. 

1 hour ago, bisright1 said:

Unfortunately though we would still end up playing probably twice as many games in Europe. 

What I'd give for a football season to be limited to 40 odd games. Cut the PL to a 16 team division, get rid of the league cup and have European cups be 16 teams in each. 

The quality would be higher and I imagine the money would actually go up. 

This is actually a far more sensible plan imo. It would be more competitive

1 hour ago, bisright1 said:

Unfortunately though we would still end up playing probably twice as many games in Europe. 

What I'd give for a football season to be limited to 40 odd games. Cut the PL to a 16 team division, get rid of the league cup and have European cups be 16 teams in each. 

The quality would be higher and I imagine the money would actually go up. 

There seems to be a push from senior players to bring the ludicrous workload these federations are pushing onto players at the moment, I expect to see some momentum behind it after the world cup as we see more and more players get injured and fatigued. There has to be a break point, the amount of games and lack of recovery time is just ridiculous now.

To spread some positivity, Potter at least made the right call in removing Mendy. He has been shambolic with the ball for a long time and cost us too many points. His dismissal was long overdue and I am happy that GP acted on it right from the start.

10 hours ago, SydneyChelsea said:

The biggest opposition to the Super League was over the lack of merit admittance. If it were a free and open competition set up as an alternative to UEFA, the response would be massively different.

That's the thing for me and why I just couldn't join in on the sheer ESL outrage despite not really wanting it myself.

The PL and UCL being free and open competitions is a massive illusion.

The PL you get £180m "reward" money for finishing last which bar some obscene mismanagement (ala West Brom) allows a return relatively quickly or at absolute worst safely in or around the top echelons most season's. There's some well run clubs in league one that with a more even playing field could have probably make the PL reasonably soon (Plymouth would have been an absolute shoe in) but as soon as they get in the Champ they simply won't be able to compete with the likes of Norwich and Bournemouth splashing out their rewards for embarrassing themselves for 10 months. On paper the PL may have relegation but they may aswell not given how hard it gets rewarded.

To put that figure into context you will have to win the FA Cup for around half a century consecutively to make par with the reward money for finishing bottom of the PL.

As for the UCL, 4th place teams in certain countries get in whereas Champions of others do not, and now they're about to introduce the ranking system which gives the highest ranked sides who didn't qualify a free pass even if they finish midtable. So if we have another 15/16 past that point it will likely have absolutely zero consequences, if that's not ESL esque I don't know what is.

As I said a few pages back, we're already in two ESLs in all but name. If anything I respect the upfrontness of this plan instead of UEFA, the PL etc trying to pass themselves off as fair competitions when infact they're anything but.

1 hour ago, Argo said:

That's the thing for me and why I just couldn't join in on the sheer ESL outrage despite not really wanting it myself.

The PL and UCL being free and open competitions is a massive illusion.

The PL you get £180m "reward" money for finishing last which bar some obscene mismanagement (ala West Brom) allows a return relatively quickly or at absolute worst safely in or around the top echelons most season's. There's some well run clubs in league one that with a more even playing field could have probably make the PL reasonably soon (Plymouth would have been an absolute shoe in) but as soon as they get in the Champ they simply won't be able to compete with the likes of Norwich and Bournemouth splashing out their rewards for embarrassing themselves for 10 months. On paper the PL may have relegation but they may aswell not given how hard it gets rewarded.

To put that figure into context you will have to win the FA Cup for around half a century consecutively to make par with the reward money for finishing bottom of the PL.

As for the UCL, 4th place teams in certain countries get in whereas Champions of others do not, and now they're about to introduce the ranking system which gives the highest ranked sides who didn't qualify a free pass even if they finish midtable. So if we have another 15/16 past that point it will likely have absolutely zero consequences, if that's not ESL esque I don't know what is.

As I said a few pages back, we're already in two ESLs in all but name. If anything I respect the upfrontness of this plan instead of UEFA, the PL etc trying to pass themselves off as fair competitions when infact they're anything but.

While a merit-based super league would be more acceptable to fans, I am not convinced that would happen. The main teams pushing for this super league would require guarantees that they are continual members of the league, and that would remove the possibilities for a true merit-based system.

6 hours ago, dkw said:

There seems to be a push from senior players to bring the ludicrous workload these federations are pushing onto players at the moment, I expect to see some momentum behind it after the world cup as we see more and more players get injured and fatigued. There has to be a break point, the amount of games and lack of recovery time is just ridiculous now.

The problem is it's hard for players to complain without everyone hitting them with 'You earn 200k a week be grateful', unless a lot of players come out at once the organisations will always win

5 hours ago, Argo said:

That's the thing for me and why I just couldn't join in on the sheer ESL outrage despite not really wanting it myself.

The PL and UCL being free and open competitions is a massive illusion.

The PL you get £180m "reward" money for finishing last which bar some obscene mismanagement (ala West Brom) allows a return relatively quickly or at absolute worst safely in or around the top echelons most season's. There's some well run clubs in league one that with a more even playing field could have probably make the PL reasonably soon (Plymouth would have been an absolute shoe in) but as soon as they get in the Champ they simply won't be able to compete with the likes of Norwich and Bournemouth splashing out their rewards for embarrassing themselves for 10 months. On paper the PL may have relegation but they may aswell not given how hard it gets rewarded.

To put that figure into context you will have to win the FA Cup for around half a century consecutively to make par with the reward money for finishing bottom of the PL.

As for the UCL, 4th place teams in certain countries get in whereas Champions of others do not, and now they're about to introduce the ranking system which gives the highest ranked sides who didn't qualify a free pass even if they finish midtable. So if we have another 15/16 past that point it will likely have absolutely zero consequences, if that's not ESL esque I don't know what is.

As I said a few pages back, we're already in two ESLs in all but name. If anything I respect the upfrontness of this plan instead of UEFA, the PL etc trying to pass themselves off as fair competitions when infact they're anything but.

But at least it's still possilbe to get into the Premier League and the Champions League (though Champions League is muc harder. Teams such as Brentford and Bournemouth were way down the football pyramid a decade ago. 

 

Disappointed tonight with his team selection. We were already topping the group and he didn’t dare to play Broja and Carney from the start. I also hoped that Gallagher would get a start, but he’s been more involved in the first team so hope he’ll get a nod against Arsenal. Good to see Zakaria getting time, but tired of Auba, Havertz and Sterling in these type of games. Also, Broja comes in to play wide and Mount goes into the 9 or false 9 position? That’s how it looked to many of us at the stadium, bizarre. At least we didn’t see Sterling and Auba as wingbacks, it looked more like a back 4 to me. Anyway, Potter is more of a tinker man than tinker Tuchel himself.

Edited November 2, 20223 yr by RMH

5 minutes ago, RMH said:

Disappointed tonight with his team selection. We were already topping the group and he didn’t dare to play Broja and Carney from the start. I also hoped that Gallagher would get a start, but he’s been more involved in the first team so hope he’ll get a nod against Arsenal. Good to see Zakaria getting time, but tired of Auba, Havertz and Sterling in these type of games. Also, Broja comes in to play wide and Mount goes into the 9 or false 9 position? That’s how it looked to many of us at the stadium, bizarre. At least we didn’t see Sterling and Auba as wingbacks, it looked more like a back 4 to me. Anyway, Potter is more of a tinker man than tinker Tuchel himself.

Agree with you mate. Only thing was Carney had an injury so could not play.

Apparently Potter wants Rabiot in winter. If that‘s true he should be sacked immediately. Lost the plot.

Where are people seeing this stuff?

Rabiot was a panic buy option back in August and his wages were too much. 

Greed has destroyed football.. A corrupt worldcup in a country that doesnt respect human life apart from their own citizens.. FIFA is probably one of the most corrupt associations ever having a winter worldcup to please a country is ludicrous.. These injuries arent normal and reflective of the workload. Players didnt have enough rest or a good enough pre-season. They are not machines.. Pool and us have played the most number of matches possible in the last few years.. no wonder we have been suffering.

9 hours ago, Jangz said:

Greed has destroyed football.. A corrupt worldcup in a country that doesnt respect human life apart from their own citizens.. FIFA is probably one of the most corrupt associations ever having a winter worldcup to please a country is ludicrous.. These injuries arent normal and reflective of the workload. Players didnt have enough rest or a good enough pre-season. They are not machines.. Pool and us have played the most number of matches possible in the last few years.. no wonder we have been suffering.

I have seen a decent size of players speak out against the amount of football being played over the past few years, but none of them really speak up against it enough to force a change. I'm not surprised, because any time a footballer talks about this, we get a bunch of ignorant fans saying "oh my heart bleeds, you play football twice a week, try working in my job"

I think every fan in football can agree that we want to see the best players on the pitch in peak condition, but we can't get that with the way football is today.

I said a few months back that I could remember back in 2005 how they were saying there were too many games in football, but it's only gotten much worse since. The Champions League is being extended after next season, the Euro's got extended with the tournament finishing well into July now. We have the Nations League which nobody cares about. The World Cup is being played in the middle of the season and will be extending to the awful 16 groups of 3 format in 4 years. 

What doesn't help is the stupid fixture times of these matches. With European football, at least it's consistent. You have Tuesday and Wednesday in the Champions League, and the Europa League and Conference League on Thursdays. Domestic football is a mess. With Sky, BT and now Amazon showing games, you have fixtures scattered all over the place. Just look at the mess of the games that were shown on Amazon Prime the other day. Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday to fit in 10 fixtures all because they want maximum viewership. Then you have Sky showing games on Monday and Friday every so often. Then we get to the weekend which is a complete mess with BT and Sky competing with each other. Some days players get a decent amount of recovery time, then they have fixture so soon after their previous one. The football schedule is a mess for players and fans, but all the Premier League, UEFA and FIFA care about is the money, player and fan welfare is not a priority.

11 hours ago, Mod said:

Where are people seeing this stuff?

In their agendas....

4 minutes ago, Scott Harris said:

I have seen a decent size of players speak out against the amount of football being played over the past few years, but none of them really speak up against it enough to force a change. I'm not surprised, because any time a footballer talks about this, we get a bunch of ignorant fans saying "oh my heart bleeds, you play football twice a week, try working in my job"

I think every fan in football can agree that we want to see the best players on the pitch in peak condition, but we can't get that with the way football is today.

I said a few months back that I could remember back in 2005 how they were saying there were too many games in football, but it's only gotten much worse since. The Champions League is being extended after next season, the Euro's got extended with the tournament finishing well into July now. We have the Nations League which nobody cares about. The World Cup is being played in the middle of the season and will be extending to the awful 16 groups of 3 format in 4 years. 

What doesn't help is the stupid fixture times of these matches. With European football, at least it's consistent. You have Tuesday and Wednesday in the Champions League, and the Europa League and Conference League on Thursdays. Domestic football is a mess. With Sky, BT and now Amazon showing games, you have fixtures scattered all over the place. Just look at the mess of the games that were shown on Amazon Prime the other day. Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday to fit in 10 fixtures all because they want maximum viewership. Then you have Sky showing games on Monday and Friday every so often. Then we get to the weekend which is a complete mess with BT and Sky competing with each other. Some days players get a decent amount of recovery time, then they have fixture so soon after their previous one. The football schedule is a mess for players and fans, but all the Premier League, UEFA and FIFA care about is the money, player and fan welfare is not a priority.

Brilliant post, the "paid well" argument is so moronic, same as when it comes up about mental health etc.

The lack of welfare for top level footballers is disgusting, you only need to see how little effort is made with the concussion protocol to see no one gives a sh*t, they are assets and its ok to push them into the ground.

1 hour ago, Scott Harris said:

I have seen a decent size of players speak out against the amount of football being played over the past few years, but none of them really speak up against it enough to force a change. I'm not surprised, because any time a footballer talks about this, we get a bunch of ignorant fans saying "oh my heart bleeds, you play football twice a week, try working in my job"

I think every fan in football can agree that we want to see the best players on the pitch in peak condition, but we can't get that with the way football is today.

I said a few months back that I could remember back in 2005 how they were saying there were too many games in football, but it's only gotten much worse since. The Champions League is being extended after next season, the Euro's got extended with the tournament finishing well into July now. We have the Nations League which nobody cares about. The World Cup is being played in the middle of the season and will be extending to the awful 16 groups of 3 format in 4 years. 

What doesn't help is the stupid fixture times of these matches. With European football, at least it's consistent. You have Tuesday and Wednesday in the Champions League, and the Europa League and Conference League on Thursdays. Domestic football is a mess. With Sky, BT and now Amazon showing games, you have fixtures scattered all over the place. Just look at the mess of the games that were shown on Amazon Prime the other day. Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday to fit in 10 fixtures all because they want maximum viewership. Then you have Sky showing games on Monday and Friday every so often. Then we get to the weekend which is a complete mess with BT and Sky competing with each other. Some days players get a decent amount of recovery time, then they have fixture so soon after their previous one. The football schedule is a mess for players and fans, but all the Premier League, UEFA and FIFA care about is the money, player and fan welfare is not a priority.

Yeah Fifa showed how much they value the players welfare when they set up this farce of a world cup to fill their pockets, and Uefa are looking to do likewise with the CL. 

Which again begs the quesiton why some Chelsea fans are so fearful in adding more quality to one position. 

Some where saying Cucurella and Chilwell wouldn't get enough game time. 

45 minutes ago, Sconnie Blue said:

Which again begs the quesiton why some Chelsea fans are so fearful in adding more quality to one position. 

Some where saying Cucurella and Chilwell wouldn't get enough game time. 

Exactly. If anything we need more competition of that quality in other positions e.g. RB/RWB.

We have Azpi but at his age he is probably more suited to providing general defensive cover. 

4 hours ago, dkw said:

Brilliant post, the "paid well" argument is so moronic, same as when it comes up about mental health etc.

And I bet the people with this mindset will be the first to post on social media about how awful they feel if god for bid we see another Eriksen/Muamba situation.

21 hours ago, Scott Harris said:

I said a few months back that I could remember back in 2005 how they were saying there were too many games in football, but it's only gotten much worse since. The Champions League is being extended after next season, the Euro's got extended with the tournament finishing well into July now. We have the Nations League which nobody cares about. The World Cup is being played in the middle of the season and will be extending to the awful 16 groups of 3 format in 4 years. 

For example Frank Lampard played in nearly 80 games for club and country back in 04/05. Perhaps some will come close but it's unlikely none of our players will surpass that number for us this season.

So I am not sure how true it is that everyone plays so much more football now. They've given things fancier names like Nations League instead of friendlies but everyone knows its the same thing. Not to mention that recovery is much more advanced these days than it was 20 years ago.