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Post by smokeyb on Mar 1, 2020 13:27:18 GMT 1
There is no doubt Liverpool are the best team in the league this season by some distance and deserve to be champions, they have been relentless most of the season,they have won games they should have lost or drawn in any other year,but they just keep going and always seem to find away of scoring.
However, since the start of the year they seem to have just been off the boil, whether it is complacency (which is only natural considering their huge lead), or tiredness but they have been a little bit lucky in the last few league games.
The other challengers keep tripping up, which is stopping them from mounting a serious challenge.
This defeat could now spur them onto to finish with a flourish, and win by a big margin. They can still win a treble, a lot to play for.
I just cannot see them falling apart. However if they were knocked out of both cups,it would be a disappointment.
They need to win again next season, and a few more years to show just how good they are. I think if they can keep Klopp and most of the players, plus a few new ones there is no reason why they cannot dominate for a few years.
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Post by Panda on Mar 3, 2020 1:27:07 GMT 1
Holy crap, it's the Nations League draw on Tuesday. That crept up fast.
The format has been re-jigged slightly with the number of top tier teams increased from 12 to 16 (which also has the effect of sparing Germany from relegation, as well as everyone else who was relegated last time). It does mean the top tier teams won't have to use friendlies to fill gaps in fixtures anymore, which was supposed to be one of the points of the competition existing in the first place.
The seedings are based on the previous edition of the Nations League.
LEAGUE A Pot 1: Portugal, Netherlands, England, Switzerland Pot 2: Belgium, France, Spain, Italy Pot 3: Bosnia, Ukraine, Denmark, Sweden Pot 4: Croatia, Poland, Germany, Iceland
LEAGUE B Pot 1: Russia, Austria, Wales, Czech Republic Pot 2: Scotland, Norway, Serbia, Finland Pot 3: Slovakia, Turkey, Ireland, Northern Ireland Pot 4: Bulgaria, Israel, Hungary, Romania
LEAGUE C Pot 1: Greece, Albania, Montenegro, Georgia Pot 2: North Macedonia, Kosovo, Belarus, Cyprus Pot 3: Estonia, Slovenia, Lithuania, Luxembourg Pot 4: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Moldova
LEAGUE D Pot 1: Gibraltar, Faroe Islands, Latvia, Liechtenstein Pot 2: Andorra, Malta, San Marino
The 2 highest ranked teams who don't finish in the top 2 of their World Cup qualifying group will take part in the World Cup playoffs.
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Post by o on Mar 29, 2020 20:33:33 GMT 1
I see Bristol Rovers are 24.5m in debt? Yikes! I've been watching some of those old games on BT Sport. Bristol City beating Arsenal 1-0 in 76/77 season I think it was, then Watford beating Notts County at Meadow Lane 5-3, after being 2-0 down, 84/85 season? I was trying to work out what was behind one of the goals, just appeared to be a brick building and people stood behind the goal! Pitch was what you'd expect for the 80s, John Barnes playing for Watford. Also Chelsea hammering Newcastle 6-0 in the 2nd Division, and a young Chris Waddle looking like he'd walked onto the pitch straight from school, but apparently he'd been working in a sausage factory!
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Post by Panda on Mar 29, 2020 20:50:37 GMT 1
Also Chelsea hammering Newcastle 6-0 in the 2nd Division, and a young Chris Waddle looking like he'd walked onto the pitch straight from school, but apparently he'd been working in a sausage factory! They'd recently signed him from Tow Law Town, who will be featuring soon in my Football Travels series!
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Post by o on Mar 30, 2020 10:23:55 GMT 1
Don't mention who tow law town beat in the cup one year!!!
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Post by raliverpool on Apr 6, 2020 19:29:00 GMT 1
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Post by smokeyb on Apr 16, 2020 19:31:29 GMT 1
The Scottish League have voted to end the season for the 3 lower divisions below the premiership. So promotion and relegation are confirmed.
The fate of the top division is still to be decided.
The main reason was to get the prize money for the season handed out otherwise quite a few clubs would have gone bust.
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Post by o on Apr 16, 2020 20:35:25 GMT 1
Some were running away with it, but think it is Partick who are relegated when they could have stayed up, so it's a harsh one on them. Cove Rangers into Div.1! So are Brechin in the play off with the winners of Brora and Kelty then?
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Robbie
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Post by Robbie on Apr 17, 2020 17:10:59 GMT 1
Also Chelsea hammering Newcastle 6-0 in the 2nd Division, and a young Chris Waddle looking like he'd walked onto the pitch straight from school, but apparently he'd been working in a sausage factory!
I remember listening to the radio when that game was actually taking place! Newcastle were woeful at the time and in that particular season (1980-81) we struggled to score goals - our top goal scorer only got something like 7 all season.
I've looked up the Chelsea v Newcastle game. It was played on Saturday 25 October 1980. It was also only the second game Chris Waddle had played for us, his first being just three days earlier when we beat Shrewsbury 1-0 at home in front of a crowd of only 11,985, one of our lowest crowds in the past 100 years!
Edit: that awful Chelsea v Newcastle game
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Robbie
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Post by Robbie on Apr 17, 2020 17:21:26 GMT 1
Sad to hear that Norman Hunter, of Leeds United fame, has died. Despite being more associated with Leeds he was born in Gateshead and was a Newcastle fan as a boy. For a short while he played for local schoolboy team Washington Boys and was in the same team as Howard Kendall and, as unlikely as it may seem, Bryan Ferry!
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Post by suedehead on Apr 29, 2020 14:16:02 GMT 1
Michael Robinson, one of Brighton's best players at the time I used to see them regularly in the old First Division has died of cancer aged 61. Predictably, he is being described purely in terms of his time at Liverpool even though he only played 30 games for them. He later moved to Spain and, unlike most British players who do so, learned the language and even became a television pundit there.
There is a story on the Brighton Argus website of how he was walking back from a dinner with Seve Ballesteros. Six people stopped him to ask for an autograph. Only one stopped Ballesteros.
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Post by suedehead on Apr 29, 2020 14:43:20 GMT 1
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Post by Shireblogger on Apr 30, 2020 14:31:53 GMT 1
Former Leeds & England captain and full-back Trevor Cherry died suddenly yesterday aged 72. A player I quite liked back in the day. RIP
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Post by Panda on Apr 30, 2020 15:01:54 GMT 1
In a rare sign that it actually gives a damn about football below the professional ranks, the FA has informed the four semi-finalists in this season's FA Vase - Bitton, Consett, Corinthian and Hebburn Town - that it intends to finish the competition when football is able to resume.
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frag
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Post by frag on May 3, 2020 15:54:26 GMT 1
I've heard talk of having playoffs in the EFL, and then having teams go up as usual but no relegation. This would result in a 23-team PL.
Wouldn't it be simpler to just promote the 8 clubs in automatic promotion spots from the Championship to the National League? This would mean the top four leagues are organised 22-24-24-22 (the 3rd placed league two team replaces Bury) - which is what we had when the PL started in 1993.
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Post by suedehead on May 3, 2020 16:10:56 GMT 1
Bearing in mind that next season is likely to start late, how do they propose to fit in all the fixtures a 23-team Premier League would require in time for the start of the Euros? At the very least, they would surely have to scrap the League Cup.
I did see a suggestion of a switch to calendar-year seasons. That could actually be a short-term solution. There would be a 2021 season (with a break for the Euros) and then a 2022 season ending in October in time for the World Cup. That could be followed by some sort of mini-season in the first few months of 2023 followed by a return to normality for the 2023-4 season. At least that might mean next season could start with crowds able to attend matches again.
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Post by Panda on May 3, 2020 16:39:11 GMT 1
Bearing in mind that next season is likely to start late, how do they propose to fit in all the fixtures a 23-team Premier League would require in time for the start of the Euros? At the very least, they would surely have to scrap the League Cup. I did see a suggestion of a switch to calendar-year seasons. That could actually be a short-term solution. There would be a 2021 season (with a break for the Euros) and then a 2022 season ending in October in time for the World Cup. That could be followed by some sort of mini-season in the first few months of 2023 followed by a return to normality for the 2023-4 season. At least that might mean next season could start with crowds able to attend matches again. Another option would simply be to have a shortened 2020/21 season with everyone playing each other once. Depending on when the season starts, there could be a split after 22 games with the top 11 playing each other again and the bottom 12 doing the same, meaning a 32 or 33 game league season.
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frag
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Post by frag on May 3, 2020 17:13:18 GMT 1
Bearing in mind that next season is likely to start late, how do they propose to fit in all the fixtures a 23-team Premier League would require in time for the start of the Euros? At the very least, they would surely have to scrap the League Cup. I did see a suggestion of a switch to calendar-year seasons. That could actually be a short-term solution. There would be a 2021 season (with a break for the Euros) and then a 2022 season ending in October in time for the World Cup. That could be followed by some sort of mini-season in the first few months of 2023 followed by a return to normality for the 2023-4 season. At least that might mean next season could start with crowds able to attend matches again. Yeah, shifting the calendar would allow the current season to be completed whenever it's possible to do so - be it in June, August or next winter. The women's league has also switched from calendar year more normal seasons. I don't generally like splits, but doing it with a 23-team league might allow some time to be made up. It'll be nearly impossible to prevent a situation where one team plays twice more at home than away, unfortunately.
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Post by ManicKangaroo on May 18, 2020 16:53:28 GMT 1
The Scottish League have voted to end the season for the 3 lower divisions below the premiership. So promotion and relegation are confirmed. The fate of the top division is still to be decided. Celtic have been confirmed as Scottish champions for the ninth season in a row and Hearts have been relegated after the SPFL ended the season. The decision was taken at a board meeting on Monday after the 12 clubs agreed at the end of last week that completing the campaign was unfeasible. Average points per game played has been used to determine final placings. The only change to the table from when football was halted on 13 March is that St Johnstone go sixth, above Hibernian.
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vastar iner
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Post by vastar iner on May 26, 2020 15:42:01 GMT 1
They're faffing around in Scotland about reconstruction. Hearts said that it was unnecessary three years ago. Now they're leading the charge.
One problem is that of Club 42. There is basically a contract in place between the SPFL, the Highland League, and the Lowland League, that the team bottom of the Scottish League should playoff the winner of a playoff between the other leagues for the right to a league place the following season.
The SPFL is not legally permitted to get rid of that unilaterally. So there is some push to increase the League by two, to allow both Brora and Kelty, who have won their leagues, to get into the SPFL. Helped perhaps by Club 42 being Brechin, who have very good connections in the Scottish game...
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