Coronavirus could prevent Liverpool from winning the Premier League title

[an tha]

6 minutes ago, MegadriveMan said:

Man United vs Brentford called off tomorrow due to Covid

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/59646845

Bet your life other clubs will return same number of positive cases in squads in coming weeks and be forced to play.

[Megadrive Man]

Yep, No chance this sets a precedent. 

[an tha]

I am not saying it is what i want, i am not saying i agree with it or disagree with it happening, but i do think we are heading to a situation where games are played behind closed doors or hugely reduced crowds again.

 

I hope I am wrong.

[manwiththestick]

Newcastle "outbreak" incoming.

[Mark M]

Is there a certain number of cases clubs need to reach to get a match called off ?

The rules seem very vague & decisions are taking right till the last minute- as usual the fans travelling to matches are the last thought of by the authorities. 

[No2]

22 minutes ago, Mark M said:

Is there a certain number of cases clubs need to reach to get a match called off ?

The rules seem very vague & decisions are taking right till the last minute- as usual the fans travelling to matches are the last thought of by the authorities. 

It's still a case by case basis which is bollox at this stage. 18 months in there should be rules in place and obligations on clubs to have done everything possible to prevent an outbreak. Last season City had a game called off because they weren't sure on the spread, that's not good enough. Spurs are about to be kicked out of Europe for not being able to fulfill a fixture, that's tough but at least it's a precedent. 

[skend04]

Can we have an outbreak that lasts as long as the African Nations Cup?

[Ronnie Whelan]

9 hours ago, dockers_strike said:

Good post, Ronnie. Thing is, our players have to get up close to oppo players in games. Im majorly surprised we havent had any positive tests after the Villa game considering less than 24 hours later, they closed their training ground because a number of their players returned positive tests.

 

We're also due to play spurs on Sunday and they're a hot bed of positive tests at the moment. If we have any PL games postponed due to covid, the club better make sure we dont get stiffed for playing them during the time Mo, Sadio and Keita are away at the ACON.

That's the worry Docker, you could see some clubs seeing an opportunity to drag our fixture out for a few weeks until when we are weaker. Still, in fairness it's hard to see how the afcon or south american wc qualifiers go ahead but fifa are loopier than Boris.

 

It's all going to be a crazy few months. I mean you could get lucky and play Chelsea without 3 or 4 first teamers or equally we could be in that boat. The margins between the top 3 are nothing and sonething like this could cost you a title or hand you a slight advantage.

 

My worry would be fixture congestion come March or April. You would have to think that benefits Chelsea or City more. 

[rubble-rouser]

Given what we know about this disease, the sensible thing would be to have a 2-3 week pause now. People died because they went to a football match less than 2 years ago. Personally I’ve had to jib going to Spurs away and Leicester at home for fear of infecting 

my folks. The whole thing feels totally fucked right now. I’ve been sick for 4 or 5 days, had 4 negative LFTs but have pretty much the full house of symptoms. Waiting for a PCR. You just know there will be people going the match with a cough or cold that turns out to be the virus. First time in a year I’ve felt a bit frightened by it all.
 

[JustTosh]

10 hours ago, dockers_strike said:

 If we have any PL games postponed due to covid, the club better make sure we dont get stiffed for playing them during the time Mo, Sadio and Keita are away at the ACON.

We better beat Leicester (Caraboe cup) next week then. If not there’ll be two fine spots in the fixture list in January to play postponed PL games. We need to be occupied with those two semi finals.

[AngryOfTuebrook]

18 minutes ago, rubble-rouser said:

Given what we know about this disease, the sensible thing would be to have a 2-3 week pause now. People died because they went to a football match less than 2 years ago. Personally I’ve had to jib going to Spurs away and Leicester at home for fear of infecting 

my folks. The whole thing feels totally fucked right now. I’ve been sick for 4 or 5 days, had 4 negative LFTs but have pretty much the full house of symptoms. Waiting for a PCR. You just know there will be people going the match with a cough or cold that turns out to be the virus. First time in a year I’ve felt a bit frightened by it all.
 

I thought the Covid checks at Anfield before the Villa game were as half-arsed as they've ever been: just a bunch of kids in pink hi-viz, standing around gabbing with each other and not checking anybody's pass.

[sir roger]

2 hours ago, No2 said:

It's still a case by case basis which is bollox at this stage. 18 months in there should be rules in place and obligations on clubs to have done everything possible to prevent an outbreak. Last season City had a game called off because they weren't sure on the spread, that's not good enough. Spurs are about to be kicked out of Europe for not being able to fulfill a fixture, that's tough but at least it's a precedent. 

Exactly , this 'having a PL Board meeting every time they get a request ' is ridiculous. Get a set rule in place re numbers and evidence required to call a game off.

[Ronnie Whelan]

1 hour ago, rubble-rouser said:

Given what we know about this disease, the sensible thing would be to have a 2-3 week pause now. People died because they went to a football match less than 2 years ago. Personally I’ve had to jib going to Spurs away and Leicester at home for fear of infecting 

my folks. The whole thing feels totally fucked right now. I’ve been sick for 4 or 5 days, had 4 negative LFTs but have pretty much the full house of symptoms. Waiting for a PCR. You just know there will be people going the match with a cough or cold that turns out to be the virus. First time in a year I’ve felt a bit frightened by it all.
 

Good post and don't disagree with any of that. The only thing I would say is that this virus isn't going anywhere, so the league needs to come up with a plan to work around it - behind closed door games until March or April or whatever it might be and proper rules around postponements.

 

Say we have Fabinho and Robbo isolating with covid, then we should be expected to field a team no more than if City have Ederson and Foden out. If we have a whole team out, then that's a different thing. They need to come up with some kind of plan, because for someone like Newcastle having shitloads of postponements until February makes sense - buy a few top class players in January and that could keep them in the league.

 

 

[rubble-rouser]

55 minutes ago, Ronnie Whelan said:

Good post and don't disagree with any of that. The only thing I would say is that this virus isn't going anywhere, so the league needs to come up with a plan to work around it - behind closed door games until March or April or whatever it might be and proper rules around postponements.

 

Say we have Fabinho and Robbo isolating with covid, then we should be expected to field a team no more than if City have Ederson and Foden out. If we have a whole team out, then that's a different thing. They need to come up with some kind of plan, because for someone like Newcastle having shitloads of postponements until February makes sense - buy a few top class players in January and that could keep them in the league.

 

 

There certainly needs to be consistency. If there are postponements some clubs will lose out and others will win. There’s no way of getting equality of outcome on this issue, but a proper process is needed.

[Bjornebye]

2 hours ago, AngryOfTuebrook said:

I thought the Covid checks at Anfield before the Villa game were as half-arsed as they've ever been: just a bunch of kids in pink hi-viz, standing around gabbing with each other and not checking anybody's pass.

You could have flashed a naked barbie doll and they would have waved you through. The whole thing is a fucking piss take. Either enforce it properly or you may as well not bother at all. I suppose they might think that saying people need negative tests or passes might deter people without either but still... it's a pisstake. 

[Barrington Womble]

14 hours ago, Ronnie Whelan said:

My doctor (old school bluenose) who is sound said to me a few weeks ago that covid could cause a bit of disruption to the calendar in January/February and that was before the new variant. He reckoned it could lead to games behind closed doors - he said the one good thing Covid could do would be giving him a break from watching the blueshite live in person.

 

If we go behind closed doors, that will impact us as Anfield with our current team is worth a goal head start. Even away games impacts our team as we thrive on atmosphere whereas City love the sterile feel of an empty stadium. You would have to think that the likes of Chelsea and City with their huge squads would stand to benefit, but depending on a given game day and players out, they could drop silly points. 

 

I do have a sense we have the most professional bunch of lads around, so while the variant is going to lead to all kinds of outbreaks, our lads seem a little less likely to be going to Kyle Walker style events which might mitigate against some things. Another aspect is that the afcon and south american qualifiers might not go ahead.

 

 

there's always the other team though. you only need that to happen once or twice and your fixture calendar starts to look tough. 

12 hours ago, TheHowieLama said:

Yea, I still think it would be difficult. Think how long opposing players are around each other during a game, it is usually seconds at a time. Maybe 30 seconds at a set piece.

If anything the ref is the most at risk as you have groups of buffoons in his face.

The PL used some AI technique to analyse filming from training sessions prior to training resuming after lockdown 1. That was also their assessment of training too. 

3 hours ago, Ronnie Whelan said:

That's the worry Docker, you could see some clubs seeing an opportunity to drag our fixture out for a few weeks until when we are weaker. Still, in fairness it's hard to see how the afcon or south american wc qualifiers go ahead but fifa are loopier than Boris.

 

It's all going to be a crazy few months. I mean you could get lucky and play Chelsea without 3 or 4 first teamers or equally we could be in that boat. The margins between the top 3 are nothing and sonething like this could cost you a title or hand you a slight advantage.

 

My worry would be fixture congestion come March or April. You would have to think that benefits Chelsea or City more. 

Chelsea will be challenged though as they will lose probably 2 games to the CWC. Despite the size of their squad, I think they will be tested every bit as much as us in 2022. Which perhaps sadly gives city a bit of a clear run. 

3 hours ago, rubble-rouser said:

Given what we know about this disease, the sensible thing would be to have a 2-3 week pause now. People died because they went to a football match less than 2 years ago. Personally I’ve had to jib going to Spurs away and Leicester at home for fear of infecting 

my folks. The whole thing feels totally fucked right now. I’ve been sick for 4 or 5 days, had 4 negative LFTs but have pretty much the full house of symptoms. Waiting for a PCR. You just know there will be people going the match with a cough or cold that turns out to be the virus. First time in a year I’ve felt a bit frightened by it all.
 

you think we should pause football for 2-3 weeks? honestly, this government have achieved their aims of putting the shits up everyone and distracting them from Christmas parties. my mate i was next to at the match v arsenal a few weeks back had covid. none of us around him caught it. most evidence suggests it's almost impossible to catch in outdoor or even well ventilated environments. if we just ensure people don't congregate in the concourses, there really should be no need to suspend any outdoor events. the biggest risk is probably the toilets where it can be very congested and probably has the least ventilation. 

[El Rojo]

We should be forcefully making the point that clubs with a high percentage of players vaccinated shouldn’t lose out to those with much lower percentages vaccinated in any of this. 

[dockers_strike]

3 hours ago, sir roger said:

Exactly , this 'having a PL Board meeting every time they get a request ' is ridiculous. Get a set rule in place re numbers and evidence required to call a game off.

I thought previous season rules were in force such that if you had a goalkeeper, U23s with first team experience and could put a team together, the game was to be played but, it seems the PL are making almost a club by club decisions.

[aws]

They're just biding their time before taking a strong line when we have an outbreak. 

[Chris]

20 minutes ago, aws said:

They're just biding their time before taking a strong line when we have an outbreak. 

 

Just about getting through Christmas isn't it? Then January 2nd, we're (well, the UK) is probably looking at lockdown, sport without fans and a third afflicted season in a row. Supposed to be coming home in Feb for my 40th. Three home games in that period. Hoping to get to Arsenal away, the Darts at the arena in Liverpool. I've pretty much lost hope of being able to do any of it. 

[aws]

1 hour ago, Chris said:

 

Just about getting through Christmas isn't it? Then January 2nd, we're (well, the UK) is probably looking at lockdown, sport without fans and a third afflicted season in a row. Supposed to be coming home in Feb for my 40th. Three home games in that period. Hoping to get to Arsenal away, the Darts at the arena in Liverpool. I've pretty much lost hope of being able to do any of it. 

Maybe not. The latest reports from South Africa are promising - the vaccines may after all be pretty good at stopping serious illness and deaths and the outbreak may already have peaked there. 

[rubble-rouser]

1 hour ago, aws said:

Maybe not. The latest reports from South Africa are promising - the vaccines may after all be pretty good at stopping serious illness and deaths and the outbreak may already have peaked there. 

It’s summer there

[Jairzinho]

12 minutes ago, rubble-rouser said:

It’s summer there

Only about a quarter of their population is vaccinated though. 

[dockers_strike]

Sad sight in the Bundesliga, Stuttgart v Bayern played in an empty stadium. Currently 1-0 to Bayern.

[an tha]

Tests every day to even access training ground

 

Gonna be a shit load of cases and postponements as a result now.

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/59650584