***Official*** English Football Season 2020-21

[dontcloseyoureyes]

Eat **** Liverpool

 

[grecian]

3rd round baby, if we need a Coach driver, we'll call you Steve.

 

[sledger]

Love Welbeck

 

[Uppercut]

Such a VAR era penalty. It definitely is one but it is not really a proper foul.

Yeah the unwritten rules sort of evolved to not give those fouls in the box because a penalty is such disproportionate punishment. VAR is messing that equilibrium up.

 

[Lillian Thomson]

Nonsense penalty. Nice rant by Klopp in the interview with Des Kelly though.

 

[GIMH]

I've never bothered to look it up, but does an average Prem player play more than the average EFL player? Obviously we have more league games but some of them have a brutal European schedule. They tend to go further in cups but are able to rotate squads in full. We have an extra cup with rules restricting complete overhauls of the team (though it is easy enough to get around those). They play a lot of international football.

Someone give me the stats ffs

 

[weeman27bob]

I've never bothered to look it up, but does an average Prem player play more than the average EFL player? Obviously we have more league games but some of them have a brutal European schedule. They tend to go further in cups but are able to rotate squads in full. We have an extra cup with rules restricting complete overhauls of the team (though it is easy enough to get around those). They play a lot of international football.

Someone give me the stats ffs

If you assume that Premier League players play the following games:

Teams in European competition (7)

• League games - 38
• European games - 10 (call it 6 group games and then 4 games for qualifying & knockout stages on average)
• Domestic cup games - 6 (some combination of a couple of FA cup and League cup games)
• International games - 10 (looks like about the average England play in a non-tournament year. Assume tournament years broadly balance out with players for top 7 teams who don't play international football)
• Total = 64 games (excluding club friendlies)

Teams not in European competition (13)

• League games - 38
• European games - 0
• Domestic cup games - 4 (some combination of a couple of FA cup and League cup games)
• International games - 6 (assuming a mixture of people who play all international games and people who don't really play)
• Total = 48 games (excluding club friendlies)

Gives you an overall average of 54 games, which without knowing too much about lower league football I'd guess is a couple of games more?

Happy to adjust the numbers a little bit if people think they're wildly incorrect.

 

[grecian]

I've never bothered to look it up, but does an average Prem player play more than the average EFL player? Obviously we have more league games but some of them have a brutal European schedule. They tend to go further in cups but are able to rotate squads in full. We have an extra cup with rules restricting complete overhauls of the team (though it is easy enough to get around those). They play a lot of international football.

Someone give me the stats ffs

International football is an interesting bit, the reason why Vardy and the like give it up, is basically it's a free spa week for them. people say oh it's only 90 minutes less, but it's much more than that..

 

[andruid]

Bamford now undergoing his periodic goal drought. As per schedule

 

[sledger]

If you assume that Premier League players play the following games:

Teams in European competition (7)

• League games - 38
• European games - 10 (call it 6 group games and then 4 games for qualifying & knockout stages on average)
• Domestic cup games - 6 (some combination of a couple of FA cup and League cup games)
• International games - 10 (looks like about the average England play in a non-tournament year. Assume tournament years broadly balance out with players for top 7 teams who don't play international football)
• Total = 64 games (excluding club friendlies)

Teams not in European competition (13)

• League games - 38
• European games - 0
• Domestic cup games - 4 (some combination of a couple of FA cup and League cup games)
• International games - 6 (assuming a mixture of people who play all international games and people who don't really play)
• Total = 48 games (excluding club friendlies)

Gives you an overall average of 54 games, which without knowing too much about lower league football I'd guess is a couple of games more?

Happy to adjust the numbers a little bit if people think they're wildly incorrect.

The travel commitments for players who play in European and/or International competitions can be absolutely massive too. Doesn't impact on the average games played thing obvs, but in terms of impact that must have on fatigue and wear and tear, it just be significant in a lot of cases.

 

[GIMH]

If you assume that Premier League players play the following games:

Teams in European competition (7)

• League games - 38
• European games - 10 (call it 6 group games and then 4 games for qualifying & knockout stages on average)
• Domestic cup games - 6 (some combination of a couple of FA cup and League cup games)
• International games - 10 (looks like about the average England play in a non-tournament year. Assume tournament years broadly balance out with players for top 7 teams who don't play international football)
• Total = 64 games (excluding club friendlies)

Teams not in European competition (13)

• League games - 38
• European games - 0
• Domestic cup games - 4 (some combination of a couple of FA cup and League cup games)
• International games - 6 (assuming a mixture of people who play all international games and people who don't really play)
• Total = 48 games (excluding club friendlies)

Gives you an overall average of 54 games, which without knowing too much about lower league football I'd guess is a couple of games more?

Happy to adjust the numbers a little bit if people think they're wildly incorrect.

A couple of things here.

EFL clubs will play a minimum of 51 games and that's if they exit every cup at round 1. If you reach the playoff final that minimum is 54, and the odds of reaching at least one additional round are probably short. When we went up in L2 2 years back we played 58 games.

But these are all club stats. I would guess that Prem players are more likely to be rotated, not just for cups but also league games. But that stat as an average is probably hard to pull out.

 

[Lillian Thomson]

Did he drag off Salah off today because of the minutes he's played and kilometres he's run were taking him into some hypothetical red zone and nothing to do with the actual game in progress or actual fitness. It's bollox.

Important actual numbers are the Greens into Round 3 and ball number 50 in the draw. Whether there'll still be fans allowed in by January 9th I rather doubt.

 

[sledger]

I see the BBC have suspended a pundit for referring to a scuffle between players as 'handbags'

I mean...wat

 

[Furball]

I've never bothered to look it up, but does an average Prem player play more than the average EFL player? Obviously we have more league games but some of them have a brutal European schedule. They tend to go further in cups but are able to rotate squads in full. We have an extra cup with rules restricting complete overhauls of the team (though it is easy enough to get around those). They play a lot of international football.

Someone give me the stats ffs

Probably not further down the league table but teams in Europe who are also packed with internationals will have players that play loads of games. If you make the group stages then from September to Christmas you basically have no free midweeks once you factor in the League Cup.

Wolves I think played 17 games in Europe alone last season.

 

[Uppercut]

They all play too many games. I think most PL clubs will start effectively throwing all cup matches sooner or later. Liverpool doing it the past couple of seasons and getting a visible advantage in the league and CL might open the floodgates.

 

[Pothas]

Yeah the Championship would be a much better league with 20 teams, the others would as well I would imagine. Would not want to lose clubs from the league although we could probably have a League 3. Understand lost revenue would be a problem as well.

 

[dontcloseyoureyes]

They all play too many games. I think most PL clubs will start effectively throwing all cup matches sooner or later. Liverpool doing it the past couple of seasons and getting a visible advantage in the league and CL might open the floodgates.

Not so sure about that. City noticeably did the opposite for the two years prior and were just as successful.

 

[Lillian Thomson]

I wouldn’t describe City as being “successful” in the CL, certainly nowhere near Liverpool.

 

[Furball]

They all play too many games. I think most PL clubs will start effectively throwing all cup matches sooner or later. Liverpool doing it the past couple of seasons and getting a visible advantage in the league and CL might open the floodgates.

I thought it was amusing that Liverpool tried this in the league cup last season, lost 5 goals to Arsenal and still got through.

 

[dontcloseyoureyes]

I wouldn’t describe City as being “successful” in the CL, certainly nowhere near Liverpool.

City's "lack" of success in the Champions League has very little to do with resting people in domestic cups that they win every season.

2 seasons ago dodgy VAR cost City a semi-final appearance and last season Pep had a mental breakdown.