Premier League thread

[MoroccanBlue 5,302]

Nice defeat at Old Trafford to kick start our disastrous season. 

Just can't see where the creativity or goals are coming from. 

[Vesper 28,803]

4 hours ago, NiclasCFC said:

Im talking about Liverpool play their game against Norwich on the 9th of August so they get 2 more days of rest than us.

ahhhh, gotcha!

[MoroccanBlue 5,302]

Who gives an arse. They'd beat us even if we had a week of rest. 

[steve.crowford 5]

Dybala don't want club without CL, so Lukaku-Dybala exchange canceled

[Tom Sharp 1]

Do you think there is any chance of a Chelsea player getting close to winning the golden boot? Tammy Abraham looks like a promising striker but I don't think he has enough experience yet to be challenging the likes of Salah and Aguero. Hopefully though in a few seasons time he will be up there competing for top goal scorer. it would be nice to have a prolific goal scorer as we haven't really had one since Drogba. 

Image Source

[Jase 43,479]

https://www.chelseafc.com/en/news/2019/11/23/referees-boss-admits-var-watford-vs-chelsea-penalty-overrule-a-m

Mike Riley admitted VAR was wrong to give Watford a penalty against us...

[Laylabelle 9,351]

This is so silly. Least it didn't cost. They also said Arsenals goal against Palace shouldn't have been ruled out. 

[MoroccanBlue 5,302]

Mike Dean everyone. Mike Dean. 

[Vesper 28,803]

8 hours ago, Jason said:

https://www.chelseafc.com/en/news/2019/11/23/referees-boss-admits-var-watford-vs-chelsea-penalty-overrule-a-m

Mike Riley admitted VAR was wrong to give Watford a penalty against us...

and said the VAR-given pen to Manure was wrong too

quelle surprise

[Jase 43,479]

https://www.premierleague.com/news/1536719

Man United (h) confirmed on Feb 17, Monday. Our mini winter break will be the week before that.

That means we'll play United, Spurs (h) and Bayern (h) in the space of 9 days in February!

[Laylabelle 9,351]

Oh goodie!!! Be a fun few weeks

[Milan 17,853]

So, the point of the mini winter break was to give EPL teams some rest, before the international tournaments and before the CL knock out games so that the opponents from Europe do not have such an advantage.

And what just happened?

They give us Man United and Tottenham in one week before the first CL knock out game  

[NikkiCFC 7,950]

So we don't have games between 1st February and 17th? I assume players will get around week off. Then we can have mini pre season with new players. 

 

[Vesper 28,803]

2 hours ago, NikkiCFC said:

So we don't have games between 1st February and 17th? I assume players will get around week off. Then we can have mini pre season with new players. 

 

nightmare stretch 

those games will make or break our season perhaps

at least all but Leicester (out of the 5 toughest) are at SB

 

[Laylabelle 9,351]

1 hour ago, Vesper said:

nightmare stretch 

those games will make or break our season perhaps

at least all but Leicester (out of the 5 toughest) are at SB

 

Not that it makes a difference these days unfortunately..

[King Kante 1,476]

Serie A has been suspended and it looks like the PL may have to follow suit shortly. How brilliant would it be if Liverpool couldn't claim the title because the season couldn't be finished? 

[Vesper 28,803]

Adored by Dyche, loved by his team-mates — do not label Chris Wood

https://theathletic.com/1724299/2020/04/06/chris-wood-burnley/

It is too easy to stereotype a player like Chris Wood when you don’t watch Burnley week in, week out. A physical frame, plenty of height — he was already six-feet tall when he was 14 — and Burnley’s long-passing approach makes the label of “target man” seem obvious.

But how do you define a target man? According to the Cambridge Dictionary it is thus: “In games such as football, an attacking player in a central position to whom other players kick long passes. His job as a target man is to hold up the ball long enough to bring his team-mates into play.”

Wood, now 6ft 3in at age 28, arrived in August 2017 from Leeds United as the club’s record signing for a fee believed to be around £15 million, and has achieved double figures in the Premier League every season since. He netted his 11th goal of the current campaign against Tottenham Hotspur in the final game before play was put on hold due to the coronavirus.

But there have been doubters, particularly those on the outside looking in. The New Zealand international has won over his critics in the Turf Moor crowd too — but you won’t find many within the dressing room questioning his value, including manager Sean Dyche.

“He has a lot more to offer than being a target man,” former team-mate and striker partner Sam Vokes tells The Athletic. “He is good with his feet, runs in behind, is very good in the air and a threat in the box.

“There is a stereotype of players of a similar ilk and Chris would tell you that there is a lot of work rate that goes into playing with two up-front. It means there is extra work because you have to make up for that extra man in midfield not being in there.”

Wood’s arrival provided further competition for Vokes and Ashley Barnes, but he was welcomed with open arms by his new team-mates. “It is an easy dressing room to blend in with,” says Vokes, who left for Stoke City in January 2019. The pair were part of a car share to get to training and still have stakes in the racehorse-owning syndicate involving a number of the Burnley players.

“His banter was… questionable,” laughs Vokes. “No, he’s a typical lad at Burnley. He’s honest, down to earth, has a good family behind him. He’s a good guy around the place and brought a lot to the dressing room — and he was a good addition to the car school.”

Vokes enjoyed playing alongside Wood, who is a good communicator on the pitch. Understandings and connections are developed on the training ground. As well as doing shooting drills together, the strikers are taken as a group to work away from the rest of the team. It allowed partnerships like Wood and Vokes to grow and that has been evident since the turn of the year, with Wood and Jay Rodriguez forming an effective pairing, then the latter linking up well with Matej Vydra.

Wood, who signed a contract extension in November taking him up until 2023, made the ideal start to his Burnley career by scoring on his league debut — a 92nd-minute equaliser at Wembley to earn a 1-1 draw with Tottenham. It instantly showed that he had more to offer than being that stereotypical target man, with his ability to run off the shoulder of defenders.

“I had seen him in the Championship, and he had a great season with Leeds (scoring 30 goals) before he joined us,” says Vokes. “He hit the ground running coming on as a substitute and scoring the goal against Tottenham. As a striker I know what it is like joining a new club, so it is always good to get off the mark.”

That was an early example of the threat that Wood poses, showing his burst of speed but also his ability to stretch the play. As Burnley counter-attacked against Tottenham (below), he timed his run to get beyond the defence, receiving a pass from Robbie Brady and finishing coolly.

Frustrations and grumbles can be heard on occasion when Wood is flagged offside. He leads the league with 31 — seven more than second-placed Bournemouth counterpart Callum Wilson. That comes with the territory of playing on the shoulder of the last defender. When you are not blessed with lightning speed, the timing of your run is everything. It is important not to totally dismiss Wood’s speed, though.

Former Burnley player Paul Weller, who now co-commentates on their games for BBC Radio Lancashire, has closely watched Wood’s adaptation to the Premier League. “He will have his critics because he can be offside quite a bit, but not a lot of teams go long and look to break the offside trap,” says Weller.

“It only takes that right timing and he is in. For a big lad, he can move. He has got a change of pace and when he runs in behind, he can open up his legs.

“He’s under-appreciated by some because he does a lot of the donkey work. He is the main striker at Burnley: he plays on the shoulder and stretches the play. It is important because if everybody comes short then the pitch condenses, and it becomes easier to mark.”

The example above shows Wood’s awareness of a situation but also the understanding he has developed with his team-mates.

Instead of dropping short, he realises the opportunity is there to get behind the West Ham defence. He then shows his pace to reach the through ball from Ashley Westwood, forcing Roberto into a reaction save from his powerful drive.

As well as being the one to provide the running behind the opposition defence, Wood plays a big part in the pressing game which has been a very important factor in Burnley’s ongoing seven-game unbeaten run. Alongside Rodriguez, he has led the way as the team pushed high to try to force turnovers.

Grant Holt went through the process of having to adapt to the Premier League after earning promotion with Norwich in 2011. He scored 23 goals in two top-flight seasons at Carrow Road and was similar to Wood and Vokes in style.

Holt refers to a selection of “target man” strikers, such as himself, Glenn Murray, Peter Crouch and Rickie Lambert. All of those mentioned improved when they were older than a striker’s traditional mid-twenties peak, adapting their style and bringing in different elements.

“The biggest thing is you learn as you go. Wood has done that,” says Holt. “He’s learned his game: his touch has improved, he makes more intelligent runs, he uses his body better than he ever has before.

“You can’t just be someone who stands in front and takes the ball in and links play all the time, it is too predictable. You’ve got to have a threat in behind as well and you learn that you possibly make the run a little bit earlier.

“That’s when you tend to naturally find yourself offside a little bit more, like he is, because you’ve got to get on the move to get past them to give yourself that little bit of edge. Being able to do both gives you the ability to play mind games with the centre-back. Yes, he can run in behind, but you can go in to feet or aerially.”

Wood’s ability to drop into areas and link play has continued to develop. Playing those mind games with defenders means they are constantly thinking about what his next move will be. As well as stretching the line of defence with runs towards the goal, he can drop off the line to receive the ball (in areas such as the one against Spurs below) and lay it off, helping advance Burnley up the pitch. The risk for defenders is if they get too tight, Wood can spin to run behind them.

Wood has been able to showcase the different parts to his game throughout the campaign. He still ranks sixth among forwards who have competed in the most aerial battles. It is clear to see a common trend with Sebastien Haller, Troy Deeney, Joelinton, Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Oli McBurnie ranking above him. All are big, physical players.

Wood’s movement means he is consistently putting himself in positions to score goals. He is second among Premier League strikers for most big chances this season with 26 — only Leicester’s Jamie Vardy (29) has more. While that shows his ability to lose his marker, he has also missed the joint third-most big chances with 17 alongside Chelsea’s Tammy Abraham. Only Roberto Firmino of Liverpool and Manchester City’s Gabriel Jesus have missed more.

A key to strikers settling into new surroundings is becoming comfortable with their team-mates. Before he suffered injury against Southampton in February, The Athletic highlighted Wood’s relationship with Rodriguez. Equally, in 2019, his relationship with Barnes proved fruitful, with the pair scoring a combined 30 Premier League goals (15 each) in the calendar year.

Wood is comfortable with those around him. By playing two strikers, Burnley make the jobs of their full-backs and wingers fairly simple. As Vokes explains, one striker will run to the front post and the other to the back.

That’s only part of the job. Movement in the penalty area is also important. Many strikers have a natural instinct to move into the correct area, but for bigger strikers who may not have the quick drop of the shoulder of smaller or nippier players, anticipation is key — the same principle as Holt’s explanation about movement outside the box. Wood has scored all but one of his 31 Premier League goals for Burnley inside the box, highlighting his predatory instincts.

“He is in a team that suits him — they play to his strengths: they get the ball in to him and he has fantastic movement in the box,” says Holt. “It’s not a fluke. He isn’t just big guy who gets on the end of crosses. He makes good runs. He’s got good timing and moves well in the box and that’s the difference.

“People think target men just score goals because they are big. No, it is because they learn how to move in the box. They learn how to move their body, because when the ball comes into the box, the opposition know who the biggest threat is, so it is harder to get away from your marker.”

Wood’s goal in the 2-0 win over Manchester United at Old Trafford in January (below) impressed Vokes. The movement that Holt talks about is in evidence. Wood is much more alert than marker Harry Maguire and makes his movement before Ben Mee has headed it, anticipating a knockdown and reaping the rewards.

His movement is not just about set-pieces and he has shown a number of times this season that it is not always about dropping a shoulder or losing a marker, but timing and knowledge of where a team-mate is going to put a cross — the example below is his goal against Norwich.

It is similar to his movement against United but it is all about timing. His partnership with Dwight McNeil is arguably Burnley’s most important, with the winger providing three assists for Wood’s goals this season. This time, Wood is the only striker in the box so darts to the front post, positioning himself in the blind spot of Grant Hanley. Wood makes his run, Hanley can’t react and he finishes emphatically.

Headed goals are Wood’s bread and butter though — he has scored the most headed goals of any Premier League player since the beginning of the 2018-19 season (11) and also leads the league this time with five.

“His movement isn’t like an Andy Payton (the former Burnley striker who was smaller and speedier) who will drop the shoulder and twist and turn. But when the ball is coming, he knows his angles,” says Weller.

“He is so good in the air that he can win headers when other defenders are challenging with him. We had Gareth Taylor and he was a back-stick player, we knew where he was going to be, and he used to win everything at the back post. That is what Wood is like.”

Wood’s goal in the January loss to Aston Villa was a perfect example of this.

From the image below we can see he is alert and has managed to take up a position on the shoulder of centre-back Ezri Konsa. He then uses his strength and positional advantage to hold Konsa off, while leaping high to head past former Burnley captain Tom Heaton.

“Movement is important, especially when crosses are coming into the box. I knew, and I’m sure Woody is the same, that when you know one of your strengths is in the air,  you have the movement to get away from the defender when the cross is good. Woody has done that a few times this year,” says Vokes.

A target man by label, yes. A target man by definition, no.

Wood brings so much to this Burnley team and that appreciation of his game continues to grow.

[Vesper 28,803]

Inside Liverpool’s U-turn: a ‘leak’, a toxic backlash and real money worries

https://theathletic.com/1721466/2020/04/07/liverpool-furlough-leak-u-turn/

Liverpool had not planned to make an announcement on Saturday afternoon regarding their controversial decision to utilise the UK government’s Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme. “Our hand was forced,” one senior club source told The Athletic.

The Anfield hierarchy believe details were leaked by another Premier League club after what Liverpool understood to be confidential discussions involving top-flight sides about how they intended to handle the effects of the pandemic.

Liverpool’s plan was to wait until Monday to release their statement to ensure that every impacted employee was made aware by the club directly via letter before any public announcement was made.

Little did owners Fenway Sports Group know that the publication of a hastily constructed statement on the club website confirming that some non-playing staff had been placed on furlough would trigger a furious backlash that culminated 48 hours later in a dramatic U-turn and public apology.

In an open letter to supporters on Monday, chief executive Peter Moore said the club was “truly sorry” for coming to the “wrong conclusion” after initially deciding to furlough about 200 employees. Liverpool will no longer seek taxpayers’ money to cover 80 per cent of the wages of staff who are currently unable to work with no matches going on. They would have been claiming about £500,000 per month.

The Athletic understands principal owner John W Henry, chairman Tom Werner (both pictured top) and FSG president Mike Gordon were “shocked” by the torrent of criticism and stung by what they regard as unfair accusations of greed. During a series of conference calls on Monday, they were in full agreement that back-tracking was the best solution to limiting the damage caused by the fallout.

Gordon, who is FSG’s second biggest shareholder after Henry, runs Liverpool on a day-to-day basis and is a popular figure at both Melwod and in the club’s Chapel Street offices. The Milwaukee-born businessman, who divides his time between Merseyside and FSG’s home in Boston, has the final word on everything from sanctioning transfer deals to making senior executive appointments.

Managing director Billy Hogan and Moore answer to him and the trio spoke extensively before the initial decision to furlough was taken last week. From a business perspective, they all felt it was crucial to help ease the current cash-flow issues. All revenue streams have dried up in the current crisis but overheads remain huge and even for a club the size of Liverpool that’s a major headache.

As well as an annual wage bill of £310 million, there are payments on previous transfers due in the coming months. There’s uncertainty over whether TV money will need to be repaid and if the next instalments from global sponsors will be forthcoming given that with no games being played Liverpool are currently unable to fulfil their side of the bargain.

The Athletic has reported there are significant fears that Premier League sides may yet need to repay £762 million to broadcasters should the 2019-20 season not be completed, while the determination to finish the campaign even led to one idea of taking games to China.

The collective commitment to find a way to complete the Premier League season when it’s safe to do so is good news for Liverpool, with Jurgen Klopp’s side on the brink of sealing the title. However, just when football will return remains unclear. Mid-to-late June, with matches initially played behind closed doors, is currently regarded as the most optimistic scenario. Meanwhile, the financial toll will keep growing.

Liverpool’s latest accounts may have shown a pre-tax profit of £42 million but FSG insists those figures are almost a year old and all money generated is reinvested into the club as it constantly looks to balance the books.

There has been no public announcement but The Athletic understands more than a dozen executive staff, including Hogan, Moore and chief operating officer Andy Hughes, voluntarily took a 25 per cent pay cut last week. It was kept quiet as they didn’t want to place the players in a difficult situation as their own discussions over wage reductions continue.

As a major UK taxpayer and one of the biggest employers in the city with a staff of around 800, FSG felt it was entitled to utilise the coronavirus fund to help safeguard jobs.

Bigger companies than Liverpool FC have turned to the government for help and they currently have hundreds of operational, hospitality and catering staff who have no work to do in the continued absence of Premier League football.

Liverpool had already promised to cover the wages of casual Anfield match-day staff for the postponed games in April, which will cost them about £250,000 per match.

The club hierarchy believed criticism of their furlough decision would be mitigated by the fact that, unlike Tottenham Hotspur, they would be topping up the 80 per cent coming from the government with the remaining 20 per cent to ensure that no employee would be left out of pocket.

They were wrong. And the backlash over the weekend was so toxic that The Athletic understands a number of other Premier League clubs who had intended to announce the furloughing of staff have since decided to shelve those plans.

“That kind of thing was almost expected of Daniel Levy and Mike Ashley but you don’t expect Liverpool to go down that same route,” one Liverpool staff member, who asked to remain anonymous, told The Athletic.

“We’re always told we’re part of a family here and that working for Liverpool is different. ‘This means more’ is the marketing slogan. Surely part of that is looking after your own rather than taking government money which would be better spent elsewhere with so many businesses struggling?”

Former Liverpool players including Jamie Carragher and Stan Collymore led the fierce criticism on social media and as one FSG executive in Boston admitted “the bullets really started flying”.

The fact that it became national headline news with government ministers wading into the debate as Liverpool took a battering led to a series of urgent trans-Atlantic calls and a swift rethink. It had been a decision driven by data but the emotion it triggered hadn’t been properly considered.

Influential supporters’ union Spirit Of Shankly (SOS) submitted an open letter to Moore via email on Sunday afternoon demanding a full explanation and expressing concern for “the damage this is causing to our club’s reputation and values”.

On Monday, Moore and Tony Barrett, Liverpool’s head of club and supporter engagement, conducted a series of phone discussions with respected figures in the community. Feedback was collated and then presented to Gordon. There were three separate conversations with Joe Blott, the chair of SOS.

“It wasn’t clear at that stage that the decision would be reversed but I genuinely felt they were listening,” Blott tells The Athletic. “They wanted to gauge where the fanbase was on this. We told them it went right to the heart of the values of the club. I’m thankful we got to this position in the end but it all could have been avoided if supporters had been involved from an early stage.”

Moore also rang the Mayor of Liverpool Joe Anderson and the region’s Metro Mayor Steve Rotheram as well as local MPs Ian Byrne and Dan Carden. Byrne, a lifelong Liverpool fan, tells The Athletic: “Peter asked me what I thought and I told him that I’m in favour of using furlough if it means retaining jobs, as the overriding priority has to be that staff members get paid.

“Everyone was delighted when British Airways went into furlough as it saved jobs but the reality is that football gets judged by a different set of rules. With football clubs, there is a moral side to this.

“If Liverpool were saying, ‘We’re going to furlough for three months, we’re going to get X amount from the government and then we’re going to pay it back further down the line’ — that’s a different argument. The shame for me was that this decision has overshadowed a lot of the great work the club is doing in the local community at this difficult time.

“Football is an easy target for the government and some people are always looking for a reason to give Liverpool a knock. The club gave them an open goal on this one. It’s caused some damage but they’ve done the right thing in the end.”

Manchester City and Manchester United subsequently announced they would not be furloughing staff.

Having assessed all the feedback from Merseyside and done plenty of soul-searching, Gordon sanctioned the U-turn on Monday afternoon as he concluded there had been “a misjudgment” which needed to be reversed. He fed back to Henry and Werner. It was decided that Moore would write an open letter to fans.

There are parallels with February 2016, when FSG scrapped plans to increase ticket prices after 10,000 supporters walked out of Anfield in protest during a game against Sunderland.

On Monday, Moore wrote that Liverpool would find “alternative means” to cover wages rather than furlough during this “unprecedented period”. In the short-term that means dipping into cash reserves but concerns within the club about the impact of this crisis going forward are genuine and growing.

A glaring mistake has been rectified and the damage done has been reduced if not erased.

It’s a fine line between running Liverpool FC as a business and embracing the principles and values that the club’s supporters hold dear. After a torrid 48 hours, FSG acknowledged they fell on the wrong side of it.

Liverpool furlough u-turn - The Reaction

The Athletic's Simon Hughes reacts to Liverpool reserving their controversial decision to furlough non-playing staff. Steve Hothersall and James Pearce are also on the show to discuss the managerial career of club legend Robbie Fowler

https://theathletic.com/podcast/140-the-red-agenda/?episode=21