The English Football Thread

[Vytis33 1,041]

If play doesn't resume I can't see just handing Pool the league (in spite of their point lead) without also locking the top 4 right where it's at.  So we'd be in. 

 

Or just void the whole thing and no champion, no relegation/promotion, and Champions League spots go to same clubs as this year.  And we'd be in again (with no title for you know who)...

 

 

[11Drogba 2,000]

 

[NikkiCFC 7,561]

If games are not played till the end nothing can be decided. Who gets promotion? Who gets relegated? 

Liverpool won't get title. In 39-40 season Blackpool was 1st before season got cancelled because of WW2. 

3 or 29 rounds is completely irrelevant. 

Our most important goal was to get CL next season and we are safe in any case. We are top4 now, we were top4 last season. 

[NikkiCFC 7,561]

Former Chelsea doctor Eva Carneiro reveals how footballers are vulnerable to coronavirus

https://www.givemesport.com/1554721-former-chelsea-doctor-eva-carneiro-reveals-how-footballers-are-vulnerable-to-coronavirus

[NikkiCFC 7,561]

United last 11 games: 8 wins, 3 draws. 29 goals scored, just 2 conceded (and one is DDG howler)!

Top defense! Bruno gave them creativity. Next season with couple of new signings they will fight for title. 

People make fun of OGS but he is doing great job. I can see him staying there for years if not full decade.

[communicate 2,703]

9 hours ago, NikkiCFC said:

United last 11 games: 8 wins, 3 draws. 29 goals scored, just 2 conceded (and one is DDG howler)!

Top defense! Bruno gave them creativity. Next season with couple of new signings they will fight for title. 

People make fun of OGS but he is doing great job. I can see him staying there for years if not full decade.

After 200 m pound investment in one season, title contention is minimum yet they are still in outside top 4

[Vesper 27,282]

11 hours ago, NikkiCFC said:

United last 11 games: 8 wins, 3 draws. 29 goals scored, just 2 conceded (and one is DDG howler)!

Top defense! Bruno gave them creativity. Next season with couple of new signings they will fight for title. 

People make fun of OGS but he is doing great job. I can see him staying there for years if not full decade.

yes, especially as they will add more in the summer, i truly fear them next year

I watched their EL game (granted against a semi-shit team) and they are on a new level

Fred has been amazing, his turnaround is near complete

if they get Sancho and add in a WC CB (I do think they make a hard play for KK, his age be damned) and then replace Pogba with a WC MF like SMS, we are #sofucked

Brandon Williams is starting (not there yet but is on the path) to look like their LB for the next 10 years plus 

[Vesper 27,282]

[Vesper 27,282]

happy b-day to Diego Carlos as well, exact same age as Pogba

superb CB too, late bloomer

Thiago Mendes of Lyon as well, he is 28 today

[Laylabelle 9,292]

5 hours ago, communicate said:

After 200 m pound investment in one season, title contention is minimum yet they are still in outside top 4

Only just though. We've slipped enough to let them back in. All takes is us to lose a game and them to win and they'll be there. 3 points is nothing.

[communicate 2,703]

1 hour ago, Laylabelle said:

Only just though. We've slipped enough to let them back in. All takes is us to lose a game and them to win and they'll be there. 3 points is nothing.

I completely agree, I think they are in prime position to get top 4 but that can't be their target, they should not compete with us,they should compete with city and pool. 

 

[Laylabelle 9,292]

1 hour ago, communicate said:

I completely agree, I think they are in prime position to get top 4 but that can't be their target, they should not compete with us,they should compete with city and pool. 

 

True but this season no one is competing with Liverpool. City should be but way way off. Who knows maybe next season add a few players they'll be up there hard to predict. Just case of our slip up happen same time they get together.

I cant see this season being written off. Looking more and more likely be delayed more then anything. Guess the next meeting shed more light 

[communicate 2,703]

30 minutes ago, Laylabelle said:

True but this season no one is competing with Liverpool. City should be but way way off. Who knows maybe next season add a few players they'll be up there hard to predict. Just case of our slip up happen same time they get together.

I cant see this season being written off. Looking more and more likely be delayed more then anything. Guess the next meetg shed more light 

If they keep spending they will. I have said it a long time ago, with ffp, united as the richest team in England has the upper hand. Eventually they will get back to the top. 

I honestly can't predict what will happen this season. I have stated my prediction but that IF the situation get under control in maybe 1 month. I can see them trying to play in close door first. But if it last more than 2/3 months. I don't know

 

[Fulham Broadway 16,385]

Top sports lawyers believes that unless games can start again in April, then the game’s governing bodies could be forced into cancelling the season and starting it again. This applies to ALL competitions. Unlucky Liverpool....

[chippy 342]

23 hours ago, Laylabelle said:

 

I cant see this season being written off. Looking more and more likely be delayed more then anything. Guess the next meeting shed more light 

As we know the virus is going to become much more widespread over the next few months, so unless matches are played behind closed doors this season will have to be made void.

Hopefully, things will be better by the start of next season.

 

[NikkiCFC 7,561]

Liverpool title aside, they deserve it. But I am curious to see how they will put Man.Utd in the CL next season because they are trying to do it so hard past few weeks/months...

[OneMoSalah 8,611]

I hope they do make the season null and void.

No Liverpool title win. No Leeds getting promoted. No CL and Europa League.

It may seem unfair on Liverpool but at the same time its not fair on everyone who can still finish in the top 4-8 places either. Especially considering how well Wolves and Sheffield have done too this season.

Wait and see the media will be calling it an absolute travesty if the season is null and void. Jamie Carragher will be crying for the next 10 years about it on Sky and in his column. Although Klopp had a statement out saying health and life is more important than football matches so wonder if his opinion will change if the seasons finished and no trophies are won due to this virus.

 

[Vesper 27,282]

Fantasy Premier League: the team of the 2019-20 season (so far)

https://theathletic.com/1674420/2020/03/14/fantasy-premier-league-team-of-the-season-so-far/

With the news that there will be no Premier League football until April 4 at the earliest, I’m going to take stock of the Fantasy Premier League season so far for this week’s column, delving into the underlying statistics of the top-performing players after 29 gameweeks. 

Hopefully, it won’t be too long before we are making transfers and picking captains again…

Goalkeeper

Nick Pope (Burnley) 128 points

Burnley goalkeepers have performed well in FPL over the last few seasons and Pope is no different this year. He’s proved to be a bargain for those who got him for £4.5m way back in Gameweek 1. Selling him on my first wildcard was one of the few mistakes I’ve made this season. Bringing him back in with my second wildcard was a good move. Reversing mistakes is an important aspect of FPL. Don’t be stubborn.  

Pope has kept 11 clean sheets and earned 17 bonus points, the most in each category by any goalkeeper. He ranks seventh among goalkeepers for saves made (89) and keeping out Jamie Vardy’s penalty in GW23 boosted his points total. The only players to have saved two penalties this season are Tim Krul and Rui Patricio. 

In 2017-18, Pope received 19 bonus points on his way to a 152-point season. He’s on course to have his best FPL season to date.

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Defenders

It’s no surprise to see three Liverpool players sitting at the top of the defenders’ chart. The Reds have recorded the most clean sheets (12) and conceded the fewest goals (21). Couple that with the ability of their defenders to get attacking points and you’ve got the most attractive defensive options in the game. 

Jurgen Klopp’s side have conceded just 83 shots on target and boast the lowest xGC (expected goals conceded) in the division (27.79). 

Trent Alexander-Arnold (Liverpool) 166 points

Andy Robertson’s record of 213 points (the highest ever score for a defender in an FPL season) is under threat this time round from his team-mate Alexander-Arnold. He has featured in every league game, scoring two goals and providing 14 assists. And he’s also got more bonus points (18) than any other defender this season.

One of the highlights of 2019-20 for his owners was the match away to Leicester in GW19. A goal, three assists, a clean sheet and maximum bonus points rewarded loyal managers with a whopping 24 points. 

FPL legend John Lundstram (38) is the only defender to have had more goal attempts than Alexander-Arnold (36). The 21-year-old has taken 132 corners, only four players have taken more, all of whom are midfielders. His set-pieces account for a large proportion of his 75 chances created, a statistic that only Kevin De Bruyne (96) can beat. Trent’s xA (expected assists) for the season is 8.36, which is unsurprisingly the highest among defenders.   

Virgil van Dijk (Liverpool) 141 points

Another Liverpool defender having a great fantasy season is Van Dijk. The Dutchman has four goals, one assist and 12 bonus points to his name. 

Having played every minute of every league game, he has one more clean sheet than Alexander-Arnold and Robertson. He is one of only five defenders to have played every minute, with Conor Coady (Wolves), Harry Maguire (Man United), James Tarkowski and Ben Mee (both Burnley) being the others.  

The towering centre-back always looks a threat when he goes forward for set-pieces. He’s registered 23 goal attempts and 10 of them have been on target, which ranks second among defenders behind Wolves’ Matt Doherty (15). 

Andrew Robertson (Liverpool) 137 points

The dream team defence is completed by “Robbo”. Last season’s top-scoring defender is enjoying another productive campaign with one goal and seven assists (he managed 12 assists in 2018-19). Alexander-Arnold is the only defender to have received more bonus points than Robertson’s 15.   

The Scotland captain has featured in all but one of Liverpool’s league matches, missing out on the most recent one against Bournemouth. He’s picked up just one yellow card all season which helps a lot in terms of bonus points. 

Bombing forward from left-back he has created 43 chances, the third-best for defenders behind Alexander-Arnold and Everton’s Lucas Digne (58) in second. Nine of Robertson’s chances created were deemed big chances by Opta, which is bettered only by Alexander-Arnold. Doubling up on the Liverpool full-backs has been successful at certain stages of the season! 

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Midfielders

Mohamed Salah (Liverpool) 186 points

Salah leads the way at the top of the FPL scoring charts and looks set to make it three seasons running as the top points scorer. His team-mate Sadio Mane looks the most likely to stop him from completing the hat-trick.

The Egyptian has scored 16 goals (more than any other midfielder), provided six assists and received 23 bonus points. 

Raul Jimenez (99) is the only player in the league who has fired off more shots than Salah (98). Shots from inside the box is a key metric I always look to for FPL and Salah has 81 of them this season, the most in the division. Forty-three of the former Chelsea man’s attempts have been on target, which is again the best in the league. 

When it comes to chance creation, Salah ranks ninth among midfielders having created 46 chances. He’s touched the ball 248 times in the opposition penalty area, surprise, surprise, the highest number of any player. 

Penalty-taking responsibility attracts FPL managers to players and Salah has scored all three he has taken this season. Salah’s xG (expected goals) of 14.43 ranks second behind Manchester United’s Marcus Rashford’s (14.94). Rashford has taken seven penalties which accounts for a lot of his xG.   

Kevin De Bruyne (Manchester City) 178 points

The best player in the league (in my opinion) is smashing it in FPL. After just 29 gameweeks, he’s got eight goals and 18 assists, identical numbers to his best-ever season (2017-18) where he finished on 209 points. He’s well on course to beat his previous best. He needs three more assists to equal his record of 21 from 2016-17. 

De Bruyne managed just 968 minutes of game time last season due to injuries but he has missed just two games this time around with City losing both of those matches, 2-0 to Wolves and Manchester United. City simply haven’t been anywhere near as good when De Bruyne has been absent. 

The Belgian has registered 76 goal attempts and created an astonishing 96 chances. He’s also taken 144 corners, the most in the league alongside Leicester’s James Maddison. 

De Bruyne ranks first for final-third touches with 1,136 so it’s no surprise that he’s also first for xA (10.78). To top it off, he’s racked up 23 bonus points, the same as Salah.   

Sadio Mane (Liverpool) 175 points

Double GW24, 2019-20, will never be forgotten by those managers who triple-captained Mane only to see him hobble off after 32 minutes against Wolves then miss the West Ham game through injury. The scars from getting three points from your triple captain chip take a long time to heal…

Aside from that disastrous gameweek, Mane has been an excellent FPL asset this season, with 14 goals, nine assists and 22 bonus points.  

He’s fired off 60 shots, 51 of them from inside the box. Salah has taken 38 more shots than Mane but has just two more goals. One thing Mane has over Salah is his ability in the air. Mane has recorded 17 headed goal attempts to Salah’s six. Richarlison has the most headed attempts (23) among midfielders.  

Mane is joint-top in the midfielder’s chart for big chances (23) alongside Raheem Sterling. In terms of chance creation, Mane ranks 15th among midfielders with 41. He’s fourth for penalty area touches (164) and has an xG of 11.93.   

Richarlison (Everton) 133 points

Richarlison is a name very few would have tipped to make it into the team of the season but here he is. The Brazilian has 10 goals, five assists and 13 bonus points. 

He ranks third behind Salah and De Bruyne for shots with 72, fifty-six of them from inside the box. The former Watford attacker has touched the ball in the opposition box 155 times which ranks fifth among midfielders. Since Carlo Ancelotti took over at the end of December he has four goals and two assists.

Can he keep his place in the team of the season come GW38 (whenever that may be) is the big question? He’s certainly flown under the radar to some extent this year.

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Forwards 

Jamie Vardy (Leicester City) 167 points

Vardy remains at the top of the Premier League goalscoring chart despite not scoring for 10 Gameweeks before his brace from the bench against Aston Villa on Monday night. In addition to his 19 league goals, he has chipped in with six assists and has been awarded 27 bonus points.

The 33-year-old has had more big chances (28) than any other player and has scored four of his five penalties, missing against Burnley in January. He’s outperformed his xG (14.18) but Vardy has always been like that, he doesn’t need many chances to find the back of the net as we witnessed against Villa: two shots, two goals. He will take some stopping in the race for the golden boot.   

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (Arsenal) 152 points

Aubameyang has Vardy in his sights. The Arsenal man has 17 goals, three assists and tops the league for bonus points with 29. 

Despite spending a lot of time on the wing and being forced to track back, he has still managed to put the ball in the back of the net on a regular basis. His number of crosses this season (72) sums up his position on the pitch for most of the campaign. Watford’s Gerard Deulofeu (96) is the only forward to have sent in more crosses and that’s largely down to him taking corners.

No matter how ineffective Aubameyang might look when you watch an Arsenal game, he always finds a way to score, much to the frustration of his non-owners. He’s well down the rankings in terms of xG for forwards in 13th with 10.41, which makes his tally of 17 goals even more impressive. 

Raul Jimenez (Wolves) 147 points

Jimenez is the main man when it comes to forward stats this season. He’s top for shots (99), shots in the box (78), headed goal attempts (22) and xA (4.53). It’s crazy to think he’s had 40 more shots than Vardy. 

In GW1, many believed a price tag of £7.5m was too high but he’s made a mockery of it, scoring 13 goals, providing six assists and racking up 23 bonus points. 

The best thing about Jimenez is his ability to create chances as well as score them. His 42 chances created is a figure bettered only by Deulofeu (44). Liverpool’s Roberto Firmino (184) is the only forward who has had more penalty area touches than Jimenez (171) and the Mexican has scored all three penalties he’s taken and has an impressive xG of 14.10. 

So, here is the team is in all its glory. Hats off if you’ve had a strong core of that XI…

To listen to Mark’s podcast, The 59th Minute FPL Podcast, which is part of The Athletic’s podcast offering, click here. You can also follow Mark on Twitter @FPLGeneral or at patreon.com/fplgeneral