Topic: Premier League Prediction Thread (EPL) - page 107. (Read 1199174 times)

In response to the they want to cancel everything comment, I got this from a reliable guy I know personally,




Nothing is set in stone and things can change. But again there are very conflicting news and reports saying the opposite to each other.

Amongst the top five leagues in the Europe, only French Ligue I was cancelled. Temporarily, it seems the French government has reacted too strong and strict with the sport events. Anyway, in life everything can happen, decisions can be made and flipped or cancelled later.

Now, we still have hope to see league resumes in England, Germany, Spain, and Italy but there are some sort of odds to see some or all of four leagues will be cancelled. Or the Ligue I will be resumed. No one knows how it will happen. In Netherlands, clubs have made request for Dutch league resume that is against government demand.

About French Ligue I, we have the thread Prediction ligue 1, france football league but no active discussion since May 2019. It's so strange.

But if you check top 4 leagues:
English Football league still not cancelled
Italian Football league still not cancelled
Spain Football league still not cancelled
German Football league still not cancelled

I don't want to belittle the other leagues, but however, the most important decisions come from these top four leagues. much higher turnover of money, therefore, have the greatest impact.

With all respect to all leagues around the world but I can't compare Belgian, Dutch or even French leagues to EPL, Serie A, La Liga +/- Bundesliga.
This may influence the decision to resume or not games but if one of the major leagues is cancelled then it will have a huge impact. Still hoping to see EPL resume...

My guess still stands on this season getting cancelled for the EPL, if it all goes to the worst. But that will also depend on the decisions from the 3 other top leagues (Bundesliga, Seria A and La Liga) which i already feel can easily get cancelled as there were no clear-cut league leaders.

If Bundesliga, Seria A and La Liga got cancelled, there is no way EPL would maintain course.

I do hope the Liverpool Fans' dreams do come true thou.

First this,
And now this; League 1&2 cancellation piles pressure on Premier League as French PM bans all sporting events until August note that they were also paying to restart the season sometime within june just as rumors are spreading everywhere about the premier planning to resume anytime soon.

The saddest part about all this recent development of cancellation of other leagues is that, the clubs that were leading the table aren't been declared champions, what's the fate of Liverpool then, will the premier league follow the footsteps of other leagues?.

Quick reminder;
Belgian Football League cancelled
Dutch Football League cancelled
French Football League cancelled
English Football League ??

Well the bolded part could means alot of things, lots of options to consider. They could stop the league as it is or continue the league behind closed doors

I wouldnt expect alot even if the league start without any crowd at all. Alot of players are staying at home as well and they are not as fit as they was so it could be kinda lame to see they play without any intense training as usual

For boost on morale.  These are extra ordinary times we're going thru.  These company execs have to stop thinking about their pockets for now and give back to the real people who have supported the sport thru think and thin.  And it's not just a sport for most people...

Playing behind closed doors is not the normal setting of a football match, so the league may not have to wait for normalcy to be completely restored. The economy, including football has taken a big hit and would need to resume as soon as it's safe to do so but not a moment before. I've said before that jump-starting the league before we are ready could be catastrophic for the health of the players and staffs and also would have a heavy impact on the league.

I dunno. I'm sure that's what they're genuinely aiming for. Fans will get even more annoyed if they keep giving dates that they can't keep. It also seems UEFA have given the domestic leagues a deadline for the CL and EL league spots:

https://www.skysports.com/football/news/11661/11979886/premier-league-given-until-may-25-for-restart-proposals-by-uefa


https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/52439018


I think things would start to fall apart if they miss those deadlines. Maybe sports will be allowed to be played behind closed doors by then but I'm still sceptical.

Such kind of news give us optimistic feeling and lots of hope but the reality is the virus has still been here, around us, in any nation, and government has to very slowly and gradually open different part of economy and other social activities. Football industry contributes huge money for economy and top leagues should be finished but to say they will be resumes too soon, I don't hope so.

Eventually, we might see top leagues return but maybe 2 or 3 months later but it will be not bad if they return sooner.

It was nothing more than a sugar talk to the fans. It was merely there to keep the fans to hope more for the return and also as well as to keep the atmosphere for premier league alive. Alot of expert predict that the whole pandemic could end on June/July but to get back everything to where it was could take back to almost 6 months

June seems very optimistic to me. I guess it all depends on when the government says it's ok for sports to resume but I can't see that on the horizon anytime soon.


On further reading what I think they mean is that all the games that wouldn't have been shown on TV will be shown free to air and likely Sky and BT will keep their TV rights for the games they were already allocated (assuming they're ok with that). Because the games will likely be behind closed doors it makes sense to show them on TV so at least fans can watch them. Since no tickets will be sold they could probably get away with showing the 3'o clock games as well since showing them on TV obviously wouldn't effect ticket sales given the circumstances. I would be surprised if they do show them free to air though and not sell the rights to someone, though maybe it would be good for the nation and promo for the sport if everyone could watch the matches.

So true. There is not any reason to broadcast them for free as there are existing contracts signed.
And after all, TV channels and teams want the EPL to start again in order to earn money from that. It is about getting money - as it is an industry - it is not about entertaining people for free.

Good news for football lovers, but if read the whole article it's all still under discussion so that when the league starts not ignoring health rules, means not put the players and official in risk also the spectators (if play with spectators)
Players have to start preparing themselves because they have a long time to rest and if they don't prepare properly they will greatly affect their appearance.

Solution; sanitised social distancing training where the shooters (players) will have to sanitize the ball before kicking and the goal keepers sanitize their gloves after catching the ball lol. The whole idea of social distancing is to prevent the spread of the virus, therefore you don't use the excuse of you wanting to keep your team in shape to expose your players (their family members and others they'll come in contact with after they must have finished training for the day) to risk.

Players are encouraged to train indoors and that's enough to keep them in shape and probably before the season resume properly, every/most players will return back to reunite with their teammate and they'll do some practice training in preparation for the upcoming matches.

Good news, kind of -

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2020/apr/27/premier-league-to-meet-as-government-backs-return-as-soon-as-possible

 Training with others using social distancing is still quite valuable. There are a lot of training that involves not getting close to each other at all. For starters you are practicing shooting with a player who is at premier league player and a goalkeeper who is a premier league player, those two can't just go at some home and practice, with the coaches around as well that shooting challange helps both of those, considering at least 10-20 good shooters will be there the goalkeeper is getting practice they can't find anywhere else. Plus you could have passing, you could have crossing, you could have dribbling. You are getting all of these while you are also with coaches who are best in the world, physios who are best in the world and even getting a lunch break maybe with million dollar chefs and nutritionist, so basically all around you are getting best of everything.

 Is that enough? Surely not, nothing would make you be ready like a real game, thats why teams plays friendlies before the seasons start, even if you play a team 10 levels worse than you, nothing beats a real game, not even 11vs11 practice matches, yet right now we can't have anything like that so social distancing trainings are still better than just staying at home or working out alone or working out with family and friends, this is at least a bit better.

The channels are going to make that money one way or another, there is no way they are not going to get anything at all.

Either they will have a chance to air them, and if given the rights they will definitely want to air it, think about a regular game where barely anyone watches on a regular life, and think about a game right now, if the worst teams at premier league plays a game right now and we can watch it, there will basically be a record amount of viewers because we are all stuck at home and quite bored as well.

The other option is contract is voided and there will be a penalty paid to them for not being able to air all the games, sure insurance will cover most of it but channels are making a profit either way. Teams wouldn't want to pay a penalty probably and agree to let them air it even if the contract time is over.

Maybe that is what keeps the players' fitness at a social distance, even though it is not useful, but the team applies it to better the stability of the players so that it will not be more rigid when the season will run.
Whatever it is that the players do at home for training is better than nothing, it will make the player's stamina less stable and therefore in this difficult time of the pandemic anything can be done without doing together.

Maybe they will consider it as a holiday season with family and then practice with it.