General Premier League Thread 2023-24 Mod Note in op 27/6/23 And 21/05/24

I have just seen the Keane thing played back - what an embarrassment.

Doesn't look as if Virgil was too wrong in anything he said, but Roy's quote about 1 title in 30 years sounds pitiful, at best.

It's just creating drama for the content as there was little to build on from the actual game.

One team came to play and Liverpool were unfortunate with their finishing. Same thing in essence as the recent Arsenal vs Villa game where one team dominated with the other just hanging on. Nothing wrong with playing like that but have to be prepared to face the criticism.

Thought the United performance was a poor reflection on the players once more.

They put everything into defending like their lives depended upon, lots of blocks and last ditch tackles. They were unified and determined not to concede, but that isn't the norm.

Next week they'll be back to strolling around and sticking out a leg here and there conceding ridiculous goals.

We still await the great reset.

You are reading into it way too much. Keane knows exactly what he is doing in generating social media soundbites for Sky.

It is nothing more or less than that.

I just came in to say similar.

I still put City as favourites. They are the only team in the current guise, when they have enough players fit, who I feel can go on a 12 games stretch of wins. Now, there is a possibility that they might not be capable of it for whatever reason this season, but because they can, until they're double digits out of reach having played the same amount of games as Arsenal, I'll still have them as the most likely to win it.

People can't sleep on KDB coming back either. if he comes back at even 80% that midfield is all of a sudden levels above.

In that context, Arsenal need to win on Saturday in my opinion. Make another statement. Their first statement was actually beating City earlier in the season. The next one needs to be beating an elite team to really put the pressure on - it'd extend the lead while City can't respond, while also also confirming to the rest of the league that they really can be the best team in the country.

I also expect them to sell Phillips and buy two first team starters for MF now that Nunes and Kovacic haven't worked yet and they'll be the back ups.

What's the craic with Paquetá's gambling investigation thing? Is that all done now, or is it still hanging over him? He was City's first choice ahead of Nunes, so if his situation is less complicated now, could see them going back in for him. Could even see them going in for André also if he equips himself well against them in the WCC final, just to have him developing in the background, filling Phillips spot.

Don’t think Pep would have any interest at all in Palhinha. Pep wouldn’t have much time for pure destroyers, no matter how good they are at it. Paqueta is also filling a very different hole than the Phillips one, but if Pep is cutting his losses on Nunes and Kovacic, he may go there.

You don’t get yellow/red cards for having timewasted in the past.

That free kick for the Maupay barge/Martinez theatrics was actually the only set piece Martinez even took after we went in front, but don’t let yesterdays facts get in the way of the overall picture you’ve built around the 2023 Yashin winner/all round nice guy.

Did he not get booked 7 or 8 times last year for time wasting, which is a fairly hard thing to actually get booked for?

He could do with honing his game management a la Pickford/Pope if he actually wanted to perfect that skill. Martinez takes it too far being his panto villian character which is a shame as he is probably the 3rd best keeper in the league and simply doesn't need that gimmick.

Time wasting would be so easy to eradicate but there is no appetite to. When was the last time a keeper was called for 6 seconds? When was the last time someone was booked for taking too long over a throw? When was the last time a keeper was sent off for taking too long over a goal kick when on a yellow?

Put strict time limits on these things. Otherwise the other team get the ball. Works in every other sport.

Sensible rule change, moreso the injury one, would likely reduce the number of feigned injuries in the late stages of games.

If a player is badly injured then they will likely require additional treatment and / or having to come off. Opposition players cannot decide whether they are going to make a red or yellow card tackle so its highly improbable they would set out to deliberately do an opponent as they run the risk of being sent off.

Steve Cooper sacked as Forest boss,to be replaced by Nuno Espirito Santo

They wouldn't be very bright in that case.

Further reading of the MLS rules include stipulations such as

"Exceptions include head injuries, goalkeeper injuries, serious medical events and yellow/red card fouls."

So the idea of a player perfectly judging a foul to just injure the player enough so he is down for 16 seconds while simultaneously avoiding a red card to leave it 10 vs. 10 is both unlikely and also completely irrelevant anyway. They'd be sent off and the injured player can get his treatment.

Which does actually make sense when reading what @El Gato De Negocios originally posted. If there has been an actual foul the referee will have already stopped play to award the free/penalty, thus not triggering these new rules as he isn't stopping the play for the injury but rather the foul.

And any player leaving injured is exempt from the substitution timings as there is no time limit on receiving his treatment.

So it seems the only way a team would end up down a player for 2 minutes is if an unfouled player is down injured for over 15 seconds causing the referee to stop play BUT is then found to actually NOT be injured bad enough in the eyes of his own medical team to need to be replaced immediately.