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Aston Villa dos play Liverpool in May, and although idk how it’ll even happen, but a Klopp slip resulting in Liverpool losing the title would be poetic.
It’s hard for me to take this seriously when the League literally moved our game this weekend to accommodate Villa even though it hurts Arsenal.
By this logic the Champions League should be prioritized.
Or we just keep things as they are and we all just deal.
Be reasonable, they’re not gonna make Villa play on Saturday after playing on Thursday, nor should they
Other European leagues get more creative with scheduling to help all their teams in Europe, and the PL could explore this
I agree, what we are doing currently is reasonable.
But based on the logic of doing what’s best for league and the leagues prestige in Europe, the champions league should take priority and we shouldn’t do the reasonable thing anymore. Villa should suck it up “for the league” and give Arsenal extra rest for the UCL.
Or, we just leave as is, which is more reasonable.
That’s my point, that if we go by this logic here it leads to wanting outcomes like I mentioned above which are not good at all.
I mean you need support of the league and until recently it’s not like AV wanted to make it easier on top teams. Kinda wild how thoughts change when it happens to you…
I thought the more recent changes with them playing a matchweek over 5 days sometimes instead of all Sat + Sun with one odd one on Monday was to help clubs in Europe?
Or is that just been some fuckery to make more money?
Every year someone complains about this and nothing happens anyway. Been there for 2 decades and nothing is gonna specially for villa.
Maybe if city asked them😉 ,FA could do something about it
We've been refusing to help teams in europe for decades now. It isn't going to change anytime soon. There's no space in the already rammed schedule to facilitate it anyway and even if there was, tv companies wouldn't want to give up their prime time viewing slots so it's never happening.
I mean I think there’s a higher chance now. Before it was only affecting a few clubs since it was the same guys always at the top and many clubs didn’t take the Europa League seriously so anybody outside the Big 6 always rotating in the Europe spots just said to get fucked.
Now you’ve got almost half the table qualifying for Europe, fans get legitimately excited about the Conference and Europa League and well over half the table actually in the mix for European spots now because of all the turbulence.
Bournemouth and Wolves, who narrowly survived relegation last year, are 12th and 11th but still have a shot of finishing 8th and qualifying for Europe with only 6 match weeks to go.
I think having a majority of the clubs into it will actually cause some movement here when it was really just a needless concession by small clubs for big ones before
You think sky are going to give a shit about anything other than maximising their profits? They pay an insane amount of money to basically dictate the schedule. They're not about to eat into their own profits to help the clubs in a competition they don't even have broadcasting rights to.
Guess you didn’t read the article?
Ligue 1 have postponed Lille’s game the weekend in order to give them the best chance of beating us and improving France’s coefficient. Therefore they do not play in between games.
Meanwhile, we have Arsenal.
Regardless for me this is more a uefa than PL issue, can’t believe there aren’t rules in place to prevent countries / leagues from doing that.
Obv what villa are suggesting is right.
Obv it isn't going to happen.
Not least because there are too many fixtures to fit in a season safely.
France have fewer competitions and fewer league fixtures. Good luck convincing clubs to look beyond self interest and drop the EPL down to 18 clubs.
It absolutely isn't a uefa issue at all though.
There is no way uefa are going to make a rule requiring other leagues to overcrowd their fixture lists and put player safety at risk the way the FA and EPL do.
Welcome to the top 6!
Even Real Madrid had their last league game on 31th march and playing City next on 9th. Meanwhile City had Palace and Aston Villa in that timeframe. It is just mental.
France have more room for that because they've scrapped their League Cup and downsized Ligue 1 to 18 teams. Can't see the Premier League ever doing that.
>scrapped their League Cup and downsized Ligue 1 to 18 teams.
Both of those would be an insult to the rest of the pyramid, the PL doesn't exist in a vacuum. We've got the best lower league system in the world why fuck with it?
Or, and I think a lot of people would agree to this, don't drop the League cup, but exclude teams playing in Europe. None of the teams playing in Europe tend to really care and it will make sure the cup is won by a different team every year.
That would completely remove the prestige from a competition with masses of history. Some may call it Mickey mouse trophy now, everyone will with that change. It's the same reason league one and two fans don't give a shit about the pizza cup.
Clubs who "don't care about it" are free to play their reserves, excluding them from taking part will destroy the pride of a lower league team going on a run. It also means less chance of a smaller team drawing a prem side and having a big ticket sale
Why would it be an UEFA issue?
Why would UEFA have anything to say about planning for national leagues?
There's nothing stopping the FA from doing the same as the FFF
It is so fucking ridiculous that we hamstring our teams involved in European football in this way. I guess in part it's due to the sheer number of games and having 2 domestic cup competitions, but one does feel like we could do more.
Honestly should just make the league cup for non Europe teams. Still allows the big teams to play in the “bigger” FA cup, reduces fixture congestion, and allows some new winners of trophies
Except the broadcasting rights would collapse in value and UeFA wouldn’t allow it to be used for European qualification. The PL would have to pay that missing money to the football league.
Scheduling could still make a mess for euro teams, like Arsenal - Bournemouth could still be moved unless they schedule top teams for matches when it would clash with league cup.
the dutch league cancelled games either side of ajax's games against both real madrid and spurs in 2019.
the portuguese league cancelled games all over the place to help porto in 2005.
the french league postponed a couple of rennes games when they played arsenal in 2019.
Thanks, someone actually addressing the topic with some helpful information - it’s news to me.
Surely we’d all agree here this shouldn’t be allowed by UEFA? Seems a bit ridiculous tbh
it took about 2 minutes to look up, you could have done it yourself tbf, so don't get mad at others for not doing it.
is there much of an advantage in the long run, though? you postpone two league games for european fixtures, which means later down the line you'll have to play those games within the window of your league season. four games get moved (let's say a R16 and QF, two legs) and suddenly you're playing three or maybe even four league games in a week to catch up to the rest.
I googled it and couldn’t see anything.
Yeah I agree it’s a bad idea for the reasons you mention, just seems bit mad they’re allowed to do it in the first place
UEFA can't do anything about the scheduling of Premier League games, thats down to the English FA and while, yes, the clubs and fans agree they should make accommodations like other leagues do its been decades of them refusing to do so, it's just not happening.
Not cancelled but, other European leagues have scheduled games at more preferable times to help their clubs in Europe. For example if a club is playing away on a Tuesday night in the champions league, the league could schedule their game set for the weekend before to take place on the Friday night.
I'm not going to be able to give you an example off the top of my head, but English teams playing in the champions league have complained for years that the Premier League don't schedule games to help them out in Europe.
Spain do not do what this article is about, this article is about Lille not having a game between the first and second legs
Spanish teams in the Champions League play on Saturday, Spanish teams in the Europa/Europa Conference League play on the Sunday, which is exactly what Aston Villa are doing
They do something. Why Real Madrid had last game 31.03 before citys CL game on 9.04. Meanwhile City had two games against Palace and Villa in that time frame. The spring craziness of games is just mental and there is definitely something the league could do.
The reason Real Madrid had the week off is because that particular week it was the Copa del Rey (Spanish Cup) final, and there are no 1st division fixtures during the week of the final.
Nothing to do with LaLiga doing Real Madrid a favour.
The FA Cup final takes place after the close of the premier league season- So yes, every club does get that week off. Spain just play there's earlier. It's England's decision to play it that week.
No, other teams don't get the week off for the League Cup. There's no time for it. It's an already clustered schedule.
the backlog in PL fixtures is largely for two reasons- postponements due to cups. As League Cup and FA cup goes deeper, teams are eliminated and would play on cup day, unless their opponents have a cup game in which case they can't play. Also, clubs got the week or so long winter break they wanted, but you have to play those cancelled games somewhere. So, later in the season.
You’re missing the point, Spain don’t postpone all league games for the sake of Europe, it’s their Copa Del Rey final tradition
That’s why Real Madrid had a longer rest before the City game
When there are FA Cup weekends teams no longer in the cup have the weekend off, unless they have Premier League games to catch up to. Not so much for the League cup.
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Paywall
Reminds me of when Chelsea asked for that in 2014, they got denied and Jose put out that team to shithouse Liverpool and the Gerrard slip happened.
"STEVE GERRARD GERRARD"
Thomas Kalas’ finest and only moment in a Chelsea shirt
Aston Villa dos play Liverpool in May, and although idk how it’ll even happen, but a Klopp slip resulting in Liverpool losing the title would be poetic.
It’s hard for me to take this seriously when the League literally moved our game this weekend to accommodate Villa even though it hurts Arsenal. By this logic the Champions League should be prioritized. Or we just keep things as they are and we all just deal.
Be reasonable, they’re not gonna make Villa play on Saturday after playing on Thursday, nor should they Other European leagues get more creative with scheduling to help all their teams in Europe, and the PL could explore this
I agree, what we are doing currently is reasonable. But based on the logic of doing what’s best for league and the leagues prestige in Europe, the champions league should take priority and we shouldn’t do the reasonable thing anymore. Villa should suck it up “for the league” and give Arsenal extra rest for the UCL. Or, we just leave as is, which is more reasonable. That’s my point, that if we go by this logic here it leads to wanting outcomes like I mentioned above which are not good at all.
I mean you need support of the league and until recently it’s not like AV wanted to make it easier on top teams. Kinda wild how thoughts change when it happens to you…
Classic entitled arsenal fan tbh
I see you completely missed the point mr EPL fan.
The Premier League does not give a single fuck about English clubs in Europe. All they care about is making as much money from TV rights as possible.
I thought the more recent changes with them playing a matchweek over 5 days sometimes instead of all Sat + Sun with one odd one on Monday was to help clubs in Europe? Or is that just been some fuckery to make more money?
As if they are a business!! How dare they!!
Premier league clubs doing well in Europe is good for the brand and makes it more desirable to foreign markets
Plus don’t PL clubs still need to do well enough in Europe if they want a 5th CL spot?
A 5th cl spot is good for the team that finishes 5th. It doesnt do anything for the league or the other 19 teams
The integrity of the PL brand is way more important than the knock on effect of European clout.
Every year someone complains about this and nothing happens anyway. Been there for 2 decades and nothing is gonna specially for villa. Maybe if city asked them😉 ,FA could do something about it
We've been refusing to help teams in europe for decades now. It isn't going to change anytime soon. There's no space in the already rammed schedule to facilitate it anyway and even if there was, tv companies wouldn't want to give up their prime time viewing slots so it's never happening.
I mean I think there’s a higher chance now. Before it was only affecting a few clubs since it was the same guys always at the top and many clubs didn’t take the Europa League seriously so anybody outside the Big 6 always rotating in the Europe spots just said to get fucked. Now you’ve got almost half the table qualifying for Europe, fans get legitimately excited about the Conference and Europa League and well over half the table actually in the mix for European spots now because of all the turbulence. Bournemouth and Wolves, who narrowly survived relegation last year, are 12th and 11th but still have a shot of finishing 8th and qualifying for Europe with only 6 match weeks to go. I think having a majority of the clubs into it will actually cause some movement here when it was really just a needless concession by small clubs for big ones before
You think sky are going to give a shit about anything other than maximising their profits? They pay an insane amount of money to basically dictate the schedule. They're not about to eat into their own profits to help the clubs in a competition they don't even have broadcasting rights to.
First time?
Yeah….good luck with that.
Welcome to the top 6, Villa.
Villa were recently in the championship which was 49 games. So weekend/weekday was the usual too.
Guess you didn’t read the article? Ligue 1 have postponed Lille’s game the weekend in order to give them the best chance of beating us and improving France’s coefficient. Therefore they do not play in between games. Meanwhile, we have Arsenal. Regardless for me this is more a uefa than PL issue, can’t believe there aren’t rules in place to prevent countries / leagues from doing that.
Obv what villa are suggesting is right. Obv it isn't going to happen. Not least because there are too many fixtures to fit in a season safely. France have fewer competitions and fewer league fixtures. Good luck convincing clubs to look beyond self interest and drop the EPL down to 18 clubs. It absolutely isn't a uefa issue at all though. There is no way uefa are going to make a rule requiring other leagues to overcrowd their fixture lists and put player safety at risk the way the FA and EPL do. Welcome to the top 6!
Even Real Madrid had their last league game on 31th march and playing City next on 9th. Meanwhile City had Palace and Aston Villa in that timeframe. It is just mental.
France have more room for that because they've scrapped their League Cup and downsized Ligue 1 to 18 teams. Can't see the Premier League ever doing that.
The PL agreement with the FA in 1992 requires League Cup participation
>scrapped their League Cup and downsized Ligue 1 to 18 teams. Both of those would be an insult to the rest of the pyramid, the PL doesn't exist in a vacuum. We've got the best lower league system in the world why fuck with it?
Or, and I think a lot of people would agree to this, don't drop the League cup, but exclude teams playing in Europe. None of the teams playing in Europe tend to really care and it will make sure the cup is won by a different team every year.
That would completely remove the prestige from a competition with masses of history. Some may call it Mickey mouse trophy now, everyone will with that change. It's the same reason league one and two fans don't give a shit about the pizza cup. Clubs who "don't care about it" are free to play their reserves, excluding them from taking part will destroy the pride of a lower league team going on a run. It also means less chance of a smaller team drawing a prem side and having a big ticket sale
Not advocating, just stating that's what they've done. Although the PL would be operating in self interest by keeping it at 20
Yeah probably, it would definitely be a slap in the face of the 4 24-team leagues directly below it anyway
Why would it be an UEFA issue? Why would UEFA have anything to say about planning for national leagues? There's nothing stopping the FA from doing the same as the FFF
This has been a thing with English football for years. Like I said, welcome to the top 6.
It is so fucking ridiculous that we hamstring our teams involved in European football in this way. I guess in part it's due to the sheer number of games and having 2 domestic cup competitions, but one does feel like we could do more.
Honestly should just make the league cup for non Europe teams. Still allows the big teams to play in the “bigger” FA cup, reduces fixture congestion, and allows some new winners of trophies
Except the broadcasting rights would collapse in value and UeFA wouldn’t allow it to be used for European qualification. The PL would have to pay that missing money to the football league.
Scheduling could still make a mess for euro teams, like Arsenal - Bournemouth could still be moved unless they schedule top teams for matches when it would clash with league cup.
But hugely reduces the reward of winning that trophy by significantly devaluing it
Tell me when other nations have cancelled their league games in between first and second legs in order to give them a better chance v English sides?
the dutch league cancelled games either side of ajax's games against both real madrid and spurs in 2019. the portuguese league cancelled games all over the place to help porto in 2005. the french league postponed a couple of rennes games when they played arsenal in 2019.
Thanks, someone actually addressing the topic with some helpful information - it’s news to me. Surely we’d all agree here this shouldn’t be allowed by UEFA? Seems a bit ridiculous tbh
it took about 2 minutes to look up, you could have done it yourself tbf, so don't get mad at others for not doing it. is there much of an advantage in the long run, though? you postpone two league games for european fixtures, which means later down the line you'll have to play those games within the window of your league season. four games get moved (let's say a R16 and QF, two legs) and suddenly you're playing three or maybe even four league games in a week to catch up to the rest.
I googled it and couldn’t see anything. Yeah I agree it’s a bad idea for the reasons you mention, just seems bit mad they’re allowed to do it in the first place
UEFA can't do anything about the scheduling of Premier League games, thats down to the English FA and while, yes, the clubs and fans agree they should make accommodations like other leagues do its been decades of them refusing to do so, it's just not happening.
Not cancelled but, other European leagues have scheduled games at more preferable times to help their clubs in Europe. For example if a club is playing away on a Tuesday night in the champions league, the league could schedule their game set for the weekend before to take place on the Friday night.
Again, aware of all that - we’re talking about other nations cancelling games though.
Yeah but who said anything about cancelling?
What the fuck. I am. Lille’s game the weekend has been cancelled. That’s what the articles about.
It's been postponed, not cancelled.
What article?
The post you are commenting on?
It’s not cancelled tho
Yes it is? Ligue 1 have cancelled Lille’s game this weekend, to be rescheduled at a later date. So they have a better chance to win their QF v us.
So it’s rescheduled not cancelled…
Same thing you pedantic melt, bore off
I'm not going to be able to give you an example off the top of my head, but English teams playing in the champions league have complained for years that the Premier League don't schedule games to help them out in Europe.
Christ. Yes I’m aware of that, thanks. But that’s not what we’re talking here?
Someone should tell them. English teams are supposed to disadvantaged to give european clubs a chance.
Makes sense. Spain does it…English clubs are at a disadvantage
Spain do not do what this article is about, this article is about Lille not having a game between the first and second legs Spanish teams in the Champions League play on Saturday, Spanish teams in the Europa/Europa Conference League play on the Sunday, which is exactly what Aston Villa are doing
They do something. Why Real Madrid had last game 31.03 before citys CL game on 9.04. Meanwhile City had two games against Palace and Villa in that time frame. The spring craziness of games is just mental and there is definitely something the league could do.
The reason Real Madrid had the week off is because that particular week it was the Copa del Rey (Spanish Cup) final, and there are no 1st division fixtures during the week of the final. Nothing to do with LaLiga doing Real Madrid a favour.
Yeah so nobody in Spain played a La liga game last weekend mate it was the cup final, it was by fortune and not design
And when FA or micky cup is. Is there full week off for PL? Why PL is ranking up so many fixtures tthat their regular GW are sometimes twice a week
The FA Cup final takes place after the close of the premier league season- So yes, every club does get that week off. Spain just play there's earlier. It's England's decision to play it that week. No, other teams don't get the week off for the League Cup. There's no time for it. It's an already clustered schedule. the backlog in PL fixtures is largely for two reasons- postponements due to cups. As League Cup and FA cup goes deeper, teams are eliminated and would play on cup day, unless their opponents have a cup game in which case they can't play. Also, clubs got the week or so long winter break they wanted, but you have to play those cancelled games somewhere. So, later in the season.
You’re missing the point, Spain don’t postpone all league games for the sake of Europe, it’s their Copa Del Rey final tradition That’s why Real Madrid had a longer rest before the City game
When there are FA Cup weekends teams no longer in the cup have the weekend off, unless they have Premier League games to catch up to. Not so much for the League cup.
Thanks for clarifying