Sportsbet.io's English Premier League Football Pool Discussion Thread

[slaman29]

Wales, and Scotland probably the only exceptions. Some sour tastes in the mouth of Welsh people in particular with the Aberfan incident. Other than that she's probably well respect, and it seems a lot of Americans adored her for what ever reason that may be. She was a big draw in terms of tourism, and I don't think we'll get that with Charles.

Judging by how Royal Mail was on strike today, but now are in work. I'd say the Premier League would be unaffected. Like I said, just moments of silence, and probably a lot of her name mentioned. They'll probably have a few graphics up, and a bit of history before the games too.

EDIT: Never mind, all sporting events in the UK have been postponed. Source: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/62846756

I have met actually one Scottish person and plenty of Irish persons (in oil and gas there are a lot of them which was my old work) who actually not only don't care about the royals in UK but actually dislike them a lot. I have to admit I don't know much about Welsh people and how they feel, but yeah I think in this particular case, she is well respected. Usually about incidents they blame the Prime Minister (but police violence in the past usually that's the royal blame, at least in my country it is, because our police has "Royal" in front of their names.

Just take this break, I do feel Liverpool need it a lot!!

Too be fair maybe it is best to cancel all big happenings from simple practical point of view, I don't think rest of the world really understands how much of a stress on London traffic and institutions will this event have. I know I don't and I was quite surprised when reading related articles today.

I agree. It's such a big thing that even traffic might lead to violence later when matches can't fill up. Then again, in our biggest demonstrations when streets were blocked, they just made the football games even more fun to watch

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[KTChampions]

Yes, I agree. And I would say that such total cancellations really make me angry. I am not against formal gestures like a minute of silence that do not affect anything, but such a scrapping of familiar life for everyone who is not directly related to the queen is complete nonsense. It is like a reminder to the serfs of their place in life. The master said to grieve, so you need to grieve.

That is not even the biggest problem. There are many people that bought tickets for PL games and traveled from far to see their favorite team play. There was some guy on twitter saying that he flew from Australia with his son, a big United fan. It was supposed to be first time boy sees his favorite club play and they paid a shitload of money for tickets to get there. Don't know if that story is true but I am sure there is many similar out there.

Too be fair maybe it is best to cancel all big happenings from simple practical point of view, I don't think rest of the world really understands how much of a stress on London traffic and institutions will this event have. I know I don't and I was quite surprised when reading related articles today.

When I wrote about my anger, I meant such consequences too. For those who are close to the Queen, mourning is normal and won't affect their lives much, but for those who are far from those circles, the consequences can be severe (like that guy from Australia). And in general, it infuriates me that someone orders others how to grieve. I doubt that if there was a referendum, people would vote for such mourning.

[Trofo]

Yes, I agree. And I would say that such total cancellations really make me angry. I am not against formal gestures like a minute of silence that do not affect anything, but such a scrapping of familiar life for everyone who is not directly related to the queen is complete nonsense. It is like a reminder to the serfs of their place in life. The master said to grieve, so you need to grieve.

That is not even the biggest problem. There are many people that bought tickets for PL games and traveled from far to see their favorite team play. There was some guy on twitter saying that he flew from Australia with his son, a big United fan. It was supposed to be first time boy sees his favorite club play and they paid a shitload of money for tickets to get there. Don't know if that story is true but I am sure there is many similar out there.

Too be fair maybe it is best to cancel all big happenings from simple practical point of view, I don't think rest of the world really understands how much of a stress on London traffic and institutions will this event have. I know I don't and I was quite surprised when reading related articles today.

When I wrote about my anger, I meant such consequences too. For those who are close to the Queen, mourning is normal and won't affect their lives much, but for those who are far from those circles, the consequences can be severe (like that guy from Australia). And in general, it infuriates me that someone orders others how to grieve. I doubt that if there was a referendum, people would vote for such mourning.

As far as I understood this situation, royal family did not demand postponement of PL or any other happenings like concerts. That was the decision of organizing bodies since they believed situation in a country is maybe too problematic organize everything without problems. As I already said, seems a bit unreal to me and I would like to hear opinion from somebody living in London.

I was also surprised that Brighton had to postpone their match cause of railroad strike, seems like total nonsense if you don't know the context of getting to Brighton stadium and their rivalry with C. Palace.

[swogerino]

Yes, I agree. And I would say that such total cancellations really make me angry. I am not against formal gestures like a minute of silence that do not affect anything, but such a scrapping of familiar life for everyone who is not directly related to the queen is complete nonsense. It is like a reminder to the serfs of their place in life. The master said to grieve, so you need to grieve.

That is not even the biggest problem. There are many people that bought tickets for PL games and traveled from far to see their favorite team play. There was some guy on twitter saying that he flew from Australia with his son, a big United fan. It was supposed to be first time boy sees his favorite club play and they paid a shitload of money for tickets to get there. Don't know if that story is true but I am sure there is many similar out there.

Too be fair maybe it is best to cancel all big happenings from simple practical point of view, I don't think rest of the world really understands how much of a stress on London traffic and institutions will this event have. I know I don't and I was quite surprised when reading related articles today.

When I wrote about my anger, I meant such consequences too. For those who are close to the Queen, mourning is normal and won't affect their lives much, but for those who are far from those circles, the consequences can be severe (like that guy from Australia). And in general, it infuriates me that someone orders others how to grieve. I doubt that if there was a referendum, people would vote for such mourning.

I can accept the mourning and I agree with it despite me being in a part of the world far from the UK.The queen has "ruled" since 1952 or 1953 don't know well and that is a lot of years in which she was one of the most respected figures of the UK and if UK didn't made these days,the national mourning days probably many people would say how heartless the UK and the people there are.

I also am a bit sad because we could not have a weekend of action and predictions in the pool but luckily for us we will have the Champions League in the midweek to make up for this lost weekend.

[KTChampions]

When I wrote about my anger, I meant such consequences too. For those who are close to the Queen, mourning is normal and won't affect their lives much, but for those who are far from those circles, the consequences can be severe (like that guy from Australia). And in general, it infuriates me that someone orders others how to grieve. I doubt that if there was a referendum, people would vote for such mourning.

As far as I understood this situation, royal family did not demand postponement of PL or any other happenings like concerts. That was the decision of organizing bodies since they believed situation in a country is maybe too problematic organize everything without problems. As I already said, seems a bit unreal to me and I would like to hear opinion from somebody living in London.

I was also surprised that Brighton had to postpone their match cause of railroad strike, seems like total nonsense if you don't know the context of getting to Brighton stadium and their rivalry with C. Palace.

Yes, it would be nice to hear the opinions of the locals. I heard two versions of the adoption/justification of this decision: firstly, it is a law (such as mourning events are automatically established by law), and secondly, that the police cannot ensure the safety of football games due to funerals and other events.

Hell, postponing one game is even worse than postponing the entire tour - it will break/shift in time the results in the pool.

[Igebotz]

That is not even the biggest problem. There are many people that bought tickets for PL games and traveled from far to see their favorite team play. There was some guy on twitter saying that he flew from Australia with his son, a big United fan. It was supposed to be first time boy sees his favorite club play and they paid a shitload of money for tickets to get there. Don't know if that story is true but I am sure there is many similar out there.

Too be fair maybe it is best to cancel all big happenings from simple practical point of view, I don't think rest of the world really understands how much of a stress on London traffic and institutions will this event have. I know I don't and I was quite surprised when reading related articles today.

I want to know if the tickets are still good until the next available date for those games since they are not refundable. Can those in the UK let us know if other sports bodies also stop their competitions? Or perhaps the FA made that choice alone. If the fixtures had continued, there would have been a minute of silence for her and a beauty parade before each game as millions of well-wishers looked on. If we're being honest, stopping everything else is also a good way to show respect as well. I hope those who traveled far and near to watch games understand how unexpected the situation was.

When our president passed away in 2007, a 3–4 day public holiday was declared in his honor. She merits the best mourning for several reasons, including the possibility that the majority of us won't get the chance to see another Queen.

[buwaytress]

So just when I thought transfer was done we get king of Shithousery to welcome who joins Wolves... not sure how that team is going to make any gains on league position but I suppose they love playing the role of foil to all the other teams, hope they nick points off City and Arsenal but Liverpool are just as much a target heh.

And then we're also chasing Douglas Luiz from Villa ha? Wonder if we also finally get Bellingham (even though I promised not to think about him again) in January.

[Trofo]

So just when I thought transfer was done we get king of Shithousery to welcome who joins Wolves... not sure how that team is going to make any gains on league position but I suppose they love playing the role of foil to all the other teams, hope they nick points off City and Arsenal but Liverpool are just as much a target heh.

And then we're also chasing Douglas Luiz from Villa ha? Wonder if we also finally get Bellingham (even though I promised not to think about him again) in January.

I don't like Diego Costa much, didn't even like him while he was in top form and he is far from that now. That being said Wolves are criminally bad in attack and they couldn't be any worse so any attacking signing is a good signing for them

Since transfer window is closed in England there wasn't many good options available, they did best they could at the moment.

[casperBGD]

~snip

I was also surprised that Brighton had to postpone their match cause of railroad strike, seems like total nonsense if you don't know the context of getting to Brighton stadium and their rivalry with C. Palace.

yeah, did not expected for whole EPL round to be postponed, not sure if there is a reason that is undercover for this
but locals certainly do, some people expected whole round to be postponed immediately after Queen died, at first moment it was a surprise for me, but after thinking it through, it could be reasonable, if 12-day mourning is on
not sure how this would be played out in other countries, but cannot compare British Royal family with other countries, it is probably most known in the world (maybe Sultan from Brunei, that is pretty popular in RAP songs in Serbia, when talking about wealth and splurge (it is a joke, of course))

[LTU_btc]

yeah, did not expected for whole EPL round to be postponed, not sure if there is a reason that is undercover for this
but locals certainly do, some people expected whole round to be postponed immediately after Queen died, at first moment it was a surprise for me, but after thinking it through, it could be reasonable, if 12-day mourning is on
not sure how this would be played out in other countries, but cannot compare British Royal family with other countries, it is probably most known in the world (maybe Sultan from Brunei, that is pretty popular in RAP songs in Serbia, when talking about wealth and splurge (it is a joke, of course))

I read that EPL also postponed 3 next round games due to lack of police officers - Brighton v Crystal Palace, Chelsea v Liverpool and Man Utd v Leeds. Though, all Championship and lower leagues games will go as planned. And as I understand, other sports like rugby didn't even stopped. Offcourse that we as football fans aren't happy about postponement, especially considering that there is not many alternative dates for it because of Wolrd Cup. But everything is understandable, Queen that ruled country for 70 years dies and national mourning is announced, it doesn't happen every day.

[Welsh]

And then we're also chasing Douglas Luiz from Villa ha? Wonder if we also finally get Bellingham (even though I promised not to think about him again) in January.

I wouldn't get your hopes up for a winter transfer for Bellingham. If he have any sort of chance with him, it'll be in the summer. However, I think that's also rather unlikely to happen. Depends if FSG want to unleash the war chest that they've been building over the years. Although, they did just spend a lot on Nunes, so that might've had an impact on who we can sign in the next window.

I do think we'll be looking to add a player in the winter transfer window, I just don't know if we'll find someone who fits the bill. Hopefully, by then we've sorted out our injury crisis, and are doing fairly well in the Champions League, since I do believe that the title might've slipped away from us by then, unless we change our form rather quickly.

[Betwrong]

who is on the 42nd place after moving 5 positions up. What pleases me is that we have traveled only through 6 rounds out of our 38 rounds long journey. Much can change within the next 2-3 rounds, let alone all of them.

Just to be clear, and that you don't get the wrong idea. I wish you the best of luck, but you're not allowed to overtake me at any point in this season, at least from now . It's not sanctioned, I'm sitting comfortably in my 42nd slot with .5 more points, and I'd like that to be respected .

Well, after a post like this I'm gonna keep an eye on your position against mine till the Round 38, on May 30th 2023 .

It was easy to beat you in the previous year when you were rarely predicting(if ever), but now that you are active, I accept the challenge.

~
To make things even harder to predict, Chelsea will have a new coach for the game.

Usually this should make things easier and not harder but of course it is not always the case.Whenever a new coach comes he will do anything in his power to win the first game to show the management that they have made the right decision and that he started his duty with the right foot. ~

I don't know. Yes, of course, a new coach wants to win the first game, but what are the stats on that? Do they often succeed?

[swogerino]

I don't know. Yes, of course, a new coach wants to win the first game, but what are the stats on that? Do they often succeed?

I think in most other leagues the fact is they often succeed and I think in Premier League it is the same when the new coach has a team with a great name like Chelsea has been in recent years for example.Now this coach with the postponement of the games in the Premier League will have somewhat an easier job winning against Salzburg tonight in the Champions League game.If Chelsea fails this then things will go inevitably wrong even in the Premier League as the moral of the players will be at the bottom of the bottom level.

[buwaytress]

I read that EPL also postponed 3 next round games due to lack of police officers - Brighton v Crystal Palace, Chelsea v Liverpool and Man Utd v Leeds.

Ah wow, more games postponed. Not enough police, so understandable. Can't believe we had a 6-day break and still got new injuries to contend with... Chelsea clash off, shame as I really wanted to take them on before Potter gets his digs in...

I wouldn't get your hopes up for a winter transfer for Bellingham. If he have any sort of chance with him, it'll be in the summer. However, I think that's also rather unlikely to happen. Depends if FSG want to unleash the war chest that they've been building over the years. Although, they did just spend a lot on Nunes, so that might've had an impact on who we can sign in the next window.

I do think we'll be looking to add a player in the winter transfer window, I just don't know if we'll find someone who fits the bill. Hopefully, by then we've sorted out our injury crisis, and are doing fairly well in the Champions League, since I do believe that the title might've slipped away from us by then, unless we change our form rather quickly.

Yeah, watching his news for 3 years now and keep getting disappointed, but now we splashed out on keeping Salah and getting Darwin, I feel a 19-yr old for a big price tag would be keeping par (also if we trade out Ox or even Keita) -- but, if like you suggest, Darwin's actually lightened FSG's purse then we're going to have to dig in deep and hope we've got another under-the-radar-Diaz/Jota-quality signing.

This is feeling like 20/21 season all over again, except much earlier. Feels crazy to say so 6 games in, but...

I don't know. Yes, of course, a new coach wants to win the first game, but what are the stats on that? Do they often succeed?

I think in most other leagues the fact is they often succeed and I think in Premier League it is the same when the new coach has a team with a great name like Chelsea has been in recent years for example.

Can't find the article I read some months ago about this new-manager effect but it definitely seems to have a positive short-term impact on teams that have been performing poorly. Been proven in research in Europe anyway and most recently seen with Leipzig, but I have to remember Ten Haag started his tenure with 2 straight historic losses haha. They call it the "honeymoon effect". It's attributed to players desperate to impress new gaffer.

[Trofo]

Can't find the article I read some months ago about this new-manager effect but it definitely seems to have a positive short-term impact on teams that have been performing poorly. Been proven in research in Europe anyway and most recently seen with Leipzig, but I have to remember Ten Haag started his tenure with 2 straight historic losses haha. They call it the "honeymoon effect". It's attributed to players desperate to impress new gaffer.

Change of manager usually gets immediate results in first few games if we are talking about good club that recently had some problems. As you say it is honeymoon effect where all players want to impress new manager. It is also a chance for some fringe players to prove they deserve first team spot.

I will argue that Ten Haag had that in the friendly games and then problems started after honeymoon when first effects wore off and players still haven't accepted everything he wants from them.

[Welsh]

Well, the goods news is Liverpool look to be slightly better with Matip, Thiago, and Jota back. So, my outlook isn't as grime as it was a week or so back. That being said, Thiago, and Matip are injury prone so relying on them for the whole season is probably unrealistic. Same goes for Keita, he's almost always injured, and I think he's probably the best player to look to offload, and get some money in to fuel our transfers in the summer. That's if anyone is interested in him, despite him being a good player when he plays, he doesn't play often enough for teams to justify spending a decent amount on him. So, he'll likely go for less than we paid, potentially?

How do postponements get handled with SuperBru? Are they ignored or does Superbru just sort us out with a new round, whenever the dates are announced for the games?

[Swordsoffreedom]

I don't know. Yes, of course, a new coach wants to win the first game, but what are the stats on that? Do they often succeed?

I think in most other leagues the fact is they often succeed and I think in Premier League it is the same when the new coach has a team with a great name like Chelsea has been in recent years for example.Now this coach with the postponement of the games in the Premier League will have somewhat an easier job winning against Salzburg tonight in the Champions League game.If Chelsea fails this then things will go inevitably wrong even in the Premier League as the moral of the players will be at the bottom of the bottom level.

Chelsea have appointed a new coach. They will now apply new strategies. Will arrange the formation anew. And first of all the coach will find out the weaknesses of the team. And gradually he will try to strengthen the team. And if the management hopes that with the change of coach, Chelsea will get back on track and fight for the title. Then I'd say they're living in a fool's paradise. If stable performance is desired from the team, the coach must be given enough time and freedom. Otherwise, Chelsea will not be able to compete for the title in the next few seasons.

[Harkorede]

How do postponements get handled with SuperBru? Are they ignored or does Superbru just sort us out with a new round, whenever the dates are announced for the games?

They get sorted out once the new dates are announced and available, and the added advantage is that the picks you've made gets carried over to that new fixture , so you don't have to be worried about missing out,and even if you initially locked the pick, you get a chance to change it.

[Welsh]

They get sorted out once the new dates are announced and available, and the added advantage is that the picks you've made gets carried over to that new fixture , so you don't have to be worried about missing out,and even if you initially locked the pick, you get a chance to change it.

Sweet, thanks. That's a bit of a reassurance considering I'm away travelling, and who knows when they actually get made. Although, I do believe it's usually at the tail end of the season, even then though I'm not the best at remembering to put these predictions in. Not doing so bad this time around though.

I didn't pay enough attention last season, since I practically gave up within the first couple of weeks after forgetting to put my predictions in.

[buwaytress]

Anyone else as pumped about tonight's games? UCL was a nice distraction, but I didn't really catch good games (Liverpool did play better against Ajax but I don't really know if I enjoy seeing my team try 24 shots and still need a last gasp winner from a CB!).

I didn't learn from my persistence with Villa at the tail end of last season and keep dropping points counting on them for a few minor upsets but they're actually the favs tonight, so I'm now wondering if I should back Saints away.

NF and Fulham are also a draw favourite but I also am rooting for Mitrovic in my FPL.

They get sorted out once the new dates are announced and available, and the added advantage is that the picks you've made gets carried over to that new fixture , so you don't have to be worried about missing out,and even if you initially locked the pick, you get a chance to change it.

Sweet, thanks. That's a bit of a reassurance considering I'm away travelling, and who knows when they actually get made. Although, I do believe it's usually at the tail end of the season, even then though I'm not the best at remembering to put these predictions in. Not doing so bad this time around though.

I didn't pay enough attention last season, since I practically gave up within the first couple of weeks after forgetting to put my predictions in.

Yeah I remember last season seeing rescheduled games and my old scores. If I recall correctly, I kept most of them and it worked out well in the end, if only to catch a prize spot.

This has to be my worst season so far, so I now understand this feeling of giving up after just a few games, but I intend to at least keep trying. Those yellow caps alone are motivation.