RateTheRef

I did see it was meant to be played during the summer before it got postponed and moved to January, and because every other major tournament is played in the summer so the AFCON should be the same

I did see it was meant to be played during the summer before it got postponed and moved to January, and because every other major tournament is played in the summer so the AFCON should be the same

The World Cup is taking place in November this year, and I think it's fair to say that's pretty major.

Of course different leagues have their seasons at different times - June/July is the middle of some seasons in some countries.

I think they are looking to hold more Afcon's in summer but as mentioned it depends who host country is and what the climate is like.

Quote from: MCPridz on Sun 16 Jan 2022 00:02

OF course it should of been postponed, everyone else is allowed to do it, liverpool even lied to get the first leg postponed, leicester had players at the darts the day they had a game off, but because it is arsenal everyone is in uproar over it's like it is one rule for us and one rule for everyone else, what failed to be mentioned is we had a massive covid outbreak opening day of the season but we were forced to play we had no RB on boxing day against Norwich but we played, this is our first time requesting it and was rightly cooled off, I didn't see spurs moaning when they had a massive break over Xmas and they called Rennes had flown over, I am just hoping us and Burnley are good to go next week as I am attending that match

Liverpool had loads of positive tests, of which most turned out to be false positives.  Arsenal have ONE player unavailable through Covid, they are taking advantage of the situation to avoid having to play without their overseas and injured players.  If you look at the statement from the EPL about postponements it says clubs have to provide proof of injuries and Covid cases, there is nothing about players called up for international duty.  Yet the statement they put out yesterday about Arsenal not being able to field a team specifically refers to the players away at AFCON, they have set a very dangerous precedent here, and one that is grossly unfair on all those supporters that are now out of pocket financially.

I presume the article on the PL's website was general guidance rather than the full rule book. At the time it was posted, there wasn't any international football being played so they might just not have thought it relevant to mention at the time. The article says clubs need to provide a list of players who are available, either from squad or under 21 players with appropriate experience, and if a player's in Africa for their country they're clearly not available for their club.

As for Liverpool, it seems a bit of an odd situation. It would be concerning if the tests were inaccurate on such a large scale. I thought Kopp also said the players still had to continue self-isolating, which presumably they wouldn't if it had been confirmed as a false positive? I'm sure Liverpool genuinely had positive test results but I don't quite fully understand the situation. I thought maybe they just meant Alexander-Arnold was the only one who actually had symptoms? 

Leeds apparently didn’t request the game to be off

Quote from: rustyref on Sun 16 Jan 2022 13:01

Quote from: MCPridz on Sun 16 Jan 2022 00:02

OF course it should of been postponed, everyone else is allowed to do it, liverpool even lied to get the first leg postponed, leicester had players at the darts the day they had a game off, but because it is arsenal everyone is in uproar over it's like it is one rule for us and one rule for everyone else, what failed to be mentioned is we had a massive covid outbreak opening day of the season but we were forced to play we had no RB on boxing day against Norwich but we played, this is our first time requesting it and was rightly cooled off, I didn't see spurs moaning when they had a massive break over Xmas and they called Rennes had flown over, I am just hoping us and Burnley are good to go next week as I am attending that match

Liverpool had loads of positive tests, of which most turned out to be false positives.  Arsenal have ONE player unavailable through Covid, they are taking advantage of the situation to avoid having to play without their overseas and injured players.  If you look at the statement from the EPL about postponements it says clubs have to provide proof of injuries and Covid cases, there is nothing about players called up for international duty.  Yet the statement they put out yesterday about Arsenal not being able to field a team specifically refers to the players away at AFCON, they have set a very dangerous precedent here, and one that is grossly unfair on all those supporters that are now out of pocket financially.

I don't have so much of a problem with Arsenal taking advantage of the rules, my problem is with the rules themselves and the lack of parity when dealing with clubs requests.  Leeds were severely depleted a couple/few weeks ago, including several covid cases, their request to postpone was refused. The ivory towers didn't also take into account their injuries at the time, only the covid cases, yet this week they decide to also take into account players away at an International tournament, injuries, suspended players and covid. That is unfair. That's not down to Arsenal but down to a poor system at the top. They need to tighten up the rules to close any loopholes, I don't blame any club exploiting loopholes although disagree with them doing so, if the rules have loopholes then they will be exploited. They also need to treat all clubs equally - Leeds were equally as deserving of a postponement than other clubs who have been granted them.

What happened to the big six not having influence on the EPL after the super league fiasco?

Ok then if you think I am being disrespectful that way which I am not then another reason Qatar should not be hosting the World Cup is there atrocious human rights record, you can’t give a country a showpiece event of that magnitude with how poor they treat people

Quote from: rustyref on Sun 16 Jan 2022 13:01

Quote from: MCPridz on Sun 16 Jan 2022 00:02

OF course it should of been postponed, everyone else is allowed to do it, liverpool even lied to get the first leg postponed, leicester had players at the darts the day they had a game off, but because it is arsenal everyone is in uproar over it's like it is one rule for us and one rule for everyone else, what failed to be mentioned is we had a massive covid outbreak opening day of the season but we were forced to play we had no RB on boxing day against Norwich but we played, this is our first time requesting it and was rightly cooled off, I didn't see spurs moaning when they had a massive break over Xmas and they called Rennes had flown over, I am just hoping us and Burnley are good to go next week as I am attending that match

Liverpool had loads of positive tests, of which most turned out to be false positives.  Arsenal have ONE player unavailable through Covid, they are taking advantage of the situation to avoid having to play without their overseas and injured players.  If you look at the statement from the EPL about postponements it says clubs have to provide proof of injuries and Covid cases, there is nothing about players called up for international duty.  Yet the statement they put out yesterday about Arsenal not being able to field a team specifically refers to the players away at AFCON, they have set a very dangerous precedent here, and one that is grossly unfair on all those supporters that are now out of pocket financially.

I don't have so much of a problem with Arsenal taking advantage of the rules, my problem is with the rules themselves and the lack of parity when dealing with clubs requests.  Leeds were severely depleted a couple/few weeks ago, including several covid cases, their request to postpone was refused. The ivory towers didn't also take into account their injuries at the time, only the covid cases, yet this week they decide to also take into account players away at an International tournament, injuries, suspended players and covid. That is unfair. That's not down to Arsenal but down to a poor system at the top. They need to tighten up the rules to close any loopholes, I don't blame any club exploiting loopholes although disagree with them doing so, if the rules have loopholes then they will be exploited. They also need to treat all clubs equally - Leeds were equally as deserving of a postponement than other clubs who have been granted them.

What game are you referring to? I know Leeds had two games postponed over Christmas. Are you sure that they requested the game in question be postponed and that they didn't have at least 13 outfield players from their 25 man squad or under 21 players with first team experience?