With a comfortable and professional Tottenham Hotspur showing dispatching Marine in our FA Cup tie at the weekend, our Premier League match with Aston Villa has been officially postponed following their Covid outbreak, so on Wednesday evening, we will now welcome Fulham To White Hart Lane.
As fans will know, the Fulham clash (originally scheduled for December 30) had itself been postponed following their own outbreak of Covid, but I think most would accept this is a sensible reshuffle at this stage as I don’t believe Villa are even back in training yet as their positive players continue to self isolate.
Fulham should be reasonably well rested after their own break but they will have sharpness issues and some players may well be leggy after their Cup clash with QPR required Extra Time, so what we can expect from them in what will only be their second game of 2021 is anyone’s guess.
As for us, Gareth Bale has minutes under his belt once again after Marine but I wouldn’t expect to see Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg back just yet after his nasty shin collision. Giovani Lo Celso remains out.
We should be confident of all three points here as we look to keep the pressure on at the top of the table.
Fulham
Win
Draw
Lose
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I have to say that I find it quite easy to curb my natural instincts to get intimate with people, when I know I could be risking death.
As for tonight. A strong and positive performance from the team will be a welcome distraction from all this madness. And a win will see us close to the top again…
Yes Geoff we are expected to do so. As HT says life or death, or passing it on. Us humans should know which is the right thing to do and act. But some don’t care. Just look at marine game, fans packed to see team arriving.
Then you hears stories like this, in tesco, a woman 2 full trolleys, the guy says you are stock pilling, her reply was, I just tested positive.
Back to the game lets join ole in the title race.
123 …. You’ve just repeated what I said. You can’t control everyone because of the human nature factor. When you get to a certain age people no longer surprise you …. especially if you’ve worked in supporting families and individuals for most of your life.
For tonight’s game we need a good win, some talk clean sheets, that’s fine, surely 2-1 is the same as 1-0, so for me to make goal diff an advantage always score way more goals than your opponent, say 3, so 4-1 is better than 2-1, thus more entertaining, am rambling a bit here but hey, it will do me, lol! I will get my coat, just wanted something to say of no real consequence really. COYS
PY …. You succeeded, mate. Well done! : – )
Thanks for that Geoff, just thought I would ramble on about summat else, cheers mate. COYS
Allan – as much as I take your point about the images being conveyed by football, I have to agree with Block 108 on this one.
There’s a lot of hypocrisy going on with people complaining about the celebrations. It’s OK for players to breathe in each other’s faces while marking a corner, but god forbid they shake hands or hug after a goal!
It’s time the public accept that football is a contact sport.
Either the government wants to limit contacts, in which case the season should be suspended (an understandable point of view, in itself), or the government allows football to continue, accepting that there will be contact in football.
Focusing on things such as celebrations seems petty, and it largely misses the point.
If the PL want to start enforcing a “safe” way to play football (which is supposedly the objective when it comes to limiting goal celebrations), marking on set pieces is about to become comical! No tackling allowed either, and maybe every player could use their own ball, to avoid any risk…
It doesn’t make sense.
The only alternative is the one we discussed in another thread, which is for footballers to jump the queue and all get vaccinated – which raises all sorts of other, ethical questions.
Not a lot of great options there.
Our goal difference is still quite healthy given our poor PL form in December.
It’s +14 compared to ‘Pools +16, Villa’s +13 and top team Man U’s, +10.
So a win by at least 3 clear goals tonight, will possibly see us leading the goal + stats. We could also be in 3rd place and just 1 point behind Liverpool, 4 points behind United.
But Man City could still better us in this if they thrash Brighton by a good few goals tonight and we don’t score enough… They share 29 points with Spurs, have a +11 GD, but also have an extra game in hand… It’s close at the top!
BS, it’s why I thought that Dyche’s suggestion of players being vaccinated earlier than others in their age range wasn’t such an unfair or particularly selfish thought. Even if it does seem morally wrong.
For example, if the season was to be abandoned or suspended, does it make players any less likely to flout the general lockdown/pandemic rules and less likely to risk being spreaders?
We could say that they might be even more likely to cause a problem given that they have strict protocols whilst training and playing, along with the regular testing they have. And a job to do… Without their daily day-job restrictions and frequent testing etc., they may well be much less disciplined outside of the club rules… Unless testing, training and the FA, EPL and club protocols etc., are to continue, but without the matches being played.
It’s complicated!
Despite what I wrote earlier in this thread about abandoning football in the UK, to me it would make much more sense to cancel the Euros and continue with the domestic football, as it is…
It is complicated!
Block
I am not advocating that players do not celebrate goals but just curb their natural instinct to over celebrate .
Obviously players are in close contact esp . at corners and free kicks .
I felt the way the players congratulated Devine was reasonable and pleased for him as we all were .
As to this evenings match . Not sure , as there may be a backlash from Fulham for the rearrangement and I think they will come out all guns blazing .
Don’t know how Fulham play but if they score the first goal will they park the bus or does Scotty attack regardless ?
I just hope that we win . No prediction this time .
HT
Re cancelling Euros I’m with you 100%.
As we actually don’t know how variants of this disease there are, and our latest version came from South Africa, tho’many Euro countries want to call it the “British strain” ooops getting political.
Let’s just lessen the risk.
Again re your hugging point, I’m with you there.
For me it’s not even so much the fact that they are hugging each other, shaking hands etc it’s more kids seeing it and thinking it’s OK to do this as they do copy football celebrations.
Back to tonight.
Would like to see Bale, Dele or both get a few minutes on the clock tonight even Vinny could get a half our or so.
Had to laugh a bit at Scott Parker moaning re the short schedule, I do like the guy, always put a shift in for us, but Fulham didn’t care that we only had 2 hour notice before cancelling the game on us.
So not much sympathy.
Nearly made a score prediction
COYS.
Belgian S
As I said to Block , I am not advocating no celebration but curb the over enthusiastic / exuberant style .
If we wish to continue playing football then we must not give any distracters further ammunition to ban .
However footballers must wait their turn. If you let footballers jump the queue then why not other sports people ?
AlIan, I have a reverse pov and logic to put forward, that will no doubt put the cat among the pigeons and anger more than a few people.
I have the thought that many at the bottom of the current jab queue should actually be at the top of the list of priority. And that this makes a certain sense to me.
In other words the ones that are more likely spreading this disease more so than others. The young and the more mobile of us.
It’s not a question of jumping the queue, more a matter of rethinking it and reorganising it… But this won’t happen. People’s emotional responses far outweigh any common sense in all this, imo. And that is not helpful in any way. Whether the response is for a strict lockdown or against it all together. One way or the other, people are frustrated and angry. Some are scared and yet many are carefree.
But for instance, the elderly would probably become less scared to leave their homes, if they are aware that the younger folk are mostly already immunised.
When I am out and about, which is nearly everyday and at all times, from early morning until late at night, it’s not the most vulnerable that I see on the streets, the parks and on London transport. It’s mostly young adults and young families. And they so often do not keep their distance. Especially the bloody joggers, spitting and splattering and heavy breathing along the narrow back streets without a mask on! Jab them buggers first, and I’m instantly much safer than I am before I even get my vaccination…
Most old and sick folk are stuck indoors shielding themselves. It’s the asymptomatic and mostly young ones spreading this virus more so than anyone else. And the elderly stuck in care homes are not the ones attending illegal raves or are consantly in and out of their living quarters. They are trapped! It’s the staff that increase their ‘inmates’ vulnerability to Covid… The carers, nurses, cleaners and catering staff etc., in and out, that are the main concern…
Anyway, I’m just rambling on. But I’m rambling in a thoughtful way rather than with a purely emotional response….. (apart from at my dislike of joggers!)… It may have something to do with the sheer practicality of my job. I don’t know.
It’s complicated! It’s tough and it is all so bloody sad!
And yes, if footballers were to get the jab sooner than later, other active, contact sports men and women should too.
Not sure but I think that the young and healthy can still carry the virus and pass it on to the ‘not so lucky’.
I’m not sure why you’ve said that Geof when that was a main point of my post.
It’s those that are young and out and about more, that are obviously the main spreaders. Not the ones virtually trapped or scared to go out. (Except that more and more younger ones are now getting ill and more are dying with the new mutations)
I’m not young but I am always out and about. So I’m extra, extra careful. But so many of the younger ones are not. Not even some of those in my line of work. And I have to share duties with them on a daily basis and in close contact. I also go into GP’s, hospitals and care homes… And I don’t know what so and so working there is up to when they are out and about, regardless of how careful I am….. The same goes for all of us. And there will be young front line workers out there that people have applauded that may well have been partying with a crowd the night before….. I know of one or two at least…
It ain’t easy is it? Unless perhaps one is outside of the big smoke and maybe more rural and quite self sufficient… London Town is a busy place right now. Much more so than in our first lockdown… And it’s difficult avoiding close contact. But I trust myself to be safe, if not all others…
So I’m speaking from my own POV here not anyone else…….. I don’t really know what’s right or wrong, good or bad outside of my own world bubble…….. But, it’s tough for us all, wherever and whomever we are… We all need to take good and extra care…….
HT……I don’t think you understood Geofs point which is that there is no evidence yet to suggest that people who have had the jab can’t still spread the virus even tho’ it may protect them from becoming seriously ill. This being the case youngsters might still be passing it on to older people who haven’t had the jab and are more at risk from serious illness and even death.
cancel the euros, continue with domestic, what about UCL and EL ?. This lockdown stop go system is not working, you need a full lock down and we would of been out of the woods by now, a year later its got worse. Of course ppl won’t follow the rules, but this should of been a easy to get rid off, no contact.
That is what makes it all so complicated 123… So maybe you are right.
Back to the “hugging”!
I would’ve thought that fear and the need for self preservation is a more universal instinct, than a need to hug one another. Not everyone likes being intimate outside of their contact with loved ones and family. Or even within that circle.
Most of us will either run if not fight, when faced with danger. Or simply freeze with fear when facing a predator… We don’t choose to hug the big fat grizzly bear! 😉 And, most of us will step back to safety rather than tip toe on the edge of a precipice. Blah blah!
Maybe not enough of us are fearful enough of this grizzly disease. Maybe it’s too easy to pretend it’s not even there…
Besides which, I never felt the need to high-five or hug my defenders when they got a block in or I made a save. Players now do this all the time. They even hug the opposition! This is more a recent habit and ritual, than any kind of natural human instinct, I reckon…
Allan – I take your point about “if footballers get vaccinated, why not other sports?” and indeed, it would raise the question for several others. For example, lots of discussions currently ongoing regarding the Six Nations (and it’s also hard to imagine rugby without contact 🙂 ).
But I suppose that on the flip side, not all sports involve close contact, so for those sports, the conversation is a non starter.
What it comes down to is the money at stake. Suspending football is probably the right thing to do, morally. But between sponsors, prize monies, broadcasting contracts etc, the amount of money involved is what is driving football to continue.
Cancel the Euros? Again, easy to say, but how many jobs are depending on that decision? Hotels, bars, restaurants, the tourism sector, airlines etc. No easy answer.
As I said, my partner (we’re not married, but I find “girlfriend” a bit awkward to use once you’ve had 2 children with someone – it somehow doesn’t quite do it justice!) works in a hospital in Brussels so I like to think that we are more sensitive than most to the plight of the healthcare sector currently. This being said, I see plenty of other sector hurting too, and unfortunately there is no solution which is perfect for all.
PS: Niall – the so-called “British” strain and the “South African” strain are 2 different variants of Covid. Nothing political there, and it is being reported as such in Belgium.
One thing to point out is rugby have handled the problems with COVID a bit differently. There if you suffer an outbreak it will mean you lose points. Not for the first time, concussion rules, referees miked up and explaining their decisions etc I suspect rugby have handled it better.
Jod, just read your post regards “that contact sport Rugby” I thought to myself bollox! he got their before me, I totally agree with you there.
Rugby is my equal fave to football, ok different types of game, but I love em both, I have a number of contacts in the game, Rugby that is, and I am with you there they have handled it better, ok it has caused a few discussions but no real animosity. COYS
BS
Re the new strain, I’m only going on what I have read and heard on the news, that the new more infectious variant came to Britain from SA.
Could be wrong.
HT
There is a decent argument there for actually doing it the other way round.
If the young were vaccinated first.
1 we would have the economy back up and running
2 they are less cautious (in general) so the spread may be less.
3 as you say older people sometimes through age and other factors are in general less mobile also are more likely to abide by isolation or restriction rules.
Niall D news at ten.
Niall…..see my reply to HT’s post at 2:15pm.
You made me smile there Niall in all this seriousness… Thank you.
All I know is that it’s becoming all the more difficult (even on this, a football forum) to talk only Spurs and just the football…..
But I also know that football for me and so many others is a great distraction from it all…… It’s a conundrum, so it is…
HT Your 12.54 post .
Brilliant idea then I can join the young at their illegal raves , parties ,meeting outside in groups of 12 or more or protesting at the lock down without the worry of knowing they have been innoculated so I won’t get the virus .
Mention it to Doris