GWT: EPL - Matchweek 16

[bluesfan94]

Fun weekend! Aston Villa hosts Arsenal in a battle among the top 3 which highlights the Saturday window. Man City will look to bounce back from a string of poor results when they head to the tricky Kenilworth Road, to face a Luton Town team that very nearly took points against the league leaders. Everton plays Chelsea and who the hell knows what'll happen there. And the weekend ends with two teams with Champions League aspirations squaring off, as Tottenham hosts Newcastle.

One thing to note: this is leading into a Champions League weekend, so United and Newcastle may look to rotate (as possible, with the latter) with must win games on the horizon.

Home	Away	Time and Date (CT)	Venue
Crystal Palace	Liverpool	Sat., Dec. 9, 6:30 AM	Selhurst Park
Wolverhampton Wanderers	Nottingham Forest	Sat., Dec. 9, 9:00 AM	Molineux Stadium
Brighton & Hove Albion	Burnley	Sat., Dec. 9, 9:00 AM	The AmEx
Sheffield United	Brentford	Sat., Dec. 9, 9:00 AM	Bramall Lane
Manchester United	Bournemouth	Sat., Dec. 9, 9:00 AM	Old Trafford
Aston Villa	Arsenal	Sat., Dec. 9, 11:30 AM	Villa Park
Luton Town	Manchester City	Sun., Dec. 10, 8:00 AM	Kenilworth Road
Fulham	West Ham United	Sun., Dec. 10, 8:00 AM	Craven Cottage
Everton	Chelsea	Sun., Dec. 10, 8:00 AM	Goodison Park
Tottenham Hotspur	Newcastle United	Sun., Dec. 10, 10:30 AM	Tottenham Hotspur Stadium

Click to read more...

 

[Savant]

oh LFC in the early game again despite playing on Wednesday night. Shocker.

 

[gary69]

Klopp lost his nerve on a journalist who made a light joke about that early kick-off time.

 

[Savant]

Klopp lost his nerve on a journalist who made a light joke about that early kick-off time.

That journalist knew what he was doing. I mean it worked because he got a rise out of Klopp, but he knew what was coming. Klopp is right to get upset. It’s a lousy kickoff time and LFC keep getting forced into it. LFC will have had four this season alone after this match. Arsenal, by comparison (only picking them because I saw this figure today), have not played an early kick off in their 30 games. So yeah it’s not exactly balanced

 

[Spring in Fialta]

That journalist knew what he was doing. I mean it worked because he got a rise out of Klopp, but he knew what was coming. Klopp is right to get upset. It’s a lousy kickoff time and LFC keep getting forced into it. LFC will have had four this season alone after this match. Arsenal, by comparison (only picking them because I saw this figure today), have not played an early kick off in their 30 games. So yeah it’s not exactly balanced

'Ladies and gentlemen, these tears are now flooding glorious Anfield...'

 

[bluesfan94]

That journalist knew what he was doing. I mean it worked because he got a rise out of Klopp, but he knew what was coming. Klopp is right to get upset. It’s a lousy kickoff time and LFC keep getting forced into it. LFC will have had four this season alone after this match. Arsenal, by comparison (only picking them because I saw this figure today), have not played an early kick off in their 30 games. So yeah it’s not exactly balanced

Just to be clear, is the complaint about the early Saturday game about the lack of recovery time, the fact that it's earlier in the day, or that it is not "normal" and therefore throws off the rhythm?

For the first and third complaints, how do you factor in Friday and Monday games? Because Arsenal had the Saturday morning kickoff in MW1.

 

[IU Hawks fan]

Stop being so popular in Asia and you won't get all the early kicks.

 

[Savant]

'Ladies and gentlemen, these tears are now flooding glorious Anfield...'

What’s wrong with what I’ve said? Where is the lie?

 

[Savant]

Just to be clear, is the complaint about the early Saturday game about the lack of recovery time, the fact that it's earlier in the day, or that it is not "normal" and therefore throws off the rhythm?

For the first and third complaints, how do you factor in Friday and Monday games? Because Arsenal had the Saturday morning kickoff in MW1.

According to Klopp less training and recovery. Which makes sense; these athletes are so micromanaged it’s not ideal for preparation. And as I’ve said, yes it’s a bad fixture, yes someone has to do it, but it’s incredibly unbalanced against LFC.

I am factoring Saturday games. Not my stat so I can’t go much deeper than that. Yes Arsenal played MW1 early. If that was miscounted so be it; but once in 30 games? LFC are still quadruple that just in games this season. Also may not have counted because there wasn’t a midweek/international game preceding; which I can certainly admit would be kind of bush league to omit. But still it’s unbalanced.

Also my big problem with this particular Matchweek is the PL is not supposed to schedule you early Saturday if you play Wednesday night. The loophole is that it wasn’t a UCL game, but I also don’t see how that’s relevant. There were other options to pick, but LFC keeps getting chosen. It’s unbalanced

Stop being so popular in Asia and you won't get all the early kicks.

Are LFC the only team popular in Asia? Should LFC get a bigger cut of the TV deal because they are popular in Asia?

 

[bluesfan94]

According to Klopp less training and recovery. Which makes sense; these athletes are so micromanaged it’s not ideal for preparation. And as I’ve said, yes it’s a bad fixture, yes someone has to do it, but it’s incredibly unbalanced against LFC.

I am factoring Saturday games. Not my stat so I can’t go much deeper than that. Yes Arsenal played MW1 early. If that was miscounted so be it; but once in 30 games? LFC are still quadruple that just in games this season. Also may not have counted because there wasn’t a midweek/international game preceding; which I can certainly admit would be kind of bush league to omit. But still it’s unbalanced.

But then the same can be said about a Monday or a Friday game. Or anything other than the exact same window each week. If those 2.5 hours make that much of a difference, imagine the 72 hours difference between Friday and Monday. Plus then Liverpool has extra recovery time after the game. Liverpool has also played the second most games on Sunday, trailing only Aston Villa. While Europe is certainly a factor, Liverpool has played 9 Sunday games compared to Brighton's 5 and West Ham's 7.

All of that being said, Tottenham has played as many early Saturday games as Liverpool so far this season (Liverpool will go up an extra one this weekend, which will, of course, give them extra time to recover for their European match midweek), and Liverpool hasn't played any Friday or Monday games, unlike Arsenal, Burnley, Chelsea, Crystal Palace, Fulham (3 monday games!), Luton, Man City, Man United, Nottingham Forest, Sheffield, Tottenham (1 Friday, 3 Saturday early, 2 Monday), Fulham, and Wolves. All numbers are as of this Matchweek.

Just seems like Kloppo likes complaining, and that's passed on to the club and its supporters.

 

[IU Hawks fan]

Are LFC the only team popular in Asia? Should LFC get a bigger cut of the TV deal because they are popular in Asia?

You don't think they profit commercially off their popularity?

 

[Savant]

You don't think they profit commercially off their popularity?

That’s not what I said. If they are disproportionately being chose for the early game because of Asian TV, then why shouldn’t they get a bigger cut of the TV deal.

 

[JeffreyLFC]

Klopp lost his nerve on a journalist who made a light joke about that early kick-off time.

I wish he did it more often. It's obvious that the media are targeting him for that, every press conference they ask him THAT question. I would be irritated too.

 

[bluesfan94]

That’s not what I said. If they are disproportionately being chose for the early game because of Asian TV, then why shouldn’t they get a bigger cut of the TV deal.

Fine with me, as long as they get a corresponding decrease in the US TV deal.

I wish he did it more often. It's obvious that the media are targeting him for that, every press conference they ask him THAT question. I would be irritated too.

Yeah, Klopp complained about it and now journalists ask him about it. Well well well if it isn't the consequence of my own actions.

 

[Savant]

But then the same can be said about a Monday or a Friday game. Or anything other than the exact same window each week. If those 2.5 hours make that much of a difference, imagine the 72 hours difference between Friday and Monday. Plus then Liverpool has extra recovery time after the game. Liverpool has also played the second most games on Sunday, trailing only Aston Villa. While Europe is certainly a factor, Liverpool has played 9 Sunday games compared to Brighton's 5 and West Ham's 7.

All of that being said, Tottenham has played as many early Saturday games as Liverpool so far this season (Liverpool will go up an extra one this weekend, which will, of course, give them extra time to recover for their European match midweek), and Liverpool hasn't played any Friday or Monday games, unlike Arsenal, Burnley, Chelsea, Crystal Palace, Fulham (3 monday games!), Luton, Man City, Man United, Nottingham Forest, Sheffield, Tottenham (1 Friday, 3 Saturday early, 2 Monday), Fulham, and Wolves. All numbers are as of this Matchweek.

Just seems like Kloppo likes complaining, and that's passed on to the club and its supporters.

Liverpool have to play on Sunday though because of the Europa League. They don’t have to be selected for the Saturday game at the rate at which they are eligible to be. I would be more curious about what percent of eligible Saturday early games that LFC are getting picked for; that might be more interesting in all honesty. Friday and Monday games I don’t think matter as much; how many of those games are early kick offs though? And again, PL is breaking their own rule giving LFC a Wednesday night/early Saturday turnaround. That’s my bigger issue at this point

 

[Chimaera]

The argument has been made that Liverpool is the club who gets the most eyeballs without CL, so that’s the 730 reason. It’s dumb but whatever. They need to win this

 

[Savant]

Fine with me, as long as they get a corresponding decrease in the US TV deal.


Yeah, Klopp complained about it and now journalists ask him about it. Well well well if it isn't the consequence of my own actions.

You think these are good times in the USA too?

 

[JeffreyLFC]

Yeah, Klopp complained about it and now journalists ask him about it. Well well well if it isn't the consequence of my own actions.

Klopp has been getting on nerves on a lot of pundit in England. They always focus on whatever he says. I swear if Arteta said the samething you would not hear a word of it in the media or you.

 

[VEGASKING]

This is the last early kickoff time for Liverpool this season BTW. They've played 3 so far and this will be number 4.

Arsenal has one next month and that will be their second and final one. City only has 1 all season which was against Liverpool. United has 2, Spurs have had 3 already but they do not have any further and Chelsea also has 3.

 

[Savant]

This is the last early kickoff time for Liverpool this season BTW. They've played 3 so far and this will be number 4.

Arsenal has one next month and that will be their second and final one. City only has 1 all season which was against Liverpool. United has 2, Spurs have had 3 already but they do not have any further and Chelsea also has 3.

This will absolutely not be the last early kickoff for LFC this season.

 

[bluesfan94]

You think these are good times in the USA too?

No, that's exactly my point.

Klopp has been getting on nerves on a lot of pundit in England. They always focus on whatever he says. I swear if Arteta said the samething you would not hear a word of it in the media or you.

Lol you should have picked Ange. Arteta is constantly getting picked apart. See the outrage about him talking about the refs while you don't hear the same regarding De Zerbi, for instance.

 

[Savant]

Klopp has been getting on nerves on a lot of pundit in England. They always focus on whatever he says. I swear if Arteta said the samething you would not hear a word of it in the media or you.

No, that's exactly my point.

Lol you should have picked Ange. Arteta is constantly getting picked apart. See the outrage about him talking about the refs while you don't hear the same regarding De Zerbi, for instance.

To be fair Arteta gets his share too. But we aren’t watching as many Arsenal pressers. I agree with my friend from STL though that Ange gets a free pass

 

[gary69]

I wish he did it more often. It's obvious that the media are targeting him for that, every press conference they ask him THAT question. I would be irritated too.

It's like with Unai Emery with "Good ebening". Better to go along with the joke and appear positive rather than lose your wits.

 

[S E P H]

Pretty damn scared going to Villa Park, that place will be jumping like a bigger version of Luton Town's 1850s stadium.

 

[Jersey Fresh]

I'm so sick of this early kickoff moaning. Have we ever actually determined their ppg in those kickoffs versus the others? Is there any indication this actually leads to any injuries?

If the answer to either or both of those is "there's no difference", then just put a sock in it and move on. That goes for this board, and Klopp too.