After several hardships in the 18th round of the Premier League, some of the matches were finally completed, and in the case of the epidemic once again out of control, many Premier League events were forced to be suspended, mainly because many players in the team itself were infected with the new crown virus. After the completion of the remaining events, this small editor will talk to you about the "interesting facts" of this round of the Premier League.
Suspensions or non-stops?
The match against Tottenham Hotspur, which preceded the match against Tottenham on 12 December, was postponed after discussions with the Premier League after discussions with the Tottenham Hotspur side, as 8 players and 5 staff members were reportedly confirmed. After the continuation, Manchester United against Brentford and many matches in this round also need to be postponed due to the epidemic. The health of the players and the prevention and control of the epidemic should be the first consideration, because the impact of the epidemic no longer affects only individual players, some teams only have less than eleven players who can play healthy, if the game will insist on forcing the game, it may not be that the event has considerable and fairness.
But there is still debate about how the boundaries should be set, when to postpone, and when to play the tournament. Because, as Chelsea played against Wolves in this round, as many players such as Lukaku, Timo Werner, Hudson-Odoi and Ben Chilvele were infected with the new crown, only nineteen players of the first team could wear armor at that time. However, the tournament decided that they would still have a sufficient "number" of players to play, so they refused to apply for an extension, but in fact there were only six players left on the bench at Chelsea last night's match, two of whom were goalkeepers. Therefore, I believe that in the next round of competitions, many teams may continue to be affected by the spread of the new crown, will the game still only use "number" as a criterion?
Again "double standard" VAR
Since the introduction of technological innovations in football in recent years, it has indeed helped referees to enforce the law, but often the beginning and end of what happens on the pitch is not black and white, and the role of referees outside of technology is still important. This round of Tottenham's match against Liverpool also revealed the unfair implementation of VAR in the Premier League.
In the first half, Harry Kane made a flying shovel, although Andrew Robertson jumped high to dodge, but it was obviously a dangerous move, and there was indeed a possibility of a red card, but the VAR referee did not reflect to the referee, and in the end, the referee only received a yellow card without reminding and flipping through. However, in the second half, Andrew Robertson received a red card in an interception, when the referee only gave a yellow card warning at first, but after the VAR referee took the initiative to remind him, he went to the sidelines to replay and finally changed the red card.
There are two absurdities to the extreme: First, Xiaobian does not feel that this action is a "serious foul" that needs to be straight red, although the action is very dangerous, but the player's intention is obviously to go to the ball, and there is no serious injury after the kick, and the yellow card is still reasonable. Second, Harry Kane's interception in the first half is more aggressive, but why the VAR referee did not remind, the same dangerous action, but not the same judgment process and results, are all unfair.
Total suspension?
Under the new crown epidemic in the Premier League, the Premier League continues or suspends there are different opinions, Brentford coach Thomas Frank believes that the current Premier League epidemic is serious, it is necessary to suspend this round of the league, "In fact, all the teams have encountered the same problem, everyone has players infected, and the situation is quite serious, I think the Premier League will need to suspend this round of the league, give the teams at least a few days, try to cut off the chain of transmission during this time, after all, there is close contact between players and players, which will increase the risk of dissemination." ”
On the contrary, there are also some people who think that suspension is not a good choice, and he believes that the suspension of the game does not help much to the current situation, "I understand Thomas Frank's view, but I think this practice does not help much, because the virus is always there, so the suspension is not the right decision." Klopp used the cup as an example and thought that some of the matches could be reduced, "I think if the schedule can be flexible, it will help things more, such as whether the cup still needs to play two legs or a replay." ”