ThunderPower_14

They'll be able to break the contract unless they signed a really dumb contract. The SL have assured everyone that clubs will still be able to play in their domestic leagues. I would hope the clubs would have been smart enough to write things like that into the contract, and when it turns out they can't play in their domestic leagues, the English teams simply withdraw.

I meant more about what UEFA might do if the PL allow these clubs to continue playing. Obviously the SL clubs won't be playing but maybe they'll decree that no club from England plays in UEFA European competition while PL teams play in the SL.

I suspect UEFA could ban Premier League clubs from playing in any European competition while there are SL clubs playing in the league.

Ultimately the PL are the 20 clubs. There is no way this gets through with 14 clubs opposed, surely

I can't really see how the PL will cave and let them stay. The PL are the other 14 clubs. Why would those clubs vote to funnel so much money to the other 6?

I'd hope UEFA ban them all for next season at the very least. UEFA must be absolutely seething. They've bent over backwards to funnel money into these clubs and they've just been sensationally betrayed by them. Hopefully UEFA can stay strong.

Yep. A big game against Barcelona isn't a big game anymore if you do it 4 times a season. I think they've missed what makes the Champions League exciting.

I can't see the Super League clubs holding their nerve if they can't play in domestic leagues. The fans won't support it. It's too unpopular. I don't think it goes ahead unless they keep their spots in the domestic leagues. Hopefully UEFA and the PL come down hard on them and kick them out. I could absolutely see a few phoenix clubs sprouting up if this was successful long term. Maybe Salford City suddenly become the biggest club outside the premier league.

Is it possible that Man City haven't signed up yet because they were worried about being immediately expelled from the Champions League and didn't want to miss out on winning one?

Cynically I can't see the PL or UEFA doing anything but trying to placate these teams into abandoning these plans. Immediate expulsion from European competition and a decree that they can't play in their domestic comps anymore if this takes off should be the response.

Completely agree with this. Nobody wants to see the Liverpool one called offside, and if it had been called offside in the pre-VAR era and the goal chalked off, all the discussion during the week would have been how badly the lino got it wrong. I absolutely hate this type of VAR offside and I completely agree that when it's that close, different people drawing the lines could get different results. I don't want goals scored against us chalked off in this manner because I don't want us to lose a goal in the same manner next week, and there seems to be one of these every week or two. Offside was a less controversial rule pre-VAR. That should be enough to revisit how VAR treats it. The solution to me is simple: Lose the lines. If VAR thinks something is iffy, give the on-field referee a couple of run throughs of the replay at normal speed from the relevant angle, and if they can see a clearcut offside, chalk the goal off. Do this for all VAR decisions. If you can't see the error in a couple of run throughs from a few different angles at full speed, it's not a clear and obvious error.

Harry Kane would be shouting at his TV screen right now

We've been excellent in defence and he's been a huge part of it, and he's handy going forward as well. An absolutely superb signing, great to see him rewarded for his effort with a new contract

This one makes me so angry. He's not even in a position to play the ball because he's run so far off his line to tangle his legs with Cash's and generate the contact. Spurs fans in that Twitter thread are arguing he was trying to drag the ball back, but when you're trying to drag the ball back you don't take 5 steps past it. He senses that Cash is going for the block and goes as hard as he can for contact and a penalty. If you want diving out of the game, you don't reward players for this sort of thing. It's so far past making the most of contact or going down a bit easily.

I think Lingard is a clearing in the woods as much as the next person, but you can't ignore that sort of form. He's been absolutely amazing for West Ham. 6 goals and 3 assists in 8 games. If he continues that sort of form for the rest of the season he can't really be left out. Jack will be in the squad unless he misses the rest of the season, he also can't be ignored.

Absolutely horrendous, hard to believe it's not intentional cheating by the ref given it was reviewed by VAR. Vid from twitter

Chuffed for him. He's been everything we were promised so far and this was only a matter of time.

The lines can never be done consistently well. Too many variables. We're now getting an offside every week that wouldn't have been called before VAR was brought in. It sucks. Just get rid of them and do it by the eyesight of the referee in charge of the game by watching the play back through at a couple of angles. If he or she can't see a clear offside, it's not offside.

Another insanely stupid VAR sequence in the Dortmund Sevilla game. Haaland scored from a tight angle only for the goal to be chalked off so that Dortmund could be awarded a penalty from 2 passages of play earlier. Imagine having a goal YOU scored chalked off so YOU can be given a penalty! Haaland hit the post with the penalty, only for the keeper to be judged to be off his line, and Haaland scored on the second attempt. Bizarre.

The problem isn't video replays to help the referee, it's the way it's used and all the rules surrounding it. VAR was pitched as a way to stamp out howlers, and I guess it does that, but it spends the rest of the time sucking the fun out of top level football. Just simplify it as much as possible. If VAR thinks there's a potential error, the on field ref who originally made the decision gets to see the same thing again, at normal speed, from a few different angles, once from each angle. He or she can then make a call one way or the other. No forensic slow motion replays. No overlayed offside lines. No having referees in a bunker overturn decisions, let the onfield ref do it.

Good. I can't believe the rule was written that way in the first place. How could they not have foreseen the exact scenario from the Fulham disallowed goal? They've had a goal chalked off because a player had the audacity to have an arm and was holding it in exactly the position he's told to to avoid a handball. As usual it's a smaller club in a relegation battle getting stooged. Can you imagine if this had happened to Manchester United or Liverpool?

His arm was as against his body as it possibly could have been and it was smashed into him at close range. That's the worst chalked off goal i've ever seen. This is the first i've ever heard of a "mandatory handball" call and it's a very dumb blanket rule for situations exactly like this. If that got called against Manchester United they'd declare a national emergency. I feel absolutely sick for them in a relegation battle to have been cost a point in that manner.

The biggest problem I have with football is how players treat referees. I'd be handing out yellows left right and centre for even the smallest levels of dissent. The group of wildly gesticulating professional footballers surrounding the ref demanding a decision 8 times a match is a shocking look and absolutely contributes to how the average fan sees referees. Mic refs up and hand out yellows for even the most gentle dissent from anyone other than the captain. The entire culture of how players treat referees has to change at every level of the game. No other sport allows that absolute garbage.

That Llorente rolling around is ridiculous, reminiscent of Neymar at the World Cup. Have some dignity ffs

I think he's absolutely vital with Grealish out, but as others have said we need to have the support behind him. Having him and Elmo down one side with a midfield including Barkley probably isn't the way to go.