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urban.spaceman

Europa League 18/19

By urban.spaceman, in General Football and Sport

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MC Prussian

MC Prussian

Posted
Posted
30 minutes ago, StanSP said:

So Chelsea went and played a friendly in America with a full-strength squad and now Loftus-Cheek is injured having left the stadium on crutches. 

 

How fvcking stupid do you have to be to play a friendly all the way over there before a huge final and even more stupid to take such a strong squad?! Hazard played as well! Surely you keep him wrapped up in cotton wool as with most players. 

Might be down to contractual and/or sponsorship reasons, and that the friendly had been arranged way in advance.

 

With about twenty days between the end of the Premier League season and the final, surely players do need match practice in order to stay sharp and fit enough for the occasion.

 

Unfortunate for Loftus-Cheek, though.

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Rusko187

Rusko187

Posted
Posted

Mkhitaryan won't be playing due to the political concerns between Azerbaijan and Armenia.


Respectfully I understand that the venue is set long before the teams get to the final, but in this case, I personally feel both Chelsea and Arsenal boycott to force UEFA intervention... if the nation cannot ensure the safety of a player than surely the nation isn't capable of hosting the event.

 

Plenty other neutral venues around Europe that could allow for both teams to field their full allocation of players.

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Footballwipe

Footballwipe

Posted
Posted (edited)
28 minutes ago, Rusko187 said:

Mkhitaryan won't be playing due to the political concerns between Azerbaijan and Armenia.


Respectfully I understand that the venue is set long before the teams get to the final, but in this case, I personally feel both Chelsea and Arsenal boycott to force UEFA intervention... if the nation cannot ensure the safety of a player than surely the nation isn't capable of hosting the event.

 

Plenty other neutral venues around Europe that could allow for both teams to field their full allocation of players.

Absolutely, any country that cannot guarantee the safety of one of the players because their country is in conflict with another is 100% not fit to host a major continental final. At all. It's an outrage and I'd genuinely love the two teams to make a stand on it in some form.

 

I think this also highlights the wider issue of venues for finals. I'm by no means an eco-warrior but I'd definitely subscribe to flex final venues for, if nothing else, environmental reasons. It makes no sense to have two teams eight miles apart travelling thousands of miles to the edge of Asia to play a final, when it can be at Wembley, Spurs new ground, Amsterdam, Paris, whatever. Logistically I might be talking crap, but UEFA can't sit there making any environmental proclamations when this is happening.

Edited by Footballwipe
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Rusko187

Rusko187

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, Footballwipe said:

Absolutely, any country that cannot guarantee the safety of one of the players because their country is in conflict with another is 100% not fit to host a major continental final. At all. It's an outrage and I'd genuinely love the two teams to make a stand on it in some form.

 

I think this also highlights the wider issue of venues for finals. I'm by no means an eco-warrior but I'd definitely subscribe to flex final venues for, if nothing else, environmental reasons. It makes no sense to have two teams eight miles apart travelling thousands of miles to the edge of Asia to play a final, when it can be at Wembley, Spurs new ground, Amsterdam, Paris, whatever. Logistically I might be talking crap, but UEFA can't sit there making any environmental proclamations when this is happening.

This is always the sticking point though, the venue is decided way before Chelsea and Arsenal getting to a final. For them to have to travel is bad but at the end of the day, we can't expect special treatment on the basis that they're both London clubs. My point is more in alignment to a political situation threatening the quality of the final.

 

Suppose UEFA would react if it were... say affecting a major star ala Messi / Ronaldo.

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Footballwipe

Footballwipe

Posted
Posted
38 minutes ago, Rusko187 said:

This is always the sticking point though, the venue is decided way before Chelsea and Arsenal getting to a final. For them to have to travel is bad but at the end of the day, we can't expect special treatment on the basis that they're both London clubs. My point is more in alignment to a political situation threatening the quality of the final.

 

Suppose UEFA would react if it were... say affecting a major star ala Messi / Ronaldo.

I'm not saying London clubs should get special treatment. I'm saying the system should be aligned so that any final that throws up such ridiculous travel arrangements could be changed.

 

Thus, if the final was Atletico v Real, the final should be somewhere in Spain, France or Portugal. If the final is Ajax v Porto, the final should be at a venue within x miles to help fans get to a location easily. Madrid as a location for this year's UCL final would be okay under my made-up-on-the-spot rules. Does that mean places like Baku will never host a final? Yes, but I can live with that.

 

There are Cat 4 UEFA venues with big enough capacity littered across Europe, and cities in Europe who can easily accommodate such numbers. There's nothing to say that UEFA can't mandate any countries who enter must submit a Cat 4 venue to be ready to host the final on the pre-set date, and for all rights holders to be on notice to host the production of the game on the pre-set date.

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Stadt

Stadt

Posted
Posted

Even if you could afford it you wouldn't really fancy spending days to get there. Not that drinking alcohol is the be all and end all but I can't imagine Baku is full of brilliant spots to have a beer.

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UniFox21

UniFox21

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, goose2010 said:

It is a bit of a joke though. Chelsea have sold 600 tickets and Arsenal 1500. They are on general sale - a cup European Cup final should not be on general sale.

They should be offering enough for it to be bought by members etc and then get on general sale.

 

It's one of the biggest games of the year, why should any fan miss out when the capacity is what it is?

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CosbehFox

CosbehFox

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, Stadt said:

Even if you could afford it you wouldn't really fancy spending days to get there. Not that drinking alcohol is the be all and end all but I can't imagine Baku is full of brilliant spots to have a beer.

It's an odd city as well. The Old City is said to be beautiful but that's largely dominated now by the huge developments that Azerbaijan's oil money has brought. 

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goose2010

goose2010

Posted
Posted
6 hours ago, UniFox21 said:

They should be offering enough for it to be bought by members etc and then get on general sale.

 

It's one of the biggest games of the year, why should any fan miss out when the capacity is what it is?

No I totally agree. What I'm saying is a cup final should never make general sale. The tickets should have been snapped up already. 

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UniFox21

UniFox21

Posted
Posted
9 hours ago, goose2010 said:

No I totally agree. What I'm saying is a cup final should never make general sale. The tickets should have been snapped up already. 

Agree there, I read around 2100 tickets have been sold between BOTH Arsenal and Chelsea. That's like the away corner of the KP.

 

To add to it, the Mhikitarian thing is ridiculous to put it politely

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egg_fried_rice

egg_fried_rice

Posted
Posted

 

This guff about a 'coming together' and Sarri stomping out of training seems a bit overblown to me. Much ado about nothing.

 

The organisers also appear to be pumping crowd noise into the stadium - could just be testing the conditions for VAR, or could be worried it's going to be a bit of a damp squib.
 

 

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fazzyfox

fazzyfox

Posted
Posted

With the opportunity of having 11 subs and an injury problem in midfield, might we catch a glimpse of the lesser spotted Drinky tonight? I managed to zoom in on Sarri's notes from training last night (dropped when he stormed off) and it's looking highly unlikely -

 

Midfield optionolis:-

 

Jorginho 

Kovacic

Barkley

Kante (Stretcher on to pitch)

er an untried 18 year old

16 year old?

15 

Stamford de Lion

Sarri !

Fazzyfox

Season ticket holders

Members

Junior Lewis (reccomended by Peter Taylor at coaching conference)

oh, what a they call heeem, Dan a he a drink a all a de water, heeem, that guy who putta out a de cones

Lee Cattermole

 

 

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MC Prussian

MC Prussian

Posted
Posted

It's just a farce. Pathetic choice, pathetic ticketing, pathetic travel options.

 

Whomever decided to hold this EL final in Azerbaijan needs some serious rollicking.


The only reason I can think of is... yes... ££££££. The country ranks 123 out of 176 on Transparency International's corruption index. lol

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Tielemans63

Tielemans63

Posted
Posted
2 minutes ago, Vacamion said:

 

I have thought long and hard about which of Chelsea and Arsenal I would like to win tonight. 

 

Nope. 

 

Still neither. 

 

I vote meteorite strike. 

I'm with you Vac. I was hoping both sides might somehow lose on pens but I'll go meteorite strike too.

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lestajigs

lestajigs

Posted
Posted
16 minutes ago, Vacamion said:

 

I have thought long and hard about which of Chelsea and Arsenal I would like to win tonight. 

 

Nope. 

 

Still neither. 

 

I vote meteorite strike. 

I know exactly what you mean, dislike both tbf. Maybe chelsea just for me, just the fact there are more english players in the side ?

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Vacamion

Vacamion

Posted
Posted

 

I know and appreciate that they have ethnically diverse fan bases, but a lot of those "fans" wearing Chelsea and Arsenal look a lot like locals. lol

 

I reckon the government there has bought up and handed out free shirts. 

 

 

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lestajigs

lestajigs

Posted
Posted
1 minute ago, Vacamion said:

 

I know and appreciate that they have ethnically diverse fan bases, but a lot of those "fans" wearing Chelsea and Arsenal look a lot like locals. lol

 

I reckon the government there has bought up and handed out free shirts. 

 

 

Its embarrassing tbf

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