I don't think people understand the vital difference between a well-rehearsed (and physical) team vs a collection of individuals with no real understanding - new players, makeshift centre-backs, other players out of position. Make do an mend when missing a ton of quality = v.hard

A simple solution for Welsh rugby, achieved by splitting the administration and control of the community and professional game......1/

The professional game owns the competitions it plays in (so the actual clubs are the shareholders) and form an organisation similar to PRL in order to best serve their commercial interests. Competition & broadcast income no longer flows through the accounts of the WRU but 2/

rather is paid to the incorporated organisation owned by the clubs (with the WRU having a share, so an interest, in that organisation). The WRU share isn't dividend paying, however. That organisation then deals with all aspects of the professional game 3/

from dealing with CVC, to negotiating competition and broadcast income, to sponsors for the Autumn International series, to working with World Rugby on the World Calendar - everything. 4/

From the funds of that corporation, a licence fee is paid to the WRU for the use of the stadium. This licence fee replaces the grant the professional game pays (north of £10m at the moment) to the community game each year. This money, plus whatever the community game 5/

The Premier League schedule can just about handle the games that have been postponed... so far.

But the league is on the brink of a fixture crisis, and the failure to entertaining agreeing curtailment / abandonment options may come back and bite them hard.

From the initial fixture build there were three Premier Lague catchup dates built in - the midweeks of March 2, April 20 and May 19.

However, these placeholders were primarily for teams which reached the Carabao Cup final and/or the FA Cup final.

Added to that, even without COVID postponements, if a PL team were to get the semis of the Champions League or Europa League and the final of both domestic cups there aren't enough spare midweeks to fit those games in.

Looking at you, Man City, Man United and Tottenham.

Now it looks like we have the added complication of Tottenham v Fulham being postponed.

If at least one of those clubs remains in the FA Cup through to Round 5, the game can only be played on March 2.

But it could get even more complicated.

If Tottenham reach the Carabao Cup final, they also have to rearrange (coincidentally) Fulham v Tottenham which is due to be played April 24.

If Spurs go far in the UEL and to the FA Cup final, they will have nowhere to play TWO matches before the season deadline of May 23.

Thread:

Are Manchester United shooting and allowing shots more frequently in the 20/21 PL season?

RTs appreciated :)

#MUFC rank 3rd for volume of shots in the Premier League this season. United also rank 1st for SoT but that is not a surprise when you consider that they have scored the most goals in the league.

Sh/90 = 14.3 (5th)
SoT/90 = 5.48 (=2nd)
Accuracy = 38.4 % ( 3rd)

Yes, #MUFC do well for shot accuracy but it has to be mentioned that 32% of #MUFC’s goals came in two games - against Leeds United and Southampton. Similarly, 23% of #MUFC’s shots came in three games - against Newcastle United, Leeds United, & Southampton.

Shooting:

At this rate, #MUFC are projected to finish with roughly 540 shots this season. That’s roughly 2% more than last season. That number is equivalent to 14.2 shots per 90 minutes. Again, a marginal increase from last season’s 13.9 shots per 90 minutes.

Hitting the target:

If #MUFC maintain their current level of accuracy, they will finish with 5.47 shots on target per 90 minutes, which is once again more than last season, again only slightly more.

These are very fine margins that could prove vital come the end of this season

The Story Of Biafra Football Club (1969- 1978)

By Bianca Odumegwu Ojukwu

Indeed there was a country... and there was also the Biafra Football Club.

In the dying months of the breakaway Republic of Biafra, a group of idealistic young football lovers gathered together

in Valls, Barcelona (Spain) to honour the heroic struggle of The Biafrans .

They created a symbolic pennant and founded the Biafra Football club in order to draw world attention to the plight of Biafra, using one of the most potent methods known to humanity.

Football.

CF Biafra had about a hundred players from Reus to Pla, from Nulles to Tarragona they settled in El Vilar, within the federated amateur league and rode all the way to the Third Regional League.

Half a century later, the golden anniversary of the Biafra football club

was celebrated.

Though now extinct, Biafra , to those idealistic young men, was a mirror for their own struggles . In their perception, their own region of Catalunya ( Catalonia) was going through the same situation at the hands of the Spanish government as Biafra was

experiencing, at the hands of the Nigerian government.

They found a common bond and affinity with the Biafra struggle through the formation of the Biafra football club in Valls.

The club existed until 1978 when its activities were truncated by lack of economic resources.