Tanguy Ndombele doing Tanguy Ndombele things.

𝗔 𝘁𝗵𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗱:

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: Sports Utility Vehicles (SUVs)

Global car sales shrank by ~14% in 2020
* Sales of electric cars grew ~50% (from a very low level)
* Sales of SUVs declined ~10%, but share of sales went from 39% to 42%

→ What about emissions from SUVs?

1/

https://t.co/WBN3Lup2hU

Emissions from SUVs are estimated to have seen a slight increase of 0.5% in 2020, despite global emissions down ~7%.

"Despite the effects of the pandemic on overall car use, SUVs consumed more oil last year than they did in 2019"

2/

"Oil consumption from SUVs reached 5.5 million barrels per day in 2020"

"Remarkably, we estimate that the increase in the overall SUV fleet in 2020 cancelled out the declines in oil consumption by SUVs that resulted from Covid-related lockdown measures"

3/

"SUV emissions are comparable to those of the entire maritime industry, including international shipping"

"Emissions from SUVs have nearly tripled over the past decade"

4/

"we estimate that the reduction in oil demand from the increased share of electric vehicles in the overall car market in 2020 – around 40,000 barrels a day – was completely cancelled out by the growth in SUV sales over the same period."

5/

I was sent a copy of the so-called Super League document earlier today and have spent the afternoon doing some number crunching on it.

A few key takeaways

(1/)

The plan would guarantee massive income to a 15 club elite and cement financial gaps not only between those competing in the Super league and those not, but within it.

(2/)

The plan envisages one off payments of up to €350 million to the fifteen founder members, but only six clubs would receive the full amount with five of the initial members receiving just €100 or €112.5 million.

(3/)

The 15 breakaway clubs have generously deigned to allow 5 merit based qualifiers each season. But the system is totally skewed against them. They have no say in running the Super League and are entirely excluded from a commercial pot worth 15% of income

(4/)

Moreover, there is an 'equal' share of revenue that is not equal at all. The qualifiers are excluded from half of this pot of money (worth around €1.85 BILLION)

(5/)

The Review: GW 18 - A thread

Hi everyone, welcome to the latest edition of “The Review” where I look at Bench Boost, Triple Captaincy and the upcoming double GW 19 in detail:

#FPL #FPLCommunity @OfficialFPL

(Data taken from @FFScout and @FFH_HQ with consent)

Before I start, I'd like to introduce you to this game called Fantasy5. It’s free to enter, with a £10k weekly prize. All you have to do is to pick 5 players that you think will beat their Fantasy points target. Link

At this point, I’d also like to mention that I post about FPL on my Instagram too, so if you have an Instagram account, follow up here!

Q: Who is the best captaincy option this week and why?

I jump straight away to what is the toughest question of the week. I first try and work out which one of the Liverpool midfielders to own:

(read below)

Salah (20/21) vs Mane (20/21)

Mins per shot inside the box: 33.73 vs 34.15
Mins per big chance: 96.4 vs 111
Mins per big chance created: 224.8 vs 333
Mins per chance created: 49.9 vs 57.9

Even though Mane’s numbers in comparison to his numbers in the yesteryears have...

Traditional sports ranking of community strength:

Teams > Players > League

but esports/socialmedia/fantasy/tradingcard-boom/tech-unbundles-everything has shifted things

Players > Teams > League

Players are realizing it. Teams will be wise to adapt fast.

We're doing our best at @weareangelcity to build a world class pro sports club with the new reality in mind.

e.g., For a century, there was tremendous brand + community value in 'putting on the pinstripes' of the NY Yankees bc a player was imbued with the community + brand love from being associated with the club... just like a journalist getting a job with the NY Times...

But now, fans -- the community -- have a direct relationship with the individuals (the players/journalists) who are doing the real work every day. That is a huge power shift... and it's a very good thing for those men + women.

Very different industries, obviously, but Substack-ification of media in 2020 was a preview for a lot of other sectors. Going to be interesting to watch in sports, bc it's the most meritocratic industry, yet still very problematic history between owners + players.