Southampton

[Selly]

Cannot agree with your first point, their should be a dedicated time keeper, throw ins, goal kicks, free kicks, corners ect should all have a time limit and time added on and the player booked, if the limit is exceeded.

If a game lasts 1 hour per half, tough titty, they’ll soon learn.

Football is expensive, fans pay to watch 90 minutes of football not 70 minutes and 20 minutes of time wasting, and I couldn’t give a shit if the poor little darling who’s on my annual wage every week is tired.

Everything else about the subs, spot on .

I believe its been shown that (where there isn`t time wasting involved) a half of football sees the ball in play for 35-37 mins

I'd be fully in favour of 35 minute halves (or whatever the right number is), with the time stopping every time the ball is out of play/a foul is committed.

no such thing as timewasting then - although it wouldn`t solve the "convenient" injuries that occur when the opposition are having a spell...

 

[Beans]

I saw a video the other day that said that 22/23 (where non of the promoted clubs got relegated) followed by 23/24 (where they all got relegated) left the league in a position where every club other than the three that get promoted are now "established".

With the 3 promoted teams looking like they are coming straight back down, that's going to persist for another season. The shortest tenure in the PL (apart from the promoted teams) will be three years. That's three years of spending cash that Championship clubs cannot dream of competing with.

Unless a Wolves or a Bournemouth or a Brighton have a rotter of a season(or ManC get relegated), I don't see it changing.

It's an exceptionally sad position, and will end up changing "being relegated" from being the thing that might end a club to "not getting up at the first, or maybe second attempt" - there will end up being a rotating 6-8 clubs at the top of the Championship with very little scope for other to break in - unless a team does a Luton...

This is such a great point. I'd never considered this, that not only does it "look bad" that three promoted teams go straight back down, it also exacerbates the spending advantage that the other 17 clubs then have over the next batch to come up.

I believe its been shown that (where there isn`t time wasting involved) a half of football sees the ball in play for 35-37 mins

57 mins per game average ball-in-play time in the Champ in 2023/24. I find it faintly ridiculous that we broadly tolerate it, to be honest!

 

[Selly]

This is such a great point. I'd never considered this, that not only does it "look bad" that three promoted teams go straight back down, it also exacerbates the spending advantage that the other 17 clubs then have over the next batch to come up.


57 mins per game average ball-in-play time in the Champ in 2023/24. I find it faintly ridiculous that we broadly tolerate it, to be honest!

That low - in fairness my memory was from 20+ years ago - and the below link:

Stop the clock

An analysis of ball-in-play time using StatsBomb open data and a discussion on why added time directives are silly and probably misguided.

www.getgoalsideanalytics.com

Seems to support a similar number:

• Premier League 2015/16 season: 55 minutes, ~30 seconds
• La Liga 2015/16 season: 54 minutes, ~10 seconds
• Arsenal men's team Invincibles season, 2003/04: ~55 minutes
• StatsBomb Icons sample (21* games from the careers of Diego Maradona, Johann Cruyff, or Pelé): 55 minutes, ~10 seconds

So in this data analysis, including matches from two decades ago, we've got a central band around 54-56 minutes of ball-in-play time and 56-58% of match in-play time, and an outlier in either direction. Going by The Analyst's article from January 2023, much of the top European men's leagues fell into or close to this central band too. They generally averaged 53-55 minutes ball-in-play time and 54-57% of total match time: a touch less than the analysis on StatsBomb data samples, but not much.

The funniest part of it all is that, despite FIFA's efforts in the 2022 World Cup, the percentage of the match time that was in-play was still below 59%. They got close to an hour of in-play time not through anything smart but by brute force, introducing several minutes of extra dead time in every game at the same time.

So perhaps 2 halves of 30 mins each would be the right answer - or 2 of 28...

 

[Norwood's 6 iron]

Rugby union which is far more physical play 2 X 40 minute halves with the clock stopped whenever there is likely to be a delay in re-starting the game. There is no reason why us fans should expect anything less than that.
Football has become a non-contact sport, physically they are much fitter, play on better pitches with a ball something akin to a beach ball. You want to settle for 2 halves of 30 minutes or less, you're having a laugh. Next you'll want a 30 minutes half time so they can get their breath back.

 

[Balham]

Rugby union which is far more physical play 2 X 40 minute halves with the clock stopped whenever there is likely to be a delay in re-starting the game. There is no reason why us fans should expect anything less than that.
Football has become a non-contact sport, physically they are much fitter, play on better pitches with a ball something akin to a beach ball. You want to settle for 2 halves of 30 minutes or less, you're having a laugh. Next you'll want a 30 minutes half time so they can get their breath back.

The ball is in play for less than half of the 80 minutes of a rugby game, even with the stoppages. Setting scrums, waiting for line outs, deciding on and then taking penalties all take up a lot of time.

 

[Selly]

I know someone else posted something similar to this, but I cant find it so have recreated it (any errors are mine)

This is the current league table

		Last Top Flight season	Seasons since top flight
Leeds United	2022-23	1
Sheffield United	2023-24	0
Burnley	2023-24	0
Sunderland	2016-17	7
West Bromwich Albion	2022-23	1
Blackburn Rovers	2017-18	6
Coventry City	2000-01	23
Bristol City	1979-80	44
Watford	2021-22	2
Norwich City	2021-22	2
Middlesbrough	2016-17	7
Millwall	1989-90	34
Sheffield Wednesday	1999-2000	24
Queens Park Rangers	2013-14	10
Preston North End	1960-61	63
Swansea City	2017-18	6
Portsmouth	2009-10	14
Oxford United	1987-88	36
Cardiff City	2013-14	10
Stoke City	2017-18	6
Hull City	2016-17	7
Plymouth Argyle	Never	N/A
Derby County	2007-08	16
Luton Town	2023-24	0

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Observations:

• The top 3, and 4 of the top 5 were in the PL in the last 2 seasons - frankly anyone who cares about the competitiveness of the Championship should be worried about this - can anyone see Soton, Leicester and Ipswich not being in the top 6 next year?
• most of the top half of the table (Coventry and Bristol C notwithstanding) have been in the PL in the last 7 years
• most of the bottom half of the table haven`t been in the PL in the last 10 years
• Watford and Norwich perhaps suffering the "failure to get up in years 1 and 2 after relegation" symptom
• perhaps most interestingly - there are no teams in the Championship whose last season in the top flight was 3/4/5 years ago perhaps an indication that the set of yo-yo clubs is already becoming "set" (as they, like us, managed to get back up and are either in the PL, or were in the PL in the last couple of years)
• Luton are probably going to rip through L1 next year as they will still have some parachute payments

 

[Selly]

The ball is in play for less than half of the 80 minutes of a rugby game, even with the stoppages. Setting scrums, waiting for line outs, deciding on and then taking penalties all take up a lot of time.

They do at least have a "time-off" process though controlled by the ref - however I don`t see that working in football for one reason and one reason only - the lack of respect for the officials.

If Liverpool are losing towards the end of the game they'd be hounding the ref (as would the Liverpool fans) to "time off" at every point an opposition player went down.

the only way I see it working (assuming you don`t "time off" for every stoppage) would be automatic "time-off" criteria:

• a goal is scored
• a substitution is made
• a trainer has to enter the field of play to give treatment to a player
• a player is being booked/sent off
• an incident has to be reviewed by VAR

And if you are doing the above, then for me its a matter of leaving the game at 90 mins - and there being no stoppage time at all. This would eliminate a lot of non-obvious time wasting - then be more stringent on the obvious time wasting - dole bookings out early (anyone ever see a keeper booked for taking too much time at a goal kick in the first half?)

 

[DifferentClass]

Officially down.

 

[PeterNdlovu081]

Officially down.

No mention of it anywhere in the media.

If it was us there'd be headlines about us being relegated in record time!

 

[The Fox]

Apparently thier manager scouts have been told to find a new boss who's not afraid of dishing out the hairdryer treatment

 

[DifferentClass]

Apparently thier manager scouts have been told to find a new boss who's not afraid of dishing out the hairdryer treatment

Sausage not in running then?

 

[Danny_Blade]

By "record time" I suppose that means no club has been relegated from the top flight as early as April 6th, not even Derby despite amassing a measly 11 points?

 

[loyalblade95]

By "record time" I suppose that means no club has been relegated from the top flight as early as April 6th, not even Derby despite amassing a measly 11 points?

Relegated with 7 games left is a new PL record, didn't we go down with 4 games left last season?

 

[DifferentClass]

Relegated with 7 games left is a new PL record, didn't we go down with 4 games left last season?

To be fair the teams above us were not much better...

 

[Tony_Kaufman]

I won't mock Southampton due to us having gone through this last season. I feel for the fans. At least they'll feel relief that the nightmare is over tonight.

The Premier League should be ashamed of what it's done. It's all well and good saying that it's clubs faults for not being good enough to stay up, but the Premier League has created this gulf.

It's beyond fixing. Over rated s**t league.

I almost resent us going up. I want us to go up as I want our club to be the best it can possibly be, but on the flip side I hate the Premier League with a passion.

 

[Rochdaleblade]

Getting to the Premier League is becoming a bit like winning the speedboat on Bullseye. One reason I won't be devastated if we balls up promtion

 

[Gimli]

I won't mock Southampton due to us having gone through this last season. I feel for the fans. At least they'll feel relief that the nightmare is over tonight.

The Premier League should be ashamed of what it's done. It's all well and good saying that it's clubs faults for not being good enough to stay up, but the Premier League has created this gulf.

It's beyond fixing. Over rated s**t league.

I almost resent us going up. I want us to go up as I want our club to be the best it can possibly be, but on the flip side I hate the Premier League with a passion.

For all the marketing and money that’s been invested in record levels, the gigantic (and growing each season) elephant in the room is that they’ve created a league that is becoming a closed shop and the bottom three are becoming less competitive year on year.

If I was a premier league executive I’d be quite embarrassed that there seems to be a ‘challenger’ for Derby’s infamous record more and more often.

 

[loyalblade95]

Just taken this from the comments on the BBC Sport match report from Southampton Vs Spurs, and I agree with what this person is on about.

These days, it does feel like the PL and it's 33 year history is the only relevant thing about football in this country, almost like it's ignoring anything pre PL.

Not just pre PL, but outside top flight football in general as well, as winning any domestic competition that isn't PL, FA Cup or League Cup (I'm mainly referring to any EFL League titles) isn't included in how they measure your club success.

It might only be a league 1 title, but that 16/17 season was one of my favourite seasons watching Blades, watching us win an actual trophy and all of the celebrations afterwards, as well as plenty of the moments from the games.

Yet whenever Blades are talked about as winning trophies, it's noted that we haven't won a major trophy for a hundred years now, as our titles since 1925 are not major trophies.

 

[Rusty view]

Getting to the Premier League is becoming a bit like winning the speedboat on Bullseye. One reason I won't be devastated if we balls up promtion

Said this all season. Want us to win promotion but not fussed about Prem League.

 

[Peaktrade]

I'd be careful what we say here, because IF we go up.. I am not looking forward to it.
Especially if we buy top Championship style players and not ready made decent Prem players - we could be even worse next season!
Hand on heart, I hope Wilder manages it but I honestly think he's a top Championship manager but not Prem quality.

He understands the market (ish) for players anything from Championship below. Even then, he makes a lot of poor decisions even of late (Cannon) as an example. It is what it is, but we could be worse than them next season. That 11 point tally WILL be beaten at some point in the future.. just hope it's not us.

 

[espoo blade]

By "record time" I suppose that means no club has been relegated from the top flight as early as April 6th, not even Derby despite amassing a measly 11 points?

Opta got you sorted for all that stuff...although I believe it's only in the Premier League era:

The Earliest Relegations in Premier League History | Opta Analyst

With seven games remaining, Southampton's relegation has been confirmed. Where does that rank in terms of the earliest Premier League relegations in history?

theanalyst.com

So we lose one of our unwanted records here as Southampton take the record outright with Seven Games Remaining!

 

[Silent Blade]

Relegated with 7 games left is a new PL record, didn't we go down with 4 games left last season?

Three after our defeat at Newcastle

 

[Silent Blade]

Opta got you sorted for all that stuff...although I believe it's only in the Premier League era:

The Earliest Relegations in Premier League History | Opta Analyst

With seven games remaining, Southampton's relegation has been confirmed. Where does that rank in terms of the earliest Premier League relegations in history?

theanalyst.com

View attachment 208146

So we lose one of our unwanted records here as Southampton take the record outright with Seven Games Remaining!

View attachment 208147

We got relegation on 27th March 1976 with 6 games to go but we won 4 and drew once in our remaining 6 games

 

[chesblade]

They've definitely not had the rubbish thrown at them like we did, we were stinking the league out but we finished on more points than Southampton and wasn't relegated this early but not heard the same said about them

 

[UddersBlade]

They've definitely not had the rubbish thrown at them like we did, we were stinking the league out but we finished on more points than Southampton and wasn't relegated this early but not heard the same said about them

Truth is that media in general don’t really like us. Desparately want Burnley, Leeds & Sunderland or Frank Lampard’s Coventry to be promoted.

We had 1 season of being a novelty in 19/20 season…. But aside from that everything from Premier League is negative about us. It will be the same next season if we go up. And that Simon Jordan is a pig loving twat.

 

[DifferentClass]

Truth is that media in general don’t really like us. Desparately want Burnley, Leeds & Sunderland or Frank Lampard’s Coventry to be promoted.

We had 1 season of being a novelty in 19/20 season…. But aside from that everything from Premier League is negative about us. It will be the same next season if we go up. And that Simon Jordan is a pig loving twat.

Honorary pig as far as I'm concerned Simon Jordan.

 

[Varkanoid]

Just been reading the comments on the BBC Website regarding the Southampton article. Sounded very familiar, owners not knowing what to do and having no strong plan for the PL, selecting the wrong players, missing out on players that went to other clubs, poor squad strength. Not sure whether I feel sorry for the fans because some of them would have been rubbishing us last season. Still want automatic promotion for the Blades worry about PL later but there is one thing in our favour. We've already been in the situation Southampton were in so you would hope the club would plan to not let it happen again. Who knows we might finally be able to help relegate Everton!

 

[PeterNdlovu081]

Truth is that media in general don’t really like us. Desparately want Burnley, Leeds & Sunderland or Frank Lampard’s Coventry to be promoted.

Complete bollocks.

 

[Cheeky Blade]

Ah well…

 

[Pollingtonblade]

Truth is that media in general don’t really like us. Desparately want Burnley, Leeds & Sunderland or Frank Lampard’s Coventry to be promoted.

We had 1 season of being a novelty in 19/20 season…. But aside from that everything from Premier League is negative about us. It will be the same next season if we go up. And that Simon Jordan is a pig loving twat.

Absolute horse shit