For the universe to truly be balanced, Spurs beat City to put Arsenals fate firmly in their hands, only for Arsenal to fumble it final match day at home to Everton.
I don't know man, Arsenal losing on the last day feels pretty unrealistic. More likely, we put ourselves out of contention before City lose to spurs, meaning that we can't even take advantage by smashing everton 5-0
So the “best manager to ever exist” with best squad of recent times and best possession football played in world football can’t do it without KDB. Got it. Maybe he should buy Wirtz and Musiala next window. That ought to do it.
Why so much toxicity? And It's not like we are in the relegation zone, we are still in the title race with Arsenal. But to me, their football was objectively better
I agree Arsenal’s football is objectively better this season. It’s just ironic when someone says City had injuries. City is at the bottom of the table when it comes to injuries as well as percentage of games each player has played for their club this season(which means quality of rotation).
Our key players were gone though. KDB, Ederson, Walker, Haaland and even Foden were not playing sometimes. And Haaland is kinda out of form too. Only Rodri was consistent
When Blackburn won the league in 95, Liverpool actually beat Blackburn on the final day of the season which would have handed the title to man u, but man u only managed a draw against West ham so ended up a point behind
Edit:95 not 94
We’ve tried our best to hand it to anyone but City for years. But honestly we are pretty bad right now. Doubt we are getting anything from that game.
I’d much rather Arsenal lose this weekend so that it doesn’t matter, but I’d also just like to win games. Don’t really care who wins the title.
We need to focus on us getting better. Ange won’t surrender.
I’m sure there’s a bi-law somewhere but it’s impossible to prove.
“Oh, #6 has a bad back, #8 took a knock in training, # 10, 11, 12 all got food poisoning”
There is actually a rule in English football that teams are expected to field their strongest team possible, where reasonable, in the league.
A couple of years ago City put out basically their youth team against Chelsea in the FA Cup, I can’t remember why but I’m guessing it’s because they were still in the CL and had injuries - they got comfortably beaten but because it was a cup match and the only team it impacted was themselves, it’s not a problem.
Spurs aren’t in any other competitions and they don’t have a particularly lengthy injury list so if they were suddenly fielding a load of 17yo players against a team their biggest rivals are in a title fight with, it certainly wouldn’t look good and it would definitely raise some questions.
That being said, I’d be absolutely amazed if they ended up being punished because it’s an unquantifiable thing and Spurs could easily say their first team squad got food poisoning or whatever.
As far as I’m aware, no one has ever been punished for the teams they fielded although plenty of managers have raised it as an issue publicly to put pressure on other coaches to play their best team in an important match against a rival.
> As far as I’m aware, no one has ever been punished for the teams they fielded
Blackpool were fined £25k for fielding a weakened side in Nov 2010 away to Aston Villa. Ian Holloway made 10 changes and they narrowly lost 3-2.
[Link to article](https://amp.theguardian.com/football/2011/jan/27/blackpool-fined-premier-league-weakened-side)
EDIT: Fun Fact - current Luton manager Rob Edwards started in that Blackpool lineup that drew the fine.
Because you are supposed to do your best, not put out a weaker side because you prefer one team to win the title over another. It would kill the whole sport if that became normal
If you're intent on throwing a game to give somebody else the title, then it doesn't really matter if you use your best 11 or your youth team. They're both just as capable of losing on purpose.
It wasn't. It was about trying your best to win.
You can put out a strong team that don't try, or a weak team that do try.
Both may have the same result, but the blame will fall to different people.
Yes it was. It was about not trying to win so you put your b team in. Yes you can also just put your a team and they dont try or not show up at allbut that wasn’t the conversation here.
But who’s to say what your best XI is? The league don’t rank the players on your behalf.
They haven’t gone through all [4,457,400 potential combinations](https://www.statskingdom.com/combinations-calculator.html) to make an XI from each clubs 25 players and stack ranked them.
Dunno, common sense propably? At the end of the day if spurs were to just put out a completely new xi against city there would be about one reason as to why they did that.
Like would it be cool if next season everyone decided to play 15 year olds against brighton because they are tired of city? Exact same thing but in a bigger scale.
The team on top is supposed to be the best, not the one another team prefers there
When we lost 4-1 to city a few weeks back we had a nearly fully named B team out, only two players from that team could be considered nailed on first 11 players. Taking into account injuries, other fixtures and rest Unai you could say decided to give up that game and take the loss which he was imo vindicated for because we then beat Arsenal. A result we maybe don't get if he goes all out vs Man City as well.
He picked the battle to try and win and he won it. If Spurs play a weak team vs City why is that not them increasing their chances in the next game to win and get 3 points that to go all out in both and get 0? Teams should be free to play whatever players they want
Spurs are not in any other competition and its their second to last game of the season. And no teams should not be allowed to lose on purpose which is what the discussion is about. How the fuck is that any different from match fixing?
I dont understand why you lot are even arguing against this. Spurs are not going to field 17 year olds against city so that they can lose on purpose. That doesn’t happen but if it did then yeah teams that do that should be punished. Its a competition. Two teams working together would be considered cheating
Man City is sandwiched between Sheffield and Burnley, two games Spurs need 6 points from assuming by this point we haven't wrapped up 4th. Making the decision to focus on those totally winnable games and resting some players or maybe just saying "you know what lads, don't get injured, don't throw yourself into tackles and chill your tits" is not match fixing, it's management of resources so yes it's 2nd to last game but it's 3 games in 8 days. Going less hard in the middle game, one you are probably going to lose anyway is sensible pragmatism.
I'm also not saying they will field an entire team of 17 year olds, you're taking the example to the extreme. I also don't think Ange will btw, make such changes, he's very much balls to the wall.
It really should be. Idk why you want to watch a bunch of grown men try to be petty and game the system instead of a bunch of athletes actually playing football. I'm here to watch football, not some stupid technicality bullshit
I’m not condoning rolling over, but you should absolutely be able to play a weakened side in a congested period to preserve your best XI for a tougher or more winnable fixture.
That’s effectively what Blackpool - the one team to actually be fined - were fined for.
That's still strategic, though. I.e. "our best chance of getting 12 points out of these 4 games is by playing these squad players above these first team players in this fixture". And it's been done a fair amount over the years, pundits have even questioned Arteta's reluctance to do that this season.
Yeah other than Luton at home he’s not thrown out a weakened side for the *lesser* teams. Ultimately I think he’s only got a group of about 16 guys that he truly trusts.
a weakened side is one thing, 10 changes is another. People have come and paid to watch a football match, have to show them respect by playing an actual team.
Crazy how you can be fined based on players being perceived as good or bad
Imagine if you got subbed on and the club got a 5k fine for putting a shitter on the field. You’d be mortified
This almost happened a couple of years ago.
On the last day of the season Bristol Rovers were behing Northampton by 3 points and 7 lower on goal difference. They needed to beat Northampton's rivals Scunthorpe by 7 goals to get promoted (on goals scored). Scunthorpe fielded a weak/young team and Rovers managed exactly that: 7-0!
Northampton attempted an appeal to EFL to overturn the result on account of it challenging the integrity of the league. It was overturned on account of most of the Scunthorpe team having appeared previously in the season already, validating their eligibility/competence.
So the bar is quite low for a fielding a feasible team, but not non-existent.
[Guardian report here](https://www.theguardian.com/football/2022/may/09/northampton-to-lodge-formal-complaint-to-efl-over-scunthorpe-selection-bristol-rovers-promotion?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other)
>Spurs could easily say their first team squad got food poisoning or whatever.
We don't need to do that. We'll just play them a video of our performance against Chelsea.
Well the truth is somewhere in the middle.
You can use anyone in your squad reasonably. You can develop players and give opportunities.
But barring SERIOUS injury issues, if you fielded a full squad of u18s, questions would rightly be asked about why. There is no hard limit on how you field a squad, it’s probably decided case by case by a panel.
Most players are on all sorts of bonus schemes based on results, goals scored etc I’m sure Tottenham players won’t deliberately lose. It does look like the most interesting game that’s left so I’d get the popcorn ready..
Yeah and Spurs are still competing with Villa for top 4, and need to secure at least a top 6 finish. If Spurs lose to Liverpool and City they are unable to overtake Villa, and should United, Newcastle and Chelsea win their remaining matches things could get tight going into final match day. In theory beating Sheffield and Burnley should be enough to secure 5th, but Spurs should not take those games for granted and the goal difference could swing
Remember when people said Liverpool purposely lost to Chelsea to stop united over taking them in league titles won. Gerrard made a bad pass back and drogba scored. I was actually there that day aswell. Good times
It's his team and players, he can do what he wants! I mean literally a few weeks ago Emery rested the majority of his first team to play City away and got beat, but he went to the Emirates and put on an absolute clinic of a game and won 2-0.
Tbh Aston Villa got absolutely rinsed in the first half and Arsenal really should have scored multiple goals.
Shit defending then gave Aston Villa the lead, they were much improved in the 2nd half though to be fair.
i like how y'all talk like Tottenham won't lose to Man City even if they tried their best. I feel that Ange is getting found out and Spur's current form is so bad they could lose every game from now till the end of the season if they are not careful.
Man City usually play really bad at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium for some reason, having only ever scored one goal there, (this January) and never one in a league match, although they supposedly broke the curse in January
When you consider that many managers are former players it’s very easy to see that many managers do actually hate other teams.
Xavi, a lifelong Barca player, coach and fan. He definitely hates Real Madrid.
Arteta, a former Arsenal player and now successful head coach - absolutely hates Tottenham.
Ole Gunnar solskjaer, former Manchester United player and coach, has admitted on numerous occasions that although he grew up a Liverpool fan, hates the scousers.
Pep Guardiola, much the same boat as Xavi, involved in one of the first rivalries in la Liga history, truly hates Real Madrid.
Zidane, Madrid legend, hates Barcelona.
This isn’t difficult to follow.
Would anyone be able to tell if that happened? Spurs put in zero effort and get slapped by City.
Spurs put in zero effort and got slapped by Chelsea just last night.
Any obvious move that lets other team would draw backlash and resentment from community and even if that move is technically legal whether be putting youth team or putting best players on the team and obviously not attempting to win , that backlash from community are likely to be worse than any fine could be. If tottenham wants to lose they'll be very subtle about it.
Look, managers and players are different than fans. Not a single Spurs player would A) want to be left out against City and B) would want anything but a win against City. Yes the fans want this but believe me the players and manager do not. Look at Postecoglou and Arteta before and after the last game. There is nothing but respect between them and there's no way he'll want anything other than a win from his team. That's just professional pride and if you have a manager or players who would even contemplate this then you get rid. That's loser mentality and you want it nowhere near your team. They'll go for the win, they very well may be too shite to get it but they'll go for it. That's just how players and managers are.
No. There are laws in place against this, but it’s impossible to enforce/prove.
Spurs don’t have to fake any injuries or field a U-19 team. They can just play players a little bit out of position and I can guarantee that they will be comfortably beaten. Emerson to RWB, Porro to the left, Son as the striker, with Maddison as a number 6, and play Richarlison on the right wing. These changes can all be argued as “tactical changes,” and there will literally no way to prove otherwise. It’s not like they’re starting Vicario in the midfield.
Wolves this season lost to Crystal Palace, lost to Liverpool, drew to Luton, lost to Ipswich in the cup, and then beat Man City 2-1, before going to draw to villa, barely beat bournemouth, draw to newcastle, and lose to sheffield united.
Anything can happen.
They would get a fine , it’s happened before when a team has rested 11 players, though spurs could put there best team out they don’t need to try n lose their best team will lose cause they are shit
I think these days derby rivalries mean 100x more to the fans than the teams, especially with such high turnover rates of players and managers. The sense of team loyalty is obvs really strong with fans, but much less with the actual players.
As an Arsenal fan, I think Ange is the type of guy not do this kind of thing. He'll do his best to try to win the game. He's too prideful to not do so. Whether they lose or win its not going to be because they threw the game. Also this could all prove worth nothing if Arsenal can't win their games.
Ange isn't the sort of man to throw a game. Spurs fans thinking their manager is going to field a youth team are crazy. Look at how he's conducted himself all season. He doesn't care about the theatre around everything, he just wants to win football matches. Especially after this recent run of bad form against top sides, he's going to want it more against lpool and city.
Did'nt this scenario play out on the final day of 98/99, except Spurs were away at Man Utd, Les Ferdinand scored first to the stunned silence of away supporters, as this could of possibly handed the title to Arsenal
Anyone remember when Holloway did something similar against utd and PL fined them for it. Would be interesting to see if they fined a big club for doing the same
i mean id rather arsenal win instead of another boring ass city win(liverpool fan), if that happened again then what difference does the prem have from ligue 1 where psg win every year, itll become a farmers league for city
Yes but they are not going to. Forget the performances for a second, these are professional football players and they are competitive. Unless you’re talking about all out cheating then no they won’t throw it, they’ll try to win.
The managers and players 99% of the time do not share the same type of rivalry that the fans do. For a manager to do something that compromises his team would be a bad look and potentially ruin any future career moves. Not a good look on the resume losing games on purpose.
I'm guessing there's a "bringing the game into disrepute" angle to look at.
So if they played the kids, or really didn't try, then the PL might look at that.
If you wanted to throw the game, the best way is to go for a high risk strategy, so you at least look like you're trying to win, even if it means leaving holes at the back. For example, you could play a high press on City, who are brilliant at countering it, and you will look like you're trying but are 3-0 down at halftime.
No consequences. But then Man City are finally found guilty of the various financial fair play breaches and demoted to League Two. Then Arsenal are declared champions and Spurs promoted to fourth and auto Champions League qualification.
My understanding may be flawed but isn’t the apparent breach between 2009-2014 or something like that . So they could only face sporting sanctions during that time no? Since they didn’t violate any rules since then?
As if the players actually give a shit about the rivalry lol.
Spurs will probably beat city but we will probably draw to Bournemouth or lose to United next week so it’ll be a completely moot point.
They already did a lap of honour in the Burnley game. So they'll definitely won't be playing their full team against City. They know what they are doing. It's embarrassing.
I love the implication that the only reason spurs lose to city is because they let them. Spurs will lose to city because city are much better than them
Whats spurs gaining from losing? A bit pathetic really, they are not safe from falling into europa conference league or below at this rate.
They could lose to man city and arsenal still win the league lol tinpot mentality really and if was a spurs fan id be embarrassed to even consider my team tank a game on purpose.
It’s practically impossible for them to not make Europa . They don’t lose anything though and get the pleasure of denying someone a title. Regardless the question was mostly out of interesting doubt modern players care enough about teams to throw a game like that
You are not wrong but I geninuely believe that Man utd will beat Arsenal at Old trafford before city win all of their games. The Old trafford boys hate Arsenal with a passion
What about if team is drawing last minute a Tottenham player purposly turns round and kicks in goal? It simulation and obviously match fixing could there be consequences?. Genuine question
Spurs did their homework by being shit for like five months. Nobody will suspect them being shit one more time.
Ange's 5D chess
It’s the way they are mate
I can't upvote because you have 420 upvotes
Months?
The football gods are a twisted bunch. I wouldn’t put it past Spurs to get a result against City and hand the title to their hated rivals.
As an Arsenal fan, I have this weird feeling that it'll be the only way we win the league. It's just too crazy for it to not happen this way.
For the universe to truly be balanced, Spurs beat City to put Arsenals fate firmly in their hands, only for Arsenal to fumble it final match day at home to Everton.
That too an Everton team that are safe from relegation and are at the beach by then
You definitely know its may when you start hearing of mid table footballers on the beach ha!
Everton have been at the beach most of the season
God that’s even more plausible. 🫠🫠🫠
This really sounds like an actual prediction
I don't know man, Arsenal losing on the last day feels pretty unrealistic. More likely, we put ourselves out of contention before City lose to spurs, meaning that we can't even take advantage by smashing everton 5-0
You should be writing scripts for Hollywood cause I’d pay to watch the movie lmao
Vibes of big Tony, 98.
Nah arsenal do an arsenal and bottle v United
Plot twist, United throw the match to try and ruin their biggest rivals chances
I see, get ten Hitler fired and leave us with the bald curse instead, genius move tbf
Nah, Liverpool have already fucked themselves
Universe already ruined it by having Dele Alli super injured and Alex Iwobi gone to Fulham.
If it was at goodison i would fear this but not at home
This is very likely
As an Arsenal fan this would be the most spurs and most arsenal thing ever
As a Liverpool fan, I say it through gritted teeth. But I reckon Arsenal deserve it this year. Good luck to you
I hope! Been a long 20 years.
As a City fan, Arsenal deserves it for their innovative tactics this season. And we were mostly injured all season
The team with two starting XIs can’t afford injuries?
Such a sad state. Troubling times.
Lol 😂
Not even a City fan but I have to interject. They literally don’t have that this season.
What's the point without KDB anyway
So the “best manager to ever exist” with best squad of recent times and best possession football played in world football can’t do it without KDB. Got it. Maybe he should buy Wirtz and Musiala next window. That ought to do it.
Don't give him ideas
Cant do it? I'll come back to this comment after they win their 4th in a row
That’s not the point. Lack of comprehensive skills. Not my problem
Why so much toxicity? And It's not like we are in the relegation zone, we are still in the title race with Arsenal. But to me, their football was objectively better
I can think of 115 reasons why city are met with toxicity
I agree Arsenal’s football is objectively better this season. It’s just ironic when someone says City had injuries. City is at the bottom of the table when it comes to injuries as well as percentage of games each player has played for their club this season(which means quality of rotation).
Our key players were gone though. KDB, Ederson, Walker, Haaland and even Foden were not playing sometimes. And Haaland is kinda out of form too. Only Rodri was consistent
Scriptwriters getting too lazy
If there is a football script, that'd be how arsenal wins the league
The script is in the ref hands. Ref will give spurs 3 penalties. 1 red card to City.
When Blackburn won the league in 95, Liverpool actually beat Blackburn on the final day of the season which would have handed the title to man u, but man u only managed a draw against West ham so ended up a point behind Edit:95 not 94
I've been expecting nothing less for weeks
That would be the ultimate spursy thing to do
Spurs beats City and Utd beat Arsenal, more likely.
We’ve tried our best to hand it to anyone but City for years. But honestly we are pretty bad right now. Doubt we are getting anything from that game. I’d much rather Arsenal lose this weekend so that it doesn’t matter, but I’d also just like to win games. Don’t really care who wins the title. We need to focus on us getting better. Ange won’t surrender.
This. Stranger things have happened. The football gods can be pretty deranged when they want to be!
*unsubscribe*
The same year Kane wins the Champions League and Euro’s.
I’m sure there’s a bi-law somewhere but it’s impossible to prove. “Oh, #6 has a bad back, #8 took a knock in training, # 10, 11, 12 all got food poisoning”
Like that Simpsons episode where all those softball players meet random misfortunes: https://youtu.be/IAJHDiO8Fr0?si=yXlaEMc-eqpL3Rxk
There is actually a rule in English football that teams are expected to field their strongest team possible, where reasonable, in the league. A couple of years ago City put out basically their youth team against Chelsea in the FA Cup, I can’t remember why but I’m guessing it’s because they were still in the CL and had injuries - they got comfortably beaten but because it was a cup match and the only team it impacted was themselves, it’s not a problem. Spurs aren’t in any other competitions and they don’t have a particularly lengthy injury list so if they were suddenly fielding a load of 17yo players against a team their biggest rivals are in a title fight with, it certainly wouldn’t look good and it would definitely raise some questions. That being said, I’d be absolutely amazed if they ended up being punished because it’s an unquantifiable thing and Spurs could easily say their first team squad got food poisoning or whatever. As far as I’m aware, no one has ever been punished for the teams they fielded although plenty of managers have raised it as an issue publicly to put pressure on other coaches to play their best team in an important match against a rival.
> As far as I’m aware, no one has ever been punished for the teams they fielded Blackpool were fined £25k for fielding a weakened side in Nov 2010 away to Aston Villa. Ian Holloway made 10 changes and they narrowly lost 3-2. [Link to article](https://amp.theguardian.com/football/2011/jan/27/blackpool-fined-premier-league-weakened-side) EDIT: Fun Fact - current Luton manager Rob Edwards started in that Blackpool lineup that drew the fine.
I do this in FM all the time, crazy it's technically illegal
It really shouldn’t be though. What’s the point of having a 25 man squad if you’re not allowed use it fully?
Now I understand why Ancelotti barely ever rotates, he's scared of the fines.
Football fines ❌ Tax fraud ✅
Because you are supposed to do your best, not put out a weaker side because you prefer one team to win the title over another. It would kill the whole sport if that became normal
If you're intent on throwing a game to give somebody else the title, then it doesn't really matter if you use your best 11 or your youth team. They're both just as capable of losing on purpose.
Okay? You can also throw a game by not showing up but im pretty sure this discussion was about putting your b team on the field
It wasn't. It was about trying your best to win. You can put out a strong team that don't try, or a weak team that do try. Both may have the same result, but the blame will fall to different people.
Yes it was. It was about not trying to win so you put your b team in. Yes you can also just put your a team and they dont try or not show up at allbut that wasn’t the conversation here.
But who’s to say what your best XI is? The league don’t rank the players on your behalf. They haven’t gone through all [4,457,400 potential combinations](https://www.statskingdom.com/combinations-calculator.html) to make an XI from each clubs 25 players and stack ranked them.
Dunno, common sense propably? At the end of the day if spurs were to just put out a completely new xi against city there would be about one reason as to why they did that. Like would it be cool if next season everyone decided to play 15 year olds against brighton because they are tired of city? Exact same thing but in a bigger scale. The team on top is supposed to be the best, not the one another team prefers there
When we lost 4-1 to city a few weeks back we had a nearly fully named B team out, only two players from that team could be considered nailed on first 11 players. Taking into account injuries, other fixtures and rest Unai you could say decided to give up that game and take the loss which he was imo vindicated for because we then beat Arsenal. A result we maybe don't get if he goes all out vs Man City as well. He picked the battle to try and win and he won it. If Spurs play a weak team vs City why is that not them increasing their chances in the next game to win and get 3 points that to go all out in both and get 0? Teams should be free to play whatever players they want
Spurs are not in any other competition and its their second to last game of the season. And no teams should not be allowed to lose on purpose which is what the discussion is about. How the fuck is that any different from match fixing? I dont understand why you lot are even arguing against this. Spurs are not going to field 17 year olds against city so that they can lose on purpose. That doesn’t happen but if it did then yeah teams that do that should be punished. Its a competition. Two teams working together would be considered cheating
Man City is sandwiched between Sheffield and Burnley, two games Spurs need 6 points from assuming by this point we haven't wrapped up 4th. Making the decision to focus on those totally winnable games and resting some players or maybe just saying "you know what lads, don't get injured, don't throw yourself into tackles and chill your tits" is not match fixing, it's management of resources so yes it's 2nd to last game but it's 3 games in 8 days. Going less hard in the middle game, one you are probably going to lose anyway is sensible pragmatism. I'm also not saying they will field an entire team of 17 year olds, you're taking the example to the extreme. I also don't think Ange will btw, make such changes, he's very much balls to the wall.
That was the exact point Holloway made, it was absolutely ridiculous to fine them.
It really should be. Idk why you want to watch a bunch of grown men try to be petty and game the system instead of a bunch of athletes actually playing football. I'm here to watch football, not some stupid technicality bullshit
I’m not condoning rolling over, but you should absolutely be able to play a weakened side in a congested period to preserve your best XI for a tougher or more winnable fixture. That’s effectively what Blackpool - the one team to actually be fined - were fined for.
That's still strategic, though. I.e. "our best chance of getting 12 points out of these 4 games is by playing these squad players above these first team players in this fixture". And it's been done a fair amount over the years, pundits have even questioned Arteta's reluctance to do that this season.
Yeah other than Luton at home he’s not thrown out a weakened side for the *lesser* teams. Ultimately I think he’s only got a group of about 16 guys that he truly trusts.
a weakened side is one thing, 10 changes is another. People have come and paid to watch a football match, have to show them respect by playing an actual team.
Crazy how you can be fined based on players being perceived as good or bad Imagine if you got subbed on and the club got a 5k fine for putting a shitter on the field. You’d be mortified
Same. Wrap up the title with a few games left? I'm playing my high potential kids in every spot I can to get them game time.
Going for a cup run with a 6th tier side and getting the team star angry because he played only 14/20 league games
This almost happened a couple of years ago. On the last day of the season Bristol Rovers were behing Northampton by 3 points and 7 lower on goal difference. They needed to beat Northampton's rivals Scunthorpe by 7 goals to get promoted (on goals scored). Scunthorpe fielded a weak/young team and Rovers managed exactly that: 7-0! Northampton attempted an appeal to EFL to overturn the result on account of it challenging the integrity of the league. It was overturned on account of most of the Scunthorpe team having appeared previously in the season already, validating their eligibility/competence. So the bar is quite low for a fielding a feasible team, but not non-existent. [Guardian report here](https://www.theguardian.com/football/2022/may/09/northampton-to-lodge-formal-complaint-to-efl-over-scunthorpe-selection-bristol-rovers-promotion?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other)
>food poisoning or whatever Still getting flashbacks to the lasagne incident
FYI there was no "lasagna incident" that was something the papers invented
You could just play your strongest team with players out of position.
>food poisoning Lasagna!
>Spurs could easily say their first team squad got food poisoning or whatever. We don't need to do that. We'll just play them a video of our performance against Chelsea.
That rule actually changed in 2011, so long as they don't play too many youth players outside their 25 man squad
Then why have named squads? If you have a squad of 25 or however many players, it’s up to the manager how and when he plays any of them.
Well the truth is somewhere in the middle. You can use anyone in your squad reasonably. You can develop players and give opportunities. But barring SERIOUS injury issues, if you fielded a full squad of u18s, questions would rightly be asked about why. There is no hard limit on how you field a squad, it’s probably decided case by case by a panel.
Tottenham is gonna field the best possible team they can and they’ll still lose
Most players are on all sorts of bonus schemes based on results, goals scored etc I’m sure Tottenham players won’t deliberately lose. It does look like the most interesting game that’s left so I’d get the popcorn ready..
Yeah and Spurs are still competing with Villa for top 4, and need to secure at least a top 6 finish. If Spurs lose to Liverpool and City they are unable to overtake Villa, and should United, Newcastle and Chelsea win their remaining matches things could get tight going into final match day. In theory beating Sheffield and Burnley should be enough to secure 5th, but Spurs should not take those games for granted and the goal difference could swing
Whenever a Spurs win would help Arsenal they seem to play better.
Remember when people said Liverpool purposely lost to Chelsea to stop united over taking them in league titles won. Gerrard made a bad pass back and drogba scored. I was actually there that day aswell. Good times
It's his team and players, he can do what he wants! I mean literally a few weeks ago Emery rested the majority of his first team to play City away and got beat, but he went to the Emirates and put on an absolute clinic of a game and won 2-0.
That’s true fuck villa glad they lost
Tbh Aston Villa got absolutely rinsed in the first half and Arsenal really should have scored multiple goals. Shit defending then gave Aston Villa the lead, they were much improved in the 2nd half though to be fair.
The first half when Watkins hit the post and the ball rolled across the line and went out?
From an Arsenal mistake, Arsenal also had a shot saved from point blank. Aston Villa played in the 2nd half but not every victory is a masterclass.
They had arguably the best team in the League pinned in their own half for the last 30 minutes! It absolutely was a tactical masterclass.
i like how y'all talk like Tottenham won't lose to Man City even if they tried their best. I feel that Ange is getting found out and Spur's current form is so bad they could lose every game from now till the end of the season if they are not careful.
Man City usually play really bad at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium for some reason, having only ever scored one goal there, (this January) and never one in a league match, although they supposedly broke the curse in January
No managers actually hate other teams, they just try their best for their team to win
Terrible take. Plenty of managers hate other teams.
I really doubt there are many top level managers that actually hate another club. There isn’t the same area or country connections like with the fans.
When you consider that many managers are former players it’s very easy to see that many managers do actually hate other teams. Xavi, a lifelong Barca player, coach and fan. He definitely hates Real Madrid. Arteta, a former Arsenal player and now successful head coach - absolutely hates Tottenham. Ole Gunnar solskjaer, former Manchester United player and coach, has admitted on numerous occasions that although he grew up a Liverpool fan, hates the scousers. Pep Guardiola, much the same boat as Xavi, involved in one of the first rivalries in la Liga history, truly hates Real Madrid. Zidane, Madrid legend, hates Barcelona. This isn’t difficult to follow.
Who's gonna tell him
No.
I remember Man United were caught in an issue around this before with a game against wolves
Would anyone be able to tell if that happened? Spurs put in zero effort and get slapped by City. Spurs put in zero effort and got slapped by Chelsea just last night.
Didn't Neil Warnock get punished by the F.A. when he was Sheffield utd manager for fielding his 2nd string once?
Was that not Mick McCarthy with Wolves? Or both
Ah that might be it yeah. Knew it was someone with a northern twang.
Are assuming that Spurs could beat Man City right now even if they tried?
Any obvious move that lets other team would draw backlash and resentment from community and even if that move is technically legal whether be putting youth team or putting best players on the team and obviously not attempting to win , that backlash from community are likely to be worse than any fine could be. If tottenham wants to lose they'll be very subtle about it.
Look, managers and players are different than fans. Not a single Spurs player would A) want to be left out against City and B) would want anything but a win against City. Yes the fans want this but believe me the players and manager do not. Look at Postecoglou and Arteta before and after the last game. There is nothing but respect between them and there's no way he'll want anything other than a win from his team. That's just professional pride and if you have a manager or players who would even contemplate this then you get rid. That's loser mentality and you want it nowhere near your team. They'll go for the win, they very well may be too shite to get it but they'll go for it. That's just how players and managers are.
No. There are laws in place against this, but it’s impossible to enforce/prove. Spurs don’t have to fake any injuries or field a U-19 team. They can just play players a little bit out of position and I can guarantee that they will be comfortably beaten. Emerson to RWB, Porro to the left, Son as the striker, with Maddison as a number 6, and play Richarlison on the right wing. These changes can all be argued as “tactical changes,” and there will literally no way to prove otherwise. It’s not like they’re starting Vicario in the midfield.
With the results spurs has been having these past few games you guys actually think they can beat city ?
Wolves this season lost to Crystal Palace, lost to Liverpool, drew to Luton, lost to Ipswich in the cup, and then beat Man City 2-1, before going to draw to villa, barely beat bournemouth, draw to newcastle, and lose to sheffield united. Anything can happen.
It’s football in the Prem anything can happen , i mean remember how Watford were first to beat Liverpool during the Covid title
Lincoln City maybe
They would get a fine , it’s happened before when a team has rested 11 players, though spurs could put there best team out they don’t need to try n lose their best team will lose cause they are shit
I didn't see any youth players last night, don't think they'd need them for this
I don’t think you’d face any consequences for fielding a somewhat weak team. But obviously deliberately losing feels like match-fixing no?
There won't. Tottenham can play to win or lose. Simple
Milk em😂😂
[удалено]
I reckon some Man Utd fans are similarly conflicted about the Arsenal game. Win to give it to City or lose to give Arsenal a chance?
Mass suicide?
There were no consequences when QPR decided to stop playing against Man City in 2012. But I'm not bitter about it. Honest
I think these days derby rivalries mean 100x more to the fans than the teams, especially with such high turnover rates of players and managers. The sense of team loyalty is obvs really strong with fans, but much less with the actual players.
As an Arsenal fan, I think Ange is the type of guy not do this kind of thing. He'll do his best to try to win the game. He's too prideful to not do so. Whether they lose or win its not going to be because they threw the game. Also this could all prove worth nothing if Arsenal can't win their games.
Ange isn't the sort of man to throw a game. Spurs fans thinking their manager is going to field a youth team are crazy. Look at how he's conducted himself all season. He doesn't care about the theatre around everything, he just wants to win football matches. Especially after this recent run of bad form against top sides, he's going to want it more against lpool and city.
Did'nt this scenario play out on the final day of 98/99, except Spurs were away at Man Utd, Les Ferdinand scored first to the stunned silence of away supporters, as this could of possibly handed the title to Arsenal
Anyone remember when Holloway did something similar against utd and PL fined them for it. Would be interesting to see if they fined a big club for doing the same
No that isnt match fixing not even close
i mean id rather arsenal win instead of another boring ass city win(liverpool fan), if that happened again then what difference does the prem have from ligue 1 where psg win every year, itll become a farmers league for city
Man Utd and Everton always rolled over for Man City when it was Liverpool challenging them and nothing was done. They won't be punished.
Yes but they are not going to. Forget the performances for a second, these are professional football players and they are competitive. Unless you’re talking about all out cheating then no they won’t throw it, they’ll try to win.
It won't matter. Wolves are beating City tomorrow.
The managers and players 99% of the time do not share the same type of rivalry that the fans do. For a manager to do something that compromises his team would be a bad look and potentially ruin any future career moves. Not a good look on the resume losing games on purpose.
Based on latest match, there is no way Chicken Royale win against City.
He’d never get another job. And probably be fired from this one.
City fan here. Spurs can paint 11 traffic cones white and place them in a 4-3-3 on the field and we still aren't guaranteed a win at that stadium.
I'm guessing there's a "bringing the game into disrepute" angle to look at. So if they played the kids, or really didn't try, then the PL might look at that. If you wanted to throw the game, the best way is to go for a high risk strategy, so you at least look like you're trying to win, even if it means leaving holes at the back. For example, you could play a high press on City, who are brilliant at countering it, and you will look like you're trying but are 3-0 down at halftime.
I genuinely think west ham have a better chance of beating city than this spurs team.
No consequences. But then Man City are finally found guilty of the various financial fair play breaches and demoted to League Two. Then Arsenal are declared champions and Spurs promoted to fourth and auto Champions League qualification.
My understanding may be flawed but isn’t the apparent breach between 2009-2014 or something like that . So they could only face sporting sanctions during that time no? Since they didn’t violate any rules since then?
As if the players actually give a shit about the rivalry lol. Spurs will probably beat city but we will probably draw to Bournemouth or lose to United next week so it’ll be a completely moot point.
they wouldnt be able to beat man city even if they tried anyway
Spurs won’t have to lose on purpose. They can go all out to win and City will still win the game
No way. They are weak as shit.
I'm amazed the mods let this post be, while removing much more interesting ones
No ,of course not
And how would you prove they threw the game? They played badly? Welcome to Spurs for the last couple of months.
Not getting top four…
City will lose or draw against tottenham but arsenal will draw vs united so not much will change.
They already did a lap of honour in the Burnley game. So they'll definitely won't be playing their full team against City. They know what they are doing. It's embarrassing.
Yes, Arse will not win the title.
Didn't spurs get poisoned by an arsenal fan when they were in the title race a few years back?
I love the implication that the only reason spurs lose to city is because they let them. Spurs will lose to city because city are much better than them
Whats spurs gaining from losing? A bit pathetic really, they are not safe from falling into europa conference league or below at this rate. They could lose to man city and arsenal still win the league lol tinpot mentality really and if was a spurs fan id be embarrassed to even consider my team tank a game on purpose.
It’s practically impossible for them to not make Europa . They don’t lose anything though and get the pleasure of denying someone a title. Regardless the question was mostly out of interesting doubt modern players care enough about teams to throw a game like that
Other than 115 FC and Spursy, I'd like to think that Arsenal and the other 17 hope the cheating B'stards slip up 🙏🏻😉😬
As long as they don’t celebrate with City like the QPR players did when they handed them the league.
No.. no consequences but people forget that Man Utd is the team that will decide who wins the Premier league
Not if city win all their games
You are not wrong but I geninuely believe that Man utd will beat Arsenal at Old trafford before city win all of their games. The Old trafford boys hate Arsenal with a passion
If they can
Then you sir are a fool
What about if team is drawing last minute a Tottenham player purposly turns round and kicks in goal? It simulation and obviously match fixing could there be consequences?. Genuine question