Football 2025-26

[charlierc]

On 09/09/2025 at 14:38, balti-pie said:

They'll be relegated with seven points. Marinakis and Big Ange will physically fight on the pitch. Itll be tremendously watchable scenes. I dont particularly like Forest, so this will be enjoyable for me. Ange is a lovely fella, i'll always be grateful to him for the fun and games, but he cannot manage at this level. He just cant. 

I'm impressed by how the bar is set for this one.

 

Maybe Amorim might be looking for a job by then.

[charlierc]

10 hours ago, lost said:

 

Sunderland 7th which feels wierd as the last time I saw them they were played off the park in the play off final vs Sheff utd who are now rock bottom. They have bought well though it shows when you get to this level its small margins.

Tbf Sheffield United sacked Wilder and seem to have bungled a squad refresh as well as his choice of replacement, even to the point where the expectation is Wilder might be coming back with Ruben Selles gone. Which is a real "stand outside with a boombox hoping our ex still loves our song" moment.

10 hours ago, kaosmark2 said:

Flekker -> Kelleher always looked like good business to me, but I thought Frank, Mbuemo, and Wissa would be big losses, and Norgard -> Henderson would be a big problem. Seems that Andrews had enough respect of the players that remained to step up, and they've recruited well.

Kelleher is a great pick-up, agreed, but even with those exits, they still have decent players. Even though he didn't play last night, Damsgaard is a brilliant player, Lewis-Potter looks to have pushed on, Schade is a great option and Igor Thiago looks like he's up for making up for last time.

 

I guess we'll need more of a mix - it could be hairy without Frank at times, but after crashing at Forest on day one, they have looked pretty reasonable enough. I've certainly seen at least 3 worse teams so far this season.

[kaosmark2]

13 hours ago, charlierc said:

 I've certainly seen at least 3 worse teams so far this season.

I kinda just assume Villa will get it together and Watkins will go on a scoring streak.

 

West Ham do look truly awful though.

[Ryan1984]

Feel like we should also be talking about how well Bournemouth are doing?

[charlierc]

5 minutes ago, Ryan1984 said:

Feel like we should also be talking about how well Bournemouth are doing?

Oh yeah they're off to a brilliant start. They've got a clever manager and a lot of good players, so can see why some are tipping them to challenge for the European places. 

 

... And Newcastle are there next weekend. Hopefully we get them on an off day given we tend to lose there, although it's not promising that we have to go there a few days after playing Barcelona in the Champions League. Which will be tiring. 

[charlierc]

23 minutes ago, kaosmark2 said:

I kinda just assume Villa will get it together and Watkins will go on a scoring streak.

 

West Ham do look truly awful though.

Makes you wonder how West Ham got a 3-0 at Forest in their latest false dawn. 

 

Villa should be fine but to be the only team in the top 7 divisions of English football yet to score is something they're going to have to get over very quickly. 

[kaosmark2]

13 minutes ago, charlierc said:

Oh yeah they're off to a brilliant start. They've got a clever manager and a lot of good players, so can see why some are tipping them to challenge for the European places. 

 

... And Newcastle are there next weekend. Hopefully we get them on an off day given we tend to lose there, although it's not promising that we have to go there a few days after playing Barcelona in the Champions League. Which will be tiring. 

I've wondered if the awful record at Brighton and Bournemouth has something to do with the travel. Maybe I'm overthinking it and they're just good teams.

[charlierc]

27 minutes ago, kaosmark2 said:

I've wondered if the awful record at Brighton and Bournemouth has something to do with the travel. Maybe I'm overthinking it and they're just good teams.

I think that was blamed for years for why we were so bad at Southampton, which used to be a bogey ground, and also matches in London, where Newcastle once went 4 years without winning. But Brighton and Bournemouth have some very switched on operators behind the scenes tbf. 

[kaosmark2]

On 14/09/2025 at 10:49, charlierc said:

Hooray for Woltemade and a debut goal. Plus a first win of the season too. Shame Wissa is out for a month already though. Damn international break, plus the fear his national team might try to rush him back in the next round of games and get him injured again.

Going back to this, after trying to avoid turning this into a NUFC chat by focusing on the Brentford bit initially:

 

The thing I most liked from Woltemade was the play to release Barnes into the pullback for Murphy. That offside goal was so nicely worked other than the run being half a second too early. With that being after no time training/playing together, I'm excited to see that sort of link-up play in few weeks/months. It's the sort of play that me see why Bayern were thinking of him as a long-term Kane placement. It was a very nice header, but I really enjoyed that move and a couple of other flicks and layoffs he did.

[charlierc]

I kinda struggled to keep up with the new Champions League format last season given it felt like a lot of games to achieve not much. Guess I'll see what degree of emotional investment I can feel in the idea now the team I support is in it. 

 

Also, 6 Premier League teams being in it is insane. Even moreso as it was nearly a full house of the European Super League 6 to get a chance to add to their big budgets, with the one absent exception. 

[kaosmark2]

1 hour ago, charlierc said:

I kinda struggled to keep up with the new Champions League format last season given it felt like a lot of games to achieve not much. Guess I'll see what degree of emotional investment I can feel in the idea now the team I support is in it. 

 

Also, 6 Premier League teams being in it is insane. Even moreso as it was nearly a full house of the European Super League 6 to get a chance to add to their big budgets, with the one absent exception. 

I'm annoyed about there being the Thursday game this week, even if it's a good rest for us after international break/Wolves before our match.

 

I thoroughly enjoyed it last season tbh. Although I don't know how much of that is that I was often watching non-English teams through TNT, as opposed to it only being English teams with accessible TV channels. I did find there was more jeopardy in the final 2 rounds than usual.

 

What does annoy me, is that it's hard to know who's got who left to play, for watching as a neutral and doing the guessing/predicting thing. and the draw felt very messy and self-indulgent.

[Crazyfool01]

53 minutes ago, kaosmark2 said:

I'm annoyed about there being the Thursday game this week, even if it's a good rest for us after international break/Wolves before our match.

 

I thoroughly enjoyed it last season tbh. Although I don't know how much of that is that I was often watching non-English teams through TNT, as opposed to it only being English teams with accessible TV channels. I did find there was more jeopardy in the final 2 rounds than usual.

 

What does annoy me, is that it's hard to know who's got who left to play, for watching as a neutral and doing the guessing/predicting thing. and the draw felt very messy and self-indulgent.

watch very little now sadly and the TNT cost really prohibitive for me and way more than sky who this year have extended coverage at least of the premier league .... ive now got NOW to restrict costs . 

[thetime]

2 hours ago, kaosmark2 said:

I'm annoyed about there being the Thursday game this week, even if it's a good rest for us after international break/Wolves before our match.

 

I thoroughly enjoyed it last season tbh. Although I don't know how much of that is that I was often watching non-English teams through TNT, as opposed to it only being English teams with accessible TV channels. I did find there was more jeopardy in the final 2 rounds than usual.

 

What does annoy me, is that it's hard to know who's got who left to play, for watching as a neutral and doing the guessing/predicting thing. and the draw felt very messy and self-indulgent.

 

Cancelled TNT in may, that will save me 30 quid a month with utd being abject failures.

 

Put it back on today 😃

 

Got Madrid v Marseille on

 

[kaosmark2]

1 hour ago, thetime said:

Cancelled TNT in may, that will save me 30 quid a month with utd being abject failures.

 

Put it back on today 😃

 

Got Madrid v Marseille on

Should've watched Juve Dortmund!

 

I was trying to decide between that and the Spurs match. Spurs match was fine first half but awful second half.

[thetime]

40 minutes ago, kaosmark2 said:

Should've watched Juve Dortmund!

 

 

Was that or Madrid. 

 

City v Napoli should be a good one. Can't wait for Hojlund to get 3. 🤪

[charlierc]

On 16/09/2025 at 22:01, kaosmark2 said:

Should've watched Juve Dortmund!

 

I was trying to decide between that and the Spurs match. Spurs match was fine first half but awful second half.

Kind of the reverse then. No goals in Juve v Dortmund in the first half last night, all the goals in the second. Also back to back games where Lloyd Kelly scored for Juventus. A long way from when West Ham ran rings around him last season during his brief time at Newcastle. 

 

Some decent games last night too by the look of it. 

[kaosmark2]

14 minutes ago, charlierc said:

Kind of the reverse then. No goals in Juve v Dortmund in the first half last night, all the goals in the second. Also back to back games where Lloyd Kelly scored for Juventus. A long way from when West Ham ran rings around him last season during his brief time at Newcastle. 

 

Some decent games last night too by the look of it. 

Yeah, it's one of those where I don't begrudge him doing well at Juve after barely playing for us, but it still seems weird to have signed someone on a free, have him play barely half a dozen games, then sell him to Juve for £20m.

 

I watched Bayern-Chelsea. I don't think I learned anything from it - Chelsea have a lot of quite-good players but it's only really Palmer and Caciedo that are genuinely top quality, and their defense is vulnerable against any good team. Bayern are more clinical, and more experienced at getting through passages of play when they're not on top. 3-2 would probably have been a fairer result but Chelsea's end product (Palmer aside) isn't good enough to get that extra goal vs a top team.

 

I did think Bayern's bench looked lacking in game-changers though. I know Musiala's out injured and maybe one of the younger names I hadn't heard of is exciting, but even when he's back, that's only whoever he displaces from the starting line-up + Jackson as major attacking options. 

[charlierc]

Oh well. We weren't embarrassed and even had a few moments where we could've got more. That Gordon airshot in the early part - yikes. 

 

Obviously it's early days for him but can we add Marcus Rashford to the list of players who look like they had to escape Old Trafford to excel? He did well at Aston Villa in the second half of last season but that second was just unstoppable. 

[thetime]

3 hours ago, charlierc said:

 

Obviously it's early days for him but can we add Marcus Rashford to the list of players who look like they had to escape Old Trafford to excel? 

 

Bit harsh that, its not like he had a rubbish utd career. Its also his first goals at barca.

 

He had to move for his career, best for both parties. Unfortunately he will be back in the summer. 

 

Looking at CL Newcastle fixtures, its not a bad run. They should be getting at least a playoff. I doubt the big guns will make the same mistake as last season. 

 

Watched the game last night, once the 15-20 minute mark hit Newcastle were chasing shadows. 

 

 

Edited September 19, 2025 by thetime

[charlierc]

20 minutes ago, thetime said:

 

Bit harsh that, its not like he had a rubbish utd career. Its also his first goals at barca.

 

He had to move for his career, best for both parties. Unfortunately he will be back in the summer. 

 

Looking at CL Newcastle fixtures, its not a bad run. They should be getting at least a playoff. I doubt the big guns will make the same mistake as last season. 

 

Watched the game last night, once the 15-20 minute mark hit Newcastle were chasing shadows. 

 

 

Perhaps it's more a reflection of how it ended, where it seemed like he didn't gel with ten Hag and then really didn't connect with Amorim. Guess time will tell if it's the start of a renaissance or a flash in the pan. Naturally this needs to be over multiple games rather than just scoring two admittedly good goals in one game. 

 

I guess we'll see how we go. I think several of our games are winnable but it's a case of how well do we manage our squad with this heavy workload. That's what tripped us up last time as the depth got stretched to breaking point. 

[thetime]

2 minutes ago, charlierc said:

Perhaps it's more a reflection of how it ended, where it seemed like he didn't gel with ten Hag and then really didn't connect with Amorim. Guess time will tell if it's the start of a renaissance or a flash in the pan. Naturally this needs to be over multiple games rather than just scoring two admittedly good goals in one game. 

 

Depends how much he plays. Im sure they see him as a squad player, rather than the main man. To cover for Yamal and Raphinia. 

[charlierc]

Just now, thetime said:

 

Depends how much he plays. Im sure they see him as a squad player, rather than the main man. To cover for Yamal and Raphinia. 

Indeed and with Yamal having been injured yesterday, it's not a bad Plan B at all. Certainly less pricey than their Plan A of Nico Williams given their still erratic finances meant they couldn't afford him. 

 

Least tbf this wasn't subject to the scheduling headache that befell Barcelona at the weekend having to play in a 6,000 capacity stadium at their training ground because the Nou Camp still isn't finished and the Olympic Stadium that they had and using was hosting Post Malone instead. 

[thetime]

Bit of a weird season so far, only Liverpool consistently picking up wins.

 

United starting yesterday 4th from bottom, if we win Saturday we can go temporarily 3rd from top. 

 

 

[charlierc]

2 hours ago, thetime said:

Bit of a weird season so far, only Liverpool consistently picking up wins.

 

United starting yesterday 4th from bottom, if we win Saturday we can go temporarily 3rd from top. 

 

 

Sometimes these trends can be the way that teams take a while to get going. Feels like in our case, a late window hullabaloo where our transfer business got late combined with Wissa & Ramsey already getting injured means that we're having to build the plane while it's flying.

 

Tbf a point today isn't the worst result - Bournemouth have a brilliant team and we have been dreadful against them. But combined with 0-0s at Villa & Leeds, it doesn't look great.

 

As for Man Utd, I can guess there's a sense of relief as much as anything. That game against Chelsea seemed to go from being on for a mauling at one point thanks to Chelsea's failed strategy after the red to Casemiro's red nearly opening the door. They need to do it more to prove they're back, mind. Maybe get that guy to dream he might finally get a haircut.

 

Palace look pretty great too, mind. Wolves and West Ham, less so.

[thetime]

45 minutes ago, charlierc said:

Sometimes these trends can be the way that teams take a while to get going. Feels like in our case, a late window hullabaloo where our transfer business got late combined with Wissa & Ramsey already getting injured means that we're having to build the plane while it's flying.

 

Tbf a point today isn't the worst result - Bournemouth have a brilliant team and we have been dreadful against them. But combined with 0-0s at Villa & Leeds, it doesn't look great.

 

As for Man Utd, I can guess there's a sense of relief as much as anything. That game against Chelsea seemed to go from being on for a mauling at one point thanks to Chelsea's failed strategy after the red to Casemiro's red nearly opening the door. They need to do it more to prove they're back, mind. Maybe get that guy to dream he might finally get a haircut.

 

Palace look pretty great too, mind. Wolves and West Ham, less so.

 

Certainly Newcastle have had a slow start, only the 1 league win against pointless wolves. Will be interesting how they cope with no midweek rest. 

 

Utd same old story, nothing has changed on that one.