Football 2025-26

[kaosmark2]

1 hour ago, pink_triangle said:

Should be first trip to the knockouts for Scotland.

How many 3rd place teams go through?

 

I don't think Morocco are a particularly easy game. I think most groups have 1 weak team and 3 that will be competitive.

[charlierc]

27 minutes ago, kaosmark2 said:

How many 3rd place teams go through?

 

I don't think Morocco are a particularly easy game. I think most groups have 1 weak team and 3 that will be competitive.

8 out of 12 would be advancing to the following round.

[pink_triangle]

Not sure how accurate chat gpt is in this case, but it reckons 3 points 80-90 percent likely to go through as one of the top 8 3rd places.

[kaosmark2]

1 hour ago, charlierc said:

8 out of 12 would be advancing to the following round.

 

40 minutes ago, pink_triangle said:

Not sure how accurate chat gpt is in this case, but it reckons 3 points 80-90 percent likely to go through as one of the top 8 3rd places.

So losing 5-1 to Brazil, 3-0 to Morocco, and beating Haiti 3-0 means they're in contention? As I see it being something like that.

[pink_triangle]

12 minutes ago, kaosmark2 said:

 

So losing 5-1 to Brazil, 3-0 to Morocco, and beating Haiti 3-0 means they're in contention? As I see it being something like that.

Interestingly looking at the Euros 3rd place 3 of the 6 got 4 points, 2 got 3 points and 1 got 2 points. 1 of the 3 points team went out and 1 went through. If scaled up that would be only half the teams who get 3 points going through,so maybe chat GPT overestimating.

[kaosmark2]

AFCON is on channel 4 this year, so I might watch a fair amount of that and develop some more up-to-date thoughts on the African teams. I've genereally quite enjoyed watching African teams in world cups and I think fans here have a tendency to underrate them in comparison to weaker European teams.

[charlierc]

10 hours ago, pink_triangle said:

Not sure how accurate chat gpt is in this case, but it reckons 3 points 80-90 percent likely to go through as one of the top 8 3rd places.

It is at the Euros, which has used the best 3rd place teams thing for a couple of editions now. Think it was Aldi the case at the 2/3 World Cups in the 80s/90s that used this system. 

[charlierc]

8 hours ago, kaosmark2 said:

AFCON is on channel 4 this year, so I might watch a fair amount of that and develop some more up-to-date thoughts on the African teams. I've genereally quite enjoyed watching African teams in world cups and I think fans here have a tendency to underrate them in comparison to weaker European teams.

Tbf Morocco getting to the semis after beating Portugal and Spain at the last World Cup should go some way in demonstrating that there is talent that way. I'm not sure when Pele's prophecy an African team will one day win it will come true, or indeed if it ever will, but the teams do look strong. I don't see any chumps from that way that are here just to round out the numbers. 

[charlierc]

There are many odd things about this structure but one of them is surely the declaration they are playing these games in one of two cities. England's opener, for instance, would be in either Toronto or Dallas.

 

... Those two aren't close together ffs

[philipsteak]

13 hours ago, pink_triangle said:

Congratulations to Trump, am sure it must have been a very competitive voting process.

 

Damn, thought I had a chance this year. 

 

Still, there's always next time...

[kaosmark2]

6 hours ago, charlierc said:

Tbf Morocco getting to the semis after beating Portugal and Spain at the last World Cup should go some way in demonstrating that there is talent that way. I'm not sure when Pele's prophecy an African team will one day win it will come true, or indeed if it ever will, but the teams do look strong. I don't see any chumps from that way that are here just to round out the numbers. 

I think Africa has the best teams that didn't qualify. You could say maybe Europe, but Italy/Sweden/Denmark are still in play-offs. 

 

I also think AFCON being every 2 years not every 4 years helps the teams play competitive finals. I wouldn't be at all surprised if an African team got to the semis again this year.

[Comfy Bean]

21 hours ago, pink_triangle said:

Should be first trip to the knockouts for Scotland.

Here’s hoping mate. Some of our crew delaying their arrival in the hope that we’re staying on for the first time after the groups but Ive opted to book in to jfk via Dublin as prices were starting to creep up. 
 

Hoping our first game is in Boston as never been there. Reading that each team only gets 6% of the tickets for their games 🙇‍♂️

[Neil]

17 hours ago, charlierc said:

Pele's prophecy an African team will one day win it will come true,

too late already, innit? wasn't the statement that one would win before the end of last century.

[charlierc]

6 hours ago, Neil said:

too late already, innit? wasn't the statement that one would win before the end of last century.

True - he said by the year 2000. But I think he then revised it to one day... Maybe. 

[charlierc]

15 hours ago, Comfy Bean said:

Here’s hoping mate. Some of our crew delaying their arrival in the hope that we’re staying on for the first time after the groups but Ive opted to book in to jfk via Dublin as prices were starting to creep up. 
 

Hoping our first game is in Boston as never been there. Reading that each team only gets 6% of the tickets for their games 🙇‍♂️

First two games in Boston followed by playing Brazil in Miami. The first game against Haiti is a 2am UK time kick off, which... There's a lot of night shifts required to see that live.

 

Given England's second and third outings are in Boston and New York, I really fail to see why the first one has to be held in Texas. 

[charlierc]

On 04/12/2025 at 16:21, Skip997 said:

Damn, seems like they only got a decorator in.

 

I guess there’s 10 million reasons not to sack Slot, although considering the summer spending, it’s not that much 

Salah claiming he's been thrown under the bus and that he's fallen out with Slot is probably going to add to the sense of disharmony huh. Even if he doesn't really seem to have acknowledged in his quotes that his form in the first phase of this season hasn't been impressive and it's why he's been dropped the last few weeks. 

[Skip997]

3 hours ago, charlierc said:

Salah claiming he's been thrown under the bus and that he's fallen out with Slot is probably going to add to the sense of disharmony huh. Even if he doesn't really seem to have acknowledged in his quotes that his form in the first phase of this season hasn't been impressive and it's why he's been dropped the last few weeks. 

It’s quite clear that there’s been some squad disharmony for a while now. It certainly appears that Slot has “lost the changing room”. Imagine being Gomez, Endo, Chiesa, etc, etc and seeing the shite being served up every game, yet you hardly get a look in. It’s bound to cause disquiet 

[lost]

Anyone thats been to the Netherlands knows the dutch are incredibly blunt and it does appear to be an issue that follows dutch managers around Koeman etc.. I guess some players need news breaking to them sympathetically so they don't feel isolated but yes Salah appears to be saying its him or me. 

Edited December 7, 2025 by lost

[thetime]

To be fair to Slot and Liverpool, this is squarely on Salah.

 

Throwing his toys out of his pram, just for being dropped for a couple of weeks. 

 

Great team player. 

 

At least its kept Amorim out of the headlines, until we lose to Wolves. 😂

Edited December 7, 2025 by thetime

[Comfy Bean]

2 hours ago, thetime said:

To be fair to Slot and Liverpool, this is squarely on Salah.

 

Throwing his toys out of his pram, just for being dropped for a couple of weeks. 

 

Great team player. 

 

At least its kept Amorim out of the headlines, until we lose to Wolves. 😂

Agreed. Bizarre from Salah especially saying he’s told his family to all come to the next game, not a good look.

 

Was he not very very close to leaving before. Perhaps he wishes he hadn’t let Liverpool talk him out of it. Whatever offer he was thinking about is no doubt still on the table. Maybe someone is reminding him about that.

[charlierc]

7 hours ago, thetime said:

To be fair to Slot and Liverpool, this is squarely on Salah.

 

Throwing his toys out of his pram, just for being dropped for a couple of weeks. 

 

Great team player. 

 

At least its kept Amorim out of the headlines, until we lose to Wolves. 😂

Tbf, someone has to be the first to lose a Premier League game to Wolves and as a supporter of the only team to lose to Derby 2007/08 and the first to lose to an awful Sheffield United team in 2020/21, I'm just glad its not us.

 

As far as Salah goes, my opinion is that Liverpool are trying to pivot to a style that's incompatible with who he plays as now. Slot wants a 4-2-3-1 with a different attacking style to the counter-press 4-3-3, and with that, what he wants requires a different profile of winger.

 

Salah for the last few years or so has kinda been a luxury player, with the right-back and centre-mid able to do his defensive work and allow him to stay high up and attack. To me, it looks like Slot now wants a winger that does track back and also is more willing to square to a central striker than be trusted to go alone. I know there was a fake quote about Slot saying his wingers weren't like Jacob Murphy, who had a great partnership with Isak last season, but I don't think Salah is the right fit for this idea Slot has.

 

But maybe that's just part of the square pegs in round holes they've wound up with.

[balti-pie]

Salah cant just be played in the first team for forevermore, because he used to be really good: on that proviso they'll be playing King Kenny up front with Ian Rush ffs! (Which i would like to see, for the LOLs)

[thetime]

1 hour ago, balti-pie said:

Salah cant just be played in the first team for forevermore, because he used to be really good: on that proviso they'll be playing King Kenny up front with Ian Rush ffs! (Which i would like to see, for the LOLs)

 

Crazy after last season and the career he has had at Liverpool, Salah will more than likely never wear a Liverpool shirt again. 

 

Very Roy Keane. 

[kaosmark2]

I mean, Salah fell out with Klopp 4 months before Klopp left because he wasn't doing the pressing work. I got slated here a year ago for saying Salah isn't contributing 80 minutes of a game, it's just being papered over because in the other 10 he usually scores or assists.

 

The bad form from March onwards arose from the exact same midfield 3 being played twice a week for the entire season, while having to do the defensive work of Salah on top of their own, and then they just ran out of energy.

 

They then spend £450m on the rebuild and shift to a new system that no longer puts Salah as the focus, while simultaneously offering him a 2-year contract on huge wages. Salah, Isak, Wirtz, Ekitike all promised the chance to be the main man. Meanwhile Diaz, the attacking player who naturally did the most pressing and defensive work gets sold, and no dedicated DM gets bought to free up all these box-to-box talents that were already there.

 

Szoboszlai is still playing brilliantly tbf, but MacAllister looks a shadow of the player he was the last 2 seasons.

[lost]

42 minutes ago, thetime said:

 

Crazy after last season and the career he has had at Liverpool, Salah will more than likely never wear a Liverpool shirt again. 

 

Very Roy Keane. 

 

Well sounds like he's been dropped from the squad to face Inter. I'm still not convinced Slott is going to outlast him though. What ever the reasons, the optics of having last years top premiership scorer and last years second top premership scorer on the bench whilst Liverpools form has been so bad isn't great.