Football 2025-26

[thetime]

12 hours ago, charlierc said:

 

It does feel like we don't have the rotation option to play the way we want on a Sat-Tue-Sat-Tue cycle and everyone's burned out. A worry given we have midweek games from now until mid-February, with another 2 to come if we get into the Champions League playoff rounds. 

 

Can't see Newcastle getting top 8 in the champions league. Not with your last fixture, plus those on 10 points plus. 

 

Your fixture list January and February is pretty brutal. 

[charlierc]

2 hours ago, Skip997 said:

Newcastle need Isak back, Liverpool need to get rid, maybe something can be arranged 

Nah. Setting aside the fact the injury he suffered last weekend looked like it could be season ending, I don't think you can burn your bridges in the spectacular way he did and just swan back in like it didn't happen. I don't think he'd want to come back either.

[charlierc]

1 hour ago, thetime said:

 

Can't see Newcastle getting top 8 in the champions league. Not with your last fixture, plus those on 10 points plus. 

 

Your fixture list January and February is pretty brutal. 

It's not so much who we're playing as the quantity of games we're playing. Even then, we seem more arsed against rich 6 sides than the rest. Beat Man City, should've beaten Chelsea and Spurs, very close to a point against Liverpool a man light, yet put in dire performances against Leeds, Brighton, West Ham, Sunderland... hell, we were one off-target header from blowing a 2-0 lead at home to a 10 man Burnley. Oddly, the data behind the scenes suggests we should have way more points than we do, which is backed up by us losing 13 points or something stupid from winning positions.

 

This season seems to be repeating what happened when we were last in the Champions League, in that we're not comfortable playing a game every midweek. Hell, it's almost asking if its worth losing to Bournemouth in the FA Cup because it means a free weekend.

 

Throw in severe questions about recruitment with Elanga being a waste of money and Ramsey yet to really prove he was worth signing and tactical inflexibility where we seem wedded to one system that it's just a bit like its all grinding to a halt. Burnley on Tuesday feels like a must win, but given it's really easy to defend against us when you just go to a low block, who's to say they don't already have the blueprint to shut us down?

[charlierc]

Do we have any Aston Villa fans on here? Cos if so, I bet they're currently delighted with how good they're playing and how many wins in a row they seem to be accumulating. I'm not sure if they have the depth to stay with Arsenal and Man City, but even just qualifying for the Champions League and getting these kind of moments is decent.

[lost]

I do think Villa could do something this season. Depth doesn't look too bad to me, they had two subs changing the game last night (Onana & Watkins) which is always a good sign.

 

West Ham now look in alot of trouble after losing at home to Fulham. I always thought they'd have enough to get out of it especially when Bowden plays well but with Leeds form I'm not so sure now. I'm also not sure whats happened to Bournmouth but they coukd potentially be dragged in if W.Ham start to pick up some wins. 

[charlierc]

12 minutes ago, lost said:

West Ham now look in alot of trouble after losing at home to Fulham. I always thought they'd have enough to get out of it especially when Bowden plays well but with Leeds form I'm not so sure now. I'm also not sure whats happened to Bournmouth but they coukd potentially be dragged in if W.Ham start to pick up some wins. 

West Ham's next 3 feel vital - the out-of-sorts Brighton, who haven't won so far in December, then the seemingly doomed Wolves in their first game of 2026 and a Forest side that are one of the few within immediate reach, even if they have been better since bringing in Dyche. Lose all 3 and they're really in deep sh*t.

 

It seemed as though Nuno had sussed something but no win in 7 isn't great.

[thetime]

Calvert-lewin decent signing for Leeds for a free,  7 league goals in 15.

 

Not bad when you think Isak, Sesko and Gykores have a combined 9 league goals. How much were they combined? 250m?

[Skip997]

26 minutes ago, thetime said:

Calvert-lewin decent signing for Leeds for a free,  7 league goals in 15.

 

Not bad when you think Isak, Sesko and Gykores have a combined 9 league goals. How much were they combined? 250m?

To be fair Isak has hardly played. Although IMO, he was overpriced and not suited to Liverpool 

[charlierc]

On 28/12/2025 at 17:05, thetime said:

Calvert-lewin decent signing for Leeds for a free,  7 league goals in 15.

 

Not bad when you think Isak, Sesko and Gykores have a combined 9 league goals. How much were they combined? 250m?

Calvert-Lewin's form has been pretty phenomenal recently tbf. Leeds' system change seems to have unlocked something in them that is certainly have an effect - a few weeks ago, I was prepared to dismiss them as Championship bound, yet here we are.

 

Tbf last night, both Gyokeres and Sesko looked unlucky - had chances, just couldn't beat the oppo keeper. Obviously, with Arsenal scoring 4 against a team that beat them a few weeks ago and had the air of title outsiders, they can swallow that inactivity more than an injury hit Man Utd, judging by the odd spectacle of them being the first team to give Wolves something in quite a while. And I say that again saying that, in Sesko's defence, I thought he was unlucky not to bag at least one.

 

I can be content Newcastle finally won an away game for my sins. Bit more awkward than I'd like when having been 2-0 up inside 7 minutes against a Burnley team now on a lengthy winless run but eh. They all count.

[charlierc]

Any wild early stabs in the dark for football predictions in 2026? World Cup year after all, and having just read Jonathan Wilson's excellent new book on the history of it, it's got me intrigued for this one... a novelty that will probably wear off by the time it comes around.

 

Seems like there's potential scope for crazy already, given rumours this morning that Maresca has blown up his relationship with the higher ups at Chelsea and could be out the door by COB.

[Skip997]

1 hour ago, charlierc said:

Seems like there's potential scope for crazy already, given rumours this morning that Maresca has blown up his relationship with the higher ups at Chelsea and could be out the door by COB.

He’s gone 

[charlierc]

1 hour ago, Skip997 said:

He’s gone 

Indeed he has. Think it was within an hour of writing that when it was announced Chelsea had done it.

 

At what point do Chelsea's odd choices become recognised as the defining factor? Tuchel, Poch and now Maresca seem to have all actively said interference from above reached an untenable level, to say nothing of having a stupidly high transfer budget but seemingly trying to operate a supersize version of Brentford or Brighton's "sell for profit" model and never actually signing improvements on the inconsistent Robert Sanchez in goal.

[balti-pie]

West Ham would be one injury to Bowen away from relegation, i'd say *grabs popcorn*

[kaosmark2]

On 01/01/2026 at 14:22, charlierc said:

 on the inconsistent Robert Sanchez in goal.

Holding reservation on judgement of Man U's new keeper so far, but I'm actually amazed at how poor the quality of keepers are in the PL right now. A lot of good teams have a pretty poor keeper in my eyes. It's only really the current top 4 who I'd say have an exceptionally good one. Raya, Donnarumma, Martinez and Allison are a clear league ahead of every other keeper in the league IMO. Not even sure any other team has a keeper close in quality to Pickford who I still think has more gaffes in him than the media talk about. Sanchez and Vicario at Chelsea/Spurs stand out as being particularly poor in comparison to the club's budget, but I just don't remember many great keeping performances this season and last across the whole league.

[thetime]

2 hours ago, kaosmark2 said:

Holding reservation on judgement of Man U's new keeper so far.

 

He is certainly an upgrade on Onana. 

[Skip997]

2 hours ago, kaosmark2 said:

Not even sure any other team has a keeper close in quality to Pickford who I still think has more gaffes in him than the media talk about.

Pickford is dreadful, and a complete loon. Although he does seem to have dealt with his anger issues somewhat. If he was as good as the media like to portray then surely a bigger team would be interested 

[Ryan1984]

44 minutes ago, Skip997 said:

Pickford is dreadful, and a complete loon. Although he does seem to have dealt with his anger issues somewhat. If he was as good as the media like to portray then surely a bigger team would be interested 

I think he’s never let England down so that plays in his favour a lot.

[pink_triangle]

I know he is probably seen as an acceptable “yes man” but Rosenior would be lucky to get a job with a top championship team.

[charlierc]

25 minutes ago, pink_triangle said:

I know he is probably seen as an acceptable “yes man” but Rosenior would be lucky to get a job with a top championship team.

See I think he was unlucky to be sacked by Hull City in 2024, a decision I'm assuming they regretted given his replacement essentially tried to play a midfield-free formation and was sacked before Christmas. Plus I think his record at Strasbourg is good enough to be a lower PL manager.

 

But yeah, I'm not sure 7th in Ligue 1 is enough to justify the move. I know some managers can belie their CV to work - Vincent Kompany's relegation with Burnley shouldn't have got him the Bayern Munich job, but a Bundesliga title and having another practically sewn up already is proof he got results. But this is a huge gamble and given how well Graham Potter went, one I'm surprised they're willing to go through. If he'd won Ligue 1, that would be proof of concept imo given how PSG have basically made French football their plaything.

 

Penny also for the thoughts of Strasbourg fans. They seem to hate being Chelsea's satellite club at the best of times, let alone with the thought of this happening.

[charlierc]

2 hours ago, thetime said:

 

He is certainly an upgrade on Onana. 

Tbf, that's not hard.

[charlierc]

4 hours ago, kaosmark2 said:

Holding reservation on judgement of Man U's new keeper so far, but I'm actually amazed at how poor the quality of keepers are in the PL right now. A lot of good teams have a pretty poor keeper in my eyes. It's only really the current top 4 who I'd say have an exceptionally good one. Raya, Donnarumma, Martinez and Allison are a clear league ahead of every other keeper in the league IMO. Not even sure any other team has a keeper close in quality to Pickford who I still think has more gaffes in him than the media talk about. Sanchez and Vicario at Chelsea/Spurs stand out as being particularly poor in comparison to the club's budget, but I just don't remember many great keeping performances this season and last across the whole league.

These things ebb and flow imo. Sometimes, you'll see even a mediocre keeper do a 10/10, and tbf I can recall Allison and Martinez making the odd blunder here and there, although that's like saying that sometimes Haaland will miss an open goal - sh*t happens. Hell, I think we can find an upgrade on Pope and Ramsdale between the posts, given both have been fairly insecure final barriers this season (Ramsdale moreso during Pope's absence).

 

I guess it's magnified by Chelsea and Spurs having big budgets and reputations as to why Sanchez and Vicario have magnifying glasses on them. But I guess with Chelsea in particular, it's just part of the fact they operate in such a bewildering way. Seems like all they ever spend their vast resources on is wingers.

[lost]

35 minutes ago, charlierc said:

These things ebb and flow imo. Sometimes, you'll see even a mediocre keeper do a 10/10, and tbf I can recall Allison and Martinez making the odd blunder here and there, although that's like saying that sometimes Haaland will miss an open goal - sh*t happens. Hell, I think we can find an upgrade on Pope and Ramsdale between the posts, given both have been fairly insecure final barriers this season (Ramsdale moreso during Pope's absence).

 

I seem to remember Allison going through a bad patch just before Liverpool bought Mamardashvili. It would be interesting to see mistakes vs shots on goal to see if top 4 keepers are actually considerably better or just facing fewer shots and therefore having less chance of making a mistake.

 

Just cycled through save of the month and there appears to be a good spread:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Premier_League_Save_of_the_Month

Edited January 2 by lost

[charlierc]

On 28/12/2025 at 11:13, charlierc said:

West Ham's next 3 feel vital - the out-of-sorts Brighton, who haven't won so far in December, then the seemingly doomed Wolves in their first game of 2026 and a Forest side that are one of the few within immediate reach, even if they have been better since bringing in Dyche. Lose all 3 and they're really in deep sh*t.

 

It seemed as though Nuno had sussed something but no win in 7 isn't great.

Well I said I would find it difficult to have confidence in West Ham's survival bid if they lost to Brighton and Wolves... drawing with Brighton was one thing but a 3-0 hiding at Wolves? Bruh

 

Throw in the fact their salvation appears to be a striker having his first positive burst of form at a non-big 3 Portuguese side and this feels like trouble.

 

Ironically also means trouble for the taxpayer given West Ham reportedly get a discount on their London Stadium rent if they end up in the Championship.

[charlierc]

Friend of mine I used to work with supports Celtic and I suspect this season isn't exactly going to feature as a vintage memory.

 

Should've just stuck with Martin O'Neill, no? I know some people were saying his methods were outdated even when he was at Celtic 20 years ago the first time, but he got them firing and then they ditch him for a third manager of the season that already looks out of his depth.

[lost]

1 hour ago, charlierc said:

Well I said I would find it difficult to have confidence in West Ham's survival bid if they lost to Brighton and Wolves... drawing with Brighton was one thing but a 3-0 hiding at Wolves? Bruh

 

Throw in the fact their salvation appears to be a striker having his first positive burst of form at a non-big 3 Portuguese side and this feels like trouble.

 

Ironically also means trouble for the taxpayer given West Ham reportedly get a discount on their London Stadium rent if they end up in the Championship.

 

I didn't see that Wolves result, I thought it might be a draw after Wolves performance vs Man Utd. 

 

a good example in football to be careful what you wish for:

 

 

Edited January 3 by lost