Football 2025-26

[charlierc]

9 minutes ago, kaosmark2 said:

I only watched the first half before my stream died, but honestly, we weren't actually that bad. 1st two goals were kinda weird deflections that City bundled into the net, while Trafford made two very good claims to stop us breaking through. Their 3rd was both a better goal and worse keeping, but until they scored the 2nd I thought we were playing quite decently. 

Sometimes the luck is with you and sometimes it ain't. I did see we got a goal back, had a goal disallowed and missed a fair few chances. But, as the first reply said...

4 minutes ago, thetime said:

 

The 2nd goal at your place killed the tie realistically. Watched first hour or so, pretty even. Although Newcastle were so open, Certainly a better watch than the Arsenal v Chelsea game. 

Pretty much. I think 1-0, while still tricky, it's not impossible. Conceding within the first 10 minutes of this one didn't help either.

 

Gordon getting an injury is also another unfortunate side-effect of this one, though perhaps a sign Howe's basically run him into the ground.

[kaosmark2]

20 minutes ago, charlierc said:

Sometimes the luck is with you and sometimes it ain't. I did see we got a goal back, had a goal disallowed and missed a fair few chances. But, as the first reply said...

Pretty much. I think 1-0, while still tricky, it's not impossible. Conceding within the first 10 minutes of this one didn't help either.

 

Gordon getting an injury is also another unfortunate side-effect of this one, though perhaps a sign Howe's basically run him into the ground.

25 minutes ago, thetime said:

 

The 2nd goal at your place killed the tie realistically. Watched first hour or so, pretty even. Although Newcastle were so open, Certainly a better watch than the Arsenal v Chelsea game. 

Yeah absolutely. I didn't have any real hopes for tonight, but stuck it on cos why not. I wasn't actually miserable watching it, unlike the Sunderland/Man U/Wolves games which were dire.

 

I think Elanga and Ramsey are starting to look a lot better for us as well. I know there was supposedly an awful miss by Elanga but I'm still hopeful his first goal for us will give a bit more confidence. I didn't think somehow we'd be able to have a worse injury crisis than 2 years ago but seems so. And we've got a trek to Azerbaijan in between away games at Villa and City.

 

With the teams that got through to the semis this year it was going to be very tough to hold the trophy. All much bigger squads than ours and in less transition (still some except Arsenal). Still, lasting in 4 comps into Feb is a positive. We'll see what the rest of the season holds but I suspect we'll alternate good/bad for quite a while.

[pink_triangle]

In terms of the Harvey Elliott situation surely the best situation is for Liverpool to just get rid of the 10 game stipulation which will mean he will likely get games as a squad player and potentially maintain value to sell in the summer. The current situation doesn’t seem to benefit either club or the player.

[charlierc]

9 hours ago, pink_triangle said:

In terms of the Harvey Elliott situation surely the best situation is for Liverpool to just get rid of the 10 game stipulation which will mean he will likely get games as a squad player and potentially maintain value to sell in the summer. The current situation doesn’t seem to benefit either club or the player.

The fact that Villa named two keepers but not him on the bench earlier is yet another hint that Villa regret signing him and that he won't be there next season.

 

Where he goes... f**k knows. I assume there'll be buyers though if Liverpool no longer want his services.

[charlierc]

I felt that if we were to qualify for Europe via the league, Brentford had the air of a must win, and we duly lost. So... what the hell do we do now.

 

Well apart from schlep our tired arses to a similarly out-of-form Spurs that, like us, also look like they need time not playing.

[thetime]

5 minutes ago, charlierc said:

I felt that if we were to qualify for Europe via the league, Brentford had the air of a must win, and we duly lost. So... what the hell do we do now.

 

Well apart from schlep our tired arses to a similarly out-of-form Spurs that, like us, also look like they need time not playing.

 

Spurs could be in a relegation battle, if they don't pull themselves together. They have Newcastle, Arsenal and Liverpool 3 of the next 5. 

 

6 points clear of West Ham.

 

Feb was always going to be tough for Newcastle, every 3 days until March. I don't see that sustainable for the Newcastle team. Its been good for the likes of Utd, Chelsea and  Liverpool as Newcastle are out of the equation for top 5 now. 

[thetime]

City v Liverpool? Win win situation for utd. City win, we are 5 points clear of Liverpool in 6th. Liverpool win, utd are 3 points of 2nd. 😃

[charlierc]

12 hours ago, thetime said:

 

Spurs could be in a relegation battle, if they don't pull themselves together. They have Newcastle, Arsenal and Liverpool 3 of the next 5. 

 

6 points clear of West Ham.

 

Feb was always going to be tough for Newcastle, every 3 days until March. I don't see that sustainable for the Newcastle team. Its been good for the likes of Utd, Chelsea and  Liverpool as Newcastle are out of the equation for top 5 now. 

I saw some of the Man Utd v Spurs game and there is a real sense of disaster at Spurs right now. Romero spending the week slagging off the board then getting red carded for a really nasty foul and getting a 4 game ban, thereby costing them a key man at a time they're missing so many injured, is not ideal. 

 

I'd lower one's expectations for Spurs v Newcastle on Tuesday tbh. We both look poor right now. For us, losing 19 points from winning positions is pretty indefensible.

 

For all that earlier in the season, some were saying that Eddie Howe wasn't being talked about enough as potentially under pressure, I don't think that's the case anymore. I still like him and want it to work, but the question is being asked more externally and internally, and there comes a point where this bends or breaks. At the very least, Trippier looks past it and that we might have to find a different way of playing to our stale 4-3-3 if we have no other right-back.

 

Agreed though that the schedule is killer. More than anything, we've pretty much been playing 3 games a week since the last international break in mid-November and everyone just looks cooked.

[thetime]

44 minutes ago, charlierc said:

I saw some of the Man Utd v Spurs game and there is a real sense of disaster at Spurs right now. Romero spending the week slagging off the board then getting red carded for a really nasty foul and getting a 4 game ban, thereby costing them a key man at a time they're missing so many injured, is not ideal. 

 

I'd lower one's expectations for Spurs v Newcastle on Tuesday tbh. We both look poor right now. For us, losing 19 points from winning positions is pretty indefensible.

 

For all that earlier in the season, some were saying that Eddie Howe wasn't being talked about enough as potentially under pressure, I don't think that's the case anymore. I still like him and want it to work, but the question is being asked more externally and internally, and there comes a point where this bends or breaks. At the very least, Trippier looks past it and that we might have to find a different way of playing to our stale 4-3-3 if we have no other right-back.

 

Agreed though that the schedule is killer. More than anything, we've pretty much been playing 3 games a week since the last international break in mid-November and everyone just looks cooked.

 

Relegation battle does have a bigger potential than last season. West Ham winning 3 of the last 4 to narrow the gap. Forest have picked up 2 wins and 2 draws in the last 5 games. Leeds have also picked up 2 wins and 2 draws in the last 6. 

 

Those directly above in Palace, Brighton, Spurs and yourself are in poor form. With only 3 wins collectively over 24 games. 

 

Massive game Spurs v Newcastle midweek. 

Edited February 8 by thetime

[charlierc]

1 hour ago, thetime said:

 

Relegation battle does have a bigger potential than last season. West Ham winning 3 of the last 4 to narrow the gap. Forest have picked up 2 wins and 2 draws in the last 5 games. Leeds have also picked up 2 wins and 2 draws in the last 6. 

 

Those directly above in Palace, Brighton, Spurs and yourself are in poor form. With only 3 wins collectively over 24 games. 

 

Massive game Spurs v Newcastle midweek. 

I'm not going to jinx it because crazy sh*t happens in football all the time, but I'd like to think we're good enough to get 2 more wins in the rest of this season and not go down. As said though, 19 points dropped from winning positions is inexcusable and being one of the worst at recovering points from losing positions (I think Leeds at home is the only time we've done it) is another drawback.

 

Agreed that we really need to do better at Spurs as its a pretty big meeting between two sides who both look out of form. Not even in a sense of thinking it's the result that can bring us back into the European places fight (we're closer to Brentford in 7th than West Ham in 18th but momentum has very much been sapped away recently), just a case of snapping us back to life as much as anything.

[lost]

24 minutes ago, charlierc said:

 but I'd like to think we're good enough to get 2 more wins in the rest of this season and not go down.

 

I actually think it maybe a bit higher this year. It'd be crazy if West Ham broke their own record of 42 points and still went down.

[thetime]

44 minutes ago, charlierc said:

I'm not going to jinx it because crazy sh*t happens in football all the time, but I'd like to think we're good enough to get 2 more wins in the rest of this season and not go down. As said though, 19 points dropped from winning positions is inexcusable and being one of the worst at recovering points from losing positions (I think Leeds at home is the only time we've done it) is another drawback.

 

Agreed that we really need to do better at Spurs as its a pretty big meeting between two sides who both look out of form. Not even in a sense of thinking it's the result that can bring us back into the European places fight (we're closer to Brentford in 7th than West Ham in 18th but momentum has very much been sapped away recently), just a case of snapping us back to life as much as anything.

 

Yeah you are to good to go down, that being said Newcastle still haven't cracked the European/domestic fixtures. Thats the biggest issue for me at Newcastle. Might be a blessing if villa beat you in the cup. 

 

I wouldn't be surprised if you don't pick a league win up until March. You have City and an in form Everton side. Then you have Utd and Chelsea who are both on form. Then March could be as bad if you beat Villa and Quarabag, fixtures wise. 

 

If it doesn't go favourably for Newcastle, mid March you could be looking at 5 points or less from West Ham. 

 

 

 

 

Edited February 8 by thetime

[kaosmark2]

2 hours ago, charlierc said:

For all that earlier in the season, some were saying that Eddie Howe wasn't being talked about enough as potentially under pressure, I don't think that's the case anymore. I still like him and want it to work, but the question is being asked more externally and internally, and there comes a point where this bends or breaks. At the very least, Trippier looks past it and that we might have to find a different way of playing to our stale 4-3-3 if we have no other right-back.

 

Agreed though that the schedule is killer. More than anything, we've pretty much been playing 3 games a week since the last international break in mid-November and everyone just looks cooked.

A big thing for me is that we're having the same issues as we had back in November before our brief upturn in form, both as a team and for individual players. As a team, we have zero way to break down low blocks, we give away leads very quickly, we're vulnerable to counter-attacks, and we're overdependent on pace in full-back roles in both attack and defence.

 

Individually, Trippier looks ready to go the glue factory, Tonali can't seem to place 3 consecutive passes, Woltemade can make dozens of nice flicks and close-control touches but seems allergic to shooting, Murphy seems to only have one threatening ball to his game.

 

I do think Joelinton (before this injury), Elanga, and Willock have all been a lot better this year. And if we can manage to give enough rests to Hall that he's still fit when Tino gets back I imagine we'll have another upsurge in form when we have them both fit that'll pull us a few places up the table. That said, I have 0 expectation we'll be close enough to be in the mix for the CL, and I'm not sure I'd want to be in the Conference League. Europa would be good fun and a chance to win a bigger trophy, but the ECL feels like the runner-up to the runners up. I think it should be a trophy for the teams/countries that don't ever get near the CL, and I'd prefer not to have the extra games and have another run at a domestic cup and trying to qualify for the CL again.

 

The schedule really is brutal though, Woltemade came on yesterday for his 39th of this season, he only played 33 by May last year with having a winter break.

[Skip997]

Big game for City today 

[charlierc]

1 hour ago, lost said:

 

I actually think it maybe a bit higher this year. It'd be crazy if West Ham broke their own record of 42 points and still went down.

Well in the last 2 seasons, the number that would've guaranteed survival was 27. So I'm absolutely sure it'll be higher than that this time. West Ham are currently on 23, so I imagine it'll probably be in the mid-30s at least. Though for 18th will likely be West Ham or Forest. Spurs going down would be extraordinary given their revenues and talents, but I think they'll have enough to stumble over the line.

[charlierc]

1 hour ago, kaosmark2 said:

A big thing for me is that we're having the same issues as we had back in November before our brief upturn in form, both as a team and for individual players. As a team, we have zero way to break down low blocks, we give away leads very quickly, we're vulnerable to counter-attacks, and we're overdependent on pace in full-back roles in both attack and defence.

 

Individually, Trippier looks ready to go the glue factory, Tonali can't seem to place 3 consecutive passes, Woltemade can make dozens of nice flicks and close-control touches but seems allergic to shooting, Murphy seems to only have one threatening ball to his game.

 

I do think Joelinton (before this injury), Elanga, and Willock have all been a lot better this year. And if we can manage to give enough rests to Hall that he's still fit when Tino gets back I imagine we'll have another upsurge in form when we have them both fit that'll pull us a few places up the table. That said, I have 0 expectation we'll be close enough to be in the mix for the CL, and I'm not sure I'd want to be in the Conference League. Europa would be good fun and a chance to win a bigger trophy, but the ECL feels like the runner-up to the runners up. I think it should be a trophy for the teams/countries that don't ever get near the CL, and I'd prefer not to have the extra games and have another run at a domestic cup and trying to qualify for the CL again.

 

The schedule really is brutal though, Woltemade came on yesterday for his 39th of this season, he only played 33 by May last year with having a winter break.

I think there's a real sense of everyone being burned out. Like you say, some of our players are already over 30-35 games this season, and there's still another 7 we have to play before the gap in mid-March where the next round of the FA Cup is played. And that's assuming we don't somehow beat Villa next Saturday to go to Round 5, adding another game that would back onto any Champions League game we might be playing if we beat Qarabag.

 

The idea of qualification for the Champions League by the league was I gather the target pre-season but I think that's done now barring a run where we somehow win every game left this season. I still think Europa or Conference is achievable but a lot of players need to get out of their funk for that and the margin for error is disappearing by the week.

 

Plus, as noted, going forward, there is a real question mark over why it is our methods break down when extra European games are added. I don't know if its the lack of a coherent Plan B, squad depth, a bad transfer window, a tactic that only works when we play one game a week, etc, etc. The inability to break down a low block or hold onto leads is another set of crucial problems.

 

It seems like Howe still has the backing of players and board, but the next step is finding something that works pronto.

[kaosmark2]

2 hours ago, charlierc said:

Plus, as noted, going forward, there is a real question mark over why it is our methods break down when extra European games are added. I don't know if its the lack of a coherent Plan B, squad depth, a bad transfer window, a tactic that only works when we play one game a week, etc, etc. The inability to break down a low block or hold onto leads is another set of crucial problems.

 

It seems like Howe still has the backing of players and board, but the next step is finding something that works pronto.

I think Howe has been trying to switch to a more possession-based style instead of high-intensity press+counter, but the problem with that, is if teams sit deep you really need playmakers in midfield, not high-energy box-to-box players. Bruno has the through-balls and Woltemade has flicks and magic moments, but Tonali and Joelinton, good as they are, are both high-press + release players. I think part of the reason we've done better in the CL is that we have space to counter into and we can play into what our midfield is good at.

 

I brought it up loads earlier in the season when both Hall and Tino were injured, but I also think we depend very heavily on our full-backs in our attacking play as well as our defense. We were trash with neither, dominant with both, and inconsistent when we only have one fit. Burn/Trippier have the positioning but not the pace for what we need our full-backs to do. We did decently when we were playing Miley at RB over Trippier but he's now injured having been covering 2 positions at once.

 

I also think the Pope/Ramsdale thing has been showing our problems as well. Pope can't cycle possession against a low block to free Tonali to play further forward, while Ramsdale can't make difficult saves. In the summer I hope we get a good all-round keeper and another full-back option to rotate in. Ideally we'd also get a high-quality creative CAM as well, but they're hard to find and tend to be very expensive.

[charlierc]

6 hours ago, thetime said:

Those directly above in Palace, Brighton, Spurs and yourself are in poor form. With only 3 wins collectively over 24 games. 

Brighton certainly seem to be sleepwalking into trouble - 1 win in 12, fans singing "You're getting sacked in the morning" at their own boss and just lot that derby nobody understands against Palace, with Brighton seemingly having no answer when Palace took the lead.

 

It certainly adds to a curious sense of flux. A week or two ago, a panelist on the football podcast I listen to the most suggested most of the league's managers could be replaced by the time next season starts, and while I think a few clubs will pull back from the brink, Brighton feel like one that could well be on the market for a boss given there seem to be increasing doubts over Hurzeler.

[charlierc]

21 minutes ago, kaosmark2 said:

I think Howe has been trying to switch to a more possession-based style instead of high-intensity press+counter, but the problem with that, is if teams sit deep you really need playmakers in midfield, not high-energy box-to-box players. Bruno has the through-balls and Woltemade has flicks and magic moments, but Tonali and Joelinton, good as they are, are both high-press + release players. I think part of the reason we've done better in the CL is that we have space to counter into and we can play into what our midfield is good at.

 

I brought it up loads earlier in the season when both Hall and Tino were injured, but I also think we depend very heavily on our full-backs in our attacking play as well as our defense. We were trash with neither, dominant with both, and inconsistent when we only have one fit. Burn/Trippier have the positioning but not the pace for what we need our full-backs to do. We did decently when we were playing Miley at RB over Trippier but he's now injured having been covering 2 positions at once.

 

I also think the Pope/Ramsdale thing has been showing our problems as well. Pope can't cycle possession against a low block to free Tonali to play further forward, while Ramsdale can't make difficult saves. In the summer I hope we get a good all-round keeper and another full-back option to rotate in. Ideally we'd also get a high-quality creative CAM as well, but they're hard to find and tend to be very expensive.

Tbf I would question if possession based football is the right thing to be moving for given it seems as though the PL is moving towards a more physical press-heavy approach. Gordon said in a press conference before the Champions League in Paris that he was finding it easier to play in Europe than England, which seems to lend itself to that theory.

 

Certainly, I agree that Trippier is now over the hill but is the only specialist RB. There is the possibility of moving Thiaw there and having Botman alongside Burn or possibly the kid Alex Murphy, but clearly that's not what we're doing, seemingly of the idea Trippier might get a second wind from somewhere.

 

I do think this is going to be a rebuild summer. The amount of 30-somethings in defence means that a lot of work is going to have to go there, plus the noise since deadline day makes me think Tonali is going to go (and probably get dragged out until after the World Cup).

[charlierc]

4 hours ago, Skip997 said:

Big game for City today 

Not going Man City's way so far.

[charlierc]

12 minutes ago, charlierc said:

Not going Man City's way so far.

Lol jinxed it

[thetime]

14 minutes ago, charlierc said:

Lol jinxed it

 

Strange ending.

 

 

[charlierc]

1 minute ago, thetime said:

 

Strange ending.

 

 

Feels like you could've just let the Cherki goal stand, no? Even if its technically correct, I'm not sure the idea of VAR was over-referee like that.

[thetime]

25 minutes ago, charlierc said:

Feels like you could've just let the Cherki goal stand, no? Even if its technically correct, I'm not sure the idea of VAR was over-referee like that.

 

Its certainly not done Liverpool any favours, with Szoboszlai suspended for 3. 

[Skip997]

Predictable 

 

May as well wait till summer to get a new boss