Football 2025-26

[charlierc]

2 hours ago, thetime said:

Ole at the wheel. 😬😬😬😬

2019 called, it wants it's ideas back. 

 

Tbf I thought Carrick did well as an interim after Ole left so I thought he might get the call. Even if I'm guessing it'll be just as temp and that they won't fall for the spell of a caretaker... Again. 

[charlierc]

On 03/01/2026 at 19:33, lost said:

 

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:

 

 

Well given they've just lost at home to Forest and are now 7 adrift on top of that humiliation at Wolves, I think we must agree they're now in deep sh*t. 

 

I don't think tbf it was necessarily wrong to move on from Moyes when they did, but they needed to ace his replacement and getting the players to fit that replacement's playing style. Yet at every opportunity they seem to have just made the wrong choice. It just invites people to say forcing Moyes out was the wrong choice because they seem to have taken it upon themselves to step on every rake ever since. 

[charlierc]

Yesterday certainly gave much to discuss - Semenyo scoring a 95th minute winner in what's likely his last Bournemouth game, Man City dropping points again, Brentford now being 5th, Darren Fletcher's audition being so-so, etc

 

Crazy time at St James' in the game I watched, mind. 102nd minute winner, 4-3 in a game that could've ended with both sides scoring way more... Just grand madness. But hey. Finally we win a match this season after being behind and get 3 wins in a row. 

 

4 points from 4th to 10th is still ridiculously close. But I suspect it'll still be tight for a few weeks. 

[thetime]

6 hours ago, charlierc said:

 Darren Fletcher's audition being so-so

 

Thought utd were just a tad unlucky last night. 2 goals, 2 cleared of the line and the woodwork twice.

 

Who would of thought, you feed your striker they score. By City Utd should have all there players back.

 

 

Edited January 8 by thetime

[kaosmark2]

7 hours ago, charlierc said:

Crazy time at St James' in the game I watched, mind. 102nd minute winner, 4-3 in a game that could've ended with both sides scoring way more... Just grand madness. But hey. Finally we win a match this season after being behind and get 3 wins in a row. 

Good way to send wishes to Keegan.

[Neil]

I hope man utd are going to continue as the comedy channel.

[charlierc]

6 hours ago, thetime said:

 

Thought utd were just a tad unlucky last night. 2 goals, 2 cleared of the line and the woodwork twice.

 

Who would of thought, you feed your striker they score. By City Utd should have all there players back.

 

 

Tbf the first Burnley goal was unlucky and it is good for Sesko that he not only ended his goal drought but did so with a brace. But it would've helped his hopes, if he had any, of being a longer-term caretaker had they got the points.

 

As said though, I think the thing that was causing bother wasn't the 3-4-3 so much as it was a lot of absentees through injuries/AFCON. The fact players were back in the squad yesterday hints there's some light at the end of that tunnel though.

[charlierc]

5 hours ago, kaosmark2 said:

Good way to send wishes to Keegan.

Totally. Terrible news but hopefully he'll get the treatment he needs and good to see the affection for him still holds up.

 

Hopefully Schar's alright as that looked like a pretty nasty hit.

[kaosmark2]

4 hours ago, charlierc said:

Hopefully Schar's alright as that looked like a pretty nasty hit.

Reports of an ankle ligament tear to be further assessed. Honestly with how that twisted and the pain on his face that looks like one of the ligament tears that's worse than a break. Given his age it could even be a career-ender or close to. Really gutted for him.

[pink_triangle]

Initially I was horrified with what Martinelli did yesterday, but feels the apology is probably the right approach. I kind of agree that it is an unfortunate reaction to ongoing cheating (by all teams) feigning late injuries, which means they are no longer taken seriously.

[Skip997]

41 minutes ago, pink_triangle said:

Initially I was horrified with what Martinelli did yesterday, but feels the apology is probably the right approach. I kind of agree that it is an unfortunate reaction to ongoing cheating (by all teams) feigning late injuries, which means they are no longer taken seriously.

I’m still annoyed. Absolutely no idea how he didn’t get a red card 

 

“I kind of agree that it is an unfortunate reaction to ongoing cheating (by all teams) “

 

Almost

 

[Crazyfool01]

was / is anyone planning on going to the World Cup ? 

[Comfy Bean]

7 hours ago, Crazyfool01 said:

was / is anyone planning on going to the World Cup ? 

Aye. Flights and hotels booked but don’t hear about tickets until 05/02. Only going to Scotlands first game and might try and get to another game if we can pick up “cheap” tickets on the day.

 

Its a corrupt horrible mess but decided to hold my nose as it’s been a while for us.

 

Germany was a great footballing experience. This will be very different I’d imagine 

[charlierc]

16 hours ago, Crazyfool01 said:

was / is anyone planning on going to the World Cup ? 

Nah. Too expensive a ticket price plus much as I really want to visit New York someday, the US is not exactly making itself the most enticing destination right now.

 

Might try for tickets to games at Euro 2028. That's being held here and I really enjoyed my trips to see games at the 2022 Women's Euros.

[charlierc]

23 hours ago, pink_triangle said:

Initially I was horrified with what Martinelli did yesterday, but feels the apology is probably the right approach. I kind of agree that it is an unfortunate reaction to ongoing cheating (by all teams) feigning late injuries, which means they are no longer taken seriously.

It's interesting tbf that looking at the posts on some sites, it's gone from "Boo Martinelli is a scumbag" to "Gary Neville made something out of nothing".

 

Imo, Martinelli was a d*ck in that moment, but it was a rush of blood to the head. I think the public apology he made plus the fact that Liverpool's manager was quite understanding imo in saying in his post-match that timewasting has made it easy to mistake genuine pain for running down the clock means we can leave it there.

[charlierc]

On 09/01/2026 at 01:15, kaosmark2 said:

Reports of an ankle ligament tear to be further assessed. Honestly with how that twisted and the pain on his face that looks like one of the ligament tears that's worse than a break. Given his age it could even be a career-ender or close to. Really gutted for him.

Aye he's been such a great player for the Toon so the idea that might be it for him given he's 34 and out of contract at the end of the season is a real bummer.

 

Tempting to wonder if it may mean we might need to invest in a new centre-half now. Botman's injury record is not great (even if a huge part of that is on the medical team for mismanaging his ACL injury in 2023), Burn is still going to be out for a while, Lascelles seems to have vanished, Krafth would be an out-of-position right back who looked over the hill in his only appearance this season and I think we rate the youngster Alex Murphy more as a left-back than a centre-back. Though I'm aware of the rumour that we're considering recalling Matt Targett from his loan at Middlesbrough, which would add a body if nothing else.

[Skip997]

2 hours ago, charlierc said:

It's interesting tbf that looking at the posts on some sites, it's gone from "Boo Martinelli is a scumbag" to "Gary Neville made something out of nothing".

 

Imo, Martinelli was a d*ck in that moment, but it was a rush of blood to the head. I think the public apology he made plus the fact that Liverpool's manager was quite understanding imo in saying in his post-match that timewasting has made it easy to mistake genuine pain for running down the clock means we can leave it there.

As clear a red card as could be. Slams the ball down on him, knee in the back etc.

Then we have pundits arguing that attacking a badly injured player is somehow justified.

[kaosmark2]

3 hours ago, charlierc said:

Aye he's been such a great player for the Toon so the idea that might be it for him given he's 34 and out of contract at the end of the season is a real bummer.

 

Tempting to wonder if it may mean we might need to invest in a new centre-half now. Botman's injury record is not great (even if a huge part of that is on the medical team for mismanaging his ACL injury in 2023), Burn is still going to be out for a while, Lascelles seems to have vanished, Krafth would be an out-of-position right back who looked over the hill in his only appearance this season and I think we rate the youngster Alex Murphy more as a left-back than a centre-back. Though I'm aware of the rumour that we're considering recalling Matt Targett from his loan at Middlesbrough, which would add a body if nothing else.

I dunno how rose-tinted this is between recent performance and the fact he had a major falling out with cabbage face, but he's one of our best CBs in my lifetime. Not Woodgate level sure but you could compare him with Colocinni at least.

 

I think it does tbh. We were always going to need to sign someone in the summer as a long-term solution with Schar/Burn/Lascalles all being 33+, but with Thiaw settling quickly and both Burn and Schar being excellent so far this season there wasn't any urgency until the double injury. Lascalles has been injured for basically 2.5 years, and Krafth was championship level even when he was fit and vaguely in form, just a willing servant who isn't kicking off about a relatively nothing wage and a bench position. Also Trippier at 35 and losing pace. 

 

I think we should be after a centre-back now, and a full-back if we can get the right deal. I'm slightly worried that these Livramento to Man City rumours that keep cropping up mean we'll lose both right-backs this summer and have vaguely similar nonsense for that position as we just did with strikers. Struggle to keep an unhappy star player and end up selling them anyway while not renewing the contract of the aging injury-prone back-up that was 1st choice only 18months earlier but there's still a lot of fondness for.

 

Targett I think would be a desperation recall if we can't get anyone in through the door. Basically a delaying tactic if we can't get a good enough deal for the long-term to cover the injuries. I've genuinely no idea what our PSR/FFP/SCR headroom is right now, other than that any spend now comes out of ability to invest in the summer.

[Crazyfool01]

13 hours ago, Comfy Bean said:

Aye. Flights and hotels booked but don’t hear about tickets until 05/02. Only going to Scotlands first game and might try and get to another game if we can pick up “cheap” tickets on the day.

 

Its a corrupt horrible mess but decided to hold my nose as it’s been a while for us.

 

Germany was a great footballing experience. This will be very different I’d imagine 

hope it all goes well , challenging decision and one with lots of conflicts ... quite a lot of tickets have gone back in by the looks of it ... I also wonder if it goes ahead in its current form without boycotts I guess its dependant on what happens over next weeks / months 

[pink_triangle]

I feel nothing beats the third round of the FA cup. I remember as a kid watching Wrexham beat Arsenal and nothing beats it. Those Macclesfield fans will have memories today that will last a lifetime. To me that’s the biggest shock in FA cup history.

 

Not at close to the same level of shock, but I had the pleasure yesterday of seeing Wrexham beating a premiership side in the cup for the first time in 26 years. Just a great cup tie after losing a 2 goal lead I assumed Forest quality would shine through, but we held on for penalties. It really showed to me the different levels though and seeing Gibbs White in person you could just see the quality in comparison.

[charlierc]

18 hours ago, pink_triangle said:

I feel nothing beats the third round of the FA cup. I remember as a kid watching Wrexham beat Arsenal and nothing beats it. Those Macclesfield fans will have memories today that will last a lifetime. To me that’s the biggest shock in FA cup history.

 

Not at close to the same level of shock, but I had the pleasure yesterday of seeing Wrexham beating a premiership side in the cup for the first time in 26 years. Just a great cup tie after losing a 2 goal lead I assumed Forest quality would shine through, but we held on for penalties. It really showed to me the different levels though and seeing Gibbs White in person you could just see the quality in comparison.

Aye the Macclesfield story is wild. The phoenix club building again from a league side that went bust in 2020 and still less than a month on from the horrible news of the death of one of their players, and then they come and pull off probably one of the greatest ever cup upsets. As a base story, a 6th tier side beating a Premier League one, let alone the actual reigning holders, is quite a brilliant tale, to say nothing of those extra contexts.

 

The video of their first goal is quite funny to me where the player is getting his bandaged re-done up by a teammate and then the player with the re-applied bandage grabs the goal.

 

Palace meanwhile actually do intrigue me. They looked frazzled when they lost at Newcastle last weekend, like a thin squad has been asked to play at least 3/4 games too many, they have several players that seemingly want out and a manager that's spent most of the season not exactly defusing speculation on his future given his contract is up at the end of the season.

 

Certainly it's quite odd in my mind the BBC's other main FA Cup pick was Spurs v Villa, given it's a game that's played all the time anyway. Even if they had picked Man City walloping Exeter, that's still not a tie we see frequently.

 

And yeah I saw the Wrexham-Forest highlights. That looked like a pretty decent tie as well.

[charlierc]

21 hours ago, kaosmark2 said:

I dunno how rose-tinted this is between recent performance and the fact he had a major falling out with cabbage face, but he's one of our best CBs in my lifetime. Not Woodgate level sure but you could compare him with Colocinni at least.

 

I think it does tbh. We were always going to need to sign someone in the summer as a long-term solution with Schar/Burn/Lascalles all being 33+, but with Thiaw settling quickly and both Burn and Schar being excellent so far this season there wasn't any urgency until the double injury. Lascalles has been injured for basically 2.5 years, and Krafth was championship level even when he was fit and vaguely in form, just a willing servant who isn't kicking off about a relatively nothing wage and a bench position. Also Trippier at 35 and losing pace. 

 

I think we should be after a centre-back now, and a full-back if we can get the right deal. I'm slightly worried that these Livramento to Man City rumours that keep cropping up mean we'll lose both right-backs this summer and have vaguely similar nonsense for that position as we just did with strikers. Struggle to keep an unhappy star player and end up selling them anyway while not renewing the contract of the aging injury-prone back-up that was 1st choice only 18months earlier but there's still a lot of fondness for.

 

Targett I think would be a desperation recall if we can't get anyone in through the door. Basically a delaying tactic if we can't get a good enough deal for the long-term to cover the injuries. I've genuinely no idea what our PSR/FFP/SCR headroom is right now, other than that any spend now comes out of ability to invest in the summer.

I think Livramento getting a hamstring injury in the Bournemouth game yesterday that might keep him out for a few months, one where it was also noteworthy how off the pace Trippier looked, means a full-back might now have to be sourced in this transfer window. I know of the rumours linking with him with a move - Arsenal were also suggested in a rumour yesterday - but this being his second big injury blow of the season means it might be worth buying someone anyway.

 

The centre-backs is a different argument but yeah, I'm aware Schar and Burn, while excellent, are ageing, while Howe apparently hinted Lascelles is going to be leaving this month, and given that as said I think there's a fitness concern over Botman, it could be worth seeking an alternative option there.

 

If nothing else I guess this weekend hints we're now able to start coming from behind more. No points recovered from losing positions until the win over Leeds the other day, now showing the resilience to come from behind against Bournemouth both in the 90 and in the shootout. I didn't see live yesterday but holy cow it sounded like chaos.

[kaosmark2]

3 hours ago, charlierc said:

I think Livramento getting a hamstring injury in the Bournemouth game yesterday that might keep him out for a few months, one where it was also noteworthy how off the pace Trippier looked, means a full-back might now have to be sourced in this transfer window. I know of the rumours linking with him with a move - Arsenal were also suggested in a rumour yesterday - but this being his second big injury blow of the season means it might be worth buying someone anyway.

 

The centre-backs is a different argument but yeah, I'm aware Schar and Burn, while excellent, are ageing, while Howe apparently hinted Lascelles is going to be leaving this month, and given that as said I think there's a fitness concern over Botman, it could be worth seeking an alternative option there.

 

If nothing else I guess this weekend hints we're now able to start coming from behind more. No points recovered from losing positions until the win over Leeds the other day, now showing the resilience to come from behind against Bournemouth both in the 90 and in the shootout. I didn't see live yesterday but holy cow it sounded like chaos.

Hamstring? Damn, I was hoping it was just a sprain that'd be for a couple of weeks.

 

Trippier looks a bit more shot than Schar/Burn yeah, although it's a bit harsh to judge him on his first start in a while after coming back from injury. We need both at some point in the next 12 months. I guess I'm just mostly in the vibe of not wanting to panic buy 3-4 players in Jan that aren't particulraly good long-term. Recalling Targett makes more sense if we can't get the right signings in.

 

I watched the game and it was chaos. 6-6 wouldn't have been outrageous. We had possession, particularly after 65 minutes, but couldn't do anything to stop them countering effectively. 2 idiotic moments in defense didn't help either. Miley excellent again. Somehow.

[charlierc]

Real Madrid sacking Xabi Alonso after 8 months after he fell out with Vini Jr and several other players... it's felt like it was coming but it does kind of paint the RM dressing room like divas. And I say that thinking that 4 points off Barca isn't that bad. But then it's Real and I'm aware the expectation is that they should have a 100% record in everything they do.

[charlierc]

On 11/01/2026 at 14:55, kaosmark2 said:

Hamstring? Damn, I was hoping it was just a sprain that'd be for a couple of weeks.

 

Trippier looks a bit more shot than Schar/Burn yeah, although it's a bit harsh to judge him on his first start in a while after coming back from injury. We need both at some point in the next 12 months. I guess I'm just mostly in the vibe of not wanting to panic buy 3-4 players in Jan that aren't particulraly good long-term. Recalling Targett makes more sense if we can't get the right signings in.

 

I watched the game and it was chaos. 6-6 wouldn't have been outrageous. We had possession, particularly after 65 minutes, but couldn't do anything to stop them countering effectively. 2 idiotic moments in defense didn't help either. Miley excellent again. Somehow.

Tbf I had forgotten it was Trippier's first appearance in a while so makes sense he's not pristine. But yeah, I think we'll need defensive reinforcements this month, and I'm not exactly sure if that is just recalling Targett from Middlesbrough, given he'd barely played for us, but it's a cost-effective solution if we're still treading carefully with our old buddy PSR.

 

Certainly, I think we'll need to invest in that area in the summer given Trippier, Schar, Lascelles and Burn's age, to say nothing of the possibility some might get released, or indeed the fading talents of Krafth.

 

If someone else gets injured in the Man City game tomorrow, that'll probably make getting a panic signing more likely.