Football 2025-26

[charlierc]

17 hours ago, thetime said:

They have to do something about corners, its just isn't football. Lump it in there and turn it into a wrestling match.

 

Everton would of scored 5 last night, if Onana was in goal. 

Eh. These things come and go in and out of fashion. Give it a few years and corners might not be as important as they currently are. 

 

Although I guess good for us to have a warning about what to expect when we play Everton on Saturday. 

[charlierc]

9 hours ago, kaosmark2 said:

Can't imagine anyone except @charlierc really cares, but I thought the line-up was reasonable. Conceding 2 a little silly but a good few players got a rest, others got minutes while coming back from injury, and Alex Murphy looked decent. Less sure on Osula, good movement and attempt for the first goal, but didn't do much apart from some pressing IMO. I think I'm starting to struggle to believe he's gonna make it as a good enough striker for us.

 

Woltemade I thought made some excellent through balls first half, but misplaced quite a lot second half. Not sure whether that's fatigue or concentration or something else. I definitely think there's something to be said for him playing a little further behind naturally, but he drifted a little too deep for my liking a lot today.

 

Do need some Prem wins though.

I've said before elsewhere that I'm more convinced Osula would be a better winger than striker. It feels like we'll need to enter the striker market again in the summer though, given Wissa has had a difficult season and I'm not sure we know what to do with Woltemade. Having him play in central midfield at times feels counter productive. But hey, we won both ties, scored a bucket of goals, job done imo. 

 

It's worth noting that if we get Chelsea in the next round, the two ties would be either side of a Premier League match at their place, meaning we'd be playing each other 3 times in a week. Novelty that would age really quickly. 

 

Shout out for Bodo Glimdt too. 100% record in the Champions League so far in 2026, adding home and away wins over the runaway Serie A leaders and last season's Champions League runners up Inter to the tally to go with beating Man City and Atletico Madrid. Not bad given that's their only competitive fixtures so far this year. 

 

I also saw yesterday West Brom sacking the manager after only 10 games, having failed to win any and with them in danger of relegation to League One. Feels like quite a few clubs have gambled on inexperienced gaffers and had to course correct quickly. Given the nightmare that guy had at Celtic, I'm guessing this also does very little to help the reputation of MLS coaches. 

[kaosmark2]

4 hours ago, charlierc said:

I've said before elsewhere that I'm more convinced Osula would be a better winger than striker. It feels like we'll need to enter the striker market again in the summer though, given Wissa has had a difficult season and I'm not sure we know what to do with Woltemade. Having him play in central midfield at times feels counter productive. But hey, we won both ties, scored a bucket of goals, job done imo. 

 

It's worth noting that if we get Chelsea in the next round, the two ties would be either side of a Premier League match at their place, meaning we'd be playing each other 3 times in a week. Novelty that would age really quickly. 

 

Shout out for Bodo Glimdt too. 100% record in the Champions League so far in 2026, adding home and away wins over the runaway Serie A leaders and last season's Champions League runners up Inter to the tally to go with beating Man City and Atletico Madrid. Not bad given that's their only competitive fixtures so far this year. 

 

I also saw yesterday West Brom sacking the manager after only 10 games, having failed to win any and with them in danger of relegation to League One. Feels like quite a few clubs have gambled on inexperienced gaffers and had to course correct quickly. Given the nightmare that guy had at Celtic, I'm guessing this also does very little to help the reputation of MLS coaches. 

I think Howe's doing the Woltemade midfield thing as a stopgap while Bruno is injured instead of training the team to work around Wolte up front without any pre-season or breaks. There's only 2 players in the squad who have shown any consistent ability to play fancy through balls, and I think this is a short/mid-term measure that also enables Howe to pick both Barnes and Gordon regularly as well.

 

Yeah I'd spotted that re Chelsea as well. Really hoping for Barca as well, although not having PL refs on VAR gives us a better chance against Chelsea.

 

Inevitable that we'll win the first knockouts anyway, just so we can play City another 2 times.

[kaosmark2]

This Juventus Galatasaray tie is some serious drama.

[thetime]

1 hour ago, kaosmark2 said:

This Juventus Galatasaray tie is some serious drama.

 

That Atlanta v Dortmund game also. 3 sending offs in the 97th minute and Atlanta getting the winner in the 98th. 

Edited February 25 by thetime

[kaosmark2]

14 hours ago, thetime said:

That Atlanta v Dortmund game also. 3 sending offs in the 97th minute and Atlanta getting the winner in the 98th. 

Only looked at the result but yeah wow. I mostly don't want the early kickoff but I had caught the 1st leg of Galatasaray-Juve as well.

[charlierc]

On 25/02/2026 at 22:00, kaosmark2 said:

This Juventus Galatasaray tie is some serious drama.

Is it wrong to be confused about why Lloyd Kelly was sent off? Looked like just an awkward landing to me rather than anything malicious. 

On 25/02/2026 at 23:05, thetime said:

 

That Atlanta v Dortmund game also. 3 sending offs in the 97th minute and Atlanta getting the winner in the 98th. 

Apparently two of those reds were to players who were on the respective sub benches for starting something. 

 

Both ties sounded like decent drama tbf. Atalanta I guess are also getting their flowers in the Italian media for stopping Italy getting entirely knocked out of the Champions League. 

[charlierc]

On 25/02/2026 at 11:53, kaosmark2 said:

I think Howe's doing the Woltemade midfield thing as a stopgap while Bruno is injured instead of training the team to work around Wolte up front without any pre-season or breaks. There's only 2 players in the squad who have shown any consistent ability to play fancy through balls, and I think this is a short/mid-term measure that also enables Howe to pick both Barnes and Gordon regularly as well.

 

Yeah I'd spotted that re Chelsea as well. Really hoping for Barca as well, although not having PL refs on VAR gives us a better chance against Chelsea.

 

Inevitable that we'll win the first knockouts anyway, just so we can play City another 2 times.

Imagine if you're Ramsey or Willock and the solution is that. Though it changes the equilibrium again imo as I thought we had been experimenting with 4-2-3-1, so Woltemade essentially getting a CM role that I'm not sure he's best suited for is curious. Thinking about it he was essentially having to track a runner unsuccessfully in the move that lead to one of Man City's goals last week.

 

I guess we'll see who makes the team against Everton, but wouldn't be surprised if we have an Elanga-Gordon-Barnes frontline with Woltemade, Wissa and Osula as the bench. 

[kaosmark2]

2 hours ago, charlierc said:

Is it wrong to be confused about why Lloyd Kelly was sent off? Looked like just an awkward landing to me rather than anything malicious. 

Apparently two of those reds were to players who were on the respective sub benches for starting something. 

 

Both ties sounded like decent drama tbf. Atalanta I guess are also getting their flowers in the Italian media for stopping Italy getting entirely knocked out of the Champions League. 

I think it's for dangerous contact rather than malice. And just UCL being generally stricter than PL.

 

2 hours ago, charlierc said:

Imagine if you're Ramsey or Willock and the solution is that. Though it changes the equilibrium again imo as I thought we had been experimenting with 4-2-3-1, so Woltemade essentially getting a CM role that I'm not sure he's best suited for is curious. Thinking about it he was essentially having to track a runner unsuccessfully in the move that lead to one of Man City's goals last week.

 

I guess we'll see who makes the team against Everton, but wouldn't be surprised if we have an Elanga-Gordon-Barnes frontline with Woltemade, Wissa and Osula as the bench. 

Yeah I agree. I'd thought Ramsey had started looking decent and Willock had had some better games lately. I think Wolte in a 10 in 4-2-3-1 makes sense, dropping him into actual midfield in 4-3-3 doesn't to me. It's also hard to really judge it off what was effectively a highly paid friendly as well.

[thetime]

Arsenal got to be happy with that route to the semis. 

[charlierc]

4 hours ago, kaosmark2 said:

I think it's for dangerous contact rather than malice. And just UCL being generally stricter than PL.

 

Yeah I agree. I'd thought Ramsey had started looking decent and Willock had had some better games lately. I think Wolte in a 10 in 4-2-3-1 makes sense, dropping him into actual midfield in 4-3-3 doesn't to me. It's also hard to really judge it off what was effectively a highly paid friendly as well.

In a way I was kinda curious as to what 3 games against Chelsea in a week would look like, but Barcelona it is instead. That might still be interesting though. If we can beat them, we've done bloody well for ourselves. 

 

I do agree the officiating seems harsher in Europe tbf. I felt that about seeing the penalty that won it for Atalanta and to a degree also felt it about penalties given for and against us in recent Champions League ties. 

 

Apparently Ramsey is an injury doubt for Saturday while Miley is still going to be out for a bit. So I guess Howe is having to make do and mend to a degree. But yeah, I think Woltemade in CM might be looked back as one of those "It seemed like a good idea at the time" moves 

[kaosmark2]

1 hour ago, charlierc said:

In a way I was kinda curious as to what 3 games against Chelsea in a week would look like, but Barcelona it is instead. That might still be interesting though. If we can beat them, we've done bloody well for ourselves. 

 

I do agree the officiating seems harsher in Europe tbf. I felt that about seeing the penalty that won it for Atalanta and to a degree also felt it about penalties given for and against us in recent Champions League ties. 

 

Apparently Ramsey is an injury doubt for Saturday while Miley is still going to be out for a bit. So I guess Howe is having to make do and mend to a degree. But yeah, I think Woltemade in CM might be looked back as one of those "It seemed like a good idea at the time" moves 

I think we have a team and style that could beat Barca, and if not, at least we're losing to them instead of f**king Chelsea. I think getting knocked out by Chelsea would be seriously miserable.

 

Another thing about Miley, whenever he gets back fit, is that I think he's more likely to cover Trippier than midfield right now.

[pink_triangle]

I think it’s a very lopsided draw which is largely ruined by having too many EPL teams. I personally think 4 is the right balance and (apologies to Newcastle fans) think it should have been  City, Arsenal, Liverpool and Spurs based on last season.

[thetime]

1 hour ago, pink_triangle said:

I think it’s a very lopsided draw which is largely ruined by having too many EPL teams. I personally think 4 is the right balance and (apologies to Newcastle fans) think it should have been  City, Arsenal, Liverpool and Spurs based on last season.

 

Very good chance it could be 6 again next season, if villa get 6th and win europa. 

[kaosmark2]

2 minutes ago, thetime said:

Very good chance it could be 6 again next season, if villa get 6th and win europa. 

What if we win the CL?

 

Apparently Opta has us 7th favs. ahead of PSG, Real Madrid, Athletcio (as the ones that surprise).

[thetime]

5 minutes ago, kaosmark2 said:

What if we win the CL?

 

Apparently Opta has us 7th favs. ahead of PSG, Real Madrid, Athletcio (as the ones that surprise).

 

I was thinking about that or if Spurs win it, do english clubs get 7? Or is 6 the limit, with 5th place losing out?

[kaosmark2]

8 minutes ago, thetime said:

I was thinking about that or if Spurs win it, do english clubs get 7? Or is 6 the limit, with 5th place losing out?

I think last season, when City weren't looking great for top 4, there was talk of between 5-7. I don't think 5th place loses out.

 

Personally I think if we win it Liverpool or Chelsea should get kicked out. Not based on league position or anything, just because I don't want them there.

[thetime]

3 minutes ago, kaosmark2 said:

 

 

Personally I think if we win it Liverpool or Chelsea should get kicked out. Not based on league position or anything, just because I don't want them there.

 

There are worse reasons. 😂

[charlierc]

2 hours ago, pink_triangle said:

I think it’s a very lopsided draw which is largely ruined by having too many EPL teams. I personally think 4 is the right balance and (apologies to Newcastle fans) think it should have been  City, Arsenal, Liverpool and Spurs based on last season.

Eh. I'm sympathetic to the fact 6 teams from one nation at once is ridiculous.

 

Still would've been narked to miss out though, much like how Villa are still irritated a disallowed goal at Old Trafford on the final day of last season helped them miss out on the CL this season.

34 minutes ago, thetime said:

 

I was thinking about that or if Spurs win it, do english clubs get 7? Or is 6 the limit, with 5th place losing out?

Seven is apparently the limit.

[pink_triangle]

I would have maximum of 4 with top 2 from the EPL, with 2 places for winning the champions league or Europa league and then 3rd or 4th if they don’t.

[thetime]

2 hours ago, pink_triangle said:

I would have maximum of 4 with top 2 from the EPL, with 2 places for winning the champions league or Europa league and then 3rd or 4th if they don’t.

 

Im unsure a Europa League should get the spot over a 3rd place team. When you think Spurs finished 17th last season and Forest could win it and be in the championship. 

 

 

[doogie]

1 hour ago, thetime said:

 

Im unsure a Europa League should get the spot over a 3rd place team. When you think Spurs finished 17th last season and Forest could win it and be in the championship. 

 

 

 

I agree. Now that teams no longer drop into the Europa Cup from the Champions League, it's become a more second rate competition, and it makes much less sense for the winners to get an automatic Champions League place.

[pink_triangle]

1 hour ago, thetime said:

 

Im unsure a Europa League should get the spot over a 3rd place team. When you think Spurs finished 17th last season and Forest could win it and be in the championship. 

 

 

How many seasons have English teams won both the champions league and Europa league, with the Europa league winnner not coming in the top 3. I am not sure it’s ever happened.  Under the system I propose 4th place would have likely missed out a few times, but I don’t see that as a huge miss.

 

I think the champions league place for the Europa league makes it more interesting and teams take it more seriously. I think teams from the same countries playing each other in the champions league is nearly always rubbish, so having 6 makes it more likely.

[pink_triangle]

15 minutes ago, doogie said:

 

I agree. Now that teams no longer drop into the Europa Cup from the Champions League, it's become a more second rate competition, and it makes much less sense for the winners to get an automatic Champions League place.

Well I would agree the quality of the last 16 is down, largely because you no longer get these teams with huge financial advantages rewarded for failure by being parachuted in.

 

However I feel from a sporting integrity perspective it is a much better tournament, I feel the old system was flawed and ruined it.

[Neil]

On 13/02/2026 at 16:26, lost said:

What percentage of Spurs revenue comes from the other stuff going on at the stadium, NFL and the like? They feel like they could be the first successful football club without needing a successful team.

Rumour is they were more interested in signing Beyonce than players for the team, which suggests that stadium use is essential to balance the books.