Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
The 2025-2026 Football Thread
- Thread starter Scepticalscribe
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Sacking him is a very bad move because the team lost many of their top players to other teams in the summer transfer window and he's expected to win all their games with half the team gone and replacements brought in!!!. Those running the club have clearly got drunk on the success of their previous manager Xavi Alonso and wanted that to continue. Two league games is not enough to show how the team is going to do throughout the season, especially when their best players are sold to other teams.
Also, is not very good PR for United to have 3 of their ex managers now sacked at the start of the season.
This has got to be one of United's worst transfer deals ever. In 2022 United bought Antony from Ajax for £81.5 million and now 3 years later he is on his way to Real Betis for £19.06 million. That is a huge huge loss. If such a loss took place in a private business someone would be getting sacked but I doubt anything would happen at United.
Man Utd revive €25m deal to offload 'bomb squad' flop on deadline day
He's finally gone.metro.co.uk
All the people responsible for the Antony signing are long gone from United, thankfully.
It was a terrible deal, but arguably the Jadon Sancho deal was even worse. He delivered less and was more toxic in the dressing room, and proved harder to get rid of. But he's gone now, albeit on loan again (to Villa).
They're going for Senne Lammens at GK. I always preferred him over Emi, but he is younger and less proven, though I think his potential ceiling is higher. The Emi Martinez talks always felt like a plan B or negotiating tactic to me.
ETH did a bang-up job alienating the dressing room and the board at Bayer so quickly. Wish I could say I was surprised, but the guy is not cut out to manage a top club.
I didn't really follow this case closely but I doubt anyone is without blame.
They did a fire sale on most superior quality players, didn't do their homework to know the manager they were getting and at the same time it's difficult to believe nothing happened that would burn confidence in ETH so fast.
Science suggests that expectations in this realm tend to be disappointed.
"If we aggregate the effects of football match outcomes over the hours after a match we see that the aggregate outcome is most likely to be overwhelmingly negative. This is because the negative consequences of losing on happiness are around 4 times higher than the positive consequences of winning."
Personally I could vouch for their conclusion. The highs feel great. But winning the league (twice) has brought me far less happiness than (to take one example) the rage I felt watching that steaming pile of human refuse Sergio Ramos wreck a European final by deliberately pulling Salah's arm out of his socket.
This is also why:
1) Real Madrid fans are never really happy. They win more than almost everyone, but still complain bitterly about every dropped point, every transfer, every mistake, everything Barcelona is doing. Winning isn't a high, it's just par. There's nowhere for them to go emotionally but down because the expectations are ridiculous.
2) I have concluded being a neutral fan is by far the best experience. Tribalism is irrational and stress-inducing. But genuinely neutral fans can both bask in the highs and laugh at the lows, and just enjoy the game. I won't stop supporting the clubs I already support, but I'm less invested. It's not like it's my money anyway (also an argument against season tickets...you feel too invested in something you have no control over).
EDIT: the article I linked above, while a bit academic, is actually a good read because it also discusses why, if being a football fan is a net negative, we still all keep at it.
Last edited:
Saliba injury might be serious.
www.bbc.co.uk
Arsenal transfer news: Piero Hincapie joins Gunners on loan from Bayer Leverkusen with option to buy for £45m
Arsenal sign defender Piero Hincapie from Bayer Leverkusen on a season-long loan with an option to buy.
www.bbc.co.uk
This might sound silly in retrospect, but at the moment I'd rather have him (or an equivalent player) coming in than Isak.
It's probably a blow for Crystal Palace as much as Liverpool though, because now he'll leave on a free next summer. Perhaps not to Liverpool, but it may mean Palace miss out on 40 million in transfer fees, maybe more if his value rises between now and the end of the season. He could of course sign another contract, or go in January.
Agree. Even this early in the season it looks like the back needs strengthening rather than the attack. Plus can you imagine Guehi playing alongside VVD?
Parish stuck between a rock and a hard place. But decided to make the footballing decision over the financial one. With Igor deal collapsing, Palace could not afford to lose Guehi and i'm sure Glassner had strong words for the owner too.
He must've felt his legs being chopped off seeing how his squad was being gutted without adequate replacements.
Fairplay to Guehi who has remained professional and acted like a club captain. No need to act stupid, can always move in Jan or walk into several clubs in the summer. It will be a bidding war with no transfer fee. Unless he has his heart set on LFC.
Wissa for £55m at 28 might be the most overpriced move of the window...actually Isak still has a strong shout.
He must've felt his legs being chopped off seeing how his squad was being gutted without adequate replacements.
Fairplay to Guehi who has remained professional and acted like a club captain. No need to act stupid, can always move in Jan or walk into several clubs in the summer. It will be a bidding war with no transfer fee. Unless he has his heart set on LFC.
Wissa for £55m at 28 might be the most overpriced move of the window...actually Isak still has a strong shout.
Last edited:
Having injured his ankle initially in the warm up, I remain completely baffled - nay utterly stupefied - as to why he was actually allowed to even think of playing, as that served to compound whatever injury he had suffered when he landed badly, further twisting an already injured ankle in the first four minutes of play.Saliba injury might be serious.
Arsenal transfer news: Piero Hincapie joins Gunners on loan from Bayer Leverkusen with option to buy for £45m
Arsenal sign defender Piero Hincapie from Bayer Leverkusen on a season-long loan with an option to buy.
There is a growing history of injuries - serious injuries to key players - at Arsenal, the sort of injuries that come from sustained over-work, or prolonged periods of over-use, - rather than (mere) contact stuff or bog standard fouls (not that the latter are to be excused, explained away, or justified in any shape or form).
And that is on the manager.
And we are losing at least one key player to (needless, unnecessary) injury per game at the moment. Notwithstanding the (long overdue and very welcome) strengthening of the squad this summer, no squad can endlessly sustain that rate of attrition in the form of serious weekly injuries.
Typically the player will ask to continue due to adrenaline
And as a manager you want your best players on the pitch unless there physically can't
Its not really an Arteta problem but rather the way contemporary football is played.
Last edited:
But the manager can over-rule him, - it is the manager's job to think tactically and strategically - especially if the player's adrenalin and enthusiasm has the effect of aggravating the injury further, thereby ensuring that the player is unavailable and out of action for far longer.
Indeed.
But not to the point of damaging themselves - through poor judgment - to the detriment of the rest of the team.
Saliba contributed nothing to the game - given that he played for all of four minutes, yet, by aggravating his injury, his action could cost his team his presence for several more weeks, rather than a few days.
A poor judgment call, and potentially, a costly one.
It is an Arteta problem in that this is a predictable and repeating pattern of behaviour, one that is costly to the team, and the team's chances of successfully challenging for trophies.
I mean i take your point but players get injured. SOme have knocks and are fine. Others breakdown.
LFC also had Konate off injured
Chelsea have lost Delap. City have lost Savinho and Cherki
Utd have lost Cunha
SPurs have lost Maddison (albeit predictably)
Players playing too many games and being ran into the ground. Yes its only GW 3 but we had the nonsensical CWC
And there will be a Worlc Cup this summer which will only exacerbate things. Players may end up playing 70-80 games in 12 months.
LFC also had Konate off injured
Chelsea have lost Delap. City have lost Savinho and Cherki
Utd have lost Cunha
SPurs have lost Maddison (albeit predictably)
Players playing too many games and being ran into the ground. Yes its only GW 3 but we had the nonsensical CWC
And there will be a Worlc Cup this summer which will only exacerbate things. Players may end up playing 70-80 games in 12 months.
One flying under the radar: Jamie Vardy has signed with Serie A minnows US Cremonese.
Piero Hincapie is a very good player IMO. A versatile left-footed defender equally adept at center back, left back, or left wingback. A couple of years ago, I really wanted Man Utd to sign him, but they're pretty well covered on the left side with Luke Shaw, Ayden Heaven, and Licha Martinez will be back soon.
Don't know how long Cunha is out, and Mason Mount also picked up an injury. Kobbie Mainoo will get his playing time.
Don't know how long Cunha is out, and Mason Mount also picked up an injury. Kobbie Mainoo will get his playing time.
Good to see that Fulham got themselves involved in the transfer at the death. Disappointed they waited until the end, as there are some key positions they need filling, which is already evident this season.
I think he didn't want to play in the UK, out of loyalty to Leicester.
Just read an article about Crystal Palace pulling the plug on Marc Guéhi’s move to Liverpool because the manager was angry about losing his captain and had heated talks with Palace chairman Steve Parish that he is not to sell Guéhi. According to the article Parish wanted to sell because Guéhi becomes a free agent next year and Palace wanted to recoup funds by selling him rather than get nothing next year if he decides to move.
funny thing is, I remember reading something similar regarding United, Amorim and Bruno Fernandez in that the club were ready to sell Bruno for £100 million, money that would have helped bring in two decent players, one being a midfielder they desperately needed but yet it was reported that Amorim went to the United board and told them they are not to sell their captain.
Palace could now lose out on funds on a player who can leave on a free next year and United struggling for funds to pay for much needed replacement players. I wonder how this is going to sit with the the club's chairman's in the long term, wanting to sell players but having the manager tell them no they cannot. To my knowledge it has never gone well with a manager that has against their chairman.
funny thing is, I remember reading something similar regarding United, Amorim and Bruno Fernandez in that the club were ready to sell Bruno for £100 million, money that would have helped bring in two decent players, one being a midfielder they desperately needed but yet it was reported that Amorim went to the United board and told them they are not to sell their captain.
Palace could now lose out on funds on a player who can leave on a free next year and United struggling for funds to pay for much needed replacement players. I wonder how this is going to sit with the the club's chairman's in the long term, wanting to sell players but having the manager tell them no they cannot. To my knowledge it has never gone well with a manager that has against their chairman.
Actually, I wouldn't be surprised to see Guehi permitted to depart during the January transfer window; that way, managerial honour - and concerns - are satisfied, the player's ambition acknowledged and addressed while Palace would still receive something on their investment.