Arsenal are a bit better in the second half; let us see whether possession can be converted into an actual score.
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
They left it late! But a point is better than none.
A cagey game defined by two moments of individual brilliance.
I was surprised just how much of a low block Man City set out today. But it worked and very nearly got them the win. Arsenal toiled incredibly hard the whole match but they just could not get behind Man City’s defense, they didn’t look they ever would, and their longer distance efforts were all very speculative. In truth they did get in there once or twice but Man City’s defense was so densely packed it was going to take a moment of individual genius for the Gunners to score. And so it proved.
Man City were just a concrete bunker with a single gigantic Haaland-shaped missile to fire at Arsenal. Very basic, but effective - and to be fair I don’t think they can win games playing like this against most teams, this was a specific trick Pep used against a former protege to great effect.
The game finally got interesting after the equalizer when Man City decided to come out and look for a winner. Too bad that happened in the 93rd minute.
Arsenal still seem over-reliant on Saka. he stretched the game more when he came on. And of course there is no question Man City are not only reliant on Haaland, he’s kind of become their footballing identity.
Obviously a great result for Liverpool, though it’s too early in the season to really be talking about points leads.
I was surprised just how much of a low block Man City set out today. But it worked and very nearly got them the win. Arsenal toiled incredibly hard the whole match but they just could not get behind Man City’s defense, they didn’t look they ever would, and their longer distance efforts were all very speculative. In truth they did get in there once or twice but Man City’s defense was so densely packed it was going to take a moment of individual genius for the Gunners to score. And so it proved.
Man City were just a concrete bunker with a single gigantic Haaland-shaped missile to fire at Arsenal. Very basic, but effective - and to be fair I don’t think they can win games playing like this against most teams, this was a specific trick Pep used against a former protege to great effect.
The game finally got interesting after the equalizer when Man City decided to come out and look for a winner. Too bad that happened in the 93rd minute.
Arsenal still seem over-reliant on Saka. he stretched the game more when he came on. And of course there is no question Man City are not only reliant on Haaland, he’s kind of become their footballing identity.
Obviously a great result for Liverpool, though it’s too early in the season to really be talking about points leads.
FML. What alternate reality is this.
Pep parking the bus and using dark arts.
Martinelli turning into saviour supersub. (Gorgeous goal btw)
Arteta has to hold this...again. You're at home, why are you starting with 3 CM.
Im not sure Mikel is the man to lead us to the finish line.
Good day for LFC
Pep parking the bus and using dark arts.
Martinelli turning into saviour supersub. (Gorgeous goal btw)
Arteta has to hold this...again. You're at home, why are you starting with 3 CM.
Im not sure Mikel is the man to lead us to the finish line.
Good day for LFC
As of now this season, - and with one of the toughest starts to the season - in all of the games played so far, Arsenal have conceded just one goal from open play, (and that was today's goal, courtesy of the human torpedo that is Haaland, and with 130 charges still hanging over City); by way of contrast, the goal that Liverpool converted, a few weeks ago, was a superbly taken free kick.
Meanwhile, Martinelli - about whom I have been very dubious - seems to have crafted an identity as a very impactful substitute which is fascinating.
Nevertheless, with but five games played, Liverpool have already opened up a fairly commanding lead of five points at the top of the League.
Tight game with 2 moments of brilliance
Weird to see City play with such a level of respect/caution towards Arsenal. 32.8% possession the lowest in his career.
Halaand didn't even celebrate his goal all that much. And was all huggy/lovey at the end. Trying not to agitate perhaps...
Pep showed why he's one of the greats. He's been adapting his methods knowing he has a new team now, and there are forces he can no longer dominate.
Good away performance from City, Arsenal might be left to wonder if they could've done more.
Weird to see City play with such a level of respect/caution towards Arsenal. 32.8% possession the lowest in his career.
Halaand didn't even celebrate his goal all that much. And was all huggy/lovey at the end. Trying not to agitate perhaps...
Pep showed why he's one of the greats. He's been adapting his methods knowing he has a new team now, and there are forces he can no longer dominate.
Good away performance from City, Arsenal might be left to wonder if they could've done more.
I’m not intimately familiar with the squads, but Arteta seemed to set out to win the midfield and keep recycling the ball into Man City’s third of the pitch, at which point they would repeatedly fire in crosses and more central through-balls. Pep responded by simply abandoning the battleground Arteta wanted to contest. Instead he chose to make Arsenal work against a packed defense, drawing them in so he could occasionally launch Haaland - he doesn't need many chances to score.
Both tactics worked up to a point but arguably Pep just about got the better of things with an away draw. Pretty much the entire time I've been watching the Premier League, Arsenal have always seemed struggle when a similarly-skilled opponent with a powerful central forward refuses to play in midfield, parks the bus, and looks for counters.
Ironically we didn't 'win' the midfield battle. Merino has never been a 10.
Arteta does this weird experiments that never work in our favour. He wasted the first 45mins at home
Merino as a 10 - dropped points
Partey as a RB - dropped points
Havertz in midfield - dropped points.
I'm being a lot more critical and inpatient with him because he's genuinely starting to annoy me with his approach at times. I can understand caution at Anfield or away at Bilbao in the UCL. But at home with an extra day advantage?
Yes he's a very good manager and i respect where he's brought us. But i almost feel he needs to go therapy to clear that hoodoo of conceding the title to City in 23/24 after leading for so long
It seems to have broken him. He's now playing with fear and caution. Too many sideways passes. Yes its nice to be defensively solid. But possession and sideways passes don't win games
I miss days when we used to blow teams away in 25mins with our direct approach.
He has a title winning squad at his disposal now, he has no excuse. He needs to trust the defence he's built and let the attacking players create and...attack
LFC and City are there for the taking. City in transition and LFC are leaking goals (is that 5 at Anfield already?)
We are into year 5 of his tenure with almost a billion spent and only 1 trophy. He needs to fix up.
I think even Wenger would've done wonders with these many resources
I know its only GW 5. But for me, If he (Arteta) doesn't deliver this season i'd like someone else in. Iraola or Glassner perhaps.
Arteta does this weird experiments that never work in our favour. He wasted the first 45mins at home
Merino as a 10 - dropped points
Partey as a RB - dropped points
Havertz in midfield - dropped points.
I'm being a lot more critical and inpatient with him because he's genuinely starting to annoy me with his approach at times. I can understand caution at Anfield or away at Bilbao in the UCL. But at home with an extra day advantage?
Yes he's a very good manager and i respect where he's brought us. But i almost feel he needs to go therapy to clear that hoodoo of conceding the title to City in 23/24 after leading for so long
It seems to have broken him. He's now playing with fear and caution. Too many sideways passes. Yes its nice to be defensively solid. But possession and sideways passes don't win games
I miss days when we used to blow teams away in 25mins with our direct approach.
He has a title winning squad at his disposal now, he has no excuse. He needs to trust the defence he's built and let the attacking players create and...attack
LFC and City are there for the taking. City in transition and LFC are leaking goals (is that 5 at Anfield already?)
We are into year 5 of his tenure with almost a billion spent and only 1 trophy. He needs to fix up.
I think even Wenger would've done wonders with these many resources
I know its only GW 5. But for me, If he (Arteta) doesn't deliver this season i'd like someone else in. Iraola or Glassner perhaps.
Last edited:
It didn’t look like a great game for the neutral viewers, despite the many excellent players on show. I enjoyed Doku’s dribbles down the City left though.
No, it wasn't a great game for neutrals.
It wasn't a great game for supporters, either, and, while neither manager covered themselves in glory, for much (if not most) of the game, Pep clearly out-thought and out-fought his former protégé.
At the start of the game, I had been hoping for three points; by the time the match came to an end, I was relieved to have salvaged one point from the encounter.
It was very weird watching Pep’s Man City playing like Pulis-era Stoke, though. What a bizarre tactical 180 from his Barcelona team of years gone by. Just lump it up to the big man.
Very weird, agreed.
All of the guile, skill, control, mastery, possession and pressing that his teams were famous for, discarded for a strange defensive template where his team had the least possession ever (in a game played by a team guided by Pep) and where the football focus (notwithstanding the return of Rodri) was on two Big Men, one guarding the goal, the other primed to score.
Aitana Bonmatí winning the Women's Ballon d'Or was wrong in my opinion. The period for the award is 2024 to 2025. In that period she has only won local competitions. I made a post in lasts football thread saying if no one from Chelsea Women (league winners, FA cup winners, Women's league cup winners and team members who were in the Euro winners team) or from Arsenal Women's team (Women's champions league winners and team member who were in the Euro's) do not win the Ballon d'Or then it's fixed. Hannah Hampton and Lauren James of Chelsea won more trophies in 2024 and 2025 then Bonmati did and they were instrumental in helping Chelsea and England win what they did. The English women were robbed of the Ballon d'Or in my opinion.
It’s easily the silliest ‘competition’ in world football and nothing more than tabloid fodder. That fact that perennially insecure overdogs Real Madrid put so much stock in it reinforces that idea.
Yep. Knowing my manager Saka will now be overplayed...again.
Very much looking forward to Nottingham Forest being back in European competition tomorrow night after thirty long years away. Unreal that only four years we were bottom of the championship. Onto Spain! COYR!
Over at Anfield, Southampton started off looking much more organized than Liverpool’s B squad. ‘Pool eventually worked their way into the match. Then Southampton hit the bar, missed a sitter with an open header on the rebound, and Liverpool immediately marched up the field and scored, with Chiesa pouncing on a weak pass from the keeper to feed Isak for his first goal for Liverpool.
A bit harsh for Southampton but they spurned an absolutely golden chance to score.
A bit harsh for Southampton but they spurned an absolutely golden chance to score.
If I were a Forest fan I’d have bought a replica of Brian Clough’s famous green Umbria sweater.
Hugo Ekitike has managed one of the most idiotic red cards I have ever witnessed. Previously booked for throwing the ball away (silly by itself), he then scored a tap in to put Liverpool ahead....and picked up a second yellow by whipping off his shirt and showing it to the crowd. Words fail. Slot should have him washing dishes at the training ground for the next week. No, make that the next month.
It's pretty funny though. What an absolute dunderhead - he's still young, but I bet he doesn't do that again. He'll be suspended for the match away to Crystal Palace, which is exactly the kind of match where I see Liverpool dropping points, and one where a dangerous forward will be most needed. Isak should be available but he may not be fully match fit. Fodder for the weekly podcasts and shouty phone-in shows.
Southampton played well, and did enough to earn a draw, except that they failed to finish a sitter - you can't miss chances like that. 2-1 to 'Pool in the end but it was no walk in the park for the Reds.
EDIT: Both Ekitike and Isak are clearly young bucks with huge talent but big attitudes. This is the kind of scenario where they need to learn some professionalism and humility from veteran players like Virgil, Mo, Alisson, Robertson, and others. Those guys have the talent, but also know how to put their heads down, put in the work, support the team, and follow instructions. And they won't tolerate selfish showboaters. Scoring a goal (and a tap-in at that) doesn't compensate for getting sent off for two silly fouls in a one-goal match.
It's pretty funny though. What an absolute dunderhead - he's still young, but I bet he doesn't do that again. He'll be suspended for the match away to Crystal Palace, which is exactly the kind of match where I see Liverpool dropping points, and one where a dangerous forward will be most needed. Isak should be available but he may not be fully match fit. Fodder for the weekly podcasts and shouty phone-in shows.
Southampton played well, and did enough to earn a draw, except that they failed to finish a sitter - you can't miss chances like that. 2-1 to 'Pool in the end but it was no walk in the park for the Reds.
EDIT: Both Ekitike and Isak are clearly young bucks with huge talent but big attitudes. This is the kind of scenario where they need to learn some professionalism and humility from veteran players like Virgil, Mo, Alisson, Robertson, and others. Those guys have the talent, but also know how to put their heads down, put in the work, support the team, and follow instructions. And they won't tolerate selfish showboaters. Scoring a goal (and a tap-in at that) doesn't compensate for getting sent off for two silly fouls in a one-goal match.
Last edited: