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The 2025-2026 Football Thread
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There'll be a better indication of where the title is heading after Feb. City have a tricky Jan and Feb coming up, and still look vulnerable but have enough offensive power.
Arsenal's slight advantage is they've played the tough away games except City and Spurs. But they've dipped in form.
Liverpool still have issues to contend with
I refuse to acknowledge Villa as title contenders because we've been here plenty of times. They go on a good run and then the wheels come off. If it wasn't for Rogers yesterday they could've been in trouble
They don't have the squad depth and the squad is largely overperforming.
Arsenal's slight advantage is they've played the tough away games except City and Spurs. But they've dipped in form.
Liverpool still have issues to contend with
I refuse to acknowledge Villa as title contenders because we've been here plenty of times. They go on a good run and then the wheels come off. If it wasn't for Rogers yesterday they could've been in trouble
They don't have the squad depth and the squad is largely overperforming.
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odds were always odd.......
and
Villa are not the mainstream media"s or Utubers suggestion for any successes this season
but
what they do on the pitch counts more.
I guess we will find out!
I could say the same about Arsenal over the 20 years…and I’ve watched Liverpool suffer the same fate several times.
Leicester’s title happened against much longer odds than Villa have been given….they almost certainly won’t pull it off but stranger things have happened before.
ya' mean they don't have household billionaires?
their keeping is excellent, defense very solid, midfield McGinn is a horse and when Ollie starts scoring.....
their Achilles heel is that bad-pass gift goal as they have five so far this season
Manu's only goal yesteday
Villa will only get better.
No i mean outside of 4 or 5 in their first 11 the quality drops off. And if any of them drop off like Ollie tends to do...for several seasons now...then the level drops even further.
Don't get me wrong its easily a top 5 team and having them win the league would be refreshing.
But they're too predictable. As soon as they have to play multiple competitions they get exposed and resort to type.
I don't think Arsenal will win it either even though i think they're the best team in the country so far. But unfortunately for them they've dipped in form and their injuries disrupt them from any momentum
Villa are in Europe unlike Leicester who's biggest advantage was largely playing one game per week especially in the latter stages.
City have the experience and the better attack but weaker in midfield and moreso defence.
Liverpool have found some rhythim but questionmarks remain. Even though i'm aware their fans are still quietly confident.
Spurs with 9 men gave them a decent fright in the final stages and they looked rattled
Still don't trust VVD/Konate not to concede against better opposition.
Overall it'll be interesting but also predictable
City
Ars
LFC
Villa/Che
.....
Worried for WHU. The teams above them all look better than them.
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The Guardian podcast mentioned a stat - there has never been a top flight season, since the first division was founded back in the 19th century, that did’t feature at least one team beginning with ‘w.’
I didn’t fact check it, but given the number of stalwart teams out there beginning with ‘w’ it is a plausible story.
So perhaps that bodes well for West Ham’s survival hopes….
I’ll take it. I’ll take anything! I think we have been playing better since our managerial change. But we need wins not draws. The gap between the bottom three and those above is starting to grow even if we win our next game and those above us lose, we stay in the bottom three.
Hopefully reinforcements come in January. But it’s hard to attract the right type of players to a side in the bottom three in January.
Worrying times.
There is a silver lining here in the form of the coming World Cup:
There are players who are willing to trade a place on the bench (or the larger squad) of a top 4 team, anywhere in the top leagues in Europe, for regular starts for a top flight team, to get in contention for a World Cup.
Everton basically got Grealish on loan for this reason, and there should be others out there.
On a related note, there are rumors that Everton is looking to see it Ivan Toney could be interested in being lured "home to PL" for similar reasons. And as much as we do need a number 9 with a lot of goals in them...I'm not sure we can match even a fraction of his current wages.
(I like Barry, for his work ethics, and much prefer him over Beto. And maybe Barry could become even better after being an understudy of Toney for the next 5-6 months, and learn some "tricks"...though not of the betting kind.)
Of course our former number 9 - Calvert-Lewin, who was basically injured all. the. time. for the last two seasons - has recovered and started scoring for Leeds...to add insult to injury... (pun intended).
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then again they are playing a sport
sports can provide upsets, strange scenarios, surprises, teams performing better as that LC in 2015
which is why we watch and enjoy these matches.
now if Aston Villa was a science, building material or some technological platform,......
I agree with @daneoni that Villa (who have been extremely good as a team, and are well led by an experienced, and thoughtful, manager) lack strength in depth.
Now, while they do have the capacity to do exceedingly well, I would argue that a few serious injuries to key players would serve to derail their season.
However, should they remain injury free, should they have the fortune to remain injury free, (in other words, if their key players, whom we can all agree are excellent, remain free from injury) their season could be exceptional.
Now, while they do have the capacity to do exceedingly well, I would argue that a few serious injuries to key players would serve to derail their season.
However, should they remain injury free, should they have the fortune to remain injury free, (in other words, if their key players, whom we can all agree are excellent, remain free from injury) their season could be exceptional.
We have been pathetic. At this point i actually want Palace to go through (unpopular opinion)
Our last 3 'goals' have been lucky own goals. What a joke.
Jesus reminding everyone why we bought another striker...albeit the wrong one.
Our last 3 'goals' have been lucky own goals. What a joke.
Jesus reminding everyone why we bought another striker...albeit the wrong one.
Well, well, well.
As my (wonderful, late, much loved and even more lamented) mother - who had excelled at sports in her youth - used to say, "At the end the game, it is the scoreboard that counts."
As my (wonderful, late, much loved and even more lamented) mother - who had excelled at sports in her youth - used to say, "At the end the game, it is the scoreboard that counts."
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Only one Boxing Day fixture. Probably the only thing I like about Christmas is the extra football. Now it seems that’s gone as well.
There’s full slate of Championship matches, however. Currently watching Millwall-Ipswich, though admittedly it’s not exactly a barn-burner.
I caught a bit of the Birmingham v Derby game earlier. A colleague is a Derby fan. He’s quite concerned Wolves might beat their Premier League lowest points ever record.
It’s looking grim for Wolves. But it’ll take some special levels of incompetence to finish the season with less than 11 points.
Oof Newcastle look horribly out of form. But fair play to Utd. Top 4 within grasp for now.
Still dont think i've seen Amorim make actual decent subs.
Still dont think i've seen Amorim make actual decent subs.
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Well, I'll take a wobbly win over no win.......
But, taking everything into consideration, I must admit that I far prefer relatively comfortable victories to any other version of victory.
But, taking everything into consideration, I must admit that I far prefer relatively comfortable victories to any other version of victory.
No surprise results in the league today so far. Interested to see if Villa can maintain their form against Chelsea.
Liverpool made pretty heavy work against Wolves. Both sides made errors but Liverpool created more chances and put away two of them. They continue to struggle against packed defenses, and they nearly always cough up a goal or two regardless of the opponent. But Wirtz scored so that’s a morale-booster.
Liverpool made pretty heavy work against Wolves. Both sides made errors but Liverpool created more chances and put away two of them. They continue to struggle against packed defenses, and they nearly always cough up a goal or two regardless of the opponent. But Wirtz scored so that’s a morale-booster.
No offence to Fulham, but we needed three points today. One would not have been enough. But losing at home is not the way to get out of trouble. Not even close.
Genuinely feel like the bottom three will be the three to go now unless some big of business makes the difference in January. Very concerning. Not a happy Hammer.
Genuinely feel like the bottom three will be the three to go now unless some big of business makes the difference in January. Very concerning. Not a happy Hammer.
The bottom three really are beginning to fall away, and comparing them to Leeds and Forest, the latter two clubs seem to have discernible edge in quality.
Wolves play like a relegated side already. There could still be a shakeup in the relegation places, but it’s going to take a combination of Leeds or Forest sputtering and West Ham going on a notable run. Lots of games left to play, but the Hammers are in a pretty tough spot.