The 2025-2026 Football Thread

[Scepticalscribe]

Extra Time has also finished with the score still at two goals apiece; thus, the next step will be the nerve-wracking, nail-biting business of penalties.

 

[daneoni]

Maybe don't try a Panenka when your team is trying to advance in a cup competition

You should only try it if you're...

a) Antonín Panenka
b) Already winning so it doesn't matter if you lose.

Congrats to WHU

 

[Scepticalscribe]

Maybe don't try a Panenka when your team is trying to advance in a cup competition

You should only try it if you're...

a) Antonín Panenka
b) Already winning so it doesn't matter if you lose.

Congrats to WHU

Well, yes.

However, West Ham kept their heads and comprehensively won the penalty shoot-out with a composed display of focus, precision, and nerveless accurate shooting.

 

[Lord Blackadder]

The Panenka is one of the reasons I still watch football. It is a sublime thing when it succeeds - and equally sublime (at least for the neutral) when it fails.

We shouldn't be too harsh on Ouattra. It takes some serious courage to try that. I'm all for it.

 

[Apple fanboy]

Happy with the win. Would I prefer 3 points in the league? Probably. But hopefully it gives us a confidence boost. Would have preferred to do it in normal time though. But we did at least rotate the squad. Seven changes at the start.

Leeds are a pretty good draw to, so maybe it’s our year? The magic of the world’s oldest football competition.

 

[Lord Blackadder]

Pretty much exactly what I expected in Türkiye, though I’d hoped for better.

There’s every chance Liverpool get a convincing win at Anfield, but the fact of the matter is this squad has zero chance in the next round of the Champions League even if they do get there.

 

[daneoni]

The ref at the Newcastle game seemed hell bent on ensuring Barca got something from the game

Meanwhile Tudor continues his antics and is likely to have lost the dressing room with his substitution today

Barca and Liverpool are still in their ties. And unfortunately for Atalanta they drew the short straw.

 

[Bodhitree]

Yeah, Liverpool’s game against Galatasaray was a bit disappointing. I watched some of it. I had hoped that Galatasaray would come out and play and it would be an entertaining match, but after the 1-0 they were looking for the counter I got the feeling, and I ended up going to bed (where I couldn’t sleep).

Liverpool can still turn it around, but I don’t have high hopes for them going far, they just don’t seem to capture their best form at the moment.

I was watching an interview with Arne Slot, and he said, amongst other things that Liverpool had sold 300 million euros worth of players last summer, and that for some positions the squad had only a single player.

 

[Alphazoid]

Lucky to get something from that.

 

[Lord Blackadder]

So, on current form, another Real Madrid romp to the European trophy? Great. Not going to watch that. 🙄

 

[daneoni]

City have been poor. They let their guard down and thought they could just attack Real. Meanwhile Real have played counter attacking football imperiously and defended well

Valverde has been really good

Chelsea were competing but they goalkeeping/defensive frailties have let them down...again

I think that might be City, Chelsea and Spurs done

 

[Silencio]

City really screwed up conceding the first goal, but you have to tip your cap to Valverde for the second and third: those were both excellent finishes.

It's going to be up to Arsenal and Newcastle to rep England in the latter stages. Lots of parity in the PL this season, but every squad has significant flaws.

 

[Bodhitree]

Yes I think City, Chelsea and Spurs are done, 3 goals down after the first leg. Newcastle away to Barcelona for the second leg, I don’t fancy their chances. But Arsenal and Liverpool may yet pull it off.

What about Bodo / Glimt? The fairytale continues… some great goals in all the matches, I found it much more enjoyable than the dull Galatasaray v Liverpool affair.

 

[ivanwi11iams]

Seriously, what is going on at Spurs? Being an Arsenal support, I am on the fence if I want them to go down or not.

If they do go down, then, no more London Derby's against them. But, since Kane left, and then Levy left/was pushed, they seem to have lost their way...

 

[Bodhitree]

Another thing I picked up from CBS’ Golazzo show — Pep has been at Manchester City for ten years, and they have won the Champions League only once. In that time Real Madrid have won it five times. A problem with big match temperament perhaps?

Valverde’s hat-trick was special, some awesome finishes…

 

[Scepticalscribe]

Seriously, what is going on at Spurs? Being an Arsenal support, I am on the fence if I want them to go down or not.

If they do go down, then, no more London Derby's against them. But, since Kane left, and then Levy left/was pushed, they seem to have lost their way...

As it happens, I'm not - and never have been - one of the Arsenal supporters who take a perverse pleasure from seeing Spurs struggle, or suffer; dislike based on tribal identity does little for me. Instead, in footballing terms, I prefer to reserve my disdain for clubs that actually deserve it - those with thuggish supporters who revel in violence (Millwall, for example), those bankrolled by the sovereign funds of states with deplorable domestic records on matters such as basic human and civil rights, (Manchester City comes to mind), and so on.

Nevertheless, re Spurs, this goes deeper than the departure of Harry Kane, talisman though he was. For that matter, I have long idly wondered whether Pochettino, who at the time was manager of Spurs, (and managed a very good team), should have been supported (with sufficient funds for necessary player purchases) to a greater extent than he was (and that is entirely on Levy).

 

[Silencio]

Spurs are a big mess whose roots go back a long way, but they've also been decimated by injuries. Maddison and Kulusevski are huge misses.

Plenty of "big" clubs have been relegated in recent memory, from Newcastle to Aston Villa to West Ham. They all came back up right away, and I expect Spurs would, too.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

Spurs are a big mess whose roots go back a long way, but they've also been decimated by injuries. Maddison and Kulusevski are huge misses.

Plenty of "big" clubs have been relegated in recent memory, from Newcastle to Aston Villa to West Ham. They all came back up right away, and I expect Spurs would, too.

Another great loss to Spurs is Son Heung-Min, who was an excellent player for the club.

 

[Lord Blackadder]

Plenty of "big" clubs have been relegated in recent memory, from Newcastle to Aston Villa to West Ham. They all came back up right away, and I expect Spurs would, too.

I agree, I doubt relegation would be more than temporary humiliation for them. BUT given where the club and fans see themselves in the English football pantheon, it would still be pretty unpleasant.

For a club like Spurs to go down takes a series of bad decisions over time in sequence - not like a newly promoted club going down because they lack the resources and experience to truly compete. So it does feel like a bigger failure when it does happen.

 

[daneoni]

Spurs downfall will be due to a combo of hiring Tudor instead of Redknapp or Sherwood, and failing to replace players who have essentially been injured since pre-season and last season!

I'm not so sure they'll be back up easily. The squad will be gutted and then its a question of strategic recruitment which they haven't displayed since the days of Bale, Van Der Vaart etc

 

[Lord Blackadder]

Spurs downfall will be due to a combo of hiring Tudor instead of Redknapp or Sherwood, and failing to replace players who have essentially been injured since pre-season and last season!

Tudor certainly appears to have been the wrong choice, but the talk of Redknapp and Sherwood sounds more like clickbait noise than anything approaching rational thinking. Some people simply expect a recognizable name to show up and fix things. While we're at it, why not Big Sam? Or my favorite all-time off-color Proper Football Man coach, Joe Kinnear?

Spurs just need to focus on being better than West Ham, Forest, and Leeds for the rest of the season. On paper that should be achievable, but factoring the injury list and general vibe at the club it's far from certain.

 

[daneoni]

Tudor certainly appears to have been the wrong choice, but the talk of Redknapp and Sherwood sounds more like clickbait noise than anything approaching rational thinking. Some people simply expect a recognizable name to show up and fix things. While we're at it, why not Big Sam? Or my favorite all-time off-color Proper Football Man coach, Joe Kinnear?

Spurs just need to focus on being better than West Ham, Forest, and Leeds for the rest of the season. On paper that should be achievable, but factoring the injury list and general vibe at the club it's far from certain.

I say Redknapp or Sherwood as examples of people that have an attachment and some passion for the club, who would go in and lift the players and make pragmatic decisions. Instead of berating them and throwing them under the boss at the earliest convenience.

It may not have worked but certainly a better alternative than a stranger who has never managed in England.

Yes Spurs players have a mentality problem but they're also very low on confidence which they need

I don't think even Big Sam or Dyche could save them at this point.

 

[Bodhitree]

Another great loss to Spurs is Son Heung-Min, who was an excellent player for the club.

Yes, it seems like a prolonged period of selling the best players and replacing then with more mediocre ones. But I have to say I haven’t followed them closely.

 

[Lord Blackadder]

I say Redknapp of Sherwood as examples of people who have an attachment and some passion for the club who would go in and lift the players and make pragmatic decisions. Instead of berating them and throwing them under the boss at the earliest convenience.

As a non-English person, it's interesting to see how managers have been organized into several stereotypes in English football...

There is the Tactician - always a foreigner, a cerebral intellectual with a £6,000 jumper who promises to bring in some new fancy continental tricks that will bewilder opponents. Fans are both attracted to the exoticism, but very quick to criticize them if things aren't going well.

The Hard Man. Like, naked-headbutt-in-the-shower levels of aggro. Tony Pulis. Almost always associated with very defensive tactics these days. More of a throwback, not common at higher levels of football anymore.

Then the Disciplinarian: this could be either an Englishman (think Jock Stein) or Foreigner (e.g. Felix Magath), but both cases a course of masochistic fitness training and personal abstinence are prescribed to whip the squad into shape like a bunch of ancient Spartans. Can overlap somewhat with the Hard Man or the Tactician.

Then there's the Ex-Player Who Understands the Club, a man of unquestioned loyalty who commands respect in the dressing room and can relate to the players, and whose stellar playing record and short career as an assistant coach is thought to be good enough to turn things around. He will be given more time to work than any of the others.

A variant of that is the Ex-Manager who Understands the Club, a previous manager (or caretaker) who remains in good standing with the fans.

Then the Promising Young English Manager, a decent young-ish English manager whom the press are grooming as a potential future fail-at-the-semis England manager or Premier League Top 6 club manager - this could also overlap as an Ex-Player who Understands the Club. Usually rapidly crushed under the weight of unreasonable expectation.

Then we have the Big Name Manager Who Recently Won Something Somewhere Else, an expensive option usually reserved for the biggest clubs. They are typically only hired off-season, and are expected to win silverware, but demand a big transfer 'war chest.' For smaller clubs the equivalent is the Not So Big Name Manager That Just Won the Eredivisie or Got a Bundesliga Club into Europe.

Then the Firefighter, an instant-results manager who is pragmatic and may combine any of the qualities from any of the the previous stereotypes, typically with some form of back-to-basics approach that also represents a complete about-face in approach from whatever the previous manager was doing. He usually has a record of relegation 'Great Escapes.' Often (but not always) a Proper Football Man.

Finally the Proper Football Man, always English (or possibly Scottish/Irish/Welsh), a hard-to-define combination of many of the above qualities, seen as a sort of footballing John Bull (even if not English) that is whatever people need him to be - a hard man but capable of putting an arm on a shoulder; someone who thumbs his nose at fancy-dan foreign tactical systems but is capable of moving the pieces on the whiteboard to suit any situation; seemingly pragmatic to a fault but always able able to play football the '[insert club name] Way'......and even if he doesn't really do that, he'll avoid the drop / win the cup / finish in the European places and that's what people will remember. He talks a lot but says nothing, yet is always ready with a seemingly punchy sound bite to feed the press. In short.....Harry Rednkapp (or, at least, the legacy that Redknapp has managed to construct for himself 🤣).

 

[Scepticalscribe]

As a non-English person, it's interesting to see how managers have been organized into several stereotypes in English football...

There is the Tactician - always a foreigner, a cerebral intellectual with a £6,000 jumper who promises to bring in some new fancy continental tricks that will bewilder opponents. Fans are both attracted to the exoticism, but very quick to criticize them if things aren't going well.

The Hard Man. Like, naked-headbutt-in-the-shower levels of aggro. Tony Pulis. Almost always associated with very defensive tactics these days. More of a throwback, not common at higher levels of football anymore.

Then the Disciplinarian: this could be either an Englishman (think Jock Stein) or Foreigner (e.g. Felix Magath), but both cases a course of masochistic fitness training and personal abstinence are prescribed to whip the squad into shape like a bunch of ancient Spartans. Can overlap somewhat with the Hard Man or the Tactician.

Then there's the Ex-Player Who Understands the Club, a man of unquestioned loyalty who commands respect in the dressing room and can relate to the players, and whose stellar playing record and short career as an assistant coach is thought to be good enough to turn things around. He will be given more time to work than any of the others.

A variant of that is the Ex-Manager who Understands the Club, a previous manager (or caretaker) who remains in good standing with the fans.

Then the Promising Young English Manager, a decent young-ish English manager whom the press are grooming as a potential future fail-at-the-semis England manager or Premier League Top 6 club manager - this could also overlap as an Ex-Player who Understands the Club. Usually rapidly crushed under the weight of unreasonable expectation.

Then we have the Big Name Manager Who Recently Won Something Somewhere Else, an expensive option usually reserved for the biggest clubs. They are typically only hired off-season, and are expected to win silverware, but demand a big transfer 'war chest.' For smaller clubs the equivalent is the Not So Big Name Manager That Just Won the Eredivisie or Got a Bundesliga Club into Europe.

Then the Firefighter, an instant-results manager who is pragmatic and may combine any of the qualities from any of the the previous stereotypes, typically with some form of back-to-basics approach that also represents a complete about-face in approach from whatever the previous manager was doing. He usually has a record of relegation 'Great Escapes.' Often (but not always) a Proper Football Man.

Finally the Proper Football Man, always English (or possibly Scottish/Irish/Welsh), a hard-to-define combination of many of the above qualities, seen as a sort of footballing John Bull (even if not English) that is whatever people need him to be - a hard man but capable of putting an arm on a shoulder; someone who thumbs his nose at fancy-dan foreign tactical systems but is capable of moving the pieces on the whiteboard to suit any situation; seemingly pragmatic to a fault but always able able to play football the '[insert club name] Way'......and even if he doesn't really do that, he'll avoid the drop / win the cup / finish in the European places and that's what people will remember. He talks a lot but says nothing, yet is always ready with a seemingly punchy sound bite to feed the press. In short.....Harry Rednkapp (or, at least, the legacy that Redknapp has managed to construct for himself 🤣).

Bravo, brilliant.

I'm laughing aloud, reading this.

Exceedingly enjoyable, very, very funny, and so very, very true.

What a wonderful analysis.