2025-26 Season - Discussion Thread

[mfw13]

Originally Posted by YayNJ

mate, you were at home and managed only two more attempts on goal than we did in 110 minutes

you had some scrambles in the box, you're forgetting we hit the crossbar too :P

sensational game of football though for the neutral, a proper match between two proper northern teams

The "could have had another" was my reference to when Pope came out and flapped at the ball and your guy looped it over hm and hit the crossbar

[YayNJ]

Originally Posted by mikee1186

Lovely goal from Aaronson. Good time to have found form. For me, he’s nailed for the World Cup team

We're finally seeing (the potential from..) the Aaronson we signed. Playing with Dominic Calvert-Lewin, who's been acting like a father figure to him, and Sean Longstaff has done wonders for his confidence. Both players have been going around the squad and telling them that they deserve to be in the Premier League and that they are better players than they think they are.

There's one person responsible for the two wasted years of Aaronson's career and his shattered confidence - Jessie Marsch.

[mfw13]

If anybody wants an idea of how crazy the scheduling has become, over the next 12 days Newcastle/Arsenal/Chelsea/Man City will all play 4 matches in FOUR DIFFERENT COMPETITIONS (FA Cup, Carabao Cup, EPL, Europe).

Same thing happened last January with Liverpool, Arsenal, Newcastle, and Tottenham.

Maybe it's time for the FA to consider making the Carabao Cup semis one-leg and /or moving them until March/April, as well as allowing the clubs in Europe to enter the FA Cup in the 4th or 5th rounds.

The fixture congestion is ridiculous.....those four clubs will have played matches every 3-4 days nonstop from mid-September until mid-February.

[bjho852]

^ Definitely on board with making the League Cup semi's one-leg, at the very least.

I would say to also allow clubs in Europe competitions to start the League Cup at the 4th round instead, if possible, given its lesser prestige to many of them. Keep the FA Cup format intact.

[mfw13]

Originally Posted by bjho852

^ Definitely on board with making the League Cup semi's one-leg, at the very least.

I would say to also allow clubs in Europe competitions to start the League Cup at the 4th round instead, if possible, given its lesser prestige to many of them. Keep the FA Cup format intact.

They really should just get rid of the Carabao Cup entirely.....it's a pointless competition that just clogs up the fixture calendar.

France got rid of the Coupe de la Ligue a few years ago, so England is now the only country that still has two separate cup competitions.

England is actually putting it's teams at a disadvantage in Europe by making them play Carabao Cup matches, which rob them of vital rest/training time.

[YayNJ]

It's not the domestic competitions that's the problem, it's the greed and expansion from UEFA and FIFA.

British football was perfectly fine for over a century, thanks.. and the League Cup brings in vital revenue for lower league teams and the development of their players. It also gives opportunity for Premier League teams to give their youth players a run out against tougher, harder men, and vital first team minutes on fringe players legs.

Who needs history, when you can replace it with yet more plastic dogturd rolled in glitter and lab grown diamonds though, eh?

[Ra3]

I swear Gakpo must have naked pictures of Arne Slot in his home safe

[mfw13]

Originally Posted by YayNJ

It's not the domestic competitions that's the problem, it's the greed and expansion from UEFA and FIFA.

British football was perfectly fine for over a century, thanks.. and the League Cup brings in vital revenue for lower league teams and the development of their players. It also gives opportunity for Premier League teams to give their youth players a run out against tougher, harder men, and vital first team minutes on fringe players legs.

Yes and no.

Yes UEFA has expanded European competitions, but at the same time England is the ONLY country that has two cup competitions.

Every other country in Europe seems to generate revenue for lower league clubs and develop young players just fine with only one cup competition.

[YayNJ]

I could care less about what other countries have or what they haven’t got. England alone has over 40,000 registered teams and 600 leagues across the pyramid and it can support two easily - despite efforts from foreign owners and the Premier League. What the Premier LEague forgets is that English Football is much bigger than them, was around before it, and will be around after it. If Premier League clubs want to withdraw from the competition(s), let them - on the condition they (or their reserve team) are never allowed back again.

Your claim that England is the only nation to have two cup competitions is also factually incorrect - so does Portugal, Scotland, Wales and Ireland, and I'm not sure where you got the 'generating revenue for lower league clubs' bit from either, all across europe smaller sides face extinction, the most recent and famous one being 114 year old Brescia, clubs in Spain, especially the lower leagues are forced to comply with incredibly strict financial restraint - because there's literally no money ,and the same goes for Germany, where clubs are often having to ask local banks, businesses and fans to give money.

While it;s not great in England either, not at all, the FA and the UK Government do more to make sure there's something than any other nation on earth. The weak link in the chain is the Premier League which still isn't pulling it's weight in supporting grassroots football, given it's absurd wealth.

[mfw13]

I hear you....

Then how about either not allowing the clubs in Europe to enter the Carabao Cup....thus greatly increasing the likelihood that a smaller club will win it and get into the Conference League (which the big clubs don't care about).

[YayNJ]

Manchester United didn't play in one of the cups previously - turning their back on the FA Cup. It was the first time in history that the champions didn't defend their trophy. They went to Brazil instead, and it was encouraged by the FA at the time, who were drunk on the idea that if they went to Brazil it must surely mean that England would win the bid for the 2006 World Cup.

Narrator - It didn't.

You can trace the decline in respect of the club cup competitions to this point, and modern football fans are brainwashed to believe it's the League & Champions League or bust.

[mfw13]

Originally Posted by YayNJ

Manchester United didn't play in one of the cups previously - turning their back on the FA Cup. It was the first time in history that the champions didn't defend their trophy. They went to Brazil instead, and it was encouraged by the FA at the time, who were drunk on the idea that if they went to Brazil it must surely mean that England would win the bid for the 2006 World Cup.

Narrator - It didn't.

You can trace the decline in respect of the club cup competitions to this point, and modern football fans are brainwashed to believe it's the league cna d Champions League or bust.

I'd argue that it also has to do with the devaluing of the secondary European Cups and the expansion of the number of available of Champions League spots.

Back in the 90's, qualifying for the UEFA Cup or the Cup-Winners Cup was still a big deal, because only league winners actually qualified for the Champions League.

But nowadays, the Cups are usually (not always) won by clubs who have already qualified for the Champions League through league position, so winning a domestic cup doesn't mean all that much, since the big clubs generally don't really care about the Europa League or Conference League.

Most big clubs would rather finish 4th and qualify for the Champions League than finish 7th/8th, win a Cup and qualify for the Europa or Conference Leagues.

[YayNJ]

Originally Posted by mfw13

Most big clubs would rather finish 4th and qualify for the Champions League than finish 7th/8th, win a Cup and qualify for the Europa or Conference Leagues.

Yup and it's genuinely sad.

Getting rewarded with the Champions League for finishing 4th/5th makes a mockery of.. well, everything.

[bjho852]

If anyone cares, Crystal Palace lost their FA Cup defense by crashing out at the hands of Macclesfield FC, a 6th-tier league team.

[mfw13]

Originally Posted by YayNJ

Yup and it's genuinely sad.

Getting rewarded with the Champions League for finishing 4th/5th makes a mockery of.. well, everything.

Agreed.

I'd much rather see a different European setup......League and Cup winners go into the Champions League.....2nd/3rd/4th place teams go into the Europa League.

You'd have two more balanced competitions, with a more balanced distribution of money, rather than one competition that gets all the money (Champions League) and one that nobody really cares about and gets much less money (Europa League).

[bjho852]

Xabi Alonso is out as Real Madrid coach.

[mfw13]

Originally Posted by bjho852

Xabi Alonso is out as Real Madrid coach.

Dressing Room Egos 1, Tactics/Discipline 0

Can't imagine who would actually want the job at this point given how badly run the club is.

[YayNJ]

lol

[Tones]

Man City getting battered by a bunch of part time Norwegian farmers. A team that was playing in the second tier of Norwegian football less than a decade ago. A teams that entire salary is less than that of the transfer fee paid for Semenyo. A team that has never won a Champions league match before.

The twitter meltdown is beautiful right now, all these bandwagon fans will flee to Real Madrid with Haaland.
I love it.

[YayNJ]

Originally Posted by Tones

The twitter meltdown is beautiful right now, all these bandwagon fans will flee to Real Madrid with Haaland.
I love it.

Chelsea, Man Utd, Liverpool, Man City and Arsenal fans crowing about plastic fans, tourists and bandwagoners is hilarious.

If you know anything about English football, and the geography of the UK, Arsenal were one of, and certainly the biggest of the original 'bandwagon' clubs.. it dates back nearly 100 years. The proximity of Highbury to the UK's biggest train station - Kings Cross facilitated it. The foundation of the Premier League in 1992 saw them crowned the undisputed champion 'tourist' club yet again for the next ten years, as London was going through a huge boom at the time and Wenger brought TV friendly, exciting football. Arsenal, along with Man Utd had the biggest African and Asian fanbase by far - something Chelsea would only tap into years later.

Fun fact - it was Arsenal that normalised the 'half-and half' scarf in domestic football, one of the cringiest things in global soccer.

Growing up in the UK, it wasn't uncommon for heathens at school to be donning Liverpool shirts one summer, Man Utd the next and Arsenal after that. A constant rotation of glory grabbing. The move from Highbury to the Emirates killed off any last remnants of a 'club' and replaced it with a product to sell, and the fanbase these days largely reflects that.

[Tones]

Originally Posted by YayNJ

Chelsea, Man Utd, Liverpool, Man City and Arsenal fans crowing about plastic fans, tourists and bandwagoners is hilarious.

If you know anything about English football, and the geography of the UK, Arsenal were one of, and certainly the biggest of the original 'tourist' clubs.. it dates back nearly 100 years. The proximity of Highbury to the UK's biggest train station - Kings Cross facilitated it. The foundation of the Premier League in 1992 saw them crowned the undisputed champion 'tourist' club yet again for the next ten years, as London was going through a huge boom at the time and Wenger brought TV friendly, exciting football. Arsenal, along with Man Utd had the biggest African and Asian fanbase by far - something Chelsea would only tap into years later.

Fun fact - it was Arsenal that normalised the 'half-and half' scarf in domestic football, one of the cringiest things in global soccer.

Growing up in the UK, it wasn't uncommon for heathens at school to be donning Liverpool shirts one summer, Man Utd the next and Arsenal after that. A constant rotation of glory grabbing. The move from Highbury to the Emirates killed off any last remnants of a 'club' and replaced it with a product to sell, and the fanbase these days largely reflects that.

I'm speaking in modern teams, completely directing it towards their modern fanbases, especially with the rise of social media. The fact that these teams have "massive fanbases" with zero football knowledge, thinking that football didn't exist prior to the Man City financial takeover, talking about football heritage, biggest in England, when in reality teams like Leeds (who of the modern era lack much) eclipse them. There argument of "Champions League pedigree" when the competition is younger than you and I.

I'm a first generation American, family being from Sicily and my aunt marrying into an English family from Colchester. The sport and these teams are all I've ever known. Probably the thing I am least looking forward to Arsenal's success is the amount of bandwagon fans that will be now jumping to us and real fans being lumped in with them.

Nothing against those Manchester City locals, because I have been there, plenty of them. It's all these keyboard warriors that jump club to club quicker than you can see "poor run of form."

[YayNJ]

Yeah, but like I said, all the 'big' clubs have them these days. You could say the same as you said above about Chelsea, I remember going there when they could barely scrape 10,000 at the ground.

Man City have always had a very solid fanbase, and they were bringing in over 40,000 in the 1970's matching Liverpool and Arsenal. Man City fell off, and got left behind. Remove the money from the game, and you'd see a lot of the working class return to clubs like Manchester City, and they would be able to support 40k again easily, as would Liverpool, Everton, Leeds, Arsenal, Man Utd.

Chelsea? Not a chance.

Horrible club, horrible fans.

How did you get into Arsenal? I used to live off the Holloway Road, so walking distance from Highbury, and the Emirates. I always had a small soft spot for the Gunners, having spent a large portion of my life knocking around North London. They are alright. David Seaman started at Leeds! He's also a huge Leeds fan.. though never did us any favors

No Italian clubs take your fancy?

[Tones]

I would definitely agree with Chelsea, they are just as bad when it comes to their fanbase. All the Chelsea noise you hear about is that the are convince that they have the best team in the world when most of their players are extremely overrated. Splashing out insanely long-term contracts for no reasons. Liam Rosenior getting a 6 year contract when he's literally Graham Potter 2.0, dude will be laughing all the way to the bank when they terminate his contract within the year.

Like I said my aunt married into an English family from Colchester so whenever I went to their house as a kid it was always on the television and that side of the family are all Arsenal supporters. My grandfather was never a big club supporter per say (I do have family that are AC Milan, Juve and Palermo supporters) just mainly at the international level. He's more of a Formula 1 fan.

After the summer when Italy won the world cup I begged my grandfather to take me over their to go to a match haha, but my uncle ended up going to England that winter and I went with him, was already watching Arsenal at that point, but that was really where I became a heavy supporter I would say.

I will never forget the early 2000's rivalry of Manchester United and Arsenal, I know it doesn't come nooooowhere near the history of Leeds vs ManU, but watching those matching for me I don't think that passion has been matched since.