2025-26 Season - Discussion Thread

[mfw13]

With five wins and Newcastle's away draw at PSG, all six EPL clubs finish in the top 12.

Man City have a brutal R16 matchup awaiting them, likely facing either Real Madrid or Inter.

[bjho852]

Originally Posted by mfw13

With five wins and Newcastle's away draw at PSG, all six EPL clubs finish in the top 12.

Man City have a brutal R16 matchup awaiting them, likely facing either Real Madrid or Inter.

And Mourinho will face his formerly-coached team in the knockout phase playoff, one way or the other!

[YayNJ]

Well, we’ve just gone undefeated this season against the “world champions”.

[mfw13]

Really bad week for Italian clubs in the Champions League knockouts....

Juventus 2-5 @ Galatasaray
Atalanta 0-2 @ Borussia Dortmund
Inter 1-3 @ Bodo Glimt

[YayNJ]

Looks like Arsenal are going to bottle it again. That draw at Wolves was completely justified - victims of their own time wasting and cheating lol

[Tones]

Boy would I H8-2 by a Tottenham fan LMAO

[bjho852]

What do you think of the UCL round of 16 draw? Anything less than a semi-final appearance will be a disappointment to Arsenal, it seems.

[mfw13]

Originally Posted by bjho852

What do you think of the UCL round of 16 draw? Anything less than a semi-final appearance will be a disappointment to Arsenal, it seems.

Arsenal have to be the favorites to emerge from their half of the draw, with a clear path to the semis, but the other side of the draw has a huge amount of heavyweights, with Real Madrid, Man City, and Bayern all in the same quadrant, and Liverpool, PSG, and Chelsea in the other quadrant.

Whomever survives the Man City/Real Madrid tie will then have to get past Bayern in the QF and likely either PSG or Liverpool in the semis, just to make the final.

Most interesting matchup will be Barcelona-Newcastle.....Barca play a very high defensive line, and Newcastle have the speed to get in behind them.

Newcastle will score 3-5 goals in this tie....the question is whether or not they can keep Barcelona from scoring one more. If Newcastle can win the 1st leg at St. James, things could get very interesting in the 2nd leg at the Nou Camp given how inconsistent Barcelona have been lately and how good Newcastle are away from home in Europe (drawing twice in Paris against PSG, for example).

[tupacgr13]

Originally Posted by mfw13

Arsenal have to be the favorites to emerge from their half of the draw, with a clear path to the semis, but the other side of the draw has a huge amount of heavyweights, with Real Madrid, Man City, and Bayern all in the same quadrant, and Liverpool, PSG, and Chelsea in the other quadrant.

Whomever survives the Man City/Real Madrid tie will then have to get past Bayern in the QF and likely either PSG or Liverpool in the semis, just to make the final.

Most interesting matchup will be Barcelona-Newcastle.....Barca play a very high defensive line, and Newcastle have the speed to get in behind them.

Newcastle will score 3-5 goals in this tie....the question is whether or not they can keep Barcelona from scoring one more. If Newcastle can win the 1st leg at St. James, things could get very interesting in the 2nd leg at the Nou Camp given how inconsistent Barcelona have been lately and how good Newcastle are away from home in Europe (drawing twice in Paris against PSG, for example).

Think Guimaraes absence is crucial for the matchup but for me its the most exciting matchup in the round of 16.

[YayNJ]

Sigh.. the 'big 6 bias' alive and well in the Leeds - Man City game.

[YayNJ]

Good ole Arsenal under Captain Scarlet. Cheaters extrodinaire.

that face though

[mfw13]

The IFAB really has to do something about all the holding that goes on in the box on corners...

One step in the right direction would be to consider the ball "in play" as soon as the taker places the ball down to take the corner....because a big loophole in the LOTG is the fact that nothing which happens before the ball is kicked can be sanctioned since the ball is not yet in play. So you get a lot of holding just before the ball is kicked which the ref can't do anything about.

[YayNJ]

Massive, massive game tonight for Leeds.

A win tonight puts us five points ahead of Tottenham, and 9 points clear of West Ham and the relegation zone.

Calling on the Lord Raphina in the crowd with Leeds to see us through to a nice 3-0.

[mikee1186]

Originally Posted by mfw13

The IFAB really has to do something about all the holding that goes on in the box on corners...

One step in the right direction would be to consider the ball "in play" as soon as the taker places the ball down to take the corner....because a big loophole in the LOTG is the fact that nothing which happens before the ball is kicked can be sanctioned since the ball is not yet in play. So you get a lot of holding just before the ball is kicked which the ref can't do anything about.

This is a good point. A free kick is only given for a foul when the ball is in play. To deal with this under current law, I think we'd need some combination of yellow cards and applicable stoppage time. But in general, a lot of the fouling on corner is still continuing when the ball goes in play, and it's just not being enforced in the same way that the same type of foul is enforced anywhere else on the field. I would want to start by having a reset of expectations and have refs actually enforce the law properly, and then go from there. (BTW I affectionately call this sort of fouling on corners "Skrteling" IYKYK.)

The "ball in play" time in the premier league went down by several minutes last season, even with stoppage time being longer. I would expect it to be the same or worse this season. Delays in play are still not being properly accounted for. You'd think there's a better way to police time wasting abuses that are so widespread now. But teams are smart in that they know that wasted time is never fully recovered by stoppage time (not even close, really), so the incentive to time waste continues (including on corners, which a team like Arsenal can often take a full minute to take).

[YayNJ]

Major League Soccer has given lifetime bans to midfielder Derrick Jones and winger Yaw Yeboah for betting offences.

Yeboah, 28, signed for Chinese Super League side Qingdao Hainiu last month after his contract with Los Angeles FC was terminated in January.

Jones, 29, was released from his contract by Columbus Crew last November.

A statement from MLS said that the players were found to have "engaged in extensive gambling on soccer, including on their own teams" during the 2024 and 2025 seasons.

[yiguiri2002]

Gambling abuses? In the US? I'm shocked.

[YayNJ]

Heh..

as an aside it's shocking how fast (sports gambling) and how rampant it's spread across the USA and with younger people.

Just as the rest of the world is finally trying to crack down on it

Prediction markets too.. even news is sponsored by gambling companies...we're finally about to stop spinning around the plughole and drop into the pipes.

Any of you seen the classic 'Idiocracy'? and more recently 'Mountainhead'?

Yup.

[yiguiri2002]

Originally Posted by YayNJ

Heh..

as an aside it's shocking how fast (sports gambling) and how rampant it's spread across the USA and with younger people.

Just as the rest of the world is finally trying to crack down on it

Prediction markets too.. even news is sponsored by gambling companies...we're finally about to stop spinning around the plughole and drop into the pipes.

Any of you seen the classic 'Idiocracy'? and more recently 'Mountainhead'?

Yup.

Gambling addiction is a real problem and I'm scared for Gen Z because it's been marketed heavily like it's completely OK.

Seems like additive behavior has always been there, it just changes by generation. Alcohol, hard drugs, gambling, it doesn't matter. You can't play online poker for money but can bet on wars, it's insane.

[mfw13]

Originally Posted by YayNJ

Heh..

as an aside it's shocking how fast (sports gambling) and how rampant it's spread across the USA and with younger people.

Just as the rest of the world is finally trying to crack down on it

Prediction markets too.. even news is sponsored by gambling companies...we're finally about to stop spinning around the plughole and drop into the pipes.

Any of you seen the classic 'Idiocracy'? and more recently 'Mountainhead'?

Yup.

The historical reality is that people have ALWAYS gambled....it's been a part of just about every civilization.

What's different now is that you have "authorities" now actively engaged in promoting it.....the leagues themselves with regard to sports gambling, and states/countries with regard to lotteries.

Multi-state lotteries in the US are now over 40 years old....and individual state lotteries date back further than that. Lotteries were also common in the colonies, as well as in the early 19th century.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lotter..._United_States

[YayNJ]

It's a shame Yamal got a 94th minute penalty tonight and the history books will show he scored. He was utterly and truly woeful.

Newcastle made him look like a pub league player... which I have to be honest, seems to happen a lot to Yamal in Europe.

[yiguiri2002]

I think it's bound to happen, he's still only 18. He's a great player, has gotten better every year, he's just not close to being the best in the world at the moment. It's not his fault that people overhype him.

[HenryM1884]

Originally Posted by YayNJ

Heh..

as an aside it's shocking how fast (sports gambling) and how rampant it's spread across the USA and with younger people.

Just as the rest of the world is finally trying to crack down on it

Prediction markets too.. even news is sponsored by gambling companies...we're finally about to stop spinning around the plughole and drop into the pipes.

Any of you seen the classic 'Idiocracy'? and more recently 'Mountainhead'?

Yup.

You seem weirdly happy about this. But color me shocked lol. Most Gen Z recognize that it is just older people trying to siphon our money. Prediction markets try to make it appear as legitimate, like the totally corruption-free financial markets (see Binance, World Liberty, etc). So to everyone with kids, educate them!

Edit: I don’t condone players taking bribes or engaging in insider trading, but nothing new under the sun as yiguiri and mfw stated

[Davy]

Amazing that Scotland has gone from always the most predictable to maybe the most exciting in Europe this season. 3 teams, maybe even 4, can win the league.

I back Celtic with Martin O'Neill....he's dragged them back into it.

[mfw13]

Originally Posted by Davy

Amazing that Scotland has gone from always the most predictable to maybe the most exciting in Europe this season. 3 teams, maybe even 4, can win the league.

I back Celtic with Martin O'Neill....he's dragged them back into it.

I may get a lot of pushback on this, but I think it would be much better for Scottish football in general to join English football, just like the Welsh clubs have done.

Right now it's a fairly boring closed shop, with Celtic/Rangers winning the title 90% of the time, and little interest outside of the British Isles.

Conversely, joining English football would bring more TV revenue to Scottish clubs and get Celtic/Rangers more high-profile matches.

Celtic vs Liverpool and Rangers vs Man City, for example, would be much more attractive matches from a marketing perspective than Rangers vs St. Mirren and Celtic vs Falkirk.

Similarly, Portugal should consider trying to merge with La Liga, and Holland/Belgium with Ligue Un.

[YayNJ]

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