Whale.io 🐳 | ⚽ English Premier League Season: 2025/2026

[igebotz]

^  I don't think you're trying to look into the positive side of Guardiola.  The thing with him is, a club would give him loads of money and he'll know who to buy, which ones are good for his squad and if the player acquired turns out to be a flop, he knows exactly how to make the player improve and knows exactly when to cut him off the squad.

Not all managers can do what he does.  Try giving the same amount of money Guardiola has had to a random manager and see if that manager could get results like Guardiola.  There's only a handful of them who could do it.

Sure he's a check book manager, but that doesn't mean he doesn't have special talent and the X factor as a manager.  I mean why would he be in demand if they didn't think he was any good.  Even Alex Ferguson tried to get him as his replacement at Man U.

No doubt about his talent, he's one of the greatest manger to ever grace the game and he's good at what he does - getting players at the right price.

His shortcoming is that he thrives only when surrounded by the top players in the market; he is not the type of manager who can survive anywhere, like Mourinho, Conte, and Ancelotti have done, or build from scratch. Prior to his arrival at Bayern Munich and Manchester City, these teams were already dominant in their respective leagues.

Most managers do not have the same privileges as he does; in fact, most of them may perform better with an open cheque book.

He's still one of my favorite managers because he understands stability more.

[tokeweed]

^  I'd say the reason why Mou, Conte and Ancelotti went through tough patches and rebuilds was because they were forced to.  Lol.  It wasn't necessarily by choice.  If those clubs they were in opened their check books they would def would've took the chance to spend like crazy at transfer windows.  Lol.

They only difference is, Guardiola has a better hit rate in acquiring players that become successful rather than flops.  One of the best examples of this is Kevin De Bruyne.

[AmaGold70]

^  I don't think you're trying to look into the positive side of Guardiola.  The thing with him is, a club would give him loads of money and he'll know who to buy, which ones are good for his squad and if the player acquired turns out to be a flop, he knows exactly how to make the player improve and knows exactly when to cut him off the squad.

Not all managers can do what he does.  Try giving the same amount of money Guardiola has had to a random manager and see if that manager could get results like Guardiola.  There's only a handful of them who could do it.

Sure he's a check book manager, but that doesn't mean he doesn't have special talent and the X factor as a manager.  I mean why would he be in demand if they didn't think he was any good.  Even Alex Ferguson tried to get him as his replacement at Man U.

No doubt about his talent, he's one of the greatest manger to ever grace the game and he's good at what he does - getting players at the right price.

His shortcoming is that he thrives only when surrounded by the top players in the market; he is not the type of manager who can survive anywhere, like Mourinho, Conte, and Ancelotti have done, or build from scratch. Prior to his arrival at Bayern Munich and Manchester City, these teams were already dominant in their respective leagues.

Most managers do not have the same privileges as he does; in fact, most of them may perform better with an open cheque book.

He's still one of my favorite managers because he understands stability more.

Guardiola remains the best manager in English premier league at this point, he has won the league several times since he became Manchester city team manager. Guardiola is a very intelligent coach, utilizing money, and players very well. Yes, he is being surrounded by good players, and his coaching ability, and understanding his players has helped to blend him with the time.
When a team is already made up of good players, it becomes very easy for a good team manager to succeed, and that is exactly what Pep Guardiola is doing.

[igebotz]

^  I'd say the reason why Mou, Conte and Ancelotti went through tough patches and rebuilds was because they were forced to.  Lol.  It wasn't necessarily by choice.  If those clubs they were in opened their check books they would def would've took the chance to spend like crazy at transfer windows.  Lol.

They only difference is, Guardiola has a better hit rate in acquiring players that become successful rather than flops.  One of the best examples of this is Kevin De Bruyne.

Pep is like those rich kids who went through the best schools, got the best jobs ; he's been at the top unlike the other managers who started from the scratch, managed scrapy teams to build their way up.

The CV Pep built at Bacelona was enough to set him at the top forever

[JollyGood]

Friday 15th May
Aston Villa 4-2 Liverpool

Aston Villa are guaranteed a place in the Champions League next season. They can finish the season in 4th or 5th place but are guaranteed to play in the Champions League next season. Liverpool have one match remaining and are not guaranteed a place in the Champions League as Bournemouth could take that spot.

Sunday 17th May
Manchester United vs Nottingham Forest
Brentford vs Crystal Palace
Everton vs Sunderland
Leeds United vs Brighton and Hove Albion
Wolverhampton Wanderers vs Fulham
Newcastle United vs West Ham United

With two games remaining for both Tottenham and West Ham United, either could be relegated. Tottenham have the advantage by being two points ahead. If West ham United win at Newcastle United today. Tottenham are away at Chelsea on Tuesday.

[tokeweed]

^  I'd say the reason why Mou, Conte and Ancelotti went through tough patches and rebuilds was because they were forced to.  Lol.  It wasn't necessarily by choice.  If those clubs they were in opened their check books they would def would've took the chance to spend like crazy at transfer windows.  Lol.

They only difference is, Guardiola has a better hit rate in acquiring players that become successful rather than flops.  One of the best examples of this is Kevin De Bruyne.

Pep is like those rich kids who went through the best schools, got the best jobs ; he's been at the top unlike the other managers who started from the scratch, managed scrapy teams to build their way up.

The CV Pep built at Bacelona was enough to set him at the top forever

Oof, dunno about that.  Guardiola started as the manager of Barcelona C then B squads before he was called up to manage Barca.  He was untested but Txiki and Ferran Soriano took the risk and trusted his as a manager talent that he can pull it off and pulled it off he did.  

You say Guardiola is like one of those rich kids..?  I guess Txiki and Ferran Soriano would look at it differently and say he's the the real Special One.  

[examplens]

^  I'd say the reason why Mou, Conte and Ancelotti went through tough patches and rebuilds was because they were forced to.  Lol.  It wasn't necessarily by choice.  If those clubs they were in opened their check books they would def would've took the chance to spend like crazy at transfer windows.  Lol.

They only difference is, Guardiola has a better hit rate in acquiring players that become successful rather than flops.  One of the best examples of this is Kevin De Bruyne.

Pep is like those rich kids who went through the best schools, got the best jobs ; he's been at the top unlike the other managers who started from the scratch, managed scrapy teams to build their way up.

The CV Pep built at Bacelona was enough to set him at the top forever

Often, leading big teams is too difficult a task. The best example is Real, which always has top star players, but few managers have managed to shape them into a single unit.
Although I personally don't like Pep, he did a serious thing in Barcelona, ​​which had top stars at the time. After him, few managers try to control Messi unsuccessfully, but maybe that's why he left there.
Bayern is a league by itself, even Kompani has good results, although it has top players.
Pep is now leaving when it is necessary to rebuild and practically start from the beginning, but with high expectations, which is a special challenge.
He obviously knows when it's time to go out. He would probably be a good trader, because he recognizes the moment to stop-loss.  

[JollyGood]

Bournemouth 1-1 Manchester City

Manchester City needed a win to take the Premier League to the final weekend but the match ended in a draw. Arsenal are Premier League champions for the first time in 22 years. The rumours are that Guardiola will quit at the end of the season, if that is true he will end his Manchester City career as finishing second in the Premier League and winner of the FA cup and Carabao Cup.

As for Arsenal, I think Arteta deserves a lot of credit. it took a long time but he managed to assemble an excellent squad. Under Arteta, Arsenal have won the Premier League and are in the Champions League final.

[JollyGood]

It took 22 years for Arsenal to finally win the Premier League. They are Premier League champions for the first time since 2004 when they were managed by Wenger. Liverpool (current champions) were too far behind therefore considering Arsenal finished the season ahead of Manchester City, this is a fantastic achievement. How will they celebrate if they manage to beat PSG in the Champions League final?

[tokeweed]

^  Rooting for Arsenal to beat PSG in the UCL.  That would make Arteta get pole position to replace Guardiola at Man City and with PSG losing, Enrique will prolly start considering Liverpool's interest in him more seriously. 

Big oof for this season's top 4 if Enrique enters the EPL fray...

Anyway, excited for the summer transfer window.  Any players you guys following rn?

[BluebloodCXVI]

It took 22 years for Arsenal to finally win the Premier League. They are Premier League champions for the first time since 2004 when they were managed by Wenger. Liverpool (current champions) were too far behind therefore considering Arsenal finished the season ahead of Manchester City, this is a fantastic achievement. How will they celebrate if they manage to beat PSG in the Champions League final?

Sincerely I’m happy for Arsenal as they won this premier league title even though I’m not an arsenal fan, but truth be told, they really deserved to win it. And now they have to face another tough challenge in the champions league final with PSG who are already the favorites, so that means they are gonna be coming in as the underdogs which is why i know the game is gonna be a very tough one on Saturday.
I can’t say there’s no possibility that Arsenal will win and beat PSG in the final because they actually have more reasons to want to win it, they have never won it before so that alone is a big motivation for them to go hard in that final. But c’mon you know what they say about football, anything can happen, so the outcome can still go either way. But then again I believe that if the Arsenal team is able to score first, especially with the way they defend leads and the kind of momentum they have right now, PSG might end up playing under pressure and if Arsenal now go ahead to win the match, haha arsenal fans won’t let us rest, they'll be up in every of their rival fans faces and rival fans might have to disappear from football discussions for sometime because nobody is gonna be getting any breathing space anymore, Arsenal fans will choke everybody with their win success 😂.

^  Rooting for Arsenal to beat PSG in the UCL.  That would make Arteta get pole position to replace Guardiola at Man City and with PSG losing, Enrique will prolly start considering Liverpool's interest in him more seriously. 

Big oof for this season's top 4 if Enrique enters the EPL fray...

Anyway, excited for the summer transfer window.  Any players you guys following rn?

Arteta stock will definitely increase if he wins this UCL final after already winning the premier league title but I think it’s very unlikely that he would move to Liverpool because of that, if anything at all, a UCL win for arteta is likely to make him more locked in with Arsenal than before because then he knows that his position with the club will be more strengthened.
And yeah, this summer transfer window is already feeling like it’s going to be a busy one because a lot of the talk is still around big names like Musiala, especially because he’s such a key player for Bayern, so any rumours around him always get blown out of proportion. Victor Osimhen is still another big one to watch, if Napoli actually decide to open the door for a sale, you already know a lot of top clubs will be lining up because he’s still one of the most reliable goal scorers present now. And then also there’s the usual midfield chatter, with younger players like Joao Neves getting mentioned a lot, plus teams just generally trying to reinforce after a long season.
Sincerely it just feels like one of those windows where things could move quickly once the first big deal drops.

[mikel_012]

It took 22 years for Arsenal to finally win the Premier League. They are Premier League champions for the first time since 2004 when they were managed by Wenger. Liverpool (current champions) were too far behind therefore considering Arsenal finished the season ahead of Manchester City, this is a fantastic achievement. How will they celebrate if they manage to beat PSG in the Champions League final?

22 years and they finally won again!

I didn't remember they only had 3 Premier League trophies (now 4). It was a matter of time after they won second place three times in a row

Mikel Arteta did a great job building the team from almost winners to winners.

[igebotz]

^  Rooting for Arsenal to beat PSG in the UCL.  That would make Arteta get pole position to replace Guardiola at Man City and with PSG losing, Enrique will prolly start considering Liverpool's interest in him more seriously. 

Big oof for this season's top 4 if Enrique enters the EPL fray...

Anyway, excited for the summer transfer window.  Any players you guys following rn?

They already have a deal with Enzo Maresca it's just a matter of time before it becomes official - they have a better manager in Enzo Maresca who understands the club pretty more than anyone else.  Arteta is a good coach but entirely different football philosophy to how Manchester play
___

I totally don't know how I'd feel if Arsenal beat PSG to the CL title. It's already traumatizing watching them win the Premier League.

[tokeweed]

Ah, kk...  I don't mind Enzo Maresca.  And you told me a couple or so months ago that he plays a more dIrect style of football..?  I think that'd be a welcome change.  Sometimes too much tiki taka style of football gets a little stale.  That's why Klopp's squads will play a more entertaining flavor of football than Guardiola's squads ever will.

Anyway won't be surprised if Guardiola announces that he leaves the club at the end of the month.  He'll prolly not finish the last year in his contract.

[JollyGood]

^  Rooting for Arsenal to beat PSG in the UCL.  That would make Arteta get pole position to replace Guardiola at Man City and with PSG losing, Enrique will prolly start considering Liverpool's interest in him more seriously. 

It makes zero sense for a manager of a title winning team to resign in order to manage their most rivals. Arteta will never be approached by Manchester City to take over after Guardiola leaves, he just won the Premier League and is going to try to win the Champions League. He will stay exactly where he is. The Manchester City owners have already agreed a three year deal with Maresca to replace Guardiola.

Sincerely I’m happy for Arsenal as they won this premier league title even though I’m not an arsenal fan, but truth be told, they really deserved to win it. And now they have to face another tough challenge in the champions league final with PSG who are already the favorites, so that means they are gonna be coming in as the underdogs which is why i know the game is gonna be a very tough one on Saturday.

Arsenal deserve to celebrate with a game in hand, they can afford the luxury of losing their final match of season in the knowledge that both Manchester teams were not able to catch up and Liverpool were simply not good enough to trouble them. As for PSG, it will be an interesting final 

22 years and they finally won again!

I didn't remember they only had 3 Premier League trophies (now 4). It was a matter of time after they won second place three times in a row

Mikel Arteta did a great job building the team from almost winners to winners.

Their fans are probably relieved because they always seem to finish just behind the eventual winners. The fans supported Arsenal throughout the years, I am happy for them.

[igebotz]

Anyway won't be surprised if Guardiola announces that he leaves the club at the end of the month.  He'll prolly not finish the last year in his contract.

He already did that last week and there's also an official announcement from Manchester city this week. Pep is gone!

The club is building a statue of Pep infront of the stadium - that's well deserved.

Have you seen the English team WC squad? What are your thoughts on that?

[tokeweed]

^  Oh...  It is confirmed.

https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/articles/cx21y7023qxo

As for the England side for the World Cup, will check out later.

^  Rooting for Arsenal to beat PSG in the UCL.  That would make Arteta get pole position to replace Guardiola at Man City and with PSG losing, Enrique will prolly start considering Liverpool's interest in him more seriously.  

It makes zero sense for a manager of a title winning team to resign in order to manage their most rivals. Arteta will never be approached by Manchester City to take over after Guardiola leaves, he just won the Premier League and is going to try to win the Champions League. He will stay exactly where he is. The Manchester City owners have already agreed a three year deal with Maresca to replace Guardiola.

But don't forget that Arteta was first earmarked to replace Guardiola as he was Pep's right hand man.  He was being groomed for the management role at City.  So we'll see what's gon a happen next in a few years.   Arteta might not join now but Man City could be one of his options if he decides to leave Arsenal.  It's just a matter of when.

And here's the thing about City...  Can they do Maresca like they did Pellegrini?  

[JollyGood]

He already did that last week and there's also an official announcement from Manchester city this week. Pep is gone!

The club is building a statue of Pep infront of the stadium - that's well deserved.

Winning the Premier League six time sin ten years if a phenomenal achievement even though Guardiola was backed up by the finances of a country that owned the football club.

Have you seen the English team WC squad? What are your thoughts on that?

Goalkeepers: Jordan Pickford (Everton), Dean Henderson (Crystal Palace), James Trafford (Manchester City)

Defenders: Marc Guehi (Manchester City), John Stones (Manchester City), Ezri Konsa (Aston Villa), Dan Burn (Newcastle United), Nico O'Reilly (Manchester City), Reece James (Chelsea), Tino Livramento (Newcastle United), Jarell Quansah (Bayer Leverkusen), Djed Spence (Tottenham Hotspur)

Midfielders: Declan Rice (Arsenal), Elliot Anderson (Nottingham Forest), Jordan Henderson (Brentford), Kobbie Mainoo (Manchester United), Jude Bellingham (Real Madrid), Morgan Rogers (Aston Villa), Eberechi Eze (Arsenal)

Forwards: Harry Kane (Bayern Munich), Bukayo Saka (Arsenal), Marcus Rashford (Barcelona), Anthony Gordon (Newcastle United), Ollie Watkins (Aston Villa), Noni Madueke (Arsenal), Ivan Toney (Al Ahli)

I am not impressed with the England squad. First of all, with the goalkeepers Tuchel included Trafford over Pope. For the defenders he chose Stones over Maguire and left out Alexander-Arnold. In midfield, he included Henderson but left out Foden, Palmer and Gibbs-White. For the strikers, he included Gordan but left out Bowen and Calvert-Lewin.

The biggest surprise had to be Maguire being left out, followed by Palmer. After that, the other surprise was Henderson and Stones being included.

But don't forget that Arteta was first earmarked to replace Guardiola as he was Pep's right hand man.  He was being groomed for the management role at City.  So we'll see what's gon a happen next in a few years.   Arteta might not join now but Man City could be one of his options if he decides to leave Arsenal.  It's just a matter of when.

And here's the thing about City...  Can they do Maresca like they did Pellegrini?  

Arteta will probably never manage Manchester City. Anyway, without Guardiola maybe Manchester City will go through the same transitional issues that Manchester United faced after Ferguson left the club.