⚽ Premier League 2025/2026 Discussion Thread ⚽

[cryptoWODL]

Manchester City have never looked as weak as they have this season. They have been performing very poorly since the beginning of this season and almost got relegated from the league. I don't know where they will be at the end of the season, but I am planning for them next season. The  management will definitely consider their declining performance and come up with a strong plan for next season. They will not want to carry the form of the current season. I hope the Manchester City team management will show professionalism from their position.

It is surprising to think that under the same manager, this team has already introduced a lot of strong and foresight but this season, Manchester City's progress has been very weak this season. I think every team in the history of the Premier League can play 38 matches in one season if it is correct then Manchester City may not find their desired place this season. So at the moment, Manchester City's manager like you will see why they are performing a declined performance. The attraction for Manchester City tomorrow is that they will play the quarter finals of the FA Cup.

There is usually a time that every club will face some challenges that is why I see that of Manchester City as normal . If their desire position is to win the Premier League,  I think that one have eluded them but if  it's qualifying for the Champions League next season,  they will likely get it from the hands of the teams dragging that with them which are Chelsea and Nottingham Forest.  What I'm saying in ernest is that Manchester City have a higher probability of qualifying for the Champions League next season than ever Chelsea even though the later is ahead of them with 2 points.

We often see that it is not possible for all the clubs in the English Premier League, German League, French Soccer League to spend the same amount of time each season, this means that these clubs suddenly face many unexpected challenges. But it was never in our imagination that the balanced Manchester City would play so badly in one season. Because they were at the top of the previous season. So if they now express a desire to win the Premier League, it will be an uncertain task But on the other hand, if they want to qualify in the Champions League next season, I think they must be in the top four, Otherwise, I think there will be no other way left for Man City. So at this stage it goes without saying that they will have to take the place of Chelsea Football Club at some point.

[asriloni]

Manchester United spent €244.5m in total for this season's transfers.



It is a really huge number.    If you ask how many of them has been beneficial for the team a lot, I wouldn't say too many. The team haven't been doing much better since these transfers. This is the truth.

They are even worse than Erik ten Hag's times. The squad still needs improvements. I don't think the problem is only Amorim here. The best you can do with this squad is really an FA Cup trophy.    He couldn't even do that though.

It's hard to believe how many people here can't even spend a few seconds to lookin at the current table. They can see on what place Manchester United is now. Almost all of their transfers are flop, and it can't be denied.

Even winning FA cup trophy can be consired as luck when they're doing it with their current season. They're still having FA cup and Europa left. If they can win it all, i'd call them as most successful club this season despite being on 13th.

[Oluwa-btc]

The club I'm not satisfied with their transfer policy the most must be Chelsea in the PL.    They are just signing everyone they can. It has been what it looks like for a long time.

I wonder what Boehly is up to with this... They have an unnecessary number of players in the squad now. There are more to come by this summer undoubtedly. So what?

Abramovich was a much better chairman than him! This is the truth. But he was forced to leave his job...

They've done well with selling players believe me, they have also brought in players who are good for their squad but they have struggled with injuries and decisions made by the manager.

Todd Boehly and whoever is in charge of the sale and buying of players have done well. They just suck big balls on the pitch and have left too much responsibilities for players like Caicedo and Cole Palmer. Abramovic was chairman? He was the bloody owner of the club lol.
This has been the long term plans for him to leave,  so checkmate to whoever plotted.

[Barikui1]

The club I'm not satisfied with their transfer policy the most must be Chelsea in the PL.    They are just signing everyone they can. It has been what it looks like for a long time.

I wonder what Boehly is up to with this... They have an unnecessary number of players in the squad now. There are more to come by this summer undoubtedly. So what?

Abramovich was a much better chairman than him! This is the truth. But he was forced to leave his job...

Chelsea's has new vision under the new ownership. They have changed from a club focused in winning the title to business club. They signed so many young players with the hope they can develop them well, increase their price, then flip them for profit.

You might be curious why they always bought new players, and the reason is one, "profit". They tries to acquire young players just to sell them for profit later. You must not be surprising if they're stocking a lot of players.

This new strategy by the hierarchy of Chelsea is bringing them down to the abyss because the fan and most of the club faithful are used to winning something every now and then, so this new policy is really destroying the club in my own opinion, because if I may ask, how much have they made since this new owner took over? Nothing, they have spend a lot of money and even up to a billion pound, but nothing to show for it, that alone shows that it's a strategy that wouldn't bring any result because it's not all this young lads that is going to be actually good when they are mature.

Another reason why I believe that this strategy by the new owners are a total rubbish is that, if they want to implement such strategy, they should be buying players at a low price, and be sell them at a high price, but but Todd boehly and co, reverse is the case, they buy those young lads at a very costly price, players that they are not even sure wether they can be actual good when they are mature, I believe that it's just a matter of time before they got frustrated in this their fruitless strategy they are trying to implement.

[Velvet78]

The top 5 race is going to continue from where it left. I wonder whether this time England will manage to send 5 teams to the Champions League. Maybe it could happen in case English teams win the Europa League and Conference League both. 

I'm not including the Champions League there because I don't believe either Arsenal or Aston Villa will make it. The Conference League trophy is nearly in Chelsea's hands already though. For the Europa League, I'm not very expectant for now.

Coming back to the Premier League, I think Chelsea will secure the 4th position again by beating Tottenham home.

[Volgastallion]

Ohhh Bournemouth you lose a gold chance to perform history and take out Manchester City out of the FA cup, when they were winning i think they are gonna win because in his home Bournemouth is quite strong, but somehow Manchester City comeback pretty quick.

In the other hand and thinking more in the Premier League this can be better for Iraola team now they are only gonna focus on the PM.

[kawetsriyanto]

Beside some main player injured, there are several things that make Manchester City performing badly this season, because Pep strategy already known to many club. Game style The City can be read and can be overcome by other coach. It's the same as Jose Mourinho today, his strategy outdated, other coaches can easily tackle it, and won it when face to face. I think, Pep must accept the reality if his period is over, he must learn something new immediately and learn to use new strategies for The City. I am sure even Rodri has returned to the squad, Manchester City will still be easy to defeat because others club already know what pep guardiola does.

Besides the injured of some key players and monotonous of the strategy/tactic applied by Guardiola, I assume Man City players have also a problem with their mentality. They are getting more often to get a lose, they have no longer the mentality of the champion that always struggle to win each match. Now, they may feel not really confident to face any team in EPL. It is actually the responsibility of the coach that can improve the mentality of the whole players. Since this problem continues, I think the players may begin to doubt the capability of Guardiola to handle Man City squad. The crisis of confidence of the whole players brings very bad impacts for the performance. This is actually a fundamental problem that Guardiola must be solved as quick as possible. Sure, even Rodri has recovered, it won't influence much if the problem of mentality is never solved.

[SatoPrincess]

The club I'm not satisfied with their transfer policy the most must be Chelsea in the PL.    They are just signing everyone they can. It has been what it looks like for a long time.

I wonder what Boehly is up to with this... They have an unnecessary number of players in the squad now. There are more to come by this summer undoubtedly. So what?

Abramovich was a much better chairman than him! This is the truth. But he was forced to leave his job...

100 percent!! There is a huge difference between when Roman Abramovich was the owner of Chelsea and now that Todd Boehly is in charge. I prefer the Roman Abramovich-Chelsea era, it’s quite unfortunate that politics got mingled with football and Roman Abramovich was forced to sell his shares. Todd Boehly has no idea how to manage the club, he’s just splashing money on players and giving them ridiculously long contracts.

[SUPERSAIAN]

The club I'm not satisfied with their transfer policy the most must be Chelsea in the PL.    They are just signing everyone they can. It has been what it looks like for a long time.

I wonder what Boehly is up to with this... They have an unnecessary number of players in the squad now. There are more to come by this summer undoubtedly. So what?

Abramovich was a much better chairman than him! This is the truth. But he was forced to leave his job...

Chelsea was very good during Abramovich's time and they were making spot transfers to the team. His time was really different. Chelsea's squad is currently a mixed squad full of players. In addition, it is said that British Foreign Secretary David Lammy will take action to release the 2.3 billion pounds of funds obtained from Chelsea Football Club sold by its former owner Roman Abramovich and planned to be directed to Ukraine.

[SOKO-DEKE]

Ohhh Bournemouth you lose a gold chance to perform history and take out Manchester City out of the FA cup, when they were winning i think they are gonna win because in his home Bournemouth is quite strong, but somehow Manchester City comeback pretty quick.

In the other hand and thinking more in the Premier League this can be better for Iraola team now they are only gonna focus on the PM.

Despite knowing that Manchester City are not currently in great form, before the start, I was confident that Manchester City would do anything possible to win the game. So, even as Bournemouth scored their early goal, I still felt that Manchester City were the favorites to win.This is because, when it comes to competition, it’s hard to disqualify a team like Manchester City, especially this season, where they are not aiming for any trophy except the FA Cup.i can’t say much, but for me, I still see Manchester City as the favorite team to win this season's FA Cup. However, let’s see what will happen in the semifinals. If Manchester City qualify for the final, it will be hard for any team that qualifies to beat them.

[sotelorene]

Ohhh Bournemouth you lose a gold chance to perform history and take out Manchester City out of the FA cup, when they were winning i think they are gonna win because in his home Bournemouth is quite strong, but somehow Manchester City comeback pretty quick.

In the other hand and thinking more in the Premier League this can be better for Iraola team now they are only gonna focus on the PM.

Despite knowing that Manchester City are not currently in great form, before the start, I was confident that Manchester City would do anything possible to win the game. So, even as Bournemouth scored their early goal, I still felt that Manchester City were the favorites to win.This is because, when it comes to competition, it’s hard to disqualify a team like Manchester City, especially this season, where they are not aiming for any trophy except the FA Cup.i can’t say much, but for me, I still see Manchester City as the favorite team to win this season's FA Cup. However, let’s see what will happen in the semifinals. If Manchester City qualify for the final, it will be hard for any team that qualifies to beat them.

I knew Manchester city was going to win Bournemouth today regardless of there form and that was why I played them straight win but when I checked LiveScore and Bournemouth was winning 1:0 I was so angry and I then feel that Manchester city can not come back but when I streamed the match I saw that Manchester city was really possessing them and Bournemouth barely hold the ball for good 1 minute, immediately I have a second thought that Bournemouth can not win them so I didn't cash out my game, only for me to check again I saw 1:2 full time in favor of Manchester city, congratulations to them though haaland fucked up today.

[BIT-BENDER]

Despite knowing that Manchester City are not currently in great form, before the start, I was confident that Manchester City would do anything possible to win the game. So, even as Bournemouth scored their early goal, I still felt that Manchester City were the favorites to win.This is because, when it comes to competition, it’s hard to disqualify a team like Manchester City, especially this season, where they are not aiming for any trophy except the FA Cup.i can’t say much, but for me, I still see Manchester City as the favorite team to win this season's FA Cup. However, let’s see what will happen in the semifinals. If Manchester City qualify for the final, it will be hard for any team that qualifies to beat them.

Their is no excuse what so ever. There is no time Manchester city would not want to win a game but we have seen several times this season that they did not leave up to the expectations. It was a very weak Manchester city especially in the first half and the chance they got Erling Haaland squandered them.
I think Bournemouth was very blunt today especially in their attack, unlike them. They did not really trouble Manchester city defense and they made the game easy for Manchester city.

[Coyster]

Ohhh Bournemouth you lose a gold chance to perform history and take out Manchester City out of the FA cup, when they were winning i think they are gonna win because in his home Bournemouth is quite strong, but somehow Manchester City comeback pretty quick.

Bournemouth had a decent first half, but City dominated them in the second half, it was a commanding display from City and the stats says it all, 17 shots from City, though just 7 on target, and a possession stat of 64% to 34% in City's favor. The FA Cup is the last chance for Pep's team to win something this season, and they have a tough task in the next round, a SF game at Wembley against Nottingham Forest, it would be an interesting one.

[uchegod-21]

Ohhh Bournemouth you lose a gold chance to perform history and take out Manchester City out of the FA cup, when they were winning i think they are gonna win because in his home Bournemouth is quite strong, but somehow Manchester City comeback pretty quick.

In the other hand and thinking more in the Premier League this can be better for Iraola team now they are only gonna focus on the PM.

I already know and said it that Manchester City is going to the finals of the FA cup. I don't expect them to lose out, if they do, there might not be any trophy to their name this season.
So, I wasn't surprised that Manchester City won even if Haaland missed an early penalty. Who is the O'Reilly and why is he so powerful. Two assists to his name, that was great

[baeva]

Beside some main player injured, there are several things that make Manchester City performing badly this season, because Pep strategy already known to many club. Game style The City can be read and can be overcome by other coach. It's the same as Jose Mourinho today, his strategy outdated, other coaches can easily tackle it, and won it when face to face. I think, Pep must accept the reality if his period is over, he must learn something new immediately and learn to use new strategies for The City. I am sure even Rodri has returned to the squad, Manchester City will still be easy to defeat because others club already know what pep guardiola does.

Besides the injured of some key players and monotonous of the strategy/tactic applied by Guardiola, I assume Man City players have also a problem with their mentality. They are getting more often to get a lose, they have no longer the mentality of the champion that always struggle to win each match. Now, they may feel not really confident to face any team in EPL. It is actually the responsibility of the coach that can improve the mentality of the whole players. Since this problem continues, I think the players may begin to doubt the capability of Guardiola to handle Man City squad. The crisis of confidence of the whole players brings very bad impacts for the performance. This is actually a fundamental problem that Guardiola must be solved as quick as possible. Sure, even Rodri has recovered, it won't influence much if the problem of mentality is never solved.

I wouldn't go so far as to say they might not be confident against any team, that's not true. I also don't think they lack a championship mentality now because one bad season doesn't mean anything yet, after all it's impossible to win every season inside the EPL for years. It's still not Bayern inside the Bundesliga where there is almost no competition, I think MC still has a long way to go, we will have to judge from next season

[Issa56]

I knew Manchester city was going to win Bournemouth today regardless of there form and that was why I played them straight win but when I checked LiveScore and Bournemouth was winning 1:0 I was so angry and I then feel that Manchester city can not come back but when I streamed the match I saw that Manchester city was really possessing them and Bournemouth barely hold the ball for good 1 minute, immediately I have a second thought that Bournemouth can not win them so I didn't cash out my game, only for me to check again I saw 1:2 full time in favor of Manchester city, congratulations to them though haaland fucked up today.

Manchester City performance is still better than Bournemouth so I knew they will get a win in the match. Pep Guardiola made the right substitution in the match, which gave them a win in the match. O’Reilly was  brought into the match at the beginning of the second half, and he was able to make two assists in the match which gave Manchester City a win in the match. Marmoush was also substituted in, and few minutes later he was able to give Manchester City the winning goal.

Manchester City next match will be against a strong team, and it’s not going to be easy for them, because they both will want to get a win in the match, but with the pattern which Nottingham forest is playing with, the I won’t be surprise if they end up getting a win against Manchester city in their next FA cup match.

[DaNNy001]

Ohhh Bournemouth you lose a gold chance to perform history and take out Manchester City out of the FA cup, when they were winning i think they are gonna win because in his home Bournemouth is quite strong, but somehow Manchester City comeback pretty quick.

In the other hand and thinking more in the Premier League this can be better for Iraola team now they are only gonna focus on the PM.

I already know and said it that Manchester City is going to the finals of the FA cup. I don't expect them to lose out, if they do, there might not be any trophy to their name this season.
So, I wasn't surprised that Manchester City won even if Haaland missed an early penalty. Who is the O'Reilly and why is he so powerful. Two assists to his name, that was great

For now as it stands I think the FA cup is the best chance at any trophy Manchester city have for themselves this season because aside from that they have all been cornered out of every competition which includes even the premier league which clearly shows how they have been affected by the balloon d'Or winner. Also I believe their chances with the FA cup is highly seeing the teams that are remaining in the competition plus the international space would have had a positive effect on them.

[red4slash]

Manchester City performance is still better than Bournemouth so I knew they will get a win in the match. Pep Guardiola made the right substitution in the match, which gave them a win in the match. O’Reilly was  brought into the match at the beginning of the second half, and he was able to make two assists in the match which gave Manchester City a win in the match. Marmoush was also substituted in, and few minutes later he was able to give Manchester City the winning goal.

I think they will get back to bad luck with defeat because indeed the surprise goal from Bournemouth in the first half was enough to make Manchester City a little depressed but the second half they managed to recover and make a pretty good comeback in this match.

Pep did something with a bold situation in my opinion where in this match he forced KDB to be on the winger even though seeing from his capacity of course this is risky but Pep tried back something he rarely did.

Although this is good enough but I think he would be better off trying some of the younger players because Doku can still be placed there even though KDB was not too bad in terms of performance in this match but with rumors of him possibly leaving he should try more for some of the younger players. But with this victory Manchester City managed to advance to the semi-finals and their opponent is Nottingham Forrest who is an unexpected force in the EPL now.

[ginsan]

For now as it stands I think the FA cup is the best chance at any trophy Manchester city have for themselves this season because aside from that they have all been cornered out of every competition which includes even the premier league which clearly shows how they have been affected by the balloon d'Or winner. Also I believe their chances with the FA cup is highly seeing the teams that are remaining in the competition plus the international space would have had a positive effect on them.

Because indeed for now the FA Cup is the only trophy they can still win especially by looking at the semi-final clubs for now where there are Nottingham Forrest, Crystal Palace and Aston Villa then obviously they are the favorites for now.

But even so this still won't be easy for Mancehster City even though they are favorites but still for the semi-finals their opponents are quite troublesome. Nottingham Forrest although for now they are also quite feeling the difficulty of getting out of the pressure they have because they have to try to maintain their position in the current EPL standings but still they are also not opponents that can be underestimated later for Mancehster City.

Especially when looking at their problems that still can't seem to get out of their zone where the finishing problem is still difficult to solve for Pep and the defense that still has gaps, of course the semi-finals can be difficult for Mancehster City.

[pawel7777]

I think it's fair to say it was a very decent game by Man City, despite the minimal win and them losing the first half.
The City's attack could create plenty of chances, there was one missed penalty. Defense was also quite solid, the one conceded goal was due to a good play by Bournemouth and a bit of luck. They allowed Bournemouth only 5 shots on goal (2 on target).
And let's not forget that Bournemouth had a home advantage and are not pushovers. They are in the middle of the table and still have chances for a 5th place.

O'Reilly gave a good substitution and assisted in both goals. Who knows what would happen without him.