⚽ Premier League 2025/2026 Discussion Thread ⚽

[Dickiy]

This season will be more exciting than last season, Manchester City must be able to maintain its performance if it does not want the EPL trophy to be taken by another team.

The transfer market will still be until early September. So every team still has a chance to improve the team with transfers. I think the big teams in the EPL at the moment don't have much financial problems. So it seems that the rich team can maximize the finances they have. So at the moment I see all the big teams are improving with some big transfers. It is very difficult to see their performance next season.

Yes, currently the Premier League clubs have started to prepare their strategies with the arrival of several new players for the Premier League next season, and in my opinion all clubs can still buy the players they need if the transfer market is still open, this is interesting to watch, and I hope there will be many surprises that will happen in the Premier League. and the new players who are recruited can show their performance on the field later. because currently many Premier League clubs are bought by rich businessmen, for finances it seems there is no problem.

[fuguebtc]

Real Madrid is really willing to let Lunin go? Why?    I mean in Courtois' absence he did a great work as you can remember. I was even wondering whether Courtois would need some time to take his place back.

Lunin is a wonderful goalkeeper so Chelsea should go for him absolutely. Kepa didn't perform consistently during his time at Chelsea. Lunin would easily be the main goalkeeper for Chelsea if this swap deal happens.

By the way while saying "swap + money deal", how much are we talking about? Normally there is a gap around 10 million euros between their market values. But after that effort, Real Madrid might want more for Lunin.

Source: https://ca.sports.yahoo.com/news/matteo-moretto-transfer-column-dani-050000320.html

Going for Lunin Makes more sense instead of going for Kepa. Lunin is definitely the more reliable one in this comparison. With him you can relax and say that he is going to give you a decent performance. On the other hand with Kepa you get really trashy performance on one day, and on the other day you get some positive and incredible performance. Something I definitely do not like from a goalkeeper. There is a reason why every coach is interested in bringing in goalkeepers who can actually handle the ball well and has good distribution along with good positioning and reflex instead of bringing in a goalkeeper who only has incredible reflex and nothing else.
 
I definitely am not going to blame Real Madrid if they ask for more for Lunin. That is very much understandable in my opinion.

[Palakka]

Anyway, Arsenal officially announces that they're successful signing contract Riccardo Calafiori to Arsenal just now.
Finally, Arsenal have signed 5-year contracts with Bologna  Centre-Back until 2029. They achieved agreement for £42m deal worth. Actually, this is not new news because there was already an agreement before, only, in the end they have officially signed the contract and now Calafiori is wearing the Arsenal jersey with the number 33.


Source: Riccardo Calafiori signs for Arsenal

Riccardo Calafiori is the right recruit made by Arsenal. Now Arsenal already has 3 strong center-backs because previously Gabriel and Saliba had become a strong fortress in Arsenal's defense so that the presence of Riccardo Calafiori adds options for Arteta to formulate his defensive strategy.
Congratulations on wearing the Arsenal uniform and hopefully his career will be good in the English Premier League.

Congratulations to Arsenal for successfully recruiting their first recruit this summer after very tough negotiations that took place previously, Calafiori is one of the tough defenders who last season gained Motta full trust in guarding Bologna defense so that his arrival at Arsenal will make Arsenal defense quite tough and solid next season, currently Arteta only needs to choose between Zinchenko, Calafiori or Kiwior to fill the left defense post because after all these three players are good players in defense and helping attack from below, compared to other teams, Arsenal is actually the  passive team in recruiting new players and it is proven that they have only got one player at the moment, although the summer transfer market is still very long (until the beginning of September) Arsenal should move more actively to look for new players according to the team the team needs next season, improving the midfield and attack line still have to get Arteta attention if their want to win the championship trophy next season.

[JeffBrad12]

This season will be more exciting than last season, Manchester City must be able to maintain its performance if it does not want the EPL trophy to be taken by another team.

The transfer market will still be until early September. So every team still has a chance to improve the team with transfers. I think the big teams in the EPL at the moment don't have much financial problems. So it seems that the rich team can maximize the finances they have. So at the moment I see all the big teams are improving with some big transfers. It is very difficult to see their performance next season.

Almost all the EPL clubs have no financial problems. But they are being limited by the PSR rules. Some EPL clubs (Manchester United, Chelsea, and Newcastle) may face point deductions this season. They exceeded a £105m loss under PSR rules. Just because they're financially fine, and never think if they're far away from the sanction by FA. they must still spend their money wisely. Even rich teams must ensure their balance sheets are fine this transfer season. It's clear that many clubs are improving their squads. But I'm pessimistic about one team, and that is Chelsea. I see how Chelsea's performance is even worsening compared to last season.

We're still a long way to go before the end of August, and there may be lots of surprises to come in. It's sad. EPL clubs' quality is declining in competing for the superstar player. Their poor performance in European competitions, like the UCL, was the main cause.

[JoyMarsha]

I'm afraid Chelsea couldn't start the friendly matches well.    First a draw against Wrexham and now a huge defeat by Celtic, 4-1.  Maresca is new around here of course but hopefully he manages to find the right system for the team soon.

Because there isn't a long time period left for the season to start officially. Pochettino was sacked for no reason and now they have to experience the same process again. Enzo Maresca will need to adapt to the team to make things better. The worst case scenario would be his not being able to meet the expectations at all. In that case, I presume that Boehly would regret sacking Pochettino while things were getting better actually.

Losing in friendly matches is not a big problem because after all, it would be dangerous if Enzo Maresca forced his players to play optimally because this would also be dangerous for injury. Therefore, I don't think it's a problem about Chelsea not getting good results in friendly matches because after all, friendly matches are just to get players or teams back to fitness.

Because for me, friendly matches are not about winning results, because with friendly matches at least the coach will have his own assessment for each player in his squad. Therefore, instead of aiming for victory just in friendly matches that have risks about injury, then I think it is enough to play appropriately and not to overpower.

The friendly match is actually a match intended to see the fitness and performance of the players and is also an opportunity for the coach to experiment with the strategy and framework of the main team he has formed, but in chelsea case I don't know whether we should judge the two negative results achieved by Chelsea as fair or bad result in their get current friendly match, because if we look at the negative results obtained by Manchester United, City, Liverpool and Arsenal in friendly matches, it is very natural because some of the players they have fielded are young players and reserves, but if we look at Chelsea next season it will be relying on young players, isn't there a worry that the negative results obtained now not difference with their performance next season?
Honestly, If looking at the young squad that Chelsea currently has, I hope that their will be able to develop well to be able to compete in the English league, but for next season it looks like we will not see Chelsea best performance yet.

From the start of next season to its end, I don't expect Enzo to have magic done in the Chelsea team. We will be seeing the same results, no difference in the team will be made at this time, if Chelsea likes let them sign young talented players to their squad. The impact will not be felt in the team unless Boyle begins to learn how to be patient with Chelsea's coach rather than be in a hurry to sack them. The sack of Pochettino was a mistake move taken, I believe he won't repeat the same mistake with Enzo, to sack him without coaching Chelsea to the agreed year of contract reached.

[Josefjix]

From the start of next season to its end, I don't expect Enzo to have magic done in the Chelsea team. We will be seeing the same results, no difference in the team will be made at this time, if Chelsea likes let them sign young talented players to their squad. The impact will not be felt in the team unless Boyle begins to learn how to be patient with Chelsea's coach rather than be in a hurry to sack them. The sack of Pochettino was a mistake move taken, I believe he won't repeat the same mistake with Enzo, to sack him without coaching Chelsea to the agreed year of contract reached.

The big curious question pops up, Todd Boehly made a mistakes by appointing Enzo Maresca as headcoach? He's yet to make any big moves for the club. No evidence of improvement, however this is merely friendly games, he's trying out his tactics for the new season, so we shouldn't rush into conclusion regarding his position in the managerial role.

Enzo Maresca is new to the system, there's a lot for the new coach to accomplish. He's well positioned and experienced, he knows how to coupled up with the big advantages of the Blues. Though he's yet to grab his first winning in the pre-season games, the Blues have recorded a draw and defeat which never a welcoming odds for the manager and the new players signed.

[TelolettOm]

Yes that was a good signing by Arsenal because the position of Riccardo Calafiori is a very important and sensitive area of the defense and since Arsenal have got good strikers, the area they are having major challenge is within the defense region but now that Riccardo Calafiori who plays as a center back have been signed to the team, we should expect Arsenal's defense line to be solid since William Saliba who is a major figure in the defense line will now play along with Riccardo Calafiori and I have come across some news in the media that shows how eager Riccardo Calafiori was to sign for Arsenal, he was so happy to join a very active competitor of the English Premier league so i believe he will give his all to see them make good improvements in the new season. Within this 5 years of his contract with Arsenal, he must have blended so well with the team.

No doubt it is a good signing. Arsenal only has William Saliba and Gabriel Magalhães as good center-backs. If one of them leaves the club or get injury, there is no proper replacement. Now, Riccardo Calafiori can replace one of them if there is an unexpected thing happening. You must know there is a rumor that Real Madrid is trying to sign William Saliba. Signing Riccardo Calafiori is the right anticipatory step, Real Madrid is very serious when they want to sign a player. Even Mbppe, they can successfully sign the player, it is not impossible if Real Madrid also succeeds to sign William Saliba.

Real Madrid are highly impressed with William Saliba



Anyway, you said Arsenal have good strikers, what strikers do you mean? Currently, Gabriel Jesus and Eddie Nketiah are Arsenal strikers, none of them showed impressive performance last season. I think Arsenal also needs new a top striker who have real instict as a machine goal. Osimhen is one of a good candidate but the chance to sign him looks not really high.

I have also seen recent news of Victor Oshime joining Chelsea, I have always said this last season, even in my previous post before, Chelsea is the right destination for him.

As far as I know, it is still a rumor. In my own opinion, Osimhen is better to join Arsenal over Chelsea. Why Osimhen needs to join Chelsea? Chelsea doesn't play in any international competitions, Chelsea even is struggling hard in domestic competitions. If he joins Arsenal, Osimhen will play in UCL and Osimhen may have the chance to win EPL trophy with Arsenal. We know Arsenal always competes for the EPL trophy in the last 2 seasons. If they have Osimhen, the chance to win the trophy may be higher and won't end up the season at a runner-up position again.

[blue Snow]

From the start of next season to its end, I don't expect Enzo to have magic done in the Chelsea team. We will be seeing the same results, no difference in the team will be made at this time, if Chelsea likes let them sign young talented players to their squad. The impact will not be felt in the team unless Boyle begins to learn how to be patient with Chelsea's coach rather than be in a hurry to sack them. The sack of Pochettino was a mistake move taken, I believe he won't repeat the same mistake with Enzo, to sack him without coaching Chelsea to the agreed year of contract reached.

The big curious question pops up, Todd Boehly made a mistakes by appointing Enzo Maresca as headcoach? He's yet to make any big moves for the club. No evidence of improvement, however this is merely friendly games, he's trying out his tactics for the new season, so we shouldn't rush into conclusion regarding his position in the managerial role.

Enzo Maresca is new to the system, there's a lot for the new coach to accomplish. He's well positioned and experienced, he knows how to coupled up with the big advantages of the Blues. Though he's yet to grab his first winning in the pre-season games, the Blues have recorded a draw and defeat which never a welcoming odds for the manager and the new players signed.

experience is not an important thing as long as he can maintain cohesion team. There are many new coaches who are inexperienced out there but can win prestigious tournaments. Like example Pep guardiola who have new as coach barcelona senior at past, but he proved that he could and was even able to win the league with many achievements. Maybe now we need to wait first until the league starts, maybe there will be a surprise like what happened on new coach before.

[TastyChillySauce00]

From the start of next season to its end, I don't expect Enzo to have magic done in the Chelsea team. We will be seeing the same results, no difference in the team will be made at this time, if Chelsea likes let them sign young talented players to their squad. The impact will not be felt in the team unless Boyle begins to learn how to be patient with Chelsea's coach rather than be in a hurry to sack them. The sack of Pochettino was a mistake move taken, I believe he won't repeat the same mistake with Enzo, to sack him without coaching Chelsea to the agreed year of contract reached.

The big curious question pops up, Todd Boehly made a mistakes by appointing Enzo Maresca as headcoach? He's yet to make any big moves for the club. No evidence of improvement, however this is merely friendly games, he's trying out his tactics for the new season, so we shouldn't rush into conclusion regarding his position in the managerial role.

I think you shall not always be delusional by calling pre-season games as it was nothing. Be rational. If Maresca is doing worse than Pochettino in the pre-season, how can fans be positive? Pochettino did well in the pre-season games last season, but they still struggled in the EPL.
What about Maresca? He got the worst result in the preseason games. I predict Chelsea will be in the relegation spots in November. An unbalanced team with a shit manager and clown ownership destroyed it all.

Enzo Maresca is new to the system, there's a lot for the new coach to accomplish. He's well positioned and experienced, he knows how to coupled up with the big advantages of the Blues. Though he's yet to grab his first winning in the pre-season games, the Blues have recorded a draw and defeat which never a welcoming odds for the manager and the new players signed.

It's quite weird if we're praising the draw against Wrexham (a team that we beaten 5-0 last season). It's also a shame to see how Celtic completely destroyed us too. I think we must not use the new system or whatever it is as an excuse to defend Maresca's bad coaching style.
It was not right to call Maresca an experienced coach. He never achieved much in his career. His only success was winning a championship trophy.

[el kaka22]

Calafiori will be a great addition for Arsenal without a doubt, and they didn't spend all that much insane money on him neither, we are talking about something quite small for a team like Arsenal, 45 million if I am not wrong.

Saliba and Calafiori together could be a deadly duo at centre back, they could definitely shut down many teams, and would be amazing at the league as well. They are not trying to get UCL or anything anyway, they are trying to get premier league title, which means that this duo needs to shut down the goal to many smaller teams, if they can do that then they will be fine in the league, their offense is already good enough so they will be able to find some score.

I think the best thing to do in this case would be just getting some hopes to get the premier league title. They almost got it for two years in a row, which was awesome for them but unlucky that they missed out with just a few points, but I am guessing that we are going to see Arsenal may actually get it this year. If they do, then the next stop would be just keep having consistency with the team and try to get the UCL after that, because after league title only thing left would be UCL and that's very tough.

[tusandii]

We do not need to be disappointed with the results obtained by Manchester City and Everton which ended in defeat.
This is not a serious match but for me Manchester City has a very good performance even though it only appears with a few young players and Pep Guardiola managed to provide an increase to young players like Nico O'reilly who managed to score in the match against Barcelona.

As for Everton, indeed this was not considered serious by Sean Dyche as the club coach he only tried to provide opportunities for young players and also tried a little speculation with his new strategy.
I hope that in real matches later Everton will not give a bad appearance like this.

[klidex]

Manchester City have been winning the Premier League for 4 years in a row... This is a proof that they have turned it into a farmers league I'm afraid.    Other teams should do something about it.

Arsenal are the team I have the biggest expectations from at this moment. Because you know, we have all watched last 2 seasons. They were in the title race until the final moments. Neither Liverpool nor other top teams were able to do it better. Arsenal were just lacking in consistency. I think that is an issue which can be solved. Arteta is the 2nd best manager of this league after Guardiola.

Lastly, I hope they sign a decent striker too before new season starts. 

Pep Guardiola's team is very difficult to beat unless there is a club that can really beat them then make the Premier League competitive again, Arsenal is the only club that has been a competitor to Manchester City in the last 2 seasons but this club is less consistent entering the end of the season so again Manchester City took over the top position and became champions. Arsenal must be consistent and don't let the struggle they have built from the beginning of the season be in vain I am sure Mikel Arteta has learned from previous mistakes and will make Arsenal better, every season I see significant progress I think it is very possible for Arsenal to win the Premier League title next season.

[Helena Yu]

experience is not an important thing as long as he can maintain cohesion team. There are many new coaches who are inexperienced out there but can win prestigious tournaments. Like example Pep guardiola who have new as coach barcelona senior at past, but he proved that he could and was even able to win the league with many achievements. Maybe now we need to wait first until the league starts, maybe there will be a surprise like what happened on new coach before.

Who are them beside Pep? I believe there are not many.

Pep is a gifted coach, he's an outliers, not an average coach. You should judge it based on the whole population, you will see a lot successful coach aren't successful with their first team, that's the reality.

Anyone can play football, but why only Ronaldo and Messi are popular?

[reagansimms]

This season will be more exciting than last season, Manchester City must be able to maintain its performance if it does not want the EPL trophy to be taken by another team.

The transfer market will still be until early September. So every team still has a chance to improve the team with transfers. I think the big teams in the EPL at the moment don't have much financial problems. So it seems that the rich team can maximize the finances they have. So at the moment I see all the big teams are improving with some big transfers. It is very difficult to see their performance next season.

Big teams always take advantage of the transfer market to strengthen their squad, the coach has also evaluated what has been happening in his team, players who are considered to have made less of a contribution will be released and immediately look at other players to cover the weaknesses in his squad. EPL teams competing in the Champions League do not experience any financial constraints, they can make big moves in the transfer market to bring in the players they want.

Some of them have succeeded in bringing in new players, their seriousness in improving the quality of their squad indicates that they really want to win prestigious titles including the Champions League. Manchester City, Arsenal and Liverpool will try to provide competition in the Champions League, it is unimaginable how exciting it will be this season after the big teams have managed to build their squads with new strength.

[Barikui1]

Yes that was a good signing by Arsenal because the position of Riccardo Calafiori is a very important and sensitive area of the defense and since Arsenal have got good strikers, the area they are having major challenge is within the defense region but now that Riccardo Calafiori who plays as a center back have been signed to the team, we should expect Arsenal's defense line to be solid since William Saliba who is a major figure in the defense line will now play along with Riccardo Calafiori and I have come across some news in the media that shows how eager Riccardo Calafiori was to sign for Arsenal, he was so happy to join a very active competitor of the English Premier league so i believe he will give his all to see them make good improvements in the new season. Within this 5 years of his contract with Arsenal, he must have blended so well with the team.

No doubt it is a good signing. Arsenal only has William Saliba and Gabriel Magalhães as good center-backs. If one of them leaves the club or get injury, there is no proper replacement. Now, Riccardo Calafiori can replace one of them if there is an unexpected thing happening. You must know there is a rumor that Real Madrid is trying to sign William Saliba. Signing Riccardo Calafiori is the right anticipatory step, Real Madrid is very serious when they want to sign a player. Even Mbppe, they can successfully sign the player, it is not impossible if Real Madrid also succeeds to sign William Saliba.

Real Madrid are highly impressed with William Saliba



Anyway, you said Arsenal have good strikers, what strikers do you mean? Currently, Gabriel Jesus and Eddie Nketiah are Arsenal strikers, none of them showed impressive performance last season. I think Arsenal also needs new a top striker who have real instict as a machine goal. Osimhen is one of a good candidate but the chance to sign him looks not really high.

I have also seen recent news of Victor Oshime joining Chelsea, I have always said this last season, even in my previous post before, Chelsea is the right destination for him.

As far as I know, it is still a rumor. In my own opinion, Osimhen is better to join Arsenal over Chelsea. Why Osimhen needs to join Chelsea? Chelsea doesn't play in any international competitions, Chelsea even is struggling hard in domestic competitions. If he joins Arsenal, Osimhen will play in UCL and Osimhen may have the chance to win EPL trophy with Arsenal. We know Arsenal always competes for the EPL trophy in the last 2 seasons. If they have Osimhen, the chance to win the trophy may be higher and won't end up the season at a runner-up position again.

You made a very good point about the rumour linking saliba to real madrid, because I believe that if the interest of real madrid became more serious, at some point, it would be very difficult for arsenal keep hold of his services for long, just as the saying that most players usually says, that when real Madrid comes calling, you can hardly say no as a player, so I believe that if real madrid became serious with their interest, at some point they will definitely sign him, but to the player, I think it's a wrong career move if he make such a move now, especially now that Antonio rudiger, David alaba and militao are still at the  top of their game, because in as much as he is very good now, he is still not a better central back than any of this players I made mention off.

And as for the rumour circulating the internet of victor osimhen to Chelsea, I really don't know how credible is that news, but I believe that if the deal went through, it's definitely going to be a win win situation for all the parties involved, and he is definitely going to improve the attacking lineup of Chelsea no doubt.

[Farma]

experience is not an important thing as long as he can maintain cohesion team. There are many new coaches who are inexperienced out there but can win prestigious tournaments. Like example Pep guardiola who have new as coach barcelona senior at past, but he proved that he could and was even able to win the league with many achievements. Maybe now we need to wait first until the league starts, maybe there will be a surprise like what happened on new coach before.

Who are them beside Pep? I believe there are not many.

Pep is a gifted coach, he's an outliers, not an average coach. You should judge it based on the whole population, you will see a lot successful coach aren't successful with their first team, that's the reality.

Anyone can play football, but why only Ronaldo and Messi are popular?

Xabi Alonso can also, not just Pep so I think we can't underestimate him before there is proof.

It cannot be denied that Pep is a pretty good coach but that doesn't mean there aren't any great coaches like Pep in the world, I'm sure there will be many who will emerge and now it's visible is Xabi Alonso.

Players and coaches are different, that's what must be remembered.

[Mr.right85]

Calafiori will be a great addition for Arsenal without a doubt, and they didn't spend all that much insane money on him neither, we are talking about something quite small for a team like Arsenal, 45 million if I am not wrong.

Saliba and Calafiori together could be a deadly duo at centre back, they could definitely shut down many teams, and would be amazing at the league as well. They are not trying to get UCL or anything anyway, they are trying to get premier league title, which means that this duo needs to shut down the goal to many smaller teams, if they can do that then they will be fine in the league, their offense is already good enough so they will be able to find some score.

I think the best thing to do in this case would be just getting some hopes to get the premier league title. They almost got it for two years in a row, which was awesome for them but unlucky that they missed out with just a few points, but I am guessing that we are going to see Arsenal may actually get it this year. If they do, then the next stop would be just keep having consistency with the team and try to get the UCL after that, because after league title only thing left would be UCL and that's very tough.

Calafiori is indeed a good player and Arsenal are lucky to have signed him. It’s a good thing for them as they’re done with that nonsense of a player throwing up all their plans into jeopardy with one injury. Arteta wants to solidify his defense for next season because they want to challenge for the title again this season. With the number of defensive reinforcements they have brought in so far you would wonder if they’ll have enough game time. I think there are enough games to go round. Plus the opponents will also determine who plays in some games. Arteta has said that z Calafiori will deputize Gabriel and also play the LB position. While Timber and Ben White fight for that RB slot, while both of them can deputize for Saliba if he gets injured.

[Litzki1990]

What I always say is that Manchester United is a very old club and this club has a lot of tradition but in terms of performance this club is not in a good position at all.

Yes it is true that Manchester United is a very old club even they have a lot of tradition. During the game tradition and old clubs have to play well on the field to win the match. We enjoyed a friendly match between Arsenal and Manchester United where Arsenal players performed best. If we take a complete overview of this match, we can see that Arsenal progressed in ball positions and passing the ball perhaps proving that they worked hard today even got their hard work rewarded. However, in today's match, Manchester United scored first and then they started playing sloppy football and Arsenal players took advantage of that opportunity to score two goals in Manchester United's net to bring their team to the brink of victory.
Scored a Goal for Manchester United team
R. Hojlund
Scored goal for Arsenal.
Jesus and Martinelli

The match between Arsenal and Manchester United was a friendly but there was no shortage of excitement. Arsenal performed well against Manchester United but Manchester United did not perform well against Arsenal. Since it was a friendly match, the performance of this match might not be that important but Manchester United's performance against Arsenal can at least give an idea of how Manchester United's performance is going to be in the next season. Since there has not been much change in the team, it is natural that there will not be much change in performance. 
Manchester United are relying on their current manager, maybe this manager will disappoint them next season as well and they will not be in a very good position in the Premier League points table at the end of a full season.

Manchester United players performed very well in this match. Manchester United players performed very badly against Rosenborg in the first friendly match. Throughout the match we saw slow performance from Manchester United players. And Manchester United lost the match by 1-0. Despite a poor performance against Rosenborg, Manchester United's performance against Arsenal improved.

Manchester United lost 2-1 against Arsenal. Manchester United's players attacked a lot in this match. Even then, Manchester United players could not score more than one goal. However, Hojlund suffered an injury in this match. And it's a big loss for Manchester United.

Although they did not score goals, they played attacking football which is definitely a positive thing for them. The recent performance of Manchester United undoubtedly means that they are far behind Arsenal, but even though they lost the match against Arsenal, there was not much difference between the two teams in the entire match. Manchester United positioned the ball correctly and Manchester United did some attacking but there were some weaknesses in their finishing that the manager must work on. Manchester United's midfield is strong enough but there are some injury problems, but if some changes can be made in defense, this team can once again establish itself in the list of well-performing teams.

[Mame89]

The match between Arsenal and Manchester United was a friendly but there was no shortage of excitement. Arsenal performed well against Manchester United but Manchester United did not perform well against Arsenal. Since it was a friendly match, the performance of this match might not be that important but Manchester United's performance against Arsenal can at least give an idea of how Manchester United's performance is going to be in the next season. Since there has not been much change in the team, it is natural that there will not be much change in performance. 

Manchester United are relying on their current manager, maybe this manager will disappoint them next season as well and they will not be in a very good position in the Premier League points table at the end of a full season.

The function of the pre-season is to try out strategies that are suitable for this season's league, but many fans take this match seriously. A friendly match to test the depth of the squad, and indeed even though it was a friendly match, both teams played very well, perhaps because of prestige.

But in general, Man United's game in the first half was quite good, and in the second half, the defenders often piled up in the penalty box but the wing area was often missed. It can be said that this is a mistake that is often repeated, I hope Erik Ten Hag must fix it immediately, the support of the ball to the striker is often stuck, this also needs to be fixed, and the winger/midfielder has difficulty making a difference when a goal is needed. Man United's game has actually improved from last season, it's just that what still confuses me is that in the pre-season, other goalkeepers didn't have a chance, Onana is still irreplaceable, Erik Ten Hag should have given other goalkeepers a chance too.

But anyway, even though they lost, I am still optimistic that Man United will be better this season. The players have started to understand the direction of the game even though their passes are still not good. It just needs to be polished by seeing how many players are already strong at Man United.

[Velvet78]

Calafiori is indeed a good player and Arsenal are lucky to have signed him. It’s a good thing for them as they’re done with that nonsense of a player throwing up all their plans into jeopardy with one injury. Arteta wants to solidify his defense for next season because they want to challenge for the title again this season. With the number of defensive reinforcements they have brought in so far you would wonder if they’ll have enough game time. I think there are enough games to go round. Plus the opponents will also determine who plays in some games. Arteta has said that z Calafiori will deputize Gabriel and also play the LB position. While Timber and Ben White fight for that RB slot, while both of them can deputize for Saliba if he gets injured.

Arsenal had only 3 CBs before this signing so they did a really good job with that. Calafiori is a quite talented defender at the same time. Who knows maybe Gabriel's place in the starting lineup might be under danger now.

I'm not saying that for Saliba because he is the best performing defender at the team so far. He has even been rumoured with Real Madrid recently. Arsenal had better keep him this summer. We would watch a duo like Saliba - Gabriel or Saliba - Calafiori. Gabriel was prone to making mistakes last season. He will need to improve his performance more as the competition in defense line increases more in time. Timber is also another promising defender.