⚽ Premier League 2025/2026 Discussion Thread ⚽

[Minor Miner]

I totally forgot about this game. There are only 5 days left as it seems. Manchester City are highly favoured as usual. It is no surprise considering the general results between these teams in the recent years.

I'm curious whether Yoro and Zirkzee will be in the starting lineup in this game. The Red Devils haven't performed exactly what they had in their mind in the transfer window yet. This makes me doubtful about this game.

But on the other hand, there is a truth like they sometimes know how to handle Manchester City well.    Who knows maybe this might also be one of those times...

The match is going to be held in a few days. And I don't see any chance of Manchester United winning this match. We have seen the overall performance of Manchester United in friendly matches. Even though they don't give much chance to experienced players in their squad, I don't see any improvement in Manchester United's match tactics. At the same time, Manchester United's squad has not been strengthened enough. Manchester United's defense is weak and the overall performance of the strikers is very erratic.

Manchester City on the other hand have a strong and stable squad. Guardiola has not made any changes to the squad this season. Therefore, it is assumed that the performance of the players of this squad of Manchester City will be stable in the next season as well. City will dominate and win against Manchester United.

[TelolettOm]

I don't think there is much wrong with Liverpool's current squad, of course the fans are waiting for a new star player to be added to the squad, maybe it could be because it would be an impressive innovation for the championship. But as you said the current squad is good enough to compete with Manchester City and Arsenal.

Yap, current squad is actually still good enough. and it seems that this time Liverpool did not spend much money to find new players in the Arne slot era. At least so far, Liverpool's signing arrivals have only been 2, all of which are free transfers and come from their own academy, such as Vitezslav Jaros (Goalkeeper) and Bobby Clark (Central Midfield). Indeed, for now, the hot rumor for Liverpool is the rumor regarding Liverpool's interest in Alper Yilmaz, a Turkish Right Winger who currently plays for the Galatasaray club, but he is also not a top player.

Slot said that it is quite difficult to get players who match their expectations and targets. Liverpool currently has top players, he said. However, in the few weeks before the transfer closed, Slot and management are continuing to try to get players who are indeed on target and can clearly strengthen the club.


Source: Arne Slot on new signings

[Spaceman1000$]

I totally forgot about this game. There are only 5 days left as it seems. Manchester City are highly favoured as usual. It is no surprise considering the general results between these teams in the recent years.

I'm curious whether Yoro and Zirkzee will be in the starting lineup in this game. The Red Devils haven't performed exactly what they had in their mind in the transfer window yet. This makes me doubtful about this game.

But on the other hand, there is a truth like they sometimes know how to handle Manchester City well.    Who knows maybe this might also be one of those times...

Actually i forgot about this match too. I feel Manchester city are likely going to win, Manchester United four key players are out on injuries due to preseason, so Manchester City is far more a complete team than Manchester United.
But if you talk about general results in recent years, Manchester United won man city last season to win the FA cup, so ideally Manchester United can build up a strong defense to fight Manchester City but for the injuries they have.

But on the flip side, pep guardiola might just be preparing for a revenge on that FA cup they lost, at least winning the community shield to build up strong confidence for his team as the season begins.

[Zaguru12]

I don't think there is much wrong with Liverpool's current squad, of course the fans are waiting for a new star player to be added to the squad, maybe it could be because it would be an impressive innovation for the championship. But as you said the current squad is good enough to compete with Manchester City and Arsenal.

They played a very good game against Manchester United, Liverpool already gave good signals for the new season with a score of 3-0, so in the end the squad is the same and they are good to be honest.

The thing here is let Liverpool not get carried away by this wins against Arsenal and Manchester United, this wins aren’t important if you ask me, Arne Slot needs to look beyond This and strength the club, last season we all know how Liverpool struggled with few injuries and most of the season ended with young players been fiddled in tough games and it cost them the title. They are not ok like this as a squad if they wish to compete with Manchester city. One key area they seriously lack to me is the midfield area, they need reinforcements and it should be this season. Also a new striker like Isak of Newcastle wouldn’t be bad because the dependent on Nunez is just too much and it’s not going their way at the moment he needs competition

[Tony116]

I totally forgot about this game. There are only 5 days left as it seems. Manchester City are highly favoured as usual. It is no surprise considering the general results between these teams in the recent years.

I'm curious whether Yoro and Zirkzee will be in the starting lineup in this game. The Red Devils haven't performed exactly what they had in their mind in the transfer window yet. This makes me doubtful about this game.

But on the other hand, there is a truth like they sometimes know how to handle Manchester City well.    Who knows maybe this might also be one of those times...

Actually i forgot about this match too. I feel Manchester city are likely going to win, Manchester United four key players are out on injuries due to preseason, so Manchester City is far more a complete team than Manchester United.
But if you talk about general results in recent years, Manchester United won man city last season to win the FA cup, so ideally Manchester United can build up a strong defense to fight Manchester City but for the injuries they have.

But on the flip side, pep guardiola might just be preparing for a revenge on that FA cup they lost, at least winning the community shield to build up strong confidence for his team as the season begins.

Finally, a match that is not friendly and is actually going to be enjoyable. Well, I hope it is going to be enjoyable. We have been watching some friendly matches till now. So it will be finally great to watch a match that is competitive. And of course, I am pretty much sure that Guardiola is going to look for revenge for what happened in the FA Cup last season. So I think there is going to be a big competition in this match and I am guessing Manchester City will be the winner. Because frankly, they are just a better squad compared to Manchester United. But of course, we can also see a surprise just like we did in the FA Cup last season.

[el kaka22]

I feel like dumping players isn't an easy choice, there are a lot of things that you need to take care of before you can do that. First of all, a player in Manchester United will usually get paid a lot more there than any other team, so if you want to sell a player, there is a possibility that the player may not want to leave, after all they are getting paid a lot of money.

Secondly, you can't just freely give away players, you need to make some money from them, you spent some money on them after all, zero is not possibility, you need to make some income from them. When you combine these, you are looking for a club that would be willing to pay a good market price for players who have high salaries that you also do not want to see in your squad, see how that's hard? Why would they pay market price and high salary for a player that you do not want on your team? This is why it is going to take a while for them to get some good offers for any of their players.

[Cryptoprincess101]

Liverpool was cooking Manchester United. And I'm feeling very optimistic if we're gonna enter the title race against City and Arsenal soon. I can't really understand why people are pushing off Liverpool to sign a new player ASAP. In fact, they don't need to sign a new player.

Our new Slotball system is amazing. It holds the ball to draw in attackers, then tries to play out from the back.. It's also gone very smoothly. And Slotball is the thing that I have ever dreamed off. Im sure we're gonna cook any big clubs in the EPL soon.

I don't think there is much wrong with Liverpool's current squad, of course the fans are waiting for a new star player to be added to the squad, maybe it could be because it would be an impressive innovation for the championship. But as you said the current squad is good enough to compete with Manchester City and Arsenal.

They played a very good game against Manchester United, Liverpool already gave good signals for the new season with a score of 3-0, so in the end the squad is the same and they are good to be honest.

Liverpool has already been built by Jurgen Klopp even though they are having challenges of Winning trophies and I see that Liverpool is the only team I feel can be able to compete with Manchester City because both teams plays same pattern of more of attacking. Liverpool squad is not bad despite that they didn't make any remarkable signings this summer. I think Arne Slot will do a nice job Liverpool to continue the legacy of Jurgen Klopp.
        Even though Liverpool won Manchester United by 3:0 in their friendly game but that is not enough reason to pass judgement about possible performance of Liverpool in the coming season, they can play well in friendly games and begin to flop in league games so pre season games should not cause much excitement about the performance of a particular team.

[Baki202]

I don't think there is much wrong with Liverpool's current squad, of course the fans are waiting for a new star player to be added to the squad, maybe it could be because it would be an impressive innovation for the championship. But as you said the current squad is good enough to compete with Manchester City and Arsenal.

From last season me to don't see anything wrong with Liverpool squad even next season they can still play well and might still maintain their top three position, and I don't know why their fans are waiting for a new star their will be a lot of consideration before the club will want to take a step of going for a new player. And it's not as if it won't be useful if they don't buy, but since they did. It make any move I think the fans should just accept that and it will be better that for them.

They played a very good game against Manchester United, Liverpool already gave good signals for the new season with a score of 3-0, so in the end the squad is the same and they are good to be honest.

Manchester United played a very good game, because they are the one that did not win and Liverpool won an they are the one that got the credit. And this is what Manchester United wants to start the league. Preseason they are already conceding 3 goals to nil, Liverpool have shown that they are still in position to perform better this season we already know were to place Manchester United.

[Abbatty]

I don't think there is much wrong with Liverpool's current squad, of course the fans are waiting for a new star player to be added to the squad, maybe it could be because it would be an impressive innovation for the championship. But as you said the current squad is good enough to compete with Manchester City and Arsenal.

They look good currently but pre season games shouldn’t be what you judge a team performance by, we all saw how Chelsea played well in the pre season last season but performed woefully when the league began. Some team don’t perform well in preseason but play well when the season starts. We will see if the squad is good enough compete soon because the premier league is a league you should expect a lot from even with smaller teams they can surprise you. Let’s just hope they maintain their performance and play well when the season starts.

[Mr.right85]

Liverpool have shown a decent form in the preseason games so far. It’s a thing to talk about considering the fact that they are yet to bring in a new player but they have failed to lost any of their preseason games so far. Manchester City and Arsenal seems to be the front runners for the EPL title but something within tells me that Liverpool will be in the mix this season. I don’t even expect Arsenal to conveniently finish ahead of Liverpool. Somehow the fact that it has taken Arteta half a decade to compete against Pep means everyone will take such a long time to get in the mix.

I see Liverpool contending for the title this season. They had a bizarre injury list last season and that’s why they fell off after competing for the most part of last season. The new manager is coming in to meet an already settled squad. Their 2 preseason games I’ve seen makes me believe say the new manager is very good. 

[Swordsoffreedom]

I don't think there is much wrong with Liverpool's current squad, of course the fans are waiting for a new star player to be added to the squad, maybe it could be because it would be an impressive innovation for the championship. But as you said the current squad is good enough to compete with Manchester City and Arsenal.

They look good currently but pre season games shouldn’t be what you judge a team performance by, we all saw how Chelsea played well in the pre season last season but performed woefully when the league began. Some team don’t perform well in preseason but play well when the season starts. We will see if the squad is good enough compete soon because the premier league is a league you should expect a lot from even with smaller teams they can surprise you. Let’s just hope they maintain their performance and play well when the season starts.

The overall status of the teams cannot be taken into consideration by looking at their performance in the pre-season matches. Because in friendly matches, big teams like City, Madrid, Arsenal and Liverpool form squads with their second row players. And the coach tries to give some experience to the new and young players in his squad. In these matches, no team performs for the sole purpose of winning. So the results of friendly matches are not that important.

Manchester City have lost three out of four friendly matches. Manchester City lost against AC Milan, Barcelona and Celtic. However, the team won the last match against Chelsea by a margin of 4-2. However, I would say that Manchester City are more likely to dominate the Premier League next season. City have a stable squad. Guardiola has backup players even if a player faces injury. And this is very important. Teams like Arsenal and Liverpool are very strong. However, when a key player suffers an injury, their performance drops. But Manchester City is ahead in this aspect.

[Litzki1990]

It seems like Arsenal needs new ammunition on defender to solve this problem. When I look the match highlights some midfielders are not so enthusiastic to blocking the ball so that the ball goes wild backwards and cannot be cleared by defender. maybe it can be overcome by changing the formation, but it's not so effective if some defender are still moving forward to look for the ball. In other side, This is a proving ground a new coach of liverpool if he enough smart to look up the opportunities that be exist. At least, this victory can provest him if he enters the ranks of top coaches on premier league.

Arsenal and Liverpool both fielded their first team squads in this match. This is a big match even though it is only a trial and both teams will be able to evaluate their performance from the results of the match. I saw so many substitutions made by both teams. Both coaches are still trying various variations in their game tactics. I saw Arne Slot a little better because he could see the opportunity to win the match. Arsenal dominated the match but as you said in this match Arsenal had weaknesses in their back line. This should be an evaluation for Arteta before the season starts.

Liverpool beat Arsenal 2-1 in the warm-up match between Arsenal and Liverpool. I know why the results of the preparatory matches are opposite because the team with which we have high expectations and the team which has a high chance of winning is not winning while the team which has no chance is winning by a big margin. For example, considering the current performance of the match between Arsenal and Liverpool, we thought that maybe Arsenal could win this match, but Liverpool won there, on the other hand, we thought that Real Madrid could win the match between Real Madrid and Barcelona, but it did not happen. However, if these teams from whom we expect less can perform consistently in the main stage matches as well as in the warm-up matches, then the competition will be very tough in every tournament and we are looking forward to that.

[Oluwa-btc]

I totally forgot about this game. There are only 5 days left as it seems. Manchester City are highly favoured as usual. It is no surprise considering the general results between these teams in the recent years.

I'm curious whether Yoro and Zirkzee will be in the starting lineup in this game. The Red Devils haven't performed exactly what they had in their mind in the transfer window yet. This makes me doubtful about this game.

But on the other hand, there is a truth like they sometimes know how to handle Manchester City well.    Who knows maybe this might also be one of those times...

What day precisely please? Saturday or Sunday? Infact the odds were obviously against Manchester United during the FA Cup Competition Finals. Games are not decided on paper but this particular game, I'm not expecting nothing from Manchester United same way I expected the win during the FA Cup Finals.

Joshua Zirkzee has been involved in training sections since retuning from holidays he could be a backup player, I feel like he is match rusty at this point. Leny Yoro is Injured and will be back in the next three months. Manchester United will have to prove otherwise honestly, I don't rate them in this game. I don't know and I don't think so, let the best side win in between.

Manchester United has been disappointing in the transfer window after the first two done.

[knowngunman]

Liverpool was cooking Manchester United. And I'm feeling very optimistic if we're gonna enter the title race against City and Arsenal soon. I can't really understand why people are pushing off Liverpool to sign a new player ASAP. In fact, they don't need to sign a new player.

Our new Slotball system is amazing. It holds the ball to draw in attackers, then tries to play out from the back.. It's also gone very smoothly. And Slotball is the thing that I have ever dreamed off. Im sure we're gonna cook any big clubs in the EPL soon.

I don't think there is much wrong with Liverpool's current squad, of course the fans are waiting for a new star player to be added to the squad, maybe it could be because it would be an impressive innovation for the championship. But as you said the current squad is good enough to compete with Manchester City and Arsenal.

They played a very good game against Manchester United, Liverpool already gave good signals for the new season with a score of 3-0, so in the end the squad is the same and they are good to be honest.

Liverpool squad is in good shape if no one is leaving the squad in this ongoing transfer window but that doesn't mean they shouldn't go for one or two players if there's means. I don't know how authentic is the news about Mo Sallah leaving the club but regardless, having alternatives is very necessary and their defense needs serious attention too. I'm not trying to downgrade their current defenders but Vigil is not as strong as before and possible replacement should be in place in case of any misfortune. Arne slot seems to be satisfied with the present squad and will definitely figure out how he can get desired results with them.

[mammusu]

I don't think there is much wrong with Liverpool's current squad, of course the fans are waiting for a new star player to be added to the squad, maybe it could be because it would be an impressive innovation for the championship. But as you said the current squad is good enough to compete with Manchester City and Arsenal.

They look good currently but pre season games shouldn’t be what you judge a team performance by, we all saw how Chelsea played well in the pre season last season but performed woefully when the league began. Some team don’t perform well in preseason but play well when the season starts. We will see if the squad is good enough compete soon because the premier league is a league you should expect a lot from even with smaller teams they can surprise you. Let’s just hope they maintain their performance and play well when the season starts.

Liverpool is one of the teams that currently hasn't got a single player in the transfer market and we don't know why they are too passive at the moment when other teams continue to strengthen their squad by bringing in several new players, Liverpool has  several friendly matches with positive results, But that doesn't mean we can say that they are ready to compete next season with Arsenal and Manchester City, friendly matches are not matches that show the true performance of a team so we can't guarantee that they will perform well next season even though they achieve positive results in friendly matches this time.

Last season, Liverpool performed quite well, although in the end they experienced inconsistency towards the end of the season due to injuries to several main players, so Arne Slot should try to bring in two or three new players to prevent last season bad luck from repeating , the majority of the Liverpool squad retained last season squad, however, I doubt that they will be able to compete next season if they don't bring in new players now to support and improve the quality of the old squad.

[joniboini]

I don't know how authentic is the news about Mo Sallah leaving the club but regardless, having alternatives is very necessary and their defense needs serious attention too. I'm not trying to downgrade their current defenders but Vigil is not as strong as before and possible replacement should be in place in case of any misfortune. Arne slot seems to be satisfied with the present squad and will definitely figure out how he can get desired results with them.

I think the owner doesn't really like spending to be fair, can't say anything even if you have a great scouting team when your owner don't give you money to buy players. I honestly believe this is why they brought in Slot, so that they can use their young players more instead of buying players. Not sure what their target for next season is, but I don't think the owner aim for something as big as a quadruple charge or something similar. They really want to maximize profit as much as possible without hurting the team too much. Not sure if fans will like it tho.

[ILuckyGuyI]

It is getting more interesting as time goes on that Liverpool doesn't make any transfer at all... I mean we are only 10 days behind the 1st week of the season in the PL. So when do they plan to sign someone? 

I wonder if it is about Arne Slot's not sending any transfer list to the board or something else. I don't think the current squad is enough to stay in the title challenge until the end of the season.

We saw it clearly last season. Of course there is a new coach and we don't know about him yet. Maybe he will handle the team better than Klopp and surprise us all. But the chance of it looks lower than the other possibility to me. 

[el kaka22]

I am sure that Liverpool will be fine, I cannot say if they are going to end up being in the title race again or not, but last season they were leading the league until a very last moment, then they lost points back to back after that Atalanta loss, I guess their morale just got destroyed after that, and they finished third because of the points lost on that period.

Will Arne Slott be similar to Klopp and keep the team going? Will he make them play a good football? I am not entirely sure and we are going to see, but until then I just assume that they are going to be a top four team no matter what since that's their level. Without that, if they finish worse, then I do not think that they are going to end up any good.

[Palakka]

I am sure that Liverpool will be fine, I cannot say if they are going to end up being in the title race again or not, but last season they were leading the league until a very last moment, then they lost points back to back after that Atalanta loss, I guess their morale just got destroyed after that, and they finished third because of the points lost on that period.

Will Arne Slott be similar to Klopp and keep the team going? Will he make them play a good football? I am not entirely sure and we are going to see, but until then I just assume that they are going to be a top four team no matter what since that's their level. Without that, if they finish worse, then I do not think that they are going to end up any good.

So far we have seen that Klopp is able to optimize the squad he has at both Dortmund and Liverpool to remain competitive as title contenders, so that is why he can become one of the best coaches ever, we don't know much about Arne Slot  ability in coaching so far although he was able to handle Feyenoord well previously, but now we are talking about the Premier League which is the most competitive league in Europe, so it seems difficult for Arne Slot to be able to bring Liverpool better than Klopp has doing so far, let alone him must to maximize last season squad which has many weaknesses in several sectors, In my opinion, Liverpool attack line is no longer as sharp as before because of their main striker (Salah), who in several seasons has no longer been at his best, as well as their defense line last season quite fragile, so without the addition of new players the slot job will actually be even more difficult next season and looking at all the possibilities, it looks like next season we will see Liverpool get out of the big four zone.

[hahay]

It is getting more interesting as time goes on that Liverpool doesn't make any transfer at all... I mean we are only 10 days behind the 1st week of the season in the PL. So when do they plan to sign someone? 

I wonder if it is about Arne Slot's not sending any transfer list to the board or something else. I don't think the current squad is enough to stay in the title challenge until the end of the season.

We saw it clearly last season. Of course there is a new coach and we don't know about him yet. Maybe he will handle the team better than Klopp and surprise us all. But the chance of it looks lower than the other possibility to me. 

But at least it would be interesting if Arne Slot really didn't need new players, because apart from reducing expenses, by not buying players, at least the coach would maximize the young players he has. Indeed, I also think that not buying players would be very risky, because it is very possible that the main players will get tired because there will probably be minimal rotation too. After all, it's not that Liverpool doesn't have the money to buy new players, but it looks like Arne Slot might have a different way or method in building a team.

Or maybe, in this transfer window they are not planning to buy players but, if as time goes by they are no longer able to maintain good performance, then maybe in the next transfer window they will buy players or in the second half of the season later. So yes, I think it would also be interesting if for example Arne Slot would succeed with a method like this, because if that happened then Liverpool might be said to be right or very lucky to have a great manager again.