⚽ Premier League 2025/2026 Discussion Thread ⚽

[EL MOHA]

Arteta has had the opportunity to sign players that can help him compete for the title, but instead, he went for players that are not too necessary. When people say Pep is not a good manager because he spent a lot of money on players, I laugh because other managers have opportunities to sign players to strengthen their squads but they focused on just signing good players.

Arsenal finished last season in second position, narrowly missing out on the league, but couldn't figure out why he lost the title at the later stage of the competition.
He already had Rice, Jorginho and Partey so Merino was not necessary. What he needed was a world-class goal scorer as a top striker. He also needed a creative central midfielder who could replace Odergard and also play with Odergaard so they could have more creativity on the field but he decided to buy a CB, now he's lining up with 4 CBs and 3 DMs, of course, his team's performance will drop.

Let me say I disagree with you on something first the Arsenal board do not casually buy players just like the way other managers in the clubs gets to biy every player that they can get their hands off, In fact Arteta is the most trusted manager that edu the director and the Arsenal hierarchy have ever believed. But still the availability of funds like Manchester city has been a problem for Arteta.

Arsenal truly did needed a striker for them to actually be able to compete the use of Kai was actually not it but saying that arsenal doesn’t need Mikel merino Is not it. Arsenal needs a midfielder then to actually pattern Rice because of the way that the other midfielders were always out injured

[Litzki1990]

-snip-

I agree with you. There is a possibility that City cannot defend their title this season because of their performance. This is the first time after several seasons that they have more than 3 consecutive defeats. Rodri's absence has a significant impact on City's game. This shows that Rodri is an important player in City after De Bruyne. Of course Pep will try to find some players in this transfer market. They can't just rely on one player like Rodri or KDB. And talking about the title, I think City will have a hard time defending it but they can still finish in second or third place. Other teams like Liverpool, Arsenal or Chelsea should be able to take advantage of this moment to get some points advantage over City. Because with the current number of points City still has a chance to become champions again.

Rodri will not play through out this season because his injury is the worst of them all. However, by the end of this month two players would have recovered and back to the team. It would be a very difficult task for City to defend the title for the fourth time, because they are not as strong as they used to be in the previous seasons. Liverpool is super hot, and has the high chance of winning the league than any club currently, only if they would be faced with their own challenges in the long run before the end of the season

Rodri is one of the mainstays of Manchester City's midfield but this player will not be able to play the entire season for Manchester City. If these important players cannot play for the team, then how will the team's condition improve? Those are the reasons for those looking for reasons behind Manchester City's current poor performance. If the important players of the team are not performing well and if the midfield position of the team is weak then the team performance of that team is not supposed to be good. Manchester City may still be doing well with their strength in other positions but if there were any other club in place of Manchester City they would have performed worse than Manchester City.

[joniboini]

Arsenal truly did needed a striker for them to actually be able to compete the use of Kai was actually not it but saying that arsenal doesn’t need Mikel merino Is not it. Arsenal needs a midfielder then to actually pattern Rice because of the way that the other midfielders were always out injured

I still can't wrap my head around why they didn't buy a striker last year, or two years ago. I'm pretty sure even wannabe pundits know they want or need to buy one since months ago[1]. One pundit that I followed suggested that they didn't find a good option hence why they stuck with Havertz and other wingers, but surely multiple windows should be more than enough to find a second/third alternative. At the very least it will give them another option to attack the opponents to reduce their reliance on Saka, Odegard, and so on. CMIIW.

Manchester City may still be doing well with their strength in other positions but if there were any other club in place of Manchester City they would have performed worse than Manchester City.

IIRC their underlying numbers are still good. The defence is definitely weaker but they should've scored more goals if the attackers had taken their chance. I mean having nearly 3 xG every match but scoring 1 goal shows there's trouble with their finishing.

[1] https://www.eurosport.com/football/transfers/2023-2024/arsenal-draw-up-striker-shortlist-as-chelsea-target-ivan-toney-summer-transfer-paper-round_sto10052614/story.shtml

[bitLeap]

This International Break, many England National Team players are absent due to special reasons such as minor injuries and so on. There are 8 players absent, namely Arnold, Levi, Foden, Grealish, Palmer, Aaron Ramsdale, Declan Rice, and Bukayo Saka as reported by Fabrizio, but this makes sense because the Nations League is not very interesting and they are more focused on maintaining their health so they can strengthen their respective clubs. Moreover, with the increasingly tight match schedule, the club does not want to take the risk of losing important players.

In my opinion it is not only the England National Team players who will withdraw from the Nations League match. German, Spanish, and Italian National Teams will also most likely take the same steps to avoid injury.

source: https://x.com/FabrizioRomano/status/1856050390799712320

[hyudien]

I think Ruben Amorim will be a chance for Manchester United. I trust the Portuguese manager. I think Manchester United can sign some good players from Sporting Lisbon. There will be names that Amorim knows. I am sure there will be players who will do well at Manchester United. I am very curious about what Gyökeres can do, especially if he is going to be transferred. I think he is a goal scorer with Premier League quality.

I will not rush to say Ruben Amorim is a coach who can make Manchester United better or not. because we have not seen how the performance he will present with Manchester United, besides that it takes several matches to see whether he will be able to bring Manchester United better or not. Many coaches were initially good but over time they could not be consistent, there are also coaches who were initially not so good but over time they got better. What I hope is that Manchester United do not rush to make a decision when at the beginning Amorim could not perform well.

[Die_empty]

This International Break, many England National Team players are absent due to special reasons such as minor injuries and so on. There are 8 players absent, namely Arnold, Levi, Foden, Grealish, Palmer, Aaron Ramsdale, Declan Rice, and Bukayo Saka as reported by Fabrizio, but this makes sense because the Nations League is not very interesting and they are more focused on maintaining their health so they can strengthen their respective clubs. Moreover, with the increasingly tight match schedule, the club does not want to take the risk of losing important players.

In my opinion it is not only the England National Team players who will withdraw from the Nations League match. German, Spanish, and Italian National Teams will also most likely take the same steps to avoid injury.

source: https://x.com/FabrizioRomano/status/1856050390799712320

Harry Kane was criticising some of the players who were absent from these two important games against Greece and the Republic of Ireland. He said that players should know that national duties supersede club loyalty. I am not comfortable with the captain's view because most of these players who pulled out of these international games have genuine reasons for that. He shouldn't expect injured players to risk their health for England games. This might be an indication that there might be a crack in the team that coach Lee Carsley is not properly handling. We are expecting to see how Thomas Tuchel will handle the team when he takes over in January.

https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/articles/c1jr97r6e7jo

[TastyChillySauce00]

This International Break, many England National Team players are absent due to special reasons such as minor injuries and so on. There are 8 players absent, namely Arnold, Levi, Foden, Grealish, Palmer, Aaron Ramsdale, Declan Rice, and Bukayo Saka as reported by Fabrizio, but this makes sense because the Nations League is not very interesting and they are more focused on maintaining their health so they can strengthen their respective clubs. Moreover, with the increasingly tight match schedule, the club does not want to take the risk of losing important players.

In my opinion it is not only the England National Team players who will withdraw from the Nations League match. German, Spanish, and Italian National Teams will also most likely take the same steps to avoid injury.

source: https://x.com/FabrizioRomano/status/1856050390799712320

Those names are important players for their clubs. It's no surprise to see them absent from the international game. A third international break before mid-November is really absurd. I sympathise with the clubs on this issue. They should have played with their second team. But, i understand why so many players were pulled off from this pointless international break games. It's due to the bloated schedule. The better those players are absent instead of getting long term injury that can be a boomerang for their clubs. I hope that there will be a lobby between the nation and clubs regarding this issue.

[mamesso]

I think Ruben Amorim will be a chance for Manchester United. I trust the Portuguese manager. I think Manchester United can sign some good players from Sporting Lisbon. There will be names that Amorim knows. I am sure there will be players who will do well at Manchester United. I am very curious about what Gyökeres can do, especially if he is going to be transferred. I think he is a goal scorer with Premier League quality.

I will not rush to say Ruben Amorim is a coach who can make Manchester United better or not. because we have not seen how the performance he will present with Manchester United, besides that it takes several matches to see whether he will be able to bring Manchester United better or not. Many coaches were initially good but over time they could not be consistent, there are also coaches who were initially not so good but over time they got better. What I hope is that Manchester United do not rush to make a decision when at the beginning Amorim could not perform well.

Ruben Amorim has not done anything for Manchester United so far, so now is not the time to give a positive or negative response to him. Given his ability to handle Sporting CP, he is the right choice to replace Ten Hag, but he also needs to adapt to the EPL's style of play which is known to be hard and fast. It takes time to judge performance, we can't draw conclusions just from the beginning of his tenure. The good news is that Manchester United are on a positive track after being handled by Van Nistelrooy for four games, hopefully Amorim can continue that trend.

[junder]

Rodri is one of the mainstays of Manchester City's midfield but this player will not be able to play the entire season for Manchester City. If these important players cannot play for the team, then how will the team's condition improve? Those are the reasons for those looking for reasons behind Manchester City's current poor performance. If the important players of the team are not performing well and if the midfield position of the team is weak then the team performance of that team is not supposed to be good. Manchester City may still be doing well with their strength in other positions but if there were any other club in place of Manchester City they would have performed worse than Manchester City.

Manchester City's injury has indeed caused their performance to decline, with a series of matches that always ended in defeat, it proves that the problems they are experiencing are making it difficult for them to play, they can't continue like this because if they continue like this then they won't be able to perform well in every match, besides that with Guardiola himself saying maybe it's time for another team to become champions this season, I think it's hard for them to recover.

With the good news, their current central midfielder will appear with a knee injury that has turned around, he said that he will return to action for Manchester City. Of course this is good news for their team, because when he was absent their performance seemed to decline.
premierleague

[knowngunman]

Ruben Amorim has not done anything for Manchester United so far, so now is not the time to give a positive or negative response to him. Given his ability to handle Sporting CP, he is the right choice to replace Ten Hag, but he also needs to adapt to the EPL's style of play which is known to be hard and fast. It takes time to judge performance, we can't draw conclusions just from the beginning of his tenure. The good news is that Manchester United are on a positive track after being handled by Van Nistelrooy for four games, hopefully Amorim can continue that trend.

Remember we said the same thing when Manchester united hired Ten Hang? Yes, that's how it has always been and it will continue that way. Every new couch normally comes with hype and praises until they finally arrived and then realized that premier leg is not a child playground. It's the way media play their card with praise but end up killing tickets at the end. Although, Amorin is not that old and can possibly relate to Manchester united issues. Hopefully, he gets the backing he deserves from the board otherwise, he will fail just like the rest of the managers. Most importantly, they should give him time to build the team back to suppose greatness.

[Alpha Marine]

Arsenal truly did needed a striker for them to actually be able to compete the use of Kai was actually not it but saying that arsenal doesn’t need Mikel merino Is not it. Arsenal needs a midfielder then to actually pattern Rice because of the way that the other midfielders were always out injured

With the kind of football Arsenal played for the past two seasons, they obviously needed more fluidity and creativity in the midfield. Merino won't give you that. Arteta went for security instead of creativity. Rice is a very good DM. He excels as a single pivot and also as a double pivot, so why was Arteta so keen on making sure he lined up with a double pivot when he could get a creative central midfielder who could assist both in defence and attack?
I expected him to go for a player with Berrela, Pedri, Fabian Ruiz, Gundugan, Camavinga profile. I'm not saying he should have gone with any of these players, but these are the kind of profiles he should have gone for. 
A profile like that is creative, can press, help in defence and attack easily. To top it up, this is the kind of player that can replace Odergaard in the attacking midfield role if he gets injured.

As for Calafiori, was he necessary? I mean, Arsenal already had 4 CBs, why add another when you know your full-backs are not very effective in attack? It seems like Arteta didn't really know how he wanted his team to set up.
For context, Arsenal are interested in signing Martin Zubimendi. Another DM. what for exactly?

[SmartCharpa]

If I were Arteta I would leave the team after this season if Arsenal did not win the league title this season,

One shouldn't forget that in what condition Arsenal were before Arteta took over. Arteta is the one who made Arsenal a team which are fighting for the championship every year. Therefore sending Arteta from the team would be the biggest mistake Arsenal can do. Arsenal's target should be to finish the league in top 4 and be successful in the Champions League this season.

If Arteta leaves Arsenal, it is not the best decision for the team because, since Arteta took over as manager, the club has performed well and finished in the top four. I have never seen Arsenal fight for the title every season, as they did under Arteta. I've always viewed Arsenal as a team that isn't capable of competing for both the league title and the Champions League at the same time; using their present players. They shouldn't be putting lots of effort into the Champions League because it will be difficult for them to get through to the final.

However, Arsenal had a better chance to win the Premier League over Manchester City last season if they had focused more on the Premier League matches with less on the Champions League. This is only the beginning of the season, yet it appears like Arteta is not capable of fighting for the championship this season since they have refused to learn from previous mistakes. But they need to do well and finish among the top four.

[Docnaster]

If I were Arteta I would leave the team after this season if Arsenal did not win the league title this season,

One shouldn't forget that in what condition Arsenal were before Arteta took over. Arteta is the one who made Arsenal a team which are fighting for the championship every year. Therefore sending Arteta from the team would be the biggest mistake Arsenal can do. Arsenal's target should be to finish the league in top 4 and be successful in the Champions League this season.

Arsenal as we all know were struggling before Mikel Arteta was appointed as the club manager but since he became the club's manager, he was able to help improve the club's performance and quality to a point that Arsenal are now regarded as one of the best teams in the league but that shouldn't be a reason why the club management would have to take whatever they get from Arteta. Arsenal is a big club remember and if Arteta isn't delivering good results consistently again, then I don't see anything bad in relieving of his job at the club and getting another world class manager.

[Minecache]

Arsenal as we all know were struggling before Mikel Arteta was appointed as the club manager but since he became the club's manager, he was able to help improve the club's performance and quality to a point that Arsenal are now regarded as one of the best teams in the league but that shouldn't be a reason why the club management would have to take whatever they get from Arteta. Arsenal is a big club remember and if Arteta isn't delivering good results consistently again, then I don't see anything bad in relieving of his job at the club and getting another world class manager.

Arsenal is a strong team. For the last few seasons, Arsenal has been fighting for the title. But in the end, Manchester City has been the champion every season. And I would say that there is only one reason why Arsenal has failed to win the title every season. Arsenal's bench team is not strong. So whenever any player in the squad gets injured, we have seen Arsenal's overall performance become unstable. And this season too, Arsenal has faced the same problem. Arsenal coach Arteta should have added more talented players to their squad. However, Arsenal has no chance of winning the title this season. Arteta now has to try to strengthen his squad.

[ILuckyGuyI]

Arsenal is a strong team. For the last few seasons, Arsenal has been fighting for the title. But in the end, Manchester City has been the champion every season. And I would say that there is only one reason why Arsenal has failed to win the title every season. Arsenal's bench team is not strong. So whenever any player in the squad gets injured, we have seen Arsenal's overall performance become unstable. And this season too, Arsenal has faced the same problem. Arsenal coach Arteta should have added more talented players to their squad. However, Arsenal has no chance of winning the title this season. Arteta now has to try to strengthen his squad.

Normally they are strong, yeah. But they have got worse this season. Their performance in the PL has been quite poor for weeks. They can't literally win a game for 4 whole weeks. It's terrible... 

Arsenal had a couple of chances to win a PL title in the recent years. But they wasted all of them generously.    They just can't make it to the end at the top and the reason is quite clear. Firstly I don't blame Arteta here of course. He has made this team much stronger. The thing is they need a striker immediately, a real one. This is why I think Osimhen could be a target for Arsenal also next transfer window. He can be a great candidate for bringing the title to them.

[Dickiy]

Arsenal is a strong team. For the last few seasons, Arsenal has been fighting for the title. But in the end, Manchester City has been the champion every season. And I would say that there is only one reason why Arsenal has failed to win the title every season. Arsenal's bench team is not strong. So whenever any player in the squad gets injured, we have seen Arsenal's overall performance become unstable. And this season too, Arsenal has faced the same problem. Arsenal coach Arteta should have added more talented players to their squad. However, Arsenal has no chance of winning the title this season. Arteta now has to try to strengthen his squad.

Normally they are strong, yeah. But they have got worse this season. Their performance in the PL has been quite poor for weeks. They can't literally win a game for 4 whole weeks. It's terrible... 

Arsenal had a couple of chances to win a PL title in the recent years. But they wasted all of them generously.    They just can't make it to the end at the top and the reason is quite clear. Firstly I don't blame Arteta here of course. He has made this team much stronger. The thing is they need a striker immediately, a real one. This is why I think Osimhen could be a target for Arsenal also next transfer window. He can be a great candidate for bringing the title to them.

There are two reasons why Arsenal have struggled lately, first there are several key players injured, of course this hampers their performance and second there is a possibility that other teams have found a way to beat Arsenal or they have developed more than Arteta expected.
If compared to last season I think this season Arsenal has experienced a sharp decline they seem to be away from the title fight, and if Arteta does not fix all this Arsenal will see the main trophy in the hands of other teams, and indeed the shortcomings of Arteta's squad are not having sharp stickers, I hope in the January transfer market they can buy some players especially stickers, in order to increase their champion candidate status again this season.

[beerlover]

There is no guarantee that Arteta departure will bring success to Arsenal. And if it's about success, I admit Arteta will be successful with another team. But are you sure Arsenal will be successful after Arteta leaves the team?
We can see how long it took Guardiola to succeed with Man City in the UCL and this can be a simple example that Arteta currently seems to have failed to bring Arsenal a trophy. But in the coming season or this season, we don't know what will happen.
Even though I don't like Arsenal, the opinion about his departure is not something wise.

Pep only need a year to make Manchester City to win streak in Premier League, while Arteta have joined Arsenal for 5 years, but proved nothing.

Even Arteta no longer being an Arsenal's manager, both Arsenal with new manager and Arteta with new team will not be successful because both of them can only become second best in top league.

Oh Arteta can get trophy, but he should manage in farmer league like Ligue 1 or small league.

Honestly, of course Pep is a better manager than Arteta, but at the same time what Pep managed to do wasn't cheap neither, not like Arteta spent a lot but Pep didn't. People are looking at recent years because he already built a team and didn't really spent a lot on the recent years, but on his like first five years or so combined it was a lot of money, it is only the recent few years where he is not spending like crazy.

I believe Pep also is a better manager even if they were given the same team, so it is not that Arteta is better or anything, it's just that Pep has already built the team he wants to built by the time Arteta got there. Also, when Pep did made City a great team, only team they had to fight against was Liverpool, which was definitely tough, a few unlucky losses in a few seasons and they have a lot less titles, but when Arsenal got better, they faced City themselves, which was on a streak of titles, so it is not the same difficulty.

[Ruttoshi]

I think Ruben Amorim will be a chance for Manchester United. I trust the Portuguese manager. I think Manchester United can sign some good players from Sporting Lisbon. There will be names that Amorim knows. I am sure there will be players who will do well at Manchester United. I am very curious about what Gyökeres can do, especially if he is going to be transferred. I think he is a goal scorer with Premier League quality.

I will not rush to say Ruben Amorim is a coach who can make Manchester United better or not. because we have not seen how the performance he will present with Manchester United, besides that it takes several matches to see whether he will be able to bring Manchester United better or not. Many coaches were initially good but over time they could not be consistent, there are also coaches who were initially not so good but over time they got better. What I hope is that Manchester United do not rush to make a decision when at the beginning Amorim could not perform well.

I understand what you mean mate, the club and fans shouldn't expect too much from him this season because he needs to study and understand the players which no one knows how fast he would do this. If the fans are expecting too much, I wouldn't blame them at all because Van Nistelrooy has made them have a taste of victory within the short time he spent in the club.

Amorim should be able to continue from where Van Nistelrooy stopped in rebranding the team so that finishing at top four should be guaranteed.

[Palakka]

I think Ruben Amorim will be a chance for Manchester United. I trust the Portuguese manager. I think Manchester United can sign some good players from Sporting Lisbon. There will be names that Amorim knows. I am sure there will be players who will do well at Manchester United. I am very curious about what Gyökeres can do, especially if he is going to be transferred. I think he is a goal scorer with Premier League quality.

I will not rush to say Ruben Amorim is a coach who can make Manchester United better or not. because we have not seen how the performance he will present with Manchester United, besides that it takes several matches to see whether he will be able to bring Manchester United better or not. Many coaches were initially good but over time they could not be consistent, there are also coaches who were initially not so good but over time they got better. What I hope is that Manchester United do not rush to make a decision when at the beginning Amorim could not perform well.

I understand what you mean mate, the club and fans shouldn't expect too much from him this season because he needs to study and understand the players which no one knows how fast he would do this. If the fans are expecting too much, I wouldn't blame them at all because Van Nistelrooy has made them have a taste of victory within the short time he spent in the club.

Amorim should be able to continue from where Van Nistelrooy stopped in rebranding the team so that finishing at top four should be guaranteed.

Amorim has shown extraordinary ability in building Sporting so far, so that the current Manchester United fans have great hope and confidence if their team will return to a positive path after falling in the Ten Hag era, I think the big expectations from the fans have of course a natural thing if you look at the current condition of their team but they also have to be ready if later the expectations they have are not up with expected, but to be honest, I see that Manchester United seem to have lost their aura as a team to challenge for the title in the Premier League since Ferguson retired and we can see experienced coaches like Mourinho, David Moyes and also Van Gaal has failed in old trafford previously.

Amorim will be their next coach and I think now it is very important to give time and space for Amorim on adapt,  Because we know that expectations that are too high at the beginning can be a burden that disturbs the concentration of the new coach, so patience from the club and fans is needed at the moment, because the pressure and also the competition between the Portuguese League and the English League is very different.

[bangjoe]

I also didn't expect that the impact of Rodri's absence could be like this on Man City, but that's the reality they dropped drastically and suffered a heartbreaking defeat, of course, must get a replacement that can be more reliable in the transfer burs opportunity later, but if you think about who is suitable to fill Rodri's position and KDB for his replacement because it looks like they will both be vulnerable to injury.

Arsenal? I'm not sure about Arsenal, they missed their chance many times, maybe we can think it will be an opportunity for Chelsea and Liverpool for them to stand further above to secure their position.

Rodri is a key player for Manchester City, and if they miss him, he will definitely affect them in the competition game, now that Manchester City are facing difficulties in the league and Champions League this season, I am sure if they are Rodri, the pressure won't be much like this, and I am thinking that Manchester City can't win the Premier League this season with the performance they are playing now in the league, Guadiola need to have some strong midfielders that will Arsenal has already fucked up already they don't have any chance to top the league anymore, they should just focus on the ucl and see what they can do. but if is to win the premier league, I don't think that will be possible for them anymore. Because even Liverpool are losing some games Manchester City are in there back and they won't let Arsenal to overtake them in the league, Arteta can just do is best next season and buy some new players to the team so that he can get the chance to win the league title. He as lost is opportunity already last season.

The current situation does make us quite pessimistic with Manchester City and Arsenal in my opinion, because they they have problems that cannot be resolved, so we can think that to win the English Main League and the Champions League I am very doubtful if they continue to experience setbacks, But for Say Guardiola is always good at restoring things, just as last season Guardiola was difficult but they managed to restore the situation and return to the top to lead the standings, only in the Champions League defeated by Real Madrid when Man City had not yet fully recovered, and Arsenal in the Champions League are quite worrying, they always don't qualify to enter important rounds.