⚽ Premier League 2025/2026 Discussion Thread ⚽

[tusandii]

Manchester City is finally back. What a great result against a strong team as Nottm Forest surely is. The game itself was far from perfect as we have still seen some holes in defence, but it's important they have managed to grab 3 points.
What's more, Liverpool has unexpectedly split points with Newcastle, who put up a really good fight and, I think, deserved a win but had to settle for a 3-3 draw.

So maybe it's not yet completely over for Man City. 9 points disadvantage won't be easy to make up, but it's not impossible as we still have 24 rounds to go.

This is a good result against such a strong defense as Nottingham, I am also glad that City were able to finally win, Guardiola also said this, now the main thing is not to relax and make a long winning series. Liverpool lost points in the match with Newcastle and this also plays into Guardiola's hands, of course it would have been better if Newcastle were able to win, but even this draw gives hope to City.

Yes and that gives a breath of fresh air to Pep Guardiola for more than a week his club experienced a series of bad results and this certainly rekindled his spirit to be able to return Man City to the winning track, although still many points behind Liverpool it is not a problem if Man City continues to perform consistently and wait for Liverpool to lose points in the matches they play that will make Man City narrow the gap.

[Rampagoe004]

This is a good result against such a strong defense as Nottingham, I am also glad that City were able to finally win, Guardiola also said this, now the main thing is not to relax and make a long winning series. Liverpool lost points in the match with Newcastle and this also plays into Guardiola's hands, of course it would have been better if Newcastle were able to win, but even this draw gives hope to City.

Yes and that gives a breath of fresh air to Pep Guardiola for more than a week his club experienced a series of bad results and this certainly rekindled his spirit to be able to return Man City to the winning track, although still many points behind Liverpool it is not a problem if Man City continues to perform consistently and wait for Liverpool to lose points in the matches they play that will make Man City narrow the gap.

As we know, Manchester City is not in good form, now Pep Guardiola is a burden after going through bad days in the previous match. Liverpool is currently still in a stable condition, all players are in the best performance in both the English Premier League and Champions League, Manchester City's draw can ease the points behind Arsenal.
Pep Guardiola must develop a new strategy in order to reduce the points behind Arsenal. I still doubt whether Pep Guardiola will be able to bring Manchester City to the top of the standings in the remaining matches.

[AirtelBuzz]

Manchester City needs regeneration from now. They are very vulnerable to defeat if one of them is missing. KDB is not young, there will be a time he have retires, and The city needs substitute that is equal with his capabilities. Nothing is feasible at the moment, Pep must do it immediately to moving forward. And I think, even if no one have the same capabilities with them, Pep must use another strategy or scheme to support it, and so far unsuccessfully when we look how the lost 5 match on the row.

In this season, some important players of Manchester City are not able to contribute well for the team due to which the team is performing poorly regularly. The players who are performing best in other seasons are now injured and those who are on the field are not able to give their best. Manchester City players should be planned in such a way that those players stay at Manchester City who can contribute to Manchester City and those who cannot contribute are not needed at the club. The next transfer window will be open and next season Manchester City should definitely buy some quality players in some important positions so that Manchester City can return to good performance again.

Yes, Manchester City's team is constantly underperforming as some important players are out of the team due to injuries. If the best players of the team are not associated with the team, the team becomes very weak, maybe watching the game of Manchester City proves this. But Manchester City beat Nottm Forest yesterday in the Premier League match. The performance of the Manchester City players in that match seemed like we were watching the mighty Manchester City of yesteryear. Manchester City won yesterday after a long time after losing the last few matches, Maybe this win will motivate Manchester City to play better in the next match.

[mamesso]

~Snip~

Manchester City needs regeneration from now. They are very vulnerable to defeat if one of them is missing. KDB is not young, there will be a time he have retires, and The city needs substitute that is equal with his capabilities. Nothing is feasible at the moment, Pep must do it immediately to moving forward. And I think, even if no one have the same capabilities with them, Pep must use another strategy or scheme to support it, and so far unsuccessfully when we look how the lost 5 match on the row.

Injuries to several players are the main reason behind Man City declining performance, this condition can reduce their attacking power and creativity because players who have just recovered from injury clearly need time to be able to return to their best performance. The minor results achieved in the last few matches were not due to their lack of effort, especially since some of the players were not physically fit because they had not played for a long time and some had just returned from injury, when they are not able to do it physically, especially in top flight football, it will greatly affect the results achieved. Regeneration is very much needed to rejuvenate the squad and Man City must prioritize midfielders because they currently need a leader in the midfield area who can be a creator of play and attacks.

[Alpha Marine]

In this season, some important players of Manchester City are not able to contribute well for the team due to which the team is performing poorly regularly. The players who are performing best in other seasons are now injured and those who are on the field are not able to give their best. Manchester City players should be planned in such a way that those players stay at Manchester City who can contribute to Manchester City and those who cannot contribute are not needed at the club. The next transfer window will be open and next season Manchester City should definitely buy some quality players in some important positions so that Manchester City can return to good performance again.

One player who is underperomong at City currently is Gundugan. People don't usually notice him because he's good on the ball but off the ball he's not useful at all and that is a problem.
Manchester City play without a DM and an evident ball winner so what that means is everybody in midfield have to take ob the role of winning balls back and tackling players. Gundugan doesn't do that. Hes doesn't dive in tackles or press the players very well till the end. He just runs after them and gives up, some times he just allows them to run paste him.

I cant blame him though, he's old and not as strong as he used to be, but this is a problem for Mnachester City and they need to do something about it in the January transfer window. They  need a ball winner that can run for 90 minutes in midfield. Also, Gundugan gets tired later on so he cant play complete 90 minutes most times efficiently.

[pawel7777]

Here are the odds for all the games of the round 15 (from DuelBits), including the Monday one:



We have a London Derby between Chelsea and Tottenham, which could be worth watching, and also, an even more interesting, the Liverpool Derby (Everton Vs Liverpool FC). Everton is an obvious underdog, but they will surely give their best tomorrow as their fans expect them to.

I'm also curious about how Manchester City will perform against Crystal Palace, who might be placed low in the table but have a pretty solid defence with only 18 goals conceded, which is one less than Man City.

[Oluwa-btc]

I cant blame him though, he's old and not as strong as he used to be, but this is a problem for Mnachester City and they need to do something about it in the January transfer window. They  need a ball winner that can run for 90 minutes in midfield. Also, Gundugan gets tired later on so he cant play complete 90 minutes most times efficiently.

I have said this a billion times, most of these ageing players in Manchester City can not keep up with the pace of the premier league anymore.  Bruno Guimaraes has been mentioned by their management,  who's one of the current and if not the best groud duel winners in the premier league. They have to bring in changes otherwise,  they'll suffer more from this. Below shows the premier league standing after match day 14;

[Abbatty]

Yes and that gives a breath of fresh air to Pep Guardiola for more than a week his club experienced a series of bad results and this certainly rekindled his spirit to be able to return Man City to the winning track, although still many points behind Liverpool it is not a problem if Man City continues to perform consistently and wait for Liverpool to lose points in the matches they play that will make Man City narrow the gap.

More than a week? Maybe you meant a month and not a week. It was aa pretty disappointing month of November for them and so winning this match could turn everything around for them we hope. They have lost lots of points already and are way behind Liverpool so meeting up to them and passing Arsenal and Chelsea will not easy for them.

Their main challenge for now should be Chelsea and Arsenal before thinking about Liverpool so they need to be more consistent than ever if they want to have a successful season.

[Cryptmuster]

Yes, Manchester City's team is constantly underperforming as some important players are out of the team due to injuries. If the best players of the team are not associated with the team, the team becomes very weak, maybe watching the game of Manchester City proves this. But Manchester City beat Nottm Forest yesterday in the Premier League match. The performance of the Manchester City players in that match seemed like we were watching the mighty Manchester City of yesteryear. Manchester City won yesterday after a long time after losing the last few matches, Maybe this win will motivate Manchester City to play better in the next match.

Guardiola was asked why De Bruyne does not play from the first minutes, but often comes on as a substitute, to which he replied that he is no longer 27 years old, hinting that he is getting older and it is difficult for him to play the whole match (I think that his frequent injuries also play a role). But I also understand that it is not only about this young player, they are all getting older, but at the same time they missed Alvarez, who wanted more playing time and often saved City, during periods when some players were injured. Let's see how Guardiola will get out of this situation, one victory does not mean that the team has recovered.

[Abbatty]

Here are the odds for all the games of the round 15 (from DuelBits), including the Monday one:



We have a London Derby between Chelsea and Tottenham, which could be worth watching, and also, an even more interesting, the Liverpool Derby (Everton Vs Liverpool FC). Everton is an obvious underdog, but they will surely give their best tomorrow as their fans expect them to.

I'm also curious about how Manchester City will perform against Crystal Palace, who might be placed low in the table but have a pretty solid defence with only 18 goals conceded, which is one less than Man City.

I see a lot of fine odds this coming weekend, there are 3 games I will pick and stake high on. The Chelsea match against Tottenham is one match I will pick, Chelsea are in a very good form this season and almost very good in away games, and Tottenham are struggling in recent games, since they trashed Manchester City they are yet to win any match, and Chelsea also have a good record against spurs so I will go for Chelsea to beat spurs, for sure it going to be a difficult game but I see Chelsea winning.

Another match I will add to my slip is Manchester city to beat palace away from home. Palace are struggling this period like wise the citizens but with much quality back in city squad I think it going to be a very easy win for them. They will like to keep the winning going after they beat Nottingham forest this midweek.

Then the last one is for the league leaders to beat Everton, Liverpool are still very angry at that late drama at st. James park and this winning is one they really need, even though it a derby match I see Liverpool winning this one. It going to be a turf one too but I don’t think Everton can hold that Liverpool attack, salah is in a very good foam and he have always been a problem in this derby so I still see him scoring in this one too.

This 3 pick are my pick for the weekend, I hope it green for me.

[ITExpert]

Here are the odds for all the games of the round 15 (from DuelBits), including the Monday one:



We have a London Derby between Chelsea and Tottenham, which could be worth watching, and also, an even more interesting, the Liverpool Derby (Everton Vs Liverpool FC). Everton is an obvious underdog, but they will surely give their best tomorrow as their fans expect them to.

I'm also curious about how Manchester City will perform against Crystal Palace, who might be placed low in the table but have a pretty solid defence with only 18 goals conceded, which is one less than Man City.

Yes, If you talk about the interest of the match between these two, it will definitely be there and there is a high chance of a draw between them because Tottenham's performance is less than Chelsea's but not so much that they cannot win the match. A match between Liverpool and Everton will not be interesting because Liverpool is stronger and their record testifies to that and Everton is too weak to compete with Liverpool and their record testifies to that. The match between them will also be great but it is difficult to say who will win in this, if I were to predict, I would consider Manchester City to win this match because they are already working hard.  So predicting this match will be the most wrong decision.

[Lida93]

In this season, some important players of Manchester City are not able to contribute well for the team due to which the team is performing poorly regularly. The players who are performing best in other seasons are now injured and those who are on the field are not able to give their best. Manchester City players should be planned in such a way that those players stay at Manchester City who can contribute to Manchester City and those who cannot contribute are not needed at the club. The next transfer window will be open and next season Manchester City should definitely buy some quality players in some important positions so that Manchester City can return to good performance again.

Manchester city are only going through a challenging moment this season and not that the players are not giving their best nor contributing to the club as it were before. Clubs passes through this process once a while especially when they have their very best key players to injury. And there's no player now in City that's not important and which is why I think Pep Gardiola will not sell any of his player in this January transfer window but would rather bring in a few hands to strengthen strategic positions like the midfield  and their defense.

[Nheer]

Here are the odds for all the games of the round 15 (from DuelBits), including the Monday one:



We have a London Derby between Chelsea and Tottenham, which could be worth watching, and also, an even more interesting, the Liverpool Derby (Everton Vs Liverpool FC). Everton is an obvious underdog, but they will surely give their best tomorrow as their fans expect them to.

I'm also curious about how Manchester City will perform against Crystal Palace, who might be placed low in the table but have a pretty solid defence with only 18 goals conceded, which is one less than Man City.

It will be an interesting weekend for sure with lots of interesting fixtures, let’s see how the standings will look like after round 15 can Manchester City or Manchester United move up in the table.

The most interesting game would be the London derby to me as Tottenham will host Chelsea at their home ground. Compared to Chelsea they no where near Chelsea’s form right now because their performances in recent games has not been great while Chelsea is having a very good season so far and they are the favorites to win that’s why even the bookers favored them despite being the away team. It won’t be an easy win though because it will be interesting game.

Everton’s current form is bad but they managed to get a 4-0 win in their last match against Wolves that was surprising but it could be a message to Liverpool that they will not go easy on them. It’s a derby game and to win Liverpool will give it their best too even though they are the favorites in the game, away games can be tough at times.

No one can say anything about the Manchester City game because of what they went through but they should be able to win Crystal Palace if they still want to fight for the title.

Can Manchester United triumph over Nottingham forest? It will not be an easy one for them even though Nottingham performance have depreciated in recent games. United is the home team so they have more advantage of winning but Nottingham has always been a stubborn team against them.

[hyudien]

Manchester city are only going through a challenging moment this season and not that the players are not giving their best nor contributing to the club as it were before. Clubs passes through this process once a while especially when they have their very best key players to injury. And there's no player now in City that's not important and which is why I think Pep Gardiola will not sell any of his player in this January transfer window but would rather bring in a few hands to strengthen strategic positions like the midfield  and their defense.

In essence Man City second string squad has not been able to fully replace the role of the main players. I agree with Pep Guardiola statement about his key players who have not returned it was clearly seen when Kevin de Bruyne and Doku were able to provide a positive impact when playing against Nottingham Forest. Now they are in 4th place in the standings and Man City can still eliminate Arsenal who are above them.

[Spaceman1000$]

Pep must be delighted to see KDB back, between KDB and Rodri gone, they had such a big weak spot at the midfield, they are at least getting one of them back, not that KDB will have absolutely any help on defense at all, but at least on offense he is a key playmaker that makes a big difference without a doubt.

At the end of the day, we need to realize that we can't really compare the situations together the same, it's not the same and we are going to have some trouble with long term results for City if they keep this up, they won this one, but they need to do better and without KDB they looked terrible. They are "back" now but we are going to see how the yare going to be in the near future, if they are good then that's okay, but if they go back to losing, that's very bad.

Manchester City needs regeneration from now. They are very vulnerable to defeat if one of them is missing. KDB is not young, there will be a time he have retires, and The city needs substitute that is equal with his capabilities. Nothing is feasible at the moment, Pep must do it immediately to moving forward. And I think, even if no one have the same capabilities with them, Pep must use another strategy or scheme to support it, and so far unsuccessfully when we look how the lost 5 match on the row.

In this season, some important players of Manchester City are not able to contribute well for the team due to which the team is performing poorly regularly. The players who are performing best in other seasons are now injured and those who are on the field are not able to give their best. Manchester City players should be planned in such a way that those players stay at Manchester City who can contribute to Manchester City and those who cannot contribute are not needed at the club. The next transfer window will be open and next season Manchester City should definitely buy some quality players in some important positions so that Manchester City can return to good performance again.

Manchester city should not fight the situation, they should take out time and resolve it, this same players your admonishing are the golden boys of Manchester city, they've been defending the league title back to back for four seasons now, and it is natural for there to be redundancy in their performance since they are humans and not machine's, fatigue and injuries are the major factors that usually affect a top club that performs  at optimum level like Manchester city, if they try to come back fully into dominance and at the end of the day, they could not, the club management board should take a chill pill and not rush into any action that might be detrimental to the team by signing players they might not be needing, if they lose out this season on the title race, then next season is their for them to pick up the pace again.

[Lida93]

Manchester city are only going through a challenging moment this season and not that the players are not giving their best nor contributing to the club as it were before. Clubs passes through this process once a while especially when they have their very best key players to injury. And there's no player now in City that's not important and which is why I think Pep Gardiola will not sell any of his player in this January transfer window but would rather bring in a few hands to strengthen strategic positions like the midfield  and their defense.

In essence Man City second string squad has not been able to fully replace the role of the main players. I agree with Pep Guardiola statement about his key players who have not returned it was clearly seen when Kevin de Bruyne and Doku were able to provide a positive impact when playing against Nottingham Forest. Now they are in 4th place in the standings and Man City can still eliminate Arsenal who are above them.

That is exactly what it is right now, for there's no way second team players in a club could give same magical performance as the first team, and Gardiola understands this very well and that's why he has never at anytime with each of those games lost blamed the players when speaking to the press. Even with Liverpool that are at the top of their game right now in the EPL should have to loose just two of their key players like Mac Allisterand and R. Gravenberch they'll  will definitely suffer same fate as City. So with time as Manchester city players in injury returns anytime next year the club performance would return to great form they are known for.

[Palakka]

Manchester city are only going through a challenging moment this season and not that the players are not giving their best nor contributing to the club as it were before. Clubs passes through this process once a while especially when they have their very best key players to injury. And there's no player now in City that's not important and which is why I think Pep Gardiola will not sell any of his player in this January transfer window but would rather bring in a few hands to strengthen strategic positions like the midfield  and their defense.

In essence Man City second string squad has not been able to fully replace the role of the main players. I agree with Pep Guardiola statement about his key players who have not returned it was clearly seen when Kevin de Bruyne and Doku were able to provide a positive impact when playing against Nottingham Forest. Now they are in 4th place in the standings and Man City can still eliminate Arsenal who are above them.

It seems that Guardiola is too late to assess potential their current second-tier players, because previously he relied so much on his main players every match that he forgot to give the opportunity to play to the reserve players he had so far, the lack of playing time certainly makes the mentality and ability they have not equal to the main players, especially during crucial matches like today and it shouldn't be for Guardiola to blame them if their don't show best perform  at the moment.

[ILuckyGuyI]

What I regret in the Arsenal match is the composition of the players who made up the line-up of Manchester United in this match that I will not be able to stop before criticizing Amorim for his decision.

I don't know why he is still trying to force Malacia to be in the squad when if you look at the actual game conditions he is not very suitable to be in the conditions of a big match like this.
Although I know that in the end this match is likely Arsenal are still superior and I bet on it but still Amorim should prefer to try something new rather than forcing Malacia to be in a position that should not be there.
Before he played in his ideal position he played badly against Bodo/Glimt and Amorim still tried him in the hope of a change but in the end he didn't really fit the conditions of Manchester United it seemed.

Exactly! I didn't understand some of Amorim's choices in the starting eleven. Why would you risk having Malacia in the lineup in a game like this right after his recovery of injury? 

In the same way, Rashford and Zirkzee were both benched. Just why? Both of them scored 2 goals against Everton as you know. Why wouldn't you start with them while they are in form? I have more questions to ask Amorim but anyway. In short, I can say Amorim has the biggest responsibility behind this loss. At least he could have made his player choices better no matter he lost or won.

[Alpha Marine]

I have said this a billion times, most of these ageing players in Manchester City can not keep up with the pace of the premier league anymore.  Bruno Guimaraes has been mentioned by their management,  who's one of the current and if not the best groud duel winners in the premier league. They have to bring in changes otherwise,  they'll suffer more from this. Below shows the premier league standing after match day 14;

Bruno Guimaraes is a player I have always liked. He's a very good player, but I don't think Newcastle will sell him in the winter. If Man City can't get him by January, then there is no need because Rodri will be back by the end-of-summer transfer of 2025.
A lot of players in Manchester City need to go. Kevin De Bryune is one of them. Not because he's not good, but because he's too injury-prone these days and he doesn't just get minor injuries, he gets long-term injuries. Man City wouldn't have been able to compete if Pep Guardiola was not their manager they won't be able to compete. Players like Savinho and Grealish don't add enough to the team.

I believe Manchester City can still compete for the title if Pep can find a way to a way to make his team work. Pep has been known to twerk a thing or two and make his team work. If his players that are injured can come back and be fit then he might have a chance to compete for the league.

[BITCOIN4X]

~Snip

In essence Man City second string squad has not been able to fully replace the role of the main players. I agree with Pep Guardiola statement about his key players who have not returned it was clearly seen when Kevin de Bruyne and Doku were able to provide a positive impact when playing against Nottingham Forest. Now they are in 4th place in the standings and Man City can still eliminate Arsenal who are above them.

Of course, Manchester City's performance was disrupted due to the poor performance of the substitute players when the main players were injured. Rodri is one of the important players who plays as a defensive midfielder in Pep Guardiola's squad, while De Bruyne is needed to increase the intensity and organization of attacks. Both players are important for Pep Guardiola, as is Doku who operates on the left wing.

If Manchester City have all those players in their main line up, then positive results can be expected. Over time the team's performance will improve and the most important thing is that now Manchester City has managed to stop its bad record by winning the last match against Nottingham.