2025-26 English Premier League Discussion Thread

[LDNMagic90]

Very poor from us, the passing has been atrocious. Bizot has been good to be fair, especially for a back up keeper.

Again we need some pace in this side, I’m expecting Malen and Guessand to come on sooner than later.

[LDNMagic90]

Just like the last game of the season, Matty Cash’s poor passing leads to one of our players getting sent off

[magik9113]

Konsa sent off. Gonna be tough for Villa now

[LDNMagic90]

All things considered that’s a good result after going down to 10 men. We need pace in the side both attacking and defensively.

[AK47MVP]

Richarlison with goal of the opening week or maybe a month. What a pass by Kudus and a finish.

[magik9113]

Fulham with the last second equalizer

[wco81]

Saw some of the matches at Tottenham and Sunderland.

It was striking how much louder Sunderland was, when the match was still scoreless.

Maybe excitement by the home supporters at being back in the PL.

What a result for them.

[Baphomet]

Richarlison with goal of the opening week or maybe a month. What a pass by Kudus and a finish.

I like what I've seen from Kudus so far. Both he and Richie were good against PSG too.

[Baphomet]

Cherki is a baller. Think he'll be starting for City before long.

[Bobbcats]

Can't believe City got to pick up Cherki for 40m.

pretty sure I'd heard of him even before Mbappe, who I started following when he was 16, at that time there were montages of Cherki going around when he was 8 or 9. Lyon did an amazing job of surrounding him with hardass coaches who didn't want creativity and players that didn't complement him. He is going to destroy with MCFC and French NT.

[Shaazzam]

**** Bayandir

[wco81]

I don't know the Arsenal attack doesn't seem much more clinical in the finishing, at least after the first half.

After the early goal, are they going to play with their food again?

United almost score, getting a ball past Raya but the ball just went wide and Gabriel gets the ball but instead of blasting it down the sideline, he makes a short pass for another player to start the buildup except United take the ball away and almost gets another good chance on goal.

There was a 3 on 3, Odegard with the ball in the middle but the two players on both sides of him are staying near him instead of fanning out wide, to open up more spaces. He passes and doesn't connect.

[KG Leonard]

That sounds like the same Arsenal attack, midfield of the last 3 years. Too slow and not enough creative players. Saka one man show on the wing. The worst winger in Liverpool is better than Martinelli imho

[The_Brecht]

Looks like the team hasn't adapted yet to having an actual striker.

[wco81]

It sure felt like the kind of game where they score early and then ended up dropping points or losing because they couldn't keep scoring.

[KG Leonard]

It sure felt like the kind of game where they score early and then ended up dropping points or losing because they couldn't keep scoring.

Yeah that happened like 9-10 times last season. Their striker is a Swedish national player so I hope scores a lot of goals only for his sake. The 15 teams better than United in PL would probably have tied this game. I don't think only Gyökeres will be difference to win PL.

[Pipp33]

All things considered that’s a good result after going down to 10 men. We need pace in the side both attacking and defensively.

Was VERY surprised that Maatsen didn't start. Game needed his speed and overlap play. Would have added a lot of width to our attack too.

[Baseline81]

Definitely not. Think it's nonsense, personally.

Meanwhile Semenyo pulls one back for Bournemouth.

Even Dermot Gallagher, who heavily leans in favor of refs/VAR, had this to say:

INCIDENT: Senesi avoids punishment after appearing to handle the ball as the last defender.

DERMOT SAYS: I think this is a really interesting situation. The VAR, for me, has looked at it too quickly and cleared it.

I think he's seen the ball fly up off Senesi and has not watched the second part.

He's seen the ball hit the elbow off the knee and stopped looking, he hasn't looked for the second swipe. If he sends the referee to the screen, the referee has all options. He probably sends Senesi off because Huge Ekitike is going to be away. The only doubt is, is it too far from goal? But this is a class forward.

If it goes to the screen he would have been sent off. It was a mistake and fortunately it didn't affect the outcome of the game.

And then there is ESPN's weekly VAR review article:

VAR review: The ball was in contact with Sensi's arm two times. The first when it rebounded off his thigh onto his arm, which was in an expected position. And then when Senesi made a deliberate swipe to knock the ball out of Ekitike's path.

Oliver was too concerned with the first touch on the arm, which was clearly accidental and wouldn't be considered DOGSO, and didn't notice the actual second handball for the offence

Verdict: The incident was cleared too quickly, with Oliver only considering the first touch of the arm. This was clearly wrong as Senesi then deliberately knocked the ball from Ekitike's run.

DOGSO on the halfway line is rare, but not unknown: Arsenal's Myles Lewis-Skelly was sent off against West Ham United last season through as VAR intervention. Senesi should have been shown the red card; only Liverpool's two late goals to secure the win prevented this being a bigger talking point.

There would be a question about a possible covering defender, but no more than that. There should have been a VAR intervention as the clear likelihood is Ekitike would take control of the ball and be in on goal.

Across 15 VAR appointments and 35 key match incidents last season, Oliver only had one mistake -- though it was a big one: West Ham's late penalty which gave them a 2-1 win over Manchester United.

Appears we were correct and, it should have been a red card after all.

[LDNMagic90]

All things considered that’s a good result after going down to 10 men. We need pace in the side both attacking and defensively.

Was VERY surprised that Maatsen didn't start. Game needed his speed and overlap play. Would have added a lot of width to our attack too.

Same here the game was crying out for some pace. After rewatching the game and analysing it, I’m taking back what I said about cash tbh, yes it was a bad pass - however Konsa shouldn’t have tried to touch Gordon who is one of those players that’ll go down with the slightest bit of contact.

You can tell the club is getting frustrated with the restrictions we have. Mings IG story, Mcginns post and Emery in his press conference sound like they are getting fed up and starting to directly call out the rule makers. Ramsey leaving us was clearly 'forced' on us if we want to make any more signings. Even with that, we’ve been told to expect loans and maybe one more purchase under £30m. As I’ve said there should be a league wide spend limit with a wage cap. There should be a 'strike' system as well with some punishments if you go over those limits. That way you can have a bit more parity in the league, instead of certain teams limit only being making Europe or top 4 once in a while.

[Baseline81]

Now with Sesko signed, how soon before we hear Neville push Manchester United as title contenders?

I was wrong about title contenders. Neville has his Red Devils finishing top 4: