Premier League 2025/26 Thread

[Leicesterpool]

2 minutes ago, purpleronnie said:

I thought the bournemouth manager was nailed on?  Gerrard no chance, probably end up at burnley or somewhere like that.

Thats the talk but he maybe looking to take a timeout before taking Newcastle job in September... yeah heard it here first. Of course would the lpool job be too good to turn down.

[Samilktray]

1 hour ago, Leicesterpool said:

Thats the talk but he maybe looking to take a timeout before taking Newcastle job in September... yeah heard it here first. Of course would the lpool job be too good to turn down.

The only talk pretty much everywhere is Iraola pretty much confirmed to take the job????

[Fox92]

2 hours ago, Leicesterpool said:

Thats the talk but he maybe looking to take a timeout before taking Newcastle job in September... yeah heard it here first. Of course would the lpool job be too good to turn down.

What's happening to Eddie Howe in September?

[AKCJ]

Joe Gomez

Wataru Endo

Virgil van Dijk

Milos Kerkez

Florian Wirtz

Dominik Szoboszlai

Alexander Isak

Alexis Mac Allister

Conor Bradley

Federico Chiesa

Giovanni Leoni

Curtis Jones

Cody Gakpo

Hugo Ekitike

Giorgi Mamardashvili

Freddie Woodman

Jeremie Frimpong

Ryan Gravenberch

Ármin Pécsi

Trey Nyoni

Stefan Bajcetic

Rhys Williams

Calvin Ramsay

James McConnell

Rio Ngumoha

Harvey Davies

 

That isn't a squad that's going to win the league any time soon. Especially when their best player is long term injured.

 

Liverpool need to get real with their rebuild. They need a keeper, a centre half, a midfielder and two wingers. All need to be starting 11 material.

[Chelmofox]

33 minutes ago, AKCJ said:

Joe Gomez

Wataru Endo

Virgil van Dijk

Milos Kerkez

Florian Wirtz

Dominik Szoboszlai

Alexander Isak

Alexis Mac Allister

Conor Bradley

Federico Chiesa

Giovanni Leoni

Curtis Jones

Cody Gakpo

Hugo Ekitike

Giorgi Mamardashvili

Freddie Woodman

Jeremie Frimpong

Ryan Gravenberch

Ármin Pécsi

Trey Nyoni

Stefan Bajcetic

Rhys Williams

Calvin Ramsay

James McConnell

Rio Ngumoha

Harvey Davies

 

That isn't a squad that's going to win the league any time soon. Especially when their best player is long term injured.

 

Liverpool need to get real with their rebuild. They need a keeper, a centre half, a midfielder and two wingers. All need to be starting 11 material.

Which is fun, because the amount they spent last summer transfer window was sickening.

[StanSP]

48 minutes ago, AKCJ said:

Joe Gomez

Wataru Endo

Virgil van Dijk

Milos Kerkez

Florian Wirtz

Dominik Szoboszlai

Alexander Isak

Alexis Mac Allister

Conor Bradley

Federico Chiesa

Giovanni Leoni

Curtis Jones

Cody Gakpo

Hugo Ekitike

Giorgi Mamardashvili

Freddie Woodman

Jeremie Frimpong

Ryan Gravenberch

Ármin Pécsi

Trey Nyoni

Stefan Bajcetic

Rhys Williams

Calvin Ramsay

James McConnell

Rio Ngumoha

Harvey Davies

 

That isn't a squad that's going to win the league any time soon. Especially when their best player is long term injured.

 

Liverpool need to get real with their rebuild. They need a keeper, a centre half, a midfielder and two wingers. All need to be starting 11 material.

I reckon they probably lose a few of the big players in the next 12-24m too. 

 

Even youngsters like Ngumoha could go. 

[Super_horns]

26 minutes ago, StanSP said:

I reckon they probably lose a few of the big players in the next 12-24m too. 

 

Even youngsters like Ngumoha could go. 

Van Dijk probably doesn’t have long left ,

 

They need Isak and Wirtz to step up more next season .

[Stadt]

They spent obscene amounts given Salah and VVD are (or were) their best players and both way past their peaks. They're really smart typically but last summer was dumb

[Finnegan]

1 hour ago, Stadt said:

They spent obscene amounts given Salah and VVD are (or were) their best players and both way past their peaks. They're really smart typically but last summer was dumb

 

I don't know. Time will tell on that. You have to assume the vast majority of the personnel are still there that's always been there and they've got the same policy. 

 

They've always spent big when they've felt the maths was right and the data backed up their faith in a player. 

 

Ekitike hit the ground running, Wirtz is a top player who looks like he's starting to bed in and Isak has largely been unfortunate with injuries. 

 

I feel the whole narrative around Liverpool this year was an over reaction, they're cycling a squad and it was always going to be a huge adjustment period. I'm a little bit surprised they haven't stuck with their guns with Slot and if they actually listen to the media pressure and try to go back to Kloppball purely because Salah is moaning in public I think it'd be a huge mistake. 

 

[Stadt]

1 hour ago, Finnegan said:

 

I don't know. Time will tell on that. You have to assume the vast majority of the personnel are still there that's always been there and they've got the same policy. 

 

They've always spent big when they've felt the maths was right and the data backed up their faith in a player. 

 

Ekitike hit the ground running, Wirtz is a top player who looks like he's starting to bed in and Isak has largely been unfortunate with injuries. 

 

I feel the whole narrative around Liverpool this year was an over reaction, they're cycling a squad and it was always going to be a huge adjustment period. I'm a little bit surprised they haven't stuck with their guns with Slot and if they actually listen to the media pressure and try to go back to Kloppball purely because Salah is moaning in public I think it'd be a huge mistake. 

 

Sometimes even smart clubs get things wrong, football is hard. Their kept their powder dry (sensibly) but went mental without addressing the Salah and VVD issue.

 

It might be that they think VVD can go on for years, or there was just nobody out there worth the money but it was a daft window and I thought so at the time. Jacquet (sp) might be great, Wirtz might make a leap but there are just structural things wrong with that squad. If they appoint Iraola (I'm a huge fan) that may give them the uplift they need but he does tend to burn his players out and their lack of depth is odd.

 

They desperately need at least one very good CB, probably two DMs and to replace arguably their best player. 

[Finnegan]

23 minutes ago, Stadt said:

he does tend to burn his players out

 

This is just why I wouldn't have gone back to "rock and roll football". It might be more entertaining to watch but I actually don't think we've moved on from the era of control football being the best way to win the Premier League. There's a reason Klopp's head to head record over a full 38 game season is terrible against Pep. 

 

[Stadt]

6 minutes ago, Finnegan said:

 

This is just why I wouldn't have gone back to "rock and roll football". It might be more entertaining to watch but I actually don't think we've moved on from the era of control football being the best way to win the Premier League. There's a reason Klopp's head to head record over a full 38 game season is terrible against Pep. 

 

It's hard to know what to do - Slot maybe just was the perfect fit at that time - by sacking him in a post-Guardiola PL though they're being aggressive. Iraola is coveted so they have to move fast. Not going for Alonso is the interesting thing, maybe they think the opposite to you and positional play football really is dead.

[Jaspa]

Regarding Liverpool having this good season, bad season, rock & roll football to cold wave football pattern. Reminds me of this wild article from COVID times when they were also intermittently blowing hot & cold.

 

https://backpagefootball.com/why-liverpool-wont-win-the-premier-league-this-season/126313/

 

 

Quote

 

Why Liverpool won’t win the Premier League this season

In 2016, I submitted an article to a peer reviewed journal and the editor called me immediately after he’d read it. He spoke in glowing terms about the balance of academic support and real life test cases.

It was titled – “Dangers of caffeine misuse in elite sport.” I was thrilled. He said it would catch fire with media given the subject matter and test cases. He then told me that to publish it in the first quarter of 2017 it would cost me $2,500, plus $500 in editor fees. It’ll now be published in the first quarter of 2021. And on this basis, I’ll explain why Liverpool won’t win the Premier League this year.

Prediction time

In October 2018 and again in October 2019 on Capital Sports FM radio in Moscow we predicted the winners of the English Premier League. We told people to bet their houses on Manchester City in 2018 and then on Liverpool to win in 2019. This year, I’d do the same – but to bet everything that Liverpool won’t win the Premier League. Simple reasons why:

• Only one club has retained their crown since 2008/09
• COVID-19 has messed up any rhythm Liverpool might have had

And, most importantly of all:

• They will be cycling off

Manchester City were the last to retain their crown and that was in the face of a behind the scenes meltdown where best friend and number two to the manager Zeljko Buvac objected in going “full nuclear” to capture the league title. He was sent on gardening leave and a couple of months later the man who would become deputy returned after a spell in Holland with a lot of new know-how for a two season cycle.

In 2018 Liverpool were 19 points off Manchester City and a year later they were one point from the holy grail. And last year they got their hands on the grail after 30 years of waiting. But at what price?

Liverpool in recovery

This is where I dip into the academic research undertaken for the article mentioned in the opening paragraph, Liverpool cycling off. Just as Leicester City went hell for leather under the watchful eye of Mapei graduate Andrea Azzalin, Azzalin followed Claudio Ranieri around like a sweet scent and was last at AS Roma before Ranieri rocked up in Sampdoria.

Azzalin learned from the best in cycling and like fellow Mapei alumni found his knowledge transferable to football. This knowledge of how to push players above and beyond their limits using caffeine and other substances was ridden out on a rail from Chelsea but found a welcome home for a time in Juventus.

We can remember the mad stories of Jamie Vardy souping up on Red Bull and port, greeted with giggles from the lapdog English sports media. All fun and games – until his heart packs in. Jamie, they repeated without bullshit filter, shuns gym work “so as not to bulk up and hinder his explosive pace.” Yes. This was puked out into the public sphere with no comment. Remember, too, how Leicester City players were visiting Dr. Mark Bonar.

Remember the heretical line Azzalin was part of, back to the Sassis. Andrea is an expert in the effects of caffeine and had a willing subject in Jamie, as shown here from his betting sponsored Sun column. Three Red Bulls, an omelette and a double espresso.

The English Premier League is played at a pace only matched by sugar-crazed toddlers. The fittest teams who have the best benches and best injury prevention invariably win. However there is the extra part as explained to me by one source working with an Premier League club,

“It’s impossible to keep this up season after season. The new stuff, added with caffeine, puts so much pressure on the cardio (vascular) system. Now you put into that painkillers or even anti-biotics (if they’re ill), it’s a minefield.”

Putting hearts under such pressure season after season, at the pace of the Premier League, is a tragedy waiting to happen. Privately players and coaches I’ve interviewed say that it’s not just muscle or bone injuries that have been increasing. Getting someone to go fully on the record is almost impossible as the omerta around football is as bad as that as in cycling or tennis.

Whataboutery

Bayern Munich and their “Healing Hans”, Juventus and their “system”, Paris Saint-Germain, RB Leipzig, Barcelona, Real Madrid and on and on. Yes, they’re also as clean as Peppa Pig’s boots after a day of muddy puddle jumping. Leipzig have an East German doping criminal in charge of their sports medicine. But don’t worry, he’s also worked with US athletes who have never tested positive.

Staying in Germany, Hans Muller Wohlfahrt and his injections have helped everyone from Bono (yes, U2’s Bono), Usain Bolt, Paula Radcliffe and a number of other dodgy characters across a range of sports. He was only recently binned for the second time from Bayern Munich, but his legacy lives on. He’d been kicked out before by Pep Guardiola who brought in his own gurus.

Juventus have a Sassi and no touch control from Italian Anti-Doping. Cristiano Ronaldo still cannot explain his change in physique which began in Spain and has been maintained admirably in Italy. But what these clubs have in common, generally moreso than England, is less competitive leagues, a slower style of play and longstanding doping cultures.

The UK has the longstanding doping culture but a more competitive and fast paced tournament. Jan Molby, Matt Le Tissier and other skilled players strolling around the field have no place in England anymore, however equally skilled, but well muscled and high-stamina players do. Whataboutery is a fair comment, however it’s comparing different beasts.

Why Liverpool will not win the league this season

Jurgen Klopp is no dummy. He knows that after the exertions of two seasons chasing the holy grail, lockdown included, this season will be one for cups aspirations. Pep Lijnders did enough to prove his methods and be brought back to the Liverpool fold.

But even with Dutch know-how, he has learned from cycling expertise that they now need to cycle off. Push more and you risk healthy young men suffering from cardiac arrest. I’ve gone into this before and nothing has changed.

Would Liverpool fans have called a halt to super-dosing on caffeine and other substances if it meant their beloved club didn’t end 30 years of chasing the dragon? Would they hell! The response each time I asked a fan was – well, they know what they’re doing or that it was the player’s choice. Like the vast majority of football journalists, they don’t particularly care.

Liverpool cannot win this season because physically, scientifically and morally they cannot. They cannot overdose again on caffeine because of the side-effects. They cannot keep up the pace with other substances and painkillers because the amounts needed to win the league would cause a slew of injuries. And as much as the American owners would like to win the title once again, players are valuable assets to them and they don’t need Mo, Roberto and company to break down and lose their resale value.

 

According to a source close to the club, of 35 players 22 are asthmatic – 63% of the squad, over five times higher than the 12% UK average. With so many sickly players and COVID-19 threatening these at risk players, it’s already dangerous. To keep the players at the max for an entire season, on numerous fronts, substances to enhance and support performance are needed.

The players have been flat out for two seasons and their bodies cannot take much more. When the joke shop of US Anti-Doping can explain how dangerous overuse of PEDs (legal) can be for the meatiest of heads, Jurgen, Pep and the wiseguys in Anfield know when to lift their foot off the pedal.

In concluding the academic article, I pointed out that no Liverpool players have failed tests. I am not alleging any wrongdoing on their part. Nor am I intimating that they’re all on the juice. I’ve simply studied the support systems, those involved and what’s needed to achieve what they have achieved.

It’s impossible to do three seasons in a row without players collapsing from cardiovascular issues or physical or mental collapse. So now is a good time to back them not winning the Premier League this season.

 

Edited Monday at 17:11 by Jaspa

[Super_horns]

Kenny Dalglish undergoing treatment too.

Wish him well also obviously.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/clyp4e14m1do

[StanSP]

John Barnes reveals prostate cancer diagnosis. 

[Wymsey]

3 minutes ago, StanSP said:

John Barnes reveals prostate cancer diagnosis. 

Christ - from Keegan, Dalglish and now him in, what, a day?

 

Feels a bit like a watershed moment; hopefully this will raise much more awareness of the disease, which am sure it will.

[purpleronnie]

18 minutes ago, StanSP said:

John Barnes reveals prostate cancer diagnosis. 

He's clear now, he'd been treated previously for it.

[StanSP]

3 minutes ago, purpleronnie said:

He's clear now, he'd been treated previously for it.

Oh good, glad to hear that! 

[Stuntman_Mike]

.

Edited 18 hours ago by Stuntman_Mike