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On April 17 2026 15:14 FlaShFTW wrote:
Really cool matchups for Europe across all tournaments. Haremball vs Haremball, both teams gonna run a 5-5-0. Bayern v PSG is going to be a barn burner, the best two clubs in Europe ATM. EPL battle with Villa vs Forest and honestly, I think Forest has a good chance here. And great matchups in the Conference League too.
I do think we have a chance vs Villa for sure. We drew 1-1 with them the other day and we went 1-0 down in that game which shows we can match them.
Exciting times.
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Northern Ireland27402 Posts
On April 18 2026 00:30 Bacillus wrote:
Was the Rice freekick just a one-day-miracle? I think I've only seen him skying free kicks after that.
He’s consistently very good at non-shooting set pieces, so much so you’d expect him to be more consistently dangerous at direct shooting ones with a wee tweak.
But yeah at least thus far it appears the Real game was the outlier where the stars aligned!
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Northern Ireland27402 Posts
On April 17 2026 16:51 Harris1st wrote:
So are we predicting the Arsenal vs Athleti games are gonna end 0:0, 0:1 / 1:0 and this'll be either a Rice freekick or a Alavarez freekick? Yay
I think it could be more exciting than some are making out
As ‘Italian football is defensive’ is a perception that still persists years, possibly decades at this point since it was true, so too Atlético a bit. They’ve still plenty of Simeone grit, but they’re markedly different to some of his older sides. Not only more ambitious in the football they’re trying to play in general, they seemingly lack the capacity these days to get a lead and hold on for dear life.
Admittedly Barca are rather good, but the Atletico of old don’t both establish a 4-0 lead, nor nearly blow it and lose 3-0 in the second, as happened in the Copa del Rey. Their tie in the CL wasn’t exactly lacking for big swings of momentum either.
We do have Arsenal here though! They can play football too, but it feels they’ve retreated into their shells more and more as the trophy pressure has ramped up. Admittedly some of their European displays have been more convincing, although there’s not much pressure in the league phase so that’s probably partly why.
Be it tactical instruction, or getting on top of the potential paralysing fear and pressure, I think Arteta has definitely got to get his troops playing a bit more expressively. Not just as a neutral speaking, just the nature of football as a low-scoring game where it’s hard to score and the better team doesn’t always win. Arsenal have a great defence, but if they’re not consistently creating chances, there puts huge onus on them converting from a small number or they risk being sucker-punched.
In a slightly different way I think Real are finding similar problems. A gameplan of being a worse, less cohesive side than some of their peers at the very top, but individual moments from exceptional talents can see us through can work, as we’ve seen. Over more and more matches though it’s a flawed approach that becomes more and more likely to come unstuck.
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Arsenal will win the premier League if they beat city but will lose the title if they lose to city. A draw is slight advantage Arsenal
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Oh Spurs that is beyond Spursy
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if arsenal dont win the league this season they will never win it again ever. what a way to choke the title
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On April 20 2026 02:29 evilfatsh1t wrote:
if arsenal dont win the league this season they will never win it again ever. what a way to choke the title
Ehh. As much as it's a fun storyline for anyone not cheering for Arsenal, I don't think any team in the league is stable enough to stop Arsenal from having another go next season. Pep is likely leaving, Liverpool looks terrible and Chelsea seem to be happy just doing the business rather than winning in football. United are surprisingly good, but it's still a while before they look like a serious contender and some of the key pieces are aging. Spurs are not around currently and may not be in the upcoming future.
I think Arsenal are going to do the same routine next season and it really shouldn't be good enough, but who knows with the competition around them. We'll see how City and Liverpool sort themselves out (and where United is heading).
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United States10565 Posts
On April 20 2026 13:20 Bacillus wrote:Show nested quote +On April 20 2026 02:29 evilfatsh1t wrote:
if arsenal dont win the league this season they will never win it again ever. what a way to choke the title Ehh. As much as it's a fun storyline for anyone not cheering for Arsenal, I don't think any team in the league is stable enough to stop Arsenal from having another go next season. Pep is likely leaving, Liverpool looks terrible and Chelsea seem to be happy just doing the business rather than winning in football. United are surprisingly good, but it's still a while before they look like a serious contender and some of the key pieces are aging. Spurs are not around currently and may not be in the upcoming future. I think Arsenal are going to do the same routine next season and it really shouldn't be good enough, but who knows with the competition around them. We'll see how City and Liverpool sort themselves out (and where United is heading).
The problem isn't if Arsenal's squad doesn't change much, which you'd think would be an advantage for them with Pep leaving. The problem is just how much scar tissue exists in the team as a whole? Can the team ever come back to make that run again? This really was the season to shed the scar tissue from 22-24 where they had opportunities, but if they can't do it this season, it's really never going to happen with this squad until it gets revamped from the ground up. Lot of players are just going to lose their confidence and I honestly expect a lot of them to look for moves elsewhere.
City even with a new manager might still have that old Pep discipline in them similar to Liverpool still having Klopp DNA last year. They'd probably be the favorites assuming they can find someone to be a suitable replacement for Silva as the squad as a whole still has good depth.
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On April 20 2026 13:20 Bacillus wrote:Show nested quote +On April 20 2026 02:29 evilfatsh1t wrote:
if arsenal dont win the league this season they will never win it again ever. what a way to choke the title Ehh. As much as it's a fun storyline for anyone not cheering for Arsenal, I don't think any team in the league is stable enough to stop Arsenal from having another go next season. Pep is likely leaving, Liverpool looks terrible and Chelsea seem to be happy just doing the business rather than winning in football. United are surprisingly good, but it's still a while before they look like a serious contender and some of the key pieces are aging. Spurs are not around currently and may not be in the upcoming future. I think Arsenal are going to do the same routine next season and it really shouldn't be good enough, but who knows with the competition around them. We'll see how City and Liverpool sort themselves out (and where United is heading).
They bottled the FA cup, they will choke the League and will likely not win CL.
Yes they'll be just as good next year (if Arteta is staying after not winning a single title) but they will choke again next year.
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yeah the problem for this iteration of arsenals squad is if they dont get over the hump this season i see them having a mental block forever. arsenal are going to have to wait until an entire new team is built with a new core group and manager cause these guys are serial chokers under pressure. quality isnt really the problem. its their lack of mental fortitude
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Northern Ireland27402 Posts
I gather they’re not 100% comparable, but Klopp’s Liverpool had plenty of runner’s-up places in the league and they kept coming back to the well and got over the line
Generally speaking, if you’re consistently in the mix and clear of third place, that should instil at least some confidence.
With Arsenal it doesn’t seem to.
I’m not saying I blame the fans here, I can’t really recall such a persistent negativity and lack of enthusiasm for a season such as this. Don’t get me wrong there’s always some anxiousness from fans, but it’s usually combined with excitement and enthusiasm too.
With Arsenal it feels it’s been primarily talk about bottling it from almost the start of the season, which has bled through into media talk, and which surely must bleed through into that club, even if just a little.
If anything they’re doing pretty well right now to even be in the conversation, big chunks of their attack simply aren’t firing. Saka and Odegaard have been amongst their MVPs from previous challenges and aren’t on it at all, and haven’t for quite a while.
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United States10565 Posts
On April 20 2026 22:34 WombaT wrote:
I gather they’re not 100% comparable, but Klopp’s Liverpool had plenty of runner’s-up places in the league and they kept coming back to the well and got over the line
Generally speaking, if you’re consistently in the mix and clear of third place, that should instil at least some confidence.
With Arsenal it doesn’t seem to.
I’m not saying I blame the fans here, I can’t really recall such a persistent negativity and lack of enthusiasm for a season such as this. Don’t get me wrong there’s always some anxiousness from fans, but it’s usually combined with excitement and enthusiasm too.
With Arsenal it feels it’s been primarily talk about bottling it from almost the start of the season, which has bled through into media talk, and which surely must bleed through into that club, even if just a little.
If anything they’re doing pretty well right now to even be in the conversation, big chunks of their attack simply aren’t firing. Saka and Odegaard have been amongst their MVPs from previous challenges and aren’t on it at all, and haven’t for quite a while.
I think comparing that Liverpool squad to this Arsenal squad is not a far comparison. Liverpool went toe to toe with that City team, it wasn't them bottling 19 or 22, it was just City being that strong. Klopp teams are notorious for being mentality monsters, whether it's stoppage time winners or just gritting out games, while Arsenal feel like a slight gust of wind can knock them over.
Arteta's system also is just so dire to watch, which adds to the whole bottle job stereotype and why people want to root against them. It's just dire, boring football. At least with Klopp, it was direct, exciting football and people loved to tune in to watch. City was pretty possession focused but at least they had beautiful combination play that would generate some lovely goals. Idk what Arsenal's play is other than legitimately just pass outside and look for a corner/FK to generate set pieces.
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Northern Ireland27402 Posts
On April 21 2026 02:33 FlaShFTW wrote:Show nested quote +On April 20 2026 22:34 WombaT wrote:
I gather they’re not 100% comparable, but Klopp’s Liverpool had plenty of runner’s-up places in the league and they kept coming back to the well and got over the line
Generally speaking, if you’re consistently in the mix and clear of third place, that should instil at least some confidence.
With Arsenal it doesn’t seem to.
I’m not saying I blame the fans here, I can’t really recall such a persistent negativity and lack of enthusiasm for a season such as this. Don’t get me wrong there’s always some anxiousness from fans, but it’s usually combined with excitement and enthusiasm too.
With Arsenal it feels it’s been primarily talk about bottling it from almost the start of the season, which has bled through into media talk, and which surely must bleed through into that club, even if just a little.
If anything they’re doing pretty well right now to even be in the conversation, big chunks of their attack simply aren’t firing. Saka and Odegaard have been amongst their MVPs from previous challenges and aren’t on it at all, and haven’t for quite a while. I think comparing that Liverpool squad to this Arsenal squad is not a far comparison. Liverpool went toe to toe with that City team, it wasn't them bottling 19 or 22, it was just City being that strong. Klopp teams are notorious for being mentality monsters, whether it's stoppage time winners or just gritting out games, while Arsenal feel like a slight gust of wind can knock them over. Arteta's system also is just so dire to watch, which adds to the whole bottle job stereotype and why people want to root against them. It's just dire, boring football. At least with Klopp, it was direct, exciting football and people loved to tune in to watch. City was pretty possession focused but at least they had beautiful combination play that would generate some lovely goals. Idk what Arsenal's play is other than legitimately just pass outside and look for a corner/FK to generate set pieces.
It’s pretty dire to watch this season, absolutely, it hasn’t been in prior campaigns.
I’m just not sure perception necessarily meets reality here. If anything, until recently Arsenal have been gritting out games, their problem is that they’re just not playing very well in general.
TLDR I think Arsenal have an unearned reputation as bottlers from prior campaigns, although I think it’s fair to say they’re botching the run-in in this one.
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United States10565 Posts
On April 21 2026 07:16 WombaT wrote:Show nested quote +On April 21 2026 02:33 FlaShFTW wrote:On April 20 2026 22:34 WombaT wrote:
I gather they’re not 100% comparable, but Klopp’s Liverpool had plenty of runner’s-up places in the league and they kept coming back to the well and got over the line
Generally speaking, if you’re consistently in the mix and clear of third place, that should instil at least some confidence.
With Arsenal it doesn’t seem to.
I’m not saying I blame the fans here, I can’t really recall such a persistent negativity and lack of enthusiasm for a season such as this. Don’t get me wrong there’s always some anxiousness from fans, but it’s usually combined with excitement and enthusiasm too.
With Arsenal it feels it’s been primarily talk about bottling it from almost the start of the season, which has bled through into media talk, and which surely must bleed through into that club, even if just a little.
If anything they’re doing pretty well right now to even be in the conversation, big chunks of their attack simply aren’t firing. Saka and Odegaard have been amongst their MVPs from previous challenges and aren’t on it at all, and haven’t for quite a while. I think comparing that Liverpool squad to this Arsenal squad is not a far comparison. Liverpool went toe to toe with that City team, it wasn't them bottling 19 or 22, it was just City being that strong. Klopp teams are notorious for being mentality monsters, whether it's stoppage time winners or just gritting out games, while Arsenal feel like a slight gust of wind can knock them over. Arteta's system also is just so dire to watch, which adds to the whole bottle job stereotype and why people want to root against them. It's just dire, boring football. At least with Klopp, it was direct, exciting football and people loved to tune in to watch. City was pretty possession focused but at least they had beautiful combination play that would generate some lovely goals. Idk what Arsenal's play is other than legitimately just pass outside and look for a corner/FK to generate set pieces. It’s pretty dire to watch this season, absolutely, it hasn’t been in prior campaigns. I’m just not sure perception necessarily meets reality here. If anything, until recently Arsenal have been gritting out games, their problem is that they’re just not playing very well in general. TLDR I think Arsenal have an unearned reputation as bottlers from prior campaigns, although I think it’s fair to say they’re botching the run-in in this one.
Felt like last season was the beginning of the boring to watch Arsenal side and it's really taken a strangle hold this season. They were definitely better before. And they definitely bottled 22-23 season. 23-24 is a tossup of whether they bottled it or not.
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51693 Posts
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So what's the Chelsea thing at the moment? I keep hearing that they're run more like a business and the money comes from player trades and such rather than footballing success.
But what do they actually do in practice? How can we tell if they're hitting their targets and so on? Is it currently working?
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On April 22 2026 13:25 Bacillus wrote:
So what's the Chelsea thing at the moment? I keep hearing that they're run more like a business and the money comes from player trades and such rather than footballing success.
But what do they actually do in practice? How can we tell if they're hitting their targets and so on? Is it currently working?
Pretty sure player value is tied to them playing well, which is usually correlated with winning. Due to the distinct lack of winning, my guess is that no, they aren't. Unless they're not only bad at winning but also at choosing sensible targets, in which case maybe they're hitting them all 
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On April 22 2026 18:25 Harris1st wrote:
Glasner to Chelsea?
Surely he needs to do an apprenticeship at Strasbourg first
Chelsea will be fine, they'll just offload players to Saudi for vastly inflated prices again
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Northern Ireland27402 Posts
On April 22 2026 13:25 Bacillus wrote:
So what's the Chelsea thing at the moment? I keep hearing that they're run more like a business and the money comes from player trades and such rather than footballing success.
But what do they actually do in practice? How can we tell if they're hitting their targets and so on? Is it currently working?
The answer is broadly, no
On the footballing side, they’re like a more extreme Dortmund of recent times. Full of young talents, but they keep selling them and buying the next bunch and basically resetting every season.
You get some real experienced operators, finished articles to say, compliment their top pros like Cucarella and James, and players like Caicedo or Palmer who they bought young and have had a few years to settle and are approaching the traditional ‘peak age’, you’ve got a pretty formidable side right there!
I guess a key difference to Dortmund is Chelsea actively choose to adopt this model, Dortmund (and many other clubs) it’s by necessity. Even if Dortmund wanted to, it’s unlikely they could have held on to say peak Sancho, Haaland and Bellingham for a few more years to have them all mature and play together and really make a formidable side.
Off the pitch it’s not really working either. They’ve been reliant on creative accounting, selling their own woman’s team to themselves etc etc. Even still it’s just generally fudging it. And not fudging it until the model kicks in and they start making money either. The latter isn’t really happening either, indeed (something I heard on a podcast not written it down, may be misremembering), they posted something like the biggest yearly loss in Prem history there
I see some big problems with their model, purely from the stance of Chelsea the business, let’s set aside the pesky football for a second :p
1) They don’t buy particularly cheap. And they buy in bulk too. This creates a kinda dual problem. If you’re not buying cheap, you need to boost the value of your asset from a reasonably high floor if you want to make a profit selling on. In football generally, this is done by a player’s performances catching eyes, but players can’t do this if a squad is too big for them to get on the field.
2) As per point 1), who’s buying? Who’s the target market here? The only clubs that can comfortable eat €40-50+ transfer fees with a risk are other Prem clubs, PSG, Bayern and Real/Barca (although Barca right now less so. Depending on station, a Prem club is gonna want a proven operator for that kinda cash, or a risk that is cheaper. Elite European teams want proven elite, and if they do want to take a shot at an exceptional unproven talent, they tend to do it directly and not through middlemen (something like Real signing Endrick very, very early).
3) As somewhat links into point 2), there’s increasing financial regulation in European domestic leagues, as well as at a UEFA level if you’re in those competitions. This limits your potential market even further. Last summer in England for example both Aston Villa and Newcastle were very restricted by PSR (profit and sustainability rules) and had to sell before they could buy. That’s 2 clubs that are probably in something of sweet spot as a potential buyer in Chelsea’s model, extremely hampered. Clubs will still make transfer mistakes regardless, but I think the current climate makes many more risk-averse, and thus makes it harder for Chelsea to make a profit selling like a 4th choice winger or whatever.
In short I think it’s quite a baffling model in its totality, more so because Chelsea are ostensibly a team with elite, elite ambitions.
It’s one thing to run a tidy profit selling academy surplus that they either developed themselves, or picked up cheap at 16/17, but they’re making significant outlays to buy players and then hope to resell them in a market not wholly conducive to that.
It feels like this American-lead ownership is trying to transplant what they know from American pro sport into a very different context, and it simply doesn’t work the same.
One thing I will say is quite smart is tying players into long contracts on relatively low annual wages. They can keep the wage bill down, they don’t end up with issues of players having their heads turned in their final year for a while etc. If you want to buy such a player it’ll cost ya! And if player x is tearing it up they can always renegotiate salaries. It’s also beneficial from an accounting perspective as I understand it.
The rest of it is just a bit of a mess all-round.
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EPT
