General Premier League Thread 2024-25

But nobody ever plays every top tier team in a season

Liverpool have definitely won the European Cup with an easier run than they had that season. AC Milan, with Ancelotti, were stacked as a squad. So were Juventus who "won" Serie A that season by 8 points ahead of Milan but couldn't lay a glove on that Liverpool side in the quarter final. Mourinho's Chelsea were hugely dominant too, not yet at their peak but not far off either and was during their 80-something home undefeated phase.

Even that Leverkusen squad was dangerous with Berbatov, they had beaten Bayern 5-1 and Real Madrid 3-0 that season yet again they never really looked like knocking Liverpool out and conceded 6 to them over the 2 legs.

I agree that they weren't the best team in Europe that season just because of winning the big one, but they didn't accidentally end up in the final by beating nobody's

You can talk about luck when it comes to losing at half time and needing to score 3 goals in the 2nd half to avoid going out without conceding....but people forget that Liverpool did that TWICE in the CL campaign, it wasn't a one off

I don't think any Liverpool fan actually claims that Liverpool were the best or even amongst the best 4 or 5 teams in Europe in 2005, but, they managed to beat 2 of the favourites along the way- Juve and Milan. It's not called the miracle of Istanbul for nothing! Massive underdogs in the final against an outstanding Milan team that went 3 goals up, Liverpool were on the verge of humiiliation, but, somehow managed to turn it around. Milan were the better team on the night, yet lost. Ironically in 2007, Liverpool were a much better team, probaly the better team on the night, Milan not as strong, yet Milan won.

Even though Madrid have dominated the champions league in the last decade, were they really the best team in Europe each time they won it, I wouldn't necessarily agree, were they better than City last season or even in 2022? It's a cup competition, so the best team doesn't necessarily win it each year.

It’s beginning to get annoying the way injuries are getting dismissed as a reasons for a team under performing by the likes of Roy Keane when discussing arsenal this season.

Pep lamented city’s injuries this season when giving his thoughts in the defeat to liverpool so it’s not just teams that have a questionable psychological makeup that moan about injuries.

Injuries are an extremely big factor in a teams performance so dismissing them is kinda dumb.

He's definitely a very good player but personally I'd say Oshimen and even Jonathan David are a safer bet. I've heard Arsenal fans say Sesko is too unproven and has potential but Arsenal needs proven quality right now. I'm not sure how proven Gyökeres really is. Would Sesko not hit 25 goals playing in Portugal?

Does that red for Gordon rule him out of the league cup final

That straight red card for violent conduct is a three match ban, so as it stands he'll miss the league game away to West Ham (March 10th), the Carabao Cup Final (March 16th) and the following league game against Brentford (April 2nd). In effect he gets a month off because the next game he'll be available for is Leicester on April 7th.

England used to have a policy that while a player was serving a domestic suspension they wouldn't receive a call up for the national team. It will be interesting to see if Tuchel takes that approach.

Newcastle could decide to appeal, in which case Gordon would be available until the independent panel reviews the referee's report and the video footage. If they deem the appeal to have been frivolous, i.e. the ban is upheld and there was no valid reason for the appeal other than to have the player available for additional games before the suspension, then an addition game would be added to the ban.

Aston Villa are 10th and are able to sign a player who has won multiple CLs and have nearly 300 Real Madrid appearances to their name, and not when their washed up either.

Brighton Brentford Fulham Crystal Palace etc are full of Internationals, and have some of the best recruitment around.

Wolves are 17th and will have 2 if not 3 players in the Brazil squad for the next International break.

Teams like Man Utd & Spurs are low in the table for a reason. 11 of the 'other 14' have increased their standards massively.

What have those teams you mention won? Success= Trophies.

They are all midtable teams. Wolves having 3 Brazil players in their squad probably says more about how poor Brazil are at the moment than Wolves.

Success is not trophies.

Success is meeting and achieving a clubs objectives. Ipswich won't be judged against winning a trophy this season, likewise Wolves or Crystal Palace and Brentford and so on. Chelsea don't care about winning a league cup trophy, we want to play CL football, that's what success is for Chelsea this season.

Again, the point has nothing to do with winning trophies. The fact that so many of the teams that DO NOT win trophies are now good enough to cause the biggest sides trouble is what makes for a league with strong depth. The biggest teams at any given time will always win most of the trophies, and selecting the small handful of exceptions from a 20 year period only enhances that. (on that subject though, it might be worth noting that only 1 of the 8 quarter finalists in this years FA Cup is a 'big team').

Some of the traditional superpowers are in transitional phases, and most of the rest have stepped up a level. It's great!

(as for the Leicester point… their owners money comes from duty free shopping. That industry's collapse during covid destroyed them. they just don't have money to invest anymore. Add in the tragic death of the family patriarch at one of their games, and their relative stagnation is fairly understandable)

I'm saying that clubs outside the "big 6" can win trophies and should be aiming to. Favourable draw or not Wigan still had to beat those teams to win the FA Cup. Yeah Leicester City fans are protesting but I don't see Southampton, Ipswich or Wolves fans protesting.

So you're saying that Fulham, Brentford and Brighton have all had terrific recruitment but yet have failed to win anything so it isn't terrific recruitment unless you're definition of terrific recruitment brings you midtable mediocrity. Fulham managed to make a Europa League final in 2010 and no one was calling their recruitment terrific then.

There never were any easy games in the Prem unless it's against some sh1t promoted team like Sheffield United last season, Southampton this season or 07/08 Derby. Was always tough going away to the likes of Stoke, Birmingham, Blackburn or Bolton. Probably easier now than before when the lesser teams used to have rubbish pitches and knock lumps out of passing sides. Now every ground has the same standard pitch and every team is playing some variation of tiki taka or counter pressing.

It's funny that you mention Bolton when one of the primary drivers of their success in the 00s was their use of the revolutionary ProZone predictive data analysis. They gained a massive advantage because of this, because they had an outlier.

It didn't take long for every other club to take note, and increase their own standards to use this, or similar, technology. Thus increasing the standard of the entire league.

You'd think as an Arsenal fan, you would be well aware of how one club can achieve over others by having some sort of revolutionary technology or methodology. Arsenal had it with dieticians and sport science under Wenger. They won a few leagues until every other club caught up, dragging the other clubs out of the 80s & 90s era when it came to food and fitness and drinking, and the league eventually became better as a whole. Every club started to use the same techniques.

The league keeps evolving and increasing in standards across the board.

There has been a lot of stupid things in football over the last while but this maybe tops the lot

It doesn't fit in the calendar, simple as.

It'll either be a glorified pre-season tournament or the teams taking part will have to massively rotate their squads for the first month of the season potentially putting a title challenge on the line.

I know City have all the money etc.. but even they can't carry this.
Pep himself surely needs some downtime

Well now we know what was supposedly said!

https://www.thefa.com/news/2025/feb/14/everton-and-liverpool-charges-140225

It was reported by the Referee that following the full-time whistle, he was approached by LFC’s Arne Slot (“AS”) who had entered the field of play to confront the Referee and the Match Officials team. Tensions were running high. It was alleged that AS’ manner was confrontational and aggressive. It was alleged that he initially used abusive words whilst shaking the Referee’s hand including that the Referee had “fúcking give them everything” and that AS hoped that the Referee “was proud of that performance.” The Referee thereafter confirms (having reviewed the video footage to clarify) that he was approached again by AS around one minute later. In this exchange, AS once again shook the Referee’s hand and said “if we don’t win the league, I’ll fúcking blame you.” It is then further alleged that AS turned to the Assistant Referee and shouted twice that it was “a fúcking disgrace.” As a result of AS’ conduct, he was shown a red card by the Referee.

Additionally, Sipke Hulshoff (“SH”) is alleged to have entered the field of play following the full-time whistle to confront the Referee in an “extremely aggressive manner.” It is alleged that SH said the Referee was “fúcking shıt” and “gave them everything” and he was a “fúcking disgrace.” We are advised that the Referee attempts to remove himself from the situation to deal with the dismissals of CJ and AD, but SH continues to follow him and is eventually restrained by colleagues, but continues to shout “fúcking shıt.” SH was also shown a red card by the Referee and dismissed.

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