General Premier League Thread 2025/2026

Also just in general players transfer fee is amortised over the length of contract and then sale price dictates profit at book value remaining

So even if the discussion was about that player you would have a scenario where e.g.:

Havertz signs for Chelsea from Leverkusen for €100m in 2020, 5 year contract (ignoring structure of deal/add-ons for simplicity):

2021, value is 80m (book value for accounts)

2022, value is 60m

2023, value is 40m

2024, value is 20m

2024 - sell for €75m to Arsenal

Profit = €55m in the 2024 books even though they sell him for less than they bought him

If you're selling a player at or near what you purchased him for years before, you're always making a massive profit because of how amortisation works in club accounts.

If my maths is correct, Germany can no longer pass out England for extra CL spot next year via coefficients

Means that only Spain and Portugal can now surpass English clubs and given that you have Betis v Braga and Sporting would come up against Barcelona the margins are razor thin and unrealistic

I think the only (semi) realistic scenario is something like:

Champions League:

Real Madrid win all remaining ties and lift the trophy

Barcelona play Atletico so pick one to win both quarter final legs but lose in semi final to Sporting Lisbon (Sporting win both legs and lose to Real in final)

Sporting also have to beat Arsenal home and away

Europa League:

Braga beat Real Betis in quarters, winning both legs.

Celta Vigo win both legs of their quarter v Freiburg

Porto win all quarter and semi final ties

Celta play Braga in the semi final, each win one game, pick who you want in the final, they end up losing to Porto (or Braga win if it's them doesn't matter as long as Portuguese team win)

Conference League:

Rayo Vallecano win all remaining games and lift the trophy (no Portuguese teams left in the competition)

TL;DR Premier League 5th place finishers WILL get a CL spot, it's basically in the bag now that Germany can't catch up

Spanish clubs need to find about another 37 points AND Portuguese teams need to find approx 30 points AND all English clubs have to lose all remaining games to not add any more points

Correct decision to send Maguire off even if Evanilson, like Cunha, went down easy He had a similar incident in the first half that he got away with, just keep your hands off.

Looked like Maguire taught he was playing American football there. What was he thinking.

The one on Amad was in the second half.

Either both are or none are

It's nonsense. This ref has made an absolute balls of this.

Think both of them are ridiculously soft. Doesn't take much for a player to go down these days.

Did you see him when Amad went down? He ran over and stared at the aftermath as if he was going to get more information.

It makes sense he's a FIFA ref cause they like to determine the outcome as well.

Except that’s what happened…the ref did seem to be eager to give the second Maguire one.

Cunha's was a definite penalty. Brain dead from the defender

Liverpool are currently 5th and their last 4 games of the season are against the teams currently 3rd, 4th, 6th and 7th

Need to be getting points on the table before then because that's a massive end to the season in the race for top 5

With Mafuirw playing less in recent times,I've really no issues his 'WTF just happened there ' face, someone has to make a GIF out of this,it'll pass out the Travolta one 😀

the game is just broken in so many respects.

refereeing is so wildly inconsistent, and VAR is so stupid, especially when it comes to the likes of penalty incidents, that it simply encourages players to go down softly. they rarely get booked if it happens to be a dive, and they know that if they fool the referee, and there is even the slightest contact, VAR won't overturn. but because players are all going down under soft challenges, referees, by the law of averages, will give some of them, and miss others. there is simply not consistency. either you give all the 'soft ones', or you don't give any of them. but at the moment, because referees are so bad and easily fooled, players know they may as well try to go down, as there's a decent chance the ref will give in their favour, and not give the next one to the other team.

then the nonsense at set pieces just breaks my heart. blocking and grabbing by every team that just goes unchecked.

there need to be some serious rules overhauls, because they're losing me as a fan.