Football The 2025-26 Football Thread

[SilverHood]

I just keep thinking that if Man United had won that first game against Arsenal, we'd be champions now.

 

[Scouse]

Naughty, @Aoami...

Southampton expelled from play-offs for spying on Middlesbrough, Oxford and Ipswich

Southampton have been thrown out of the play-offs after admitting they spied on three clubs during the Championship season.

www.bbc.com

Championship playoffs should restart with Wrexham replacing Southampton, says Windass

The Wrexham forward Josh Windass has called for the Championship playoffs to be started again, with his team involved, after Southampton’s expulsion

www.theguardian.com

I thought that immediately tbh.

 

[Raven]

They should certainly be postponed, I imagine half the players have abandoned any training for a bit, as their season is over...or was over

 

[DaGaffer]

Championship playoffs should restart with Wrexham replacing Southampton, says Windass

The Wrexham forward Josh Windass has called for the Championship playoffs to be started again, with his team involved, after Southampton’s expulsion

www.theguardian.com

I thought that immediately tbh

Unfairly penalises Hull if they restart.

 

[Ormorof]

Will certainly be an interesting playoff final.

 

[caLLous]

I have not enjoyed this. I will never take being safe with a load of games left to play for granted ever again.

 

[DaGaffer]

I'm pleased United didn't take their foot of the gas in the final game (they've done that a lot over the years); and Hull City getting promoted is nice too. Also Liverpool and Chelsea are rubbish (great) and Guardiola lost his last game, which is also great.

As for Spurs/West Ham, well Spurs have always been my "London team" and I loathe West Ham, so it's all good, but fuck me, Spurs are shite.

All in all a pretty good final day.

 

[caLLous]

...Spurs are shite.

Noted, but I don't think people appreciate the injury trauma we've been through this season. A number of key players have been injured all season or picked up season-ending injuries during it and we didn't do nearly enough in the January window after somehow getting £35m for Brennan Johnson. We lost Kudus to an injury about a day after that, then didn't buy anyone to cover for that loss for the last 3 weeks of the window and then we lost Odobert the week after the window closed. So the right winger position has just been "whoever's fit" for the last 4 months. Which in turn made the whole front line feel makeshift because players weren't in their preferred positions, Richarlison is over the hill (although he's somehow our top scorer this season) and Kolo Muani was out of position and "only" a loan so it didn't feel like he was giving it his all (presumably reflected by his exclusion from France's World Cup squad).

Three serious ACL injuries in one season (Maddison, Odobert and Simons) is just plain bad luck, whichever way you look at it, then add Kudus who was supposed to be back but had a set back and Solanke who has been injured more often than not, Kulusevski who (it feels like) might never play again... All of those are offensive players and all of them are either starters or first names to be called from the bench. It's basically the entire front half of the team that's been patched together for the majority of the season.

Also, it's what you get when you're coached by a fucking coward for 2/3 of the season. Frank basically taught the players to be scared of every single opponent. The guy's a total loser who is incapable of coaching a big club where it's expected that they should dictate the game, not cower in their own half waiting to launch a tentative counter or nick a goal from a set piece. An all-timer disastrous appointment who should've been sacked months earlier (he should've resigned in shame but that was never likely to happen).