Really cool speech from the Brighton manager about Milner: Squad building isn’t only about potential and future transfer value. Players like James Milner prove that experienced leaders are strategic assets. They raise standards, shape habits, inspire and accelerate the growth of young talent around them. pic.twitter.com/UXC7Ez2zyL— Roger Bonet "Ruxi" (@Ruxiiii4) March 4, 2026
Chelsea beat Villa. United lose to Newcastle United 51 Villa 51 Chelsea 48 Liverpool 48 The good thing about being in a top 5 race is none of the teams involved are good.
I think Villa losing might have been the better result for us. Villa finishing 6th might be our most likely path into the Champions League.
Probably we’re going to have to win against ManU, Villa, and Chelsea to ensure we have a good chance to pass them into CL spots…. The bad news is we are going to have to probably also start winning against teams who are playing really deep blocks against us. The good news is that at least Villa and Chelsea, and probably ManU as well, are likely to actually try to play against us.
That's the thing - isn't it? The PL this year is..."competitive?" While we lost points to the bottom of the table team...Cheaty also lost points to a team they should've beaten...and so did MU...Arsenal has also dropped points to "lower level teams"... It's always been that "any team can beat any other team" on a good day...but this season it seems more so than usual... That doesn't make any excuse for the way we've been playing/not playing...I still prefer to score more goals than the team we are up against...and I still prefer to do it Klop's "Heavy Metal" way than Slot's "Easy Listening" way...
It definitely is. In prior seasons it's been pretty damn rare, but this season it is becoming routine for any of the bottom-5 clubs to get good results against any of the top-5 teams. Nobody can take any result as a given.
At some point the utility of money hits a wall. The PL rakes in so much money that the 18th placed team in England is among the richest 15 clubs in the world. Every bottom half team can buy the best players from 55 of the 60 German, Italian, and Spanish clubs. Wolves' 45m winger is capable of regularly hurting a 130m CB pair in ways that wasn't likely 10, 15 years ago.
I think coaching has more to do with this than simply buying good players. We have a new generation of young, mostly foreign, coaches plying their trade. The reason why the likes of Brighton, Bournemouth, Crystal Palace are giving everyone a hard time is because they’re well coached. No more old boys network of failed managers bumping along the bottom of the league, gaining an occasional upset against Man City, but mostly folding over meekly.
Agree with this. The days of the Big Sams, Sean Dyche's and Harry R's who specialized in keeping the weak teams up for a year or so are long gone.
It's not an either/or -- it's both. Better skilled players (as Tips says, the PL can take their pick of the European and SA crop), who are paid remarkably well to dedicate themselves to the job, playing smarter football managed by coaches who are paid huge amounts to succeed. With both groups supported by sports analysis nerds and sports fitness/health experts at the top of their profession.
I I agree it’s both. I was just saying in my view good coaching is the more important. You can only get so much from buying players. Just look at Man U and Chelsea in recent seasons.