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2025-26 European Tournaments

Happy my Reds won after all the turmoil of the past week with Mo's meltdown and all the pressure Arne has put himself under. CL looking like the most important competition for the Reds as the Prem is all but gone at this point.
 
Yeah, he was an engine yesterday ... and needed to be with the squad rotation. I really hope they can find another option in January to back up Watkins aside from Malen. I like him SO much better on the wing or as a support striker.
 
jeffbear said:
Yeah, he was an engine yesterday ... and needed to be with the squad rotation. I really hope they can find another option in January to back up Watkins aside from Malen. I like him SO much better on the wing or as a support striker.
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I know he isn't the most popular with our fans, but I'd like to see Guessand given a chance at the backup striker role. Malen doesn't have anywhere close to the work rate/physicality necessary for the role. I'd also like to see Sancho put in a rocket and launched into the sun and for everyone that approved taking on his 200k a week slapped straight across the face.
 
I like Guessand, but I fear he's just too much of a pure winger for Emery's tastes. God knows how many of those guys they've brought in and run off over the last few years. I feel like a lot of that was Mochi trying to tell Emery how to set up his side, and we know who won that war. Malen is a bit more flexible ... and squishier :0)
 
Last match day of the Champions League Group Stage. Arsenal has wrapped up either 1st or 2nd, they play last place Kairat Almaty at home. Bayern Munich has also clinched at least a top 4 spot and can finish first with an Arsenal and a 6 goal swing. The other Premier League clubs should also advance at least to the playoff round.
 
Arsenal finishes undefeated, conceding 4 goals in 8 matches. Bayern Munich finishes 2nd. Liverpool, Spurs, Barcelona, Chelsea, Sporting and Man City round out the top 8 with byes into the round of 16. Newcastle finished 12th and will have to play their way in. In the most dramatic finish of the day, Benfica beat Real Madrid, 4-2 with Benfica keeper Anatoliy Trubin scoring the winner on a header off a free kick in the 8th minute of stoppage time. That gave Benfica the goal they needed to move past Marseille and into the last playoff spot. Real Madrid finished 9 and will have to play their way in. A draw would have seen them finish 8th and push Man City into the playoffs, a win would have gotten them 4th.
 
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The playoff draws were held today.

In the Champions League, Newcastle will play Qarabag.
In the Europa League, Aston Villa finished 2nd, undefeated in 8 matches. Nottingham Forest drew Fenerbahce, Celtic drew Stuttgart.
In the Conference League, Crystal Palace drew Zrinjski from Bosnia and Herzegovina.

And Real Madrid drew Benfica. This could be a slaughter of a tie.
 
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With so many injuries, Villa played a bunch of their youth squad kids in their final Europa League game yesterday and still managed to get Ollie Watkins hurt because their only other striker (Abraham) isn’t with the club yet. At least they came back and got the win, because … yeah.
 
Hopefully not too serious on Ollie. He basically felt a twinge in his hamstring and they took him off as a precaution. It's our 167th hamstring injury in the past two years (give or take a few injuries).

I went into the match not really caring about the result or that we came out like crap and went down two goals, but when we brought on more youth players and came back, I definitely got caught up in it. I want to shoot Sancho into the Sun and give JJA all of his minutes.
 
I know they only planned on Hemmings playing one half, but I thought he played his way into the pace of the game pretty well as the first half went along. For most other managers, he’d be in the senior squad by now. Ending up with Bogarde and Lindeloff as your two holding mids is obviously not ideal, but hey … options are thin on the ground right now. Speaking of options, I’d love to see Young stick around with the senior team as a wide option off the bench. He’s got pace and physicality enough to be a good option on the wing and is also a good No. 9 at youth level.
 
VinatieriDefinesClutch said:
My one continual issue with Emery is his almost outright refusal to give young players minutes and how quickly he ices them out. I doubt we see JJA again this season
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Probably not … aside from on the subs bench. Young may get some time though, depending on how they feel about Bailey. Guessand departed for Palace on loan today.
 
andyt said:
Arsenal finishes undefeated, conceding 4 goals in 8 matches. Bayern Munich finishes 2nd. Liverpool, Spurs, Barcelona, Chelsea, Sporting and Man City round out the top 8 with byes into the round of 16. Newcastle finished 12th and will have to play their way in. In the most dramatic finish of the day, Benfica beat Real Madrid, 4-2 with Benfica keeper Anatoliy Trubin scoring the winner on a header off a free kick in the 8th minute of stoppage time. That gave Benfica the goal they needed to move past Marseille and into the last playoff spot. Real Madrid finished 9 and will have to play their way in. A draw would have seen them finish 8th and push Man City into the playoffs, a win would have gotten them 4th.
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That goal, by Trubin, if you've not seen it: spectacular. And couldn't have happened to a more deserving side than Madrid, who had TWO players sent off in injury time, both for dissent.:ROFLMAO:


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=woQ5YgXbLhA&t=14s
 
In the Champions League round of 16 draw, Chelsea drew PSG, Liverpool v. Galatasaray, Newcastle v. Barcelona, Man City v. Real Madrid, Spurs v. Atletico Madrid and Arsenal v. Bayer Leverkusen.

In the Europa League draw, Nottingham Forest v. Midtjylland and Villa v. Lille.

In the Conference League, it’s Palace v. AEK Larnaca
 
Lost week in the first leg matches for the English clubs, who went 0-4-2. In fact, Spurs looked embarrassingly bad, City was unexpectedly outclassed by Madrid, and somehow Chelsea went from "in this" at 2-2 (heck, even at 2-3) to a probably insurmountable 3 goal deficit. Newcastle did well to start with Barca, but the second leg is at Camp Nou. I anticipate Arsenal will take their tie back at the Emirates, and we should win at Anfield (though work our unpredictable form, who knows?). But from six sides in the final 16 to probably just two is insane.
Oh, and it looks likely that Bodø/Glimt, that Norwegian side that sits north of the Arctic Circle, will advance after thrashing Sporting Club at home, 3-0.
 
Given how Palace, Villa and Forest have been playing of late, I would hold out too much hope that they’re going to pick up the side in the lower level tourneys either … although Emery’s teams routinely confound expectations in the Europa League for no known reason.
 
Emery is a different guy in knockout tournaments. For some reason he loses his fear of making any changes whatsoever and will often come out with smart aggressive gameplans that he wouldn't dare use against Wolves.

Guess three things in life are certain. Death, taxes, and Emiliano Martinez getting a completely insane yellow card for time wasting when playing in Lille. He just lives rent free in the entire nation of France. Two years ago he got a yellow for time wasting, because the crowd and apparently the ref as well considered it time wasting for him to stand with the ball at his feet when nobody was pressing him. This time he got a yellow for... letting a ball run slowly out of play for a goal kick. Stay classy, France!
 
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