Premier League 2026-27

[thewobbler]

I guess there's got to be some fun in being as deluded as you BB2.

But much like that time you tried to convince me that more soccer clubs own their grounds in NI than GAA clubs do, with your entire conviction based upon "you just knowing", I've only so much time to humour you, so over and out from me.

Maradonna had failed at Barcelona and was definitely doing a downwards move. He nay have went on to do what he did, but it was a footnote transfer at the time.

I said no such thing. Iirc you claimed not one soccer club in NI owned it's own facilities. Which was as mental then as it is now.

You do know there's a search function on this website, don't you?

[Baile Brigín 2]

I guess there's got to be some fun in being as deluded as you BB2.

But much like that time you tried to convince me that more soccer clubs own their grounds in NI than GAA clubs do, with your entire conviction based upon "you just knowing", I've only so much time to humour you, so over and out from me.

Maradonna had failed at Barcelona and was definitely doing a downwards move. He nay have went on to do what he did, but it was a footnote transfer at the time.

I said no such thing. Iirc you claimed not one soccer club in NI owned it's own facilities. Which was as mental then as it is now.

You do know there's a search function on this website, don't you?

Crack on.

[Captain Obvious]

Maradona at Barcelona didn't fail and worth taking into account during his time there he had a bout of hepatitis and spell on the side lines with a broken ankle

Appearances 58 Goals 38 Assists 23

The brawl in his final game in Copa del Rey final against Athletic Bilbao along with exhaustion over his behavior off the field prompted Barcelona to sell him to Napoli and it was far from a footnote transfer, it was another world-record fee and an global sporting media event at the time.

[gallsman]

Gyokeres is absolutely pants.

[square_ball]

Gyokeres is absolutely pants.

You wouldn't see a touch like that in the Irish League.

[Armagh4sam2024]

Gyokeres is absolutely pants.

Would make Cascarino look like Messi..

[seafoid]

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2026/09/07/barnes-interview-why-blame-tuchel-when-england-poor/
John Barnes launches into a forensic breakdown of all the key events that followed Anthony Gordon's opening goal, analysing the decisions Tuchel made. There is a perception that Argentina's changes meant they were playing with six attackers, but Lionel Scaloni only replaced players like-for-like.

Tuchel, Barnes argues, only had four players he could possible change as England protected their lead and they were Gordon, Morgan Rogers, Harry Kane and Jude Bellingham. But, as he points out, was he really going to take his captain and/or best player off with the clock ticking down?

"Why do we blame the manager when everybody drops on the six-yard box and then Enzo Fernández has a free shot from 20 yards out?" Barnes asks. "People say: 'They're dropping too deep! Tuchel should be telling them!' You think Tuchel isn't doing that?
"Do you think Tuchel, from what he sees in training, in practice games and everything they do and everything he sees happening is actually telling them to stand on the six-yard box? Of course he doesn't! So why do we blame Tuchel for that?"
We knew what kind of performance to expect," Barnes says. "It was going to be hard work; we weren't going to play with flair. There was no Cole Palmer or Phil Foden. We hadn't played expansive football so why was that going to suddenly change in the last 20 minutes of a World Cup semi-final?"
He is in his stride now. In time we will talk about dealing with pressure and the way it can alter a player's decision-making, but the narrative since the World Cup has bemused a man who was capped 79 times by his country and went to four major tournaments.
 Barnes played for England at the 1986 and 1990 World Cups Credit: Simon Bruty/Getty Images"As a nation, we like to feel we have the answers to everything," he says. "So if that didn't work, that would have worked. We believe in ourselves [but] let me tell you, England are not the best team. So why should we win the World Cup?
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"Football fans feel they know better than everybody else. That's genuine around the world but in England more than anywhere else. We feel we know – not just in football, in life. Look at the British colonialism. We think we're better than everybody else in the world. The narrative is Tuchel made the wrong substitutions. So we need to scapegoat – and everybody now needs to speak about it.
Once the narrative gets over, that is what is called a 'performative utterance'. Everybody's now coming on to it, all of the pundits and I'm thinking these pundits should know better because these pundits are football people. Take the result out of it and think.
"If you're one-nil up with five minutes to go, are you really going to bring on two strikers to catch them on a counter-attack when they're attacking? Come on! But if you ask anyone now, we lost the World Cup because Thomas Tuchel made the wrong substitution. Who would be a manager?"
Turns out he would, actually, if given the chance. The conversation has turned in a totally different direction but it is necessary to go this way. Barnes will be 63 in November but it is obvious, given his enthusiasm and passion, that he misses the day-to-day grind

[Puckoon]

Gyokeres is absolutely pants.

Not looking great at the moment. Would be nice if a spark lit him up for a season or even a half, but doesn't look likely currently. Arsenal looked very solid yesterday, if a little open at times.

[mrdeeds]

Gyokeres is absolutely pants.

Not looking great at the moment. Would be nice if a spark lit him up for a season or even a half, but doesn't look likely currently. Arsenal looked very solid yesterday, if a little open at times.

Was first minutes in Premier League so definitely rusty. Scored 20 goals last season. Different style to Havertz.