PL Opposition tidbits
- Thread starter Frogfish
- Start date
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Too funny him posting our 7-0 win 😅😅😅
PSG, Liverpool, Man City, Tottenham, Aston Villa, Man City 😳
View: https://x.com/AdamP1242/status/2010795848939290658
View: https://x.com/AdamP1242/status/2010795848939290658
Manage. Man and age. Ageing men.
Brendan Rodgers mk II
View: https://x.com/dylyano/status/2011505521904304306?s=46
Brendan Rodgers mk II
View: https://x.com/dylyano/status/2011505521904304306?s=46
An etymologically bankrupt breakdown of a word for the sake of some stupid point? It sounds like a coach to me.
honestly i think he’s effectively a temporary manager but they’ve played their multi club card to give it a veneer of legitimacy. they know finding the next madman to take on the job might be a long process.
There's probably a module in the UEFA pro coaching course called Philosophical Expression, where students spend hours smoking cigars and watching videos of greats like Mourinho, Arteta, Rodgers, Zlatan and Cantona spout nonsense.
Passing criteria is to write a 500 word essay about yourself and do a live reading at a black tie formal dinner
Passing criteria is to write a 500 word essay about yourself and do a live reading at a black tie formal dinner
In a very self-comforting way, I suppose it’s still nice to say we were “after him”. 😅
View: https://x.com/TimesSport/status/2011845841976537207
What may have come as more of a surprise, only six months into a new league in a new country, is the attacking side of his game. The 26-year-old has already matched his season-best tally of four goals
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Against Aston Villa at home Zubimendi and Martin Odegaard had the most touches and passes in the final third. That continued what Arsenal saw of Zubimendi in La Liga last season, where he was ranked fourth for passes, successful passes and touches. Only two other midfielders in Spain were more involved in passing sequences than him.
Zubimendi has had marginally more touches in each game than at Sociedad last season while showing the defensive side which he was signed to do. He won possession 12 times in the 3-2 win away to Bournemouth, the most by any Arsenal player in a game this season.
Despite being one of the smaller players at Arsenal at 5ft 11in, he has used his ability in the air to be ranked in the top five midfielders in the Premier League for aerial duel success across all competitions.
View: https://x.com/SamJDean/status/2011726366455271751
Alonso, according to reports that have been published since his sacking, desperately wanted to sign Zubimendi in the summer. Diario AS, the Spanish sports newspaper, wrote this week that Alonso told the hierarchy his priority transfer target was Zubimendi. The report added that Alonso privately and repeatedly complained to his coaching staff about the club’s failure to sign the midfielder.
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So far this season, Zubimendi has started all but one Premier League game. In the one match he did not start, he was brought onto the pitch as a 30th-minute substitute. He has also started all but one of Arsenal’s Champions League games. Overall, he has played more minutes than any other outfielder in Arteta’s squad, including mainstays Declan Rice and Jurrien Timber.
View: https://x.com/TimesSport/status/2011845841976537207
What may have come as more of a surprise, only six months into a new league in a new country, is the attacking side of his game. The 26-year-old has already matched his season-best tally of four goals
==========
Against Aston Villa at home Zubimendi and Martin Odegaard had the most touches and passes in the final third. That continued what Arsenal saw of Zubimendi in La Liga last season, where he was ranked fourth for passes, successful passes and touches. Only two other midfielders in Spain were more involved in passing sequences than him.
Zubimendi has had marginally more touches in each game than at Sociedad last season while showing the defensive side which he was signed to do. He won possession 12 times in the 3-2 win away to Bournemouth, the most by any Arsenal player in a game this season.
Despite being one of the smaller players at Arsenal at 5ft 11in, he has used his ability in the air to be ranked in the top five midfielders in the Premier League for aerial duel success across all competitions.
View: https://x.com/SamJDean/status/2011726366455271751
Alonso, according to reports that have been published since his sacking, desperately wanted to sign Zubimendi in the summer. Diario AS, the Spanish sports newspaper, wrote this week that Alonso told the hierarchy his priority transfer target was Zubimendi. The report added that Alonso privately and repeatedly complained to his coaching staff about the club’s failure to sign the midfielder.
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So far this season, Zubimendi has started all but one Premier League game. In the one match he did not start, he was brought onto the pitch as a 30th-minute substitute. He has also started all but one of Arsenal’s Champions League games. Overall, he has played more minutes than any other outfielder in Arteta’s squad, including mainstays Declan Rice and Jurrien Timber.
Yeah then slot used the self preservation line.. so he went to Arsenal.
Now Arsenal fans like to say he rejected us. Ha.
View: https://x.com/premierleague/status/2011745172791472516
Not only did they lose several key players over the summer, such as Bryan Mbeumo, Yoane Wissa and captain Christian Norgaard, but they also saw their head coach of seven seasons, Thomas Frank, depart.
Frank steered Brentford to the Premier League for the first time in 2021, and they punched above their weight with league finishes of 13th, 9th, 16th and 10th under the Dane in the top flight.
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Brentford were still in League One when Matthew Benham became the club’s majority shareholder in June 2012, and under his stewardship they have not only risen rapidly through the leagues but also become one of the leading standard-bearers for the use of data analytics in English football.
Benham has been famed for his methodical decision-making at Brentford, and while some choices regarding management have raised eyebrows, he has been proven correct in the long run.
The Brentford job had many suitors when Dean Smith departed for Aston Villa in October 2018, but Benham decided to hire from within, promoting Frank, who had been Smith’s assistant.
It was a similar story last summer when Frank left for Spurs; Benham had the means to approach respected managers from far and wide, but instead elected to promote Keith Andrews from first-team set-piece coach to the top role.
To call this decision unprecedented is an understatement. Andrews had only joined the club as set-piece coach one year earlier, and had no previous experience as head coach of a football club.
His task now was to keep Brentford in the Premier League despite losing his captain Norgaard, his goalkeeper Mark Flekken, and in Mbeumo (20) and Wissa (19) nearly 60 per cent of last season’s league goals.
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There has not been a huge shift in approach at Brentford from one head coach to the next, and Andrews clearly has similar ideals to Frank in terms of the style he believes is best suited to the profile of players at his disposal.
The Bees ranked second for successful long passes per game last season, and they rank third for the same statistic this season.
Their average possession in 2024/25 was 47.8 per cent, and at 46.2 per cent this season, it is in a similar range.
They ranked first for Expected Goals (xG) per shot last season, at 0.14, and Andrews has improved on that number in 2025/26, with their figure of 0.16 clear of any other team.
This means that, based on xG, the average chance of one of their shots finding the back of the net is 16 per cent. Crystal Palace are next-closest, with 13.7 per cent.
Brentford are not just similar, but improved.
Andrews has not simply boarded a bus bound for a predetermined destination; he has charted his own course, stamping his authority on Brentford’s style of play.
He has turned the club into the most dangerous counter-attacking team in the Premier League.
While they ranked 11th in the division for goals scored on the fast break last season, with four, they have already more than doubled that figure this season, sitting top of the league rankings with nine such goals.
They ranked 10th for goals scored in the final 15 minutes of matches last season, with 12. Under Andrews they have learnt how to contest games until the final whistle – they have scored 13 goals in the final 15 minutes of play this season, the most of any team.
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Brentford won’t have it easy in the coming weeks – they will be Liam Rosenior’s first opponent as Chelsea head coach in the Premier League this weekend, with games against Nottingham Forest, Aston Villa, Newcastle and Arsenal to follow.
Ah well, we can at least laugh at Chelsea:
A Lego building competition has been part of Liam Rosenior’s team bonding plans since he took over as Chelsea head coach.
He believes it offers a fun, relaxed way for players to connect and be creative off the pitch.
He also doesn’t wear gloves during training so that the players can hear him clap.
A Lego building competition has been part of Liam Rosenior’s team bonding plans since he took over as Chelsea head coach.
He believes it offers a fun, relaxed way for players to connect and be creative off the pitch.
He also doesn’t wear gloves during training so that the players can hear him clap.
It's cringe but if he somehow turns them round it'll fuck me off no end
He’ll be there Nancy.