Chelsea signed 35 players under Ted Boehly.

If you go 35 signings back for Real Madrid for example, you get Casemiro in 2013.

Ah, 2013.

When Queen Elisabeth was still alive. Trump had yet to become president. Covid had yet to happen. Messi had 0 international trophies and Harmonica was in kindergarten

Edison indeed did not invent the lightbulb,

but it must also be brought to light that,

nor did Ederson...

So this new Chelsea coach just said Sterling can go... wow... I thought hes still good n delivers if not consistent, but compared with other Chelsea players bar Palmer hes done ok? At one point I rated him prolly the best winger in the world, then suddenly loss favour with Pep n then now this? Wtf happened?

So Man C would be:

Doku---Haaland---B.Silva
---Gundogan-De Bruyne
----------Rodri
Gvardiol-Dias-Akanji-Lewis

Foden or Kovacic will probably start ahead of him. Gundogan was frequently rested during his last season at City. He started more frequently in the second half of the season, which was when he and Mahrez had a tendency to hit top form. I assume it will be the same for him this season.

As you can see from the start of the 22-23 season, he was an irregular starter.

Right Thimmy...I completely forgot about Foden as well So suddenly Man C with all the old guards again n should give confidence to the team

Arsenal only getting a GK n midfielder so dont feel like any different... another Man C league win coming?

Cant see any other ending really other than City winning their 5th. Arsenal fans are convinced this is their year though. Bless them. Arsenal will win it next year if Pep goes.

I'm not as convinced as you that City will win their 5th consecutive Premier League title this year. I think they've managed to keep things fresh up until now by shipping out a lot of players that showed signs of decline or decreasing motivation, but this year, they've lost Alvarez who helped carry them through last season's Premier League winning campaign, when they had long-term injuries to key players.

And that season also showed that the likes of Bernardo Silva and KDB can be human too. I don't know if last season was an outlier in the case of those two, or if the injury was the reason behind KDB's drop in quality when he was fit, but I do think people tend to underestimate the impact of motivation.

And Bernardo who was arguably a top 2 impactful, consistent performer in the team throughout the 22-23 season looked very underwhelming by his own standards last season. It feels like the poor guy has been wanting a new challenge for half a decade by now, but a transfer never seems to materialize for him. The return of Gundogan will likely help the team a lot, but it's been a quiet transfer window for them. It remains to be seen if Savinho can make up for the loss of Alvarez, who despite being quite inconsistent last season, helped the team get through the first half of the season when they had injuries to several key players.

In other Man City news, they look like they're about to agree a deal for Cancelo to Al Hilal for €38m. It's almost a bit frustrating how well they run their business side of things. It can't be just luck at this point.

Would be happy to see that deal, Cancelo will join the team that continues to spank CR over there XD N Man C getting nice money in, since Barca have no hope of getting him again..

I definitely agree about Alvarez... no idea about the new 1 or 2 wingers Pep brought in, but Alvarez is a WC player to replace...

@Thimmy all those are valid points. But who is going to win if not City. If it was prime Liverpool under Klopp competing against them this season, that was a whole another matter. But Arteta's Le Arse? No chance. They will brick it even if City give them like a 10 point head start. Certainly not with Havertz and Jesus leading the line. Arsenal is actually really good, tbh credit to them. But against real Pep, Lego Pep will always come 2nd in the end. That's why I told Arsenal will be undisputed favorites for sometime if the bald fraud finally fucks off after this season.

Also on a more objective basis, last season was arsenal's best chance to win the league because of reasons you yourself mentioned. Injuries to key players for City where as Arsenal first team was basically unscathed apart from a few of their squad/rotational players  being absent like Timber etc. This season for City, all of them will be back available and Bernardo looks in top form. Losing Alvarez, nah Pep will have an answer. Arsenal too have only strengthened with 1 player actually, who I don't think they even needed. Their forward line and midfield are basically the same bottlejobs as last season.

Playing down City's chances for the title is just a plain delusional take. City may not be what they were doesn't mean the other teams in particular are improving in particular bar maybe Arsenal, who have their own clear ceiling and obvious weaknesses.

Who have Arsenal got outside of Calafiori who isnt even a natural left back? Team chokes each time the moment comes and this is a Klopp-less Liverpool with a no-name Slot as our coach.

I love Thimmy's takes and I always read them but this is skepticism without accepting for the actual lack of true competition in the league.

Savinho looks pretty good and Mahrez-esque, and that team is still stacked so that someone will surely step up when needed. The only real challenger seems Arsenal and even if they keep up they're destined to bottle it

Arquitecto wrote:Playing down City's chances for the title is just a plain delusional take. City may not be what they were doesn't mean the other teams in particular are improving in particular bar maybe Arsenal, who have their own clear ceiling and obvious weaknesses.

Who have Arsenal got outside of Calafiori who isnt even a natural left back? Team chokes each time the moment comes and this is a Klopp-less Liverpool with a no-name Slot as our coach.

I love Thimmy's takes and I always read them but this is skepticism without accepting for the actual lack of true competition in the league.

I’m not saying that I don’t think they’ll win it this season, but I am playing down their chances compared to past seasons. I don’t think they look quite as stable as they have been in recent years, and unless Savinho impresses, Bernardo and KDB find their usual rhythm that they never did seem to find last season, I think they will struggle to live up to their own standards in terms of consistency. They also don’t have the luxury of depth anymore, and the long-term injury to Oscar Bobb means one less option on the wings.

Both of you bring up an excellent point in terms of the challenge posed by their main rivals in Arsenal and perhaps Liverpool (who I really can’t get a read on at this point in time).

Arsenal should be strong enough to rival City’s league winning ambitions, probably moreso than them in terms of their motivation and desire to win it, but I for one, would never actually bet on Arsenal winning anything. I do think it’s very likely that they’ll pick up silverware in the near future, but it’s been around two decades since they last exuded any level of confidence that they’re capable of winning something.


It’s impossible to predict how Liverpool’s season will pan out. I liked some of the football I saw from them in preseason, but that’s just preseason. I think their squad was begging for an upgrade to certain positions while Klopp was still there. There’s not much time left of the transfer window, and it looks like they’re going in to the next season with an unproven manager and pretty much the same old squad. Unless Slot is a genius, that tells me that they’re aiming to replicate last season’s results at best.


In conclusion, I do think this would be a great year for Arsenal to capitalize on Man City’s uncharacteristically underwhelming transfer window and question marks regarding the form of Bernardo Silva and KDB, but Arsenal have a lot to prove, and it’s anyone’s guess who’ll follow behind them on the league table. I recognize the lack of competition and Man City still being the favorites, but I also do think this would be the year to bet against them winning the league title with their current core of a team.

No I fully agree there. This isnt the City that struck the fear that it used to for its an aging team now in the process of a change of cycle, an increasingly weary Pep and like Clop these two compared to say Ancelotti, are ones who need those breaks more than other coaches.

If there is a year to win this is it for Arsenal as anything else will be an excuse for they have the younger, fresher team and a now more experienced Arteta so the iron cannot be hotter to be struck this season.

I believe you are making the wrong comparison! I agree with everything that Thimmy has said, especially the part of a weaker bench. The comparison, I believe is in reference to the CL! City is weaker than last year while RMad with the addition of Mbappe and the return from season long ACL injuries of Courtois, Militao, Alaba plus a great bench is stronger. Granted they have to work out balance issues and the excessive lean to the left, but that’s something that I feel Ancelotti and the addition of Güler, over Rodrygo will resolve.

looking comfortable against Brighton and they score from......a Maguire masterclass. Why is he starting again.

as expected though, we are not creating chances

Bruno and Mount together is shit, get Zirkzee on

Diallo my word. Even I could pass better. Probably best to take him out.

Rashford exerting minimum effort as usual

Same old same old...

Let's see if they can turn it around and show they have something. If not, it is clear.

Firenze wrote: looking comfortable against Brighton and they score from......a Maguire masterclass. Why is he starting again.

Don't understand why he didn't just clear it the first time

Welbeck 2 goals in 2 games so far.

The original Rashford. & better.

I thought Ahmad being locked on early on and costing 5.0 was an amazing bargain but he's been stinky so far

we will continue to do nothing with Rashford locked on, he should be THIRD choice

I think it was CSpurs who threw the campaign out here on how good Rashford was, evidently confusing his off pitch exploits in his goodness, to how he actually is on the pitch.