Tag: Liverpool

Champions League Power Rankings: The 10 best managers for the 2025/26 season
30Aug By Joe SorianoNo Comments
Rankings

Champions League Power Rankings: The 10 best managers for the 2025/26 season

The 2025/26 Champions League draw for the league phase is set, with the matches to begin next month in mid-September, and it's anyone's guess as to how this year's tournament will ultimately play out. Obviously, the players are the one who play the game, but the spotlight has become increasingly focused on the manager, and there's no one style that makes someone successful in the Champions League. Carlo Ancelotti won two of the last four Champions League titles on chaos, Pep Guardiola won one on structure while embracing the virtues of a free-scoring No. 9 in Erling Haaland, and Luis Enrique finally brought the big one to Paris by embracing a more team-oriented playing style without Kylian Mbappe. It's not easy ranking managers at baseline, but ranking them from different leagues ...
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Champions League Power Rankings: The top 12 strikers before the 2025/26 season
30Aug By Joe SorianoNo Comments
Rankings

Champions League Power Rankings: The top 12 strikers before the 2025/26 season

There isn't a single position on the football pitch that receives as much attention as the striker position, It is the marquee position, because there's a school of thought that every great team needs a great player who can finish off the goals. Although Real Madrid have won a Champions League title in recent years without a true No. 9 and Manchester City have won the Premier League without one, those are exceptions to the rule. Because Real Madrid have also dropped Champions League titles without a true top goal-scorer, while Manchester City only became Champions League winners after they added Erling Haaland, a record-breaking striker. Ahead of the 2025/26 Champions League season, which will officially begin next month with the league phase, let's do an intial power ranking of t...
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Premier League Power Rankings: Every Big 6 defense from worst to first in 2025/26
29Aug By Joe SorianoNo Comments
Rankings

Premier League Power Rankings: Every Big 6 defense from worst to first in 2025/26

I'm not sure how much the American football saying "defense wins championships" holds true in world football, but it seems pretty appropriate when you look at the difference between teams that were and were not successful in the title races last season. For example, Napoli won Serie A against the odds over one of the best striker tandems in European football in Inter Milan with only Romelu Lukaku as a true standout forward. And they did so because they were so organized defensively and structurally under Antonio Conte. In the Premier League, Manchester City fell out of the Premier League title race entirely because their defense was no longer a stalwart engine, as they clearly suffered from Rodri's torn ACL. Liverpool and Arsenal, meanwhile, had the best defenses in the league. So...
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Premier League Power Rankings: The 10 best U21 players for the 2025/26 season
27Aug By Joe SorianoNo Comments
Rankings

Premier League Power Rankings: The 10 best U21 players for the 2025/26 season

Even though it's been just two games, the 2025/26 Premier League campaign is already giving us the impression that this is going to be a season written by the young stars of the league. And I'm not just talking about players who are indeed young but are already established Premier League superstars like Erling Haaland, Bukayo Saka, Cole Palmer, Martin Odegaard, and now Florian Wirtz. No, I'm talking about players who haven't even turned 21 years old yet or are just teenagers, already scoring decisive goals and shining for some of the Premier League's biggest clubs. So with the 2025/26 Premier League campaign now fully under way, let's preview the youngsters who could have a big say on the final table, ranking the top 10 U21 players in English football right now. 10. Arsenal LB My...
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Premier League Predictions: The biggest question for each Big 6 club in 2025/26
25Aug By Cody AcevedaNo Comments
Analysis

Premier League Predictions: The biggest question for each Big 6 club in 2025/26

The Premier League is underway, but there’s still enough time to interrogate the league’s top teams. Here is one question for each Big 6 club that could decide their seasons.  Manchester United: Who plays in midfield? Ruben Amorim’s first half-season at Manchester United was plagued by every problem imaginable. As David Moyes once said, Man Utd “must improve in a number of areas, including passing, creating chances and defending.” The Red Devils addressed some of those issues in attack by spending €225m to sign Benjamin Sesko, Bryan Mbeumo, and Matheus Cunha. The defense was already in decent shape and should remain so this season (provided key players stay healthy). Goalkeeper is another issue, but Andre Onana is at least serviceable. That just leaves the midfield.  So far, Amorim...
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Champions League Predictions: Biggest threat to win title from each top 5 league in 2025/26
23Aug By Joe SorianoNo Comments
Rankings

Champions League Predictions: Biggest threat to win title from each top 5 league in 2025/26

The 2025/26 Champions League season is still in its play-off stages for another week, but on Aug. 28, those matches will end and the league phase will be finalized, setting in motion the start of the second campaign in this new format. PSG finally conquered European football last season in their first one without superstar Kylian Mbappe - or Neymar for that matter - following a more team-oriented approach under Luis Enrique. They will no doubt be the favorites again this season, but as in any year, the field is wide open with so many great contenders around European football. Before the 2025/26 Champions League campaign truly gets underway in mid-September with the first league phase matches, let's start with some predictions. Some leagues are more clear-cut than others - looking ...
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Ranking the 5 Best Premier League squads for the 2025/26 season
19Aug By Cody AcevedaNo Comments
Rankings

Ranking the 5 Best Premier League squads for the 2025/26 season

The 2025 summer transfer window has been one of the busiest in history. Premier League clubs have spent £2.2 billion on players to reinforce their squads for this season. With that in mind, let’s look at where things stand now and the five best Premier League squads heading into the 2025-26 season.  5. Brighton The top four Premier League squads pretty much speak for themselves. The order is the only real thing up for debate. Number five, though, is tough. I’ve gone with Brighton because I think their squad is talented and also unique compared to other top-flight clubs.  For one, the Seagulls are incredibly young. Even with James Milner (39), Danny Welbeck (34), and Lewis Dunk (33) in the side, Brighton were the second-youngest team in the league last season, with an average age of 23...
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Ranking the 10 best left-footed players in the Premier League for 2025/26 season
14Aug By Joe SorianoNo Comments
Rankings

Ranking the 10 best left-footed players in the Premier League for 2025/26 season

There's just something extra special about a left-footed footballer who can dazzle on the ball, and whether it's Lionel Messi or Diego Maradona, some of the world's most legendary and captivating players of all time have been left-footed wizards. In 2025/26, the Premier League boasts an enviable collection of left-footed stars, both in terms of well-established legends of the league, as well as young superstars with Ballon d'Or potential. There are even defenders who are a class above the rest on the ball with their left feet. So in honor of the southpaws, let's rank the top 10 left-footed players in the Premier League heading into the 2025/26 season. 10. Tottenham CB Micky van de Ven We begin with a center back because defenders are important, too. And Europa League-winning Totten...
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Ranking the 10 best defensive transfers of the summer 2025 window
13Aug By Joe SorianoNo Comments
Transfer News

Ranking the 10 best defensive transfers of the summer 2025 window

Attacking players make all the headlines in world football, and the transfer market is no exception. The most expensive and desirable players - the players seen as being the ones who can change the destiny of a club- are the forwards, especially the goal-scorers. But history has proven that the right defensive-minded transfers can be just as influential to a team building a dynasty, whether that's an expensive acquisition like Virgil van Dijk's move from Southampton to Liverpool or a more under-the-radar buy like Inigo Martinez helping Barcelona return to prominence in European football last season. With the summer 2025 transfer window reaching its final weeks, let's rank the top 10 defensive transfer signings of the mercato thus far. It's no surprise to see the Premier League domina...
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Every Champions League contender’s best Ballon d’Or candidate for 2025/26
9Aug By Joe SorianoNo Comments
Analysis

Every Champions League contender’s best Ballon d’Or candidate for 2025/26

PSG took everyone by surprise and conquered the 2024/25 Champions League, and although their triumph of world football's premier club competition was marked by a transition to a more team-oriented setup after the departure of Kylian Mbappe, the Parisians still had one of the Ballon d'Or favorites from the campaign in the resurrected form of a more mature Ousmane Dembele. Every high-achieving club needs at least one superstar to lead the way, and in 2025/26, there's a wide open slate of contenders of the Champions League crown, whether it's the defending champions PSG or the competition's record-holding champions Real Madrid. So in that spirit, let's take a preview of what could unfold in the 2025/26 and name every Champions League title contender's best shot at capturing the Ballon d...
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