Safe to say that this season Premier League

Ha ha, that's one view point.

Premier is so tough that players are worn out.

Top 3 are a match for anybody despite this week's results

Damn straight Tony.

I really dont know what I am watching in the EPL these days.
The whole shooting match, teams, pundits, players, fans are obsessed with VAR and officials decisions.
Everyone loses cos of the ref.
Or its the manager.

There is no tactical thought at all seemingly. Everyone tries to play the Guardiola way with no plan B. Teams on the continent seem to have adapted to VAR and just get on with it.
I dont think the England team have a chance in Germany on the back of this.

Newcastle and United finished bottom of their groups.

Arsenal drew at home to a Bayern team who have been outclassed in their league this season. City went in front twice against Madrid and each time couldn’t hold the league!

Bayern just battered West Ham for 90 minutes.. 33 shots to just 1

Liverpool with their worse defeat at home in Europe under a manager who has been there for 10yrs!

Villa winning 2-1 in the lowest tier of European competition.

Brighton was battered by Roma!

The strongest league could have no participation in any semifinal and that is a distinct possibility

FWIW,
I think there are some very tired/worn out looking players in the epl right now.
Over-trained and over-played imo.
And before someone says it ...... yes over-paid ... arguably.

City and Villa will go through

nobody expected West Ham to beat a Peak Leverkusen team unbeaten all season long

Bayern whilst poor this season, still have a world class manager and plenty of top players, Gnabry, Muller, Sane, Kane, Coman etc, that was not that big a shock.

Liverpool is the only real shocker, but Atalana wanted it more, Salah was on the bench,

bench or beach ?

Liverpool is not a shock for me. Look at the team he put out. Best chance they have of winning the PL is to go out of that comp and hope City and Arsenal have to play each other twice in 8 days in the CL SF. The EL is not a major comp and they don't need to win it to get into the CL. It is a second tier comp like the FA cup when it doesn't bring you a CL place, which is worth more than the trophy itself.

It'll be a shock to spurs and villa as it's now
more likely one of those finish 5th and dont
get champs league.

The standard of football hasnt been as good as previous years

You only need to look at some of the games like the Man Cheaty v Arsenal game which was dire given 2 top CL teams
There are other examples during the season like the Arsenal v Liverpool games which were very poor quality

There have been exciting games with plenty of goals but the standard of play particularly defensively has been   very poor

lurka has it boxed off

Only villa to make a semi final in the 3rd tier!!

Not even in the top 3 leagues in Europe based on European results.

Very poor league this year

Very tough league worn them out with 3 way go for title.

Bayern chucked in towel weeks ago, Dortmund coasted season
PSG/ Real cruise every season.

Small margins

Arsenal weren't worn out just inexperienced and too risk averse late in the 2nd leg. Didn't play well in the first leg but still should have won it late.

Both City and Real looked worn out in the 2nd half of ET. City were dominant otherwise. They weren't tired otherwise. A dominant team should take more risk to avoid pens. They are too one dimensional with Haaland against the bigger sides. They don't score more goals with him either.

I think you need to be significantly better
to be able to take more risks to press home
an advantage in low scoring sports.

I think tension plays a part, confidence, and
I'd be surprised if EPL teams are not more fatigued
than bayern/PSG.

Sure as both are out they can review and take
more risk, but it's not sliding doors, and opposition
create pressure... Sometimes just by having the badge
of winning team.

Bayern / real

What an absolute flucking sh!tshow.
'The best league in the world' and no teams in the UCL or Europa latter stages.
I fear that we may not see an English team win in europe for the next 10 years. Unless dear old Unai can work his magic with the Villa. Good Ebening Arsenal fans.

What a total shambles is the standard of football in the EPL.
Guardiola has come in and forced everyone to play hi-octane 100mph football. In 4 competitions. In games that last for effectively 2hours because heaven forfend a team like Sheffield Utd turn up away from home and try to get a result by time wasting. And every game is decided because the ref did/did not give your team a penalty.

Look at the Arsenal fans all thinking they got ko'd by Bayern because the ref in the first leg had the temerity not to give Saka a pen for what must be one of the most blatant dives of the season.
Strewth. And Saka is one of the players expected to win the Euros. Kid looks burned out and its two months before the Euros start.

Thank you Bayern and Real for showing us up for what we are.
Totally devoid of any tactical versatility.
Mind, as a tottenham fan I cant really be that happy. Our season finished before february and all we have to look forward to is supporting Harry and Eric in the semi finals. Sums it all up.

Liverpool 5/1 to qualify
W ham 12/1

Villa 2/5

Opta

28 & 42 - After their draw with Real Madrid last night, Manchester City have now equalled both their longest ever unbeaten run in all competitions (28 games) and their longest ever unbeaten home run in all competitions (42 games).

City do not play high-octane football. They are the slowest team in the PL in terms of getting the ball forward. Liverpool are the fastest.

City were easily the best team at breaking low-block/park-the-bus sides but I think they've become a lot worse at it against the better sides with Haaland.

I think if you are a very dominant team in a KO tie your chances of not conceding by taking more risk are better than the coin-flip of penalties. You should be doing more to avoid it. The opposition gets a psychological boost by getting to pens and your players are under more pressure in the shootout. Doesn't mean you can't win the shootout but I'm not sure it's even a 50-50 then.

ET seems far more pointless after 180 mins than 90. Normally pens are after 120 mins. They've already played an hour longer than that.

The high octane is surely referring to the work rate in their press.

Big afternoon for Villa,in Unai we trust

The thing about Pep is that he brought this hi-press & pass-out-the-back into the English game, to a critical level.
OK guys like Brodge & Poch were doing it before him but Pep winning everything with City has been a game changer.

That first title Pep won with CIty in 2018 was probably the best example. They were a real eye opener. But even then they ran out of steam when Liv did them in the UCL quarters and Pogba (remember him?) mounting one of the most extraordinary comebacks at the Etihad in the derby.

Which i think is the real point here. English football is physical, end-to-end & helter skelter. Asking epl footballers to press hard for 2 hours in this long season of ours really is utter madness.
And to some extent Lurka is right. Pep has eschewed his own philosophy by building the team around the 'League 2 player' that is Haaland. A big bloke up top being a success in England, who knew?

Any way the future is really questionable. You get the feeling that this is a swansong for this City team. The next season will begin with the shenanigans around these 115 charges. You can see how the FFP nonsense has affected Everton this season so its not impossible to imagine Pep doing a Klopp and walking away.

Where that may leave City is probably back in the pack. And a pretty average pack it could be. I mean Liverpool look awful. Salah surely will be off to Saudi. Big Verg is yet to sign up. Klopp gone, Mane gone, Firmino gone, Hendo gone the only superstars left will be Trent & the keeper. Both have been crippled by injuries this year.
Chels & Utd look like basket cases. Newcastle cant sign any more players. My own Spurs have mortgaged our future in what appears to be the 21st Century version of Ossie Ardiles.
If i were a Gooner & plenty of my nearest & dearest are, then they have to fancy their chances of winning the League. But in europe I cant see an english team winning the ucl in a long long time.
Unless Real run off and form their own super league of course.

They don't even press like they used to. Neither do Liverpool. It used to be much more aggressive counter-pressing when they lost possession. But they had faster and younger players who could do that. Grealish and Haaland aren't going to do that.

Now it's more about control and keeping possession with guys like Grealish who stays wide and slows everything down and more sideways passes in the final third thru Rodri. Full backs don't even attack as much, they rotate into midfield to maintain control of space and allow others to push forward. City and Arsenal often play without recognised FBs in their backline.

Safe to say the EPL computer will be getting a reboot
to ensure arsenal v Aston Villa doesn't happen in middle
of euro quarter finals next season,

English teams have won 3 of the last 5 champions league and people keep talking about how weak it is, don't get it

And Villa now spanked in Europe.

Like I said this has been the weakest premier league in donkey years

The English teams this year were relatively inexperienced in Europe with the likes of Villa, Newc and Arsenal and it showed.
That Villa reserve keeper is awful but Martinez got himself banned by doing his own thing with the crowd when already warned by the ref.

Inexperience is the biggest factor for me. I don't think Liverpool prioritised Europa. They would have had a better go at the CL than Arsenal.

It used to be said that Bayern and PSG were at a disadvantage because their leagues were easy/less intense. I don't think tiredness is a major factor. The opposition are worse than previous years, not better but experience counts for so much in the KO format. Villa really should be prioritising 4th spot rather than going for this comp, they can prob have a good go in the 2nd leg tho after Spurs losing.

Villa haven't the biggest squad and it's been rocked by too many injuries in the last few months, leaving them with a far too attacking line up, that they are having to use every week.  Sinsialo will replace Olsen as no2 keeper, if they can persuade him to stay, I imagine.  Spurs really have blown it for top 4, and Villa have rode their luck a bit lately (before last night).

The number of injuries generally in the PL feels like the biggest it's ever been.

"On the night, fan favourite Viljami Sinisalo picked up an incredible six awards, including being voted the Fans' and Players' player of the year! It's been a fantastic season on loan at the Club for Aston Villa's Finnish international, who leaves with 50 appearances and 14 clean sheets, and six awards!"

Be a good signing for someone, if he doesn't end up as Villa's no2

Well beaten villa

Premiership the weakest it’s been in time. A very poor league and really wasted all that money!

What do you think Villa's owners said to Emery? Prioritise the ECL or 4th? They have backed him to the hilt and given him all his support staff too. Big transfer kitty if he gets 4th and nothing if he wins ECL and 5th. First club like this he's been backed like that ever. PSG he was a misfit.

Leverkusen have gone the season unbeaten so far, using mainly the same players. No 'too many games' moaning from them.

Villa get knocked out of the Conference competition and its a tragedy yet West Ham win it and its a rubbish competition.

It is a rubbish competition, which teams like Villa should be winning, just like West Ham did. I doubt they'll see it as a "tragedy" with Top 4 looming though.

You can't have it both ways as to how poor the Premier League is when it's teams perform disappointedly and then rubbish a particular competition that one of the top teams fail in.

Never seen such a fuss just cos Villa got knocked out of a tinpot cup by a gay sauna.

Truth is the Premiership is weakest it has been for years except for the top two teams who are a class apart and in the top eight in Europe. Liverpool overachieved to finish 3rd but needed a fair bit of luck along the way.

Liverpool had as many late comebacks as Leverkusen,

Liverpool ran out of gas.

Villa out of gas

Man utd out of gas

Newcastle just getting players back but out of gas

EPL is incredibly strong, and they've battered each other