Premier League 2025-2026

The season kicks off in less than half an hour with Liverpool hosting Bournemouth. You can search the web for all kinds of previews and predictions so I’m not going to dumb that down with my own.

I will share this article though about rule changes.

https://www.premierleague.com/en/ne...b-laws-and-premier-league-football-principles

Two things from my perspective. One, Andreas better pay attention to the Captain’s Only rule. Two, I’m curious to see how the eight-second keeper rule plays out. (One of my pet peeves is when keepers catch a ball and then fall to the ground for no reason. I don’t think the rule will have much effect on that though.)

 

Speaking of rules and refs, I’m struggling to understand how the league, and VAR in particular, can be taken seriously.

 

This quote from Scott Parker is so true.

"I stand on the touchline, you score a goal and I feel like there's a million things go through your mind, a checklist, was it offside? Did he step on his toe two minutes before? We need to get a computer out."​

 

I feel like VAR, in the Premier League at least, only offers value on offside calls. Otherwise it is just as likely to come up with a ridiculous decision as a just decision when it comes to hand balls and foul play. And when it is a 50-50 shot, then what's the point? I know it will never happen but I'd be happy if it was just a tool for offside.