It depends on whether the rats have already started jumping the sinking ship?
Thereās no debate to be had. That run of games up to our first loss was unprecedented and hasnāt been repeated since. Even the game we drew we were fucking cheated by Atkinson.
Why any Liverpool fan would even consider throwing shade on that teamās achievements is beyond me.
I agree, itās different. And they have already looked a bit shaky at times this season, so losing their midfield anchor will hurt them if teams dare to have a go at them.
Rodriās absence will harm city quite a bit.
But city werenāt good last season as well. They won because the referees screwed Liverpool.
I suspect Guardiola knew this and sanctioned a deal for Gundogan to come back due to that.
Tough one for them forsure. Expect to see Stones deployed at No.6 a fair bit for the rest of the season.
They still have Matheus Nunes.
And the refs.
Iām not throwing shade on that performance. Iām pointing out that firstly, if you look at the course of a whole season, Cityās financially doped-up team managed 100 points and then 98 points. Even though we had an incredible performance that season, itās likely that at full strength, they would only have been a couple of points/results behind us.
And letās not forget that while it was an incredible run results-wise (and really you should be pointing out the fact that we had the highest points over a 38 game run, 110 out of 114), we had some bad performances that we still managed to salvage by getting the goals.
I donāt think itās taking away anything from our performances that I point out that there is a fair point to be made that with a full team, they might have been able to reasonably keep close to us. In fact, Iād say itās a compliment to us that even with the full strength of their cheating (Ā£1b on full-backs?) we would still edge them out with their full squad.
But but but theyāre the real victims of a nasty vendetta against them!
Quoted from the Arsenal thread, a fortnight ago. You did it, mate, you finally jinxed them! ![]()
One injury does not a crisis make (see every Liverpool season under Klopp - well, almost every).
Man City are doomed then. The curse finally falls.
You are right.
And while we are at it, theyāll not have one more injury over the season. They will win the quadruple, beat the points record over a season and will be cleared of all wrongdoing regarding the 130 charges. Isnā it? ![]()
City could suffer 10 injuries but if they find a way to keep winning games some people would bend over to explain how city never have to deal with injuries - last season they lost KdB for half a season and had Stones unavailable more often than Matip. Cityās success at being relatively unaffected by injuries has been less due to avoiding them, but having a fantastic ability to adapt and shift players around to plug the gaps.
You see evidence of this by people treating the Rodri injury as the something new for them ignoring that they are already missing Ake and Bobb to significant injuries, and increasing concern about de Bruyne to regain proper fitness.
It also glides past the core of the problem with their disregard for the UEFA and PL cost control regimes. No other club in football can afford the sheer depth they have to make good on injuries. Even a club like Real Madrid in the midst of assembling a new āGalacticosā side starts to look very different when you look down the bench.
And one reason why City didnāt play well during Liverpoolās title winning season was that Pep was still insisting on using wingbacks.
After that season, he stopped using wingbacks gradually - started inverting them(Doesnāt matter that he spent a large chunk of budget on them before) ,Pep realized that he couldnāt beat Klopp with his wingback idealogy.
And finally decided on not bothering with them at all
Yet City their squad is still short enough that they are required to routinely name one or two kids on the bench Pep clearly has little intention of using even when everyone is fully fit. It is not numbers that has largely immunized city against the downsides of injuries, but incredible flexibility of a 7 or 8 different players. Does more money (illegally spent) make it easier to acquire players of such quality? Sure, but it is that selection for game smart, technically sound players who can do a variety of things at a high level that has made them excel rather than the assumption that they go and buy ā2 top players for every positionā
Rodriās loss though could be the equivalent of removing a load bearing wall. The players who are likely to be asked to fill in are either not used to playing so regularly (Kovacic) or not expected to (Gundogan? Stones?) With Ake also out, seemingly for a while, it stretches the defense a bit more, gives players likes Stones and Walker a bit less room to sit out when theyāre not feeling 100%. And this situation is the sort where problems can compound very quickly. Maybe they get through it, but it puts them at risk of losing one these other players and once one goes the likelihood that 2 or so more will follow quickly is pretty high.
I donāt think thatās true. We broke them mentally.
There was a point, maybe after the game against us, they just kind of gave up.
Thatās the only way to beat them in their current guise and we did it.
Weāre talking about them being without Laporte. Iām sure we had more injuries than them.
How did you know?..
