Am I the only one who thought that Jones was ok in the first half before he faded away in the second, along with everyone else?
Szoboszlai on the other hand has been invisible for two games running.
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no game is easy in the EPL, as compared to the German, French and Italian leagues. But, our lads seem to show good energy for 45/50 minutes in a game, and that needs to be corrected/adjusted if they want to win more games at a canter. Hopefully Arne can get some very excellent/exceptional players for next season to stop our squeaky bum, nail biting, roller-rides, heart palpitations in a 90++ minutes of a game YNWA
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Gorgeous morning, I have a spring in my step.
We’re Champions-elect, Rory won, Utd got pantsed. Even my shit-truck AFL team won.
Fecking marvellous time to be a football fan.
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During the first part of the season, the criticism was that we wouldn’t play the first half, but then the second half we would be at it, dominate, make the perfect sub and win.
People said it would be unsustainable for the whole season if we wanted to win the title.
And for this game, the criticism is we played well the first half, but then we were not at it in the second, we got dominated, made wrong subs and won.
People say it is unsustainable for the next season if we want to retain the title.
It just seems we’re mentality monsters again.
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I may have a mild case of Utd Derangement Syndrome, but imagine fronting up every week to watch that abject, listless crap…
Yeah…nah…
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Probably the 5th or 6th time today that i’ve gone across and spent time just looking at the points table.
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I think everyone, players and supporters are damaged by running City so close on those occasions, and failing. Leave aside the PL and CL wins…the fact is we were so close to perfection and ended up failing in other seasons. The quadruple chasing season being the best example. We all know, as supporters that City were cheating financially, and maybe the players do as well?
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So, we are on the cusp of winning the league, and those nagging doubts prevail? Players are nervy? The ground is anxious? The sense of self doubt and preparing to be “caught” must be on peoples minds…
Slot is the most important factor then. He hasn’t experienced that heartache of losing out to City/Madrid. His role is perhaps to guide us through that doubt. The slowing down of the game, the conservation of energy, the trust in a smaller group is maybe all designed to get us there, before some surgery to the squad is completed in the summer. His squad next season might be better prepared for a different approach.
We are going to win this. If we were three points ahead with Arsenal at home still to play, we would be excited and even a bit more confident?
Because it has been a procession for a while we have allowed the niggling thoughts to creep in…
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I agree. Youre not meant to win leagues by 13 points. But in 19/20 we stormed it and looks like it will happen again.
Teams dont normally win 26 of the first 27 games like in 19/20 but becuase we lost league twice with record points it feels unless we give a 10/10 performance every game and are many points clear it will all go wrong.
My Arsenal supporting mate says it was over the day they lost at home to West Ham but because of those 2 seasons losing by a point im not having any of it until trophy is in vvds hands.
If these patchy performances of the last few weeks were at the start and then we went on that run of 26 unbeaten nothing would be mentioned and it would be put down to Slot finding his feet.
That said, he clearly has issues with Chiesa and Elliott. They have deserved more time than the likes of jota and nunez plus a few others.
We need quality reinforcements becuase the team as it is wont be winning the league next season. We need better players for the starting 11.
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Not only that, but the reason City and us got so many points is because we were pushing each other to the limit.
In competition, one of the hardest thing is probably to compete against yourself. Which we are effectively doing now since Arsenal has been bottling being a challenger.
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I was interested to notice that Arsenal have only lost 3 games this season in Prem. The 12 draws have killed them. Thats a lot of draws for a team in 2nd
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Yeah, I read somewhere as well that had Arsenal won their last 7, they would have been ahead of us by 1 point.
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I expect it to be totally different next season. Renewed team, a pre-season with Slot knowing the league and most of his players, who will also have the league-winning experience. We will be playing differently, Slot will evolve.
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Nice one Sandy.
Add into that memories, at least for us oldies, of the Gerrard slip and '89, and you can understand why people have been nervous. Our performances of late have only added to that feeling. After Sunday I feel differently though. I just can’t see us fucking up against Leicester and that will be that. Ideal scenario, we beat Spurs and Arsenal have to doff their caps to our reserve team at Anfield.
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Maybe we should offer to give those three points to West Ham, since we didn’t deserve them, and we should only be allowed the points if we are judged to be the worthy winners?
Or maybe, we are allowed to win ugly? Maybe it’s actually OK to be bailed out by your keeper? I mean, you’re allowed to have a really good one. It’s in the rules and everything. Maybe your Captain is allowed to force of will a goal into the net minutes after twatting one off his left back into his own goal. Nobody says football has to be fair. Maybe good teams are allowed to have an off day, and still win games by being brilliant in decisive moments.
Other teams seem to do this without being turned on by their own fans. I’ve lost track of the number of titles Manchester Teams have won by getting their noses in front of the pack by March, and then dragging themselves over line, picking up points they barely deserved. Does the name Macheda ring any bells?
I don’t really understand why fans feel so glum. We’re going to win the title. That’s something that has happened only 19 times in nearly 130 years. Fans haven’t had a chance to celebrate this for 35 years.
We are in a very good place.
Our recent wobbles I think are nothing more than a combination of tiredness, nerves, and pressure. With the greatest of these being the effect the amount of football played has inflicted on some of the lads. Players like Szoboszlai, Mac Allister, Salah, Van Dijk, Konate, Gravenberch have been asked to go to the well again and again, and they are clearly exhausted. But it is incredibly hard to criticise Slot’s squad management from being 13 points clear and six points in six games off the title. Marathon runners who finish ten minutes ahead of their nearest rival still look fucking knackered crossing the line. This is all fine. What Slot should have learned from his first season should really wait until May.
Across the various platforms I interact with fans, there seems a crazy determination to find the misery in this situation. Yes, we’ll probably win the league but we’re going to lose our three best players and FSG are too cheap to buy proper replacements. Yes, we’re going to win the league and yes, it looks like Mo and Virgil are staying, but they still need replacing and FSG are too cheap to buy proper replacements. Look, we can’t rely on City and Arsenal being this poor next season, and FSG are too cheap to properly upgrade the squad.
It’s like the title was mentally banked weeks ago, with a derisory nod, and we’re now in the mindset of fretting that we might not have the 25/26, 26/27 and 27/28 seasons already in the bag.
So, we know the squad are limping over the line. That’s ok. We know there is work to be done on the squad, and that’s also OK. We know that next season is probably going to be a bit tougher. It’s OK. We can enjoy those conversations later.
But for fucks sake. We could have the league title done in two weeks. Can we please enjoy the moment? They really don’t happen that often.
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I really hate that Gerrard slip narrative that we have all bought into. For me, it was the Brendanloo, Rodgers’ tactical Waterloo. We needed a draw to seal the league, and they needed a win to have any mathematical chance preserved. And instead of shutting up shop and playing on the counter, Brendan wouldn’t desert his “principles” and we took the game to them, playing right to the hands of Mourinho, who simply destroyed our game, had his players delay the game, and was waiting for his counterpunch while our defence was wide open. Gerrard’s unfortunate moment was bound to happen, and the victim would have been either a center back or a defensive midfielder, so he had 1 in 3 chances to be the one. Fate was ironic too, it seems. As if it’s because of him that we lost the league. It’s really not. It’s because of Brendan bloody Rodgers.
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Jose goaded him into playing like that saying Champions don’t play to draw.
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Totally.
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Quality post, couldn’t quote the whole thing.
Very annoying how fellow fans can’t get over things that could have been better in some dream world, and not enjoy winning the league as much as they could. Trent bashing included.
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No!
Jones was good in the 1st half, he was picking the ball up all over midfield.
2nd half problems seemed more to do with a drop off from Gravenberch and MACA. VVD was nonchalant and complacent most of the game which caused us problems. The only time imo VVD showed any leadership and fight was when he scored.
Our marking is atrocious from what I can see.
Fortunate?
Fuck off.
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