IMO it would have been interesting had Salah come on a bit earlier and we had taken the lead before Villa went 2-0 up, could that have influenced the City game?
Unlike us who were focused on our game only, Pep and all his players spend all their time talking about their rivalry with us, about how the title is us vs them. Do I think Pep had one of his staff following our game and reporting to him? Absolutely. Could we have influenced things by taking an earlier lead and thus putting more pressure on them? Difficult to say. Perhaps it would have made them fight even harder for the win. Or maybe they would have gone into their shell a bit more and would have struggled to overcome the 2-0 deficit.
I am still frustrated by our performance as I think many of our players didnât play anywhere near their standards. And I donât think winning it so late on did any favours in applying pressure on City during their match.
The above is all coulda shoulda woulda I know. And second guessing like this I think itâs also unfair but thatâs how Iâm feeling right now. By tomorrow Iâll be over it.
This performance has been a single blip on an otherwise stellar season where we fought back from a slump before the turn of the year to win practically every match we played which we all need to be so proud of. I am proud even if the above doesnât suggest that.
Letâs smash those whining Real Madrid fuckers and come back even stronger in the PL next year.
Brendan achieves his power grab, and takes full control of the transfers. He splashes big on Benteke, and the transfer committee recommend Roberto Firmino for 29 million. Brendan says he hasnât the character to play for Liverpool and goes back in for Clint Dempsey instead to dovetail with Benteke.
Gets the sack near the start of the 2015-16 season, and the club recruit Jurgen Klopp. Klopp gives the go ahead to get Bobby.
What if⌠Just means the present would differ in some way because of the events of the past. Itâs not possible to predict with any certainty what those changes would be.
I personally think BR maybe would have got a bit more time. But the thing is the delusion is strong in that one and he would have lead the club down the same path regardless, and weâd probably still get Klopp.
Our game had zero influence on the outcome of the City game. They knew they had to win. Whether we had been ahead or not wouldnât have changed their mindset or approach. They arenât as susceptible to pressure as some people make out. Twice in a week they came back from two goals down. They have faith in their system and that teams will crack eventually.
I am not having any criticism of that performance yesterday. God knows what it was like playing in that game. Crowd going mental and not really knowing exactly what City were doing. The players were clearly nervous and not their usual selves. It was all totally understandable but we won. Canât ask for more than that.
Four games in fortnight, three away, one a 120 minute FA Cup final and they won all 4 I have to say they left literally nothing to chance and it was one point off but I canât criticise anything they did in these last few months theyâve been on fumes and have gone the distance in every single competition.
They get the luxury of 5 days break now a number will have had even longer, what they have I have no doubt will be left on the pitch in Paris. If itâs the cup treble then brilliant if itâs just the two Iâll still have fond memories, they bounced back from some utter dogshit being put around and the answer is only to throw more dogshit on top. They deserve better frankly and redemption is due on Saturday.
This isnât true. We won the league on 99 points in 2020, City got 100 points in 2018, and Chelsea got 95 points one season. Also pretty sure United got 92 points in at least one season, and Arsenalâs invincible got 92 points.
as our JĂźrgen sometimes says, â it is as it is â He also shows his huge love for the club and city. A humble man who deserves immense respect for stepping in and recognising the tradition and culture of our club, and continuing the ways of Shankly, Paisley, Fagan and King Kenny.
Is there any other club that can seriously boast of that much managerial talent?
Celebrate and enjoy this magical journey as others only envy us by using negative comments/remarks to show their obvious jealousy of our club.
Look up and forward and stick/support this great club through thick and thin.
YNWA
It took me a second to work it out and I think youâve misconstrued it the same way.
I think what itâs saying is the team that won the league only needed to reach 92 points to theoretically win it. Yes City got 100 points that season, but if theyâd have got 92 theyâd still have won it because United in second only got 81.
The only time 92 points wouldnât have been enough to win the league was 18/19 season because we finished second on 97.
Maybe my wording wasnât quite right first time, hopefully the above explains it.
Basically, weâve had three of the top ten highest points totals for a Premier League season and come second on two of those occasions.
Understood, cheers mate. I was just doing the cheap gag!
Bottom line, the point is well made that due to artificially inflated clubs, we have not collected the amount of silverware we should have, and even deserved to.
It is galling. Apart from government intervention Iâm not sure what can be done. I think I would like to see someone in authority at the club (not Klopp) speak out in the sort of way Real Madrid just laid into PSG over Mbappe.
Man Cityâs financial abuse is a story that needs more of a spotlight, and Iâd like to see CEO Billy Hogan take it on, or Owner Mike Gordon. Someone with real authority, but crucially not Klopp.
Klopp can defend and support the comments as he sees fit when they stick a microphone in his face, but if the comments originate with him the press would interpret it as sour grapes and would turn on him.
In recent weeks there has been a lot of frustration over teams supposedly rolling over for City when we needed teams to stand up and and leas make them work, but I think that perspective misses the dynamic of what playing City is like. In most of those games there were openings for the other team to benefit from, they just werenât quite good enough to do it. And the reality is that extending yourself to try to get at Cityâs weak spots leaves you exposed and risking a 3-4 goal beating, and City reeling off a few in a row. What those results masked was how exploitable City are. Villa showed with 2 distinct types of performances why that is a risk worth taking. When they were brave and willing to go for it they went 2-0 up (and overlooked numerous other good opportunities). When they took off Phil and sat back trying to protect their 2 goal lead they got taken to the cleaners. What this should show teams is that if you have a go at them they might put 3 or 4 past you and kill the game before half time. But if you sit back theyâre likely to do the same to you anyway, so you may as well go out with a game plan of being brave and seeing what you can get out of them at the other end. Villa with Phil and Watkins were particularly well suited to trying to get at City, but I hope teams take that lesson next season.
Outside of us and City during his 5 year year, only Jose and Conte have ever got 92 points in a 38 game season. Fergie did it once, but that was in a 22 team, 42 game a season league
I vaguely recall such statements being made the last time we missed out as well, goes to show that teams arenât very keen on exploiting it nonethelessâŚ
The difference between City in the CL and the PL might be explained by continental refs for who donât let them get away with their cynical BS (I donât see much evidence of that), or it might just be explained by coming up against sides who themselves have the talent to take the chances that come their way in a way that 15 or so of the PL teams dont.
I donât know where to see the actual stats on this, but I imagine Cityâs group stage results are much better than in the knockout phase. In the group stage, a draw against City is a good result and I imagine most inferior teams, which is practically all of them, will play for a draw.
But come the knockout rounds, apart from naturally playing good teams because the lesser teams have been weeded out, or teams that are in an amazing run of form, there is also the problem of a draw not being quite good enough in the knockouts.
I think it comes back to teams being forced to go at City in the knockouts to get a result, and in the process exposing their weaknesses, whereas in the group stage as you say teams playing for a draw are not going to look for those openings and are therefore probably going to get a few knocked past them anyway. You canât take points from City by going in to defend for 90 mins. It just doesnât work. You need a plan to beat their occasionally shoddy defence.
As has been said, most teams in the PL arenât brave enough. Unless the team is challenging for top 4, most teams will set up for the match with the mindset of âa draw is a great resultâ.
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