Premier League 2021/22 (Part 2)

[Quicksand]

@The-AllMightyReds

A treble is still a treble at the end of the day.

If we can somehow do it, it would be the best season perhaps in our history?

No.
For any season to be the greatest you really have to win the league. That is the barometer.
In order of requirement
1: League
2:CL
3: FA Cup
4: League Cup

[aussielad]

But that happened before Pep and Man City invented football, so obviously it doesn’t count

[sandsoftime]

@Quicksand

@Mascot

@jaffod

Expose the cunt.

You probably right about Kavanagh. But what do you honestly expect to happen if the club does what you want? We’ll puff our chests out for about ten minutes, the club will get some sort of unprecedented fine, possible legal action from PGMOL, we’ll become a pariah club, and Kavanagh will carry on with barely a feather ruffled.

And you are probably right in your summation of what would happen. But the fact remains that big decisions like those referenced by @jaffod have changed the season. And City, the high finance cheats will probably win another title.

We blaming Kavanagh because he acts the cnut with us… My feeling is that he may have been gotten at and enticed with riches… it would not go beyond the pale for this to have happened… It has occurred in the past with other referee’s
The Cheaters at the Etihad are a Mars Bar stain on the ‘Y’-fronts we call the Premier League

[Walshy07]

With City about I wouldn’t blame the likes of Mane and Salah going to another country to get more winners medals.
If Mane went Germany he is guaranteed a league winners medal - OK its a shit standard but hes flogged guts out for the last 6 years and has only won it once so he might want a medal where you dont need to win 95% of your games.

Hopefully he decides to stay and take City on but no doubt about it with Haaland coming to the league in which you need 95 points just got a lot harder.

Other teams need to do better as well. They dropped points v Spurs, Palace, Soton and us - the rest have been pathetic.

[Draexnael]

@Walshy07

With City about I wouldn’t blame the likes of Mane and Salah going to another country to get more winners medals.
If Mane went Germany he is guaranteed a league winners medal - OK its a shit standard but hes flogged guts out for the last 6 years and has only won it once so he might want a medal where you dont need to win 95% of your games.

Hopefully he decides to stay and take City on but no doubt about it with Haaland coming to the league in which you need 95 points just got a lot harder.

Other teams need to do better as well. They dropped points v Spurs, Palace, Soton and us - the rest have been pathetic.

Fuck me, we are literally on course to have possibly one of our GREATEST seasons ever and win a treble and people are talking about players leaving to win a league medal (something they have already won here).

The league is not the be all and end all, I’d argue the CL without any sort of possible bias is a much better barometer of success than the league currently. The only people who say the league is better are City fans with no history and think it started 30 years ago.

[Draexnael]

@PeachesEnRegalia

Yeah, I think while Pep is at City, you need to be looking at minimum 95 points in a season - including taking points off City - in order to win it

100% to win the league you have to at least win one of the games against them and not lose the other, my days what fine margins that is.

[Iftikhar]

@GermanRed

For example the 6 draws against City, Chelsea and Spurs. Big points lost.

I think looking at results against a particular set of teams isn’t the right strategy. Any dropped points matter and all such games should be analyzed.

@Nikola

It turns out that title was lost when we dropped the points from winning positions against Brighton and Brentford.

I would add our losses against Leicester and West Ham too, I think we were particularly bad in those games.

I think we have/had two issues that proved our bane this season:

1. The dry patch Mane and Firmino had in the first part of the season and the dry patch Jota and Salah is having recently.

2. We struggle to break down low-block teams. I think we have the players to counter this but the form and fitness of those players affected us.

@Walshy07 You have to consider the refereeing too. Bad decisions against us are bad enough but bad decisions for our rivals are the straws that breaks the back.

[Walshy07]

i love the CL so it is still great to win it without doubt. That trophy is far more beautiful that the Prem Trophy which looks dated now

[Draexnael]

@Iftikhar

We struggle to break down low-block teams. I think we have the players to counter this but the form and fitness of those players affected us.

I read a quote recently that Thiago (mainly) or Keita were missing for every game we dropped points in the league till Spurs. Not sure how accurate that actually is, but it does feel that having one of those two playing is a big factor in breaking down teams sitting deep (which is most of our opponents).

If you look back with reflection, Van Dijk coming back from serious injury, losing Mo and Mane to the AFCON, the points total we will post is nothing short of a miracle.

[Retro_Helix]

@Walshy07

i love the CL so it is still great to win it without doubt. That trophy is far more beautiful that the Prem Trophy which looks dated now

Imagine if Pep reads this post…

[koptician]

And we had that penalty away at Leicester that we missed and proceeded to lose the match

[Limiescouse]

@Draexnael

@Iftikhar

We struggle to break down low-block teams. I think we have the players to counter this but the form and fitness of those players affected us.

I read a quote recently that Thiago (mainly) or Keita were missing for every game we dropped points in the league till Spurs. Not sure how accurate that actually is, but it does feel that having one of those two playing is a big factor in breaking down teams sitting deep (which is most of our opponents).

If you look back with reflection, Van Dijk coming back from serious injury, losing Mo and Mane to the AFCON, the points total we will post is nothing short of a miracle.

If you look at the games where we dropped points it’s far more often a case of defensive weaknesses that cost us rather than inability to score. Yes our defensive record is very good but when we concede we tend to in bunches and its those games where we dropped points.

3 against Brentford
Giving up the lead twice against city
Giving up a 2 goal lead against Brighton
3 against West Ham
2 Against Spurs
Giving up a 2 goal lead against Chelsea

I think you can count maybe only 3 games this season where we didn’t do enough from an attacking perspective to win the game (Chelsea and Spurs draws and the Leicester loss). Compared to the list above, all games in which we scored enough to win a game and in some had healthy winning positions, I dont think this is the issue.

[Draexnael]

@Limiescouse

If you look at the games where we dropped points it’s far more often a case of defensive weaknesses that cost us rather than inability to score. Yes our defensive record is very good but when we concede we tend to in bunches and its those games where we dropped points.

3 against Brentford
Giving up the lead twice against city
Giving up a 2 goal lead against Brighton
3 against West Ham
2 Against Spurs
Giving up a 2 goal lead against Chelsea

I think you can count maybe only 3 games this season where we didn’t do enough from an attacking perspective to win the game (Chelsea and Spurs draws and the Leicester loss). Compared to the list above, all games in which we scored enough to win a game and in some had healthy winning positions, I dont think this is the issue.

Yep, isn’t it about control though? Thiago helps us keep the ball and keep up that sustained pressure (when he’s not doing suicide passes!) Also for me his defensive game has massively surprised me, he just is always in the right place to cut out a counter attack etc.

Every game we’ve struggle it’s been due to a collective brainfart wave of lowering ourselves to the opponents game plan rather than enforcing our own.

Hate City all you want but the opponent can’t score if they’ve not got the ball, and they retain possession incredibly well, whereas we have a habit on occasions to turn it over, increasing pressure on ourselves.

[koptician]

When was the last time something like that went in our favour?

All i can think of is something that went against us (Stevie slipping).

When we won the PL we had to batter the rest into oblivion for it to be safe.

Given how the other teams just lay down for City, based on their reputation, given their ridiculous squad based on dirty, ill-gotten gains, based on how the refs repeatedly seem to land on their side on decisions (and against us on ours)…

I’d say we need to recruit super-smartly again and have a go next season. This one’s over

[rupzzz]

Historical events do not denote or dictate the chance of something happening today (or in the coming days, weeks etc).

My point is that sometimes shit happens. Stevie’s slip, Arsenals late league winner, Aguero. It happens, but it can’t happen if you lay off and end up out of the race altogether

I’m not naïve enough to think City will slip up - I accept it’s likely over. My point is simply that Klopp will make his decisions based on the outcome of the West Ham game. If West Ham take points off City, I’d expect Klopp to put out a strong side. If West Ham get battered, then Klopp will probably ring the changes and get the players ready for Paris.

[jaffod]

@Mascot

You probably right about Kavanagh. But what do you honestly expect to happen if the club does what you want? We’ll puff our chests out for about ten minutes, the club will get some sort of unprecedented fine, possible legal action from PGMOL, we’ll become a pariah club, and Kavanagh will carry on with barely a feather ruffled.

I’m not so sure. We already are a pariah club btw, an easy, spineless target for the media in general, officials who want to show everyone they have a pair of bollocks, opposition players who want to maim our players without any sanction etc
I think we need to put it out there to football fans in general that they’re paying to watch a corrupt league that can be ultimately decided by a fucking cheat because that’s what it amounts to.
At the very least it would put Kavanagh in a very awkward position and may keep a few others honest into the bargain.
Nobody mentions Coote these days and the fact he hasn’t officiated in a PL game involving Liverpool since October 2020 when he displayed his clear corruption in the Goodison derby. There’s no doubt in my mind whatsoever our club for once displayed some backbone and demanded action. Behind the scenes maybe, but done all the same.
As things stand we have to be absolutely flawless to finish above the sports-washers. Throw in corrupt referees and it’s basically impossible which raises the question - what’s the fucking point?
We just cannot allow the likes of Kavanagh to carry on doing it.

[PeachesEnRegalia]

@Draexnael

If you look back with reflection, Van Dijk coming back from serious injury, losing Mo and Mane to the AFCON, the points total we will post is nothing short of a miracle.

This. Everyone thought we were finished as a top club after last season. VVD wouldn’t be the same, TAA had been found out, midfield wasn’t good enough, Mane a shadow of his former self, etc.

The fact that it’s heading into the final week of the season and we’re STILL in with a shot at the quad is an absolute fucking miracle and we need to stop crying in our cheerios and enjoy the moment. Ya cunts!

[Dutch]

With Dean, Atkinson and Moss retiring after this season I’m afraid we will see a lot more Kavanagh and Coote next season.

[Limiescouse]

@Draexnael

Every game we’ve struggle it’s been due to a collective brainfart wave of lowering ourselves to the opponents game plan rather than enforcing our own.

Your theory is a decent one, but I think part of the issue is we have become so comfortable playing what is a high risk game that I think we sometimes under respond to issues we’re facing in a game. It feels at times like a form of arrogance that when we get caught out we dont adjust to shut that down, we just keep going with the belief that our plan A will overcome whatever is happening. I dont even know that its necessarily a net negative, because our faith in our way of playing is also a huge part of why we’re so successful, but I think it explains why when we concede we tend to do so in bunches, and assuming now we do get pipped to the title it will be those games that will go down as the reason.

[Limiescouse]

@PeachesEnRegalia

The face that it’s heading into the final week of the season and we’re STILL in with a shit at the quad is an absolute fucking miracle and we need to stop crying in our cheerios and enjoy the moment. Ya cunts!

This is a bit philosophical, and I know its a big egotistical to tell other people how they should feel about things as if I right (but I am), but I think football is a bit of an empty thing if you can only enjoy the lifting of the trophy. That moment lives in the memory, but it’s one short moment over a 10 month period. Its the journey in that 10 months you’re supposed to enjoy and there is so much to get out of it if you can do that. And that means even if you ultimately come up short you can have a team in front of you that gave you great things to celebrate and a group to be proud of.