Sounds like Cheaty are shit again.
O wells.
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Chelsea losing at home to Bournemouth 2-1 @ 70mins
Full Time: 2-2
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Looking at the table, I can see the second half of this season being absolute carnage. 0% chance anyone does a Cheaty and just steamrolls it. Teams will be taking points off one another all over the shop.
We are very well placed.
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We have to get back on the roll.
We effectively have 2 games which we can take zero points and still win it, it feels like itās been that way for a few weeks now though.
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Taking a point away to leagueās in-form side, occupying the third place because of weaker goal difference, shouldnāt be anything to scoff at but Iām a bit worried that teamās form in January has been average at best and it concerns me, mainly because of our experiences with Klopp.
I mean, some of Januaries under Klopp were iffy, the one when we last played Plymouth in FA Cup was a disaster, we practically lost the title in January 2019, and stuff like that tends to linger in my mind. Obviously, Man City skewing the perception of what is needed to win PLā¦ Hopefully that wonāt be the case this season.
Still, it would be nice to see Arsenal and other rivals dropping points. I was disappointed to see that Tottenham were the side Arsenal were facing after their FA Cup elimination - I swear, if it was a stronger side, a defeat there would have probably sent their season in a tailspin because I donāt expect that they will turn around their cup tie against Newcastle.
We had good a bad Januaryās though. I looked back and it seems up and down perhaps itās got something to do with Afcon as well.
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Big game for us today, because if we get through that round with no one really having taken the opportunity to close the gap, Jotaās goal ends up being a significant step toward the title.
It was clear six weeks ago this was not going to be one of those processional seasons where the winner gets 100 points and has the title sewn up in early March. We just arenāt that good. I would suggest that to the end of December, we were not as good as our points tally. We had ridden good defence and very timely goals to many of those wins, which could easily have been draws. In that sense, maybe we are regressing to the mean to some degree right now, though it is our defence that has been more problematic this month.
That said, this is a good team, with a lot of veteran leadership. I have every confidence that they are aware of and quite frustrated by this patch. Forest was an unusual match, because they are at least nominally a title contender, a solid team chasing LFC, and played defensively at home challenging us to break them down. The mathematics of that arenāt going to hold up, contenders are going to need to take 3 points from us to close the gap at some point. That is likely to be a much tougher proposition than getting one goal and hanging on.
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I donāt know about City, but I had this feeling for our 2019-20 season. Not to take anything away from that team, and the 110 of 114 points run they had at one point, but many of those games were won by luck not so much sheer dominance (although there was plenty of dominance).
I think the biggest difference between then and now for me is the feeling that the team we have is still relatively young and inexperienced (although Iām not sure how true that really is in actual numbers).
I think Arne says the right words in pre- and post-match press conferences, but itās the implementing that which will be a massive challenge.
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Football is a game of very fine margins. Often the difference between the teams is a single goal and that can often be from a fluke deflection or momentary lack of concentration. Itās quite possible that a game won by a fine margin could also be one that would have been won at a canter had incidents gone our way.
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I think this is a key point. We arenāt the team that matched Man City stride for stride - we have some pretty obvious issues in the squad such as the need for a new LB - that werenāt there in 2019. The good news is that of all the flawed ātopā teams we have easily been the best through 20 games and there is no Man City behemoth getting in the upper 90s to 100+ points to catch.
The other aspect is that the middle of the league has improved substantially with lots of very well run clubs suddenly coming together with a good squad of well coached players, making sensible signings and taking points off everyone.
Itās been a really good season for the PL so far and nothing Iāve seen from us or anyone else would suggest that someone is about to go and string together 10 win - it just isnāt going to happen.
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The points you make - I have a Viber group with two friends who are Liverpool fans and Iāve genuinely been writing almost the same things there since a bit before the Man United match. That said, my exact words were a bit less measured like yours and a bit moreā¦ Doom and gloom? Especially the part about regressing to mean.
After all, I still look at this group as the one that ran out of steam last season and kind of gave up on Klopp in the end, so I should be forgiven for not placing too much faith in them. Also, Robbo looks shot, Nunez is not a threat even in the slightest, Jota is injury-prone, Trent is still blowing hot and coldā¦ Forgive me for being a doubter.
Iāve seen Slot being called a ālucky generalā on these boards, though it wasnāt a comment made as criticism - but I, too, got the impression that he got lucky with some things like Everton game getting postponed in the middle of an injury crisis (not that theyāll surely be beaten in the postponed fixture but stillā¦).
Iām placing a lot of hope in the chasing pack dropping points, Iām tired of seasons where you drop points in consecutive games and youāre already out of title race because Man City are steamrollering the rest of the league.
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Wow that still exists? I havenāt heard that name in a long timeā¦
Bit harsh, I think they simply just didnāt have enough in the end.
This just isnāt looking like one of those seasons. We are keeping a points pace that would put a side to the title in almost every season prior to 17/18. Arsenal could win every game they have left and finish at 94, a great season until 17/18. City cannot finish on a total above 86. Back in the day, that too was enough to win titles.
None of that means anything is guaranteed, or even close. But every win shortens the runway for the chasing sides. At some point, that means they cannot play the way Forest did (unless we give them a stupid early goal the way we did against Forest), because they must win, not LFC. That May 10 at Anfield could easily be a must-win for Arsenal to keep the race going if we keep running close with them. That is just not a bad situation, think of how many times Rafa must have dreamed of getting to a match like that.
Enjoy the ride!
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Chelsea have supposedly cancelled Challobahās loan with Palace to recall him. With the way they forced him out of the club in the first place that sort of move really shouldnāt be allowed
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Sterling, Havertz, and Trossard up top for Arsenal v Ppurs. Lots of their players with
120mins in their legs.
Quite fancy Spurs getting something out of this.
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4 away wins tonight would be glorious.
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To make matters worse, Challobah wanted to stay at Palace, and has been a regular in the palace team.
Gotta feel for Palace too.
Classless from Chelsea, albeit they are clearly within the rules/agreed cancellation clauses in the contract.
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I praised Wolves last week and they got beat 3-0 but Iāll do it again - theyāve set up quite well here and are dominating possession early.
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Everton really do play like a championship side.
Tackle from Onana on Gueye was a real poor one.
Horrible miss by Watkins.
How dare youā¦ this is era 8th place Moyes Everton.