They only played Man City once in their run in... DDDLWWLLW ... that's simply not good enough for a title challenge.
that's lfc away West ham away Southampton home 3-3 city away anyone can drop a point away in that first game. but the difference is city had already got the pressure on them and xhaka roused trent. the west ham and Southampton results were completely unacceptable in a title race. they conceded 5 goals in 2 games. and why? cos they had no cb cover. they have bought another quasi rb/cb in timber now so white might.move in but I do not think they have addressed the issue at all. havertz is a complete waste of space imo. he might fly but they had 2 players already as reserves there. they need more genuine cm cover.
not saying that they didn’t ‘stumble’ at any point. But it was still a decent challenge however city are just too strong
I know you put a lot of work into your posts but there's such a thing as analysis to paralysis. It's the comment like "nobody" that makes me wonder why you let yourself be this downbeat before the season even starts. I'm concerned for all different reasons by the scale of the upheaval but generally I'm excited to see how this new team gets it together and dominates other teams like we know a Klopp team can.
there are simply not enough teams challenging City. It was only us for half a decade or so. This league needs a much stronger top 6, even if it means our main rivals getting stronger too.
Just a turn of phrase, but it was bad. They were in the driving seat then took 15 points from their last 10 games (I think). In any sport it's essential to have a strong finish. Even we managed 24 points from the last 10.
city are treble champions and at this point have only lost one player and replaced them with kovacic. in theory they are not much weaker despite losing a player who was in top top form last year. All the rest going is speculation. If city are on form then 95 is the absolutely minimum target and there's not one side in the prem capable of racing them week in and week out to that currently. We should be aiming for 4th and Europa league and anything else is a massive massive bonus. As I have outlined there's so much to do to get those forwards working for us and that's IMO the key to 4th. anything better requires the whole team balance to improve
How about this, Eddie Howe in an interview with BBC said “ Financial fair play are not words that I like” . Well I have news for you Eddie, they are words that City, Chelsea and Arsenal don’t know never mind like. Sickening how a relegation yoyo team are now able to oil money in to the top of the league
Look back in time 1970s 5 titles for us and a good spread round then Derby, leeds and forest for example. 1980s. We have how many "challengers" Everton, forest, arsenal, villa and even utd flirted we won 6 titles. 1990s also won 6, they actually had Leeds, Blackburn and arsenal 2000s, Utd again another 6 titles this time chelsea and arsenal as the rivals 2010s. actually only 4 city titles, 2 utd, 2 chelsea, 1 leicester, 1 Liverpool 2020s so far: 3 city titles in 3 seasons the issue is that clubs can no longer get good and come up to win one. Leicester was a miracle according to most yet there were precedents of sides being good enough for a short time. Its now so expensive that nobody can get a side together without getting picked clean by vultures. We've seen the LFC period, We've seen the Utd period. Both had main rivals. We've seen now the city period of dominance really set in and we are over 10 years into it. 7 titles in 12 years with a really poor period under a bad manager (pelligrini) when city have been "on it" they have been untouchable by anyone. In the Guardiola the only club to get near was us on 2 occasions and we won it when they were off due to CB injuries. We are no longer the dominant club we are content to be a little rival now. this could all change if Newcastle are let get going and invent revenues, but for now city are being enbaled to invent revenues left and right and will probably cliam worlds biggest and maybe over 1 billion in renvues shortly. City are now in the position of man utd in the 1990s. Utd had 75k in the stadium and about double the transfer budget. City have? we totally fake sponsorships that allow for spend.
whats up to you. some folk are not sunshine fans who only turn up for the big wins. in fact i hear city need a few more plastics to fill out their stadium so there's always a place for people who only support winning teams
Oil money is what oil money is. Simple fact is, Premier League has repeatedly demonstrated that they don't intend to enforce FFP. That said, don't expect teams to stop. Why wouldn't Newcastle break FFP if City does? Why wouldn't City if Chelsea does? What motivation does Chelsea have to stop. It is what it is, and I can't blame any team for using any advantage that they have. Only people who can stop this is the FA, UEFA, or PL, and let's face it, they have no motivation to do so.
Look at his minutes. Gundogan had a great season yes but he played an average of 58minutes in the league and was heavily rotated along with others. Yes silva going on top will affect them. 100% but right now that's speculation. For all we know they sign someone for 200mil. both are speculations. Ederson akanji Dias Aki Stones Rodri Silva KDB Gundogan Grealish Haaland Some examples of what might happen 1. Kovacic simply replaces Gundogan 2. Foden is played 3. Alvarez plays RW Right now at this moment in time city are not much weaker than they were winning a treble. City's main issue was getting this system to work for them at the outset of the season but then they just piled on and it pushed gundogan to a position where he had the freedom to do what he did. Who knows what foden might do in there. I presume they will be flying from the off with no getting sued to a new system, but everyone missed my earlier point. Fatigue could play a big part, I even first highlighted they could be stripped of players. the problem is hope is not a strategy. I simply ask how can LFC get 95 points. I simply don't see if getting that, not with this amount of change and work to do to come together. I'd be quite happy with 75 and a europa league trophy.
RE breaking down defences. I’m hoping the Szobo may help in that regard. Can’t say I know a whole lot about him, only what I’ve read not seen much play other than clips, but seems to have that bit of skill on the ball as well as a good shot from outside the box, somethibg that’s missing in this team. That is always a way of breaking down a defence. Either by scoring, or forcing opposition to come out and close you down which opens up a space behind them somewhere.
Both Mac and Dom should be able to help unlock defences. Both are incredibly good operating half spaces and ball progression
AMC might help as well considering he had 10 PL goals last season which is impressive for a CM though may have had more than a little to do with BHA style .
