Seriously, I am too: we're reigning champions. Just that the smug arrogance that we were certainties to be main contenders for every trophy across the board, that was wonderfully winding-up the Blueshites, Uniturd fans and Cockheadnees on this site, isn't quite there any more. I think we may hit 90 points again next season - I just think City and possibly Chelsea will too.
Our first team is there on par with City, but their squad far surpasses ours. Having said that we had 97 points last year and didn't think we could do that again and we will more or less have the same total this year. I'm still more confident in Europe and on our day I think we are the best team in Europe (crowd and pedigree included). However to beat this City squad over a season is near impossible.
Our defence is (or was until Virgil and Trent started playing in their pipes and slippers). Or midfield is palpably not, and our attack only edges it when Aguero is out, otherwise they're equal.
Only De Bruyne gets into our midfield. Fabinho is better than Fernandinho/Gündogan/Rodri and David Silva is off.
I reckon City are #bottlers. Their illegal squad is a #flattrackbully against #nomarks but if they found themselves in an important game would benefit more from Hendo and Wijnaldum than Bernardo and Phil. When our attack was unavailable, our midfield beat Barcelona 4-0.
Ultimately who cares about City. We are the current CL holders and current league champions and world club champions. Next year is next year. I just want to enjoy this year
I'm still hoping to see City win the CL though, heretic as I am. When de bruyne clicks, they play cromulent football.
TBH, I don't mind Man City and I'd prefer English teams (bar Man Utd and Chelsea) to win the European trophies so I'd have to agree with you there
I don't think cheats should prosper, just doesn't feel right ...... ...... but I guess we've moved past that
I have come to despise Pep and they cheated. They just got caught too late and the evidence was gathered in an inappropriate way. They got off on technicalities and yet Pep gloats.
I'm a bit like Jaffa in that i'm surprised we have managed to get , approx , the same points as last year . The question has to be can we do it 3 years running particularly if , as looks likely , little addition to the squad in the form of transfers . I think that Keita & Minamino really need to step up & be real challengers for a first 11 place plus hope Jones , Williams and possibly Brewster do us a job off the bench / occasional starters .
tbf to Minamino, we only got him in January so he hasn't had any sort of chance to do anything. I know you're not criticising him, I'm just saying that we have no idea what he's capable of. Keita is another story. He has to stay fit and if he can do that, we have a player on our hands.
IMO it would be a travesty for this year's City to win a major trophy with its abysmal defence and inconsistency. This CL is already tainted enough by teams not having to play in front of away crowds.
You say that now as they have never won it, but this City somewhat dominance will be around for a long time. They will be favourites or there about in the CL for a long time. Will you be as keen on them winning it when they have 2 or 3 already. I'm not, so **** them, hope they never win it. Hope no English team ever wins it other than us.
imo Keita has not only to stay fit but to start delivering results in terms of assists and goals . Minamino looks , at best , a squad player so far but that impression is purely that as we have seen little of him so far . Personally i struggle to see him making it in the PL .
The problem is that the first 11 (with minor variations) have done so well that changing them seems a risk. Why do it unless you need to? I think Klopp's attitude is if it ain't broke don't fix it. Of course at some point it will break, and that's the dilemma. To be able to have a seamless rotation throughout the team that doesn't affect performance we'd need a squad level that is beyond our means. Imo, a significant factor in Werner's decision to go elsewhere could well have been that he couldn't see himself breaking the current front 3 enough. How many top class players want to spend their most productive years fighting for a place? They aren't all motivated purely by money - I'm sure many just want to play. They get a fortune wherever they go anyway. As we've already discussed City have a better squad but we have had better motivation. We won't be able to match their resources, especially now they've shown that they can defy any attempt to seriously curtail their spending (at least under the rules as they currently stand) so we have to do it a different way. It might be a case of keep rolling until the wheels fall off - I'm not expecting great changes in the methods used by FSG or JK so far.
