We dropped 4 points in our opening games whilst Suarez was away... points that were razor thin- defeat to draw- or draw to win. We also, only won games in most instances by a single goal. Once Suarez returned we started winning our games by multi-goal gaps instead of solitary goals. We've no clue how other events would have unfurled had Suarez not bitten Ivanovic- but it isn't hard to believe had we had Suarez in the opening games- we could have at least one more point (and be still in the driving seat)... OR at very least our GD would have been much closer to City's. Of course- had Suarez not done "the bite" there probably would have been more interest for him in the summer- interest we couldn't fight off. He wouldn't have received his big ban- so might not have been so focused and commited this season. What has helped us this season is that Suarez has had discipline- without it we might be lower in the table!
There are plenty of occasions where we dropped points, you could blame Suarez, or Gerrard, or Rodgers, or Hendo or anyone else... If we don't win, we just weren't consistent enough over the whole year, need to improve the squad in the summer and go again with the same inhibited and attacking mindset. Steve Peters will have to be on top form over the summer break
no, lots of reasons could be why if we lose the title, Gerrards slip,Toures back pass, losing to teams we should expect to beat etc. start of the season is always hard, think it was a getting form and match fit was more the issue, not the loss of Luis, team did a good job without him, we may have done better with him in the team but who knows.
Interesting idea. Sturridge did very well with out Suarez at the start but no one else looked very interested in scoring. Personally I think those 4 points were more down to Coutinho getting injured v Swansea and us loosing our creativity from midfield. But had Suarez been in those games we would have managed better.
Honestly? No. Had we got a draw against Chelsea, or other teams where we should have won, or at least drawn, rather than lost, we would not be discussing this now. I suppose it's a testament to how well we've done this year, really. We've not been battered by any team this season, but the constant leak of goals at the back -- mostly due to injuries and and unsettled back four -- has been the main issue.
Short answer is, nobody knows. Without that he might get suffered a serious injury in the first couple of games and missed the rest of the season anyway... Let's not worry about what could have been.
And if my Auntie had B******S she would be my Uncle. All if's and but's, we can only deal with facts.The fact is we need to win our last two games and hope.
Not consistent...that's a bit harsh. Just 6 defeats in 36 games, 96 goals! Think we have been as consistent as any of the top four. Three of those defeats came against our top three rivals. Over a whole season there are a multitude of reasons where we could have picked up that extra point that would have made all the difference but also there have been many occasions when we pulled victory from the jaws of defeat. We are where we are and it's no good reflecting on what might have beens. Would love us to finish 1st but second is beyond anything I expected in august.
Maybe consistent isn't the right word, but I didn't want to say 'weren't good enough' because it sounded a bit more negative! There were games we just didn't play well or didn't turn up and there were games we blitzed teams in the first 30, that's where I was coming from with consistency. But I maintain that you have to look at the team over the whole season rather than just isolated events. One swallow doesn't make a summer, one mistake doesn't throw a league. There are 38 games played and points dropped in different stages of the season. Like you though, made up with second or third if that's where we finish. My concern is that we can push on from this year, that Rodgers can keep the same mentality in the team with the added expectation next time around and add the quality needed to be able to rotate without drops in performance. I'm a bit pessimistic after all these years, but I have a niggling worry that this could be a one off unless Rodgers and Peters get it right over the summer.
Well it's not really a one off because since jan 2013 we have been very consistent, losing only a handful of games. Rodgers biggest challenge will not, I feel, keeping the motivation in the current squad but buying the right type of player who will come in and raise that level. I understand your pessimism because of what happened last time we finished 2nd but I also feel that rafa lost the support of some of his best players with some very weird team selections, substitutions and tactics.
Problem has been that City have been just as consistent and blown teams away. To win the title, you sometimes need other team to have a bit of a poor season, but unfortunately, City just have that quality in depth of squad to be able to cope with the many comps. In terms of points tally, wouldn't be surprised if we end up with a very high amount for a team that finishes 2nd (if we come 2nd).
The best team will be crowned champions: you or Man City. It's the whole season that you are judged on so all a bit pointless to look at "what if?" situations. You could easily say if Suarez hadn't been suspended he might not have been so eager to succeed. You've had a great season whatever: style and flair, much better than Chelsea's anti-football.
Suarez wouldn't have received the mental help he needed had the bite not happened therefore he wouldn't have been the same player. Plus WWWXL wasn't exactly bad opening form
If we had Jacuzzi then they would have just handed us the title at the start of the season He's the best young player in Europe didn't you know
No, the bite had no bearing on our season. The title has been won and lost since. No single moment cost us the title - we didn't score against Chelsea, they scored 2, so it wasn't even Gerrard's slip. The best team will have won it over the season, no regrets and no looking back. A proper CM dynamo and a striking backup will see us challenge again next year hopefully.
You misunderstand my point. City absolutely deserve the title. I'm not making excuses for losing the title. (I posted this before the Palace game). It was more a look back at how one moment of ill-discipline could have had devastating effect that was completely unforeseen at the time. The games missed last season were inconsequential- it didn't impact our bid for Europe or title because we were too far off anyway... however, this season has ended up being pretty close- and Suarez has been phenomenal for us. He missed 5 games at start of the season- and could potentially have changed 4 dropped points into won points. I'm not arguing that we deserved to win- only highlighting how much a moment's ill-discipline led might have impacted this year's title. Suarez deserved his punishment- and as a player of our team and representative of our team- we deserved any dropped points that arose due to him being missing. You could also argue we did better this year because Suarez's anger had to be managed- and we learnt how to do that and make better use of him. I also disagree- "what if?" are pointless discussions- most discussions on here are "what if?" - it's by analysing the past you prepare and better understand the future.
what ifs only count at the end of the season though surely if you want to start a thread on did the bite cost us the title? we could still win the title so in that sense what ifs don't mean anything now, only after sunday will they be more relevant.
?????????????????????????? sorry but this just doesn't stack up at all. go to the block of 4 thread and look at the blocks results further we beat stoke, villa and utd in the first 3 and contrived to fail to mark up v shelvey v swansea where we ended up 2-2... nothing at all to do with suarez. we LOST to southampton due to playing 4 cbs disastrously. nothing to do with suarez. we took 10 form the first block of 4... no suarez but thats title form right there. we took 7 form the next 4 with suarez in and 7 from the next again 10/7/7/9/6/8/12/12/9 those are the blocks there is ZERO to say we missed out due to suarezz bite!!!! the whole point is we were not in championship form until the 11 run started and were off the pace. we were in control and went chasing Chelsea when a draw would have done and imploded v palace again chasing something.... goals... i believe that hearing rodgers and seeing what i saw we though everton was the only game were city would drop points and as a club... manager included given subs made that we had to chase goals.... we didnt celebrate one goal yesterday, we saw gerrard legging froward constantly... i think we lost or control and so f'd up. simple as.... SAS scored goals all year, he defense leaked all year... IMO we did all we could right up to cheslea then just showed niavity. we should have taken that point form cheslea and laughed at them. then we would have taken 2-0 at palace as something to defend! and now we'd be looked at a win for the title.... instead we've gone chasing and lost or shape and exposed ourselves like a dirty old man in the park
