Feeling of ambivalence after that

Delighted with the win but at the same time feel a bit cheated given the performances against Sunderland, Palace and Villa. Imagine if we'd taken even 2 points from those.

 

ditto district, has a hollow feeling to it

 

We're having a great season.

 

Need some favours now, Palace and Everton need to get us something next week

 

Im just looking at it as a win for jose.

He's taken a lot of stick recently and put up with a lot of pressure, glad he's reminded everyone of how good he actually is!

 

Well done on the win you bastards!

Pretty gutted as you'd expect, but we move on

 

Yeah, feeling a bit like that myself D.L. Ifs and buts etc but if we had beaten Sunderland last week the bookies would have stopped taking bets on us tonight. As for the title now if City beat Everton on Saturday then imo it's theirs. As for ourselves roll on Wednesday, can't wait ! P.S. Liked what i saw today from the boy Kalas. What a league debut !!!

 

Kalas looks a good player. Only read good things about him as well

 

It was a huge win and it has certainly rattled things at the top of the table once again. Winning at Anfield whilst keeping them out is no mean feat and they're a team who had previously marched to 9 successive wins (11 in the PL). In fact the last team to beat them in the league was us. Although like you DL I am left thinking "what if" now as I think we would have played not too dissimilar and managed a win today even if we had won against Sunderland. It's annoying as we've beaten both Liverpool and Manchester City home and away and yet it looks like we're going to finish 3rd to them.

Our defence was great and we done very well to keep a clean sheet at Anfield. Azpilicueta was fantastic once again, Kalas done superbly given that was his Premier League/full debut (looks very promising) and Cole put in a top shift just like in mid-week. It shouldn't come as too much of a surprise as it's always going to be very difficult to break down a team of organised quality defenders and bringing on Cahill at the end made the flood of Liverpool players attacking our box ineffective.

The biggest winners today though are Manchester City as the title is now right back in their hands and I find it difficult to see them not winning their remaining three fixtures. Our focus needs to go right back on the Champions League now. We need to get to that final.

 

It is very frustrating to see the way we perform against the other title challengers and then have to endure the rubbish that happens when we up against the relegation candidates! A lesson for Jose to grasp here!

 

I don't think it is Joses' fault for the bad performances that occurred against Palace Villa Sunderland etc. If you look at the teams that he picked, there was enough quality on the pitch to win all those games. The players have to stand up and shoulder the blame, they managed to rise to all the top teams but failed against supposedly lower ones, it almost smells of arrogance by some of the more gifted players, in by they think lower ranked teams will roll over and die against them, and just by turning up they will win. I trust Jose to sort this out, and think there could be a few surprises next season as in who he lets go and who he retains. Still a good season though, I never expected for us to be challenging in Europe for so long and still in with a shout at the league, albeit more in hope for the latter.

 

It's an interesting problem BM2, and my guess is it's psychological. Time to look at a motivational coach ( seriously) in the off season ??
Seeing young Kalas play so well in such a big game begs the question .. why does Jose not play youngsters more often?? Imagine if he'd had, say 7 or 8 starts or subs this season?? Then there's Ake and others. Maybe next year we will prioritise our Comps and use more of the squad.
That said, what a fantastic effort and a masterclass from Jose. Tactically he has no peers. I have no doubt he will sort out the "lower team syndrome" , strengthen our weak points and up the bar even higher.

 

So frustrating when you see our results against the top sides yet we lose at Villa/Palace/Stoke/Newcastle/Everton and at home to Sunderland..

Bodes well for the future though!

 

Easier to improve your results against weaker sides than the better ones so bodes well for next year at least. Frustrating that we'll probably look back at Sunderland at home as being the game that probably cost us the title but we've improved a lot to be in a shout for both major honours with 3-4 games left of the season.

Really torn over what I want to happen ain the Everton / City game now. Obviously we need City to lose a game to finish above them but don't want the title being handed to Liverpool either...

 

I think a City win because if they **** up and Liverpool win then it's over. But if City win and we do Liverpool will be third, under a lot of pressure and then if they slip up they won't be winning it! So we'd just need a Villa/West Ham miracle

 

It's a big 'IF' but; if we hammer Norwich say 6/7-0 then a draw for Liverpool at Palace would mean a 'whoever wins by more goals on the last day wins it!' (Assuming City lose one, or draw 2 of their last 3 games).
Just another potential scenario!

Personally I can't see us winning the league now but we can hope!!

KTBFFH

 

Presumably it goes to goals scored after goal diff. That being the case we'd need to beat Norwich by 7 and then out score Liverpool on the final day. Massive IF as you say. More chance of Liverpool losing one of the 2 or drawing both. Then we'd still need City to do likewise. Not likely but we should at least take it to the final day.

 

Imagine a scenario where we beat Norwich, Everton draw with City and Palace draw with Liverpool and then City beat Villa. All three on 81 heading into the last day.

Ideally all 10 games next weekend have home wins

 

You'd have still been second now

 

A pyrrhic victory for sure, always nice to beat Liverpool, but ultimately, too little too late. Shouldn't have let Mata go - he could have been the key in our rubbish results against Villa, Palace and Sunderland.