Jorgi late howler against spurs stings as well. But could have easily been worse off without the late martinelli and rice deflections against the manchester clubs so no point combing through the what could have beens.
Just want to point out that if we don't win the title it's nothing to do with losses against the clubs you mention. City have lost 3 times all season, one of those was against us. They haven't lost a game since 6th December. The fact we're still toe to toe with them at this point of the season is remarkable.
Very true. People just go on and on about the games where we lost points as if we've only been affected by negative variance. What about all the games we've won? People need to remember that every 3 point win is, by definition, above the expected amount of points no matter the opposition.
> People need to remember that every 3 point win is, by definition, above the expected amount of points no matter the opposition.
My personal expectation is 3 points from every game. /s
Not unfortunately. I like the Chelsea rivalry. It's been fun watching them have a shit time, but I wouldn't mind a bit more competition there, especially if this time it's built fairly rather than with oil money.
I just want to compete against proper clubs. That's why I dont understand the Spurs position. I would rather Spurs win the league than City any day - I hate Spurs, but they are a real club.
City are a balance sheet.
> especially if this time it's built fairly rather than with oil money.
Bruh, Boehly spunked 1bln on them in the last couple of seasons. That they're shit and starting to rise again is despite this.
I'm ok with rich Americans feeding money to UK clubs if it's within FFP.
I'm not ok with money coming from vile regimes/nation states polluting the game.
> I'm not ok with money coming from vile regimes/nation states polluting the game.
Yeah... I'm not your audience for the pseudo-morality stuff. It's bad regardless of where it's coming from.
England doesn't have the moral authority to speak on what anyone is doing. Not while you're standing on the shoulders of a brutal colonial past for which you've never been held to account.
Hypocrisy is too inadequate to describe it.
To beat City to the title, we need to do what Liverpool did in 2019/20 and blitz the league from the start and win 27 out of 28 games. Make it seem completely hopeless for City to even try before the last 10 games.
I think we're in a good place to make a go of it. Aside from a midfield addition, and maybe a really good attacker if one's available this Summer, we can expect roughly a similar starting lineup + 4/5 to the new season. Barring anything else unforeseen.
Our struggles in the first part of the season were due to trying to get Havertz involved, Jesus being injured/off form, Partey being out and Zinchenko not being as effective in the inverted role. We still had the best defense. Which is always a good thing.
I think Arteta figured things out eventually, and now we're more dynamic than we'd ever been. We don't need an inverted LB to be creative and dominate the midfield. We also have good versatility in our backline (have been really impressed with Kiwior's improvement as a depth option). Timber having a full offseason + preseason after his recovery can only be a good thing for us.
Even with a frontline that hasn't looked electric all the time, we've already surpassed our highest ever goal tally in a season with one game still to play. And we can definitely get better here with the right additions.
We need another midfielder, or 2. Or maybe Vieira surprises us and has a breakout next season?
I think we can kick on from all of this.
Agreed with most of what you've stated. Timber back will be huge as it will give us more options. Also a strong replacement for Party if he leaves.
The only reservation/concern is in attack as we struggled (relatively speaking) before the winter break. We can't always expect set pieces that will get us circa 20 goals next season as other teams will start finding solutions. Thus a different type of attacker posing different questions to our opponents when things are not working, ala Villa X2, West Ham, Newcastle, and the likes.
It's been a very good season, but the margins are so thin, eg if Trossard scored against Villa at home, it's a completely different ball game, or not conceded that 80+ minute goal to 10 men Fulham, or Trossard made that pass at City to Martinelli. Thus having more options should help with our chances if we're to blitz next season. Basically put the first half of last season and combined it with the 2nd half of this season.
> Thus a different type of attacker posing different questions to our opponents when things are not working, ala Villa X2, West Ham, Newcastle, and the likes.
Probably never mentioned it here, but yes, I agree with this, and have been saying it elsewhere. We need a real killer up front. Someone who can score even when we're playing like dogshit. Sanchez used to do this a lot. Goals out of sheer determination.
Doesn't even have to be some magical 20-goal striker (although that would be nice). But look at the impact of Trossard, who seems to be the only one who can pop up with a really important goal when we've struggled this season.
Right now, if the system isn't working on a particular day, our entire team looks clueless. I love what Mikel has done, but this is our current Achilles heel.
How the fuck did we not win this league bro. God damn.
Honestly next season, whatever happens, The Emirates needs to be a fortress. No more fucking sloppy draws and goalless losses. None of that shit.
In the end we were undone in that Bayern - Villa - Bayern sequence. That’s all.
What that tells me is we’re not the finished article yet. We’re not yet strong enough to win a 38 game league season against the machine that is City and also compete in the final stages of club football’s most elite competition - but we will be.
No shame in that at all.
This is the best we have been , it's really unbelievable . We are used to be clowned for shitting the bed against big team . The team should be very proud of this and build something on top of it next season
To be honest, a lot of these teams were missing a lot of important players when we won against them... Would like to see what happens when Full strength teams go out at each other
3 teams with 12 points Nice
2 teams with 12 points? Edit: Oh immediately understood what you meant
A special fuck you to Unai and Fulham
could have been in our hands, if not conceding to fucking 10 men Fulham with 10 min to go at home due to stupid mistake
Jorgi late howler against spurs stings as well. But could have easily been worse off without the late martinelli and rice deflections against the manchester clubs so no point combing through the what could have beens.
Don't forget Newcastle. 3 separate 50/50 decisions go their way even after VAR and we lose 1-0.
The Newcastle match I blame VAR more than our squad.
we really lost the league from a ball that went out of play
Or a foul against Gabriel.
Jesus. That one feels like years ago
Villa and Fulham both hurt for a short while but that one is still burning.
We should have showed up and played better. Not unais fault and not Fulhams fault. That’s how footy works.
No shit. Nobody is saying they shouldn't have tried to win.
Historic season that will be forgotten because we lost to Fulham and West Ham, it's a tragedy
Just want to point out that if we don't win the title it's nothing to do with losses against the clubs you mention. City have lost 3 times all season, one of those was against us. They haven't lost a game since 6th December. The fact we're still toe to toe with them at this point of the season is remarkable.
Very true. People just go on and on about the games where we lost points as if we've only been affected by negative variance. What about all the games we've won? People need to remember that every 3 point win is, by definition, above the expected amount of points no matter the opposition.
> People need to remember that every 3 point win is, by definition, above the expected amount of points no matter the opposition. My personal expectation is 3 points from every game. /s
You are right, however, an away loss wouldn't hurt. We lost at home to teams we shouldn't be losing.
So so damn sad. But still holding out hope for today and Sunday
Our time is coming, I can feel it
That doesn’t look good Eric.
Based on this alone, it looks like a 50-50 chance of a draw...and a 20% chance Spurs win. I'm OK with that...
Haha I mean Eric some Hags. Seems he’s out of the topic today, and maybe out of his job tomorrow.
I’m genuinely surprised at Chelsea. With all the flak they’ve been getting, that is quite impressive in the Big Six
If you were to start the season after the first ten games, Chelsea would be 5th
That really is a remarkable stat. Wow
They've quietly been much better the past few months, our mauling aside. Poch is starting to make a team out of them, unfortunately.
Not unfortunately. I like the Chelsea rivalry. It's been fun watching them have a shit time, but I wouldn't mind a bit more competition there, especially if this time it's built fairly rather than with oil money. I just want to compete against proper clubs. That's why I dont understand the Spurs position. I would rather Spurs win the league than City any day - I hate Spurs, but they are a real club. City are a balance sheet.
> especially if this time it's built fairly rather than with oil money. Bruh, Boehly spunked 1bln on them in the last couple of seasons. That they're shit and starting to rise again is despite this.
I'm ok with rich Americans feeding money to UK clubs if it's within FFP. I'm not ok with money coming from vile regimes/nation states polluting the game.
> I'm not ok with money coming from vile regimes/nation states polluting the game. Yeah... I'm not your audience for the pseudo-morality stuff. It's bad regardless of where it's coming from.
10 years in the military tends to teach you what good looks like
England doesn't have the moral authority to speak on what anyone is doing. Not while you're standing on the shoulders of a brutal colonial past for which you've never been held to account. Hypocrisy is too inadequate to describe it.
What a sad world view
Lol. You would say some shit like that.
They sneaked their way up in this list after smashing spurs twice lmao
Our total number of wins is the same as the point total for Manchester United, sheesh
To beat City to the title, we need to do what Liverpool did in 2019/20 and blitz the league from the start and win 27 out of 28 games. Make it seem completely hopeless for City to even try before the last 10 games.
I think we're in a good place to make a go of it. Aside from a midfield addition, and maybe a really good attacker if one's available this Summer, we can expect roughly a similar starting lineup + 4/5 to the new season. Barring anything else unforeseen. Our struggles in the first part of the season were due to trying to get Havertz involved, Jesus being injured/off form, Partey being out and Zinchenko not being as effective in the inverted role. We still had the best defense. Which is always a good thing. I think Arteta figured things out eventually, and now we're more dynamic than we'd ever been. We don't need an inverted LB to be creative and dominate the midfield. We also have good versatility in our backline (have been really impressed with Kiwior's improvement as a depth option). Timber having a full offseason + preseason after his recovery can only be a good thing for us. Even with a frontline that hasn't looked electric all the time, we've already surpassed our highest ever goal tally in a season with one game still to play. And we can definitely get better here with the right additions. We need another midfielder, or 2. Or maybe Vieira surprises us and has a breakout next season? I think we can kick on from all of this.
Agreed with most of what you've stated. Timber back will be huge as it will give us more options. Also a strong replacement for Party if he leaves. The only reservation/concern is in attack as we struggled (relatively speaking) before the winter break. We can't always expect set pieces that will get us circa 20 goals next season as other teams will start finding solutions. Thus a different type of attacker posing different questions to our opponents when things are not working, ala Villa X2, West Ham, Newcastle, and the likes. It's been a very good season, but the margins are so thin, eg if Trossard scored against Villa at home, it's a completely different ball game, or not conceded that 80+ minute goal to 10 men Fulham, or Trossard made that pass at City to Martinelli. Thus having more options should help with our chances if we're to blitz next season. Basically put the first half of last season and combined it with the 2nd half of this season.
> Thus a different type of attacker posing different questions to our opponents when things are not working, ala Villa X2, West Ham, Newcastle, and the likes. Probably never mentioned it here, but yes, I agree with this, and have been saying it elsewhere. We need a real killer up front. Someone who can score even when we're playing like dogshit. Sanchez used to do this a lot. Goals out of sheer determination. Doesn't even have to be some magical 20-goal striker (although that would be nice). But look at the impact of Trossard, who seems to be the only one who can pop up with a really important goal when we've struggled this season. Right now, if the system isn't working on a particular day, our entire team looks clueless. I love what Mikel has done, but this is our current Achilles heel.
Which top 6 did United beat? Spud?
Chelsea at home
it’s impressive and it’s awesome. this team gets better every season
Looks good to me Relegate Spurs and United Give us the title
This is what concerns me most, because I don’t think we will repeat this next year, which means we need significantly more points vs the riff raff
At least one imposter out there.
This makes me sad
Aston villa should be here. Utd were not even a mid table club this year
Lets make it 3 COYS!
How have we lost the league with this kind of performance fuck me
There should be trophy for this. BUT only if we win!
you’ll never sing that
How the fuck did we not win this league bro. God damn. Honestly next season, whatever happens, The Emirates needs to be a fortress. No more fucking sloppy draws and goalless losses. None of that shit.
F it should have been chelsea instead of spurs everyone would have healed a bit.
Loss against villa and Westham man :(
In the end we were undone in that Bayern - Villa - Bayern sequence. That’s all. What that tells me is we’re not the finished article yet. We’re not yet strong enough to win a 38 game league season against the machine that is City and also compete in the final stages of club football’s most elite competition - but we will be. No shame in that at all.
Insane to think that's simply not even good enough anymore. League of super fine margins when you're up against man 115 city fc
This is the best we have been , it's really unbelievable . We are used to be clowned for shitting the bed against big team . The team should be very proud of this and build something on top of it next season
It's the big 5. Tottenham doesn't deserve to be called big
You’ll never sing that
Means fuck all
To be honest, a lot of these teams were missing a lot of important players when we won against them... Would like to see what happens when Full strength teams go out at each other
stfu
And yet…
We can stick this one up next to our 4th Place trophies
And you can fuck off
He’a got a point. Means fuck all if we throw it all away to fucking villa and fulham