Premier League - Gameweek 12

Great performance by Tottenham, best performance of any team I've seen this season. If City can't score creating that many chances, they aren't gonna do anything this season at all.
 
Klopper76 said:
Yeah I agree. Newcastle have already beaten Arsenal at home and we’re a mixed bag at Goodison.

Tomorrow isn’t a given either if we play like a bag of crap like we did after the first international break vs Forest.
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Yeah I’m not getting too excited, we have given teams loads of fighting lifelines over the years when they’ve been bottom and us top.

I remember when we were holding top of the league in January 21’ and we lost 1-0 there when Southampton were in relegation at the time. The game where Hassenhuttl was on his knees crying. It went downhill after that there for us.
 
Daydreamer said:
It’s not almost the case… it is the case. We have less depth than City, so we’ve got to get lucky with player availability to beat them to the title. That’s not some sort of revelation, that‘s the case for every team in the league. And we’ve now seen that even applies to City when the lose a single key player in Rodri.
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What we're witnessing here with City runs deeper than just Rodri, but yes, he is by far their most important player and guarantees them an extra few points a season if he's injury-free.

With Arsenal I'm just disappointed that you haven't managed to win some of these games vs mid table teams after a couple of injuries. Whereas Liverpool are looking like the ones who've had the same manager in the dugout in the last 5 years and have spent hundreds of millions to give him the squad he needs to win the PL, when in fact that's not been the case for Slot, unlike Arteta.
 
RedRocket9908 said:
Pep never got questioned much the season he finished with only the League Cup after spending a Billion on new players.
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You mean the season where they had won two straight PL's and a won a domestic treble the year before? Surprising, indeed.
 
I know it probably means the Dippers will walk the league this season, but all the same it's f**king beautiful watching these cheating cnuts fall apart!
 
Tottenham were little bit lucky but scoring 4 goals deserves credit.

You can’t help but think that all stuff outside pitch is affecting team. 5 lost games in row makes you wonder. Is there something we don’t know.
 
Gabriel Djemba-Bebe said:
What we're witnessing here with City runs deeper than just Rodri, but yes, he is by far their most important player and guarantees them an extra few points a season if he's injury-free.

With Arsenal I'm just disappointed that you haven't managed to win some of these games vs mid table teams after a couple of injuries. Whereas Liverpool are looking like the ones who've had the same manager in the dugout in the last 5 years and have spent hundreds of millions to give him the squad he needs to win the PL, when in fact that's not been the case for Slot, unlike Arteta.
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Oh, I'm equally disappointed in our recent form, especially as we persisted in playing Trossard with Nwaneri sitting on the bench as a far more suitable Odegaard replacement.

I would point out that our last five matches where we've dropped points were against City away, Bournemouth away, Liverpool at home, Newcastle away and Chelsea away. Bournemouth and Newcastle are midtable (though St James Park is a tricky trip). The other three teams are 1st, 2nd and 3rd in the table. Our recent fixtures have been very tough, so we if we can play like we did today it's possible that we can go on a run.

The flipside to this is that Liverpool have had a relatively easier start to the season. After Southampton, they have City at home, Newcastle away, Everton away, Fulham at home and Spurs away. Granted, the City fixture was probably a lot scarier five defeats ago as opposed to now, but the table could look very different at the end of that.
 
Cheech Wizard said:
Yeah I’m not getting too excited, we have given teams loads of fighting lifelines over the years when they’ve been bottom and us top.

I remember when we were holding top of the league in January 21’ and we lost 1-0 there when Southampton were in relegation at the time. The game where Hassenhuttl was on his knees crying. It went downhill after that there for us.
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It went downhill because Karma hit Klopp, after that game he said United more penalties than us and all that.
 
Gabriel Djemba-Bebe said:
I've always thought Foden and Bernardo Silva are two of the most overrated players I've seen in the PL for years. They're both slow, extremely one-footed and unable to grab the game by the scruff of the neck. Pep's extremely effective system (until this season) of suffocating the opposition by keeping them boxed into the final third made some of their players look better than they were. Same goes for Sterling under Pep.
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some people always go to far, foden and silva might be a bit overrated but are clearly very good players
 
Nice to see those cheating knobs lose again obviously, just a shame it'll mean a one horse race for the title and the scousers equalling our 20
 
CoopersDream said:
Great performance by Tottenham, best performance of any team I've seen this season. If City can't score creating that many chances, they aren't gonna do anything this season at all.
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Citys problem is at the back.. basically they lack a balance between defence and attack right now and are too open..if they dont convert their chances they are punished immediately.. this is a ridiculous situation for the current champions and honestly a damning verdict for their season ahead if something doesnt change pretty soon..
 
Cheech Wizard said:
Yeah I’m not getting too excited, we have given teams loads of fighting lifelines over the years when they’ve been bottom and us top.

I remember when we were holding top of the league in January 21’ and we lost 1-0 there when Southampton were in relegation at the time. The game where Hassenhuttl was on his knees crying. It went downhill after that there for us.
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Southampton were near the top that season. I get what you mean. In previous seasons Liverpool haven't been ruthless in extending leads when Man. City have had indifferent form so tomorrow is a huge chance for them.
 
2 man midfield said:
I think XG can be useful but it definitely doesn’t tell the whole story. If you just read this you’d think it was a close game, but I can’t remember city creating a single decent chance.
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Really? Haaland had 3 by himself. Spurs were the better team but it really could've been much closer on another day had Haaland's finishing been better or Vicario not having a great game
 
2 man midfield said:
I think XG can be useful but it definitely doesn’t tell the whole story. If you just read this you’d think it was a close game, but I can’t remember city creating a single decent chance.
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I mean they definitely created several decent chances Haaland alone had at least 3 good chances and 2 half ones. If United created as much as this most matches I'd be quite happy. But Haaland is a bit off of it + City's attack is very one-dimensional despite still creating for Haaland
 
Sandikan said:
We'd have been worse if it'd have been Bruno out.
But we still shouldn't be finishing 8th however many we had out.
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Bruno is actually a player we could sell and improve on. In the last 2-3 years some of our best football has come when he’s not playing.

Many will disagree. I think the premier league is very competitive and 8th is basically about right with the injuries we had last year. Not a genius achievement, but could easily have been much worse with many other managers.

It all goes down to “credit in the bank” that a manager has. Pep has a lot of credit in the bank so one injured player will probably see people excuse city finishing outside of the top 4 (just being hypothetical) but in reality for a club that spends like City, who are lauded for having 2 to 3 starting 11s it shouldn’t be an excuse.
 
JediSith said:
Bruno is actually a player we could sell and improve on. In the last 2-3 years some of our best football has come when he’s not playing.

Many will disagree. I think the premier league is very good and so competitive that 8th is basically about right with the injuries we had last year. Not a genius achievement, but could easily have been much worse with many other managers.

It all goes down to “credit in the bank” that a manager had. Pep has a lot of credit in the bank so one injured player will probably see people excuse city finishing outside of the top 4 (just being hypothetical) but in reality for a club that spends like City, who are lauded for having 2 to 3 starting 11s it shouldn’t be an excuse.
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Deffo an agree to disagree on all of that.

I reckon we'll see Amorim instantly focus round Bruno as a key player.

And people have to stop all this "one injury" nonsense with clubs. Dias/Stones/KDB are all critical players and barely get out there fully fit. Add that to Rodri out all season and Walker/Foden/Grealish all being well off their top levels and it's an absolute horrific storm.
 
City haven't actually spent that much in recent seasons. Wonder if its complacency or related to the charges?
 
Blood Mage said:
People said this about Potter and De Zerbi who are both having underwhelming careers outside of Brighton. It's almost as if they're just a brilliantly run club with a clear system and keep finding head coaches and players who compliment that system.
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I don't wholly disagree, however, the coaches they go through and who impress within that system will still earn attention from a variety of clubs regardless of their true potential. De Zerbi is doing very well with Marseille
 
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Matt851 said:
some people always go to far, foden and silva might be a bit overrated but are clearly very good players
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'To' far in overrating them? I agree. They're solid PL players but neither are anything close to resembling world class. Can't recall being as baffled about the winner of the PFA Player of the Year last season since Ginola won it in 99.
 
Sandikan said:
I reckon we'll see Amorim instantly focus round Bruno as a key player.
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Initially most likely. But ultimately Amorim’s biggest criticism of United and number 1 way they need to improve is by keep the ball and not losing possession so easily. One player comes to mind not just for losing the ball but also so often ignoring the obvious simple pass/runner.
 
No Idea For Nickname said:
It went downhill because Karma hit Klopp, after that game he said United more penalties than us and all that.
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Yeah I’m very much doubt every ref went full David Coote because of what he said. I’d put it down to having an injury crisis throughout the entire season and banking on 3 defenders to stay fit of whom did not.
 
Matt851 said:
City haven't actually spent that much in recent seasons. Wonder if it’s complacency or related to the charges?
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They also get a lot for players the sell £75m for Alvarez, £25m for harwood-bellis who I don’t think 99% of people had heard of.

Or in 23/24 they spent £250m but sold players for a total of about £127m
 
JediSith said:
Initially most likely. But ultimately Amorim’s biggest criticism of United and number 1 way they need to improve is by keep the ball and not losing possession so easily. One player comes to mind not just for losing the ball but also so often ignoring the obvious simple pass/runner.
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It’s reasonable to lose the ball as the creative focus for the team as long as he does it up the oppositions end of the pitch. Can’t have a creative player who won’t play risky passes…
 
FootballHQ said:
Southampton were near the top that season. I get what you mean. In previous seasons Liverpool haven't been ruthless in extending leads when Man. City have had indifferent form so tomorrow is a huge chance for them.
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West Bromwich it was who I was thinking of the team in relegation that year, dropped points in draw at home after Boxing Day, Allardyce’s first game in charge. Lost to Southampton few days later who were above mid table.

Previous years, like 2019 for example, Leicester at home, can’t remember where they were in the league at the time but i remember it being a Wednesday night banker to some, and was a chance to extend the gap but we drew. Couldn’t shake off City after that.
 
Maureen-yo said:
It’s reasonable to lose the ball as the creative focus for the team as long as he does it up the oppositions end of the pitch. Can’t have a creative player who won’t play risky passes…
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When it’s done so often, and ratio of failed passes to those that succeed is so high it ends up killing attacks in the same way that lukaku’s first touch did.

Also the fact that It’s tolerated and defended is a sign of how far we have fallen. There was a time when Ronaldo was criticised by both players and fans for giving the ball away, in the opposition end of the pitch, with his constant dribbling. People didn’t say well that’s what wingers do and for every 20 times he loses the ball there’ll be a time when he’ll beat a player and it’ll lead to a goal.
 
Dannn411 said:
The tide is turning. We are on the way back. I can feel it.
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What do United fans consider as “back”? Post Fergie you’re yet to challenge for the title, let alone win it. Is it just to be a side that is more regular at the top end of the table, without necessarily winning it every year?

What if Fergie is the anomaly in United’s history. This incredible winning period that you’ll never really get “back” to.

Do you think United can ever get back to the side that wins three in a row and competes for trebles? Is that even realistic considering the amount of money in the league now?
 
So the big money players are just not doing it and look spent at City. Gvardiol at least has the excuse of still being shell shocked from getting destroyed by wonder kid Ben Doak last week.
 
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