The Title Race 2017/18 | Done and dusted.

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Kraftwerker said:
Everyone always too quick to anoint City as champs nearly every

I reckon they’ll wobble over the Christmas/winter period as they nearly always do. They’ve never won the league convincingly, usually relying on their main rival chucking it away.

Just need to be in a position to take advantage.
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I would usually agree with this but this season they look like something else. So many options who can't even get on the pitch. When form drops over Christmas others of world class stature will step in.

They won't be lamenting the injury to Fellaini as their source of dropped points and that tells you everything.
 
Dumbstar said:
I would usually agree with this but this season they look like something else. So many options who can't even get on the pitch. When form drops over Christmas others of world class stature will step in.

They won't be lamenting the injury to Fellaini as their source of dropped points and that tells you everything.
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Yeah, their squad depth is something else.

B.Silva would have started for any of the other top 6 teams, they keep him on the bench.
 
Dumbstar said:
I would usually agree with this but this season they look like something else. So many options who can't even get on the pitch. When form drops over Christmas others of world class stature will step in.

They won't be lamenting the injury to Fellaini as their source of dropped points and that tells you everything.
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Pogba, Rashford, Bailly. Not Fellaini.

But yes, I agree, they have to much attacking depth and we have too little attacking class to challenge this season. Mou's fault, should've bought more attacking options other than just Lukaku.
 
GlastonSpur said:
I hope that's the way you play against Spurs: it'll suit us just fine ... it's the games against packed defences and teams that sit back we struggle with.
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You're taking what I said too literally. When we beat you in that fixture last year we hardly sat back the whole game and we weren't dominated. I simply meant that the desire should be there in the home fixtures against the big teams to go for the win and not settle for a point.
 
Dumbstar said:
I would usually agree with this but this season they look like something else. So many options who can't even get on the pitch. When form drops over Christmas others of world class stature will step in.

They won't be lamenting the injury to Fellaini as their source of dropped points and that tells you everything.
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Yeah. City seem to be fighting with just themselves this season. They will be looking to break records rather than just win.

Still think United have the squad to go toe to toe with them. Just that Jose has regressed so much as a manager in the last few seasons its just shocking.
 
marktan said:
Pogba, Rashford, Bailly. Not Fellaini.

But yes, I agree, they have to much attacking depth and we have too little attacking class to challenge this season. Mou's fault, should've bought more attacking options other than just Lukaku.
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Not really, Jose tried for Morata and Griezmann. Even landing Lukaku was great last minute work. A lot for Klopp to learn from City and Utd. But Jose needs to be braver in games. Getting a draw is always two points dropped than one point gained in 99% of cases. Pep has learned that from last season.
 
Dumbstar said:
Even landing Lukaku was great last minute work
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Not true, Lukaku said that we had been in contact with him for more than 3 months with several contract offers. It seems like Morata was more of a bargaining chip for us, Jose always wanted Lukaku.
 
feck City.They had the best squad in the league last season and finished 4th. Pep is nothing without money. Fraud.

There's a long way to go. Still think we will win it
 
Still only two points in it, we are very much still in the hunt for the title.

City looking good, but it is still very early on in the season, lets see how things stand come the new year.
 
City have the best team by a distance.
Finishing second would be a great achievement considering where we have been.
 
Adisa said:
City have the best team by a distance.
Finishing second would be a great achievement considering where we have been.
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In the same token, would be a massive ego crushing defeat for Mourinho not to win the league before Guardiola. In the end, factors like squad inheritance and levels of investment are irrelevant: the best team is a combination of factors including ability to invest, to attract the best manager and players and to win matches.

Who is a better manager between Mourinho and Guardiola is still up for debate for most and I suspect this battle in England will settle it for many.
 
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sammsky1 said:
In the same token, would be a massive ego crushing defeat for Mourinho not to win the league before Guardiola. In the end, factors like squad inheritance and levels of investment are irellevent: the best team is a combination of factors including ability to invest, to attact the best manager and players and to win matches.

Who is a better manager between Mourinho and Guardiola is still up for debate for most and I suspect this battel in England will settle it for many.
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If he sees it that way, then he should pull his finger out.
The only way I see us winning the league is if we beat every team outside the top 6, home and away.
I can't see us picking up too many points against the other top 6 teams.
 
Adisa said:
If he sees it that way, then he should pull his finger out.
The only way I see us winning the league is if we beat every team outside the top 6, home and away.
I can't see us picking up too many points against the other top 6 teams.
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well we've already fallen short of that and City have exploited it already.
 
Ramshock said:
City are on a different level I honestly see them breaking all kinds of records unless they get some key injuries.
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They have enough quality cover to cope with key injuries. Strength of their bench today was frightening.
 
SwansonsTache said:
Yeah, their squad depth is something else.

B.Silva would have started for any of the other top 6 teams, they keep him on the bench.
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The depth of quality in attacking positions is pretty amazing but they havent got many defensive options.
 
It does feel different this year to anything I’ve experienced since the first ten games of 11/12. The season is long though, and confidence has a funny way of turning at a moments notice. Burnley H next up though, would expect to win that given our current form.
 
City will, as most predicted in August, walk it. The battle for 6th-2nd will be more interesting as I don't think there's much between those sides.

On a slightly unrelated note, I just glanced at Spurs' next 8 fixtures - Real Madrid home and away, Dortmund away, United away, Liverpool at home and 3 London derbies (including Arsenal away). That's quite some run!
 
People are too eager to give the title to City, I admit I guessed them for the title before the season started and they are the favourites, but there's a lot of football yet to play.
 
GD now +6 higher than ours.
Not that we had much hope of equalling their goal tally.
 
Adisa said:
GD now +6 higher than ours.
Not that we had much hope of equalling their goal tally.
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We would never beat City in GD it wasn't a contest from the start. We win the league by getting more points.
 
City is playing some excellent football but let's be real, no one from United's attack would start for City currently. And their bench players would start here. Do you really think Pepe would have a team play like that with the likes of Young and Herrera? Valencia and Darmian? please. The only good side of this team is DDG, Matic and Pogba. Lately Jones and hopefully Eric gets back soon. The rest of the attack shows up sometimes but they don't have the gile needed.

I really like Rashford but no way he would start at city. Bernardo Silva is way more mature right now and doesn't start. Martial goes missing too much so yes, the only way for United to challenge for the title is by grinding 4-0 wins against minnows and try to get points away against the big 4. There aren't ingredients for more.
 
City looking very strong. We will see if they drop off in form. What I fear now though is they got better depth. They got 2 forwards from the start of high quality. Bernardo Silva to come into the team soon.

Hopefully though they drop of in form soon playing so many games. Still though the same applies to us. Think we are as likely to drop off as them. Hopefully players like Ibrahimovic can give us a boost over the winter. I do think City will gain 90 points roughly this season. Will take a lot from us to get to that level.

Keep on fighting and take each game as they come though! Things can change quickly. We have seen Pep team struggle before and he is normally not the best manager to deal with it. Same can be said about Jose though so interesting times ahead.
 
Well that looks like a good weekend for us after all doesn't it ? We gained one point over Arsenal, Chelsea and kept the same difference with Liverpool, even though our game was much harder than Chelsea and Arsenal.

I hope by the end of Chelsea game we're still second in the table. If this happens no brainer we'll challenge this season.
 
el3mel said:
Well that looks like a good weekend for us after all doesn't it ? We gained one point over Arsenal, Chelsea and kept the same difference with Liverpool, even though our game was much harder than Chelsea and Arsenal.

I hope by the end of Chelsea game we're still second in the table. If this happens no brainer we'll challenge this season.
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It is alright, but for me the focus is on City. I don't aim for second spot. Really hope they can drop some points soon to give us a bit of fire back. That Bournemouth game was so annoying since I did think they would drop points and they didn't deserve any. They got 3 though and a big mental boost and been amazing since then.
 
AshRK said:
City were always going to be favourites, pep spent huge money on top players. It would be a huge surprise if city don't win. Jose should have gone all out in transfer market. If anything it was very unlike jose. He should have spent another £100 million a got another attacker.
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With mendy out, it's the same team as last season plus walker.
 
Paul_Scholes18 said:
It is alright, but for me the focus is on City. I don't aim for second spot. Really hope they can drop some points soon to give us a bit of fire back. That Bournemouth game was so annoying since I did think they would drop points and they didn't deserve any. They got 3 though and a big mental boost and been amazing since then.
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We're not aiming for the second spot, but my current aim is to keep sticking to them as closer as possible with the hard fixture we have currently. If we keep closing to them coming January as I said earlier, we'll have a big chance to overcome them later on. It's impossible they'll keep the same intensity all the whole and I'm predicting a form drop for them coming the second half of the league. If we're close to them by this time, we'll have a good chance in the title I reckon since Jose is a master in grinding wins.
 
duffer said:
At what stage did City start to fall apart last season? I remember they started like a house in fire.
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Second UCL game (against Celtic) which I believe was followed by a 2-0 defeat at Spurs
 
el3mel said:
We're not aiming for the second spot, but my current aim is to keep sticking to them as closer as possible with the hard fixture we have currently. If we keep closing to them coming January as I said earlier, we'll have a big chance to overcome them later on. It's impossible they'll keep the same intensity all the whole and I'm predicting a form drop for them coming the second half of the league. If we're close to them by this time, we'll have a good chance in the title I reckon since Jose is a master in grinding wins.
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I don't get this. Last season it was us that struggled in the end. City on the other hand find form again. I do think if we are level with 6-7 games to go City will be favorites and I do fear for us dropping off near the end of the season again. For me it is November, December and januari that is key for us. It is a time that City normally do struggle a bit more. Hopefully we can get past them during this period.
 
Paul_Scholes18 said:
I don't get this. Last season it was us that struggled in the end. City on the other hand find form again. I do think if we are level with 6-7 games to go City will be favorites and I do fear for us dropping off near the end of the season again. For me it is November, December and januari that is key for us. It is a time that City normally do struggle a bit more. Hopefully we can get past them during this period.
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We were very close to them by the Etihad game last season as I remember ? If we had won that game we would have been level with them on point even with our shite start of the league.
 
We'll fall short. That's not just an observation after today but what's likely to happen against our rivals. City have beaten Chelsea and Liverpool already. Two huge wins. I expect Jose to implement similar tactics to today both home and away against the other top 5 teams which will lead to dropped points. We'll batter the rubbish/midtable teams with ease this season which will see us get top 3 hopefully. So an improvement there.

Still need a star player upfront which we are severely lacking. And our fullback's (esp lb) are a huge concern. Productivity and skill is poor from the flanks. There's no partnership's developing between our wingers and full backs. I know it's early and I remain hopeful. Ibra and pogba returning will add creativity and quality to our team so let's hope everyone steps up another level to keep up with city.
 
Skills said:
With mendy out, it's the same team as last season plus walker.
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They have a better keeper, jesus is a year older, sane a year older, Walker one of the best rb in the league, danilo and bernardo proving a solid backup. Point is they are in a far better shape now and were bound to do well.
 
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