The Title Race 2017/18 | Done and dusted.

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8 pts are nothing insurmountable. The problem is that the quality of the performances isn't good. It is a better predictor than current results.

Spurs play better footbal than United and they can challenge City. It's too early to write United off but the performances have to improve dramatically.
 
title is not yet over, but almost, I cant see anyone catching city!! it is more of a top 4 battler now, only 4 points between 2nd and 6th place
 
It's dead Jim. Not sure why people are giving Spurs a chance and not us tho. We have as much chance as them (not much).... and Chelsea for that matter.
 
Welcome to the English Bundesliga
 
Treble said:
8 pts are nothing insurmountable. The problem is that the quality of the performances isn't good. It is a better predictor than current results.

Spurs play better football than United and they can challenge City. It's too early to write United off but the performances have to improve dramatically.
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yeah it is. That's 3 more games City have to lose than us (or anyone else) between now and end of the season. I doubt they will even lose 3 games in total this season.
 
Not even sure how the bald feck is rolling the league with 4 attacking midfielders and two forwards every game. We have all the organization in the world with a solid midfield and defense and yet we can't win a fecking away game.
 
Listen up people, it looks grim at the moment and it looks like City is going to walk it like chelsea did last season. but it's november, nobody knows what's going to happen.

Given the circumstances, i would say that we managed these two months without Pogba very well, we don't have the depth at his position like city does.

With a little bit of luck, we wouldn't have been 8 points right now. don't forget that city today won with two decisions going in their way. they won against bournmouth with a decision going in their way also. remove these two and we would have been just 4 points behind city and it would have been another discussion. even with Pogba out for two months. the equivalent would have been de bruyne out for city.

i am not saying that we should have been 4 points, but merely saying that there was some luck going their way, at some time, this luck will run out, or go our way, it's football.

That's my analysis regarding the season so far. the 8 points are kind of flattering to them, we're not that far off.

Now, regarding the rest of the season, we played Liverpool and Chelsea away. we played spurs, and the away game at spurs will be at Wembley, so more like a neutral stadium than away. i fancy us to beat every team at home, and all the teams outside of the top 6 away.

Here's some positives and some points about why it's not over yet:
  • Pogba will be back after the international break, so we'll hopefully be the team we were before his injury.
  • Mourinho can still strengthen in january, and i'm pretty sure he will
  • Before saying Pep can also strengthen, well, whatever player he add, he can't really top the team he has actually, while for us, just a left back and a right winger would be big for us.
  • Perreira will be recalled in january, more depth.
  • City still has to play Liverpool away, and Tottenham 2 times.
So, even though it looks like it, it is not over yet, our next two games are at home to newcastle and Brighton, we should comfortably get 6 points from them. Then watford away, i fancy us to get the 3 points against them.

Then it'll be Arsenal away, and it'll be a draw or a win there. and then city at home, a six pointer that could put us directly 4/5 points behind them.
 
Wednesday at Stoke said:
Not even sure how the bald feck is rolling the league with 4 attacking midfielders and two forwards every game. We have all the organization in the world with a solid midfield and defense and yet we can't win a fecking away game.
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We don't have the firepower he has. he already had a solid base to which he added well. we were way behind city last season.

the team that he got was composed of De bruyne, Silva, Fernandinho in midfield + Aguero, Sterling in attack. that's already an excellent side, he added Sane, Jesus (depth), and two excellent fullbacks. (450M over two season gets you this city squad). in top of that he's a very good manager.

So, while their midfield and attack were already excellent and he mainly focused on defense, We had to focus on our attack, our midfield and our defense....
 
The damaging result was Huddersfield, you just can’t afford those results anymore if you want to win the league
 
sammsky1 said:
yeah it is. That's 3 more games City have to lose than us (or anyone else) between now and end of the season. I doubt they will even lose 3 games in total this season.
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You can lose points by drawing games. City haven't won the league by any means. The problem is that United don't seem good enough now. Spurs are more likely to challenge.
 
Biggest leads after 11 games and final finishing position:

2005/06: Chelsea (9pt lead), finished 1st 8 points ahead of 2nd
2011/12: Manchester City (5pt lead), finished 1st on goal difference
2002/03: Liverpool (4pt lead), finished 5th 19 points behind 1st
2014/15: Chelsea (4pt lead), finished 1st 8 points ahead of 2nd
2006/07: Manchester United (3pt lead), finished 1st 6 points ahead of 2nd

Manchester City currently 8 points ahead of 2nd.
 
It's not over yet because we still haven't played City yet. If we don't win that game then it's over for me.
 
Treble said:
You can lose points by drawing games. City hasn't won the league by any means. The problem is that United don't seem good enough now. Spurs are more likely to challenge.
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I cant see City dropping enough points in a league where teams 2-6 will take points off each other.
 
Not a title race, just like there wasn’t one last season either - although a few Spurs-fellas would wrongfully disagree to the notion. Chelsea ran away last year, City doing it this year.

City subbed in Bernardo Silva, Ilkay Gundogan and Gabriel Jesus today - we had to utilize Fellaini and Lingard. We’re not good enough, it really is no shame. City spent 125M on full-backs and now have the best full-backs - we spent 0 and don’t even have a left-back. No shame in losing to Chelsea away, but we played poorly and looked like how Everton or Stoke would set up their team.
 
Just like the last three seasons, it seems there will be a clear winner and no title race.
 
James Peril said:
Not a title race, just like there wasn’t one last season either - although a few Spurs-fellas would wrongfully disagree to the notion. Chelsea ran away last year, City doing it this year.

City subbed in Bernardo Silva, Ilkay Gundogan and Gabriel Jesus today - we had to utilize Fellaini and Lingard. We’re not good enough, it really is no shame. City spent 125M on full-backs and now have the best full-backs - we spent 0 and don’t even have a left-back. No shame in losing to Chelsea away, but we played poorly and looked like how Everton or Stoke would set up their team.
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They only have Kyle Walker, Mendy played 3 games. Delph is their LB...he is just a better coach than Mou. Give Mou the City squad and the dynamics would change. he would probably get rid of D. Silv and get rid of mhalf their squad. The fact is Pep knows exactly what he wants. Give Pep Martial and people would be calling him the next big thing again.
 
Mr H said:
Listen up people, it looks grim at the moment and it looks like City is going to walk it like chelsea did last season. but it's november, nobody knows what's going to happen.

Given the circumstances, i would say that we managed these two months without Pogba very well, we don't have the depth at his position like city does.

With a little bit of luck, we wouldn't have been 8 points right now. don't forget that city today won with two decisions going in their way. they won against bournmouth with a decision going in their way also. remove these two and we would have been just 4 points behind city and it would have been another discussion. even with Pogba out for two months. the equivalent would have been de bruyne out for city.

i am not saying that we should have been 4 points, but merely saying that there was some luck going their way, at some time, this luck will run out, or go our way, it's football.

That's my analysis regarding the season so far. the 8 points are kind of flattering to them, we're not that far off.

Now, regarding the rest of the season, we played Liverpool and Chelsea away. we played spurs, and the away game at spurs will be at Wembley, so more like a neutral stadium than away. i fancy us to beat every team at home, and all the teams outside of the top 6 away.

Here's some positives and some points about why it's not over yet:
  • Pogba will be back after the international break, so we'll hopefully be the team we were before his injury.
  • Mourinho can still strengthen in january, and i'm pretty sure he will
  • Before saying Pep can also strengthen, well, whatever player he add, he can't really top the team he has actually, while for us, just a left back and a right winger would be big for us.
  • Perreira will be recalled in january, more depth.
  • City still has to play Liverpool away, and Tottenham 2 times.
So, even though it looks like it, it is not over yet, our next two games are at home to newcastle and Brighton, we should comfortably get 6 points from them. Then watford away, i fancy us to get the 3 points against them.

Then it'll be Arsenal away, and it'll be a draw or a win there. and then city at home, a six pointer that could put us directly 4/5 points behind them.
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That's it. We haven't lost a game at home. No shame in losing or drew to top side away. Manchester City has a lot of lucks, Morata got injured, there was no player to replace him better and Mane was sent off. if Morata got injured today against us, Chelsea wouldn't win. I can't see City beating Arsenal, Spurs and us at home.

Last time we lost against Chelsea, all of sudden we went unbeaten in 25 games, I think we could do that again, to close the gap with City. Is it asking much if we ask big side to beat City?
 
James Peril said:
Not a title race, just like there wasn’t one last season either - although a few Spurs-fellas would wrongfully disagree to the notion. Chelsea ran away last year, City doing it this year.

City subbed in Bernardo Silva, Ilkay Gundogan and Gabriel Jesus today - we had to utilize Fellaini and Lingard. We’re not good enough, it really is no shame. City spent 125M on full-backs and now have the best full-backs - we spent 0 and don’t even have a left-back. No shame in losing to Chelsea away, but we played poorly and looked like how Everton or Stoke would set up their team.
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Exactly, we're a year from being a truly competitive team, we made a big jump from the Van gaal era, both last year and this one, but we're still not there, we still needs a back up for Pogba and two fullbacks.

People keep slating our attacking player, but how can Martial/Mata/Rashford do anything when there's no fullback to support them. attacking wise, Young is half decent and that's the reason that our left flank is somehow functional.

The right one however doesn't, and that's not because of Mata or Lingard when he plays there, but because Valencia is extremly limited. it's a pain to watch him play in attack.
 
I’m not about to lose my sh*t over how the table looks in November. How things stand on New Years Day will be a greater indicator.

My only concern is what being 8 points behind does to the mood within the squad and indeed the atmosphere at Old Trafford.

A lot can change. We showed early promise. City’s form may waiver - but if it doesn’t, they’ll deservedly win the title - however hard it may be to stomach. And we go again the following year. That’s football.

There’s little to be gained from drawing early conclusions.
 
sammsky1 said:
have to beat them home and away for any serious chance. I dont see that happening.
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The home game is just before the festive period starts. If we close the gap to 5 points in that game provided we win all our games before then I think it's game on. We would have opportunities to put pressure on them after that depending on the schedule as well. The away game is too far away. The best case scenario is that we go to that game leading the table but that's probably too difficult.
 
The only way this becomes a "race" is if Fernandinho gets hurt for an extended stretch. He's the only player City really don't have depth behind and he's key to how fluid they can play in attack.

Otherwise this is like last year where Chelsea went on that ridiculous run and no matter how furiously Spurs charged at them down the back stretch, the lead was just too big to overcome.
 
With every passing week this looks less and less like a title race, might be time to change the thread title to 'Top 4 race'. Spurs are good enough to hang with city but Arsenal away next is a toughy, they win that and I think they've got a chance of at least keeping 1/2 wins behind city, lose it and this "race" is effectively done.
I just don't see anything in other sides.
Arsenal are Arsenal, Liverpool can't defend and are so wasteful in front of goal, we're disjointed and have a manager who is on a mission to self destruct. Chelsea are ridiculously inconsistent atm. Can't see any major faults with city other than they've stopped keeping clean sheets but that doesn't matter if you're averaging 3/4 goals a game.
 
Wednesday at Stoke said:
Not even sure how the bald feck is rolling the league with 4 attacking midfielders and two forwards every game. We have all the organization in the world with a solid midfield and defense and yet we can't win a fecking away game.
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he has KdB who is bossing games and running the show for him we have Miki, he has full backs who could actually attack and create we have Valencia, and Darmian. Hell he even made a useful player out of Delph. In other areas i would say we are on par if not better "keeper and central defenders".
 
It's going to need one of the chasing pack to go on a Chelsea esque run to even have a semblance of a chance at making it a title race.
Things can always change but it's looking ominous atm. Something like the above needs to happen between now and the new year and I just can't see it .
 
City and Spurs will be 1 and 2.

The rest of us are fighting for 3rd and 4th and honestly i couldn't call it
 
I think it's sadly over now, to give that City team that much an advantage in November it just looks to much of a gap to make up. Even when City have a blip, us, Spurs, Chelsea etc, all have get wins and put some sort of pressure on them but it's too late

Think City will have it mostly won by Christmas now as I can only see them extending their lead before the Derby
 
abdo99 said:
The home game is just before the festive period starts. If we close the gap to 5 points in that game provided we win all our games before then I think it's game on. We would have opportunities to put pressure on them after that depending on the schedule as well. The away game is too far away. The best case scenario is that we go to that game leading the table but that's probably too difficult.
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Looking at our respective fixtures, the gap will be larger than 8 points by the time that game kicks off.
 
said on day one city would win it and if anything I am even more certain they will. go unbeaten? unlikely. win by more than 10 points come end of season, put money on it
 
We had glaring flaws int he squad at the start of the season, and unsurprisingly we still have. Spurs and Chelsea are stronger title contenders this season than we are.
 
The optimist in me might be speaking here, but I still feel we can turn this around. Or at the very least make City sweat for it.

We have to be near perfect from now till around the xmas period though. From there we can assess the situation. Beating Arsenal AND City is a must - and that's where I have my concerns. Are we going to come out of those fixtures with 6 points? Then on top we have to maintain focus and not repeat the Huddersfield debacle.
 
AXVnee7 said:
The optimist in me might be speaking here, but I still feel we can turn this around. Or at the very least make City sweat for it.

We have to be near perfect from now till around the xmas period though. From there we can assess the situation. Beating Arsenal AND City is a must - and that's where I have my concerns. Are we going to come out of those fixtures with 6 points? Then on top we have to maintain focus and not repeat the Huddersfield debacle.
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It's not happening. With Kane and Kante back, I'd expect Spurs/Chelsea to make most of the running in terms of pushing City between now and Christmas. I reckon we might come back into it a bit during the Christmas/new year period, when squad depth really counts, but ultimately City are going to walk it, and we, like the rest of the top 6, will be battling for Champions League places.
 
I'm of the opinion they will win the league by a large margin this season. They've invested really well and I have to admit my early prediction that Pep couldn't build a team was a bad call, so I have to admit he's bought really well.

The Champions league is my bigger worry, I also think they are currently the best team in Europe as well.
 
Wednesday at Stoke said:
Not even sure how the bald feck is rolling the league with 4 attacking midfielders and two forwards every game. We have all the organization in the world with a solid midfield and defense and yet we can't win a fecking away game.
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It works because when you have the ball you dont need to defend.
And after some games the opposition is so scared that they cant do nothing when have possession.
You see this in many Barca games. Good players got so scared that can't show their real level against the catalan side.
Its the power of attacking football. You put fear in the heart of the adversary.
You never will say: oh my god, tomorrow we will face a very tough defense...think about that.
 
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I'm wondering whether City's style of play is sustainable. Apart from injuries, fatigue seem now the only thing that could stop them. Because they play better than the rest. Last season they looked more consistent in the second half of the season though and didn't look tired despite having a worse squad. Stats are showing also that they aren't beating teams due to outrunning them: they are 9th in the distance covered table. That is, their form doesn't seem to be based on extra running which could make them tired later into the season. Still early for firm predictions, imo.
 
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