We are 8 points behind. You are adamant we aren't winning it but you think Chelsea, Arsenal etc. with more than 11 points behind can do it? Are you alright?
The Title Race 2017/18 | Done and dusted.
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This would be a good excuse if it was Mourinho's first season, but it isn't. Pep wasn't given a full team of banana's, he's had to toss out a basketfull of grapes and guava, and brought in more of those banana's he's used to working with. Besides I don't believe in this idea that City have been recruiting bananas for Pep over the years, they're just a better run club at the moment when it comes to player recruitment. There's nothing that stopped us over the years from buying either Silvas, Toure,Sane or KDB(who Jose sold). We just bought the likes of Fellaini, Kagawa, Mkhi instead, while loyally holding on to the likes of Carrick, Rooney,Lingard,Young and persisting with fullbacks for Valencia and Darmian for ages. These are all bananas I feel Pep would'nt have been able to work with if he had come here and would have definitely done something about
You also can't deny that they were fantastic talents before him too. Aguero being arguably the best striker in the league since he arrived.
I'm not trying to downplay Pep. But it helps having that kind of talent at your disposal.
Me too
Jose is not completely without blame. But this is a hard job. City being so brilliant on other side of town further diminishes what work has been done here.
I am adamant that we won't win it because I think that our team has weaknesses which will count against us in a title challenge.We are 8 points behind. You are adamant we aren't winning it but you think Chelsea, Arsenal etc. with more than 11 points behind can do it? Are you alright?
I am not passing judgement on Chelsea especially because I don't watch them as often. I very much doubt either will win either though.
It's not exactly rocket science to comprehend that statement.
Why are the fixtures for the christmas period so favourable for man city? It looks like the whole fixtures were tailor made in the best possible way for them. That is really annoying.
City went out in the summer and fixed all their weak points (except maybe CB), we simply didn't. It's only logical that they're well on their way to winning the title. Maybe if we'd done the same we'd be a bit closer, but truth be told, it's not like we're miles behind, City's excellence is overshadowing the fact we've done really well so far this season, just unfortunate we've still got so many weaknesses.
This is my view too.
I think getting better full backs will help us immensely especially with the height in this team.
No question, the Premiership will be won by City. Ordinarily even large gaps can be made up in just about any league but I've never seen a Pep team collapse for any significant length of time.
Now it'll be about other trophies and of course, whether they will indeed fortify in winter
Now it'll be about other trophies and of course, whether they will indeed fortify in winter
The title race isn't over, though city are massive favourites.
I think the importance of just focusing on ourselves can't be overstated, what we don't want is to get so obsessed by city's great form that we panic, and then in a few months see city drop points and kick ourselves. For now I'd take 1-0 wins like Saturday for many games to come.
I actually think we can afford to drop points versus Watford or Arsenal and still be in it, once we beat city. If we have the gap lower than it is now after we play city, then I think December will be telling.
City have tricky games and who knows how a team will respond when a run comes to an end (all on the basis that we do beat them of course).
People need to calm down a little. City have made a great start but we've actually made our best start in 5 years. It's tough luck for Jose that city are so relentless but there is no way anybody can say for sure that's they'll keep it up. What if de bruyne and silva get injured in December. What if they get a massive shock defeat against Southampton on Tuesday after a dodgy red card and penalty. It's a long season, we need to focus on us and I think if we can beat city and close the gap a little then we'll make a good fist of December fixtures.
Drop too many points in the next three then yes, I think any belief will go out the window, but right now we need to focus solely on us. Nothing matters but three points
Have faith
I think the importance of just focusing on ourselves can't be overstated, what we don't want is to get so obsessed by city's great form that we panic, and then in a few months see city drop points and kick ourselves. For now I'd take 1-0 wins like Saturday for many games to come.
I actually think we can afford to drop points versus Watford or Arsenal and still be in it, once we beat city. If we have the gap lower than it is now after we play city, then I think December will be telling.
City have tricky games and who knows how a team will respond when a run comes to an end (all on the basis that we do beat them of course).
People need to calm down a little. City have made a great start but we've actually made our best start in 5 years. It's tough luck for Jose that city are so relentless but there is no way anybody can say for sure that's they'll keep it up. What if de bruyne and silva get injured in December. What if they get a massive shock defeat against Southampton on Tuesday after a dodgy red card and penalty. It's a long season, we need to focus on us and I think if we can beat city and close the gap a little then we'll make a good fist of December fixtures.
Drop too many points in the next three then yes, I think any belief will go out the window, but right now we need to focus solely on us. Nothing matters but three points
Have faith
I think they gave a tricky period then, Newcastle away then palace away follows in quick succession by Watford who are doing well will be a trick run. We have Better fixtures in that run and those are bookended by Tottenham and pool for city. I don't think it's beyond realistic hope for them to get 10 from 15 there. Do our business and see where it takes us.
Our next three games are huge or our relatively nice mid December- mid January counts for little
That's a rather bold statement all things considered. City look strong at present (nigh on unstoppable if we're being honest) but recent history has taught us that nothing is guaranteed in football. There have been a great many title collapses over the years, Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool and United themselves have all gone in to the business end of the season looking odds on to win the title, yet ultimately failed when the shit hit the fan. This City team have won nothing as a collective, we do not know if they have the character or mental resolve to handle the mounting pressure that comes with being the overwhelming favorite to win the league title. All we know is they look, at present anyway, like world beaters. But that can change at the drop of a hat.
They still have it all to prove.
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City still have a lot of games remaining against the top 6. There are potential draws and losses in there. Plus we have to beat them twice. Not impossible, especially if de Bruyne retires.
some people here were mad when david moyes said "we'll aspire to city's level' but it seems that's what you guys keep talking everyday now.
spineless cnut
title race is still long way to go there is no need to lower our head. let's just keep winning our game and see what happens
spineless cnut
title race is still long way to go there is no need to lower our head. let's just keep winning our game and see what happens
Crikey, the negativity on here is of epic proportions! Granted citeh are playing well, have a decent points advantage and the rub of the green seems to be favouring them but there is a long way to go and plenty of opportunities for points dropped, lack of confidence and aforementioned rub of the green to go the other way!
All we should be concerned about is winning our own games and spending less time looking over the fence. We are not playing well but picking up points, and no matter how painful the style of play might be to watch, that's an admirable quality to have. I have seen no evidence to suggest that Guardiola will adapt his team's style of play to 'win ugly', and it may well be that they will walk the title by playing the way they are and suffering no injuries, loss of form etc but lets just wait and see.
All we should be concerned about is winning our own games and spending less time looking over the fence. We are not playing well but picking up points, and no matter how painful the style of play might be to watch, that's an admirable quality to have. I have seen no evidence to suggest that Guardiola will adapt his team's style of play to 'win ugly', and it may well be that they will walk the title by playing the way they are and suffering no injuries, loss of form etc but lets just wait and see.
That caught me off guard
Why were the fixtures for the 1st period so favourable for man United? It looked like the whole fixtures were tailor made in the best possible way for them. That was really annoying.
November/December not so easy.
It was a really good weekend for us with Chelsea, Tottenham, and Liverpool all dropping points while we managed to grind out a win. This is often a point in the season where you will have to just find a way to win, which ourselves, City, and Arsenal all managed to do over the weekend. On one hand, it shows that on any given game the top sides can drop points, but also shows why said teams are where they are. City could've easily dropped points yesterday, but they've gone and shown the kind of character that might be questioned of them. Fair play really, they look outstanding right now. We just have to hope another team can have a pop at them like Huddersfield and put in a rather astute defensive display, maybe we can get our chance. Southampton have found something just in time so maybe they can scrape a draw? Unlikely, but we have to hope City slip up, which I think can happen, and then we take our chance.
Regardless, we pretty much have to beat them in a couple of weeks no matter the results prior to that game. If we can't do it, we can't be expecting other teams to do so or think we deserve it more than City do. Due to their form and attacking options, they are huge favourites. I will be surprised if ourselves or any other team manages to overturn them at this stage, but I'll at least wait until after we play them before being defeatist. If we go into match day 17 more than the eight points behind City than we currently are, then I would probably just admit we've blown it. Not even half way into the season, but I just wouldn't be able to imagine us closing that down.
Regardless, we pretty much have to beat them in a couple of weeks no matter the results prior to that game. If we can't do it, we can't be expecting other teams to do so or think we deserve it more than City do. Due to their form and attacking options, they are huge favourites. I will be surprised if ourselves or any other team manages to overturn them at this stage, but I'll at least wait until after we play them before being defeatist. If we go into match day 17 more than the eight points behind City than we currently are, then I would probably just admit we've blown it. Not even half way into the season, but I just wouldn't be able to imagine us closing that down.
I remember Barca in 15/16 having a strong lead on Real Madrid when they suddenly didn't win for a month or so losing 1 game and drawing like 3 in a row or something like that. Suddenly they found Real breathing in their neck very closely.
This can happen to City too.
This can happen to City too.
Another non-believer
You haven't seen enough truly great teams in england of late, you don't quite realize that teams like this city or last year's chelsea aren't going to drop points where the chelsea and city of 13-15 did
Said it last winter chelsea would finish with no less than 90 points and people didn't believe me. Look what happened
I'll say it again, your only hope is injuries stop them, otherwise, 92 points is the minimum cut-off
I know its like people expect them to lose all ability and depth in there squad, yet for a challenger who hasn't showed there capable of similar form to then go an insane run.
Well, I am not myself making that argunment. That's why I said that the gap "seems" wider than before. I'm not stating that statistically the gap is actually wider.
I couldn't agree more. Style is subjective. And whenever I bring up 'good' football I mean Shots on Goal and Chances Created. Those are my indicators for 'good' football.
I don't need a stats site to report what I already know - that City take more shots on goal per game and create more chances per game than we do. Hence they play better football, in my opinion, than we do.
Stats gathered by a few post graduates that are lucky to work for Opta (I'm not saying this is you!
) never tell the whole story when it comes to making a well rounded opinion on a game of, well, any sport. They play a crucial role but not a complete one.But since you make the statement about "...5-10% better in every area..." then let's refer to Squawka:
- Points
- 37 (City)
- 29 (United)
- City are 28% better
- 37 (City)
- Goals Scored
- 42 (City)
- 28 (United)
- City are 50% better
- Goals Conceded
- 8 (City)
- 6 (United)
- United are 25% better
- 8 (City)
- Chance Creation
- 156 (City)
- 133 (United)
- City are 17% better
- 156 (City)
- Possession (%)
- 64 (City)
- 52 (United)
- City are 23% better
Pep may have known for longer that he was coming to City and had a degree of influence over who was bought, but you are comparing someone who has huge experience of winning in this country with someone who has never lived here, let alone competed in the EPL - given the same squad, Jose should be able to make a better go of it than Pep when it's Pep's first stint in English football and of course, Jose should find it easier for players who aren't quite ideal to work in his systems than Pep will in his
Squadwise, United have thrown huge money at Pogba (who could fit into anyone's system and Neymar aside, is the world's most expensive player) and Lukaku who seems to suit the United system and cost a still not inconsiderable £75M, have one of if not the best GK in the world, young attacking talented forwards who are equal to their counterparts at City (according to many ppl on here), defenders who are massively superior to City's (no city defender would get into the current United team again according to many on here) - it's hardly a bad starting position for a manager is it !
It's not like City don't still have holes in the squad - very poor cover in central defence, a makeshift leftback in Delph and no cover for Fernandinho who nobody on here seems to rate and is somewhat aging for the incredibly demanding role he plays. I'm not saying we have problems, but I don't see how the squad differences are that great all things considered. Actually as it happens, United are hardly doing badly, it simply looks worse than it is because of our exceptional start
I'd say keep doing what you are doing as it's a great set of results for united so far by anyone's standards, then hope City's form doesn't continue to the end of the season plus, narrow the gap at least somewhat over the two derbies
Again, my statements are not based on City. But rather us.
We have shown over the last 4 years that our squad isn't a title winning one. We haven't even been in a proper challenge for any of those seasons. We havent even gotten past 80 points in any of them either.
We are a massively improved side making progress and are getting better. But a title winning one we are not. Not yet any way.
That isn't being negative. It's just being truthful. But patience is required and many simply don't have that.
Am i reading we can still win the title? Every side that are due to face them will have looked at yesterday's game and thought: 'if Huddersfield can do it, then why can't we?' City have had games where the play was open and they've gladly punished teams for it.
As their reputation and winning streak grows, the desire from teams they face to be the first to put a dent in that run grows, too. There's going to be a few blips along the way under such intensity, I believe. Pep seems to believe that as well, as his interview after yesterday's game pretty much stated that getting through winter unscathed is nigh-on impossible.
I think we're going to see teams doubling down trying to mimic Huddersfield, and even if they're not successful, it's going to be a huge drain on City's players.
Whether anyone else can capitalise, I'm not sure, but if they are themselves able, there will be chance to make inroads on the lead City have.
I think we should also see the silver lining here: We have crossed the desert, and now we clearly have a top4 team, which is a major improvement from last seasons.
I don't particularly like Mourinho style and man management, but the fact is that he instills competitive mentality in every club under his wing.
I don't particularly like Mourinho style and man management, but the fact is that he instills competitive mentality in every club under his wing.
City's excellent starts to this season have distracted everyone from us and not to acknowledge that we improved massively, this is best season we had since Sir Alex, we played 7 games without Pogba, we survived without Pogba and stay behind City with 8 points gaps and scored most goal after City in a league. This is a sign that we got much better since Jose arrived here. I don't know why anybody is complaining about it.
This.
It's City's turn to win the League, that much is clear.
Pressure will be massive on Jose next season however if we don't see massive improvement especially in this "3rd season" rubbish.
Pressure will be massive on Jose next season however if we don't see massive improvement especially in this "3rd season" rubbish.
Good post. Totally agree with this. We need another Summer of clearing out our dross and re-inforcing our weak areas much like City did this past Summer. Whether we will be given that kind of money is a different question.
The next 3 games will be very interesting. The derby is simply must win.
City have Southampton at home, West Ham at home and then they play us at Old Trafford.
You'd fancy City to get 6 points from the first two of those 3 games.
We have Watford away, Arsenal away then City at home.
Currently, we are 8 points behind them. We can't afford to go into the derby more than 8 points behind imo. Watford and Arsenal away are both tricky ties.
City have Southampton at home, West Ham at home and then they play us at Old Trafford.
You'd fancy City to get 6 points from the first two of those 3 games.
We have Watford away, Arsenal away then City at home.
Currently, we are 8 points behind them. We can't afford to go into the derby more than 8 points behind imo. Watford and Arsenal away are both tricky ties.
Can't see us realistically getting 6 points from Watford and Arsenal away. And the most we get from the Derby is a draw.
Barca won the title
I know. But my point was that an 8 point lead isn't 'safe' yet at this moment in the season.
Not predicting anything untill the calender hits 2018. If City go through december unscathed it's over.
it isn't, but it would take an act of god for them to lose it
I don't care if they win the title. Let's face it, they're a good team and will deserve it if they do.
Just don't let them do it undefeated.
Just don't let them do it undefeated.
Even the fans have got to get some perspective. One convincing away win and its 'city, here we come' and one home draw means not good enough. It really is a bit of see saw.
We seem to be a season behind city in terms of building up our squad. This could very well be because of slightly lower investment or getting over the work of relatively poor management tenures. Nonetheless, we are on the right track. Hopefully we are able to get 3 points against Watford and take it from there, right now there is no point looking further ahead in the title race
We seem to be a season behind city in terms of building up our squad. This could very well be because of slightly lower investment or getting over the work of relatively poor management tenures. Nonetheless, we are on the right track. Hopefully we are able to get 3 points against Watford and take it from there, right now there is no point looking further ahead in the title race
They will win the league, but we better feckin beat them at OT.
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