Do you really believe the league is over...?

[Deleted member 77198]

I've the same opinion as last time.

Patience and reservation.

If things go to plan we have all summer to gob off and don't need to be doing it now.

Anything could happen. Kev might elbow someone and get a seven game ban, Silva and Sané could have set backs in their recovery, Kun could be involved in another car crash and all miss chunks of the rest of the season and we might struggle. Or we could think it’s in the bag and take our eye off the league and start to think about not getting injuries so we’re fit for the cups and go in a terrible run. Or we might get everyone back for go on the greatest run of games ever seen and win the lot. Or anything in between.

As we’ve seen with the Scousers in red in 2014, don’t take anything for granted. Nothing is over until it’s mathematically impossible for anyone else to win it.

 

[Metalartin]

I believe we should wrap the league up as soon as possible, then rest players as much as possible, give youth a chance, doesn't even matter if we have to take some losses if it's already in the bank it's win win.

Every team who has won it recently has made the mistake of not taking advantage of the ability to give as much rest to their players for the following season, obviously we can go all out for the cups we are in.

Next season teams are going to be all over us to make sure we don't repeat this season and it's a world cup year so any opportunity to rest them in the run up to the world cup should be taken.

 

[Kundaliniyogi]

I believe the title was over when we gave Chelsea a true footballing lesson...

 

[Man_City_Loyal]

will only get excited when its confirmed.

 

[Tbilisi]

Its over and I am the most pessimistic old school Blue there is believe me! Rest players against Spurs and Chelsea ;)

 

[St.Pauli support]

Just a matter of when, not if.

Rags not able to score vs the Geordies under pressure to perform sums it up for me. No team, wrong tactics, poor attitude.
I guess the reddest rag fans have some problems believing in a turnaround watching Pogba and Sanchez.

Best thing about the 16 point gap is the comfortable situation of conducting our tight schedule the way WE want, in terms of rotation and resting players.
That's just wonderful and puts us in a superb position in the fight-for-four titles.

So for me it's not "win the title asap and go for the CL" but it's "have them all 4 in our target line and win the league on that way, whenever it is".

But there is another point, Bayern are discussing at the moment as well:

if you win the league early and give away the last league matches, you are losing your winning attitude for the big CL games. I think Pep has made that experience already and will have the right strategy to keep the whole ship on course, for as many titles as possible.

The team spirit is sky high now and you simply have to go on winning. Fatigue also is much worse when you've lost.

City is in an incredible position - now and in the near future - and the key is Pep. We can't sing his name loud enough.

Strange enough our biggest problems are around Etihad matchday topics/atmosphere/early leavers etc.
Some ok problems though.

 

[Impeccable One]

Still a long way to go.

Where are you heading on your bike ?

 

[Vialli98]

It's a strange thing they do at Chelsea, which feels to me from the outside, as if the powers that be don't actually like the idea of 'stability' re managers etc, perhaps feeling it leads to apathy, I don't know, but it feels like they actually want the managers to go, after a couple of seasons.

But irrespective, there are a lot of very good players at Chelsea, a very good set of young players & plenty of money. I think Conte did a great job, but it's gone sour apparently. With the right manager next & a couple of signings though, they are still potentially the team City will need to finish above imo.

None of the top brass at Chelsea are genuine football people. That's where the problems start IMO.

If we get our next appointment right, bring Batshuayi back as first choice, secure Hazard and Courtois to long term contracts, as well as fill several holes with top players rather than yet more squad players, I would be optimistic for next season. It's a long shot though. Half of our squad would immediately look like world beaters again, if we just had a more attack minded manager.

Anyway, trying not derail the thread with Chelsea stuff that most people couldn't care less about.

If City secure the title early enough, you can rotate as much as you need to keep players fresh for the FA Cup and the CL. It could be a historic season for you.

 

[jrb]

Send it on a few Weeks. Hopefully.

TOO MUCH, TOO LITTLE, TOO LATE LYRICS

Yes, it's over, call it a day
Sorry that it had to end this way
No reason to pretend
We knew it had to end some day, this way


Guess it's over, the kicks are gone
What's the use of tryin' to hang on
Somewhere we lost the key
And City won the League

 

[mancity1]

Just for clarity, I'm not stating the season is over in May which it obviously is, I'm referring to the various staging posts eg: Carabao Cup, PL, FA Cup, CL.

Each one is still in front of us & the further down the line we go, the more fixtures will begin to pile up. Take this month for instance; we don't have another PL match until March because of various cup commitments.

We will still have to play those rearranged matches, which will mean less rest in between for our players. This will give an advantage to all those around us, notwithstanding the fact we have points in the bank to help.

I suppose it comes down to the way individuals look at our season. I've personally learned to deal with what's in front of me & that's how I view Manchester City.

Deal with what we have to deal with & then move to the next staging post. At the end of the season, look back & assess it, & we might have just collected some silverware along the way. Celebrate it, get over it, & then deal with what is in front if us again which will be a summer transfer window, pre-season & then a new season where we do it all over again.

One of the things I believe affected Leicester, is they never got over or stopped celebrating their unlikely PL win. From Ranieri to the playing squad, they kept on believing their season would just come good again, but it didn't.

I can't stand the man, but I've grown to admire what Alex Ferguson achieved. He had a similar mindset to Guardiola whereby he dealt with matters one game at a time. It proved successful for ManUre & I've always found the quickest way fro A - D is look at someone who has passed B & C. If it worked for them, logic suggests it's probably the best practice for our long term progression.

Yes its good to talk about the future even beyond this year and the past which you allude to in this post but I think its fair say the original post was referring to this season and whether the chasing pack can pack their bags now and as the title suggests the premier league as opposed to the other comps you refer to.

As I have said for some time now its over if we win 4 more games.

4 more wins or 12 points from our remaining 11 games and the title is ours and this will only be reviewed down at best with each passing round of matches or stay as is at worst for us.

Hence why I asked you do you think we will only win 3 of our remaining 11 games to play in the league.

As I recall you didn't answer the question specifically and I am not having a go at you for not nor am I having a go at you for saying you don't think the title is over yet as its clear you think their is still some uncertainty about us getting those 12 points at this stage ( may be less required as the season progresses ) required even though our form , the form of the chasing back , our results against the chasing pack , the reality and mindset of their managers that the title is finished for them and the fact albeit that its only marginally relevant that the bookies and pundits with no exception believe the title has already been decided.