Will we win the league this season?

[Man_City_Loyal]

best possible result from london this evening

 

[jimharri]

We really need Rodri back, if we are to maintain a challenge. But, unless I've missed it, no sign of an imminent return for him.

 

[Damanino]

beat Fulham first. thats the most important. they used to relax a week between games, now they have bit less to recover after their Spurs away win, if we go there and lose like vs Brighton, Villa, Newcastle thats very disappointing.

 

[Blumooniac]

With better recruitment and retention we'd be looking at 6 on the bounce.

 

[wolviedinho]

With better recruitment and retention we'd be looking at 6 on the bounce.

That’s sport for you.

Buy shite, play shite.

 

[Gaylord du Bois]

I want to think we could but in reality we don't appear to have improved much on last season. You never know though.

 

[DJBusinesscake]

I want to think we could but in reality we don't appear to have improved much on last season. You never know though.

I think you've forgotten about just how bad last season got.

 

[.db.]

With better recruitment and retention we'd be looking at 6 on the bounce.

Building a football team is mostly down to the pure chance that a team needs players in positions where top players are available and want to sign for them at that very moment in time.

By pure chance we had that for number of years, but by pure chance in recent years some of our top players came to the end of their time and the same quality or potential quality weren’t available in their positions or didn’t want to sign for us.

Teams/clubs and football in general is not consistent. Nobody ever just continually gets their signings right and remains a winning team. There’s over 150 years of English football evidence to show that. Sometimes teams have long runs of maintaining a top side but, it never lasts forever. Eventually, everyone’s time is up and it’s someone else’s turn at the top.

It’s likely we’ll never build a team as good as 2017-2023 ever again, maybe nobody in English football will, since it took nearly a century and a half for it to happen… or, we might build another great side in the next few years. But even then, that won’t last forever and eventually that team will come to it’s end.

 

[Stelea]

We're actually 2 points worse off than last season which feels a bit strange

Arsenal had a difficult away fixture today and they've already played at our traditional graveyard (Anfield) and won at Newcastle

Yes, they could easily suffer a wobble and drop a few points, but I'm more concerned with our fragility, which not for the first time, was exposed yesterday

Blind faith suggests that Rodri could make a huge difference, but realistically he's already been out for longer than the "2-3 weeks" post match assessment following his early withdrawal at Brentford.

After he went off at Brentford, Rodri said it was only minor and he expected to be back for the Everton game 2 weeks later.

 

[Xhavenjoe]

Not when you are playing against 10 men for over an hour.

There is the possibility they could only be 2 points ahead of City before they face brentford when a week ago they were out of sight.

Pressure can do strange things and I don’t think arsenal can handle it

But they are further ahead now than they were 2 games ago.
Its not just arsenal
Its ourselves and the other teams improving

 

[Bluewonder]

Not sure we'll win it but don't think we'll be far away.

 

[Marvin.]

I was more impressed with Chelsea than Arsenal given that they have Cole Palmer to come in. A draw suits us.

City need to improve and we will if Rodri recovers. For now, we have to keep Arsenal and Chelsea within striking distance.

Perhaps the first question marks against Arsenal were raised this weekend.

 

[Marvin.]

The only thing giving me hope is that Arsenal still don't appear to have given themselves a killer instinct. Five points given how poor we have been for pockets of this season keeps us alive. I think we have been well off it, but if we get 20% better or they get 20% worse and it's back on.

Last season there were 3 iterations of City:

August - Oct. Original City. Confident and top of the league
Nov-Dec. Minus Rodri it was an unmitigated disaster
Jan-May. A rather conservative but steadier City.

In my opinion we are likely to get stronger as the season progresses but we do need to develop other goalscorers as I wonder whether Haaland can continue his current unreal form.

 

[Scaring Europe to Death]

Not when you are playing against 10 men for over an hour.

There is the possibility they could only be 2 points ahead of City before they face brentford when a week ago they were out of sight.

Pressure can do strange things and I don’t think arsenal can handle it

All your positivity is based around the idea of Arsenal dropping points, but you've never once addressed our recent away form, and how we win the PL despite only winning at Wolves and Brentford.

Firstly we need to beat Fulham on Tuesday

We also need Rodri back to peak fitness which will hopefully increase our possession stats and thus see our weaknesses less exposed

Otherwise your obsession with Arsenal having some kind of breakdown will only benefit Chelsea or even Liverpool, who despite all the ridicule, aren't out of it.

 

[Pablo ZZZ Peroni]

We're actually 2 points worse off than last season which feels a bit strange

Arsenal had a difficult away fixture today and they've already played at our traditional graveyard (Anfield) and won at Newcastle

Yes, they could easily suffer a wobble and drop a few points, but I'm more concerned with our fragility, which not for the first time, was exposed yesterday

Blind faith suggests that Rodri could make a huge difference, but realistically he's already been out for longer than the "2-3 weeks" post match assessment following his early withdrawal at Brentford.

No, we are 2 points better off after 13 games than last season - 25 v 23. We'd lost our 4th game on the row at Anfield on 1st December 2024 and went on to get only 5 points from the next 5 games.

 

[B\connellblue]

I think that Chelsea side is one we might struggle against when we play them. So physically imposing and something we don’t always like. I was impressed by them today.

14/1 or thereabouts for the champions league is a tempting wager. A match for anyone in a knockout game.

 

[Jesus2020]

This draw is a good result for us, yes?

 

[jimharri]

I think you've forgotten about just how bad last season got.

And yet, and yet, and yet; from memory, didn't we achieve the highest points total in the period from New Year's Day to the end of the season? Autumn and the first half of winter well and truly did for us. And that last 4-5 months were done without Rodri. Big if, but if we were within, say, 4 points of Arsenal come March 1st, it'll be interesting!

The big money will still be on Arsenal at the moment, though. I noticed in the post match guff on Sky that they seemed to consider Chelsea as the main challengers to Arsenal. Which I find strange. Chelsea are just as inconsistent as us!

 

[Danny Tiatto]

All your positivity is based around the idea of Arsenal dropping points, but you've never once addressed our recent away form, and how we win the PL despite only winning at Wolves and Brentford.

Firstly we need to beat Fulham on Tuesday

We also need Rodri back to peak fitness which will hopefully increase our possession stats and thus see our weaknesses less exposed

Otherwise your obsession with Arsenal having some kind of breakdown will only benefit Chelsea or even Liverpool, who despite all the ridicule, aren't out of it.

I don’t think this poor away form will last. Rodri coming back will make a huge difference even at 80%.

In addition if Haaland & Foden keep up their top form I really give us a good chance.

Chelsea surprised me and showed great character when they went down to 10 men. With Palmer coming back they just maybe could do something a bit special .

And yes despite being horrendous Liverpool aren’t completely out of it either. If they win their next few matches and now Isak is off the mark and Wirtz starting to show a bit of form will just have to keep an eye in them.

 

[Scaring Europe to Death]

No, we are 2 points better off after 13 games than last season - 25 v 23. We'd lost our 4th game on the row at Anfield on 1st December 2024 and went on to get only 5 points from the next 5 games.

Spot on mate
It would help if I could count