Will we win the league this season? No

[chris85mcfc]

No such thing as decent fixtures in a title run in mate. It’s all about timing and who can hold their nerve and the pressure best

Its amazing how many people forget this every single season, it becomes tiring seeing people think so black and white.

I saw someone mention they have 6 of their 10 remaining games at the Emirates, not sure thats a good thing for them in front of 70,000 mard arses who will boo them off if theyre not winning at half time.

 

[Tomblue]

What does that have to do with anything about them facing Arsenal today?

You said Spurs are shit?

 

[Metal Biker]

You said Spurs are shit?

You're here arguing otherwise?
Why, because we didn't beat them that means they must be good in some way?

 

[Scaring Europe to Death]

We're back in the title race, but that's more due to Arsenal's incompetence than us suddenly stepping up a gear,

We've still got the same defensive weakness behind our left flank, and are no longer capable of controlling the tempo in the latter stages when opponents need a goal and go more direct.

In our pomp we'd just play around them and then Gundogan would score another goal.

Arsenal could easily drop more silly points and realistically we need that to happen.

 

[blue b4 the moon]

11/10 to go:

Arsenal - 61 points - 28 games	City - 56 points - 27 games	Villa - 51 points - 27 games
Kairat (H) - CL - 28th Jan	Galatasaray (H) - CL - 28th Jan	RB Salzburg (H) - EL - 29th Jan
Leeds (A) - 31st Jan	Spurs (A) - 1st Feb	Brentford (H) - 1st Feb
Chelsea (H) - LC - 3rd Feb (3-2)	Newcastle (H) - LC - 4th Feb (2-0)
Sunderland (H) - 7th Feb	Liverpool (A) - 8th Feb	Bournemouth (A) - 7th Feb
Brentford (A) - 12th Feb	Fulham (H) - 11th Feb	Brighton (H) - 11th Feb
Wigan (H) - FAC - 15th Feb	Salford (H) - FAC - 14th Feb	Newcastle (H) - FAC - 14th Feb
Wolves (A) - 18th Feb	CL Playoff 1st leg - 17th/18th Feb
Spurs (A) - 22nd Feb	Newcastle (H) - 21st Feb	Leeds (H) - 21st Feb
CL Playoff 2nd leg - 24th/25th Feb
Chelsea (H) - 1st Mar	Leeds (A) - 28th Feb	Wolves (A) - 27th Feb
Brighton (A) - 4th Mar	Forest (H) - 4th Mar	Chelsea (H) - 4th Mar
Mansfield (A) - FAC - 7th Mar	Newcastle (A) - FAC - 7th Mar
CL Ro16 1st leg - 10th/11th Mar	CL Ro16 1st leg - 10th/11th Mar	EL Ro16 1st leg -12th Mar
Everton (H) - 15th Mar	West Ham (A) - 14th Mar	United (A) - 14th Mar
CL Ro16 2nd leg - 17th/18th Mar	CL Ro16 2nd leg - 17th/18th Mar	EL Ro16 2nd leg - 19th Mar
Wolves (A) - 21st Mar*	Palace (H) - 21st Mar*	West Ham (H) - 21st Mar*
City (N) - LC Final - 22nd Mar	Arsenal (N) - LC Final - 22nd Mar
FA Cup QF - 4th Apr	FA Cup QF - 4th Apr
CL QF 1st leg - 7th/8th Apr	CL QF 1st leg - 7th/8th Apr	EL QF 1st leg - 9th Apr
Bournemouth (H) - 11th Apr*	Chelsea (A) - 11th Apr*	Forest (A) - 11th Apr*
CL QF 2nd leg - 14th/15th Apr	CL QF 2nd leg - 14th/15th Apr	EL QF 2nd leg - 16th Apr
City (A) - 18th Apr*	Arsenal (H) - 18th Apr*	Sunderland (H) - 18th Apr*
Newcastle (H) - 25th Apr*	Burnley (A) - 25th Apr*	Fulham (A) - 25th Apr*
FA Cup SF - 25th Apr	FA Cup SF - 25th Apr
CL SF 1st leg - 28th/29th Apr	CL SF 1st leg - 28th/29th Apr	EL SF 1st leg - 30th Apr
Fulham (H) - 2nd May*	Everton (A) - 2nd May*	Spurs (H) - 2nd May*
CL SF 2nd leg - 5th/6th May	CL SF 2nd leg - 5th/6th May	EL SF 2nd leg - 7th May
West Ham (A) - 9th May*	Brentford (H) - 9th May*	Burnley (A) - 9th May*
FA Cup Final - 16th May	FA Cup Final - 16th May
Burnley (H) - 17th May*	Bournemouth (A) - 17th May*	Liverpool (H) - 17th May*
		EL Final - 20th May
Palace (A) - 24th May	Villa (H) - 24th May	City (A) - 24th May
CL Final - 30th May	CL Final - 30th May

Quoted my old post so the progression is nice to see. Leaving Villa in as I can't be arsed changing it now.

Changes:
- City close the gap on Arsenal by 2 points, after another week in which they slip up.
- Both teams progress in the FA Cup, City getting one of the hardest draws, Arsenal get the easiest.
- City look likely to face Real Madrid or Bodo/Glimt in the next round of the Champions League.
- Arsenal look likely to face Leverkusen or Dortmund.
- Villa pretty much out of the conversation.


Big 10 days ahead, I think optimistically we'll be hoping to close the gap again with 2 comparatively easier fixtures. City play Saturday, Arsenal play Sunday. We not only play first but we avoid a midweek away game which I think can always be a bit dicey.

We need to be ahead after we've played them.

I know strange results can happen but I'd not fancy playing catch-up with what's left for them post our game against them.

 

[Sky Blue Thinking]

Chuckle Neville believes Arsenal will beat us at our place.

They play for set pieces, Saturday's line up had a lot of tall players outside of our defenders - Rodri, Nico O, Semenyo, Haaland. Hopefully we can use this height defensively.

 

[M18CTID]

Arsenal have 6 of their 10 remaining games at home. City have 5 of their 11 remaining games at home, albeit one is against Arsenal.

That game at the Etihad is the big one.

A lot of football to be played before that match though. I think both sets of fans are falling into the trap of working out who has the easier fixtures. Classic case in point was your game at Wolves last week. We all thought it was a nailed on 3 points but it didn’t work out that way and I can see both teams dropping more silly points before the season end. As such, the City v Arsenal game is one to think about only when it comes round and what’s currently more important for both teams are the games we have to play preceding that one.

 

[bridgeno1]

A lot of football to be played before that match though. I think both sets of fans are falling into the trap of working out who has the easier fixtures. Classic case in point was your game at Wolves last week. We all thought it was a nailed on 3 points but it didn’t work out that way and I can see both teams dropping more silly points before the season end. As such, the City v Arsenal game is one to think about only when it comes round and what’s currently more important for both teams are the games we have to play preceding that one.

Yeah there's truth in that. I guess City have the know-how in getting titles across the line whereas we are do or die for every game due to having fallen short in recent years and that transmits itself to the players and crowd.

Can see us beating Chelsea handsomely and then losing at Brighton as an example.

 

[Metal Biker]

Yeah there's truth in that. I guess City have the know-how in getting titles across the line whereas we are do or die for every game due to having fallen short in recent years and that transmits itself to the players and crowd.

Can see us beating Chelsea handsomely and then losing at Brighton as an example.

You guys literally do or die.

Poor Trossard was forced to play with a concussion last night.

 

[69FACUPfinal]

Pin it on the dressing room wall pep!

that audacious comment appeared on my YouTube feed. I chose to ignore it. Stupid man.

 

[69FACUPfinal]

I still think no but even where we are is an overachievement. I hope people remember that if we do finish second.

If we win it, then that would be an unbelievable season really.

And the media choose to ignore this fact. We are in transition; Arse OTH have their best squad. And we are on their coat tails.

They are a despicable cheating team and contrary to what the idiotic media spout, playing their way with tactical time outs, feigned injuries and thugs like imo Gabriel is not a good look for football.

If they do win this year, they certainly won't retain the title.

 

[walker_is_faster]

For me, the game against Chelsea will be more difficult than against Arsenal.

 

[Scaring Europe to Death]

They play for set pieces, Saturday's line up had a lot of tall players outside of our defenders - Rodri, Nico O, Semenyo, Haaland. Hopefully we can use this height defensively.

Arsenal are the best team in the PL at set pieces, yet strangely we had less problems at the Emirates than against 3-4 other opponents- and that's without the disallowed goals for Liverpool and Newcastle etc.

 

[MCFC1993]

We need to be ahead after we've played them.

I know strange results can happen but I'd not fancy playing catch-up with what's left for them post our game against them.

I would say we absolutely have to be ahead of them.

Arsenal dropping more points before then gives us leeway in the Chelsea away game and gives us the opportunity to kill them off in the head-to-head.

 

[LangleyBlue1970]

This weekend is a tough one for us both. Leeds away is tricky, as is facing Chelsea for them. We are at it and so I fancy us for a win. If Chelsea can hold them to a draw we are that bit closer.

Of course it could all go the other way! This is why it’s fucking brilliant at this stage to more than be in the conversation. We know what to do, and they know how to bottle it. It’s going to be some couple of months ahead and I cannot fucking wait.

 

[alexmcity]

We're back in the title race, but that's more due to Arsenal's incompetence than us suddenly stepping up a gear,

We've still got the same defensive weakness behind our left flank, and are no longer capable of controlling the tempo in the latter stages when opponents need a goal and go more direct.

In our pomp we'd just play around them and then Gundogan would score another goal.

Arsenal could easily drop more silly points and realistically we need that to happen.

We know that this City team are not like the best City teams.

But the factors determining our form are more dynamic than the static pictures people tend to offer.

Imagine saying in early February 2023 (many were saying it back then): well, we lost vs Southampton (league cup), rags and spurs, so we are much worse compared to previous City teams who knew how to control games... And then we won the Treble :)

We have won 13 from the available 15 pts in the last 5 games, including 3 pts at Anfield. How good we can be in the remaining months is anyone's guess. We may be inconsistent and fall short or get better and better. The former scenario may look more likely now and turn out to be true. But if we avoid serious injuries to important players, we may get a lot better due to, say, Rodri getting better, the new defence and midfield gelling more and more, Doku coming back, and so on. Nobody knows what will happen, but I think we'll get better.

 

[MCFC1993]

Arsenal have 6 of their 10 remaining games at home. City have 5 of their 11 remaining games at home, albeit one is against Arsenal.

That game at the Etihad is the big one.

Tough to judge away games late in the run in though.

We have West Ham and Burnley away, historically that's 2 pretty comfortable grounds for us. Also, Everton and Bournemouth in May could be looking at 2 teams on the beach. Leaving Chelsea, which again should be tough but it's around CL and we have another excellent record there. Leeds this weekend could be tough but we won 4-0 there in the last title run in.

Of course it could be horrendous but historically, there are 5 away games I would want played by now; United, Spurs, Arsenal, Liverpool, Newcastle.

 

[alexmcity]

we absolutely have to be ahead of them.

I'll be happy if we are top after the game with them. IMO, if we win that game, we are likely to win the title.

 

[stuart_kennedy_tache]

Find it funny when fans look at the remaining games for City and Arsenal to work out which games they’ll win or drop points. Remember 2012, and after losing to Arsenal like a lot of people I did the same for City and United and worked out they would win the title because they would beat Everton and home imo . Did they? No they drew 4-4 and let us back in to eventually win it.
Instead let’s just take it one game at a time and concentrate on Leeds on Saturday. I am just happy at the moment to be in a title race while in a transitional phase for the team. If we win fantastic, if not we are building for next season. Both teams will gain and drop points unexpectedly between now and the end of the season.
Enjoy the rollercoaster!

 

[Scaring Europe to Death]

We know that this City team is not like the best City teams.

But the factors determining our form are more dynamic than the static pictures people tend to offer.

Imagine saying in early February 2023 (many were saying it back then): well, we lost vs Southampton (league cup), rags and spurs, so we are much worse compared to previous City teams who knew how to control games... And then we won the Treble :)

We have won 13 from the available 15 pts in the last 5 games, including 3 pts at Anfield. How good we can be in the remaining months is anyone's guess. We may be inconsistent and fall short or get better and better. The former scenario may look more likely now and turn out to be true. But if we avoid serious injuries to important players, we may get a lot better due to, say, Rodri getting better, the new defence and midfield gelling more and more, Doku coming back, and so on. Nobody knows what will happen, but I think we'll get better.

Not disagreeing with your wider point and you're correct about the Spurs defeat in particular as our performance was bereft of energy and direction.

I'd forgotten all about the anger following the Southampton cup defeat albeit that was more.to do with Pep's team selection, and me being stupid enough to travel to St Mary's

However my original post was referring to the period since the collapse at Tottenham last month,.and how we're somehow back in the title race on the strength of an emotional late victory at Anfield and Arsenal dropping silly points.

Regardless of players returning from injury I just don't see us controlling and dictating possession like we've enjoyed in previous seasons and some of these issues will only be addressed in the next transfer window.

It doesn't mean that we can't still win the title but it doesn't feel as though we're in full control and we probably need Arsenal to suffer at least one more bollocks.
Even better if it involves a controversial refereeing decision because they're another team who just can't cope with the fallout