Will we win the league this season? No

ninjamonkey said:
I'm not unhappy with 2 cups. But for me it's a huge wasted opportunity. I know it was a season of transition but nobody expected such a weak contest for the title, 82 points to win a title is very low, this squad should be hitting that.

every other would be contender that hasn't won it should be bitterly disappointed it wasn't them when a title is won with that kind of points tally.

If it's won with 95+ points you hold your hands up and say, we are not good enough to compete with that. But not the low 80's. Liverpool finished third on 82 points the last time we won the league.

Dropping 9 points to the bottom 5 teams is the disaster that has cost us.
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If we finished on 78-81 points, won the cup double and Arsenal or anyone else won it with 90+ points, I'd still be equally happy with our season.

And also still equally disappointed with those draws and second halves.
 
ninjamonkey said:
It wasn't bad luck dropping 9 points to the bottom 5 teams. All of those games we got what we deserved. Repeatedly capitulated in games this season. Doing it once can be bad luck, doing it somewhat regularly isn't bad luck.
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Have to agree and it's been a problem for two seasons now.

The capitulation against Everton the other week was frustrating but not even surprising anymore.
 
jimharri said:
All those points frittered away from winning positions at the turn of the year. Even if we'd held on to just half of them......
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For whatever reason the drop off in performance in the 2nd half of quite a few of those games was stark. It really was night and day. Energy conservation maybe, I don't know. Some of the opposition as well, grrrr....
 
Fair enough to the fans. We wouldn't get that many outside the Etihad if we won it when we haven't played now.
 
jimharri said:
All those points frittered away from winning positions at the turn of the year. Even if we'd held on to just half of them......
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Don't. It's rather painful thinking about those matches where we chucked away a lead. We played Arsenal 3 times this season and have not lost against them.
 
Disappointing when we had it in our hands.

Not too bad though on reflection: 2 trophies, top scorers, unbeaten since feb(?), close second to the worst prem winners ever, some good young players.

and we (still) got Guardiola (for now)
 
Over the season we just not been good enough a massive improvement from last season to many draws have cost us. We will struggle to achieve what we have done this season next year with new manager and players coming back from the World Cup fucked . To win two trophies and taking the title to the second last game for any other team would be an unbelievable season but for so many city fans they are disappointed. Get to the stadium Sunday and give the players and manager the send off they deserve and we go again
CTID
 
No midfield=No PL title. Said it ages ago but if you’re struggling to cope with the Arsenal noise just mute all notifications from sports apps
 
We looked really good for a few weeks this season, starting from the Carabao Cup final. A settled team for that period probably no coincidence.

But that was about it. So, considering that, it's been an amazing season, with us punching above our weight to stay in it so long.

2 trophies is a massive bonus, but in the cold light of day, I'm not particularly convinced that we have moved on very far from last season. Dreary build-up (allowing teams time to regroup often mistaken for them 'parking the bus' when we've brought it upon ourselves) and often panicky in defence. Still largely cannon fodder for teams that attack at pace, although Khus significantly softens this particular blow.

There will be plenty saying 'but we still came second - we can't be that bad in defence'. Well, by that metric, Arsenal must have deserved to win the league and were almost as exciting to watch, because they only scored 7 fewer than us - but this is not true either, is it?

I've really enjoyed it - W5 D1 L0 versus Arsenal and Liverpool definite highlights - but next year will be difficult, with a newly confident Arsenal and surely a resurgent Liverpool?

Will be fascinating to see whether the new coach has the self-belief to rip up large parts of the Pep playbook...

Another Haaland 50-goal season perhaps?
 
jimharri said:
All those points frittered away from winning positions at the turn of the year. Even if we'd held on to just half of them......
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In a way I'm glad it didn't come down to one error, so fans aren't blaming a player for us not winning the league.

As the more reasonable posters are saying, two cups is a good return but it's still ok to feel that we could've done better.
 
Too much knee-jerk reaction following every dropped point especially as Arsenal also conceded late equalisers against inferior opposition

However we don't have much strength in depth and this has been evident for a while
We're also too soft and suffer a disproportionate amount of yellow cards for general pettiness rather than winning the tackle and forcing the opposition to react.

Arsenal were obviously feeling the pressure and they're horrendous to watch when holding onto a lead, but equally we've got two makeshift wing backs who are totally incapable of blocking crosses and this has cost us time and time again

It worked when we had Delph because with David Silva Gundogan and De Bruyne we rarely lost possession

Different story with Nunes and O'Reilly when the players in front of them are losing the ball in silly positions

Either change the tactics or buy quicker two-footed midfielders who can press the opposition and win a tackle
That way they might be less exposed
 
lightning Rodri said:
We've got a sneak preview of the reality of post-Pep era. We'll be there thereabouts in many title races, will win a few and lose a few. The inevitability of a Pep team in title race was just not normal.
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How do you know that? It's not normal but not unprecedented for a successor to come in and do the same or better than his predecessor.
 
youngbob said:
I know it's all "part of the banter" or whatever but that bloke with the Arsenal tears bottle... Nah.

There are six games left; it's gonna swing all over the place. Arteta just needs to stick a picture of that bloke and his little "Arsenal tears" bottle on the wall of the Arsenal dressing room next week. Some people really are desperate to be on TV, getting some of the Fanzone Danny/Big Steve coin. It's the kind of shit London fans do, or Paddy Power employees. Yes it's "just a laugh" and if we win the league he can feel free to dig it out his pocket again, but if Arsenal win it from here and their fans go after him then he deserves all he gets.

Almost every title we've won has been won by finishing 1st quietly instead of 2nd loudly. As an organisation (so players, staff, fans) we've got to practise what we preach with the "stay humble" stuff. It's exactly what we've done on the pitch for years. Mellow personalities, quality football, winners. I've not completely given up on the league at any point this season, but if Arsenal pull off a smash and grab next week then that's it 99% over and that guy with his little Arsenal bottle will get mentioned by at least one Arsenal player after the game. Why do it?

Oh, for the memes, for a laugh. Grand.
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Got pelters for this but I was right.
 
youngbob said:
Got pelters for this but I was right.
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Not sure why you got pelters. I hated it as soon as I saw it, even more so the next time.

It was that kind of arrogance that made us despise United and everything about them. I don't care who he is, he deserves all he gets as you say.

That kind of gloating never sits right with me. Big believer in not being a sore winner as it's just grotesque and never a good look.
 
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