The Title Race 2022/23

[BlueMoonRisin’]

No, he’s using metal as a metaphor, not a noun. “Their mettle resolve” would be a tautology.

I hate telling him he’s right, but this time he is.

He is right, a right clever bastard. Ian Dury wrote a song about him: )

 

[Sir peace frog]

He is right, a right clever bastard. Ian Dury wrote a song about him: )

the first record i actually bought , because of the title , it hit me with a rhythm stick

 

[searsleftpeg]

I wonder if any other Blues are like me and will only celebrate when it is certain ,all the media are setting us up so they can pile in if the unthinkable happens.
We all know what the Matty Cash moment did to the Dippers ,93.20 did to the D.S.,even Dickov to Gillingham and I know all that went in our favour, but for us oldies the Ricky Spurs time and the truly ancient ones amongst us, Denis scoring 6 in the cup against Luton and we still got knocked out .

 

[Blue Theatre]

I believe Gracnote have our chances of winning the title from here at 99%.
So about once a century we'd cock it up from here ... but I don't think this is that time.

 

[Lovebitesandeveryfing]

I regret to say, @JTFactsPlz is correct, and you are wrong MLF x

And since this is a pile-on on gdm (and a coward always likes a pile-on)… I regret to say that the use of your first comma is erroneous! The second is allowable.

Yours,
Former grammar policeman

 

[gordondaviesmoustache]

I wonder if any other Blues are like me and will only celebrate when it is certain ,all the media are setting us up so they can pile in if the unthinkable happens.
We all know what the Matty Cash moment did to the Dippers ,93.20 did to the D.S.,even Dickov to Gillingham and I know all that went in our favour, but for us oldies the Ricky Spurs time and the truly ancient ones amongst us, Denis scoring 6 in the cup against Luton and we still got knocked out .

What about Charlton in ‘85, Bradford in ‘89, Gillingham in ‘99 or Blackburn in ‘00 - or don’t they count?…

 

[citytill1die84]

What a lovely Monday morning :)

 

[blueinsa]

Not really.

Many of us believed this would happen.

And a few called us crazy because of it, despite there being plenty of historical data to support it being a potentiality.

Proclamations that it “was over” and “we will never catch them up” were laughable given precedent.

They are even more laughable now.

Many blues will never leave Maine Road, for better or worse.

This!

Fucking A.

Some posters think confidence in this team is based in arrogance, or is ‘rag like’ but it isn’t. It’s based on this being the best group of players ever assembled in this country. And backing them to do what they’ve done before. That seems pretty logical (that word again!) to me.

I guess people can’t help how they are hardwired.

And that!

 

[gordondaviesmoustache]

And since this is a pile-on on gdm (and a coward always likes a pile-on)… I regret to say that the use of your first comma is erroneous! The second is allowable.

Yours,
Former grammar policeman

Think it reads back ok. Would have had to put another comma in place of that one, after ‘wrong’, if that one had been omitted, I reckon.

 

[Rammy Blue]

With hindsight, it looks like a number of factors (including what you have identified) conspired to cause Arsenal’s implosion, but it wasn’t inevitable - and I wouldn’t have had any complaints if we’d amassed over 90 points and been pipped to the title, as they would have deserved it.

What was never in doubt however, for me at least, is that we would go on a run and seriously challenge Arsenal, which would bring its own pressure to bear upon them. I found people using the first half of the season as a counterpoint to this view in the early part of this calendar year to be bizarre, as if no lesson has been garnered from the run-in to the last few seasons, 2020/21 apart, when we took our foot off the gas after securing the title.

Even in 2017/18, after the title was won, we kept going relentlessly (Huddersfield home apart) as history beckoned.

Pep has a magical way of getting the job done in extremis, including the foregoing 2020/21 season when we looked toast in early December and went on a 21 game winning run. Obviously there’s the 14 games at the end of the 2018/19 campaign, and last season too. All incredible feats of team sport.

Tactically, Pep is incredible, as is the way he improves players, but his motivational skills are as much as asset. He knows what to do to deliver the goods in the league better than any manager in English football history, as the foregoing title wins, individually and collectively suitably demonstrate.

We also put together a squad of players with the right mental strength, who are then managed perfectly fitness wise to put this spurt on at the business end of the season. All in harmony.