The Title Race - 2023/24

[Paul1970]

We dominated the first half at Anfield and the second penalty was correctly not given if you look at the incident more closely. Sorry Liverpool aren't any better than us no matter how much spin you put on them

Not putting a spin but I’m also not having sour grapes if we don’t win the title . We are better than that

 

[RayCTID]

Not putting a spin but I’m also not having sour grapes if we don’t win the title . We are better than that

I give them credit when they fully deserve it not when they are still getting assistance. If PGMOL have any bottle VVD should have a similar ban to what Rodri had recieved. The only thing the Liverpool have got going for them is they don't time waste

 

[Brightwell Bros.]

Some tough games there for all teams. Liverpool's looks easiest, but a run of games away from home isn't ideal. Arsenal when balancing the CL as well is going to be tough. They played Odegaard, Saliba and Gabriel against Luton so not sure when they'll get a rest! Ours looks okay. Spurs away being the standout. I think we could draw one and win the title. Plenty of twists and turns to come. Whilst many predicted Arsenal would falter last season I don't think we expected the three draws in a row they ended up with. Most of us were thinking we might be able to wrap it up by beating Brighton away in the penultimate game rather than have it done before we'd kicked off against Chelsea.

Sheffield United barely had the ball but nearly got a point last night. Every team will be fighting for every single point now. They'll defend for 100 minutes and boot the ball away if they have to. We're used to that, the other two aren't, which is why I think we tend to bear fruit at this stage of the season. From game 1 to game 38 we're trying to break down a wall of defenders whereas the other teams only get that respect from this stage of the campaign.

4.30 in Sunday at Fulham, a derby at Everton under the lights on the Wednesday, and down again at West Ham for a Saturday 12.30 is the sort of week that would fill me with dread if I were a Liverpool fan.

Europa semi finals would be SF1, Spurs (h), SF2, Villa away which isn't exactly a fun 10 days either.

 

[Bluearmy]

4.30 in Sunday at Fulham, a derby at Everton under the lights on the Wednesday, and down again at West Ham for a Saturday 12.30 is the sort of week that would fill me with dread if I were a Liverpool fan.

Europa semi finals would be SF1, Spurs (h), SF2, Villa away which isn't exactly a fun 10 days either.

Looks as easy as they could ever possibly expect at this stage of a season. Let’s hope I'm very wrong….

 

[mccity]

I know many are not fans of xG (and similar statistical assessment methods now pervasive in football analysis), and it does have it’s issues, but I do think it can be a helpful metric for benchmarking once you have 30+ games played.

What is interesting about the current xG numbers for all clubs in the league, is that we have the second highest aggregate xG (behind Liverpool), but have essentially an even xG Differential (similar to Spurs), whilst Arsenal are outperforming their xG and Liverpool are underperforming their xG. For reference, last year City, Arsenal, and Spurs were the teams that over-performed their xG, whilst Liverpool also underperformed.

It will be interesting to see if Arsenal can keep that over-performance up over the final 8 games, whether Liverpool will continue to underperform, and whether we can improve our chance conversion.

Premier League - Team Statistics

Premier League Team Statistics

www.whoscored.com

The issue with Liverpool is that they typically over perform massively in the xGA statistic

 

[SebastianBlue]

The issue with Liverpool is that they typically over perform massively in the xGA statistic

That is one of the issues, definitely, and they are currently over-performing, whilst we and Arsenal are essentially neutral.

But they aren’t the leaders in xGA outperformance—guess who that is, strangely…

 

[chris85mcfc]

Looks as easy as they could ever possibly expect at this stage of a season. Let’s hope I'm very wrong….

On paper any game can look easy, but it's so difficult to go into every game at this stage of the season knowing that you have to win and there is no let up.

Their 3 point gap to us is fuck all if they happen to drop any points, we'd close that goal difference quite easily if we need to.

Let's see what happens!

 

[Brightwell Bros.]

Looks as easy as they could ever possibly expect at this stage of a season. Let’s hope I'm very wrong….

Ha, three back-to-back away games against stubborn opposition, two in London, one a derby, in the worse possible time slots is not as easy as you could expect! People on here would be ranting and raving about the league trying to fuck us to stop us winning! It's not a prediction, I'm just saying it's an unpleasant run of fixtures I wouldn't be looking forward to if I was a Liverpool fan.

 

[Paul1970]

I give them credit when they fully deserve it not when they are still getting assistance. If PGMOL have any bottle VVD should have a similar ban to what Rodri had recieved. The only thing the Liverpool have got going for them is they don't time waste

Got to disagree with you mate . Every team has bad decisions go for and against them and over 40 games if arsenal or Liverpool win the title then so be it they will have deserved it . We have been a shadow of the team from the last few seasons and it shows . We have dropped 6 points because we switched off after 90 minutes and that would have probably made us champions. Like I say mate you have your opinions and j have mine .

 

[Lovebitesandeveryfing]

The weird thing is I sincerely don't think this Liverpool team is anything like as good as the team that we kept out apart from that one Covid season. We've still got terrific players but several have been injured (and lengthy injury at that) and/or off it for most of the season. I don't really think that Gundo's and Mahrez's going has been the key factor, although they are obviously a loss. But our main problem, especially where the draws are concerned (and that's where it hurts, because that's a cartload of points) has been missing stupid goals up front, and letting in stupid goals at the back. Mahrez wouldn't have made a crucial difference in those two areas, and actually, good as he is, I don't think Gundo would have.

They've just got into that habit of winning. We could still do it. All it takes it them drawing two, and us winning everything. Arsenal too could still do it. Anyone except Liverpool, please.