The Title Race - 2023/24

[gordondaviesmoustache]

Nothing makes me more confident than getting to April, 600+ pages on the title race thread and posters doing "just can't see rivals dropping X points" with about 20 points left to play for.

When one of them has just dropped points to a mid-table team.

 

[gordondaviesmoustache]

I can't stand Mourinho but City fans do owe him a little bit. Maybe more than that, actually. Not just for fucking up at United for three years but for sticking his fingers up Liverpool's nose when he really didn't have to. Chelsea couldn't really win the league anymore after that stupid loss at home to Sunderland the week beforehand, but Mourinho went to Anfield to purely to piss them off and make a point. From the moment he stopped Gerrard picking that ball up for a throw-in after 2 mins he got in their heads.

Read this.

Jose Mourinho talks to Gary Neville: They wanted us to be the clowns at Anfield - we weren't having that

Exclusive interview: Jose Mourinho reveals all on his desire to stay at Chelsea, his relationship with Eden Hazard, how he inspired his team to beat Liverpool and why he is so dismissive of 'buzzword' coaching

www.telegraph.co.uk

They brought that approach from Mourinho on themselves. Although it wasn’t theur fault, obviously.

 

[BolinCell]

Stones missed about 4 months and many City fans regard him as the best CB in the world or close to being that.

Everyone has injuries. In fact KDB has 1 to 2 months every season. Stones is not world class in the same way KDB is world class so replacing Stones should not mess the team shape up that much. Anyway after last years treble this team has done remarkably well to stay in touch in PL with seven games to go, be up against Madrid in the CL and still in the FA cup.

 

[bluenova]

Possibly. But if the same qualifying criteria was in place last season, the league would have finished with it still being undecided.

In fact our win over Inter would have been the deciding factor and got Liverpool a spot.

They’d have loved that.

Sure - but there's certainly a good chance that it will be decided.

Germany have just the three teams in Europe, while England have five, including the favourites for the three competitions.

Bayern could go out, and Dortmund and Leverkusen still reach the finals, in which case that's a lot closer, but I think there's a strong chance we'll know before we play Spurs.

 

[chris85mcfc]

Nothing makes me more confident than getting to April, 600+ pages on the title race thread and posters doing "just can't see rivals dropping X points" with about 20 points left to play for.

See the same threads for the previous 3 years for further info..

 

[GoatersLeftShin]

Stones is not world class in the same way KDB is world class so replacing Stones should not mess the team shape up that much.

Not quite sure I agree with that.

Stones is arguably one of our most important players as he is very comfortable on the ball, can move forward and defends well. Tactically, he seems to have a similar level of intelligence to 'what Pep wants' as Rodri. When he is on form, we have magnificent defender at the back and a player who's comfortable taking the ball from the keeper and strolling into midfield and there's not many other players who can do that.

I do think Stones is one of the best central defenders this country has ever produced.

 

[youngbob]

Read this.

Jose Mourinho talks to Gary Neville: They wanted us to be the clowns at Anfield - we weren't having that

Exclusive interview: Jose Mourinho reveals all on his desire to stay at Chelsea, his relationship with Eden Hazard, how he inspired his team to beat Liverpool and why he is so dismissive of 'buzzword' coaching

www.telegraph.co.uk

They brought that approach from Mourinho on themselves. Although it wasn’t theur fault, obviously.

Yeah you could tell straight away. From the "weakened" line-up with Kalas and Schwarzer (and an unfancied 21-year-old Mo Salah to draw Liverpool on), to him holding the ball to stop Gerrard grabbing it, all the way through to him marching down the touchline at the final whistle. He stage-managed the entire thing.

 

[BLS]

If there is one game that will decide our title win or not, that will be it. Unfortunately Liverpool have got Spurs at home. I can’t see Liverpool droping any points at home, meaning they will beat Spurs.

i have spurs down to nick a draw there

 

[JewelZee]

Got a mate who's been a season ticket holder for over 30 years, had a chat with him about the game, he said Brighton have gradually got worse as the season has gone on, Metoma has been a huge miss, he suggested in seasons gone by this team would struggle to stay up. He did say that Arsenal looked very solid and assured on the ball and that Brighton didn't give them a game.

Agree, some of it Arsenal is better and some of it Brighton is worse...

 

[goalmole]

This is what football is about. Cheering on your biggest rivals to enhance your chances of winning the league. Watched it in a pub with a few Reds and think I cheered the loudest when mainoo scored. Give me a last game decider over a 100 point season any day of the week.

Lol, me too. I let out a loud spontaneous cheer when Mainoo scored and then instantly felt ashamed of myself.
I couldn't believe I'd done that although I knew why I'd done it.