The Title Race - 2023/24

[John Wayne]

Over the course of the season we draw and lose games, usually amid a poor spell of form… so maybe this is when that'll be this season.

On average we draw 5 games a season and lose 5 games a season. So drawing 3 and losing 1 of the next 5 would still leave us with some to spare.

There is of course the Rodri factor too. His return cannot come soon enough and we may see the benefit to him being rested a little further down the line.

I think back to 21/22 when we lost at home to Palace at the end of October. We'd lost our second game after Spurs on day one, and having drawn at home to Southampton and at Liverpool. There wasn't much cheer about the place but we went on a run from November to January that broke the back of the title race. It's what we do and have always done under Pep - have little blips between prolonged periods of excellence.

Nothing is decided yet. We have been down this road many times before. We need to keep faith with this once-in-a-lifetime manager and his methods. Our new signings are still bedding in. And if we don't win it then the world will not end.

 

[MadchesterCity]

So; the deflection to take it in wasn't lucky? Riiiight.

Unlucky perhaps but they bought a ticket

 

[Deleted member 77198]

So; the deflection to take it in wasn't lucky? Riiiight.

No, it’s just football. Everything happens by coincidence and if you take more chances, more things will happen.

 

[Deleted member 77198]

Wow.

Luck is a made up hindsight-based entity in the same bracket as other things that don’t exist like fate and omens etc.

Whether shots are rocketing in the top corner or going to the corner flag and take a deflection that go in, they’ve worked a situation that could lead to a goal… and did so 8 more times than we did in the game. That’s not luck, that’s just doing more than we did.

 

[jimharri]

Luck is a made up hindsight-based entity in the same bracket as other things that don’t exist like fate and omens etc.

Whether shots are rocketing in the top corner or going to the corner flag and take a deflection that go in, they’ve worked a situation that could lead to a goal… and did so 8 more times than we did in the game. That’s not luck, that’s just doing more than we did.

Fine. You're perfectly entitled to your opinion. I'm not going to derail the thread by arguing all day with you.

 

[Jesus H Gabz]

Call me deluded if you wish, but when Kev and Rodri are back and the new guys bed in, I think we'll walk it. We'll go on a run after January. No loses.
Not just me being optimistic either, look how bookies have us..

• Manchester City @ 8/15.
• Liverpool @ 11/2.
• Arsenal @ 11/2.
• Tottenham Hotspur @ 16/1.
• Newcastle @ 33/1.

They know a thing or two.
So call me and the bookies delusional all you want :)

I like the optimism fella but we have to go to some well known graveyards for City in that period, if we want to win it this season we’re gonna have to be a lot closer than last season, the good thing this season is it looks like everyone’s beating each other, the bad is it looks likely to be a 3-4 horse race (for now at least) we’ve been here many times before, hence those odds, but it might be worth a ton on the Arse & dips to cover costs for the CL final at Wembley ;)

 

[JewelZee]

Top 4 race for us I reckon unless we can change something quick smart!

LMFAO...

 

[Deleted member 77198]

There is of course the Rodri factor too. His return cannot come soon enough and we may see the benefit to him being rested a little further down the line.

I think back to 21/22 when we lost at home to Palace at the end of October. We'd lost our second game after Spurs on day one, and having drawn at home to Southampton and at Liverpool. There wasn't much cheer about the place but we went on a run from November to January that broke the back of the title race. It's what we do and have always done under Pep - have little blips between prolonged periods of excellence.

Nothing is decided yet. We have been down this road many times before. We need to keep faith with this once-in-a-lifetime manager and his methods. Our new signings are still bedding in. And if we don't win it then the world will not end.

Our experience means we won’t panic.

There appear to be more good teams at the top of the league this season and teams will be taking points off each other a lot. But only the back four, goalkeeper and Salah have been there and won it before from any of the other teams.

Once we properly get into our stride, we’ll see how we’re taking shape. We’ve probably only just finished pre-season in terms of what Pep would really want the team to have under our belts (first Summer at Bayern, he played 11 pre-season games, all in Germany) and even within that we’ve been short of a number of quality players.

This next set of fixtures will be tough with the CL going on as well. It would be good to tie up the CL group early doors and not have to play a few of them in the final game(s) then head into the Luton Palace Everton SheffUtd games and the CWC. Then see where we are after all that.

If we’re anywhere between leading the pack to 6-8 points behind come the New Year, I’ll be confident.

 

[JewelZee]

What was your opinion 3 years ago? One year ago? Because the start to both of those were worse than this... people here...

Some people never learn...it borders on comical...

 

[pavelsrnicek]

It’s funny but not surprising how over the top reactions are to us losing. We lost, Arsenal are suddenly real contenders (they were before), City aren’t the same team anymore, there’s a hangover from the treble.

Of course we’re not the same team, Gundogan, Mahrez, Laporte, KDB, Stones and Rodri all left or missing this season. Kovacic, Nunes, Doku and Gvardiol are all bedding in. The loss of KDB combined with Gundogan’s departure are having the biggest impact.

Yesterday the absence of Rodri forced us to change our structure, inadvertently neutering our 3 best attackers and still we were very unlucky to lose. It was one of those games Pep is tinkering to fix an obvious issue. It reduced Arsenal to potshots but stifled our attack. Yet I think if we do that in April Kovacic and Lewis will know their roles better and we’d win.

Get Stones back, get Grealish in form and will improve. Rodri’s return fixes a lot. If we can avoid other injuries until KDB returns we should be fine.

After yesterday I’d be more worried about Liverpool than Arsenal. They seem to have strengthened in the wrong areas and Raya doesn’t seem much, if any, upgrade on Ramsdale.