The Title Race - 2023/24

[chris85mcfc]

Unless our defence tightens up like it did last season we will not win the league or probably either of the cups as well.

Hard to disagree with that

 

[Damanino]

fixture to fixture compared to last season: minus 10 points currently.
this is mainly due to turning wins into losses (Wolves away, Arsenal away) and turning wins into draws (Spurs home, Chelsea away, Pol home, Palace home) and turning a draw into a loss (Villa away).

7 games where did worse.
only 2 games where we did better: rags away was a loss now a win and Newcastle away was a thriller draw now a thriller win.

the 7 games where we did worse I put it down to awful defending and overall the transfer market imo was a bit shit. letting Gundo go, not be able to land Bellingham or Rice, pay big for Nunes who cannot really be relied on much, while Kovacic is all right but simply not fit the lace Gundo's boots really.
trying to make Gvardiol play Roberto Carlos, Doku decent so far but lot to learn still off the ball and quite raw too. and of course KDb missing long long period.
if we can get these minus 10 points to minus 3-4 I think we are OK as 85-86p may be needed to win the league this season.


to bring it down to minus 3/4 points we would need to win quite a lot of games we did last season and do some better results vs Pool, Spurs, Brighton (all away) Brentford (home and away, fuck Toney is back, only team he plays 2 times this season against is us).
even more so if drop points again vs someone who we beat last season.

very unlikely we can repeat 89 points again. for that we would need 46 points of possible 54. would certainly give us the title imo.

worry is if we only do 80-84 points, I think its possible Liverpool doing 85 if they dont run into some injury problems on Salah, van Dijk, Allison etc. and refs keep helping them.

For Pool to get 85 points they need 37 from possible 51. still allows them like 7 draws alongside 10 wins.

this is gonna be close.

Burnley home, Brentford away, Everton home next 3 games for us, well we actually lost the Brentford one last year and had that shit draw vs Lampard last season at home where he was fired soon after as they were really bad.
get 9 points here and all of a sudden we are just 6 points worse off instead of 10 compared to last season.

while Liverpool's next three: Chelsea home, Arsenal away, Burnley home

no fucking way they should get more or same from these 9 than us from our three. that would be horrible.

 

[alexmcity]

fixture to fixture compared to last season: minus 10 points currently.
this is mainly due to turning wins into losses (Wolves away, Arsenal away) and turning wins into draws (Spurs home, Chelsea away, Pol home, Palace home) and turning a draw into a loss (Villa away).

7 games where did worse.
only 2 games where we did better: rags away was a loss now a win and Newcastle away was a thriller draw now a thriller win.

the 7 games where we did worse I put it down to awful defending and overall the transfer market imo was a bit shit. letting Gundo go, not be able to land Bellingham or Rice, pay big for Nunes who cannot really be relied on much, while Kovacic is all right but simply not fit the lace Gundo's boots really.
trying to make Gvardiol play Roberto Carlos, Doku decent so far but lot to learn still off the ball and quite raw too. and of course KDb missing long long period.
if we can get these minus 10 points to minus 3-4 I think we are OK as 85-86p may be needed to win the league this season.


to bring it down to minus 3/4 points we would need to win quite a lot of games we did last season and do some better results vs Pool, Spurs, Brighton (all away) Brentford (home and away, fuck Toney is back, only team he plays 2 times this season against is us).
even more so if drop points again vs someone who we beat last season.

very unlikely we can repeat 89 points again. for that we would need 46 points of possible 54. would certainly give us the title imo.

worry is if we only do 80-84 points, I think its possible Liverpool doing 85 if they dont run into some injury problems on Salah, van Dijk, Allison etc. and refs keep helping them.

For Pool to get 85 points they need 37 from possible 51. still allows them like 7 draws alongside 10 wins.

this is gonna be close.

Burnley home, Brentford away, Everton home next 3 games for us, well we actually lost the Brentford one last year and had that shit draw vs Lampard last season at home where he was fired soon after as they were really bad.
get 9 points here and all of a sudden we are just 6 points worse off instead of 10 compared to last season.

while Liverpool's next three: Chelsea home, Arsenal away, Burnley home

no fucking way they should get more or same from these 9 than us from our three. that would be horrible.

Thanks for the effort. I hope it's more telling that we had 45 pts after 20 games last season, now we have 43 pts, and in contrast to last season we have barely used Stones and KDB, Haaland missed more games than last season, too. We are doing fine, given key absences so far.

 

[Brightwell Bros.]

I see that Liverpool media complex is starting to go up a gear in their predictions. I really hope we can ruin the party by - gasp - being a better football team than the Greatest Team Ever TM. I don't feel the fire in my belly quite as strongly as previous years, but man do I love pissing on their parade.

 

[IrishBlueSince92]

One of the best things about tonight is we’ve got that hodoo off our backs and can go and smash them there in the league hopefully

We totally controlled the game, was the most comfortable we’ve been at that stadium

 

[1Basti]

many points (18) to earn till the end of february ..if we really want to have a genuine shot for the 4peat we have to/should win every game to put pressure on Pool..looking at the schedule (4H/2A) Brentford away & Chelsea at home might be toughest..March will be much more difficult (Opponents & pot. CL Quarterfinal)

 

[Alfie Budd]

many points (18) to earn till the end of february ..if we really want to have a genuine shot for the 4peat we have to/should win every game to put pressure on Pool..looking at the schedule (4H/2A) Brentford away & Chelsea at home might be toughest..March will be much more difficult (Opponents & pot. CL Quarterfinal)

Agree about March being tougher than February but CL quarter final isn't until April.

 

[waspish]

Not one media outlet think Klopp saying he is leaving will effect his team and in fact it will make them go on and win a few trophies!

 

[Bluethemaway]

Not one media outlet think Klopp saying he is leaving will effect his team and in fact it will make them go on and win a few trophies!

Yes, no talk of a negative effect and the uncertainty it could bring to the dippers.
Well I hope like his exercise bike advert, after a lot of hard work, bingo ends up getting nowhere this season.

 

[BlueMoonRisin’]

Not one media outlet think Klopp saying he is leaving will effect his team and in fact it will make them go on and win a few trophies!

The unexpected bombshell of Klopp announcing he's leaving in mid season is bound to have an adverse psychological effect on Liverpool players i think. They now know he's jumping ship in the summer so Klopp will have a battle on his hands to galvanise belief and positivity, especially if/when they suffer an unexpected defeat.

 

[waspish]

The unexpected bombshell of Klopp announcing he's leaving in mid season is bound to have an adverse psychological effect on Liverpool players i think. They now know he's jumping ship in the summer so Klopp will have a battle on his hands to galvanise belief and positivity, especially if/when they suffer an unexpected defeat.

Let's hope so

 

[alexmcity]

The unexpected bombshell of Klopp announcing he's leaving in mid season is bound to have an adverse psychological effect on Liverpool players i think.

I'm afraid 'bound' sounds like wishful thinking. It may have an adverse effect on Liverpool or may not. Nobody knows. If we win the league it won't be because Liverpool suffered from an adverse effect but because City are the best.

 

[BlueMoonRisin’]

I'm afraid 'bound' sounds like wishful thinking. It may have an adverse effect on Liverpool or may not. Nobody knows. If we win the league it won't be because Liverpool suffered from an adverse effect but because City are the best.

Fair enough, we'll see how it affects them when we ramp up the pressure. All we need now is for Salah to announce he's off in the summer: )

 

[shemnel]

The unexpected bombshell of Klopp announcing he's leaving in mid season is bound to have an adverse psychological effect on Liverpool players i think. They now know he's jumping ship in the summer so Klopp will have a battle on his hands to galvanise belief and positivity, especially if/when they suffer an unexpected defeat.

I think seeing it the other way - that the squad will be "desperate to win it for the gaffer" - is equally valid. No one will really know apart from the Liverpool squad themselves. Certainly an interesting twist mid season.

 

[Alfie Budd]

I think seeing it the other way - that the squad will be "desperate to win it for the gaffer" - is equally valid. No one will really know apart from the Liverpool squad themselves. Certainly an interesting twist mid season.

It’s a tough one to call. A lot of the squad will undoubtedly be galvanised but one or two (those with upcoming contract issues perhaps) may well perform at not quite 100% due to the uncertainty of what lies ahead. Those fine margins and what impact (if any) they have are impossible to predict.

 

[Legal Alien]

I think seeing it the other way - that the squad will be "desperate to win it for the gaffer" - is equally valid. No one will really know apart from the Liverpool squad themselves. Certainly an interesting twist mid season.

Well judging by the wankfest in the media about him leaving, i'd be surprised if the league or the refs let anyone beat them now!

 

[BlueMoonRisin’]

Well judging by the wankfest in the media about him leaving, i'd be surprised if the league or the refs let anyone beat them now!

The corruption of VAR bending refs ears is concerning and to retain the title to win it for a record 4th time we'll have to play so well that VAR and bent refs cannot deny us. Pep knows the score and will have us fired up to put the pressure on Liverpool i think.

 

[Charlesfarsbar]

It looks like Pep has settled on his preferred team shape in and out of possession

in possession it’s a 2 3 4 1

Dias Ake

bernardo rodri kovacic

Walker Foden Bobb Gvardiol

Alvarez

Kevin and Grealish would also be perfect in the Foden and Bobb slots , as would Alvarez

Haaland coming back will transform this team as we have lacked a true cutting edge

out of possession it’s a 4 4 2

Walker Dias Ake Gvardiol

bernardo rodri kovacic Bobb

Foden Alvarez

we have been solid in the last two tricky aways but sometimes a bit susceptible to the counter attack as there is space in the channels due-to the full backs playing so high and needing time to get back

it seems we have dispensed with the Stones role stepping into midfield ,probably due to his lack of fitness this season

is this the start of our winning run to the title ?

 

[Legal Alien]

The corruption of VAR bending refs ears is concerning and to retain the title to win it for a record 4th time we'll have to play so well that VAR and bent refs cannot deny us. Pep knows the score and will have us fired up to put the pressure on Liverpool i think.

Oh yeah, Pep will have us fired up...getting Kev, Erling and Stones back while we're in touching distance of them is huge i think.

We could do with getting win at anfailed now, end Bingo's stay in style :-)

 

[Tb1981]

Really Is the time to push on now
Before the next round of the FA cup we have 6 premier league matches (all very winnable and 4 at home) Burnley, Brentford x 2, Everton, Chelsea and Bournemouth
Liverpool have four due to the league cup final including arsenal away
If we can win all 6 then we would be top of the league and bang in form for the run in
Hopefully they drop points at arsenal as well

I know it’s easier said than done!