The Title Race - 2023/24

How many points will be needed to win the league?

  • Total voters
    446
  • Poll closed .
Alan Harper's Tash said:
Been thinking about why we always seem to be able to outlast our title rivals year after year.

I think it started on 16 December 2020, when Pep made a huge change in his approach.

This was following the 1-1 draw with West Brom, where he changed to the false 9. This in itself was a large factor in us winning the league that season, but the other change is why we have won it each season since.

We all know that Arsenal and Liverpool press like madmen. Arteta basically copied Pep’s approach and added some Atletico shithousery to allow their lungs some rest.

What Pep decided in Dec 2020 was a way for us to control games by running less. It was highlighted in the documentary of that season.

This running less allows us to retain more energy for longer and as we go into the run in, we’re fresher than our pressed-out opponents.
Click to expand...
Similar, to the above but without the false 9, we went for slower controlled possession in 18/19. Aguero in any case was far more involved at that point.

After the defeat at Newcastle away, which was directly before the 14 game winning streak, we completely suffocated teams and often with less tasking slower passing sequences. Pep found the perfect balance between performance (ie winning) and control.

14 games played and only 4 goals conceded (and 2 of those when we had the win in the bag)
6 games where it was 1-0 at 90 mins.
xG against averaging 0.35 p90
Shots on target against c1.5 p90

Defensively those stats were nuts.
 
Alan Harper's Tash said:
Arsenal do the same, but their pressing is far more intensive. They’ve been better at it than us this season so far, but the last two games have shown a drop off.

It’ll be interesting to see if they can regain that energy, especially if they lose in Germany.
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They don't do the same, we have had more possession than them. You are right that their pressing is more intensive, that's why they have conceded fewer chances.

They are not likely to regain that energy before Spurs away. They play 3 days after Villa, then 3 days after Bayern and then 3 days after Wolves. On paper, they may have enough time before Spurs, but it was the same before Villa, and they weren't fresh in the 2nd half.
 
Just had a peek at twitter and my god, both Liverpool and Arsenal fans have well and truly gone off the deep end. Liverpool fans trying to say that teams try more against them than us, conveniently forgetting that Palace have been our bogey team in the last few seasons. Arsenal and Liverpool fans consoling each other, backing up each other's wild, half baked statements. Can you imagine what it will be like if we win the league etc.
 
Alan Harper's Tash said:
Been thinking about why we always seem to be able to outlast our title rivals year after year.

I think it started on 16 December 2020, when Pep made a huge change in his approach.

This was following the 1-1 draw with West Brom, where he changed to the false 9. This in itself was a large factor in us winning the league that season, but the other change is why we have won it each season since.

We all know that Arsenal and Liverpool press like madmen. Arteta basically copied Pep’s approach and added some Atletico shithousery to allow their lungs some rest.

What Pep decided in Dec 2020 was a way for us to control games by running less. It was highlighted in the documentary of that season.

This running less allows us to retain more energy for longer and as we go into the run in, we’re fresher than our pressed-out opponents.
Click to expand...

That's one part of it, the other is rotation. Pep does it from the very start of the season to ensure we're fit and firing at this stage. We've had to flog players a little more due to the various injuries suffered, but the fact we're top when Stones has featured in 12 league games and Grealish and De Bruyne 9 is quite staggering.

We've not got this huge squad. We just use ours. There's no "best 11". It depends on who we play and what we need. Foden and Alvarez have played 2,449 minutes in the league. By comparison, White, Saka, Gabriel, Saliba, Odegaard and Rice all exceed this for Arsenal. Saliba has played 2,880 minutes, featuring in every single game. Physical and mental fatigue is natural when you play that much.

I'm sure if you look across all competitions they've probably flogged them in the CL as well.

By trusting our squad and using it, we can maintain standards through to the end even with changes. Haaland, Stones and De Bruyne rested against Villa. Foden and Bernie against Palace and Stones joined them against Luton.

Arsenal had to take Odegaard off against Villa because for some reason they thought it was worthwhile playing him at home to Luton. It's inexperience from Arteta in my opinion. Pep knows you rotate up to this point so you can give it all from here on out. We'll rotate against Chelsea in the Cup and then it will be a constant message of one more game lads and you're closer to the title, this is what you fight for all season, you can be tired in the summer just go and do it.
 
supercity88 said:
We'll rotate against Chelsea in the Cup and then it will be a constant message of one more game lads and you're closer to the title, this is what you fight for all season, you can be tired in the summer just go and do it.
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We'll rotate after Chelsea too, but to a lesser extent. We have 6 excellent defenders, Pep will rotate them till the end. We have good wingers, Pep will rotate Grealish, Doku, Bobb and may use even Alvarez on the wing.

The players who will play with less rotation are Rodri, Foden and Haaland, mostly Rodri.
 
I froze in horror last night looking at our remaining fixtures, after I discovered that if we get past Madrid tomorrow we will have to play away/travel to Brighton and Forest within a timescale of around 46 hours.
Just couldn't imagine the league doing this to the Rags or dippers if they were in our position.
It's crazy
 
Kippax77 said:
I froze in horror last night looking at our remaining fixtures, after I discovered that if we get past Madrid tomorrow we will have to play away/travel to Brighton and Forest within a timescale of around 46 hours.
Just couldn't imagine the league doing this to the Rags or dippers if they were in our position.
It's crazy
Click to expand...
And it will make it that little bit sweeter if we win it again.
 
Kippax77 said:
I froze in horror last night looking at our remaining fixtures, after I discovered that if we get past Madrid tomorrow we will have to play away/travel to Brighton and Forest within a timescale of around 46 hours.
Just couldn't imagine the league doing this to the Rags or dippers if they were in our position.
It's crazy
Click to expand...
If we get through, the Brighton game moves to Wednesday 8pm and Forest Saturday 530pm. Not 72 hours but a bit more than 46 hours. Still a big task but our boys can do it.
 
Kippax77 said:
I froze in horror last night looking at our remaining fixtures, after I discovered that if we get past Madrid tomorrow we will have to play away/travel to Brighton and Forest within a timescale of around 46 hours.
Just couldn't imagine the league doing this to the Rags or dippers if they were in our position.
It's crazy
Click to expand...
Think your maths is a little out. We play either Thursday then Sunday, or Wednesday then Saturday.
 
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