The Title Race - 2024/25

[69FACUPfinal]

Don't know if anyone else has picked up on the 4 away games on the trot, starting 30th Oct with Spuds, Bournemouth, Sporting CP and finally Brighton on 9th Nov. All in the space of 10 days. Just look at the amount of travelling alone. Then after these fixtures it's yet another enthralling international break. Where exactly do our players get to train or be coached. That averages out at 4 very distant away games every 2.5 days. Hope we've got some really good academy players for backup.

Exactly.

The thing that few folks pick up on is that for the London clubs, there are about 7 AWAY games that are still in and around London every season. I looked at Arses Euro campaign and most of their Euro away games, when followed by an ' away' PL fixture are actually against other London teams.... Feck all travelling. Usually happens around Xmas too, when we may have to schlep to Leicester or Saints ( happens very regularly) someone like Arse or Chavs will get ' away' fixtures at Brentford/ Palace/ Fulham all througout mid/late December/ early January. This surely must be giving those " big' London clubs an unfair advantage EVERY time? No disruptive long distance travelling ( most is probably about 15 miles), meaning players more refreshed and can probably sleep at own gaff and be home an hour or so after final whistle.

The travelling very disruptive for us. That's why every season I want Northern clubs, or at a pinch Midlands clubs getting promoted. The less London clubs the better for me!!

 

[bridgeno1]

Exactly.

The thing that few folks pick up on is that for the London clubs, there are about 7 AWAY games that are still in and around London every season. I looked at Arses Euro campaign and most of their Euro away games, when followed by an ' away' PL fixture are actually against other London teams.... Feck all travelling. Usually happens around Xmas too, when we may have to schlep to Leicester or Saints ( happens very regularly) someone like Arse or Chavs will get ' away' fixtures at Brentford/ Palace/ Fulham all througout mid/late December/ early January. This surely must be giving those " big' London clubs an unfair advantage EVERY time? No disruptive long distance travelling ( most is probably about 15 miles), meaning players more refreshed and can probably sleep at own gaff and be home an hour or so after final whistle.

The travelling very disruptive for us. That's why every season I want Northern clubs, or at a pinch Midlands clubs getting promoted. The less London clubs the better for me!!

Arsenal's fixtures a couple of weeks ago was away at Spurs on the Sunday, away at Atalanta on the thursday then away at the Etihad on the Sunday when City had been at home to Inter a day earlier. So I think for such pivotal fixture more consideration for the recovery could have been given by either moving Arsenal's game at Atalanta to the wednesday or moving the game at the Etihad to the monday as that was a clear advantage for City. Maybe it evens out over a season but games between title contenders should IMHO be treated differently.

 

[Sheikh rattle and roll]

I k

Exactly.

The thing that few folks pick up on is that for the London clubs, there are about 7 AWAY games that are still in and around London every season. I looked at Arses Euro campaign and most of their Euro away games, when followed by an ' away' PL fixture are actually against other London teams.... Feck all travelling. Usually happens around Xmas too, when we may have to schlep to Leicester or Saints ( happens very regularly) someone like Arse or Chavs will get ' away' fixtures at Brentford/ Palace/ Fulham all througout mid/late December/ early January. This surely must be giving those " big' London clubs an unfair advantage EVERY time? No disruptive long distance travelling ( most is probably about 15 miles), meaning players more refreshed and can probably sleep at own gaff and be home an hour or so after final whistle.

The travelling very disruptive for us. That's why every season I want Northern clubs, or at a pinch Midlands clubs getting promoted. The less London clubs the better for me!!

I know when Hull were in the Prem they were considering moving their training ground to London and travelling to Hull for the matches
The thinking was they could attract players that would only want to live in London and mostly it would mean less travelling
Less wages as well because some players wanted move if they had to go North

 

[Inter Me Nan]

We're on one? We haven't lost a Premier League game since last December!

Fair point, I meant more after the bloody nose of losing our best player and dropping points two games on the trot.
Let's remind them we're a machine.

 

[Brightwell Bros.]

We're on one? We haven't lost a Premier League game since last December!

Also...we really don't? It's entirely, perfectly fine for us to drop a point or two between now and Christmas. 5 points, give or take, from top come January and well-placed to avoid the shite of the playoff CL games is our one and only target.

 

[Father Paul]

Don't know if anyone else has picked up on the 4 away games on the trot, starting 30th Oct with Spuds, Bournemouth, Sporting CP and finally Brighton on 9th Nov. All in the space of 10 days. Just look at the amount of travelling alone. Then after these fixtures it's yet another enthralling international break. Where exactly do our players get to train or be coached. That averages out at 4 very distant away games every 2.5 days. Hope we've got some really good academy players for backup.

We will probably send a weak side to Spuds. We have of course just come out of a run of 4 home games on the trot. My longstanding point, in agreement it seems now with Rodri, is that there is too much football, full stop. Some people probably think there is not enough and sure are the players not well enough paid anyway. At a minimum the number of teams in the PL should be reduced to 18 or 16 and teams in Europe should not be involved in the League Cup. Now of course that hits somebody somewhere hard in the pocket so will never happen. But if we are to get serious aboutn player welfare we need to reduce the workload. Perhaps it might start as a reduction in the amount minutes a player is allowed in any given season. This has happened to a certain extent in rugby.

 

[Really_here]

Exactly.

The thing that few folks pick up on is that for the London clubs, there are about 7 AWAY games that are still in and around London every season. I looked at Arses Euro campaign and most of their Euro away games, when followed by an ' away' PL fixture are actually against other London teams.... Feck all travelling. Usually happens around Xmas too, when we may have to schlep to Leicester or Saints ( happens very regularly) someone like Arse or Chavs will get ' away' fixtures at Brentford/ Palace/ Fulham all througout mid/late December/ early January. This surely must be giving those " big' London clubs an unfair advantage EVERY time? No disruptive long distance travelling ( most is probably about 15 miles), meaning players more refreshed and can probably sleep at own gaff and be home an hour or so after final whistle.

The travelling very disruptive for us. That's why every season I want Northern clubs, or at a pinch Midlands clubs getting promoted. The less London clubs the better for me!!

Good point but not a lot can be done about it, think how tough it is for Newcastle.....

 

[Father Paul]

Avoid defeat on the weekend and we're on the joint 7th longest unbeaten league run in English football history.

1 Arsenal 49 2003-2004

2 Liverpool 44 2019-2020

3 Nottingham Forest 42 1977-1978

4 Chelsea 40 2004-2005

5 Leeds 34 1968-1969

6 Liverpool 31 1987-1988

7 Manchester City 30 2017-2018

=7 Arsenal 30 2001-2002

=7 Leeds 30 1973-1974

=7 Burnley 30 1920-1921

=11 Manchester City 29 2023-2024

Didn't think the dippers reached that number. Just shows how well we done to keep them to 1 title during the Klopp era.

 

[Really_here]

We will probably send a weak side to Spuds. We have of course just come out of a run of 4 home games on the trot. My longstanding point, in agreement it seems now with Rodri, is that there is too much football, full stop. Some people probably think there is not enough and sure are the players not well enough paid anyway. At a minimum the number of teams in the PL should be reduced to 18 or 16 and teams in Europe should not be involved in the League Cup. Now of course that hits somebody somewhere hard in the pocket so will never happen. But if we are to get serious aboutn player welfare we need to reduce the workload. Perhaps it might start as a reduction in the amount minutes a player is allowed in any given season. This has happened to a certain extent in rugby.

Remember the League Cup (and FA Cup) provide a chance for the minnows to boost their coffers. Taking the teams in Europe out of the hat narrows their opportunities. I don't agree with the extra CL games and the club World Cup played in USA is purely and simply a money spinning 'contest' that in reality means bugger all. Tradition means fuck all to the money men pressing on with milking the game.

 

[shemnel]

Didn't think the dippers reached that number. Just shows how well we done to keep them to 1 title during the Klopp era.

I know it's mostly football bravado and whatnot, but when people put Klopp's Liverpool down for being jammy or cheats or whatever, they took something away from City - we were flipping exceptional to keep that Liverpool side mostly at bay. They were very good; we were better.