The Title Race - 2024/25

[Damanino]

quite a few big games coming between our rivals, Chelsea and Arse both playing dippers, also vs each other, and both playing vs Barcodes as well. Rags-Chelsea in there as well and its all before the next int. break around mid November. so its a much more busy period for rivals than for us (next 4-5 weeks), would be really beneficial not to drop a single point now vs mostly lower half sides.

we need to get our acts together in terms of our pace, defending, and just keep creating more chances with hopefully Foden finding his form from last season, Gundo also, and Kevin coming back and stays fit hopefully while winger starting to add more end product like Doku started just now. Rodri out still a big issue.

Foden did 19 G + 8 A last season which was his best ever and won the Player of the year for that rightly so, but is on 0+0 so far and almost 20% of the rounds are behind us of course he played little due to Euros and some illness, but its time to pick it up. he didnt miss many minutes of PL last season, he played 33 as starter and 2 as a sub sent on so it was only 3 games he did not feature at all. chances are those minutes will be less this season as he already almost missed as much as last season and he may get an injury later on, so his numbers from last season will be hard to replicate imo. if he comes close thats already good, but bit of a worry as Alvarez decent numbers are gone as well and Rodri had immense numbers for a number 6 too which also gone...
huge pressure now on Gundo, Foden, KDB to put this numbers back and we need Haaland to stay fit and firing all season and of course wingers pick it up and deliver goals and assists. I dont like Saka having 7 assist already from right wing which is the same as Savio, Bernardo, Grealish, Doku have together. we can do more from wings, and we will also need to return some of that end product that we sold or wont have due to injury. even the smaller KDB injuries are effecting us badly, he cannot stay fit to start 32-33 games for sure but if he could he is a player who could do 15 G+15A, not many players can do that but we are lucky if he can start 20-22 games. we really need to manage his minutes dont overplay him 3x in a row for 90 mins etc.

nice on Kova being on 3 goals already, did not expect him to add much at all given his track record in PL, but 3 goals in 7 rounds is nice (especially as they were crucial goals rather than scoring the 5th or 6th in a 6-1 win). would be fantastic if he can get close to 9-10.

 

[lasereyes]

Reality doesn't work like that, though. Nobody can be sure about outcomes.

It was difficult enough to beat Burnley and Leicester 1:0 without additional CL games and with injuries to important players. Two more CL games around the final PL games might have cost us the PL. And the CL wasn't guaranteed either. The final was vs Liverpool and any notion that the win was 100 % guaranteed would be silly.

The cold truth was we lost vs Spurs in 2019, being very poor in the 1st leg. Compare that tie to the tie vs Bayern in 2023 or the Liverpool tie in 2018 to the tie vs Madrid in 2023 and the gap in quality is pretty obvious. Underestimating the team that decimated all of Liverpool, Arsenal, Bayern and Real in April/May 23 by 3-4 (!) goals is bonkers.

I tend to agree on 2018/19 but not 2017/18. We would have beaten the Scousers in that quarter without the bus wrecking and home-town ref'ing. And with us way clear in PL, that would have been a superb opportunity for a Carabou Treble

 

[lasereyes]

But since 17/18 we haven't "often" fallen to pieces. Liverpool have won twice out of six league games. Agree one win only is not the ebst stat.

We would have won in 2021 if Milner had been correctly sent off for 2 out his 3-4 yellow card offences. And 2019 had the infamous Arnold OliVAR handball then Fabinho goal 30 second later. So 1-3-2 is not a bad record when you take that into account

 

[alexmcity]

I tend to agree on 2018/19 but not 2017/18. We would have beaten the Scousers in that quarter without the bus wrecking and home-town ref'ing. And with us way clear in PL, that would have been a superb opportunity for a Carabou Treble

I think we were unlucky in that tie with Liverpool. Several refereeing mistakes influenced the outcome. Still, it would have been a bit close without the mistakes. Unlike us destroying Real, the reigning CL champions, in 2023.

In terms of highest level of football, the Treble winners were the best, and up there with historic teams like Sacchi's Milan. The 17/18 were the best in purely league terms, but overall the 22/23 was a better, much more difficult to beat team. We are likely to break the record for consecutive unbeaten games in Europe/CL in few weeks. Also, 73 games unbeaten with Rodri in all competitions. That's a level that no other English team has ever reached.

 

[gordondaviesmoustache]

I think we were unlucky in that tie with Liverpool. Several refereeing mistakes influenced the outcome. Still, it would have been a bit close without the mistakes. Unlike us destroying Real, the reigning CL champions, in 2023.

In terms of highest level of football, the Treble winners were the best, and up there with historic teams like Sacchi's Milan. The 17/18 were the best in purely league terms, but overall the 22/23 was a better, much more difficult to beat team. We are likely to break the record for consecutive unbeaten games in Europe/CL in few weeks. Also, 73 games unbeaten with Rodri in all competitions. That's a level that no other English team has ever reached.

Never underestimate what the 18/19 team achieved. They deserve to be considered.

 

[Nevizade]

Never underestimate what the 18/19 team achieved. They deserve to be considered.

I think that team is underrated partially because of how that season played out, from memory the run-in wasn't enjoyable at all. We had to win every game from the end of January onwards and there were plenty of them that were 1-0/2-1 wins etc.

 

[gordondaviesmoustache]

I think that team is underrated partially because of how that season played out, from memory the run-in wasn't enjoyable at all. We had to win every game from the end of January onwards and there were plenty of them that were 1-0/2-1 wins etc.

We were always in control in all of those last 14 games and I think, only behind once, for about a minute against Brighton, but yes, a lot of those scorelines were close.

 

[Axel Freed]

We were always in control in all of those last 14 games and I think, only behind once, for about a minute against Brighton, but yes, a lot of those scorelines were close.

Didn't feel like it at Burnley !!

 

[gordondaviesmoustache]

Didn't feel like it at Burnley !!

Sorry, I forgot Burnley!

 

[alexmcity]

Never underestimate what the 18/19 team achieved. They deserve to be considered.

IIRC, the 2nd half of the 18/19 season was the best ever in the big leagues points wise: 54 from 57. Also, we had some memorable performances, 2:1 vs Liverpool, 6:0 vs Chelsea....

It was a fantastic season, only not as fantastic as the 22/23 season in terms of performances: not just the CL trophy but the utterly dominant football of 22/23 against the best teams in Europe.