We are the best team in the league...

Imagine if we were 11 points clear with a game in hand and there was a thread on RAWK saying they were the best team in the league....
 
We are the best team in the league, despite the injuries, the dodgy VAR decisions and the unbelievable luck Liverpool have had this season we will still finish at least second this season convincingly ahead of third place.

Whatever happens this season blues, just remember we've still not had the best season we've ever had... its still to come.
I admire your enthusiasm.

Yet... we've got big problems on defense this year - a fit Laporte would go a long way towards righting our D... but the problem, I think is deeper.

Against a counter-attacking team with pacy forwards, we're caught out time-and-again.

Too, our LB/RB have issues - Walker at right is mostly good on defense and uses pace to recover from positional mistakes - but his offensive game isn't good.

At LB, Mendy is the mirror opposite (well sort of) - that is, he's very lacking on D, but on offense, at least when on form, his crosses are tremendous. Trouble is, he's not at all up to his form at Monaco - maybe increased gametime will help - or maybe injuries have diminished his offensive potential. In either case, when Mendy starts, we're vulnerable on our left; mostly Mendy fails to cut off crosses.

Finally, our press seems off this year - Pep's immediate press following a turnover is lacking in many games.
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TL/DR - offensively we're the best in the league; defensively, we're far too vulnerable to counter-attacks and our defensive press isn't as good as it should be.
 
i think its time to admit that is not the case. Pains me to say it but liverpool are a step ahead this season
The league table reflects results from Aug to date, a period in which Laporte and Sane have been largely absent.

Given two fit squads City are better than Liverpool.
 
I admire your enthusiasm.

Yet... we've got big problems on defense this year - a fit Laporte would go a long way towards righting our D... but the problem, I think is deeper.

Against a counter-attacking team with pacy forwards, we're caught out time-and-again.

Too, our LB/RB have issues - Walker at right is mostly good on defense and uses pace to recover from positional mistakes - but his offensive game isn't good.

At LB, Mendy is the mirror opposite (well sort of) - that is, he's very lacking on D, but on offense, at least when on form, his crosses are tremendous. Trouble is, he's not at all up to his form at Monaco - maybe increased gametime will help - or maybe injuries have diminished his offensive potential. In either case, when Mendy starts, we're vulnerable on our left; mostly Mendy fails to cut off crosses.

Finally, our press seems off this year - Pep's immediate press following a turnover is lacking in many games.
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TL/DR - offensively we're the best in the league; defensively, we're far too vulnerable to counter-attacks and our defensive press isn't as good as it should be.
Were we caught time and time again last season?

Mendy was out for two seasons. He's getting better with every game now. We'll find out what his new level is soon enough.

The press suffered because of player availability. No one in English football presses the ball as well as Sterling, Jesus, and Bernardo. Back that up with Foden and KDB and there's no problem at all.
 
An opportunity for us blues to relax, recoup, and win every other comp bar the PL.

The league has gone.

Just enjoy the football, we haven’t been able to do that for 3 seasons due to unrelenting pressure to win....take a break.
Totally agree last season was feeling sick in the stands when we played Leicester yesterday proper enjoyed it as a game of football, just laughed the other week when we lost to the rags last season wouldn't of spoken for days.
 
Were we caught time and time again last season?

Mendy was out for two seasons. He's getting better with every game now. We'll find out what his new level is soon enough.

The press suffered because of player availability. No one in English football presses the ball as well as Sterling, Jesus, and Bernardo. Back that up with Foden and KDB and there's no problem at all.
>> Were we caught time and time again last season?
We were not. That was last season; our press has substantially degraded this season.

>> Mendy was out for two seasons. He's getting better with every game now. We'll find out what his new level is soon enough.
I agree. But so far, it looks as if he's still terrible on defense, isn't as pacy as he was prior to multiple injuries, and for whatever reason his crossing is off. I'm hopeful that he'll get back to Monaco form... but he may well not.

My take on Mendy is that he relied on his pace for excellence - following multiple injuries, his pace is probably not at all what it used to be.

>> The press suffered because of player availability. No one in English football presses the ball as well as Sterling, Jesus, and Bernardo. Back that up with Foden and KDB and there's no problem at all.
Agree with your assessment of Sterling/Jesus/Bernardo. Disagree entirely with player availability - when were any of these 3 unavailable.

I'm not exactly sure why our press is off this year. Maybe a bit of complacency? Maybe age is catching up with D. Silva and possibly Aguero? But lack of player availability doesn't - for me - seem to be the cause - let alone a contributing factor.
 
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And liverpool could still win by 11 points
Well if they do finish above us by 11 points and we have 98 then they will have damn well deserved the title.

As it stands there is only one team to have won the title with 98 points or more and they have done it twice.

They only lost once last season and still didn't win the league, they have won some tight matches this season whilst not playing well, some of those to come that may go the other way, let us not forget they did have a 10 point league last season and blew it.

A couple of defeats and they may well start to wobble.

Ask me if I think we will win the league and the answer is probably not but I will still be hoping until it is mathematically impossible to do so.
 

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