Will we win the league this season?

Lovebitesandeveryfing said:
On 12 November in the treble season, we lost to the team we beat today. At the Etihad, too. This, from the report on the beeb:

Manchester City just crawled over the line against Fulham with a stoppage-time penalty from Haaland but there were no escape this time and they did not deserve one.

City started as if in a daze, conceding early chances, and they were still only half awake even after Toney headed Brentford in front.

It looked like they were back on track after Foden's leveller but for all their increased pressure there was none of their trademark fluency as they were frustrated by Brentford's defensive resilience and determination.

There was then the break for the World Cup. I think very, very few people thought we were going to be PL champions at that point. Nobody so much as conceived we were going to do the European treble.
The great thing about City — and it's been pretty much true since the 2011-12 season, and very true since Guardiola arrived — is that nobody quite knows how the team is going to evolve through the season. The one exception, really, was 2017-18, where we started at A and headed relentlessly to Z in a straight line. Last season, at slightly later than this point in it, City dropped through the floor. We'd been rocky, but nobody quite foresaw, either, quite how far we would plummet. Least of all the boss.
It's interesting being a City supporter, it's fun… I have no idea how this season is going to pan out.
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Albeit, it started in a daze, we looked very much by far a better team then compared to now
 
Fordyboy46 said:
I've seen us playing exactly the same as last season so far, no change at all
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Were 7 points better off from the same games from last season, unbeaten in Europe, top scorers in the league, got the old Foden back, and somehow improved Haarland! And unbeaten in our last 7 games!

Last season Arsenal beat us 5-1 at the Emerates and United beat us at home and we drew at Brentford! We are a lot better this season than last season mate!
 
Stelea said:
It’s a poor league, so if we can stay in there or there abouts and somebody on the recruitment department does their job well in Jan, we may have a chance
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It's not a poor league IMO. It was a poor league when us and Liverpool both got over 90 points and made it like the Scottish PL! Having teams like Palace scoring last minute winners against the champions isn't poor, its competitive. mid table teams will throw up a few surprise results in this title race! just like Wigan, Everton and Sunderland did to us and united in 2012! that was far from poor!
 
Ysabel 123 said:
It's not a poor league IMO. It was a poor league when us and Liverpool both got over 90 points and made it like the Scottish PL! Having teams like Palace scoring last minute winners against the champions isn't poor, its competitive. mid table teams will throw up a few surprise results in this title race! just like Wigan, Everton and Sunderland did to us and united in 2012! that was far from poor!
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It’s a poor ‘standard’ league if we are 3 points off top playing our dross
 
Ysabel 123 said:
They have to play us away with 5 games to go!

United were 8 points clear with five games to go in 2012, one of them was away to us!

Pressure needs calm heads, Arteta is hysterical in pre season friendlies!
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Difference being that wonderful team had peak Yaya, peak Sergio, peak Vinny, peak Dave, peak Barry, peak Nasri.

They’d all be automatic starters in this team
 
coolcity said:
That's it, concentrate on the negatives.

Your last sentence is just plain stupid. Injuries are not an excuse, they are what happens when players are playing 60+ matches a season for club and country. Nobody can litigate for the sheer number of long term injuries we had to key players last season and we still have a few now. Our three best signings, arguably, in Marmoush, Khusanov and Cherki are still out. Kovacic is still out. What do we do, go and buy another 4 players?

You can't have 24+ potential Ballon d'Or winners in ANY squad because top players want to be out there playing, not sat on the bench in case another player gets injured. That's why we have players wanting to leave from time to time, Alvarez for example.

EVERY whinger on this board makes the same mistake, they seek perfection and you'll never find it.
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why do people take such things to such extremes.

Im not saying we need 24 BDor winners in the squad. We just need strength in depth...look at the squad that won the treble and the one we have now...in terms of ability and experience they arent even close and that is fine as we are in transition.

Injuries happen but when you have strength in depth the squad can cover it and we are not in that position at present. we dont have quality or experience in depth ....the reason I mention experience is that players like Bobb for instance could be top level but they aint yet...Nico G another.

No one is seeking perfection but winners always seek to be better.......you settle for less if you want thats up to you.
 
Ysabel 123 said:
They have to play us away with 5 games to go!

United were 8 points clear with five games to go in 2012, one of them was away to us!

Pressure needs calm heads, Arteta is hysterical in pre season friendlies!
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6 to go in 2012. Then they lost to Wigan and it was 5 ahead with 5 to play
 
Ysabel 123 said:
Were 7 points better off from the same games from last season, unbeaten in Europe, top scorers in the league, got the old Foden back, and somehow improved Haarland! And unbeaten in our last 7 games!

Last season Arsenal beat us 5-1 at the Emerates and United beat us at home and we drew at Brentford! We are a lot better this season than last season mate!
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There is no R in Haaland. He's been here long enough to learn how to spell his surname fucking correctly. The amount of posters on here who can't even spell his name is beginning to do my head in.
 
Ysabel 123 said:
It's not a poor league IMO. It was a poor league when us and Liverpool both got over 90 points and made it like the Scottish PL! Having teams like Palace scoring last minute winners against the champions isn't poor, its competitive. mid table teams will throw up a few surprise results in this title race! just like Wigan, Everton and Sunderland did to us and united in 2012! that was far from poor!
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I think the mid-table is as strong as it has ever been. Probably the strongest it has been to be fair.

However, the top end is nowhere near the level it was a few years ago when us and Liverpool were fighting it out.

The top end of the table is probably the weakest it has been for 10 years when Leicester won it, or when Chelsea won it under Conte or Mourinho.

Same could be said around Europe though.

Barca, Real Madrid, Atletico, Italian teams, German teams are all weaker than they were 10 years ago.
 
The Stockport Iniesta said:
There is no R in Haaland. He's been here long enough to learn how to spell his surname fucking correctly. The amount of posters on here who can't even spell his name is beginning to do my head in.
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It's not as if he's one of the most famous names in world football or anything.

If it's any consolation, you're not alone in being pissed off by this. Dias/Diaz and Nunes/Nunez also get on my nerves.
 
Like I said we just have to do enough to stay within touching distance of whoever is leading the pack. All the talk has been about Liverpool & Arsenal so we are in a great position where we can remain under the radar and then make our move and strike when the time is right.
 
Stelea said:
It’s a poor league, so if we can stay in there or there abouts and somebody on the recruitment department does their job well in Jan, we may have a chance
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Isn’t it just, we have been barely average yet could be top this morning (on goals scored) without that very late equaliser at the Emirates.
 
Stelea said:
It’s a poor ‘standard’ league if we are 3 points off top playing our dross
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LOL..Dross? You sure about that ? Personally I'm enjoying our playing style. It's a new young team with some long term injuries. Rodri's back (sort of), we have the best striker in europe in top form and we'd be sitting top if it weren't for that late equalizer at the emirates.
 
SambaStyle said:
Poor league my ass.

Very strong league this year.
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I thinknthat's what could be the difference for us this year. With so much potential upset each week, whoever can put together consistent runs will nose ahead - and as we've shown, even with shaky-ish starts, once we get into the season and especially the run-in, we can often find those...
 
Since the first 2 games, we've won 5 and drawn 2 in all competitions. At the same time we are not entirely convincing in that we need to score more goals when we are on top in games.

I believe that Foden and Doku have made significant improvements in their game, and that players like Khusanov, O'Reilly and Bobb are also playing very well. Reijnders and Bobb produced some very fine moments in the first half at Brentford. If those 2 players can turn good approach play into goals then we will become stronger.

We are progressing very well and the results prove it. The results categorically reflect improvements in our team, not sub-standard opponents. The idea that City's good form reflects badly on the Premier League is nonsense. This league has never been stronger. Brentford are a throw-back to Wimbledon and Stoke, but that does not mean they are easy to beat, especially at home.
 
simon23 said:
No and on the way we are playing we dont deserve to.....

Arsenals to lose imho

Hopefully some underdog comes forward and does a leicester as that would be incredibly funny with the ensuing meltdown from the Arsenal fans
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I'll be honest I thought the same, but I watched Barca when i watched a lot of La Liga, when they were average/ inconsistent and won league titles because of one player and I'm not saying Haaland is at that level as the little magician Messi but the way he is scoring and getting us points when if he's not there we wouldn't be getting those 3 points is Messi esque at Barca under Bartomeu. Or like a inform Suarez both got Barca points when they shouldn't really have gotten them.

Barca were average consistently average, but he dragged them to a league title, sometimes when you have an anomaly of a player like Haaland you can win major honours with players not at that level in the team. They drag you to major honours. Because they are that good. You don't have to play consistently well as long as you have them.

This Haaland is the best he's ever been the most complete he's ever been. We've got two anomalies in this team a striker that is probably going to go down as the best striker in Premier league history and Donnarumma who is the best goalkeeper in the world at stopping the ball going into his net.

those two players who are levels above anyone else in their postion can drag you to titles/trophies.
 
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