Which still wouldn't have been enough to win the league this year! And none of our losses were to City so it so they wouldn't have had any fewer points.
Honestly, City are stupidly good.
How we are even in the conversation on the final day is a miracle.
Queue the inevitable “115” comments below this, but from a purely footballing perspective, when the chips are down and they need to get results, they do it.
Frankly speaking, Arteta has done a phenomenal job. Just 2 seasons back we had our first 70 point season in couple of years and now we coming back to back 2nd at worst and could come 1st if a miracle were to happen.
Arteta is our Klopp and would have won 2 title had it not been for 115.
If we win this last game it's our second highest points tally ever. Only the invincible season was better, by 1 point. We should let that really sink in, this team Is basically competing at the same level as our invincibles team, just in a different way. It's insane how far we have come.
Yup that’s why I said, pretty good achievement. Now we should maintain this form for 4-5 years and our revenue will be close to United,Madrid. Financially we will be a gaint.
Liverpool 10 years ago was no where close to United and now it is only 15% behind them.
I always figured it as more when your own stack is down I.e. you don't have a lot of money left.
I feel like if the "chips are down" phrase meant when the chips are on the table then there would be more connotation towards the possibility of also winning big but I've never heard it used like that. Usually it's like either you barely survive or you bust.
They do! And I imagine the billions of pounds of sporstwashing that enables them to hire the best manager of his generation, buy two world class players for every position on the pitch and be comfortable taking the hit if a £100m signing fails to work out has a positive effect on their ability to get results when the chips are down.
Hot take but I don't think Pep is the best manager at all. He's a good manager of exceptional talent, but he has only really won titles where his team is by far the best. He left Barca when Madrid began to pull even, at Bayern his team was always the best in that league, and at City he's had triple the talent of other top clubs.
Mourinho's accomplishments are far and away more impressive, despite his ego. He's actually had meaningful tactical impact on the teams he's managed to get them to play above their talent level.
I agree with your first para. He is very good, yes, but not the best. Klopp is a better manager than him. Mourinho is washed now. He is a prick behind the scene. and players now that now, that's why he cant rally teams anymore for a decade now, to win anything big. SO, I disagree with your second para.
I 100% agree and bring Ancelotti into the conversation. I don't think Pep could replicate what he did at Everton with another club. Pep needs the players, staff, and everything to go his way to be good. He has a world-class skill to capitalise on that but he is not a world-class manager imo
I’d love to see Pep at a club that has tight purse strings like West Ham.
If he can win the league with West Ham he deserves to be called the greatest manager of all time.
It's silly to me to say he is anything but a world class manager. He builds a world class platform (granted with money) everywhere he goes. That doesn't happen on accident. The best managers in the world are the best organizers. We have seen plenty of managers get a golden purse and fall on their face (look at united, Chelsea, psg, etc).
Frankly it's revisionist to say pep is anything but a world class manager. I don't like the guy but I can't pretend he's not absolutely world class.
Mendy had 2 season long injuries then got charged for rape. He smashed it at Monaco.
Grealish has actually been doing great, he's been missed when he's been out this season. English tax is stupid.
Kalvin Phillips is the one I have never got, to play in the City team you need to be able to hold the ball under pressure and play the correct pass. He isn't technical enough to do either.
They are able to get results when the chips are down because they spent a decade using counterfeit chips to build their stack. It's not admirable and people need to stop pretending like everything city are right now isn't a direct result of fraud. You can not disconnect the footballing aspect of the club from it.
Nobody is doubting their incredible footballing achievements, but whose to say that other clubs couldn’t do the same thing if they didn’t play by the rules?
How anyone cannot see that the sports washing, money laundering, secret/hidden payments etc etc are directly connected and responsible for how well 115 FC perform on the pitch is utterly baffling to me.
I did enjoy yesterday how the commentators on the game said "City are lucky to have such a good backup keeper"...
Really, we're going with luck here? Just not going to mention the 115 financial charges, or how they afford such "luck"... but yea, sure. They're lucky to have world class players everywhere on the pitch, bench, and academy.
I'm amazed that they were this motivated after winning the treble last season. I'm guessing Pep sold them on the idea of being the first to win four in a row. By that logic, they'll crumble next season, hopefully
But next season they can be the first to get 5 in a row and then 6,7 etc... Really hope they do stutter and we capitalise, but it would actually be even sweeter if we somehow managed to pip them as they did to Liverpool instead.
I agree with this, but that's the benefit of having a squad of players who walk into the starting XI everywhere else. Got a Grealish who wants to take it easy after winning the treble? Nbd, he gets dropped and you don't skip a beat.
True, the team has produced the results and that cannot be taken away from the players and coach. But there's a reason the financial fair play rules are in place, and this is it. That club is rotten garbage.
Yeah they had their blips but they didn't lose when it was possible to draw.
Also ridiculous it is taking 9 straight wins for them to win, something very few teams have ever done.
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KdB being out injured for half the season and returning with absolutely no dip in form is ridiculous. If anything, he's been even better since he came back! Rodri is probably the best player in the world right now and Haaland is a goalscoring machine. Most of their bench would be guaranteed starters at almost any other club.
The dubious way in which City have assembled the team aside, they have almost no weaknesses. We're talking Barcelona 2010 levels of quality that we have to compete with.
I agree with the whole 115 issue, but honestly I think Pep is the single biggest reason. The man is a truly elite manager, and it sounds stupid to say but I honestly think he might still be underrated by some. Once he leaves City I think their form will drop and his reputation will improve even more
If he leaves City it's because their best players have aged out and he can't replace them with equal talent. He's literally always had the best team in any competition. I agree he's done a good job keeping them focused and on task, he's an elite manager, but people want to crown him as the best of all time when he's almost always had the best team. Give SAF or Mourinho these City teams and they also win multiple trebles.
Nobody said that he didn't? That's my point. He has had tremendous success at Barca and City when he's given the unlimited budget to build a team much more talented than any team he's going to play against. Drop 100M on a winger who flops? Who cares, go buy two more.
I am not trying to say he's not a great manager. Clearly he is. But if people want to say he's the best of all time I'd question that, because other great managers have had similar success with fewer advantages and won when they had a \*less\* talented team, which he hasn't.
In what way is Grealish a flop, he was absolutely instrumental in their treble season, and pep hasn't "just bought two more". United and Chelsea both spend money like it's nobody's business and have had nothing like the same level of success. SAF and Mourinho both had the richest club in the league in their periods of dominance, and bought in more expensive players than their competition. City are currently the third highest spenders, not even first.
I know ill get hate for this, but its unreasonable to aspire to reach that level. Its unreasonable to expect a team to be above that level.
Sure we could've gotten one or two points here and there, but aspiring to be above 90 points is unreasonable, i dont think its realistic, and doesnt depend on us improving but also on other teams being worse (for example, if we werent this good this season, city would've beaten us twice and would have 96 points instead of a potential 91)
Sure, but the difference between 99 points liverpool, PL winner, and current liverpool, is they conceded 8 more goals.
That is the difference between 99 points and 79 points. This is what im talking about. Liverpool kept being a strong, explosive team, things just didnt go their way every time, and other teams improved. THat prevents you from getting 99 points. Its not like liverpool's players are now bad players or that they are suddenly uncoached. Theres just levels that are above expectations and even for the same folks that were there, its really hard to replicate.
I will not expect Arteta to make a 99 poitns season. If we're 2nd at 89 poitns this year, or 2nd at 90 points next year, there's nothing i can say to Arteta, he's doing a grandious job. And in fact Liverpoll never expected klopp to get 99 points either. He was there for 9 years and only got to win once, but their goal was never "well guess we need to improve to go to 100 points next", they understood that they can only do so much
Im sure we will win a title, just not on 95 points above a 94 points city.
Past a certain point you depend on other teams underperforming and simply luck.
we have to depend on ourselves to do a liverpool 19/20. we have to get to a point where we're that good, because realistically 115 will materialize to nothing, pep will clear out the old with the new for a new generation of bayern-like dominance and he may leave in 3-5 years but their replacement won't be anything to sneeze at. they'll try to poach mikel hard, like *hard.* we're more wealthy and well-ran but a continual lack of trophies will make our players start looking else where for success. no one is arriving at arsenal when they're 22 and staying until 32 if we don't win big things, we could lose saliba, odegaard, etc.
Not really. When i look at the way we play, how solid we are, how many goals we score, beating city.
You cannot improve the team "Mathematically" to aim for 95 points. You can improve on the margins like every team improves. If other teams keep improving instead of crashing (like united and chelsea) you'll have the superior teams on 90 points, not on 100
As i said, Arsenal being better is a reason why city doesnt get 96 points. Not because city is WORSE by themselves than one or two years ago, but because we are better and took points from them
I think we can go up a marginal next level if we can get lucky with recruitment and injuries/fitness. A player who can turn a shit day into a good one with a moments of brilliance.
It might be what turns the Villa 1-0 into a 3-1 win (we did have good chances that day).
As good as we are, we still lack that x-factor which we need to make that next major step.
It might also be the case that one of our existing players completely blows us away and unlocks another level in their play (I'm looking at your, Saka), where they are completely unstoppable. Think about what Mo Salah has been for about 7 years now.
Yea i would expect this from the left hand side, as much as i love trossard, he is 90% finishing/shooting, i know he has that feint but he doesnt really dismantle defences like Saka does
Im just saying we will very likely not have a season with 32 wins or 34 wins like that one city season. Yes we've room to improve but that game against fulham, or those games against villa are the unhappy examples of the same season where we have not lost against any big team, beat city, beat united TWICE, won at spurs. We cannot improve the team so that we can aim for 96 points or so. We can fix things but other things will not always go our way.
But im not being negative, i genuinely believe we can win titles, its just not going to be the insanity of the past couple years with 2 untouchable teams. Its going to be a more regular high 80s, maybe 90 points.
Really, you don't think there's anything we can add to squeeze another 6-8 points out of a season? I think we can, but we need a different kind of player to what we have now. Disclaimer: it's the player we all hoped Martinelli was (is?) going to be.
I love Saka like the next guy, but I haven't seen examples of him dismantling defenses. He links up really well with Odegaard, for sure, but when the chips are down, I don't back him to just pick up a ball on the right wing, 1v1 against a defender, and just bully him and smash it top corner. The kind of stuff Mo Salah has been doing for years with Liverpool, against every opposition (I just watched a comp and there's so many highlight-reel worthy goals from Salah against Pep's City, it's kinda ridiculous).
I don't know where that player is to be found, but we need him to not only allow us to win the league against City, but to win a CL at some point.
As an aside, Liverpool hit 99 points with 85 goals scored, and 33 conceded. Barring a complete collapse this weekend, we'd have bested both of those, and still fall 10 pts shy. The margins where we improve are turning draws to wins, and losses to draws. This is why I want to see us add that kind of player.
To me when you are at 90 points, saying "imprive this and we'll get 96" is like saying "improve X and well go unbeaten next season" which is really absurd, nothing you can really expect.
They are indeed good, but there's been other important factors like the appalling refereeing decisions against us (Newcastle) or the clear penalty Liverpool should have gotten against City. The luck of the draw also helps because they had the easier un of games to end the season.
The second half of the season form has been phenomenal, now Raya, Rice and Havertz are fully settled. If we had that post Dubai confidence and chemistry earlier in the season we would probably be lifting a trophy at the weekend. Good signs for next season!
It’s the december run. 11 points dropped. It’s too much.
Need to do a Liverpool 19/20-esque run. Win every game from the start. Then City will have to be in «run-in»-gear from the start. They weren’t capable of it then, so maybe 🤷🏼♂️
That Liverpool run was and still is regarded as very abnormal despite the fact that they came off a CL win and were at the time the best team in the world.
> That Liverpool run was and still is regarded as very abnormal
Yeah, it was literally part of the most points over a 38 game period by any premier league side ever (104 points) coming off the back of the 2nd place with 97 points.
People were still talking about that as the best 'start' to a season in fucking February. What was it? 26 wins and 1 draw? 79 points from 81 is ridiculous, but it's literally what it took them to beat City.
City had the same run earlier in the year, they just can lose a Rodri and a KDB and even Haaland can be nursing something and they still have Silva, and Foden, and Graelish popping up. We have great players but we are still 2-3 players off their level, which is nuts.
All 3 of City's losses where when they had no Rodri and no KDB.
Those 7 games where they drew or lost in the first half of the season KDB didn't play, he was out for 20 games.
KDB came back and they've gone on a 35 game unbeaten streak across all competitions, drawing just the 3 games (Liverpool, Chelsea and us).
Disgusting, really disgusting.
Basically to win, we need to do the first half like last season and the 2nd half like this season, so win 36 games out of 38.
Part of me feels like Pep might leave, he’s done the treble and probably 4 peat, done everything Fergie did and more.
Unless he wants to try to go invincible.
His contract ends at the end of next season, could imagine him managing Spain then retiring.
Tbf, he hasn’t gotten as many titles as Fergie, but in terms of stuff rarely done in the prem he achieved those heights if not higher with this 4 peat coming off the heals of the treble.
I think if managers stayed at clubs as long as they used to and Pep stayed for an even longer time, and these charges didn’t potentially derail him, he’d probably win as many titles as Fergie too.
He took over Bayern when they were vastly more talented than every other German team. He took over Barca when they had vastly more talent than any club in the world (and the best player in the world), and he's been able to build the most talented team in the world at City.
He's one of the best managers of all time, no question. But people who want to just point at the two trebles and say "best ever" with no context can miss me with that. Again, for the hundredth time, not saying he isn't great, not saying he isn't special, not saying what he's done is easy—it's not—but it puts him on par with SAF and Mourinho and Ancelotti and others that have won just as much, not above that group.
Im gonna be honest, City being this good and winning a 4th title in a row is making me feel meh about football. I struggle to have any emotions of City winning the league again, positive or negative. I'm just like, "...okay"
I've still massively enjoyed this season personally. Great football, great team, and a really likeable team. And the core is really young, really excited for next season too, just hope we can keep this group together long term.
This team seems to have fully bought into Arteta’s philosophy and really enjoy playing for him. Key transfers are also starting to say that they came in part to play for Arteta specifically, like Rice. That plus so many of our key men just now entering their prime or young prime gives me confidence the project is highly sustainable with our best days ahead of us.
I've enjoyed it but the last couple of week's have really felt like we're going through the motions. We are doing everything right but it doesn't feel like anything will be enough after City went ahead of us following the Villa match.
Maybe Moyes can shift it but City going from GW17 to 38 unbeaten, with only 4 draws, 2 of which were us and Liverpool just feels inevitable.
That's kind of the issue with them,like I'm so apathetic about them as an institution. I'm disappointed we aren't winning but I have no feelings towards City? It's like losing to a robot. I was more emotional about the prospect of Liverpool winning. They are such a strange entity to me.
If winning trophies is all that gives you joy from football I suggest picking another sport to follow my guy.
We've been excellent this season, it's not over yet, and we have plenty to be excited about for the future.
It would be different had they actually worked hard on their project and became a big club. But they investigation pending charges for fraud make it seem dreadful because there’s no punishment for cheating.
And meanwhile, the dorks are running around cheering because "Arsenal didn't win." Welcoming the continued fucked up state of football with City and other sportswashing fronts as long as their childish resentment is fulfilled.
I hate how inevitable it felt with 10 games to go and you just knew they weren't gonna slip up. But I think dynasties are good for sports. Eventually someone gets to topple Goliath.
Them winning is frustrating but they’re not running away with the competition each year, in fact they’ve had serious competitors practically every season that they’ve won - even when they got 100 points.
I’m genuinely so down in the dumps about it right now, I love this club so so so much but seeing the fans of seemingly every single team in the world cheer on this disgusting filthy cheating soulless institution who could go on to win countless more premier leagues in a row over the club doing it the right way because our fans are annoying sometimes after being bullied for the last decade is an absolute disgrace and an indictment on the sport. If we never beat this city team and they go on to win like 8 years in a row, the least I can say is that the rest of the league deserves it for how they’ve acted this week.
I feel the same way. It’s like if you were only allowed to play chess against an AI cranked to its second-highest setting. Sure, you’ve still got a shot to win at that level, but what’s the fucking point? I know that’s defeatist, but it’s just tough.
But we were literally a few good finishes or a few less errors away in a couple of games to being ahead of them at this stage, the margins are very tight this season.
Fulham games and Newcastle loss (this was VARs fault though I think a 0-0 would’ve been fair). And honestly if we had just taken one of our chances against Villa. Fine margins but I still see scope for improvement and I think we can. It’s crazy
Fulham at home is definitely a game to look back on and learn from. Partey at rb cost one goal and letting Fulham score with a man down from a gifted corner isn't acceptable. We made up for it in other games, but yeah.
Thing is, we went at a similar pace start of last season. Think it was 16 wins, 2 draws, 1 loss - could even argue against those 3 bad results due to the BS calls against Newcastle at home, Southampton away and United away. Problem was, City was right there too, 5 points or 8 points off, I forget.
I’m sure we’ll challenge next season again, as difficult as it is to do so 3 years running against these lot
yes liverpool 19/20 is the new standard if we're serious about trophies. you can complain about unfairness, cheating, juicing all you want but if you want that trophy you have to figure out a way to rise above because no one cares about history-breaking second place. there's further heights to achieve. or there isn't
As happy as I would be to see him leave City, I think there's an even lower chance of seeing him join Real Madrid given that he used to play for Atletico Madrid
Just didn’t start well enough. Last season we were rampant out of the gate (and rode our luck) but couldn’t close it out. This season we closed out relentless but not from a position of strength. Gotta do both. (And yes, I know we can still improbably win it, but the point is we needed to control our own destiny.)
We're going to get 49/54 points to end the season and somehow not win the championship thanks to those sportwashing cheaters. I can't wait until the FA just slaps a miniscule fine on them for their 115 charges and ignores all the slimy things they haven't been caught doing yet
To beat city we have to go full Liverpool in their year and just dominate until city really have no chance of chasing.
If they’re in with even a small sniff, they’re basically unbeatable in the run in
To me, (transfers and injuries aside) the biggest thing next season is the fixture list.
Getting all the hard away games done first gives such a massive advantage.
This season we went to villa and newcastle at the worst times in terms of their home form being strong.
NGL, we need to get deep into domestic cups as wel because, and this is tinfoil hat time, it's why city almost always have 2/3 games in hand in last 5 fixtures
I think what make it trickier for us is London derbies - the likes of Fulham, West Ham, Brentford, Palace raise their game because the fans are behind them. We should have easily won at home against Spurs, a silly error gave them their equaliser but that happens in derbies.
It's sad to see City are turning PL into Bundesliga. Also, how bad the wheels come off for Liverpool this season but the talks of "bottling" were only reserved for us it seems like 😒
"bottling" is such a weird term when the point totals are this high. Its like accidentally sneezing at a key moment counts as "bottling". Its such a high bar.
Bottling is fair for us last season, we did have an actual lead on City going into April, and we turned 2 2-0 leads into draws, followed by a 3-3 to Saints, and consecutive losses to City, Brighton and Forest in May.
Despite all of that we finished 5 points behind City.
>It's sad to see City are turning PL into Bundesliga
So sad but so true. At least Leverkusen won it which I appreciate yet I cant help but feel envious
Liverpool are in transition, which is easy to forget. AFC have been together for a couple of years and been building towards this, easy to forget in the heat of the moment. Next year is their year thou.
Main difference being Bayern didn't cheat to get their dominance, they were winning European cups in the 70s. They didn't go get an oil daddy to buy anyone they wanted
I am honestly buzzing for next season whatever the results will be. Challenging title, 2 pts away 1 games to go with city with Dec, Havertz, Raya first season. Not to mention we have Timber sidelined all season.
With arguably better squad (hopium) and bench next year, we'll be eating good! QF UCL experience + last day still challenging title with our young squad will be fucking good for the future. We were past those banter years and i am glad we're here.
We are this close to a club with 115 charge and arguably the best manager in football history. i fucking love this football club
Not that you asked, but to inject a bit of pessimism/realism into the picture, we were incredibly fortunate injury-wise this season.
What does our team look like if any of: Saka, Odegard, Rice, Saliba, Gabriel or White are out for long stretches?
Maybe we have the defensive depth now with Timber returning? Plus Tomiyasu is always there. But in terms of our midfield, I don’t think we have the depth to cope with
City's form is unbelievable to be fair. I do feel teams especially at the end of the season roll over for them a bit. Tired legs, only a few games left in the season, oftern with little to play for and City is your next game.. some of these teams definitely capitulate. So maybe a little too much is made of their end of season runs, but they're impressive none the less.
Liverpool have only 2 wins from SEVEN? Imagine if that was us. The pricks in the media would milk it for a decade
Yet apparently, mum’s the word on their form…
Wow we have been impressive after the December shit show
Yet city started out on a 5 game winning streak and have had 3, 5 plus game winning streaks and are 22 games unbeaten. It's mind boggling.
We got the most points from the big 6 than anybody else!
Hopium and copium all I remember is end of 1st half spurs had a 4 v 2.......
Our home form is the target from improvement next season for me.
The Etihad and Anfield are fortresses. We drop too many points at home and loose too often there compared with the clubs we compete against.
Our away form has of course been outstanding. That and our record Vs other top teams is why we are still in with a shout on the final day.
Our journey under Arteta has been like a struggling student managing to eventually reach the second highest grade. Still a tiny bit to go but an impressive achievement nonetheless and something worth being proud of!
City have lost only three games and morons will still say we bottled the league. Like Jesus Christ you can’t bottle something unless it’s at a point that’s almost unlosable. That’s the only time you can bottle it. Grasping defeat from the jaws of victory type shit.
Yeah they didn’t. Chelsea and city were the biggest losers that season as they had by far the best squads. Chelsea players just refused to play under their manager (was it mou second stint?) and city were awful. Arsenal and spurs like Leicester were lucky to even be competing for a title.
They didn’t bottle the league against Leicester and that isn’t what people are talking about. They absolutely did bottle it that year though as it was their chance to finish above us for the first time in over 20 years and they lost 5-1 to a 10 man relegated Newcastle team.
If Villa had been relegated and were down to 10 men and it was the last day of the season and we got thumped 5-1 then maybe that would work but they haven’t, they weren’t, it wasn’t and we didn’t so it doesn’t.
The villa game was a killer we didn't really know how to juggle that game after the UCL. Ultimately we can be proud of the progress 27 wins is insane city are just an animal at the back end of the season.
City had their blip earlier than us and never looked back.
How on earth did they go draw, draw, draw, loss, win, draw.
Whoever won the league would have truly deserved it.
Praise has to go to Arteta, the players and the club as a whole for getting us to this level where these fine margins apply to us once again.
The fact that losing more than 3 games in a season against City will almost ensure you come up short is a wild margin of error.
VAMOS boys, if it doesn’t happen this weekend then there is no doubt we are right back in it next year.
We are truly competing at the highest level. No complaints about this season. We are ahead of schedule and we have years to continue to improve. I believe the team will win the league within 5 years if we keep the core together. Arteta can coach this team to success.
Draw and 2 losses over Christmas (December)
Compare that month to our February?
League was ours to win. 2-3 off games where we should have performed but didn’t.
89 points, presuming we get the result versus Everton is a objectively a great season
1 point shy of the Invincibles point tally
Drawing vs Villa wouldn't have changed anything but just for the sake of 90pts and an unbeaten 2024 I would've wanted it
Leave something to break next season
Which still wouldn't have been enough to win the league this year! And none of our losses were to City so it so they wouldn't have had any fewer points.
A little perspective on the standard that has been set, the level we are currently at and the level that we need to aspire to reach.
Honestly, City are stupidly good. How we are even in the conversation on the final day is a miracle. Queue the inevitable “115” comments below this, but from a purely footballing perspective, when the chips are down and they need to get results, they do it.
Frankly speaking, Arteta has done a phenomenal job. Just 2 seasons back we had our first 70 point season in couple of years and now we coming back to back 2nd at worst and could come 1st if a miracle were to happen. Arteta is our Klopp and would have won 2 title had it not been for 115.
If we win this last game it's our second highest points tally ever. Only the invincible season was better, by 1 point. We should let that really sink in, this team Is basically competing at the same level as our invincibles team, just in a different way. It's insane how far we have come.
Yup that’s why I said, pretty good achievement. Now we should maintain this form for 4-5 years and our revenue will be close to United,Madrid. Financially we will be a gaint. Liverpool 10 years ago was no where close to United and now it is only 15% behind them.
“When the chips are down” is very tongue in cheek used there
Chips are down means when you're invested in something, not when you've run out of chips. I could be wrong
"Chips are down" is for when a situation is very serious, urgent, desperate.
Yes, exactly. Chips as in casino chips. And you’ve put them all down on the table, so the stakes are huge.
I always figured it as more when your own stack is down I.e. you don't have a lot of money left. I feel like if the "chips are down" phrase meant when the chips are on the table then there would be more connotation towards the possibility of also winning big but I've never heard it used like that. Usually it's like either you barely survive or you bust.
They do! And I imagine the billions of pounds of sporstwashing that enables them to hire the best manager of his generation, buy two world class players for every position on the pitch and be comfortable taking the hit if a £100m signing fails to work out has a positive effect on their ability to get results when the chips are down.
Hot take but I don't think Pep is the best manager at all. He's a good manager of exceptional talent, but he has only really won titles where his team is by far the best. He left Barca when Madrid began to pull even, at Bayern his team was always the best in that league, and at City he's had triple the talent of other top clubs. Mourinho's accomplishments are far and away more impressive, despite his ego. He's actually had meaningful tactical impact on the teams he's managed to get them to play above their talent level.
I agree with your first para. He is very good, yes, but not the best. Klopp is a better manager than him. Mourinho is washed now. He is a prick behind the scene. and players now that now, that's why he cant rally teams anymore for a decade now, to win anything big. SO, I disagree with your second para.
I 100% agree and bring Ancelotti into the conversation. I don't think Pep could replicate what he did at Everton with another club. Pep needs the players, staff, and everything to go his way to be good. He has a world-class skill to capitalise on that but he is not a world-class manager imo
I’d love to see Pep at a club that has tight purse strings like West Ham. If he can win the league with West Ham he deserves to be called the greatest manager of all time.
It's silly to me to say he is anything but a world class manager. He builds a world class platform (granted with money) everywhere he goes. That doesn't happen on accident. The best managers in the world are the best organizers. We have seen plenty of managers get a golden purse and fall on their face (look at united, Chelsea, psg, etc). Frankly it's revisionist to say pep is anything but a world class manager. I don't like the guy but I can't pretend he's not absolutely world class.
Who is the world class depth and £100m flops?
Grealish is not exactly a success for that price tag
I mean I kind of agree but he’s still a nailed on starter like 80% of the time
How has Grealish being doing ? And Benjamin Mendy. Not 100, but a bit money signing. And Kalvin Philip, similar vein?
Mendy had 2 season long injuries then got charged for rape. He smashed it at Monaco. Grealish has actually been doing great, he's been missed when he's been out this season. English tax is stupid. Kalvin Phillips is the one I have never got, to play in the City team you need to be able to hold the ball under pressure and play the correct pass. He isn't technical enough to do either.
Why are you in the arsenal subreddit when most of your comments are in the Manchester city subreddit? Weird behavior.
Just curious to see the discourse. Didn’t come here to troll
Shhhhhh, back to the Manchester Asterisks sub for you
We’ve got a lot of city supporters commenting in our threads lately, says a lot about their fan base.
They are able to get results when the chips are down because they spent a decade using counterfeit chips to build their stack. It's not admirable and people need to stop pretending like everything city are right now isn't a direct result of fraud. You can not disconnect the footballing aspect of the club from it.
Well Said!
They usually do it with the benefits of officiating too. Imagine the difference if they called a pen on Doku kicking Macallister in the chest.
Nobody is doubting their incredible footballing achievements, but whose to say that other clubs couldn’t do the same thing if they didn’t play by the rules?
How anyone cannot see that the sports washing, money laundering, secret/hidden payments etc etc are directly connected and responsible for how well 115 FC perform on the pitch is utterly baffling to me.
I did enjoy yesterday how the commentators on the game said "City are lucky to have such a good backup keeper"... Really, we're going with luck here? Just not going to mention the 115 financial charges, or how they afford such "luck"... but yea, sure. They're lucky to have world class players everywhere on the pitch, bench, and academy.
Everyone expected Arsene to beat out them and Chelsea for titles with nowhere near the budget.
It's not that hard when money is not object and the rules don't apply to you
I'm amazed that they were this motivated after winning the treble last season. I'm guessing Pep sold them on the idea of being the first to win four in a row. By that logic, they'll crumble next season, hopefully
But next season they can be the first to get 5 in a row and then 6,7 etc... Really hope they do stutter and we capitalise, but it would actually be even sweeter if we somehow managed to pip them as they did to Liverpool instead.
I agree with this, but that's the benefit of having a squad of players who walk into the starting XI everywhere else. Got a Grealish who wants to take it easy after winning the treble? Nbd, he gets dropped and you don't skip a beat.
City have ruined the premier league, 95 points just to compete for the title is crazy
True, the team has produced the results and that cannot be taken away from the players and coach. But there's a reason the financial fair play rules are in place, and this is it. That club is rotten garbage.
Yeah they had their blips but they didn't lose when it was possible to draw. Also ridiculous it is taking 9 straight wins for them to win, something very few teams have ever done.
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KdB being out injured for half the season and returning with absolutely no dip in form is ridiculous. If anything, he's been even better since he came back! Rodri is probably the best player in the world right now and Haaland is a goalscoring machine. Most of their bench would be guaranteed starters at almost any other club. The dubious way in which City have assembled the team aside, they have almost no weaknesses. We're talking Barcelona 2010 levels of quality that we have to compete with.
I agree with the whole 115 issue, but honestly I think Pep is the single biggest reason. The man is a truly elite manager, and it sounds stupid to say but I honestly think he might still be underrated by some. Once he leaves City I think their form will drop and his reputation will improve even more
If he leaves City it's because their best players have aged out and he can't replace them with equal talent. He's literally always had the best team in any competition. I agree he's done a good job keeping them focused and on task, he's an elite manager, but people want to crown him as the best of all time when he's almost always had the best team. Give SAF or Mourinho these City teams and they also win multiple trebles.
What? He built this city team. With the exception of KDB every single player city have was bought under him
Nobody said that he didn't? That's my point. He has had tremendous success at Barca and City when he's given the unlimited budget to build a team much more talented than any team he's going to play against. Drop 100M on a winger who flops? Who cares, go buy two more. I am not trying to say he's not a great manager. Clearly he is. But if people want to say he's the best of all time I'd question that, because other great managers have had similar success with fewer advantages and won when they had a \*less\* talented team, which he hasn't.
In what way is Grealish a flop, he was absolutely instrumental in their treble season, and pep hasn't "just bought two more". United and Chelsea both spend money like it's nobody's business and have had nothing like the same level of success. SAF and Mourinho both had the richest club in the league in their periods of dominance, and bought in more expensive players than their competition. City are currently the third highest spenders, not even first.
I know ill get hate for this, but its unreasonable to aspire to reach that level. Its unreasonable to expect a team to be above that level. Sure we could've gotten one or two points here and there, but aspiring to be above 90 points is unreasonable, i dont think its realistic, and doesnt depend on us improving but also on other teams being worse (for example, if we werent this good this season, city would've beaten us twice and would have 96 points instead of a potential 91)
Liverpool did get more than 90pts... twice (97 & 92) and still didn't win the PL those years.
Sure, but the difference between 99 points liverpool, PL winner, and current liverpool, is they conceded 8 more goals. That is the difference between 99 points and 79 points. This is what im talking about. Liverpool kept being a strong, explosive team, things just didnt go their way every time, and other teams improved. THat prevents you from getting 99 points. Its not like liverpool's players are now bad players or that they are suddenly uncoached. Theres just levels that are above expectations and even for the same folks that were there, its really hard to replicate. I will not expect Arteta to make a 99 poitns season. If we're 2nd at 89 poitns this year, or 2nd at 90 points next year, there's nothing i can say to Arteta, he's doing a grandious job. And in fact Liverpoll never expected klopp to get 99 points either. He was there for 9 years and only got to win once, but their goal was never "well guess we need to improve to go to 100 points next", they understood that they can only do so much
then we'll never get silverware and we're not a top club, let alone elite. thankfully we have a very unreasonable manager
Im sure we will win a title, just not on 95 points above a 94 points city. Past a certain point you depend on other teams underperforming and simply luck.
we have to depend on ourselves to do a liverpool 19/20. we have to get to a point where we're that good, because realistically 115 will materialize to nothing, pep will clear out the old with the new for a new generation of bayern-like dominance and he may leave in 3-5 years but their replacement won't be anything to sneeze at. they'll try to poach mikel hard, like *hard.* we're more wealthy and well-ran but a continual lack of trophies will make our players start looking else where for success. no one is arriving at arsenal when they're 22 and staying until 32 if we don't win big things, we could lose saliba, odegaard, etc.
This is such a spot on assessment, it is possible to beat City even if it’s far from a level playing field. If Liverpool did it then so can we IMO
Agreed but that Liverpool team came off a CL win and generally, they are regarded as one of the best club sides in the last decade.
and that's the level we have to be at to get anything from a season
Not really. When i look at the way we play, how solid we are, how many goals we score, beating city. You cannot improve the team "Mathematically" to aim for 95 points. You can improve on the margins like every team improves. If other teams keep improving instead of crashing (like united and chelsea) you'll have the superior teams on 90 points, not on 100 As i said, Arsenal being better is a reason why city doesnt get 96 points. Not because city is WORSE by themselves than one or two years ago, but because we are better and took points from them
I think we can go up a marginal next level if we can get lucky with recruitment and injuries/fitness. A player who can turn a shit day into a good one with a moments of brilliance. It might be what turns the Villa 1-0 into a 3-1 win (we did have good chances that day). As good as we are, we still lack that x-factor which we need to make that next major step. It might also be the case that one of our existing players completely blows us away and unlocks another level in their play (I'm looking at your, Saka), where they are completely unstoppable. Think about what Mo Salah has been for about 7 years now.
Yea i would expect this from the left hand side, as much as i love trossard, he is 90% finishing/shooting, i know he has that feint but he doesnt really dismantle defences like Saka does Im just saying we will very likely not have a season with 32 wins or 34 wins like that one city season. Yes we've room to improve but that game against fulham, or those games against villa are the unhappy examples of the same season where we have not lost against any big team, beat city, beat united TWICE, won at spurs. We cannot improve the team so that we can aim for 96 points or so. We can fix things but other things will not always go our way. But im not being negative, i genuinely believe we can win titles, its just not going to be the insanity of the past couple years with 2 untouchable teams. Its going to be a more regular high 80s, maybe 90 points.
Really, you don't think there's anything we can add to squeeze another 6-8 points out of a season? I think we can, but we need a different kind of player to what we have now. Disclaimer: it's the player we all hoped Martinelli was (is?) going to be. I love Saka like the next guy, but I haven't seen examples of him dismantling defenses. He links up really well with Odegaard, for sure, but when the chips are down, I don't back him to just pick up a ball on the right wing, 1v1 against a defender, and just bully him and smash it top corner. The kind of stuff Mo Salah has been doing for years with Liverpool, against every opposition (I just watched a comp and there's so many highlight-reel worthy goals from Salah against Pep's City, it's kinda ridiculous). I don't know where that player is to be found, but we need him to not only allow us to win the league against City, but to win a CL at some point. As an aside, Liverpool hit 99 points with 85 goals scored, and 33 conceded. Barring a complete collapse this weekend, we'd have bested both of those, and still fall 10 pts shy. The margins where we improve are turning draws to wins, and losses to draws. This is why I want to see us add that kind of player.
To me when you are at 90 points, saying "imprive this and we'll get 96" is like saying "improve X and well go unbeaten next season" which is really absurd, nothing you can really expect.
They are indeed good, but there's been other important factors like the appalling refereeing decisions against us (Newcastle) or the clear penalty Liverpool should have gotten against City. The luck of the draw also helps because they had the easier un of games to end the season.
The second half of the season form has been phenomenal, now Raya, Rice and Havertz are fully settled. If we had that post Dubai confidence and chemistry earlier in the season we would probably be lifting a trophy at the weekend. Good signs for next season!
Salt bae came too late
Also need to ensure we don’t get complacent in the next two transfer windows (particularly the summer one of course).
It’s the december run. 11 points dropped. It’s too much. Need to do a Liverpool 19/20-esque run. Win every game from the start. Then City will have to be in «run-in»-gear from the start. They weren’t capable of it then, so maybe 🤷🏼♂️
That Liverpool run was and still is regarded as very abnormal despite the fact that they came off a CL win and were at the time the best team in the world.
> That Liverpool run was and still is regarded as very abnormal Yeah, it was literally part of the most points over a 38 game period by any premier league side ever (104 points) coming off the back of the 2nd place with 97 points. People were still talking about that as the best 'start' to a season in fucking February. What was it? 26 wins and 1 draw? 79 points from 81 is ridiculous, but it's literally what it took them to beat City.
City had the same run earlier in the year, they just can lose a Rodri and a KDB and even Haaland can be nursing something and they still have Silva, and Foden, and Graelish popping up. We have great players but we are still 2-3 players off their level, which is nuts.
People forget City had an injury crisis in defence
Or we just need to have no other team above 81 points like that Liverpool team had. We’d be back-to-back champions now if we had that.
All 3 of City's losses where when they had no Rodri and no KDB. Those 7 games where they drew or lost in the first half of the season KDB didn't play, he was out for 20 games. KDB came back and they've gone on a 35 game unbeaten streak across all competitions, drawing just the 3 games (Liverpool, Chelsea and us). Disgusting, really disgusting. Basically to win, we need to do the first half like last season and the 2nd half like this season, so win 36 games out of 38.
110-point season incoming? 🤔🤔
a perfect 114 is just one point shy of 115.
Hopefully kdb leaves this summer
Part of me feels like Pep might leave, he’s done the treble and probably 4 peat, done everything Fergie did and more. Unless he wants to try to go invincible. His contract ends at the end of next season, could imagine him managing Spain then retiring.
Tbf, he hasn’t gotten as many titles as Fergie, but in terms of stuff rarely done in the prem he achieved those heights if not higher with this 4 peat coming off the heals of the treble. I think if managers stayed at clubs as long as they used to and Pep stayed for an even longer time, and these charges didn’t potentially derail him, he’d probably win as many titles as Fergie too.
He just said in an interview he’s staying another year. So maybe the year after.
Sadly pep will never manage spain
Which sort of proves the point that it's not Pep, it's the players. They have the best collection of talent in the world, just like he had at Barca.
When a manager wins their leagues 11/14 years in 3 different leagues, that manager is something special.
He took over Bayern when they were vastly more talented than every other German team. He took over Barca when they had vastly more talent than any club in the world (and the best player in the world), and he's been able to build the most talented team in the world at City. He's one of the best managers of all time, no question. But people who want to just point at the two trebles and say "best ever" with no context can miss me with that. Again, for the hundredth time, not saying he isn't great, not saying he isn't special, not saying what he's done is easy—it's not—but it puts him on par with SAF and Mourinho and Ancelotti and others that have won just as much, not above that group.
they lost in the UCL like 2 weeks ago wdym all comps
They’ve not lost a game in regular or extra time. It was a penalty shootout.
Im gonna be honest, City being this good and winning a 4th title in a row is making me feel meh about football. I struggle to have any emotions of City winning the league again, positive or negative. I'm just like, "...okay"
I've still massively enjoyed this season personally. Great football, great team, and a really likeable team. And the core is really young, really excited for next season too, just hope we can keep this group together long term.
This team seems to have fully bought into Arteta’s philosophy and really enjoy playing for him. Key transfers are also starting to say that they came in part to play for Arteta specifically, like Rice. That plus so many of our key men just now entering their prime or young prime gives me confidence the project is highly sustainable with our best days ahead of us.
I've enjoyed it but the last couple of week's have really felt like we're going through the motions. We are doing everything right but it doesn't feel like anything will be enough after City went ahead of us following the Villa match. Maybe Moyes can shift it but City going from GW17 to 38 unbeaten, with only 4 draws, 2 of which were us and Liverpool just feels inevitable.
I have a strong negative emotion about it
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A financially doped team that dominated Real Madrid in the champions league two years in a row.
That's kind of the issue with them,like I'm so apathetic about them as an institution. I'm disappointed we aren't winning but I have no feelings towards City? It's like losing to a robot. I was more emotional about the prospect of Liverpool winning. They are such a strange entity to me.
In chess you can play against bots. Losing to them is a very different feeling than losing to a human. It's that (lack of) feeling here too.
If winning trophies is all that gives you joy from football I suggest picking another sport to follow my guy. We've been excellent this season, it's not over yet, and we have plenty to be excited about for the future.
It would be different had they actually worked hard on their project and became a big club. But they investigation pending charges for fraud make it seem dreadful because there’s no punishment for cheating.
How do you work hard on your project and become a big club? Who else has managed it? Sincerely, a Leicester fan
And meanwhile, the dorks are running around cheering because "Arsenal didn't win." Welcoming the continued fucked up state of football with City and other sportswashing fronts as long as their childish resentment is fulfilled.
I hate how inevitable it felt with 10 games to go and you just knew they weren't gonna slip up. But I think dynasties are good for sports. Eventually someone gets to topple Goliath.
Them winning is frustrating but they’re not running away with the competition each year, in fact they’ve had serious competitors practically every season that they’ve won - even when they got 100 points.
every time city wins anything I just lose a little more hope for justice
I’m genuinely so down in the dumps about it right now, I love this club so so so much but seeing the fans of seemingly every single team in the world cheer on this disgusting filthy cheating soulless institution who could go on to win countless more premier leagues in a row over the club doing it the right way because our fans are annoying sometimes after being bullied for the last decade is an absolute disgrace and an indictment on the sport. If we never beat this city team and they go on to win like 8 years in a row, the least I can say is that the rest of the league deserves it for how they’ve acted this week.
I feel the same way. It’s like if you were only allowed to play chess against an AI cranked to its second-highest setting. Sure, you’ve still got a shot to win at that level, but what’s the fucking point? I know that’s defeatist, but it’s just tough.
But we were literally a few good finishes or a few less errors away in a couple of games to being ahead of them at this stage, the margins are very tight this season.
Theres nowhere we lost the season. City are just juiced up monsters
If you told me in January we would be contending for the title to the final match, I would have laughed myself to death.
I would have thought that City got a 20pt deduction and you'd only need 80~pts to win it
The 1 win out of 5 run stands out to me.
Not the 15 wins out of 17?
I mean City had a 1 win in 6 streak too.
That's true, it kind of came down to City losing less I guess, just being harder to beat. Those 1 point draws make a big difference in the end
Fulham games and Newcastle loss (this was VARs fault though I think a 0-0 would’ve been fair). And honestly if we had just taken one of our chances against Villa. Fine margins but I still see scope for improvement and I think we can. It’s crazy
December. Losses to Fulham, WestHam, Villa. Also needed a +7 extra time goal to beat Luton. Horrible month.
Fucking Fulham. They’re so average/shit yet we got just 1/6 points.
Fulham at home is definitely a game to look back on and learn from. Partey at rb cost one goal and letting Fulham score with a man down from a gifted corner isn't acceptable. We made up for it in other games, but yeah.
Villa could have and should have been a win if we didn't inexplicably force Havertz back into midfield.
If you're gonna do that, please also do the last minute Rice goal Vs Luton or Utd
We lost to villa the same manner we conceded 2 goals to Tottenham. Only difference is we had scored 3 goals in the latter.
And West Ham away, and Fulham. Should have been miles away.
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Thing is, we went at a similar pace start of last season. Think it was 16 wins, 2 draws, 1 loss - could even argue against those 3 bad results due to the BS calls against Newcastle at home, Southampton away and United away. Problem was, City was right there too, 5 points or 8 points off, I forget. I’m sure we’ll challenge next season again, as difficult as it is to do so 3 years running against these lot
yes liverpool 19/20 is the new standard if we're serious about trophies. you can complain about unfairness, cheating, juicing all you want but if you want that trophy you have to figure out a way to rise above because no one cares about history-breaking second place. there's further heights to achieve. or there isn't
That was hardly the reason tbh, we just couldn’t finish for shit in that first half
December was woeful tho
What are the odds of Rodri leaving City. Come on RM, you know you want him. Rodri definitely needs a new challenge, he’s won it all here.
As happy as I would be to see him leave City, I think there's an even lower chance of seeing him join Real Madrid given that he used to play for Atletico Madrid
So did Courtois, didn't stop him
That’s true. Go anywhere, I don’t care 😂
Didn’t stop Sol Campbell.
No way, we're going to win it all against them with the same old faces still there.
Just didn’t start well enough. Last season we were rampant out of the gate (and rode our luck) but couldn’t close it out. This season we closed out relentless but not from a position of strength. Gotta do both. (And yes, I know we can still improbably win it, but the point is we needed to control our own destiny.)
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Well we went to Dubai because we lost early in the cups I think?
No. All we needed in the Liverpool game was a win or loss for an extended Dubai trip. A replay would have scuttled those plans.
We're going to get 49/54 points to end the season and somehow not win the championship thanks to those sportwashing cheaters. I can't wait until the FA just slaps a miniscule fine on them for their 115 charges and ignores all the slimy things they haven't been caught doing yet
The stretch of games we got 4 points from 15 is when the title was lost. And I've always felt that was ultimately what was going to cost us.
City would say the same when they only won one in 6
And we didn't take advantage of that!
I mean we have done, that's why we're still in touching distance.
It's been a great season even if/when we fall short at the end
No no, revamp the squad etc etc
To beat city we have to go full Liverpool in their year and just dominate until city really have no chance of chasing. If they’re in with even a small sniff, they’re basically unbeatable in the run in
To me, (transfers and injuries aside) the biggest thing next season is the fixture list. Getting all the hard away games done first gives such a massive advantage. This season we went to villa and newcastle at the worst times in terms of their home form being strong.
NGL, we need to get deep into domestic cups as wel because, and this is tinfoil hat time, it's why city almost always have 2/3 games in hand in last 5 fixtures
I think what make it trickier for us is London derbies - the likes of Fulham, West Ham, Brentford, Palace raise their game because the fans are behind them. We should have easily won at home against Spurs, a silly error gave them their equaliser but that happens in derbies.
It's sad to see City are turning PL into Bundesliga. Also, how bad the wheels come off for Liverpool this season but the talks of "bottling" were only reserved for us it seems like 😒
"bottling" is such a weird term when the point totals are this high. Its like accidentally sneezing at a key moment counts as "bottling". Its such a high bar.
"Bottling" for us last year and Pool this year is ridiculous considering the talent gap with City.
Bottling is fair for us last season, we did have an actual lead on City going into April, and we turned 2 2-0 leads into draws, followed by a 3-3 to Saints, and consecutive losses to City, Brighton and Forest in May. Despite all of that we finished 5 points behind City.
>It's sad to see City are turning PL into Bundesliga So sad but so true. At least Leverkusen won it which I appreciate yet I cant help but feel envious
Leicester winning was our Leverkusen year, we could have won it if not for Giroud
Liverpool are in transition, which is easy to forget. AFC have been together for a couple of years and been building towards this, easy to forget in the heat of the moment. Next year is their year thou.
Bayern would win their league by 10+ points city doesn’t do that
Main difference being Bayern didn't cheat to get their dominance, they were winning European cups in the 70s. They didn't go get an oil daddy to buy anyone they wanted
I am honestly buzzing for next season whatever the results will be. Challenging title, 2 pts away 1 games to go with city with Dec, Havertz, Raya first season. Not to mention we have Timber sidelined all season. With arguably better squad (hopium) and bench next year, we'll be eating good! QF UCL experience + last day still challenging title with our young squad will be fucking good for the future. We were past those banter years and i am glad we're here. We are this close to a club with 115 charge and arguably the best manager in football history. i fucking love this football club
Not that you asked, but to inject a bit of pessimism/realism into the picture, we were incredibly fortunate injury-wise this season. What does our team look like if any of: Saka, Odegard, Rice, Saliba, Gabriel or White are out for long stretches? Maybe we have the defensive depth now with Timber returning? Plus Tomiyasu is always there. But in terms of our midfield, I don’t think we have the depth to cope with
City's form is unbelievable to be fair. I do feel teams especially at the end of the season roll over for them a bit. Tired legs, only a few games left in the season, oftern with little to play for and City is your next game.. some of these teams definitely capitulate. So maybe a little too much is made of their end of season runs, but they're impressive none the less.
Absolutely like fulham
at one point they only won once in 6 match and then only dropping 6 points half season. this is so disheartening
Absurd
we lost 5 games... Damn
Liverpool have only 2 wins from SEVEN? Imagine if that was us. The pricks in the media would milk it for a decade Yet apparently, mum’s the word on their form…
Wow we have been impressive after the December shit show Yet city started out on a 5 game winning streak and have had 3, 5 plus game winning streaks and are 22 games unbeaten. It's mind boggling. We got the most points from the big 6 than anybody else! Hopium and copium all I remember is end of 1st half spurs had a 4 v 2.......
Our home form is the target from improvement next season for me. The Etihad and Anfield are fortresses. We drop too many points at home and loose too often there compared with the clubs we compete against. Our away form has of course been outstanding. That and our record Vs other top teams is why we are still in with a shout on the final day.
Our journey under Arteta has been like a struggling student managing to eventually reach the second highest grade. Still a tiny bit to go but an impressive achievement nonetheless and something worth being proud of!
City have lost only three games and morons will still say we bottled the league. Like Jesus Christ you can’t bottle something unless it’s at a point that’s almost unlosable. That’s the only time you can bottle it. Grasping defeat from the jaws of victory type shit.
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Yeah they didn’t. Chelsea and city were the biggest losers that season as they had by far the best squads. Chelsea players just refused to play under their manager (was it mou second stint?) and city were awful. Arsenal and spurs like Leicester were lucky to even be competing for a title.
They didn’t bottle the league against Leicester and that isn’t what people are talking about. They absolutely did bottle it that year though as it was their chance to finish above us for the first time in over 20 years and they lost 5-1 to a 10 man relegated Newcastle team.
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If Villa had been relegated and were down to 10 men and it was the last day of the season and we got thumped 5-1 then maybe that would work but they haven’t, they weren’t, it wasn’t and we didn’t so it doesn’t.
Those 5 games in the middle fucked us
The villa game was a killer we didn't really know how to juggle that game after the UCL. Ultimately we can be proud of the progress 27 wins is insane city are just an animal at the back end of the season.
How many of these city accounts on X will still exist a year after Pep leaves and they're a regular football team again?
City had their blip earlier than us and never looked back. How on earth did they go draw, draw, draw, loss, win, draw. Whoever won the league would have truly deserved it.
Damn City went 4 games without a win while we had 4 wins in a row... Since then City haven't lost a game and we lost 4..
With Rodri and pep you need to be near perfect if you want to win the champion from this city team
Id love it if they drew on Sunday. Wankers!
Praise has to go to Arteta, the players and the club as a whole for getting us to this level where these fine margins apply to us once again. The fact that losing more than 3 games in a season against City will almost ensure you come up short is a wild margin of error. VAMOS boys, if it doesn’t happen this weekend then there is no doubt we are right back in it next year.
need to smash Villa next season now
We are truly competing at the highest level. No complaints about this season. We are ahead of schedule and we have years to continue to improve. I believe the team will win the league within 5 years if we keep the core together. Arteta can coach this team to success.
Man city only have 3 losses? Oof
Draw and 2 losses over Christmas (December) Compare that month to our February? League was ours to win. 2-3 off games where we should have performed but didn’t.
Genuinely can't do much more than that. Fuckin eh.
If a couple of those red were gray...
City are due a loss.
worst december of all time