A lot depends on this week, if Utd lose then Ole's comfortable position is back to where it was 6 months ago, if Pep does something crazy again I think he will lose some of them players (De Bruyne) and their fickle fans, same with Tuchel, they lose and suddenly he's no better than Frank, win and it sets them up very well for next season. Either way I think we're back to a 92 - 94 type mark to win it.
City did lose their home game to Utd but I get your point. The fact it was over so early also skews it, there was probably another 27 points out there that where pressure free, for example Newcastle finished 12th, Arsenal finished with 5 wins in a row, when the pressure is removed the results change.
Top four Carragher: Man City,Chelsea, Liverpool, Man Utd. Neville: Man City,Chelsea, Man Utd, Liverpool The pair are also agreed on the teams they expect to finish in the Champions League qualifying spots behind Manchester City, however there is a slight disagreement on the final order of the top four. Neville explained why he felt Manchester United would finish above Liverpool: "I just think they've got a better squad. I think Liverpool have got a better first XI but you know Liverpool, with a couple of injuries, do have that drop in level. United don't really have that drop in level in any position." Carragher made the case for his order: "I don't mean to be disrespectful, I think the managers of the other teams have got the pedigree of top clubs, winning Champions Leagues, so I think managers do make a huge difference. "I think Liverpool have a better team, a better manager, they only finished six points behind United last season despite having no centre backs for most of the season. And I think maybe Liverpool are going under the radar and some people - myself included - are forgetting how good they were for a couple of years." Interesting Neville picks Utd to finish ahead of Liverpool. With Liverpool being the only team to challenge and break City's dominance all of a sudden squad depth (we're actually stronger than 2019 imo) has become an issue on the back of a freak season both on and off the pitch. Fair enough.
Posted this before the Europa and CL finals. I think I was on the money, Ole is already just one more bad result from the pressure piling on. Tuchel looks really comfortable and settled at Chelsea. David Squires had Andrei Shevchenko in the job by Christmas in his Guardian piece, whilst he was taking the piss you can't help but feel that could it also be true. The Pep call looks a little off, foolishly I hadn't anticipated he would just spend another 250m and all would be forgotten.
Neville is not worth listening to when it comes to Man U and Solksjaer. Does the same thing every year, over estimates their strength and chances at the start of the season and by the time the season is coming to a close does a U turn and talks about how the manager hasn't been given enough to finish in the position,or at least put in the kind of challenge he originally predicted. Then calls for another 200 million in spending. The honest position would be United not having a drop in level in any position when injuries come is bullshit,but even if it wasn't it would be an indictment on the strength of their first 11. "Liverpool have a better first 11", no shit Sherlock. Arguably 7 or 8 world class players in our first 11 and the ones who aren't are as good as almost anything Man U have(Henderson,Mane,Jota,Firmino, and Matip who I think has a claim to be world class when he's fit) but his argument is that the players they can bring in to replace the ones that are not as good as ours, are at a similar also not as good level. Think about how stupid that logic is. "Yes,your first 11 is better than ours,but our second 11 is better than yours,so that means our squad is better". Unless his goal is to win the Carabou Cup, that's a ridiculous position to take. By the way,my definition of a world class player is somebody who can reasonably claim to be one of the 9 or 10 players in the world who are best at their job. I'd put Alisson,TAA,Van Dijk,Robertson, Thiago,Fabinho and Salah in that bracket. Matip is a tricky one for a few reasons, but we all agree he's a great centre half when he's fit and great centre halfs are thin on the ground these days.
I just tune out most of time when Carragher and Neville are discussing things esp Liverpool and United find them very tiresome. They should be banned from discussing those two clubs.
I've always thought comparing second XI's is nonsense. All that matters is the drop off when you have to play one of you're non regular starters. Neco or Gomez at right back is a huge drop, so is Origi for anyone. Other than that we're fine (keeper aside). They don't suffer from losing a VVD or Alisson because they don't have any.
Think it would take a lot more for the City fans to turn on Guardiola because of the situation they've built up in their head. As far as they're concerned Pep and City is only doing what other managers and clubs have done down the years to be successful,everybody else is just jealous that they've overtaken the establishment clubs and the Premier League and Uefa are doing everything in their power to stop them. It's them against the world and if they turned on Guardiola it would be like admitting that he's failed,no way are they giving everybody else that satisfaction.
I was referring to the players more than the fans. When they fucked up against Lyon there was a few rumours the players were pissed off with his fucking about. De Bruyne gave an interview that couldn't hide his disdain for the tactics, Zinchencko was openly critical too. I guess that even though they went without Fernandinho or Rodri it wasn't considered as tactically mental as previous additions. I do think his Grealish love in has the potential to upset a few in that squad.
Need for ole to keep flattering to deceive, as I hate the thought of someone decent like Conte going there!
I still think City will win the league but I was just thinking back to not just how many people who are paid to talk about football had Man U finishing ahead of us this season,but some of them didn't even have us in their top 4
In their defence who would have thought adding Varane and Sancho would have made united a worse team. I think everyone that's seen ronaldo at juve knew how that was going to go. Their fixtures get alot more difficult in a few weeks so they will do well to hit 70 points.
All they have to do is stick to their guns on this one and they'll eventually be right, might take a good few years but they'll get their moment in the sun.
It's not that it wasn't rational to expect Man U to get better(although there were lads on here who were astute enough to see there was a huge chance things would turn to shit for them),it was the fact they expected them to be better than us. Anything is possible in football, they finished above us last season but that took the most minutes missed by injuries from any team in PL history to make it possible, and they still only finished 6 points clear. Even when we were going through that injury crisis it baffled me how many were determined to downplay it. Our run in showed we were miles better than them with even a half reasonable amount of injuries.
I still think we are in with a shout with the way the squad is shaping up. Citeh have the better squad and are rightly favourites with the gap they have but I get the feeling that Klopp is relishing the fight and he can maybe do another Barcelona job on it.
I don't think it's impossible to see city have a sticky patch. If its a case that they've already come through it as they did have a few games (can't pick out exactly when) where the performances were not up to standard and still got the wins then fair enough they will be worthy champions but who knows, there's a lot of football left to play. Hearing all the pundits say its a done deal can only be a good thing.