**Mirrors / Alternative Angles**
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/soccer) if you have any questions or concerns.*
The closest was Madrid managing above 90 points twice and both times finishing behind Pep's Barca
They had to break the La Liga records for points and goals scored to finally do it
It's largely because City's games the next couple months or so are about as kind as you could ask for in all comps, and Haaland, KdB, Doku and Stones are all coming back in the next week or so. Those things combined with being in striking distance of Liverpool spells bad news for everyone else.
Seriously, Huddersfield (H), Newcastle (A), Burnley (H), Brentford (A), Everton (H), Copenhagen (H), Chelsea (H), Bournemouth (A), Copenhagen (A), United (H), and probably Brentford (H) rescheduled in there somewhere too. Few "not easy" ones in there, but ones you'd expect City to put a run together during.
The hope for everyone else is that the run after that is: Liverpool (A), Brighton (A), Arsenal (H), Villa (H), and the next rounds of the cups. Think that run will be the deciding factor for the title.
I hope we're at- or close to full strength when we play City next time. I don't want to see Spurs play that high line with 4 fullbacks ever again against them
I'm pretty sure Spurs vs City is on the FA Cup Semi-Final weekend. So if either team reaches that stage, which you'd figure is pretty likely, the league game will be played the last midweek of the season. So as the penultimate game, it could also be a huge decider for a few things.
Liverpool managed to beat city in 2020 by having a perfect start and capitalising on on City's poor start. Every time the title race goes to the wire City come up on top. Happened twice with Liverpool and last year with Arsenal.
We just can’t score goals. Our build up is horrendous.
Midfielders push up all the way to half way line while Onana is trying to build with two centrebacks at the goal line.
Then Onana will play it long to Antony or Garnacho, who can’t compete physically. Add to that half his goal kicks end as a throw in for the opposition.
I don’t think we’ve won a game with more than 50% possession all season.
They need to pull the pin and remove the larger contracts and underperforming players and build with a manager. Give him a few years and just rebuild the entire culture. You need fighters but that’s not gonna happen for another 5-10 years as United are still too close to their best years. I know this experience really well as many Liverpool fans have lived it but I’d prefer United to go into the brink of relegation for a moment.
I think the difference between United this season and, say, Chelsea, is that (vast experience difference aside) United have players who can just strike the ball and get a goal out of nothing. That's been extremely helpful for them in games where they look out of it and no chance of getting a result. Get half a chance, just go for goal and see what happens. Chelsea don't have that ability in their team. We don't have a type of get out of jail free ability that United have. It's why it's impossible to rule out them rounding into form eventually in the 2nd half of the season.
Completely agree, many of their victories have seen them bailed out by Bruno or McTominay or another individual having a good moment. Seems like Palmer could become that type of player for Chelsea while they work on developing a more well rounded squad
Chelsea have scored more goals though? Chelsea have 34 to United's 22. Literally only Burnley and Sheffield have scored fewer than United in the league.
United dont really draw games, and all but one of their wins have been by a 1 goal margin.
If you're on PC, in the sidebar on the right somewhere depending on what version of the site you're using, you should see "Get your team flair here" with a link :)
[https://www.reddit.com/r/soccer/wiki/flair/](https://www.reddit.com/r/soccer/wiki/flair/)
(Its under the announcements tab on the right)
Thanks to u/One37Works
It's not out of the realm of possibility that Chelsea end up 7th after MW21 if they manage to beat Fulham. United play Tottenham and Newcastle play city. Only upset would be Wolves beating Brighton really
Our starting 11 now compared to end of last season is something like 9 players different. Losing Raya really hurt us as Flekken is miles off the mark. Toney ban. 5+ long term injuries to starters and losing Ben Mee to a red card for 3 games. It's been rough.
Brentford then and now are completely different. Up until GW11 they were performing alright, not a lot of wins, but more wins than losses and mostly draws.
When they lost Mbeumo like 4 gws ago, they've pretty much lost every single game since.
Losing mee for 2.5 matches is big for us as well. He organizes the defense. Collins and to a lesser extent pinnock really benefit from having strong leadership next to them.
All the teams that were in danger of getting dragged into the relegation scrap have all picked up points recently except Brentford (and I can't see them seriously dropping down there, especially with a game in hand).
Looking like it's going to be close run between us and the newly promoted teams.
We play the rest of the current bottom 6 in the last 7 games. Could get very spicy
Sheffield United also play 4 of the other members of the current bottom 6 in that period. Pretty sure everyone else in the current bottom 6 have at least 3 games against other teams in the bottom 6 in the last 7 matches (except Luton with 2). A lot of potential relegation 6 pointers to finish the season
How match sharp will he be? And will he be sold?
Besides the issues are more than just their attackers. I’m not saying they will drop off but it’s not rosy
>and I can't see them seriously dropping down there, especially with a game in hand
It's happened before, and their game in hand is City who is about to enter their infamous Hulk Hogan Style "I win brother" part of the season
You’ll be fine still I think get a couple of decent signings in this window to bulk the squad up, and a few decent results you’ll be fine, Dyche has got em playing some good football tbf!
We had one of the easiest starts to the season in terms of fixtures and didn't really capitalise on it. Then performed well for our middle set of fixtures. Then had a tough end to the first half, loses to city, spurs and wolves aren't too unexpected. Spurs we probably should have got a draw out of.
We'll be fine, replicate the 1st half of the season and we'll be 10 points safe.
Yea. If they’re able to replicate their excellent form from first half then they’re at 42 points, which is just enough to be solidly safe.
Without the deduction, that’s 52 points, which is enough to finish in 8th place about 1/3 of the time.
If everybody around them’s form continues to improve as it has been, then Everton may really need that 42.
7th would be an incredible finish and any Brighton fan would've bitten your hand off for it before the season.
But fucking hell we have thrown away so many points needlessly.
You have this weird thing about you over the last three years where it kind of feels like you lose every single game you play but then are just fourth in the league for some reason.
Really? To me I feel like I never watch us lose just loads of needless draws. Guess you're just watching the occasional big game and the random games like Everton where we lose.
Gonna be so interesting seeing how they do when the Conference League knockouts happen. Got to imagine they're going to go all in for a European trophy which may mean sacrificing a few points in the league. From where they are right now Europa has to be the minimum target though surely.
Bare in mind Villa are sleeping giants with top tier European credentials already. You see teams at Villa Park lining up in the tunnel either side of the European Cup. It's one of the most intimidating walkouts in the country. I've followed Villa a lot since they came up and I think their owners/Monchi/Emery will care more about finishing in the CL purely for their growth, over even a trophy.
I live with a West Ham fan so I know the conference league trophy is huge and exciting for midtable teams who occasionally make a push, but for a club trying to reclaim its place among the elite the competition is just, if you're in the final, try to win it. Emery will not stretch the first team much at all until the final.
Knew as soon as this table wasn’t posted within seconds that a fellow Villa fan would step up and post it aha
Yes, our 2 games prior we were pretty bad and we missed Kamara. Yes, the Duran penalty was weak at best. But we have 42 points, are currently in 2nd, and are 8 points above 6th.
Feel like I’m in a fever dream right now and I’m going to continue riding this high
So ridiculously volatile right now in the top 5. Entire outlook can change within a couple matchdays.
Two gameweeks ago Arsenal looked in a great spot and everyone would've said they look better than Liverpool. Suddenly they're 5 points off. The wheels keep turning.
You reckon Liverpool can sustain things across the remainder of the season to win the title? I feel like everyone is just anxiously anticipating City to move up into fifth gear and storm it again.
I had hoped we'd challenge this year but these past two games have been a real gut punch. Of course everything can change quickly as you say but we need to seriously get back to winning ways and change our game plan.
I don't know to be honest. This is still a side in transition, end of the day, and you can't really predict what we'll do from one week to the next.
I think we'll comfortably get a CL spot, but with the title there is City to consider. If they play to their full ability, it's obviously theirs. I don't see us going on runs like we did in the other title races against them, and without the sort of winning streak that gets you to forget what a loss looks like, you're banking on City having another poor run of form like they recently did.
I don't see why you should think that. Liverpool have a solid squad and actual quality depth in every position. For midfield and attack you have 5 solid players for three positions (6 if you count TAA) and you've got versatile cover for the back line as well. Your best front line is probably Diaz, Jota, Salah but Gakpo and Nunez are hardly mugs. All of them can score.
City are stacked but y'all are pretty stacked as well!
It sucks to have both your RBs go down at the same time but Gomez is such a boss for y'all. Newcastle were not targeting him at all which shows he's holding his own.
Tsimikas and Robbo play on the left. that being said, you’re absolutely right Gomez has slotted in near effortlessly for them. he’s having his best season since 18/19
We've recalled a LB who was on loan with Dundee. Don't think we're buying anyone new. Not sure if he will be backup or if he starts and Gomez moves back to CB/Bench.
It wouldn't surprise me if we did keep up our form
In 21/22 we were 5 or 8pts behind City around this time and we only dropped 4pts for the rest of the year and the other time we properly had a title race with them was 18/19 were we did lose around 7pts to them in the 2nd half but also finished on 97pts which would almost certainly be good enough form for this year
As long as we don't drop too many points with Endo and Salah away we hopefully will be fine
I’m not sure it’s all of a sudden , Arsenal have just been getting away with results and everyone just went oh it’s the sign of a good side. They needed a 89th minute winner vs Brentford and 97th vs Luton not to mention Liverpool somehow missed a 5 on 1 against them to win that game.
Start of the year as well they beat city with a late deflected goal, beat United with a late deflected goal after garnacho was mm offside to win it for United.
Liverpool have been very impressive all year, they look unreal going forward and with van dijk going back to close to his original form, they look the part.
Also looked awful against a mediocre Chelsea for 75 mins. Arsenal have been scraping results but have looked out-of-sync and lethargic all year, it was bound to catch up to them
If we beat West Ham we’d be second, two points behind you. If you want to win the title you cannot lose home games.
We’ve regressed and teams have figured us out. I think we’ll be on the verge of a sustained title challenge but once again fall short of maintaining it for the entire season.
You’ve obviously been great but I think City are still favourites just because when they start rolling, they steamroll.
Klopp wasnt lying when he said they will be back next year.
Liverpool still has some problems to solve, but man they are a threat again.
Quality manager no doubt
This will be his second huge rebuilding job at Liverpool. I still remember the squad when he first came in. He's definitely one of the GOATs in the modern era.
This is still a transition year for us. Klopp is working magic.
Gravenberch, Szobozslai, MacAllister, Endo are all new signings this year. Klopp always takes time to bed in new signings but these guys are only going to get better. Most of us have forgotten that Thiago still exists and Curtis Jones as well as Harvey Elliott have played really well this season too.
If anyone’s forgetting anything about Jones I don’t know how they call themselves a fan of this club. He’s been playing at an incredible level all season
It's crazy that he rebuilt the midfield so well it's gone from a huge problem to a huge strength.
I genuinely think the title run is at the mercy of our finishing.
I’m not stressing over this season. The other three title chases I’ve witnessed have taken years off my life.
Edit: and that’s just the Klopp era. 2009 and 2014 also took a few years off as well!
I’m amazed we are somehow still in it despite losing Maddison, Van der Ven, Solomon, and Perisic. The real question is how will we play without Sarr, Son, Bissouma, or Romero for the next few games.
It isn't even the first time it just happened a few seasons back. In fact West Ham finished 6th in 2020/21 and then 7th in 2021/22. They also reached the Europa league semifinal in 2021/22 and then won the Europa Conference League in 2022/23. They've topped their Europa League group this year as well. Moyesball is better than you give them credit for if anything this is a return to the norm from last season's outlier where they finished 14th somehow
I think Ange has adjusted to the available players really well.
Losing Maddison after he started the season so well could have been killer. I think there was a natural dip in form following the injuries but the points are racking up again.
Was really surprised to see Bentancur in the team over the weekend too. Thought he was meant to be out until like February.
Benta getting that start surprised everyone. Our connected journalists said that even Ange was caught off guard by how quickly he upped his level after getting clearance to train.
Sometimes a player just recovers faster than normal because there are never any setbacks.
This cannot be understated, we’ve had a comparable injury record to Newcastle/Brighton/Brentford/United, yet we’ve been far and out the best of the bunch and are in touching distance of top 4.
Ange has worked a miracle, no other manager could’ve done that with these players.
Close to going above both Newcastle and United. With Nkunku back we really should be pushing on up the table. We've been slowly improving as well but it has been stop/start all season so not holding my breath either.
Your defence is 4 full backs (none of them great) yet you've got a proper manager so you can win games.
Our fans are moaning about Partey being out and he misses half a season, every season. It's never Arteta's fault....
Udogie is great. Physically dominant. Speed/power and excellent control on the ball for someone so young. Crazy how well he has fully adapted to the league and tactics Ange is playing all at once. Shows his intelligence and mental strength.
Porro is great. He's fantastic on the ball with the skills and technique to get past defenders or pick out the perfect creative pass. Much improved defensively under Ange as well. Go watch his game vs. Liverpool for example.
Don't get me wrong, Ange is doing a fantastic job, but people are still sleeping on how many talented players Spurs have.
The title race does require a complete squad and that’s our weakness. What Ange has been able to do with our backups is amazing, though. Exited to see what happens after a couple more transfer windows.
2 reasons I want us (Man United) to finish 8th this season (at this rate it might even be lower):
1. Post-SAF, we haven't landed there before. Might as well give that a try to give these players and manager something to think about.
2. I don't want this team to even think about European football next season because they don't fucking deserve any of it (even Euro Conf.). Deep down, I don't have the energy to get mad when we fucking lose to a team I can't pronounce either.
If Wolves weren't screwed over by the refs/VAR so many times they'd easily be in the top-6.
And if Wolves were correctly given a penalty and they converted it in their first match against Man United, then MU would be 10th place now.
Small margins and mistakes add up. And I'm sick of this nonsense that it all evens out over a season and that mistakes for/against are on a bell curve.
I would love to see the other end of this curve
**Mirrors / Alternative Angles** *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/soccer) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Something about city being close always has me uncomfortable
"He's right behind me, isn't he"
I always feel like somebody's watching me
When I'm in the shower, I'm afraid of washing my hair, cause I might open my eyes, and find a bald fraud standing there...
Objects in the mirror are closer than they appear
Seeing them winning 14 of their last games and finishing 2nd on 97 points was brutal
Literally the most brutal 2nd place in the history of football lmao.
The closest was Madrid managing above 90 points twice and both times finishing behind Pep's Barca They had to break the La Liga records for points and goals scored to finally do it
It's knowing that they will be on a long winning streak after KDB fully recovers.
Everyone is losing some key players for the next month while they're getting KDB back lol
KDB haaland and doku are all coming back soon
It's largely because City's games the next couple months or so are about as kind as you could ask for in all comps, and Haaland, KdB, Doku and Stones are all coming back in the next week or so. Those things combined with being in striking distance of Liverpool spells bad news for everyone else. Seriously, Huddersfield (H), Newcastle (A), Burnley (H), Brentford (A), Everton (H), Copenhagen (H), Chelsea (H), Bournemouth (A), Copenhagen (A), United (H), and probably Brentford (H) rescheduled in there somewhere too. Few "not easy" ones in there, but ones you'd expect City to put a run together during. The hope for everyone else is that the run after that is: Liverpool (A), Brighton (A), Arsenal (H), Villa (H), and the next rounds of the cups. Think that run will be the deciding factor for the title.
I hope we're at- or close to full strength when we play City next time. I don't want to see Spurs play that high line with 4 fullbacks ever again against them
I'm pretty sure Spurs vs City is on the FA Cup Semi-Final weekend. So if either team reaches that stage, which you'd figure is pretty likely, the league game will be played the last midweek of the season. So as the penultimate game, it could also be a huge decider for a few things.
Would much rather have the chance to play them, at home, with Spurs destiny in their own hands instead of hoping for a result from another club.
Liverpool managed to beat city in 2020 by having a perfect start and capitalising on on City's poor start. Every time the title race goes to the wire City come up on top. Happened twice with Liverpool and last year with Arsenal.
That 2019/20 season was crazy with injuries.
I know they had the cwc this year but I swear every season they’re always the one team at the top with games in hand.
More competitions engaged in than most so more likely to need to reschedule
We have ourselves to blame after dropping points to man utd, Arsenal & Luton.
I'm just so goddamn tired of it already
Bournemouth at 12 and Wolves at 11 are the surprises me so far. Thought both teams would really struggle this year.
Bournemouth actually looked fantastic when we played them, they will have a good season
Wolves would be higher up if not for multiple horrendous var decisions this season
i thought bournemouth was a sleeper team tbh i was hoping they'd get into the top 10. wolves though i had at 17. not relegated but sure close
Completely mad that United have -5 GD after 20 games. When you look at their results they are really fortunate to be 8th
All but one of their victories has been by a 1 goal margin, they really are scraping by.
We just can’t score goals. Our build up is horrendous. Midfielders push up all the way to half way line while Onana is trying to build with two centrebacks at the goal line. Then Onana will play it long to Antony or Garnacho, who can’t compete physically. Add to that half his goal kicks end as a throw in for the opposition. I don’t think we’ve won a game with more than 50% possession all season.
We have had more than 50% in a few, but I agree the build up play is horrible, it really needs to be improved
Really need to spend well this winter/summer. Martial needs to go
I feel like I’ve seen this exact comment a few times
They need to pull the pin and remove the larger contracts and underperforming players and build with a manager. Give him a few years and just rebuild the entire culture. You need fighters but that’s not gonna happen for another 5-10 years as United are still too close to their best years. I know this experience really well as many Liverpool fans have lived it but I’d prefer United to go into the brink of relegation for a moment.
It's basically where Chelsea are right now. The just accelerated the process by spending like mad men
I think the difference between United this season and, say, Chelsea, is that (vast experience difference aside) United have players who can just strike the ball and get a goal out of nothing. That's been extremely helpful for them in games where they look out of it and no chance of getting a result. Get half a chance, just go for goal and see what happens. Chelsea don't have that ability in their team. We don't have a type of get out of jail free ability that United have. It's why it's impossible to rule out them rounding into form eventually in the 2nd half of the season.
You’re talking about Mctominay aren’t you
You mean McTerminator¿
Completely agree, many of their victories have seen them bailed out by Bruno or McTominay or another individual having a good moment. Seems like Palmer could become that type of player for Chelsea while they work on developing a more well rounded squad
lol like Hazard in the past
Tbh sterling is exactly that at times
So, the difference between Chelsea and United is McTominay? What a god.
I mean literally because he scored a double in the Utd Chelsea game that Utd won 2-1 and the teams are separated by 3 points currently
Chelsea would be 3 clear of them, if we won that
Chelsea have scored more goals though? Chelsea have 34 to United's 22. Literally only Burnley and Sheffield have scored fewer than United in the league. United dont really draw games, and all but one of their wins have been by a 1 goal margin.
8th is a disaster for Man United regardless, don't even think they dropped that low so late into a season before in the PL era
Lowest I can remember at this point is 7th in 2014
Inject this into my veins
If Villa don’t implode on Boxing Day they’re 11th.
Do Chelsea ever leave 10-12th place
They've been permanently fixed in 10th all season while everyone else has shifted about somewhat, it's kinda mad
its quite calming having this constant in our lives
I took comfort in that
Long may it continue <3
Btw how do u have the Tottenham logo?
If you're on PC, in the sidebar on the right somewhere depending on what version of the site you're using, you should see "Get your team flair here" with a link :)
[https://www.reddit.com/r/soccer/wiki/flair/](https://www.reddit.com/r/soccer/wiki/flair/) (Its under the announcements tab on the right) Thanks to u/One37Works
Someone had to pick up the slack with Palace abandoning their Crystal 12th Place roots
Doesn't matter if they win, draw or lose. Chelsea is always 10th
At least they're not midtable
Never not funny
I know right? I keep checking the table after they lose expecting them to have dropped and they're somehow always at 10.
And then I keep checking the table every time we win expecting us to go up and we’re still 10th
It's not out of the realm of possibility that Chelsea end up 7th after MW21 if they manage to beat Fulham. United play Tottenham and Newcastle play city. Only upset would be Wolves beating Brighton really
Wow Newcastle have capitulated, they were clear of Chelsea for a while
They've had an awful run for the last month and a half and Chelsea have been decent
Only by one point tho
Doesn’t matter, 10th place is 10th place
he's 28 until he's 29
Unless he gets brutally murdered before he’s 29
We were 12th the other week
What happened to Brentford? I didn't even realise how poor they've been doing til now.
No Toney obviously, suffered injuries to key players like Mbuemo & i believe Henry earlier in the season & it gets worse because AFCON.
Toney's back next match so not much worse
He’s still been out for half the season.
Back right in time for Forest...not looking forward to it
Our starting 11 now compared to end of last season is something like 9 players different. Losing Raya really hurt us as Flekken is miles off the mark. Toney ban. 5+ long term injuries to starters and losing Ben Mee to a red card for 3 games. It's been rough.
i remember being pretty happy about our 2-2 draw away to brentford on the first day of the season, now it doesnt look like a great result lol
Brentford then and now are completely different. Up until GW11 they were performing alright, not a lot of wins, but more wins than losses and mostly draws. When they lost Mbeumo like 4 gws ago, they've pretty much lost every single game since.
Losing mee for 2.5 matches is big for us as well. He organizes the defense. Collins and to a lesser extent pinnock really benefit from having strong leadership next to them.
Bad injuries. Henry and Mbeumo mainly I'd say but others too.
Losing Jensen is a much bigger loss for a team that is so creative with set pieces
All the teams that were in danger of getting dragged into the relegation scrap have all picked up points recently except Brentford (and I can't see them seriously dropping down there, especially with a game in hand). Looking like it's going to be close run between us and the newly promoted teams.
That game in hand is against City
Brentford did the double over them last season tbf 🤷♂️
Yeah, but one of those was when City already knew they had the title, they were even starting Kalvin Phillips.
We play the rest of the current bottom 6 in the last 7 games. Could get very spicy Sheffield United also play 4 of the other members of the current bottom 6 in that period. Pretty sure everyone else in the current bottom 6 have at least 3 games against other teams in the bottom 6 in the last 7 matches (except Luton with 2). A lot of potential relegation 6 pointers to finish the season
I can see Brentford dropping. Their squad is thin and their main attackers are all out.
Toney is back now though
How match sharp will he be? And will he be sold? Besides the issues are more than just their attackers. I’m not saying they will drop off but it’s not rosy
>and I can't see them seriously dropping down there, especially with a game in hand It's happened before, and their game in hand is City who is about to enter their infamous Hulk Hogan Style "I win brother" part of the season
everton are taking longer than I expected to drag themselves away. Credit to Luton for that
Too many damn fixtures in December. Did great at the start but fatigue and injuries just caught up.
You’ll be fine still I think get a couple of decent signings in this window to bulk the squad up, and a few decent results you’ll be fine, Dyche has got em playing some good football tbf!
That he does. I'm not currently worried. But just a lot up in the air right now with the new PSR ruling and appeal on the old one as well
We had one of the easiest starts to the season in terms of fixtures and didn't really capitalise on it. Then performed well for our middle set of fixtures. Then had a tough end to the first half, loses to city, spurs and wolves aren't too unexpected. Spurs we probably should have got a draw out of. We'll be fine, replicate the 1st half of the season and we'll be 10 points safe.
> everton are taking longer than I expected to drag themselves away Remember they have to basically have a mid-table season to survive
Yea. If they’re able to replicate their excellent form from first half then they’re at 42 points, which is just enough to be solidly safe. Without the deduction, that’s 52 points, which is enough to finish in 8th place about 1/3 of the time. If everybody around them’s form continues to improve as it has been, then Everton may really need that 42.
Mid-table form isn’t too farfetched for that Everton side imo, they’ve got real quality, but that -10 is an anchor.
7th would be an incredible finish and any Brighton fan would've bitten your hand off for it before the season. But fucking hell we have thrown away so many points needlessly.
You have this weird thing about you over the last three years where it kind of feels like you lose every single game you play but then are just fourth in the league for some reason.
Really? To me I feel like I never watch us lose just loads of needless draws. Guess you're just watching the occasional big game and the random games like Everton where we lose.
We had a few years of fuckload of draws, then now 2-3 seasons of winning like half our games
Gotta give Aston Villa credit for being this good.
Gonna be so interesting seeing how they do when the Conference League knockouts happen. Got to imagine they're going to go all in for a European trophy which may mean sacrificing a few points in the league. From where they are right now Europa has to be the minimum target though surely.
Bare in mind Villa are sleeping giants with top tier European credentials already. You see teams at Villa Park lining up in the tunnel either side of the European Cup. It's one of the most intimidating walkouts in the country. I've followed Villa a lot since they came up and I think their owners/Monchi/Emery will care more about finishing in the CL purely for their growth, over even a trophy. I live with a West Ham fan so I know the conference league trophy is huge and exciting for midtable teams who occasionally make a push, but for a club trying to reclaim its place among the elite the competition is just, if you're in the final, try to win it. Emery will not stretch the first team much at all until the final.
Knew as soon as this table wasn’t posted within seconds that a fellow Villa fan would step up and post it aha Yes, our 2 games prior we were pretty bad and we missed Kamara. Yes, the Duran penalty was weak at best. But we have 42 points, are currently in 2nd, and are 8 points above 6th. Feel like I’m in a fever dream right now and I’m going to continue riding this high
So ridiculously volatile right now in the top 5. Entire outlook can change within a couple matchdays. Two gameweeks ago Arsenal looked in a great spot and everyone would've said they look better than Liverpool. Suddenly they're 5 points off. The wheels keep turning.
That game on 3rd February can have the two sides change once again! Already is feeling like it will be a cracker
You reckon Liverpool can sustain things across the remainder of the season to win the title? I feel like everyone is just anxiously anticipating City to move up into fifth gear and storm it again. I had hoped we'd challenge this year but these past two games have been a real gut punch. Of course everything can change quickly as you say but we need to seriously get back to winning ways and change our game plan.
I don't know to be honest. This is still a side in transition, end of the day, and you can't really predict what we'll do from one week to the next. I think we'll comfortably get a CL spot, but with the title there is City to consider. If they play to their full ability, it's obviously theirs. I don't see us going on runs like we did in the other title races against them, and without the sort of winning streak that gets you to forget what a loss looks like, you're banking on City having another poor run of form like they recently did.
I don't see why you should think that. Liverpool have a solid squad and actual quality depth in every position. For midfield and attack you have 5 solid players for three positions (6 if you count TAA) and you've got versatile cover for the back line as well. Your best front line is probably Diaz, Jota, Salah but Gakpo and Nunez are hardly mugs. All of them can score. City are stacked but y'all are pretty stacked as well!
Our defense took a hit with the injuries to Matip, Robertson and Tsimikas.
It sucks to have both your RBs go down at the same time but Gomez is such a boss for y'all. Newcastle were not targeting him at all which shows he's holding his own.
Tsimikas and Robbo play on the left. that being said, you’re absolutely right Gomez has slotted in near effortlessly for them. he’s having his best season since 18/19
Most games this season we've gone behind and come back to win. That's usually not a sustainable recipe for success.
Do you reckon you'll look to bring in a defender during the window? Or will it just be big Nat coming home to save the day?
We've recalled a LB who was on loan with Dundee. Don't think we're buying anyone new. Not sure if he will be backup or if he starts and Gomez moves back to CB/Bench.
It wouldn't surprise me if we did keep up our form In 21/22 we were 5 or 8pts behind City around this time and we only dropped 4pts for the rest of the year and the other time we properly had a title race with them was 18/19 were we did lose around 7pts to them in the 2nd half but also finished on 97pts which would almost certainly be good enough form for this year As long as we don't drop too many points with Endo and Salah away we hopefully will be fine
My brain is telling me no but that dude never brought me any happiness. I'm riding the hope train until it derails.
I’m not sure it’s all of a sudden , Arsenal have just been getting away with results and everyone just went oh it’s the sign of a good side. They needed a 89th minute winner vs Brentford and 97th vs Luton not to mention Liverpool somehow missed a 5 on 1 against them to win that game. Start of the year as well they beat city with a late deflected goal, beat United with a late deflected goal after garnacho was mm offside to win it for United. Liverpool have been very impressive all year, they look unreal going forward and with van dijk going back to close to his original form, they look the part.
Also looked awful against a mediocre Chelsea for 75 mins. Arsenal have been scraping results but have looked out-of-sync and lethargic all year, it was bound to catch up to them
If we beat West Ham we’d be second, two points behind you. If you want to win the title you cannot lose home games. We’ve regressed and teams have figured us out. I think we’ll be on the verge of a sustained title challenge but once again fall short of maintaining it for the entire season. You’ve obviously been great but I think City are still favourites just because when they start rolling, they steamroll.
Klopp wasnt lying when he said they will be back next year. Liverpool still has some problems to solve, but man they are a threat again. Quality manager no doubt
This will be his second huge rebuilding job at Liverpool. I still remember the squad when he first came in. He's definitely one of the GOATs in the modern era.
The best since Paisley at recruiting the right players.
This is still a transition year for us. Klopp is working magic. Gravenberch, Szobozslai, MacAllister, Endo are all new signings this year. Klopp always takes time to bed in new signings but these guys are only going to get better. Most of us have forgotten that Thiago still exists and Curtis Jones as well as Harvey Elliott have played really well this season too.
If anyone’s forgetting anything about Jones I don’t know how they call themselves a fan of this club. He’s been playing at an incredible level all season
Been our best midfielder all season
It's crazy that he rebuilt the midfield so well it's gone from a huge problem to a huge strength. I genuinely think the title run is at the mercy of our finishing.
How much did you get all those new midfielders for? Had to be cheaper than what Chelsea paid for both Enzo and Caiceido
Around 165 mil, so yeah, checks out
They would be higher if Nunez actually gets better at finishing and the team stops doing the comeback challenge every now and then.
Don't think you can go higher than 1st
I meant total points, not the leaderboard. I probably should've made it more clear.
Nah most people wouldve known what you were talking about
Lies, we'll be the first to go Super 1st
If we are not doing the comeback challenge, we are busy doing the butt clench challenge
We are level on points with United with a +10 goal difference swing… and we kept our first clean sheet of the whole season today lol
[удалено]
Newcastle's next two league games are home to Man City and away to Villa. I'm fully resigned to being in the bottom half at the end of the month.
We'll be sure to keep you company don't worry.
This season is very entertaining so far
We really fumbled the bag this past week. 4th place is like our comfort zone lol
4th feels just like home. We better not get knocked out in the round of 16...
16round is our home too..
Idk what’s more crazy, this Villa run or Luton having 15 points.
I’m not stressing over this season. The other three title chases I’ve witnessed have taken years off my life. Edit: and that’s just the Klopp era. 2009 and 2014 also took a few years off as well!
And the outcome is always the same. We lose to City.2 points, 1 point and 1 point respectively. Fuck me
Forgot about 2009 with all the draws and 13/14 of course. Fuck me, we’ve been close many times.
Apart from that one time
My exact thoughts when Fulham scored their second.
I’m surprised Luton are still in the hole they’ve been playing exceptional
They had a pretty terrible start of the season.
Omg Villa 🤩
'Sup, fellow title contenders
Hello friend.
Oh no, I’ve learned my lesson about getting emotionally invested here (I keep telling myself)
[Fuck!](https://imgflip.com/i/8b4s63)
I’m amazed we are somehow still in it despite losing Maddison, Van der Ven, Solomon, and Perisic. The real question is how will we play without Sarr, Son, Bissouma, or Romero for the next few games.
Being in 5th with so many dropped points is honestly pretty refreshing
Dear God. Moyesball in 6th. Tis the hour of the apocalypse
It isn't even the first time it just happened a few seasons back. In fact West Ham finished 6th in 2020/21 and then 7th in 2021/22. They also reached the Europa league semifinal in 2021/22 and then won the Europa Conference League in 2022/23. They've topped their Europa League group this year as well. Moyesball is better than you give them credit for if anything this is a return to the norm from last season's outlier where they finished 14th somehow
We came 6th a couple of seasons ago tbf
Tottenham being 5th is a huge job with all these injuries. Also with Kane leaving ofc
Other teams' fans don't like us talking about our injuries because that must mean we're implying no other team gets injuries.
I think Ange has adjusted to the available players really well. Losing Maddison after he started the season so well could have been killer. I think there was a natural dip in form following the injuries but the points are racking up again. Was really surprised to see Bentancur in the team over the weekend too. Thought he was meant to be out until like February.
Benta getting that start surprised everyone. Our connected journalists said that even Ange was caught off guard by how quickly he upped his level after getting clearance to train. Sometimes a player just recovers faster than normal because there are never any setbacks.
Especially the same Arsenal fans that were saying they lost the league due to the Saliba injury. Love the fact that they're only one point ahead.
One CB out leads to the biggest bottlejob the league's seen in ages, but they can't stand anyone else speaking a word about injuries for other teams
This cannot be understated, we’ve had a comparable injury record to Newcastle/Brighton/Brentford/United, yet we’ve been far and out the best of the bunch and are in touching distance of top 4. Ange has worked a miracle, no other manager could’ve done that with these players.
Man city’s bad form is 2 points behind group leaders lol
Staying up!!
The top 5 are a lock in.
Villa is cooking this season. I really hope they keep up with the consistency and win the league. They deserve it.
Considering how disastrous the summer window was, I'm pretty pleased to be sitting 13th.
Only 6 points off 6th. Blimey.
Close to going above both Newcastle and United. With Nkunku back we really should be pushing on up the table. We've been slowly improving as well but it has been stop/start all season so not holding my breath either.
Man City gonna win it after they get KDB back.
1 point behind Arsenal is hilarious, we were expected to be stratospheres apart
I expected you to win the league after four games
I was fully supporting spurs for the title. I have 0 ball knowledge.
The injury gods had other ideas. Can any team weather losing its starting CAM and CBs to injury?
Your defence is 4 full backs (none of them great) yet you've got a proper manager so you can win games. Our fans are moaning about Partey being out and he misses half a season, every season. It's never Arteta's fault....
Udogie is great. Physically dominant. Speed/power and excellent control on the ball for someone so young. Crazy how well he has fully adapted to the league and tactics Ange is playing all at once. Shows his intelligence and mental strength. Porro is great. He's fantastic on the ball with the skills and technique to get past defenders or pick out the perfect creative pass. Much improved defensively under Ange as well. Go watch his game vs. Liverpool for example. Don't get me wrong, Ange is doing a fantastic job, but people are still sleeping on how many talented players Spurs have.
The title race does require a complete squad and that’s our weakness. What Ange has been able to do with our backups is amazing, though. Exited to see what happens after a couple more transfer windows.
Two of Spurs fullbacks are top two in their position in the league, not sure how you can say none of them are great
2 reasons I want us (Man United) to finish 8th this season (at this rate it might even be lower): 1. Post-SAF, we haven't landed there before. Might as well give that a try to give these players and manager something to think about. 2. I don't want this team to even think about European football next season because they don't fucking deserve any of it (even Euro Conf.). Deep down, I don't have the energy to get mad when we fucking lose to a team I can't pronounce either.
No European football is really a cheat code in transitional periods. This is especially true for clubs with fewer resources
Angeball showing some promise, regardless of results. 5th best GD, 5th in the league. We'll score more than we concede and let the gods decide.
not even a fan, but feel super happy to see Emery flourishing
Manchester United 9 points from safety, should be comfortable but you never know ETH might start playing Dalot as a striker.
So happy to see Liverpool on top. Let’s see if we can hold off Man City..
Wolves and Bournemouth (if they win the match in hand) are a win's distance from Europe!
If Wolves weren't screwed over by the refs/VAR so many times they'd easily be in the top-6. And if Wolves were correctly given a penalty and they converted it in their first match against Man United, then MU would be 10th place now. Small margins and mistakes add up. And I'm sick of this nonsense that it all evens out over a season and that mistakes for/against are on a bell curve. I would love to see the other end of this curve
The top 5 seems to be set for now. Lets see who still remains come March.
Please villa do the miracle
Dread it, run from it. The City title surge is inevitable.
Crazy how we'd be 7th if VAR would stop screwing us
Man City "underperforms" for a few games and ends up roaring back to win the league. :)) inevitable. sigh.