We've lost/drawn to every big team we've played this season. But hey, why let facts get in the way?
EPL Title Race 20/21
- Thread starter horsechoker
- Start date
Win two games and have a ruck (Arsenal 91 style?) resulting in a 1 point ban?
Take a break for tonight eh pal?
Things might look better in the morno.
Most teams are, thats why we can go top of the league! Top teams are overrly cautious in these games this season.
Id go the other way, we have 1 loss against the current top 10 and that was the Spurs freakshow
Couldn’t watch the game today. Did we play the diamond midfield again? It was unbalanced at least in the Vila game.
It’s like we give up our strongest as a compromise to bring in pogba. If pogba is neutralized, we are completely ruined.
It’s like we give up our strongest as a compromise to bring in pogba. If pogba is neutralized, we are completely ruined.
Transfermarkt has these very helpful 'annual Premier League tables'. So you can check out that for example, in 2013, Arsenal got the most points in the PL. They were nowhere near the title in either 2012/13 or 2013/14 or ever since, really, but that calendar year they were the best team in the country. They also finished top in 2015.
I don’t think we will get more than 5 points from our remaining six games against the big six in the league. We still have to travel to all five and have Liverpool at home. As I posted here, our record has fallen off a cliff in these games since the pandemic. If we don’t get a Bruno pen, we literally do not score.
We could get 0, we could get 1, we could get 2, we could get 3, we could get 4 or we could get 6, but no, we cannot get 5.
Who cares about Chelaea and Arsenal? Isnt a Villa win harder than beating Chelsea at the minute? Going away to Leicester and getting 2, deserving a win?
Anyway, the so called big games doesnt mean as much this season with the way everybody is dropping points. Theyre fast becoming just another 3 points. It was important because of the rarity of your rival dropping point but that has gone.
Just keep our head down and beat everybody outside of the so called big 6 and we are champions.
If we score a safety in the first game then sure
In 08/09,
We lost to Liverpool twice.
We drew and lost to Arsenal.
We drew and beat Chelsea once.
We drew and beat Everton.
We drew and beat Aston Villa.
We lost and beat Fulham
So against the top 4 teams, we only collected 5 points out of 18 points. And against 5th, 6th, 7th, we have only collected 11 points out of 18 points. This season is pretty much similar to that 08/09 season where there were 3 horse races which likely to be this season, other top teams lost points against the mid table and low table teams and we struggled to get 3 points against the top teams and yet still won the league.
It will be nice to win games against the top teams like what we did last season but doesn’t mean unable to get 3 points against them this season we can’t keep going until may to challenge the title.
Have you been watching us this season ?
Our big game record has been :
1-6 L Spurs.
0-1 L Arsenal
0-0 D Chelsea
0-0 D City
1-2 W PSG
1-3 L PSG
0-2 L City
Across all competitions. All of them at Old Trafford bar the PSG win (the irony).
Your information is dated. We were good in big games last season, this season we have been rubbish in all of them bar the PSG away.
It's definitely a concern how we went from what we were doing against them last season to what we're doing now.
I was certainly thinking about OGS’ full tenure when I posted. You do make fair points, and it is a somewhat worrying trend, I agree.
I do think we’ll be involved in a title race this year, though. But we lack that final edge to go all the way. But we’re seeing progress on the whole, and I don’t believe now is the time for negativity because of a loss in the League Cup.
City will win it i suspect. For all the bantering and wumming about their fans on Bluemoon, my opinion is they are the best side in the league when they are bang at it from 1 to 11. I think I'd still rather Pep to Klopp, too. Something about Klopp fecking winds me up, and i just generally think Pep is a better manager all round
And yet we are top of the league.
We have been excellent at scraping wins against teams we struggled with before, so if we continue to do that and avoid losing to City and L'pool, I think we have a realistic shot at the title this season. Both of them will drop points here and there.
Ok? Are you claiming we're not on top of the league?
@TheReligion will tell you all about it. You're not even joint top, you are... second!
Which of these leaguetable statuses would you prefer right now?
| 1. | Liverpool | 17 | 9 | 6 | 2 | 37 | 21 | +16 | 33 | |
| 2. | Man. United | 16 | 10 | 3 | 3 | 33 | 24 | +9 | 33 |
Second.. SECOND!
Can you read who is top? Don't talk about being top of the league until a result from the Burnley game goes our way - and this is from a United supporter.
I feel you, mate
Can you accept "as good as" or "pretty much" on top of the league? We might lose to Burnley on Tuesday of course, but I don't think we will.
You're 28 until you're 29.
If the league ended today we wouldn’t be champions, it’s that simple. We’re second.
You said we are "top of the league". We aren't.
There's no "pretty much". It either is or isn't. The Burnley game isn't far, I would reserve gloating until then.
On a serious note, we are not the finished article yet, and I think City and LFC are stronger than us so I won't complain if we end 3rd either. My point was that we've still done better than the other big teams this season despite suddenly not getting results against the top teams.
We've played a game fewer, so we should win the league if it were to be called off now. I invoke the "Points Per Game" clause I just invented*!
*In the event of the league being cancelled before the season is completed and, at the time of cancellation, Liverpool are on top and Man Utd are second with the best PPG in the league, the title will be decided on PPG.
But, yeah, currently we're second.
The way City are playing right now, they will wallop anyone with ease. Liverpool will pick up form too. I would argue we're the in form team in the league right now, would you agree with that? Despite that, we needed a last min winner against wolves, a penalty (which imo was soft) to beat villa - both at home! I imagine that at some point we will suffer from a loss of form.
It was obvious yesterday, we are not even close to winning the league. Liverpool and City have had their dips this season and will be on similar points.
You cannot win the PL if you cannot control football games. There has been 0 PL game this season where we have had control for more than 30 minutes.
I am all for optimism but when you cannot keep possession, you will always concede goals. In the last few games V Villa, Leicester, Wolves, SU, even Leeds where they kept looking like they can score goals.
It is a big problem we need to address.
You cannot win the PL if you cannot control football games. There has been 0 PL game this season where we have had control for more than 30 minutes.
I am all for optimism but when you cannot keep possession, you will always concede goals. In the last few games V Villa, Leicester, Wolves, SU, even Leeds where they kept looking like they can score goals.
It is a big problem we need to address.
Nah! I would definitely start claiming to be 29 at least a couple of weeks before the actual day, I mean there was basicly 0% risk of me not being 29 two weeks later back then
....., but everyone would know who was the real champions though.
I agree of course. I think Liverpool and City are better than us, and I thought Chelsea, Spurs and Arsenal would be better than they have been after the summer windows they all had. I though we would have to fight for 4th and could challenge for 3rd with a good campaign before the season, so I will not complain if we end 3rd now. I am very happy that we are in the race almost halfway through though. The way we have been scraping wins against the mid- and lowtable teams, and the fact that LFC and City have been dropping points, makes me believe that there is a small chance we could win the league now, but we are definitely not favourites.
I am absolutely certain we will fall away now City have hit their straps by the looks of it, also worried that our first choice CB partnership is fit again and giving us yet more nightmares
I don't disagree with this at all and I myself said it about 2 or 3 times here that it's points game not head to head one, as long as you defeat the majority of midtable and relegation fodders, you'll challenge for the league. I was just replying on us doing well against other top teams, as it hasn't been the case this season. We were very good in them last season but this one we have been poor in this aspect.
I know they decided the women's league last season on ppg and awarded Chelsea the title despite being second or third. I think Chelsea had 1 or 2 games in hand but they were either unbeaten or had a 100% record in all the games until the league was suspended. Using that system, United would be champions in your scenario.
Liverpool 1.9411 United 2.0625.
I remember reading somewhere that 19 games had to be played before a decision could be reached?
Looks like Liverpool's FA Cup tie with Villa will be off meaning they'll get nigh on two weeks rest before they play us in the league 
I don't think it's a massive negative as long as we rest the players we should be resting on Saturday. Rest isn't this Liverpool sides best friend, they love the momentum. I'm sure plenty of their fans will agree. That's two whole weeks without a game practically, not great for match fitness either.Looks like Liverpool's FA Cup tie with Villa will be off meaning they'll get nigh on two weeks rest before they play us in the league
I think the top four will consist of United, City, Liverpool and Spurs...haven't a clue what the order will be. The great thing this season is that nobody is running away with it like the last few years. From a City point of view Dias has made a tremendous difference to our defence. Stones and Cancelo are like new signings such has been their improvement this season.
Sir Alex always said attack wins you games but defense wins you the league. May be this season City’s defense could be the key and the difference that lead you to win it. No one would have predict Stones improvement and watching city‘s defense this season and recently, I think you lot are the most favourite now. The only thing that will stop you is if you lose lot of points from 0-0 or 1-1 draws because you wasted lot of chances couldn’t score a goal which what has been your problem this season
For me, the he most important column of this table is the fourth, number of wins. Hope manutd can make the difference even better for the rest of the season.