They should at least admit they are in with a shout. Everyone can see that.
On current form i'd say so, City have depth in their bench but you lot are doing really good with what you have.
You are selling them short though. They are the first team to win the league after 10 games (with all rivals having a game in hand at that). One only needs to watch how they brush aside Huddersfield, Red Star and Cardiff to see that they are the very best out there.
Didnt say they will win the title (god forbid) but imo they are the best team in England. They have improved significantly at the back and are still capable of ripping teams apart going forward.
You are entitled of your opnion but it is based on little evidence. It's not like Liverpool didn't play City recently and were a biit lucky not to lose at home. And it's not like they are already many points ahead of Chelsea, Arsenal, Spurs.
I've watched them twice against Leicester and Huddersfield and they looked poor both times. On paper we should be challenging the likes of Liverpool!
Happy that you already know what's going to happen.
It sounds like you already know what's going to happen. Nothing is for certain obviously, isn't that the beauty of the game?
Yep, we haven't clicked, and perhaps we never will this season. City will win the league with the rest fighting for the minor places.
What do you see as our deficiencies? Obviously we are far from a perfect side, but I personally don't see us as having any glaring deficiencies, so interested in an opposing view.
I expect that your goalscoring record will get better at the expense of your defensive record. My take is that you won't revert to pre-VVD times but you won't continue with the current defensive record either.
It's a balance. The defence is winning us games right now and, while our attack isn't scoring at (the backend of) last season's rate, we are still scoring goals and winning games. And winning games is obviously the one and only aim.
That's only because of City's historically good side, they seem too good to fail, at least for this season.
I appreciate the quality of your team, this is why I've predicted that you can win 85+ pts. Which could equal or better your best PL season ever (08/09). Still, 85+ pts are not likely to win the title this season. Maybe 90+ pts will be needed. If you win 89 pts, that will be your best league campaign ever in terms of pts per game.
LoL
Maybe if it was at Anfield...can see Arsenal getting a draw.
Ox too, when he is back. I really enjoyed his performances last season and he is being missed this season. Wonder if we’ll try play a formation similar to City where we have a 6 holding (Fabinho, Hendo, Gini) and any two of (Ox, Keita, Shaq, Lallana, Milner) playing as two 8’s. City do it so well with Fernandinho and 2 of De Bruyne, D Silva, B Silva.
There's levels between a pairing of KDB & Silva and any of those names you mentioned.
We could easily draw or lose if we’re having a bad day.
I don’t disagree the City midfield remains well ahead of ours at this moment in time but D Silva and Fernandinho are both getting on in years now, while our best 3 (I’m speculating it will end up being Fabinho, Keita, Ox) have only recently arrived at the club and can be expected to improve over time.
I'd rather he played in midfield.
Since Arsenal moved to the Emirates in 2006, we have played 12 Premier League matches there.
It's stupid to play him there, I thought he was working well with Torreira in central midfield. Xhaka against any pacy winger will be a struggle, now he has Salah to deal with.
You need to take into account the fact that for 8 of those 12 seasons Arsenal finished above us in the league, had a settled, successful manager at the helm, & didn't have to contend with an ownership battle. If you look at their record at Anfield during the same period, they only picked up 2 more points than we did at The Emirates. Our record there could be better, but the fact we've only lost 4 times in the last 12 visits can't be classed as 'woeful'.
Until, or should I say, unless, City start dropping silly points, you'll not find too many of us feeling that bullish at the moment. Lot of points still to be played for. Those at The Etihad have proven they have what it takes when it comes to consistency over the course of a full season. We haven't, & that's why City are still very strong favourites @ 1/2 whereas we're around 3/1. So yeah, we're in with a shout at the minute. But we're still very wary of that old 'boom/bust' cycle coming along again at some point during the season.
Maybe I was onto something there.
So eager to be proven right that you couldn't even wait to prove your point with a half-decent sample size, great.
We'll need a win either Napoli or PSG, both of which are incredibly difficult prospects. We'd likely have to beat Napoli by two goals, too.
Keep going.
Nah, ideally, we want PSG to win I reckon.
