That's fair. I did expect him to have more of an impact on the counter, running at individual defenders. Even keeping the ball was a problem.
The Title Race 2017/18 | Done and dusted.
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Don't think they can handle 3 games in a week.
So a 0-4 result against Liverpool then
City are currently the team to beat. They have proven their credentials against a couple of big teams and in the CL as well. Liverpool is United's first big test. Hopefully United win with flying colours.
Next month will be big for us. But i feel we are a tiny bit short of the title in our attack (especially with pogba out for a while). Martial and rashford are still young and developing. Lukaku new but settled really well. I think it'll be next year when Mou wins it to be honest. City this summer spent hugely on their weaknesses in addition to having some world class players. If we added griezmann onto our summer of signings, then itd be on par IMO. And thats what i think we'll do next summer. But this year they look to have settled really well and have done really well in the big games.
You can say the same about United though. United are yet to play a top 6 team from last season and a top 10 from this season. Yet DDG has made much more saves than Ederson which inidcates that we don't concede less chances than them.
Agreed. However how we press will be very crucial.
It was laughable how many times City evaded the press of a Chelsea player, resulting in space to run at the defense. Our pressing will have to be incredibly coordinated, otherwise City will get behind our midfielders and split our defense. There's no way Mourinho lets that happen. We will most likely have 5 at the back, plus the 3 midfielders in an aggressive yet careful approach to prevent City from getting into any sort of rhythm.
I wonder if the pressing and movement of City will tire them during the season. Not as gung-ho as Liverpool, but still their players covers a lot of ground.
It is necessary for their style of play, but is it sustainable? In comparison we conserve a lot more energy during a match with attacking in bursts instead of relentless non-stop pressing and movement. Might not look as impressive, but over the course of a long season on all fronts then it might be the wiser strategy.
It is necessary for their style of play, but is it sustainable? In comparison we conserve a lot more energy during a match with attacking in bursts instead of relentless non-stop pressing and movement. Might not look as impressive, but over the course of a long season on all fronts then it might be the wiser strategy.
It's the famous second season for Jose now. City will be stronger than now next season.
I suppose that many are questioning whether we can pip City to the title, as opposed to can we finish top 4 shows the progression we've made from last season. It'd just be a shame to lose out to that lot. Of course we might end up in a top 4 race, however unlikely that looks at the minute.
Agreed. The Liverpool game will be a big marker to show what we can do.
I need to look into the saves made statistic, but I think a Jose team is better equipped defensively than a Guardiola team. However, that was not my point - I was of the opinion that this City side aren't as good as they look, as I suspect big games in the CL will quickly reveal, or, in my opinion, the Manchester derby. I think teams like us or Athletico will know how to deal with these setups.
Sorry but you are wrong. Pep Guardiola is coming from LVG's school of thought in that matter - run less, play more with the ball. His all teams (Barca, Bayern and now City) are usually in the bottom of the statistics when it comes to kilometers covered per game. Thats why they are fresh and able to press from the first to the last minute of the match.
Yeah, they press wiser than for example Liverpool. I couldn't see any fatigue with them last season, meanwhile Liverpool predictably ran out of steam in January and will do so again this year.
Think you are wrong about that, City are in top 6 IMO.
Thats why you don't rely on stats.
Bournemouth should have scored the second just before City did, Liverpool cut them open time and time again only to mess up the simple final pass(even Neville grew frustrated at this) While City gave up at least 3 glorious, can't miss chances v Watford that they blazed wide. Bad misses that Ederson didn't save so doesn't show up in saves made stats.
Because they have the most balanced XI in the league and have the best striker.
Wembley factor will have less of an impact as the season goes on, they're growing so much as a team.
Are they shrinking the pitch by the week?
Are they shrinking the pitch by the week?
Should be a good race this year. City, Spurs, Chelsea, Us at least are challengers. Maybe Liverpool and Arsenal too.
Chelsea showed today how much they rely on Morata, that's a tough place to be for an entire season. City have Jesus/Aguero and United have Lukaku/Ibra. Important to have two.
Not so sure about that as I think Batshuayi is underrated. Mind you the manager has to play him. Chelsea do lack squad depth though, more so than any of the other challengers.
He can't lead the line. His hold up play is non-existent and his link play is very poor.
His link up play is a bit dodgy yeah but he is good in the box. They could use another option for sure and I could see why they wanted Llorente. But they let Abraham go who is actually very good at that stuff. Bizarre really.
Not finishing top 4 under Moyes, LVG and Jose was underachieving massively tbh so top 4 should always be a given so ‘just’ finishing top 4 won’t be seen a progression imo it’s just achieving the bare minimum
Not winning the title this season will be a blow as far as I’m concerned but it’s a real prospect given how City are looking
Spurs are a very real threat I think.
They'll finish 4th.
They don’t win their home games, only threat they are is to Liverpool and Arsenal in finishing top 4
Chelsea are thoroughly in the chasing pack (along with Liverpool and spurs) behind the Mancs. Said as much a couple of weeks back but for some reason the oppos keep over-rating Chelsea.
What's astonishing though is how much the Chelsea fans on here buy into that as well. Either they lack objectivity or they are somewhat deluded thinking Chelsea is going to go up against United and City.
What's astonishing though is how much the Chelsea fans on here buy into that as well. Either they lack objectivity or they are somewhat deluded thinking Chelsea is going to go up against United and City.
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City's to lose IMO. Said before the season started, they have the best squad on paper and will be used to the way Pep wants them to play. I think we'll give them a good run but fall short in the end.
Or perhaps the team's that City plays against are dreadful in front of goal? Their defense has been impressive, but its moreso a team effort rather than their back line.
Future brings dark clouds. In next four games we play 3 away and one home game Away is chelsea, liverpool and home is spurs. City has 3 home games( one of them is arsenal).
I think they will get 12 points and we.... i don't want to be pessimist but 7-8 points is maximum that we can win from those games.
I think they will get 12 points and we.... i don't want to be pessimist but 7-8 points is maximum that we can win from those games.
As a matter of verifiable fact the most Utd can get out of those games is 12 points.
We only press certain teams though. There is no way we'll press United like we did Chelsea. Pep has changed in that regard.
Our next games in the league are :
Liverpool away
Huddersfield away
Spurs home
Chelsea away
Newcastle home
Brighton home
Watford away
Arsenal away
I'll happy if we grabbed 2 points from Liverpool and Chelsea while winning all the rest, which is very possible.
Liverpool away
Huddersfield away
Spurs home
Chelsea away
Newcastle home
Brighton home
Watford away
Arsenal away
I'll happy if we grabbed 2 points from Liverpool and Chelsea while winning all the rest, which is very possible.
Like the last 2 seasons?
There have only been 3 home league games so far for Spurs, which hardly provides conclusive evidence as to how the remaining 16 will go. Besides, if we can beat Dortmund at home then we can beat many other teams at home too.
Same thing exactly was being said at this point last season, i.e. top four guaranteed but good chance for the title at a push. My point is it's too early to be talking with such certainty about top four or the title.
City are favourites and this win against chelsea is what pep needed. Having said that , we cannot underestimate jose and our side. Jose will love the fact that his side is the underdog and he would love to play off that.
My only worry is pep could buy even more players this january as he clearly is going all out. Maybe jose should also consider buying some players and not wait till summer 2018.
My only worry is pep could buy even more players this january as he clearly is going all out. Maybe jose should also consider buying some players and not wait till summer 2018.
City were great today. But I don't think this high pressing style is sustainable in this league. We need to outlast them physically and really hope we will.
Maybe but I can't see any reason why they can't go as well or better than last season when they were close. Seems very strange to me that everyone seems to think it is between the two Manc clubs especially when we haven't played anyone tough yet.
They have a very good attack and a very good defence. Seems to me they have a chance.
To be fair, they don't press that high against the mid-table sides.
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