So, just over halfway there now, but it’s not Bon Jovi but Metallica which comes to mind this time, ‘so close no matter how far’ being a reference that springs to mind.
There’s a sense of doom and gloom around the place, almost a ‘what’s the point?’ sentiment, given the way the League has panned out. I get that, given City’s dominance (36 points out of 36, 11 points clear, etc.) but I honestly think that there are loads of reasons to be positive not just about this season but the seasons ahead.
Since the last time I wrote, after THAT Leicester defeat, we’ve picked up four points out of six in the League, which still puts us on course for 81-82 points (based on our average points haul per game so far, 2.14 points). That could go either way, of course, but based on previous Klopp seasons, you would expect us to be strong in the second half, so we could conceivably get 85 points or more. Will that be enough to win the Title? Probably not, given City’s rhythm at the moment, but there are reasons to think that it’s not over yet.
Yes, City have got 36 points from their last 36; but they only got 20 from their first 30, an average of two points a game. They’ve lost two, the same as us. They’ve won EIGHT games by the odd goal. Sign of champions, certainly, but also a sign they are not all-powerful. We still have to go there in April, and when we do, we need to be within touching distance.
Say we win our game in hand, that puts us eight points behind them. And if you look at both clubs’ last five games, you’ll see WWWWW for City, a total of 15 points and WDLDW for the Reds, a total of 8 points, in other words a seven-point difference.
So we have literally gone toe-to-toe with this multi-billion petrodollar outfit, who have cheated to get where they are (this isn’t an allegation, it’s been proven to be so in the courts). That run, over the Christmas and new year period has cost us. But even then, the Spurs draw hinged on two scandalous refereeing decisions, notably the push on Diogo and Kane’s yellow; if Mo converts his penalty against Leicester, it’s probably a different game; we were blitzed by Chelsea for ten minutes and threw away a two-goal lead. It’s those draws which have really cost us, as City have moved the goalposts to a stage where you now need to win 30 games a season. Six draws in your first 21 doesn’t leave any margin for error.
We’ve the best attack in the League (55 goals), the fourth-best defence, we’ve taken 24 points out of 30 at home (seven wins and three draws which by most metrics is excellent, except that in this Title race it’s as if we have dropped six points, rather than gained three), we haven’t played the same electric stuff that we did from 2017 to 2020 but there are times we’ve been fantastic, we’ve brought through lots of youth in the Cups which augurs well for the future, we’re still in four competitions and could be looking at Wembley in February, to add to a huge European night and with a favourable FA Cup draw, we could go far in that competition too. We’ve not suffered too much, so far, from the absence of Sadio and Mo and with Elliott due back soon, that creative spark we’ve been missing in the middle of the park could be present.
51 points to play for – which would get us to 96, and given Klopp’s reaction after Brentford, you feel he still thinks it’s possible to have a say in things come April or May.
John Brennan
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