So Close No Matter How Far - by John Brennan

[tlw content 16,783]

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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[DalyanPete 1,173]

Yep, I'm with you on this, granted not much margin for error. 

You've echoed my thoughts, all hinges on winning there but they will hit a blip.

I just can't take City and all the fawning over the shithouse cheating cunts seriously, along with the shithouse authorities.

 

[VladimirIlyich 9,502]

Is he not a cheerleader in chief any more?

[Chris 1,350]

7 hours ago, VladimirIlyich said:

Is he not a cheerleader in chief any more?

 

Give it a rest, eh. 

[Chris 1,350]

Was talking to John about this last night and his piece helped me realise how lucky we are to expect, nay, demand perfection from this team because we've seen it before. The window is rapidly shorting before we're talking about this team in the past tense. We'll look back with such fondness. We should look at it with the same fondness right now. 

[DPW 224]

Manchester City - the thing that should not be. 

[VladimirIlyich 9,502]

1 hour ago, Chris said:

 

Give it a rest, eh. 

Why? I've yet to see him hold up his hands and say 'I was wrong about our best manager in decades.' We live by our opinions and forums are all about opinions. It still makes me smile even now.

[Chris 1,350]

1 hour ago, VladimirIlyich said:

Why? I've yet to see him hold up his hands and say 'I was wrong about our best manager in decades.' We live by our opinions and forums are all about opinions. It still makes me smile even now.

 

"We live by our opinions" – What a load of nonsense that is. My opinions about certain things change 3-4 times a game sometimes, let alone from five years ago. I'm not sure whether John regrets that line because why would I ask? Things evolve. He wasn't "wrong" about Klopp either. He pointed out a couple of things that were annoying him at the time. Like that West Brom thing none of us really got at the time. Not once did that involve him saying Klopp was the wrong man.

 

I've been writing/talking for TLW for 23 years. Pretty sure half of that stuff I'd look back on and think "maybe I didn't quite nail that." Am I gonna go through it with a fine-toothed comb and hold my hands up for everything? Hell fucking no.

[an tha 8,300]

Problem I have with our pursuit of the cheating bastards is this:

 

They are squeezing the life out of the game - literally suffocating it to death.

 

I can handle us not winning league and chasing a better team, but there has to be a glimmer of hope you can actually catch them, that other teams might beat them, that winning is hard for them too.....some sort of jeopardy.

 

There is literally none with them and it is soul destroying....even the mancs under demento would often lose 6 or 7 games a season and win titles with 'normal' pts totals in the low to mid 80's, even the odd one or two in the 70's.

 

We knew it was pretty much fucked when 97 pts was not enough to beat them - ok we went again and won it the next year with an even higher total - but it was always going to be extremely difficult/nigh on impossible to maintain that level season after season.

 

As the OP says "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)" and arguably our best ever team or certainly one of them (and we have had some great teams) and its not enough.....They can spend 100m on a player like Grealish, he be dead average and its no bother....

 

Rest of league so often just curls up in a ball against them and begs not to be hit too hard - teams often fail to register a shot on target v them (even a side as good as chelsea) or win a corner.

 

They are strangling the life out of the game....pretty much no competition.

 

The feeling that pretty much every droppes point is likely to kill you just becomes so draining - recent draws away at Chelsea and Tottenham (whilst being weakened by covid) are not bad results at all 'normally' but frankly they have pretty much ended our hopes (along with the leicester shit show, but that is it isn't - can't really afford any bad days up against these now)

 

They'll probably win next 5 leagues at a canter and every time a challenger comes along ala us from about 2018-2020, they just swat them away with their chequebook...

[Redder Lurtz 3,223]

Mrs Lurtz walked into the living room the other night and said "3-0? I didn't hear you shouting"  She'd been upstairs watching some shite while I watched the match. 

 

It wasn't the most thrilling performance but any 3-0 league win would normally have got me cheering but I've just realised I find it difficult to get too excited when those cheating pricks are running away with the league.

 

I mean, what's the fucking point? Everyone knows they're cheats, but they'll keep getting away with it and all the fucking divvy "neutral" supporters of clubs who'll never win the league in a million years will think it's ace that the Premier league has got its very own real / barca.

 

Cunts.

 

We're not just here to compete. Specially since Jurgen got our shit together. We're here to win but what's the point with those cunts running riot with 3 full internationals in every position, and the media and pundits giving it "city have been so good with omicron and just put a team out and got on with it"

 

Fuck off. 

[bossy 650]

The guy who delivers Amazon stuff to ours is a city fan and concedes it’s become a bit of a bore if there’s no competition. Says he doesn’t bother watching when they play Norwich or the like as he knows they’ll snot them.  
As for us, we are second and although we aren’t lighting up the sky with standard fireworks, we are going to miss this team when it finally breaks up. 

[an tha 8,300]

8 minutes ago, bossy said:

The guy who delivers Amazon stuff to ours is a city fan and concedes it’s become a bit of a bore if there’s no competition. Says he doesn’t bother watching when they play Norwich or the like as he knows they’ll snot them.  
As for us, we are second and although we aren’t lighting up the sky with standard fireworks, we are going to miss this team when it finally breaks up. 

Its such a shame it won't have the rewards it deserves because of those cheating bastards.

[bossy 650]

2 minutes ago, an tha said:

Its such a shame it won't have the rewards it deserves because of those cheating bastards.

True enough.