Conceding the title

[Kevin D]

Do you think the title race is over and, if so, when did you personally conclude we wouldn’t win it?

[Binomial]

Yes.

 

The day it was no longer in our hands, so the Palace game.

[Pete]

 

*

 

*until it's mathematically impossibe to win it. 

[Section_31]

After the mancs, not just the points loss but it was clear they no longer gave a fuck. 

[Bjornebye]

It’s not over until it’s over 

[SasaS]

After Everton. There was still a possibility after winning at Fulham, not very likely, but it looked like we might at least be back to winning games.

 

I do agree that after United it was obvious the form has gone the way of the slight points cushion and it was just a matter of time when the next slip will come, but I didn't expect it in the Palace game.

[Elite]

Everton game killed any hope.

[Antynwa]

I never thought we'd win it. 

 

But it was over after the Manc draw. 

[AngryOfTuebrook]

33 minutes ago, Binomial said:

Yes.

 

The day it was no longer in our hands, so the Palace game.

This.

 

A draw at OT was no big surprise and there was still time to seal it.  Successive bed-shittings at Anfield cost us our shot at the UEFA Cup and the League.

 

What really hurts is that we've overcome so many setbacks to keep us in contention going into April, just for senior players to bottle it.

[manwiththestick]

Palace game when we became reliant on other fixtures and it was apparent that we were not going to have a change in form and win our remaining games.

[Scott_M]

9 minutes ago, Elite said:

Everton game killed any hope.

Yep. 
 

Although the game at Old Trafford, although disappointing and is a game we should have taken 3 points from, IMO, a draw there can never be classed as a bad result. 
 

I know the Palace game we got a reprieve with Villa beating Arsenal afterwards and we  would have been relying on City dropping points, I’d still have believed we could have won it. 

The result at Woodison means we’re  not just hoping on one team to slip up, we’re needing two. It’s not going to happen. 
 

If we had won at WHU, I’d maybe still have a feint glimmer of hope, I was 95% sure after The Ev we weren’t winning it. 

 

[Binomial]

10 minutes ago, AngryOfTuebrook said:

This.

 

A draw at OT was no big surprise and there was still time to seal it.  Successive bed-shittings at Anfield cost us our shot at the UEFA Cup and the League.

 

What really hurts is that we've overcome so many setbacks to keep us in contention going into April, just for senior players to bottle it.

It's the obvious answer. 

 

Let's not beat around the bush, we were very good and in total control at OT until we gifted them a goal. 

 

I'm not 1 to dwell too much into disappointments as I don't think it's healthy. Better to look forward to what the future holds, I'm excited for it, the expectations damping down somewhat may even do us some good....being involved in close right races only seem to bring out the worst in people and they let their emotions override their judgement.

[kemskem]

Over. I thought realistically after Palace.

[Bobby Hundreds]

I never thought we would in it but the Palace game was the stake in the heart of our race.

[Fallen Angel]

There’s a difference between conceding and realistic expectation. You don’t concede until it’s mathematically impossible to win. 
 

My realistic expectation was up early in March. We were struggling to beat teams and seemed incapable of registering routine wins, even against the relegation threatened sides. The 99 minute winner against Forest being a good example of how last gasp our wins were becoming. Arsenal and City were picking off such sides with relative ease. Obviously, you have far more chance of taking 3 points if your 2 or 3 goals up going into the last 10 mins and coasting, than if you chasing the game from behind or else level. It was at this point I thought it would be a step too far. Didn’t expect the full capitulation we’ve seen, but it was common sense we were more likely to slip-up given we were struggling to record routine wins against bottom half sides. Almost inevitable in fact. 
 

I pointed this on the Title Race thread and, was quite arrogantly told ‘Context isn’t your forte’. Laughable. Well, take a good look at the table, Chuckles, and explain the ’context’ I was missing. 
 

 

[Anubis]

After Palace. No real coming back from that.

[Turkish Delight]

The Palace game was the one realistically for me. It was clear we didn't have it in us to be perfect after that (and after Atalanta the game before) and we also were relying on both Arsenal and City to slip up. Everton was the final nail.

 

Can't see how anyone thought we didn't give a fuck at United. We were by far the better team outside of our finishing. We were still ahead of City after that game too.

 

As a side note, I do think people have a tendency to throw the towel in early after any little setback. Every team has them even with where the bar is now. I'm sure if we've dropped 6 points by the end of September there'll be plenty queuing up to do it for next season.

[Red74]

Can we stop avoiding the elephant in the room and put this on our beloved managers shoes. 
 

Sticking with shit tactics and continuing to keep playing the forwards in positions that didn’t suit them and do not fucking work for near 2 years is the reason we fucked it.
 

Up against 2 of our main rivals worst ever teams who’ve been getting battered by all and sundry and he bottled it against them again.  

1 point from palace, the filth & a clearly disinterested West Ham said it all. 

[AHA]

As much as we are having a go at the players for the last few performances it is worth bearing a couple of things in mind.

Firstly, after last season I would have been made up with a top four finish this year just to get us back on track. We surpassed that by also winning a trophy.

Secondly, if you factor in the atrocious refereeing decisions this season then we should be much better off than where we are now. Arsenal handball, Doku, Spurs and that nonsense on Saturday. In fact we could be 12 points better off. 

If we were I doubt we'd have seen the drop off we have seen in the last few games.

I don't think we look like a team that should be possibly 7 points ahead of Arsenal at this stage of the league but we could have been.

Maybe the PGMOL has been our biggest problem this season.

In answer to the question, realistically we finish 3rd at best, mathematically it can still be done so we keep going for it.

[dave u]

2 hours ago, Kevin D said:

Do you think the title race is over and, if so, when did you personally conclude we wouldn’t win it?

 

Up until Goodison I still thought there was an outside chance. 

[Nelly-Szoboszlai]

I wanted to pick two options. 
 

The delusional optimist in me wants to say anything can happen and it’s not over til it’s over. 
 

But, I picked the Everton game. After Palace, there was still a small chance as I believed that Arsenal had difficult games in Villa (which came true) and Chelsea and Spurs (got that wrong!)

 

And I believed that City could drop points at Spurs and maybe Fulham. That may still be the case, but I think that the points lost at Everton meant that we’d still trail City by a point or two if we won our last 3 or 4. 
 

But the bluenose blerts can piss off with the “you lost the league at Goodison Park” shite. The loss there was the final nail in our coffin, but the league is lost over a season. We lost the league with cheap draws/bad officiating causing draws at Luton, Brighton, the two against United and the home draws against City and Arsenal. 
 

If we just won one or two of those draws, we’d still be in with a chance of winning the title. Particularly if one of those hypothetical wins was in the draws against City and Arsenal. 
 

It’s diminished slight due to our own performances of late, but there’s still a lingering sense of being robbed by woeful refereeing too. 

[AngryOfTuebrook]

15 minutes ago, Red74 said:

Can we stop avoiding the elephant in the room and put this on our beloved managers shoes. 
 

Sticking with shit tactics and continuing to keep playing the forwards in positions that didn’t suit them and do not fucking work for near 2 years is the reason we fucked it.
 

Up against 2 of our main rivals worst ever teams who’ve been getting battered by all and sundry and he bottled it against them again.  

1 point from palace, the filth & a clearly disinterested West Ham said it all. 

OK, Rinus Michels, what would you have done to get our forwards scoring goals?

[Mathewbet1]

The exact moment I knew we weren't winning the league was when Darwin blasted that chance v palace straight against the defender. But in ball sports you never concede until it's mathematically impossible, I mean why should you?

[Red74]

7 minutes ago, AngryOfTuebrook said:

OK, Rinus Michels, what would you have done to get our forwards scoring goals?

Hahaha, I knew the forums white knight would be the first to reply.
 

well for one, how about switching them around so we had them more balanced and able to go outside the fullback for a change instead of doing what we’re still doing which clearly doesn’t fucking work.
 

You can’t blame the players because the replacements are doing the exact same thing so it’s clear they’re following the managers instructions.

[an tha]

I always maintained 89 or 90 pts would be enough to win it.

 

The moment we could no longer get to 89 or 90 pts was the moment I thought we were done.

 

That moment occurred when we lay down at the pit.