lebron

Not sure if anyone's writing them off. Just think a few posters find it unconceivable that they won't suffer injuries and fatigue when trying to balance the two top competitions after already putting huge demands on their key players. I don't think you can completely rule out the advantage Klopp and Guardiola have over Arteta either, given their past experiences of high-pressure situations.

Having calmed down after yesterday, I think we still have a pretty good chance. It would have been even better being in the driver's seat, but as many others have said, our rivals are not out of sight, and both of them have equally as hectic a schedule as us (if not more given the importance of the CL). I still think City will be the toughest nut to crack, as the return of de Bruyne and Haaland will give them that extra bit of match-winning quality. I don't think Haaland has improved them much as a team (if at all), but the link up with de Bruyne is unfortunately lethal. I see people (especially 3stacks) are really impressed with Arsenal. I don't underestimate them, but their run is based on overplaying key players over an extended period of time. Only Virgil (who is a player renowned for his avoidance of injury) has racked up minutes similar to Saliba, Gabriel, White, Rice, Odegaard and Saka. I can easily see 2 or 3 of those having niggles in the coming weeks, and it won't take much to get them out of rhtyhm once they have to break up that base. Would be nice if one or two of the refs in the league would reign in on their ridiculously aggressive defending and attacking at set pieces, but I guess that's a bit too much to hope for. I can see us winning 6 of the last 7, but I'm a bit afraid of the Everton (a) games given the lack of rest that week. We will probably need to rest some of our key players in that one, leaving us vulnerable. I've maintained since the Arsenal defeat that Spurs at home is our hardest remaining game, but the same is true for Arsenal and not least City (who haven't won at Tottenham's new ground in the league yet). Let's hope Spurs put up a better effort in front of their home supporters than when away to us... If I had to guess now, I'd lean towards these results: Palace (h) Win - think this will be relatively routine Fulham (a) Win - First of a tough week. Think this will be tight, but doable Everton (a) Draw - Will be tough on two days rest. Might have to rotate a bit. West Ham (a) Win - If we play all our starters at Goodison, this might be the toughest. Not all our players will start all 3 games this week. Spurs (h) Win - The toughest remaining game in isolation, but we should be rested and ready. Will need to be clinical. Villa (a) Win - Villa and Spurs will both hopefully be assured of a CL place by this time. Second toughest game in isolation Wolves (h) Win - We will find a way to win, but probably not without drama. 90 pts for us, I think both our rivals will end up with a better GD than us, so for us to win it with our results, we will need both City and Spurs to drop points. The Spurs game away for both teams seems the most obvious one. I think both of them will struggle the weekend after their second QF leg in the CL. Other than that I'm struggling to see big obstacles for them if they keep their best personnel fit. I think Arsenal especially will be extremely lucky to keep all their players fit and fresh given what they have already put them through. Anyway, I am still optimistic! Put me in the nerveless big dog category as well!

What IS a pretty regular occurence with athletes Konate's size who are fast twitch, is that they get a lot of muscle injuries. Hamstrings in particular are vulnerable. Given that he plays in the toughest league in the world, and has been playing regular top flight and international football for 4-5 (?) years as a CB already, it's no wonder he has had injuries. He has had to be matched carefully, which is what you would expect of a young CB in a tough (Bundesliga) and even tougher (PL) league. Having Gomez and Qansah to rotate him with this year has been nice, next year and the year after he should be entering the prime years as a CB. Fair to say we might expect more from him then. As a comparison Virgil was playing for Utrecth and Celtic at the same time as Konate has racked up appearances in the BL and PL (and national team). In my view the ever more money-driven football industry, the type of career path Virgil has had is more and more unlikely to occur unfortunately. Players are given much too big a workload too early as everyone wants to put their big talents in the shop-window, and with results being more and more important at all levels of the game, players are the ones suffering by playing way too much too early. I have no doubts the reason Virgil and Salah have been going for as long as they have without major injuries is that their minutes were managed more sensibly at the start of their careers. We've seen this movie before as Liverpool supporters, Gomez, Martin Kelly among the defenders, and Fowler, Owen, Torres among the forwards. All had their careers cut short (hopefully not so much Gomez) cut short and decimated by injuries due to the club putting them through too many matches too early. Just as an aside, wonder what would be the reaction to another assault to Virgil's knees like the one Konate was on the receiving end of on Tuesday.

I’d obviously (as would all I assume) have Mane over Diaz and Old Mo over current Mo. The biggest difference maker is Darwin’s lack of game intelligence (and skill) compared to Bobby’s though. For all of Darwin’s threat and pace, he just doesn’t knit our attack together the way Bobby would. No big harm in that, nearly every other forward of the last 20 years would have trouble replicating what he did for our attacking three. Darwin’s unpredictability and poor decision-making makes for a pretty stark contrast though.

As bad as our finishing often is, I’m not having that this was a normal day at the office for our collective attacking unit, Mo, Darwin, Sczobo, Robbo, Bradley and Diaz (in that order). They squandered countless opportunities, and for a professional footballer to not hit the target when presented with the ball like Salah was on that rebound is beyond shameful. He just had one of those days that he seems to be having more and more of. We shit the bed when we play them, especially at OT. We rightfully pat ourselves on the back with how we and Anfield influence the opposition badly. Seems our players aren’t immune to that type of influence and pressure either…

Bradley was 9/1 to get carded first… Followed the same pattern of previous encounters. They give up huge chances, and we don’t take them. Glad we got a point in the end. Such a travesty that we’re so incredibly poor at finishing (and at making the right choice).

Been confident all week. Now I’m bricking it. These games are horrible, especially at Old Trafford. As others I fully expect us to be shafted by the officials (again). There will be 3-4 contentious decisions which will all go against us, and Taylor will punish our first real foul with a yellow card. I can see Bradley getting an early card in a tussle with Rashford early on. I’ve been thinking we will be beating these with ease all 3 encounters, but their biggest weakness (letting teams get lots of chances against them) isn’t something we’ve been able to exploit, as we’ve been incredibly wasteful and (shockingly) their keeper looking just about competent. Hopfully that ends today, if we finish off our first couple of chances they are in for a mauling (yes, I still believe this). Should we be as profligate as we’ve been, they might sneak a result this time too.

Yeah, I also think he would have been subbed off had we finished the game off in the first 60 mins (as we should have done). The ONLY threat Utd have is Rashford’s and Garnacho’s pace on the break, so hopefully Virgil leaves Hojlund to Quansah and covers properly for our fullbacks.

Might not be much to choose from in terms of best 11 between the three teams. We (surprisingly given what the other two have spent lately) have the deeper squad though, and are reaping the benefits from that, Klopp and Anfield. Those three factors are what will give us the title if we win it. I think City are less dominant than they’ve been for a while, and rely too much on KdB and Haaland. Should those two fully click again over the last 9 matches they will be tough to stop. Arsenal are playing an extremely physical style of football lately, which (unfortunately) the refs aren’t clamping down on. They also rely heavily on keeping their 1st 11 intact. If they get a couple of injuries to (Saliba/Gabriel, Rice/Odegaard or Saka they will find the next few weeks might be a stretch too far, as they’ve already pushed their starters to the limit. I think we are favourites now, and if we win on Sunday, I think we have a REALLY good chance. I still think our toughest game will be against Spurs (possibly Everton away too, as there won’t be much football played in that game), but Spurs will be even tougher for Arsenal and (historically) City.

You win some and lose some no matter how you set up. I think Gomez must have won something like 20 second balls yesterday, a clear advantage with the inverted full back role. He stopped about a dozen possible breaks for Sheffield Utd by being positioned where Trent normally plays from the other side. Having Robbo bombing up and down obviously gave us more chances, but it also opened the game up a bit more. I thought it was the correct move too, but mainly because their players were visibly tiring. I expect Gomez to start again on Sunday. I also think we hoped to isolate Diaz a bit more, but we just weren't quick enough with our passing. He had Holgate on toast the few times we were able to set him up 1v1 though. As others have said, on current form Salah isn't able to take on/succeed 1v1 against most defenders in the league, so when we weren't able to give him the ball in behind, his substitution seemed sensible. He had clearly lost a yard of pace before his hamstring injury, yesterday he seemed cautious when he had the opportunity to sprint. Might be mental more than physical, we'll see in the coming weeks. While still a brilliant footballer, him not being able to dribble past defenders anymore requires our other players to step up even more and be more clinical.

Brighton, Nottingham and Fulham are better chances of City dropping points imo. At Villa Park I would have been optimistic, Villa have been poor (ish) away from home, and City will do enough tomorrow I’m afraid. The tbd game against Spurs is by far our best chance though. Hopefully that is put smack bang in the middle of their hectic schedule.

Opened the thread to post exactly the same thing!

While I think it's a disgrace these Manc referees keep getting the supposed "top" games (normally involving us or one or both Manc clubs), I think that tweet (and the article) should be taken with a pinch (or bucket) of salt.

I’m just sick of tired of the hype about him. He’s being touted as the heir to Messi (and Cristiano Ronaldo which would at least be a bit fairer comparison), when his overall play is closer to Championship level. He’s a complete freak of nature (might be further aided or not by Pep’s “special methods”) and has great awareness and movement, but when you can’t trap a ball to save your life, can’t press and is severely limited in both dribbling and passing, you shouldn’t be mentioned in the same breath as the contemporary greats, never mind the greats of the past. Anyway, hopefully he’ll flee ship as soon as City get any meaningful repercussions for their cheating. You and I are stuck with him in our National team for the foreseeable though. Looking forward to him firing us to WC qualification (ha-ha).

It’s not just that he doesn’t score, he’s usually nowhere to be seen in the top games either. Anyway, apart from his goal against us (which Allison saves 9 times out of 10), the best team he’s scored against is probably Brighton. Sevilla, Spain, Arsenal, Spurs, Villa, Newcastle have all kept him in check. Not sure how many of his goals are pens (could be levelled at Mo too I suppose), but compared to Salah I don’t think his resume is too bright when facing tough opposition. Edit: I’m not saying he’s a bad player, just that he’s massively overhyped due to him being on the end of a lot of cutbacks and generally having a pretty easy time as city roll most teams over with ease with or without him in the team. Remember when Sterling was scoring lots of goals for them?

Do you think that list disproves my take on him as one scoring mostly against inferior teams?

He’s actually not even especially clinical, it’s just that he’s so physically superior to almost all the CB’s he’s facing, that they need to double-team him, which makes the job a bit easier on Silva, de Bruyne and co (who typically don’t need that help anyway). He’s only experienced playing in massively dominating teams where he’s had lots of chances to feast on. Hopefully the rest of the league plays him as physically as Gabriel and Saliba do, he’ll struggle a bit more as/once de Bruyne declines further. For the record I don’t doubt he’s going to score a lot more goals for City (and collect a few more medals), at least until their cheating is punished. The English obsession with “proper no 9’s” is giving him even more credit than he’s getting in other parts of the world. Hopefully today’s performance (along with other performances in important games) wakes people up a bit in terms of how limited he is. Edit: The main talking point should be (as football is a team game), are City a bettter side with him in the team than without him. People might point to the treble and his goals last year as conclusive proof. I think they’re much more predictable and less dominating with him in the team than without. For their most important games last year he was ineffectual. De Bruyne, Gundogan, Alvarez and Rodri were all more influential in the run-in. Code is the man for the stats on this, but I’ll be surprised if most of his goals for both City and Norway are against “lower-ranked” opposition. He’s the ultimate flat-track bully, even more than early-doors Ronaldo.

I’ve been saying this for a while. It was one of the reasons why I never wanted him here when rumours were circling we would be interested (as if we would be able to afford him by following the rules). He’s the ultimate flat track bully, and needs the entire team set up to cater for his runs in and around the box. He’s basically the anti-Firmino in terms of helping the team. His father and his agent(s) have created the perfect career for him. Each level he’s gone from he’s gone to the club at the top of the table that is willing to cater to his specific needs. I actually thought Guardiola wouldn’t put up with it, but the results last year meant he persevered even if Haaland wasn’t contributing anything apart from goals. That’s a bit harsh to be fair, the weaker teams (and cb’s) shit themselves in his presence, so they normally mark him with both CB’s and he opens up space for others that way. Had he been dark-skinned a lot of English supporters would have branded him lazy…

As well as being one of the slowest defenders around, with Virgil being the quickest. Carragher is a joke though, his football knowledge is pretty poor overall. He even manages to botch the clips that the tactics truck at Sky make for him.

Being clinical is key here. Take our first couple of chances. They are incredibly frustrating to play against with a lead (or if they are content with a point - which they will be here)..

Konate reminds me a bit of Ronny Johnsen of Norway/Utd in the late 90s. Talented and explosive defender who just couldn’t stay fit for any period. Hopefully Konate gets it under control, but I guess being 1st choice for both us and France means he’ll always be on the brink of another injury. One of the other reasons Virgil is so special. To be that quick and explosive and not being troubled by muscle injuries is pretty rare.

Have to respect him for not jumping at the first opportunity at a bigger club. Might very well be the best for his career. I was totally on board with Alonso succeeding Klopp in 2026, Kloppo leaving early really threw a spanner in the works. Hopefully we won’t need Xabi now, with our new coach being a raving success in his first season….

There’s also the small problem of basing your entire goal scoring output on a striker that doesn’t contribute anything apart from his goals (which we all know is the most important thing in football blah blah blah). When he’s not scoring the team becomes incredibly vulnerable. Our national team is actually playing some decent stuff these days, but as Code has mentioned the dearth of decent central defenders is glaring. I’m not really ready to trust our goalie either…. I don’t think Solbakken is the biggest problem if I’m honest. Problem with our NT is that Egil Olsen had us overperforming so much results-wise through the 90’s that our media (and many supporters) are expecting us to compete with the heavyweights. Our footballing culture the last 30 years is based on the football that gave results back then. Thankfully that is changing, with Kjetil Knutsen (and Solbakken) proponents for a more positive outlook on football. We have been so result-oriented and shortsighted with both our NT and club football in the 00s and 10s that it’s only now that we seem to have something of a footballing evolution where we’re taking step by step. Anyway, I don’t really care for our national team if I’m honest, and having that big grock up top will take any shine off any potential success we might have in the coming years.

I'm actually nearly over this one, the 1-1 draw with City rankles me a lot more if I'm honest. Just watched the gloss-over by Webb and Owen on the pen incident, and I'm fuming more about that. Might have something to do with me being happy with the club, our team and how our outlook is. Might be that I just value the league so much more these days I guess. Winning the league cup was great, and winning the fa cup would have been great too, but if we want to win the league I think having two Wembley trips (with one of them being against the cheats) might have been too much to handle. We'll get a bit more rest than City now, and on paper a better run-in than both them and Arsenal. I agree wholeheartedly with Dave on Utd's shitness. This loss was much more on Nunez and Salah than it was on Gakpo though. Shocking performances from the both of them, I don't think they made one correct decision between them over the 90 mins. If they did, we would have won 5/6-1, as they had just about given up, we only needed to take care of one of the breaks they offered us. Both Nunez and Salah were on the pitch in that period, Gakpo wasn't. I'm not saying he had a good game, far from it, but I think pinning the blame on him is a bit cheap. Anyway, the future is still bright for us, while I don't think we'll see our red rivals doing anything useful for the foreseeable future. Hopefully Ratcliffe keeps ten Hag in the hot seat, as they are going absolutely nowhere with him at the helm. Even better would be if they brought in Southgate of course.

Should not have watched that either, blood boiling again now, much more than on Sunday if I'm honest. Two things. 1. How dismissive is Oliver? Not for me, mate blah-blah 2. With the length of every VAR check routinely taking a couple of minutes, how come they dismiss this one out of hand in about 40 seconds. The AVAR is the only one seemingly not completely happy with the outcome, Atwell and Oliver couldn't be more enthusiastic with their non-calls. As others have hinted, there might not be actual money changing hands over this isolated game, but there is no way a few of the important calls that have gone against us this season isn't influenced by some sort of shenanigans, either through natural bias (the Manc refs, South Yorkshire head of refs), or the greasing of palms from Abu Dhabi.