Top o’ the League (for a few days)
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Nope, he’s safe today.
After getting a twatting from Bayern on Wednesday and finishing 4th in group followed by a modest spanking from us he’ll be toast
Fixed
Myth. We are playing incredibly well considering injuries and schedule.Not bad for a team that’s playing badly
4 games in 8 and half days with 4 wins is outrageous compared to all our rivals.
Again you miss my point. Also it’s only 5 places in UCL if English teams perform better than Italy, Germany, Spain etc which is in doubt given Newcastle being shafted and United being shit
Is that a certainty? I thought England had to be in the top two this year, and currently they're in second, but very close to third and fourth? Or is there another rule I'm missing
Nope. That’s it
Right, so not a certainty at all.
We're top of the league, but it's not yet clear how good this team actually is. What we can say for sure is that we're resilient; we've managed to come back from losing positions time and time again. But when you try to evaluate the team, almost every position, bar Alli and Van Dijk, is a question mark:
CB – Our first-choice partnership is good, but we're already short on depth because we kind of need Gomez at RB now. Quansah found a familiar problem for any centre-back partnering Van Dijk's – opponents let them have the ball as much as they want, so they have to learn to be proactive. Konate struggled with it when he first came too, but is now getting a hang of it; Matip was obviously ace at using this to start attacks. Quansah seemed unsure what to do with the ball and as a result our build-up suffered badly and the forwards were starved of service. Verdict: currently 9/10, long-term/depth 6/10.
LB – we will hopefully be fine once Robbo comes back; for now there is very little happening offensively on that flank. Verdict: currently 6/10, long-term/depth 8/10.
RB – Judging by the last couple of games, Gomez is an improvement on Trent in terms of pure full-back play; better defensively and more willing to get to the byline. Can't wait for Bajcetic and Bradley to get healthy and up to speed; I think they can re-energize this team. Verdict: currently 7/10, long-term/depth 8/10.
DM – Endo will improve; this was his first taste of a Premier League team specifically targeting him. Don't particularly like Trent at #6; he needs to play next to a positionally disciplined DM most of the time to make the best use of his qualities. MacAllister is the undisputed first choice in this position for me; he is doing fine, but we need to improve what's around him. Verdict: currently 7/10, long-term/depth 7/10.
LCM – For all his talent, Gravenberch still looks very raw and doesn't know how to control the flow of the game; I think he wouldn't be anywhere near starting role in a settled top-class midfield. Jones has been decidedly "meh" since his injury layoff, although he did very well to assist for Salah's equalizer today. Thiago walks into this midfield (even on crutches). Verdict: currently 6/10, long-term/depth 8/10 (if Trent moves there or Thiago gets fit).
RCM – I think we're fine here, actually. Szobo started 3 games in 8 days; this is Wijnaldum level of endurance and you can't expect sparkling performances if that's how you overuse a player. Harvey is a superb option to bring off the bench; him being left-footed creates new angles and always refreshes our attack. Verdict: currently 8/10, long-term/depth 10/10.
LW – Diaz looks to have lost some explosiveness since his injury; at this point he is a hard-working winger who occasionally gets on the end of things and scores, but doesn't add much else to our attacking play. Hopefully Jota is on the mend. Would be curious to see Gakpo tried in this position. Verdict: currently 6/10, long-term/depth 8/10.
RW – Salah is playing a crazy amount of minutes; if the rest of the team was more settled Klopp could probably afford to rest him more. Too bad Doak doesn't seem to be ready to push for his place. Verdict: currently 9/10, long-term/depth 6/10 (we have a giant drop-off in quality after Salah).
CF – Nunez has been doing so many good things, but it has to be acknowledged his scoring return has been paltry – Newcastle game now unfortunately looks like a one-off rather than a start of a new chapter. He needs a new moment to reignite his season. Gakpo had some good performances and cameos, but at this point also doesn't look like a title-winning team's main striker. Verdict: currently 6/10, long-term/depth 8/10 (betting both Nunez and Gakpo will improve).
Klopp – I think he might be the most overworked manager in the Premier League right now; while the likes of Arteta and even Emery are polishing details of settled sides, Klopp is tasked with rebuilding an airplane mid-flight; with the uncertainty about Trent's position, constantly changing midfield balance and personnel and trying to fashion the most productive front 3 out of 4-5 very good, but not world-class (save for Salah) options. So far I think he's done an incredible job juggling the squad and grinding out results (including masterful use of substitutions and tactical changes mid-game), but long-term the future still looks muddled; we're top the league but we still don't know what's our best midfield, who's our right-back and which striker (other than Salah, who is leaving for AFCON soon) we can rely on for goals. It's chaotic, but also fascinating to watch.
CB – Our first-choice partnership is good, but we're already short on depth because we kind of need Gomez at RB now. Quansah found a familiar problem for any centre-back partnering Van Dijk's – opponents let them have the ball as much as they want, so they have to learn to be proactive. Konate struggled with it when he first came too, but is now getting a hang of it; Matip was obviously ace at using this to start attacks. Quansah seemed unsure what to do with the ball and as a result our build-up suffered badly and the forwards were starved of service. Verdict: currently 9/10, long-term/depth 6/10.
LB – we will hopefully be fine once Robbo comes back; for now there is very little happening offensively on that flank. Verdict: currently 6/10, long-term/depth 8/10.
RB – Judging by the last couple of games, Gomez is an improvement on Trent in terms of pure full-back play; better defensively and more willing to get to the byline. Can't wait for Bajcetic and Bradley to get healthy and up to speed; I think they can re-energize this team. Verdict: currently 7/10, long-term/depth 8/10.
DM – Endo will improve; this was his first taste of a Premier League team specifically targeting him. Don't particularly like Trent at #6; he needs to play next to a positionally disciplined DM most of the time to make the best use of his qualities. MacAllister is the undisputed first choice in this position for me; he is doing fine, but we need to improve what's around him. Verdict: currently 7/10, long-term/depth 7/10.
LCM – For all his talent, Gravenberch still looks very raw and doesn't know how to control the flow of the game; I think he wouldn't be anywhere near starting role in a settled top-class midfield. Jones has been decidedly "meh" since his injury layoff, although he did very well to assist for Salah's equalizer today. Thiago walks into this midfield (even on crutches). Verdict: currently 6/10, long-term/depth 8/10 (if Trent moves there or Thiago gets fit).
RCM – I think we're fine here, actually. Szobo started 3 games in 8 days; this is Wijnaldum level of endurance and you can't expect sparkling performances if that's how you overuse a player. Harvey is a superb option to bring off the bench; him being left-footed creates new angles and always refreshes our attack. Verdict: currently 8/10, long-term/depth 10/10.
LW – Diaz looks to have lost some explosiveness since his injury; at this point he is a hard-working winger who occasionally gets on the end of things and scores, but doesn't add much else to our attacking play. Hopefully Jota is on the mend. Would be curious to see Gakpo tried in this position. Verdict: currently 6/10, long-term/depth 8/10.
RW – Salah is playing a crazy amount of minutes; if the rest of the team was more settled Klopp could probably afford to rest him more. Too bad Doak doesn't seem to be ready to push for his place. Verdict: currently 9/10, long-term/depth 6/10 (we have a giant drop-off in quality after Salah).
CF – Nunez has been doing so many good things, but it has to be acknowledged his scoring return has been paltry – Newcastle game now unfortunately looks like a one-off rather than a start of a new chapter. He needs a new moment to reignite his season. Gakpo had some good performances and cameos, but at this point also doesn't look like a title-winning team's main striker. Verdict: currently 6/10, long-term/depth 8/10 (betting both Nunez and Gakpo will improve).
Klopp – I think he might be the most overworked manager in the Premier League right now; while the likes of Arteta and even Emery are polishing details of settled sides, Klopp is tasked with rebuilding an airplane mid-flight; with the uncertainty about Trent's position, constantly changing midfield balance and personnel and trying to fashion the most productive front 3 out of 4-5 very good, but not world-class (save for Salah) options. So far I think he's done an incredible job juggling the squad and grinding out results (including masterful use of substitutions and tactical changes mid-game), but long-term the future still looks muddled; we're top the league but we still don't know what's our best midfield, who's our right-back and which striker (other than Salah, who is leaving for AFCON soon) we can rely on for goals. It's chaotic, but also fascinating to watch.
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Top of the league - just for a few days. With a lot of questionmarks and injuries. With a new midfield. And a StrikeForce that’s playing badly. I’ll take it - but a long way to go.
Unreal to even be in the discussion in fairness.
Nobody expected us to be in the hunt this season so even if it all goes to shit which is more than likely will, this season is a huge step forward to hopefully win the league next season.
Nobody expected us to be in the hunt this season so even if it all goes to shit which is more than likely will, this season is a huge step forward to hopefully win the league next season.
When you say "will more than likely go to shit", what do you mean though? All of a sudden we're gonna go 4-5 games without a win or something? We can't really play any worst than we are so we're not gonna drop many points playing better are we which we're guaranteed to do at some point.
We're top of the league and we're almost half of the way through the season.....all the whilst not getting out of 2nd gear, we should have a lot left in the tank after the winter break to push on and steam further ahead.
Yes. We could easily have lost each of the last 3 games. We’ve ridden our luck.
Would anyone have thought City could go 4 games without a win? It happens.
A couple of more injuries, one or two results where we don’t turn it around and the resilience and believe wains.
Remember the year after we won the league. We were challenging well to defend our title then out of nowhere couldn’t buy a win and lost a million home games in a row.
Ok....& Arsenal could've easy dropped 4 points in their last 2 away games but not for last min goals, they've ridden their luck too & don't even get me started on City and all the favourable decisions they get. We're top because we deserve to be there, we're yet to go 4 games without a win....they weren't unlucky to do that, they did it because they weren't good enough. We've already got 6 injuries, we don't really have any other injury prone player not injured other than maybe Gomez.....what if City get a few more? If City lose Rodri, they're fucked.
They’ll replace him in Jan if they do but yes it would be great if they did.
With the current fixture congestion, every single player could break down.
They might aswell hand us the title now because we're gonna win this mother fucking league. 100%.
Would be Utopia.
Not too much to argue with there. Good analysis as per.
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