Liverpool vs Man City (H) Sunday 4:30pm - title decider?

[Judge Jules]

Thommo's been reading 6CM (because this is almost exactly what I said earlier) !

Thommo's view: "For me, I would go with Gomez, I thought he was sloppy against Arsenal in the Carabao Cup, but he was excellent against Genk on Tuesday - I watched him very closely, he was back to his best. The reason I would go with Gomez is because you don't need the height as such, but you need the pace against City. I would go with him for our back line - Trent Alexander-Arnold, Andy Robertson, Virgil van Dijk and Joe Gomez, in which you have pace throughout. Raheem Sterling, Sergio Aguero and Riyad Mahrez all have skill, but an abundance of pace - it is a massive part of the City mechanic."

Pace alone won't help if a player, especially a defender, is off form as Gomez has been most of the time since he came back. The more a defender has to use his pace, the more questionable his initial positioning is likely to have been.

That said, if Gomez really is back to his best then yes, he should play.

 

[Frogfish]

Pace alone won't help if a player, especially a defender, is off form as Gomez has been most of the time since he came back. The more a defender has to use his pace, the more questionable his initial positioning is likely to have been.

That said, if Gomez really is back to his best then yes, he should play.

Well Thommo doesn't seem to think he's off form 😉

I agree though, if Klopp isn't convinced then he'll play Lovren but from where I think Gomez has progressed to I'd take him. Lovren isn't going to catch Sterling / Aguero if they get the drop on him whereas even if not back to 100% Gomez's pace at least won't let them have a clear run on goal. City pose very little aerial threat (Stones perhaps). Just watch them score a header from a corner now. *sigh*

 

[dantes]

We should be looking at it from the perspective of either way we're getting fucked. Then the question becomes who is the more expendable defender that we don't care about sticking into the firing line to get blown to bits. It has to be Lovren.

 

[ibromurph]

A win tomorrow and we are 8pts clear. This notion of being 9pts clear is factually incorrect.

Also, City have Chelsea at the Etihad next and would be in 4th. If Chelsea win that, we would have to start taking them seriously as title contenders.

 

[Frogfish]

We should be looking at it from the perspective of either way we're getting fucked. Then the question becomes who is the more expendable defender that we don't care about sticking into the firing line to get blown to bits. It has to be Lovren.

I am simply blinded by your exceptional powers of cogitation. I really had never considered it from that perspective. How foolish of me !

 

[Frogfish]

A win tomorrow and we are 8pts clear. This notion of being 9pts clear is factually incorrect.

Also, City have Chelsea at the Etihad next and would be in 4th. If Chelsea win that, we would have to start taking them seriously as title contenders.

Hmm no it's factually correct ... we'll make up the goal difference once Mo returns to form.

I've been corrected !

It would be hilarious to see City in 4th for a few weeks. Pep would blow a fuse.

 

[Gerry_A_Trick]

Hmm no it's factually correct ... we'll make up the goal difference once Mo returns to form.

it would be hilarious to see City in 4th for a few weeks. Pep would blow a fuse.

8 points clear of Chelsea

 

[dantes]

Hmm no it's factually correct ... we'll make up the goal difference once Mo returns to form.

It would be hilarious to see City in 4th for a few weeks. Pep would blow a fuse.

You just need some more cogitation, and you'll see it is indeed factually incorrect.

 

[Frogfish]

8 points clear of Chelsea

Oh God yes. I'm clearly stupefied at the sheer possibility of City dropping to 4th !

 

[Judge Jules]

Well Thommo doesn't seem to think he's off form 😉

I agree though, if Klopp isn't convinced then he'll play Lovren but from where I think Gomez has progressed to I'd take him. Lovren isn't going to catch Sterling / Aguero if they get the drop on him whereas even if not back to 100% Gomez's pace at least won't let them have a clear run on goal. City pose very little aerial threat (Stones perhaps). Just watch them score a header from a corner now. *sigh*

Well, I did say "most of the time". 😛 I guess my point was that the choice should depend on the whole package that each player can offer at the time the game takes place, taking pace into account but not basing the decision on that alone, and I certainly agree that if Gomez' form has improved sufficiently he'd be favourite to play.

 

[Dreambeliever]

A win for us tomorrow will put Citeh in fourth if Leicester beat Arse later today

Nice

It won’t put City fourth it’ll keep them there.

Just shows as good as we have been City haven’t been their best for two other teams to be ahead of them even have played a game more.

Also shows how good both those teams are doing are crucially we have already played and beaten both.

City have to play both soon and it won’t be easy by the looks of things.


Crazy to think if either of them had revered our result they would be top.

Early days but already looks like top is decided.

 

[Dreambeliever]

A win tomorrow and we are 8pts clear. This notion of being 9pts clear is factually incorrect.

Also, City have Chelsea at the Etihad next and would be in 4th. If Chelsea win that, we would have to start taking them seriously as title contenders.

While you are right about the 8 pts people always said 9 pts clear of City as they are the real threat. Chelsea are flying but as a young squad will have ups and downs and won’t keep this pace up.

Leicester are more likely to finished 3rd than them imo

 

[Frogfish]

The Guardian is going with these lineups. Will City revert to a Back Three to counteract Mane/Firmino/Salah ? It wouldn't be the first time but they've only played it once this season and not with the personnel they have available.

 

[Frogfish]

Another interesting stat is the number of goals scored by City's front three relative to their shots on target and compared to ours. It is far far higher and highlights that although they take more pot shots when they are on target they more often than not score (an incredible 67% of the time). Key then will be keeping them at distance or off-balance and unable to shoot accurately.

 

[FoxForceFive]

That stat isn't so much of an outlier for city, they're about par with last season.

The issue is our quality of shot this season has been poor compared to last, we're actually outperforming our xG in goals scored despite having a lot of possession & shots in games.

In a way that's great, cos they know when that extra bit of quality isn't there that they can still score/win, but fuck me I'd love it if Salah or Bobby found their way into form today.

 

[SummerOnions]

Been on a team weekend I'm hanging like fuck and should make it back for the game. In what sort of state I don't know yet.

Nervous. Excited!

 

[Dreambeliever]

 

[Mystic]

I feel a shitty Man City account posting this, just enforces how shit it is.

I love the effort though Dreamy, we all love a good groan.

 

[MomoWASright]

He’s like a little boy who has been found out.

 

[Mystic]

Not sure posted already but high praise indeed from Pep.
“Last season when we won the league, we won the Premier League [against] the best contender I ever faced in my career,” he said in his press conference.

“Probably right now [Liverpool are] the strongest team in the world. Playing at Anfield, we know what it means for them and for all their rivals.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

This is classic Pep, he gets all complimentary and glowing of a team in the presser before the game, whats to look like a good guy, a respectful manager. If you want to know how he really feels, look at all the bitter shit he's been coming out with in games that have nothing to do with us, he calls Mane a diver, lambastes us for always getting penalties, the guy is as bitter and classes as they come.

 

[Mystic]

The Guardian is going with these lineups. Will City revert to a Back Three to counteract Mane/Firmino/Salah ? It wouldn't be the first time but they've only played it once this season and not with the personnel they have available.

I'm sure they've done this before, had the two wing backs up high, as a way to bypass our press.

 

[Brizzle]

Interesting that we aren’t favourites (per the bookies) going into this match. Has that always been the case?

 

[MomoWASright]

He’s a dog shagging cunt. Allegedly.

 

[Brizzle]

their troubles in some recent games have stemmed from getting early yellows for Rodri/ Fernandinho.

 

[dilbert]

the state of man city fan

ha ha ha ....

the keyword is foul you idiot.
if it is legal, it is not a foul.

no wonder bluefume is comedic

 

[Frogfish]

Interesting that we aren’t favourites (per the bookies) going into this match. Has that always been the case?

Yeah I saw somewhere that City were favourites (even ahead of a draw) and could hardly believe that so went to check on Oddschecker. They show the odds from something like 15-20 bookies and it's pretty universal - most a shade one way or the other from dead even.

 

[Skullflower]

Interesting that we aren’t favourites (per the bookies) going into this match. Has that always been the case?

That is odd

 

[MomoWASright]

Yeah I saw somewhere that City were favourites (even ahead of a draw) and could hardly believe that so went to check on Oddschecker. They show the odds from something like 15-20 bookies and it's pretty universal - most a shade one way or the other from dead even.

We are favourites for the title according to the same bookmakers.

 

[Squiggles]

Let's hope the minutes silence for the Man City bus is impeccably observed

 

[Holle]

Lovren.

*sad face*