Other PL Games (13-16 Jan)

[keniget]

Why though? They still have million of MFers - surely Haaland instead of Jesus shouldn't ahve changed that too much?

Halaand would have done better in our set up imo.

I think the biggest factor is that the league is better.

 

[LeTallecWiz]

I think the biggest factor is that the league is better.

Is it that much better than the last 5 years? Two teams that were high quality (chelsea nad liverpool) are now midtable ... newcastle and man u this year are not near the level we and chelsea were the last 5 years.

 

[MomoWASright]

Why is Pep so fucking unlikeable?

Biggest problem I have is he doesn't even need to come across like such a cunt with his cunty awkwardly sarcastic remarks ALL the time....was he this intolerable at Bayern and Barca?

cos he’s a dog shagging cunt

 

[Modo]

Why is Pep so fucking unlikeable?

Biggest problem I have is he doesn't even need to come across like such a cunt with his cunty awkwardly sarcastic remarks ALL the time....was he this intolerable at Bayern and Barca?

Because he's not managing LFC

 

[Frogfish]

I think the biggest factor is that the league is better.

I don't see that - neither City nor us are anywhere even close to the levels we were at, if we were we'd be up their with Arsenal (no point denying they've had a sensational first half of the season). Pep said himself that the players were not playing to the instructions given or the style he wanted, now they have Haaland in the team he's all they look to and expect him to do it all on his own - I thought and said pre-season this may happen, I just didn't think it would.

 

[keniget]

I don't see that - neither City nor us are anywhere even close to the levels we were at, if we were we'd be up their with Arsenal (no point denying they've had a sensational first half of the season). Pep said himself that the players were not playing to the instructions given or the style he wanted, now they have Haaland in the team he's all they look to and expect him to do it all on his own - I thought and said pre-season this may happen, I just didn't think it would.

The question was about why City are having a tougher time - we know that they're not quite at the level they were.

There is naturally an adjustment to having Haaland in the team (I think Alvarez is actually a more natural fit for them) but generally speaking the league, in my opinion, is looking more competitive this season.

You can certainly make the argument that that is not the case due to the fact that we are poor this season, Chelsea are having a bad season, Spurs are perhaps being a bit more Spursy than usual and recent second tier teams such as West Ham and Leicester are having terrible seasons. However.. if you look across the board, the bad teams are decent / good clubs that are in a bad place rather than out and out fodder like Norwich / Fulham / Sunderland of yesteryear.

• Utd have turned a corner and will improve
• Newcastle are looking very solid and will get better
• Arsenal have built a very good young team
• Brighton and Brentford are very well run clubs that can give most a game on their day
• Spurs have periods of being strong

Going forward Chelsea will find a combination from their pool of 200 players that works, we will hopefully improve and clubs like Villa, Wolves and West Ham have the capability to get back to being strong top 10 teams.

 

[Frogfish]

The question was about why City are having a tougher time - we know that they're not quite at the level they were.

There is naturally an adjustment to having Haaland in the team (I think Alvarez is actually a more natural fit for them) but generally speaking the league, in my opinion, is looking more competitive this season.

You can certainly make the argument that that is not the case due to the fact that we are poor this season, Chelsea are having a bad season, Spurs are perhaps being a bit more Spursy than usual and recent second tier teams such as West Ham and Leicester are having terrible seasons. However.. if you look across the board, the bad teams are decent / good clubs that are in a bad place rather than out and out fodder like Norwich / Fulham / Sunderland of yesteryear.

• Utd have turned a corner and will improve
• Newcastle are looking very solid and will get better
• Arsenal have built a very good young team
• Brighton and Brentford are very well run clubs that can give most a game on their day
• Spurs have periods of being strong

Going forward Chelsea will find a combination from their pool of 200 players that works, we will hopefully improve and clubs like Villa, Wolves and West Ham have the capability to get back to being strong top 10 teams.

Well United are 7 pts ahead of their expected points total at this stage with 39 pts. In 20/21 they had 40 pts and last season 34 pts at this stage. Hardly a revolution, in fact if you deduct that 7 pts ahead of the xPPG then they haven't improved at all but are worse off! A work in progress and we'll have to see where it goes although if they keep throwing money at it it's likely some shit will stick to the wall. But we're talking about this season so far - so no improvement.

Newcastle (38 pts) are no better than the other 3rd place incumbents of the last two seasons (Leicester with 38 pts and Chelsea with 41 pts). So although they are the new kid on the block they are no better and in fact worse than last season.

Arsenal do have a very good young team, but of course that's why they are leading the PL (47 pts), however without much competition. And in 21/22 City led with 47 pts and going back to 19/20 we led with 55 pts. So no improvement for the leader then. City 41 and United 40 pts in 20/21.

Brighton (7th & 30 pts) and Brentford ( 8th & 29 pts) are just flavour of the month (not debating they are indeed well run clubs) but are they improving the PL? The answer is no because : West Ham 7th with 31 pts and Wolves 8th with 30 pts last season. West Ham 32 pts and Villa 30 pts the season before. So in fact a small decline.

Spurs currently 5th after 20 games so far (most would agree they've been shite and have got away with numerous lucky results) with 33 pts compared with us 5th with 34 pts (19 games) in 20/21 and Spurs 5th with 35 pts (19 games) in 21/22. So a decline there too.

So in effect what you have to do is decide when you say it's more 'competitive' does that mean a lowering of standards to a new mean for say the Top 8 or an improvement by certain clubs to, overall, make the league stronger. I'd say that the above quite clearly indicates it's a decline not an improvement, even more so when you consider how both we and Chelsea have floundered around like flapping mackerel so far this season.

 

[Tinto]

Why though? They still have million of MFers - surely Haaland instead of Jesus shouldn't ahve changed that too much?

Halaand would have done better in our set up imo.

Jesus played out wide for City and helped them keeping the ball.

Haaland doesn't do that. He offers less than Nunez when it comes to link up play.