Topic: Chasing the Title

[deFacto please, you bastards]

Now this is a theory I can support. One game at a time, starting with Burnley on Sunday. There should be no regrets come season's end. Let's go for it knowing that all three players mentioned will be back for another shot next season despite what the media wish for. Virgil will lead us to the promised land, of that I have no doubt, just not sure which year. 

You should post more often 

[Scouser-Tommy]

It was a bit deflating yesterday after the past few weeks and given that City had already won to go back top again.

I feel as if most of the tough fixtures (especially away) are out of the way now and we can try to push on for the remainder of the season. I know we still have to play Spurs and Chelsea but I fancy us against anyone at home.

[jack witham]

If at the start of the season you would have been offered 1 point off the top with 9 games to go we would have taken that.
There will be more twists and turns to come and we are there in the mix.
Its up to us the fans to stay with the team and see them home.
We got this, Unity is Strength.

[Alan_X]

The thing is though, it’s reasonable to be annoyed with it.

The same comments were being made when a potential 7 point lead became 5, then 3, then 1.

This is currently the very definition of pissing away a winning position and if you can’t see that then you’re beyond help.

It’s not. It’s the very definition of a league campaign. City ‘pissed away’ a lead in December and are now top of the league. Both teams have ‘pissed away’ a lead if you judge everything against a perfect season.

All City had to do when they were ahead was win every game and they’d be nailed on by now. All we had to do was win every game and we’d have been seven clear now.

After every draw and our one loss (that’s one loss) this season I’ve read the ‘if only’ comments telling what Klopp should have done to guarantee a win. Or the players ‘don’t want it’.

I wrote a few pages back that ‘form’ is a load of bollocks in football. Watford and Everton show that. Performance in one game guarantees fuck all in the next game. Our ‘form’ for the last few games is 1.67 ppg. Now try as hard as we like, the chances of getting 1.67 points from the next game is zero. It’s all about individual results and one good result makes a difference, two good results makes a lot more. That only becomes ‘form’ when you look at it after the game.

I couldn’t give a fuck about the Everton result now. It’s over and done with. Is Everton away the result that lost us the league (in March) or was it the loss to City in which case we could have all saved ourselves a load of excitement and positivity.

If you’re worried about our form and think this is it for the rest of the season you’d better start looking at our challengers for fourth place.

Or enjoy the ride and look forward to the next game (at home to Burnley) which I assume you think we’ll lose on ‘form’. 

[Alan_X]

Yes. We need to mean business. Keep our best player, improve our team by getting a world class striker that can contribute as Firmino and score more than Firmino. We really need to let go of one of Milner/Hendo and Lallana/Studge/Moreno and maybe even Origi need to go. Get a top class midfielder (who can score/assist) to play with Keita and Fabinho. Get a defender to compete with Gomez, one of Matip/Lovren will have to go as well.

I worry though, if we dont win it this season, will offers come for Salah/Mane/VDV? Will their heads get turned?

Fuck me - we didn’t just lose the league yesterday we’re losing our three best players. The blue shite must be creaming themselves over posts like this.

[dudleyred]

It’s not. It’s the very definition of a league campaign. City ‘pissed away’ a lead in December and are now top of the league. Both teams have ‘pissed away’ a lead if you judge everything against a perfect season.

All City had to do when they were ahead was win every game and they’d be nailed on by now. All we had to do was win every game and we’d have been seven clear now.

After every draw and our one loss (that’s one loss) this season I’ve read the ‘if only’ comments telling what Klopp should have done to guarantee a win. Or the players ‘don’t want it’.

I wrote a few pages back that ‘form’ is a load of bollocks in football. Watford and Everton show that. Performance in one game guarantees fuck all in the next game. Our ‘form’ for the last few games is 1.67 ppg. Now try as hard as we like, the chances of getting 1.67 points from the next game is zero. It’s all about individual results and one good result makes a difference, two good results makes a lot more. That only becomes ‘form’ when you look at it after the game.

I couldn’t give a fuck about the Everton result now. It’s over and done with. Is Everton away the result that lost us the league (in March) or was it the loss to City in which case we could have all saved ourselves a load of excitement and positivity.

If you’re worried about our form and think this is it for the rest of the season you’d better start looking at our challengers for fourth place.

Or enjoy the ride and look forward to the next game (at home to Burnley) which I assume you think we’ll lose on ‘form’. 

Tremendous post

[Kekule]

Highlight on the the BBC today was this survey and subsequent visualization with the question 'Is Klopp feeling the pressure?'

Is that chart actually supposed to show something? It’s a fucking nonsense isn’t it? It’s just a few bars with coloured numbers under them. There’s no legend as to what the numbers mean. I assume to colours represent us and city. But is -3 good and 3 bad, or vice versa?

It’s a spectacularly bad graphic put together by someone with no knowledge of maths, or charts. And to think someone got paid to make that.

[Andypandimonium]

It’s not. It’s the very definition of a league campaign. City ‘pissed away’ a lead in December and are now top of the league. Both teams have ‘pissed away’ a lead if you judge everything against a perfect season.

All City had to do when they were ahead was win every game and they’d be nailed on by now. All we had to do was win every game and we’d have been seven clear now.

After every draw and our one loss (that’s one loss) this season I’ve read the ‘if only’ comments telling what Klopp should have done to guarantee a win. Or the players ‘don’t want it’.

I wrote a few pages back that ‘form’ is a load of bollocks in football. Watford and Everton show that. Performance in one game guarantees fuck all in the next game. Our ‘form’ for the last few games is 1.67 ppg. Now try as hard as we like, the chances of getting 1.67 points from the next game is zero. It’s all about individual results and one good result makes a difference, two good results makes a lot more. That only becomes ‘form’ when you look at it after the game.

I couldn’t give a fuck about the Everton result now. It’s over and done with. Is Everton away the result that lost us the league (in March) or was it the loss to City in which case we could have all saved ourselves a load of excitement and positivity.

If you’re worried about our form and think this is it for the rest of the season you’d better start looking at our challengers for fourth place.

Or enjoy the ride and look forward to the next game (at home to Burnley) which I assume you think we’ll lose on ‘form’.

Far too sensible for this forum. It's almost as if you believe sport is unpredictable 

Hoping for a lot more unpredictability over the next few months. Win our next two games and we'll be back on top, then who knows what might happen after that? 

[Scottymuser]

Exactly.  It's almost Everton logic to say if we didn't have Van Dijk we wouldn't be where we are in the league.

Now the dust has settled on yesterday, I'm stil confident.  Our remaining 4 away games are almost ideal and we really should be winning them all even as just a top 4 side never mind one challenging for the title.  Our home record for almost 2 years has seen no defeats so bring on the rest of the season I say

The problem is I would argue that Everton away is very much of the same category of fixture, if you look at it impartially (i.e. you remove the fact they are our neighbours, and we always seem to play into that) - from 13 matches (so far) vs the top 9, Everton have 4 points (draws vs us at Goodison where we should have won - EG model has us as 0.97, then as 0.24, so 1-0; Chelsea at the Bridge where Chelsea should have won - EG model has us as 1.16 - 0.2 so 1-0 as well; then draws vs Wolves away and Watford at home).   

[Son of Spion]

It wasn't so long back that our entire fanbase craved a team that competed. A team that was still in contention after Christmas. A team that was actually involved in a title race at the sharp end of the season.

Now, we all have what we wished for.
No one said it would be easy. No one said it would be angst free. No one said there would be no downs to go with the ups.

Title races can see you elated one week and gutted the next. That's all part of the journey we all craved. This is what we signed up for. This is what we've all been wanting since 1990. We are in a marathon rather than a sprint. The lead can and usually does change hands before the final straight and it can still change hands right at the death.

We are right in the mix here. We need to pull together and see this through. As I said, all this is part and parcel of what we signed up for when we craved challenges for titles. People who board a rollercoaster then only enjoy the highs should maybe stay away from the fair because maybe the full ride is not for them. It's time for us all; players and fans, to show what we are made of now. This is what we all craved, so let's see it through ...

[vagabond]

This team will get 90+ points. That's a great season whatever happens. And it will get better next season too.

[Scottymuser]

After the international break, Man City could be playing every 3/4 days until the end of the league season. Their schedule could look like this:

Sat 31/3 - Fulham (a)
Wed 3/4 - Cardiff (h)
Sat 6/4 - FAC SF
Tue/Wed - CL QF 1st leg
Sun 14/4 - Crystal Palace (a)
Tue/Wed - CL QF 2nd leg
Sat 20/4 - Spurs (h)
Wed 24/4 - Man Utd (a)
Sun 28/4 - Burnley (a)
Tue/Wed - CL SF 1st leg
Sat 4/5 - Leicester (h)
Tue/Wed - CL SF 2nd leg
Sun 12/5 - Brighton (a)

They can't make it through all that without dropping at least a few points in the league, surely?

why not - premier league fixture-wise, all bar two you'd "expect" any body challenging for top 4 to go and win ordinarily, and then you have Spurs, on a run of bad form and results vs top sides, and Utd.  Yes, they could go and drop points, but so could we (similar level of fixtures, with both of us having Spurs at home, and then us having Chelsea home vs their Utd away is a marginal advantage to us) - my best guess is we'll take 22-25 points, they will take around the same so could be anything from us winning the league by 1/2points to them winning by 2/3;I reckon it will come down to no more than a point personally either way. 

[deFacto please, you bastards]

It’s not. It’s the very definition of a league campaign. City ‘pissed away’ a lead in December and are now top of the league. Both teams have ‘pissed away’ a lead if you judge everything against a perfect season.

All City had to do when they were ahead was win every game and they’d be nailed on by now. All we had to do was win every game and we’d have been seven clear now.

After every draw and our one loss (that’s one loss) this season I’ve read the ‘if only’ comments telling what Klopp should have done to guarantee a win. Or the players ‘don’t want it’.

I wrote a few pages back that ‘form’ is a load of bollocks in football. Watford and Everton show that. Performance in one game guarantees fuck all in the next game. Our ‘form’ for the last few games is 1.67 ppg. Now try as hard as we like, the chances of getting 1.67 points from the next game is zero. It’s all about individual results and one good result makes a difference, two good results makes a lot more. That only becomes ‘form’ when you look at it after the game.

I couldn’t give a fuck about the Everton result now. It’s over and done with. Is Everton away the result that lost us the league (in March) or was it the loss to City in which case we could have all saved ourselves a load of excitement and positivity.

If you’re worried about our form and think this is it for the rest of the season you’d better start looking at our challengers for fourth place.

Or enjoy the ride and look forward to the next game (at home to Burnley) which I assume you think we’ll lose on ‘form’.

Well said, in a nutshell.

[Alan_X]

The frustrating part is, City's injuries have come in now that they're playing mid-table and relegation dross.

All of their tricky league fixtures (Palace, Man Utd, Spurs, Burnley A) PLUS CL quarterfinals (All but guaranteed, watch them get Porto though) are after the international break. It's very frustrating that their injuries are happening NOW and not then. Hopefully, all of those injuries are worse than feared and they'll have setbacks.

But then again, who's to say that huge fixture pile up they'll have in April won't result in yet more injuries or players potentially rushed in and injured again.

It's imperative that it's THEM who drop point next and not us. If we're still one point behind by end of March having beaten Spurs, then we'll stand in a great position.

Absolutely crucial we win the next 3. I can feel Sunday being nervous for the fans, especially since its a dreaded early kick-off as we'll most likely start the match 4 points behind and Burnley will play absolute filthy park the bus and rough them up game. It's one of those games that we just have to win one way or another. Thankfully their unbeaten run is now over, so they aren't on as much of a high as they were 2 weeks ago.

You missed Leicester and Newcastle off that list of ‘tricky’ fixtures. You know, the mid table teams they lost to.

[the_red_pill]

Klopp may have got his tactics and sub wrong but I question the mentality and fighting spirit of the players. Since going top, our players have been scared and there is a lack of urgency. That is the reason we are now relying on Man City to drop points now. That is also the reason we have lost the last 3 or 4 finals that we have been in.

Robertson saying now the pressure is on City. Hope he is right but the pressure is also on us. We need to win the next 9 games and hope Man City draw at least once. Lets see how our players handle the pressure now.

I think many of us do not realize what a Herculean effort the players had put in to be in the position we were in, going into the match at the Etihad.
We put together an enviable run of form, becoming the first team ever in the history of the league to win all their December fixtures, one of only 3 teams in the history of the league to have amassed as many points at that point of the season and one of only 2 teams in the history of the Premier League to have conceded so few goals up to that point. That all required a massive, massive effort- more effort than City had put in!

It is not hard to imagine that that run took out everything from the players. Then we had our first loss and the optimism we ran on, started fading a bit. We had 2 longish breaks- sprinkled with a few draws inbetween and I can tell you now- after a run like that, you come down hard and heavy! Still our players dug deep- giving their all, even if their all was slow and lethargic and tainted with draws and 1 teensy loss. They gave their all- and they still do.

I don't think it's fair to criticize them without some measure of objectivity. You can certainly not accuse them of being lax. Whatever it looks like to us- they are fighting and pushing themselves to the edge. No- I would say, they've already pushed themselves to the edge... now their pushing themselves ALONG the edge! What we have seen so far, is the very best that they have ever given hitherto in their lives- to a man.

Their best has not been to good recently, but I vehemently disagree with anyone who says they're being lax! I used to be an innercity long distace runner before the smokes got me and I can tell you- after a run of 20km non-stop, you're going to struggle. Your knees are going to want to buckle with every step, you are going to be at the end of your strength- looking like you're being "lax" from a distance and yet you are giving it your all- your very best and even more, because now it's pure willpower that's driving you- nothing else. Your body cannot anymore- even though you will it and force it to.

Please don't accuse a group of players who have done absolutely superb under ALL circumstances- as much as only 3/4 teams has ever done in the LEAGUE(not just the prem)- of showing a lack of urgency- ie: being "lax".

[wemmick]

I'm really surprised by the overreaction from yesterday. More than 20% of the season remains to be played. Klopp and the players have received way too much criticism over settling for a few draws at West Ham, Utd and Everton when not playing our best. Christ, we're taking points from just about every match we play. This is our best side since we last won the title. However, City is the only team in the league capable of winning 13 or 14 in a row. No one else can. And even that is no guarantee. As we saw in the CL last season, they can bottle under pressure with the best of them. As long as we're neck and neck the rest of the way, that's all we can realistically ask for.     

[the_red_pill]

I'm really surprised by the overreaction from yesterday. More than 20% of the season remains to be played. Klopp and the players have received way too much criticism over settling for a few draws at West Ham, Utd and Everton when not playing our best. Christ, we're taking points from just about every match we play. This is our best side since we last won the title. However, City is the only team in the league capable of winning 13 or 14 in a row. No one else can. And even that is no guarantee. As we saw in the CL last season, they can bottle under pressure with the best of them. As long as we're neck and neck the rest of the way, that's all we can realistically ask for.     

And as we saw in December. They can bottle it when really pressed and they will do so again. Pressure's on them now and we're only 1 point behind. It's fine when you're chasing, but it's a whole different animal when you're leading and you have something breathing down your neck- as opposed to being 15 points ahead.

As I said earlier, I expect results to pick up now that we're chasing- making sure to capitalize on any mistake. It's "easy" to chase.

[deFacto please, you bastards]

Think it's absolute nonsense to suggest that are players are running scared or haven't tried their best. You can say that they haven't been good enough as they were earlier prior to this but scared is absolute nonsense

[redk84]

Don't really wanna think about next season

Don't really wanna go over how the lead was 7 points and we're now 1 behind 2 months later.

Been pissed off recently but so proud and taken aback by the amazing run of results beforehand.

So now its just beyond my fucking head to get around the what ifs and whatnot and just wanna see what happens in next 9 games, keeping optimistic and taking it as it comes.

Can't be arsed with doing all the maths or looking back/forward at turning points.

So

The attackers need to get back on it, put the team first and get the goals to win the match and stop dicking around. Lets do things with a purpose from now on. Defence, carry on...mids, just help both sides out as much as possible

[Jookie]

Some really good posts in here. Alan X in particular.

My over riding thought when reading a lot of these posts is that a lot of fans lack experience of what a title race is. People are equating the normal waxing and waning of form that eery team has during a season with a lack of 'bottle' or desire to win.

It would be wrong if the players and fans weren't feeling some nerves during the run in. However, the almost manic excitement or depression that is greeted with every win or dropped points suggest to me that some people are putting way to much emphasis on the result of every game.

I desperately want us to win the title. Been going the games for years without seeing us win a title. There's 9 games to go and we could very much end up in a title win. If it doesn't, we need to dust ourselves down and go again. To get 70 points from 29 games in this league is a tremendous effort so far. And one that many of our fans are losing sight of during this period of dropped points.

[Gladbach73]

I've been lucky enough to watch league title challenges since my first in 1963/64, what may be unique is that we're facing a financially driven behemoth in Manchester City so it's not like any title challenge before. What has always been the same is that we never do things the easy way. Leagues, FA Cups, European Cups, it's always been the same.

What I'd say to the younger ones who haven't enjoyed a successful title challenge is embrace the ride we're having. City are worried, evidenced by the verbal crap coming out of the Etihad especially from Sterling which  is stage managed.

This title race is not over, nine games is just under a quarter of a season. I think being second takes a bit of the pressure off us. We need to step up from what we've seen the last couple of weeks, but I think the biggest problem is (as some posters have said before) some don't know what a title challenge is. It's not all sweetness and light. Starting on Saturday we need the players to see that we're right behind them, sing them to victory home and away in these last nine, and you may just never know. Stranger things have happened.

You can say this is a call to arms if you like, but we have a massive part to play. I don't care if we don't go back to the top until the final whistle after the Wolves game.

Up the bloody title chasing Reds. Let's have it!

[deFacto please, you bastards]

So far we are pushing a side who got 100 points last year, who are financially dopped to the gills, who can field 2 starting XI's that could both finish in the top to their maximum.

I always felt that City were the favorites because they have the better squad. The depth in attacking talent on their bench. We are doing a tremendous job. We've gotten our selves in a great position, we've had set-backs, but the key is to keep going, just like we did in the first part of the season when we were two points behind or a point behind City, when no one saw City losing anywhere, we took advantage.

[killer-heels]

Some really good posts in here. Alan X in particular.

My over riding thought when reading a lot of these posts is that a lot of fans lack experience of what a title race is. People are equating the normal waxing and waning of form that eery team has during a season with a lack of 'bottle' or desire to win.

It would be wrong if the players and fans weren't feeling some nerves during the run in. However, the almost manic excitement or depression that is greeted with every win or dropped points suggest to me that some people are putting way to much emphasis on the result of every game.

I desperately want us to win the title. Been going the games for years without seeing us win a title. There's 9 games to go and we could very much end up in a title win. If it doesn't, we need to dust ourselves down and go again. To get 70 points from 29 games in this league is a tremendous effort so far. And one that many of our fans are losing sight of during this period of dropped points.

Its natural to feel nerves. Wijnaldum touched upon it. If we dont win the league this time then hopefully this experience helps next season. No excuses for next season.

[killer-heels]

Good article in the Telegraph

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2019/03/04/liverpool-not-bottling-title-outstanding-side-narrowly-trailing/

[deFacto please, you bastards]

Its natural to feel nerves. Wijnaldum touched upon it. If we dont win the league this time then hopefully this experience helps next season. No excuses for next season.

You can't say no excuses when there is still a Manchester City in the league who will go on and spend 200 million quid to bolster their title winning side [could be back to back]

You make it sound like we're the only ones competing.

[SlowRap]

where was this doping mantra when Leicester won the league?

[deFacto please, you bastards]

where was this doping mantra when Leicester won the league?

So you're going to pick out literally a miracle season as some kind of norm for the league? 

Jesus christ.

[will2003]

I'd like to see our legends rally round klopp and the team and support them through the final push. I strongly believe the mancs are only doing well because Ferguson is motivating them or adding support where needed. It would be good for those that have been through a title challenge and got over the linejust to calm and guide the team to glory

[killer-heels]

You can't say no excuses when there is still a Manchester City in the league who will go on and spend 200 million quid to bolster their title winning side [could be back to back]

You make it sound like we're the only ones competing.

No excuses in terms of nerves, if its in fact something we are suffering with right now. City are an amazing side, probably the best ever Premier League side so if they are incredible again then it is what it is.

Id like to think though that this experience of being in the lead helps in the future.

[lukeb1981]

I'd like to see our legends rally round klopp and the team and support them through the final push. I strongly believe the mancs are only doing well because Ferguson is motivating them or adding support where needed. It would be good for those that have been through a title challenge and got over the linejust to calm and guide the team to glory

Dont depend on that thick fuck Aldo for that, every time we don’t win he is in the paper over here saying we are bottling it

[deFacto please, you bastards]

No excuses in terms of nerves, if its in fact something we are suffering with right now. City are an amazing side, probably the best ever Premier League side so if they are incredible again then it is what it is.

Id like to think though that this experience of being in the lead helps in the future.

I see what you're saying. I don't think it's a lack of nerves that we're suffering from however. I think it's lack of efficiency going forward and being clinical when it's not ''our'' day. Mane stepped up in two games for us when the other two didn't in the matches we've dropped points in but that wasn't good enough  Against United we looked out of sorts all over, but yesterday we had our two best chances fall to our best player and he wasn't clinical enough.

Also the goals conceded against both Leicester and West Ham were something we ironed out previously but made massive mistakes in conceding them.

WE took the lead in both games, to me it's not lack of nerves. Efficiency absolutely.

 

[killer-heels]

I see what you're saying. I don't think it's a lack of nerves that we're suffering from however. I think it's lack of efficiency going forward and being clinical when it's not ''our'' day. Mane stepped up in two games for us when the other two didn't in the matches we've dropped points in but that wasn't good enough  Against United we looked out of sorts all over, but yesterday we had our two best chances fall to our best player and he wasn't clinical enough.

Also the goals conceded against both Leicester and West Ham were something we ironed out previously but made massive mistakes in conceding them.

WE took the lead in both games, to me it's not lack of nerves. Efficiency absolutely.

I was not that fussed about the West Ham and Leicester games. Both teams can turn in good performances and have some very good players. We were always going to be a dip and that came.

The United one and Everton one was hard to take because it was sandwiched between some top class performances. We allowed ourselves to be racked with doubt and the Everton performance did show nerves in the players and the manager in my opinion.

[dudleyred]

Another good article stating hold your nerve!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/47449256

[deFacto please, you bastards]

I was not that fussed about the West Ham and Leicester games. Both teams can turn in good performances and have some very good players. We were always going to be a dip and that came.

The United one and Everton one was hard to take because it was sandwiched between some top class performances. We allowed ourselves to be racked with doubt and the Everton performance did show nerves in the players and the manager in my opinion.

Thet derby match has been no different than any other previous ones in the last god knows how many encounters. And again I don't think it's down to nerves. The derby at their place is generally a poor football match.

[killer-heels]

Thet derby match has been no different than any other previous ones in the last god knows how many encounters. And again I don't think it's down to nerves. The derby at their place is generally a poor football match.

It wasnt but this is one of the best teams we have had in ages and they were not only poor on paper but were barely good yesterday. We could have done better against them seeing how he actual game unfolded.

[deFacto please, you bastards]

It wasnt but this is one of the best teams we have had in ages and they were not only poor on paper but were barely good yesterday. We could have done better against them seeing how he actual game unfolded.

We've been better than them for decades. That has never changed the type of match it is. At Anfield yes, at Goodison it's been like that for a long tiime.

We could have done better, but we could have done better in the last X amount of matches at Goodison, and we weren't challenging for the title in those years either [recently].

[killer-heels]

We've been better than them for decades. That has never changed the type of match it is. At Anfield yes, at Goodison it's been like that for a long tiime.

We could have done better, but we could have done better in the last X amount of matches at Goodison, and we weren't challenging for the title in those years either [recently].

I get that but even before in some seasons Everton have been better than this. Previously they even had players like Lukaku, Meirelles etc. who were good players and gave us a game.

Klopp has been building since 2015 and we have been increasing the gap and last season was an odd game with very few of our first team playing.

This season though, have opened an even bigger gap, they hardly lay a glove on us as well. They were arguably the second worst team we have faced this calendar year and thats how they played the game as well. They had zero threat and didnt show anything.

[deFacto please, you bastards]

I get that but even before in some seasons Everton have been better than this. Previously they even had players like Lukaku, Meirelles etc. who were good players and gave us a game.

Klopp has been building since 2015 and we have been increasing the gap and last season was an odd game with very few of our first team playing.

This season though, have opened an even bigger gap, they hardly lay a glove on us as well. They were arguably the second worst team we have faced this calendar year and thats how they played the game as well. They had zero threat and didnt show anything.

The last time we beat them there, they certainly weren't any more of a threat then they were yesterday. And we were significantly better than them in terms of quality with our line up.

[killer-heels]

The last time we beat them there, they certainly weren't any more of a threat then they were yesterday. And we were significantly better than them in terms of quality with our line up.

They were probably as good as they are now but with Lukaku in there side, who is miles better than any player currently in their side and with a pre-ACL Coleman. We were nowhere near as good as we are now.

[slaphead]

Heard Gordon Strachan say tonight that he lives in 2 worlds, the football world, that he called the real world, and the media world, which he called fantasy world. And that not one single person in the football world see's this title race as over, not one. Whereas in lala land........oh and 2 draws in a week away against your big rivals is NOT a sign of feeling pressure in any way.
There is some sense being spoken amongst the hours and hours of hot air.