Topic: Chasing the Title

[Jm55]

Don't do it to yourself mate. I've been doing it since 2001 and it's not worth it. I stopped takig notice of their matches vs rivals in our last title challenge.

No rival will ever drop points against Everton in a game where it will benefit us- even if Everton tried. City can drop points against anyone else they face from here on out, but not Everton. The BS MAY someday win when it's not important.

Everton are just not up to it. That's a nothing match. There's more chance of City dropping points against Sheffield United.

What about when they drew 0-0 with Chelsea earlier in the season?

Yes I know Chelsea are miles behind us now but they weren’t at the time.

[-Willo-]

What about when they drew 0-0 with Chelsea earlier in the season?

Yes I know Chelsea are miles behind us now but they weren’t at the time.

The game on the 11th November?! You cannot compare that game to this one, City are the only hope of stopping LFC winning the title, most of them c*nts would take going down for us to not win the title.

Silva would be hounded out if they won City, I betEverton players know themselves it isnt worth their time beating City.

[ToneLa]

I don't mind us losing points to Leicester as:

1) they're recent champions and it would be wrong to underestimate em
2) Plenty of extenuating circumstances like no right-back, injuries, shit weather
3) City lost and we technically increased our lead

We should batter West Ham. Look at our fixtures and I think we can beat everyone. Yes, even Man U away

[El Lobo]

I don't mind us losing to Leicester as:

1) they're recent champions and it would be wrong to underestimate em
2) Plenty of extenuating circumstances like no right-back, injuries, shit weather
3) City lost and we technically increased our lead

We should batter West Ham. Look at our fixtures and I think we can beat everyone. Yes, even Man U away

We um.....

[Caligula?]

I don't mind us losing to Leicester as:

1) they're recent champions and it would be wrong to underestimate em
2) Plenty of extenuating circumstances like no right-back, injuries, shit weather
3) City lost and we technically increased our lead

We should batter West Ham. Look at our fixtures and I think we can beat everyone. Yes, even Man U away

We didn't lose though. 

Who cares if they're recent Champions, they reverted back to being a mid-table side as soon as they won the title. I get what you mean though. I'd much rather draw to Leicester who are fairly decent compared to others than a relegation fodder we should be beating ten times out of ten.

[deFacto please, you bastards]

We didn't lose

[Tony19:6]

We didn't lose

True,

But it felt like a loss...

[ToneLa]

We um.....

We um are drunk and I forgot a word! K cider for ya lad

FELT like a loss, but I saw the logic in not shitting meself. That post was brain vs heart. Both had a say! I AM greedy for points, I'll tell ye that.

We didn't lose though. 

Who cares if they're recent Champions, they reverted back to being a mid-table side as soon as they won the title. I get what you mean though. I'd much rather draw to Leicester who are fairly decent compared to others than a relegation fodder we should be beating ten times out of ten.

Close to how I feel. I think every opponent deserves respect on the pitch. I mean, they equalled us, at Anfield no less, right?

They're good, not great; if we're the best we must prove it. I don't think we should go easy on anyone, and no set of 3 points is ours until we earn it.

We must batter everyone, basically

[Chip Evans]

We didn't lose the match, we lost the opportunity to go 7 clear. That is a big deal, the margin of error etc etc . No problem with being pissed off about it as long as you continue to live in the land where you'd have bitten the hand off the person offering being 5 points clear going into Feb. Get to March now.
 

[Fordy]

We didn't lose the match, we lost the opportunity to go 7 clear. That is a big deal, the margin of error etc etc . No problem with being pissed off about it as long as you continue to live in the land where you'd have bitten the hand off the person offering being 5 points clear going into Feb. Get to March now.
 

The issue we have is we had 2 opportunities to really make a points statement and haven't done it.

1) Beat City to go 10 points clear
2) Beat Leicester to go 7 points clear

We've to make sure we start taking advantage of these changes to really steam ahead if they come around again.

[Chip Evans]

The issue we have is we had 2 opportunities to really make a points statement and haven't done it.

1) Beat City to go 10 points clear
2) Beat Leicester to go 7 points clear

We've to make sure we start taking advantage of these changes to really steam ahead if they come around again.

Not arguing. Agree with you that when you get lemons you have to make lemonade. Just lying to myself that i'm enjoying this. A title procession would be better for my health and productivity. 

[ToneLa]

At this point, I simply believe.

[aggerdid]

I’m not watching city’s matches anymore. City on Tuesday then us on Wednesday was too much stress. I think we’ll get back to winning ways vs west ham

[Kenny's Jacket]

Just been in the National Football Museum in Manchester and was going to get a picture of the Premier League trophy but decided against it to not tempt fate.

I'm not normally a superstitious person either. Oh, and was v disappointed by the museum.

Is the European cup there?

[ToneLa]

I’m not watching city’s matches anymore. City on Tuesday then us on Wednesday was too much stress. I think we’ll get back to winning ways vs west ham

Pep will leave for PSG and the oil money doesn't guarantee titles.

Wot do we have over City?

SOUL.

A team. I mean, buy a load of fuckin contractors and they don't bring belief to the table. They might bring skills, they might believe in themselves, but City are literally the best part of 20 years behind us.

Don't be stressed watching them, lad. Understand every win they have is fool's gold

[I've been a good boy]

I don't mind us losing points to Leicester as:

1) they're recent champions and it would be wrong to underestimate em
2) Plenty of extenuating circumstances like no right-back, injuries, shit weather
3) City lost and we technically increased our lead

We should batter West Ham. Look at our fixtures and I think we can beat everyone. Yes, even Man U away

About that first point, it feels like absolutely years ago that they won the title. Bet my house on it that they won't win it again for another 100 years. Their last two matches were losses to Wolves and Southampton which is why it felt like a loss, oh well.

I'm also not concentrating on City anymore. If they drop points then great but definitely no point getting too overjoyed because the pressure at this stage is immense and anything could happen. I just hope our medical team put that magic sponge to good use because we need TAA, Gomez, etc back asap.

I hope City suffer like Chelsea are right now and they both piss off permanently to the midtable. Would love to get the traditional top four back instead of this top 6 bollocks.

[Jon2lfc]

Lots of fans depressed that we "could have" been 7 pts clear.

But it's "only" now 5 pts.

Strange.

If all these fans who have anxiously been predicting scorelines for every single match in both our and City's fixture list were to only pause and think what has just happened...

According to them..
City "should have" beaten Newcastle.
That would have put them 1pt behind us...with us to play Leicester.

We seemed to have gained 4 pts by drawing with Leicester though 

Some people are never happy!!

Be happy with what we've got!
No one predicted the following a few weeks back:
We'd be 5 pts ahead of City after they lose a number of matches in Dec and Jan.
So just enjoy the ride and stop being miserable and anxious!
Klopp wanted yoos to turn from doubters to believers, so start to believe for fux sake!

[ac]

The Gomez surgery news makes City favourite. Matip and Lovren are injury prone which is likely to mean fabinho is needed back thereby weakening in midfield creativity wise. Gomez's pace is also a great weapon to cover TAA who is prone to lapses.
IMO us to win the league (all things equal), Lovren needs to show the level of consistency he did toward the end of the season (the home Roma game aside) and one of Ox/Keita will need to step up

[ToneLa]

About that first point, it feels like absolutely years ago that they won the title. Bet my house on it that they won't win it again for another 100 years. Their last two matches were losses to Wolves and Southampton which is why it felt like a loss, oh well.

For me I still see flashes of the Leicester who won the league. Bless em, they got some belief we almost take for granted! I suppose the simplest way to put it is, I'd be gutted drawing to about 15 more teams than them, and that's being generous.

Fortunately the league table, our history and our manager, our team, the atmosphere at Anfield, is is sufficient to keep this myopic but true focus.

'm also not concentrating on City anymore. If they drop points then great but definitely no point getting too overjoyed because the pressure at this stage is immense and anything could happen. I just hope our medical team put that magic sponge to good use because we need TAA, Gomez, etc back asap.

I hope City suffer like Chelsea are right now and they both piss off permanently to the midtable. Would love to get the traditional top four back instead of this top 6 bollocks.

Great post. I think Chelsea are extremely relevant for anyone worried about City: Money goes a long way in life and especially in football, but absolutely nobody here is arsed about Chelsea. What's the long-term difference between Chelsea and City?

Uhhhhh. I suppose I get on with City's fans better!

Not saying "don't watch footie except us", but I'm juuuust old enough to have been at Anfield in a season we won the title. The belief is there, and faith is a funny thing: REAL faith is knowing failure is real, but parking it til it is relevant. Bravery is not "not having fear" - it is knowing fear is real and succeeding anyway.

For me, right now? There's everything to celebrate at this stage of the season (not beyond). With the caveat: I was gutted enough to think we "lost" to Leicester because my heart is in every game we play - every kick, every move, every lineup, every player.

Right now, I have to go looking for negatives, and hand on heart, I still respect Leicester. It's not always great footy they serve up, but we have a target on our backs to aim for - that game hammered home for me: I honestly reckon champions are made of tricky games. Sometimes even flukes.

I don't want a title we don't earn, after all. You don't have to create The Invincibles 2 to win the league. It helps! But we don't do things easy, and I have a great faith that the right things done the right way pays dividends. I mean, shit, we've just had to move the last of the pre-Klopp regimes buy out the club!

to be honest, it's nice that our main rivals are the polar opposite of how we do things Hand on heart I wouldn't have it any other way. Let's show em what we're made of, let's show em HOW, knowing no club can rival our strengths - support, nouse, and I sincerely think FSG are our best owners in donkeys'

[Caligula?]

The Gomez surgery news makes City favourite. Matip and Lovren are injury prone which is likely to mean fabinho is needed back thereby weakening in midfield creativity wise. Gomez's pace is also a great weapon to cover TAA who is prone to lapses.
IMO us to win the league (all things equal), Lovren needs to show the level of consistency he did toward the end of the season (the home Roma game aside) and one of Ox/Keita will need to step up

I don't think it makes them favorite. Yes, Gomez was VVD's equal earlier on in the season but if you're going to talk about possible injuries that could derail our season and make them favorites it probably goes like this: Salah, Gini, Virgil, Alisson. We're obviously not as good defensively without Gomez but it's something I feel we can get away with providing Lovren stays fit. Matip is a walking mistake ready to happen. I don't know if it's his lanky figure (like Sakho) which makes you think he'll fuck up at any given moment but I'd much rather have Lovren in there. All we need to do is make it past West Ham and both Lovren and Trent should be fit for the run in, and stay fit hopefully.

[ac]

I don't think it makes them favorite. Yes, Gomez was VVD's equal earlier on in the season but if you're going to talk about possible injuries that could derail our season and make them favorites it probably goes like this: Salah, Gini, Virgil, Alisson. We're obviously not as good defensively without Gomez but it's something I feel we can get away with providing Lovren stays fit. Matip is a walking mistake ready to happen. I don't know if it's his lanky figure (like Sakho) which makes you think he'll fuck up at any given moment but I'd much rather have Lovren in there. All we need to do is make it past West Ham and both Lovren and Trent should be fit for the run in, and stay fit hopefully.

Lovren's track record with injuries seems to be getting worse this season. I wonder if it is linked to lack of rest after world cup. I think we will be more reliant on Matip then your post suggests.
To be fair Matip was half decent defensively when he came back into the team which was a surprise. Perhaps he is a player that relies a lot on getting a run of games but I am not hopeful.

My comments re: Lovren Matip is largely guesswork - what we know, as you say Gomez's absence weakens the main area that has got us to the top - our  defensive steel. To stay top I think we're going to have to be score more goals. Firmino/Mane need to become more consistent and for me Ox/Keita/Shaq need to step up and nail the most advance midfield role.

[Timbo's Goals]

And that is exactly part of the issue for me Jill and why I don't think the fans can be criticised too much, we're sitting watching our side try to regain their rhythm and sharpness in a game that can directly result in us taking advantage of our main compeitors for the title, that in itself is always going to cause some degree of anxiety. Agree 100% the pitch made things difficult, but then that's just another thing that plays into it as people see we aren't moving the ball quickly due to the conditions, see moving it slowly isn't creating chances, see the clock ticking on while we look uncharacteristically shaky at the other end and as a direct result worry that things aren't going our way. That's without even factoring in it feels like the refs against us with his bad decision after bad decision

I'm not saying moan and groan all game and its okay, but I do think the atmosphere was understandable

It doesn't sound harsh at all, it just sounds ridiculously unrealistic because no ones fans do that

You could sit and tell me you watched that match in its entirety without any sign of anxiety of frustration and i'd call bullshit because I don't reckon any of our fans did, its not that simple to just switch of any emotion or feeling towards the game because youv'e walked into the stadium. There's a multitude of things that were going against us last night and it all fed into it. You can write anything out on a forum and make it seem simple as, but most people don't convey emotion after going through a flowchart in their head of whether displaying frustration is a good choice at this present moment in time and thinking what are the knock on effects of me being frustrated. No one's saying moan and groan constantly but it was a case of what was happening on the field feeding into the emotion through the stands and that feeding back into what was going on during the game on the field.

If its as simple as that you could sit and say whip up a champions league atmosphere every anfield game because 'why would I not try everything I can to help the team win' but inevitably, its not the case

Been posting about the same thing in the 'Anfield atmosphere' thread. Didn't know about this one dealing with the same subject.

So I come into this thread to find that yourself and Jill seem to be aperson that I find irritating the few who actually seem to understand the football supporting 'human' reality of a night like Wednesday.

I've been banging pretty much the same drum in the 'atmosphere' thread ie that ALL things considered - and I really do mean ALL including some of our sloppiest play of the season so far - the support from the crowd was pretty good throughout on Wednesday night. As anyone who has been a regular at Anfield these past 50 years will know only too well the sighing, the moaning and the groaning that came from certain moaners and groaners on Wednesday night is just as much a part of the Anfield atmosphere today as it ever was throughout those 50 odd years I've been going. And there's not a slivver of a chance of changing that when you have a tense tight hugely important game and situation like on Wednesday night against on the night a superb Leicester performance. Fact is some fuckers just moan and groan and some more positive fuckers such as myself shout and sing. C'est la vie.

Anyroad here's my most recent post from the other thread - reflecting on James Pearce's latest column in tonight's Echo also bemoaning the crowd's twitchiness a la many of the posters in this thread and in the 'Anfield atmosphere' thread - just to confirm that me and thee and a few others are on the same page about all this.

Just quickly read the footy section in tonight's Echo and James Pearce is echoing the sentiments expressed by yourself and others in the thread about the crowd's anxiety trasnsmitting itself to the players especially when the groans follow a misplaced pass. He reckons Kloppie turned around to bollock the crowd at one point for groaning after Sadio misplaced a pass. Also Virgil was interviewed after the game and commented on him sensing the crowd's nervousness.

Not sure what to say.

If it's an attempt either of Pearce himself or Kloppie via Pearce to persuade some of those who do have a tendency to moan and groan to stop doing so when it's a tight game and the tension is racking up and stupid errors are being made, then fair enough. Good luck with it. I pray it works. However, based on my own Anfield experiences over 50 odd years I'll bet a pound to a pinch of shit that it's not going to succeed if the flow of the game replicates Wednesday night's nailbiter when we came so close to dropping all three points on more than one occasion - and mainly down to our own sloppiness.

I'd have thought myself the better option would have been for Pearce and presumably Kloppie [via Pearce] to accentuate the positive and lavish some well deserved praise on those who did support the team and appeal for those less supportive ones - including the likes of my own mates - to do likewise.

Incidentally Ski, don't get me wrong I crave the huge noisy days/nights and I do agree that the ideal for ensuring maximum home points is for Anfield to be a cauldron of noisy positivity like on the very best Euro nights. Fingers crossed we get something along those lines. But if the games pan out along the lines of Wednesday night then I fear that Pearce, Kloppie and Virgil are going to have to put up with a mixture of support and groaning. Maybe the ball's actually in their court and they need to persuade Robbo or anyone to go on a few Arsenal-like 200 yard mad dashes around the pitch to inject some life into some of the cardboard cut-out dummies who need a bomb underneath them, my own mates included.

[Bird Bird Bird The Bird Is The Word]

The Virgil/Gomez partnership was the bedrock that our title challenge is built, it would be a massive blow if Gomez is out for another month or two. If there was ever a time to find some horse placenta down the back of the sofa, it is now.

It wouldn't be so bad if our other two centre backs weren't crocks. Klopp was seething with Lovren's wanton attitude to fitness around the World Cup and now we know why. He has mismanaged his body and its practically written him off for the season.

[Timbo's Goals]

The Gomez surgery news makes City favourite.

Yeah. Agreed. Not sure why we don't just all fucking give up now and tell Kloppie to tell the Premier league to notify the fucking oil money guzzling cheating c*nts that they can keep hold of the trophy for another year.

Jeezus.

[jillc]

Yeah. Agreed. Not sure why we don't just all fucking give up now and tell Kloppie to tell the Premier league to notify the fucking oil money guzzling cheating c*nts that they can keep hold of the trophy for another year.

Jeezus.

Didn't realise we were such a one man team to be fair. 

[Caligula?]

Is the media and opposing fans' narrative that we've been extremely fortunate with injuries and refereeing decisions still a thing? 

[Timbo's Goals]

Didn't realise we were such a one man team to be fair. 

Jill - you should have realised following that disastrous run of results after Joe got injured. Thank fuck the powers that be decided to gift all those three point wins to us with Joe not there.

 To be fair to the guy who posted the pessimism, we do all know how much we do miss the lad. He was arguably our best defender - even with Virgil, Trent and Robbo. It's just that....well you know...it's not the way Shanks wanted us to react to such things. Nor Kloppie.

[RK7]

Not much room for furthur injuries now, would be a huge shame if we let this lead slip due to injuries.

[Caligula?]

Not much room for furthur injuries now, would be a huge shame if we let this lead slip due to injuries.

We're not letting this slip.

[jillc]

Jill - you should have realised following that disastrous run of results after Joe got injured. Thank fuck the powers that be decided to gift all those three point wins to us with Joe not there.

 To be fair to the guy who posted the pessimism, we do all know how much we do miss the lad. He was arguably our best defender - even with Virgil, Trent and Robbo. It's just that....well you know...it's not the way Shanks wanted us to react to such things. Nor Kloppie.

Absolutely I am gutted for Joe, as you say he was having a very good season, but injuries happen ad we all know. I'm sure the manager will sort it.

[vagabond]

Jill - you should have realised following that disastrous run of results after Joe got injured. Thank fuck the powers that be decided to gift all those three point wins to us with Joe not there.

 To be fair to the guy who posted the pessimism, we do all know how much we do miss the lad. He was arguably our best defender - even with Virgil, Trent and Robbo. It's just that....well you know...it's not the way Shanks wanted us to react to such things. Nor Kloppie.

I very much agree that Gomez or not, we won't be derailed. But Gomez is a big miss. We conceded 5 in 14 before he got injured and have conceded 9 in 10 since then. I hope we see him again this season.

[jillc]

I very much agree that Gomez or not, we won't be derailed. But Gomez is a big miss. We conceded 5 in 14 before he got injured and have conceded 9 in 10 since then. I hope we see him again this season.

Gomez is a big miss no one is denying that. But the reason we're conceding more is the constant changes to the back line we're having to make. When Lovren had that run of games with Van Dijk we were still going well. But recently we are having to change virtually every game and that is bound to have an affect overall. We don't get the same rhythm and understanding that you would get with the same back line.

[SpionBob]

Shame about Joe as he is quality. However, Trent is back soon and Lovren too. We can deal with this.

[Yevgeny]

We're gonna find out who the genuine leaders in the team are over the next few months. Sadio has long had a rep as a moody, mercurial type but he showed clear leadership qualities against Leicester. Was unafraid to get on the ball and take responsibility. I think Fabinho is the same. Demands the ball and drives the team forward rather than playing it safe. We need him starting in midfield every game.

[killer-heels]

Is the media and opposing fans' narrative that we've been extremely fortunate with injuries and refereeing decisions still a thing? 

Can we not worry about what the media and opposition fans narrative? Honestly, I dont care how we win the titel and how much luck we get on the way to winning it.

[-Willo-]

Lots of fans depressed that we "could have" been 7 pts clear.

But it's "only" now 5 pts.

Strange.

If all these fans who have anxiously been predicting scorelines for every single match in both our and City's fixture list were to only pause and think what has just happened...

According to them..
City "should have" beaten Newcastle.
That would have put them 1pt behind us...with us to play Leicester.

We seemed to have gained 4 pts by drawing with Leicester though 

Some people are never happy!!

Be happy with what we've got!
No one predicted the following a few weeks back:
We'd be 5 pts ahead of City after they lose a number of matches in Dec and Jan.
So just enjoy the ride and stop being miserable and anxious!
Klopp wanted yoos to turn from doubters to believers, so start to believe for fux sake!

What you need to realise is the two scenarios are not related to one another.

This wasn't a situation where if City get beat by Newcastle then we can only draw with Leicester. at 6pm on Wednesday you woudn't have taken a draw, so why would we 3 hours later be happy?

We are focusing on ourselves, and we need to beat teams like Leicester at home to win the title, people are well within their rights to be annoyed that we didn't stretch the lead to a 2 game cushion.

That is the key here, we failed in our attempt to have a 2 game cushion. Bare in mind we have to go to West Ham with Milner up against Felipe Anderson. We will know a lot more about this race on Tuesday.

[killer-heels]

What you need to realise is the two scenarios are not related to one another.

This wasn't a situation where if City get beat by Newcastle then we can only draw with Leicester. at 6pm on Wednesday you woudn't have taken a draw, so why would we 3 hours later be happy?

We are focusing on ourselves, and we need to beat teams like Leicester at home to win the title, people are well within their rights to be annoyed that we didn't stretch the lead to a 2 game cushion.

That is the key here, we failed in our attempt to have a 2 game cushion. Bare in mind we have to go to West Ham with Milner up against Felipe Anderson. We will know a lot more about this race on Tuesday.

You cannot boil the game down to just 1 game though. Statements like failing or bottling are just wrong because you have to realise that in the context of a good run, at any point you could drop points.

We have won all our games against teams outside the top 6. That was always an unsustainable achievement. The league isnt great but its not that shit.

[-Willo-]

You cannot boil the game down to just 1 game though. Statements like failing or bottling are just wrong because you have to realise that in the context of a good run, at any point you could drop points.

We have won all our games against teams outside the top 6. That was always an unsustainable achievement. The league isnt great but its not that shit.

I get what you're saying, but the timing of the drop points are a bit crap.

Maybe its a coincidence that we drop our first points of the season to the other 14 teams when we have our first shot of putting one hand on the title.

Skeptic in me says that was in our heads and we fluffed our lines. Again we will see Monday, arguably a harder game than Wednesday this, and it might come with City 2 behind, lets see how the lads handle that.

[jillc]

I get what you're saying, but the timing of the drop points are a bit crap.

Maybe its a coincidence that we drop our first points of the season to the other 14 teams when we have our first shot of putting one hand on the title.

Skeptic in me says that was in our heads and we fluffed our lines. Again we will see Monday, arguably a harder game than Wednesday this, and it might come with City 2 behind, lets see how the lads handle that.

One hand on the title. What are you on about? We're only in February its crazy this idea in some people's minds that winning the other night would have brought the title closer. There are so many games still left to be played. Our first job is to make sure we stay top and are involved in the run in, we won't be winning this league until the latter stages of the season.

[Red Beret]

Yeah I'm nervous, not ashamed to admit it.

Remembering 08/09, with only two defeats but the draws costing us the title.  Worrying about a makeshift defence and us potentially having to try to resort to outscoring teams again.

I'm not worried about City - their fragility speaks for itself.  But I am envious of their squad depth; and too many opposition teams still allow them to canter to victory, which puts much less physical stress on their players.

Hoping Arsenal and Chelsea can snatch a couple of draws, but the latter especially I'm hoping will offer a physical challenge to them.