Topic: The PL run-in

[Alan_X]

...Who goes on about winning CL three years ago? Be honest.

What the actual fuck?

[newterp]

League title over this City team, on the final day of the season, if Villa somehow manage a draw and we win, would be far greater accomplishment than winning the CL. Only '05 in Istanbul will match this accomplishment, in our history. People will go on about it for ever.

Who goes on about winning CL three years ago? Be honest.

I would guess most fans still talk about Madrid. I also watch the old highlights all the time - especially when they pop up in the content feeds from YouTube etc.

Seems like you are the outlier.

[disgraced cake]

League title over this City team, on the final day of the season, if Villa somehow manage a draw and we win, would be far greater accomplishment than winning the CL. Only '05 in Istanbul will match this accomplishment, in our history. People will go on about it for ever.

Who goes on about winning CL three years ago? Be honest.

Me. Probably several times a week, actually, even now.

That year we spoke about being 'the unbearables', and if we're lucky enough to have a 7th success in a couple of weeks time I like to think we'll put our prior effort to shame, especially if we win this Saturday as well. It'd be the biggest success in our history in my own opinion, in the same way Real Madrid's biggest success has probably been beating us in Kiev as it was another on top of an already dominant twelve prior wins (half of them bollocks anyway  )

By your logic we could win the title this season and there'd be people who won't talk about that three years from now.

[Samie]

That guy doesn't support us, I'll bet money on it.

[rob1966]

I would guess most fans still talk about Madrid. I also watch the old highlights all the time - especially when they pop up in the content feeds from YouTube etc.

Seems like you are the outlier.

He hasn't got a clue.

[ScouserAtHeart]

I would guess most fans still talk about Madrid. I also watch the old highlights all the time - especially when they pop up in the content feeds from YouTube etc.

Seems like you are the outlier.

I still put on the pre-match fan experience thing with Jamie Webster and the fans singing once in a while

[Hazell]

I would guess most fans still talk about Madrid. I also watch the old highlights all the time - especially when they pop up in the content feeds from YouTube etc.

Seems like you are the outlier.

5 Live commentary on the final (and the Barcelona game at Anfield) is on YouTube. I listen to that sometimes.

[Crosby Nick]

5 Live commentary on the final (and the Barcelona game at Anfield) is on YouTube. I listen to that sometimes.

Yeah the Barca game, post match and Origi goal/fan reactions form the final still get watched regularly. And some of the pre match Madrid stuff too. Guaranteed crowd pleaser!

[Eeyore]

League title over this City team, on the final day of the season, if Villa somehow manage a draw and we win, would be far greater accomplishment than winning the CL. Only '05 in Istanbul will match this accomplishment, in our history. People will go on about it for ever.

Who goes on about winning CL three years ago? Be honest.

I am the same with my kids as soon as they reach the age of three I disown them.

[killer-heels]

Who goes on about winning CL three years ago? Be honest.

That pic of Henderson just about to lift the CL is my screensaver. Not when we lifted the league the season later, even with Anfield in the background, but the CL. The CL is the most special trophy.

[meady1981]

Who goes on about winning CL three years ago? Be honest.

I think this quote is as good a reason for me to never come in this thread ever again. So cheers.

[lionel_messias]

The annoying thing is, if City do lose narrowly on Sunday to give us a glimmer of hope and re-introduce the Goal Difference scenario, Southampton are one of the first teams you would pick to chase a shed-load of goals. They might not have the worst defence in the division but when their wheels come off, it goes wrong spectacularly.

They have 9-0 and 0-7 recent reverses I believe. Anyway, let's no worry about this until after Cup Final-ness has been achieved.

[amir87]

League title over this City team, on the final day of the season, if Villa somehow manage a draw and we win, would be far greater accomplishment than winning the CL. Only '05 in Istanbul will match this accomplishment, in our history. People will go on about it for ever.

Who goes on about winning CL three years ago? Be honest.

This man read some of the most bizarre, mental and dumbest shit on this forum in the last 24 hours and goes "Wait, hold my beer."

[Sharado]

They have 9-0 and 0-7 recent reverses I believe. Anyway, let's no worry about this until after Cup Final-ness has been achieved.

100% this. As far as I'm concerned the league's gone, and let's win the FA cup. If walloping southampton on tuesday means it's back in play, we can deal with that on tuesday.

[Andypandimonium]

I would guess most fans still talk about Madrid. I also watch the old highlights all the time - especially when they pop up in the content feeds from YouTube etc.

Seems like you are the outlier.

Can't be serious unless he has a very short-term view to life. The Barcelona semi is one of the greatest moments in our history; winning number 6 put us back on our perch; enjoying a European Cup parade for the first time with my kids...great, great time and just a few years back. Maybe I'm an old romantic though, just been enjoying highlights of the 1974 FA cup final!

[Lynndenberries]

What a weird comment. I'll never forget the excitement and relief I felt when Origi scored. Given the previous year's final and the PL run-in, it felt so fucking good to finally win one of the two big trophies under Klopp. Go back and watch the player's reaction to that goal (Virgil immediately falls to the floor, Robbo sprints past the fans, etc), it meant so much. I shamelessly watch highlights from that Champions League run at least once a month. It was just an incredibly special moment.

No idea how to embed videos, but this is always worth a watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yrG3C-R7D5s

[dai_bonehead]

I am the same with my kids as soon as they reach the age of three I disown them.

Class

[palimpsest]

It’s bizzare. The CL final was one of the greatest days of my life. I will remember it and talk about it forever. I watched the game in a pub and spent an hour hugging and crying with absolute strangers. I don’t even know their names, but I still remember their faces and feel infinite fondness for each and every one of them. It’s the one trophy every footballer dreams of winning.

[HardworkDedication]

I agree that this all comes down to the West Ham game now. 

If City win then we need to prioritise the CL final and look to rest players and essentially play the League Cup team against Southampton. 

If they draw then it becomes interesting, but goal difference is then irrelevant so we just need to beat Southampton, not thrash them.  So same tactics as at Villa, with key players rested but a strong side overall.  We can turn to the bench later in the game if we need a goal.  City will at least feel some pressure on the final day needing a win and not just a draw.

If West Ham win then we have to go as strong as possible (and as attacking as possible) against Southampton.

If you catch yourself feeling down that we may come up just short then just think back to that final game of the season against Stoke 7 years ago and think how unlikely this all seemed back then!

I agree with you. The idea that we should rest players regardless is a nonsense. If West ham get a point or win against City then we have to assume that Villa may get something against Man City. Can you imagine if we rotated heavily against Southampton (despite City failing to beat West Ham), and we went on to drop points against them, followed by Villa getting something against City, we would absolutely be kicking ourselves and rueing at a missed a opportunity to win number 20.

[newterp]

Can't be serious unless he has a very short-term view to life. The Barcelona semi is one of the greatest moments in our history; winning number 6 put us back on our perch; enjoying a European Cup parade for the first time with my kids...great, great time and just a few years back. Maybe I'm an old romantic though, just been enjoying highlights of the 1974 FA cup final!

definitely believe it was the springboard to the title the next season as well!

[Hazell]

Yeah the Barca game, post match and Origi goal/fan reactions form the final still get watched regularly. And some of the pre match Madrid stuff too. Guaranteed crowd pleaser!

It's all great. 2005 still gets some airtime as well

[newterp]

What a weird comment. I'll never forget the excitement and relief I felt when Origi scored. Given the previous year's final and the PL run-in, it felt so fucking good to finally win one of the two big trophies under Klopp. Go back and watch the player's reaction to that goal (Virgil immediately falls to the floor, Robbo sprints past the fans, etc), it meant so much. I shamelessly watch highlights from that Champions League run at least once a month. It was just an incredibly special moment.

No idea how to embed videos, but this is always worth a watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yrG3C-R7D5s

Lol - I watched it again.

[McSquared]

Looking at the table, west ham are sat there in the conference league place 5 points ahead of wolves. Their only realistic chance of getting out of that shite competition is to get a decent result against city

[M4tt]

What a weird comment. I'll never forget the excitement and relief I felt when Origi scored. Given the previous year's final and the PL run-in, it felt so fucking good to finally win one of the two big trophies under Klopp. Go back and watch the player's reaction to that goal (Virgil immediately falls to the floor, Robbo sprints past the fans, etc), it meant so much. I shamelessly watch highlights from that Champions League run at least once a month. It was just an incredibly special moment.

No idea how to embed videos, but this is always worth a watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yrG3C-R7D5s

Thanks for that, seen it before and happily watched it again. The reaction from Sadio on the first goal and the reaction from Virgil on the second is such a contrast in emotions.

Ahhh seeing that video has me buzzing for the final. Really hope we get to see the lads celebrating again. Those finals are something special.

If the football Gods offered either the league or the champions league I'd pick the CL.

With Klopp signing for an extra couple of years, hopefully we can lock in Salah, Mane and Bobby for the same amount of time and I'm pretty sure we will be in more than just this CL final in the next 4 years.

[andy07]

2-1 to the ‘ammers.  We then pump Southampton 5-0 to set it up nicely for the final day.  Make us dream.

[Black Bull Nova]

You almost don't want to rely on a glimmer of hope but at least West Ham have something to play for, Europa League probably if the win, conference if they lose.


Come on Antonio and let's have Fernandinho see red

[kaesarsosei]

If City win on Sunday, the league is over bar something absurd and completely unprecedented in football history. ie us winning final two games by 8+ goals and City losing at home to a mediocre Villa side on the beach. In this case we rotate heavily on Tue and focus 100% on the two cup finals. THIS sort of heavily:

                 Kelleher

Gomez   Konate    VVD    Tsimikas

    Eliott      Milner    Jones

   Minamino  Firmino  Origi


If City draw, then Goal difference basically stops being a thing since in reality the only way we we win the league is with 2 wins and another City draw or loss. We need to get across the line in anyway possible against Southampton so that means 5-6 starters from the Cup final going again on Tue.


If City lose on Sunday, then we potentially have it in our own hands with 2 large wins in our final two games. In this case I would throw caution to the wind against Southampton and play a 4-2-3-1 with front 7 something like this:

      Henderson    Thiago

  Salah     Firmino      Diaz

                Mane

A City loss on Sunday followed by a 5-0 win over Southampton would make the final day VERY interesting IMO.

[Knight]

It's a shame the way the fixtures went that City's hardest game, on paper, wasn't until this weekend when it's probably basically over. It'd definitely be nice for it to be 'live' until the final day, even though I can't see any circumstances where City drop points again Villa.

[demain]

Never really had much expectation of Liverpool winning the league due to the number of points dropped at the start of the season, there was simply too much left to do, what with the risk of injuries and player fatigue piling up at the end of the season.

The other factor in City's favour was their track record in tight title races, they had come up on top in 2011-12, 2013-14, and 2018-19 and that experience no doubt would serve as a strong motivator, just as Liverpool's institutional memory in European competitions helps prop up belief immensely. City don't have that in Europe and it tells when they invariably choke in the Champions League.

There's no point beating about the bush for next season, Liverpool will have to be as perfect as they were in 2019-20 to win the title.

[killer-heels]

Never really had much expectation of Liverpool winning the league due to the number of points dropped at the start of the season, there was simply too much left to do, what with the risk of injuries and player fatigue piling up at the end of the season.

The other factor in City's favour was their track record in tight title races, they had come up on top in 2011-12, 2013-14, and 2018-19 and that experience no doubt would serve as a strong motivator, just as Liverpool's institutional memory in European competitions helps prop up belief immensely. City don't have that in Europe and it tells when they invariably choke in the Champions League.

There's no point beating about the bush for next season, Liverpool will have to be as perfect as they were in 2019-20 to win the title.

Agree with most of that except the title muscle memory thing. I think its more to do with the fact that they had played their toughest games of the season within the first 10 or so games. Their run in was always easier.

[Sharado]

Agree with most of that except the title muscle memory thing. I think its more to do with the fact that they had played their toughest games of the season within the first 10 or so games. Their run in was always easier.

Absolutely this. They started relatively 'slowly' which is a bit of a thing for them [and part of why we smoked them in 2019/20 was we weren't fucking hanging around]. But almost all their toughest fixtures came early, and they rode a lot out with decent results against us, chelsea etc.

[killer-heels]

Absolutely this. They started relatively 'slowly' which is a bit of a thing for them [and part of why we smoked them in 2019/20 was we weren't fucking hanging around]. But almost all their toughest fixtures came early, and they rode a lot out with decent results against us, chelsea etc.

They had also played Spurs away, Leicester away,l grounds where we dropped points. We had our own issues getting over the season prior and reintegrating the likes of Van Dijk. Next season will be different.

[lionel_messias]

The other thing is gaining 92 points is pretty darn good. Only in an insane world do you need 96 points to win a league title.

In other words, we can beat ourselves up for dropping some points here and there when a) this is human and b) we were busy smashing everyone in all cup competitions.

[Jookie]

The other thing is gaining 92 points is pretty darn good. Only in an insane world do you need 96 points to win a league title.

In other words, we can beat ourselves up for dropping some points here and there when a) this is human and b) we were busy smashing everyone in all cup competitions.

If you get +90 points and get to 3 finals it’s hard to be critical of the team or manager.

We might have some regrets for certain games or the odd small area or improvement but it’s very small detail type stuff. Not a lot is wrong with the team, squad etc if you are having a season like ours so far.

[has gone odd]

Nothing at all wrong with the squad, just hope we dont go for a snooze and keep improving it. Both us and City have gone toe to toe all season, it was always about how well you perform in the head to heads, of which we cancelled each other out. On the whole, this season, especially if we win all 3 cups, we have been the best team. Would be difficult to argue otherwise.

[kaesarsosei]

If we only win the FA Cup, its probably our 5th best season this century (19/20, 18/19, 05, 00/01 Cup Treble the only seasons ahead of it) and if I'm honest this is the minimum I would have been happy with if asked in January - but I would still be happy for sure.

If we only win the European Cup, its our best season since 85/86. The League Title & FA Cup Double in the 80's was a massive deal (we were only the third team of the century to do it and in those days the FA Cup was a colossal event compared to now), but winning the CL & League Cup surpasses the cup Treble of 2001 especially since we were mediocre in the League itself in 2001.

If we win both (so a cup treble including the League Cup) its our best season since 83/84 which was probably the best season in the club's history.

[newterp]

Klopp on midfield: "We will see. We might play 90 or 120, it won't change KO for Southampton. Depending on the City result, we go for something or not and then we make decisions. We have enough options, the job is to find the right one."

[mkingdon]

The league was always the least likely win for us. We were too far back from a team with unlimited resources and some sort of hoodoo over nearly every team in the league that means they score in the first ten minutes and their games have no edge after that.

I always feared we'd just come up short. We can still win it, but it's the eternal optimism that someone may give City a game only to be squashed within the first twenty minutes when they go 2-0 up.

The CL has the be the priority now, with Saturday a nice bonus. The league would need such an odd turn of events that it could only probably be us to do it, so I'm clinging to that until the maths says otherwise.

We've had a slight dip in form at the worst time in my view and maybe some of the pressure/expectation being off for the league may see us relax a bit and go and smash Southampton and Wolves and make it interesting right up to the final day.

[newterp]

To some degree, Man City probably took their foot off the gas when they were 14 pts up as they thought it was done and dusted.

They didn't expect us to get back into form and challenge - and while we did - they also righted their ship as well which they always had the capacity to do with their unlimited resources and players.  The schedule in the run-in also broke really nicely for them. 

[disgraced cake]

If we only win the FA Cup, its probably our 5th best season this century (19/20, 18/19, 05, 00/01 Cup Treble the only seasons ahead of it) and if I'm honest this is the minimum I would have been happy with if asked in January - but I would still be happy for sure.

If we only win the European Cup, its our best season since 85/86. The League Title & FA Cup Double in the 80's was a massive deal (we were only the third team of the century to do it and in those days the FA Cup was a colossal event compared to now), but winning the CL & League Cup surpasses the cup Treble of 2001 especially since we were mediocre in the League itself in 2001.

If we win both (so a cup treble including the League Cup) its our best season since 83/84 which was probably the best season in the club's history.

If we're to win both finals you could make a case for it being the best season in our history. 83/84 probably better even so, but it'd be top 3 without doubt. Wasn't around for that but 2000/01 has been my favourite ever season and if we're to beat Chelsea and then Real Madrid then I suppose it'd be like 2001 on crack considering this time it's the European Cup 

If we can make it a domestic cup double tomorrow then it'll certainly be one of the most memorable seasons we've had. It already is when you consider we've won one cup and are still fighting for three in the middle of May. Ultimately can't help but feel the way we really remember this season will be determined by events in Paris in a couple of weeks time. If you win the Champions League any year it's a 10/10 season in my books, but if we do so having won the League Cup and hopefully the FA Cup tomorrow then it's one for the ages.