Topic: Chasing the Title

[jepovic]

It's been an amazing season no matter what, but that ManU draw still hurts. We showed them too much respect, this arguably worst ManU team in PL history but we never really tried...
 
Other than that, brilliant so far and we're still in competition for both titles. ManC look too solid to drop something and I think we'll both clean up the remaining three as well. CL seems wide open though, that's where I've put most of my hope for a title.

[Yosser0_0]

As the number of games dwindle so, mathematically, do our chances. To say it will be a shame to lose out on a title with 95+ points is an understatement.

With three games to go, there's still all to play for and we MUST win all of those games of course. Wolves has been a worry for me for the last few weeks and last night proved they are dangerous. That final game will not be easy, although at home you'd imagine we will be OK.

Truth is we are now looking and hoping for an unlikely upset from three mid-table clubs to give us a chance AND we need to win all three games of course.

It's hard not to feel a little downhearted and really rue those draws against Leicester, West Ham, Everton and United. So now we must as fans try to banish those fears and feelings and appreciate where we are, however gutting it might be should City hang on.

Let's hope for a City slip, and not forget we might win the CL too :-)

A fantastic season whatever happens, but should the worst happen I will be gutted, yet proud.

You know what I find strange, is that people are pointing out that it is the draws in these games that have cost us? Why are you not highlighting the result against City as the result that cost us? It's like saying, oh it's acceptable to get beat by City but unacceptable to draw against anyone else! Yet probably the same people are hoping other lesser teams are able to draw or beat City - yet we couldn't do it ourselves - its a 6 pointer X 2!

Based on the current standards being set by both teams and looking into the future, it seems that the team will need to be near perfect against the lesser teams, which we have done. But will also need to start winning more of the games against City in order to win the title - its getting that tight that these games will genuinely (Not Sky hype) become title deciding matches, they'll certainly become 'must not lose' games. It could be that a whole season is decided on a decisive moment within one of these matches. It think this team has come an awful long way in a short space of times and has much more give, I think they're up for this challenge.

[Dave D]

I think some people may need to stop watching or even looking for the results for man city. If you're just going to treat every win they have as the equivalent to Liverpool losing, you're just going to do your head in. "Fans" having to pick themselves up for a Liverpool game because the plastic abomination won another game, is fucked.

Here the lads are working their bollocks off on a 18 game unbeaten run...and some of our fans are feeling a little down today.

To be seen as one of the greatest Liverpool sides you obviously need trophies. What this team has right now is consistency. This side is the most consistent Liverpool team ever. Everything is falling into place. We're going nowhere.

[jillcwhomever]

I think some people may need to stop watching or even looking for the results for man city. If you're just going to treat every win they have as the equivalent to Liverpool losing, you're just going to do your head in. "Fans" having to pick themselves up for a Liverpool game because the plastic abomination won another game, is fucked.

Here the lads are working their bollocks off on a 18 game unbeaten run...and some of our fans are feeling a little down today.

To be seen as one of the greatest Liverpool sides you obviously need trophies. What this team has right now is consistency. This side is the most consistent Liverpool team ever. Everything is falling into place. We're going nowhere.

 

[Davidbowie]

As much as we like to hold out hope, I think it's almost guaranteed that City will win all of their remaining games and therefore the title will be won. To get 6 from 6 at Spurs and United and 11 wins in a row shows how strong they are - the likes of Leicester, Burnley and Brighton getting anything from them is practically zero. They'll barely have a shot on goal between them nevermind win or draw.

Even if city had drawn last night, I'm not so sure we'll get all 3 points at Newcastle. That's a really tough game.

In the 08/09 season I was absolutely amazed that Liverpool could lose 2 matches in 38 and still not win the title, to think it's likely to be just 1 loss in 38 matches this time and still no title win is just.. well, there are no words.

[Dench57]

You know what I find strange, is that people are pointing out that it is the draws in these games that have cost us? Why are you not highlighting the result against City as the result that cost us? It's like saying, oh it's acceptable to get beat by City but unacceptable to draw against anyone else! Yet probably the same people are hoping other lesser teams are able to draw or beat City - yet we couldn't do it ourselves - its a 6 pointer X 2!

Because City are, alongside us, the best the team in the league. We were away at their ground and lost by the finest of fine margins (11mm!). United are Everton are dog shit, not just on paper, but how they performed on the day too. United were falling apart at the seams and were terrified of us but we couldn't capitalise. So I can see why people rue that result more than the City one.

[Dench57]

We're going nowhere.

Harsh.

[lfcrule6times]

Burnley will get a draw. I just know it.

[DonkeyWan]

We have lost one match.

Yes, we can improve in certain areas but this is a baffling statement.

If we get97 points and don’t win the title, it’s a freak.

I agree. There is no way Liverpool will get 97+ points next season. People complaining about dropped points are nuts. Two things annoy me about this season;

1] The City media love-in. They have cheated before. They have likely cheated again. Everybody knows this. Opposition fans ignore their results and dismiss them as artificial. So do some of their own fans. And yet, bar one or two voices, nobody in the media seems to care, preferring to fellate rather than castigate. A shitty regime is white washing its international image by financial doping and the media spreads its ass cheeks for more. Fuck that.

2] Klopp is a serial loser. This narrative (Klopp must win something this season or be considered a failure) can go piss up a pole. The reason Liverpool probably won't win dick this season is because the same cheating city side will have sewn up everything domestically, leaving one competition open and that against one of the best teams in the world. Ok, losing the CL wouldn't be fantastic, but don't stick it to Klopp because his options of proving himslef are so limited by shitty petrodollar clubs.

Finally, here is food for thought. United have never got 97 points. The most they ever got was 92 under Ferguson. That's the club with the most PL titles of all time. The club with the second most PL titles is Liverpool, Liverpool have scored 90 points only once in its history. Liverpool under Klopp could theoretically finish 22 points ahead of last season's total. That is beyond stupidly impressive. So, all this talk of how to do better than 97 points is fucking retarded.

[meady1981]

A lot of people on here would have left the ground at half time in Istanbul.

[Alan_X]

Because City are, alongside us, the best the team in the league. We were away at their ground and lost by the finest of fine margins (11mm!). United are Everton are dog shit, not just on paper, but how they performed on the day too. United were barely able to field an 11 and were terrified of us but we couldn't capitalise. So I can see why people rue that result more than the City one.

So the logic is that we prove we are better than City by err... losing to City?...

In a parallel universe where we win against Leicester and West Ham or United and Everton why would City lose to Palace, Leicester or Newcastle?

Teams drop points over the season. In the only games where we had a direct influence over City’s results we got one point out of a possible six. City got four.

If we’d won those two we’d be on 93 and they’d be on 85 with three to play. If we’d drawn both we’d be on 89 and they’d be on 87.

[Ravishing Rick Dude]

As much as we like to hold out hope, I think it's almost guaranteed that City will win all of their remaining games and therefore the title will be won. To get 6 from 6 at Spurs and United and 11 wins in a row shows how strong they are - the likes of Leicester, Burnley and Brighton getting anything from them is practically zero. They'll barely have a shot on goal between them nevermind win or draw.

Even if city had drawn last night, I'm not so sure we'll get all 3 points at Newcastle. That's a really tough game.

In the 08/09 season I was absolutely amazed that Liverpool could lose 2 matches in 38 and still not win the title, to think it's likely to be just 1 loss in 38 matches this time and still no title win is just.. well, there are no words.

It's not almost guaranteed that City will win all the remaining games. It's not guaranteed that we'll win all the remaining games. Personally I'm more worried about Newcastle and Wolves game, than I'm worried about City's results.

[Dench57]

So the logic is that we prove we are better than City by err... losing to City?...

What? Not sure how you've inferred that from what I posted.

I said it's understandable that people rue the draws to Everton and United more than the the loss to City, because City are really, really good and United and Everton are shit.

[abetts]

City have gone 27 games without a PL draw (against us in October), which is pretty rare in any top league. They have also not conceded first in 19 PL games (against Chelsea in December), though I'm not sure how rare this is for a team near or at the top of their respective league.

As a professional gambler myself, I see it as very probable that City will draw one of their remaining games.

[Yosser0_0]

Because City are, alongside us, the best the team in the league. We were away at their ground and lost by the finest of fine margins (11mm!). United are Everton are dog shit, not just on paper, but how they performed on the day too. United were falling apart at the seams and were terrified of us but we couldn't capitalise. So I can see why people rue that result more than the City one.

Until we start beating the best teams then we aren't going to see any silverware, have to confront that and meet it head on. We'll have the same issue next week against Braca, who are the best at whatever they are, if we get through it will be the same again. Same last season it was Madrid and in previous seasons we've played good teams in finals, you have to start beating the best out there in order to win a trophy, not whimper out and hope they drop points or we avoid them in a cup draw. The best teams compete for cups and leagues, City have the mentality to beat the best sides as well as the rest - we need to get there. We keep losing cup finals and need to start turning that aspect around.

[deFacto please, you bastards]

s, City have the mentality to beat the best sides as well as the rest - we need to get there.

Errr in what competition? They certainly aren't beating the best sides in Europe. If you're talking about the league, then yeah sure. and their run in the FA Cup and League Cup is a joke.

City have two sides they can field, it's not just a mentality aspect.

In football like in life you need a bit of luck. Mentality wasn't an issue for our last final, we lost our best player midway through the first half, and all we could do is replace him with Lallana. We and [by we I mean one player] gifted them a goal, which we responded to relatively quickly and equalized. They go 2-1 up, after bringing Bale off the bench, and we hit the post through Mane relatively quick afterwards. Karisu proceeds to gift them another goal with what 15 minutes left to play?

So everything but to do with mentality with this group of players. We lost our first final against city on penalties, against again a side that had infinite amount of players to rely upon. The one final you can say mentality [somewhat] could be an issue is against Sevilla.

[alonsoisared]

Feeling slightly, slightly more positive this morning. The one thing we do have going for us is that we keep playing the extra game to them. They'll feel they've got one hand on the title at the moment but as long as we get past Huddersfield they'll still be in second place next time they play. Hell of a lot different mentally than having the opportunity to widen the gap on us. Just keep winning...

[AnnieRoad93]

Seen so much negativity today in particularly on twitter (shock) etc and I’m pretty sure we’ll be 2 points clear on Friday night.

 The pendulum has certainly swung city’s way after they’ve navigated their two hardest fixtures ‘on paper’, but then again we’d thought we’d won it in 2014 with 3 to go....

I still believe they’ll drop points in one game

[Dench57]

The best teams compete for cups and leagues

Is that not what we're doing?

City have the mentality to beat the best sides as well as the rest - we need to get there.

Aye they've got a great record in the competition involving literally all the best teams. Wish we were as good as them in Europe.

We keep losing cup finals and need to start turning that aspect around.

Yes, we do. Sevilla was on us but that wasn't Klopp's team and we've improved massively since then. Same for the league cup final and we lost that on penalties.
We were a bit light in midfield but Kiev was going fine until Ramos WWE'd our best player and broke his shoulder, and our own goalkeeper threw the ball in our net twice. Klopp's response was to break the world transfer record for a goalkeeper and spend £100m on the midfield. We're pretty close to another final. We should definitely be looking at competition/replacement for the front 3 so that we're not relying on Lallana/Origi/Shaqiri in a CL final. But other than that I'm not sure what more we could be doing to "turn that aspect around".

[Sharado]

 The pendulum has certainly swung city’s way after they’ve navigated their two hardest fixtures ‘on paper’, but then again we’d thought we’d won it in 2014 with 3 to go....

It's weird the stuff we cling to, but the above thought had definitely occurred to me. We've exorcised some of the ghosts of 2014 this year [the chelsea game being the most significant of course], makes you wonder if that might be another one.

And then there's Brendan....It's hard to see Leicester getting anything....and yet....

[deFacto please, you bastards]

To add to what I was saying and what Dench is saying, our team is vastly different when compared to all 3 of our last finals.

[aw1991]

Until we start beating the best teams then we aren't going to see any silverware, have to confront that and meet it head on. We'll have the same issue next week against Braca, who are the best at whatever they are, if we get through it will be the same again. Same last season it was Madrid and in previous seasons we've played good teams in finals, you have to start beating the best out there in order to win a trophy, not whimper out and hope they drop points or we avoid them in a cup draw. The best teams compete for cups and leagues, City have the mentality to beat the best sides as well as the rest - we need to get there. We keep losing cup finals and need to start turning that aspect around.

In the last two seasons, we beat the rest of the top six, Bayern, PSG, Napoli, Roma etc.
The only team we didn't beat was Real Madrid, and that match was controversial to say the least.
The fact that we are pushing a Manchester City side that will go down as one of our generation greatest to a race shows how much we progressed in the last few years. And we are progressing on a yearly basis.
Barcelona got Messi and that is enough to beat any team, but I would definitely consider us at the very least equal to them.

[TheShanklyGates]

A lot of people on here would have left the ground at half time in Istanbul.

Maybe if we'd been relying on Burnley to score the 3 goals for us in the second half...

[FlashGordon]

Maybe if we'd been relying on Burnley to score the 3 goals for us in the second half...

They don't need to score any goals though. The thread isn't called conceding the title.

[jillcwhomever]

Seen so much negativity today in particularly on twitter (shock) etc and I’m pretty sure we’ll be 2 points clear on Friday night.

 The pendulum has certainly swung city’s way after they’ve navigated their two hardest fixtures ‘on paper’, but then again we’d thought we’d won it in 2014 with 3 to go....

I still believe they’ll drop points in one game

I don't think United was their tougher game the Burnley one is tougher because they are team that can knock City out of their rhythm. They are a team who will kick City, be over physical and that is one thing this City team finds hard to come to terms with. They get all whiny and whinge more at the referee and lose their focus. What we want from Burnley is one of their typical hard headed performances, we respect no big team. This is a stat that is worth repeating, for the past four seasons Burnley have managed to beat the "Champions Elect" at least once a season. Let's wait and see what happens there is enough time for another twist.

[rushie9]

only ourselves (Klopp) to blame, cannot count on others, especially game vs Westham, Les City, Klopp was soooo conservative and run out of ideas, see who he sub in and expected magic happened once again is mad.

[LFCEmpire]

only ourselves (Klopp) to blame, cannot count on others, especially game vs Westham, Les City, Klopp was soooo conservative and run out of ideas, see who he sub in and expected magic happened once again is mad.

You'll definitely catch some poor bugger with that one.

[Mighty_Red]

The last time a team needed to win 14 in a row to win the league , they lost the 12th.

Just saying.

Play to the whistle.

[Sharado]

The last time a team needed to win 14 in a row to win the league , they lost the 12th.

Just saying.

Play to the whistle.

They didn't even need to win 14 in a row by the time the 12th came around...

[Nobby Reserve]

I'll just be glad when it's over. The hope is killing me, and I'm as desperate as anyone for us to lift this trophy.

[meady1981]

Maybe if we'd been relying on Burnley to score the 3 goals for us in the second half...

I’d say there’s as much chance that three teams might get one draw with Man City as there was with us getting back into that game.

[CraigDS]

I'll just be glad when it's over. The hope is killing me, and I'm as desperate as anyone for us to lift this trophy.

Just relax and enjoy it, football is meant to be fun 

[nayia2002]

I said it after the 4 draws in 6 game that would/will cost us the league 

[jillcwhomever]

OMG Kloppo fancies Mrs Targaryen. 

[MerseysideBrum]

A lot of people on here would have left the ground at half time in Istanbul.

Is there any way in which the mods can check for most posted comment on a thread? This one must be up there.

[Yosser0_0]

Errr in what competition? They certainly aren't beating the best sides in Europe. If you're talking about the league, then yeah sure. and their run in the FA Cup and League Cup is a joke.

City have two sides they can field, it's not just a mentality aspect.

In football like in life you need a bit of luck. Mentality wasn't an issue for our last final, we lost our best player midway through the first half, and all we could do is replace him with Lallana. We and [by we I mean one player] gifted them a goal, which we responded to relatively quickly and equalized. They go 2-1 up, after bringing Bale off the bench, and we hit the post through Mane relatively quick afterwards. Karisu proceeds to gift them another goal with what 15 minutes left to play?

So everything but to do with mentality with this group of players. We lost our first final against city on penalties, against again a side that had infinite amount of players to rely upon. The one final you can say mentality [somewhat] could be an issue is against Sevilla.

City have won 8 trophies in 8 years, compared to our 1, we've had plenty of opportunities but cannot get across the line in finals. The Liverpool teams that dominated had that winning mentality and came through against the odds on a number of occasions because of it. This City side have it, we need to develop it and make a habit of it.

With respect to your comments about our recent finals, it reminds me a bit of 2001 of when the Birmingham and Arsenal fans both felt aggrieved about the way Liverpool pinched the cup from them in those finals - does anyone remember or care? Definitely some luck in all three finals of that year but I'll just say this, look at the characters in that team - Gerrard, Babbel, Hyypia, Carragher, Gerrard, Hamann, McAllister, Owen, Fowler - leaders and game changers. I'm sure Klopp sees these as key attributes when signing players and we are starting to see the emergence of leaders like Van Dijk, time will tell if they can get us over the line when the next opportunity comes along.

[Sharado]

I said it after the 4 draws in 6 game that would/will cost us the league 

What's the lottery numbers mate? quite the one with predictions it seems

[S]

A lot of people seem to think that if someone predicts City to win the title, it means they have no faith in Liverpool. The two aren't necessarily connected. Unless we rotate our team heavily, I think we can and will win each of our last three games.

I imagine a few people share my stance here. I have complete faith in our team to win. I just have zero faith in Burnley, Leicester or Brighton to take anything from City.

[lionel_messias]

If we finish on 97 points, I'm fairly sure we have to congratulate Klopp and his team for a brilliant season of league football.

Anyone saying we should have grabbed 98 or 100 points needs to give their head a wobble.

I just hope a couple of the teams left give City a proper game and try and shake them up, sick of seeing City hem people in for 85 mins and get their 1 or 2 goals from a sheer game of attrition.

Burnley or Leicester - have a feckin' go, City are good but Spurs put 4 goals past them and Crystal Palace beat them for pete's sake, they are not invulnerable.

[meady1981]

Is there any way in which the mods can check for most posted comment on a thread? This one must be up there.

Thankfully I’ve enough of a life to have not read the whole thing.

Plus, 97 points finishing 2nd, hold your hands up to them, the draw against Leicester cost us are all far ahead