Author Topic: The PL run-in  (Read 980635 times)

Offline Fromola

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Re: Attacking #20
« Reply #960 on: December 17, 2020, 08:34:48 am »
Yesterday was huge psychologically. The manner of the victory really demoralised our rivals. I can imagine them watching our games in the last month or two rubbing their hands expecting us to lose because of our injury crisis.

Turns out that they can't even keep up with our B team, a team ravaged by injuries, that plays untried teenagers in key positions, that plays midfielders in defence, that plays attackers in midfield, that has had many VAR decisions going against it.

That's the best spurs have got because they didn't have any notable injury and came up against a team with 8 first-team players missing. Instead of pushing for a win, they employed cowardly tactics and hilariously came unstuck in the last minute. Their tactics show the fear factor we retain despite our lenghty list of absentees. Beating palace will be another dagger in their hearts.

Let's get some of our players back and run away with it.

It was important as well not to let Spurs build up a lead. That's how Mourinho has always won titles, he's built up early leads and then seen them through. He's never chased down a title, or been neck and neck and won one that way.

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Offline redwillow

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Re: Attacking #20
« Reply #961 on: December 17, 2020, 08:52:38 am »
Massive 3 points, 3 points clear at the top. Now we see how strong Spurs, Chelsea etc really are.

Liverpool's main challenger this season is ourself. Keeping the squad fit and staying consistent in games will decide whether we win this league or not. Also i think we must sign a CB in January and possibly an attacker if we can move Shaqiri or Origi.

Offline Fromola

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Re: Attacking #20
« Reply #962 on: December 17, 2020, 08:54:21 am »
Massive 3 points, 3 points clear at the top. Now we see how strong Spurs, Chelsea etc really are.

Liverpool's main challenger this season is ourself. Keeping the squad fit and staying consistent in games will decide whether we win this league or not. Also i think we must sign a CB in January and possibly an attacker if we can move Shaqiri or Origi.

One of the key reasons for needing a centre back is to get Fabinho back in the midfield rotation. We're asking an awful lot of Henderson and Wijndaldum and we've missed him in away games in particular in there.
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Offline redwillow

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Re: Attacking #20
« Reply #963 on: December 17, 2020, 09:03:19 am »
One of the key reasons for needing a centre back is to get Fabinho back in the midfield rotation. We're asking an awful lot of Henderson and Wijndaldum and we've missed him in away games in particular in there.

Massively. Although at this rate, can you rely on Matip? Im firmly in the mindset of wanting a 5th forward in and moving Shaqiri & Origi if its possible to really feel confident about going for #20

Offline Andypandimonium

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Re: Attacking #20
« Reply #964 on: December 17, 2020, 09:48:30 am »
We really need to get Gini signed up. He has been a monster this season. Doesn't look like someone who wants to leave, but what do I know!

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Re: Attacking #20
« Reply #965 on: December 17, 2020, 09:54:16 am »
A centre back in Jan remains critical to winning it.
It's not impossible we can do it without but it'll be really tough - even if Matip plays every game (which he's not going to)
We're conceding too many chances at the moment and more than that in games against bad teams like Fulham and Brighton you can see the problem not having pace at centre back causes to the way we want to play

Offline redwillow

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Re: Attacking #20
« Reply #966 on: December 17, 2020, 10:12:48 am »
A centre back in Jan remains critical to winning it.
It's not impossible we can do it without but it'll be really tough - even if Matip plays every game (which he's not going to)
We're conceding too many chances at the moment and more than that in games against bad teams like Fulham and Brighton you can see the problem not having pace at centre back causes to the way we want to play

I feel like it would be a big confidence boost as well to the rest of the squad knowing we are a bit more secure at the back. There is no reason why we can't go big for a CB either, Van Dijk and Gomez coming from big injuries are going to need rotation when they return and i wouldn't be surprised if Matip left next summer. Schuurs would be my go to, although i haven't watched much European football to notice any other targets

Offline markmywords

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Re: Attacking #20
« Reply #967 on: December 17, 2020, 10:29:41 am »
United's last two titles were like that. 12/13 as well there was just no challenger at all and they won them on auto pilot. People say the same about us last season but City finished on 81 points, Leicester finished on that the year they won it (and won it on 77 points with games to spare).

Our away performances are a concern, but Thiago was signed specifically to address that and we saw in the game and a half he played in the difference he'd make. We're too predictable a lot of the time away from home and struggle to exert control or create good chances. Even last season it was often the same, we were just able to really grind out a lot of wins (Norwich/Villa) when we weren't playing well or VAR was going against us. It caught up with us in the CL though. We weathered a 1-0 defeat to Napoli to get through the group just about by winning at Salzburg but a scoreless defeat at Atletico saw us off in the next round.




United used to win a lot of titles on autopilot, when the opposition are complaining about us getting favourable treatment from VAR, it's a sign they have accepted and are explaining away defeat.   Hearing the complaints about fabinho's penalty against fulham was brilliant.

Hopefully if we can maintain a lead(5/6 points) until feb, when european football starts again, the other challengers can put their eggs into those baskets and we can coast to a title.  We need to crush the oppositions spirits in the 1st half of the season, a few last minute winners like yesterday, really stick in their throats, then the 2nd half of the season will be like jogging downhill

United used to win titles on easy street, time for us to take over that real estate

Offline Charlie Adams fried egg

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Re: Attacking #20
« Reply #968 on: December 17, 2020, 10:35:23 am »
I just admire the character in this team. So many setbacks but they come out fighting.

Get Saturday out of the way and we have 7 full days, 8 days if you go whistle to whistle, plenty of time for feet up plus some proper training sessions. Nice that we're playing a team that also played on Wednesday too.

Ironically at the start of the season we arguably had our strongest squad in terms of both quality and numbers since Klopp arrived, one which if fit, could have competed on all fronts. But given what's happened I've never been more glad to be out of the LC and have a free week in December.

Offline rob1966

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Re: Attacking #20
« Reply #969 on: December 17, 2020, 10:36:30 am »
Massively. Although at this rate, can you rely on Matip? Im firmly in the mindset of wanting a 5th forward in and moving Shaqiri & Origi if its possible to really feel confident about going for #20

If you look at the goals against column, we've conceded 19. Even without that mad game at Villa, we're still conceding a goal a game. I'd rather we sorted a CB, keeping clean sheets makes it easier for the forwards, they know they only have to take on chance, not 2 or 3 a game.
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Offline Paul1611

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Re: Attacking #20
« Reply #970 on: December 17, 2020, 10:52:07 am »
Just win on Saturday.

We do that and we're 6 clear before anybody else plays and it starts to become a thing.

Yes Saturday is huge.  Biggest match of the season for the psychological damage it will do to the chasing pack.  6 points ahead before anyone else plays, quite a few playing each other, all then subconciously playing for champions league spots.  Even City are lagging and to see us 11 points clear of them whilst they are performing under 50% win rate will hurt them a lot.

3 points, best team to play, then 8 days rest before the Xmas onslaught.  Lets hope the Spurs team turns up rather than the Fulham one!

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Re: Attacking #20
« Reply #971 on: December 17, 2020, 10:54:35 am »
Just thought from a footballing point of view we are streets ahead of any other team in the league at present even with our injuries. The injuries themselves have been a blessing in disguise in terms of blooding the young lads and throwing them in at the deep end and not one of them has failed us or themselves. Absolutely outstanding to a man. We made spurs look Sunday league last night at stages. Every pundit and his dog said we'd fall apart without Virgil and here we are top of the tree yet again with only sky above us.

It's hard not to get emotional to be honest when the rock solid foundations Ged put in place all those years ago are now coming to fruition. What a fitting tribute the performance of the young lads has been this season some of them not even born when he first took the reigns.
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Offline Charlie Adams fried egg

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Re: Attacking #20
« Reply #972 on: December 17, 2020, 11:01:33 am »
Just thought from a footballing point of view we are streets ahead of any other team in the league at present even with our injuries. The injuries themselves have been a blessing in disguise in terms of blooding the young lads and throwing them in at the deep end and not one of them has failed us or themselves. Absolutely outstanding to a man. We made spurs look Sunday league last night at stages. Every pundit and his dog said we'd fall apart without Virgil and here we are top of the tree yet again with only sky above us.

It's hard not to get emotional to be honest when the rock solid foundations Ged put in place all those years ago are now coming to fruition. What a fitting tribute the performance of the young lads has been this season some of them not even born when he first took the reigns.

Who'd have thought it? Pundits in talking shite shocker  :) No time for any of them.

Offline MonsLibpool

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Re: Attacking #20
« Reply #973 on: December 17, 2020, 11:23:40 am »
Yes Saturday is huge.  Biggest match of the season for the psychological damage it will do to the chasing pack.  6 points ahead before anyone else plays, quite a few playing each other, all then subconciously playing for champions league spots.  Even City are lagging and to see us 11 points clear of them whilst they are performing under 50% win rate will hurt them a lot.

3 points, best team to play, then 8 days rest before the Xmas onslaught.  Lets hope the Spurs team turns up rather than the Fulham one!

I agree. Beating them would be HUGE. Any win will do but a thumping will be like twisting the knife. Imagine our rivals checking the scores and seeing that we are 4-0 up after 20 minutes. They'd just give up.

Offline DelTrotter

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Re: Attacking #20
« Reply #974 on: December 17, 2020, 11:31:52 am »
Yeah, was always more worried about Saturday than last night, at least Palace played too so didn't get a week off. But Sun - Weds, Sat morning is pretty brutal, not a problem if we had everyone fit and could go Hendo, Naby, Gini for one and Thiago, Fab, Curtis or something for the other (christ, that depth!!) but we can't so it's asking the same probably tired players to go again.

Would feel huge to get a win then have a nice week off with some crap teams to come over christmas. If we win on Sat I don't expect us to move from that position for the rest of the season.

Offline rob1966

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Re: Attacking #20
« Reply #975 on: December 17, 2020, 11:33:39 am »
Yeah, was always more worried about Saturday than last night, at least Palace played too so didn't get a week off. But Sun - Weds, Sat morning is pretty brutal, not a problem if we had everyone fit and could go Hendo, Naby, Gini for one and Thiago, Fab, Curtis or something for the other (christ, that depth!!) but we can't so it's asking the same probably tired players to go again.

Would feel huge to get a win then have a nice week off with some crap teams to come over christmas. If we win on Sat I don't expect us to move from that position for the rest of the season.

Lack of a crowd is a bonus, even 2,000 can make a right noise as we've seen with the ones inside Anfield.
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Offline kb2x

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Re: Attacking #20
« Reply #976 on: December 17, 2020, 12:02:15 pm »
Good run of games now, if we can get a few W's, I can see a gap widening.

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Re: Attacking #20
« Reply #977 on: December 17, 2020, 12:15:25 pm »
Big win last night, even a draw at Palace would see us top at Christmas, but if we can win that and beat West Brom and Newcastle it'd be a fantastic end to the year. Hope we can find that consistency now because if we do I see no way back for the chasing teams

Would like to see a centre half tied up ala Van Dijk where he was ready to go in the new year. If we can get whoever it is in and he finds his feet quickly it'd be massive, but to be honest, I'd trust Williams or Phillips against any level of opposition in this league, both have deputised superbly.
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Offline Fromola

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Re: Attacking #20
« Reply #978 on: December 17, 2020, 12:16:50 pm »
Massively. Although at this rate, can you rely on Matip? Im firmly in the mindset of wanting a 5th forward in and moving Shaqiri & Origi if its possible to really feel confident about going for #20

Shaq and Origi moving on at least before next season gives us wiggle room with the NON-homegrown quotas.

I wonder if Elliott is earmarked next season to be back and we'll wait.
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Re: Attacking #20
« Reply #979 on: December 17, 2020, 12:21:18 pm »
Just win the next game.

Offline Fromola

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Re: Attacking #20
« Reply #980 on: December 17, 2020, 12:23:58 pm »
Yes Saturday is huge.  Biggest match of the season for the psychological damage it will do to the chasing pack.  6 points ahead before anyone else plays, quite a few playing each other, all then subconciously playing for champions league spots.  Even City are lagging and to see us 11 points clear of them whilst they are performing under 50% win rate will hurt them a lot.

3 points, best team to play, then 8 days rest before the Xmas onslaught.  Lets hope the Spurs team turns up rather than the Fulham one!

Yeah it is huge. It seems this season every time things are looking good it goes spectacularly wrong in the next match. For example, hammer Leicester and then lost to Atalanta followed by the whole Brighton episode. Beat Ajax to make the last game a dead rubber and then lose two more players to injury in Denmark. Hammer Wolves followed by that and then the Fulham performance. Hammer Arsenal in the league, looking like champions, then get smashed at Villa. Things going well going into the last international break followed by a glut of injuries.

Win Saturday and avoid more injuries would finally end that sequence and puts us in a great position. It's not been a smooth season though and it'll be tough playing there early.
« Last Edit: December 17, 2020, 12:27:49 pm by Fromola »
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Offline ScouserAtHeart

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Re: Attacking #20
« Reply #981 on: December 17, 2020, 03:27:35 pm »
What's with the weird-ass fixture list?

We only have 7 games in the next 41 days or so, but then after that we have 4 games in 9 days
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Re: Attacking #20
« Reply #982 on: December 17, 2020, 03:34:03 pm »
Shaq and Origi moving on at least before next season gives us wiggle room with the NON-homegrown quotas.

I wonder if Elliott is earmarked next season to be back and we'll wait.

He's ripping up the championship, if he keep it up all season he'll be demanding a spot on our bench for next season. The only issue is he's going to end up as an 8 for us I'm pretty sure and he's not playing there for for Blackburn.

Offline Fromola

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Re: Attacking #20
« Reply #983 on: December 17, 2020, 03:37:05 pm »
What's with the weird-ass fixture list?

We only have 7 games in the next 41 days or so, but then after that we have 4 games in 9 days

A few domestic cup dates will be accounted for.
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Offline wige

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Re: Attacking #20
« Reply #984 on: December 17, 2020, 04:23:58 pm »
First team to string 5 or 6 wins together takes the title.

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Re: Attacking #20
« Reply #985 on: December 17, 2020, 04:26:03 pm »
A centre back in Jan remains critical to winning it.
It's not impossible we can do it without but it'll be really tough - even if Matip plays every game (which he's not going to)
We're conceding too many chances at the moment and more than that in games against bad teams like Fulham and Brighton you can see the problem not having pace at centre back causes to the way we want to play

Couldn't agree more.  We need at least 1 CB in during the Jan window.  I think Konate has a release clause that maybe we can activate. 

Offline Suareznumber7

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Re: Attacking #20
« Reply #986 on: December 17, 2020, 04:32:40 pm »
He's ripping up the championship, if he keep it up all season he'll be demanding a spot on our bench for next season. The only issue is he's going to end up as an 8 for us I'm pretty sure and he's not playing there for for Blackburn.

I wouldn't be so sure about that. 

Offline Fromola

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Re: Attacking #20
« Reply #987 on: December 17, 2020, 04:41:25 pm »
Lack of a crowd is a bonus, even 2,000 can make a right noise as we've seen with the ones inside Anfield.

Yeah, I think Palace's performance on Sunday (and Fulham's) were boosted a lot by having a crowd back for the first time, you could see the increase in energy and pressing.
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Re: Attacking #20
« Reply #988 on: December 17, 2020, 06:11:59 pm »
First team to string 5 or 6 wins together takes the title.
But only if they play in red and come from Liverpool
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Re: Attacking #20
« Reply #989 on: December 17, 2020, 06:14:41 pm »
First team to string 5 or 6 wins together takes the title.

If we do and pull away I’d agree. If someone else does it I’d still back us.

Think I read our biggest winning streak in the league is only three (out first three?) and City’s is only two. Leicester, United, Villa and maybe even Everton have all had longer streaks than us I think.

Offline BassTunedToRed

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Re: Attacking #20
« Reply #990 on: December 17, 2020, 08:00:12 pm »
If we do and pull away I’d agree. If someone else does it I’d still back us.

Think I read our biggest winning streak in the league is only three (out first three?) and City’s is only two. Leicester, United, Villa and maybe even Everton have all had longer streaks than us I think.

4 win streak - Villa, Everton, United, Spurs
3 wins - Us, Chelsea, Leicester, Southampton, West Ham.
2 wins - Arsenal, Man City (and others).

City's longest streak last season (while the title was on the line, they did finish with five wins) was only three too.

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Re: Attacking #20
« Reply #991 on: December 17, 2020, 09:31:06 pm »
We have played Arsenal[H],Chelsea[A],City[A],Bitters[A],Leicester[H] and Spurs [H] thus far in almost half of our games.

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Re: Attacking #20
« Reply #992 on: December 18, 2020, 02:10:05 am »
If we win the league this season it's going to be fucking hilarious watching the Villa game back, if it wasn't already.
:D

Offline Fromola

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Re: Attacking #20
« Reply #993 on: December 18, 2020, 08:29:23 am »
If we win the league this season it's going to be fucking hilarious watching the Villa game back, if it wasn't already.

After that game I thought we've at least had many games worth of bad luck at once, plus a load of shit performances into one game (as United used to back in the day with a hammering now and again). However, the next game was bloody Everton and we've had nothing but injuries, getting fucked over by officials and shit luck since. United is the total opposite again this season so it's no wonder they're not far behind, but it's a miracle we're top at all. Just hope our luck changes.
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Offline Nick110581

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Re: Attacking #20
« Reply #994 on: December 18, 2020, 08:53:37 am »
We just need to improve our away results. 3 out the next 5 away (Palace, Newcastle and Saints).

Stats are skewed by the derby and Brighton decisions but if we start picking up wins then we will be in a strong position.

Saturday feels massive as we play first and we can build a bigger lead.
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Re: Attacking #20
« Reply #995 on: December 18, 2020, 09:02:58 am »
After that game I thought we've at least had many games worth of bad luck at once, plus a load of shit performances into one game (as United used to back in the day with a hammering now and again). However, the next game was bloody Everton and we've had nothing but injuries, getting fucked over by officials and shit luck since. United is the total opposite again this season so it's no wonder they're not far behind, but it's a miracle we're top at all. Just hope our luck changes.

The sky's hardly falling isn't it? I mean considering how many games we've already played against the supposed top 6, and the injuries we've sustained, you could even say our luck has been excellent in getting us to the top spot.

The glass is half full for some, half empty for others. Unless if you're an Arsenal fan, than you probably need to buy a new glass.

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Re: Attacking #20
« Reply #996 on: December 18, 2020, 09:22:23 am »
It's mental to think that since Virgil got injured, we've won 5 and drawn 3 in the league and still not lost - during a period where we also lost Thiago, Gomez, Alisson, Trent, Tsimikas, Fabinho, Keita, Milner, Fabinho, Salah and Jota at various times.

We've conceded less goals in the last 8 games (including City, Spurs and Leicester) with a makeshift defence than we did in 4 games against Leeds, Arsenal, Sheffield Utd and Everton. It's easy to take this team for granted sometimes, but they are absolute mentality monsters to be top of the league at this point.

There's no other team in Europe that would top the league with so much disruption to key players, or a team where their youngsters would've stepped up so well.

Just think how much shite we've faced with VAR, injuries, and Covid, and yet if we can get a decent CB in January, we can let Fabinho play DM more often to protect the defence, rest Gini/Henderson occasionally, ease Thiago, Ox and Milner back in, and have Jota to return who was on fire before injury. Kelleher has proven an able deputy for Alisson when needed, and if we can keep players fit then there's a high chance other teams will start to pick up their share of injuries just as we're building some momentum and consistency.

Our next 5 games are all winnable - during a busy period where many of the top six play each other, so there's every chance we can stretch the lead further by mid-January.
« Last Edit: December 18, 2020, 09:40:09 am by keyop »
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Offline slaphead

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Re: Attacking #20
« Reply #997 on: December 18, 2020, 09:31:12 am »
It was important as well not to let Spurs build up a lead. That's how Mourinho has always won titles, he's built up early leads and then seen them through. He's never chased down a title, or been neck and neck and won one that way.



Spot on. I remember his Chelsea teams, they played decent football but once they get ahead they became really attritional and the snide sly tactics were more and more evident. If he's chasing down a lead he can't play for 0-0 in tough games. Be interesting to see how much praise the likes of Hojberg get when they have to be more open

Offline Red-Soldier

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Re: Attacking #20
« Reply #998 on: December 18, 2020, 09:34:27 am »
Just win the next game.

This season is very much a one game at a time one.

Offline OOS

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Re: Attacking #20
« Reply #999 on: December 18, 2020, 10:51:40 am »
Just win the next game.

This season is very much a one game at a time one.

Loving this yeno. Exciting. Gonna be a proper title race this year.
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