Topic: The PL run-in

[Son of Spion]

Read what the players are saying after the game. They're at the end of their tether with the officials and VAR.

This affects confidence, performance, momentum. Every time the ball goes in our box now VAR are reviewing for a penalty. Every other goal we score is chalked off 5 minutes later.

Personally, I'd not read too many negatives into players' comments. Of course, they are human and will be disappointed. They pull their guts out every week and keep seeing their work undone by horribly inept officials. I'm happy to see the players saying it as it is, because any additional pressure on VAR and inept officialdom to address their flaws is welcome in my book.

The club as a unit will be galvanised by recent events though, rather than demoralised. The club is now made of winners from top to bottom. These people haven't achieved what they have done by crying off when the going was tough. Klopp and the entire squad will be more fired up than ever. Thing is, once more, Liverpool is a bear you poke at your peril.

Regardless of anything, this season was always going to be a dog's dinner due to so many circumstances. It's going to be a freak season in many ways. Normal circumstances would see us walk the league again because we are the best there is by far and have easily the best current manager in the world. These are unprecedented times though. There is no stability anywhere in the world, and this  plays out in the game too. It will be a rollercoaster for everyone and every club from start to finish. I suspect that momentum will stop and start for pretty much everyone.

This club is famous for coming back strong from adversity and so is our current manager and squad. They'll do it again because that's what they do. That's who and what they are. They might be knocked down, but they get up and come back time and time again.

The season up to now feels shambolic and so disjointed right across the board and it feels like so much has gone so wrong for us at the club, yet we are joint top of the league and look good to progress in Europe too. Despite everything, virtually every other club in the land would  love to be in our position.

If we want to see a bunch of spineless bottlers with a desperately weak mentality and who fall apart under criticism and pressure, we only need look across the park. The Red Side of Stanley Park is made of far sterner stuff.

We'll be ok. 

[farawayred]

We are absolutely horrible at the moment... Most of the first team squad, quite a few of which are world class players, are out injured. We play teenagers without experience in both the Premier League and the Champions League. We play players that we were ready to sell for any half-decent bid. We play midfielders as full backs or as centre halves, we play attacking players in midfield. We can't find a system that can be adapted to the players that are fit. We have by far the most VAR decisions going against us compared to any other team. Officials are turning a blind eye to injustices and refuse to give explanations, and when they do, we get three different "official" explanations. We have reporters putting Jurgen's "rants" under the spotlight.

And yet, somehow we are tied up in points at the top of the league... Curious, isn't it?! Does anyone believe?

[MonsLibpool]

We are absolutely horrible at the moment... Most of the first team squad, quite a few of which are world class players, are out injured. We play teenagers without experience in both the Premier League and the Champions League. We play players that we were ready to sell for any half-decent bid. We play midfielders as full backs or as centre halves, we play attacking players in midfield. We can't find a system that can be adapted to the players that are fit. We have by far the most VAR decisions going against us compared to any other team. Officials are turning a blind eye to injustices and refuse to give explanations, and when they do, we get three different "official" explanations. We have reporters putting Jurgen's "rants" under the spotlight.

And yet, somehow we are tied up in points at the top of the league... Curious, isn't it?! Does anyone believe?

Incredible isn't it. That shows the mentality of this team.

[abhred]

We are joint-top, 3 points ahead of the next best team (if they win the game in hand), have faced 3 of our toughest away fixtures, and a draw away from qualifying from the CL group.

It's honestly, all good. We need some luck with injuries, but we have some truly world class players to come back. A month away from January where we can strengthen if needed.

[Smellytrabs]

The club is now made of winners from top to bottom.

This is key. Klopp has created a squad of winners, people with killer mentality, who have had to fight and show spirit to get where they are. Read Mane's life story and what he had to do to become a professional footballer. After going through all that, does anybody think that a few VAR decisions going against us is going to knock the wind out of his sails? Robbo? Hendo? Salah? Bobby? Fab?

[RogerTheRed]

This is a classic set of circumstances for fortress mentality to take hold. We could have 3-4 more back fit soon. Need to win the next set of games and wait for Lady Luck to smile on us and keep battling and believing.
YNWA

[mickeydocs]

And yet, somehow we are tied up in points at the top of the league... Curious, isn't it?! Does anyone believe?

I do.

[redk84]

This is a classic set of circumstances for fortress mentality to take hold. We could have 3-4 more back fit soon. Need to win the next set of games and wait for Lady Luck to smile on us and keep battling and believing.
YNWA

Absolutely, and that is what I hope Klopp does.
I understand his frustrations, and the mentality monsters took years and shared experiences to create with our core first team squad.
With the players he'll have to bring in and for what he has to ask from them its no surprise we will see more inconsistency....but we just have to stay near the top and keep going until we got something resembling our first team back.

And i can't wait to see the fallout when the rest of the teams start having the same issues we've been facing (some already have)....because it will happen. And they have less resources/world class structure to get them through it.

[Larse]

Exactly right in my amateur opinion. If just a couple of those injured midfielders had been fit we wouldn’t have had to start Milner three times in a week. You fear for Gini next but until we get some players back we’re going to have to keep flogging him.

Thats it exactly. You just know Gini is next in line to injure his hamstring with all the games he's played. But there isn't even anything we can do about it.

[Larse]

Absolutely, and that is what I hope Klopp does.
I understand his frustrations, and the mentality monsters took years and shared experiences to create with our core first team squad.
With the players he'll have to bring in and for what he has to ask from them its no surprise we will see more inconsistency....but we just have to stay near the top and keep going until we got something resembling our first team back.

As I have said before: We should aim for 13th of January to have our squad back. Stay within touching distance until that point and we win the title surely.

[exiledintheUSA]

We'll be 5 points clear by New Year.

[farawayred]

We'll be 5 points clear by New Year.

We should have been 4 points clear already had it not been for the Everton and Brighton refereeing fuckups.

Now back to the real thing - Wolves. Great confidence boost Ajax was and the kids would be flying. Then the U6 can play Mijdtilland so that everyone in the first team gets a week to rest and prepare for Fulham then Spurs.

[him_15]

I reckon Spurs is our biggest threat to the title now.

[redk84]

I reckon Spurs is our biggest threat to the title now.

If that's true we've won it already. Let's see how they do with their fixture run until boxing day

Harsh on them maybe, but I still think City are our biggest threat.

[tubby]

If that's true we've won it already. Let's see how they do with their fixture run until boxing day

Harsh on them maybe, but I still think City are our biggest threat.

That's what everyone said earlier though - wait till they play City and Chelsea.  Easy win over City and solid draw away at Chelsea.  They'll play us when we've got half our first team out injured.

They'll be there or thereabouts come January.

[abhred]

Think with the CL rest, we'll be winning all our games this month. Expect us to be a couple of points ahead of the pack by Jan.

Qualifying top is really going to be a game-changer.

[DangerScouse]

I reckon Spurs is our biggest threat to the title now.

Nah, it will be City imo. Spurs too reliant on Kane and Son and can't see the former staying injury free.

[Jookie]

I reckon Spurs is our biggest threat to the title now.

Before the season I could only see us or City winning the league. Due to a number of factors, but mainly our injuries, City's form and how you see how brutal the schedule actually is, I think more teams could potentially win the league this season. I don't see anyone running away with it and think it might be a hard slog for every team.

If you can get 80+ points then I think you stand a chance of coming out top. I'd be surprised if any team got over 90 points this season. The fact the bar is potentially lower, in terms of points total, means I think more teams have an opportunity to challenge. If our injury list wasn't so extensive then I would say that bar would be much higher since we'd probably get close or above 90 points.

In saying all that I'd still say City and ourselves are favourites. At this point I wouldn't rule out Tottenham, Chelsea or even United/Leicester though. Some of them may be longer shots than others but they all have the potential to get close to 80 points in my opinion.

[deFacto please, you bastards]

You can rule out Leicester right now.

[redk84]

That's what everyone said earlier though - wait till they play City and Chelsea.  Easy win over City and solid draw away at Chelsea.  They'll play us when we've got half our first team out injured.

They'll be there or thereabouts come January.

ok. Maybe too arrogant in the way I said it...
But i do think that City will finish above them

They are way too reliant on two players for their goals, but sure those two players could stay fit all the way I mean look what we did with stevie/torres in 2009

[PoetryInMotion]

You can rule out Leicester right now.

United as well. Chelsea isn't versatile and don't have a big squad of trusted members and may struggle in the later part of the season with CL. A couple of injuries to Spurs' main players could derail them, but it's Mourinho's second season where he will hit his peak. So I'd say it's between us, Spurs and City right away as of now.

[SamAteTheRedAcid]

I mean look what we did with stevie/torres in 2009

they hardly played together that year. 14 games together was it? Not the best example perhaps.

[deFacto please, you bastards]

United as well. Chelsea isn't versatile and don't have a big squad of trusted members and may struggle in the later part of the season with CL. A couple of injuries to Spurs' main players could derail them, but it's Mourinho's second season where he will hit his peak. So I'd say it's between us, Spurs and City right away as of now.

Will be interesting how Mourinho handles the EL as the season goes on.

[dmorgan]

Laughing at anyone thinking Spurs have a chance.. One injury to Son or Kane and they are a shambles. Not to forget they are sure to bottle the run in if they are close to the title.

[redk84]

they hardly played together that year. 14 games together was it? Not the best example perhaps.

The 2008/2009 season? Really??
Ok...sturridge/suarez in 2013/2014 then

[ScottishKopite]

Spurs and Leicester cant keep it up for a full 38 matches in a season I was going to say they haven't experienced it but Leicester did a few year ago but never really had any competition except a push from Spurs and Arsenal.

Our main threat is Manchester City they will come good and Liverpool and City will still finish 1st and 2nd .

I am not sitting here worrying about a title challenge from Chelsea , Spurs , Leicester , its City what would concern me how many times did Manchester United make a slow start to a season under Fergie and the second half of the season they blew teams out and ended up winning the league.

I still have us favourites and I still expect to see us winning #20 in may and fingers crossed with the new vaccine we could get a victory parade with two premier league trophies on the open top bus on a roasting hot day .

But Manchester City will be our biggest threat again to winning the league title. 


Liverpool
Manchester City
Tottenham
Chelsea
 

[Jookie]

Laughing at anyone thinking Spurs have a chance.. One injury to Son or Kane and they are a shambles.

Historically if you look back at Spurs they've done Ok when Kane has been out. Or at least as good as their form indicates that season.

So when he was out last season they weren't great. But they weren't;t great with him either.

In 2018/19 when they were a better team they beat Dortmund 3-0 in the last 16 without Kane. Also the 4-3 away to City in the QFs and the 2 semi-finals versus Ajax were played without Kane. They also had a spell in Jan/Feb were they won 4 out of 4 without Kane. They were dodgier at the end of the season without Kane but not sure how they were changing their team with the CL semi final and final on the horizon.

In 2017/18 Kane hardly missed a game. In 2016/17 he missed 8 league games and Spurs won 5 drew 3 and lost 0.

Spurs were pretty poor with and without Son last season. The seasons before he's hardly missed a game. When he has, and it's a small dataset, Spurs results have been reasonable.

I'm not saying all this to big Spurs up. Far from it. It's just your assertion that Spurs would be a shambles without either Kane or Son isn't backed up by previous evidence. Maybe they will be a shambles this season without them. Who knows. But past history says they can cope with one of them being out as along as the team is in good form.

To clarify y earlier point I think Spurs have a chance of winning the league. As I do Chelsea, United and Leicester. They aren't all equal chance though. Some of those teams only have a very small chance of winning the league. That is somewhat dictated by their own form but also City's, our injuries and the unusual schedule. I still think Liverpool or City are far more likely to win the leagues than all the other teams put together.

[Fromola]

Spurs have a chance with the firepower they've got up front, added to the steel Mourinho can instill in sides. Mourinho is a momentum manager, they're not a side you want top of the league because when his teams are top they pretty much stay there historically. This is where the next few games are huge. He's never chased a title down, his teams either start well and build up a lead which they keep or start badly and he gets sacked.

Chelsea have basically tried to buy the title this season and that's worked enough times in the past, so they're a threat.

City are the main threat overall.

United likely to be in the top 4 mix at least as they get all the VAR decisions. We can't discount the extent to which VAR is manipulating results and the season.

[JackWard33]

The problem with Spurs is less their squad depth and more that they’re not good enough

[beardsley4ever]

Think it will come down to injuries, to be honest.  If we keep getting hit with them (and more), if City get hit with a couple of key ones, then yeah Spurs or Chelsea can win it, if they don't.  It's going to be a season where any one of four teams can win it all, if they get lucky with injuries and others don't.  As the squads stand now, I'd say it's us (even with our current injuries), then City, then Chelsea, then Spurs.

[PoetryInMotion]

Spurs usually don't bother me, but this is Mourinho's 2nd season and everywhere his 2nd season has been a success, even at Man United where they finished with 82 points. If Spurs get the same amount of points this season, they will be there and thereabouts.

[Fromola]

Going deep in all the cups won't help Spurs with the league. They'll be among the favourites for the Europa League. Knowing Mourinho he'll still take a strong side to Marine, but they're likely to go deep on 3 or 4 fronts.

I was glad they went through in the qualifiers as they nearly lost one of those games. That would have given them a huge advantage in the league in this season.
As it is, the teams out of Europe just haven't got the consistency in them.

[Fromola]

Spurs usually don't bother me, but this is Mourinho's 2nd season and everywhere his 2nd season has been a success, even at Man United where they finished with 82 points. If Spurs get the same amount of points this season, they will be there and thereabouts.

Yeah, he started that season well with United. They were on City's coat-tails but that was year they got 100 points and City won 19 of their first 20 games so they couldn't keep up that pace and dropped off knowing City weren't going to let up.

In another season Mourinho would have probably ground that title out which he could do this year IF nobody else is able to keep a strong pace. He's capable of getting them 80-something points which may well be enough.

[rob1966]

We are absolutely horrible at the moment... Most of the first team squad, quite a few of which are world class players, are out injured. We play teenagers without experience in both the Premier League and the Champions League. We play players that we were ready to sell for any half-decent bid. We play midfielders as full backs or as centre halves, we play attacking players in midfield. We can't find a system that can be adapted to the players that are fit. We have by far the most VAR decisions going against us compared to any other team. Officials are turning a blind eye to injustices and refuse to give explanations, and when they do, we get three different "official" explanations. We have reporters putting Jurgen's "rants" under the spotlight.

And yet, somehow we are tied up in points at the top of the league... Curious, isn't it?! Does anyone believe?

You win nothing with kids

[Reeves]

It's vital, in my view, that we play reserves in the FA Cup

[Fromola]

It's vital, in my view, that we play reserves in the FA Cup

All the top teams will play the reserves and always do in the early rounds for the most part. We're just the only team who get shit draws all the time.

[farawayred]

You win nothing with kids

No, you're right, they can't cope on the big stage.

[deFacto please, you bastards]

In the next 2 weeks if we can manage to get Keita,Shaqiri,Trent, Becker and even Ox back, it would be fantastic and a massive lift. Klopp said he's confident that Becker will be back for Fulham at the latest.

[ljycb]

This season has a bit of a 2015/16 feel to it. A load of (for various reasons) evenly-matched squads and it just takes that one team who wins ten games or so in a row to settle it. The only two teams likely to go on such a run are us or City (and I’ve not seen City do it for well over a year now so maybe not even them).

[ApfelStudel]

It really depends on our luck with injuries and VAR. If this rate of injuries and bad decisions against us continues I can see us losing the title by 4-5 points. It will be an interesting title race for sure.