Premier League 2019-2020 we’re off

[Papas1982]

As painful as it is to admit the rise of Liverpool again from an also ran to running away with it is remarkable

Yeah you can say oh they spent X amount on a keeper or they spent X amount on the best CB in the league ... Doesnt really mean squat without a really amazing manager to get the most out of them

Van dyke for example was an outcast at Southampton and was talks of spurs going for him and not good enough for city at the time.. bet they regret that .. Liverpool got their man and klopp has no doubt improved him

Allison yes brilliant keeper but so is ederson so it's not a massive advantage

Liverpool have been on the rise for what 3 seasons constantly

Champ league second place
Champ league winners plus a total points that would win it most other years

This year they look set to get that kind of total again ... Whilst city are naturally fadding as their stars age ..

Liverpool are a very very young side and well balanced it seems.. city seem so top heavy..how many wingers do they have? No centre backs tho ..all that money on stones ... He's average .. Gomez much much better and looks assured in defence

Just hats off to them

Klopp has to go down as one of the greats for me

Van Dyke an outcast? You mean he threw his toys out when he didn’t get his way. His class was undeniable on the pitch.
Not sure any saints fan didn’t think he’d succeed. As much as His last 6 Months were poor due to his attitude. His ability was clear though. He’s getting more airtime, but look at how our defence fell apart when he left. He’s imo not improved that much. He was always that good.

As to spurs n city, He was never heading anywhere but Anfield after they tapped him up.

 

[4LEX]

The core of that 'bang average' Utd side that season contained Van Der Sar, Gary Neville, Evra, Ferdinand, Berbatov, Roonery, Giggs, Vidic, Carrick, Scholes, and Rooney.

And managed by the greatest club manager in the history of English football.

I cannot believe we only beat them by 1 point!

Yes we gave out some absolute drubbings en route to the title - with the average players in our squad at the time we must've been very lucky indeed!

I didn't say you were lucky. I said you were average champions and you were. I was comparing to truly great sides. Obviously you had some quality players in the side - Cech, Terry, Cole, Lampard and Drogba (I belive Anelka was decent too) and it might've been a great season for you as a fan and as a club, however it wasn't a great side at all. No one looks back and talks about the Chelsea side of 2010.

 

[PJ87]

Watching this tonight and traore tearing Liverpool a new one gave me slim hope for next week with Antonio being similar to him in pace and flat track bullying

However then I remembered the 10 other players are a lot better than ours lol..

 

[PJ87]

What is it they used to say about United ... Sign of a great team digging deep and winning when playing poor

 

[Deleted member 15344]

What a brilliant game - great hard work to get the win , 40 games unbeaten run in the Prem now

How good is Traore !! Outstanding pace and brilliant delivery - take him at Liverpool

Wolves were superb and play like that for the rest of the season they can sneak 4th

 

[Tashyboy]

Nope still haven’t come up with an answer,your not the only one.
Wan Bissaka has been a great buy

But your asking a question that does not have a factual answer. Liverpool winning the league with a record number of points. For me that makes them a very strong team, but what, the rest are rammel coz of what? Coz it’s not as strong, what does that exactly mean. It certainly don’t mean it’s rammel. Football since it has been invented has had peaks and troughs when it has come to teams. But coz one or a couple of teams have dipped. Others have peaked, does that mean coz the status quo has changed its now rammel. I dont see that, and I have enjoyed this season as much as others ( VAR aside).

 

[Tashyboy]

Van Dyke an outcast? You mean he threw his toys out when he didn’t get his way. His class was undeniable on the pitch.
Not sure any saints fan didn’t think he’d succeed. As much as His last 6 Months were poor due to his attitude. His ability was clear though. He’s getting more airtime, but look at how our defence fell apart when he left. He’s imo not improved that much. He was always that good.

As to spurs n city, He was never heading anywhere but Anfield after they tapped him up.

Or the first time they have done it, but not the only ones

 

[Captainron]

A good title race makes a great team. Backs to the wall, win at all costs or get overtaken and lose is what makes it. 15 points gap is a stroll int’ park. No real pressure on the run in....

 

[Liverbirdie]

Just doing some anaylsis to compare appearances this season between City and Liverpool. For me the main difference is stability in defence. We can't keep a clean sheet and can dominate possession for the first half and go in 1-0 down with our opponents having one attack. Liverpool just look more difficult to break down and are scraping some wins when they've not been at their best - something we haven't done much, if any of, at all.

So:

Ederson 21 appearances. Alisson 14. (Poor Ederson is usually not at fault mind).
Laporte 5. VVD 22 (I think it's fair to compare these two as they're not only the best defenders but also leaders in defence). Fernandinho 20. Gomez 13.
Full backs: Walker 18 and Mendy 11, Robertson and Arnold have 22 each.

Without doubt Liverpool have by far the most settled defence (3 out of 4 players have played 22 out of 22!)

In midfield it's similar for both sides with KDB at 23 and Rodri at 22. Henderson has played 21 and ditto Wijnaldum. Fabhino is on 13 so not so bad really.

Up front both are pretty settled with Sterling at 22 and Aguero 18. Jesus has 20 but we'd all agree he's not first pick. Firmino has played all 22 and Mane 21 with Salah on 19.

So this isn't to take away from Liverpool and don't buy into this everyone else is weak. We have been more hampered by injury, that's 100% true, BUT still should have done better in games where it's there for the taking.

Good stattage, Amanda.

Again, there is perspective.

Otamendi and/or Stones might have been fit for all of the 24 games (or most of them in Otamendi's case), but instead of playing Otamendi pep chose to weaken his midfield instead by playing Fernandinho there instead.

Jurgen has coached all of our players into better players and a better team, as a unit.

Would you agree if I said that Mendy has regressed since at City, Walker (some good, some bad), Stones hasnt been the player he was at Everton and he has less defending to do, Otamendi has probably had 1 good season in 3 (or is it 4). Where is the coaching, or can Pep only coach midfielders and forwards into better players (I'll give him that).

Its hard to for me to agree about injuries when you have had 30 and 50 mill centre halves available that dont play, whereas look at our injuries in that dept, where we were down to only 2 fit ones, and also had to bring a loanee back, albeit just for one game.

 

[Liverbirdie]

Can all the people who think the P/L is not weak come up with an argument to how they thing it is strong.
It’s alright having an opinion but it needs backing up.
#easypeesypremierleaguey

Yep, some different fella on sky said so.

See post 8733, go on give me a well constructed argument back.........

 

[Captainron]

Yep, some different fella on sky said so.

See post 8733, go on give me a well constructed argument back.........

Premier league is strong. Good gauge is European leagues.
champions league 4/4 made it through.
Last winners..... etc
anyone who suggests that the PL is weak is incorrect

 

[Deleted member 1740]

Choo Choo The Klopp express rolls on............Wolves away is a tough game they're a very good side but again our mentality shone through.

Henderson and Allison were top draw, the latter making pivotal saves. We lose that game with mignolet in goal.

27pts

 

[Liverbirdie]

This hits the nail firmly on the head, for me KDB has been massive, Mahrez has come of age. Aguero has as many goals at top flight football as Shearer and is on fire. Players underperforming others smashing it.

No space for Sane, then?

 

[Deleted member 1740]

Premier league is strong. Good gauge is European leagues.
champions league 4/4 made it through.
Last winners..... etc
anyone who suggests that the PL is weak is incorrect

It's only weak because its Liverpool top, the hatred,bias and jealousy is having a massive affect on their opinion.

I'm loving it, long may it continue.

 

[Liverbirdie]

Premier league is strong. Good gauge is European leagues.
champions league 4/4 made it through.
Last winners..... etc
anyone who suggests that the PL is weak is incorrect

Do you work for Sky?

 

[Deleted member 16999]

Nobody is suggesting the PL is weak, what I believe some might be saying or trying, is that THIS season some of the “big” clubs are struggling and the PL is not as competitive as recent years.

That in no way is a reflection on LPool, they are on a completely different level to everyone else this season and even if the “big” clubs weren’t under performing I still believe LPool would be in the same position.

So if you take LPool out of the question, nobody else (including City) are doing anything special, City, Chelsea, Spurs, Utd & Arsenal are all struggling compared to what we’d normally expect for various reasons.

Look at the Spanish League and how Barca and RM have dominated it and European Football for years, it still wasn’t as strong as the PL.

You can do the same with Bayern or Juve etc.

The PL is in no way a weak league, but this season has seen a lot of strange results and inconsistencies apart from LPool.

Hopefully next season we’ll have more teams at a more consistent level and we may go back to a top 6 fighting for 4 CL spaces , another 3-4 fighting for the EL space.

Right now we have 1 team walking the PL, 3 fighting for 2nd and possibly 8 or 9 still within a shout of 4th spot and some of that 8 or 9 could end up near the relegation positions.

 

[Liverbirdie]

Anyway, the big story of the night is the Wirral wonders.

Bring on United, Mersey clipper and the Sportsman will be, erm, welcoming.

 

[Deleted member 16999]

Anyway, the big story of the night is the Wirral wonders.

Bring on United, Mersey clipper and the Sportsman will be, erm, welcoming.

Forgot that was tonight. Get in Tranmere

 

[Liverbirdie]

Nobody is suggesting the PL is weak, what I believe some might be saying or trying, is that THIS season some of the “big” clubs are struggling and the PL is not as competitive as recent years.

That in no way is a reflection on LPool, they are on a completely different level to everyone else this season and even if the “big” clubs weren’t under performing I still believe LPool would be in the same position.

So if you take LPool out of the question, nobody else (including City) are doing anything special, City, Chelsea, Spurs, Utd & Arsenal are all struggling compared to what we’d normally expect for various reasons.

Look at the Spanish League and how Barca and RM have dominated it and European Football for years, it still wasn’t as strong as the PL.

You can do the same with Bayern or Juve etc.

The PL is in no way a weak league, but this season has seen a lot of strange results and inconsistencies apart from LPool.

Hopefully next season we’ll have more teams at a more consistent level and we may go back to a top 6 fighting for 4 CL spaces , another 3-4 fighting for the EL space.

Right now we have 1 team walking the PL, 3 fighting for 2nd and possibly 8 or 9 still within a shout of 4th spot and some of that 8 or 9 could end up near the relegation positions.

Spot on, except the first line, some are suggesting its weak, or not as competitive, when IMO its more competitive than ever, just that the title race isnt.

 

[Bazzatron]

Champions always find a way to grind it out. Never minded Liverpool, six european cups between us, so a lot of similarities. Enjoy it.