Title race

7 of City's next 8 games are on paper where you look and think they could drop points here:

Liverpool (A)
Tottenham
Arsenal (A)
West Ham
United
Fulham (A)
Wolves
Leicester
 
City's Next 5

Liverpool (A)
Tottenham
Arsenal (A)
West Ham
United

Utd's next 5
Everton
West Brom (A)
Newcastle
Chelsea (A)
City (A)

How many points do you think each team can realistically expect to take from those fixtures? I think both teams will be expecting 10 points from 15 from those games as a minimum.

Lets say with the game in hand considered City are currently 6 points clear of us with a stronger goal difference so 7 points.

How much do Utd need to narrow the gap in those 5 games to remain in the race?

I don't think Utd can afford that gap to get any bigger to make it a proper race I think we need reduce that gap by a minimum of 3 points within those next 5 games. If City have maintained the "theoretical" 7 point gap at that point I don't see us catching them.
 
Depends massively where the dropped points come from.

12 points but 3 of them for us at the Etihad and it's a great haul.

12 points but City win the game at the Etihad and it's not enough.
 
I think the next 3 games we will see a pretty good picture of where we stand. If City take all 9 out of those 3 then I think they won’t be caught even if we take points off them at the Etihad.

Regardless of how this race goes it’s nice to actually be in the mix again after years of disappointment.
 
You also have to factor in the "wobble" City are on a long winning run that will end and there will be a "wobble" Utd had their recently took 2 points from 3 games before Southampton so the picture can change very quickly.

You just feel like City might have 1 maybe 2 wobbles through the rest of the season Utd probably can afford 1 more but the way they're playing there will be 2 or 3.

Wobble Wobble
 
Need Liverpool to do us a favour tomorrow, if City win their two games in hand then they are 8 points ahead and probably over the hill and far away.
 
It’s over this team won’t win titles.

You can’t give away this many stupid goals and get anywhere near a title.
 
It’s over this team won’t win titles.

You can’t give away this many stupid goals and get anywhere near a title.
Got to agree with that, we aren’t winning anything with this defence. Our attack is purring and has so many quality players but our central defence and goalkeeper needs to be addressed. Maguire was poor tonight but won’t be dropped so he needs a partner and we need to decide if Henderson is the future or do we need to look elsewhere.
 
In truth I never for one second thought we were challenging for the title but this is typical of us in recent years. Put ourselves in a decent position then not being able to see it through.
 
Got to agree with that, we aren’t winning anything with this defence. Our attack is purring and has so many quality players but our central defence and goalkeeper needs to be addressed. Maguire was poor tonight but won’t be dropped so he needs a partner and we need to decide if Henderson is the future or do we need to look elsewhere.

Remind me of Liverpool before Van Dijk and Allyson arrived if we can sure it up at the back we could challenge but with this defence no chance
 
We don't have the defence or maturity to challenge for the league. We are definitely in a blip at the minute.

Ideally, we need 3 CB, RB and GK.

De Gea: clearly not willing to give everything for the team in the last moment, when the result would have meant we would be joint top of the league, is the final straw for me. Allison or Ederson would have raced off their line.

Maguire: at best he should be partner to a first choice CB. Poor decision making (lying on the floor was comical), slow, doesn't appear to marshall the defence well (was he playing everyone onside on the third goal?). Maybe he would be better with a stronger keeper behind him.

Lindelof: only good enough tobe 3rd/4th choice CB

AWB: needs competition to improve performance levels

Fred: plays football as good as me, and that ain't good. Needs to be sold.

I thought McTominay was excellent, and Cavani tearing around the pitch in the 85th minute was immense.
 
Time for Phil Jones to heroically step up? I presume he’s currently residing on the treatment table though.
 
Yep 10 clear with a better goal difference.

KDB and Aguero injured but seems to make zero difference.

The only hope for anyone is the fixture pile up kills them but it doesn't seem to bother them they just keep on winning.
 
17 wins in a row in all comps is just incredible. I think they took the record at 13?
 
It's really quite annoying, they just look miles ahead of anyone and noone is going to catch them.

If they get Haaland next summer, they will boss it for the next 10 years - praying he doesn't go to City
 
It's really quite annoying, they just look miles ahead of anyone and noone is going to catch them.

If they get Haaland next summer, they will boss it for the next 10 years - praying he doesn't go to City
That’s my big fear next summer, City are going to want to replace Aguero and who better than Haaland. I hope we can sneak in because if not City are going to be even better and it’s sickening every time I see them lift a trophy!
 
That’s my big fear next summer, City are going to want to replace Aguero and who better than Haaland. I hope we can sneak in because if not City are going to be even better and it’s sickening every time I see them lift a trophy!
In an ideal world, they dont go for him as it could be huge huge money and it might cock up their finances and what is allowed these days (then again they will just wriggle out of it like last time)
The reports linking Lukaku to Man City seems bonkers, and ofcourse I would much prefer that but I dont see it happening in a month of sundays ! I honestly think it comes down to Dortmunds league position at the end of the season and especially if they dont get CL, they could end up losing both Haaland and Sancho.
Given the money involved I do think there are only maybe 4 or 5 teams that can spend that kind of money
 
I read they need to sell Sancho, Haaland and Bellingham to raise funds
 
The only sticking point for Haaland and City is his agent really hates Pep and the Barca boys there is serious bad blood there going back years because of that Zlatan deal.

The stories from Germany seem to be Haaland is happy sticking around another season in Dortmund he's in no rush to move as long as they make the CL next season. Maybe like all players in Germany he's waiting for Bayern in 18 months time maybe Lewendowski is done and they bring in Haaland as the new guy. Dortmund probably need to sell someone to cover the lack of stadium income my guess is they'll try to move Sancho on if they can create a market for him this summer.

I don't think any top player at good clubs will be desperate to move this summer the big boys are all over the place with Covid problems so if you can stay put I think they will. It looks like Neymar and Mbappe will sign new deal at PSG.

City are going to take some stopping under Pep they seem to be slowly transitioning again key players who are getting older moving on and being replaced by younger players. Dias looks like he's replaced Kompany, Rodri has replaced Fernandinho, Foden stepping into Silva's boots if they land a top striker everyone is screwed.

They were slow starters this season looked really poor but things are really settled in now and they look set to romp home becuase no one else can just keep grinding out the wins they really do have a plan for every opponent in England. The only question is can they finally deliver in Europe?
 
Mbappé seems very interested in Liverpool.
Owners want him. Doesn’t feel right.
Say it ain’t so...
Liverpool not big enough.
 
Was looking at this earlier. Bookies have Liverpool as the favourite club for him to be at next season and the betting includes PSG. Think I'll go hide in a dark room if they sign Mbappe and City get Haaland.
 
There is no way Liverpool can afford Mbappe. Not happening.

Even if somehow they could afford him, they'd have a lot of their squad knocking on the door for a payrise, it would cripple them, ther wage structure is pretty low.

I think he'll stay at PSG and leave on a free to Madrid.

Haaland, I think could end up at Liverpool.
 
Isn't it 170mill plus for Mbappe? No way Fenway will shell out that. Then there's the wages.....

Only 1 year left on his contract so PSG will struggle to recover what they paid.

Still don't see where Liverpool get the £100m plus from to buy Mbappe unless they sell Salah or Mane which seems unlikely.
 
Why would Mbappe want to play for Liverpool? The club means nothing to him, the recent league and CL wins are impressive but now they’ve reverted back to sucking. They can’t afford him and unless he’s some childhood Dalglish fan it ain’t happening.

We are almost in the “means nothing” phase because a whole generation of school kids grew up when we didn’t win the league or the CL, except we might be more of a draw with our history (?).
We don’t get a world class signing (Mbappe, Haaland, Neymar etc) unless the owners’ mindset changes radically. They just won the Super Bowl after shelling out huge for a star QB, maybe they can be talked into doing the same for United.

More realistically these targets all end up at City.
 
Well Mbappe probably looks at them and thinks 2 CL finals in 3 seasons, really pushing in league now, great manager, great players, great training facility great stadium, huge worldwide fan base etc. We can be snarky about our rivals but they will always be able to get top players IF they can afford to pay top prices and wages. That is the if with them because all of the financial bods who follow football finance say Liverpool don't have cash they would have to borrow money to buy and they've already borrowed money to develop Anfield and the training ground.

I doubt Liverpool would be the first choice of Mbappe but I certainly think they're attractive enough that he'd want to hear what they have to say.

Utd are now in a position where we could go a decade without winning a league title it is now 8 years without a serious title challenge this is the best we've done and we got to January/February before we eventually fell off the pace. We are sort of falling into the trap Liverpool did and AC Milan to an extent did where you dine out on your history and name rather than live in the now.

I think we've tried the superstar problem solver model it doesn't work I think what Ole is doing is right he's building a group of hungry young players and trying to mould them into a winning team. Yes some quality pieces will need to be added but building a team of superstars I don't think will work for us.
 
I just don't see Mbappe at Liverpool at all. Even if he went on a free, they just couldn't afford the wages other clubs could pay. It's not happening.

But not only this, I don't see him anywhere other than Madrid, that appears to be where his heart is set.

I see there is more chance of him coming to united, if they keep Pogba, and make a couple of decent signings, they would pay the wages. I still see that chance at about 1%.

I could also see him at City, but the rumours are still knocking about they are going to pump a load of money at messi.
 
All the talk is his preference in England is Liverpool top players have the luxury of being picky as they know no matter here they go the money will be good.

Top Players are driven by success they dedicate everything to being the absolute best and let the money look after itself.

To me with Mbappe right now the most likely scenario is he stays at PSG for another year or two but the new deal will have a route out for him either a release clause or signing a short deal that doesn’t tie him down for 5 years.

If I was him I wouldn’t be going anywhere Madrid right now same at Barca those 2 need a serious rebuilding phase and the later looks like they’re going bust could be a seriously long road back for Barca.

With Liverpool the concern would be has that ship sailed can they rebound quickly and go again the side is certainly young enough but given what he’d cost is he that much better than Salah or Mane? He’d also blow their wage structure to bits the club know a signing like that will have every player knocking wanting a pay rise which they can’t really afford.
 
PSG has no leverage.
And their position weakens with every week that passes without Mbappe extending his contract. They can make all kind of threats but they can’t afford to see him leave for nothing.
Now we read that they won’t let him go for less than 200 million, but if interested clubs play this right, that figure will start to fall if no one bites. And who can pay 200 million right now.
PSG’s hope, if they can’t hang on to him, will be that Real, Liverpool, City and whoever (why not United?) get jumpy at the prospect of losing him, so push up the price.
Real might be his boyhood dream, but we are a mess. To buy him we would try and offer cash plus player. They wouldn’t want dumpling Hazard, but they do like Vinicius. Alternatively, Real would need to extend their debt. What Perez cannot do is lose him a second time. Before he joined PSG, we had reached agreement to sign him. Monaco preferred us to PSG, Mbappe and his family were all set...
...then Perez refused to sell Bale. Mbappe felt his playing time would be limited so turned his head toward Paris. Huge, huge, huge mistake. Perez has never forgiven himself.
First he screwed up when Neymar agreed to sign, Perez made demands, his family were unhappy, Neymar joins Barcelona. Perez then turned to Bale.
Then he screws up again and lets Mbappe slip away. Second rate President in many ways, who found a way to avoid 4 yearly presidential elections.
Sorry for the rant.
Liverpool wouldn’t think twice about selling Salah, Mane or the Kop. They could offer either player plus cash. But would Mbappe be interested in joining a depleted team and living in a city with shitty weather??? And how would they pay his wages???
Were I Perez, l would find out if Mbappe wanted Madrid. If “yes” l would sit tight and let PSG know that they were not getting 200 million, or anything close. They could accept a fair price, say 100 million, or we would wait a year and they would get nothing. Should have done that with Hazard.
“50 million or nothing a year from now”.
If Liverpool beat Real to his signature l would be surprised. They are the better team right now, better manager, but l can’t see him playing in England.
If l’m wrong, then why not City and Pep???
Of course, he could always stay in Paris.
Then we look to Haaland...
 

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