Champions

[catcherintherye]

With Augerooooooooooooooo to come back ,Stones showing form ,Dias being class, Laporte fit ,Foden showing consistency I think they have the best squad in the country by a long shot
As you say once most of them stay fit, I cannot see anything other than City winning their third league title in 4 years ( all under Pep ) and 5 in the last 10
And yet the media claim Liverpool to be the best side in the country and Klopp a genius

KDB injured if he is for a while could be important.

You sense with FFP how it is though, and Pep committing to the club they go big in the summer. Could easily see Haaland + 1 other striker coming in (maybe Lukaku or MBappe). Messi may well join on top of that. They will move away from the rest for the next 3-4 years again.

 

[Dublin blue 75]

They aren't either. The squad they won the league with was better than this lot. And if we win both games in hand we go level with them.

Problem is one of our games in hand is City. I think we can largely discount that game in hand realistically and focus on Villa.

 

[Zatara]

I mean for some perspective, we do have 4 ourselves. James, Allan, Digne and to a point Mina. So where they are 6/7 we are 3/4.

Of those players there is less "value" and expected earnings tied up in them. I would imagine most of the Liverpool lads are also after bigger deals,a nd it will be difficult.

For us the only one who is as tricky as theirs is probably Mina. 120k p/w apparently which is a big commitment. Whether we want to go again for 3 or 4 years I don't know. So we can probably look at him closely and see how he does over 12 months, Can he stay fit and consistent. If he can he can be ione of the best cb's in the league, but thats the challenge.

Digne a deal is apparently very close.

Allan and James will be 31 when their deals run out and given their personnal loyalty to Ancelotti and they joined a side in 12th,you'd imagine we will wait quite late and review later on on 1 year rolling deals, which again is fine. Or the hope might be in Allan's case, in 2.5 years time we have really moved beyond a 31 year old Allan and he can leave.

The Liverpool 8 or 9 they have is a big problem. They will all want bigger money. They will not want any of them walking out for free or at best heavily reduced prices. It's going to be fun watching the navigate it.

The thing is with James and Allan i dont think they would want to leave seeing as theyre basically here due to Ancelotti.

Also, with Mina I imagine a decision will be taken this summer on him. Either a new extension or it will be a sale...carry his form till the end of the season and we may find that he has a few offers on the table.

With the RS, as you say they have players who will all want pay rises or moves. The kind of fees they will be expecting from Barca and Madrid just arent on the table now for different reasons.

The real fireworks moment would be if they finished outside of the top 4...

They would combust.

Problem is one of our games in hand is City. I think we can largely discount that game in hand realistically and focus on Villa.

I think with our current defence we may sneak a point against City. It seems that with players back as well we could be a match for anyone.

 

[Barnfred 55]

Looking at City’s and united benched tonight and compared them to ours
That’s the main reason we won’t win the league
As you say with a good run without injuries we may sneak top 4 but 5/6 is more likely

Yeah. Lots of caveats in there. Essentially what I'm saying is that if we have a good run on the injury front, and those around us have a similar record of injuries to KEY players in the second half of the season that we had in the first half, then there's no reason that we shouldn't be in the mix

 

[catcherintherye]

The thing is with James and Allan i dont think they would want to leave seeing as theyre basically here due to Ancelotti.

Also, with Mina I imagine a decision will be taken this summer on him. Either a new extension or it will be a sale...carry his form till the end of the season and we may find that he has a few offers on the table.

With the RS, as you say they have players who will all want pay rises or moves. The kind of fees they will be expecting from Barca and Madrid just arent on the table now for different reasons.

The real fireworks moment would be if they finished outside of the top 4...

They would combust.




I think with our current defence we may sneak a point against City. It seems that with players back as well we could be a match for anyone.

Yes basically that. Lets be honest both are also here (alongside personnal loyalty) because their careers took a bit of a dip. Salah, VVD, Firmino, Mane etc all have big enough name value for one of the "top" teams to want to throw a load of money at them in salary-especially if it's a discounted fee. While I'm not Firmino's biggest fan, there's no doubt in a slower league he would thrive.

And yes, even not withstanding the contract situation, fees arent there for players either at or approaching 30.

 

[Barnfred 55]

Problem is one of our games in hand is City. I think we can largely discount that game in hand realistically and focus on Villa.

Why?

Our record against top 6 this season is W3 D1 L1

Why write off a game before we've even played

 

[4737carlin]

Why?

Our record against top 6 this season is W3 D1 L1

Why write off a game before we've even played

I wouldnt write off a game vs a team in the top 7, Carlo can work out what they might do, its the unpredictable rubbish we might struggle against, like Newcastle at the end of the month.

 

[Terrarian]

notice anyone missing

 

[jazzy]

They have 7 teams in the big 6 mini league!
However no Everton ( 3 points ahead of Chesea and 2 games in hand) , nor West Ham ( 3 points ahead of Chelsea ) or even Southampton ( same points as Chelsea but a game In hand).
Ludicrous by the BBC.
The outcome this season is far too close to call , one of the closest for some time.
My money would be on City to win it but top 4 could be any of the current top 10.

notice anyone missing
View attachment 114891

 

[Terrarian]

They have 7 teams in the big 6 mini league!
However no Everton ( 3 points ahead of Chesea and 2 games in hand) , nor West Ham ( 3 points ahead of Chelsea ) or even Southampton ( same points as Chelsea but a game In hand).
Ludicrous by the BBC.
The outcome this season is far too close to call , one of the closest for some time.
My money would be on City to win it but top 4 could be any of the current top 10.

awful bias isn't it

 

[riddick]

They have 7 teams in the big 6 mini league!
However no Everton ( 3 points ahead of Chesea and 2 games in hand) , nor West Ham ( 3 points ahead of Chelsea ) or even Southampton ( same points as Chelsea but a game In hand).
Ludicrous by the BBC.
The outcome this season is far too close to call , one of the closest for some time.
My money would be on City to win it but top 4 could be any of the current top 10.

Villa have like 14 games in hand too. Win one of them and they are abvoe Chelsea.

 

[Barnfred 55]

They have 7 teams in the big 6 mini league!
However no Everton ( 3 points ahead of Chesea and 2 games in hand) , nor West Ham ( 3 points ahead of Chelsea ) or even Southampton ( same points as Chelsea but a game In hand).
Ludicrous by the BBC.
The outcome this season is far too close to call , one of the closest for some time.
My money would be on City to win it but top 4 could be any of the current top 10.

What makes it even worse is, if they'd done a top 8 mini league by including us, Liverpool would have been top with 15 points, and we'd have been second with Leicester on 13 points, having played a game less than everybody apart from City.

I don't even think they realise they're doing it.

 

[jamieni]

What makes it even worse is, if they'd done a top 8 mini league by including us, Liverpool would have been top with 15 points, and we'd have been second with Leicester on 13 points, having played a game less than everybody apart from City.

I don't even think they realise they're doing it.

I’ve basically given up listening to anything pundits have to say about Everton. If we do something special this season then that’s the best answer to give the media.

If we win a couple more games on the bounce we’ll probably be very close to the league leaders and they’ll still find ways to ignore us lol

 

[Dublin blue 75]

Get in Burnley ! Top 4 is looking incrementally more achievable as each week progresses. Take it one game at a time and ideally the return of CL/EL ties further undermines our direct opponents for top 4.
Souness face is priceless.

 

[Deco]

I’m nervous for the Leicester game already. If we win that, we’re in the driving seat to finish top 4.

I think City will win the league, but the idea of playing CL football with Carlo and James involved is something else.