The Title Race

[Tyne81]

Never been a fan of Liverpool but I cant help but like Klopp and I like watching Liverpool play these days. I also think it's good for the league if Man City don't win it. There is something a little bit more colder watching them steam roll threw teams, fantastic side though and this has been one of the best title races in a while.

[Conjo]

Yep. And Liverpool’s ‘net spend’ is only like it is because they’re unable to hold on to their ‘elite’ players when an offer comes in. Sterling, Suarez & Coutinho brought in at least £225m alone.

 

Isn't that the way to do it these days unless you're Man City or Chelsea? Sell the stars to improve the team. Same as Tottenham.

 

The way they've gone about it, that Gerrard has retired, the similarities with Newcastle makes me wish they win it but then I start thinking about all the people supporting them that I don't want to give the satisfaction of winning the league. They will no doubt play it off as something unexpected and special that they deserve due to supporting them them through hard times etc Feel a bit sick just  thinking about it.

 

If Liverpool could win it through some kind of unethical but legal means that removes the joy of winning the title for all its supporters I'd take that option please.

[Happinesstan]

Liverpool for me. I don't understand how anybody could want Man City to win it.

 

Yeah, I also wanted Michael Thomas to score, but that was 1989 after they had dominated for a long time, I got sick of them. It's been fun, watching them get close only to fall at the last hurdle, but I think I can allow them a victory now.

 

They're undoubtedly the best club, in the PL era (does that include the Premiership era?), never to have won, so good luck to them. I just hope we make it tough for them..

[leffe186]

Yep. And Liverpool’s ‘net spend’ is only like it is because they’re unable to hold on to their ‘elite’ players when an offer comes in. Sterling, Suarez & Coutinho brought in at least £225m alone.

 

Isn't that the way to do it these days unless you're Man City or Chelsea? Sell the stars to improve the team. Same as Tottenham.

 

The way they've gone about it, that Gerrard has retired, the similarities with Newcastle makes me wish they win it but then I start thinking about all the people supporting them that I don't want to give the satisfaction of winning the league. They will no doubt play it off as something unexpected and special that they deserve due to supporting them them through hard times etc Feel a bit sick just  thinking about it.

 

If Liverpool could win it through some kind of unethical but legal means that removes the joy of winning the title for all its supporters I'd take that option please.

 

Like tapping up their most important player?

[triggs]

I'd be absolutely shocked if tapping up players wasn't just standard practice in football

[geordie_b]

If City win everything is forgotten about the following day

If Liverpool win we will never be allowed to forget it by their fans and the media

 

I’m desperate for Liverpool to fuck it up!

[Guest]

If City win everything is forgotten about the following day

If Liverpool win we will never be allowed to forget it by their fans and the media

 

I’m desperate for Liverpool to fuck it up!

 

Yep, pretty much any other club in the country apart from Sunderland I’d happily see win the league over Liverpool for this reason.

[Happinesstan]

I mean, surely if somebody wins the title, they're entitled to bragging rights for a year. Once that year is over, we return to normal, without the chat of Liverpool not winning, which is surely the source of people's irritation.

[Boo Boy]

Man city were a horrible abnoxious club before they got money and I still want them to win it above Liverpool with all of their media mates and telling the world 'it means more to us'. it really doesn't, every club means the world to their own fans. Love us to be the ones to put the final nail in it.

[hakka]

I'd like Liverpool to win it, but I fear they will stumble again. Wouldn't surprise me if we tripped them up to hand it to City.

 

[summerof69]

A bit pissed off with the way FootBall is atm. Probably hits us harder because we have/had potential to be one of the clubs challenging for champions league. That is unlikely to happen now. I find it extremely frustrating to see clubs given everything, to the point where they even break the rules. It doesn’t even matter if they make mistakes, they just throw a few hundred million at the problem and its fixed. They have everything required to sustain this level for decades to come.

 

 

It’s not just Man City, to be fair. It’s Chelsea and their egregious hoarding of players. Its also to a lesser extent Wolves, it’s West Ham with a free stadium, and arguably Everton these days. I mean for Man City where is the sacrifice? There is none, which must cheapen the experience.

[summerof69]

Man city were a horrible abnoxious club before they got money and I still want them to win it above Liverpool with all of their media mates and telling the world 'it means more to us'. it really doesn't, every club means the world to their own fans. Love us to be the ones to put the final nail in it.

 

 

It definitely does mean more to Liverpool, like. They had more league titles than any one be at one point but have been on a Barron run over the last 30 years. Man City would prefer the champions league by a considerable margin.

[Mole_Toonfan]

A bit pissed off with the way FootBall is atm. Probably hits us harder because we have/had potential to be one of the clubs challenging for champions league. That is unlikely to happen now. I find it extremely frustrating to see clubs given everything, to the point where they even break the rules. It doesn’t even matter if they make mistakes, they just throw a few hundred million at the problem and its fixed. They have everything required to sustain this level for decades to come.

 

 

It’s not just Man City, to be fair. It’s Chelsea and their egregious hoarding of players. Its also to a lesser extent Wolves, it’s West Ham with a free stadium, and arguably Everton these days. I mean for Man City where is the sacrifice? There is none, which must cheapen the experience.

 

It's a bit silly to think it's that easy tbh, there's dozens of examples of clubs throwing money at something and still failing. The money helps obviously but when you're as good as City are it goes way deeper than money. Not to mention they only bought one player this past summer anyway, in terms of last year to this year most of what makes them good is self improvement from what's already there.

[Conjo]

A bit pissed off with the way FootBall is atm. Probably hits us harder because we have/had potential to be one of the clubs challenging for champions league. That is unlikely to happen now. I find it extremely frustrating to see clubs given everything, to the point where they even break the rules. It doesn’t even matter if they make mistakes, they just throw a few hundred million at the problem and its fixed. They have everything required to sustain this level for decades to come.

 

 

It’s not just Man City, to be fair. It’s Chelsea and their egregious hoarding of players. Its also to a lesser extent Wolves, it’s West Ham with a free stadium, and arguably Everton these days. I mean for Man City where is the sacrifice? There is none, which must cheapen the experience.

 

It's a bit silly to think it's that easy tbh, there's dozens of examples of clubs throwing money at something and still failing. The money helps obviously but when you're as good as City are it goes way deeper than money. Not to mention they only bought one player this past summer anyway, in terms of last year to this year most of what makes them good is self improvement from what's already there.

 

We've been on that side of the scale so we should know! If money was all that's required, we should have won the league in '96, we wouldn't have been relegated in '17 etc etc

[Segun Oluwaniyi]

A bit pissed off with the way FootBall is atm. Probably hits us harder because we have/had potential to be one of the clubs challenging for champions league. That is unlikely to happen now. I find it extremely frustrating to see clubs given everything, to the point where they even break the rules. It doesn’t even matter if they make mistakes, they just throw a few hundred million at the problem and its fixed. They have everything required to sustain this level for decades to come.

 

 

It’s not just Man City, to be fair. It’s Chelsea and their egregious hoarding of players. Its also to a lesser extent Wolves, it’s West Ham with a free stadium, and arguably Everton these days. I mean for Man City where is the sacrifice? There is none, which must cheapen the experience.

 

It's a bit silly to think it's that easy tbh, there's dozens of examples of clubs throwing money at something and still failing. The money helps obviously but when you're as good as City are it goes way deeper than money. Not to mention they only bought one player this past summer anyway, in terms of last year to this year most of what makes them good is self improvement from what's already there.

Please cite examples of clubs that have spent one billion and failed.

[Guest neesy111]

I'd be absolutely shocked if tapping up players wasn't just standard practice in football

 

Players also make themselves available to clubs, works both ways.

[Shearergol]

Liverpool for me. I don't understand how anybody could want Man City to win it.

 

Yeah, I also wanted Michael Thomas to score, but that was 1989 after they had dominated for a long time, I got sick of them. It's been fun, watching them get close only to fall at the last hurdle, but I think I can allow them a victory now.

 

They're undoubtedly the best club, in the PL era (does that include the Premiership era?), never to have won, so good luck to them. I just hope we make it tough for them..

 

I like more Man City players than I like Liverpool players. It's that simple for me. There's only really the two full backs at Liverpool I like. The rest are a bunch of diving, cheating, whinging bastards (ok, Milner aside).

 

There's only really Kyle Walker in the City side I dislike. Huge fan of Sterling, Aguero, De Bruyne, Silva (x2), Sane, Gundogan, Foden etc.

 

Oh, and repeating the point many have made, if Liverpool win it, it suddenly makes them the greatest team the world has ever seen for the next 50 years.

[summerof69]

Are there any examples of clubs spending as much as Man City and failing? Yes, they only bought one player in the summer that’s because they achieved over 100 points last season, leaving little area for improvement. They have the worlds most expensive manager, with the worlds most expensive training facilities, with a budget only hindered by ffp which they still find ways round. They spent 200 mil on fullbacks the season before so they could give Pep exactly what he wants. Before that under Pellegrini and Mancini correcting cb options after a number of below par signings ion that area. No doubt they’ve done many things right,  but they’ve paid a lot of money for people in all areas of the club to make good decisions.

[Mole_Toonfan]

A bit pissed off with the way FootBall is atm. Probably hits us harder because we have/had potential to be one of the clubs challenging for champions league. That is unlikely to happen now. I find it extremely frustrating to see clubs given everything, to the point where they even break the rules. It doesn’t even matter if they make mistakes, they just throw a few hundred million at the problem and its fixed. They have everything required to sustain this level for decades to come.

 

 

It’s not just Man City, to be fair. It’s Chelsea and their egregious hoarding of players. Its also to a lesser extent Wolves, it’s West Ham with a free stadium, and arguably Everton these days. I mean for Man City where is the sacrifice? There is none, which must cheapen the experience.

 

It's a bit silly to think it's that easy tbh, there's dozens of examples of clubs throwing money at something and still failing. The money helps obviously but when you're as good as City are it goes way deeper than money. Not to mention they only bought one player this past summer anyway, in terms of last year to this year most of what makes them good is self improvement from what's already there.

Please cite examples of clubs that have spent one billion and failed.

 

Considering their ambition is to win the CL then City themselves have failed, multiple times over. But i was clearly referring to season by season as football isn't played over a 5 year period but season to season.

 

Plenty of teams have spent 100s of millions sometimes 200 million in one season and won nothing, hell Liverpool might join that club if City win the league.

[Guest]

Man city were a horrible abnoxious club before they got money and I still want them to win it above Liverpool with all of their media mates and telling the world 'it means more to us'. it really doesn't, every club means the world to their own fans. Love us to be the ones to put the final nail in it.

 

 

It definitely does mean more to Liverpool, like. They had more league titles than any one be at one point but have been on a Barron run over the last 30 years. Man City would prefer the champions league by a considerable margin.

 

They had a 27 year spell where they won 13 titles. The other 100 years in their history they’ve won 5. They had their spell of dominance, why shouldn’t someone like Man City have theirs?

[summerof69]

A bit pissed off with the way FootBall is atm. Probably hits us harder because we have/had potential to be one of the clubs challenging for champions league. That is unlikely to happen now. I find it extremely frustrating to see clubs given everything, to the point where they even break the rules. It doesn’t even matter if they make mistakes, they just throw a few hundred million at the problem and its fixed. They have everything required to sustain this level for decades to come.

 

 

It’s not just Man City, to be fair. It’s Chelsea and their egregious hoarding of players. Its also to a lesser extent Wolves, it’s West Ham with a free stadium, and arguably Everton these days. I mean for Man City where is the sacrifice? There is none, which must cheapen the experience.

 

It's a bit silly to think it's that easy tbh, there's dozens of examples of clubs throwing money at something and still failing. The money helps obviously but when you're as good as City are it goes way deeper than money. Not to mention they only bought one player this past summer anyway, in terms of last year to this year most of what makes them good is self improvement from what's already there.

 

We've been on that side of the scale so we should know! If money was all that's required, we should have won the league in '96, we wouldn't have been relegated in '17 etc etc

 

 

There is a difference between what we did And what they’ve done. Our growth was extremely natural and a result of KK and SJH’s stewardship of the club. We made sacrifices to achieve that too. We had no training ground, we got rid of the academy. The stadium expansions were financed and paid for over many years( something else Man City got for very little too). They have artificial sponsorships which are just ways for them to get round ffp rules. We had arguably the most natural and fitting sponsorship the game has seen, with the city’s two most recognisable brands which also happened to be next door to one another.

[summerof69]

Man city were a horrible abnoxious club before they got money and I still want them to win it above Liverpool with all of their media mates and telling the world 'it means more to us'. it really doesn't, every club means the world to their own fans. Love us to be the ones to put the final nail in it.

 

 

It definitely does mean more to Liverpool, like. They had more league titles than any one be at one point but have been on a Barron run over the last 30 years. Man City would prefer the champions league by a considerable margin.

 

They had a 27 year spell where they won 13 titles. The other 100 years in their history they’ve won 5. They had their spell of dominance, why shouldn’t someone like Man City have theirs?

 

It’s not so much their dominance I have a problem with, but the way they’ve achieved it.

[Guest]

There’s no way they could have done it any other way.

[jackyboy]

How many extra points have Liverpool got from penalties given for Saha diving and cheaing.  Add to that the thug Henderson and no I don't want them to win it

[Guest firetotheworks]

I don't understand the point in talking about season by season spending anyway when both teams, especially Man City, signed their best players years ago.

 

It's also fairly moot considering Man City can easily fail and keep spending from their bottomless bank account until they're successful, without even a slap on the wrist re FFP.

 

As for the CL, that's Man City's ambition but it's not Pep's. His outlook is always to win the league and if you win the CL it's because it's a byproduct of that and luck.