Premier League 2024/25: Hamstrung Race

[Makingtrax]

We lost one PL game from March through the end of last season with a draw to City in there. What are you even waffling about?

Lol. What are you waffling about. You’ve picked one season out 5. Remember that 8 point lead we lost.

 

[outlawz]

I know that we keep joking about Arteta buying defenders and GKs but I for one am so happy at our solid defence. It feels amazing not to have the leaky defence we suffered through for years.

It's the only reason we're still in the title race. If it were the reverse and say we had invested heavily in the attack, no amount of goals would have overcome an injury crisis at the back.

 

[outlawz]

I'd agree with you if we had Havertz and Saka fit. You can't expect a title with Merino as a striker or Sterling as a LW option.

You can, if you're hoping to stick knives in the manager at the end of season. Create a lofty target like expecting the team not to choke from a position 7 points behind, then when said team expectedly fails, go in hard about how they flopped.

 

[Sapient Hawk]

Imagine describing a run of 16-1-1. 49 points out of a possible 54 as a choke. The mind boggles.

When the initial run yielded 40 points out of a possible 60, in addition to the previously mentioned haul of 49 out of 54 & you still end up second, it's a bottle job no matter how you spin it.

City were crowned champions & nobody will remember a noble yet ultimately failed attempt.

 

[Gooner Zig]

If Liverpool falter, which they might well do, it’s high time for Arteta to finish the season strongly and not choke like he’s done so many times before.

We have 3 fit senior forwards...

 

[lufere7]

When the initial run yielded 40 points out of a possible 60, in addition to the previously mentioned haul of 49 out of 54 & you still end up second, it's a bottle job no matter how you spin it.

City were crowned champions & nobody will remember a noble yet ultimately failed attempt.

Were the Klopp Liverpool teams that finished one point off city bottlers?

 

[Gooner Zig]

When the initial run yielded 40 points out of a possible 60, in addition to the previously mentioned haul of 49 out of 54 & you still end up second, it's a bottle job no matter how you spin it.

City were crowned champions & nobody will remember a noble yet ultimately failed attempt.

That's just absolute horse manure

 

[Red London]

The term bottle is used far too often these days. 2 years ago you can argue we bottled it (however you can argue it’s hard to call anything a bottle vs prime City- these guys go on a 10-15 win streak rampage).

If you’re calling last year a bottle you’re a weirdo.

If Liverpool lose the title from here onwards it’s a massive bottle (maybe biggest in PL history) because their competition has been **** (city) or plagued by injuries + off the boil (Arsenal). Context matters when discussing these things.

 

[Hleb's Sirush]

When the initial run yielded 40 points out of a possible 60, in addition to the previously mentioned haul of 49 out of 54 & you still end up second, it's a bottle job no matter how you spin it.

City were crowned champions & nobody will remember a noble yet ultimately failed attempt.

Sorry Hawk but I think you need to look up what bottling means.

Yes our first half of the season is ultimately what cost us as we left ourselves too much to do but that is a separate issue. The crunch/squeaky bum time is the final 3rd of the season. That's when nerves start to play a part. Not early in the season. With that logic City bottled many titles as they were slow starters only to go on ridiculous runs at the latter parts.

 

[Sapient Hawk]

Were the Klopp Liverpool teams that finished one point off city bottlers?

Yes. Only their unintelligible fanbase remembers those meaningless feats.

 

[Sapient Hawk]

That's just absolute horse manure

I'll be the first to concede it's a lot more useful than any opinion on AM

 

[Gooner Zig]

Yes. Only their unintelligible fanbase remembers those meaningless feats.

Then every season Wenger didn't win the league was a bottle job under your standards

 

[Sapient Hawk]

Sorry Hawk but I think you need to look up what bottling means.

Yes our first half of the season is ultimately what cost us as we left ourselves too much to do but that is a separate issue. The crunch/squeaky bum time is the final 3rd of the season. That's when nerves start to play a part. Not early in the season. With that logic City bottled many titles as they were slow starters only to go on ridiculous runs at the latter parts.

Not quite. They've become accustomed to having lulls in their title campaigns which they eventually correct later on.

 

[Makingtrax]

If Liverpool lose the title from here onwards it’s a massive bottle (maybe biggest in PL history) because their competition has been **** (city) or plagued by injuries + off the boil (Arsenal). Context matters when discussing these things.

Wow!

We had an 8 point lead at the beginning of April and lost. Dread to think what you called that.

 

[Gooner Zig]

Wow!

We had an 8 point lead at the beginning of April and lost. Dread to think what you called that.

We had a game in hand

 

[lufere7]

Yes. Only their unintelligible fanbase remembers those meaningless feats.

So let me get this right, your definition of bottling is just not being remembered by history?

 

[Sapient Hawk]

Then every season Wenger didn't win the league was a bottle job under your standards

Only the 1998/99 & 2002/03 are the seasons I seriously believe we bottled the title under Wenger.

In the former, draws at home against newly promoted Middlesborough & Charlton damaged us greatly.

The latter was similarly marred by draws to trash like Bolton.

I didn't feel the same in 2007 because, realistically, we were nowhere near Chelsea or United in quality.

 

[Dennis_Bergkamp_10]

Wow!

We had an 8 point lead at the beginning of April and lost. Dread to think what you called that.

Oh please. You're a reasonable poster man. City had a game in hand, so effectively it was five points and we had to go to the Etihad with Holdini. Which was partly on Arteta though for not getting a better defender. Guess he learned from that.

 

[Sapient Hawk]

So let me get this right, your definition of bottling is just not being remembered by history?

No. Bottling is throwing away a chance when you were primed to take it. Had we played against Villa as we did all our previous matches, we'd be Champions.

The point about not being remembered is our fanbase harping on garbage of "16-1-1 is amazing" but it is far from being such as it didn't yield the title.

This team won more matches and drew less than our team did in their 2003-2004 but it all amounted to nothing because City won the title anyway. That's why they were "Invincibles" forever to be remembered in Football Folklore with the only Gold PL trophy to boot & this lot are Bottlers with a Capital B.

 

[TakeChillPill]

Only the 1998/99 & 2002/03 are the seasons I seriously believe we bottled the title under Wenger.

In the former, draws at home against newly promoted Middlesborough & Charlton damaged us greatly.

The latter was similarly marred by draws to trash like Bolton.

I didn't feel the same in 2007 because, realistically, we were nowhere near Chelsea or United in quality.

In 2008 we had a thin squad. We were always an injury away from disaster. I.e. Eduardo who was the most clinical cf I'd seen since Wright.

Rob holding was the reason why we bottled it a couple of years ago. We completely had to change our style play without saliba and couldn't play a high line. Arteta wasn't able to adapt to the loss of Salina, but holding was always a liability in the back 4.