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Nine, I’m not at all interested in betting odds. I’m talking about my own feelings and instincts on the matter. City are massive favourites to the bookies and still favourites to me but less so now.
Mav, absolutely. Van Dijk and also Robertson are probably the best in their position in Europe. Let’s hope they keep their form and even continue to improve though, as we’ll need them injury free and at their best if we’re to have a chance of beating city to the title. half way though and we’re top. I thought we’d be good this season but if you showed me city’s current points, at the start of the season, I’d have sighed and asked if we were at least within 10 of them.
Paxton, I don’t think we’re reliant on Salah at all. In fact I’d say that his influence has fallen. His stats are excellent, he is involved in many goals, so WTF am I talking about? Well, he’s much less our teams focus when looking to build an attack than he was last term. I don’t agree that Mane has been really poor but I would with Firmino (although he’s improving and he was instrumental in the build up of some of our good attacks yesterday). Mane has been wasteful in front of goal but he’s still been our best player of the three this season, overall. Salahs form and Firmino’s to a lesser extent, has really gotten off the ground though.
For a long period, Salah was struggling to have an impact in games. Firmino too, even to a more obvious extent. Mane at the time was looking dangerous, while the other 2 were looking like they weren’t fit or that they were out of ideas. They’ve all got their goals, assists and moments where they’ve been instrumental in the earlier phase of our attacks but enough about that, I’ll get to the point here :
I think if anything, we’re reliant on our defence/team defending. When our attack has struggled to dominate games (often), the team has not conceded, or kept it to a very low level. I think we’ve broken the PL record for fewest goals against going into xmas? That’s pretty great for a team that is known for it’s attacking. Until about 4-5 games ago, the major discussion amongst Liverpool fans about the team in general would have been focused on our team not creating/scoring enough.
Now, if you look at our goals, yes Salah has a hand in a lot of them and he’s an absolutely brilliant player, so this is going to be the way. Mane could do with settling his mind a little. His finishing has been very poor lately and you can see that it gets to him. Firmino was honestly rubbish for a good while and I was genuinely fed up of his poor form (I say this as a massive fan of his. He’s one of my favourite players). There of course is also Shaqiri though, who I would bet has the fewest minutes per goal/assist at the club by some way. he’s been a great signing and definitely takes some of the weight off the shoulders of the front 3.
All of that said, I do think that we could do with singing another attacker to offer competition and rotation for the front 3. I remember a time when we just had Mane (before Firmino really took) and thinking how lucky we were. we’re spoiled now and it seems a bit silly to hope for another after these brilliant 4 players but the season long and the games are many.
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Mak, thems the odds mate whether your interested in them or not. Chelsea at 66/1 look a good outside bet.?
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I agree about Mane Mak,yes he has been wasteful in front of goal but brilliant otherwise.Actually,one of the best players in the EPL so far.Firminho has been awful so far this season! Maybe thats why Liverpool are linked with a £90m move for T.Werner?
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Nine, they aren’t the odds on probability though Nine and even if they were, why are they relevant to what I said? Are you trying to show me that Liverpool have no chance? I havent even said we’re favourites and it seems like you’ve fired that in there pretty quickly, as if I were getting ahead of myself or something. If you want to place the odds there then do it to backup an opinion and feel free to correct my position on things. I mean, if you look at the odds a bookmaker gives as a guideline then it backs up what I’ve said.
They don’t just go for odds on probability though, they have to respond to betting trends/volume.
Ya Mav, I’ve been calling for Firmino to be dropped for a long time now, to the point where I was really getting disillusioned with things. Where is the point when players who aren’t performing get dropped from the team? Obviously this is dependent on options, of which Liverpool don’t have any after Firmino. I am looking at not just goal scoring of course but everything he brings to the game.. or is meant to. He was dropped or rested for 1-2 matches recently but has come back and his form has picked up. We can;t afford to be in a position where a player is potentially being carried though. We do need to sign someone to at least keep him on his toes. I have a feeling Liverpool won’t sign anyone though, we’re not running on oil money and I think the Coutinho money has gone on Alisson and Van Dijk. the there are the other big signings and you have to wonder, how much more can Liverpool afford to pump into the side? Maybe with structuring, we can find another £50m but maybe not. I think most likely not.
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I standby what I said though. I think Liverpool are the real deal and we’ll go close, maybe even getting over the line.
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Mak, chill out buddie I didn’t put the odds up in response to what you said I have regularly put up the odds on here for both the title and the CL over a long period of time.
It’s a moving feast mate and they will probably change again tonight on the back of today’s results. The odds reflect where people are putting their money.
If you don’t want to read them for whatever reason just ignore them and skip on by.
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Fair enough Nine, it only seemed like you were making a point, with them right after what I said but it’s not a huge problem. Man city are still large favourites. Even if you look at things as they stand now. Let’s pretend the Palace game just ended and City lost 2-1. They are 4 points behind Liverpool but… Is this really worth a huge amount? If it were the other way ’round, I’d say it is but I can see Liverpool being more likely to drop silly points than City. We’ve come quite close to dropping points in matches so far. I don’t think you can say the same for City. So what do these pretend 4 points do? They would create some more believers for sure but Man city would STILL be favourites for me then. It’s no huge change, just one game and 18 more to go. I am still praying for this of course but I don’t think Palace will be able to with stand them at all.
Still, this is a little bit of the mentality test that I have been talking about though. This is new territory for this City side. “What do you mean we’re 4 points behind if we lose today!?”. This scenario didnt even come close to existing last term, so it’s a test.. a small test but one all the same.
How many points would Liverpool have to be right now in order for them to be favourites for the title? Let’s get hypothetical here. The lowest I can think of would be 6 but I’d be more comfortable saying it with 8. What about you?
Edit : make that 7 points minimum cause of GD.
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Mak, it will swing backwards and forwards especially with days like today Christmas is always a topey turvy time. I can’t see many teams being able to beat Liverpool so the City v Liverpool game could be pivotal. City need to get all their big players back asap otherwise I can see Liverpool pulling away.
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Well, with Palace beating City here, we can “afford” to lose against City. I mean, not really but in theory.
I can’t believe Palace have beaten them! wow I am actually thankful for Roy Hodgson haha. Does this open up the title race? Absolutely it does. We can only view things from where we are though and ya, it’ll eb and sway a lot. We’ve not lost yet but you know it’s coming. Chelsea showed that city weren’t invincible and this match maybe highlights what I was hoping for today, that city had not been tested mentally last season. There will be a lot higher pressure situations to come but today was I think a test of their character and they were found wanting.
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Title odds have swung around:
SkyBet latest title odds.
Manchester City
10/11
Liverpool
11/10
Tottenham
22/1
Chelsea
100/1
Arsenal
150/1_____________________________
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Ya, there was bound to be a big reaction from that loss. Honestly, it’s really shocking to see us there with a 4 point gap. You can expect a big reaction from City and also, we’ll see how Liverpool deal with the expectation now. We’re only 4 days away from the next match and we play eachother really soon too. between here and January 3rd, we’ve got 3 PL matches, Arsenal and City are 2 of them. This is without a doubt a potentially critical spell. In that same time, City only play us as a major threat to their points haul. It’s going to be huge and we might not even make it to Manchester with our lead intact.
Can’t wait for boxing day now though. Anfield will be rocking!
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Paxton, I think we’re certainly a more rounded side than we were without having to be completely reliant on Salah. I think we play good football and we have quite a few other players capable of chipping in if required. However, if Salah was to get injured, I would worry a bit because he is still a match winner and he helps us to get the ball rolling because quite often he’s the person we look to, to get us a goal if we’re struggling. He’s also the best finisher at the club. This is why many of us would like to see another forward come in, in January.
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Liverpool’s next two fixtures are Newcastle at home and Arsenal at home prior to the City game away whilst City have Leicester away and Southampton away both a little tricky especially the Leicester game. Liverpool will be far too strong for Newcastle imo and although Arsenal provide a more difficult challenge especially offensively Arsenal are vulnerable defensively and Liverpool have the players to take advantage of that.
As a neutral I’m hoping the title race remains nip and tuck right up until the end of the season.
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If City can lose unexpectedly, this needs to serve as a reminder that so can we. We can talk about the Arsenal game because we’re just spectators but I hope the lads are only focused on the Newcastle game. If we don’t treat them wit respect and fight to win, we won’t.
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Whatever the bookies might say Liverpool have to be favourites for the PL title now given the 4 point lead they now have over City which means it’s all in their own hands now.
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What makes you say that? Just having the lead doen’t make you favourites. City have had bad luck with injuries to their best player (2 times), amongst others. they’ve actually been without quite a few of their top performers and I think you commented on this somewhere. Also you’ve got to look at their past experience (defending champions) and a comparison of squads. Plus the fact that we’ve got to play them away yet.
Our chances of winning the title have improved markedly over the past few weeks. Man City are still favourites though. You saw how De Bruyne changed things and bossed the game when he came on. he’ll be starting game from here on and so will Aguero. I will never forget his title winning goal. If there is ever a sign of mental strength and character, it’s scoring a goal that wins your team the title, in the dying seconds of a match. He’ll be vital for them going forward.
Being 4 points ahead is a dream, honestly. It’s a situation that I am surprised to be in, as a fan. rather than being defining though, it’s a luxury. It’s a cushion that may turn into a deficit after the Arsenal and City games. I expected to be chasing City, heading into this spell. Instead, we’ve got some room to maneuver and if we lose both games, it’s not all over (maybe). City will absolutely be favourites for that tie but we should be for the match against Arsenal.
If we can win our next 3 games then I will say we are favourites. As things stand I think we’ve got somewhere between 40-45% chance, which is brilliant for me. Im thrilled!
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I mean, if we’re totally honest with ourselves, we have to look at some of Liverpool’s results and say that we edged them, without any of them edging the other way, if you know what I mean. We’re looking at another half of this (after next match) and where City will probably dominate the living **** out of teams, as they have done so far (bar the last few matches), will Liverpools luck run out. May we see the other teams edge the results?
I think our midfield is clicking and as a result, our attack is benefiting from the improvements, whilst getting their game together themselves. So, maybe our performance levels will stay to a higher standard than earlier on this season. That sounds odd given our results but as I said, we edged some of these results with a performance that was barely good enough (offensively at least). I think defensively we’ve been almost immaculate.
It all boils down to which team can hit a higher gear faster. We’re going into these 3 games in pretty good form and City are going into them with key players just back from injury.
I just can’t call it but the more I think about it, the more season defining these 3 matches are.
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Mak, Liverpool have control of the title race now it’s completely in their own hands. I’m obviously not writing City off there’s a long way to go but Liverpool are now in the driving seat and City are chasing them rather than the other way around.
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Thats all true but it doesn’t make them favourites.
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Paxton were are you getting mane has been really poor from? I presume you haven’t watched much of us a he has been our best forward this season
If anything we rely less on salah. Firminho has been playing as a number ten more then 9 this season
Shaqiri helps out aswell. We have some good options.
I’ll nrver get carried away and I fully expect city to push on at some stage and I’ve no idea why spurs have not been mentioned. Yet another excellent win for spurs. They are right in the mix
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