No, it's because we didn't beat Villa.Originally Posted by Marc Overmars
No, it's because we didn't beat Villa.
Für eure Sicherheit
I’d actually point to the West Ham and Fulham double header after Christmas.
But whatever. Villa is the only slip. We’ve won every other game except City away where we got a draw, a pretty creditable result. It all adds up to 27 wins from 37 games and the potential for 89 points, only one fewer than The Invincibles. If that’s not enough then so be it. No complaints from me. If we do lose out it’ll only be a side to have been cheating for what, 15 years? Fuck them.
I'd point to Zin fucking up to give away two points at home to Fulham, plus Jorg fucking up to give away two points at home to Spuds, plus I think we could/should have beaten Citeh at their place
Whatever though, like you say we've done much better than last year, and if we can strengthen in the summer and get next season off to a really good start, then we can only hope to take it all the way
In any season you can point to slips.
The Invincibles made a balls up at WHL, losing a 2-0 lead to draw. Obviously it was still enough that WWTL@WHL, but we should have won that game easily. And we actually didn’t win as many league games that season as we have this year. I’m not sure how helpful it is poring over these things. What’s the end result? It’s 86 points so far, we could end with 89. If it’s still not enough then ok, we lose out to the best PL side so far. But everyone knows how they got there so, as I may have said, fuck them. And fuck the media who fawn over them and Pep and pretend they’re achieving anything.
Fine, but then there was the chance to go toe to toe with the campsite crew. We didn't. Just recounting history, without opinion being necessary. For sure, better not to have chucked points away in easy games, but we did. So we had to win a hard game to make up for it. Didn't. Lost the title. Nothing to do with the gypos being cheats. We've always been up against cheats. 80s Liverpool, 90s/00s Utd. Some of the worst cheats imaginable. Still managed to beat them from time to time. No excuses now. They don't help.
Für eure Sicherheit
The Villa game is a big disappointment, however I do think that’s mitigated by winning seven points from nine away at city, United and Spurs. Something I never expected us to do.
I felt we’d go like Liverpool and fall away after that loss, but we didn’t.
Yes, but this is the best league in the world ever, to be fair. Is it not? So standards are necessarily sky high. We judge them by those standards, not by excuses and "nearly" outcomes. It's good they are in there still fighting, well - sort of, but on the day they win that Villa game and it's city that are hoping for a miracle THEN we have reached the standard. Until then, we haven't. On the other hand, compared to the unbelievable shit that has gone before, this is a season of progress where it looks like we are slowly undoing the catastrophe of post Invincible Wenger and reaching a point where we can genuinely say, without any false dawns, we have the very basics mastered again and can mount a serious competitive challenge.
Für eure Sicherheit
Liverpool in 88/89 had a terrible first half to the season by their standards and were relentless second half. Going into the final game of the season we were three points behind them.
In 90/91, they went on a relentless winning run first half of the season and then fell away after Dalglish left. We actually weren’t that great that season, we just kept a lot of clean sheets
97/98, United had a big lead but they also played more games than us and they were pretty unimpressive. We won the league with 78 points that season.
01/02 - Chased down a United side who obliged us by losing six times at home that season
03/04 - May have been unbeaten but drew 12 games. And up against a United team that again were in indifferent form
Liverpool got 96 points five years ago but still finished a point behind City. So no to be fair, this isn’t the same as competing against the Liverpool and United sides of the past. If they win at Spurs on Tuesday, they are 99% certain to do something no one has ever done in English football league history and win the title four times in a row.
The refs were owned by Liverpool in the 80s - except in Europe where they became mere mortals. And I don't think I even need to comment about Utd. My point is, you can beat the cheats if you want to, and we did. It's not a valid excuse.
Für eure Sicherheit
I’m simply stating a fact. In 88/89 we lost to Derby and drew against Wimbledon and looked like we’d thrown the title away.
What you choose to accept or not accept is not really my problem.
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote