03 Dec 2016 13:28:00
Anybody watching the City vs Chelsea game has a reason to be confident this season. City clearly suspect at the back with the terrible John Stones and I can't see Chelsea winning the league with Cahill and Moses being relied upon!

1.) 03 Dec 2016
03 Dec 2016 14:00:22
It'd be a huge mistake to undersestimate Chelsea. Moses is having the best season of his career and Cahill is, well, Cahill. But this team is mentally tough.

{Ed001's Note - they have been lucky as hell, how often does a player like De Bruyne miss from less than 5 yards out? How many times have they got lucky ricochets in the box? They are not a particularly good side, they get cut apart time and time again, it was the same against Spurs. Their luck will run out eventually.

As for City, they are just a joke defensively, wide open to simple passes that are not even good balls, but none of the defence reacts like defenders. Such as the second goal, Otamendi only had to drop back, but he thought like a midfielder and tried to intercept leaving a huge gap for Costa to exploit.}

2.) 03 Dec 2016
03 Dec 2016 14:13:25
Pace will hurt Chelsea and the only way to beat them. City have only themselves to blame here.

3.) 03 Dec 2016
03 Dec 2016 14:17:41
Agree with you on City, Ed001. But what about that Silva, eh? What a player (still)! If they do end up losing, there's going to be pressure on Pep that he hasn't seen before. Very different from just taking over Rijkaard's and Heynckes's ready made teams. ;-)

{Ed001's Note - very true. I wonder if they do a single bit of work on defending at all, as not one player has a clue how to think defensively when they haven't the ball. Pep is being shown up as the overrated coach we all wondered if he was.}

4.) 03 Dec 2016
03 Dec 2016 14:31:34
Agree with Ed001, I have never seen Aguero be so wasteful with his chances when usually he is so clinical. Say what you want about or defence, but I don't believe we would have given City that many opportunities to score.

5.) 03 Dec 2016
03 Dec 2016 14:34:56
And i though our defense was bad!
City were all over the place, Kolarov at CB, playing a back 2 for 30 mins? Absolute shambles when your manager tries to be too clever. Sane clearly wasted at wing back when his impact could have been ten fold up front. Pep's losing it and both Aguero and Fernandinho set to miss the next 3 games will only make it worse.
Its between us and Chelsea for now for top spot.

6.) 03 Dec 2016
03 Dec 2016 14:47:31
What a classical example of how to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. City had 14 shots on goal with no goals scored (own goal doesn't count) and 61% possession. Wasted chances. And a goalkeeper who doesn't look like he's up to it. Looks more and more like it's going to be between us and Chelsea.

7.) 03 Dec 2016
03 Dec 2016 15:01:53
Title is ours simples.

8.) 03 Dec 2016
03 Dec 2016 15:33:25
You see what I was talking about a few days ago, ed001? Not only has this exposed how defensively suspect City actually are, it has also exposed how stupid and blind so many pundits are.

{Ed001's Note - very true, at one point Neville was waxing lyrical about a great defensive clearance by Moses. What had actually happened was that Moses was stood ball watching, out of position, then suddenly noticed the ball was coming in and charged back making a risky clearance. If he had been in position, he could have made a simple and safe clearance, probably even picking out a pass if he had the composure.}

9.) 03 Dec 2016
03 Dec 2016 15:48:54
Guardiola will get it right eventually, he'll learn that you can't do it like Barcelona or Bayern in the Premier League.

10.) 03 Dec 2016
03 Dec 2016 16:41:26
That's the problem ed, too many British pundits seem to obsess over spectacular, marauding moves rather than excellent and efficient positional sense.

I mean honestly, at least man-for-man, could you really say City's defence is superior to Liverpool's? Otamendi and John frikken Stones are their centre backs for god's sake! And the only special things Bravo has managed this season are not for him to be proud of.

I honestly thought even guys like Stevie Nicol would be smart enough not to get sucked into the 'Liverpool's defence is a shambles! ' hysteria.

{Ed001's Note - Nicol smart? I love Nicol, but one thing he is not is intelligent. Lovely fella, but he is not the brightest. Liverpool's defence has improved markedly since Karius and Matip have been in it, conceding 5 in 7, if I remember rightly.}

11.) 03 Dec 2016
03 Dec 2016 16:43:04
But yeah, praising a defender for making a last-ditch tackle or clearance after being caught out is like praising someone for cleaning up the glass they dropped on the floor before the kids could step on it.

{Ed001's Note - exactly mate, it is one of my pet hates. Sol Campbell built an international career out of it in his early days. Admittedly he did improve as he got older and more experienced, but early on he was terrible for getting caught out and using pace and power to make a last ditch tackle that he should never have needed to make.}

12.) 03 Dec 2016
03 Dec 2016 17:09:49
It seems to be the reason why Smalling has been snubbed by Mourinho. Like Van Dijk, a big and fast defender with little defensive sense

I love how much I am being proven right after I told some United fans months ago, before the euros, that he is the most overrated player in the EPL.

"Nah, he's not! Smalling will prove his class at the Euros! "

And yeah, as for Nicol, I love him too. I wouldn't say he's dumb, but he's not smart either. He gets caught out by other panel members on the show so much, and he'll just adorably sit there red-faced and mumble "yeah yeah well. "

But god, even Craig Burley has been sucked in by it. I agree with him often because he tries to tell it how it is, but he goes, 'if Klopp wins the league with that defence he deserves a knighthood'. The hyperbole is insane. The problem with these guys is they make their minds up way too early and are then too proud to change their opinion. Liverpool's defence was admittedly rubbish in the first two league games, and they say 'yeah it's definitely crap and won't improve'. It's like they've been blind to how Mignolet, Moreno and Klavan have been displaced by Karius, Matip and Milner.

{Ed001's Note - they wouldn't get people talking about what they say if they didn't use hyperbole.}

13.) 03 Dec 2016
03 Dec 2016 18:15:32
Lick is the residue of design. Chelsea have hit their straps and you don't win 8 on the bounce by luck alone. Look forward to their trip to Anfield. Should be great!

14.) 03 Dec 2016
03 Dec 2016 18:49:57
8 straight wins. Chelsea have been playing well and they are league contenders.
Guardiola coached my favorite team, Bayern and I was very happy when he left. Playing with Kimmich and Alaba as central defenders might work in the Bundesliga. Playing with Kolarov as a cental defender and Sane as a wing back is plain stupidity IMO.
Chelsea and Arsenal are the main threats to Liverpool winning the league. Won't be surprised if Spurs give City a run for their money for the 4th position.

15.) 03 Dec 2016
03 Dec 2016 19:42:30
Chelsea are a quality team, but they are nowhere near as good as Liverpool 😎.

16.) 03 Dec 2016
03 Dec 2016 20:19:11
I'm loving this thread lads. Keep them coming. Chelsea were completely destroyed today as their vaunted 3-4-3 system was exposed for the shambles that it is, even more than last week when Spurs created the blueprint for destroying it. They will not be as lucky as they were today all season, because they caught as many breaks in this game as some teams get in a whole season. Conte is still tactically average and it showed clearly today, victory notwithstanding.

Pep is not that good and coaching defensive football has never being his thing. I think he just likes to reinvent the wheel by playing defenders as midfielders and switch players to play against their nature, all in a bid to prove that he somehow revolutionized the game. While all that's happening, he's being shown up as the incompetent, overrated coach he is. He will drag City down, like he did Barcelona and Bayern. As for the pundits, they are as smart as a goldfish.

{Ed025's Note - while you are the second coming.. :)

17.) 03 Dec 2016
03 Dec 2016 20:42:00
I love it when people talk about Liverpools useless defence and then point out that only two teams have conceded less in the league than us.

18.) 03 Dec 2016
03 Dec 2016 21:42:57
Ed25, are you stalking me?

{Ed025's Note - yes..

19.) 03 Dec 2016
03 Dec 2016 22:00:58
Spot on, Polcat. City has kept 2 pathetic clean sheets in 17 games in all competitions this season. Liverpool has kept SIX clean sheets in 16 games in all competitions yet they have the better defence? Again, Pundits are as smart as a goldfish.

20.) 04 Dec 2016
04 Dec 2016 02:14:10
The unpredictably of the prem league along with no winter break is going to take Pep and a few others further out of their comfort zones.

21.) 04 Dec 2016
04 Dec 2016 09:41:31
But guys there's a madness to this last ditch tackle, no one wants to see a defender do his job properly, stay in position and sweep up tidily, we wanna see land speed records broken as he attempts to go back and we wanna see him break the long jump records as he's sliding to the ground, it also makes them look good for playing bad, they may not be as stupid as we all think.

22.) 04 Dec 2016
04 Dec 2016 11:31:08
On top of that in my opinion an injury to just one of Costa, Hazard, Moses or Alonso and their backups aren't too impressive. They would have to be extremely lucky to get through the season avoiding all injuries. A very good team but their time will come to an end when the luck runs out.

On a positive note now is our chance to stay just 1 point behind cuts, and create a 3 point gap between us and city!

23.) 04 Dec 2016
04 Dec 2016 11:42:42
£48m for Stones, £0 for Matip. It's not the fee but good scouting that matters.

24.) 04 Dec 2016
04 Dec 2016 11:47:20
I think this a huge test of what Liverpool can do with the players out
As Man City an Chelsea haven't had major injuries yet

Are you guys really so confident with a workmanlike Liverpool team now missing the flair?

25.) 04 Dec 2016
04 Dec 2016 12:22:15
We can slate City's defence, but IF and it is a big if, Kompany can get fit and play a run of games next year they will be a very different team. Also both City and Chavski can just open the cheque book in January.

We have a great chance this season, but do not underestimate these two teams.