Liverpool had so many chances in the last few games and just failed to take them. Plus giving teams a goal start on 21 occasions this season hasn't helped. Can't believe we stay up at the top for so long really. Bound to catch up on us and now's the time it seems
Greenlizard0 Premier League Football Thread ** spoilers ** [13th - 15th April 2024]
- Thread starter explicit4u
- Start date
Caporegime
Liverpool have had the rub of fortune it was bound to catch up with them eventually. I think they top the league coming back from losing positions.
Arsenal surprised me today because they have been very strong recently but they do lack that out and out goal scorer.
That has to be their number 1 priority in the summer but they are nearly there.
He's stealing a living TBH.
Caporegime
Everyone goes on about us not having a striker, but before this weekend we’d scored 4 more than city and were the highest scorers in the league
Soldato
The point is though, its in games like the one today where you need Kane, Haaland, Benzema etc to get one chance and finish it. That is how titles are won, a decent keeper and striker are a must in most title winning sides.
Caporegime
I'm not sure about that honestly. Kane has missed some sitters for Bayern that have cost them this season. All top strikers miss the target. The best teams find a way to win but this idea that a top striker converts that single chance is a bit of a myth in my view. Haaland has missed some sitters this season as well. Hes just in such a good team that it doesn't really matter. City very rarely need a single goal. Same for Arsenal. Unfortunately for Arsenal, they are competing against 2 of the best sides in decades of the PL and you need to be hitting nearly 90 points to even have a chance of winning the league.
I can live with it
You've done well enough without one, but it wouldn't hurt. Jesus is a good player but he's not a typical no9, and Havertz isn't one at all.
Anyway, I wouldn't write anything off yet. Man City draw and Arsenal win, and you're right back in it. Could easily happen.
And 115 charges to boot
Him as no.9 is certainly a cross to bear
Associate
Not to blow our own trumpet to hard, but on the rare occasions we play like we did today we can pretty much beat anyone if we smell blood. You absolutely cannot give us time on the ball in the midfield and Arsenal just seemed to give up on the press in the second half.
Most title winners have decent keepers/strikers but that's sort of implicit in the fact that if they win the league they clearly have a good team and hence probably good players in most positions, I don't think it's out of proportion with that. I can't articulate my point particularly well but what I'm driving at is that it's not like title winners are typically just OK teams with a great keeper and a great striker, they are just all round good teams with a high average standard of player meaning an average keeper/striker relative to their overall standard can be enough, they don't necessarily need a cherry on top of the cake if it's a solid cake to begin with.
I mean take Chelsea 2005, at the time they got the most points ever in the Premier League (way clear of what City will get this season even if they win every single match remaining) and their top scorer with 13 goals wasn't even a striker, second top scorer was Gudjohnsen who was OK but not what you would call top tier (probably not much better than Liverpool/Arsenal have today), and averaged less than 1 goal per 3 league appearances that season. Arguably the reason they dominated in the league (against an Invincible Arsenal team) was because they had a great squad depth, a great manager and were very well setup defensively including a holding midfielder.
I know you said most not all and as I said most winners naturally have good teams by definition, but that's just an example, MU won the league with a mediocre Barthez in goal, when Liverpool won the league the closest they had to a striker was Firmino (a #9 in the Jesus mould) who didn't even hit double figures etc.
I still think squad depth is important and that's one reason why City do so well, they have untold riches enabling them to accommodate missing players, rest players etc. I can't imagine Saka would get as many minutes at MC as he does at Arsenal for example.
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Soldato
If Isak does leave it will be for a team that has a real chance of winning the premier league, rather than someone like Arsenal.
Soldato
I hope Bigpig has calmed down after his call to Talksport yesterday.
Caporegime
Blokes on the verge of tears
Soldato
But they miss far fewer than non top strikers. Think Elliot yesterday, think Werner for Spurs etc. Kane missing a few chances is not the reason Bayern have faltered this season.