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Originally Posted by demonrail666
Yeah, but you can hardly put Man City as the standard, and say that any team that doesn't have their depth is somehow lacking. Not even Barcelona or Real have that size/quality of squad.
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but it has to be the standard if you want to beat them. otherwise the odds are very long.
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Originally Posted by demonrail666
Look at the stats, he only missed 3 league games all season, in which Liverpool scored a total of 13 goals! I do agree he's pivotal to their style but when you're averaging 4+ goals a game without your star striker, you could almost wonder why they even bother playing him in the 1st place.
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i was thinking of the latest destruction they suffered at barcelona. "they played well but lost" is nice but doesn't get you the champions league.
firmino was also subbed out at 31' in the 0-0 vs. man u which started their season of wasteful ties this spring. mo and mane were out of it without him, or maybe out of fatigue, or both.
this spring they also had 3 ties vs. 3 non-top teams:
liverpool-leicester 1-1 at anfield (milner out)
west ham-liverpool 1-1 (and west ham had no artie to boot)
everton-liverpool 0-0, mo out with groin injury
[eta: no offense to those teams but when you chase the title vs man city those are defeats]
yes, margins for the top place are thin as fuck, but statistics add up. not just points but goal differences. which is precisely why you have to achieve greater parity with man city's bench to reliably beat them.
small things accrue. you can only make it so far with "spirit' and "determination" if a grinding season will wear out your indispensable players.
who in man city is indispensable? honest question. i don't know their team as deeply as you do. which one player can you take out that would break them?
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Originally Posted by demonrail666
Long in the tooth? He's 26!! He's only starting to hit his prime. And he's probably gonna finish this season as league top scorer. Yes this has been a relatively quiet season for him, but only in the context of what he achieved last year, which is like saying Messi had a quiet game after scoring a hat-trick cos in the previous game he scored 5.
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oh i meant milner ha ha ha. "old reliable" at 33. fantastic player but can't give you 90 minutes twice a week. who did you mean?
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Originally Posted by demonrail666
I ultimately agree with Claire: mathematically MC will probably win, but taken as a whole I don't think you can really separate them.
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"mathematically" is the only way to win
