13 Jul 2020 15:46:47
The reason Man City were so good last season was because they had to be, because we pushed them to that. The reason we have been so good this season is because of the threat of City. I’m glad they are back in CL and I’m sure both teams will continue to push each other. Who wants to watch a league where 1 team dominates even if it is ours. I’d rather see a few teams challenge us so we continue to improve and keep that cutting edge. Having no competition would bore our star players and it would only be a matter of time before they seemed their challenge elsewhere.

13 Jul 2020 20:02:09
JK23, City would have still been very competitive next season in the PL, regardless of whether they got banned next season or not.
IMO, I don't think we saw City as a threat this season. In fact, the contrary. Do you remember when both teams were losing at Villa and City were losing to the Saints at home? You remember how Pep was was losing his scalp on the touchline hoping we would lose? Then, he lied saying he was not keeping track of the game whereas we could all see that he was via his assistants?
City were terrified of us all season cos we were in their heads even from last season.

IMO, They saw how we matched them toe-to-toe last season and like a keenly contested boxing match, City won on a split decision. The Rematch tho? Did not go the distance cos they just could not match what we were bringing and the ref had to stop the fight midway thru. Just my take.

13 Jul 2020 21:24:03
City were a big threat this season, our biggest in the Premiership. Not sure how you can compare boxing to football as City and Liverpool only faced each other twice, and had no direct influence on each other's results before and after that.

13 Jul 2020 21:48:34
If City had received a European ban, the collective wisdom was that they’d be stronger in the Premiership anyway with more rest.
They’ll probably spend another £100 -150 million on players now in any case, so expect them to be the main challengers again.
Barney Ronay wrote a decent piece in The Guardian about the CAS case, old money v new money / privilege and wealth v privilege and wealth.
I don’t know how it’s come to this, it used to be the people’s game.

13 Jul 2020 23:25:48
FlashTheRed, everyone and his dog knew that this season (and last season) was going to be a mano y mano heavyweight fight for the PL title btw us and City and we did not have to play each other directly for 38 games in order for the boxing analogy to be used.

We were in a direct fight with City every week where we had to return blow for blow, win for win on a weekly basis. LFC bravely went toe-to-toe with City last season and they won via a point on the scorecards after all 38 rounds.

This season however never had a chance of going the distance again cos we brought that fire of determination, relentless energy and desire and City could not respond blow for blow. If you can't understand the boxing analogy then, that is up to you but don't make it sound like it is unheard of when talking football.

13 Jul 2020 23:57:08
I think it's very tricky trying to gauge how Man City will do next season. A lot will depend on how they do at the Champions league next month; whether they win it or not. Let's not forget this is the competition Guardiola was brought in to win 3 years ago, and he hasn't delivered on that yet.

And I have no idea if he'll stay if he doesn't win it, beyond this summer. If he's still there it will be his fourth season in 20/ 21, and I expect him to leave next summer; he usually leaves after 4 years and history does repeat itself. On paper they look like an unbeatable side; no doubts about it.

But the whispers of "some old legs" needing replacing or refreshing, and uncertainty of Pep's situation, could play into the minds of the players. I don't think he has lost 9 games in a season in any league anywhere before. Many will say that the owners will just "splash the cash" or "buy the league" but it's not as easy as that.

14 Jul 2020 01:22:43
City will without doubt be there abouts. How can you doubt it? They play such nice football, totally dominant. We are better defensively but they will be there. A tough adversary. It is amazing that we beat them and by so much. We have one of the best teams the league has seen. On top song they are as good as there's ever been, and they're consistent. City are capable of 100 points and we need to be too.

14 Jul 2020 11:48:56
For me, City are a formidable foe, no doubt. I expect them to be right there. Remember majority of the football media and pundits picked City over us under the premise of them not seeing us push City as much as we did last season esp. since we signed next to no one in the summer. I guess that worked for them, right? JK.
IMO, majority will pick them again due to them getting the ban thrown out and whatever signings they make which we cannot match. N that is okay

I will say that City have issues of their own as in defensive issues, Pep's inability to play a different way and make them tougher to beat, mental weaknesses and lapses and how these new players will fit in and how they replace the aging part of their squad.

LFC have no such issues, IMO. We are a well oiled machine and have been together for the most part of 4 years now. We are tougher, mentally stronger and nastier than City are. Will that make us win the PL next season? I don't know. Will we be there or there-abouts? Absolutely. Just my take.

14 Jul 2020 12:40:22
Red Meister, this is a fair and accurate assessment of next season but I would say playing behind closed doors without fans is going to throw up some odd results as has been proven over this past 5 weeks
Chelsea will improve and The Mancs will improve, that’s the top four right there, in which order I’m not sure?
My call would be:

1st Man City
2nd Liverpool
3rd Man Utd
4th Chelsea

Liverpool to win the Champo League in Istanbul and also have a right good go in the FA Cup something Klopp has failed to do so far.

14 Jul 2020 13:16:25
shughes55, I totally agree with your premise that games behund closed doors could throw upsome strange surprises. I wouldn't be too worried about City that much cos they are used to playing at the Emptyhad, lol.

As for the predictions for next season, I will leave that to others to judge cos I know that too many things can happen in football. Do I want LFC to win the PL next term? Of course. However I am aware that LFC could get 100 points and still lost the title by 1 point to City.

In fact last season, I was already resigned to the fact that we could have our best season in our history and still lose the title which is exactly what happened so nope, don't do predictions. As long as we do our very best as we have done for the past two seasons now, we will see where the chips fall.

As for the FA Cup, not arsed about it cos even Willian said he would rather play in the CL than win the FA Cup when Chelsea won the FA Cup and failed to get top 4 finish 2 years ago.

14 Jul 2020 16:02:59
Liverpool
City
Chelsea
Spurs.