Manchester City H Build up Sun 13th 13.37 Sky Sports 1

[Shaggy]

I'm not saying Dom is right but it could be argued that the whole league has regressed which is evident with how tight the relegation fight is/was. Thus even if the top teams had got worse (witness the ineptness in Europe) they could feasibly have more points on the board.

No idea if that makes sense but thought I'd join in anyway.

Not having that at all.

And re ineptitude in Europe - only 2 English clubs reached the knockout stages last season and not one made the quarter finals. All gone by the first knockout stage.

This year all 4 English clubs reached the knockout stages and 2 made the QFs and may progress further. So there's been an improvement in Europe too.

[fah-q]

I'm not even sure what we're trying to prove here, I just thought I'd help a brother out.

[dom9]

Clearly all of the European leagues have regressed too.

[john316]

Couldn't you argue that the better teams are better and the worse teams are even worse this season? Just look how few 'mid table' teams there are this season. The top boys have been crushing the bottom half of the table.

[dom9]

I'm not even sure what we're trying to prove here, I just thought I'd help a brother out.

[PTP]

Couldn't you argue that the better teams are better and the worse teams are even worse this season? Just look how few 'mid table' teams there are this season. The top boys have been crushing the bottom half of the table.

pretty sure there is the same number of mid table teams this year as there was last year? unless of course we have reduced the number of teams in the league

[john316]

You know what I mean - there are normally 6-7 teams who by early March are clear of any relegation trouble but not troubling the top teams. This year, its taken till the last couple of weeks for that pack of Hull/West Ham/Stoke etc to pull away from the utter ****e. Wasn't long ago that even being 11th was still about 3 points from the relegation zone

[PTP]

yes i know what you meant however it's important to point out that in all of this Dom was wrong

[Pablo]

Solid thread title

This is the litmus test really. How do we match up against the supposed best in the league? Win this and few could argue we don't deserve to be champions. Lose and we may have to admit City still have the edge on us.

The biggest game since the Champions League final in 2007? I think so.

[Rich]

Clearly all of the European leagues have regressed too.

The whole of Europe has got ****ter at football, is that what you're saying?

[Fosterbloke]

You're all going the wrong way, it's clear that Dom has regressed.

[pondus]

I would just like to add to this discussion by saying I don't have any good arguments either

[dom9]

The whole of Europe has got ****ter at football, is that what you're saying?

Exactly that.

[frank the tank]

anyway.....back to the game


I think the minutes silence for Hillsborough could work against us. I imagine the noise beforehand will be electric, the passion of the fans will be amazing and then we will have that. It might be hard to replicate that straight afterwards and could potentially see the team start slowly...... we will see though....

I think the atmosphere will be amazing. I just hope we aren't all talking about some dodgy offside, a dodgy refereeing decision or a disallowed goal or something....

I imagine the team will leave everything out on the pitch.....

I would be very tempted to leave Sterling on the bench. He would be well pissed off and if he got half an hour towards the end, could open up a new one on the likes of Demichellis, Clichy et al.

It's gonna be electric....

[fah-q]

I think the roar after the silence might make it seem even louder than it is as it contrasts.