Title defence over?

[BG1973]

if we were 10 points off top at turn of year.. But then had change of fortune on fitness.. I'd back us to come close.

Less than 10 i'd back us to win it.

Let's go for it.

[BobTheCharmer]

As long as we win all the games, single goal margins are fine with me! Just might be 4-3 instead of 1-0 this season!

Yes but what i mean is we are going to concede more goals than usual so we'll need to be scoring plenty. I don't care what the stats show, our recognised front 3 do not flow in open play. They are opportunists these days all capable of the obscene but the simple things they inevitably come up short through poor choices or over playing. Jota is exactly what's required to freshen it up. Its far from over but by heck its going to be hard.

[baitman]

Have been looking through centre backs who are out of contract in 2021 and maybe the most suitable is Fabian Schar from Newcastle.

[frank the tank]

I wouldn’t say it’s over... but it will be hard, that’s for sure!

Last 2 years, our biggest strength was our consistency- very rare that we slip up against a team that we should be beating... our defense is still better than most teams in the league, and our attack is the best in the league.. If we consistently win the games that we should be winning, as we have done, I think we can still do it!

We have 3 out of our 4 hardest fixtures, out of the way, and we’re effectively top of the league (ie we’re ahead of city).

We haven’t seen much of them, but Rhys Williams and Nat Philips have both looked good. Hopefully even one of them can establish themselves over the season.

Imagine if we do win it- and then next year we add VVD back into the mix! It will be like a new signing- adding the best defender in the world, to the champions!! Meanwhile pep leaves... all of a sudden we’re looking at long term domination!

****in right doggie!!!

Even this thread title is ****in negative. As Jurgybear said, we're not defending a title, we're ****in attacking another title.

And that is where our success may come from. We've adjusted as a team over the last couple of years. Much much tighter. Probably because we ****in know that our awesome trio up front will always score goals. Now that we are on the ropes without Virgil and Joe, teams will think "lets have a go trying to get at them" - which might actually play perfectly into our hands. Counter attacks will be just like 2017 - and with Jota now in the mix as well, then it could get messy for a lot of teams.

When Thiago comes back, that will make it even better. Anyone gets the ball in our defensive third, give it to the magic man and 3 seconds later one of our deadly ****in football killers will be in.

This is going to be so ****in sweet.



Having said all of that, we're ****ed if Alisson gets injured again.

[Pablo]

If we somehow win it this year it would unquestionably be the greatest of the 20. I don't see how we're going to manage tbh.

I still think we have a great chance. I think we'll see over the coming months our rivals will also end up ravaged by injuries too. It's inevitable as the calendar is running players into the ground. It's why 5 subs was a necessity.

This year will be a real mess, no one is getting 90+ points. We've just just got to manage as best we can, there will be crazy results and injuries etc and we've just got to hang in there.

[S-RED]

This year will be a real mess, no one is getting 90+ points.

i am clinging to this TBH, despite no defenders we will hit 80+ points, so its a case of hoping no-one else gets close to that......

[Tribute]

'The cunt' lol

He's a prick but I'd still take him.

I'd take him purely to knock out other teams CBs to even the league up a bit...

[BigChief]

City finished in second with 81 points last season. They have a better defence this season but are playing as erratically as then.

They should have taken full points against us to kick start their season properly, so they're now likely to finish on 84-86 points approx, IMO. I can't see Spurs or Chelsea reaching that.

So that's our target, we have to score approx 15 points fewer than we did last season to win the league. That's five additional losses. Should be doable as long as our front line, Alisson and Thiago remain fit.

[RedReet]

The forwards have been scoring loads?

Only Spurs on 19 and Chelsea on 20 have scored more than our 18. 18 in 8 games is pretty good going.

It’s the other end. 3 v Leeds. 7 v Villa.

We have scored 7 and conceded 0 in the CL.

The problem is we had Adrian in goal for lots of games early on, then, when we finally started to keep clean sheets, Fab got injured and now Gomez. We’ve had to play different partnerships at the back in pretty much every game this season.

When I saw the Gomez thread appear I just assumed it was acknowledging how awesome he has been. Another injury though

We are also creating the most chances from open play too.

[ame]https://twitter.com/FFScout/status/1326819523584946176[/ame]

[Pablo]

City finished in second with 81 points last season. They have a better defence this season but are playing as erratically as then.

They should have taken full points against us to kick start their season properly, so they're now likely to finish on 84-86 points approx, IMO. I can't see Spurs or Chelsea reaching that.

So that's our target, we have to score approx 15 points fewer than we did last season to win the league. That's five additional losses. Should be doable as long as our front line, Alisson and Thiago remain fit.

But a worse attack so far.

[BigChief]

But a worse attack so far.

Yep, their forwards look lacklustre but I wanted to give them the benefit yet still see us in a strong position in comparison.

KdB is being overworked and due a soft muscle twinge sooner or later. Not wishing it on him but they are over reliant.

[S-RED]

I think by end DEC we will know whether we bin off the prem this season; not wanting to sound negative, but if we are not in a great position would prefer to concentrate on winning ol Big ears for a 7th time. One thing is certain, we cannot win both with the current situation.

That said Klopp knows best !!

[Exiled_red]

I think by end DEC we will know whether we bin off the prem this season; not wanting to sound negative, but if we are not in a great position would prefer to concentrate on winning ol Big ears for a 7th time. One thing is certain, we cannot win both with the current situation.

That said Klopp knows best !!

We can't afford to do that, as an absolute minimum we need top 4 to secure CL football. I suspect that the title race is going to be so tight that there won't be enough seperation at that point between teams battling for the title and teams battling for top 4. Given the fixtures we have between now and the end of the year if we are out of that battle we'll have had a complete 'mare.

[S-RED]

true & i wasn't talking about binning top 4 just the title.

But you are right, it will probably be that close that we wont have that choice to make.

[Montana]

Never Give Up ...... let's go for it with all we've got as Klopp would say and see where it takes us.