GWT: PL FINALE - Matchweek 38

The Abusement Park

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Jan 18, 2016
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Is Man City the best ever? One loss Liverpool is great. There's a 25 point difference between second and third place. If Arsenal beat Chelsea, they've had a great season. I thought Man Utd would beat relegated Cardiff.

They’re up there for sure. I think 07 United and 04 Chelsea are better teams though.
 

YEM

Registered User
Mar 7, 2010
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One penalty miss vs taking only 1 point from 5 consecutive prem league games, ok sure

Kinda nice to know that Lucas Moura is a Spur because Emery refused to play him @ PSG, best of luck in that Europa final
 

Merya

Jokerit & Finland; anti-theist
Sep 23, 2008
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Last year they were supposed to strengthen and add some older players who, if I was a United supporter, it would have made me a little angry to add. Some of them were good and some weren't. No talk of a rebuild project though.

If they had signed Alderweireld and/or Maguire they may have finished top four.



Liverpool signed 0 key players over 26 years old in the last three seasons. Not a single one. They absolutely do work. Nobody is talking about "tanking"

Salah, whom Roma gladly sold for being a waste. And the others were world record breaking signs. Virgil and Alisson. With Virgil specifically asking for the move.
Selling Coutinho to Barca for insane amount of money helped, but tho pool signings weren't cheap.
 

Evilo

Registered User
Mar 17, 2002
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One penalty miss vs taking only 1 point from 5 consecutive prem league games, ok sure

Kinda nice to know that Lucas Moura is a Spur because Emery refused to play him @ PSG, best of luck in that Europa final
Nah Lucas moved from PSG because he'll always be a limited player due to his tunnel vision. He has amazing speed, is a decent passer and shooter. But withtout the IQ, he'll never be more than a depth player.
 

hatterson

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Apr 12, 2010
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I think it's really hard to argue that this City isn't the best team in PL history.

Do you mean in the 25 or whatever year history of the PL they’re the best English side, or they had the best English season in the last ~25 years? (Edit: If best season, domestic only or including continental?)

I think those are different questions with different answers.
 
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Havre

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Jul 24, 2011
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Yeah. Not really that hard to argue that they aren't the best team in PL history.

They are the team that are most successful at beating the poorer teams though. I don't know why, but I do believe the condition of pitches play a role there. Even only 10 years ago playing away to teams like Burnley would mean good teams could not be expected to "play" football. Mourinho with his Chelsea partly set them up to win those kind of wars. Today most pitches are very good all year around in England everywhere.
 
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YNWA14

Onbreekbaar
Dec 29, 2010
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Do you mean in the 25 or whatever year history of the PL they’re the best English side, or they had the best English season in the last ~25 years? (Edit: If best season, domestic only or including continental?)

I think those are different questions with different answers.
I think they're the best side (these two seasons inclusive). The European stuff is tricky because over two legs any team can be upset, even if they outplay their opponent (last year Liverpool outplayed them, but they were better than Spurs for example and should have gone through and I really believe they'd have won the CL).

Everyone focuses on trophies but domestic seasons require a higher level of consistency. They've still got a bunch of trophies on top of the title and have 198 points over 2 seasons and they won't be any weaker (if KdB is healthy maybe even better) next season. To me it's easy; they're the best PL team ever.
 

Chimaera

same ol' Caps
Feb 4, 2004
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They're certainly one of the best. Especially over the past two seasons.

I don't know if they're all time best, but at least over the Premier League Era, they're probably in the discussion.

They're just so consistent and have so much depth. They've also not really been at their peak pomp and power, largely due to the injuries they've weathered. I mean, they've been basically playing their third choice fullback for a while now, along with only having KdB and Fernadinho for some of the campaign. It's pretty disgusting when they can bring on Jesus and Sane for kicks in the second half most matches.

Now, that said, they still need to cycle out some players. They went away from using Stones, Kompany's old, Aguero turns 31 this summer and he's never been Pep's favorite, and some of their longer term injury concerns need to be sorted out. For all their abilities, they do still use a lot of David Silva, who's also pretty old at this stage. They have the money, the time, and recruitment, where it won't be the biggest of issues, but there's just as much of a chance that they take a step back in getting in new blood.
 

YNWA14

Onbreekbaar
Dec 29, 2010
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Yeah. Not really that hard to argue that they aren't the best team in PL history.

They are the team that are most successful at beating the poorer teams though. I don't know why, but I do believe the condition of pitches play a role there. Even only 10 years ago playing away to teams like Burnley would mean good teams could not be expected to "play" football. Mourinho with his Chelsea partly set them up to win those kind of wars. Today most pitches are very good all year around in England everywhere.
They dropped 5 points total this season against the top 8 teams in England over 16 games. Last season they dropped 7. So just to be clear their point pace if you take out the "poorer teams" is higher. If that's the narrative you want to use that's fine, but in reality City are just the best team.
 

Havre

Registered User
Jul 24, 2011
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They dropped 5 points total this season against the top 8 teams in England over 16 games. Last season they dropped 7. So just to be clear their point pace if you take out the "poorer teams" is higher. If that's the narrative you want to use that's fine, but in reality City are just the best team.

First of all my point was rather that very good teams back in the day, like Utd, Arsenal and Chelsea, had to go to these kind of pitches. When conditions are poor things get a bit more random.

Spurs almost ended up third. I have watched more or less every single game Spurs have played for the last 10 years or so. This year Spurs were poor compared to the last couple of seasons. Considering Chelsea, Arsenal and Utd were as poor or even worse I'm not that surprised that at least City more or less steamrolled them. A bit of a fluke if you ask me. If City with this core go 100 points again next year I might reconsider.

Not saying City aren't good. And Europa is not always a good way to measure things because over 2 legs a lot can happen, but I don't think it is a complete coincidence that City haven't gone past the QFs over the last two seasons. So to say that team is better than some of the Utd, Chelsea and Arsenal-teams over the last 15-20 years I don't think is a given at all. I personally don't think they are the best. Playing them you feel you got a chance. That wasn't always the case when playing the best.
 

The Abusement Park

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I think it's really hard to argue that this City isn't the best team in PL history.

Best season? Definitely. But I think if you put this team up against the two I mentioned 10, 50, 100 times that they don’t win the majority of those games. I think those two would fare better in fact. They’re absolutely up there with the best 3 teams of all time though.
 
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Savant

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This City side is the best in PL history. After having 198 points the last two seasons, it is not much a debate either.
 

Stray Wasp

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May 5, 2009
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They are the team that are most successful at beating the poorer teams though. I don't know why, but I do believe the condition of pitches play a role there. Even only 10 years ago playing away to teams like Burnley would mean good teams could not be expected to "play" football. Mourinho with his Chelsea partly set them up to win those kind of wars. Today most pitches are very good all year around in England everywhere.

You make a really good point about playing surfaces.

And since we're on the cusp of a winter break, weather-ruined pitches should diminish as a factor still further.
 

S E P H

Cloud IX
Mar 5, 2010
30,725
16,245
Toruń, PL
I found Arsenal as a five star team and I will support them for my entire life, even if they get relegated to EFL Two.

I do feel for some of the smaller clubs though, like coming to the realisation that you're' a Bournemouth fan and knowing that you never have a chance of winning the EPL title.
 

robertmac43

Forever 43!
Mar 31, 2015
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I'm days short of my fourth anniversary being a London resident. I'm in the south east of the city, so my nearest league team is, gasps, Millwall.

When I was traveling in the UK I stopped at the Den. Definitely an interesting footballing experience, just happy no riots were had ;)
 
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Stray Wasp

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May 5, 2009
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I found Arsenal as a five star team and I will support them for my entire life, even if they get relegated to EFL Two.

And I will sacrifice my life in order to save the life of my brother. If he falls into this dimension from one of the alternative dimensions in which I really have a brother. Or I am zapped into that alternative dimension. If alternative dimensions actually exist.
 

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