Not over till the fat lady sings............

89 minutes at 1-0 Son went through 1v1, he’s one of the best 1v1 finishers in the league, scored with his eyes shut from the position he was in and he hit it straight at the GK. That was the title.

It’s foolish to ‘blame’ Spurs, they’ve done much better than I thought they would v City tonight, just as Man U did v us at the weekend. Spurs didn’t deny us the title, they had the chance to do that a couple of weeks ago and were 3-0 down to us at half time.

There’s still a chance of course but it looks likely another 2nd placed finish behind a club with 115 so far unanswered charges for breaking the Prem rules

Strangely, it still feels like we have a chance. Upsets do happen in football!

So painful missing out....
Son with a great chance to level it before city's second.
It's over now but I'm so proud of my team for taking it to the last game.
Phenomenal run since we returned from Dubai but not beating villa has cost us.
We have been brilliant and in another season we would win the league.
So gutted but so so proud we pushed them to the very end.
No bottlers here!

As if they were ever capable of - much less than able to - get a result.

Surrender monkeys.

Villa are in the Champions League. Many Spurs fans celebrating the result that meant they couldn’t get champions league.

I don’t blame spurs fans for not wanting us to win the title, but there should really be some quiet shame on wanting that result. ie you might be pleased but you know you’d embarrass yourself if you tried to celebrate it too hard or rub Arsenal’s nose in it

Strange that their fans thought they had some influence on it, suggesting they’ll play badly to let City win. City were always more than capable of beating Spurs no matter how well Spurs played. City were the only ones who could have beaten themselves tonight and they nearly did with that error for Son’s chance

Keane said something to the effect once that you can always count on Spurs to let you down. My guess is he was talking about NLDs when they were vying for a title run against us.

In any event, City are a juggernaut. The media talks about our big score lines but in the run in City have been unstoppable. They've not given up many goals at all. Their defense is better than ours recently. No shame in losing to them. I also think the media has expected more of us than Liverpool when they were City's main contenders. They were seen as over matched by City, underdogs, who were putting up a strong fight. With us, we bottled it.

Tottenham fans will cheer the score line. They will take some pride in they had their chances, and didn't lose by a cricket score. But in the end denied us a title.

Anyway, I have a feeling next season we are going to finally do it. This season has told the players they can. For three consecutive games in all competitions against City we not only haven't lost but only conceded 1 goal and that was last summer. We will build on that. Just like 2004 was a result of disappointment from 2003.

City’s last 5 games they’ve conceded once but conceded an xG of 4.5. Possibly some very good gk-ing bailing them out of opponents are missing some big chances the average footballer would score. Clinging to any kind of hope that if they give up those same chances v West Ham that Bowen sticks them away

Very proud of my team. Proper team. Proper club.

Million miles from those loser mongrels down the road. Never were. Never will be.

Rejoice in your victory loss, sad little cowsons.

City play West Ham who have lost 3 of their last 5 games. Everton has been playing well, they haven't lost in last 5 games so we'd have to fight anyway had Spurs drawn.

Anyway, I still think Timber will be huge for us and make us much better. And if we get a holding midfielder who is great on the ball, freeing Rice to venture forward a bit more it will move us up to a higher level.

Actually, its rub of the green. If Son had scored ...

Not saying they are lucky, but City do seem to have the Gods on their side this season, in that they have had remarkably little bad luck in the league in 2024 in games they haven't been so dominant ... eg this one, the one against Liverpool and the one against Palace.

Hopefully the gods will realise that they are being ridiculous and redress the balance by inflicting some freakish bad luck on them for a change. We're not asking much, just a draw.

Or them hitting the post 20 times and failing to score.
Or Ederson chucking it into his own net.
Or some clodhopping defender who has never scored for WH scoring a Worldy from 40 yards.
Or anything really, not fussy.
Just a bit of *(&^ing luck please!

Pretty pathetic really. They can't win anything so their only joy is putting a stick in our spokes.

Not for me Decaf. West Ham will have their boardies and sun tan lotion on by now.

https://sport.optus.com.au/news/all/os7 ... -tottenham

Ange is pretty pissed off with something at Spurs. Maybe it’s the whole clubs attitude to this game. He is not beyond walking away from a contract if people give him the sh/tz. Maybe he’s told them what he wants in the transfer window and they are happy with the squad but given he talks about the last 48 hours I suspect it’s about the clubs attitude that they are happy to lose to City. Small club mentality with a chip on their shoulder will not sit well with Ange. He demands absolute dedication and to win every game.

I will be shocked if City don’t win by 4.

It’s over. Glad I missed the game.

Don’t for a second think West Ham will get a result againest city. They will get smashed to pieces. Don’t give it one iota of hope honestly. Theres something grotesque and thoroughly boring about city’s dominance now.

Sunday will be a day of gratitude to say thanks to the lads for an incredible effort this season. In any other year they would be title winners and certainly in a footballing sense are comparable and even better to other sides we’ve had that won the league.

For me our player of the season was Declan Rice who brought more control to our game however it’s testament that there could be several contenders Saliba, Gabriel,Ødegaard or Saka. I hope they keep the core together and make tough decisions on the players on the fringes to allow us to strengthen and re enforce and come at this again. Most important thing is the retention of the manager with a new contract who has unquestionably been responsible for Arsenals resurgence.

Ah well, victory through harmony

His comments were very interesting, talking about the last 48 hours revealing a lot and the foundations of the club are not as strong as he thought. Spurs fans with their attitude to this game may have done more damage than they could imagine. The best manager they’ve had in years is having second thoughts. And I do rank Ange as their best manager certainly since Poch, he wants to be there has the ambition to be the best, wants to get rid of the old cliches, and if we’re honest he had them playing some football at the start of the season which had me a little bit worried. Now it seems like he’s saying similar sorts of things as Jose and Conte - almost blaming the irreversible culture of the club as a barrier to him trying to move the club forward

Give the absolutely huge advantages City has over us for them to be a 1v1 Son kick from potentially losing the title is cutting it far too fine for them.

It’s interesting that in many of their title races many fans of the other big 6 clubs prefer City to win it that the other team. I do if Arsenal aren’t in with a shout. There is total apathy to City winning it and I do think that grates with Pep in particular. If City win it you write it off as cheating, of course ‘they’ win it as they should every year. If your rival wins it then suddenly the spotlight is turned on to your own club, if they could do it why can’t we, and add in the fact that no one knows a City fan over the age of 12 but we know loads of Liverpool, Man U, Chelsea fans, you simply don’t have any rivalry with City or their fans.

Btw that was the first Conte moment for Postecoglou. He’s not a happy bunny.

Gone by Christmas

Come on WHU!

going to be a day of getting sent stuff like this

https://x.com/FutOffsides/status/1790482552441987211

I'm not getting too worked up about this but there was a distinct lack of chat or clarity on the potential offside of De Bruyne for City's crucial opening goal. I haven't seen the actual VAR check lines on this so we can ignore whatever lines some nerd on twitter has drawn but the still image shows it is very, very close so it is strange not to have a bit more narrative, discussion and explanation around it

If you are not onboard Ange wants you out. Arteta was given permission and the money to allow this to happen at Arsenal. Look at our turnover of players: even ones who were virtually paid to leave. I doubt Spurs have an Edu to facilitate such a change. They are in effect on year one and we are at the end of year 4. Make no mistake when he gets upset he will walk away if the responses are not reasonable . Just like he did with Australia. Some defining moments coming up for Spurs.

We are 1-2 years from winning the league I think. Depends on a few things. First, if we buy correctly. Second, we can stay relatively injury free. Third, what happens with City. Do they have any weaknesses they need filled?

Anyway, they could end up winning it next season. 5 straight. 6 straight isn't that crazy either. The league will take some sort of action if people stop watching and/or coming to games. Playing for second isn't fun. If City win the double on the regular, it really may turn even more people off. They have the squad to win the double regularly. They play the bench in the league cup so that is attainable. The CL is the only competition they have fairly stiff competition.

We will start looking like Bundesliga. 4, 5 straight wins by the biggest club and the odd title once or twice a decade. Leverkusen is the first club to win the title since 2013. Dortmund and Leipzig are like Liverpool and either Arsenal, Tottenham, Chelsea or Man Utd since 2017

City will catch and pass us for titles before the decade is finished. This will be their 10th title to our 13.

If it weren't for us, Man Utd would surely have won 4 or 5 straight from 1998 till Roman's money in '04. Liverpool were good enough to get the title in '02 were it not for us, but other than that we were the only thing stopping Man Utd from complete domination. No one talks about or gives us credit. Truth is we should have won back to back '03 and '04 if the referee in the Leeds game in '03 didn't let them injure us.

First Liverpool, now we are the going to be ones that can stop City. Possible Man Utd or Chelsea will re-emerge. I would guess Man Utd moreso, they don't stay down long. They got 3rd last season and I thought they'd build on that.

The thing about Ange-ball for me is the extreme levels of fitness it requires. Players are expected to charge forward when in possession and flood back to cover when they lose the ball. It's no surprise to me that the intensity of their play has dropped off markedly in the send half of the season. It's actually fallen off a cliff in recent weeks.

Early in the season, the Totts were flying and were undoubtedly great to watch. But so were Leeds under Bielsa in 20 - 21; they played a similar high-intensity and very entertaining game which worked for the first season - but not the second. Leeds just ran out of steam in 21-22 and Bielsa was sacked early in 2022.

We need to remember that Ange is a relatively inexperienced coach and though he has worldwide experience, he's never come up against the sort of teams - and coaches - that he meets every week in the Prem. If you play the same tactics every week, as Bielsa did and as Ange seems to, good coaches work you out. Most professional players reserve their greatest respect for winners. "Show us your trophies!" The EPL is the pinnacle of world football so an Asian Cup or Scottish Prems ain't going to cut it with many. If players are required to flog their guts out week in week out, they'll stick with the programme while it works. When things start going wrong though, I wouldn't be surprised if some of the players were effectively voting with reduced commitment.

Agreed, Spurs should absolutely back him. But he needs to play ball too. Ange can't go all Mourinho and demand players at high cost with no sell on value for example. The technical director sets the vision and strategy and that needs to accord with Ange and his style of football.

Arteta was given time but Arteta was also reasonable in his demands for the squad and showed his ability to mould them in to a very good side and to make each of these players better.
Finally, Ange was given £250m in his first window, Arteta was given £75m. In Arteta's first £250m worth if signings only Mari (£7m), Cédric (£0m), William (£0m) Runnarsson (£1m) Lokonga (£15m), Tavares (£7m) failed to form an integral part of a side that eventually put in back to back title challenges - so only £25m 'wasted'.
Can Ange get a title challenge with Maddison, Porro, Kulesevski, Johnson, Vicario, VdV, Dragusin as integral parts of a team that challenges for the title?

Ange inflexibility also leads to him requiring very round players to fit very round holes. One huge factor in Arteta's recruitment is buying players who are flexible and can perform at a high level in more than 1 position and in more than 1 tactics system. I don't think Spurs have necessarily done that.
Arsenal and City seems to have swiss army knife players in defence, Spurs seem quite rigid in that regard, its the same in central midfield.

Wages table from 22/23 season accounts. Villa are highlighted as the piece I extracted this from was about the great job they have done to get top 4, but it also shows what we have done to be 2nd twice. We're giving away £200m every season to these top teams in terms of what we can spend on wages. So when fans and the media and pundits look at transfer spend (which is vastly less than wages) they need to actually factor in wages as well.

Arsenal spend £200m on transfers and £235m on wages for a total outlay of £425m
City spent £200m on transfer and £423m on wages for a total outlay of £623m

Puts some context in to Pep's rant about teams spending more than his team - and I'm constantly amazed why no journalist challenges him and City on this - everything seems to be concentrated solely on transfer fees

Are Spurs fans actually proud of this or is it a parody?

Thanks Gaz - just watched this. Cheered me up a bit.

Ange is MIGHTILY pissed off.

Gone by Christmas.

I would be gobsmacked.

My point is my gob is still in a position to be smacked. Hope has not died completely.

Truth the home loss to Villa cost us. A draw in hindsight would have gotten us the title probably. In most other years pre City it wouldn't be a big deal almost any title run because everyone was dropping points at times. City are a machine where its not only going unbeaten but also perfect record.

Beating City to the title is a learning process. It took Liverpool 3 years. And when you do it mentally drains your squad because they have to be perfect each game at the business end. You can't maintain that kind of focus season in, season out. It may be why Liverpool had a down season last year.

When we were going head to head with Man Utd both clubs lost games, dropped points. The title was in the 80s point wise usually. Pushing Man Utd to 90 points in '99, made them barely get over the treble line. The title was down to the last game of the season, the FA cup was their easiest but the semis was draining. The CL final was luck.

The 2 Mourinho years they were a machine as well.

EDIT

I didn't watch the game but it seems Ange had a heated exchange late on with a fan behind the dugout. Must've taken exception to the home crowd cheering for City. He made the point that when they've scored late - and they were pressing quite hard at the time - it's been because the crowd had helped them.

All is not well in heaven.

Saw this online titled 'Not the actions of an innocent club'

There is one reason and one reason only why this case is not settled yet. When the PL launched the procedure for the 115 charges, City made sure that it got stuck in the courts for almost 3 years challenging every technical aspect it could to delay it.

A summary:
November-December 2018: The Premier League write to City requesting certain information and documents in relation to potential breaches of their rules — known as the information claim. City object to the request — after what has been published by Der Spiegel/the Football Leaks.

21 August 2019: The PL issue a complaint against City, since it has still not received the documents and information it has the right to receive under the Premier League Rules and which City refuse to give the PL access to. City responds by challenging the PL's disciplinary system, challenging a technicality (only highly regarded barristers could be elected for the commission).

22 October 2019: With the documents and information not forthcoming, the PL begin arbitration against the club seeking a declaration that they are contractually obliged to provide them. The club try to stop the arbitration by arguing to the tribunal involved that the PL had no power to start it. They also claim that the tribunal does not appear impartial.

26 June 2020: City issue an application in the Commercial Court repeating their argument that the tribunal lacks jurisdiction on the information claim and is tainted with “bias”.

2 November 2020: City’s claim that it has no obligation to to pass on the requested information and documents to the PL — is rejected. It’s clearly stated in the rules that they must do so. The order to provide them is however postponed pending the outcome of the Commercial Court case.

17 March 2021: In the Commercial Court, Mrs Justice Moulder more or less summarily dismisses the club's challenge to the jurisdiction and impartiality of the tribunal, dismantling the City’s lawyers arguments clearly hinting that it was felt that it had abused the public court system. She refuses permission to appeal her judgment.

24 March 2021: Mrs Justice Moulder said her judgment should be published, in order to reveal the lengths to which City had attempted to resist passing on information to the PL. City successfully seeked permission to appeal the decision to make the information public in the Court of Appeal. So we get another delay (I think you are starting to get the drift by now, it’s an appeal of an appeal of an appeal about a pure nonsense technicality. On a side

30 June 2021: The Court of Appeal opens its hearing into the club's appeal against publication. The Court of Appeal handed down its decision dismissing the appeal.

So it took the PL almost three years to just have it sorted out that it has the right to receive the information the Premier League Rules clearly states that City must submit to the PL. After this, we know that City made another challenge of the impartiality of an experienced barrister in no way connected to the Premier League, in KC Murray Rosen. How much delay this caused is unknown.

During this time, City was also sentenced by UEFA for failing to produce requested information and delaying procedures.

I am sure we all come across City PR people, at twitter, during City’s PCs, and so forth, telling us that the reason no decision have been made against City is because it is quote “complicated“. Decide for yourself!

In fairness a draw at home to Villa would still have left us a point behind City. After we drew with City (and I've seen people say Arsenal choked by not going to City and beating them!!!) we needed to win 7 out of 7 and we likely win 6. Probably 16 wins 1 draw and 1 defeat in 18. It is title winning form in probably 97 of the last 100 league seasons in english football

In the season Liverpool finally won it with 99 points, City only got 81 - not a title winning points total. Liverpool broke them that season as they lost 9 games at regular intervals in the season