The problem with the late defensive sub is no one remembers all the time you did it and saw out the win, they’ll always remember the time you concede and drop points.

Yes, everyone, absolutely everyone, I’ve surveyed them all!

Is it just me that finds it very odd but not surprising in the least that of everything that I wrote that your response focussed on a turn of phrase on a single word rather than actually engage in the debate with an alternative view with some thoughts or evidence of your own?

Newcastle just 2 points above the relegation zone. Will Eddie Howe (media darling) start to come under any serious pressure?

Strange opening goal for City. Looked like Haaland buried a great header but Konate actually flicks the header in to Haaland’s head then in to the net. You’d have to say it’s quite a fortunate goal but the lead is well deserved. I assume the Liverpool fans telling us we’re boring and their games are so exciting is because they allow their opponents to run right over them.

As soon as Liverpool had that first wobble I always felt it was City who were our main threat

Ok so you made it up. Grand so.

Liverpool getting a right chasing here. They have offered zilch in terms of attack. Wirtz looks lost.

And staring a 5th defeat of the season in the face. Incredible.

Nico Gonzalez growing into the Rodri role. Complete with fairly weak deflected shot resulting in a hugely important goal

The talk about him was mostly that he wasn’t good enough and he might be moved on straight away. But 10 months later Rodri out again and he’s proving invaluable.

Makes me think of the Eze comparison as he’s not really doing it in Odegaards absence, but he might take another few months and suddenly come clutch. Long after the snap judgements of players as failures (see Havertz) they come good to relatively little or no acclaim.

It’s so sad to see. Devastated for them I am. City look really slick. I’d hate for them to come off the rails too, it’d be so tragic.

16 goals conceded in 10.5 games for Liverpool. Hilarious defence to their title. Considering they were very very fortunate to win their first 5 games things could be and maybe should be a lot worse for them.

I enjoy the Liverpool pain but I don’t think the Van Dijk header should have been ruled out. When you read the rules it’s difficult to pinpoint which of them were broken for Robertson being deemed offside. City themselves had a goal allowed for similar v wolves.

Michael Oliver on var - very very often gives the big decisions Man City’s way before and after his stint refereeing abroad and being paid handsomely by City’s owners. Such a clear conflict of interest that would be properly called out and sanctioned in most big business

I don’t mean to wet the bed like a spineless sea jelly, but City are going to pip us to *%^@*** title again aren’t they.

Unless we can stop the neverending injuries to all our attackers I don’t give us much chance tbh.

Phew, glad I haven’t overreacted

City are strong, agreed - they are still pretty reliant on Haaland and one injury to him could be massive, here's hoping, his hamstrings are human

Yup, City are going to be a problem. They are sharing the goals around too.

No, I agree. I just wonder what the stats show is the best way of defending a narrow lead with a few minutes remaining: trying to keep possession a bit more and keeping the ball away from the goal vs falling back into a low block.

There are plenty of players I dislike but Van Dijk has to be right up there. He’s so arrogant. Funny to see the 2nd goal deflect off him when he made a nonchalant flick at the ball. Now he’s just started counting on his fingers to suggest the City gk was wasting time.

When Rooney criticised him earlier this season Van Dijk bit back by saying ‘I didn’t hear him last year’…..yeah duh, you and your team were very good last year so why would Rooney criticise you then, this season you’ve been poor, your team has been poor and you constantly bark out criticism of your teammates on the pitch rather than taking responsibility and leading his team.

I don’t always think it’s the actions of the team defending the lead that dictate the last moments. The team chasing take far more risks, go more direct etc so you will come under more pressure irrespective of your own intentions.

Most commentators seem to agree with h you. I think inside the small if you are offside the goal shouldn't count. Ever.

https://www.sportbible.com/football/foo ... 2-20251108
Another

The slow mo of the Sunderland equaliser shows the shot from Bromberg is going downwards and flicks up off Gabriel’s head to loop over Raya. Quite unlucky really. Given what Sunderland created they were fortunate to score 2, equally when you consider the two we scored plus Zubimendi hitting the bar and those two late chances for Calafiori then the certain goal block we were unfortunate not to win the game.

We’ll be fine

It was bad defending by Gabriel and a poor misjudgement by Raya. Our defence has been brilliant this season, but not yesterday.

Been watching some you-tube videos post our game against Sunderland. Most of the pundits give good perspective of the game and did not imply a slide downwards for us from hereon. And that is what i believe too. This team has the right mental fortitude to get back to winning ways. I don't think the team, neither Arteta, are panicking. Disappointed, yes. In mourning, no.

https://x.com/chambo_afc/status/1987622 ... -j6VVZXEoA

Bradley with two yellow card fouls in the same passage of play, 5 seconds or so apart. That Martinelli red card still rankles, as every day goes past it shows more and more that was a decision to spite Arsenal that no other club would have had.

Michael Oliver is so biased and the VAR overturned decisions yesterday were awful

No way that was a penalty, Doku fell over because he dived

As much as I dislike Van Dijk, there is no way Robertson influenced it

Bent

True to an extent, but the finish was equally lucky as it was skillful and opportunistic.
In terms of chances conceded we gave up a very similar quality of chances as we had in 7 or our previous 8 games where we kept clean sheets in all. Sunderland finished two relatively low quality chances where our opponents hadn’t been finishing those chances in other games.

I read this morning Liverpool have lost 15 games in 2025. Two more than Man Utd. They're gone as challengers at this stage I'd say. Just City to worry about unless the Spudz come good.

They shared them around in the Liverpool win but Haaland has scored 66% of their goals, 14 of 21.
We're sharing them around and still have the likes of Ødegaard, Havertz, Madueke yet to trouble the scorers this season

My argument is our goal scoring is more sustainable - but time will tell whether a squad beats an incredible individual

In the last 3 seasons I can't recall any absolute stinker decisions going against Man City. Michael Oliver has an incredible history of favourable decisions for Man City

Last season's FA Cup final, although it was highly entertaining.

In the last 6 form guide Liverpool sit 18th in the league.

£400k a week new contracts for Van Dijk and Salah (I fear they'll do a £100m deal for Salah to Saudi in Jan/summer)
£115m Wirtz struggling physically
£130m Isak struggling with ongoing injuries
two new full backs both kicked out of the team for being unable to cope
Konate running his contract down to try to engineer a free transfer to Madrid
lacking depth for key players like Van Dijk, Gravenberch
Mac Allister a shadow of his former self

Their home crowd will see them through a decent amount of games but teams are now seeing the weaknesses and are having a go at them.

One of the best things a good team can have is a psychological advantage over their opponents before a ball is even kicked. It takes a long time and a lot of work to earn that but once the veil slips teams will smell blood

https://x.com/anfieldsector/status/1987 ... -j6VVZXEoA

This was a City goal given similar to the one ruled out for Liverpool. Obviously there is inconsistency but the striking thing for me is the absolute sh*t show in communication, multiple voices all panicking and shouting over each other. No one actually getting the rules and applying them with clear analytical language. And some people mocked Arteta for trying to learn lessons from the RAF about clear communication under pressure.

NOV 23 SPURS H
NOV 30 CHELSEA A
DEC 3 BRENTFORD H
DEC 6 VILLA A
DEC 13 WOLVES H
DEC 21 EVERTON A
DEC 27 BRIGHTON H
DEC 30 VILLA H
JAN 3 BOURNEMOUTH A
JAN 8 LIVERPOOL H

Our next 10 league games. We really have to win every one of those home games and the away games are all very tricky.
If we could win all 6 at home and 2 of the away ones that would be immense and we would be right up there.
City's next 10 are much easier on paper. It is going to be extremely tight and makes a mockery of those saying it is ours to lose.
City in their next 10 have leeds sunderland westham chelsea and brighton all at home. They will likely win them all.

It is a big period for sure. City's away games are no gimmes in this period though.
Newcastle away as the 5.30 late game - Joelinton and Bruno steaming in to break their legs
Fulham away - playing poorly but capable of an upset
Palace away 3 days after City have faced Real Madrid away
Forest away - slightly resurgent under Dyche
Sunderland away

They could still rescue things with a good CL run, but it is reaching the point where one is just beginning to wonder if it is more than a bad blip. If they get into manager firing mode one can see a downward spiral developing.

They may very well be ending a period of success and have not come up with decent replacements. But in the last 8 years they have won 2 EPL, 1 Champions League, 1 FA cup and 2 League Cups. That’s a pretty good haul given City’s dominance. For us if they dip, it’s great news as there is one less challenger. Now it’s up to us to win some of the big ones, the EPL or CL.

Liverpool have contacted the PGMOL to complain about Van Dijk’s goal being ruled out. I wonder what Neville and specifically Carragher have to say about this because they were both very damning of Arsenal when we did similar following the infamous Newcastle goal.

That's either deflection or desperation from Liverpool, or possibly both. They were comprehensively beaten yesterday. The wheels have fallen off.

I think they are gone for this season. I thought in the summer that Trent would be a huge loss because he launched so many quick attacks with his passing from deep. But on top of that, Slot tried to change too much too quickly. Ekitike apart, their summer signings have been disastrous so far. Their defending is terrible and the midfield is all at sea.

What a strange and completely misleading stat to post. And yet people still think there is no media favourites or teams/players that are put down to either generate clicks or simply because they dislike them.

The context of the stat below is in this time period Arsenal have played 20 prem games outside the capital, Saka was injured for 11 of them, in the 9 games he played he scored 1 goal and got 7 assists. AND since 21/22 season Saka is 4th in total goals and assists of ALL time fingers in europes top 5 leagues.

If this stat was an attempt to paint Saka as a London home comforts player it also ignores him scoring away at PSG and Real Madrid which is give a lot more credit to than a goal v Southampton away.

To pick another example, look at the praise Doku is getting for his performance at the weekend…..but in 2 and a quarter seasons he’s only scored 7 league goals and only 2 away from home.
Foden, Grealish and Palmer have stunk out football for the entirety of last season in Foden and Grealish’s case, and ever since Xmas for Palmer but the first bit of good play or goal from any of them will be lauded and all the poor form glossed over.