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Amongst all this analysis of City's battling performance, Aguero's injury & the upcoming transfer window, Roma, Lampard, how we get through the games to come, etc etc, there is imo another consideration which has kind of slipped under the radar; it appears Chelsea are not 'all that'.

This was not an especially difficult period for them. They had qualified in the Champions League. They were eight points clear of City. They had most players fit. They couldn't score against Sunderland, & would have lost 2-0 to Newcastle if not for Taylor's brown envelope stupid sending off.

Were they under any great pressure ? No. Were there any outside problems which would cause them to lose concentration ? No.

The only thing that has happened, is that they had a couple of players alternately missing, & then City won a couple of games. Now it will be interesting to see how they react if we do go on a big run, but Imo, whatever happens in the next month during our Aguero free period, the same rule still applies; stick with the fuckers.

We have been saying on here, how we feel that Chelsea could well crack up IF, we get close enough to keep the pressure on.

Well now we KNOW it. Thet have it in them & so does Mourinho (blaming ballboys at Newcastle ffs !) And I'm not having any 'title decider' bollocks for the game at the Bridge; no it isn't, anymore than last season's game at Anfield was. If they can drop points at Sunderland & Newcastle, then they can drop points elsewhere, at any time.

Of course if they decide to fuck it up now, then that would be very nice, but it's unlikely to happen that way.

So just keep going City, stick in there through the injuries & whatever else, don't let them get away, & we'll see who comes out on top, when the pressure is really on.

Just makes me laugh how all these "experts" deciding that the league was over, after 12 games. All it took was a 5 point swing and suddenly its not a foregone conclusion. Who knows, it could swing the other way over xmas, but the kneejerk reaction stuff is ridiculous. I'm waiting for the mourinho "mind games" orb to be passed around his harem of know fuck all media cronies. yawn-a-fucking-rama

Bianchi on Ice wrote:Just makes me laugh how all these "experts" deciding that the league was over, after 12 games. All it took was a 5 point swing and suddenly its not a foregone conclusion. Who knows, it could swing the other way over xmas, but the kneejerk reaction stuff is ridiculous. I'm waiting for the mourinho "mind games" orb to be passed around his harem of know fuck all media cronies. yawn-a-fucking-rama

I bet Jamie 'Spice Boy' Redknapp has crawled under a rock for the next week or so after his expert opinion on chelsea already having the league sewn up

Bianchi on Ice wrote:Just makes me laugh how all these "experts" deciding that the league was over, after 12 games. All it took was a 5 point swing and suddenly its not a foregone conclusion. Who knows, it could swing the other way over xmas, but the kneejerk reaction stuff is ridiculous. I'm waiting for the mourinho "mind games" orb to be passed around his harem of know fuck all media cronies. yawn-a-fucking-rama

The 'pundits' do it every year:
2011-12 - we had won it by Christmas, then rags were champions at the end of March, then oops we won it in Fergie time
2012-13 - rags had won it by Christmas - and they were right but only because we couldn't get our act together
2013-14 - Arsenal won it in December, Scousers in April, and oops we won again

They have the attention span of a goldfish with Alzheimers, and base their assessment on the table today, and for the same reason can't remember their own mistakes from previous years.

Long may it continue though, because I think it spurs our lads on.

Apparently, that font of all wisdom Gary ferret-face Neville tweeted that this weekend could be the weekend Chelsea won the title (given Kun's injury). What a thick cunt. Someone needs to point to the table and explain the 3-point gap, and the fact that we won the title last year with Kun missing a large chunk of it. And another thing, we don't bottle it but Maureen does, repeatedly, when the pressure is on. Given our next run of games I can see his toys coming out of the pram big style, and I wouldn't be surprised if we go into the new year as leaders, all things being equal.

There will be plenty more twists and turns, but the one thing we have learnt over the last few years is the effect of pressure. When the rags last won it, if they drew, we lost. Every time we had a chance to put some pressure on them, we failed to do it and they slowly increased their lead to a point where we couldn't pressurise them.

Considering the fixtures over the last week for both sides, this was a time where Chelsea could have opened up a gap we'd have struggled to close. Instead, they will be very twitchy. If we can keep a good run going until the new year, they could easily be in second.

Remember, everyone says Liverpool threw the league away last season, whereas Chelsea were top after beating them but then messed up. Somehow Maureen has got away without criticism for that

Apparently, that font of all wisdom Gary ferret-face Neville tweeted that this weekend could be the weekend Chelsea won the title (given Kun's injury). What a thick cunt. Someone needs to point to the table and explain the 3-point gap, and the fact that we won the title last year with Kun missing a large chunk of it. And another thing, we don't bottle it but Maureen does, repeatedly, when the pressure is on. Given our next run of games I can see his toys coming out of the pram big style, and I wouldn't be surprised if we go into the new year as leaders, all things being equal.

I'm one of the biggest pundit-Neville fans on here but I have to confess that he's clearly becoming more and more of a regular pundit. Pointless soundbites and hyperboles. Boring and annoying.

I think the fact that the 'invincible' veneer has been stripped away ( fuck knows where it came from) more teams will fancy their chances.
They will play a lot of games in January probably and it becomes so difficult to maintain a high level from March with big Euro, cup and league games every week.
Their next three away games are Stoke, Soton and Spuds. Far from a guaranteed nine points.
One note of caution though; they have already played most of their tougher away games, two visits to Manchester and Liverpool plus the North East and so that aspect should be easier in the aecond half of the season.
We are still right in the mix and hopefully will remain so.

Hutch's Shoulder wrote:

Bianchi on Ice wrote:Just makes me laugh how all these "experts" deciding that the league was over, after 12 games. All it took was a 5 point swing and suddenly its not a foregone conclusion. Who knows, it could swing the other way over xmas, but the kneejerk reaction stuff is ridiculous. I'm waiting for the mourinho "mind games" orb to be passed around his harem of know fuck all media cronies. yawn-a-fucking-rama

The 'pundits' do it every year:
2011-12 - we had won it by Christmas, then rags were champions at the end of March, then oops we won it in Fergie time
2012-13 - rags had won it by Christmas - and they were right but only because we couldn't get our act together
2013-14 - Arsenal won it in December, Scousers in April, and oops we won again

They have the attention span of a goldfish with Alzheimers, and base their assessment on the table today, and for the same reason can't remember their own mistakes from previous years.

Long may it continue though, because I think it spurs our lads on.

This time last year we were being hyped up as possible quadruple trophies, the media just love to create a story out of nothing to give them something to write out of nothing. Don't be surprised to hear the Quadruple bollocks for chelsea in january.

3 things for me .......

1, I have said it many times on here this season ......... Chelski rely on 4 players ! Matic is one of them and he was suspended v Newcastle , Chelski lost . Costa is another , he was suspended v Sunderland , Chelski couldn't score and they drew.

2. Maureen's ego will get the better of him this season and he will fuck up or get a ban .

3. Jamie Redknapp is an absolute cock who is full of shit , nuff said .

What do you mean Chelsea aren't all that? They only fell 23 games short of an "invincibles" season.

That said they aren't a dummy side either; Newcastle is their bogey ground and they came unstuck there, finding out that the drop off from Matic to Mikel is huge. Matic had played every minute of every game, and Saturday was uncharted territory for them.

In the lead up to Xmas they play Stoke, Southampton and Spurs away, with West Ham and Hull at home. Granted the Hull game is a knock over but the other 4 are tests of differing degrees. We need to be within 3pts or less of them come the 3rd round of the FA Cup - if we are, then its game on.

We could also do with Chelsea getting through in the Capital One cup next weds night, as it dumps another 2 games on them in January. In terms of ourselves, I actually think City are better hunting teams down than leading from the front so Id happily sit just behind them till April and strike then - let them have the press/media fawning over them and we can go about our business supposedly already out of it.

As for Redknapp - Junior and Senior - being as neither has been involved in a successful Prem Lge/top division title run-in I wouldnt place any stock in their opinion as its something they have no direct experience of - how would they know how it feels/goes? They can ask Jack Rodwell or Stefan Savic as they could tell you more.

forgive me but I thought that chelski won it there at the end of September.

We don't need to be 3 points away from them now though. We just need to be 5 or 6 points away from them when the shit hits the fan near the death & we are still in with a good shout.

12 points has always been the key for me. If we had slipped 12 points behind, or if we do, it's over. That is usually too much barring catastrophe. Even if you get it back, you lose some of it again.

As with last year, it's very likely both sides are going to drop a number of points between now & May. But we have shown we can come through when the chips are down. Chelsea's best player in those circumstances plays for us.

As Mourinho has made clear the big problem for Chelsea has been a conspiracy by away ball boys to stop them winning. Class.

City64 wrote:3 things for me .......

1, I have said it many times on here this season ......... Chelski rely on 4 players ! Matic is one of them and he was suspended v Newcastle , Chelski lost . Costa is another , he was suspended v Sunderland , Chelski couldn't score and they drew.

2. Maureen's ego will get the better of him this season and he will fuck up or get a ban .

3. Jamie Redknapp is an absolute cock who is full of shit , nuff said .

Costa played against Sunderland and should have seen red. Matic is the key for me. Huge player for them.

Cocacolajojo wrote:

Apparently, that font of all wisdom Gary ferret-face Neville tweeted that this weekend could be the weekend Chelsea won the title (given Kun's injury). What a thick cunt. Someone needs to point to the table and explain the 3-point gap, and the fact that we won the title last year with Kun missing a large chunk of it. And another thing, we don't bottle it but Maureen does, repeatedly, when the pressure is on. Given our next run of games I can see his toys coming out of the pram big style, and I wouldn't be surprised if we go into the new year as leaders, all things being equal.

I'm one of the biggest pundit-Neville fans on here but I have to confess that he's clearly becoming more and more of a regular pundit. Pointless soundbites and hyperboles. Boring and annoying.

To my mind CCJJ, with regard to Neville it's a case of 'once a Rat-Boy, always a Rat-Boy'. I can't find it in my heart to give him any credit whatsoever.


With regard to Chelsea; it's a case of "They don't like it up 'em, Mr. Mainwaring"

Half the bloody folk on here were saying they wanted Chelsea to do the rags over a few weeks ago because they were convinced they'd walk the league anyway...
Still think they are favorites mind.

Bridge'srightfoot wrote:Half the bloody folk on here were saying they wanted Chelsea to do the rags over a few weeks ago because they were convinced they'd walk the league anyway...
Still think they are favorites mind.

Most people on here want everyone to do the rags over regardless of anything else in the world. I find it hard to believe that even you could fail to understand this.

On the other hand, it is you.

Ted Hughes wrote:We don't need to be 3 points away from them now though. We just need to be 5 or 6 points away from them when the shit hits the fan near the death & we are still in with a good shout.

12 points has always been the key for me. If we had slipped 12 points behind, or if we do, it's over. That is usually too much barring catastrophe. Even if you get it back, you lose some of it again.

As with last year, it's very likely both sides are going to drop a number of points between now & May. But we have shown we can come through when the chips are down. Chelsea's best player in those circumstances plays for us.

I am thinking the opposite Ted, I want to be 5 or 6 points ahead when the shit hits the Fan. I would like to see a guard of honour for once with a very relaxing last game of the season and not giving a toss what the result is at our ground or anyone else's. I know I am hard to please :-)

Wonderwall wrote:

Ted Hughes wrote:We don't need to be 3 points away from them now though. We just need to be 5 or 6 points away from them when the shit hits the fan near the death & we are still in with a good shout.

12 points has always been the key for me. If we had slipped 12 points behind, or if we do, it's over. That is usually too much barring catastrophe. Even if you get it back, you lose some of it again.

As with last year, it's very likely both sides are going to drop a number of points between now & May. But we have shown we can come through when the chips are down. Chelsea's best player in those circumstances plays for us.

I am thinking the opposite Ted, I want to be 5 or 6 points ahead when the shit hits the Fan. I would like to see a guard of honour for once with a very relaxing last game of the season and not giving a toss what the result is at our ground or anyone else's. I know I am hard to please :-)

IMHO the West Ham game last year was OK.