Damn and blast. I wrote most of a reply to this and then my browser restarted
Anyway...

Quote Originally Posted by Niall_Quinn View Post
It was in our hands, so we were favourites at one point. And then we weren't. Some people claimed we weren't favourites even when it was in our hands. Why would that be?
It being in your hands doesn't necessarily make you favourites. Anfield '89 was in our hands and of course we prevailed but we certainly weren't favourites.
Obviously a factor is your remaining fixtures and the gap you have over the rest. That's why at no point were we considered favourites because our run in was objectively more difficult than the other two and we've never had any significant gap over them.
I don't see how it's a mentality issue and the difficulty of the run in is not irrelevant. Two of your last 4 games being Spurs and Utd away is objectively more difficult than, say, those fixtures being Sheffield Utd and Luton at home. Obviously we are capable of winning all our remaining fixtures, but those two away games are not the nailed on certainties that the alternatives should be.

If anything, Liverpool's recent performances have shown it's not the opponent that matters most, it's your own effort, mentality and application. That's why people thought all along the gypos would win it, because they know they'll nail all of those required attributes. And they doubt we will, because we've provided plenty of evidence in the past to support that view.
There's something in that, but I can't really fault our efforts so far.

We can fall back on saying, good season lads, almost won it but... add excuses accordingly. In the end though, not good enough. That's not even a criticism, it's just a statement of fact.
Not good enough to win the league. It's an exercise for the reader to determine whether they think it's good enough overall.
For me there's been pretty clear progression this year. We've stood up in the big games this season. We've been near perfect in the the run in, just one slip and that wasn't to some cloggers who we should be sweeping aside.

But I do think Arteta is making major gains in repairing the damage that was done over many years. For instance, anyone talking about a top four trophy today would be laughed out of the room. And righly so. The top four trophy was the epitome of a loser mentality, and I think it has almost been dispelled at this point. That's definitely progress. It has taken so long because it was so pernicious and such a destructive way of approaching competitive sport at the top level.

Next step will be learning how to disrespect the gypos and treat them like a bitch, which we used to do to Utd even before we got on the pitch. No more of this grovelling and blind acceptance, the gypos aren't all that. They couldn't even beat Madrid. So much for the best club in the best league in the world.
Agree with most of this. I mean, City only lost to Real on pens, they weren't swept aside by them. But we've stood up to City this season. Maybe we showed them a bit too much respect at their place, but after previous experiences I can understand that. They haven't lost a league home game all season so a draw was a creditable result, and we stopped them scoring which is more than anyone else has done for about 3 years. Next step is to go there and beat them.

If we fall short again this year then so be it. We sign a proper striker in the summer and build on the progress we've made. At times HCZ seems to be saying we should sack Arteta, rip it all up and start again. I think that would be a step backwards.