And at no point today were we actually on top of the league. That would have been more ball-busting.
That's because the results count after the games are over. I have always hated "as it stands" tables, it's just so confusing and distracting for everyone, and it's irrelevant. The games play out, the results come in, and then the points are added up at the final whistle, not during the event. And after 38 games are completed, we see who wins and who has to try again next year. As we have again.
BUT you can't forgive the officials denying Everton a penalty..make no mistake, those 2 points gifted to City WIN them the league
Yes they should have got a penalty against City, that can't be disputed. But it seems you're assuming it was going to be scored as well, which we'll never know. Thankfully we do have VAR available, and the ref ruled out that Sterling ghost goal against us last month. Otherwise, we wouldn't have even got to the final day hoping to win the league.
This pitch invasion by City fans sets a dangerous precedent. Well I know it was commonplace back in the day but in recent times fans have by and large behaved. The media haven't bothered to highlight it, foolishly I think.
They did it when they won the league 10 years ago, they did it when they won it at home 2 years later, they even did it the next time, even though they had won it several weeks beforehand. So it's not a precedent, that's what they do; invade the pitch, assault the opponents, smash up the furniture, delay the presentation etc etc, and they will do it again the next time.
Apart from filming themselves for likes, I will never understand what drives fans to get on a pitch during or after a game. They're a risk to themselves and others, the players don't want them there, and it just wrecks the celebrations for everyone else. Sure there were annual pitch invasions 40 and 50 years ago when teams got off the pitch asap and it was just accepted, but I like to think that as a fanbase, we've grown up and matured in the years since.
2 90+ seasons as runners up is very unfortunate. Never thought we will win the league after the Spurs draw.. But those first 60 or 70 mins today gave me a lot of hope and that is gut wrenching
It's mad really. In the last couple of weeks, I was reading insane arguments here suggesting we pack up the league with 2 games to go, and focus on the European Cup Final. Now we're gutted that we came just 20 minutes from No. 20.
I said I wouldn't celebrate any developments at the other game and I didn't. Instead when it went to 2-0 there, I just said "yeah great, but we still have to win our own game", as the risk was growing that we wouldn't. I also fully expected a response in the other game, because realistically there was no way Villa would keep them quiet for 95 minutes and they didn't, but we hoped they would put up more resistance after the response came, than they did. When the score went 2-2 there, Lawro said "next goal wins the league", and he was right. But we didn't get it, so by the time we did win our game, the league was gone.
You need now at least 90 points to win this league. Whether it's insane or not, that's the standard, and once again we have met that standard. After that, it's fine margins that ultimately make the difference, and 8 draws was one too many this year. 6 of them before Diaz arrived, 3 of them when Thiago was injured for 2 months. Most of them you can explain and accept, but the Brighton result at home, turned out to be the killer one imo. But if we won any of those games, we're celebrating instead of wondering about ifs buts and maybes again.
We have qualified for the European Cup for the sixth year in a row, we scored in every home game, finished 19 games unbeaten and unbeaten at home for another season. But I would have made the players do a lap of honour after the game with the trophies we have won, instead of lamenting about what we didn't. Ok it's not the league trophy but we also have something to celebrate from this season, and it was a good opportunity to show it off in the stadium itself, as not everybody there had ready access to parades the following week.
To give extra time to build the new stand, I assume that our last game of next season will be away from home, as that's what usually happens in that case. So ideally we would like to win the league before it goes to the wire. As for this year, considering that our title challenge was dismissed before the season started, let alone before this game did, the fact that after 9 months, we pushed our rivals all the way to within 20 minutes of the finish line, is something we should all be proud of.