Quote ="Karlos13"Would Utd and city even qualify for europe if they were in La Liga? Would the likes of Liverpool avoid relegation?'" they might, as apparently Steve Gerrard is the 2nd best british midfielder of all time www.ibtimes.co.uk/articles/31448 ... egends.htm? don't get me wrong , he is a very fine player, who has carried some awful liverpool teams ( much like robson carried some pretty hideous united teams ) but A> how does he rank compared to the other players mentioned B> 'all he has done for england' - which is what exactly? he's has been (other than the odd decent game) as average to poor as everyone else who has played for england in the recent era

Quote ="Karlos13"Would Utd and city even qualify for europe if they were in La Liga? Would the likes of Liverpool avoid relegation?'" they might, as apparently Steve Gerrard is the 2nd best british midfielder of all time www.ibtimes.co.uk/articles/31448 ... egends.htm? don't get me wrong , he is a very fine player, who has carried some awful liverpool teams ( much like robson carried some pretty hideous united teams ) but A> how does he rank compared to the other players mentioned B> 'all he has done for england' - which is what exactly? he's has been (other than the odd decent game) as average to poor as everyone else who has played for england in the recent era

The premier league title run in is going to be a doozy.

Whilst you'd have to say 'advantage united', I still think city will ultimatley triumph.

I think it was psychologically damaging for city when united went to chelsea, nal and tottenham and didn't drop the points you think they would, and then they beat norwich in the last minute as well. It's just typical united really, as soon as you enter a title run, they pick up points [i[urelentlessly[/u[/i.

They draw against chelsea when it looks all ends up a defeat. They win against nal when, with 10 minutes remaining it's level with nal piling on the pressure. Then they go to tottenham who've been rampant this season and win without breaking sweat.

Then they look set for a draw against norwich and nick a last minute winner. That's 7 more points than city would have expected them to have.

You have to admire United's sheer ability to.....well just accumulate a hell of alot of points when the title race reaches it's crucial point.

To get one point ahead of city they'd had to go on a pretty big unbeaten run. When will this come to an end? The sooner it does, the better for city (obviously).

City have the tougher run in, but they need to embrace this. This is where they get the chance to show their mettle, and show why they should be champions.

United went to chelsea, to tottenham and to nal needing to get points. So man city can't feel sorry for themselves, they need to beat chelsea, they need to go to nal and newcastle and win, they need to go to stoke and pick up all three points. This is where champions are made.

For me, it'll be tooth and nail until the final game. Both teams will drop points and whens all said and done, the last game of the season will decide it. IMO.

Man city are at home to qpr, united away at sunderland. For me, that's advantage city.

City to take the title by 1 point, last game of the season.

Utd will drop points at Wolves on Sunday IMO.

They won't.

Wolves have been shot to sh*t in recent weeks and UNited know if they win that they'll go 4 points clear until city play chelsea which will apply tremendous pressure on city.

If wolves play like they did against Blackburn then Utd will run riot.

If united play like they did against Blackburn, they won't.

United won't play that bad again all season. Right now their league form is outstanding and they just look too strong for anyone.

If City drop points in the next few weeks it could be the nightmare scenario of United winning the title on derby day at The Etihad.

Wow, heard some ridiculous overreactions to Utd's exit since last night

. As someone rightly pointed out this is a team in transition and when you throw in the ridiculous amount of injuries we've had this season, along with the patchy form shown by our "star" players (Rooney, Rio etc) then it was always an uphill task to do anything in Europe. If we can somehow win the league this season that would be a phenomenal achievement & would again be testament to the resolve of Fergie & the players. FWIW, I'm glad we're out of the EL as we shouldn't have been in it anyway, the whole "get knocked out of one cup & get put into another" is a farce.

Good luck to Bilbao, btw, excellent team & as previously stated, top bunch of fans. I've never been one of those fans who's adopted a 2nd team but may just change my mind!

I don't think United particularly minded going out of the EL.

I think United clearly missed Vidic in Europe. The foundation of their success (or near success) in Europe over recent seasons has been the defence, take out your best defender and stick in a new goalkeeper and the results are as shown. United's midfield clearly isn't capable of doing a proper cover-up job, United fans have been asking for a Keane replacement for years (Hargreaves, for a year), I think more than ever they're in dire need of a proper defensive midfielder in the Mascherano mold. Fernando at Porto's a good'un, if Fergie's reading.

Premiership - best league in the world

Quick question; what constitutes to being the best league in the world? During the 'big four' reign, the premier league only had four top sides in the league, the rest were average, yet the league was deemed the best because the big four dominated most sides in Europe.

Now the league itself is more 'competitive', IMO, we have more sides competing for the top four places than we did when the top four dominated the CL. Is the league now weaker, despite it being more competitive?

Over the years when the top four dominated, England had the same four sides in Europe for years, but countries like Spain had sides like Sevilla, Villarreal, Valencia, Atletico and Osasuna; does that mean their league is/was stronger because they were more competitive at the top?

You could say similar things about Serie A and the Bundesliga. People laugh when people say the premier league is the best in the world, but not many step forward and name the league they think is the best. Spain is often dismissed as a bigger Scotland, Serie A is seemingly forgotten these days and surely the Bundesliga can't be considered the best, they only have three CL places.

What if it has four? Like, y'know, it does.

yes

Clearly not a vintage United team
Worst Chelsea team since who? pre Vialli?
Obviously it's a 'better City' than usual
Arsenal are doing what Arsenal do, and clearly not a patch on the best Wenger teams
Spurs doing better than usual but looking in danger of implosion

Sorry, don't know why I said that. I actually remember saying a while back that the Bundesliga had overtaken Serie A. School boy error.

I'm not a big one for 'league x is better than league y' arguments. The 'best league in the world' mantra used over here has come to resemble something of a comfort blanket though. "Yes, England flopped at the finals of a major championship, but we've the best league in the world". I done written something about my hopes and fears in the face of what we've all seen happen this week [url=http://euroballs.blogspot.com/2012/03/run-dmc-and-lessons-of-englands.htmlover here[/url.

You can't write off the Spanish league so easily either. Yes, the top two are far and away from the rest as a result of the TV distribution (or not, as the case may be), but there are plenty of clubs other than them that are very good indeed, albeit not as good as Those Two. But hey, these things are always cyclical, right?

The real nightmare scenario would be if they won it the week before

There is no nightmare scenario bro. They've won it millions of times already so them winning it again is nothing. Them losing the title to us is the nightmare scenario. The pressure is off us now thankfully and even if we don't win the league it's only a delay to the inevitable.

You think??.....Your reputation as the 'bottlers' of the league will just grow, and the pressure will increase on you, year on year....The longer you go without winning the league, the harder it will get.

With your squad and financial advantage over the rest of the competition, you should have won the title last season, never mind this....I don't see how you can improve your present squad without spending another huge amount, and becoming increasingly mocked for doing so.

If you don't win it this year, then its a new manager you need rather than any new signings.....Mourinho would have this present City squad about 10 points clear and in the quarters of the Champions League.

Mourinho

And that's exactly why it would be utterly hilarious if you do blow it and never win the league.

If you can't win it this year then you'll struggle to win it when there's a decent team or 2 challenging for it.

Fabrice Muamba has collapsed on the pitch at White hart lane.

Really awful scenes to see. I fear the worst for Muamba, but I pray that he pulls through.

game abandoned - fingers crossed for him