Okay, so we just won against Brighton, a real 2-1 fight. Honestly, it feels massive to be back on top. The league is just this hard, hard stuff every single week, and City being right there makes everything feel so tight.
Personally, I think the guys was ready for this challenge, like Mikel said we would be. After City won earlier, we just had to go and answer them, you know? And we did. Even if it wasn’t our prettiest game. Sometimes Martin or someone scores, sometimes it’s an own goal, but the points is what you need.
I get why the fans got nervous near the end. We all want this so, so bad it hurts. After they scored, the whole place just tightened up. David made that huge save late on and my heart was properly racing! We had big chances to finish it, like Mikel said, to make it 3-1. But we didn’t, so we had to suffer through it. That’s kind of how it’s going lately.
What Mikel says makes sense to me. We can only do what we do. And we need everyone fit, for sure, because playing every few days is the biggest challenge. But we’re up for it. You have to be.
Now City is just behind us, waiting. We play Villa at home next, before they even play. That’s a chance, right? To put more pressure on. The whole thing is so close you can feel it. Every game is like this now, a real grind. But we’re there. We’re right there, fighting for it. However it looks, we’re getting the wins. That’s the hard truth of a title race, and we’re living inside it.
It’s funny the stuff you notice after, like how quiet it gets in the locker room after all that noise. Just the sound of ice packs and deep breaths. Someone’s always too tired to even untie their boots proper. That’s when you know everyone left everything out there.
My body feels it more this year, I think. Every tackle from February onward just seems to stick in your legs longer. You wake up and your first thought is about the next match, and your second thought is about your hamstring. It’s a weird way to live, but you wouldn’t trade it.
I seen a little kid crying with happiness by the tunnel after. He was wearing Odegaard’s shirt. It’s moments like that, you remember it’s not just points. It’s people’s whole weeks, their moods. We carry that, which is heavy but also what makes it brilliant.
There’s this one pass Saka tried in the first half, a proper difficult one, and it didn’t come off. But Mikel on the side, he just clapped. He clapped! Because the idea was right. We’re trying to do the right things even when we’re knackered. That matters more than people maybe know.
I think about last season a lot. The feeling at the end. It’s like a shadow that follows you around, but you can use a shadow to tell where the light is. We don’t talk about it much, but it’s there in everyone’s eyes when we’re defending a lead. We’re just different now.
It’s not just football, is it? My mum asks me about the weather, and I have to think did I even see the sky today? You go from the dark of the tunnel to the bright pitch to the treatment room. You forget what normal daylight looks like for a bit. It’s a strange bubble.
But then you drive home and you see a scarf on a fence or a flag in a window. And you remember it’s everywhere, for everyone. That’s the fuel, really. We might be tired, but so is everybody. We just gotta want it more for a few weeks longer. However it comes.
