Wenger should thank both Merseyside teams for bottling it in the past few weeks. It has very much

[Tai Lopez]

turned Wenger out back to Wenger in.

[Monty91]

Is it not more likely a case of reverting to the mean?

[Ashberto]

Liverpool will end well above their mean.

Man City still have a chance to bottle it, though.

[Mo Britain less Europe]

[Monty91]

dropping points when you could't afford to, then arguably City are already as big a culprit as anyone, having lost at Anfield.

[PSRB]

[Monty91]

[PSRB]

[Ashberto]

Given their home form and the gulf in quality compared to the level of opposition, City would definitely have bottled it if they fail to win the league from here. As we will if we don't beat Hull.

I think we probably bottled it against Man Utd and Stoke, rather than away at Liverpool, City, and Chelsea, which were different kinds of failure.

[Monty91]

but originally it was used to mean a team losing at a vital moment due to mental fragility.

My point is that a team can just as well lose at a vital moment because they're not good enough than because of mental fragility, and that this can just as well happen against a lesser team as a stronger team.

So I reject your definition that "bottling isn't losing games you need to win, it's losing games you ought to win"

[Pat Vegas]

especially when those points are extremely vital to your title push.

[PSRB]

[Monty91]

So why do we attribute it to "bottling", rather than ineptitude?

[Uttoxeter Gun]

Etihad might well have done it.

Same old, unfortunately.

[Ashberto]

though the fact that they are described as a lesser team means that you should overall be, by definition good enough.

One reason for not being good enough on the day can be mental fragility. If fatigue, injury, illness, poor tactics, and bad luck are ruled out as excuses then mental fragility remains a likely candidate.