Liverpool FC Forum

by **big al** » Tue Dec 02, 2003 3:16 pm

Me thinks that this could be perchance the biggest game in Liverpool's season.

Houlier wants fourth place and Newcastle will be the team standing in his way. Beat them he has a chance, loss and that makes his task more difficult maybe even impossible.

What do you think?

by **greenred** » Tue Dec 02, 2003 3:43 pm

I think liverpool are impossible to predict.They win when you think theyll lose and lose when they should win.they have become like spurs in the seventies and eighties,a former great living on memories,flattering to decieve and raising expectations with the odd cup win.Who knows if we will beat newcastle on saturday,I dont.I hope so because that pathetic ambition of ours to achieve fourth place depends on these type of games.maybe we have turned the corner,maybe hamanns return will instill some extra grit and consistency to our midfield.maybe maybe maybe.
fingers crossed anyway.

by **redandblue** » Tue Dec 02, 2003 5:15 pm

We could go and get hammered. Equally we could go and hammer them. Houllier knows that the heat will be back on if we lose again, so he'll play for a draw. 1-1.

Houllier believes that our season is still alive..........we can still make fourth place, we are in the next round of the UEFA Cup, we are still in the Carling Cup........by our own standards, all of this represents FAILURE, but GH and the Board seem quite happy that we are ticking along quite nicely and that once we get through this transitional phase, we will win the league sometime in the next five years. Or so.

Our manager is a clown. I can't remember ever having a clown as manager of LFC. Shanks was terrific, Paisley was magnificent, Fagan was out of his depth (but he did win a European Cup!!!!), Kenny won major trophies, Souness took on a declining squad and didn't manage them well, Roy Evans wasn't up to it (but he loved the club and was honest).

But we now have a clown who is making the club a laughing stock. Living down here in London, well, the press report things differently. BUT, the most distressing thing is that no one really takes the club seriously. We are seen as a club, living on past glories and seemingly stuck in a rut........on a good day we can be good, or we can be good for part of a game. Equally, we can be awful.

So, Newcastle at the weekend?? Impossible to call. Therefore, a draw it is!!

by **Cool Hand Luke** » Wed Dec 03, 2003 12:19 pm

This is a vital game, but not the end if we lose. The top three are clear and I think ourselves and Newcastle are the main conteders for 4th spot, if anyone else has ambitions of 4th place(Man City) they will have to be close come mid January.

I think we are a better equiped squad than Newcastle, I think they have been playing slightly beond there level for the last two years, there defence is weak, even with the overated Woodagate and Bramble, and they also have no natural anchor man, I think we are ahead of them in terms of being closest to the big three, but what they do have is motivation and belief, something we lack.

The premership is a lot stonger than it was a few years ago, the smaller teams have got a lot better, thats why last season the big teams lost so many games, if we lose to Newcastle it is not the end, we can still make it back as they will drop points over the season just as we will.

by **JBG** » Wed Dec 03, 2003 1:06 pm

It is a crucial game.

I don't think Newcastle are a great side. They are very well managed and organised, with a handful of decent players, but realistically if you take Shearer out of the equation they are not much better than the likes of Blackburn or Middlesbro.

However, Liverpool have had a terrible record against them at St. James' Park under GH and a win would be a terriffic result.

If I was manager I still wouldn't give up on the league.....it would be great if we put a run together and at least broke into the top three......it would be nice to see the faces of those who say that the Premiership is now two leagues...the top three and the rest......that's not going to happen though under Houllier.

I predict a 1-1 draw or Newcastle to win 2-1. Maybe if Owen was fit we would have a chance, but Newcastle will floor us.

by **Owzat** » Wed Dec 03, 2003 2:14 pm

None of the teams below the top three have shown any consistency, that is the problem. The Premiership is a joke at the moment, on the one hand we now have three teams in competition for the Premiership but on the other hand we have inconsistency and naff teams from fourth downwards.

I personally can't see this game being do or die because losing to Newcastle away is hardly a cardinal sin. The next five games are the real test, can we go unbeaten against the mediocre to poor Premiership sides instead of losing inexplicably to them? We need to beat the teams below us consistently AND compete with the top teams to win the Premiership and we're not managing either at the moment

by **big al** » Wed Dec 03, 2003 2:51 pm

Good points, But. There's always a but with me.

Anyway I believe there are two leagues JBG. The pretenders as I've said before and we are amongst them.

The other three are top class teams all capable of winning the premier league and the champions league. That's there standard. We are'nt in that league.

Some of our players are, but sadly some are good basic footballer and some are not even good enough for the premiership. We have a mixed batch and that's the real problem.

Newcastle are'nt great your all right but then lets be honest and frank In your heart JBG are we championship material. I honestly don't think so, we have the potential however, with the right manager we could even pass the others and make them pretenders.

I'm not a great fan of O'neil but his current form at Celtic is making him more and more appealing. They're beginning to blow Rangers away and live up to the expectations they have,as one of the biggest clubs in Britain, europe even worldwide. If he can do that there then just maybe! just maybe!

by **redandblue** » Wed Dec 03, 2003 4:04 pm

That's why I don't believe that he'd join Liverpool if the job was offered to him.

by **big al** » Wed Dec 03, 2003 4:47 pm

True redandblue true!

by **greenred** » Wed Dec 03, 2003 4:55 pm

Im pretty sure oneill will take the liverpool job if its offered next summer.Chelsea seem to have errikson lined up,wengers staying at arsenal and grumpy is about to sign a new contract at old trafford.Where does oneill go if not liverpool?

by **leothelion** » Thu Dec 04, 2003 2:01 am

O neill definetly wants europe and i think he'll see liverpool as a way of getting there .

by **Owzat** » Thu Dec 04, 2003 8:46 am

O'Neill's pretty much guaranteed success at Celtic and Europe, he is guaranteed as much as Souness, Evans and Houllier if he comes to Anfield............

by **greenred** » Thu Dec 04, 2003 1:05 pm

yeah but that scottish league must be so bloody boring."ok boys,its partick thistle this week,shall we score five or just leave it at the four tay give em a chance?" If oneill has anything between his ears he will be gone at the end of the season.His team or rangers have been champions for the last EIGHTEEN YEARS.jesus its like groundhog day up there!
move down to liverpool martin,celtic would finish first or second even with the crankies as the new management team.

by **Cool Hand Luke** » Thu Dec 04, 2003 1:24 pm

I think O'Neil is just waiting for the right offer, if we offered him the job he would take it, but he won't go to the likes of Tottenham. I like everthing about O'Neil accept his favourism of the 5 - 3 - 2 wingback system. His children go to school in England and he reportedly has a house near Liverpool, I think there is a good chance he will come this summer. We look the only realistic option for him, or he may go to Newcastle if Sir Bobby calls it a day.

by **big al** » Fri Jan 30, 2004 12:37 am

As a form of protest against the inane members of the forum I have decided to dominate the first pages sorry sports fans

Liverpool FC Forum

Is this the bottom line - Newcastle or bust

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