Liverpool FC Forum

[Judge]

So it's all starting to settle down now. Most of the teams have revealed their hands, and barring some massive movements before the window closes, you can pretty accurately assess where everyone stands.

John Craig said in a post earlier that based on what he's seen so far he has reservations as to whether we'll mount a serious challenge, and I was wondering what others were thinking.

I've gone about it by giving a brief rundown of my impressions on the season so far for various teams, albeit at a very early stage.

Chelsea: I think those of us hoping Ancellotti would make a nonsense of it are going to be disappointed. Yes he's over rotated, but other than that his conduct and words have been sensible. They've obviously got a good squad and they look motivated. Like some (mainly Ace on this one) I'm not sure about the system, but so far they look good. They haven't played anyone yet, but if they beat us at Stamford Bridge in a few weeks, it already looks like we'll be a fair way behind.

Man Utd: Not convincing so far, but thank God they lost against Burnley otherwise we'd be 6 points behind both them and Chelsea, and almost out of it already. They do have a habit of eeking out wins which they haven't lost, and they are of course obviously still a bunch of cheating c...s and as flukey as feck to go with it.

Arsenal: Look good so far, but it will be interesting to see how they react to the unlucky defeat at Man Utd. Look a better team than last season though for sure which is amazing considering they've sold two of their best players and Fabregas is injured.

Man City: I'm a little worried about this lot. No Europe to distract them, and a massively talented squad. They've started well and they could definately shake a few teams at the top up this season.

Honourable mentions: Tottenham are obviously continuing to improve. After the baby food bloke left they had two points from 8 games last season, and it needed top six form to get them where they finished up under 'Arry. They've continued in that vein and look good, but still not good enough I don't think to crack the top four.

Liverpool: Well we haven't started well, and the point of the thread is to assess where we are relative to everyone else. To be totally honest I share John Craigs concern at this point. There are two main players in the squad who are abolutely indespensible. If either Torres or Gerrard get injured we are going to be in fairly big trouble fairly quickly, and defensively we don't have the look of a team who can go to big four/five grounds and grind out results. Equally, we are conceding goals from set-pieces at an alarming rate, and we have disfunctional centre midfield.

Fairly obviously we are currently a mile away from our best form of last season, and at this stage I'd have to be pessimistic that we will go as close as we did then. Obviously if we rediscovered that form fairly quickly and Gerrard/Torres stay fitfor nearly all the season, and Aquilani settles straight away, and we sort our defensive frailty, and until Aquilani is fit we sort out our central misfield nonsense we have a chance.

There's a few too many variables there for me though, and at risk of being labelled not a real fan, i would say based on what I've seen so far Man Utd and Chelsea will fight it out, with us, Man City and Arsenal trying to avoid being the odd one of three. Fortunately, I think we will make it, as will Arsenal and Man City will miss out on the Champions League.

too early yet mick.

weve had two wins against sides we are expected to beat, and two losses from sides we were beating last season.

judging by last season we should be 4 wins from 4. so the jurys out for me at present until we are at least 10 games in

[puroresu]

I'm really worried.  The squad is far too light.

[tubby]

I'm really worried.  The squad is far too light.

Combined with City and maybe even Spurs on the up and this season will be Rafas toughest yet I reckon.

My honest prediction is that we will finish 4th and that's assuming Aquilani comes good. I think we should push for 3rd maybe and try and go all the way in Europe.

[stmichael]

It's still too early to tell imo. We'll find out over the next few weeks though as they'll be points dropped by the teams who are up there. Over the next two set of premiership fixtures there's Man City-Arsenal, Tottenham-Man U, Man U-Man City and Chelsea-Tottenham. There's going to be points dropped by some if not all of those sides there and so as long as we beat Burnley and West Ham we'll still be there or there abouts.

The media in general are clueless though. Listening to the radio over the weekend, I've heard one journalist predict that we won't make the top 4 because "we're weaker than last season" (like United and Chelsea aren't). In the space of 3-4 games, just because Arsenal have played well against a dire Everton, Pompey (who'll go down) and Man United (and still lost), all of a sudden they're no longer seen as the team under threat in the top 4 but we are. It's quite frankly ludicrous. We started really poorly last season but luckily scraped results against Sunderland and Boro.

Chelsea look by far the best squad to me but like I said it's far too early. Who have they played so far? Hull, Sunderland, Fulham and Burnley. They started like an express train last year and look what happened. I don't care what anyone says about United being perennial slow starters, with the exception of the second half at Wigan they've looked average at best. They're still trying to find a system that works (Rooney upfront on his own at the weekend didn't work). They're going to be over-reliant on Rooney imo because Nani and Valencia aren't top drawer and their midfield in general isn't creative enough. Arsenal have started well but are still short of 1 or 2 players imo.

Listen we haven't started well but expect us to get going after the International break (whether it's come at a good time or not I'm not sure). The most worrying thing for me so far though is the manner of the goals we've conceded. Seven in four League games, all of which have been really poorly defended in on way or another.

1. Assou-Ekotto- great strike but should have been closed down far before he was able to get the shot in.

2. Bassong- good header but no challenge on him whatsoever.

3. Needless Lucas own goal from a poor Ashley Young free kick.

4. Curtis Davies free header.

5. Steven Gerrard ridiculous challeng to concede a penalty.

6. Free header for Bolton player at the back post and then four Bolton players lining up to tap it in inside the six yard box.

7. Failure to deal with a huge hump down the middle of the defence.

So of those 7 goals, 6 have come from set pieces and the other from just an aimless punt forward which is worrying. Infact every time we concede a set piece in and around the box now it worries me as we don't look comfortable dealing with balls played into our penalty area.

[GYBS]

1.Liverpool - I believe

2.Man Utd - There experience will get them thru

3.Chelsea - African Nations Cup will hit them hard and teams will exploit there lack of width

4.Arsenal - Will come unstuck during the harsh winter months

[Johnny Boy]

Very difficult to tell at the moment however, our next few games before we play Chelsea are 'must wins'.

Kind of worrying when you see teams like Sunderland paying £12 million for players and we don't have a penny to spend.

My gut feeling is for Chelsea and Utd to be first and second, with us somewhere between 3rd, 4th or even 5th depending on Gerrard/Torres form and availability plus the impact Alberto has.
Still feel we lack quality in wide areas and still don't have that flair factor also - though when we finally see Alberto play I hope he provides that.

[dawson99]

I honestly don't know why people are saying Utd, they really don't look anything special this season. Arsenal were all over them and should have won comfortably... Giggs is way too slow as is Scholes and Valencia is nothing brilliant...

Chelsea are the steady ones, they'll be there playing there bland football and citeh have a great start but when it comes to the crunch do they have the bottle?

[mistyred]

Honestly i think we might struggle unless we bring in somebody to unlock the tight defences.

If Torres is having a stinker upfront we are f'cked and if Gerrards have a stinker behind him we are f'cked, i
just cant see where the firepower and attacking threat is gonna come from.

Look at Spurs we could have been 4-0 down by half time ffs, and now City want Bentley aswell
their gonna have a strong squad to choose from.

I cant even see past our first 11

[puroresu]

Very difficult to tell at the moment however, our next few games before we play Chelsea are 'must wins'.

Kind of worrying when you see teams like Sunderland paying £12 million for players and we don't have a penny to spend.

My gut feeling is for Chelsea and Utd to be first and second, with us somewhere between 3rd, 4th or even 5th depending on Gerrard/Torres form and availability plus the impact Alberto has.
Still feel we lack quality in wide areas and still don't have that flair factor also - though when we finally see Alberto play I hope he provides that.

That’s the most depressing thing.  Other clubs seem to be able to spend £10 mil like its nothing but we are totally skint.  How can a side which has finished in the top and got to the latter stages of the CL year after year be skint.  If we were spending money crazy amounts of money for the last 4 years I could understand but we haven’t.

[Rockthekop]

Honestly i think we might struggle unless we bring in somebody to unlock the tight defences.

If Torres is having a stinker upfront we are f'cked and if Gerrards have a stinker behind him we are f'cked, i
just cant see where the firepower and attacking threat is gonna come from.

Look at Spurs we could have been 4-0 down by half time ffs, and now City want Bentley aswell
their gonna have a strong squad to choose from.

I cant even see past our first 11

You've made a good point there.  People talk about Torres and Gerrard getting injured but you also have to consider the fact they will be ineffective in some games.  When you rely on two players as heavily as Rafa does, if they don't perform who is going to step up?

[Owzat]

the mancs dropped 24 points all last season, we've dropped six already

[Penguins]

I'm really worried.  The squad is far too light.

Combined with City and maybe even Spurs on the up and this season will be Rafas toughest yet I reckon.

My honest prediction is that we will finish 4th and that's assuming Aquilani comes good. I think we should push for 3rd maybe and try and go all the way in Europe.

Right now this is what I am leaning towards...

We have nothing almost beyond our 1st 11 and that won't be enough. In January I bet Mick will have to start a thread that says: Fight for 4th!

[fivecups]

the mancs dropped 24 points all last season, we've dropped six already

We our next five or so and we're back on target! Easy.

[Zidane]

We'll finish in the top 4 but I have no clue how the top 4 is going to look, it's waaaaay too early to tell.

[Judge]

We'll finish in the top 4 but I have no clue how the top 4 is going to look, it's waaaaay too early to tell.

so you have no clue