Liverpool FC Forum

[only me]

We've just drawn Blackburn in the cup (at Anfield) and United have just got Arsenal!

So now I wonder if it would be better if united beat preston. Make sure arsenal would have to work for a win to qualify instead of having an easy draw.

Obviously it would be nice if preston were to beat both, but that just doesn't seem too likely.

don't worry the ref is doing his best United wins with 2 clear fouls/offside ignored ,what a wnkr!

[damjan193]

Liverpool - Blackburn

Bradford - Reading

Man Utd. - Arsenal

Aston Villa - WBA


Before the draw I was thinking about what would an ideal draw be and the only different match I had was us playing Reading instead of Blackburn. The Premier League clubs were drawn just as I was hoping they would. Most ideal draw I've ever seen to be honest lads. Massive chance to win this thing this year.

[eds]

Playing 4 games in 10 days against tough opposition won't help our cause, but will at least show us what Rodgers and the squad are made out of.

Just looking at the fixture and I really think that we will know where we ultimately stand after the Arsenal game.

As mentioned by a previous poster we then have 6 out 7 games that we should win after that, so if we are still hovering 3-5 points off the top 4 I think we will have enough ability to finish off strongly and get 4th. It will be tough as Arsenal seem to have the easiest draw and always seem to finish off strong so I have them locked in on 3rd. Manure are our direct opponents as Southampton and Spurs will start to drop points as the season draws to a close.

The game against them on the 23rd March will be extremely important not just in terms of bragging rights but who plays CL next season. If they miss another season they will be in all sorts of trouble.   

On another note, how good would be going to Chelsea and beating them on May 10. Imagine if City close the gap on them and we deny them the title. Will be the highlight of the season for sure.

[Dundreamin is back]

I think if we can keep up our form of late ( 1 defeat in 17 games) we could easily come 3rd and if city bottle it 2nd will be in our reach. The only thing then is if we had of started the season on a positive note we would be title contenders

[Reg]

Yeah but having lost Suarez, Sturridge injured, bringing in so many new faces it was never going to be a smooth first few months. In hindsight we've recovered well and we're back on track. The chaos cost us half a season.

[eds]

I like people's enthusiasm that they think we are in for a chance to finish 2nd but the reality is that we are 10 points behind City and to overtake them we would need to be flawless almost winning every single game from here on in and expect the REIGNING CHAMPIONS to lose four games or the equivalent. If anything going from last season's form, they will challenge Chelsea for the title and won't drop off. Not going to happen so get off the crazy juice people.

As Reg has already mentioned above our catastrophic start to the season ended any hopes off a title challenge let alone finishing high up the league table.  Our current form is outstanding but make no mistake we are in for a fight b/w Manure and Gooners for 3rd and 4th. 4th being the most realistic. Which is a whole lot better than what most of us where predicting (including myself) only back in December.

[Boocity]

Man U may have the harder run in but they are definitely getting the decisions, if you think back to the match against us with the offsides and then last night all of their goals could so easily have been ruled out.

[ycsatbjywtbiastkamb]

I like people's enthusiasm that they think we are in for a chance to finish 2nd but the reality is that we are 10 points behind City and to overtake them we would need to be flawless almost winning every single game from here on in and expect the REIGNING CHAMPIONS to lose four games or the equivalent. If anything going from last season's form, they will challenge Chelsea for the title and won't drop off. Not going to happen so get off the crazy juice people.

As Reg has already mentioned above our catastrophic start to the season ended any hopes off a title challenge let alone finishing high up the league table.  Our current form is outstanding but make no mistake we are in for a fight b/w Manure and Gooners for 3rd and 4th. 4th being the most realistic. Which is a whole lot better than what most of us where predicting (including myself) only back in December.

No way will we finish second, to finish in the top 4 after essentially giving our rivals a ten point start would be a tremendous achievement in itself.
Let's not forget as well that last season we didn't play that many games, we weren't in Europe and we went out of both domestic cup competitions relatively early, this season we got to the semi's of the league cup, we are in the quarters of the F.A cup and we are in the knockout stages of the Europa League.
Last season was great but a lot of things went our way, this season we are battling against adversity and doing a very good job of it.

[Boocity]

Lifes tough at the top

[ycsatbjywtbiastkamb]

Lifes tough at the top

We may well yet have to pay a price for all these good cup runs.
I thought the wheels came off us last year in the title run in, yes we were still winning games but we were scraping past teams instead of smashing them like we were doing earlier on. We were actually hanging on by our fingernails in a lot of those final games (I thought I was going to have a heart attack in the last 10 minutes against Norwich).
A lot of our players were noticeably tired near the end, especially Suarez who's form noticeably dipped in the last 6 weeks of the season.
The press like to simplify things by saying it was Gerrards slip or the Palace game that cost us the title but in truth we were seriously running out of gas.
I hope that doesn't happen this year, but given the amount of games we have played it is a distinct possibility.

[kazza]

Lifes tough at the top

We may well yet have to pay a price for all these good cup runs.
I thought the wheels came off us last year in the title run in, yes we were still winning games but we were scraping past teams instead of smashing them like we were doing earlier on. We were actually hanging on by our fingernails in a lot of those final games (I thought I was going to have a heart attack in the last 10 minutes against Norwich).
A lot of our players were noticeably tired near the end, especially Suarez who's form noticeably dipped in the last 6 weeks of the season.
The press like to simplify things by saying it was Gerrards slip or the Palace game that cost us the title but in truth we were seriously running out of gas.
I hope that doesn't happen this year, but given the amount of games we have played it is a distinct possibility.

I think our squad as a lot deeper and stronger than last year. Also we have not been reliant on one player this year so maybe playing regularly this year will give more players minutes and thus helping the unity of the team. Last year it was practically the same team that played all season.

[Boocity]

Lifes tough at the top

We may well yet have to pay a price for all these good cup runs.
I thought the wheels came off us last year in the title run in, yes we were still winning games but we were scraping past teams instead of smashing them like we were doing earlier on. We were actually hanging on by our fingernails in a lot of those final games (I thought I was going to have a heart attack in the last 10 minutes against Norwich).
A lot of our players were noticeably tired near the end, especially Suarez who's form noticeably dipped in the last 6 weeks of the season.
The press like to simplify things by saying it was Gerrards slip or the Palace game that cost us the title but in truth we were seriously running out of gas.
I hope that doesn't happen this year, but given the amount of games we have played it is a distinct possibility.

I don't disagree with you about last season, my comment was not flippant, if you want to be successful you will play more games, more pressure and intensity so we had better get used to it.

[Reg]

If an English team wins the Champions League, would 5th place in the league qualify?

[damjan193]

If an English team wins the Champions League, would 5th place in the league qualify?

No.

[Boocity]

There are 4 places for the CL for PL, if teams out of the top four win the CL and Europa then only the top two in the PL would qualify, if that makes sense