Liverpool FC Forum

[Ciggy]

I would have said 2nd, but i really feel Rafa wants to leave and Ramos is just keeping his seat warm until the summer, what effect that will have on the team is anyones question. Those that will leave if he goes wont give a sh!t if we finish in the top 4 or not as they wont be here next season.

its a major worry 

[club_Levis]

I think we will finish 3rd in the league...we hve tougher oppnents than the chavs coming up...

As fo the CL rafa will give his next employers a run for their money but we will end up as losers....

[kan]

real Madrid seems pretty confident at the moment, despite being behind Barca 7 points too.
hopefully, Manchester will fall into a slump and let the other teams catch up. After all, Manchester is the only team hasn't faced much bad luck.

[kazza]

First!

[dawson99]

I like how we are doing. Look at annoyed we are at a draw. We have still lost only one game all season and are sitting in 2nd, 5 points ahead of Chelsea?

We still have  lot to learn, and still need to buy some more players, but it really isnt all bad.

It's also nice to hear Rafa say we can still win the league. We are gaining belief that we will win, even if fortune goes against us.

Plus we have the best striker in the world in the moment... yes, Kuyt has saved us again

[red_guy]

The best we can do is 2nd place. CL ...i'm not sure, just don't put any hopes one it.
If comparisons made between current and last season squad, i would say we're no better than this season than the last bcos basically, the squad is still with the same players and all except for Riera (good signing), Degen(new harry kewell) and Dossena(Riise is definitely the better player). But in the striking department....we're screwed. Last season we have Torres, Crouch, Voronin and Kuyt. All experienced strikers but this time around we only have Torres and kuyt that we can rely on. Babel and Ngog? Seriously...what a joke for a title challenge team. It's odd when every team in the premiership , in January, started signing new players to keep challenging for whatever place in the premiership but as for us, we sold and loaned our players..experienced players. And we are the ones that challenging for the title... makes me wonder what the hell had actually happened inside the club.

[akumaface]

I would have said 2nd, but i really feel Rafa wants to leave and Ramos is just keeping his seat warm until the summer, what effect that will have on the team is anyones question. Those that will leave if he goes wont give a sh!t if we finish in the top 4 or not as they wont be here next season.

its a major worry 

This is what I think as well. Under normal circumstances without all the distraction, I would think we will do well in the Champions league but this season is different as Rafa maybe is too caught up in the "getting me fired mode" so he can grab the money and be manager in Spain. If in fact he ended up in Madrid, not sure if he would play a strong lineup against Madrid and it is pure speculative that he might lose on purpose (maybe by playing Lucas again  ). As for the EPL, I think 3rd and may not lose another game but maybe end up with 15ties or something.

[Johnny Boy]

I think we will finish 3rd behind Utd and Chelsea.

Been lucky to have been a season ticket holder for over 20 years, but in all honesty I am struggling to think of games where I have said "well we played really well today". Probably Utd, Chelsea and Bolton.

Too many points dropped against average teams.

Torres below par and deprived of quality service - does anyone feel the Euros have affected him? or a combination of lack of form, injuries, defenders having wised up to him etc, he was I thought very poor yesterday.

Look at Dossena, Lucas, Babel, Ngog and probably one or two others - not good enough for a title winning team.

Keane's arrival/departure was a shambles and we STILL don't have quality on the right wing or a settled top class left back.

With some tougher looking home games to come, I feel 2nd place is unlikely.

[red_guy]

Look at Dossena, Lucas, Babel, Ngog and probably one or two others - not good enough for a title winning team.

Spot on. That's why i would disagree if somebody said we're progressing. In terms of transfers, we're going backwards.

[stmichael]

Looking at the fixtures, we have a very kind run in. With the exception of United away, it wouldn't surprise me if we didn't lose any of the other games we have left. The question is how many will we win as opposed to drawing?

I suppose a lot depends on our CL progress. Even then I'd like to think that Rafa doesn't rest players because finishing second is still important as it means automatic CL qualification and not having to go through that qualifying round which has very nearly proved a banana skin for us in recent seasons.

Whatever the case I think the Mancs will win it at a canter unfortunately. Infact it will probably be over with 4-5 games to go.

[heimdall]

Regarding the Champions League - we're going to have to establish some modicum of form or we'll be out this round. Real Madrid are in superlative form at the minute with plenty of experience and world class players. If we play like we did today they could be out of sight by the end of Wednesday night. As I'm depressed at the minute my prediction is we'll go out this round (probably think differently tomorrow though - kneejerker that I am).

I'll say we'll get third comfortably in the league just missing out to Chelsea - 10 points back on United.

Feck that's so negative.

That's still positive rosy tinted compared to me    

[Owzat]

how will this season finish up? At this rate, down the shitter and we'll be stuck with Rafa having signed HIS contract on HIS terms. Doubtless plenty of "get behind the manager" members on here will be pleased as punch, so we can look forward to more of the same next season

- failed league campaign
- nowhere in the domestic cups
- a run in Rafa's favourite competition - the Champions League

But most importantly, a season which will doubtless end with no direction and no trophy. Rafa does enough to have a shot at the Champions League and qualify for it for next season - is that REALLY enough even for the Rafa supporters?

[Salty Sock]

I predict 1st place because I tell you guys all the time, it is about faith. The loss could be our blessing in disgust because we will go back to the field and look at our mistakes and re-evaluate. We will come out the gates tougher and give solid performance. It is easy to fall from the top when you are high so Manchester UTD just need a small stone to trip on and come tumbling.
We will be waiting like Suspects to take the throne!!!

[Bam]

2nd and trophy-less (No CL)

[Owzat]

I predict 1st place because I tell you guys all the time, it is about faith. The loss could be our blessing in disgust because we will go back to the field and look at our mistakes and re-evaluate. We will come out the gates tougher and give solid performance. It is easy to fall from the top when you are high so Manchester UTD just need a small stone to trip on and come tumbling.
We will be waiting like Suspects to take the throne!!!

they say faith is blind...............

Chelsea are level on points with us, even though we've done the double over them. They've played the mancs twice, so if anyone is poised to steal it from them then it's Chelsea.

Chelsea Fixtures

Portsmouth (a)
Man City (h)
Tottenham (a)
Newcastle (a)
Bolton (h)
Everton (h)
West Ham (a)
Fulham (h)
Arsenal (a)
Blackburn (h)
Sunderland (a)

I'd quite fancy that run in if I were them, we'd probably just drop points as we have in five of those 11 fixtures ourselves. That they can be level with us, having lost twice to us, just shows they are doing better against the rest of the Premiership. They don't face the mancs, they have Arsenal away while we have the mancs, so we could be lucky if Bam is right in his prediction.

Bam - what if we go on a long CL run, do you believe Rafa won't foresake a top two finish if in with a sniff of the CL?