by Owzat » Tue Jul 13, 2010 7:07 am
I have to say that given we don't know who is going to be here at the start of the season it is way too early to predict. Throw in the fact that we don't know how Woy will do and guesses will be just that. Some will be vindicated, others may look foolish, but that is the way guesses/predictions work. Were the people who tipped Spain to win the World Cup well informed and knowledgable or just picking one of the best teams in the competition?
I think a lot of the doom and gloom guesses as to where we'd finish were in the air BEFORE Woy was appointed manager. We still have a squad capable of finishing top four, it is the same set of players that finished second minus of course Alonso, Arbeloa and now Benayoun. Arbeloa and Benayoun should not be impossible to replace, Alonso is the crux but a change of formation and one or two signings and I'm sure those losses can be overcome. A positive approach would fix a lot of our woes, start beating some of the teams we only drew with in the last few seasons
Premiership Draws
09/10 Liverpool 9-5 Chelsea
08/09 Liverpool 11-6 Man Utd
07/08 Liverpool 13-6 Man Utd
06/07 Liverpool 8-5 Man Utd
05/06 Liverpool 7-4 Chelsea
04/05 Liverpool 7-8 Chelsea*
*did only lose one game
Average draws (04/05-09/10) : Liverpool 9-6 Champions
Average losses (04/05-09/10) : Liverpool 8-4 Champions
Those losses do include Rafa's poorer seasons of 14, 10 and 11 defeats - although I'm sure all three were 'one-offs' come 'blips'. But an average of nine draws per season shows where we were lacking, especially given a three points for a win system so we effectively dropped 18 points a season through draws alone (equivalent to six losses)
All that said I don't expect Woy to be that much more positive, I think he'll happily 'settle for a draw' in games we should be looking to win. Fulham drew 10 in 09/10 and 11 in 08/09, the 'avoid defeat' mentality isn't something easily shaken. Fulham haven't won many away games in the past two seasons, but they've drawn FIFTEEN (39.47%) compared to 19 defeats on the road (50.00%) Liverpool may currently have a better squad, but that didn't stop Rafa drawing over 25% of his games in the past two seasons and losing nearly one third of all our Premiership games in 09/10
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