john craig » Mon Aug 05, 2013 7:31 pm wrote:I don't think you can blame some people for being on a bit of a downer. It depends how you look at things. If you look at the negatives then we appear to be replacing high earners with bargain buys without much of a net spend in the transfer market, suggesting either we don't have the money or we lack ambition. On top of that our best player has spent the summer publicly embarrassing us by saying he wants out and to rub salt in the wounds is even considering a sideways step to Arsenal, which would seriously dent our top 4 chances given they are currently the most vulnerable of the CL teams. We've lost Reina, Carra has retired, Carroll has been shipped at a huge loss, Skrtel is being linked with a daft loan move and Agger is now being linked with Barce. On top of that we haven't really addressed two of the weaknesses most fans agreed on from last season - the lack of some athleticism in midfield and a dominant centre back. We are also coming off the back of a 7th place finish, have an inexperienced manager and some of the teams around us have already heavily strengthened for next season. Even more worryingly there have been absolutely no developments in terms of the stadium issue. Feeling like slitting your wrists yet? Don't.
There are also plenty of positives and different views you can take on the above issues. We no longer have asset-stripping owners, but ones who are in it for the long haul. Having written off a lot of our debt they are now balancing our wage structure, building a younger squad and cutting players who were living on reputation and no longer value for money. We are preparing for FFP and look in a good position from that point of view, while some of our rivals who are ignoring it could stand to be docked points or banned from European competition in the near future. We have improved our attacking options immeasurably in the last 12 months and Rodgers' scouting system appeared to be in good shape last January with Coutinho (a future world star and 30+ million asset) and Sturridge looking great buys. This summer's buys are as yet unproven in a red shirt but all have looked good in pre-season at least, so should be afforded a chance at least before being written off. We are playing hardball over Suarez and at best he will stay, at worst he will go for 50+ million - probably allowing us to bring in Costa and another marquee signing. You could also say we have one of the best young managers around who had us playing great passing football second half of last season, showing good man management (Downing and Henderson), tactical flexibility and good media handling skills (Suarez v Ivanovic). To top that we have a 100% record pre-season without conceding a goal and that's without Sturridge featuring and without Suarez starting a game. On our post-Christmas form last year we'd have got top 4 and there's no reason to think we can't do it this year, especially if we get off to a good start this time. Personally I can't wait for the season to start because I think we'll be pleasantly surprised.
great post mate