Liverpool FC Forum

by **Ciggy** » Tue Nov 22, 2005 12:24 am

Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard expects his side to challenge Chelsea for the Premiership title this season.

Jose Mourinho's hitherto imperious champions have suffered a recent blip in form with defeat at Manchester United giving hope to the chasing pack.

And despite The Blues bouncing back with an emphatic victory over Newcastle on Saturday, Gerrard believes Liverpool are well-equipped to capitalise on any chinks in Chelsea's armour.

The Anfield club's 3-0 win over Portsmouth last time out made it four wins from four and with Liverpool finally claiming a place in the top half of the table Gerrard has been emboldened.

"Chelsea, of late, have had a little bit of a blip so hopefully they'll keep dropping points and we can capitalise on it," Gerrard told Sky Sports News.

"All we've got to do is concentrate on what we're doing, keep on winning, keep moving up the table and we're all confident this season can be a success - hopefully we'll be delivering a trophy and getting involved in the title race."

Despite assertions to the contrary Gerrard insists that The Reds' exploits in Europe have not had a detrimental impact on their Premiership form.

"You get a good run in Europe and that gives you confidence and you can take that into league games," continued the England international.

"I think our wins in Europe have been bringing confidence to the team.

"The manager has brought in some tremendous players and the squad is looking really strong. I'm sure he will strengthen even more in January and we can be a good force this season."

Gerrard was sad to see Roy Keane leave rivals Manchester United but he insists the shock exit will not have too adverse an impact on Sir Alex Ferguson's challengers.

And when asked if manager Rafael Benitez would consider a move for Keane, Gerrard quipped: "I hope not, he might take my place.

"He's a magnificent player, it's sad to see him leave Manchester United.

"I've enjoyed some good battles with Roy Keane - I wish him every success with whatever he decides to do.

"Liverpool, Manchester United and Arsenal will still be there, the main challengers, but it's great to see other teams doing really well.

"The Premier League is looking really strong.

"No one wants to see Chelsea run away with it, obviously Chelsea do, but everyone else wants to see an exciting title race and that is what we have to aim for."

(Source: Sky Sports News)

by **Ciggy** » Tue Nov 22, 2005 12:33 am

What a change in attitude from last season, I am so glad he stayed he is so important to us, theres nothing Id love more than to win the premiership with Stevie as our captain our lads deserve a bit of luck and fortune, hopefully within the next 3 years we will win it.

by **el_stinger** » Tue Nov 22, 2005 1:46 am

We will be pushing for the title next season. We will come close this season, 3rd maybe, but, next season we will give it a run for its money, gaurenteed, we might even take the title next season. Its a good time to be a Red!

by **skipper** » Tue Nov 22, 2005 1:58 am

cisses_gona_get_ya wrote:What a change in attitude from last season, I am so glad he stayed he is so important to us, theres nothing Id love more than to win the premiership with Stevie as our captain our lads deserve a bit of luck and fortune, hopefully within the next 3 years we will win it.

It sure is a good thing he stayed. He seems more confident and is not only a better player on the field but off the field as well. I think Stevie will perform some heroics in the next few years and we'll win the title.

by **greenred** » Tue Nov 22, 2005 1:59 am

Well il`ll be happy being European Champions every season.But then im easily satisfied.

by **babu** » Tue Nov 22, 2005 3:19 am

Good to see this attitude from SG. I wish he wouldn't mention chelsea though. We got spanked by chelsea at home, not that long ago. That was the trigger Chelski needed to open the goal scoring floodgates. After that game they started scoring 2-3 goals per game and that shit Drogba started looking like a player instead of a waste of space.

I agree that we should be aiming in for about 3rd place this season. That would be great. I seriously doubt chelski will crumble (ala Ars.e-nal) and we may have issues with tired or injured players coming up. I just want enjoy this recent resurgence in form and goals. NEXT SEASON lets show them LFC is back, in europe as well as the league.

The Future is RED.

by **AussieKopite** » Tue Nov 22, 2005 3:23 am

I reckon the next European game against Chelski will be a good guide to see whether Liverpool have really improved since their last meeting.

by **TheoRacle** » Tue Nov 22, 2005 4:13 am

I reckon we'll win this time out even if it is at Chelsea. We pretty much bossed both our games against them season having the lion's share of possession and creating more scoring chances in both games. FWIW I think we were unlucky to let in 4 against them last time out and obviously I cant see that happening again. Chelsea only had 5 shots on target that whole game and 4 of them went in. We've been converting our chances more readily since then which is a good sign.

Hopefully this next comment wont jinx us but luck too is maybe returning to our game. Haven't seen it personally but reports on Cisse's goal on the weekend suggest an element of luck was involved. Now we just need Chelsea's inexplicable run of luck to fail. I see they had another two clear cut penalties against them knocked back again on the weekend with Terry clearly bringing down Bowyer and Del Horno doing hand of god impersonations!

by **Judge** » Tue Nov 22, 2005 8:50 am

cisses_gona_get_ya wrote:Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard expects his side to challenge Chelsea for the Premiership title this season.

Jose Mourinho's hitherto imperious champions have suffered a recent blip in form with defeat at Manchester United giving hope to the chasing pack.

And despite The Blues bouncing back with an emphatic victory over Newcastle on Saturday, Gerrard believes Liverpool are well-equipped to capitalise on any chinks in Chelsea's armour.

The Anfield club's 3-0 win over Portsmouth last time out made it four wins from four and with Liverpool finally claiming a place in the top half of the table Gerrard has been emboldened.

"Chelsea, of late, have had a little bit of a blip so hopefully they'll keep dropping points and we can capitalise on it," Gerrard told Sky Sports News.

"All we've got to do is concentrate on what we're doing, keep on winning, keep moving up the table and we're all confident this season can be a success - hopefully we'll be delivering a trophy and getting involved in the title race."

Despite assertions to the contrary Gerrard insists that The Reds' exploits in Europe have not had a detrimental impact on their Premiership form.

"You get a good run in Europe and that gives you confidence and you can take that into league games," continued the England international.

"I think our wins in Europe have been bringing confidence to the team.

"The manager has brought in some tremendous players and the squad is looking really strong. I'm sure he will strengthen even more in January and we can be a good force this season."

Gerrard was sad to see Roy Keane leave rivals Manchester United but he insists the shock exit will not have too adverse an impact on Sir Alex Ferguson's challengers.

And when asked if manager Rafael Benitez would consider a move for Keane, Gerrard quipped: "I hope not, he might take my place.

"He's a magnificent player, it's sad to see him leave Manchester United.

"I've enjoyed some good battles with Roy Keane - I wish him every success with whatever he decides to do.

"Liverpool, Manchester United and Arsenal will still be there, the main challengers, but it's great to see other teams doing really well.

"The Premier League is looking really strong.

"No one wants to see Chelsea run away with it, obviously Chelsea do, but everyone else wants to see an exciting title race and that is what we have to aim for."

(Source: Sky Sports News)

he was saying on sky last night, how optimistic he is, that lfc can mount a serious challange for the title this year.

he revealed that the team have talked about putting in performances, getting clean sheets and winning games. And TBH its not far from the truth, looking at recent results and performances

by **Ace Ventura** » Tue Nov 22, 2005 10:07 am

Its great to see the captain being positive, it was well documented last year when he said we couldnt win the champions league.

If the captain and the manager are confident it should rub off onto the rest of the squad.

We are on a decent run after the Fulham disaster and keeping clean sheets is the basis of where these results have come from.

I certainly think we should be pushing hard for top 3 this season.

Although with Chelsea's holding midfielder Makelele out until after the new year they may still drop a few points in that period as well.

So nobody should give up on the league yet...it just takes the pressure totally of them.

by **JBG** » Tue Nov 22, 2005 12:33 pm

Big change in attitude since this time last year, when he said openly that Liverpool "had no hope of winning the Champions League".

Both Morientes and Gerrard have both publically stated in the past 7 days that we can win the league, misplaced optimism it may be but all the same it seems to indicate that there is a growing hunger and confidence in the squad.

by **AussieKopite** » Tue Nov 22, 2005 12:43 pm

I sure hope so, our 18 LEague wins isn't in any danger from Chelsea, but if Manure start winning them again, look out.

by **thegreedo** » Tue Nov 22, 2005 12:58 pm

It's great to hear Stevie talking like this, I really feel that in the recent past Stevie's apparent lack of optimism has been due to the fact that, deep down, he didn't really beleive we had the quality required to succeed.

This change of heart indicates to me he is far more encouraged by what he now sees at Anfield. We all know Stevie's not prone to talking rubbish in order to gain some colomn inches so this can surely only bode well for the future, a future that looks increasingly like it could well be red.

by **AussieKopite** » Tue Nov 22, 2005 1:01 pm

I'll be happy when we beat Chelsea, Man U & Arsenal all in the same season. Then we'll be contenders.

You know what? I almost added Wigan to that list.

by **stmichael** » Tue Nov 22, 2005 1:27 pm

Nice to hear the optimism from Stevie G (yes miracles do happen)

Whilst I don't think we can challenge for the title, I certainly think we should be challenging for higher than 4th. If you ask me, 2nd is up for grabs this season for anybody who can put a serious run of results together.

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