Liverpool FC Forum

by **Owzat** » Mon Mar 17, 2008 3:13 pm

We have a pretty testing run in, only eight games but five of those are away and we didn't exactly do too well in the corresponding fixtures last season

Remaining League Fixtures with Last Season's Results

Man Utd (a) L0-2
Everton (h) D0-0
Arsenal (a) L0-3
Blackburn (h) D1-1
Fulham (a) L0-1
Birmingham (a) N/A
Man City (h) W1-0
Tottenham (a) W1-0

P7 W2 D2 L3 F3 A7 PTS 8

Not exactly what we'd ideally like, may give the bitters the hope they must need after yesterday. If we repeated those results and picked up a point from Brum we'd be on the same points as last season (68) We surely must improve the home results, picking up points at the Emirates, old trafford and WHL are tough asks though.

by **account deleted by request** » Mon Mar 17, 2008 3:20 pm

I think we should get between 76-79 points, finishing about 10 points off the eventual winners.

by **Owzat** » Mon Mar 17, 2008 3:23 pm

s@int wrote:I think we should get between 76-79 points, finishing about 10 points off the eventual winners.

Just out of interest where did your points estimate come from? Assuming three home wins puts us on 68 then we'd need eight points or more from away games at Arsenal, Man Utd, Fulham, Tottenham and brum.

by **account deleted by request** » Mon Mar 17, 2008 3:37 pm

maybe 7 or 9 points at home,( possible draw against Everton) Wins away against Brum and Fulham and possibly Spurs, plus anything we get against the Mancs and Arsenal.

I see Everton and Spurs as two difficult games with a draw being as likely as a win and anything from the games against Arsenal and the mancs as a bonus.

by **Owzat** » Mon Mar 17, 2008 3:44 pm

I think we need to go all out for wins in the next two, arguably the whole lot. Fulham may be tough to beat, not that we're half as bad as the bitters. Brum is a team Rafa hasn't beaten in the league in his time here and the other teams have all made it difficult for us in the past three seasons.

Would everyone sacrifice the league points for an aggregate win over Arsenal in the Champions League? Not so much an either/or, but whether we should prioritise the Champions League as trying to win all three may just have worse consequences than conceding defeat in one or more (injuries, fatigue, morale)

by **Emerald Red** » Mon Mar 17, 2008 3:48 pm

So, it's that time of the year again...already.

I agree with S@int. I had the opinion about a month into the season that if we get within maybe 7 points from the eventual winners, then it can be seen as progress. However 10 points would be a bit of a disappointment, although still somewhat flattering considering all that's gone on. I can see us possibly falling short of S@ints projection, but only by a little. Frustrating, considering if you think about just how close some of our draws came to being wins. We're getting there, though. If (and it's a big if) Rafa sticks with his current methods, which are the way to go imo, and will lead us on to win an EPL eventually.

However, depending on our results in this run in, we could even end up better off than I imagined,which is not winning the PL but coming close to it.

by **Effes** » Mon Mar 17, 2008 4:04 pm

Good poll/thread this.

I looked at the fixtures yesterday and thought we'd manage 14 points
not counting the Everton game.
Those away games look dodgey.

If we win the derby we'll manage 4th with about 77 points.

by **god_bless_john_houlding** » Mon Mar 17, 2008 4:28 pm

blackburn, city and tottenham are the easiest games we have left. Blackburn at home SHOULD be three points as should Man City and Spurs don't have anything left to play for and showed as much against City yesterday (except we don't travel well to White Heart Lane).

Birmingham and Fulham are fighting for their lives so it could be tricky going away to them. Arsenal and United are never easy and the derby is impossible to predict unless Mark Clattenburg is the red

I still see us making an extra thirteen points.

by **account deleted by request** » Mon Mar 17, 2008 4:34 pm

god_bless_john_houlding wrote:blackburn, city and tottenham are the easiest games we have left. Blackburn at home SHOULD be three points as should Man City and Spurs don't have anything left to play for and showed as much against City yesterday (except we don't travel well to White Heart Lane).

Birmingham and Fulham are fighting for their lives so it could be tricky going away to them. Arsenal and United are never easy and the derby is impossible to predict unless Mark Clattenburg is the red I still see us making an extra thirteen points.

We will need more than 13 points if we are to win the league mate

I was expecting at least 22 out of 24 points from you John

and was hoping for the full 24 points

by **Owzat** » Mon Mar 17, 2008 4:40 pm

Looking at the manc run in which has five home games I can't see them picking up anything but three points from home games against notlob, Wet Sham and villa and three at wiggun. They only need 17 points to be uncatchable by us

by **Effes** » Mon Mar 17, 2008 5:05 pm

Owzat wrote:against notlob, Wet Sham and villa and three at wiggun.

Dont you mean nobrot, Ham Shank, Vera and Wogan?

by **god_bless_john_houlding** » Mon Mar 17, 2008 5:30 pm

s@int wrote:
god_bless_john_houlding wrote:blackburn, city and tottenham are the easiest games we have left. Blackburn at home SHOULD be three points as should Man City and Spurs don't have anything left to play for and showed as much against City yesterday (except we don't travel well to White Heart Lane).

Birmingham and Fulham are fighting for their lives so it could be tricky going away to them. Arsenal and United are never easy and the derby is impossible to predict unless Mark Clattenburg is the red I still see us making an extra thirteen points.

We will need more than 13 points if we are to win the league mate I was expecting at least 22 out of 24 points from you John and was hoping for the full 24 points

13 was at the very least saint.

That was wins over City, Blackburn, Spurs, Fulham and a draw with Birmingham (who seem to be our bogey team) But I can see us beating Arsenal, Everton and United to make an extra nine points and give us an extra twenty-two from now until the end of the season.

But thirteen is the very minimum.

by **redmikey** » Mon Mar 17, 2008 5:48 pm

while on this thread, how much backlash would you expect if rafa rest any players in the league game against arsenal,

i am really stuck in between thinkin . it does matter if we lose to arsenal as i would rather beat utd and the bitters and i don't think we can get near the league and the champs league is more important

and

we should win every game we take part in and playing players from the bench or the reserves we might slow down the momentum that we have built up at the present

does anyone know what i mean!!!!!!!

by **destro** » Mon Mar 17, 2008 7:23 pm

I think we will win ALL our remaining games

and that includes Champions League matches !

Well maybe draw one and win the rest just so the "anti rafa mob" can still post :;):

by **bigmick** » Mon Mar 17, 2008 7:37 pm

Emerald Red wrote:If (and it's a big if) Rafa sticks with his current methods, which are the way to go imo, and will lead us on to win an EPL eventually.

However, depending on our results in this run in, we could even end up better off than I imagined,which is not winning the PL but coming close to it.

By the "current methods" Emerald, presumeably you're referring to the settled formation and much more minimal rotation. I pretty much agree with you (although typically my only gripe is I'd STILL like to see slightly less rotation

). I also went for the 76-79 points one, and quickly flicking through it I think I got to 77 points.

I wouldn't be betting on it though as there's IMHO a huge variation on the best and worst case scenarios. If for instance we were to lose 3-0 at the Mancs (I don't think we will BTW) then obviously the result could have a huge impact on the following games. It's entirely concieveable we could go out in the quarters of the Champions League and finish fifth, which most people would consider a disaster. On the flip of that, go to Old Tafford with the 4-5-1 and win 2-0, and we could quite easily ruffle the feathers of the leaders and win the Champions League.

Whatever happens (and I think it'll be in between those two as we'll draw) I hope everybody (including me) manages to keep perspective. If we were to lose a couple for instance, it would be a huge step backwards IMHO to revert back to wholesale changes, to forget what's gone before. Similarly (and I never thought I'd be saying this a month ago) if the manager is going to stick with conventional selection methods, regardless of how we go in these next few weeks he deserves antoher shot next season as well.

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