Liverpool FC Forum

by **Big Niall** » Sun Apr 19, 2009 11:53 pm

i agree that torres and gerrard carry us more than rooney and ronaldo carry manure.

I don't think we'll win the league and the last time i thought we might was in 1996 when we made the fatal mistake of having david james.

that f*cking clown of a keeper still hasn't learned how to come for a cross.

by **JoeTerp** » Mon Apr 20, 2009 12:03 am

they also didn't let in any goals for a few months and their centre backs are more dominant in the air than ours

by **JC_81** » Mon Apr 20, 2009 12:04 am

Big Niall wrote:i agree that torres and gerrard carry us more than rooney and ronaldo carry manure.

I don't think we'll win the league and the last time i thought we might was in 1996 when we made the fatal mistake of having david james.

that f*cking clown of a keeper still hasn't learned how to come for a cross.

Makes me laugh that he's the English national keeper. Unbelievable to be honest.

by **DrPepe** » Mon Apr 20, 2009 12:08 am

JoeTerp wrote:they also didn't let in any goals for a few months and their centre backs are more dominant in the air than ours

wigan away, hull at home, boro away, tottenham away

we couldn't hold onto the point(s) which would have seen us over the hill and far away by this stage

united have kept clean sheets in games like those this season. It's all very well saying we need more attackign talent, but a bit more defensive nous could have been just as useful as turnign those 0-0s to wins with a 30m striker or two

:Oo:

by **Simari** » Mon Apr 20, 2009 12:25 am

DrPepe wrote:
JoeTerp wrote:they also didn't let in any goals for a few months and their centre backs are more dominant in the air than ours

wigan away, hull at home, boro away, tottenham away

We were trailing 0-2 to Hull and came back to earn the point. Wasn't a matter of holding on, but coming back at home (that in itself was a situation we shouldn't have been in).

We hit Spurs at the WRONG time, their first home game after Harry took over.

I can't remember the Wigan game

but completely agree with the Boro result. That was one of the key games early this year that cost us our momentum from Christmas.

But in fairness to JoeTerp, these are the sort of challenges we must figure out how to overcome.

by **DrPepe** » Mon Apr 20, 2009 12:30 am

Simari wrote:
DrPepe wrote:
JoeTerp wrote:they also didn't let in any goals for a few months and their centre backs are more dominant in the air than ours

wigan away, hull at home, boro away, tottenham away

We were trailing 0-2 to Hull and came back to earn the point. Wasn't a matter of holding on, but coming back at home (that in itself was a situation we shouldn't have been in).

We hit Spurs at the WRONG time, their first home game after Harry took over.

I can't remember the Wigan game

the point is keeping clean sheetsin those games wouldhave earned us an extra 8 points

just as buying a couple ofexpensive offensive player may have converted 2 or 3 0-0s into wins

swings and roundabouts, but i can see rafa addressing the defensive inadequacies this summer before he looks at attacking options (ie. hyppia, carra aging, agger could be leaving, fulbacks etc)

by **RedBlood** » Mon Apr 20, 2009 12:41 am

i think the most important lesson learned is that we are now good enough to challenge for the title and better luck with injurys and a few new signings theres no reason why we cant compete for the title year after year

by **ConnO'var** » Mon Apr 20, 2009 2:00 am

I would love to say that it's the games we've drawn this season..... to teams we should have beaten.... as the primary lesson we should take away from this season's campaign. But that would not be entirely accurate for 2 reasons.

1. If we had won those games, would we have gone on the run that we have over the last few weeks? I think that it would be difficult to say as the team's mentality would have been different. As it stands right now, we have nothing to lose and as such we are able to go for it each and every game. Who's to say we'd not be more nervous now in leading the pack? We'd never done it before and none of our players have had that experience so it could well be we'd have caught the "rabbit frozen in headllights" syndrome. I think it's probably better that we are in the chasing pack rather than leading it at this stage. Our players don't have time to think too much about the chasing group as we need to concentrate on closing the gap ahead and that gives us focus.

2. Secondly, saying that we should have won those games does us no favours. What is more important is that we find out the root cause of those draws and address that instead. It's all well and good to say that we should do this or that, but without analysing the cause, we'd be shooting in the dark and experimenting almost blindly.

For me, the major lessons to be learnt is the importance of:
1) Squad stability
2) Team morale
3) Consistency
4) Squad depth and more importantly squad quality. We're still not there yet and 4 players in various positions are needed for next year. In order of importance.

1) World class right winger/wing back.... ahem.... Dani Alves!

2) Good Quality back up striker if we are planning on playing with 1 striker upfront or a quality big man striker in the mould of Adebayor who can play in a 1 or 2 man attack.
3) World class left winger/wing back ala Lahm.
4) A strong big man with excellent aerial prowess in the heart of the defence.... Looks like we'll lose Agger and Skrtl is more of a Carra type player. We need another Sammi to replace Sammi in the long run.

by **yolz** » Mon Apr 20, 2009 3:25 am

First real title challenge in years....
No matter the outcome, I stand by the lads for an unforgetable season so far
As mentioned, it's not easy to beat the "Big 4" teams as we have done, not to mention the mauling of Real Madrid!
While talk about improvements and shoring up the team is inevitable, what really needs to be done is somewhat debatable

1. Performance of late
Our perfomrance shows that we can beat any team on our day, but surely this swings both ways?
I hate to say it but concede that Chelsea out-played us in Anfield.
They were the better team on that day
Yet, look at our performance when we visited Stanford Bridge!
The top teams are all class teams that can beat anyone on their day
It's the consistency that counts
I think we've started playing better because the lads are starting to believe in themselves, there's a wee bit more consistency in the squad rotation, and there's an ironclad "go to" partnership of Torres and Gerrard firmly Established.
I don't know if a top class back-up striker is necessary, I think more of a fill in type like Rosenthal(remember him?) would suit us better
2. Strengthening the Squad
While I hope that our fairy godmother opens up a fat chest of gold coins to enable us to go but top lcass pplayers in every department, that's not going to happen
IMO, priority should be given to shoring up our defense. Bring back the days of Alan Hensen's RED WALL
3. Signings
Prudence, Patience, Post-Keane reflections
We need to really start evaluating palyers we bring in before we buy them
Time should be given to the new signings for them to settle in
Lets' never repeat another KeaneGate

by **SundanceKid** » Mon Apr 20, 2009 3:54 am

Big Niall wrote:i agree that torres and gerrard carry us more than rooney and ronaldo carry manure.

I don't think we'll win the league and the last time i thought we might was in 1996 when we made the fatal mistake of having david james.

that f*cking clown of a keeper still hasn't learned how to come for a cross.

You seem to forget that we've put up great scorelines without one or the other, and occasionally both against many teams, two of them being Chelsea and United.

They're a massive boost to the team's life but they are definitely not carrying the team.

by **SundanceKid** » Mon Apr 20, 2009 3:56 am

And if it's not this season, next year the title is definitely ours. I can't see it not happening.

by **heimdall** » Mon Apr 20, 2009 6:25 am

SundanceKid wrote:And if it's not this season, next year the title is definitely ours. I can't see it not happening.

Wonderful use of the double negative :wwww

Why not just say you can see it happen? Personally I can see three ways it might not happen, they are Manure, the Chavs and the :censored:

, but we have a damned good chance, better than we've had for years.

by **bigmick** » Mon Apr 20, 2009 6:57 am

As I touched on earlier, I think the circumstances this season have been just about uniquely favourable and I think if we don't win it, getting there next season may be much harder. When I talk of favourable circumstances, some of it has been of our own doing and some of it has been co-ordinated ineptitude from our rivals. Whichever way you look at it though, it's hard to imagine us beating the Mancs and Chelsea home and away for example next season. That truly was a once in a lifetime achievement, and if despite that six point cushion over both we still don't win it it'll be amazing really.

I think it's fairly clear that if Hiddink had been at Chelsea all season they'd have more points in the league as of now than they currently do. You can't say for certain of course as no doubt somebody will point out, but on the balance of probability I think most would come to that conclusion. He won't be there next season it seems which is a bit of a result, but whoever is will be hoping to make a much better fist of the league effort.

Arsenal have wollowed in pity and mediocrity for much of the season, but even they are now begining to string it together a bit and their run of fifteen unbeaten or whatever it is will convince the faithful that they'll be much closer again last season. For them, the accumulation of a really awful run with injuries and the failure to replace either Hleb or Flamini in the Summer completely derailed them for much of the season. My guess is that next time around they will contest the top spot with more vigour than this time around.

The Mancs after falling out of the blocks and giving us a start got their act together, went past us and actually had it won a couple of weeks back before forgetting to lock the door behind them. This has given us renewed belief and what with their European commitments, we may yet prevail. They'll think twice though next season about letting us pull clear so readily, so I expect all three of our rivals will up their game from this season.

Behind them (and outside the big four) I simply don't think any of the teams bar Man City have the necessary financial clout to get involved. City will if they can persuade Mourinho to leave Inter (I think they'll at least challenge for the top four, Villa style in that case) but I think if Hughes stays they'll fall short again of where their investment entitles them to believe they are capable of.

As I said earlier, if we win it we'll improve anyway as Champions do. If we don't however, unike many I think it's by no means a forgone conclusion that we'll match our efforts of this season in the one coming up. We'll certainly need to spend our 40 million quid better this Summer than we did last, lets put it that way.

by **kazza** » Mon Apr 20, 2009 7:35 am

Lessons learned:
Support your team because they may just surprise you and then you will not seem like a negative grumpy feck :laugh:

that has to hide out for a while because he painted himself into a corner (intended to be light-hearted but take it as you will )

Lessons learned:
"Fergie-Style", changing the team, the formation and/or the positions which the players play in with the frequency and to the degree which he does will never be successful in the English premier League" :;):

by **Sabre** » Mon Apr 20, 2009 7:55 am

I don't understand this whole point of the extremely favourable conditions. Beating Chelsea and Manchester away are our merits and period, it just shows we have a strong team.

The truth is that if Liverpool wins the league this year, Liverpool will win this league in the moment that this league has been stronger in the last two decades -- undebatable fact. So that fact destroys IMHO the notion of the favourable conditions (I know, in just one line, but still does), rather, I'd say that we'll win a league harder to win than in 2003, 1999, or 1995. Against all the odds, and against stronger teams economically.

I guess it's all a matter of how you look at things.

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