Liverpool FC Forum

by **bigmick** » Mon Aug 31, 2009 12:27 am

So it's all starting to settle down now. Most of the teams have revealed their hands, and barring some massive movements before the window closes, you can pretty accurately assess where everyone stands.

John Craig said in a post earlier that based on what he's seen so far he has reservations as to whether we'll mount a serious challenge, and I was wondering what others were thinking.

I've gone about it by giving a brief rundown of my impressions on the season so far for various teams, albeit at a very early stage.

Chelsea: I think those of us hoping Ancellotti would make a nonsense of it are going to be disappointed. Yes he's over rotated, but other than that his conduct and words have been sensible. They've obviously got a good squad and they look motivated. Like some (mainly Ace on this one) I'm not sure about the system, but so far they look good. They haven't played anyone yet, but if they beat us at Stamford Bridge in a few weeks, it already looks like we'll be a fair way behind.

Man Utd: Not convincing so far, but thank God they lost against Burnley otherwise we'd be 6 points behind both them and Chelsea, and almost out of it already. They do have a habit of eeking out wins which they haven't lost, and they are of course obviously still a bunch of cheating c...s and as flukey as feck to go with it.

Arsenal: Look good so far, but it will be interesting to see how they react to the unlucky defeat at Man Utd. Look a better team than last season though for sure which is amazing considering they've sold two of their best players and Fabregas is injured.

Man City: I'm a little worried about this lot. No Europe to distract them, and a massively talented squad. They've started well and they could definately shake a few teams at the top up this season.

Honourable mentions: Tottenham are obviously continuing to improve. After the baby food bloke left they had two points from 8 games last season, and it needed top six form to get them where they finished up under 'Arry. They've continued in that vein and look good, but still not good enough I don't think to crack the top four.

Liverpool: Well we haven't started well, and the point of the thread is to assess where we are relative to everyone else. To be totally honest I share John Craigs concern at this point. There are two main players in the squad who are abolutely indespensible. If either Torres or Gerrard get injured we are going to be in fairly big trouble fairly quickly, and defensively we don't have the look of a team who can go to big four/five grounds and grind out results. Equally, we are conceding goals from set-pieces at an alarming rate, and we have disfunctional centre midfield.

Fairly obviously we are currently a mile away from our best form of last season, and at this stage I'd have to be pessimistic that we will go as close as we did then. Obviously if we rediscovered that form fairly quickly and Gerrard/Torres stay fitfor nearly all the season, and Aquilani settles straight away, and we sort our defensive frailty, and until Aquilani is fit we sort out our central misfield nonsense we have a chance.

There's a few too many variables there for me though, and at risk of being labelled not a real fan, i would say based on what I've seen so far Man Utd and Chelsea will fight it out, with us, Man City and Arsenal trying to avoid being the odd one of three. Fortunately, I think we will make it, as will Arsenal and Man City will miss out on the Champions League.

by **account deleted by request** » Mon Aug 31, 2009 12:39 am

I am genuinely worried Mick. Usually when a couple of outsiders are "up there " early on you can expect that come the half way stage of the season the lack of a strong squad will catch up with them and they will start to fade. This time both Citeh and Spurs have very strong squads and I worry if they will fade this time around, this time its US with the poorer squad depth and I can only hope that it doesn't catch up with us.

Chelsea and the mancs are probably doing as well as expected imo, with Arsenal exceeded expectations at this time, but they always seem to start strongly.

We are slightly off the pace after starting poorly as usual and I expect us to slowly improve, but I think we are going to have to depend on luck with injuries if we are going to challenge for the title. I think we will get top four, but I just can't see us emulating last seasons total of points.

by **DrPepe** » Mon Aug 31, 2009 12:39 am

it's all as you were really...

the mancs and chels have the best squad - that's pretty self evident

but v hard to draw conclusions -

this time last season chels were looking brilliant with deco knocking in wonder goals. but then the wheels came off...

the mancs had a dodgy start (4 games / 5 points) and that turned out ok for them in the end , eh?

We've not had a confident start at all for sure. But, obvious as it seems, for us it all depends on the integration of aquaman into the team and the fitness of our best players. And until he;s fit we need to pick up points when we're playing shi te, which is what we haven't managed to do so far...

by **Madmax** » Mon Aug 31, 2009 12:52 am

Chelsea are doing well with an experienced and quality squad. Top manager in ancelloti so i could see them as favourites for the title. They will be up there challenging with whoever perform consistently.

With the scums i've a feeling they will not be as lucky as they were last season. There will be many times when games will be unpredictable for them and usually they one that end up with 1-0 victories. This time i've a feeling that luck will not be there because of no ronaldo/tevez. Could see them loosing and drawing a fair bit of games.

City for me will be the dark horses and if they continue this great form who knows anything is possible. For city to win the title i think they have to try and take as many points off the top 4 as possible. If they are able to then i would say they will be up there come may. As mentioned with no euro campaign seems like their focus won't be blurred. They are doing well so far getting the wins and conceding no goals! Time will tell i guess but a great start.

Arsenal seems good aswel but i've a feeling they will drift away as usual.

As for Us it all depends on weather we snatch points until our injured players get back and also if aquilani performs as well as we hope. If we stay within the top and have our squad to full strength i could see up being up there. This time around not too sure though but hope all goes well.

by **Cool Hand Luke** » Mon Aug 31, 2009 1:06 am

Chelsea: They have a strong squad but I’m not 100% sure about the balance. They have a lot of midfielders who are very similar and they do have an awful lot of old players who may start to suffer towards the end of the season if they play 50+ games. Unless they bring in some reinforcement they will be stretched when the African Nations cup kicks off. They will lose Drogba, Essien, Mikel and Kalou. What if Anelka get injured during this period? I think Joe Cole could be key to whether they win the title. He is the only midfield player who is bit different to the rest and he would fit nicely into the tip of the diamond if they dropped Lampard back. My prediction is that they will lead going into the new year but they will drop enough points for Man Utd to overtake them.

Man Utd: It is not unusual for them to start slow and they will win 8 – 12 games in a row at some point. They are traditional strong over and after the Christmas period and I think they will take the number one spot sometime between January – March and will stay there. I was at Old Trafford on Saturday and Fergie got his team wrong. Giggs had an awful game but then set up 2 goals. I think they should dip into the transfer market as they do seem to be missing something.

Arsenal: Getting rid of Toure and Adebayor made sense. Both were causing problems last year and they are better off without them. They have a good squad but you just get the feeling they are just missing one or two specific options in order to win the title. Vermaelen looks like a decent player who is quite good in the air but you still feel there is a lack of leadership and organisation from the back. They don’t need to spend big, they just need to get certain types of players to compliment those already in the team. I think they will still be in the hunt come March but will be end up 5 or 6 points behind the Champions.

Liverpool: The squad simply doesn’t have the quality in depth and losing Alonso is a bigger loss than most people realise. He was our most consistent player last year and was behind most good things that we did. I think we will end up scrapping our way toward the 80 point mark but won’t quite get there.

Man City, Tottenham and Aston Villa: Without the distraction of the Uefa Cup all 4 could push for a 4th spot finish. If we pick up injures to key players we will be in a real battle to get back into the Champions League. Villa could do with a couple of signings but the other 2 already have squads strong enough to play 38 – 45 games.

Overall I don’t think “the big 4” look as formidable as in past seasons and there are some good sides out there who have closed the gap. It may be possible to win the league with 80-85 point this season as I think all of the top 4 will drop more points than last year

If I had to take a guess at this early stage of the season considering the current squads:

Man Utd = 85
Chelsea = 83
Arsenal = 81
Liverpool = 77
Tottenham/Man City = 75

by **Kharhaz** » Mon Aug 31, 2009 1:07 am

With regards to us, I dont feel confident at all. We are waiting for one of our expensive signings to recover from injury and turn our perfomances around. So many people have spoken about Aquilani and what a difference he will make. Im not so sure. Ive heard all the good things from players pre season, as in "we must win the league", "second is nowhere" blah blah but where are the perfomances to back up those statements? Yeah we beat stoke, good result. We also got whipped by villa. And we only just beat bolton. And still, we have Aquilani to come into the team. Thats no excuse for me, a player who has no experience in the english league. Bloody hell, there are a lot of cracks but just enough paper for now.

Gerrards comments with regarding clearing the air before the bolton match, people got things off their chest. Eh? I thought confidence was good, I thought we were all up for this season, positive comments from players before the season. Rafa says "we have the same squad as last season so confidence is good", Gerrard says "We got things off our chests". It seems to me at least, the players and manager are singing from different sheets. Should I be worried? should every supporter be worried? We are sat here cursing the yanks owning the club, but greater discord is there obviously. We have seen it in the performances, we have seen it from Rafa telling Gerrard to perform, and we have seen it from Gerrard explaining how the "clear the air" talks helped.

Am I confident? no, and by the looks of things, neither are the players. Our performances and attitude is all over the place. And this has me worried.

by **bigmick** » Mon Aug 31, 2009 1:51 am

Some good replies there and Lukes point about the African nations thing is very valid. There's no question that Chelsea will get severely stretched around that time, and they'll do very well to avoid it having a major impact on their season.

by **LFC2007** » Mon Aug 31, 2009 2:30 am

Getting Aurelio, Agger and Aquilani back into action will be key. I mention the defenders because although they mightn't have the same functional importance as the role Aquilani will fill, they're still quality footballers, and we're fairly thin on the ground in that department. Despite Insua's fairly tidy start, you'd expect Aurelio to replace him because he's a better, more experienced player. It's one more proper footballer (you know what I'm saying and you know what I'm not saying

) at Rafa's disposal. He'll provide good cover on the bench at the very least, not just in a purely defensive sense, but also if we need to shore up the midfield possession-wise, or as an option down the left to provide quality and width.

Agger's importance can be summed up saying that if he was fit, he would probably get the nod ahead of everyone else bar Carra at CB right now. We know he's a really good player when he's fit and in-form. A more intelligent defender than Skrtel and comfortable coming out of defence - two elements we've sorely missed at the back so far this season.

So, two relatively minor but important details particularly given the dearth of quality on the bench. The most obvious detail then is Aquilani, and I just hope he isn't reading these boards otherwise might sense the impression our title hopes rest on his shoulders. They don't - necessarily - but such are the variables I think it's realistic to think we need something a bit special out of him. We know how significant one key player can be to the overall scheme of things.

by **bigmick** » Mon Aug 31, 2009 2:39 am

LFC2007 wrote:It's one more proper footballer (you know what I'm saying and you know what I'm not saying )

No I'm not sure we do mate, what are you saying

by **LFC2007** » Mon Aug 31, 2009 2:44 am

by **Bad Bob** » Mon Aug 31, 2009 2:47 am

As of right now I must say that I'm a little concerned that we're going to be well off the pace this year. With that said, I thought we were dead and buried after losing at Boro last year and that the wheels were about to fall off big style after losing to Barnsley the year before. Just when you think we're about to throw in the towel, something clicks and we go on a bit of a run. Let's hope that happens after the international break and we stay in the thick of the title battle. It could be a bit of a topsy-turvy race this season with the Mancs looking weaker and City and Spurs looking more realistic threats. If we can somehow stay in the mix, who knows. Agree with LFC, though. We need some of the key injured players back and finding form quickly, we need Riera back in the side and we need Gerrard, Torres and indeed Johnson to stay fit and on form.

by **bigmick** » Mon Aug 31, 2009 2:52 am

At the end of the day there is Johnson Bob you're right. I'm not saying it because I advocated his signing either because even though I was all for it I didn't expect him to be quite THIS good. He has been absolutely outstanding so far, and when you consider we are largely playing sh!t and he's just arrrived, it's really been a remarkable beginning for the fella.

by **baldricks_cunning_plan** » Mon Aug 31, 2009 2:52 am

I feel great about our prospects because I think we'll win the league. Next question.

by **bigmick** » Mon Aug 31, 2009 2:53 am

Fair play Baldie, nothing wrong with a bit of mindless optimism.

by **Madmax** » Mon Aug 31, 2009 3:10 am

Another thing about city is they could stregthen their squad in january with a couple of more quality big buys! Just a couple of boosts for the title i guess.

All of the top 4 should progress to the next stage of the champions league so i guess after that will see which teams get kicked out and focus themselves on the premiership.
This season i don't think the top four could handle a long journey in the champs league and a challenge for the premiership. Maybe chelsea but doubt us,mancs and arsenal have the quality to compete in both competitions.

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