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What would you settle for this season? - Realistic aims and predictions
Posted:
Sun Aug 08, 2004 4:52 amby ivor_the_injun
Head before heart here, kids. Yes, I'd love to say we'd win everything. Personally, I'm not sure we'll win anything.
Premiership: I think we'll be ahead of the Mancs, and very close to Chelsea in 2nd. Arsenal should win again, but far less convincingly. A 10pt gap from 1st to us in 3rd would be a pretty good return, all things considered. I think we'll have 2 players running Henry fairly close for top scorer this year, as opposed to Owen getting 20 and the next top scorer scraping 10, which is a huge help.
Champions League: Draw permitting, I think we'll make it through the group stages. Until our defence is bolstered and our passing is cleaned up, we may struggle against the major players in this comp though - there are better organised sides out there that are better at grinding out results than we are at present.
FA Cup: At least the semis, so long as Benitez puts out strong sides in all rounds. The competition we're most likely to win this season, mainly because the better sides don't give a toss about it any more.
League Cup (whatever it's called this year): We'll probably put out kids in the quarters or something against a mid-table Prem side and get humbled again. Not really arsed if we are to be honest - it's been Mickey Mouse for nearly a decade now.
So long as we accept that this is a transitional year, giving our squad CL experience and not throwing away points in the Premiership (ie: against the likes of Bolton) would mark decent progress. So long as we don't have another average year, and we do put in a good challenge in the league, it'll stand us in good stead for the season after.
Our main problem is that we haven't been good enough for the last 2 seasons to justify keeping our most prized assets, so ensuring that players see us as a huge club that they want to play for may well be the best thing we can pull off. This time next year, the last thing I want us to be is a club that people like Gerrard and Owen think they'd be better off by leaving.
Posted:
Sun Aug 08, 2004 6:55 amby begintoend
1st or 2nd for the EPL
Semis for CL
We need to maintain a winning mentality and a squad that is hungry for success.
Posted:
Sun Aug 08, 2004 9:01 amby LFC #1
top 3 EPL
knock out stages CL
good run in FA cup, hopefully win it.
League cup, a trophy is a trophy but isn't that big an achievement, would be nice if we won it, but not high on priortity list.
Posted:
Sun Aug 08, 2004 10:56 amby Starbridge42
I'd actually be happy (well not happy but satisfied) with another fourth place finish provided we close the gap between us and the eventual champions to no more than 12 points. I think we have a good shout at the FA Cup, and despite its lower value its still a highly prestigious trophy as the oldest proffesional cup competition in the world. A decent run to maybe the quarters or even semis of the Champions League looks doable but we need to focus on testing ourselves against the best in Europe rather than worrying about whether we are going to win it or not. If we went out in the second round to Real Madrid or AC Milan but took it to the wire with good football than that would be a very good achievement.
Posted:
Sun Aug 08, 2004 11:10 amby azriahmad
Top 3 EPL with a points difference to the champions not as large as the ridiculous 30 points.
Knock out phase of the CL to make sure we earn some serious cash, don't have to go as far as the semis which seems unrealistic unless the traditional giants get stuffed like last season.
I wouldn't mind an FA Cup win as long as we don't have to endure any draining replay matches.
Indifferent to the League Cup as it has not really been taken seriously by manure, arsenal and chelski.
More importantly, Liverpool should play a good possession game with good forward build ups and pressing play, the conerstone of the glory years, and ditch the awful counter-attacking play (even at Anfield!) of the previous regime.
Posted:
Sun Aug 08, 2004 1:33 pmby 72-1090627431
defintately, not 1st or 2nd. we simply dont have the squad and players, especially not having bought many. those who think otherwise are purely dreaming.
4th probably, getting knocked out of champs league early maybe against gratz?
maybe we wont win anything this year, bearing in mind that teams like Boro, Newcastle, Birmingham are that much stronger and we are about the same ability wise, upon last year.
I hate to be a party pooper, but.....Rafa's lack of signings does not give confidence.
Posted:
Sun Aug 08, 2004 1:41 pmby barnesrush
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
Posted:
Sun Aug 08, 2004 1:50 pmby woof woof !
Hustlers Revenge wrote:defintately, not 1st or 2nd. we simply dont have the squad and players, especially not having bought many. those who think otherwise are purely dreaming.
4th probably, getting knocked out of champs league early maybe against gratz?
maybe we wont win anything this year, bearing in mind that teams like Boro, Newcastle, Birmingham are that much stronger and we are about the same ability wise, upon last year.
I hate to be a party pooper, but.....Rafa's lack of signings does not give confidence.
Agree with your first comment.
But whats with your remark about getting knocked out by Graz ? it contradicts your " I hate to be a party pooper " remark.
You are a party pooper and whats more you love it .
Sad really .
Seriously Hustler, are you really a Liverpool supporter or just some sad f*ck who gets off on p*ssing on any optomism shown by fans on this forum.
You make some valid points,usually negative but sometimes valid . What I don't understand is your apparent relish at the prospect of LFC failing . A prospect that no LFC supporter would wish to see realised .
Posted:
Sun Aug 08, 2004 6:25 pmby azriahmad
Quote (Hustlers Revenge @ Aug. 08 2004,13:33)
defintately, not 1st or 2nd. we simply dont have the squad and players, especially not having bought many. those who think otherwise are purely dreaming.
4th probably, getting knocked out of champs league early maybe against gratz?
maybe we wont win anything this year, bearing in mind that teams like Boro, Newcastle, Birmingham are that much stronger and we are about the same ability wise, upon last year.
I hate to be a party pooper, but.....Rafa's lack of signings does not give confidence.
A bit too harsh on the new man and surely we are not that bad that you'd think we're going to stink from day one?
I think that it is fair to say that for the past couple of seasons, we have suffered mostly from a very negative playing style, poor positioning of players as in too many players who are made to play in the wrong positions and to a great extent, a lack in confidence (or is it fear) creeping into the minds of the players that we never really try any alternative approach.
Surely Liverpool have some quality players and with the large squad (especially the reserve players) who Houllier bought but never really got any decent playing time, Rafa is bound to find some who can be included in the current senior squad.
Give the man a break. Perhaps he is working on a limited transfer budget and he is also not displaying a foolish streak of simply chasing big names who do not necessarily fit into his plans. The man is a proven winner, in the past his team outplayed us in the games we met Valencia.
I would not go as far as saying "f**k off" to you because that is not my style but having read your threads, I do wonder if you are really a fan of Liverpool like so many others here have said.
Posted:
Sun Aug 08, 2004 6:39 pmby XSD
This would be acceptable:
4th with a much smaller gap between us and 3rd in the prem
Decent run in the fa (semis maybe) and CL (like to get through group stages), permitting for coming up against clubs like Arsenal and Real which would likely knock us out.
I think we are capable of 3rd (POSSIBLY second, depending on the fitness of Chelseas and Arsenals players), and of winning the FA if we are a bit lucky. Champions League isn't really within our reach, although anything can happen in football, a decent run here would see us with more cash anyway.
Posted:
Mon Aug 09, 2004 8:26 amby begintoend
If you look at the team Arsenal played yesterday, it was a different line up from last season unbeaten team. Yet they cruised to a winning style with every player playing like its their final.
I was hoping Benitez can get this kinda spirit into our team. It'll be awesome. With that, 1st or 2nd would not be a problem.
Lets get our foundations right. Be the champions of England before being the champions of Europe. That is why I feel that this season team must aim to top the league.
Posted:
Mon Aug 09, 2004 12:22 pmby Roger Red Hat
I want:
Premier League - champions
Champs.league - winners
FA Cup - winners
League cup - winners
lottery - winners
boat race - winners
Skelmenthorpe inter county egg and spoon race - winners!
Come on Rafa, come on Liverpool, lets aim to clean up this season!
Don't settle for 2nd place - lets WIN WIN WIN WIN!
REDS REDS REDS REDS!
Posted:
Mon Aug 09, 2004 12:25 pmby stmichael
it's between arsenal and chelsea for the league this season. arsenal are just awesome, even if vieira goes. man united are not the force they used to be. in my opinion it'll be between us and them for third this season. however even if we finish 4th it won't be a disaster as long as we're not 30 points adrift.
Posted:
Mon Aug 09, 2004 12:27 pmby taff
Skelmenthorpe inter county egg and spoon race - winners!
Are you a crazy optimistic fool we havent a hope
Premiership is the main one and my hope is we are competitive until the end. If we dont win but we are still a part of it come the end Ill be happy in fact delighted as for a first season that would be a great achievment.
I expect a decent CL run as well as Benitez is probably more experienced in this area
Posted:
Mon Aug 09, 2004 11:47 pmby wiped
Premiership - winners (16/1 at the moment - worth a tenner)
CL - past the group stages so we can earn some Cash
FA Cup - Winners
League Cup - Semi's
Skelmenthorpe inter county egg and spoon race - knocked out first round ... we've nobody with a steady hand ....
