Liverpool FC Forum

[stmichael]

What I dont understand is why so many people on here think playing against top teams is the same as playing against the bottom teams! 

Look at the teams Man Utd have played so far (current league position in brackets):

Fulham (H) - - - - - - [12th]
Charlton (A) - - - - - -[20th]
Watford (A) - - - - - - [19th]
Spurs (A) - - - - - - - -[10th]
Arsenal (H) - - - - - - -[6th]------ LOST
Reading (A) - - - - - - [7th] ------ DREW
Newcastle (H) - - - - [17th]
Wigan (H) - - - - - - - [11th]
Liverpool (H) - - - - - -[9th]
Bolton (A) - - - - - - - -[3rd]
Portsmouth (H) - - - - [4th]
Blackburn (A) - - - - -[16th]
Sheffield Utd (A) - - -[18th]
Chelsea - - - - - - - - -[2nd]----- DREW

The majority of their matches have been against teams from the bottom half of the table. They even struggled against the likes of Watford and Sheffield Utd. In fact Man Utd have only won 3 games against teams from the top half. 2 at home and 1 away. Admittedly one was against us but we were in the middle of a difficult fixture list and low on confidence and they were on a good run and playing at home so the match was in their favour.

On top of that they lost to:

Celtic
FC Copenhagen
Southend!!! 


If you take cup games as well as league games into consideration then we've only lost one more game than Man Utd. They've lost 4 and we've lost 5. And look who we lost ours to: Man Utd, Chelsea, Arsenal, Bolton, Everton. And we're still in one more competition than them (the League cup).

Plus, we're through to the knock out stages of the Champions league while Man Utd have to still get at least a draw to qualify.

[Ace Ventura]

St your spot on mate, but people will read newspapers and watch Sky pundits (who say we are in crisis) and agree with them, it is really starting to do my head in tbh.
Man United play this fast freeflowing attacking football...we dont blah blah blah.
Against Aston Villa first half we played football as good as any other side in the league (including Arsenal) the problem is the difficult fixtures we have had have stopped the side building up the momentum that united and chelsea have been able to build...lets just see how we start performing from now.
If united get one or two injuries they will start to struggle, there squad is poor and there fixtures are going to get tougher.

[Pietro]

I hate Manchester, i want that Manchester explode three times in quick succession.
Sorry for the relief.

Up the REAL reds!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[kobashi]

St your spot on mate, but people will read newspapers and watch Sky pundits (who say we are in crisis) and agree with them, it is really starting to do my head in tbh.
Man United play this fast freeflowing attacking football...we dont blah blah blah.
Against Aston Villa first half we played football as good as any other side in the league (including Arsenal) the problem is the difficult fixtures we have had have stopped the side building up the momentum that united and chelsea have been able to build...lets just see how we start performing from now.
If united get one or two injuries they will start to struggle, there squad is poor and there fixtures are going to get tougher.

we don't play this fast attacking flowing football though.

45mins vs Aston Villa was superb but we are now coming into december.  do you think 45mins is good enough?  you have seen all the games this season yourself right?

its pretty obvious our football is ugly!!

[67-1161385641]

What I dont understand is why so many people on here think playing against top teams is the same as playing against the bottom teams! 

It's not but the principle is the same. That principle is beating your opposition. Chelsea have raised the bar, there is a minor room for error, so beating the top teams is a must.

[Effes]

We'll win the Carling Cup this year.

Of course it isn't our "aim" for any season; but still, winning a cup is still good for the fans.
If we do that and finish, say, third then it wont be a bad season.

[Ace Ventura]

St your spot on mate, but people will read newspapers and watch Sky pundits (who say we are in crisis) and agree with them, it is really starting to do my head in tbh.
Man United play this fast freeflowing attacking football...we dont blah blah blah.
Against Aston Villa first half we played football as good as any other side in the league (including Arsenal) the problem is the difficult fixtures we have had have stopped the side building up the momentum that united and chelsea have been able to build...lets just see how we start performing from now.
If united get one or two injuries they will start to struggle, there squad is poor and there fixtures are going to get tougher.

we don't play this fast attacking flowing football though.

45mins vs Aston Villa was superb but we are now coming into december.  do you think 45mins is good enough?  you have seen all the games this season yourself right?

its pretty obvious our football is ugly!!

Our football at times this season has been great to watch, i accept the fact that it hasn't been frequently enough but really think the difficulty of the away fixtures has stopped us gaining any momentum.
The passing and movement is improving and thats despite the fact that Rafa has integrated so many new players into the first team.
Crouch's goal at home to West Ham was after a very good move and Gerrards goal at home to PSV was brilliant as well imo.
Let us play Charlton and Watford away amongst some relatively easy home games and watch the way our football improves.

[Ace Ventura]

What I dont understand is why so many people on here think playing against top teams is the same as playing against the bottom teams! 

It's not but the principle is the same. That principle is beating your opposition. Chelsea have raised the bar, there is a minor room for error, so beating the top teams is a must.

Chelsea had raised the bar but are dropping more points this season, we have lost 5 already and are only 11 points adrift of them. They have already lost as Spurs and Boro, places where they took maximum points last season.
The winners of the Premiership this season will not have anywhere near as many points as in the last 2 seasons.

[vlady16.1]

i am glad people are seeing this right. we've played a tough schedule and yes blew some points but i really don't fear chelski or manure as before

manure-- squad is real thin and with injuries they will struggle-- who is the #3 striker-- alan smith -- midfield -- fletcher-- they don't scare me -- sir alec does

chelski -- didn't anyone else see their obvious lack of width in the first half against manure-- i wasn't impressed and when they opened it up man u should have scored 2 or 3 more-- the midfield ballack, lampart. essien and makelele are all central mids and ballack and sheve don't look good at all

don't get me wrong but i really think that it ain't over. when we get healthy i really think we will be much better. i think we really miss kewell

[67-1161385641]

Ace,that might well be true, but you don't know that until the end of the season. My point being is we should be looking to win every game to get the most amount of points possible to win the league title, it's all well and good having hindsight, but we can never be sure at the start of the season. Football as you know is unpredictable at times. We shouldn't have the attitude of 'its ok to drop points', it's inevitable, I know, but I'm still seething with deep annoyance over our poor results, so far even though the league is still to play for. You can rage at people like puroresu all you like, but he's spot on with some of what he says, just like you are spot on with some of what you say. Without sounding too rude, I don't want to offend here, but you're coming across as if it doesn't bother you too much that we've dropped points because United and Chelsea have as well. Whilst it's true, I'm not a fan of this attitude, just like I'm not a fan of the deeply pessimistic attitude.

[Ace Ventura]

Ace,that might well be true, but you don't know that until the end of the season. My point being is we should be looking to win every game to get the most amount of points possible to win the league title, it's all well and good having hindsight, but we can never be sure at the start of the season. Football as you know is unpredictable at times. We shouldn't have the attitude of 'its ok to drop points', it's inevitable, I know, but I'm still seething with deep annoyance over our poor results, so far even though the league is still to play for. You can rage at people like puroresu all you like, but he's spot on with some of what he says, just like you are spot on with some of what you say. Without sounding too rude, I don't want to offend here, but you're coming across as if it doesn't bother you too much that we've dropped points because United and Chelsea have as well. Whilst it's true, I'm not a fan of this attitude, just like I'm not a fan of the deeply pessimistic attitude.

I'm not being funny mate but what a ridiculous post.

There is nobody that is resigned to losing points, or happy about it.
What we are trying to do is stay positive and think logically.
When United play at Stamford Bridge, the Emirates and Anfield they will almost certainly drop points, when we play away at Watford and Charlton there is every possibility that we will win, that will bring us closer to them.

So many papers and pundits are writing us off due to our poor start without looking at the bigger picture.
We may not win the title this season but i am 100% certain that we will be comfortably top 3.

[67-1161385641]

I don't think it was a ridiculous post at all, but that's neither here or there. I am staying positive just like you and just like most other people, I'm just not a fan of people stating it's ok to lose points because everyone else will, we should be looking to rapidly reduce the amount of points we lose. I agree we have all of our tough fixtures out of the way and we can catch Man Utd and Chelsea (providing we cure our away day blues) but I want us to be looking to win most games instead of saying well we can afford to lose points because everyone else will, yes you're right to think this, but it winds up me up like something chronic. I also don’t think it’s stupid to point out that we never know what’s around the corner unless you can read into the future?

[Bad Bob]

What we are trying to do is stay positive and think logically.

Amen, brother. 

[67-1161385641]

What we are trying to do is stay positive and think logically.

Amen, brother. 

When did I show any negativity?

[dawson99]

yay....uefa cup spot...almost.

(positive enough?)