Liverpool FC Forum

[muzodziwa]

I think we will come very close, actually i think we will win it. I know the strength and depth of Man U and Chelsea and the fluidity of Arsenal and add to that the delusions of Spurs, Man City and Everton, we are really looking good for the premiership and the champions league.

As a fan i am optimistic that we will do well this season, but this has been bolstered not only by the players we have brought in but rather by the crew behind the scene that we have recently appointed. No matter how much i dislike G&H, at least they are backing the manager (obviously in their own style) and Mr Parry is maybe not on holiday this transfer window, which is a good thing, there is relative peace in the camp.

We have recently appointed two talented coaches in Sammy Lee and Mauricio Pellegrino, covering two areas which i thought were lacking last season; defensively we will do well with the experience of Pellegrino and Rafa needed someone with a strong passion for Liverpool and apart from Gary Mac, Sammy Lee provides that adequately. With Man U they have lost Carlos, who was instrumental in their success, and Chelsea have a new regime altogether, so in this regard we are more stable and this should work to our advantage.

I understand the limitations of our full backs, but tbh apart from Arsenal, Man U and Chelsea these guys should not have much of a problem when defending against the other teams. With a holding midfielder we may sacrifice defensive solidity for forward mobility and i do not think this should be a problem with the teams below us as long as we convert this forward movement into goals. Now if we bring the 3 teams above us last season, apart from Sargna, the right backs are not a world of a difference between us and the Chelsea or Man U. Gary Neville is no longer that mobile, and playing Hargreaves there or Brown is not the most ideal for Man U and its a problem that they will have to address; Bosingwa is not tried and tested and the premiership, i would not bank on a torres-que debut season and again playing Essien there is an option when playing the Mighty Liverpool (or playing Huth as a centre forward ). Where we are seemingly behind the other 3 is in the LB position, with Evra, Clichy and Cole solid defensively and fluid in attack. We have done okay against Arsenal and Chelsea but we have to overcome the psychological barrier to beat Man U, and maybe with players like Keane and Barry we might have the players with the right frame of mind for the league win against them under Rafa.

[Effes]

Current odds according to Bet365:

Man U     5/4

Chelsea   15/8

Arsenal    5/1

Liverpool 7/1

[Bad Bob]

Went for runners-up but the position is only half the story.  If the league is as competitive as usual, we might well finish 4th again but be within just a few points of the winners.  Conversely, we might finish 2nd but be well back of the winners.  Like Mick, I think we need a season of being in the mix proper before we actually go out and win the thing.  Anything could happen, of course, but I feel 2nd's realistic.

[Toffeehater]

I think we will come very close, actually i think we will win it. I know the strength and depth of Man U and Chelsea and the fluidity of Arsenal and add to that the delusions of Spurs, Man City and Everton, we are really looking good for the premiership and the champions league.

As a fan i am optimistic that we will do well this season, but this has been bolstered not only by the players we have brought in but rather by the crew behind the scene that we have recently appointed. No matter how much i dislike G&H, at least they are backing the manager (obviously in their own style) and Mr Parry is maybe not on holiday this transfer window, which is a good thing, there is relative peace in the camp.

We have recently appointed two talented coaches in Sammy Lee and Mauricio Pellegrino, covering two areas which i thought were lacking last season; defensively we will do well with the experience of Pellegrino and Rafa needed someone with a strong passion for Liverpool and apart from Gary Mac, Sammy Lee provides that adequately. With Man U they have lost Carlos, who was instrumental in their success, and Chelsea have a new regime altogether, so in this regard we are more stable and this should work to our advantage.

I understand the limitations of our full backs, but tbh apart from Arsenal, Man U and Chelsea these guys should not have much of a problem when defending against the other teams. With a holding midfielder we may sacrifice defensive solidity for forward mobility and i do not think this should be a problem with the teams below us as long as we convert this forward movement into goals. Now if we bring the 3 teams above us last season, apart from Sargna, the right backs are not a world of a difference between us and the Chelsea or Man U. Gary Neville is no longer that mobile, and playing Hargreaves there or Brown is not the most ideal for Man U and its a problem that they will have to address; Bosingwa is not tried and tested and the premiership, i would not bank on a torres-que debut season and again playing Essien there is an option when playing the Mighty Liverpool (or playing Huth as a centre forward ). Where we are seemingly behind the other 3 is in the LB position, with Evra, Clichy and Cole solid defensively and fluid in attack. We have done okay against Arsenal and Chelsea but we have to overcome the psychological barrier to beat Man U, and maybe with players like Keane and Barry we might have the players with the right frame of mind for the league win against them under Rafa.

good post mate , quite a fair bit of valid points

[stmichael]

I think we'll go very close this season. Barry, Keane and the return of Agger are all massive plusses. Add to this it is Scolari's first season, (there are question marks over his club management skills), Arsenal have lost key players, Utd have yet to sign anyone and may lose Ronaldo. Could their be a case that we're the best prepared of the top four? I don't even care if Man Utd get Berbatov as he will negate their speed of attack which is one of their biggest assets in my opinion.

However when it's all said and done I have the Premiership down to finish like this, but I can't see there being more than about 8 points between the entire top 4:

Chelsea
Man Utd
Liverpool
Arsenal
Portsmouth

Having said that, trying to predict how new players will fit in at all 4 clubs is impossible untill you have seen around 10 games.

[Number 9]

Yup, let's believe we can win it like we do every season, and look where that's got us................... Of course I haven't asked where you want us to finish, or where you hope we'll finish, but "where will we finish".

Well if you ask impossible questions you will get answers that you sometimes may not like!
I really don't know where we "WILL" finish so in reality all anyone can do is speculate.IMO we are capable of finishing second or third as i feel Arsenal and Chelsea are passable this season.But if honest I still feel UTD have more than all 3 and will win the League again.I hope i'm wrong.
Saying that if all our players give everything in every game,with a little bit of luck and less rotation in the League we may be up there at the end and anything can happen.

There is nothing wrong with believing in your team even if it may be a pipe dream...anything can happen in football!As i said i'm sure every player will be feeling that they can do it this year,if they did not there would be no point pulling on the shirt!

[crazyhorse]

We are now good enough to win it. In my opinion our biggest obstacle is getting into the right state of mind where we win games that last season we would have lost or drawn. Its the habit of winning we have to find, where we edge games 1-0 when we do not play well. The goals are in the side, the qualituy is there and we have the depth in the squad

[Sparkyflew]

Third - F A cup and European cup winners.

[B]

Think this a bold prediction - but I feel we can seriously mount a good challenge but will still fall short on the League.  I think we will drop points again around Christmas time due to squad rotation and the forth coming cup games etc, even though I feel that this squad on its day is as good as anything in world football. So i think we will lose out on the league by a single figure point margin   = progress. I predict that we will also beat some of the top three away from home something we have not managed for years.
Rafa's stroke of genious on European nights will continue - it seems the opposition just do not know what Liverpool they are going to face - At home they are overwhemed by our pressing and aggressiveness and away they cannot break our defence and then speed on the counter attack. 
I am going to also predict F .A cup glory - because our squad is much stronger and I fell our youngsters (nemeth, pacheco, plessis and spearing) all want to prove a point.  If we can get the balance right between the youngsters and existing first team members as part of the squad rotation policy then liverpool will be a team that nobody will want to come up against.

[RedBlood]

1st 4 sure

YNWA

[jonnymac1979]

Money where my mouth is?

We're finishing fourth, behind the champions Chelsea, Manchester United in second and Arsenal in third.

Tottenham, Everton and Portsmouth hovering though, but won't break the top four.

Again I think, we're making the last eight at least of the Champions League, with luck probably the semi's again, only to meet another English team though if we're to progress or lift the trophy. 

See what happens from there and round and round we go...

Edit: Will be close between us and Arsenal, but the top two will be at least two wins clear of third place...

[LegBarnes]

Went for runners-up but the position is only half the story.  If the league is as competitive as usual, we might well finish 4th again but be within just a few points of the winners.  Conversely, we might finish 2nd but be well back of the winners.  Like Mick, I think we need a season of being in the mix proper before we actually go out and win the thing.  Anything could happen, of course, but I feel 2nd's realistic.

Well if we finish 4th by only say 2-3 points away i be happy (well mabye not happy but not banging my head on the wall sad) , we got to close the gap I feel we can win it with this team but they going to have to gel from the get go.

I also said 2nd but just due to fact i don't wanna jinx us. 

But this is strongest squad we had now i say since 2000 lets hope they can do better in league.

People are talking about droping points vrs the smaller teams but i feel this year we have the match winners to beat the top teams.

Which if we stay steady could prove to be the 5-6 points we will need to win and lets face it we due some top 4 big wins.



YNWA

OMG 1 week ish to season starts 

[Owzat]

Money where my mouth is?

Ok, in your case where your a rse is

[taff]

Winning the PL
Even if Im deluded I cant vote for any other outcome, its what keeps us fans going

Hope there's a spare branch in your tree Taff, I'm with you mate, can't write off the belief that we will win it.

(Of course I might feel different come Xmas.  )   

Plenty of room on the branch mate

Even under Souness I still hoped for the title and we had a bit more to moan about then.  I cant start a season hoping we finish 4th, I keep on going until its mathematically impossible then dream about the next season

I also believe in Father Christmas

[zarababe]

Champions vote winning - I believe we can do it !

[JBG]

Fourth, maybe third, much depends on how Arsenal do.