Liverpool FC Forum

by **red till i die!!** » Mon Oct 24, 2011 1:07 pm

newcastle are riding high atm and they do deserve to be where they are but i agree over the long haul they might struggle and i dont think they will be in the hunt for 4th after xmas unless they spend big in january.
spurs and arsenal are the real challenge.spurs now sit 1pt ahead and with a game in hand while arsenal sit two points behind us and are beginning to settle and improve as a team but st mick is right their season will depend on rvp and whether he can stay fit or not.the same thing can be said about us and suarez.

we have only managed to net 12 times in 9 games and only 4 on the road so far so that is a concern and januarys priority has got to be a striker and a proven one rather than a punt on someone.
we should have beat the mancs and pummelled norwich but because we didnt now saturdays trip to west brom is a massive must win game and i hope lessons were learned from saturday

by **Johnny Boy** » Mon Oct 24, 2011 1:10 pm

I thought a few weeks ago we would get 4th now I am not sure.

We need to finish ahead of both Tottenham and Arsenal to achieve that.
The latter had a poor start and we have missed a chance to be further in front of them.
The wins they both had at the weekend are exactly the type of games we need to win also.

I think without a Silva/Mata type of player we are short of some creativity.

I was hoping for maximum points from Norwich, WBA and Swansea.

by **Roger Red Hat** » Mon Oct 24, 2011 1:24 pm

alwayslfc wrote:It is sad to see that he cannot seem to repeat the successes of his 1st tenure here.

Had he of taken over a winning team packed full of talent I would agree with you. But, alas he took over a team that had been run into the ground by Hodgson & twit and tw@t.

In 86 Kenny took over a team that we're dominating the world of football. a bit unfair to compare really.

by **KennyisGod....still** » Mon Oct 24, 2011 1:34 pm

Roger Red Hat wrote:
alwayslfc wrote:It is sad to see that he cannot seem to repeat the successes of his 1st tenure here.

Had he of taken over a winning team packed full of talent I would agree with you. But, alas he took over a team that had been run into the ground by Hodgson & twit and tw@t.

In 86 Kenny took over a team that we're dominating the world of football. a bit unfair to compare really.

Damn right, and the comments about how "its sad to see......" are what concerned me with Kenny takin over. The guys a legend and in all honesty he's put that status on the line to rescue us from the oblivion twit an tw@t were takin us to with coco at the helm. My fear is that with the younger generation of impatient fans since Istanbul Kenny'll be remembered for tryin and maybe not succeedin due to financial issues both inside and outside of Anfield.
My expectation is 4th, my hope obviously higher, and with just a little more luck in front of goal/more clinical finishin then that'd be plainly achievable. I was never Carroll's biggest fan but Kenny sees somethin so I'll trust him... lotsa money spent in the summer thats maybe not quite bearin fruit at the minute but its a marathon not a sprint and just maybe our time'll come. The last 2 games have some immense positives with the main negative bein the lack of goals. Yes, problems possibly at the back but with the chances created we could have scored enough to nullify that threat against both the mancs and the canaries. I'm fairly happy with progress, appreciatin that more can and needs to come, but I'm still goin with 4th as a minimum.

by **Johnny Boy** » Mon Oct 24, 2011 1:44 pm

The next 4 games are crucial, WBA A and Swansea H followed by Chelsea A and City H.

After that all the December games are one's we could or should expect to win, Fulham A QPR H Villa A Wigan A Blackburn H Newcastle H.
Not saying we will win them but each game taken individually you would hope for all 3 points.

by **alwayslfc** » Tue Oct 25, 2011 4:03 am

Nice to see many of you guys are focusing on the positives.

We need a quality striker to partner Suarez, a quality central defender to replace one of Carra or Skrtel (Coates is good, but is still young). We need a quality right winger and put Downing back on the left wing where he seems to play better. There are other problems with the current Lpool side, but the three I just mentioned, to me are our greatest problems since the start of this new campaign ie our defence and finishing.

Man U, Chelsea, MCity, if you look at the strikers at their disposal, their managers have a headache on which world class striker to chose from. For us, other than Suarez (but his finishing not up to par with strikers in the top 3 though his ball control is the best) we don't have any. Now how can on earth can we possibly challenge for CL qualification with the strikers at our disposal? It's a joke.

Our signings since KD and Commoli arrived, the only good ones are Suarez, Enrique and possibly Coates. The others we bought are mostly overpriced average player and they do not live up to their price tags.

I still have confidence in Kenny but we cannot expect him to wave the magic wand if the team comprises mostly average players. I believe if he gets to manage Manure, Chelsea, City, they will be champions without any doubt. I don't know the real reason why he chose to return by putting his legendary status on the line. It could be money or love for the club or both, I don't know. But his brave decision to return especially knowing the first game in charge was against Manure at O.T. really earns my deepest respect for him and I've become a born again Kopite. The last time I was so fervent in supporting my beloved club was during the mid 80s to Feb 1991 era and guess who was in charge? I had lost interest in following Liverpool since then expect for a one or two blip seasons in 2000/01, 2004/05.

by **alwayslfc** » Tue Oct 25, 2011 4:08 am

So if no quality signings are coming in Jan, then we can only pray that the overpriced average players under Kenny's great man management can eventually mature and come out good, otherwise we can expect 6th/7th place finish again. Hendo, Downing, Carroll at the moment definitely do not live up to their price tags.

by **Johnny Boy** » Tue Oct 25, 2011 7:37 am

I can't see John Henry providing much money in January when we have £50 million on the bench in Carroll and Henderson.

by **devaney** » Tue Oct 25, 2011 8:13 am

So far Fenway have been supportive and have made the right noises and only time will tell if they have the ability to take Liverpool from a top four contender to a title contender. Their net player investment to-date is less than £50m which is acceptable but not overly generous when you consider what they paid for LFC. Sunderland,Norwich,Wolves and Man United were all games we should have won easily and the loss of six points will make the difference at the end of the season.Norwich and Sunderland should have been put to bed by half time. Wolves we won but did our best to throw it away in the last ten minutes.Man United showed us a lot of respect but we lacked the imagination (and luck!!!) to break them down.Everton would have been a lot harder if it hadn't been for a dubious sending off.

My real concern is just how poor some of the new and extremely expensive signings have been. We actually look worse now than we did during the second half of last season after Kenny had taken over. I accept that it takes time for players to gel but it's gets very frustrating when you look at the way Young and Jones have performed at Man United from day one of the season.At the time I felt we had accepted second best in the transfer market and I just hope that time doesn't prove me right.

Kenny and Steve have got to very quickly start getting a lot more out of this team. Just look at our goal difference in comparison to United and City.Look where Everton are for goodness sake and they were in positive figures at the end of the transfer window.

I simply expect a minimum challenge for top four and at the moment that is not happening.

by **Octsky** » Tue Oct 25, 2011 9:09 am

we just need to have a little more patience for the team to gel.
man c under machini in his first season played inconsistently,
but look at them right now.
first 3 goals against manure were scored from tapped-ins. that is very impressive.

by **killerp** » Tue Oct 25, 2011 9:26 am

Octsky wrote:we just need to have a little more patience for the team to gel.
man c under machini in his first season played inconsistently,
but look at them right now.
first 3 goals against manure were scored from tapped-ins. that is very impressive.

I wonder how we will fare against City...don't think we would let in 6 unlike some other teams we know... :laugh:

by **Thommo's perm** » Tue Oct 25, 2011 11:08 am

Octsky wrote:we just need to have a little more patience for the team to gel.
man c under machini in his first season played inconsistently,
but look at them right now.
first 3 goals against manure were scored from tapped-ins. that is very impressive.

It also shows that football is a simple game made complicated by idiots
Once we suss that out we'll be fine.
:;):

by **aCe'** » Tue Oct 25, 2011 11:47 am

Im surprised by the amount of people who complain about us needing 2 or 3 players to be able to compete for a top4 spot. Whats even more surprising is the fact that people still think we need a CB despite us signing Coates, Carroll, Suarez, Bellamy to add to those we already had (Carra, Agger, Skrtel, Kuyt) in the given positions.

Personally, I dont think our main problem given our goal (of finishing 4th) is the lack of players but rather the utilization of said players. Defensively, we arent the best around. But in terms of players and the quality of defenders we have, only ManUtd, Chelsea and ManCity have better back4s than we do imo. Wont go too much into why we struggle at the back at time but for me, we should be doing a better job in the training ground with the positioning of the back4 especially when pushing up. Another factor to consider when it comes to the defense is continuity. Once we get to the point where we can put out the same back4 week in week out I think we'll see a huge improvement in our defensive record (see Newcastle).

Further up, I think in Gerrard and Suarez we have (or potentially could have) one of the best attacking partnerships in the league. Problem is, we are yet to see it happen. Down the left, Downing would be a solid choice if played in the position regularly. But again, Kenny seems insistent on moving him around for some reason despite his poor showings down the opposite flank and through the middle. Down the right, we're yet to give any of Kuyt, Bellamy or Maxi any sort of consistent run to stake a claim for the position...etc etc

You see where Im going with this. Before the season started many were talking about using players in different positions and changing the setup for different games and I didnt think we'd actually do that. I was wrong. The whole changing of player roles and setups for me isnt getting the best out of ANY of our players atm. The only player who plays the same position regularly is Suarez (besides the defenders) but the fact that everyone around him keeps moving around means that partnerships cant be established and maintained.

Utilize what we have better and I think 4th spot is achievable with the current players we have.

by **jacdaniel** » Tue Oct 25, 2011 12:04 pm

aCe' wrote:You see where Im going with this. Before the season started many were talking about using players in different positions and changing the setup for different games and I didnt think we'd actually do that. I was wrong. The whole changing of player roles and setups for me isnt getting the best out of ANY of our players atm. The only player who plays the same position regularly is Suarez (besides the defenders) but the fact that everyone around him keeps moving around means that partnerships cant be established and maintained.

Utilize what we have better and I think 4th spot is achievable with the current players we have.

Kenny simply doesnt know his best 11 or how they should play. He is trying lots of different things at the moment but I guess it will take time.

by **stmichael** » Tue Oct 25, 2011 12:09 pm

aCe' wrote:Down the right, we're yet to give any of Kuyt, Bellamy or Maxi any sort of consistent run to stake a claim for the position...etc etc

Where the hell is Maxi anyway? He's been criminally underused so far. At least he knows how to stick the ball in the back of the net.

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