Liverpool FC Forum

by **LFC_fan** » Thu Aug 11, 2005 12:59 pm

Now that passage into the group stages of the champs league is almost certainly safely ensured, its time to turn our attention to the primiership, which by the way is our main focus this season.

firstly, i'll like to state that everything i type here in this thread is of my own analysis and opinion. Im as much a soccer 'expert' as the guy standing next to u in the kop on match day so most probably peeps will not agree entirely with what i have to say here. anyway, lets get the ball rolling by taking a look at the squads of the main challengers this season, namely, chelski, arsenal and the scum. (notice i didnt include the team which finished 4th last year)

Lets start with Chelski...

cech

ferrira terry calvaho del horno

makelele

SWP lampard ? Robben

drogba

The above team is going to be the team that starts most of the games this season, barring suspensions, injuries, fatigue etc. By and by, this is the most complete team in the EPL, if not europe. Yes, we hate to admit it, but Maureen has put together a tight, effective unit in the past season. Having a Russian sugar daddy is one thing, but credit is given when credit is due, Maureen has done a good job in belnding the old players with new ones that he brought in, especially in his defence. They didnt leak many goals in last season, expect the same this season.

The (?) in midfield will most probably be occupied by Essiesn, otherwise by joe cole, tiago or even eidur G.

Strengths : ~Probably the most complete squad that money can buy, save for a couple of positions.
~incredible strenght in depth, even players like duff, cole, bridge and cudicini will find it hard to break into the first team if the starting 11 plays to their potential week in week out.
~the manager. Yes, he gets on your nerves, thinks he owns the world and has the ego the size of peter crouch's shoe but he's smart and astute as well. Some of the things he says in the press pisses ppl off but that more often than not takes the attention away from his players, allowing them to perform on the pitch.

Weaknesses: (yes, Chelski does have weaknesses and its up to us to exploit them to the full)
~ Del Horno is unproven in the EPL. He's an accomplished player in La liga but the primiership is a different cup of tea altogether. Coupled with Robben on the left flank (whos more of an attacking threat than known for his defensive attributes), Chelski may have a potentially weak left side for us to exploit. Playing down the middle will most probably prove fruitless with makelele sweeping up attacks in front of the defence. But then again, until we get a decent natural right winger, it'll be hard to exploit this weakness in the chelski armour.

~ For all the talent in Chelski's squad, the one department they may find wanting in is the strikers. Crespo had a decent season in milan (cheek of that guy to score 2 against us in the final) but he still had a miserable campaign in the premiership the last time he turned out for chelski. Drogba has done little so far to justify his hugh price tag and eidur has been playing a more withdrawn role of late. Young charlton cole is the 4th striker in the chelski first team. If Maureen had managed to buy shevshenko or E'oto this summer, the primiership would have more than been a formality this season. If we can frustrate their strikers and cut off the dangerous supply line of lampard, robben and SWP, it will not be difficult to get a result out of them. But then again, it takes hell of a lot of effort to stop that trio.

Verdit : Chelski will win the primiership again this season.

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Arsenal now...

Leman

(?) campbell toure cole

freddie frabregas/ helb G silva v.persie

henry reyes

This season will be an important one for wenger and his gunners. The start of the post viera era will be a turning point, but be it good or bad, its still too early to tell. Wenger has been relatively quiet in the transfer market so far, only spalshing out on alexander helb (and maybe on a new goalkeeper)

Players like henry, reyes and bergkemp will have to step up more this season and carry the team, especially henry, whos the new captain. This may be a burden to him but then again, it can also have the reverse effect of bringing out the best in him.

Strengths : ~Henry, who on his day, can win any game on his own (still remember the goal he scored against us 2 seasons ago? he took on the whole defence and scored)
~Young talented players who are eagar to prove their worth. Players like Fabragas and Reyes among others will be looking to proving that they can step into the shoes left by the senior members in the squad.
~Wenger's expertise in the primership. Theres no arguing that the Frenchman is an expert in the primiership, both tactically and knowledge-wise abt the opponents. Although often found lacking in Europe, Wenger is still one of the top managers in the EPL.

Weakness : ~ as stated before, Arsenal is facing a critical stage in the history of their club. This season may signify continual success that was built so emphatically 2 seasons ago when the team won the primiership in style that other teams can only admire and envy, but it can also signal the slow but sure decline of the club.

~ The squad has no problem going forward and creating goal chances with precise, fluid passing but the defence is suspect. Campbell was not the defender strikers feared 3 or 4 seasons ago. Injury and a lack of form has seen him reduced from the colusses he once was. There were even rumours that wenger was prepared to offload him together with viera.
Also, Ashley Cole has been in the news for all the wrong reasons lately and even though he tried to settle the dust abit by signing a new contract, a betting man will not hasitate to put his money down that Cole's still unsettled at highbury and its only a matter of time before he moves to another club.

~You somewhat get the feeling that arsenal's squad is too thin to challenge in both the EPL and europe and attention on one area will cause problems in the other.

verdit : 3rd, behind chelski and Liverpool

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and now for the scum...

V. D. Sar

Neville Ferdinand silvestre Henize

(?) scholes keane giggs/ronaldo/park

rooney van N.

Contary to what alot of people are saying, the scum are actually not really on a decline even though they finished another season without a throphy. They still have an excellent squad with ample strength in depth.

Cicinho is a good buy but like all new comers to the primiership, he still has the job of proving himself. likewise park, the korean midfielder. Had watched a few games that he played while he was with PSV and the verdit is that he has as much energy and stamina as Chelski has money to spend and is technically gifted to boot, will provide good competition for places in the scum's midfield.

Strengths : ~most of the squad is relatively experienced at challenging for titles so that'll be very crucial in the season run-in. Players from arsenal and chelski also have had good experiences in such area but senior players like giggs, keane, scholes and neville (oh how i hate him) have been thru it that many times more than anybody in the primiership for the past decade. (You can throw Ferguson into that group as well)

~the double R, Rooney and Ronaldo. These 2 , although being 2 of the youngest in the team, will be the ones carrying the team more often than not thru-out the season. As much as i dislike the scum, i have to admit, they have 2 more the most exciting players in the primiership.

Weaknesses: ~central midfield. How ferguson must wish that keane could turn back the clock and go stop the aging process. Scholes, though brilliant, tend to fade in and out in the course of a long primiership season. DjembaDjemba nor Kleberson solved the central midfield problems and until Ferguson find an able midfield general to be keane's understudy, other teams will look to attack thru the middle.

~the Glazers have caused a section of the fans to boycott old trafford , how this will affect the squad and their games still remains an open debate. But if they continue to win games, more of the boycotting fans will return.

verdit : 4th

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Disclaimer: i know i spelt alot of players' names wrongly as well as left out some of the players in the respective squads but then again, i didnt write this thread with any hopes that i'll win any awards for it. and anyway, most prople here make threads everyday regarding our own squad and what formation Rafa's going to play for which game etc.. Being successful in the primiership requires in-depth knowledge abt the opposition as well.

Read it for your own pleasure and feel free to make any comments.

by **dward** » Thu Aug 11, 2005 3:54 pm

wow that's a very complex analysis. i think you're being a bit too optimistic about liverpool finishing 2nd, but generally, quite a good post methinks.... :nod

P.S It's premiership not primiership

by **Ian Rush's Right foot** » Thu Aug 11, 2005 4:03 pm

P.S It's premiership not primiership

Not just the once either

by **stoney** » Thu Aug 11, 2005 4:06 pm

yeh and its Hleb not helb

by **LFC_fan** » Thu Aug 11, 2005 4:16 pm

yah, didnt bother to check out the spelling of the names that i was unsure abt, but the premiership howler must be due to my lack of sleep from last nite following the CSKA game. :alien:

by **Ian Rush's Right foot** » Thu Aug 11, 2005 4:19 pm

yah, didnt bother to check out the spelling of the names that i was unsure abt, but the premiership howler must be due to my lack of sleep from last nite following the CSKA game.

no worries fella - thats a hellava post - interesting views, good read!

by **RedRoots** » Thu Aug 11, 2005 4:54 pm

Good post Mr. Fan, If you compare our squad to that of United and Arsenal you can see that we're definately catching up in terms of good cover for vital positions and that we're even stronger in some departments than than Arsenal and Scum especially central midfield, the thing is though we're still weak at the back and we're in dire need of a quality centre half, we're definately getting very close to these two teams.

The thing is though I think we're a fair bit away from matching Chelsea in terms of quality throughout the squad, but when it comes to the money they have there's nothing we can do, it seems unfair at times but I have a strong feeling that it will all go t1ts up there in the next season or two and hopefully we'll be there to pounce.

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And now for the primiership - An analysis of the main challengers

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