Liverpool FC Forum

by **Leonmc0708** » Mon Nov 27, 2006 11:47 am

Just perusing the Premiership table and the fixtures for this week, and had a bit of a notion.

Let me explain, here is the table as of right now:

P GD PTS
1 Man Utd 14 23 35
2 Chelsea 14 16 32
3 Bolton 14 2 24
4 Portsmouth 14 7 23
5 Aston Villa 14 6 23
6 Arsenal 13 11 22
7 Reading 14 -2 22
8 Everton 14 6 21
9 Liverpool 14 0 21
10 Tottenham 14 -3 19
11 Wigan 13 1 18
12 Fulham 14 -6 17
13 M'broo 14 -6 16
14 Man City 14 -6 16
15 West Ham 14 -6 14
16 Blackburn 13 -6 13
17 Newcastle 14 -6 13
18 Sheff Utd 14 -11 10
19 Watford 13 -9 9
20 Charlton 14 -11 9

And the fixtures for this week are as follows:

Tuesday, 28 November 2006

Watford v Sheff Utd, 20:00

Wednesday, 29 November 2006

Aston Villa v Man City, 19:45
Bolton v Chelsea, 20:00
Fulham v Arsenal, 19:45
Liverpool v Portsmouth, 20:00
Man Utd v Everton 20:00

Assuming a draw at Vicarage Road (it means little in the scheme of this idea anyway) a draw for city at Villa Park, Chelsea to beat Bolton by 1 clear goal, a win for Arsenal. a victory by just one clear goal for us and an inevitable win for United at home to the blue sh.ite and the table will look like this:

P GD PTS
1 Man Utd 15 25 38
2 Chelsea 15 17 35
3 Arsenal 14 13 25
4 Liverpool 14 0 24
5 Bolton 15 1 24
6 Aston Villa 15 6 24
7 Portsmouth 14 7 23
8 Reading 14 -2 22
9 Everton 15 4 21
10 Tottenham 14 -3 19
11 Wigan 13 1 18
12 Man City 15 -6 17
13 Fulham 14 -6 17
14 M'broo 14 -6 16
15 West Ham 14 -6 14
16 Blackburn 13 -6 13
17 Newcastle 14 -6 13
18 Sheff Utd 15 -11 11
19 Watford 14 -9 10
20 Charlton 14 -11 9

A bit of a familiar look to the top, and not the doom and gloom that many pundits, journalists and some supporters would have you beleive.

The only fly in the ointment to the theory may be Villa beating City, but to be fair of the two (who have been to Anfield) this season, I would rather play Villa again myself like. Arsenals away jitters (people in glass houses I know) might even paint a better picture, and leave us in third if they lose, or closer if they only santch a draw at Craven Cottage.

I know there are a few if's and buts, but most important is that we win.

In fact, I was in with David Johnson before the game on Saturday in the Centenary Champions lounge, and he was of the thinking that if we win all our home games, and dont lose away from now until we play Chelsea at Anfield (fixtures below) and we might just have a little bit more to play for in that game than some people would have us think.

29 Nov, 2006 Portsmouth Barclays Premiership H 20:00
02 Dec, 2006 Wigan Athletic Barclays Premiership A 15:00
09 Dec, 2006 Fulham Barclays Premiership H 15:00
16 Dec, 2006 Charlton Athletic Barclays Premiership A 12:45
19 Dec, 2006 Arsenal Carling Cup H 19:45
23 Dec, 2006 Watford Barclays Premiership H 15:00
26 Dec, 2006 Blackburn Rovers Barclays Premiership A 15:00
30 Dec, 2006 Tottenham Hotspur Barclays Premiership A 15:00
01 Jan, 2007 Bolton Wanderers Barclays Premiership H
13 Jan, 2007 Watford Barclays Premiership A 12:45

Again, in terms of the homes, they are all there for winning, Bolton may give us a game, but hopefully we can overcome their braun with a bit more brains, and no dodgy free kicks from the liner's ! Travelling to Tottenham looks the hardest game, but we just need to make sure we pick up at least a point. Also Charlton is the only game from last season we need to overturn, and its a different story for them, especially as Scott cant play for them against us under the terms of his loan deal.

Your thoughts people ?

by **stmichael** » Mon Nov 27, 2006 11:53 am

i agree leon.

infact i was saying exactly this to my mate the other day. no disrespect to other teams, but looking at our upcoming fixtures the next five league games are pompey, wigan, fulham, charlton and watford, three of which are at home. i see no reason why we shouldn't get at least 13 points out of 15 from those games.

by **joko** » Mon Nov 27, 2006 11:54 am

good post leon
it may however be as simple as this in my thoughts

we lost to celski, manure, arsenal, bolton (forgotten the other) at aways
if we can revenge beating them home (which is far from impossible) meaning that at some extents, an eye for an eye will have just been done, and then we will only be responsible to go on living with the rest battle as the same goes for them.

by **puroresu** » Mon Nov 27, 2006 12:02 pm

dream on

by **112-1077774096** » Mon Nov 27, 2006 12:04 pm

sounds simple enough mate but to be fair we should have not been in this position to start with

by **Leonmc0708** » Mon Nov 27, 2006 12:09 pm

puroresu wrote:dream on

To whom do you refer ?

by **dawson99** » Mon Nov 27, 2006 12:14 pm

All ifs and buts at the moment.

here is my bank account now: 0.00

here it is if i win the lottery: couple of million

Ok, your scenario is more likely, but at the moment the table doesnt lie. Its not as bad as we thought but its still not brilliant. We not out of the woods yet, im waiting for the away record to improve before i start patting myself on the back for not being a bit negative (which i wont because i was)

by **stmichael** » Mon Nov 27, 2006 12:15 pm

It seems clear that it will be a two-horse race this season. The best we can do is to be the 'best of the rest'. Formerly, being the 'best of the rest' meant scrapping for fourth, whereas this season third looks very much up for grabs. Position-wise we might well equal last season, but points-wise we will likely be below last season.

I agree with the view that the gap to the top two will close somewhat, given the difficult away games we've played and a hoped for improvement in our form as the season unfolds.

All in all this may well be a season of relative consolidation in the league. Not the end of the world, but obviously we all want a realistic title challenge.

Still loads to play for though.

by **murphy0151** » Mon Nov 27, 2006 12:35 pm

Hopefully the storm is other and theres only the golden sky to come.

by **Ace Ventura** » Mon Nov 27, 2006 12:47 pm

dawson99 wrote:All ifs and buts at the moment.

here is my bank account now: 0.00

here it is if i win the lottery: couple of million

Ok, your scenario is more likely, but at the moment the table doesnt lie. Its not as bad as we thought but its still not brilliant. We not out of the woods yet, im waiting for the away record to improve before i start patting myself on the back for not being a bit negative (which i wont because i was)

The table doesnt lie Dawson....but this is the table now....we have played far more difficult fixtures than Man U, we have played all of the other 3 out of the usual top 4 AWAY, United have played them all at HOME.
Leon has a very valid point, it may be ifs and buts, but i think by the end of the weekends games we will be in the top4.

This may sound pathetic but i also think that this seasons fixtures were fixed, uniteds fixtures so far have been a dream for them...it has allowed them to build confidence and stopped it being a one horse race from the start....keeping neutrals interested and watching more games.
My sound like a conspiracy but look at the fixtures properly....there's have been a piece of p!ss.

by **Rafa D** » Mon Nov 27, 2006 1:01 pm

stmichael wrote:It seems clear that it will be a two-horse race this season.

Never say never.

Everyone thought the Champions League final was well and truly over at half time. The F.A Cup final was dead and buried as well. We never do things the easy way.

I know it doesn't look good but we have stepped out of the fire now and hopefully our season is on the up. Chelsea and Man Utd are really far ahead, 14 points is a hell of a lot but I am the eternal optimist and when we still have a chance I will cling to it as hard as I can.

Chelsea are 11 points clear of us and there the team to keep our eye on. Utd will drop points but Chelsea are a machine and will win the league this year unless we pull our finger out. We have played our 5 hardest away games of the season and come out with 0 points - not good but now Arsenal, Utd, Everton, Bolton, and Chelsea all have to come to Anfield and do the business where we are performing consistently. Not consistently well, but consistently.

Soon enough, Gerrard will hit top form, Kuyt will find his feet and Xabi will get his groove back. Pennant and Gonzo will learn our game and Carra will get his act together and keep it tight at the back. Our players have not played too badly but we expect so much more. The new players are settling in and the heroes of the last two years are having a dip, Carra, Stevie, Xabi, Momo and Garcia haven't played anywhere near their top level yet, but don't worry they will do.

I am not going to second guess where we drop points and where others will drop points but if we won 12 games on the bounce now, we would be right back up there. This year the big teams are going to lose more games, the league will be tighter so if we can get back to the sort of form we started to show this time last year, we are still in with a chance.

I know I will get slated but we cannot admit defeat, it has not started as any of us would of hoped but we need to get behind the team and keep the faith, and who knows, maybe in 6 months time we will be sitting here, looking on in disbelief as Rafa pulls another rabbit from the hat.

Keep the faith

YNWA!

by **Rafa D** » Mon Nov 27, 2006 1:01 pm

stmichael wrote:It seems clear that it will be a two-horse race this season.

Never say never.

Everyone thought the Champions League final was well and truly over at half time. The F.A Cup final was dead and buried as well. We never do things the easy way.

I know it doesn't look good but we have stepped out of the fire now and hopefully our season is on the up. Chelsea and Man Utd are really far ahead, 14 points is a hell of a lot but I am the eternal optimist and when we still have a chance I will cling to it as hard as I can.

Chelsea are 11 points clear of us and there the team to keep our eye on. Utd will drop points but Chelsea are a machine and will win the league this year unless we pull our finger out. We have played our 5 hardest away games of the season and come out with 0 points - not good but now Arsenal, Utd, Everton, Bolton, and Chelsea all have to come to Anfield and do the business where we are performing consistently. Not consistently well, but consistently.

Soon enough, Gerrard will hit top form, Kuyt will find his feet and Xabi will get his groove back. Pennant and Gonzo will learn our game and Carra will get his act together and keep it tight at the back. Our players have not played too badly but we expect so much more. The new players are settling in and the heroes of the last two years are having a dip, Carra, Stevie, Xabi, Momo and Garcia haven't played anywhere near their top level yet, but don't worry they will do.

I am not going to second guess where we drop points and where others will drop points but if we won 12 games on the bounce now, we would be right back up there. This year the big teams are going to lose more games, the league will be tighter so if we can get back to the sort of form we started to show this time last year, we are still in with a chance.

I know I will get slated but we cannot admit defeat, it has not started as any of us would of hoped but we need to get behind the team and keep the faith, and who knows, maybe in 6 months time we will be sitting here, looking on in disbelief as Rafa pulls another rabbit from the hat.

Keep the faith

YNWA!

by **Ciggy** » Mon Nov 27, 2006 1:07 pm

Hopefully we can beat Wigan on saturday and get the monkey off our backs, the team need to start believing they are far superior to most in the prem.
They need to play prem football in the prem away from home and not European football like they have been doing.
With us already qualified for the CL we can put that to bed for a few months now and concentrate on the league.
I reckon we will beat Pompey comfortably we just need to go on a winning run now and hopefully the bad results are behind us now.

by **Bad Bob** » Mon Nov 27, 2006 1:16 pm

We're sitting in ninth but the third place team--Bolton--is only 3 points ahead of us. That tells it's own story about a 2-horse race but it also puts in perspective how close we are to our "usual" perch in the Top 4. The mission now is to get back in amongst the CL spots as soon as possible and kick on from there. It begins with thumping Portsmouth on Wednesday! :buttrock

by **Ace Ventura** » Mon Nov 27, 2006 1:20 pm

Ciggy wrote:Hopefully we can beat Wigan on saturday and get the monkey off our backs, the team need to start believing they are far superior to most in the prem.
They need to play prem football in the prem away from home and not European football like they have been doing.
With us already qualified for the CL we can put that to bed for a few months now and concentrate on the league.
I reckon we will beat Pompey comfortably we just need to go on a winning run now and hopefully the bad results are behind us now.

I was talking to me mate the other day (who is a blue) he was saying he cant believe how we are sh!te away but so good at home and asked why.
I said basically its a confidence thing, once we concede the first goal away we have given up too easily...i also reminded him of the awy games we had already played...the big 3 and Everton and Bolton, he was shocked tbh and didnt realise that we had played all of the hardest games away already (ok maybe spurs will be tough as well)
People are tending to ignore the facts and just concentrate on the nagatives, yes we did lose all 5 games but lets see how we fare in the games away to Charlton and Watford.
I am sure we will take 3 points at them sort of places and climb the league quickly.

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