Liverpool FC Forum

by **bigmick** » Mon Sep 28, 2009 12:42 am

As far as the starts are concerned, now we're coming off the first bend and teams are allowed to come out of their lanes, you can get a bit of a feel for who's doing well and who isn't. Us and Chelsea have had much the easiest start of the top six teams, while IMHO Arsenal and possibly the Mancs have had the hardest openings.

Our only game against top six teams was Spurs Away, while Chelsea's only one was Spurs at Home. Arsenal have played both the Manchester teams Away which was a bit of a tall order in the first six matches, while the Mancs have had Arsenal at Home, Man City at Home and Tottenham Away. That they've managed to win all three by fair means or foul has put them top of the league, despite incredibly losing at Burnley. Spurs have had us at Home, the Mancs at Home and Chelsea Away so their start has been tricky, while Man City have played the Mancs Away and have had Arsenal at Home.

All in all, based on the respective fixtures this is how the teams would rank in terms of achievement so far to me.

1. The Mancs. Jammy cheating tw@ts I know, but they're three big wins they've got over their rivals. They look to me like theyve got their foot on the gas as of now and will be trying to burn off challengers nice and early. The "golden opportunity" theory held that they wouldn't make the same mistakes as last season in terms of giving us a lead, and they won't. All that said, for reasons which I can't put my finger on I just don't think they'll win the league this time.

2. Arsenal. I said before the season started that if they were in contention after the first few matches they'd be doing very well. they are in contention and it's been a good effort. Very unlucky to lose at Old Trafford, and a point there would have led me to put them top. As it is though, I think one of the big four will get nudged out of the top four this season, and I think it will be them.

3. Man City. Another team who were desperately unlucky/robbed blind at Old Trafford, they also deservedly beat Arsenal. I think they WILL challenge, and I think they will finish the season in the top four. I'm going out on a limb here, and I'll go further by saying I think they are even potential Champions, although I don't think they'll get there quite.

4. Spurs. Comfortably beaten by both the Mancs and Chelsea, their opening day win over us and flat track bullying of poor teams has just got them the nod over us and Chelsea. Despite making the ricket of selling Darren Bent, Redknapp is doing an excellent job as he always does, and they'll end up sixth. Good start by them though.

5 Joint. Chelsea and Liverpool. Chelsea's start really has been absolutely p!ss easy, and even before the season started it was easy to imagine them winning a stack of games on the bounce. I said it on the "out of the blocks" thread IIRC, and only the result against Spurs at Home was out of the ordinary. It could have been very different as well, as they needed injury time goals to beat Stoke and Hull. Our start has not been so hard either, but the only two decent teams we've played have beaten us. Happily though, we look like we are running into form at just the right time with some difficult matches coming up.

When you look at who everyone has played and how many points each team has, then you realise just how crucial the Chelsea game is. Win there and our start begins to look quite good, lose there and it looks poor.

by **neil** » Mon Sep 28, 2009 1:08 am

bigmick wrote:then you realise just how crucial the Chelsea game is. Win there and our start begins to look quite good, lose there and it looks poor.

Theres not much gets past you mate.

by **bigmick** » Mon Sep 28, 2009 1:11 am

neil wrote:
bigmick wrote:then you realise just how crucial the Chelsea game is. Win there and our start begins to look quite good, lose there and it looks poor.

Theres not much gets past you mate.

Indeed, you either.

by **account deleted by request** » Mon Sep 28, 2009 1:38 am

I think we are at least a couple of points down on what I would have hoped for or expected, but we have hopefully hit our stride at the right time with a lot of big games coming up. I would be delighted to gain as many points (15)in our next 7 games as we have in our first seven, any more than that and I think we are right on course for another title challenge.

by **DrPepe** » Mon Sep 28, 2009 9:22 am

s@int wrote:I think we are at least a couple of points down on what I would have hoped for or expected, but we have hopefully hit our stride at the right time with a lot of big games coming up. I would be delighted to gain as many points (15)in our next 7 games as we have in our first seven, any more than that and I think we are right on course for another title challenge.

yes, some huuuge games coming up

on the face of things a draw at chels would be decent, but if there were ever a good time to play them it might be now: cech out (unless they appeal?), cole injured?

Even if we lose, the situation will be basically the same as it was pre-saturday (although we'll have lost the opportuntity to take points off 'em of course)

Beat chels and it will be a good start :cool:

by **bigmick** » Mon Sep 28, 2009 10:06 am

DrPepe wrote:Even if we lose, the situation will be basically the same as it was pre-saturday (although we'll have lost the opportuntity to take points off 'em of course)

Beat chels and it will be a good start

The situation will only be the same as pre Saturday with regards Chelsea though. With the Mancs at Home against Sunderland and Arsenal at Home to Blackburn it's likely we would concede points to those two if we lost and/or drew, not to mention Citeh and Spurs.

For me now Chelsea have lost at Wigan, the game has gone from being an "absolutely must not lose", to being a "we really could do with not losing it". I agree though that we're playing Chelsea just at the ideal moment, and from their point of view they're running into us just as we've got some good form going. I also agree that if we win it will be a good start, a draw would still qualify it as being fairly good, while defeat would mean it's been poor.

As I said earlier, defeat would very likely mean we are six points behind BOTH Chelsea and Man Utd and we'd have a bit of a mountain to climb at the point IMHO. Any more than six behind both and you're gone IMHO, so as I say we really could do with not losing it.

by **DrPepe** » Mon Sep 28, 2009 10:13 am

yeh the mancs have crept upto the top almost unnoticed, with a mixed bag of pretty competent , though largely unspectacular results

I guess i left them out of the equation as i'd almost mentally written them off (relative to chelsea)... you'd think 15 years of that woulkd teach me a lesson

by **bigmick** » Mon Sep 28, 2009 10:27 am

It's been a fairly unusual start in that all of the top clubs have hit form fairly quickly, and all of them will be relatively happy about where they are. We've seemingly sorted out our "drawitis" and are dispatching teams with aplomb now we've realised we can just go for it. Also, the realisation that the Masherano/Lucas axis wasn't really working has been crucial, with Gerrard moving back into midfield seamlessly as we all knew he would. Hopefully the fact that it took us three or four matches to realise that this was the best course of action won't cost us in the end, and besides I strongly fancy against Chelsea we will see the combo of mash and Lucas. Against good teams where you need to sit in, it should work fine.

Man City will be pleased that they've made something of a statement, Arsenal will no doubt be happy they've come through a patch of very difficult fixtures still in touch, while notwithstanding last week Chelsea have racked up points against rubbish which is of course what you must do. The Mancs as per usual have had every ounce of luck going, being incredibly fortunate to beat both Citeh and Arsenal. It was a good performance by them at Tottenham though, probably the most authoratative by anyone so far against a good team, and clearly even without Ronaldo they are a huge threat.

As was ventured in the "golden opportunity" theory, I really think they got a scare last season as they almost allowed us to get away. Only a sudden fear of heights and some silliness allowed them back in IMHO, and they'll be determined this time around to keep us firmly in their sights. They'll also be determined to avoid losing Home and Away to us this time around like they did last, and I expect a far more robust performance from them at Anfield than we saw in either game last season.

by **Owzat** » Mon Sep 28, 2009 12:12 pm

It's interesting in terms of corresponding fixtures :

08/09 (home): A Villa (h) Won, Stoke (h) Drew, Hull (h) Drew = 5/9 points
09/10 (home) : A Villa (h) Lost, Stoke (h) Won, Hull (h) Won = 6/9 points

08/09 (away) : Tottenham (a) Lost, Bolton (a) Won, West Ham (a) Won = 6/9 points
09/10 (away) : Tottenham (a) Lost, Bolton (a) Won, West Ham (a) Won = 6/9 points

So we're one point better off in corresponding fixtures on last season, thanks to our zero draw policy. Chelsea away will be the crunch, we are only three points off top and won there last season which will be difficult to replicate. But there is too much temptation to 'settle for a draw', it would be a good result but it is no ground gained as much as no ground lost, a missed chance for us to inflict points loss on them.

by **stmichael** » Mon Sep 28, 2009 12:29 pm

In terms of scoring goals, this has been our best start to a season since 1895-96. There are still defensice concerns but going forward we've been a joy to watch at times this season.

The Chelsea game is obviously massive but I'm confident of getting a result. Obviously a lot depends on the mood that Drogba is in. Quite often he's been the differnce between the two sides. Lets just hope that Nando is the one we're talking about after the game.

by **DrPepe** » Mon Sep 28, 2009 12:41 pm

stmichael wrote:In terms of scoring goals, this has been our best start to a season since 1895-96. There are still defensice concerns but going forward we've been a joy to watch at times this season.

The Chelsea game is obviously massive but I'm confident of getting a result. Obviously a lot depends on the mood that Drogba is in. Quite often he's been the differnce between the two sides. Lets just hope that Nando is the one we're talking about after the game.

maybe rafa could give the chelsea team talk again :kungfu:

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