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Posted:
Mon May 12, 2008 7:41 amby lakes10
bigmick wrote:Rush Job wrote:Sure your right though.
Forgot to mention as well, nice sly dig yourself 
The truth is of course nobody can say for sure how much effect the "boardroom wranglings" have had, but in that thread which i mentioned earlier somebody did post up some interesting stats which would appear to suggest the effect was minimal.
When the "boardroom wranglings" started I think it did effect the team, but after a few weeks I they got over it and put it out of their mind.......but it was convenient excuse to use when things on the pitch to not go to well.
I still feel there was only one thing in Rafa's mind at the start of the year and that was the CL final.
Posted:
Mon May 12, 2008 8:13 amby woof woof !
A disappointingly average season.
Only some great CL nights and Torres have given some respectability to what for the most part has been a season of under achievement.
Posted:
Mon May 12, 2008 9:34 amby bigmick
NiftyNeil wrote:bigmick wrote:As it is, we went backwards in the league and once again have the most miniscule chance of winnijng it next term.
For once Mick, I disagree with you. How have we gone backwards in the league when we have got 8 points more than last season? We haven't lost so few games in a single season since our "better than Brazil" side of 1987-1988. Given all the off-filed goings on, I think we've done remarkably well.
Well we were third the season before Neil and fourth this season so in that sense at least we went backwards. We were never ever in with a shout of the title this time, just like last season (and the ones before that under Rafa) and we have finished the season comfortably adrift of third place.
To my mind, at the very best we've stood still, but in all likelyhood we've gone backwards.
Posted:
Mon May 12, 2008 9:35 amby andy_g
its only been a season of underachievement because so many, including many among the media and common punditry, expected us to achieve so much more. we were never going to win the title this year and to be honest even if we sign ronaldo, lahm and kaka over the summer we won't win it next season either. its going to take some time before this team believes itself to be a team capable of winning the title.
so here's the positives: we're well clear of the 5th placed team and aren't a million miles from the champions, at least compared with previous seasons. we've scored more goals than anyone in all competitions and have a record breaking new striker. we got to the semis in the champions league. we have added a couple of absolutely top class players and 2 or 3 more with genuine promise.
the negatives are that yet again we are the fourth placed team and will become known as 'fourth placed liverpool' for good if this carries on. our title 'challenge' fizzled out far too quickly. we lost to barnsley in the fa cup. we have had to deal with no end of sh.it and uncertainty from a pair of cowboy chancers. still no new flippin' stadium. we have played some boring football. we still have no genuine quality in wide positions. we still can't take many points of the other top four teams.
summing up i'd say its a smidgin above average. with the rose tinted shades on there's plenty to be excited about and feel confident of the future. but as soon as you take them off you have to take a good hard look at where we are and what we can expect. if next season doesn't see us in that position of strength to make a serious bid for the title the season after then something is going to have to be done about it or we just have to accept that we're a cup team.
Posted:
Mon May 12, 2008 11:13 amby 112-1077774096
Posted:
Mon May 12, 2008 11:14 amby Judge
Toffeehater wrote:Thingy wrote:Who the feck said excellent?
me, i said it, we were fucking fantastic. loved all the rotation, and numerous draws, where we lost points to numpties.
furthermore, i want kuyts kids as i love him to bits. best player in the world, imo. god i wish i was a women, id do him big time.
anyway, whats your point thingy?
you never know about some folk
Posted:
Mon May 12, 2008 11:35 amby PhiLFC
Average - we did ok
"Average" 20 years ago would have been the league title and the league cup
Posted:
Mon May 12, 2008 11:48 amby LFC2007
Average within the context of Rafa's reign, above average in the context of his immediate predecessors, excellent in the context of his medium term predecessor (Souness), but in any season where we're out of the title race that early, and fail to win a trophy it shall remain a fundamentally poor season - by the standards to which we aspire (and have been for 18 years).
As others perceive this season to be a step backwards or a step neither way, I consider it at best to be a slight improvement predominantly down to the fact that we've acquired Torres - who's now proven - and he's that obligatory part of a title winning team which we haven't had since Owen left. We've yet to address our quality in our wide areas though, and we've stood still on that front. The perceived step backwards is more a reflection on how far the Manc's have improved, IMO.
Posted:
Mon May 12, 2008 11:53 amby stmichael
This season has seen our lowest number of defeats since our last league title win.
Turn a few of those stupid draws into wins (with the addition of better attacking players), sort out all the boardroom rubbish and we're right in the mix.
Posted:
Mon May 12, 2008 11:58 amby Sabre
I was tempted to vote below average, because last September I expected to challenge for the title, and so did our manager, despite he also warned it was going to be a difficult journey.
But considering everything that has been going on in this club, I upgraded the vote to average.
Posted:
Mon May 12, 2008 1:04 pmby parchpea
We are a long way off winning the league thats for sure.
I think expectations have been lowered somewhat given we have not won the title for so long now and that in itself is a shame.
Frankly I can only see one way to fix this and thats a massive cash injection spent on the first team in the summer but we all know this is most unlikely given our current situation.
Its hard to take watching them take the crown again and another ordinary spend in the transfer market will do nothing to change our situation unfortunately.
Posted:
Mon May 12, 2008 2:14 pmby crazyhorse
Lets face it. If this was a school report it would be graded C+.... Must do better. Flatters to deceive but then fails when it counts.
Posted:
Mon May 12, 2008 2:30 pmby stmichael
If this season felt like a realistic league challenge to some, then I would be grateful if you could share the optimism pills around, please. To me, as I said elsewhere, it felt like scrapping around for 4th place.
We dropped 4 points to relegated sides, and we had a series of home draws that we really should have won. In my view, I don't think that this was because of 'rotation' or whatever we want to call it, but that's pretty much irrelevant - whatever the reason, it should not have happened, and we had a squad this season that could and should have mounted a decent challenge (the first season, in my view, since Rafa arrived).
We didn't. To my mind, this is not a reason to panic or to think that we are doomed for all eternity. If, however, we have a similar, if not better, squad next season, and the same happens again, then things will start to look a little different.
The platform is built and the fuel is in the tanks - if we stall on the launch pad two years running, then it's time to start showing concern.
Posted:
Mon May 12, 2008 2:30 pmby Torres25
Im quite pleased really i think it was only all them draws that coincidentally took place when Rafa & Hicks were at each others throats that stopped us from having an excellent season
We now have 2 more world-class editions 2 the team in Torres & Mascherano (now hes signed) & have got a defender in Skrtel who 4 me has the potential 2 form an excellent pairing with Agger when Carra the legend finally starts 2 feel his knees creakin abit 2 much
2 gems in Babel & Lucas....Any1 who doubts Lucas watch in when he came on against Spurs he........can do it all & Babel has alot of rough edges 2 smooth but i think hell be snesational 4 us in ayr or so
r youth system looks everybit as good as arsenals...............theres some world-class stars of the future in there 4 me
in the summer rafa will get the weak spots sorted out (hopefully) & aslong as hcks & rafa r on good terms i cant c what happened this season happeing again
so bring on next season
YNWA
