2014/15 season expectations?

I'm hoping this thread isn't too premature, as I'd like to think our expectations should be determined by our progress last season including a set amount we are able to spend this summer on new players. To take a few things into account, last season we had the luxury of focusing solely on the league, meaning we should have been fresher in our league games. Another influencing factor was the sudden demise of Man Utd (courtesy of "The Chosen One"). No doubt they'll be striving to reclaim a Champions League position, so this may also alter our expectations of the upcoming season.

Here are my expectations:

Fourth position minimum. Why? Because we finished 2nd last season, have a shed load of money to spend, and Rodgers should be able to progress his work at the club in terms of playing style and whatnot (as demonstrated last season). Admittedly we have a minimum of six CL games, so understandably there will be an enormous amount of energy being spent flying into Europe and potentially facing some huge teams. My only concern is United. They haven't any European football to focus on, and could well perform to the standard we did last season for that reason alone. Still, they have a new manager coming in so I would expect them to drop some silly points whilst trying to establish their playing style under him.

I personally do not consider Everton or Tottenham threats to our league position. We are considerably stronger than both and will likely outspend both this summer. Tottenham have a new manager and could well be held back as he makes adjustments, and Everton have the wonderful Europa League football, which will inevitably set them back when flying into remote parts of Russia.

Your expectations?

I don't expect anything, except for the boss and his players to give it their very best, all the time when they are out on the pitch.

That's all anyone can reasonably expect, and if we fall short of the targets the manager sets, we pick ourselves up and we go again.

Fourth position minimum

The last few years this would have been the expectation and then when we come so close to winning the league and as you say "have a shed load of money" you still have an expectation of 4th place minimum.

You should be saying 2nd place minimum because anything else would be a backwards step in terms of the league.

Opening day - Just F***ing win.

Then go from there. Take every game as it comes.

Anyone with minimum placings shouts - please F**k off now.

"First is first, second is nowhere"

At worst we'll do a Spurs.

























And finish with three less points than last season.

The last few years this would have been the expectation and then when we come so close to winning the league and as you say "have a shed load of money" you still have an expectation of 4th place minimum.

You should be saying 2nd place minimum because anything else would be a backwards step in terms of the league.

I don't think fourth would be a backwards step. If we have a good run in Europe and still manage to finish inside that top four, I think that'd show excellent progress. Just how easy is it to compete on the European stage as well as the domestic stage? It'd surely take it's toll.

At worst we'll do a Spurs.
And finish with three less points than last season.

With two sacked managers?

With two sacked managers?

Not sacked, mutual consent.

I think we could very easily go backwards in the league this season. Loss of Suarez, European distractions and other teams strengthening may prove too much for us. I think we will do better in the cups (hard to do worse really) and I have a feeling we may surprise a few in Europe too.

PREDICTIONS

Lower position and with less points and goals in the league
F.A. Cup win 
Quarter finals CL
Semi final League cup

Spend our £75million and everything changes of course

I think we'll go extremely close to winning the title, given a bit of luck we might just get over the line. In the cups it's obviously hard to say, but I'd expect us to get out of the group in the CL.

I'll be happy as long as we finish above shitty, Chelsea, Arsenal and Man U 

Top 3 finish
A trophy
Quarter finals of champions league minimum
A much tighter defence
1 new emerging talent (including Suso and the like not just anyone making a debut)
More goals from our midfield

Anyone with minimum placings shouts - please f**k off now.

Got to win one of the competitions they enter.

Should still be involved in a title race come April.

I think we'll go extremely close to winning the title, given a bit of luck we might just get over the line. In the cups it's obviously hard to say, but I'd expect us to get out of the group in the CL.

Mystic Mick has spoken, that'll do for me.


4th is a minimum....

Anyone with minimum placings shouts - please f**k off now.

I'll get my coat then.

Pre-mature.
On the current squads, with the transfer window to date, we will be battling for 4th if lucky.
City, Chelski and Arsenal have a lot more firepower.

My "prediction" does seem wildly optimistic on the face of it, so I'll have a go at explaining/setting myself up to have the p!ss taken out of me come next May.

Clearly we are going to miss Suarez hugely, he was the best player in the league by a distance. He scored 30 odd goals in the same number of games, and we are going to need to compensate. Here's how I think we do it:

The defence:

I'm expecting Simon Mignolet to grow this season into a more dependable goalkeeper who limits his mistakes, commands his area better while still being the best shot stopper in the league. 

I really rate Sakho and think he will grow this season into being one of the best centre halves in the league. I don't know too much about Lovren, but it appears the boss wants him to lead the defence. Nobodies done that previously, so we'll obviously improve if he can do it.

We must be able to find at least one better fullback than Jon Flanaghan at left back and/or Glen Johnson at right back. Our two weakest positions by a mile for me.

Midfield: Coutinho I would expect to grow significantly and he can be/is a wonderful player. I've a hunch that Jordan Henderson is about to properly explode onto the scene and well and truly ram words which myself and others have uttered down our throats. Suarez was an incredible signing by Kenny, at the end of this season Henderson will be revered as an absolute steal at 16 million too in my opinion. As an aside, I think he'll score heavily this season, think Aaron Ramsey.

I think Raheem Stirling will emerge this season as a superstar, one of the best players in the league. I think he'll score goals and cause goals to be scored on a regular basis.

Contrary to many, I think Lallana will be a very shrewd purchase. Left sided players who do what he does are gold dust, this lad will be a top player for us.

Up top:

Danny Sturridge will score at least as many as he did last season, probably more without Luis being there. Whoever partners him (and out of current suggestions I'd go with Bony) ought to be able to manage high teens of goals too.




We will severely miss out by not having Suarez, but I expect four or five other areas of the pitch to be stronger. Provided we can keep Gerrard fit and motivated, we will go very close again. 

I expect us to win the league.

Simple as.

One game at a time. Really don't know what to expect. The other teams are also improving, but who will improve more?


Hope we have a good start, then we'll see where we are.


YNWA

I expect us to win the league.

Simple as.

Thats the best scenario!   

play great football score lots of goals qualify for the CL knockout stages and w in the league.

I pretty much agree with BigMick on this, I cannot understand all the pessimism form people. yes we've lost Suarez but the team as a whole has been strengthened already and we aren't even finished with the transfer window yet. I really don't see Man Utd as any threat next season, I am not impressed with Van Gaal at all and I think his ego will clash really badly with the Utd board and players, especially Shrek. City will be the same as last season, chavs about the same, Arsenal could be more of a threat but bitters and spuds will also be more or less the same. In other words I think we should be aiming for top4 at a minimum and may have an even better shot at the title. I also think we'll have a good run in Europe.

To win the quadruple.

To win the quadruple.

You had to go one four better than me Billy.

Going to whack a chunk of change on Henderson scoring double figures in the league.

Currently, with Arsenal, Chelsea, Man City & Utd strengthened and us weakened, I'd be happy to get top 4 and a good run in CL and FA cup. However, transfer window is still open and if we sign the right players, I think we should aim for top 3 and at least, QF of CL!

Just as our previous season I'm going to expect the same in the league but with a cup in either domestic competition with us reaching the quarters of the Champions League.

With the manager we have, we can do many things next season. Few more signings and we can kick some ass. With or without Suarez, we can win the league. WE ARE LIVERPOOL FC.

Make us proud!

You had to go one four better than me Billy.

I'm not gonna expect us to lose mate, I expect Liverpool to win every single game. Therefore expect us to win every possible trophy.

I expect us to be stronger mentally than last season.

I expect us to have a deeper squad than last season.

I expect us to use the hurt of missing out on the league to drive us on to even greater things next season.

My expectation is to be in game for the league title till the end and hopfully win it at the end

Be in the title race again, and at least get thru the group stages of champions league.

FA Cup & League Cup, would like to see the youngsters get a decent run.

If we still had Suarez I'd expect us to win.

But I'll agree with JD and love another title run come April.

And a trip to Wembley

This is gonna be a tough season so it is. Arsenal have solidified 4th, city and chelsea will be hard pushed to finish out of the top 3 so there is only 1 spot left. Heres hoping the scum dont sort their sh*t out too soon.

1. Minimum...  4th in the league
2.Minimum  .....reach the knockout  round in the champions league

1. Minimum...  4th in the league
2.Minimum  .....reach the knockout  round in the champions league

Plus Minimum final in a Cup

Obviously a lot depends on how the Suarez money is invested. In 2009 we expected to kick on after finishing 2nd, we failed to replace Alonso and strengthen the squad. Before anyone jumps in, I understand the difference in having the two cowboys and their debt gone, but the premise is still the same, we need to build, those around us will and if we don't we will get left behind.

However if the league were to start again tomorrow, I don't think we would have the strength to compete on all four fronts and therefore we would need to prioritise. And yes, I do hope and expect us to win every game we play in, but we can't expect the same 11 to play 50-60 games at a consistent level, and the gap between Sturridge and Aspas is clear enough. I expect plenty of players to improve from last season and contribute in new ways for us, Henderson and Sterling have already been mentioned, but I think with Suarez gone that Sturridge will thrive on being the main man up top. He showed it plenty of times last season when we missed Luis, and I think he will be itching to prove he can carry the mantle.

Sakho is a player I can't quite put my finger on, he looks to have all the potential and I really hope he can realise that this season. Hopefully some new signings will create the healthy competition to help him make the next step with us. As has been mentioned I think full back is an area that needs addressing, the return of Enrique will be huge but sufficient cover and someone to compete for a starting spot at full back is needed to compete on all fronts.

I have said this for the past two seasons and both times I have been forced to hold my hand up and admit my mistake... But I can't see Gerrard featuring as much for us this season. I think we will manage him to get the best out of him when we need it most and that may mean playing less.Prove me wrong once again Stevie!

I fully support and trust Rodgers. This season will be massive for him and he knows that. He will need our support and patience. European football will take a bit out of us, and if there is an odd slip up along the way, that has to be understandable. We get behind the lads, and We Go Again...

I'm not sure I even answered the thread question... but much like last season I think I might just sit back and enjoy the ride.

My expectations.....that unless we win every competition that we play in, someone on here will have a moan about some aspect of the team underperforming from players to owners.

My expectations....that every thread is going to be filled with someone moaning about people moaning, leaving no room for those of us who have genuine moans to moan about.

My expectations....that every thread is going to be filled with someone moaning about people moaning, leaving no room for those of us who have genuine moans to moan about.

I moan therefore I am.

We have been here before with losing great players. I love Luis Suarez as a player, felt proud he was a Liverpool player. But all said and done he is a loss that's for sure, but saying that we only won one trophy since his arrival to Anfield!

We got 75m for a near 28 year old who stands to miss 4 months of the season. We are in need of a bigger, stronger squad...not too mention a bigger ground capacity. All this needs money and our prize asset has been sold, good business I think so. I am confident of a good season, I am confident we will see more goals from other areas and not just relying on one man. I am also confident we will not leak as many goals this season. As you can tell, i'am confident! 

GF's advice (she knows not the first thing about football) - "Why not just expect them to lose all the time, that way, when they win, you'll be happy!" Thank you, Darling...

GF's advice (she knows not the first thing about football) - "Why not just expect them to lose all the time, that way, when they win, you'll be happy!" Thank you, Darling...

she sounds like a keeper

I'm one of those Reds that numerous other fans laugh at, since ever I can remember I always have the feeling that this/next year will be our year. Romantic notions aside, the head tells me we should be at least aiming for a top four finish, the heart tells me we should go one better in the league next year. Winning the FA cup would be nice and the head says this is realistically achievable plus we should be looking to improve on our domestic cup form under Rodgers. Of course, the squad and team need improvement so it's a bit hard to stipulate what to expect or hope for just yet. As for the CL, I would like us to take this by storm (another perhaps romantic notion), I think Rodgers may have to be a little bit more tactically savvy in this comp, compared to domestic games. It will be interesting to see how he and his team fair against Europe's heavy weights.

Good thread.

If anything, we need to win the league this year to make all the 'haww slippy G, haww haww no Suarez + CL games = back to 7th next year rofl' idiots on facebook look like right mugs. I'm pretty confident we'll manage top 3 at least and go further in the CL than most people think.

Mig
Johnson Lovren sakho Moreno
Gerrard Henderson
Sterling Lallana Coutinho
Sturridge

Reina, Skrtel, Flanagan, Can, Remy, markovic , lambert on the bench

With Agger, Enrique, Allen, Ibe and Suso pushing for places

Good options all over and a squad with very few weaknesses.

Who knows, if we can get good money for Lucas, Coates and Assaidi we may stretch to Benatia instead of Lovren or a sensational bid for Isco or Griezman. After all the squad above is based on a 20 million net spend which is peanuts. I do fancy us for top 4 and a cup

I expect us to hold the ball for 3420 minutes in what can only be described as 'possession based football'

Losing Suarez, an ageing Gerrard I'm worried...... Both at their peak are irreplaceable but the replacements we have in so far don't excite me! We have lost our "goal out of nothing" fear that other clubs have when you have Suarez in the team!

So we really need someone to step up or one of BR signings to be a class act and not take time to settle in.

Minimum for me would be top 4
Cup final

Champions league could be a bit of a stretch to even qualify from the group seeing as we are in pot 3

Still feel that while we have strengthened in quite a few areas we haven't quite made up for the loss of Suarez yet. I would like to see one top quality signing (presuming we sign Lovren, Remy etc etc) that lifts us to the next level and gives us a real chance of the title.

At the moment I see us being in the hunt but slightly behind the other front runners. Not sure we have enough creativity in the side to get the goals we got last season but I think we do look potentially a much more balanced side.

A lot will depend on the development of Sterling and Coutinho and how Sturridge copes with being our main man up front.

I don't assume anything, especially when it comes to football.
I'll put it this way, winning two cups or the league and a cup is not far fetched, I see our attacking style with pace as the change from the tiki taka that failed last year, in the world cup and CL.
Bayern didn't play tiki taka when they won it, they played with pace two years ago.
Pace is everything now, we have a sh*t load of pace.
The fastest lad we have is actually Ibe imo, keep him here.

A lot will depend on the development of Sterling and Coutinho

I think Ibe as well, his pace and power could be of real use this season and I wouldn't be surprised if he was given a chance this season, especially if he excels throughout pre-season.

A lot of people are saying about the loss of Suarez and an "aging Gerrard" but come on people. We have the second top scorer from last season who was playing brilliantly both with and without Suarez alongside him and was winning us points on his own at the start of the season! Along with Hendo who is starting to turn into a quality player and then there is Sterling who has been incredible where ever he has played. We have a lot more reasons to be optimistic than we did a year ago.

We may have lost Suarez but we have Sturridge, Sterling, Coutinho, Hendo and Ibe who are all young and could make a real impact next season. In the mix with Markovic and hopefully Lallana would carry over his form from last season. Not to mention we are still going to make more signings. We may have lost Suarez but at the same time we are getting a much better balance to the squad. We scored 101 goals in the league last season, Suarez got 31 of them, that means we had another 70 goals spread throughout the team!

It's going to be harder next season, of course it is, but that's why we are getting more depth to the squad and I am starting to feel as though Rodgers is starting by getting in this side of the team and is then gearing up to make one, possibly two major signings that will really show our intent and possibly eclipse the money we paid for Carroll.

What is for sure though, is that he needs to deliver a cup next season because our cup runs haven't been good enough.

I think Ibe as well, his pace and power could be of real use this season and I wouldn't be surprised if he was given a chance this season, especially if he excels throughout pre-season.

A lot of people are saying about the loss of Suarez and an "aging Gerrard" but come on people. We have the second top scorer from last season who was playing brilliantly both with and without Suarez alongside him and was winning us points on his own at the start of the season! Along with Hendo who is starting to turn into a quality player and then there is Sterling who has been incredible where ever he has played. We have a lot more reasons to be optimistic than we did a year ago.

We may have lost Suarez but we have Sturridge, Sterling, Coutinho, Hendo and Ibe who are all young and could make a real impact next season. In the mix with Markovic and hopefully Lallana would carry over his form from last season. Not to mention we are still going to make more signings. We may have lost Suarez but at the same time we are getting a much better balance to the squad. We scored 101 goals in the league last season, Suarez got 31 of them, that means we had another 70 goals spread throughout the team!

It's going to be harder next season, of course it is, but that's why we are getting more depth to the squad and I am starting to feel as though Rodgers is starting by getting in this side of the team and is then gearing up to make one, possibly two major signings that will really show our intent and possibly eclipse the money we paid for Carroll.

What is for sure though, is that he needs to deliver a cup next season because our cup runs haven't been good enough.

I think Ibe may well get a few chances this season, but I don't think he will really make an impact (in the way Stirling has) for a couple of years yet mate.  His finishing is poor and I don't think he is as far along in his development as Stirling was. Seems a lot rougher around the edges that Stirling did. Certainly not someone who I will be counting on this season, but he looks like he could be a great impact player from the bench.

I agree with most of what you say mate.... just feel we are a little bit short of top quality to really maintain a challenge for the title. I do think we should do much better in the cups and if our title push does fade early I will be expecting (hoping really) a cup.

but I don't think he will really make an impact (in the way Stirling has) for a couple of years yet mate.  His finishing is poor and I don't think he is as far along in his development as Stirling was.

Yeah he isn't developing as quick as Sterling but in terms of pace and power he can be a big threat, get him running at a defender and it could draw another one out and open up space for us. Some times it's better having a player rough around the edges in their development when they first break through because nobody knows what to expect.

It's going to be an interesting season both domestically and in Europe.

I just want to see continued progress.  BR is building a team by bringing in talented young players and integrating them into the group, so it will take time to make the jump from coming close to winning things, to actually winning important trophies on a yearly basis.  I will personally be satisfied if we can qualify for the CL again (top 3 would be ideal), get through to the knockout rounds of the CL, make it to the quarter finals (or better) in the FA Cup, and have a decent run in the League Cup with our young lads being used exclusively so they can gain some 1st team experience. 

I thought we would struggle without Suarez but the signings we are making tells me that without Suarez we will be changing formation. Yes we did score a bucket full of goals last season but we also conceded a bucket full also. So for me a formation change to 4 3 3 and shore up our defence should counter act the loss of Suarez's goals.

                                  Mignolet
Johnson           Lovren (?)            Sakho        Moreno (?)
                                   Gerrard
                Henderson                  Coutinho
Sterling                     Sturridge                    Lallana
                                 

I thought we would struggle without Suarez but the signings we are making tells me that without Suarez we will be changing formation. Yes we did score a bucket full of goals last season but we also conceded a bucket full also. So for me a formation change to 4 3 3 and shore up our defence should counter act the loss of Suarez's goals.

                                  Mignolet
Johnson           Lovren (?)            Sakho        Moreno (?)
                                   Gerrard
                Henderson                  Coutinho
Sterling                     Sturridge                    Lallana
                               

No it does not counter act the loss of Suarez. People will find his out when the new season arrives. People will be crying about how we have not replaced Suarez and how we are now paying the price for it.

Suarez adds a whole new dimension to the team. The guy is unplayable. If it he is not directly involved in the play, his presence made the difference. Players respected him, and the shape of their teams changed because of him.

So tell me. When Sturridge gets injured where will our goals come from? Lambert and Remy?

And that team you listed will not come close to winning the league. Severely weakened in attack. The defence improves marginally.

No it does not counter act the loss of Suarez. People will find his out when the new season arrives. People will be crying about how we have not replaced Suarez and how we are now paying the price for it.

Suarez adds a whole new dimension to the team. The guy is unplayable. If it he is not directly involved in the play, his presence made the difference. Players respected him, and the shape of their teams changed because of him.

Agreed mate, Suarez was in a different League to every other player playing in the Premiership. There are many moments that he mesmerized me but the one that sticks out and I'll never foget it, although I do forget who it was against, was the one where we were awarded a Free kick in the right channel. He was out by the sideline, he placed the ball on the ground and from nowhere he curls it with the outside of his foot into the corner of the net. The c**t Ref disallowed it because he hadn't blown his whistle yet. That was the most amazing thing I have seen from him and I doubt anyone could ever replace that kind of genius.

Too difficult to call without seeing who else we bring in but I expect us to make another serious challenge for the title, maybe not with the same flair or scorelines as last season but that's ok as we'll qualify for the CL in the process and get to a domestic cup final.

I'll amend this as necessary once the window closes.

No it does not counter act the loss of Suarez. People will find his out when the new season arrives. People will be crying about how we have not replaced Suarez and how we are now paying the price for it.

Suarez adds a whole new dimension to the team. The guy is unplayable. If it he is not directly involved in the play, his presence made the difference. Players respected him, and the shape of their teams changed because of him.

So tell me. When Sturridge gets injured where will our goals come from? Lambert and Remy?

And that team you listed will not come close to winning the league. Severely weakened in attack. The defence improves marginally.

You don't think that younger players such as Sterling, Hendo, Sturridge, Coutinho, etc. will improve upon their performances from last season? And it's a tad early to be complaining about the lack of a Suarez replacement when we haven't even touched the money we got from his sale yet!

You don't think that younger players such as Sterling, Hendo, Sturridge, Coutinho, etc. will improve upon their performances from last season? And it's a tad early to be complaining about the lack of a Suarez replacement when we haven't even touched the money we got from his sale yet!

I do think they'll improve, but Sterling and Sturridge for example were helped incredibly by Luis Suarez. Just saying, let's see how they cope without him there.

No we haven't touched the Suarez money but it's pretty obvious who are set to spend it on.

No we haven't touched the Suarez money but it's pretty obvious who are set to spend it on.

Is it?  Pray do tell, I'm intrigued.

No we haven't touched the Suarez money but it's pretty obvious who are set to spend it on.

Enlighten us!!

No we haven't touched the Suarez money but it's pretty obvious who are set to spend it on.

Is JWH getting Linda a new boob job!!

No it does not counter act the loss of Suarez. People will find his out when the new season arrives. People will be crying about how we have not replaced Suarez and how we are now paying the price for it.

Suarez adds a whole new dimension to the team. The guy is unplayable. If it he is not directly involved in the play, his presence made the difference. Players respected him, and the shape of their teams changed because of him.

So tell me. When Sturridge gets injured where will our goals come from? Lambert and Remy?

And that team you listed will not come close to winning the league. Severely weakened in attack. The defence improves marginally.

How will this team weaken our attack? is just because the biter isn't in the team? Lallana is a proven goal scorer in the EPL and even if he wasn't in the team we have Markovic to come in and hurt any team with his pace. Remy has scored goals in the EPL. I know Suarez is gone and we will miss him but we cannot go back to being a team that always relies on one player to bale us out of trouble like we did with Gerrard for years. These other players will have to chip in. We're still going to play with the same intensity, players will improve from last season as well. The formation change will help us as the three forward players will split across the pitch and this will spread the attack and they will be expected to mark the oppositions full backs instead of us having our full backs supplying the width and getting caught out as Johnson did so many times last season. Ok maybe we will not score as many goals but strengthening our defence will help in conceding so many.

So, I saw an article the other day that was judging the transfer activity of different clubs so far this summer.  The article gave Liverpool a 6/10 for losing Suarez and signing Lambert, Lallana, Markovic, and Can at a net spend of -20M.  The same F***ing article gave the Scum a 9/10 for losing Vidic, Evra, and Ferdinand and signing Shaw and Herrera for a net spend of 60M.  You couldn't make that sh*t up!!  Their back 5 and GK at this time will currently look like:

                 Gea
Rafael  Jones  Smalling  Shaw
               Fellaini

That is a back 5 I'd expect to see at a club like West Ham or Aston Villa!  There is no experience or leadership at the back, and aside from Shaw and Gea there is no great quality in those 6 players either.  Just goes to show you how F***ing biased the media is against LFC....

13/14 Premier League

Lambert 13 goals, 11 assists
Remy 14 goals, 3 assists
Lallana 9 goals, 8 assists

Total, 36 goals, 22 assists

Suarez 31 goals, 21 assists

We've gained five goals and one assist as well as around 35 million. (once Remy arrives...if he does)

13/14 Premier League

Lambert 13 goals, 11 assists
Remy 14 goals, 3 assists
Lallana 9 goals, 8 assists

Total, 36 goals, 22 assists

Suarez 31 goals, 21 assists

We've gained five goals and one assist as well as around 35 million.

Doesn't quite work like that and you know it.

3 players don't fit into 1 position in the team.

Doesn't quite work like that and you know it.

3 players don't fit into 1 position in the team.

Mignolet
Skrtel Sakho
Gerrard
Sterling Henderson Coutinho Lallana
Remy Lambert Sturridge

Problem solved.

Doesn't quite work like that and you know it.

3 players don't fit into 1 position in the team.

no but the principle of the team chipping in more goals is clearly one of Brendans objectives.

Mignolet
Skrtel Sakho
Gerrard
Sterling Henderson Coutinho Lallana
Remy Lambert Sturridge

Problem solved.

Haha, I'm sure we'll keep lots of clean sheets with that team.

no but the principle of the team chipping in more goals is clearly one of Brendans objectives.

Yeah I know mate, I was just making the point that we will not be able to replace Suarez' contributions with our new signings alone, as no one can replace his individual class.

Haha, I'm sure we'll keep lots of clean sheets with that team.

We hardly kept clean sheets last year, might as well just go gung ho.

Alternatively, we could line up with something like this

GK - Mignolet
CB - Lovren
CB - Skrtel
CB - Sakho
RWB - Sterling
LWB - Lallana
CM - Henderson
CM - Gerrard
AM - Lambert
CF - Remy
CF - Sturridge

PL

Minimum : Top 4 ( if we fail
again I think BR will be in trouble )

Max : great league run like last year

CL

Min : reach the second round
Max: reach the semi finals

Cups reach the semi finals

I think we'll finish top 4 in the league, but don't see us winning it.

Quarter finals of the champs league.

At least one cup final win I reckon.

Win the league in May!

Win the league in May!

f***in 'A' HR, win it we will, we have to believe, I certainly do !

YNWA

Expectations are always a dangerous thing to set too high... However - I honestly believe we will have a season to rival last seasons performance wise - however our league position will be down to many other factors out of our control - such as the other teams performances.

Top 4 is now the minimum, as I guess it has been for a while - but for me I think we will be right up there come April. Not sure if we will win the league, but wont be more than 4 point from this come May.

To be honest the top 4 this year is not easier as it seems  , people excluding Man utd from the equation , they will sign more players for sure plus they have a clever manager who knows what he's doing .
It's going to be like this :

Man city & Chelsea for the PL
Arsenal & Liverpool & Man utd for the 3 and 4th place  .
Plus spurs and Everton to be dark horses again .

What we need to do ?
The key for the top 4 is not to waste point against small teams we need to win our games against them , the games we should be worrying about apart from top 4 games are :
Stoke(away)
Palace(away)
Swansea(away)
Everton (away)
Spurs(away)
Newcastle(away)

These teams always were likely the top4 teams drop points at .
We need to win these game , if we win these games we will be in a comfortable place .

My prediction is 4th place and I pray to god that we end up in the top 4 , it's so important to us otherwise we will be back to square zero again and maybe our manager will be in trouble if we fail .

Really dont know what to expect, seems like one of them seasons where it could literally go anywhere. By no means a target or anything but getting top 4 again would be nice and to win a cup, really don't know where we stand

Win the league in May!

May!!! what's wrong with having it wrapped up by the end of April allowing us to prepare for the CL final.

I think the inexperience of both the manager and the team towards the end of last season will be seen as a learning curve for both this season.I feel anywhere outside the top two would be a step backwards,and expect to see us in the CL quarter finals minimum,with at least one domestic trophy.

If we don't do something special,transfer wise,in the next month,we'll be 5th or 6th again. No doubts in my mind

Win stuff.
Cool, lets go.

With how things currently stand, including the squads of our rivals, I would expect us to still land within the top four. If United end up signing Vidal, Di Maria and whoever else, then the ball would be in our court - we would need to ensure that we remain stronger than them throughout. Currently, we are the stronger team.

Our best current XI imo:

Mignolet
Enrique
Sakho
Lovren
Flanagan
Gerrard
Henderson
Coutinho
Lallana
Sterling
Sturridge

I feel that given Adam's age and experience of the league, it's only fair to assume that he will probably be more ready for the PL campaign than Markovic. Same applies to Emre Can. I've put a dash through the area's of which I feel could do with improving however.

I feel that Lallana could compete and rotate with Coutinho in the CAM role. Of course Sterling can play there in a 4-4-2 diamond, but I very much doubt we'll revert back to that formation now Suarez has gone. The two fullback positions are, in my opinion, a real cause for concern. Jon Flanagan is our best fullback, and he is still pretty much a flawed defender. He'll come good, but there is no doubt we can improve on him. I genuinely feel three players is all we need now - Moreno, Rojo or Rodriguez for LB, someone else (don't know who) for RB, and a quality player like Reus for that forward position.

There is no doubt that our 13/14 XI is stronger than this season's XI:

Mignolet
Flanagan
Sakho
Skrtel
Johnson
Gerrard
Henderson
Coutinho
Sterling
Suarez
Sturridge

Tough question. Spending and bringing in new players is 50/50. It can be exactly what you need and if it works were going to win the league.  The other side is what happened to Spurs.  Personally, I think this season will certainly see us as a top 4. I think it will take them a few weeks of working together to play as one squad. Im sure we'll see mistakes, maybe a few OG's sloppy play etc.. its going to happen with so many new players.

Chelsea are going to be strong. City as usual will be tough, Arsenal are always in it, the biggest question is United. .. Last year was glorious.  But Van Gaal is a good mgr and he will have them playing better.

F**k it.

Let's win the Carling Cup!

F**k it.

Let's win the Carling Cup!

Hope so, but we look lost today.

Hope so, but we look lost today.

Well we've beaten Swansea. Just need to progress and prioritise on that and remain away from the relegation zone.

Getting sturridge fit at some point

low under the current conditions