Are we title contenders?

Every season we get talked up (mostly by ourselves) about our chances of landing the Premiership in the year ahead.

Early days so far but with the players we have brought in, and after the first two competitive games what's your gut feeling?

Are we in with a shout of being the best team in the country THIS season?

YES quite simply.

Man United and Chelsea, the so called top 2, are playing catch up, so of course we're contenders. In fact we're more than contenders we're champions.

We've just won a very difficult away game, followed by a home against a side I fully expect us to turn over easily. Villa Park another hard away game but providing we defend set peices properly we shouldn't have much troubles. That's Villa's only threat. Then it's the crucial game with United. If we can finally beat them in the league under Benitez, especially so early into the season we're gonna be right up there. Followed by Stoke and then the derby at Goodison. I think somewhere between 12 and 18 points out of a possible 18 should be minimum.

Sunderland, Boro, Stoke and Everton are the four games I'd expect us to win, Villa and United are very winnable so 18 should be our target, not going into games this year being affraid of the top three. Lets go for the throat and we're real contenders.

Well we beat Sunderland 2-0 away last season and we beat Boro at home as well.

Our lack of width worries me the most.  Today had 0-0 written all over it and apart from Torres spark of brilliance we didn't look like we had a lot of ideas on how to sort Sunderland out.

I think once the Olympics are over and done with our wide problems will be sorted out JD. Babel on the left, Gerrard (hopefully) on the right with Masch and Xabi in the middle. I know that offers little goalscoring threat from the middle of the park but it offers pace, delivery and goals from the wings which is what we don't get with Benayoun and Kuyt.

I know a lot of people don't like Stevie on the right but it gives us three world class players in our midfiled (Stevie, Masch, Xabi) rather than the best central midfield in the world and an OK right winger. I don't think with Steive on the right you lose any defensive duties because he's just as good at gettin back as he is goin forward. Also with his desire to score he's more likely to get to the back post than Kuyt/Benayoun/Pennant or any other right winger we use.

That'd be my choice until we sign a world class right/left winger. Right winger just puts Gerrard back in the middle, left winger just shift Babel onto the right and put Stevie back in the middle.

My heart says yes but my head says no.

My heart says no matter what the other two do tomorrow,we've had the best result of the weekend because we won away from home,not playing well and with players away on olympic duty.

My head says we lacked width and continuity through patterns of play and that Torres or Gerrard can't  rescue us all of the time and ultimately be the same aul  silly points dropped that will stop us from wining.And only if Rafa brings in wide players in the next few weeks can this be our year.

My heart says yes but my head says no.
 

Same answer for me mate, we cant expect nando to save us every match. If Keane gets his act together... i may reconsider

Early days so far but with the players we have brought in, and after the first two competitive games what's your gut feeling?

Are we in with a shout of being the best team in the country THIS season?

I have to say my gut feeling at this moment in time is no, after the performance against Standard Liege and today's game, which let's face it didn't offer too much and only Alonso's ability to pick out and thread that lovely ball through to Torres saved us from dropping points today, mind you, in saying that, that's how Champions are made, not play particularly well but still pick up three points, and it's in these sorts of games that we need to do just that.

Oh I don't know !!! Its so hard to know what's going to happen and I don't want to end up disappointed again this season so I'm going to be a real bore and just take one game at a time, cos so much depends on injuries, players losing form and all sorts of other reasons.

Let's just say, it was a good 3 points today, it's not an easy ground to go to and win, especially on the opening day of the season.

I'll review this topic again at Christmas and as long as we are there or thereabouts then I might just change my mind.

Like everyone else, I am desperate for the Premiership, but at the same time I don't want the fans to put unnecessary pressure on the players or Rafa for that matter expecting them to win every game.

I'd love to think we could win the Premiership but, I'm not completely convinced just yet, and like JD the width worries me too, now if we sort those positions out........well who knows

  there is no doubt that we could, but we are in the throws of the worst internal turmoil we have faced as a club.
is Rafa the right man? personally I think so.
Is our club guided correctly from the top to facilitate our title chances.....NO.
We are too misdirected by two (sorry) three fools to ever be able to concentrate on our biggest goal.
Parry has to leave, the quicker the better.
Everyone knows he has no chance of brokering the teams future signings when one of of our co-owners cannot trust him as far as throw him.
so the senario stands that manager (who also doesn't trust him) goes to COE and tells him to do a specific deal, COE tries to do deal at less than agreed money as usual, deal goes sour, COE blames manager for trying to buy above value, both co-owners agree 'cos they are brassic, Rafa looks daft in media, when as his statement told us yesterday, he told O'neill in April of his intention to sign Barry, and left the rest to the powers that be.
That is the gaffers job. - I need this player because..., he will do this for the improvement of the team because..., we will be better for this signing because..., I am prepared to sacrifice these players to finance the deals because we will be better. End of chat.
Managers need backing, not hung out to dry in public by (P)Rick Parry and his self-preservation safari.
It will be a sad day for the club when he is ousted from his seat, as seems inevitable as we have a manager who is wholly commited even with the backdrop of turmoil which surrounds him.
Rafa watch your back mate, because even with our support, we could still lose you.....hope not.

Same answer for me mate, we cant expect nando to save us every match. If Keane gets his act together... i may reconsider

With that aswell Mag.
I'm hoping Keane needs a little time to settle in aswell.
I really want us to win No. 19 this season, but I just don't think we can, I think we're lacking width and I think ultimately it may cost us. I hope I'm wrong though.

We may very well lack width but...Arsenal are missing a top class keeper like Reina, Chelsea are missing a natural goalscorer like Torres and United are missing that box to box midfielder like Gerrard (I don't think Scholes will play too often this year)

Honestly- Nope

However we should be but I do think we desperately need a right and left winger

We may very well lack width but...Arsenal are missing a top class keeper like Reina, Chelsea are missing a natural goalscorer like Torres and United are missing that box to box midfielder like Gerrard (I don't think Scholes will play too often this year)

But... they have players who can cover those areas, who are better than the players we have in our problem postions IMO, well maybe not alunia, but i think we will beat arsenal this year so thats irrelevant. United have Anderson, who i am not afraid (because only an idiot can argue with it) to say will become on of the best CM in the world without doubt.

We need one more winger to become contenders IMO

Hang on mag, Drogba (not a natural finisher anyway) gets injured Chelsea have to choose from Premiership prolific Shevchenko or Pizzarro. So they don't have that quality finisher, unfortunately for us they have Ballack, Lampard and now Deco who'll score plenty from the middle of the park.

As for United, I don't think Anderson is a patch on what Scholes was. I don't think it'll be easy for United to replace Scholes, he is the best central midfielder to have ever graced the Premiership other than Steven Gerrard. I don't think Anderson will get the goals Scholes did and I don't think his passin is anywhere near what Scholes' is/was. Anderson looks a quality player in the makin but for me he's more Fabregas suited, sit very centrally and dictate play, he's certainly no Paul Scholes from what I've seen anyway.

Hang on mag, Drogba (not a natural finisher anyway) gets injured Chelsea have to choose from Premiership prolific Shevchenko or Pizzarro. So they don't have that quality finisher, unfortunately for us they have Ballack, Lampard and now Deco who'll score plenty from the middle of the park.

As for United, I don't think Anderson is a patch on what Scholes was. I don't think it'll be easy for United to replace Scholes, he is the best central midfielder to have ever graced the Premiership other than Steven Gerrard. I don't think Anderson will get the goals Scholes did and I don't think his passin is anywhere near what Scholes' is/was. Anderson looks a quality player in the makin but for me he's more Fabregas suited, sit very centrally and dictate play, he's certainly no Paul Scholes from what I've seen anyway.

Pizaro has just left to go somewere on loan and so theres just Sheva

Hang on mag, Drogba (not a natural finisher anyway) gets injured Chelsea have to choose from Premiership prolific Shevchenko or Pizzarro. So they don't have that quality finisher, unfortunately for us they have Ballack, Lampard and now Deco who'll score plenty from the middle of the park.

As for United, I don't think Anderson is a patch on what Scholes was. I don't think it'll be easy for United to replace Scholes, he is the best central midfielder to have ever graced the Premiership other than Steven Gerrard. I don't think Anderson will get the goals Scholes did and I don't think his passin is anywhere near what Scholes' is/was. Anderson looks a quality player in the makin but for me he's more Fabregas suited, sit very centrally and dictate play, he's certainly no Paul Scholes from what I've seen anyway.

Yea, but Drogba has proven that he can do it... chelsea will score goals under scolari theres no doubt about it, its the defence that will be their downfall if anything. I just have a feeling that Anderson will be a cracking player so i will, ive followed him since his gremio days and i think he will develop to be better than scholes in time, as for this season maybe not. Even still United are missing ronaldo for a while and he isnt going to be as good this season i think. I think Chelsea are the team to beat and maybe they have one quality player more than us.... we need that one more player i think

I think we can be title contenders. If you look at our progression we have gone from being a huge amount of points behind the eventual champions to being just 11 points behind last season and bar a few silly games thrown away we would have been champions. I still worry about the wide positions but i believe rafa must have a plan as he wouldnt just want to neglect the wide areas. If you think about the first 2 games of our season they havent been the best but just look at Aurelio, Degen, Babel, Lucas, Mascherano, Skrtel. All players who were injured and away from the team for those 2 games so far. And they are just starting to come back now, Babel out of the olympics, Skrtel and Aurelio back from injury.I can truly say this season we have great strength in depth and i mean good players and almost equally good cover.

The youngsters just add to it, i couldnt help but watch our pre season games with a smile on my face. Imagine losing Arbeloa and Finnan to injury along with say one of the strikers and having players like Darby, Nemeth and N'Gog to step up and take over for a few games. We have fantastic strength within our team and thats just what we need. The next thing we needed was to be able to grind out those wins when things arent looking the best, we showed it at times last season but not as much as needed, today we really showed grit and determination to break down sunderlands defensive mentality.

The last two things i think we need is new wingers or at least a new left winger and i think we also need to make Anfield a fortress again, we should be unbeatable at anfield and not its hard to come away from anfield with more than a point i mean its hard to come away from anfield with anything. I know thats easier said than done but we have shown many times before we can absolutely destroy teams at anfield and we tend to control the home games even against the top 4 sides bar arsenal due to their nack of retaining posession against any level of opponent.

I have faith in liverpools players more than ever this season. They want it so much and something i was looking at in tomorrows papers highlighted to me one of the many reasons we could be in for something special this season. It was speaking about todays game saying not just torres but alonso also inspired us to victory today and i didnt even have to read the article it just instantly made me think of how confident they must be feeling after euro 2008. Seeing them both in the interview after todays game was a joy especially fernando, its like he's been a liverpool fan his whole life he knows just how much the fans want the premiership and he is also confident we can do it. Reina aswell, when everything looks like doom and gloom after his performance in the Liege game he comes out and rallies the boys saying we can do this and to have belief in ourselves. Stevie came out and did the same yesterday too. I think the confidence of all 4 of the spanish boys will run through the whole team and for once we will as a team have some proper belief we can do it and this really is our year.

I dont like to be over confident but i think we really can do it.

If I'm honest I would say no judging by the two competitive fixtures we've had so far.  That were a little too competitive to say the least.  I think its more about United and Chelsea being a little stronger than us.  And by strong I include mental strengh as well.

And of course, width is a big problem as most have noticed.  No team with Benayoun and Kuyt as wingers will win the title.  Although with Babel and Masch coming back we should def see different personnel there.  And a big plus today was the ability to play sh*t and yet still pick up 3 points which all championship winning sides do. 

Every year for the past 5 years has been ''our year'' and I'm fed up with it.  Fans expect much cause of the past but we just got to bide our time.  Could this be our year?  Of course.  But I'll refrain from declaring us as title contenders until at least christmas.

Pizaro has just left to go somewere on loan and so theres just Sheva

Anelka? Pretty much a proven PL goalscorer. Kalou can also play attack and they are trying to make a deal for Robinho who can play up there as well.

Ask us the question at Christmas.

I'm going to put it out there and say yes!

I feel that Torres and Keane are going to be a lot more promising as the season gets on. When our players are back from Beijing (especially Mascherano) we will lose that shakiness that was evident against Sunderland (and even Liege.)  Plessis didn't look too nifty yesterday but as a stand in midfielder, we can't grumble. The change was evident when Alonso came on.

Gerrard wasn't really on top of his game yesterday either, with his free kicks and shots never really threatening. An on form Gerrard, with a decent midfield. Then a choice of Agger, Carra and Skrtel at the back. Torres and Keane up front.

We'll challenge a lot better now, and as I've said before. If we don't win the league this season, then we can be genuinely dissapointed. This is our best shot.

With the squad we've got this season I have to say that we can consider ourselves contenders, more realistically than previous seasons. We've got to have a decent go at it! With all we complain about our owners and the lack of proper investment they make, as well as the debt they have put on the club, at the end of the day the first XI is getting pretty expensive! Torres and Keane both paid for over £20 million, Mascherano at £18 million, as well as the players of a high value who we already had - Alonso, Gerrard, Babel... to name a few.

The players are there, what remains to be found out is whether or not they are going to knit together as an effective team. There is no reason why not, all are adaptable and have played at the highest level, but for the moment what seems to be missing is that little bit of anticipation - a pass being made almost unconciously, in the expectation of what another player will do. We have seen it between Gerrard and Torres last season, and Alonso for me starts to show glimpses of it too, his pass to Torres for his goal yesterday being one.

We need more of it, because otherwise we are too predictable, and are far too quickly closed down and end up running out of options. Quickly followed by the eventual frustration, and route-one balls that rarely bear fruit. If the players bond as a group quickly, we should have a decent crack, let's hope that the Gerrard-Torres relationship isn't too "exclusive"!

We have all the assets to become title contenders this year of course. OK we are weaker out wide than Man U and Chelsea has a more of an attacking Midfield than most teams. However, what are United going to do when they still have no natural goalscorer? Ronaldo can't possibly have a year like last. His head will be down still dreaming of becoming a Galactico, I hope he will be like Henry at his last season at Arsenal and I honestly think we will see a difference in attitude with young pretty boy.

As for Chelski, ok off to a good start but what are they going to do when they are so attackingly setup that they get hit on the break and concede goals.

We were close last year, we now have the firepower to change these draws against mediocre teams into wins. Keane has lots of experience and when he scores, which will be soon, then the partnership will explode into life. There wasn't much room for El nino and Keano yesterday and they had to make their own chances. The sunderland back four were so deep I think they must have paid £30 quid each for tickets in row A.

We can't judge by the first match of the new season, it will be hard look at United today and a lot of the teams are well set up this season with lots of new quality players.... apart from Everton that is. But I am sure that once we get the next couple of matches won and then spank United then we will show the Prem that we do mean business. And remember, key players were off in search of medals yesterday too!!!

I hate to say it but i think its Chelsea's title this season with us and the mancs fighting for second place ,any other thoughts.?