Is this really probably "our best ever chance" to win the league?

First of all, it doesn't matter how many teams are in the mix - if there was only Mourinho's original Chelsea or the treble-winning United side in there this season, they would have wrapped things up already

But they aren't. If we had the team that was so dominant up until the start of the Premier League then we'd have wrapped things up already. It's irrelevant, it's the teams of here and now.

First of all - we have to sell to buy. We are right up against the threshold for investment due to FFP if we want to strengthen significantly. If we have got any hope of competing against the petrodollar clubs we need to be incredibly wise with our investments and extract the maximum value from them. That means significantly improving our performance in the transfer market and bedding in quite a few new players whilst simultaneously learning hw to manage midweek games.

Says who? We have spent very little in all honesty. As for having to significantly improve in the transfer market, we got Coutinho and Sturridge in for an absolute bargain. We may have had some dodgy signings but every club has, the important thing is that the players that have come in and done well have done so well that they have helped propel us to the top of the league. Along with getting the best out of Sterling and pushed Flanno through. We've proven we can compete with the "petroldollar" clubs, we have pushed City all the way to the end of the season on a shoe string compared to what they have spent.

City wil lbe stronger with a second year under their manager plus they can afford to address the weaknesses in their squad. Their team has pulled together since Mancini and, however you look at it, they will be challenging strongly next season.

City are having to watch what they spend at the moment due to the FFP, the very thing you mention about what we should go careful about. They could potentially end up with a wage cap, a wage cap could play into the hands of rival teams because as we know with the majority of players these days, money talks and they go to where they will get the most, especially where the likes of City are concerned. You say they will be stronger but so will we. If this is how far we can push them without spending out a huge amount of money then when we have more money available to us then we can get in better players who will be able to take us above them next time.

Chelsea - You say their tactics "won't work" but even without them having a top striker (yes i know it' sAbramovich's fault for not buying one) they were on the verge of a Premiership and CL double. You can't discount a manage rwith a record like Mourinho's. If they buy a 40 million pound striker - and with Lukaku to cme back - I would have them as favourites.

Lukaku wont go back though, he doesn't seem to have the right image to fit with that club, they also don't play to his strengths so I can see him struggling there, as he has done when he has featured for them.

Arsenal and Spurs - we don't know who the manager will be next season - If Wenger goes and they appoint Martinez he could take them far. It would be interesting to see what his Everton side could have done this season if they had Suarez. Spurs is a similar story - all they need is a top striker and a talented manager like Pocchetino and they could be next year's dark horses.

Martinez to Arsenal, really? That's never going to happen in a month of Sundays. Year after year there is talk of Wenger leaving but it never happens. If they win the FA Cup then they will give him a new contract I expect.

As for Spurs, they need a lot more than a top striker. The majority of what they signed last summer is utter cack.

This year has been a perfect storm for us in terms of opportunity. I'm not saying we won't do even better next year but it will be harder. It's encouraging that we look like we will get second (although I'm hoping Man City still fluff it) but we haven't yet convincingly demonstrated the mentality needed to win the league.

This is a team that has been lingering around 7th place for the last god knows how many years so to handle being in the title race as well as we have up to this point is a testament to the lads, especially given the fact we have youngsters like Sterling and Flanno. You say it will be harder for us next year but we are going to be making it a darn sight even harder for other teams too.

Have some faith pal, christ, start looking for some positives instead of searching for the negatives and what could be harder next season.

Have some faith pal, christ, start looking for some positives instead of searching for the negatives and what could be harder next season.

– sorry if it came across as depressing mate – I am optimistic for next season but I do think the task will be harder – just because the perfect circumstances that arose this year won’t repeat themselves. I just posted in the run in thread about what we need to win. If you look at the list of Premiership winners since the competiotion started you almost always need the 1st/2nd best attack and the 1st/2nd best defence to end up winning the league.

Currently we have the best attack and the 8th best defence. The good news is that defensive problems are much easier to rectify than attacking ones. If we score like we have been doing this season and concede less than Chelsea or City we will walk the league. If we simply conceded less than City we are in with a very very good chance.

Regarding the other points:

It's irrelevant, it's the teams of here and now.

Yes, you’re quite right – the point I was getting at was that next season if we’re not champions City will be – the experience they have will mean they are much les slikely to slip up to let us in. Chelsea, who have only just been eliminated from the possibility of a prem/CL double will have a top-drawer striker with Lukaku recalled – which is what they have been missing all season – that will kick them up a couple of notches and Mourinho doesn’t fold easily. If you ask me whether it’s easier to get away with mistakes in the hunt for the title this season or next season I think it’s the former.

Says who? We have spent very little in all honesty. ..We've proven we can compete with the "petroldollar" clubs, we have pushed City all the way to the end of the season on a shoe string compared to what they have spent.

We need to significantly improve in the transfer market. In simple terms we cannot afford to have another window like last summer. Sakho, Aspas, Alberto have cost a lot between them and contributed little improvement to what we had.


1st pick back line cost:

Liverpool: £53m
Chelsea: £37m
Man City: £36m
Arsenal £29m

If this is how far we can push them without spending out a huge amount of money then when we have more money available to us then we can get in better players who will be able to take us above them next time.

I hope so – but don’t forget as well as the new players we also have to compete in double the serious competitions next time if you include Europe.

As for Spurs, they need a lot more than a top striker. The majority of what they signed last summer is utter cack.

I don’t know what will happen with Wenger / Lukaku. Spurs have got a fantastic goalkeeper, strong defence with pacy fullbacks and a very strong midfield. In the right managerial hands, Pocchetino for example, they could be a threat in my opinion. Even with that dimwit, Sherwood, in charge they have been 2nd tier.

You say it will be harder for us next year but we are going to be making it a darn sight even harder for other teams too.

I think most other teams will be find it even harder against us next season that’s true – but that’s because we will be in a separate group with City and Chelsea who pull away from the rest of the pack. Fingers crossed that you’re right.

– sorry if it came across as depressing mate – I am optimistic for next season but I do think the task will be harder – just because the perfect circumstances that arose this year won’t repeat themselves. I just posted in the run in thread about what we need to win. If you look at the list of Premiership winners since the competiotion started you almost always need the 1st/2nd best attack and the 1st/2nd best defence to end up winning the league.

Currently we have the best attack and the 8th best defence. The good news is that defensive problems are much easier to rectify than attacking ones. If we score like we have been doing this season and concede less than Chelsea or City we will walk the league. If we simply conceded less than City we are in with a very very good chance.

Regarding the other points:


Yes, you’re quite right – the point I was getting at was that next season if we’re not champions City will be – the experience they have will mean they are much les slikely to slip up to let us in. Chelsea, who have only just been eliminated from the possibility of a prem/CL double will have a top-drawer striker with Lukaku recalled – which is what they have been missing all season – that will kick them up a couple of notches and Mourinho doesn’t fold easily. If you ask me whether it’s easier to get away with mistakes in the hunt for the title this season or next season I think it’s the former.

We need to significantly improve in the transfer market. In simple terms we cannot afford to have another window like last summer. Sakho, Aspas, Alberto have cost a lot between them and contributed little improvement to what we had.


1st pick back line cost:

Liverpool: £53m
Chelsea: £37m
Man City: £36m
Arsenal £29m




I hope so – but don’t forget as well as the new players we also have to compete in double the serious competitions next time if you include Europe.



I don’t know what will happen with Wenger / Lukaku. Spurs have got a fantastic goalkeeper, strong defence with pacy fullbacks and a very strong midfield. In the right managerial hands, Pocchetino for example, they could be a threat in my opinion. Even with that dimwit, Sherwood, in charge they have been 2nd tier.


I think most other teams will be find it even harder against us next season that’s true – but that’s because we will be in a separate group with City and Chelsea who pull away from the rest of the pack. Fingers crossed that you’re right.

Spurs strong defence, are you taking the piss now?? Please remind me, how many goals did we score against them???

BTW your point about FFP is, with all due respect, rubbish, we are in a much better position regrading FFP than most other clubs, especially Citeh, who have just received a huge fine for breach of FFP.

If FSG invest properly, which I think they have to now, then we will be challenging for the Prem for many years to come, WE ARE LIVERPOOL, WE ARE BACK!!!

It was. We blew it.

It will not be so easy next season. City, Chavs, Scum, Arsenal and even Spuds will buy. Also, Scum and Spuds will have a better managers.

I am so depressed.

it was our best chance this season. Which isn't over yet by the way. It's football we're talking about.  ANYTHING can happen! Surely Istanbul or the beach ball incident show us that?!

And next season? We'll go again with the same philosophy, a tighter defence, and a healthier squad. You know, it's a really hard thing to win the league, and no-one has a divine right to automatically assume such and such will be here or there. Before the start of the season who would've believed utd would be where they are now? What's to stop city having a 'mare next season with injuries/suspensions etc? Spurs or arsensal may add quality to their numbers and strengthen immeasurably. The fact is we don't know what's going to happen. That's half the enjoyment. Well it is for me anyway!

Spurs strong defence, are you taking the piss now?? Please remind me, how many goals did we score against them???

BTW your point about FFP is, with all due respect, rubbish, we are in a much better position regrading FFP than most other clubs, especially Citeh, who have just received a huge fine for breach of FFP.

If FSG invest properly, which I think they have to now, then we will be challenging for the Prem for many years to come, WE ARE LIVERPOOL, WE ARE BACK!!!

Yeh, but you're forgetting Spurs are managed by a moron.

Before he was sacked, AVB was getting clean sheets in the majority of his games (14 out of 26). 

And with all due respect, before you call my point rubbish, you will have to back up your opinion with a few facts - so tell us what position we are in with FFP and how much we are allowed to spend?

The focus for the club next season has to be to hit over 80 points again at the end of the season. If that brings us close to the title, great. If not it will certainly guarantee Champions League again.

The problem being Liverpool supporters is we focus too much on the title too early in the season. Then when we lose a few games we get depressed that the title is gone before xmas. We need over 80 points again next season and that will put us in a title race.  Man City have been top of the league less times this season than Liverpool and Arsenal yet on the last day will have probably accumulated more points and will win the league.

Let's not talk about the title next season before and after every game. Let's just focus on getting points in the bag and see where we are by next April. Then we can see if we're in a title race.

No. Next season we are going to be even better and blow everyone away...They haven't see anything yet.

Yes, but FSG will not spend big bucks. We will have to do with £8-10 million versions of some of the best players.

I doubt if FSG will spend more than £35 million this summer.

Don't forget the Standard Chartered money really kicks in now were in the European Cup again. Whatever we bring in for players.

I reckon Brendan will have more than what he has had to spend in first two seasons here.

And with all due respect, before you call my point rubbish, you will have to back up your opinion with a few facts - so tell us what position we are in with FFP

Liverpool's FFP Projection, 2011-12 to 2013-14

Projected Loss Over 2011-12, 2012-13, 2013-14 Seasons  £83m   
Exclusions     
Youth and Community Spend  £18.9m   
Depreciation  £9.6m   
Wage exclusion (pre-June 2010 contracts paid 2011-12)  £50m   
Total exclusions  £78.5m   
Readjusted loss total  £4.5m   

Financialfairplay.co.uk


Liverpool are therefore set to pass FFP without receiving any sanctions. And once in the Champions League, the additional £25-50 million annual revenue should help them comply in future years.

Liverpool's FFP Projection, 2011-12 to 2013-14

Projected Loss Over 2011-12, 2012-13, 2013-14 Seasons  £83m   
Exclusions     
Youth and Community Spend  £18.9m   
Depreciation  £9.6m   
Wage exclusion (pre-June 2010 contracts paid 2011-12)  £50m   
Total exclusions  £78.5m   
Readjusted loss total  £4.5m   

Financialfairplay.co.uk


Liverpool are therefore set to pass FFP without receiving any sanctions. And once in the Champions League, the additional £25-50 million annual revenue should help them comply in future years.

Great reply.

On the subject at hand, i feel next season will be our best chance to win the league. No one expects us to strengthen as much as the other tittle contenders, but we sure up our defense and add a little to the attack and we will be the best team in the PL i have no doubt.

Expectations of united, city and Chelsea coming back a lot stronger are overexerted in my eyes, i feel Chelsea will only get worse under Maureen, Utd will take time to rebuild and City i can't see how will strengthen. Where as us we can improve and if we do will surpass the teams mentioned.

Exciting times ahead.

Great reply.

On the subject at hand, i feel next season will be our best chance to win the league. No one expects us to strengthen as much as the other tittle contenders, but we sure up our defense and add a little to the attack and we will be the best team in the PL i have no doubt.

Expectations of united, city and Chelsea coming back a lot stronger are overexerted in my eyes, i feel Chelsea will only get worse under Maureen, Utd will take time to rebuild and City i can't see how will strengthen. Where as us we can improve and if we do will surpass the teams mentioned.

Exciting times ahead.

I agree mate.  People saying that the chavs and city are going to strengthen but where?  Ok the chavs need strikers and more goals will help them next season but they have other problems, namely Jose.

Where do city strengthen?  They'll find it tough to spend with the FFP decision and if they do they need to sort out their h/g quota first.

On the other hand, apart from Luis, we can strengthen in every single position with the core of a very good, young team who will naturally get better.

The scum probably will be better next season but won't be anywhere near challenging for the Title, they're in the same position we were in when Brendan arrived.  A lot of older players, that aren't good enough anymore and will struggle to sell as they're on stupidly high contracts.  The so called best young talents that Fergie invested in like Jones, Zaha, Rafael are too injury prone or haven't made their mark yet.  The difference for them is they can throw a shed load of cash at the new recruits but they still have to settle on a new manager, new systems, new club etc etc.

We're building for the future, we have a long term plan, we have the best young coach around and unlike those other Clubs, we have time 

Till next year yes, a summer of improvement and we'll get it next year.

Liverpool's FFP Projection, 2011-12 to 2013-14

Projected Loss Over 2011-12, 2012-13, 2013-14 Seasons  £83m   
Exclusions     
Youth and Community Spend  £18.9m   
Depreciation  £9.6m   
Wage exclusion (pre-June 2010 contracts paid 2011-12)  £50m   
Total exclusions  £78.5m   
Readjusted loss total  £4.5m   

Financialfairplay.co.uk


Liverpool are therefore set to pass FFP without receiving any sanctions. And once in the Champions League, the additional £25-50 million annual revenue should help them comply in future years.

Er, yeh thanks for using the same link i posted earlier in the NESV thread - I'm aware of what it says having read it a while ago. What I was replying to was:

BTW your point about FFP is, with all due respect, rubbish, we are in a much better position regarding FFP than most other clubs, especially Citeh, who have just received a huge fine for breach of FFP.

So please explain how we are in a MUCH better position than MOST other clubs regarding FFP?

I'll let you dig round for your own evidence on this one.

Er, yeh thanks for using the same link i posted earlier in the NESV thread - I'm aware of what it says having read it a while ago. What I was replying to was:

So why ask "what position we are in with FFP " if you didn't want to know the answer ?

As for the question are we in a better position regarding FFP than most clubs, I would think we are. We are certainly in a better position than Citeh, probably in a better position than Chelsea, with Arsenal I would imagine in the best position.

The clubs that have no "red flags" raised against them are :- Arsenal and Spurs. Then Man utd and West Brom have one "red flag" Liverpool have 2 red flags along with 5 other prem clubs, followed by 10 clubs with 3 or more red flags.
 
Flags are raised for clubs that have a deficit of more than 5million euro's, clubs that have a deficit of more than  45million euro's, negative equity with deterioration compared to the previous season, where wages exceed 70% of turn over,  where net debt exceeds 100% of turnover.

So I would think that we are likely to be "in a much better position regarding FFP than most other clubs" as Heimdall says.

NO 

WE GO AGAIN  ...   and AGAIN   ... and AGAIN



WE ARE LIVERPOOL FOOTBALL CLUB 

- I know what position we are in with FFP - I have written a post about it with links included.

Simply put, of the 237 clubs who took part in this season's Champion's League / Europa League, 76 were selected for investigation by UEFA for possible breach of FFP rules.

That leaves 161 clubs who UEFA weren't concerned about rule violations.

Which group do WE fit into? The small group they are concerned about or the majority they're not concerned about?

Given the fact we have posted losses way past the break even threshold for two seasons - the first group. The ONLY reason we are not currently being actively investigated is because, like Monaco, we didn't take part in the competition this season.

So no, we aren't "in a much better position concerning FFP than most other clubs." Most of the other clubs playing in Europe have been left alone by UEFA.

EDIT: I'll tell you what though - Everton must be looking at this with great interest - the deadline for City to accept UEFA restrictions and the 50 million pound fine passed Friday night. It looks like City lawyers have been building a case to overturn FFP entirely - if they take to CAS and beyond UEFA will have no choice either than to scrap it all or throw them out of the competition....

Needless to say your posts aren't the first I look for when accessing the site, so as I said before.... Why ask if you don't want to know the answer?

I was talking about premier league clubs as you might have noticed from my last post ....  you obviously had a different agenda.

So yes, I think we are in a better position than most other clubs .... in England. 

Back on topic

I think we have lost some of the advantages that we had this season. We now have the distractions of Europe, the other "new" managers have had a season to establish themselves (apart from Mancs and Spurs) and while this season we have managed with a small squad and relatively few new players, next season we will have a much larger squad (presumably) with all the adjustments that may entail.

On the positive side I think it will be much easier for us to improve the team than it will for our rivals. Brendan has shown that he is a top manager and we have a number of young players who will be better for the experience they gained this year.

I also think the World cup could have an effect on clubs next season .... players coming back tired or injured, and we will probably have the fewest travelling of all the top clubs?

So in answer to the question I would say that yes, this was probably the best chance to win the league, but that doesn't mean to say we can't win it next season.... just that we messed it up a bit at the end of this season. Hopefully the experience of a title challenge will stand us in good stead next season.

Keeping Suarez , bringing in players that are not just squad fillers , improving our defence and reducing our goals conceded are key.     

In response to the OP now that it's all done and dusted - No, next season is....till May then regardless of what happens our best chance is the next season.

Needless to say your posts aren't the first I look for when accessing the site, so as I said before.... Why ask if you don't want to know the answer?

I was talking about premier league clubs as you might have noticed from my last post ....  you obviously had a different agenda.

So yes, I think we are in a better position than most other clubs .... in England. 

My agenda was talking about the statement that was in dispute not your later statement which added "english" or "premier league" qualifiers.

Anyway, back to the topic.

I find all this media talk of this being "our best chance to win the title" somewhat disrespectful. Certainly the future is in our hands moving forward and it depends upon how successful we are in the market as to how successful we are on the pitch but I don't believe United will be back anywhere near as soon as the media thinks (they need a total rebuild), Spurs are in disarray, Arsenal lack ambition in the market and Everton can't match our spending. That leaves Chelsea and City who both spent more than us last Summer but we still competed with them all the way to the final day and managed to finished between them in the table. This year they will have learned a lot, we'll strengthen in the Summer so our squad is proportional to our ambitions so why shouldn't we be able to compete?

NO 

WE GO AGAIN  ...   and AGAIN   ... and AGAIN

To the point were they will have to have to send a team from Mars to beat us.

Bastion of Invincibility!

( Sssshhhhh   Keep this from Tom ,John and the luscious Linda

If Stevie hadnt slipped and we had won the title ...they would have said from Boston .... " Your'e the Best Guys. Stuff the money"

Nah. It was all deliberate on BRs orders. By missing that first place we can get the extra players we need .

Moo Ha Ha    Cool thinking  )




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