OR we just bought a lot of overpriced british crap whereas before we bought prospective quality at reasonable prices like newcastle have done this season.
Or we've overspent on foreign just as much as British players. It's not exclusively British players who haven't been good enough for this club.
Dress it up whatever way you want.. Newcastle are a better side than us this season and that is really hard to take. Theyve lost their 2 central defenders for the season without a blip. Agger/Lucas injured we're breaking records for losing streaks. Several of their players would break into our first 11 on form this season forgetting the big names we supposedly have since no CL football.
Yes a few would get into our side, some of ours would get into their side. And as good as Newcastle have been this season, they will have nothing to show for it. We will. I'd rather be us right now.
As for CL/PL. I'll repeat this till im blue in the face: If you are not in the top 4 you a) havent won the League (biggest prize) b) cant even compete for the second biggest prize.
If you're not in the top four you have failed to do what you set out at the start of the season - win the League. You have also failed to do that if you come second, third or fourth. If we don't win the League, then we've failed as far as I'm concerned.
That statement above is disregarding money,image,brand,marketing etc just from a success point of view there is nothing bigger than winning/competing for either of those 2 prizes. There is a massive drop in quality to the next prizes of even fa cup/uefa.
No winning the FA Cup, League Cup, Europa League or any other cup competition is bigger than just competing in the Champions League.
Top 4 is not a measuring stick.. its an absolute necessity for any team claiming to be a domestic or european power. We are 8th for a reason. I dont even think personally we have a squad that could get top 4 no matter who the manager is.
No top four is not an absolute necessity to be a domestic or European power house. I don't class Man City as a European power despite them finishing in the top four for the last two years (last and this). You might, I don't.
And I do believe we have a squad capable of finishing in the top four, we've proven that by twatting every side in the League at some point this year. We've lacked consistency and that slice of luck that's required. We're not as far away as people think.
I'll be patient like most liverpool fans and give a full season and into next to rectify this situation but not all silverware is created equal. Im not happy beating other PL reserve teams/championship teams to win the league cup. Im much happier to be testing ourselves against domestic and european best as a true litmus test of how good we are.
Well to win the League Cup we had to beat Chelsea and City. To win the FA Cup we will have to have beaten United, Everton, Chelsea/Spurs. So we have had to face the domestic best. None of those teams were under-par either. It's not been handed to us, we've had to earn our trophy and will have to earn the FA Cup as well.
But if you're happier getting nothing from European games to actually winning trophies then fair enough.
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