Perspective on any hopes of Champions League qualification from this point on

Well this went well...

Congrats on inadvertently creating another Rafa thread!

Congrats on inadvertently creating another Rafa thread!

Made the mistake of mentioning Champions League!!

And it's because of cu*ts like you the club is in the mess it's in. Sure we can blame the other yanks for trying to rape the club financially, but you and your F***ing ilk allowed Purslow to get rid of Rafa and bring in sh*te like Joe Cole on £90,000 a week and that's a F***ing FACT.

So bladebla you utter waste of cum, take a round of applause. WELL DONE son at least YOU got your British feel back to the club.

Well said mate, for any of Rafa's alleged faults, we had it good under him, we were lucky to have him.

Can't believe how so called F***ing fans look to taint what he achieved here.

I'd take 2 Champions League finals every 3 years and consistently qualifying for the Champions league over anything we've seen since his departure.

Hopefully Brendan can go on to achieve such heights and not be ridiculed by the whoppers in our fan base.

Made the mistake of mentioning Champions League!!

To be fair I only did this thread because I keep seeing people talk about the gap 'only' being X points and it is still doable. But the maths shows, despite single figure gap, just how massively unlikely it is.

Congrats on inadvertently creating another Rafa thread!

I have a lot of respect for Rafa, and ideally he'd have come back in June, but I'm never mentioning him in a thread OP again.

To be fair I only did this thread because I keep seeing people talk about the gap 'only' being X points and it is still doable. But the maths shows, despite single figure gap, just how massively unlikely it is.


I have a lot of respect for Rafa, and ideally he'd have come back in June, but I'm never mentioning him in a thread OP again.

It's okay mate I know exactly what you were getting at in the opening post. I think we still need to bolster the squad before we even start thinking of the Champs League. Personally I'll see were we are after Christmas and whether we strengthen the squad before deciding whether we are good enough to push on this season.

Great opening post – I will ignore a lot of the above as it’s either Rafa talk, or some WUM like behaviour...

This season, for me was a write off. The reality is that we will not qualify for 4th spot this season, I would love us to and I will shout, scream and chant like we are winning every game 10-0... But a lot of fans need to get realistic.

They also need to forget Rafa – ok, not forget him but move the F**k on... He is not coming back, he will never manage us again – seriously stop going on about him in every thread.

Now – where can we finish this term. Again, I wrote this season off as a loss before it started with my defeatist attitude – we have the talent in some areas but not all – and nowhere near what we need to have. Anfield has not become the fortress it once was and a poor transfer window and run of results has left teams believing. Something that we need to stamp out ASAP... I like the post from What-A-Hit-Son and I believe that although a little optimistic – we can still be in the hunt for a decent season, and that 4th spot that everyone wants. However, the reality is that there are a lot more teams around us now that are decent, and there is a lot more money that needs to be spent – also some of these games I look at and instantly think, we can win easily – before thinking about it...

Can we really assume that our win percentage will go from 20% to 70% looking at the first 10 games vs the next 10..? I would say no, in fact I would go as far to say that is madness...

We are getting better, we are dominating games. Do we need a world class striker – well yes. Suarez is scoring heavily at the moment – in a season where we have won 2 games we have the second placed scorer in the league. But with the opportunities we create we could be a lot better off – we need 2 players who will score on the attacking wings.

In my opinion we will finish mid table this time round – especially if we continue like this, then make a real push if we can buy in players and not lose any. A task that is more difficult than holding out for 4th place.

They also need to forget Rafa – ok, not forget him but move the F**k on... He is not coming back, he will never manage us again – seriously stop going on about him in every thread.

How do you know? Some F***ing crystal ball that lad!

Anything can happen in football, I like Brendan I really do, but at the moment stuck were we are, fans in the ground already starting to fume about the owners, the more and more that goes on the call for Rafa will get louder and that is a fact!

Already heard lads yesterday coming out the ground saying it.

How do you know? Some F***ing crystal ball that lad!

Anything can happen in football, I like Brendan I really do, but at the moment stuck were we are, fans in the ground already starting to fume about the owners, the more and more that goes on the call for Rafa will get louder and that is a fact!

Already heard lads yesterday coming out the ground saying it.

That's the problem HR - lads already calling for Rafa etc

It's why he shadow loomes large over the club and we need him to get a job.

Any call for Rafa right now no matter how small is wrong and unfair on BR.

How do you know? Some F***ing crystal ball that lad!

Anything can happen in football, I like Brendan I really do, but at the moment stuck were we are, fans in the ground already starting to fume about the owners, the more and more that goes on the call for Rafa will get louder and that is a fact!

Already heard lads yesterday coming out the ground saying it.

It is inset it... I keep it in my magic bowler hat and only take it out once every so often so people don’t realise I have powers...

I agree with your sentiment, and that fans will often call for Rafa to save us when things look bad. But fans also want big money signings – I heard a fan yesterday asking why we didn’t go in for RVP as he would be perfect for us, this does in no way mean that we should have, could have or indeed didn’t go in for him. What fans want and what owners want are two different things...

Brendan, in the owners views is a long term appointment – he will get another year at least, this I have no doubt. So by that logic Rafa should be getting the job in about 2014 – 4 years since he last took a team onto the pitch. Not to detract from him, but 4 years is a long time out of football (I await someone telling me that he could have 10 years out and still be awesome or some odd stat that shows time out of the game means nothing)...

I like Rafa, I think he is a top bloke and would have loved him here... But he is not, the only place you can see Rafa is either on Sky Sports as a pundit for Spanish football, or on here... In all fairness, he on here in almost every thread no further than 4 pages away from where you are at any time. If he got commission for being on here he would never need to work again! Stranger things have happened, but him coming back – once you take emotion out of the picture I think even you can see is about a likely as me actually having a bowler hat, with a crystal ball in it...

If you want the Rafa talk to stop its simple win some football matches. I think we will be on  about 26 points come january with 18 or so games left .
That would mean averaging more than 2 points a game to get into the top 4 which looking at where we are today is nothing more than fantasy football.
Brendan needs to speak boldly to the owners or will it be a case of the owner and the manager not sharing the same level of ambition.

What would BR say to the owners that he hasn't already discussed ?

The easiest way to stop the Rafa talk - back BR and talk about him.

What would BR say to the owners that he hasn't already discussed ?

The easiest way to stop the Rafa talk - back BR and talk about him.

Lets hope it isnt similar discussions that left us with only one striker at the club.Rafa isnt dead he is very much alive and the period of his tenure is filled with plenty to talk about.

If you want the Rafa talk to stop its simple win some football matches. I think we will be on  about 26 points come january with 18 or so games left .
That would mean averaging more than 2 points a game to get into the top 4 which looking at where we are today is nothing more than fantasy football.
Brendan needs to speak boldly to the owners or will it be a case of the owner and the manager not sharing the same level of ambition.

If we are on 26 points from an available 60 then, if Everton and Spur's continue at the same rate, we'll be two points further away from fourth than we are after ten games.

You're right, Top Four is utter fantasy at this point.

Lets hope it isnt similar discussions that left us with only one striker at the club.Rafa isnt dead he is very much alive and the period of his tenure is filled with plenty to talk about.

I know Rafa isn't dead - but he isn't our manager and won't be our manager. BR is and deserves our full backing - and any talk about him coming in is half the problem now.

If we are on 26 points from an available 60 then, if Everton and Spur's continue at the same rate, we'll be two points further away from fourth than we are after ten games.

You're right, Top Four is utter fantasy at this point.

it usually takes between 65 and 70 points to get 4th so even if it is as low as 65  it is still more than two points a game and over the last 2 years has ever been a comparible home record in our long History its going to take a monumental improvement to get even close to 4th....sadly

Andn you can just fade the f**k away.

Whats that supposed to mean ?

We have been screwed out of a minimum of 3 points - 2 against Everton, and 1 against Manure (could have been 3 against the scum if you count the awful red for Jonjo in addition to the peno for the blatant dive).  We also should have beaten Man City but lost 2 points on Skrtel's howler.  Our results and position do not accurately reflect our performances, and I believe that it will only be a matter of time before our position is much closer to 4th than to 10th.  We have already played 5 of the 7 hardest matches of the first half of the season.  If we can avoid an injury to Suarez and beat the teams we should be beating between now and January, we could very well be in 4th place by January 1st!! 

There is no denying that we are light up front.  We need another proven goalscorer and another creative outside forward/winger.  However, we also have a load of young talent coming through the ranks and the future looks bright!  I think 4th place is unlikely this term, but not impossible.  I think we will most likely finish somewhere between 5th and 7th, but we will continue to see development in players like Suso, Sterling, Yesil, Wisdom, Shelvey, and even Hendo and Allen.  I personally look at this season as a "getting to know you" phase for Brendan and the team.  Next season is when we will see the results and league position improve!!

Maybe we are raising to bar too high asking for Champions League football,my concern is having no European football at all.

In one of the threads i mentioned Rodgers needs to win a Trophy this season to ensure we have European Football next season and the only way we can/would acheive that is via the Cups,we are out of one now and need to make sure we do something in the FA cup.

I cant see us being top 6 material at present because its well documented where we are failing and if those concerns are not addressed then we can be in free fall.

Just to add to the Rafa debate,i dont think for one second Rafa has not taken a job just to add more pressure on the current manager but rather Rafa id waiting for the right project to come along which may take time.

I also understand why he is mentioned by a great number of fans who understood what he acheieved how he acheieved it and why no one can replicate what Rafa did since his sacking.

There would be no more talk of Rafa if Kenny had still been manager,only talk of Rafa is some sort of role at the club.

If we can avoid an injury to Suarez and beat the teams we should be beating between now and January, we could very well be in 4th place by January 1st!! 

I'm sick of reading this.

Beat the teams we should be beating? What makes you think we'll suddenly be kicking into the habit of doing that with our incredibly thin squad? What evidence in the last couple of years do you find to give us hope we'll not continue to lose one in three? To repeatedly drop points at home?

The point is we are consistently NOT beating the teams we should be and haven't for years.

I'm sick of reading that it'll all be okay because suddenly our home form will suddenly leap to near title winning standards.

35 million on Andy Carroll, nothing else needs to be said.

I'm sick of reading this.

Beat the teams we should be beating? What makes you think we'll suddenly be kicking into the habit of doing that with our incredibly thin squad? What evidence in the last couple of years do you find to give us hope we'll not continue to lose one in three? To repeatedly drop points at home?

The point is we are consistently NOT beating the teams we should be and haven't for years.

I'm sick of reading that it'll all be okay because suddenly our home form will suddenly leap to near title winning standards.

Err... we're unbeaten in the league since the scum on 23rd September.  Ok we aren't winning games we should be but we're hardly being made to look like muppets.

Err... we're unbeaten in the league since the scum on 23rd September.  Ok we aren't winning games we should be but we're hardly being made to look like muppets.

Peaks and troughs.. apparently you believe in them.

Peaks and troughs.. apparently you believe in them.

I do but your "losing one in three" wasn't accurate