It's the end of the beginning, so where are we at?

I said a few weeks back, people need to remember where they said we'd finish, and why they thought we'd finish there.
I picked 5th at best, because the top teams had better squads than us. I still stick with that prediction.
We've had a great start compared to recent seasons, even without playing anyway near our best. Last season we were able to keep hold of the ball, playing BRs "Death by football" tactics, lots of possession with not enough end product, this season we are struggling to keep possession long enough to make anything  of it.

It could be as simple as having Coutinho back, that could be the difference between us keeping this run going, and slipping down the table.

We need to stay in contention until January, and hope we get the right players in. I think we'll still be in hunt by then, we should win most of our games against the smaller teams, and we should have no problem raising our game against The Bitters, Arsenal, City and the Chavs, it'll be fingers crossed for those matches, we'll need a little luck, and a solid defence.

If another Ozil came on the market and could have the same influence on us as he has had for Arsenal could you see FSG stumping up £40mil or would they shy away with the usual look what happened before.
Its all quiet with FSG despite the stadium issue but come Jan if we are still in touch at the top they will have to show their had and their intentions for this club.

If another Ozil came on the market and could have the same influence on us as he has had for Arsenal could you see FSG stumping up £40mil or would they shy away with the usual look what happened before.
Its all quiet with FSG despite the stadium issue but come Jan if we are still in touch at the top they will have to show their had and their intentions for this club.

I'd say FSG have already made their intentions clear. You buy the players to match your ambitions for the season ahead in the summer.
Based on that, FSG certainly aren't expecting a title challenge this season!!!

Its usually the last 10 games that determine who finishes where not the first 10

All games determine where we finish, not the first or last 10.
I'm not getting carried away with our start, we still got lots to improve, but I don't see the need to play it down.
Were we 20th right now after a difficult start against well placed teams, there wouldn't be so many "buts" and "ifs" to explain the situation, it would be pure and simple despair around here, and anyone who tried to point out these mitigating circumstances would be accused of having low expectations.

I'm not one to say I only care about the results, I also care about how well we play. But it's early, we've missed important players, and I believe we have a tendency to get much better as the season progresses, and this time coming from a much stronger position in comparison to last season.

Interesting Post.
 
Supporters, Fans, Die Hard fanatics, they all mean the same in a different way.
 
How do I feel, Dejected, furstrated, angry, elated I have this feeling, I step forward 1/2 step backwards, I always want my darling team moving forward.
 
Issue: Points dropped against lowly opposition; its a Liverpool thing, we cant win against the top 4 etc. Its all about perspective.
 
A league table never lies, it doesnt look at who won who, its all about how many points on board at the end of the season. Never discount the value of momentum. Thats what affected the team last season, that back pass from Skrtel against City, the contentious decision against United etc those are the defining moments in the league.
 
This season for instance the reason we are having this discussion in the 1st place is the penalty save by Mignonet, that save is what will define our season, thats what has given us the initial impetus to perform and believe we can win matches, of course there will be blips along the way, but for me LFC are not where i'll love them to be, but I sure cant complain about where we are at the moment and the results we have had. 3 points against Arsenal is not different from3 points against Sunderland.
 
I'll take any 3 points right now.
 
PS: Stop blaming the owners, stop blaming the coach, rally round the team and lets achieve together. we dont have the best team in the league but we sure have enough quality in the team to compete to win the league. thats my take and I hope the Redmen continue to maintain this momentum. so when the difficult matches come they can approach it with belief and not caution.
 
Thats my take

I previously posted  we were 3rd on points, but 7th on performance. After yesterday against West Brom, without getting carried away, that performance was worthy of any team in the top 4. So long as we can continue on that kind of form, I would say we are where we deserve to be.
Next week will reveal if it's finally come together, or if it's another false dawn. I pray it's the former.

I do agree that 17 points from the first 8 games looks good but when you look a bit closer it isn't actually that great. We've only had one truly 'tough' game and we're still dropping silly points like in previous seasons. Throwing away a lead at Swansea, losing at home to Southampton without creating a chance and not taking advantage of a 10 man Newcastle. Those are the kind of results that come back to haunt you come May.

Hope we get into a rhythm when Suarez, Coutinho and Sturridge play together regularly.

Arsenal have only had 1 tough game and they dropped points to West Brom and Villa.


City had only 1 tough game and they dropped points to Stoke, Villa and Cardiff.


Tottenham had 2 tough games where they dropped points and also to West Ham.


Chelsea had 2 tough games where they dropped points and also to Everton.




So what's your point?

Tough at the top aint it  ?

The game against Arsenal will tell a lot. There's a bit of 'well you should be beating these teams anyway' about. Which I think is undervaluing how well we are doing in picking up points we've dropped in recent seasons.
Think we'll pick the same team as against WB. The Arse have a quick creative midfield, so we need both Hendo and Lucas at their best to counter that. Up front, we will create chances and you can't help but think we'll score, Sturridge and particularly Suarez's form is that good at the mo.

If we go 3 CBs again, and think we will, will be a tougher test. Arsenal are also scoring plenty of goals, and I just get the feeling the boys at the back are not 100% comfortable with their positioning sometimes. In a closer game, and expect at the Arse we will been under more pressure in our 3rd than against WB, Skyrtel will need to be more careful (bout giving away peno shouts), and Sahko still needs time to fully settle. Toure is a rock, no problems with Kolo. Surprised at Agger not being in the side, think he could be in instead of Sahko. Can see why Skyrtel is in, for his competitive/general pain in the ass grappling/more tigerish tackling. But BR gets paid to make them choices.

The proofs in the pudding. BR hasn't done much wrong yet this season. Two form sides, hoping for a cracking game. Can't wait

Great Article,Bmick.. I would drop Skrtel just because he looks like he's going to give away a pen very soon or get a redcard for grappling, i would bring Agger back now as we all know he's our best CB when fully fit, stick Sakho in the middle and put Agger LCB with Kolo RCB....What are your thoughts on that guys.

The bone of contention is, as Si alludes to, can we keep producing results while playing badly or do you expect our performances to improve to maintain the "form". I'm far from convinced, if we play as we are I think we'll get beaten against better sides, disagree if you would, that's simply my opinion. [/size]Will our performances improve? Well considering we're having to chop and change system to suit our lack of squad depth it doesn't give me much confidence. Coutinho coming back will be a massive boost, of that I have no doubt but so will the level of our opposition rise pretty damn sharply in the coming 2 months. My expectations, based on our level of performance is that we will possibly progress to 6th this year, 5th at a push. So therein lies my frustration and why most of us appear to have our gaze fixed firmly on the January window because we're in desperate need of help and that's the only place it appears it can come from.I care not for all this "we're 2 points from the top, so all is well" attitude, it's naive and even Brendan has alluded to 6th place recently. Not because he thinks we'll definitely fall from where we are, he's simply tempering expectations, because he's not a fool and can see what is obvious while others choose to ignore it.

I think your apocalyptic doom mongering and your "bone of contention" about our performances improving has been answered in light of your bleak outlook - see West Brom, 4-1.

We are in the top 4 when teams around us with better squads playing better football arnt, so we have to be happy and if people are not happy with how are season has gone so far your on glue.. who would have took this league position after 9 games?? all of us, and the fact that apart from West Brom and Man u in the cup are performances have not been that  great is a good thing; as it means as we improve we grow stronger and stronger. Arsenal have only really had a handfull of good performance and were lucky not to loose against Palace. Our next game will be a real test for both us and Arsenal as we've not really been tested. Dec is a hard month for us but if we can come out of the other side still in top 4 then we have a real chance of top 4.

southampton have probaly been the best team performance wise in the league as all of there games have been exciting to watch and they've been tough to beat but there not higher than us and at the end of the day all that matters is points and league postion like the great King Kenny said. "we all add all the points up at the end of the season and see where we finish" performance mean nothing if you dont win games, Man u dominated the league for the last 10yrs and most of their performances where rubbish, Chelsea won the leaugue playing rubbish getting 1-0 wins.

Great Article,Bmick.. I would drop Skrtel just because he looks like he's going to give away a pen very soon or get a redcard for grappling, i would bring Agger back now as we all know he's our best CB when fully fit, stick Sakho in the middle and put Agger LCB with Kolo RCB....What are your thoughts on that guys.

I just don't get this undue criticism of Skrtel. The guy made a wonderful goal line clearance against WBA and did absolutely nothing wrong. Agreed it's better to have a ball playing defender but a defender's first job is to defend and I am more assured when I see Skrtel in the defence than Agger. Also in Toure, we have a decent ball playing one.

I just don't get this undue criticism of Skrtel. The guy made a wonderful goal line clearance against WBA and did absolutely nothing wrong. Agreed it's better to have a ball playing defender but a defender's first job is to defend and I am more assured when I see Skrtel in the defence than Agger. Also in Toure, we have a decent ball playing one.

Its a tricky one as i've always and still do rate Skrtel but I just think Agger offers a bit more with the ball at his feet than Skrtel does, maybe as the season goes on we will see Kolo getting a rest with Skrtel RCB, Sakho CB and Agger LCB which would be our most athletic combination plus agger and Skrtel are used to playing together.

I think its also down to our 5 key rivals. They've all got the distraction of Europe/cups. Maybe there'll be some fall-outs amongst their big all star squads(Chel, Man C, Spurs etc). Maybe Moyes will lose his bottle at the Mancs. Maybe Ozil will pick up an injury at Arsenal. Ofcourse highly speculative, but we need 2 of the 5 rivals to slip up somehow, IMO.


Ofcourse we are currently high in the table. But in the next 10 games, we have 5 REALLY tough ones. I think the objective should be to come out of that "unscathed" ie with a "good" if less than brilliant pts tally. Because after that, its only 1 mega tough away game left.


2 really top class signings in (and happily move 2 squad players out) could make a real difference to our chances of 4th. I doubt we'll see that. Maybe 1 will come in.


Its all down to the mdfield IMO. Because its not clear who will come in if Stevie, Lucas and Henderson are injured. Likewise, it would be nice to see the defence settled, because there are some real quality players there and certainly the foundation of a solid defence, even if there have been some jitters.


Likewise, if Luis and Sturridge can stay fresh and sharp, that will help a huge amount.


Unlike some, I actually think a back 3 + wingbacks, whilst not perfect, does actually help in terms of thinness we have in midfield.

I think we are about where I would have hoped but honestly didn't expect us to be. I really think we need to make hay while the sun shines though. Like many of the sides with limited quality reserves we probably won't do quite as well if injuries and suspensions kick in . Thanks to our early exit from the League cup we have a relatively small number of games which should help reduce the games where we need to play a weakened team, but coming toward Christmas we may hit a few problems with the congestion of fixtures.

Injuries and suspensions to our midfield players or indeed our strikers could seriously affect our season, which is one of the reasons I think FSG need to pour some money into Brendan's coffers after Christmas, rather than just seeing how we go this season.

A cup run and title challenge is my hope, but unless we buy after Christmas a top 4 challenge may be the best we can expect.

The win against W.B.A. has given me hope, a similar performance and a good result against Arsenal would give me renewed faith.

I think the next few games starting with Arsenal will give a much better indication of where we are and where we can expect to be. I still have a fear that everything could go tits up, just hoping against hope that they won't.

It's a shame that so many of our rivals have a similarly strong start tot the season. The mancs might be having a tough time but Arsenal, Spurs, City and Chelsea are all going pretty well and The bitters look like they will hang around the higher end of the table so we haven't got ourselves the head start we might have hoped for but we cpuld have been well put of the running already had we endured a poor start. The trick now is to continue turning over the teams we should beat and see if the lads can pick up a result or two in the big games away from home

I think we are about where I would have hoped but honestly didn't expect us to be. I really think we need to make hay while the sun shines though. Like many of the sides with limited quality reserves we probably won't do quite as well if injuries and suspensions kick in . Thanks to our early exit from the League cup we have a relatively small number of games which should help reduce the games where we need to play a weakened team, but coming toward Christmas we may hit a few problems with the congestion of fixtures.

Injuries and suspensions to our midfield players or indeed our strikers could seriously affect our season, which is one of the reasons I think FSG need to pour some money into Brendan's coffers after Christmas, rather than just seeing how we go this season.

A cup run and title challenge is my hope, but unless we buy after Christmas a top 4 challenge may be the best we can expect.

The win against W.B.A. has given me hope, a similar performance and a good result against Arsenal would give me renewed faith.

I think the next few games starting with Arsenal will give a much better indication of where we are and where we can expect to be. I still have a fear that everything could go tits up, just hoping against hope that they won't.

How i feel. Well said.

Probably one central midfielder and one attacker away from feeling "comfortable" about our squad.

Probably one central midfielder and one attacker away from feeling "comfortable" about our squad.

Agree Crouchy.

I actually think the sqaud is very good at the minute and with Coutinho coming back along with the from of Henderson it shows we are stronger than we have been in a while.

But like you if we had one more forward and another quality midfield player then we really would have a title challenging squad.

How i feel. Well said.

Probably one central midfielder and one attacker away from feeling "comfortable" about our squad.

did you see the Chelsea side tonight 10 changes and they still beat Arsenal now that's a squad with quality in depth it makes you realise how small ours is.Good job we only have the league and FA cup games left this season.

did you see the Chelsea side tonight 10 changes and they still beat Arsenal now that's a squad with quality in depth it makes you realise how small ours is.Good job we only have the league and FA cup games left this season.

Yep, you can't compare our squad to Chavski, or ManCity. There's 30Mill Willian, someone we hoped to get, that Maureen nabbed, and the guy has hardly played for em, 30mill warming the bench. Or the Arse midfield - Ozil/Cazorla/Wishere/Ramsey - but then you have Walcott/Arteta/Oxlade/Flamini/Diaby/Rosicky. We just don't have the same strength in depth.
That's why imo I feel the manager and players deserve so much credit, for the start they've made this season.

did you see the Chelsea side tonight 10 changes and they still beat Arsenal now that's a squad with quality in depth it makes you realise how small ours is.Good job we only have the league and FA cup games left this season.

Yer good point, and shows how small the arsenal squad is also. Hopefully we can get a CL spot and get in a few more top qualaty players or the ones we have improve

did you see the Chelsea side tonight 10 changes and they still beat Arsenal now that's a squad with quality in depth it makes you realise how small ours is.Good job we only have the league and FA cup games left this season.

But that's never going to change unless we get a huge injection of cash.
 
Mourinho, in classic disingenuous, hypocritical bullshit mode, bangs on about "financial sharks", and yet his "reserve" team has players like Willian, Mata, De Bruyne and Luiz who cost about £100m between them.
 
We can't compete with that, which is why teams like Chelsea and City win loads of trophies and we don't.