As opposed to youse, who have won once (?) Against the top 9.
Brentan Rodgers
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As opposed to youse, who have won once (?) Against the top 9.
Nobody thinks Utd are doing great this season though. Quite the opposite.
Except United have quite clearly been playing a lot worse than we're capable of. Liverpool quite clearly been playing about what they are capable of, or overachieving. You won't be so bullish come may when your squad has been shown lacking.
We've been wank most of the season and are still only 2 points behind Liverpool after their best start to a season in years.
You've nailed it here. Only one out of United and Liverpool's fans have been hailing this season so far as their best ever... Here's a clue... It's not united fans.
It's brilliant, the meltdown potential is enormous.
That really is brilliant.
You can bring out that bubble with the LFC logo on if you want. Go on, I know you've been waiting to use it for the past 5 weeks.
Probably peaked to early.
Brilliant at beating the weaker sides at home. Not so good beating the weaker sides away and poor at beating the better sides home or away. Not a good mix if you're a pool fan looking at the fixtures for the second half of the season.
Brilliant at beating the weaker sides at home. Not so good beating the weaker sides away and poor at beating the better sides home or away. Not a good mix if you're a pool fan looking at the fixtures for the second half of the season.
It's pretty good actually. We've got you, soton and the bottom seven away. The remaining ten games are home games.
Don't think we could ask for a better second half of the season really. Very happy to be where we are after the first half of the season, with the fixtures we've had. Hull away and soton at home are the only ones that leave me thinking we should have been taking home more. And we clawed back some of that with a good win away at spurs. So 3 points below par - I'll take that.
Actually, I think league position has affected everyones judgement on how well you are actually doing,statistically you are on course for 72 points, which is pretty much where youv'e been for years (+ or minus 5 here and there).
The difference this year is we've been shit, and so has everyone else really, so that points total looks good in the context of the league table itself, but this is a league thats on course to be won with 84 points.
Rodgers is doing very well but I'd honestly be a bit concerned that you play so many of the bottom teams away now. Wouldn't it be better having the weaker sides at home? We've already seen how tough a trip to Hull can be. For anyone.
I'd be disappointed if we don't pick up a fair bit more in the second half of the season than we did in the first. I think we can make hit somewhere between 78 and 82 points this season. The storeytime table has us on course for 82 points, but we'll have to be to excel a bit to get that I think. Still, if we can keep going what we've showed in december, we should steamroll some teams here.
I think we're good flat track bullies, which is why the away fixtures don't concern me much. Our mediocre away record so far comes on the back of ten games including Arsenal, City, Chelsea, Everton, tottenham, newcastle, Swansea, Villa, Sunderland and Hull.
We beat Sunderland and Villa as expected and a draw against Swansea is ok. Drawing to Newcastle and Everton and losing to the top teams away is fine by me. A disappointing loss to Hull is cancelled by a surprising win at spurs.
We've faced the best sides away. I expect more from playing the worst sides away and don't think our record is suggestive of how we'll fare against the bottom half away.
And at home, I'd extend that to flat track bullying mid-table clubs at home with relative ease as well. The biggest tests I think will be at home to the top sides and soton away. We'll want points there. Soton beating us at Anfield was disappointing.
Liverpool have no chance of winning the league and its nice to see Rodgers getting put down a bit. The media, mainly because they're all ex scousers, were all over them and Suarez when they were top or right at Arsenal for top spot, now they are back in 5th with Everton above them. If Suarez gets injured then Rodgers will be struggling to find positives words about his 'group project'. Whereas we have RVP and Rooney out, yet still win.
This is what makes it so interesting. I don't think Utd will win it which means we're in a battle with you for top 3 or 4.
Question marks going into the second half of the season:
Have Liverpool peaked or can they get better?
Will they be able to beat the big teams, even at home?
Was Hull away a one off? Or are Liverpool just flat track bullies at Anfield?
Playing the likes of Cardiff at home is far easier than playing them away when they're fighting for their lives to stay up.
No Europe helps you a huge amount though, surely.
As for Utd, surely Moyes won't have a weaker second half than the first half of the season?
Can he keep Rooney and RvP fit and playing regular?
Can he win in the big games? His record vs the top sides has been poor so far.
He's got a tougher fixture list ahead of him in the second half to do better in than in the first half.
Losing at home to WBA, Newcastle and Everton is disappointing for any title/top 4 aspirant. And drawing with Soton and Chelsea at home isn't ideal either.
What you've done well is to secure points away against the rabble. You've had four away games against Norwich, Hull, Stoke and Villa in the last five and not slipped up once. Beaten Sunderland and Cardiff away well too. A draw with Cardiff and spurs and loss to city and us away makes it a job well done away from home.
You've got away tests against Newcastle, Everton, Chelsea, Arsenal and Southampton though. Teams (except Arsenal) you've already dropped points against at home.
Fwiw, I think it's going to be a battle for top 3 between us, you, Arsenal and maybe everton.
I'd agree with that. I'm banking on Moyes having his settling in period out the way now and should... Should perform better from here on. Although there'll still be many a bump in the road.
That's why I mentioned RvP and Rooney. If we keep them two playing together, we'll be a match for most.
Carragher was tipping them for the title/a title charge in his column yesterday.
They never learn.
They never learn.
I think the key difference between Moyes' second half of season and Rodgers' is that during the first half, especially the first games, Moyes was discovering his group, how to use the squad between different competitions, and dealing with a team that had just lost a manager that had signed every single one of them, Crazy Hair aside. It's going to be a learning curve for Moyes for a while still, of course, but you can't say he started the season in as comfortable a position, as a manager, as Rodgers did. I think Moyes is more settled now and more used to his new job, simply put, and it'll be felt during the second half of the season. Of course I could be wrong.
This is what makes it so interesting. I don't think Utd will win it which means we're in a battle with you for top 3 or 4.
Question marks going into the second half of the season:
Have Liverpool peaked or can they get better? RB and LB problem areas due to injuries, Sturridge and Gerrard out for another month at least. I would say we've yet to peak once we have those players back / new ones brought in.
Will they be able to beat the big teams, even at home? Did the big teams annihilate Liverpool at their own grounds with above mentioned injuries? No. Therefore, optimism the return affair could/should be different during latter stages of CL in Feb/March
Was Hull away a one off? Or are Liverpool just flat track bullies at Anfield? Was Tottenham away a one off or are Liverpool just flat track bullies away from home? Depends which one game you choose to use as your starting argument
Playing the likes of Cardiff at home is far easier than playing them away when they're fighting for their lives to stay up. And? This differs for us completely compared to everyone else because.....?
No Europe helps you a huge amount though, surely. You said that through gritted teeth didn't you.
As for Utd, surely Moyes won't have a weaker second half than the first half of the season? Red tinted specs?
Can he keep Rooney and RvP fit and playing regular? The answer so far is no f*cking way (Netherland coach's opinion, not mine)
Can he win in the big games? His record vs the top sides has been poor so far. We'll find out when you have CL stage games AND have to go to the grounds we've already been to, i.e. Etihad, etc.
Ok, I'll bite. Answers in bold above.
I've been so intrigued by Liverpool fans telling us how easy their remaining fixtures are that I had a look to see this cake-walk that the Premier League has dealt them on their course to bestest season ever. The way they're talking about it I was wondering if they'd somehow arranged to drop into the Championship for the second half of the season.
Turns out it's really not that easy at all. The last 6 for instance are a pretty tough combination of the top sides turning up at Anfield looking for title points and away games at relegation scrapping bottom sides. In fact March, April and May all have plenty of banana skins for a side who really struggle to beat top teams and have pretty poor away form.
Their supposedly easy January has two home games with Hull and Villa, ok easy enough. But away to Stoke and home to Everton who are a better more balanced side than them. February is ok-ish, apart from Arsenal coming to happy hunting ground Anfield.
And if Suarez burns out/gets injured/loses form/racially abuses someone, then they're probably fecked.
But yeah, fixtures.
Turns out it's really not that easy at all. The last 6 for instance are a pretty tough combination of the top sides turning up at Anfield looking for title points and away games at relegation scrapping bottom sides. In fact March, April and May all have plenty of banana skins for a side who really struggle to beat top teams and have pretty poor away form.
Their supposedly easy January has two home games with Hull and Villa, ok easy enough. But away to Stoke and home to Everton who are a better more balanced side than them. February is ok-ish, apart from Arsenal coming to happy hunting ground Anfield.
And if Suarez burns out/gets injured/loses form/racially abuses someone, then they're probably fecked.
But yeah, fixtures.
Yeah. Utd have been to the Etihad. Anfield too.
Whoops, you're right acnumber9, I've just checked Saoirse's post in the match thread. You still have Chelsea, Arsenal and Everton to go to.
I have no problems with Rodgers.Very likeable and a very good manager.They made a very good choice with his appointment.
1. You mention missing players now but forget you'll inevitably have others out in the months to come. What if Suarez gets injuried or burns our from being over played? Like Arsenal fans are worrying about with Giroud.
2. I never said the big teams hammered you but the fact is they beat you. Playing City, Chelsea arse etc is tough no matter if you're home or away. So dropped points can be expected, or can you overcome that hurdle and finally start beating these sides, time will tell. CL can damage your rivals yet City and Arsenal could both be out by the next round.
3. True. Yet the spurs game was almost certainly an exception. Avb playing his crazy high line before getting sacked and them being down to 10 men. It was a great performance fom you no doubt but everything went right for you. Hull on the other hand is the kind of game you'll be facing more in the second half of the season but even tougher since relegation looms for some. Juggle this with the big teams coming to you for vital points in the title race. Suddenly you have very few easy games, if any.
4. This applies more so to you since you have all of the bottom sides away, as B20 told me. Much easier to have the weak teams at home, especially late on in the season.
5. Yes. Yes I did.
6. Possibly, but there's also some logic there. Players and manager alike getting used to each other. Plus Moyes and the club in general always pick up after December.
7. That bloke seems like a right donut. Every club is getting injuries. Not just us. We've been unlucky with the fact that all our most important players have been out at the same time. RvP, Rooney, Carrick, Rafael are 4 of our 5 most important. De Gea is in there. Get RvP and Rooney back together and we'll win more.
8. Agreed. Time will tell on that one. But make no mistake, this season is your best chance in years of getting back into the CL. Balls this up and you could be looking at Europa action until one of the oil clubs falls away or wenger retires and Arsenal somehow collapse.
I watched the first 50 minutes of Liverpool's game today and I was severely underwhelmed by some of Liverpool's players, particularly Cissokho and Aspas. It also got me thinking: how many of Rodgers' own signings can be classified as unqualified successes?
HIT
That's very, very unconvincing if you're to be honest about it. To give Rodgers credit, he has gotten the best out of Suarez and Henderson (a player written off by many, and whom was apparently offered to Fulham in part-exchange for Clint Dempsey) but his record in the transfer market leaves a lot to be desired.
N.B. Mignolet and Sakho could well prove to be successes, but they've looked shaky at times this season and the jury is still out on them.
HIT
- Coutinho
- Sturridge
- Toure
- Mignolet
- Sakho
- Allen
- Aspas
- Luis Alberto
- Cissokho*
- Moses*
- Yesil
- Assaidi
- Sahin*
- Borini
That's very, very unconvincing if you're to be honest about it. To give Rodgers credit, he has gotten the best out of Suarez and Henderson (a player written off by many, and whom was apparently offered to Fulham in part-exchange for Clint Dempsey) but his record in the transfer market leaves a lot to be desired.
N.B. Mignolet and Sakho could well prove to be successes, but they've looked shaky at times this season and the jury is still out on them.
You're unstoppable.
Toure isn't bad signing, they signed him for free and he did decent job at start of the season. I am not sure about his wages though.
Mignolet has been very good so far, and Sakho is good player I think.
I agree on the rest.
Mignolet has been very good so far, and Sakho is good player I think.
I agree on the rest.
Cheers nahealai, Iago Aspas will probably win the Ballon d'Or in a couple of years now. Some really good jinxing today.
I think they've done just about 'okay'; Rodgers will need them to become key players though if he wants to take them to the next level.
The fact that Toure is rarely seen in public nowadays tells you all you need to know about him and his priorities at this stage of his career.
Successes
Coutinho
Sturridge
Toure
Mignolet
Sakho
Could go either way
Alberto
Ilori
Allen
Yesil
Bad signings
Aspas
Cissokho
Moses
Assaidi
Sahin
Borini
Coutinho
Sturridge
Toure
Mignolet
Sakho
Could go either way
Alberto
Ilori
Allen
Yesil
Bad signings
Aspas
Cissokho
Moses
Assaidi
Sahin
Borini
Ridiculous. How can you judge Yesil and Alberto when they've rarely played? Sakho and Mignolet both have been good, people are just forming their opinions on the two games they've seen against Chelsea and City.
Since you seem to be an expert how much have you seen of Yesil?
Granted, not a whole lot, but I recall him playing a few times for the first-team in the League Cup last season.
Nope he only played twice, before he ruptured his cruciate ligament, came back no more than a couple games in the reserves then ruptured it again. He was only signed for 1.5 m and at 18 he wasn't signed to be an immediate first team player anyways, don't see how you can call his signing a failure, the lad has just been unlucky.
As for Alberto he hasn't played enough to be deemed a failure or success either way, and Assaidi seems to be doing pretty well on loan so i would exert caution before calling him a failure as well. The only two that have truly failed to impress have been Aspas and Borini(excluding the loan signings).
Yeah, but I don't think they expected anything more from Toure anyway, if anything, he was better than they expected him at the start of season, but he is gone quiet lataly.
If he's ruptured his cruciate twice, write that 1.5m off.
Toure's an upgrade on Carrager, tbh, can't really ask for more than that.
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