Lucas has suffered badly with injuries and hasn't quite been the same player since. Can can (excuse the wording!), sit deep I believe and he could perhaps be Rodgers choice instead of Lucas, and when Gerrard is rested.
Liverpool 2014/15 | WARNING: Contains strong amounts of Scouse nonsense
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Lucas has suffered badly with injuries and hasn't quite been the same player since. Can can (excuse the wording!), sit deep I believe and he could perhaps be Rodgers choice instead of Lucas, and when Gerrard is rested.
One of them said that this was potential line-up next season and claimed it was better than Citys, Arsenals and ours. To be honest with you, despite some new additions, that line-up looks nothing without Luis. They're refusing to take into account that Gerrard is a year older, they're losing the source of 45% of their goals next year, that they also may not get the same 100 goal season as last year and that Sturridge as a lone striker might not be the gold mine they think it is.
No way does Sterling not play. Kid is one of their best players already. If not their best now that Suarez is gone.
I think coutinho could really have a point to prove this year. He fell off a bit last year and I think missed out on the world cup because of this. He could really want to establish himself in the national team and could really step up. If himself and Sterling can chip in then the team may be able to adjust to the loss of Suarez a bit better and possibly get more goals from midfield.
I'd be very worried if Rogers tries to integrate a lot of players into his side this season. Could be a bit of a spurs job if he does and the fact that hardly any investment has gone into defenders bothers me too. That said the squad depth is much better than last year.
Even without Suarez' contribution we scored 70 goals in the league last season. Still 6 more than Manchester United.
Reading this forum you'd never think United had finished 7th. I suspect you are all in for another rude awakening this season.
Last season never happened. United will challenge for the title and Liverpool will surely finish 6th. 7th if Martinez can maintain the same level with Everton that Moyes did.
Even without his 30+ goals he also had 15 assists. So take away about 45 goals from your side. Who knows how many more goals were scored by Suarez' movement and creating space for teammates to score.
I think Liverpool fans are vastly underestimating how much Suarez meant to the rest of their attacking players. It's similar to American football where a top quarterback can make average players around him look top class.
I agree with the second part and that United fans has extremely high expectations due to signing two new players and a manager and expecting all sunshine and glory back. But most of us are happy with a top four and see that as our goal of next season and that is a very realistic goal I believe with the chance to finish higher if we get lucky.
You exclude the fact that Liverpool conceded 50 goals last season though, even more than United did and two times more than what Chelsea conceded. This year you have lost your, and the leagues greatest striker and have lost a lot of goals which allowed you to concede an incredible amount while still seeing results. This time Chelsea has improved massively offensively with Costa and Fabregas being signed while you have lost your greatest player and creator/producer of goals.
It is fair to say that Liverpool will have a difficult season this year, of course the same applies to United who finished 7th last season and has to catch up 20 points on Liverpool. I would say it is all down to how fast United can get in to LVG's tactics which are the complete opposite of what any of the players bar Mata, Herrera and Kagawa has played before for SAF/Moyes.
If United learn the new system and tactics without a too big skill loss on some important players for switching systems and possibly not being suited in the new one, then United has a clear edge. But LVG has had a tendency to start slowly as it takes some time for players to learn their new roles and some players will be asked to even play new positions, so I can certainly see Liverpool pulling away early on in the season if most of their new signings click perfectly with United failing to catch up completely.
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Little over 60, you didn't include his assists.
If you hop over to RAWK you'll see that United have been a midtable club for 50 years. Liverpool are the biggest club in the world, only Real and Barca come close to it. Brendan Rodgers is better than van Gaal, Wenger and Mourinho. Wayne Rooney is a pub striker, he's not even a good player. Gerrard is the greatest midfielder ever to walk the planet. Scholes is shit. Paisley is better than Ferguson. 5 times. Champions League football means we're going to attract Reus, Sanchez and will make Suarez want to stay. Suarez is not in fact a diving, cheating, weird racist. Every neutral wants you to win the league ahead of mean old City and Chelsea who just bought the league when all of your players were brought through the academy. You hate big clubs ruining it for smaller clubs by buying all their best players. Paying £30m for Shaw was pathetic but paying £26m for Lallana is a good deal because he's a "proven" player. Raheem Sterling is the best English player we've had since Gascoigne. United are going to finish 8th next year because we haven't made any good signings whereas Rickie Lambert, Emre Can and Adam Lallana will elevate you to the next level and take you to Champions League glory. United didn't deserve a new kit deal with Adidas worth £750m because you finished 2nd last year in the PL without CL football and despite losing your best player you deserve £1.5bn in kit deals. Gerrard is loyal and never requested a transfer to Chelsea.
Bitter, sour, stubborn and deluded.
Both United and Liverpool face very real problems next season in the shape of City (who won't be any weaker), Chelsea (who will be stronger), Arsenal (who will be stronger) - and a couple of dark horses (Everton and Spurs) who are at least capable of stirring up some trouble even if they aren't true top four candidates.
Top four won't be a walk in the park for either team, that much is obvious.
Top four won't be a walk in the park for either team, that much is obvious.
If Everton where not competing in the Europa i feel we would of had a real good go at 4th this year but i don't think our squad will be able handle the extra games. My take on things is that it will be a fight for 3rd and 4th between Arsenal, United and Liverpool that Liverpool may just miss out on.
Alright which caftard did this.
That's quality
Alright which caftard did this.
We finished 2nd last season. You finished 7th. Yet the supposition is that we're on the same level.
At least wait until the season begins ffs.
I can imagine you sitting there bashing your keyboard furiously as you wrote that out.
How is any of it relevant?
The main reason you finished 2nd is now gone. The main reason we finished 7th is now gone.
Why is it so hard for Liverpool fans here to understand why most people think they'll be significantly worse than they were last season?
I'd rephrase that.
Just the way you were calling our forum for not appreciating your "achievements" so I thought I'd do the same, not really difficult to find the relevance is it?
I wouldn't have said either of us are sure fire bets to finish in the top 4 - but I think we will both be there or there abouts.
So in that sense, yes, I would say we are on the same level.
You had your best season for 10 or so years. We had our worst season for 10 or so years, although still managed to win more than you last year.
The main factors in your season was, in my opinion, Suarez's form and the fact that you didn't have any European distractions.
The main factor in our season was David Moyes.
You have sold one of your main factors, and lost the other due to your impressive performance last season.
We have replaced ours with a proven manager coming off the back of an exceptional performance at the World Cup. We also have the factor that aided you last season - not playing any European games.
So I would not view that supposition with too much derision.
Exactly what I just typed - but expressed far more succinctly!!
OptaJoe @OptaJoe 2m
14 - Raheem Sterling was the youngest player to play a hand in 10+ goals across Europe's big 5 leagues in 13/14 (9 goals, 5 assists). Star.
14 - Raheem Sterling was the youngest player to play a hand in 10+ goals across Europe's big 5 leagues in 13/14 (9 goals, 5 assists). Star.
He did have a very good second half to his season. Will be interesting how he kicks on this season and if he can get going from the start.
I think he will find it more difficult having lost Suarez. As well as Stirling played, Suarez was always the focus of the opposition defence - which created more space and time for Sterling and Sturridge.
So we lose Suarez & you get Van Gaal = the equilibrium is automatically reset? It's just not that simple. Moyes is a limited manager but there are other factors which were just as important in such a rapid demise. Your squad is below par and previously crucial players have left/are past it.
Van Gaal will most likely eventually get you back in the top four, but turning around last season's performance in such a short space of time, in such a competitive league? Not for me. Not unless the likes of Vidal and Di Maria actually happen.
As for Liverpool, I've posted before about how I believe that Suarez wasn't the main factor behind our title challenge - more that it was an excellent team effort. But naturally, his goal tally will suggest to people that he carried us - not true at all.
When?
I use this forum to express opinion, nothing else.
I can understand why the generic footballing masses may think that we'll become the toothless (no pun intended), 6th/7th/8th place side we were 2/3 seasons ago. 'Suarez has left, he was the only reason you lot did good blah blah'. But not the educated football fan.
I've seen no one other than your own supporters who think you'll be a stronger side or even as good a side as you were last season.
Guess that means everyone who doesn't support Liverpool is an uneducated football fan?
I'm getting the message on Suarez. All those guys around him were made to look good with him in the team. Without him Liverpool will drop at least 3 places along with about 20 points. Shame, I enjoyed a season in the sun.
If they plan on playing Gerrard in front of the back four next season, they will leak a lot of goals. They got away with it last season as Suarez was banging them away, without him they will struggle to out score the opposition.
Looking at their potential lineups I can see them slipping down to 5th/6th - they are assuming that all the signings will exceed expectation, and that the likes of Sterling, Sturridge, Coutinho and Henderson all manage the same level of performance as last season, which for me is unlikely.
They have the sort of issue we had a couple of seasons back - no real world class talent. We brought in the likes of RVP and Mata, and already had Rooney. Suarez was theirs, he is gone and I don't see how they can buy someone of that calibre.
Looking at their potential lineups I can see them slipping down to 5th/6th - they are assuming that all the signings will exceed expectation, and that the likes of Sterling, Sturridge, Coutinho and Henderson all manage the same level of performance as last season, which for me is unlikely.
They have the sort of issue we had a couple of seasons back - no real world class talent. We brought in the likes of RVP and Mata, and already had Rooney. Suarez was theirs, he is gone and I don't see how they can buy someone of that calibre.
Obviously Liverpool fans will regard things differently to others. By the same token, LvG is the panacea to all United's ills according to a lot of members on here. Given how terrible United were last season for long periods of matches I think the optimism is set too high. It's as if the transition will simply revert United back to Fergie days without a bump in the road.
Least one of 'em gets it.
Ibe looks boss again. Hope he plays with us this season.
Assaidi to Stoke is done for £7m apparently.
Good deal for Pool that, he's crap.
Pool are making the same mistake as Spurs last year. They lost their most important and only world class player and replaced him with a bunch of squad players. Unless they spend big and get a top, top player for their attack I see them slipping out of top 4 easily. Sturridge and Sterling are guarantied to not reach the heights of the last season without Suarez occupying 2-3 defenders for them. Also the opposition would know much better how to handle them. Gerrard is past it and their defense is leaking. In fact they need to replace not only Suarez, but also Gerrard, who is no longer world class. Suarez was a real game changer for them, dragging them to winning most of the times - who is going to do that now? Their players are decent, but nothing special - an England team full of Pool players showed it at the WC. In a sense Dalglish did a better job replacing Torres - he signed Suarez and Carroll - one of them was a flop, but the other managed to fill the void. That's the key for being a top team - replacing your top players with similar quality when you lose them.
pure brilliance
...and just about totally trueHaven't spent a penny of Suarez money.
most probably be used for the Boston red sox end of season party
Brilliant, the fact that you didn't use any paragraphs made it even better. Not relevant but brilliant.
That's irrelevant - money in the bank is not going to win you games next year.
Right, a team going from 7th to top 4 in a single season has never happened before. Oh wait..
Relax now, Tomato. If anything I was downplaying United in my post. And most would agree that you'll find it hard to replicate last season's success - for a number of reasons. But the main ones are, in my opinion, that both Chelsea and Arsenal have strengthened over the summer - and might do so further - whereas you're weakened from the loss of Suarez.
United have strengthened too - not least in the manager department. It's not madness to suggest that both Liverpool (from 2nd) and United (from 7th) are both in roughly the same boat - with 4th as their immediate target.
I wouldn't be worried about Liverpool tbh. It's blatantly obvious they're going to fall back to the 5-8 position where they belong. They're looking more and more like a mid-table side now that they've just bought Southampton.
They sold the best striker in the world and bought Rickie Lambert... lol. Liverpool just don't buy Superstars. They just sign the unknowns or guys who were already at smaller clubs already (like Lallana). I wouldn't get my hopes up about them signing a superstar if I was an LFC fan. Brendan is probably gonna do a Spurs and spend the 75 million by paying over the odds for guys like Lovren, Moreno, Lukaku and Rodriguez (that's JAY Rodriguez, not JAMES...) when he should be on his knees kissing Cavani and Balotelli's feet and begging them to come to Anfield. They need a world class replacement cause right now, they look like a mid table side.
They sold the best striker in the world and bought Rickie Lambert... lol. Liverpool just don't buy Superstars. They just sign the unknowns or guys who were already at smaller clubs already (like Lallana). I wouldn't get my hopes up about them signing a superstar if I was an LFC fan. Brendan is probably gonna do a Spurs and spend the 75 million by paying over the odds for guys like Lovren, Moreno, Lukaku and Rodriguez (that's JAY Rodriguez, not JAMES...) when he should be on his knees kissing Cavani and Balotelli's feet and begging them to come to Anfield. They need a world class replacement cause right now, they look like a mid table side.