http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/philmcnulty/2011/08/my_premier_league_201112_predi.html He's topped us to get 4th, with Arsenal 5th and Spurs 6th. I have to agree with these predictions, but I don't have a whole lot of faith in him predicting them because he isn't known for getting his predictions correct. If you want a real laugh, read the comments down at the bottom. "If not then we might struggle but even without Cesc or Nasri our front line will be Gervinho,RVP and Arshavin-I'd have that any day ahead of Suarez(un proven), Carroll(over priced) and Gerrard(On his last legs)!" - Arsenal Fan "What is it with Liverpool fans who suddenly feel they have a devine right to be in the top 4-Under Rafa you bought your way to 4th place and had the luckiest reuslt EVER against Milan who anyone in thier right minds know they threw it away by being over confident at half time and now you've bought a couple of players who can't even get into this rubbish England team and suddenly you're challenging for the title!! I bet £100 Gerrard is your player of the season again this season and thats with him being injured!! He's all you've got and all your worth-Over the hill and living on past glories!!" - Another Arsenal Fan "Apart from Suarez, they've signed three players that wouldn't get into any of the top 4 from last season's team and their defence is weak, yet they're predicted to dislodge Arsenal from 4th, nonsense." - Random person "Liverpool are a team that have spent money on average players adam had a good season last year but that was his first season teams learn just look at marcus stewart, henderson is young and has potential but he probably won't play as much and downing is a typical english player over recent years has potential but never fulfills it." - Arsenal Fan It seems the general consensus is, they think we've bought Average players. Just goes to show how little some "fans" know about Football in general.
Whereas Arsenal have made wonderful signings,a striker from a very poor french league,and a teenage winger from the championship,whilst we already have better in our youth/reserve ranks(Raheem Sterling). We have strengthened positions of weakness,Have Arsenal?..Not on your life. They still don't have balls.
B4F. I don't think so. Back to the point. Kenny has signed players since January with something the entire Arsenal squad lacks...and thats balls. I would even suggest that Stewart Downing is Liverpools answer to Antonio Valencia. Not spectacular not flashy, but consistently consistent. Nzogbia may have more step-overs, but he's like Nani.....erratic..he can go from the sublime to the substandard, from one game to the next. I believe Kenny has signed two extremely strong players and one with youthful exuberance and thats Henderson. He was signed because the squad needs more energy. I believe that he's going to be the eventual successor to Dirk Kuyt in that respect. Liverpools ''Mr Duracell'.
The vocabulary of an opposition fan: over-priced, average, overrated , this year is their year Throw in some anger at our clubs fans for something an independent journalist has written, and you have yourselves some Class A drivel. Carroll would be great for Arsenal who have absolutely no plan B. A great Plan A, but no Plan B. I rate Downing above Arshavin and Gervinho. Charlie Adam would add some passion and drive to their talented but spineless midfield. They've signed their own Henderson in Oxlade-Chamberlain. Only he's never been above League 1, but cost nearly the same. Hasn't stopped some deliriously happy comments from Arsenal fans on the newspaper websites. Anyway don't have a problem with Arsenal, am just bored of getting spammed with these lazy opinions from uneducated fans.
Someone should also let the Gooners know that in order to have a successful TEAM, you don't need to have 11 world class players on the pitch. Everyone that Kenny's bought has been to fit into his plans, to fit into the system as a whole. The concept of synergy is forever beyond their feeble grasp. How many of our '86 double winning squad would be considered "world class" (whatever the **** that means)?
Exactly the point I was trying to get at. United is a great example of not so great players playing as a team and winning. Evra isn't prolific, Valencia is a decent winger but not in the league of Mata etc.. Berbatov isn't the best striker around but he manages to get goals. The same with their midfield, which wouldn't look out of place in a Spurs side.
I've seen a lot of pundits and a lot of fans(not just Liverpool fans) predicting arsenal to be replaced in the top 4 by Liverpool. I just can't se it myself, I just think they have a better team than Liverpool. Your team might come close but I think it will be more likely that you will be battling it out with spurs for 5th.
The reverse of this is of course the Argentine national team and Man City to a certain extent. Both have star-studded first XIs, yet can be beaten by teams considered far worse than them man for man. Who would've expected Germany to beat Argentina 4-0 in the world cup, for example? There are exceptions like Spain and Barcelona, who have had a bit of time to gel so perform as a team. Barca rarely buy more than a couple of 'big' players at a time, giving the first XI plenty of continuity, rather than bringing in 3 or 4 and sticking them straight in and expecting a performance, like City and R Madrid have done over the last few seasons. That said, we've sort of done the latter this window, only we haven't brought in big names for the sake of it, but rather 3 players who will add something to the team rather than to shirt sales.
I completely agree. Manchester United are the best example of a side that can win the league with good but not world class players. Vidic and Rooney are good players,they are not in the elite group ie Xavi,Iniesta,Kaka,Messi,Suarez. In order to win the league or be successful full-stop you need a well managed cohesive unit that fights for one another. Man United won titles due to their spirit not because they had 25 superstars. They also won them because unlike Man City and Chelsea, they had no egos. I believe Liverpool and Kenny are attempting to follow their model. Ashley Young goes against Man Uniteds principles as he has an ego,which he shouldn't have,he hasn't earnt the right to be arrogant. Zero arrogance and no egos is whats required.
KPR - this is the model WE started all those years ago, first by Shanks, continued by Paisley, ***an, Kenny. If anything, the mancs copied our model - but I doubt they'll admit to it. The Man City & Real Madrid models have proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that the "Galaticos" ideal will not work on anything like a consistent basis. When they do gel - which might be for 15% of a season, it works well and they'll crush teams 4, 5, 6-0 When it DOESN'T work, they get beaten by the likes of Villa, Everton & Wolves. The lack of a plan B precludes them from achieving greatness.
I was refering to the model Ferguson adopted 20 years ago,which was of course an imitation of the Shanks,Sir Bob,Uncle Joe and Kenny model which was destroyed by Souness. Kenny is trying to get that back. He's going with and he's already said this a '''Theres no I in team'' approach. Anyone that goes against that principle,and it doesn't matter who they are is out. Even Steven Gerrard has to abide by it. Which he will of course. Kenny has signed two strong characters. I reckon Stewart Downing is hungry to succeed as he hasn't won anything. Charlie Adam is full of old fashioned Scottish grit. He's been down and he's bounced back up. As for Henderson,he's full of youthful exuberance and will provide energy into the squad. We know what we're going to get from Andy Carroll and Luis Suarez. Andy Carroll is going to frighten the living **** out of defenders,and Luis Suarez is going to annoy the hell out of them. And thats not mentioning his brilliance. Lets see how many more defenders he takes the piss out of.
This COULD be a very good season for us. Let's all hope that injuries & suspensions don't take the kind of toll we've seen in recent seasons.
