Greatly disappointed we didn't get the 3 points last night. Agger header cleared off the line, Henderson missing an empty goal, Sturridge missing from the keepers Cruyff turn, Suarez's world class pass through to Sturridge and that was just the 1st half. We could have, should have and needed to win imo. We are out of the Carling cup, FA cup and any chance for 4th. However, I believe our season is over, as we won't be able to get Europe at all next season. 4. Tottenha 24 12 42 5. Everton 24 10 41 6. Arsenal 24 19 38 7. Liverpool 24 12 35 I don't include Chelsea, as they are far ahead, but we are 6 and 7 points behind 4th and 5th, with Spurs and bitters to play West Brom and Villa respectively this weekend. With us playing away at City on Sunday, I feel that we will be at best 8 and 9 points behind them, but more likely 9 and 10 points by Monday. With Swansea and Bradford playing each other in the COC, that will be 1 Europa place. 5th place will be another. The FA cup is another and it looks like that could end up directly going to the team in 6th, as a big team will probably win. As much as I would like to, I don't think we have the toughness to win the Europa and will likely be knocked out by Zenit. All in all it looks like a great disappointment for next season. EDIT: If the above doesn't convince you, this will......................Downing.
It's completely unpredictable, would anyone had thought Spurs wouldn't beat Norwich last night? There are still 14 games to go so just win as many as we can and see where we end up
If we won last night I think we would have had a good chance of 4th. Now I think we'll have to beat man city or the gap will be too big. Possible but unlikely. Don't forget we've still got a trophy to play for and hopefully Rodgers has learned his lesson and will take it seriously
A lot depends on if you as an individual thought we had a chance of 4th based on where we finished last season, the sacking of Kenny and the appointment of a new manager with very little experience. The 2 domestic cups were always going to be our only real hope of silverware this season, now we're out of both and that only leaves the Europa and with the addition of the CL teams into the mix its gonna be hard to get anywhere near the final let alone win it. When you look back at our league season so far and see the points dropped against the likes of City(Skrtel's backpass handing them the draw), Everton(legit winner wrongly ruled out), Utd(battered them with 10 men yet still lost) and last night throwing a 2 goal lead away etc etc 4th could easily have been within our reach this season.
Whilst the original targets have all but gone, there is still heaps to play for! Using the rest of the season to get the mentality right, the defending, understanding of the front three, Rodgers learning from his mistakes etc... Lets use it for everything its worth so that next season we don't have to put up with so much frustration and disappointment! Drop Downing and start playing for next season, otherwise we will be crap next season too!
Fourth was never on (IMO) after the debacle of the summer. Last nights result was a decent point even if it felt like two lost at the end of the game. It's results like Villa, Stoke, Arsenal (h) and West Brom which killed the season. We should have beaten both United and City at home as well. I guess you can look at it as a good sign that we can still match the top teams or a bad sign that we can't kill teams off (like last night). Before the Jan window we all knew we needed to strengthen up front so fair play to the owners for backing Rodgers with money. Whether or not it's been spent wisely we can judge a bit better over the coming months. I still have serious doubts about how much Sturridge will improve us over the course of a season, Allen's going to need more than a year to develop, Assaidi and Yesil look a million miles away from the first team, Sahin was a worthy gamble that didn't work out and Coutinho could go either way. The issue now with the team seems to be that we can't defend. Rodgers has to sort this before next season. It is a team issue and not just the defenders. He needs to find that balance and he needs to look closely at the speed we play at. He's now got plenty of pace up front but it will never be utilised to its full extent if we continue to play 20 passes before shifting it past the half way line. I can't fault him for having the courage of his convictions but he has to learn to be more flexible as it will kill us every time we fall behind in a game. The whole system is way too predictable. My biggest worry is that if we show no signs of challenging for top four I think we'll spend the summer replacing our best players rather than strengthening around them.
Still got Europy. Regardless of how many trophies we're not going to win, the season is far from over. We need to use the rest of it to gain experience hone the team (and manager) into serious challengers next season.
3 points off 6, 6 points off 5, 7 points off 4. All it takes is a good run of form and we could potentially get to the top 4, but I wouldn't count on it. We're 7th at the moment, and I can see us finishing 7th or 6th if we continue to improve. Spend a bit more in the summer with some astute signings and 4th shouldn't be beyond our sights.
It was expected we'd never make the top four this season, I'm by no means saying it's currently out of our reach it's just unlikely. I think City is a big game mentally, we've still not beat a top ten side thus far, if we were to beat them it would give us a massive lift.
I know, I said that at the start. It is also worth noting though, that we are yet to beat a team above us in the table.
We did that plenty last season and people just moaned that we didn't beat the lower teams. Patience is required. people need to deal with that. The collider will be switched back on next year
honeslty i think things could we worse... before the Utd game i pointed out that the best we could get out of these 4 games was 6 points and so it was likely we would be too far ebhind... well we've got 4 points and maybe 5 will be a good target after city. BUT spurs have also been poor. we are only 7 points off so nothings really done yet. I think its not on myself due to our own form. i think its a bit negative to write off the europa as zenit aint that good either. All in all i thought arsenal players VERY well but are a one trick pony in midifled. they offered no screen at all to their back 4 and really we just ran out of legs while they did not. I still think we can get up to 5th as if you look at evertons "stellar record" they have drawn more than they have won... our GD is now as good as spurs so if we can get past city we could work on that gap. Westbrom are not great but they can take a scalp and frankly while villa look like relegation fodder they still have to be beated don't they? 13 games to go after the weekend... if the gap is 9 points so be it. I don't think 4th is one but i think we can go do a 5th or 6th... ANd i'm backing a top 4 club to win the fa cup not arsenal... so 5th and 6th will be the europa slots... I reckon if we top everton and finsih 6th and get to the semis of the euopa we'll have topped out on our current level of fitness and mentality.
The other thing is that, apart from Arsenal, those around us in the running for fourth have got to come to Anfield yet and I presume (haven't checked others fixtures) have to play each other in the last few months of the season. I still think 4th won't happen and others around us are stronger but as Saint said what we need to do for the rest of the year is improve the balance within the system, get some consistency, beat some of the teams around us and get things right behind the scenes so that everyone at the club is working towards the same thing.
Yeah we really need to put some space between us and West Brom/Swansea too, they're 1 point behind and all it takes is 1 lost game for them to take advantage!
