Of course they have a choice - they can say whatever they like. That said i donlt think what he has said is especially ludicrous. A couple of new signings and you'll be challenging top 4.
I agree with our constantly name-changing Scouse friend on this one, I'm afraid. Sterling was clearly asked whether Liverpool could finish in the top 4 next season and a young player's not going to have the sophistication to avoid the question. He could either answer positively and risk being held up in the press like this or negatively and risk pissing off his own employers and the fans. I don't think he's done anything wrong in this case.
I'd be very surprised if PR officers or Rodgers haven't told the players what sort of line to take in the media. Club needs to sound positive to sell new shirts, tickets, encourage signings etc.
I just don't see it. They won a smaller percentage of their matches last season than they did under KKK and that is with just one competition to play for and 50M spent. I see all the current top 5 strengthening this summer so they might get 6th if they spend another 50M.
They have some good young players. Their Achilles heel is their defence. If they manage to strengthen significantly there, they could mount a challenge for the top 4-6 .
Only saw Liverpool in a couple of late season matches and I was quite impressed. Good quick passing game with plenty of forward movement. It looks like Rogers has done a good job. Taking into account that the name Liverpool can still attract top players I don't see why they can't make a bigger challenge next season.
Due to the cups and Europa I imagine. We definitely improved this year, as shown by the huge improvement in points.
I dont see much of an improvement in the Mousers, they spent £50m, had a largely injury free campaign and still tread water in the league, as well as failing miserably in the cups. A few results when luckily coming up against teams at the right time and a few sympathetic favourable referees falling over themselves to award Sewerez for his gamesmanship, will not change the fact that the Mickey Mousers are still way off challenging the top 4. They may well improve their squad this summer, but so will the 6 teams above them. They and the Liverpool loving media will continue to over hype their players and their chances however, as we know, any new Liverpoo player that scores a goal or provides an assist is immediately declared `world class` in these times of desperation.
We only need to improve to the level of yourselves and Arsenal to be in contention for top 4... Not the real big players City, Chelsea and United. It's also easier for us to improve - as we have more to improve upon! We were 12 points away. 4 wins. With smart summer signings we could do that or at least improve our league position again, surely. The main question is that f we improve, who do we improve at the expense of? I'm of a pessimistic nature... I can't see us being better than Arsenal or yourselves next year, despite what I've said.
As I've always maintained, you can't judge teams by how well they perform on a good day and assume that they can repeat that over a 38 game season facing all demands of a typical PL season. Liverpool conceded two or more goals in over 20 games last season in all comps. Stoke, Villa, Southampton and WBA all put three past them in the PL. How many games will you win if you need to score three or more so often? Liverpool failed to score in eight games in the PL (three of last seven played included) and only one in 12 others (i.e one or less in 20/38 games) so their inconsistency is not just limited to defending. Liverpool failed to beat any of the top four- their only victory over a top eight side being the 3-2 win v Spurs at Anfield. Everything to prove, I think.
No dig! (honest) The point was they failed to beat the top four plus 6th placed Everton and 8th placed WBA (who did the double on them). They lost to Spurs away too! That win against Spurs was their solitary win in 14 games v top eight sides.
Points means little. If you get 70 it means nothing if 6 other teams still get more than you. Position is the only way to fully gauge yourself each season. If you got 80 pts and came 2nd would you consider that a better season than if you came 1st with 79 pts? No of course you wouldn't. Position is the thing. It's bollocks getting more points if more points doesn't get you higher.
More points mean we won more games, which I can only be happy with. We also finished a position higher...which is some form of improvement. We suffered in the end for how poor our start to the season was... An yes we are inconsistent. Hopefully we can change one or more of those things.
And yet overall you had a lower winning percent than KKK's last season. It's not difficult to improve slightly just playing in one comp and having one game a week since Xmas and pretty much playing games against teams with nothing to play for in the last 2 months.
Like any team, you don`t only have to improve as much as the teams above you but also more than the teams that beat you last season. Every team will try/hope to improve in the summer, it is those that do best at this who will finish higher in the league.
