Some good points made, especially the one regarding finishing 7th with no Europe being an advantage being bandied about by bitters. Everton should be atop the PL with us in that case and the PL should be stuck on for United next season. A very valid point is that if this is such a a big advantage not being in Europe, according to many bitters, it's almost like cheating then why does the top 4 not change every year with non CL football teams using the massive advantage of no CL to move up and replace those "Poor hard pressed CL teams and their money" in the top 4. http://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2014/apr/16/liverpool-premier-league-title-champions-league
Liverpool have done brilliantly but you'd have to be pretty dim to not realise that not having the extra burden of European fixtures has helped Liverpool's league form. Most would say it would help with a top 4 finish, the fact you may win the league shows how you've performed even better than anyone could have anticipated. I believe 100% had you been in the Europa league you wouldn't be where you are. Not languishing in 7th but the odd point dropped here or these would mean you'd probably be around 3rd IMO. You only have to look at how teams like Swansea and Spurs have struggled with European football demands or how managers in the past have pretty much played reserve sides in the Europa so as to save players for the league (AVB, Martin ONeil etc).
On the other hand Chelea have the FA bending over to rearrange fixtures to their convenience but then have no problem ****ing Sunderland who have to play Chelsea away 2 days after playing Man City away
if we had of been in europe surely we would have had a better squad to cope with the injuries we have had,then we wouldn't have had ****e like aspas and moses on the bench. so if we win the league and utd finish 7th they have no excuses then for next season of not wining the league then as obviously no europe is key(although they still have a european sqaud!!
Firstly we have a far longer history of coping with dual challenges than you do so we don't need teaching about it. More importantly, our PL challenge was based upon the fact that the pundits and the majority of our opponents believed that we didn't have a big enough or good enough squad and that the gap between our last finish and where we are now was too large. We were constantly told that Chelsea and City had far too much quality for us to have a credible title challenge and that we would be pushed to mount a successful top 4 campaign. We were expected to make improvement but fail again. However, with the same squad that we had at the start; with bans and long term injuries to Suarez, Sturridge, Gerrard and Agger, we now sit on top of the pile looking down on those teams with bigger and supposedly better squads specifically designed to meet the needs of a dual campaign. So really rather than bleating about our advantage you should be bleating at your own clubs that they didn't do their job well enough.
Chelsea have more players out on loan than most teams have at their entire club and still whinge about not having the depth to play 2 games a week
Apart from the bollox about it being easy cos of no Europe, that article says if chavs beat us they also need city to drop points so chavs might not try to hard against us. Surely if chavs win their remaining games they will win the league
Obviously it helps to some extent; we don't have a huge squad, we can't afford to have 30-40million pound strikers sitting on the bench getting rotated or have 150k a week players not even being in the match squad. Having a small, tight squad and only in one competition can help to bring a team back up to the top group, but conversely, the clubs who've been regularly in the CL should have the squad to cope on different fronts already. If they don't or if they don't rotate their squad effectively, that's their problem and a part of modern football they're not coping with. To suggest like the article that it's some secret tactic for the future though whereby teams look to finish out of Europe to push on for the title is a little farfetched though. I think it's a good reason as to why Liverpool are back in the mix this season, but I don't think it should be an excuse by the other teams up there. They simply haven't performed, built an effective squad or managed their squad well enough. Our problems will come next season when Rodgers has to add to the squad to be able to cope, but if (hypothetically) we win the league this season and fail to defend it next season, being in the CL shouldn't be the excuse for it.
And you have had a huge financial input for long enough to have assembled a squad theoretically capable of coping with the challenge. You have the financial resources to keep a bench of players that would be starters in most other teams. Having limited resources is exactly the reason the second level teams have struggled in the EL. Swings and roundabouts..... If you want to construct a worthwhile argument, remember to include all of the relevant factors, and not just the ones that suit your case.
You firmly believe, I don't, I firmly believe that Rodgers would have prioritised the PL not the EL given our form, definitely, the EL could have been sacrificed given how we were going in the league. Your loss to Villa and Palace had nothing to do with Europe and everything to do with missed chances btw not tiredness, so it's bollocks, you have a nice squad depth too and that also helps. Unbalanced squad my arse. Spurs bought a whole new squad last summer, no excuse, they had the staff to play both comps without it affecting their league.
This is the sort of bitter logic the article talks about. The main reason given by many bitter tools is we are not in Europe, if we were in even the EL then there is according got bitter crystal ball gazers, that we would not be top right now. So which is it losers, the penalties or not being in Europe, the arguments seems to be switched when it suits, the league is not even over Same bitter ****e when we won the CL. At least the chavs have an excuse if United win it next year
Just trying to further the debate not get into a slagging match lads. The investment we may have had or size of our squad etc is not really a factor as to how many points Liverpool have accumulated which I believe would have been less with European football. If you were in Europa Brendan may well have prioritised the league but you wouldn't have changed 11 players every time Europe came around as your squad isn't that deep. If you'd been in the C.L he'd never have prioritised and it would have been an even bigger ask. You may well have bought more and increased the squad I guess, but probably not if you were just in Europa as not enough money is generated from being in that comp to suddenly buy in a load more players. The Anfield game is case in point really. We'' have 3 games in 8 days to your 1. Squad depth helps a bit but most teams generally use the same 13-14 players most weeks.
It probably has helped us as we have a small squad and it has reduced the risk of injury with less games to play. However, that excuse can't be used by last years top 4 who, apart from City have been in the CL and built up squads capable of challenging for the last 10 years. City haven't but have spent a fortune assembling that squad. Only in England the EL is seen as a burden but Porto and Atletico didn't see it that way when they won it and got into the CL the following year. Now Atletico are top of the league and competing in the CL.
Most teams use the same 13-14 players most weeks. In that case, sack the manager. Taking Chelsea as an example you have 20+ players out on loan and spent 40m in the transfer window on squad players. If Salah isn't playing despite you forking out 15m on him then the manager only has himself to blame if the rest of the team get tired. Football is and always has been a squad game. If after 10 years of spending hundreds of millions on players with regular CL football you've not developed a squad with over 15 first team players then sorry but your management is a joke.
Rafa coped in his 6 months in charge at Chelsea, top 4 and a European trophy and using the same players he inherited. Its just excuses being put in early by Maureen in case it all goes tits up.
