Well you know how we like our history Well think back to this time last year....playing well but for absolutely nothing. Year before? We were dire and about to sack a legend. Year before that.....shudder.... Now look at the present...top of the league with one to go most likely being beaten by the most expensive squad assembled in the PL, teeming with WC stars...And it was as is being pointed out by everyone else....ours to lose...We weren't outclassed, were not runners up but a mile back...it's going to the last day.....We simply made some mistakes.... Now look at the future....CL qualification which will have guaranteed our WC attack that has ripped open everyone bar Chelsea this year will be coming back...We will be in the transfer market as a CL team so can finally start buying players that upgrade our team, not like for like gambles... We have a settled coaching/management staff of innovative and ambitious people who have shown a capacity to adapt and improve what they have before them....And to learn from their own errors. I've been saying all year the league top to bottom is of a quality that evens things out a bit...Chelsea and City will buy big again...but they bought big this year...I think the future seasons will not guarantee anyone a league win...sure the sheer size of City and Chelsea squads might make them more likely in one of the top 4 but one of them is likely to be below us this year, both of them were below United last year.. So like this year if we end up 5th on the last game of the season after a neck and neck race between 4/5 teams...so be it....but I'll hope and expect us to be within points distance of winning it again as well...I think two games as at times this year could move you from first to fifth....
Great post as always frank. At this point in the season we need 7 more points to be confirmed winners, as we've only dropped 5 points in the last [can't remember] 12 games? we would need to go back months to see where we dropped those 2 vital points - city's own tally and how they accumulated them aside, I'm talking about our own responsibility for our own points. So all in all a great season, being so close has made it seem so far - we'd have been ecstatic steadily moving up the table to finish 2 or 1.
HOPES: *Deadwood (Aspas, Assman, Moses, Cissokho, etc) out. *Replacements for RB, LB, CM, DM *Depth for upfront *Loanees (Borini, Suso, Ilori) back with experience and something to prove. *At least 2 world class signings, one of which a replacement for Gerrard. *Keep Suarez EXPECTATIONS: *Deadwood replaced like-for-like with more deadwood (at higher cost too) *Glenn given new contract, no new midfielders and S.O.S (Skrtel and Sakho) at CB. *No new forwards signed *Loanees returning and loaned straight back out. *2 £35m Caroll-esq signings, Gerrard's replacement to be a homesick, injury prone, sulky Italian. *Suarez gone, money squandered on inflated British talent. *Major injuries to our only good players.
Minimum - consolidate top 4 place while having a decent run in a domestic cup. Good season - top 4 with a decent challenge for title (going into last month). Winning a domestic cup. Brilliant season - title challenge, domestic cup, getting into knockouts of CL Die a happy man - the treble Not expecting us to do much on CL but getting out of group would be big bonus and anything more will be great
I want to win the league. Should have won it this year and it's gutting that we haven't. I'll assume that bring in new signings is a given so the one thing, more than anything else that I'd like to achieve next year is to lose the tactical naivity that saw us throw it away this year. Get rid of that, have a decent plan B/C that doesn't involve throwing players forward without a care in the world and we have a decent chance BUT if we cannot stop conceding than for me top 4 will be a tough ask again. Would be nice to go to another Wembley final....FA Cup maybe and making it through the group stages of the CL will mean real progress......although for that, we may well have to defend for our lives!!!!
that's fine and in my version half the people on here need a reality check. unless i score some of the good stuff i aint altering my vision of reality for no-one. in your version utd are in decline and are not coming back next year and we're going for the title again byased on a good summers activity
I think we'll get through the group stage of CL, but very little past that, if I'm honest -- depends on signings really! In the premiership I'd like us to try and consolidate a top four finish. Another title tilt would be lovely, but unlikely. Domestic cups: play mostly reserves and youth team players and see how far we can get, would be my idea. So minimum hopes for next season: secure top four and out of group stages of CL. Tough, but doable. Anything around that ballpark would be fine. Anything extra would obviously be a bonus, but I feel very strongly that how we do next year depends how successful we are in the upcoming transfer windows.
I think we can challenge again next year. Our best players will still be here and the likes of Sterling and Coutinho a year wiser. If we improve the defense (cant be any worse than this season) and sign a couple of qualty midfielders I really fancy us to be up there. I think the players will take this dissapointment and use it to drive them next year
I hope we don't try to strengthen too quickly! Champions League will be tough- we're third seeds at best. I don't think we should put ANY expectations on that. Carling Cup and FA Cup are a little bit of a lottery- I don't think they should be the focus either. Throw out, Aspas, Moses, and Cissoko- strengthen with 3 or 4 players who can, at bare minimum, challenge strongly for starting XI with existing squad. If we try padding our squad in one season to compete for four trophies we will fail in every competition. 3 or 4 new players- recall a couple of our loanees... push for top 3 in Premier League again. Next year will be tough! City and Chelsea you know will be back- and fighting for the title. United will be stronger and potentially top 4. Arsenal is never far off. Then you have the upper mid-table teams like Everton, Spurs, and Southampton. You know at least one of them will have a good season. Can't predict which one... but at minimum, one of them will fight for a top 4 spot. I count, including us- at least 6 teams that will be in the fight for top 4... maybe more. Anyone who has ever tried repacking an air-mattress into it's original packaging knows what it's like when you try and cram 6+ teams into 4 spots. Top 4 is no guarantee- we need to improve slowly but surely and focus on Premier League for now.
I hope next year we have a couple young/academy players really kick on and make an impression. Tex-Shearer is almost there and Ibe may get a chance if not loaned out. Does anyone who regularly watches the reserves/academy know of any other h.g. potential?
for the record... our defense is actually 6th best.... tottenham newcaste and stoke in the top 10 are worse.... is not good enough but its not "can't be worse" the point for me is not to play to win 4 comps.. you play each game as it comes so the league cup will have to be kids if we can get away with it... the cl has to be managed to a point where we are through to the group or not WITHOUT damaging the league. this is the strengthening part. if you play cl you must be able to tkae the league points too so that means lads like gerrard have to be out of the team on the weekend if we get through the group great but we are looking at a great example in spurs whjo got there once, got QF and flopped in league, then got 4th again but were robbed by cheslea and so are now still not back in staying in is what we want. as we are a year ahead of schedule surely we are a year BEHIND in terms of squad development? its great but we must build on it to compete with arsenal and utd and everton and spurs.. and not assume we are going to top them all by 10 points
teixteria is ok, ibe is a big hope. i am not sure another flanagan will occur. robinson and coady come back in, wisdom, suso and ilori should be first team. dunn, rossiter and McLaughlin are the only 3 IMO next year if any to add to that list
Well my reality is better than your reality so there - yah boo sucks!!!!!!! - even if you have aprtaken of 'other' substances.
From what I keep reading from the media and other fans, all our rivals will get better we will get worse, some of players will become terrible overnight as they've just been lucky. Rodgers still doesn't have that "plan B" and we'll be back to mid table very soon. The same media and rival fans who would have pissed themselves laughing if we'd have suggested that we'd go into the last game with a chance of the title. Now then reality, Suarez will still be good Studge will still score goals, our youngsters will improve, loan signings like Suso and Wisdom will improve the overall squad strength, we will buy good players and Roders is a very good manager. Next season will be similar to this one.
Gerrard's really the only player at an age where you can expect decline next season over this season. However, I think momentum and the confidence from a couple of good runs helped us do well- things that can't be guaranteed next season. I fully expect top 4 next season- but I'm not at all certain of a title challenge. That may not come. People also know how to stifle us now. Play 6 at the back like Chelsea and Palace did- and have the others help out defensively but ready to spring on the counter. Few people are going to be foolish enough to try playing football against us next season. We're going to need to become specialists at cracking teams that play with a 6 man strong backline. Edit: Johnson is also on the wrong side of the hill... but I suspect he will bugger off and be replaced in the summer anyway.
there's nothing wrong right up until you assume next will be similar to this and we will sign good players./// reality is we did get sahko but we also got future buys and aspas. are we saying that as night follows day top top players will arrive and no mistake will be made (note i will not contradict anything else you said) if the media and others are all saying something it is conventional wisdom. most of the time its right, as in rivals will improve. thats the nature of competitive endeavor however...... convention wisdom had lfc winning the league 2 weeks ago and now we've no chance while i sit here not willing to give up the ghost until city win the game midweek and even then i hold out some hope on the last day. we'll have a chance! but that doesn't mean they are not speaking sense in that next year teams will improve. if we don't start out assuming that.. ah well we might as well sit back on our laurels and will be handed 4th or 3rd next year eh? having confidence that we can improve is not the same as assuming that we will without doing the work... lets do the work first.
That's where Rodgers comes in, the work is something he has brought to our squad. We may disagree but I'm not talking nonsense here there's nothing to suggest that all this was just a fluke and that we'll be back to nothing next season I expect and believe we will challenge again.
1. Are you 12? 2. If your not 12, are you mentally challenged and have the mind of a 12 year old? 3. How do you explain a midtable regular like Liverpool suddenly jumping up into the big boys league? 4. Did you discuss Liverpool at any point during the last 5 seasons or indeed at several points in the last 20 when they were a midtable club? 5. Are you capable of not being a daft ****? theres only one midtable club being discussed here, the one which has spent around half of the last 20 years in midtable.........
