Just wanted to see what everyones thoughts on the season so far are, have we lived up to your expectations ? are we on course to finish in the top 4 ? thoughts on the signings etc. my 2 cents are i was disappointed with team selection and result at spurs were we were horribly exposed and the result away to stoke city rugby cl...sorry stoke city football club. saying that the performance at stoke was a good one and on another day could have limped away with all 3 points. seeing Ushited drop points there was a reality check that alot of teams will struggle to get full points there chelsea AND utd dropped 2 points and in the grand scheme of things think it wont be a result that we rue. Spurs away again is a ground many teams will fail on this year, personally i was shocked at how well their signings gelled, parker and ade were fantastic upgrades from what they previously had and gave us a spanking, again in the grand scheme of things not a disastrous result. Sunderland at home is the big dissapointment for me they were there for the taking and should have been a guranteed 3 points, however seeing how crap they are at home we MUST get the 3 points when we travel there, to rectify that short coming. In regards to the signings, on the face of it we have wasted alot of money on beefing up the squad i feel we've gambled on quantity instead of quality when the funds were there FOR quality signings, hindsights 20/20 they say so i wont moan or speculate about who we should have signed, i'll leave that to you, but i think carroll is hindering our pass and move philospophy that looked unstoppable toward the end of last season, happy with downing and jury's still out on charlie adam, doesnt stir my blood but to be fair he has had a hand in a fair few goals this season. generally though caught in possesion alot, poor tackling sorry but i demand more from a central mid in this position.
Looking at our opening 6 fixtures I would have expected us to come out with at least 4 wins and 2 draws, or 4 wins, 1 draw and 1 loss. A little disappointed but I'm sure we will pick up. Between the Utd and Chelsea game we have WBA, Norwich and Swansea and I will be very disappointed if we don't get 9 points from those games and some points off Chelsea.
I agree, once we get the games against Man Who and Neverton out of the way we've got a run of winnable games, and we've decent record recently at SB. I personally would be happy with 10 points out of 12 in those mentioned games, and would be ecstatic with 12, and if we had 28 points out of 36 from the first 12 games, that would be marvellous.
We ve don epretty much as I expected TBH, some of the new signings have been disappointing, some have been better than I expected( enrique)
Theres a reason why we probably won't finish any higher than top 4 and thats because we're putting together a relatively new team and that team has to integrate. There should be less of an upheaval next summer, it will be quality over quantity. There will be the obvious departures ie Aurelio and Maxi whom will both return to South America once they are both released. Kuyt and Carra will be phased out and become squad players. Coates the heir apparent to Carra will be phased in, John Flanagan and Jack Robinson will both be a year older and will have another years experience. Next year may see the unleashing of Raheem Sterling if he continues he spectacular progress through the ranks. I'm convinced that he's being earmarked to be in the first team squad. Next summer will be about phase two of our development, and we will be able to attract quality players once we've qualified for the CL. They will all want to be part of Kennys project.
Played 6, should of won 5. Great going forward, worrying defensively. Wasteful finishing. Suarez is world-class, Lucas and Enrique not far from world class, Downing looks great and Gerrard is returning.......Carroll will come good. So far so good
Being honest, we started the season as work in progress with a goal of a top 4 finish and things have not changed. To my eye, we show signs going forward of having an attractive, fluid and potentially potent attack. Yet somehow our midlfield is mis-firing - maybe the return of Gerrard will help to sort that out. So it's here that the major questions have to be asked. Both Adam and Henderson have shown us glimpses of their potential BUT they have also shown us their weaknesses. The back 4 unit has been messed about by injuries again. Apart from Enrique who has hit the ground running there is little here to wax lyrical about. Coates will take time to settle and form a working realtionship with his new team but early indications are that he does have no little degree of skill. What I want to know is where and when Kenny is going to release the attack of Kuyt, Suarez and Bellamy again - now that was really excieting!
On current form if we get 4 points from the next two games I'll be well happy (not sure it's very likely but if we pull our socks up and things go our way it's possible). Things aren't far off where I thought we'd be at...as in new players don't often gel instantly, we seem solid in the full back positions but only when injury free, central defense is still an issue for me...Carra's brilliant but more and more mistakes are creeping in, Skrtel's hit and miss and Aggers just no good to us as first choice centre back because he'll never play a full season without a series of injuries. Coates we obviously won't be able to judge for a good while yet. Midfield has been a little disappointing so far Lucas aside, and we need to see a lot more from Downing, Adam and Henderson if we want to be anywhere near top 4. Plus I think Kuyt needs to be starting a lot more often as I feel we are lacking a certain energy with and without the ball. Up front we all know what Suarez will do over the course of the season if fit but so far he hasn't fired on all cylinders yet, Carroll needs to play like he did yesterday a lot more often and Bellamy will be a useful squad player to have. Kenny has made a few mistakes too (he's only human) and defo needs to work on his half time team talks Basically take this season in the context of where we were this time last year and I am reasonably happy with our progress. We're still a long way off the top teams but then most of us already accepted that before a ball was kicked. I think up until xmas we just have to be gathering points as best we can and developing the teams understanding and confidence and not worrying too much about how we go about getting those points
Chelsea worry me. They tore the Mancs in two repeatedly. They won't miss all those sitters again and we won't get two offside goals. I view the trip to SB as hoping for a draw at best.
I have to agree. I still think we're gelling, and I reckon Kenny is doing at Liverpool now what he did with Blackburn in the 90s. It didn't happen there over-night, and it did take him a bit of time, 3 seasons in fact. However there is one difference, he's doing it on a long-scale basis that will bear fruit on a sustained level. He was never able to do that at Blackburn. His phase one is to lay a foundation, and get the players pulling in the same direction by signing team-players rather that superstars. As I've said this will happen more often when the players develop and understanding. The next step is quality over quantity. I reckon in January if we could nail Gary Cahill on a pre-contract agreement or even a massively reduced fee in january, that would be a massive coup. He's only going on 25, and is the perfect age for the FSG blue-print for success. Quality over quantity. I reckon if we signed a maximum of 4 players next summer of the standard of Eden Hazard and Marek Hamsik, we will be even better.
KK puts out his strongest teams in the Carlings and plays experimental teams in the PL. I hope he very soon knows all his players' strengths and weaknesses.
