I don't think there is anything wrong with that. When Rafa was appointed manager in 2004,he was set a target of qualifying for the champions league...he misheard them...he won the champions league. I know thats impossible,as we're not in it. However John Henry wants a minimum top four finish, I reckon with us being out of europe that if we go about our business quietly then not only a top four finish is achievable,beyond that is achievable. Man City are going to have to juggle champions league and the premiership, they have never experienced that. Even with a big squad it can be daunting without experience. Look what happened to Spurs, one season in the champions league they got too big for their boots and they went backwards. The same thing could easily happen to City. I reckon we can take advantage of City having to juggle champions league and the league. I don't consider Spurs a threat as there is too many flaws in their squad ie one decent centre half and no keeper,central midfield or strikeforce. Their fans can point out to having beaten and finishing above Liverpool, but that was Liverpool in a mess. Liverpool are reborn. Arsenal due to the lack of fresh investment in their squad could also be there for the taking. I'm still convinced they are exactly like Liverpool albeit in different areas...3 players short of being champions. However its Liverpool who are more likely to sign them. If we take every game as it comes and vacuum up points there is nothing stopping us from even finishing in the top 3 in the league. That would be phase one of the reconstruction. Then we can set our sights on going on a title assault.
If you read the article, the only quote from JWH is 'our main goal is to qualify for the Champions League. If we don’t it would be a major disappointment.’ He's merely saying what their goal is; a goal Dalglish, the players and the fans are all aware of anyway. He doesn't 'demand' a top four finish at all, like the exaggerated article title suggests.
Spot on, the article doesn't say anything about pressure on the manager or team. A top 4 finish should be the minimum that we aim for at the start of this season.
I still believe even a top four finish is unacceptable. It may be acceptable for small clubs like Arsenal,that a minimum of 4th is the be all and end all. But for a club like Liverpool who once a upon a time lived by the motto ''First is First second is nowhere''. That from 1972-1991,finished outside the top 2....once. That was in 1981 when we finished 5th but the consolation was that we became European champions and made up for it by winning the title for four of the next five seasons. I believe that we should get the ''First is first...second is nowhere atitude'' back. Do Man United think top four is acceptable? They think the minimum is top two. I believe thats the correct atitude. If you aim low you will finish low, if you aim high...you might surprise yourself. Seeing as Kenny is a winner,I doubt it if he will call finishing 4th a success.
Your right, the players have to believe we can win it at the start of the season. There's nothing wrong with us believing either.
I think Henry is right If a club of Liverpools size and stature,who just miseed 5th last year,and THEN SPENDS £50M NET on transfers,I think top 4 if THE LEAST we should expect. If we dont get top 4 KK should be under serious pressure.To spend £50m net and not get top 4 , wouldnt be good enough
I'm not really sure there's anything to debate here having read what has been said. Do we all want top four? Of course we do but ultimately what we want is to see us playing better and to be challenging up at the top end of the table. As we`ve spent 100mill+ in 6 months (I know the torres cash is part of this but the fact is that it has been re-invested) should we all expect signs of improvement? Yes we should Is this as has been said above, just a case of a journo getting more out of a story than is actually there? Yes it is Is it adding more pressure...IMO not at all. Any player/manager who comes to Liverpool and isn't aiming for top four if not the title, shouldn't be at the club in the first place.
As we have spent £100 million since January. When was that exactly? We may have spent that but we have recouped £60 million. From January 2009 as it stands we have currently spent....nothing net. We have spent £160 million and recouped £160 million. Up until the summer we had spent £117 million and recouped £158 million,over the summer we've spent £43 million and recouped £2.5 million thus,we've spent nothing.We've finally broke even in terms of net spend.
In fairness I did add to my comment about spending 100mill that we did get the torres cash: "As we`ve spent 100mill+ in 6 months (I know the torres cash is part of this" My point is that unlike at some clubs this money has been re-invested not just pocketed by the owners (mike ashley springs to mind ) thus they will expect some form of return in playing terms for this spend...and rightly so IMO. We all should don't you think?
Usually agree with you mate but think you're chatting absolute guff here! We dropped from the top of the league with quite a few games to go, and then actually finished really strongly (when we came 2nd), so was it the pressure at Christmas? Why would pressure beat us during this one spell but not either side of it? Pressure in this sense is unquantifiable, so our performances can be attributed to a lot of other factors. Perhaps Hodgson's ability to motivate and set his team up was so bad that actually it was our players' abilities to deal with pressure that stopped us from losing every game? Unlikely, but not impossible. Henry was probably giving his 8millionth interview and didn't say anything out of the ordinary. Will the players be going into the first game of the season worrying about getting 4th? not at all. Will they look back at JWH's comments here towards the end of the season and suddenly let panic seep in? Nope! As Ze Liverbird says Kenny always aims high so i don't think it's possible JWH can put more pressure on the players than Kenny will on either them or himself. Kenny Dalglish wins football matches, it's about time we sent 11 players out every week who do the same. Ben Foster said he couldn't hack the pressure to win at Man Utd, but surprise surprise the ones who could have won the league.
Well, I think Rafa's "Facts rant" (which wasn't even a rant.. but anyway) actually ended up with Rafa putting pressure on the players in the dressing room. I can't think of any other reason why our form started to falter after that. Hodgson had a lot of problems, not sure anything in particular can be singled out . You're right about JWH, but I just felt that the comment was made at the wrong moment. Straight after the disappointing Valeranga draw, confidence is possibly down within the team, and at that point it requires Kenny to set it right. Ok perhaps the comment doesn't put pressure on the players, but I do feel the comment was made at the wrong time.
Well he owns the club, can say what he wans. I think this will give the players a wake up call from the dross served up so far. Should motivate them.
Probably exactly what he is thinking," Hey, we shelled out for you, we got you KK, now buck up and get back in the top 4."
There shouldn't be excuses for a lack of a success. I reckon we're healthier now than we've been in a while and now is the time to deliver and that must mean putting silverware on the table.
I agree. I think top 4 will be tough given our defence, but I do expect a cup, or at least very close to one.
B4F. I don't necessarily think there is a whole lot wrong with the defence apart from ironing out a few mistakes. The forwards are just as culpable as the defenders for conceding goals as the Liverpool way has been to defend from the front. I'm not really all that worried to be honest. Kenny has said the hard work starts now in preparation for the big kick-off.
