I have to admit when you talked earlier about Liverpool being in a relegation battle I thought it was a bit of a WUM and being melodramatic but having reflected you might be right. WBA away was on paper the most winnable game Liverpool had of the opening 6 fixtures. I expressed this when the fixtures were released. Look at the games they have coming up: Premier League Liverpool v Man City Sun 26 Aug 16:00 Premier League Liverpool v Arsenal Sun 2 Sep 13:30 Premier League Sunderland v Liverpool Sat 15 Sep 17:30 Premier League Liverpool v Man Utd Sun 23 Sep 13:30 Premier League Norwich v Liverpool Sat 29 Sep 15:00 I'm no betting man (Well I am kind of) but I look at these fixtures and I don't see where the wins are coming from. Law of averages suggests United will have to win their this season. I can't envisage United being so awful at Anfield for the 6th time running. They could get a point of Aguero-less City but that's it. I reckon Arsenal will give them a football lesson, Sunderland are better than WBA IMO and that could be an upset. To finish 4th you can normally ill afford to lose any more than 10 games. Is it inconceivable that from those games Liverpool could lose 3 already (possibly 4). Take into consideration neither us, Newcastle, Everton or you lot are amongst those fixtures. It's not inconceivable they could lose 10 by New Year. Perhaps knee jerk I know but I've seen nothing to suggest Rodgers is going to be able to transform them into some kind of North England Barcelona they believe and I could foresee a relegation battle or midtable at best.
I do worry for them. There was a time when I considered Liverpool strong opposition. In fact outside the North London duo it was my most eagerly anticipated game but even though we've declined since then it's scary to see the kind of gap there is. Liverpool at current are no better than Fulham. I think 12/1 Rodgers first manager sacked is decent. As poor as Liverpool have been the one thing they had going for them was that they could defend, now they don't even have that and are easily beatable.
Arsenal looks their easiest fixture They dominated the game last season but poor finishing let them down
Their recent record against Arsenal at Anfield is abysmal. I could be wrong but I don't think they've beaten them there in any competition since Neil Mellor. Arsenal could leave them chasing Shadows, especially if rumours are to be believed Sahin is on his way there. With Sahin and Cazorla Arsenal would have a very accomplished midfield. Their best since 07/08
I called it as I saw it, DL. They were pants last season, with a pants squad and a pants manger. To improve even a little bit (let alone drastically), they needed to get rid of at least half their squad and replace it with quality, and they needed to get in a manager who was better than Kenny-boy. Their squad remains pants, and they have a Championship-quality manager. Ergo, they are in serious trouble.
They beat us 4-1 in the 06/07 season. Crouch with the perfect hat-trick also there was that CL win for them in 07/08 season. But since, then, we have been unbeaten at Anfield.
I'm not counting that CL Win as it wasn't a proper win in my eyes. Arsenal totally outplayed them and once they realised they couldn't win they resorted to cheating. Forgot about the 4-1, Crouch turned G*llas inside out that day
The recent results are not worth much as a guide If you had to pick a game for Liverpool to win from those five, you'd pick the home game against a team that has lost two important players
I think Liverpool haven't been the same since they gave up their "Charge of the Light Bigade/100 miles an hour" football which reduced other teams to a nervous wreck....even their fans are much quieter these days.
From that list, Norwich is their most winnable game. Norwich looked incredibly poor yesterday and I think them losing Lambert is a far bigger loss than us losing RVP and Song. Lambert took them from league 1 to the Prem. He worked a minor miracle with that club.
Well I think City without Aguero are a lot more threatening than Arsenal without RVP But that's what an unlimited budget will do
They did alright today without him scoring 3 to Arsenal's 0, creating a sackful of chances to Arsenal's handfull. With Tevez, Dzeko and Balotelli there's no need for them to start panicking.
I never said they'd be relegated. I said they could (as in "it's quite likely") find themselves caught up in the relegation battle. 4th is and always was nothing more than a Mouser pipe-dream.
They have Tevez who is better then Aguero on his day. I think he is about to have a massively successful season.
