So far we have played 20 league games this season. I feel we have been through a few stages this season where form has been a bit of a roller coaster. Here is a break down of our season split into groups of 5 games. Lets see how well we have really progressed. Games 1-5: Points gained: 2 Goal scorers: Suarez 2, Skrtel 1, Gerrard 1. Results: Wins 0, Draws 2, Losses 3. Summary: A poor start in terms of points, but a very tough run of fixtures made it a huge challenge. Worst result was against West Brom, but it turns out they have carried on playing very well ever since. Games 6-10: Points gained: 9 Goal scorers: Suarez 5, Sahin 1, Sterling 1, OG 2. Results: Wins 2, Draws 3, Losses 0. Unbeaten. Summary: Our joint best run of five points wise. It is also Suarez's best for goals. Some good results, but a big reliance on Suarez for goals. Games 11-15: Points: 8 Goal scorers: Suarez 3, Enrique 1, Agger 1, OG 1. Results: Wins 2, Draws 2, Defeats 1. Summary: A mixed period. Some good games, some bad games. We grabbed a few draws in games where we didnt really play well. Games 16-20: Points: 9 Goal scorers: Suarez 3, Gerrard 3, Johnson 1, Skrtel 1, Downing 1, Agger 1, OG 1. Results: Wins 3, Draws 0, Losses 2. Summary: Our joint best run of 5 for points, and also for goals. This month saw the rest of the team finally start to chip in with goals on a consistant basis. Especially Gerrard. This run of 5 saw much less reliance on Suarez for goals. But Suarez still had a great month himself. Our best run of 5 was from games 16-20 where points were joint best and more players scored, and games 6-10 where we were unbeaten. Our worst was from games 1-5, but we played some very tough games. From games 1-10 we gained 11 points. From games 11-20 we gained 17 points. This shows that things have improved. Even if it is not at such a fast tempo. if we carry on as we are we will be in a much better place come the end of the season. Thoughts?
You've gained more points in games 11-20 as you've had easier fixtures than in games 1-10. You're playing the same now as you did at the start of the season imo.
its far easier to breack the season into groups of 4 games. if you take 9/10 points out of every 12 you'll win the league. if you take 7 you'll get 4th. we are taking 1.4 points out of 3 which is 5.6 points out of 12.... thats simply nowhere near good enough. we will be on for 53 points at our current point taking form... thats a massive 17 points off 4th. if you look at it honestly we would need to take 2.33 points per game til the end of the seaon to get to 70 points. = 9.33 points out of 12. OR in other words i think we need to show champions form to get to 4th... not going to happen. we've not taken 9/12 all year. if we win tonight and ignore the villa game then we will have won 3 out of 4.... then we have a break with the fa cup and then our fixtures read; Man utd A Norwich H Arsenal A City A West brom H I defy any LFC fan to pick out a 9/12 in this. This means we MUST beat sunderland and dig in for the new year cos we are going to be reamed if not..... BTW... first excuse prediction is new players bedding in! (i hope)
But what you're forgetting is that most of the competition we're facing for 4th are just as inconsistent as us at the moment. I don't fancy Spurs, Everton, West Brom or Arsenal to start providing Champions form, so it isn't necessary for us to start providing it either. We just have to be better than those 4 teams, which I think we absolutely can be in 2013.
i reckon West Brom will drop off the pace, not sure about the other 3 to be honest, they might just do enough to stay roughly where they are at the moment. we are up and down, so for me its a case of which team turns up on the day, no reason why we cant get top 6 with how others are performing, but we are just as inconsistent as they are.
We've got to visit Old Trafford, Etihad and The Emirates in the next five league games too Edit: Yep, MITO beat me to it
I agree that they might well be our biggest challengers, and to be honest that doesn't bother me. I want AVB to do well because I thought the criticism levelled his way by the ****ty English media was ridiculous, reminded me of the the criticism Benitez used to have to deal with for squad rotation/zonal marking/anything that wasn't 4-4-2.
YOUR biggest challengers? haha, you're not in the race mate & after the next 5 games, that'll be crystal clear.
Being a bit pedantic there. Fine, I think they'll be our biggest COMPETITORS for 4th place. Not saying that we're favourites to get 4th, or destined to get 4th or anything. Don't be a moron mate.
crunpet, that is fair to say they are inconsistent but are also a fair few points ahead of us right now too. however i think its also ok to say that 3rd and 4th last year was 70 and 60 points respectively. I think 4th will be the same again. we're on 28 points. 70 is 42points away and more than half the season is gone. we need 2.33 points per game to make 70 conversely spurs have 39 from 21 and chelsea have 38 from 19.... if we look to spurs for 4th then they need 31 more points from 17 games = 1.823 points per game or 7.3 points out of 12. by my logic i'd put them slightly behind the form needed for 4th if 70 is the standard but they can win 2 and draw one, lose one and get there while we need to win 3 out of 4. There's no chance of us catching that. thats just my opinion based o nthe fact we need to resolve form all over the pitch. I do think we can be better than west brom and everton, we might just catch arsenal if they continue to be terrible but 4th is highly unlikely right now. A run of ten games won would be nice but again i point to 3 away games i highlighted.. by the time we play city we could be so far off its not worth talking about. this is why i think sunderland is a must win game and then we need to dig in and become very hard to beat.
Why the 70 point target though? I know that's the usual target for top 4, but this season really has been strange in terms of teams dropping points where they really shouldn't. After 19 games only 3 teams were over halfway to getting 70 points by the end of season. United, City and Chelsea. I appreciate the leg-work you've done for a lot of these stats, but I think that they can be extremely misleading. In 2009 we had a more than acceptable points tally to win the league, and yet we somehow finished second. I agree Sunderland is a must win game, but only because I think we need to start the calendar year off positively to try and distance ourselves from the general disappointment of 2012. Also, barring last season, we are notorious for finishing the season strongly and there's definitely been signs of improvement recently to back that up. I'm quietly confident of 5th place, and maybe a bit naievely optimistic we can claim 4th even though I know it's unlikely.
I still have doubts of finishing in Europa or above where we did last season. We've just had a run of easy games... Depends a lot on how having an actual striker improves things for us.
i say 70 points as if you look back over the past 10-15 years 4th has nearly always been 70point sor above. there have been one or two years where its been down to 65. i therefore say 70 to be "sure" of it. if spurs and chelsea are at 38 and 39 they are just about on track, spurs might be just a little off pace but only slightly.. I would not be so sure about 5th, i think perhaps 6th if we do well but 5th would be my optimistic perdiction. like i said if we go win 10 in a row then anythings possible.
Which is just as funny You're not even in the running mate, that's the entire point. You've not beaten any side from the top half of the table & yet you're clinging onto the thought that 4th is a serious possibility? You've got no chance of finishing 4th this season.
think the point is TB, for how much we have been shiite and not beating a top 10 team yet, we are more than capable of doing so at any point, and we are not that far off 4th, so if we could get some consistency no reason why we couldn't. i think top 6 we would be lucky personally, but the form of others above us isn't great and if you and WBA can keep your form going then fair play. also your point about not beating a top half team yet is a bit cheeky, considering we was conned out of 3pts against you lot.
Really? Then why hasn't it happened in 20 games then mate? You've not had any consistency for over a calendar year & your recent form offers nothing to suggest that you're about to find any. You've climbed the table of late, but entirely as a result of playing some of the leagues worst sides, largely at home. Most of the reds on this site are quite realistic by average kopite standards tbf, but there's the odd rawk'esque poster amongst your number
just answered that one didn't i in saying we got conned against you lot???? there have been a few games where no arguments we deserved to lose, but a lot of them is because we haven't taken our chances in games or killed them off, which maybe who knows(you mystic meg?) we might stand more of a chance now we have more than one striker in the team. find it funny we have gone this long with one striker and we are not far off 4th yet you lot above are so fecking amazing, why are you not miles ahead of us shiite then, or we got no chance of catching anyone? and throwing that rawk crap at me i said we would be lucky to get top 6 finish was my opinion, and you sadly have latched on to me saying 4th is a possibility, quite sad!
