I know this is from yesterday but somebody had to do it... {LINK} What are peoples thought on this...? Although I think the players should be aiming for fourth as a minimum and they should be confident of achieving their goals, I wish they wouldn't speak out like this, it only raises expectations from outside the club. Unless we somehow bag to quality attacking players in January then we have no chance of the top four IMO. If (big if) we do get those two players then it will only be an outside chance
I wasn't aiming for Top 4 at the start of the season but it's not completely impossible. I won't be disappointed if we don't get it but it would nice to be around there come the end of the season.
Something would be very wrong if the players were not aiming for it, how realistic that target is would be up for debate. I'm still aiming for us winning the League while the maths say we can.
I think ultimately a severe lack of strength in depth will mean we miss out on 4th and get a realistic finish of 6th. I feel the current starting XI can really find some form, but in general Arsenal and Spurs have the stronger squads (mainly as they are more gelled), but if they experience injuries then who knows. Also, if we sign a top striker in January that could be a real game changer...
Spot on, if we can get some points on the board up to Jan and then bring someone in it may have a big impact on our season.
I think our aim should be to keep within 5-10 points of fourth till' the end of January, then depending on who we sign and if they can hit the grounding we could really push on. With also Lucas, Borini and Kelly coming back, the re-emergence of Enrique our squad could be looking pretty decent by the end of January. That's a lot of if's and but's though, personally I think we'll finish somewhere between 5th and 8th, but we are Liverpool and we should always aim high and I'm quietly optimistic we could pull something off this season. Or most likely we lose against Swansea this weekend and we all go back to the doom and gloom.
It's also interesting that after our worst start in over 100 years with arguably our best and most influential player injured we are still only 5 points of 4th (8 including WBA but no disrespect, I am not including them as I think they will drop off shortly)
I agree that west brom should enjoy it while it lasts. dec/jan will be very busy for them and while their home form seems good i think they will get the usual awakening and drop down the table. I'd like us to be within 6points worst case of 4th
Nothing wrong with aiming as high as you can, pretty sure every player and club starts the season with the aim of winning something. Wouldnt be much of a professional if you didnt. But then I'm sure everyone has a realistic view of where they'll end up. How this season has gone so far 4th is very open and with a good run there are 5-6 teams that could all end up in 4th. But I think we'll finish 6th.
This shows high tight it is: http://www.oddschecker.com/football/english/premier-league/premier-league/top-4-finish Arsenal are clear favourites for 4th which is to be expected, given their squad strength and experience of achieving top 4 every season. Then Spurs, Pool and Everton are barely separated in the prices.
At least it answers the accusation posted on here (I can't remember who, wasn't a red) who stated that BR's realistic view of our situation a week or so ago would have the players giving up or being demoralised Apparently not.
That fat lady's got a lot to answer for! Whilst it would be nice to say that it's been a strange start to the season - it hasn't! There's always at least one of the favourites who start slowly. There's always a 'rank outsider' like Blackpool (this season read Everton or West Brom - and before anybody starts that's not meant as any form of disrespect). Over the last 4 seasons there's always been Liverpool as the team in crisis or under-performing or deluded in their expectations. So this season is no different and it won't truly start to shake itself out until Mid January at the earliest. For us it's the mistakes made in the transfer market and the inclusion of so much youth plus the injury to Lucas that has made us question our final position. It would have been hard enough trying to adapt to a new style of play with a settled side. But when did we ever do things the easy way? I've no idea where we will finish the season. If we can get 4th its a bonus for me. What I do want is to see a side in the 2013/14 season that has the quality to challenge for the title.
Irrespective of where you finish this season, I think it's totally unrealistic to be seeing a side next year that is capable of a sustained title challenge. You're highly unlikely to make the top 4 this season, so next year that would surely be your goal from the off, as opoosed to this seasons "better than 8th"
