Other football 2016/17.

[Iceman]

Probably not running around looking like a duck.

[Guest]

Chelsea have won the league irrespective of what we do tomorrow!

 

If I remember rightly Liverpool in the season where we almost won the League (2014?) won a whole load of matches in a row to open up a nice lead. It was only in the last few matches where the lead was overturned and Man City won the League.

 

At this stage it looks very likely Chelsea will romp it but it's by no means guaranteed.

 

They are lucky though...

 

[Lee909]

We never had a nice lead really. Even after we had played 35 games we had 6pts on City though they had a game in hand and had dropped 7pts in the previous 6 games.

 

We should have seen it out but its a myth we blew a big lead. City had it wrapped up drew a game,lost at Anfield and drew another giving us a lead. We won 12 games on the bounce before Chelsea and pretty much needed to go 15 games unbeaten to win the title. Its was a big ask at the start byt we should have seen it over the line

[jamespp]

remember when we beat a poor Chelsea side? it'll go wrong for them soon, they would of been better off playing like this in March

[Grinch]

We're not even title challengers. It'll be an over achieving to finish top four and Klopp has us well positioned to do so.

[Hades]

We're not even title challengers. It'll be an over achieving to finish top four and Klopp has us well positioned to do so.

This, we all got carried away because the big 3 were underachieving and we were overachieving. Fact is, when the big 3 can be arsed and have a brilliant coach other teams don't stand a chance. Best hope is cup competitions like in the Rafa era.

[jimmycase]

Chelsea have won the league irrespective of what we do tomorrow!

 

Have they fuck. Its theirs to throw away but they havent won it yet.

 

We're not even title challengers. It'll be an over achieving to finish top four and Klopp has us well positioned to do so.

 

We're as much title challengers as anyone else in the pack. I'll be fucking fuming if we finish lower than 2nd.

 

This, we all got carried away because the big 3 were underachieving and we were overachieving. Fact is, when the big 3 can be arsed and have a brilliant coach other teams don't stand a chance. Best hope is cup competitions like in the Rafa era.

 

I dont get this 'give up' mentality. The reason we've done fuck all in the league since 1990 is because the club has allowed itself to make its comfort zone winning a cup here and there as a consolation.

 

It used to be great winning the FA Cup and yes, I still get a bit of a kick out of winning but since the 'big 3' as you call them plus most other clubs stopped playing their strongest 11 and instead packed their teams with younger players, that kick is a lot less than it used to be.

 

As for the league cup, we celebrated like fuck last time we won it when we beat a second tier club on penalties.

 

Im sick and fucking tired of this club not winning the title. Fuck me, Leicester and Blackburn have been champions of England more recently than us. Let that sink in a bit, fucking Leicester and Blackburn for fucks sake.

 

Winning a cup doesnt come close to satisfying my desire to be the best club in the league and showing it by being league winners.

[an tha]

The problem is we have gone so long now without winning the title that it hangs around our necks and drags us all down.

 

It creates pressure that players struggle with and crack under - it causes fans to be so pessimistic (hands up I am one of them) and the longer it goes the worse it gets...

 

It is almost like we are cursed at times it feels, which I know is bollocks but it just feels like that - so many times down the years teams have to go close and just miss out before cracking it, yet whenever we have gone close we implode after and end up doing shite....look at 2014/15 after coming so close the year before...2009/10 the same.

 

It is probably a symptom of the pessimism I mentioned earlier in this post but we also seem to always find our good years coincide with another team being unbelievable....take this season - here we are sitting on potentially as many as 43 points after 19 games, we will have 40 after 18 if we win today....yet it is not enough to lead the way - last season 39 after 19 was enough to lead.

 

The two times we have finished 2nd in recentish times we managed pts totals or number of games lost that would more often than not win a title but weren't good enough - then we see Leicester win it with a pts total that wouldn't have broken the Top 3 in 2014!Their triumph is a once in a generation fluke and whilst it was a great story and fair do's to them, it won't happen for another club for a fucking age that all the big guns were shite in same season....Arsenal finished 2nd with 71 pts for fucks sake - I would wager 71 won't get Top 4 this year.

 

All these things and more seem to create an unclimeable mountain for us when it comes to the title and Klopp is dead on when he says we have to turn from 'doubters to believers' but it is just so hard when all the history of the last 26 years of failure, let downs, bad luck, finishing 4th in a 2 horse race, false dawns, collapses from nearly winning it to finishing 7th or 8th the next year, somehow not winning it when only losing twice all season and doing the double over both Man Utd and Chelsea, our best ever PL era leader and player slipping and us going on to concede a goal and then lose a game that had we won we would surely have won the title etc etc etc. We as fans carry this baggage and of course the players are aware of it and it all makes for a toxic mix that seems to suffocate us.

[an tha]

On the FA cup thing as well, we have managed to go 10 years now without lifting that trophy and we have often treated it with contempt as well - something which baffles me.

 

The League Cup arguably has been treated with more respect by us and whilst I am from the 'we should go full tilt' at everything school of thought if you must jib off one comp then i suppose the league cup would be the one - we though last year for example seemed to prioritise it over the fa cup.

[TheHowieLama]

 I'll be fucking fuming if we finish lower than 2nd.

 

 

[magicrat]

Lets get Stoke out of the way and chill about the league.

It's unlikely we will finish above Chelsea but not impossible. They are away at Spurs next week and come to Anfield at the end of Jan, If the gap gets no wider before then it could be a 3 point gap going into February , If's and buts I know but not given it up yet, All this objectivity will of course go completely out of the window should we fail to turn over Hughes and his Orcs later. 

[jimmycase]

All clubs prioritise. Those clubs referred to as the 'big 3' (WTF!?) in an earlier post probably rpioritise winning something like

 

PL \ CL

FAC

LC

 

We seem to prioritise

 

Top 5 PL finish

Qualify for Europe

FAC \ LC

 

Im a firm believer in the addage if you think you'll finish second, dont be surprised when you do. I know its not as black or white in football but we seem to be of the mindset, we cant challenge for \ win the league so we'll settle for a cup.

 

That's only a couple of steps up from newcastle united.

 

I dont buy into the 'there's always someone better than us when we go close.' We just werent good enough in those years.

 

The article about the nutritional changes being introduced into the club are yet another example of how far behind we have been. That's being put right and I dont think its a co incidence that the team have in my opinion, the fittest they've ever been and its starting to show on the pitch.

[Ronnie Whelan]

I feel if we make it to the end of January in the mix,we have a genuine chance of the league title.

 

The next few games are gigantic. Stoke won't be easy and City and United will be utterly massive games. Chelsea at the end of the month then to cap of a potentially shite/brilliant few weeks. Throw in the away game at Sunderland and a home game with Swansea where anything less than 6 points will be a kick in the bollox big time.

 

Chelsea have the best team,a great manager and no champions league. I guess you never know though.

 

I can't help but feel that we will go very close though. We have become a very good team,even if we still have serious weaknesses in our starting 11. Our desire to attack under Klopp and our fitness levels means that while we are always liable for a Bournemouth resul,we will win a lot of games.

 

A little concerned by the Mancs. However,they have had a handy set of games.

[Carvalho Diablo]

[Joey8FrogsLegs]

All clubs prioritise. Those clubs referred to as the 'big 3' (WTF!?) in an earlier post probably rpioritise winning something like

 

PL \ CL

FAC

LC

 

We seem to prioritise

 

Top 5 PL finish

Qualify for Europe

FAC \ LC

 

Im a firm believer in the addage if you think you'll finish second, dont be surprised when you do. I know its not as black or white in football but we seem to be of the mindset, we cant challenge for \ win the league so we'll settle for a cup.

 

That's only a couple of steps up from newcastle united.

 

I dont buy into the 'there's always someone better than us when we go close.' We just werent good enough in those years.

 

The article about the nutritional changes being introduced into the club are yet another example of how far behind we have been. That's being put right and I dont think its a co incidence that the team have in my opinion, the fittest they've ever been and its starting to show on the pitch.

Good post. And very good point on the nutrition, which again of course is closely linked with fitness. I said on here two or three years ago that we looked physically inferior compared especially to teams we faced in Europe. And most of those were far from the European elite. Those days are gone, fitness wise I think we can compete with the best now. And we'll only get stronger as the current regime has had limited time to work together.

[Joey8FrogsLegs]

We never had a nice lead really. Even after we had played 35 games we had 6pts on City though they had a game in hand and had dropped 7pts in the previous 6 games.

 

We should have seen it out but its a myth we blew a big lead. City had it wrapped up drew a game,lost at Anfield and drew another giving us a lead. We won 12 games on the bounce before Chelsea and pretty much needed to go 15 games unbeaten to win the title. Its was a big ask at the start byt we should have seen it over the line

This. Not surprised a different story is being told by fans from other clubs, pundits etc. A little more surprising that many reds buy into it.

[Lee909]

Bob Bradley booted from Swansea

[an tha]

Pardew be back in work within days then as Bradley gets bin bagged...

[Lee909]

Bit crap 11 fucking games.

 

Carra getting on the foreigner bandwagon a bit there too

 

Shouldn't have sacked Monk

 

That'll be that cunt Pardew in them.

[PestiRed]

Once again the anti-US bias in European football is demonstrated

 

Or maybe Bradley is just shit

 

Hope Giggs relegates them

[RedKnight]

Bradley was absolutely shit and didn't have the qualifications for the job.

[Strontium]

Carra getting on the foreigner bandwagon a bit there too

 

Bob Bradley is stopping his brothers getting work.

[Jairzinho]

Bradley was absolutely shit and didn't have the qualifications for the job.

Give it Giggsy.

[Guest Pistonbroke]

Swansea are away to palace on the 3rd January, bound to be Pardew. 

[moof]

I heard Stevie was one of the bookies favourites. Hope he doesn't do it, sounds like a recipe for disaster