What are your expectations for the coming season ?

[Glen C]

I'll be gutted if i see that team. We need a striker with a better first touch, who's quick and better movement.

[PaulMcC]

Why do you keep saying that? Dalglish wasnt sacked for not finishing 4th aswell you know.

 

Didn't Ayre say something along the lines of cup competitions don't really matter, we have to come 4th?

[Delmar]

With this group of players I'd expect top three if the manager is doing his job.

[the walsh]

a push for fourth beat the shite teams should give a far healthier total.

i reckon the manc sides and the chavs will be top3 and hopefuly we can be in the mix with arsenal spurs and newcastle for fourth a kind first few fixtures for me is a key if we could get a few wins at the start that will give the players confidence and hopefuly we can build from there in the mix for fourth with five games left and good run in europe and a cup and i would think that would be a decent first season

[RobbieOR]

Didn't Ayre say something along the lines of cup competitions don't really matter, we have to come 4th?

 

Yeah, he did. But that doesnt mean Dalglish was sacked for not doing that. He was sacked for finishing miles away from it.

[PaulMcC]

Yeah, he did. But that doesnt mean Dalglish was sacked for not doing that. He was sacked for finishing miles away from it.

 

They should've said that, then.

 

Ayre gave the impression that a trophy and no CL place wasn't good enough whatever the circumstances.

 

I'm not saying i want Rodgers sacked if he just misses out on CL.

[Pony Princess]

As long as we are at least challenging for top 4, I will be satisfied.

[Jack the Sipper]

I expect us to finish between 4th and 6th, and with a higher points total than last season. Where exactly will depend on the transfer window and how quickly the players adapt to Rodgers ideas.

[Captain]

Didn't Ayre say something along the lines of cup competitions don't really matter, we have to come 4th?

 

Not really. Unless you disregard half of what he said.

[Jennings]

I expect to take my seat in the main stand with plenty of first match intrigue and optimism. I expect the new manager to get a great Anfield welcome. Naturally I will be excited. In the subsequent games, I will be looking for glimpses of changes in playing style. I will be optimistically scrutinizing everything, from team formation through to the individual's attitude and ability. I will be attempting to read between the lines at our new manager's interviews. I expect discipline to shine through.

 

I expect to see new style to our football - perhaps not revolutionary. I expect to see a few new faces in the team. Some I am sure will do well, others won't. I expect they will be potential emerging talent rather than household named world stars.

 

So, on to the tangibles. I expect us to get more points than last season. I expect us to win more home games.

[No2]

I'm a natural optimist so I find it hard to agree with those that say Arsenal and Spurs have better squads than us. As it stands right now all 3 are fairly equal, we were 4 points behind Arsenal with a game in hand when we lost to them at Anfield. I know its all if's but's and maybe's but we should have hammered them that day, moved to within a point and faced into as handy a run in as you could wish for. Since then we lost something (whatever it was Rodgers can get it back), Spurs also went into free-fall and while Arsenal took advantage, they didn't or don't look anything special plus they WILL sell RVP to City. 6 of the probable starting XI on the opening day finished 2nd just 3 seasons ago, if the other 5 can contribute at least something towards the minimum requirement (I'm looking at Downing and Carroll) then I see no reason not to be hopeful.

 

I expect to challenge for a champions league spot and at least be in the mix at easter. I can accept finishing 5th or 6th but not below Newcastle or Everton, that must be viewed as failure, same way as last season was.

[julian dicks]

for now 4th./3rd.i feel the appointment of Rodgers will be like 1959,and as shanks said when Ron Yeates wore the full red kit....he looks like a fucking giant....well in our new no fuss,just golden liverbird and LFC shirts,we`ll look like fucking giants. each player needs to get his name chanted pre kick off and the volume needs to be cranked up for ALL games. ever player taps the this is anfield sign,and goes onto that pitch pumped up and feeling unbeatable. give 3/4 seasons and i,m sure we shall enjoy the success of those pre prem years

[elvis]

Hopeful of top 4 finish , if I didn't believe we could overhall either spurs or arsenal I wouldn't even bother watching .

[Ranxerox]

Didn't Ayre say something along the lines of cup competitions don't really matter, we have to come 4th?

 

they've already said Rodgers doesen't have to come 4th next year, he's got his full contract to do it....maybe longer

[Ranxerox]

Hopeful of top 4 finish , if I didn't believe we could overhall either spurs or arsenal I wouldn't even bother watching .

 

first we have to overhaul Everton, Chelsea and Newcastle, and stay ahead of Fulham,with pretty much the same players trying to adjust to a new system. I suppose its possible but its going to be a tall order.

[RedPaul]

Fuck me there are some yellow-bellied whoppers on here today. Maybe it's me, but the minute we start reducing our expectations will be the moment we start realising those expectations. It seems to me many will be happy to be 'surprised' by a 4th place finish! I mean what the fuck has happened compared to expectations of a top 2/3 finish three years ago? Under the previous wankers of owners mediocrity was not good enough, yet now we seem to have a general acceptance that we are nowhere near good enough to even expect a challenge for the top 4? There's also this ridiculous attitude that the league is everything when the club actually exists to win trophies, like you know, we did last year! We should be winning trophies and challenging for the title.

 

Right, let's disect this a little.

 

Firstly our league performance last season was clearly unacceptable, mainly I would say because of our poor home form. That wont happen again, so you can expect more points there, quite a lot more. Our away form was reasonable and given our squad I would expect us to at least match it. In spite of our disappointing league campaign we won a major cup competition, yes people we added another trophy to our cabinet AND we reached another cup final. Any trophy is a fantastic result and I expect at least one good cup run this year. Yes I expect that as we had two last year.

 

The new players last year underperformed yet there were signs from Carroll towards the end that he might just start to be the beast we all want him to be. I also expect Henderson to improve and show some balls, as well as Downing to get over his 'help, I'm at a big club act' and create more opportunities and perhaps even score a few goals! This is assuming they all stay.

 

Many players for one reason or another need time to settle in. I can understand it with Carroll, who left his home club which he loved, and somewhat with Henderson, who is clearly still a boy, but it is now time for them both to man up and I fully expect them to and their performances to reflect that. So with these improvements plus Suarez, Bellamy, Gerrard, Reina, Lucas back, one of the best defences in the league (if not the best at the moment), a couple of very promising youngsters (Sterling, Kelly, Robinson), and a couple of good additions I can't see where all this fucking negativity is coming from. Van Persie FC's squad is not so impressive, neither is the Scums, both just have managers who get the most out of them. We should always be above Newcastle and Spurs, both have been playing well, but their squads are thin and have clear weaknesses.

 

I actually expect a bit of a Rodgers bounce and a good start to the season, the test for him will be a couple of months in. He should clearly be given time to develop his style of play and get his own players, but we should not accept any mediocrity, not that I expect he'll accept it either given his interviews. There needs to be a tangible improvement and a challenge for the top 4, especially if we are going to place less emphasis on the cups. Just because we have an inexperienced manager we should not allow him to be able to accept mediocrity (not that he would). It's disrespectful to him, to the club, and to our history.

 

The minute we, the fans, start expecting finishes outside of the top 4 is the moment when we really do become the mid-table club I fear we are slowly transforming into. You know, like Newcastle, Spurs, the bitters, or Villa a couple of years ago, who are happy to make the top 7 and be pleasantly surprised by a 4th place finish. I do not want us to be that type of club and I hate seeing such expectations creeping in amongst our fans. It fucking scares me that we might see this continued creeping lowering of expectations season upon season until one day we wake up and are pleased with a top 10 fucking finish! It is up to us fans to support the club and the manager but also to make it clear that mediocrity in the longer term will not be accepted. That's if we want to stay at the very top of the game, where we DO belong. We are really not that far behind the best. There are only ever 11 players on the pitch, it's not that difficult!

[Bobby Hundreds]

Got to agree, top 4 is my minimum expectation anything less is a poor league return. I don't believe the manager should be sacked for such but the aim should always be high. We used to be happy if we were challenging for the leagues then it was top 3 then it was top 4 now it's around top 4. I don't think we have fallen that far, we do have an excellent core group of players. I think if the manager can get them to play to their ability and be wise enough to use youth players if and when nessecary and then when you look at how shit pretty much every top team was last year we could walk top 4. I'm going to be positive.

[PaulMcC]

they've already said Rodgers doesen't have to come 4th next year, he's got his full contract to do it....maybe longer

 

Complete joke they wouldn't give Kenny the same sort of time scale, then.

[silverlining]

With this group of players I'd expect top three if the manager is doing his job.

 

That is fucking ridiculous.

 

I think we'll have a better idea when Rodgers has completed his transfer business, but our current squad is worse than the Arabs, United, Chelsea, Arsenal and Spurs. And probably Newcastle.

 

Of course, we don't know what their squads will look like after summer either, but we will finish below Arsenal, Arabs, United and Chelsea, so the very most we can realistically hope for is 5th, and if we persist with arguable the worst midfield in the Premiership, and Adam, spearing, Downing and Horrenderson play regularly, we will be about 8th again.

[RobbieOR]

Rodgers wont have to work with more or less the same group of players unless he wants to.

 

Anyone who says otherwise is an idiot.

[Liquid football]

It's fucking hilarious that some people just dont get it. No-one is saying they would be truly happy finishing 6th or 7th. No-one is going to be truly happy until we have won the league. Not one person.

 

People are evaluating how good they think the team is, where we are at in terms of the club/manager and then basically trying to objectively guess where they think we would finish if they were to predict the league table. So if someone thinks we are only good enough to expect a league finish of 6th they would be "happy" with a league position of 5th or 6th. They would be surprised if we finished 3rd or 4th because they think there are better teams than us. It's called trying to be objective.

 

These people who are saying "i expect 4th because, hey, i 'm not one of those idiots lowering their expectations". Why dont you expect 1st? Pussy. Surely it's 1st or nothing? You've lowered your expectations. You are what's wrong with this club.

 

No. All you've actually done is lowered your expectations marginally less than the other people that you're criticising.

[silverlining]

That Redpaul post is a miserable, bleeding abortion

[Kevin D]

they've already said Rodgers doesen't have to come 4th next year, he's got his full contract to do it....maybe longer

 

Do you have a link to, or remember where you read that? I think that's quite stunning if he has said that..

[Liquid football]

they've already said Rodgers doesen't have to come 4th next year, he's got his full contract to do it....maybe longer

 

No chance they said that

[Il Fenomeno]

Do you have a link to, or remember where you read that? I think that's quite stunning if he has said that..

 

David Anderson from the Mirror tweeted it. Dunno how reliable he is, and he seems to have deleted it now so who knows how accurate it was...