So have we settled to be a Mid Table team?

[xerxes]

There can be little doubt that FSG's objective is a top four finish.

 

There can also be little doubt that a "football lite" board is ill-equipped to deliver that.

 

It's down to Brendan.

[Torvald Utne]

Missed out on a 4th striker and all of a sudden 4th place is unrealistic, bunch of drama queens

[zigackly]

Missed out on a 4th striker and all of a sudden 4th place is unrealistic, bunch of drama queens

 

It's been unrealistic for three years and is getting more so all the time, have you been buried in a time capsule down the bottom of your garden?

[stringvest]

We have a better first team than we've had for a good while. When Lucas gets fit, we've got decent back up for mf, and hopefully Sterling will work his way into becoming a regular starter for the team by the end of the season.

We are light in out and out goal scoring attackers - worryingly so. It is incumbent on the whole team to contribute. And Rodgers team will be set up to allow that to happen.

 

Far from ideal, but far from a disaster.

[zigackly]

We have a better first team than we've had for a good while.

 

I don't see it stringy. Allen is an improvement, but the jury is still out on the rest, and we are lighter on attackers than I think I've ever seen us.

[Elite]

We have a very capable squad but due to lack of options up top, we are hoping for Rodgers to exceed all expectations and for us to be very lucky with injuries.

 

We have some excellent players let's not forget that and some players with great potential.

 

FSG have hindered us with their lack of backing for Rodgers but he's under no real pressure now to deliver fourth as no one expects it.

[Aldonose]

We have a very capable squad but due to lack of options up top, we are hoping for Rodgers to exceed all expectations and for us to be very lucky with injuries.

 

We have some excellent players let's not forget that and some players with great potential.

 

FSG have hindered us with their lack of backing for Rodgers but he's under no real pressure now to deliver fourth as no one expects it.

 

That's ok saying he's not under any pressure to get 4th, but another season out of the champions league will make it harder to keep our better players. Also, just as importantly, harder to attract the top players.

[Tommy Lawrence]

Missed out on a 4th striker and all of a sudden 4th place is unrealistic, bunch of drama queens

 

Who's the third?

[Rafiagra]

I would have liked us to get a striker but Dempsey wasn't the be all and end all. Give the young lads a run in the other comps and stick with Sterling, Suarez and Borini in the league.

 

The way that Jerome Sinclair is scoring, I'd be tempted to give him 10 mins here or there.

[xerxes]

Who's the third?

 

Suarez, Borini, Morgan.

 

I suspect that Gerrard will be used "in the hole" in a striking role too - which will suit him.

[Tommy Lawrence]

That would be the Morgan with a sum total of zero games in the premiership?

 

Hardly fair on the lad that.

[xerxes]

That would be the Morgan with a sum total of zero games in the premiership?Hardly fair on the lad that.

 

When Rafa left, the OS was showing a first team squad of 54- second only to Chelsea.That has now slimmed down to 32 plus two out on loan.

 

I am pretty critical of FSG's lack of football knowledge, there are howver some occasions when ignorance is good.

 

I agree that our forward line looks weak. I also think that we have "collected" players for too long. You get to a point where the cost of the hopefuls outweighs the cost of buying oven ready.

 

Suso is 19. He has represented Spain at every level short of the full team - is he going to make it or isn't he? Morgan is 18, how much will he need to improve over how long to make it? How many goalscorers at other clubs have been nursed through the ranks post 18 to then make it? Very few. Babel and Ngog, subsequent to leaving us have done little, off-loading was right.

 

Football is full of unintended consequences, FSG's fiscal constraints may just have some benefits in forcing some football decisions which have tended to be fudged in the past.

[tomyam scouse]

A couple of weeks ago, we had one of the most expensively-assembled group of players in Britain, if not the world:

 

Graphic: Premier League transfer and wage spending from the 2000/01 season to 2011/12 - Telegraph

 

In our particular case, it's nothing to do with the AMOUNT of money. It's what you spend it on. Keane? Aquilani? Degan? Carroll? Downing?

 

Grow up.

[zico]

We're not mid-table we're a bottom team who will struggle hard to survive...

 

No heart and desire, we do not attack or defend as a unit and we have goalscorer in the team....

[Strontium]

Mid table? At the moment, we fucking dream of mid table. We're in a relegation battle, and we are NOT too good to go down.

[Nightcat]

Mid table eh? How's that?

 

With two second strikers(Suarez, Borini), no forward and a manager with one year experience in the Premier League who was exposed by the people who hired him only two months ago? I think you are optimistic.

 

The majority of you have underestimated the reaility that Premier League is getting harder and harder, teams like Sunderland, Everton are as competitive as ever while we are in constant decline. It's naive to blame Rodger's system, when the owners are screwing the club big time.

 

Where is Whelan to tell us again how we have surely not weakened this summer?

[Benitaur]

I reckon everyone has gotten their head stuck up their arse by all the media bullshit

 

What good defense and midfield?

 

We've conceeded at least 2 goals in our first 3 matches!!

 

If anything, forget a goalscorer, if we had clean sheets but could not score, we would be 2 points higher than we are right now

 

All this tiki taka bullshit works for Barca, because they have Barca level players

 

It hasn't worked for any other team in the world except Spain, which is pretty much made up of Barca players anyway.

 

For all the plundits Swansea got last season, they still ended up below us. That is NOT a team we should be trying to emulate.

 

If we wanted possession football, Rafa's teams are notorious for possession football. However, at least Rafa is flexible enough to have a plan B, namely a big guy up front ala Crouch. Instead, we loaned out Carroll. Brilliant!!

 

In previous years, post Rafa, we still had our match winners, not only Torres, but also Kuyt, Benayoun and Maxi, who each could contribute 10 goals a season from midfield. Gerrard too could be relied upon for that, but not anymore.

 

Now, we really are dumbstruck for goalscorers. And yet on top of that, our defense is crap even with talents such as Reina, Skrtel, Agger etc. If its not the players, its the system/manager. Simple as

[Benitaur]

I reckon everyone has gotten their head stuck up their arse by all the media bullshit

 

What good defense and midfield?

 

We've conceeded at least 2 goals in our first 3 matches!!

 

If anything, forget a goalscorer, if we had clean sheets but could not score, we would be 2 points higher than we are right now

 

All this tiki taka bullshit works for Barca, because they have Barca level players

 

It hasn't worked for any other team in the world except Spain, which is pretty much made up of Barca players anyway.

 

For all the plundits Swansea got last season, they still ended up below us. That is NOT a team we should be trying to emulate.

 

If we wanted possession football, Rafa's teams are notorious for possession football. However, at least Rafa is flexible enough to have a plan B, namely a big guy up front ala Crouch. Instead, we loaned out Carroll. Brilliant!!

 

In previous years, post Rafa, we still had our match winners, not only Torres, but also Kuyt, Benayoun and Maxi, who each could contribute 10 goals a season from midfield. Gerrard too could be relied upon for that, but not anymore.

 

Now, we really are dumbstruck for goalscorers. And yet on top of that, our defense is crap even with talents such as Reina, Skrtel, Agger etc. If its not the players, its the system/manager. Simple as

[xerxes]

mid table would be nice..................................

[xerxes]

If its not the players, its the system/manager. Simple as

This is merely a continuation of last season's league form.

[DooooodekNo5]

Only negging.

 

Ohh how dare OP ask such a thing ! , get you're head out of yer arse.

[dickie mint]

This is merely a continuation of last season's league form.

 

 

With a smaller squad aswell.

[redsoxs]

Mid-table manager on mid-table wages, getting players on mid-table wages, what do you expect? Top 4?

[Dicko]

"What I wouldn't give to be a midtable team."

 

 

 

"Terrific race the yanks.

Terrific."

[Nightcat]

Mid-table manager on mid-table wages, getting players on mid-table wages, what do you expect? Top 4?

 

You forgot to mention that there is also "relegation/championship quality" owners

This is merely a continuation of last season's league form.

 

Last season we had the third best defence in the league, we've won the league cup and reached the FA cup final. We've also qualified for Europe. I can't see us being in the same position in May 2013.