'09/'10 Premier League Season

[Majsju]

Well, Rooney might be unstopable, but England has some things to worry about. Gerrards lack of form, for one. And the current lack of a leftback. Bridge refuses to play as long as Terry is in the team, and there are no guarantees Cole will be completely recovered from his injury. Fit enough to play, yes, but at best he will get a handful of games before the WC starts, his first games for months.

 

The group interested in Liverpool are a bunch of US investors, who apparently wants to buy 40% of the shares. Hardly sounds like the optimal solution, as ownership would still be in the hands of americans.

 

Better for Liverpool, as well as for the league, if the fans followed Uniteds example, and started a campaign to get ownership back into British hands.

[Majsju]

Heh, what a surprise that the FA does not take any action against Gerrard after his elbow-incident...

[Corki]

I can't remember who we face as various opponents in the knock-out stages, but I think we will be a long way off winning. While having a striker who is on fire is great, our defence is pretty shake. Maj pointed out our issue on the left - plus who do we pick in goal? Calamity James? Green? Hart? Not an easy one.

[Majsju]

I would go with Hart, of the English keepers he has had the best season so far. Though Capello might see him as a bit too young and inexperienced for a World Cup.

 

I was hoping that Foster would step up and challenge VDS, and by doing so show Capello he wants to be considered. Unfortunatly, he is more injuryprone than Solskjaers knees...

[Owayn The Traveller]

Kirkland.

[Ashaman DeRouge]

Heh, what a surprise that the FA does not take any action against Gerrard after his elbow-incident...

 

The ref dealt with it, so they can't take any action, isn't that right?

[Eel-finn]

I hope Man U take the cup again this year. We need just one more to break the tie with Liverpool on total league wins.

[Owayn The Traveller]

I hope Man U take the cup again this year. We need just one more to break the tie with Liverpool on total league wins.

 

Oh please let Aresnal win. Hey are Liverpool mathematically out of the race yet? Well if their not watch out. Did you see what they did to Lille and Portsmouth this week? Clutching at straws am I.

[Majsju]

I hope Man U take the cup again this year. We need just one more to break the tie with Liverpool on total league wins.

 

Oh please let Aresnal win. Hey are Liverpool mathematically out of the race yet? Well if their not watch out. Did you see what they did to Lille and Portsmouth this week? Clutching at straws am I.

 

Mathematically, Liverpool is still in the race. Realisticly, they are not even close.

 

Liverpool has 51pts, with 8 games left to play. If they win every single remaining game, they would finish with 75 pts.

 

United has 66pts with 8 games left. 3 wins and 1 draw in those 8 games would see them finish with 76pts.

 

Chelsea has 64pts and 9 games left. 4 wins out of 9 games sees them finish with 76pts.

 

Arsenal has 64pts and 8 games left, 4 wins out of 8 and they finish with 76pts.

 

So for Liverpool to win, all the top3 teams would need to completely collapse from now on. As would Spurs, who currently has the 4th spot, 1 point and a game in hand before Liverpool.

 

United, Chelsea and Arsenal will fight it out for the top3 positions. Liverpool, Spurs and City will fight for that 4th spot that gives the last CL-spot.

 

 

In other news, very impressive by Fulham to knock out Juventus in Europa League. Granted, Juve today is not what they used to be, but for a team like Fulham it is a great result. Even if the red card that helped Fulham was highly questionable.

[Owayn The Traveller]

You crushed my dream. Ya was a great win for Fulham. Regardless of how far Juve have fell they scored four agaisnt them. Fingers crossed for fulham in next round.

[Majsju]

Well, Wolfsburg next round for Fulham, not at all mission impossible. If they do win, it is the winner Hamburg - Standard Liege in the semi final. So there is quite a chance for Fulham to go all the way.

 

Almost starting to dream of United - Arsenal in the CL final, Fulham - Liverpool in the EL final. Now that would be a message to the other leagues around Europe ;D

[Ashaman DeRouge]

If Messi stays fit Barca will be there. I find it hilarious that Higuian hit a hat trick for Real Madrid the very next game after they are eliminated from the CL hah.

 

I really, really hope that Liverpool get that 4th spot. We just can't afford to miss out, really. And if we don't make some good signings in the off-season, it'll be another 5-10 years before another decent tilt cause the exodus will be massive.

 

That being said I think it's City and Liverpool in the run for 4th, Tottenham are too inconsistant, and I'm praying for a fit Torres/Gerrard, and a woeful city defense. Here's hoping Liverpool can repeat last season's efforts and tonk Man U for 4 :D

[Owayn The Traveller]

Liverpool prob will get fourth but not because they will play any good football its just city will screw it up. I think liverpool getting fourth doesn't solve any probs though. They havnt played any decent football in the last 4 years. Apart from the run in last year but that was after some dreaful draws and losing to a side that got regelated later that year. The problem is Benitiz. He's too negative and most of his signing are woeful. You can understand why he wasnt in charge of transfers at Valencia and he did well there. They got lucky in the champions league agaisnt milan. They were lucky agaisnt west ham in fa cup aswell. Okay both finals were hughly entertaining.

Houllier got us to second one season aswell, he also won fa cup and uefa and league cup. Yet he's considered a failure. Why is Beneitiz still there. All he did was get lucky in final, finish fifth, got into next years champions league by luck, got beat in final, came where fouth?. He came second only the once! A fifth, two fourths, a third, a second and hopefully fourth again. With luck. I could be wrong on his final placings.

 

We need new blood at the top. Benitiz isnt the man.

[Ashaman DeRouge]

I'm starting to agree with you about Rafa, although I will argue that Liverpool have played some dominant games in the past two years at least. Consistancy isn't there granted, but when it's Liverpool's day, it's Liverpool's day. The other day when Maxi and Aquilani started they played awesome, thanks to a bit of space from pompey granted.

[Eel-finn]

The problem with Liverpool is the entire team is quite content with letting Gerard and Torres to all the work in the match. Or at least that's how it seems to me. And I think that the reason that Liverpool are so far behind the rest of the big four is because of that reason.

[Majsju]

I think it looks that way because of how Rafa is managing the team.

 

Compare with United, Arsenal and Chelski. In these teams, every single player knows exactly what he is supposed to do on the pitch. They act like teams, which allows the stars a bit more individuality.

But Liverpool under Rafa has it backwards. They start with the stars, "Get the ball to Gerrard or Torres, and they will fix things". It can work in the occasional game, but not for an entire campaign.

And as the manager, it is Rafas responsibility to make sure the players not only know what they are supposed to do, but also that they actually do it.

 

Liverpool has a very uncertain future ahead of them. They can not afford to fire Rafa, so to get rid of him they have to hope that some club is willing to pay up to get him. And if they miss the 4th spot, which means missing CL next season, Torres will leave. And he may not be the only one, I would not be surprised to see Real go after Gerrard if they sense there is a chance. In form, he is a player Real could really need, to balance up their midfield a bit.

[Owayn The Traveller]

I don't think Gerrard would go to Madrid. Owen career since he went there should turn him off. Also if chelski (as you put it) couldn't turn him when they were winning everything Madrid wont.

I admire Gerrard for his loyalty and also feel sorry for him as he could of won stuff elsewhere consistently elsewhere. Hopefully some Spanish club come in for Benitiz. Who would replace him though? I'd prefer a british or Irish manager as the last two were Continental and were no better.

[Majsju]

There is quite a difference between going to another PL club, and a club in another league. And as players on Gerrards level grows older, they often start thinking about winning titles, something he would have a much greater chance at in Real.

 

Speaking of Real, rumours have started to float around that they will go after Rafa in the summer. Since they got knocked out of CL early, again, Pellegrini is toast. A move that could increase the chances of gerrard leaving.

Torres on the other hand, if he leaves I would rather guess Barca as his next adress. Henry has more than hinted that he is moving home to France after this season, and while Barca seems to have their eyes on Villa as his replacement, they would rather take Torres if that window opened.

 

If I had been a fan of Liverpool, I would have hoped for someone like O'Neill to replace Rafa. I think that is the kind of manager they desperatly need.

[Owayn The Traveller]

He has won stuff at Liverpool. I get the feeling he wants to win the premiership. Oh please let Rafa go.

[Ashaman DeRouge]

Liverpool and Man U are walking out of the tunnel as i type.

 

Huge game.

[Majsju]

Great win for United, and for once Vidic did not get sent off ;D

Granted, the penalty was very cheap, as Valencia was clearly outside the area when he was chopped down. But United dominated the game, and 3-1 was closer than 2-2, so all in all a well deserved win. 

 

Meanwhile, wins for Tottenham and City (I assume, they have 2-0 on Fulham in half time as I type) pushes Liverpool even further away from the 4th spot.

[mcs0083]

I'm just relieved that Arsenal is back in the running for the league. I was getting kind of nervous there.

[Corki]

I really can't see Liverpool finishing fourth.

 

Anyway, Southampton got a brilliant away win yesterday against MK Dons (who we have beaten 4 times this season now!) - perfect build up for our JP Trophy Final appearance at Wembley next week! Great hat-trick from Ricky Lambert, who is probably the second hottest English striker in any League at the moment after Rooney. Shock call up to the England squad? ;) 30 goals isn't bad going...

[Majsju]

Lambert instead of Heskey or Crouch? I would take that any day of the week  ;D

 

I would not cheer to much over Arsenals win, with Vermaleens red card and following suspension it might turn out to be a costly win, since he is pretty much the only decent central defender Arsenal has.

[Majsju]

Heh, having looked at the rules, Uniteds penalty was correct after all.