Yes, it sucks that we lost both of the big games (to absolutely pathetic refereeing decisions by referees who'll rot in hell alongside scumbags like Hitler, Mugabe, Putin, Eto'o, etc)

Yes, it sucks we have new injuries again and our squad is down to bones

Yes, it sucks that Brad Smith's debut was tarnished in such a game, it's very harsh on the youngster.

Yes, it sucks that we're 5th, having been 1st 4 days ago.


BUT BUT BUT BUT !!!!!!!!!

We are still 1 point off top 4, and 6 off top.

AND LISTEN TO THIS.


WE ARE FAVOURITES TO WIN EVERY SINGLE GAME UNTIL END OF THE SEASON (Perhaps other than the game at Old Trafford because of our dreadful record there)

On paper, we are favourites to win every single game from now on. We play dross like Norwich, and Fulham etc away from home (which even with 50% of effort of City/Chelsea games they'll be taken care of)...and we host all the top side, and I fancy us at Anfield against freaking Pep's Bayern, let alone utterly overrated scummy shit teams like Chelsea, Arsenal, City, Everton, Spurs etc.

Win against Hull. All our rivals have on paper hard games. Rest for 2 weeks, re-enforce, get Sturridge and Gerrard back from injury and then things will look better again.

Calma, don't listen to those terrible clueless people of general section who are nothing but low-life trolls who are trying to distract themselves from their real life failures into trolling a team that is none of their business. We'ves till got this, and have an easier fixture schedule than any of our rivals until season end.

Now let's go and f*ck PotatoeHead, get revenge, and see where we stand. Every single game from now until season end is very very very winnable.

Firstly, well said. Let me just say, if it wasn't for the performance of the Chelsea game, not too many people would be devasted as we are right now. If we actually played OUR game, we would of beat Chelsea, if not we would of challenged them.  
 
But Rodgers has shown once again he's clearly dead average on the road. And I've continuosly attacked our away form this season, and for the right reason. His terrible tactically. He really is.  
 
But there is hope, like you said, all the "big" games bar United are out the window in the second half of the season.
 
This is what the top 7 have to face in the second half of the season in terms of vsing each other:
 

 
We definitely have the advantage in terms of the teams around us. But how many points do you honestly see us getting out of that 15? (18 if you want to add Newcastle?)
 
Our home record is great right now, but let's be honest, bar United who have we versed at home? Massive massive tests for us. We need to treat EVERY of those 5 games as if their CL games. We need to get atleast 11 points imo. That would mean we win 3 and draw 2, and tbh that's better than winning 4 and losing 1 even if we "gain" a point as that would mean a team doesn't "gain" points off of us.
 
"Losing" 10 points against teams away from home (by playing that counter-attacking/sitting back crap) is the reason we're in this boat. It has nothing to do with versing City / Chelsea in the space of 3 days; that in itself was always going to be a problem. But we dropped stupid points EARLIER THIS SEASON, and that's on us.
 
Yes, this time last year we were 20 points behind first place United blah blah blah, but it's a new era in the PL. We're only 2 points ahead of Spurs and United and they were both in a "crisis" this season. Hell, Spurs even sacked their manager because of poor performances. We can't just bend over to teams, especially to teams that are fighting for a top 4 spot just as we are.
 
We need a MASSIVE January transfer window. None of this "buying for the future" crap. Overspend if you have too, as long as we get the players to get in to GET that top 4 spot. FSG have proved that they will back the manager at all times. So why do we waste money for the future? Getting in the CL is the best possible "future" for the club. Buying "players for the future" is not.
 
Anything under top 4 would be a disaster in my eyes. Yes, you could claim anything in the top 6 is "progress", that is after all, improvement from our 7th spot last year, but we'll lose Suarez. So all this 'progress' of 2 years under Rodgers gets delayed EVEN MORE if we don't get a CL spot this season as Luis will leave.
 
Luckily for us, Gerrard and Sturridge come back for us soon. And we definitely missed them during this festive season.
 
The season is definitely not "finished", there's 19 games to go. But we need to step up. We need to go back to death by football and stick with it. Get signings in, and by signings, I mean first team players (that improves the starting XI, so that would also help in DEPTH which we obviously lack) and we'll have a realistic chance of finishing in the top 4. If we go back to "experimenting" away from home / against the bigger clubs, and continue to treat "big games" as "bonus points" we, will drop out of the top 4 race.

The way this season is going, a race for the top 4 is essentially a title race by the way.

The thing is that if you lose too many of those "tough on paper", big games, you are going to have to win almost all of those matches into which you go as favorites. And we know that upsets happen once in a while, like losing to Soton at Anfield.

Our January PL games are:
Hull (h)
Stoke (a)
Aston Villa (h)
Everton (h)

How many points from these do we need in order to say "we've still got this"?

^ Was thinking about that in the "Results Comparison" thread. This is what I believe......

Red Alert wrote:

Red Alert wrote:

Red Alert wrote:

Our next 10 games.

We only 9 points from these 10 games last season.* Anything under 20 points and it'll be difficult to get into the 4.

*We obviously didn't vs Cardiff and/or Hull at home last season. But we won all 3 of our games at Anfield from teams that were promoted.

City are slowly turning their away form around, and it won't be long before Chelsea sign a striker in January. Ba, Torres and Eto'o have like 4 goals between them, yet sit on the same points as us. It'll be scary as if they get Falcao.

Spurs, too, are slowly getting their season started and could easily be equal points to us this time next week despite being in a 'crisis' and calls for AVB to get sacked...

It's make or break season time boys.

6/6 so far.

Keep in mind we we only got 9 points from 30 last season. (From the 10 teams in the table quoted above)

Massive game against City. A draw would be a "positive" result considering their form and them being rivals to the title...

4 wins in a row.

6/9 out of three games. 6/12 from 4 games. Felt we deserved more against City, but footballs a harsh sport. Moving onto Chelsea. Massive massive game. Heart says we'll win, head says Mourinho's a c*nt and will somehow end up stealing points, especially with the game being at SB.

With Chelsea out of the way, we need to go on a run of winning games - which I think is quite possible. We need to win a minimum of 5 games out of the next 6 after Chelsea (need to beat either Everton or Arsenal at Anfield).

http://www.goallegacy.net/t33534p90-results-comparison

I know we could still climb up the table, let alone finishing fourth. No team in this season is invincible or something. Many are going to drop points. I am not sure why we are so happy about having those big games at home, we have good record against scrub teams at home. So I still believe, out of those 5 games at home, I hope we can win all of them, but I think we will draw at least two of them.

I still believe we should better concentrate on not losing a single point against second half of the table, home/away doesnt matter. I say, f*ck the FA cup, we have such a thin squad. We should concentrate on league games more.

I didnt watch the Chelsea game (was travelling) really dont see the need be negative or worried.

My real worry is with injuries.How long are Allen and Sakho out?

When Gerrard and Sturridge return along with Suarez , I dont see us troubled by many lower half table teams even if away.We hammered most of them away last season as well when we had Coutinho and Sturridge .

We desperately need a goal scoring winger and an CM urgently in the January window.If Allen is out for longer period we are one injury away from (lucas / Henderson) collapsing

We definitely had the hardest first half of the season of all teams yet we are only 2 points of top 4.So dont see any reason to panic or worry about our top 4 spot just because we lost 2 games we were expected to lose.

As for Rodgers being average seriously he has us playing the most attractive football ever (as far as i can remember) and taken us from 7/8 (30-40 from 1st place) to realistic top 4 spot chance when everyone was hoping at best a decent challenge.We need a bit of perspective imo just becoz we have started the season so well shouldnt mean we rise the expection and criticism level too high

HEIL MEIN REDS wrote:I know we could still climb up the table, let alone finishing fourth. No team in this season is invincible or something. Many are going to drop points.

I am not sure why we are so happy about having those big games at  home

, we have good record against scrub teams at home. So I still believe, out of those 5 games at home, I hope we can win all of them, but I think we will draw at least two of them.

I still believe we should better concentrate on not losing a single point against second half of the table, home/away doesnt matter. I say, f*ck the FA cup, we have such a thin squad. We should concentrate on  league games more.

U would prefer to play these games away?   

We are happy becoz our chances of beating these these teams at home is far far better than at their ground.And home or away we should be able to brush aside the likes Palace / Villa / West Ham with easy with the form Sturridge and Suarez have

Can't lose all the head-to-heads... Went from top of the table to 5th. That's the issue: You lose points and you give points to direct opponents, which is a doubt whammy. If Liverpool is going to have any chance at CL, it must get results in these.

It also puts a lot of pressure to win ALL the other games, which is unlikely since footy doesn't work that way.

Man U is only two point behind now too.

sportsczy wrote:Can't lose all the head-to-heads...  Went from top of the table to 5th.  That's the issue:  You lose points and you give points to direct opponents, which is a doubt whammy.  If Liverpool is going to have any chance at CL, it must get results in these.

It also puts a lot of pressure to win ALL the other games, which is unlikely since footy doesn't work that way.

Man U is only two point behind now too.

Which we havent though.Only Arsenal of the top 4 (direct opponents) got full points from us.Won vs United , Won at spurs and drew at Everton.

Dont think anyone would really think chelsea or city are our top 4 competitors .

It also puts a lot of pressure to win ALL the other games, which is unlikely since footy doesn't work that way.

Again it really isnt the case.We are still 2 points ahead of United and 1 pt behind Everton.With much easier set of fixtures (United still have to go to Newcastle Everton Chelsea Arsenal) we just need to match their results and we have another adv in no european footy too

BeautifulGame wrote:

HEIL MEIN REDS wrote:I know we could still climb up the table, let alone finishing fourth. No team in this season is invincible or something. Many are going to drop points.

I am not sure why we are so happy about having those big games at  home

, we have good record against scrub teams at home. So I still believe, out of those 5 games at home, I hope we can win all of them, but I think we will draw at least two of them.

I still believe we should better concentrate on not losing a single point against second half of the table, home/away doesnt matter. I say, f*ck the FA cup, we have such a thin squad. We should concentrate on  league games more.

U would  prefer to play these games away?   

We are happy becoz our chances of beating these these teams at home is far far better than at their ground.And home or away we should be able to brush aside the likes Palace / Villa / West Ham with easy with the form Sturridge and Suarez have

no all I am saying is we cant be too disappointed if we lose one of those matches OR draw matches more than what we fans expect. For me important thing is we must win against likes of Everton and Spurs at home, because they are sure the top 4 contenders. I will even say we should try to win against ManU at their own ground. Regarding Arsenal, City and Chelsea at home, if we win all we will challenge the title probably
Considering, we need 75 points to finish in top4 (i think in season like this we might see the number low compared to normal top4 finish,
12-13 Arsenal 73p,
11-12 Spurs 69p,
10-11 Arsenal 68p,
09-10 Spurs 70p)
We are currently on 36 now, we need 40/38/36 more. If we exclude those 5 fixtures against top teams we have 14*3= 42  points out of which we can get at least 33p and then 7p from those other 5 should be sufficient

Direct opponents for EPL + CL are Arsenal, Chelsea and City too.  Unless you just consider Man U, Spurs, Newcastle and Everton for the battle of 4th place and resigned yourself to that being the best possible outcome...  If that's the case, Man U is the the top dog to worry about.  They've underperformed + RVP has been out.  They have the most upside to where they currently are.

Red Alert wrote:Firstly, well said. Let me just say, if it wasn't for the performance of the Chelsea game, not too many people would be devasted as we are right now. If we actually played OUR game, we would of beat Chelsea, if not we would of challenged them.  
 
But Rodgers has shown once again he's clearly dead average on the road. And I've continuosly attacked our away form this season, and for the right reason. His terrible tactically. He really is.  
 
But there is hope, like you said, all the "big" games bar United are out the window in the second half of the season.
 
 

O, shut your little mouth you teenager. You spout so much crap.

We didn't sit back voluntarily after our goal. We were playing a side so much fresher than us, and they pressed us like crazy and went into a whole new gear. Henderson was still crocked from that Eto'o challenge, and we just couldn't handle their pressing at all. HOME TEAM IN PRESSING AFTER CONCEDING SHOCKER !!
If anything, we should have actually parked the bus. Not freaking Skrtel (God I am starting to hate him), keeps losing the ball in our own half for dangerous throws to them. They were bigger than us, had more muscle and more energy and they bullied us with their pressing and intensity in the first half of the game after our goal. They would have done it even if we didn't score. Home teams usually start the game stronger, you do know that.

But that made them use almost all their energy in first half, and then in second half go with trend of stopping the flow of the game every 5 minutes, with dirty niggly fouls and getting away with it thanks to Webb. Typical Mourinho scum

Using every single game to bash Rodgers. What an odious fan.

WE SAT BACK, WE COULD HAVE PASSED CHELSEA TO DEATH !!!! I wonder why no other team has passed Mourinho to death before

We could go to Allianz Arena, lose 2-1, and you'll blame Rodgers saying, WE SHOULD HAVE HAD MORE POSSESSION !!

We did enough to draw Chelsea game, same with City ones. Unbelievably shit refereeing and lack of luck in 50/50 situations cost us. We move on.

Table could already look better on Wednesday, if we beat Hull, because most our rivals have challenging games

sportsczy wrote:Direct opponents for EPL + CL are Arsenal, Chelsea and City too.  Unless you just consider Man U, Spurs, Newcastle and Everton for the battle of 4th place and resigned yourself to that being the best possible outcome...  If that's the case, Man U is the the top dog to worry about.  They've underperformed + RVP has been out.  They have the most upside to where they currently are.

If anything, Man U have to be worried. They have by far the worst record against the top 10, having played most of them at Old Trafford. They've lost literally every single 6 pointer at home (except Arsenal). And it's only going to be harder away from home.

They'll get back down to earth in January again, while we have a very winnable run of games until facing Arsenal in February.

although I havent written there, I was actually speaking of one of the bad possible outcomes there. It can change, in case we make proper addition to our squad in the coming window to challenge anything above top 4. Last season
2nd City 78p,
3rd Chelsea 75p,
4th Arsenal 73p.
As I have seen in last few seasons, except the title winners/contender/s , all other teams lie very close to each other in the table. So if we consider this season as exception even the title winner might lie close to the rest 3 in top 4.
So I am considering Liverpool in the category of worst teams making in top 4 considering our squad depth. There is no denial that out of City, chelsea and Arsenal we should get something from them also just that it wont be a 'MUST' imo

Yeah but RVP is back in training... that's like Suarez coming back. They're also pursuing players over the winter mercato pretty hard.

Lastly, all the guys on that team are winners. They've won multiple trophies. That kind of experience goes a long way in pressure situations.

That's why Man U is a big threat to me.

sportsczy wrote:Direct opponents for EPL + CL are Arsenal, Chelsea and City too.  Unless you just consider Man U, Spurs, Newcastle and Everton for the battle of 4th place and resigned yourself to that being the best possible outcome...  If that's the case, Man U is the the top dog to worry about.  They've underperformed + RVP has been out.  They have the most upside to where they currently are.

I dont think any sane Liverpool fan is expecting us to compete for the title with our squad strength (compared to City and Chelsea). If we are within touching distance with 7-8 games to go then fine but real priority is getting into top 4 .

Yes United have RVP to come but as i said we still to have Sturridge and Gerrard to return , much easier set of fixtures and no Europa games either.

sportsczy wrote:Can't lose all the head-to-heads...  Went from top of the table to 5th.  That's the issue:  You lose points and you give points to direct opponents, which is a doubt whammy.  If Liverpool is going to have any chance at CL, it must get results in these.

It also puts a lot of pressure to win ALL the other games, which is unlikely since footy doesn't work that way.

Man U is only two point behind now too.

That's not necessarily true.

If we win all of our winnable matches, and lose all these head to heads we'll end up with around 76 points which is guaranteed CL in this league.

Obviously though, it's near impossible to win all the winnable matches as teams for whatever reason always drop points somewhere along the line so essentially every point dropped against the beatable teams must be regained from top clubs.

So your point would be correct only if we didn't take care of the beatable teams. If we do then there is nothing to worry about.

I am glad that both ManU and Chelsea have easy games in the next round of CL, i hope they lose some points in EPL as a result of that. They will play 4 more games+cup games, so I say f*ck the FA crap and better concentrate on EPL.

Okay let me tell you what our expectations were before this season began. A lot of Pool fans and myself included generally agreed that even if we don't make CL this season but put up a challenge we'll look at it as progress and a pretty good season.

Obviously now that we have seen that we are actually in the mix for , dare I even say, the title let alone top 4 we have completely shot up our expectations.

Of course if we look to really progress and want to have a shot at keeping Suarez, then yes CL at this point really does seem kind of mandatory.

But my main point stands, we have exceeded any expectation we have set for ourselves at the beginning of the season thus far, so there shouldn't be negative Nancy's crying about us losing these two matches. Obviously the season is not over so a lot could go wrong but we're in a very good position all things considered.

HEIL MEIN REDS wrote:I am glad that both ManU and Chelsea have easy games in the next round of CL, i hope they lose some points in EPL as a result of that. They will play 4 more games+cup games, so I say f*ck the FA crap and better concentrate on EPL.

I really hope we go far in the FA Cup. The thrill of winning trophies ffs   

Even if we do go relatively far in the FA Cup, we'll still have played much less games than any of our main rivals. No worried at all.

sportsczy wrote:Yeah but RVP is back in training...  that's like Suarez coming back.  They're also pursuing players over the winter mercato pretty hard.

Lastly, all the guys on that team are winners.  They've won multiple trophies.  That kind of experience goes a long way in pressure situations.  

That's why Man U is a big threat to me.

Of course United are a threat and anyone who thinks otherwise is kidding themselves. But in reality, they are not better than us in any possible way. Winter mercato is open for everyone and I'm sure we'll be signing some very useful players as well as United.

sportsczy wrote:Direct opponents for EPL + CL are Arsenal, Chelsea and City too.  Unless you just consider Man U, Spurs, Newcastle and Everton for the battle of 4th place and resigned yourself to that being the best possible outcome...  If that's the case, Man U is the the top dog to worry about.  They've underperformed + RVP has been out.  They have the most upside to where they currently are.

Though not sure but i am assuming he meant 4th is our first and foremost priority now and thus we should focus on that 1st then look into other things. If so i fully agree with BeautifulGame   

McAgger wrote:

HEIL MEIN REDS wrote:I am glad that both ManU and Chelsea have easy games in the next round of CL, i hope they lose some points in EPL as a result of that. They will play 4 more games+cup games, so I say f*ck the FA crap and better concentrate on EPL.

I really hope we go far in the FA Cup. The thrill of winning trophies ffs   

Even if we do go relatively far in the FA Cup, we'll still have played much less games than any of our main rivals. No worried at all.

yeah you are only allowed to do that with likes of Smith, Alberto, Aspas, Sterling, Ibe, Rossiter...i really dont care, i just wants us to be in the mix of the title race    when we go towards the end of the season. Just get us top class goal scoring CM or a top class CAM, we will shake the mother of the EPL from all sides

Put it this way.

After losing to Hull City, we were 7 points off first place, and only 2 points ahead of Man U and Tottenham.

5 games after, we are 6 points off first place, and still maintain our lead over Man U and Spurs...

HAVING PLAYED SPURS (AWAY), CITY (AWAY), CHELSEA (AWAY) in that period and gotten rid of these cancerous fixtures outta the way.

This just puts things in perspective.

Everyone wrote Arsenal off after getting 2 points from 3 games vs. Everton, City and Chelsea (2 of them at home as well), but they bounced back. We can do the same !