With Benitez' record in Spain ie trouncing the 'Galacticos' w/ a bunch of unheralded players, Liverpools 'apparent' frenetic activity in the transfer market and their confidence from the C/L title....Liverpool could win the EPL With Baptista and Robinho rejecting transfers to us , the boards 'indecision' about a Vieira/Pires sale , no progress on the A.Cole situation.....slight indication of confusion at Highbury I had a nightmare last night...4th in the EPL!! can you imagine
I wouldn't agree about there being "confusion" at Highbury, but I can see Liverpool making a decent start to the campaign. The fact that they're playing in the qualifying rounds of the Champions League means that they will be playing proper competitive football (whatever the standard of the opposition) before most other teams have had their first pre-season friendly. This should help them to hit the ground running at the start of the league season. Whether they have the quality depth to their squad to maintain a title challenge remains to be seen.
I hope they do put up a challenge, puts more pressure on the likes of chelsea, they had it to easy last year.
IMO Manu will get more points than last year, barring a rake of injuries, and i can't see Liverpool improving to that degree, but if you want to go double or quits on that 10p you owe me over Reyes staying...
oh ya.. forgot bout that wager miles... cant believe i was convinced reyes was history.. anyways... double or quits it is~
I just cannot see us having the same awful luck with injuries (apart from Fortune ). It will be good to see a fully fit Ruud and Rooney upfront.
its not so much i think manyoo is worse... its just that i believe liverpool will have it figured out in england.. look at that talent.. if reina can play in the english top division, they will be formidable.
Based on their massive signings like Zenden, Reina, and Sissoko? It's not like it was even close last year. Liverpool were fully 19 points behind us, and that was after our horrible start to the season. It'll take a lot more than that for them to have much chance in the league.
Not saying it absolutely can't happen, just that I didn't see anything from them late in the season to convince me they'd figured it out in terms of adapting to England. Late in the season they lost matches to Palace, Man City, and Newcastle, and drew at Anfield against Spurs and Boro, all at a time when they needed to step it up to get that fourth-place spot. Don't get me wrong, Rafa is a quality manager, so maybe he'll have something up his sleeve to motive his guys a bit more. I just wouldn't bet much on it.
Chin up, lads. This season will be ooooooh so different. I think the top will be VERY crowded. I think it will come down to 10 pts seperating 3-4 clubs.
I believe so too... while the addition of another club to the top tier of clubs who expect to win most home games and all get around 75 pts give or take 10 pts does not make the job of ManU or Arsenal any easier, it also makes the job of Chelsea harder, the more games that are close and the more teams that pose a challenge to them the better our chances of having some success are, however on a year we dont get it all right instead of us or you (whomever got it abit wrong) being 2nd maybe 3rd, we could actually slip to 4th. That said, I don't think Liverpool is a title threat, they are outsiders and I see them as worthy opponents for any of Chelsea ManU and Arse in any one-off, but I dont think they have what it takes to win the league.
What johno said. Throw in improving Boro, Everton and Spurs teams, and the second tier gets pretty crowded as well.
I don't see Liverpool as a real title threat but I wouldn't be at all surprised if they took 3rd this season. I see us and Chelsea fighting for first with ManU, Liverpool, and some surprise team fighting it out for the rest of the CL spots and causing some trouble in the FA Cup. It isn't that Liverpool's most recent signings are amazing (although I think Reina is a big upgrade over their previous GKs especially in temrs of consistency) but rather that they are unlikely to get hit with so many long term injuries especially in their forwards. Plus I agree with those who think that Rafa will begin to figure out the requirements of EPL success. It is shaping up to be another exicting year. I think the top of the league will be closer than the last 2 seasons and the bottom will be about as close a race as the past season.
I still don't discount Man U in all of this, as every time we do, it comes back to bite us. I do think Liverpool will be better this year, if only because the Gerrard saga looks like it's fixed itself, and they now know what it takes to win in one league. If they can bring that momentum into this season, then they should get off to a fast start. I think they also finally have a manager who knows what the hell he's doing, which will help. I could easily seeing them challenging for a place at the top, though I think they don't have enough to compete with Arsenal or Chelsea wire to wire yet.
Liverpool won't be a threat to us in the Premiership, maybe in the CL because of different groups, stages, etc.