Not a given. They have been the luckiest club in the league - keeping Suarez; keeping a small squad fit; capitalising (like we should have done), on uncharacteristic wobbles from the top teams. But if they win the league they, not us, will have shown that its not just money. But...their manager may just be the next big thing.Originally Posted by Munchies
Putting the laughter back into manslaughter
Keeping Suarez wasn't luck but good management. I hope our board look at it and say no next time someone comes in for a big player of ours. As it can just make the difference. Liverpool have had the advantage of no Europe therefore cam afford a smaller squad but they have an amazing striker who can win games on his own.
They have overtaken us for now and a lot of credit should go to them for moving up so far but also the Ferguson shadow has gone and that might have a psychological impact too.
Not just money? :s They have had 50m+ losses each year, the last couple of years, thats on level with the silly money clubs. Liverpools success is down to Suarez probably being the best player in the world right now, before he came back, in the beginning of the season, Liverpool looked horrible.
Just how good they are will be measured more accurately next season with CL football, big signings and increased pressure/expectations.
But yes, it is quite disappointing to think that in 9 years we haven't looked as convincing as they do now as title challengers. Says a lot.
No, Liverpool's success is down to having a manager who is tactically very sound, a strikeforce that is the best in the league by a country mile and a very well balanced first XI.
Of course Liverpool have spent a bit to assemble their current squad, but the fact that their wage bill is lower than ours says it all I am afraid. Rodgers is a very pragmatic manager, one of the best progressive managers around IMHO.
Also this stuff about Liverpool looking horrible when Saurez was out is totally incorrect. They were top of the table at the start of the season without him and were scoring for fun. Admittedly Saurez is their best player by a mile and probably the best player in the League but Liverpool have more to their team than just Suarez.
Of course they have won nothing yet but they have had a great season and if they keep a core of their squad together which I am sure they will I can only see them getting better. They geninuely have a very young team with a few veterans like Gerrard thrown in.
Suarez has been a factor but we have Ozil. One of the best playmakers in the world and he's had a very slow start to the season. Also, it's not as if we haven't had great players in our squad. We used to have RVP, Cesc, Nasri, Arshavin and Walcott in one squad. Fuck knows how we never managed to win anything with that lot.
The quesition we have to ask ourselves is how the heck did Rogers backroom staff keep so many players fit, and our club suffer endless injuries each season. Brendan is no fool, had Suarez been banned or injured, he would have sourced another striker on loan, not sign a an injured player to cover his injured player! We have to stop living in denial and accept pour manager has too many flaws to move beyond 4th place. The biggest mistake which was so plainly obvious and staring that idiotic manager of ours was a goalscorer, but due to his stubborness and faith with the Lampost git basement bucket striker, we end up 4th from being in 1st most of the season. One stiker would have made all the difference. Instead our glorious leader spends 42 million on a sulky midfielder who has shown no value. What was Wengers masterplan? To convert Ozil in to a striker FFS!! I wrote off this season at the begining of the season when I looked at our strikerforce; Sanogo (free,) Bendter (waste of space), Giroud (crap). IMO I think Bendter is a beter player than Giroud on his day.
No doubt Liverpool have improved so much, they were 7th last season and now lead the table. They have obviously had their fair share of luck, esp injury wise but the reason they are top is because they have a good balance 2their squad, they have goals, pace, and a very good manager who seems to know his stuff. That video of him a couple of years ago was very interesting, he talked about teams needing to get around 65+ goals to get in the chamions league.
I think 3rd is up for grabs. Chelsea are 5 points ahead but they still have to go to Anfield.
Rogers is the type of our manager we need at the helm. There is no way he would leave Liverpool to come to Arsenal even if you gave him 100 Mill to spend. IN Rogers eyes he sees Liverpool as a bigger club than Arsenal and I would have to agree 100%, look at their history with the European Cup and the titles they have won. There is no chance we would be able to attract him to Arsenal. I think he'll end up being the Liverpool boss for the forseeable future. We need to start planning now after Wenger has finally departed and left the building, everything about Arsenal is so wrong now, we used to strive for winning leagues and now we all settle for is an FA Cup and 4th players. Surely that must say a lot about our current players, manager is in a comfort zone and the players are as well. If the team buy in to his 4th place trophy each season how the heck do we epxect our players to have a winners mentality not settling for 4th spot. Everything that is wrong at this club lies firmly with Wenger, fuck the history and the doubles, those were won 15 years ago. You can live off you past success and expect the fans to setlle for 4th spot as well. I wouldnt rule out Chelsea going to Liverpool and turning them over, they went to City and played them off the park. My money is still firmly with Chelsea to win the league with City 2nd and Liverpool 3rd.
I'd say a couple of things.
1) No-one has ever said it's impossible to compete with those sides but it is very difficult and you need a fair slice of luck. Liverpool have done really well this season and I hope they win the league, it will be good to see a club without the infinite money cheat do it, but where would they be without Suarez? They've had a bit of luck with him not getting any injuries this season. That's the sort of luck Chelsea and City don't need. They can have a top player injured and just bring another £40m signing off the bench. We can't do that. Nor can Liverpool. They've done really well this year but with the added pressure of CL football next year Liverpool's squad will be put under far more strain. Which leads me to my second point.
2) Will Liverpool sustain this level? They've been 'up there' before, but not consistently. What if City or Chelsea decide they're going to buy Suarez next year? Liverpool may have turned up their noses at our £40m (and one!) bid but City could offer £80m to Liverpool and £300k a week to Suarez. They can make an offer which Liverpool would find very difficult to turn down, especially if the player's head is turned by a huge pay offer. And as Spurs found this year, buying a load of decent players to make up for the loss of one outstanding one doesn't necessarily make you a better team overall. The losses Liverpool have made over the last 2 years are not sustainable so how are they going to build on their success this year? We have already been through the pain of a stadium move and with the new commercial deals are well set up long term to compete. Last summer we saw the first signs of more ambition in the transfer market, I'm hoping that will continue this summer. Liverpool have been talking about a stadium move for years and not got anywhere much, unless they manage to do that it will be impossible for them to generate the kind of revenue they need to compete with City or Chelsea long term and if they do move they'll have a huge debt to repay which will make competing even more difficult.
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