*Official* English Football Season 2011-12

[Ikki]

To have that mentality would have great shame in it. Liverpool aren't and won't ever be a club that aims or will be happy with 6th place. There are IMO, only 3 clubs that will take a huge effort to outdo - the two from Manchester and Chelsea because they're going to spend a ****load this summer. Arsenal and Tottenham are two clubs we can more than compete with. TBF, until the return fixture with Arsenal we were right up there competing with them. It really fell away hard after that whereas Arsenal got better after a few fortuitous results - including the one against us.

Mixing it up with Arsenal and Tottenham (and who knows how Newcastle will do) is to be expected. We may fall short of them, who knows. As I opined, I think 6th leaves scope for context but I doubt it'd lock Rodgers in the job the way a 5th place would.

 

[sledger]

It's all well and good to be ambitious, but sometimes you have to recognise your own limitations.

 

[Furball]

Firing a manager for finishing 6th when there's 5 teams clearly better than you would be utterly stupid.

6th place represents progress for Liverpool, as unpalatable as that may seem.

 

[Pothas]

Yeah if Liverpool play decent stuff and come 6th next year that has to be seen as decent start and it's something that is certainly a realistic ambition. It's fairly obvious that Abramovic is in no way satiated by 'winning' the champions league so expect them to be back in top 4 next year. That leaves one spot left, hang on to Suarez and a few others and they might have half a chance but its still an outside bet.

 

[Pothas]

Anyway Lambert walks out on Norwich, not sure why anyone would leave any job to manage Villa, such a **** job to have.

Furballl to call him a **** at any rate.

 

[sledger]

Not exactly an inspired appointment, but then again, not sure who else a club like Villa would be able to bring in. No doubt they will probably scrap themselves up to somewhere in the lower mid-table in turgid fashion, only for Lambert to then move on to another team, and the cycle will begin again.

 

[Pothas]

Has done a brillIant job at Norwich if you consider the position they were in when he took charge but Villa is just a bad job to take, expectations are very high and little chance of achieving them. Having said that he is off to a good start simply by not being McLeish rather like Coyle at Bolton when he took over from Megson.

 

[Furball]

Anyway Lambert walks out on Norwich, not sure why anyone would leave any job to manage Villa, such a **** job to have.

Furballl to call him a **** at any rate.

Nah, aside from his Martin O'Neill impersonations the only thing I've ever found particularly objectionable about Lambert wais the fact that he's impossible to understand. I guess that's what happens when Albertz smashes your teeth out.

I reckon both Rogers and Lambert are smart enough to recognise that with Swansea and Norwich respectively, their stock is probably as high as it's ever going to be, and moving on as a result of that.

 

[Pothas]

Rogers had to take the job no doubt but not so sure about Lambert with Villa, Martinez definetly did well to avoid taking it last year.

 

[grecian]

Rogers had to take the job no doubt but not so sure about Lambert with Villa, Martinez definetly did well to avoid taking it last year.

Yeah, see no advantage to going to Villa, **** team, **** city, **** form for firing managers. Very odd.

 

[flibbertyjibber]

Guess they have done the right thing for themselves though, how many times do the 2nd season Prem sides get found out and relegated. Both Rodgers and Lambert will get bumper pay rises and even if they get sacked they will be very well off at the end of it.

 

[Cevno]

Rogers had to take the job no doubt but not so sure about Lambert with Villa, Martinez definetly did well to avoid taking it last year.

Yeah, see no advantage to going to Villa, **** team, **** city, **** form for firing managers. Very odd.

Martinez did well avoiding Villa certainly as he has a stable job with a chairman who backs him at Wigan, but i don't think Lambert moving on from Norwich to Villa is that bad tbh.

He's pretty much gone as high with his stock as he is gonna go at Norwich, and can't see a higher club than Villa coming in for him in the distant future.

 

[cpr]

I think Villa is a very sensible move for Lambert. As everyone's said, he's hit his pinnacle with Norwich, little else to do with a small stadium and not much draw, they could do a Blackburn, Bolton, Wigan and survive for a few years, but thats about it.


Villa, well, he surely can't make them any worse, can he? He'll be liked for not being McLeish, for not nearlly getting them relegated, so he'll survive into a second season. They've got a squad that should be mid table at least - Bent, Albrighton, Agblononanonahor. Given's still got a season left, and a few young defenders/midfielders coming through and getting settled. A positive outlook to actually playing football will be enough to scrape them up 4-5 places alone.

They've also got a good sized fanbase, and stadium, and don't seem to be financially screwed. If he can get the chairman to give him a few pennies, he should be alright. His big telling point will be the transfer market - what type of player he can convince to come, and how high he sets his stock.


Failing that, he can always escape to Celtic once Lennon gets found out.

 

[Furball]

Failing that, he can always escape to Celtic once Lennon gets found out.

Which won't be for a few years given the way the SFA are carrying on.

 

[marc71178]

They've also got a good sized fanbase, and stadium, and don't seem to be financially screwed.

Didn't they lose £50m+ last year and are on a huge wage cutting effort (hence relying on kids in the main last season?)

 

[Cevno]

Chelsea have agreed a 38 million pound fee for Hulk according to the Guardian.

Doesn't seem they are much bothered about FFP. Even less so than City.

 

[Furball]

Chelsea have agreed a 38 million pound fee for Hulk according to the Guardian.

Doesn't seem they are much bothered about FFP. Even less so than City.

Because UEFA won't bother their arses with the bigger teams. They'll boot out someone from Lithuania who breaches the rules by €5.

 

[Pothas]

Also got **** loads for winning the champions league. Regardless if we see a real Torres next year then their front 4 could be a pretty scary prospect.

 

[Ikki]

Firing a manager for finishing 6th when there's 5 teams clearly better than you would be utterly stupid.

6th place represents progress for Liverpool, as unpalatable as that may seem.

If you read, I didn't say 6th represents no progress. I said that it would leave the manager less sure of himself than if he was 5th, which sounds pretty straightforward but isn't. 6th leaves room for context. Kenny with the tiniest bit of luck in some matches that we dominated could have got us 6th. It wouldn't/shouldn't have saved his job though. We came 6th the year before - and about 100m less spent - under him.

Personally, I don't agree at all that there are 5 clear better teams. There are 3 clear better teams, and 2 other teams whose seasons can depend on a lot of things - i.e. an important player getting injured, or losing form, or being sold. The difference between Arsenal and Liverpool this year was basically Van Persie. We didn't have a finisher and he finished everything put to him. The points table might agree with you in them being clearly better than us, but by performances I don't agree. Rodgers doesn't have to make wholesale changes to get us to improve two spots (6th). He will for the top 3, however.

Anyway, the owners have given a statement and there seems to be a sense of leniency and patience which is a good thing. How much of that is for show and how much of it is true is to be seen. Rodgers is saying the right things and he just looks and sounds like a Liverpool manager. Getting really excited for next year. There are a lot of questions on players. Will he bring back Aquilani? Will he push Gerrard further up? Will he bring some of his players from Swansea? One thing is for sure, Liverpool will be set up more like what we were under Benitez - to dominate possession and press high up the pitch. That's Rodgers' basic philosophy.

 

[Furball]

If you read, I didn't say 6th represents no progress. I said that it would leave the manager less sure of himself than if he was 5th, which sounds pretty straightforward but isn't. 6th leaves room for context. Kenny with the tiniest bit of luck in some matches that we dominated could have got us 6th. It wouldn't/shouldn't have saved his job though. We came 6th the year before - and about 100m less spent - under him.

Personally, I don't agree at all that there are 5 clear better teams. There are 3 clear better teams, and 2 other teams whose seasons can depend on a lot of things - i.e. an important player getting injured, or losing form, or being sold. The difference between Arsenal and Liverpool this year was basically Van Persie. We didn't have a finisher and he finished everything put to him. The points table might agree with you in them being clearly better than us, but by performances I don't agree. Rodgers doesn't have to make wholesale changes to get us to improve two spots (6th). He will for the top 3, however.

Anyway, the owners have given a statement and there seems to be a sense of leniency and patience which is a good thing. How much of that is for show and how much of it is true is to be seen. Rodgers is saying the right things and he just looks and sounds like a Liverpool manager. Getting really excited for next year. There are a lot of questions on players. Will he bring back Aquilani? Will he push Gerrard further up? Will he bring some of his players from Swansea? One thing is for sure, Liverpool will be set up more like what we were under Benitez - to dominate possession and press high up the pitch. That's Rodgers' basic philosophy.

Arsenal are a far better side than Liverpool. Luck doesn't explain why they've finished in the top 4 for 3 seasons running when Liverpool haven't.

Over 1 season? Yeah, luck might have played a part (although you seem to have ignored Arsenal a) selling Fabregas and Nasri at the start of last season and b) the horror start to the season when they had an entire team out through injury, as well as not having their first choice back 4 until about March) over the course of 1 season, but over 3? That represents a clear ability gap between the sides. It's ludicrous to suggest that there isn't a great deal between Arsenal and Liverpool when the league table from the last 3 seasons quite clearly shows there is.