Can Liverpool Challenge For The Title This Season?...

Its been nearly 20 years now since Liverpool were last league champions...

For a club of that stature and history not to have won the most important trophy
in England I think its about time they repaid their fans and challenged for the title...

Its not like Liverpool have not had any money to spend on transfers over the last
5 or 10 years...I don't have the figures but it must be at least a good £200 million pounds...

One thing is to win the Champions League and their success in 2005 was outstanding
but winning the title is what fans want and its about time Liverpool got their act together...

Why do you think its been so long since they last tasted domestic succeess in the best
league in the world and do you also agree it would be good for English football if Liverpool
could knock Man Utd down a peg or two and give hope to other clubs who have ambitions?

Sure. But the team has to learn how to go for the necks of teams they play. It's not as if we lose a lot of games, but we draw way too many games and that's caused our downfall. The problem with the team is that we seem to try and do just enough to win or play to the level of our opponents, but that's not gonna be enough to win the title. We've had disappointing draws to the likes of Wigan that cost us precious points in the title race. I expect a big improvement to the squad with the arrivals of wing backs Dossena and Degen as well as someone who seems to be a more promising back up keeper than Itandje. Agger is back, and now we are 2-deep in the back with Degen and Finnan on the right, Carragher, Skrtel, Agger, and Hyypia on center, and Dossena and Aurelio out left... We'd have even better options should Arbeloa stay. Now we don't have to rely on guys like Hobbs to fill in at the back and hopefully Agger stays healthy. Skrtel showed a lot of promise as the season progressed and turned out to be a very solid player. Hyypia showed that he can still keep up with the best, and Carragher is Carragher. We've found a formation that works for us in the absence of natural wingers in the 4-2-3-1 that plays to the strengths of our wing backs who can dart forward; our excellent holding midfielders in Alonso and Mascherano; Gerrard is given freedom to roam where he wishes on the field; Kuyt has found a great spot to revive his game; and Torres has given us the goal scorer we've desperately needed since Michael Owen.

After Agger's injury, the team was in shambles. An aging Hyypia had to play every game we had, we weren't quite sure what to do with Kuyt and Crouch, we didn't know how to accommodate 3 center-based midfielders, the Americans were at war (heard that way too many times huh?), we didn't have an assistant manager, and we weren't winning. January showed the arrival of Martin Skrtel and although he had a nightmare debut against Havant and Waterlooville, he picked up his game and adapted to Rafa's system. And finally, Rafa implemented the 4-2-3-1 formation. We then saw Liverpool's game pick up and we started winning. Although it was too little, too late in the league, we made a good run in Europe, and we finally have a formation we can stick to.

This gives me great optimism coming into this season. Sammy Lee is in as assistant manager, the Americans have called a truce (at least for now), we have our formation, and with the possible arrivals of Keane and Barry, we'd be able to strengthen our lineup. Agger is back from injury, and I'm hoping that if we stay fit, we'll have a legitimate shot at the title. Keane will provide an option outside Gerrard and Torres to score, Barry will provide stability in the middle and hopefully his great partnership with Gerrard will bring in some creativity on the pitch. We have a solid bench with guys like Benayoun and Lucas coming in. If Voronin stays, then hopefully he can get over the injury that hindered his game last season and prove all the critics wrong by being a great second choice option to Torres.

It'll take a perfect storm for Liverpool to win the title, but I'm not ruling out a good fight for the top spot. There is a long overdue sense of nervousness at Anfield come April when it comes to domestic competition as we're usually out of it by February. This year has to be different and the players have to come in with a killer instinct to finish off opponents and turn those draws in to wins. Time and time again we've dominated a game only to be disappointed by a late equalizer or an inability to find someone else other than Torres and Gerrard to provide goals to kill off the game. Hopefully the lads come in to this season hungrier than ever with an attitude that will not settle for draws.

They won't challenge for the title before they switch half of their team. The only good players worth mentioning are Gerrard, Torres and you can't prove me wrong coz the rest of the players have not won the league for a long time and are not wanted by big clubs (most of them).

Get a new team, new manager or no title for more decades.

No because they are far inferior to both Chelsea and Man Utd both in terms of first team strength and strength in depth. One (and 9 times out 10 both) of those teams will perform over the season and if they do then Liverpool have no chance. Arsenal are only marginally better but even they have an edge over Liverpool.

Liverpool really only have 2/3 top class players in Torres, Mascherano and maybe Gerrard.

Where as Man Utd have Ferdinand, Evra, Vidic, Hargreaves, Scholes, Ronaldo, Tevez and Rooney

Chelsea have Cech, Carvalho, Terry, Cole, Essien, Ballack, Deco, Drogba.

And not only that but Chelsea especially have strength in depth that Liverpool couldn't even dream of and Man Utd too have a much higher surplus of good players.

Another obvious issue is Rafa Benitez. A good tactician no doubt but he's too defensive. The reason Man Utd and Chelsea do so well is because they are ruthlessly efficient in rolling over weak opposition, something Liverpool often fail to do.

And finally Liverpool have only two creative players on the entire roster, Gerrard and Torres (maybe Babel at a stretch), both of whom can be easilly marked out of games by good defenders, see every time Liverpool played top opposition.

Compare that to Man Utd who have Ronaldo, Tevez, Rooney, Hargreaves, Nani, Giggs, Anderson as creative outlets.

Or Chelsea with Ballack, Drogba, Lampard, Essien, Shevchenko, Joe Cole, Malouda, Deco, Wright Phillips, Anelka.

Or even Arsenal with Fabregas, Rosicky, Adebayor, Nasri, Van Persie.

Then you can really see the difference.

Defensively Liverpool are solid but by no means exceptional.

Reina is a decent keeper but does make a few mistakes, Agger and Carragher are solid but lack pace, at full back they are particularly average.

Now that Del Piero has made his say, I think we have a legitimate shot at the title now.

you make it sound so easy!




Two great posts from Mrtz and fakeplastictrees!

You couldn't rule liverpool out 100% but it would take something pretty special for them to match the form of both Chelsea and Man united for the full season. As fakeplastictrees has pointed out, they don't have the strength in depth as the big two and that always plays a part. However, there is still enough there for the likes of Mrtz to have a little bit of hope.

Sell 3 of the crappy defenders and get Micah Richards or search for Italian defenders. Manchester City almost bought Chiellini and what an acquisition that would've been for them. Sell 3 attackers (Crouch (he is sold) Voronin, El Zhar and Nemeth) you have something close to 8 attackers...

If you actually had a team of 20-23 players rather than 45 you'd be able to afford better players.

For example go for Anelka, he is 10 times better than Voronin and could easily play alongside Torres rather than Kuyt.

Instead of letting Wolfsburg buy Barzagli you could've tried to buy him.

Bottom line is that your manager needs to be changed and thus a revolution must be made. Sell 50% of your players (who would have 5 goalkeepers?) and buy good attackers.

PS: try to bid for Huntelaar?

This isn't Fifa where you can easily ditch players and just get whoever you want. There are too many factors that come into it, and with the board room in shambles, Rafa has to work with what he has. He's really made the best of the limited budget he's had since he got to Liverpool. Before the takeover there wasn't much money to throw around and he knew there were some spots to fill and he went out and got them. He's revamped the youth squad so at least we have some hot prospects we can wait for in the future.

In fact, I'm even more proud of the team because even if on paper they aren't the best players in the world and people write them out, they still go out and prove themselves as one of the top teams in Europe. They don't have the Chelsea-like mentality of buying whoever was good on Fifa the last year and just dumping an insane amount of cash to get them.

1. Having a team consisting of 45 players is not special, just stupid. Save the salary for 20 people and get $ for them and replace them with a couple of good players.

2. I'm not saying they should buy Ronaldinho, Pandev/Anelka/Chiellini(when he was going to be sold) they could've easily bought any of them to make the team work. Liverpool has made no big progress since Rafa took over, just 1 CL trophy and that's about it.

3. They didn't win the league, the most important thing to win.

4. Fenerbache reached quarter or semi-finals not because they are a great team, sometimes luck plays it role (Liverpool comeback CL final against Milan).

:s Since when has Rafa been playing 45 players? Don't tell me you're counting the reserves? And if you are then only Plessis and Insua have been given cracks at league play. Otherwise Rafa (in the second half of the season) has been pretty consistent with the team he uses.

Reina, Arbeloa, Carragher, Skrtel/Hyypia, Aurelio on defense.

Mascherano, Alonso, Gerrard, Babel/Benayoun, Kuyt in the middle.

Torres up front.

Skrtel/Hyypia and Babel/Benayoun occasionally switch spots but that's pretty much it. Not even guys like Pennant, Crouch, Lucas, Kewell, Itandje, or Finnan could break into the 1st team and get minutes anymore. Riise only started playing when Aurelio got hurt.

Rafa pretty much uses the same first 11 with Lucas, Benayoun and either Crouch or Voronin coming off the bench.

Fakeplastictrees has mentioned that we have a depth problem, and it shows because Rafa had to use just these same guys in every game. He didn't have 45 players to work with. I have no idea what team you're watching but it's obviously in that world of yours where Chelsea will win the Champion's League and Italy will win Euro unchallenged.

Del Piero, you are a joke.

Sell Nemeth?? Nemeth is probably one of our brightest young talents in the Reserves. I think if you start watching regular football in England before you comment on it, it would benefit you greatly.

Weren't you ashamed after all of your Euro comments were proved wrong? I wouldn't have come back after being proved that wrong on so many levels so many times

What the hell are you two on about?! Don't you know are squad but at all??????

Dossena
Finnan
Hyypia
Agger
Gerrard
Torres
Voronin
Benayoun
Aurelio
Alonso
Pennant
Arbeloa
Kuyt
Babel
Mascherano
Lucas
Carragher
Reina
Degen
Itandje
Skrtel
Cavalieri
N'Gog
Martin
Leto
Spearing
Putterill
Flynn
Lindfield
Darby
El Zhar
San Jose
Plessis
Insua
Mihaylov
Hobbs
Threlfall
Antwi
Roque
Anderson
Hammill
Hansen
Bouzanis
Gulacsi
Kelly
Huth
Irwin
Ayala
Mendy
Bruna
Crowther
MacKay-Steven
Duran
Poloskei
Pacheco
Nemeth
Simon
Brouwer
Saric
Weijl
Chamberlain
Duyan
Bauchtmann
Metcalf
Roberts
Valle
Kasami
Ellison
Pepper
Ince
Oldfield
Kennedy
Amoo
Cooper
Highdale
Kacaniklic
Eccleston
Pourie
O'Connor
Scott


When will Rafa learn that a squad of 80 players is just too damn much?



Seriously speaking Del Piero, we have a squad of 23 players that will be used in the first-team, impending a couple of departures and arrivals. I think you've shown you're not qualified to really comment on our club.

Who the fook are Mendy, Duyan and Ellison??

1st year Academy?

Personally i don't think we can win the league next season. I don't expect us to and won't be critical of our side when we don't - we won't go from not challenging to winning it like that, first we need to "challenge" and aid our belief that we can win the title. Challenging really has to constitute as being in close proximity to the top team up until March (at the earliest) time. Last season we were out by Ferbuary ... we threw it away in January.

I think Mrtz summed up it well to be honest in his post. I don't really have much to add.

We suffered a lot last season with shortages in defence, many niggling injuries to our full-backs with Finnan, Arbeloa and Aurelio all having periods out - and then obvioulsy the Agger problem. Central defence was fixed in January and i'd hope left-back has been sufficiently addressed this summer. Defensively our only complaint could be right-back.

Another thing we had to contend with (amongst the ownership madness, which i don't want to delve into frankly) was of course no Paco Ayesteran who left around the end of August. He was responsible for training - so he kind of had a large influence. Sammy Lee could be our best signing of the summer in that respect as it's a void that greatly needed filling.

And of course, formation. Mrtz said how it complimented our players and it will be employed next term definitely.

Creativity in our side is a concern as fakeplastictrees pointed out. Gerrard and Torres generally make everything happen. Agger may contribute a little, as Kuyt will, but they're nothing to really rely on - same with Benayoun (perhaps our next best thing after the aforesaid reliant on pair). With the new arrivals of Barry and Keane it's a bit disconcerting that we're beginning to look more mechanistic in exchange for flair - a combination is important but do we have the right balance? Personally i think if we kept Alonso and deployed him in a more advanced role this would quench our problem, but that seems unlikely. I really think that with having strikers on the wings we are going to rely a lot on creativity from our central midfieldesr, so having the right personnel will be vital.

But i said it last season and i'll say it now - mentality is our main downfall. When things go wrong our heads go down but for Gerrard and Torres - Mascherano the same but he's rarely going to lead a comeback when goals are needed. We need more leaders on the pitch, people who'll take on responsibility without undermining our captain. In Keane and Barry i think we're doing this which i'm very pleased about. Our ability to fight will be greater and that i think will go a long way to turning the draws into victories.

A challenge i will be extremely happy with and a challenge is something i think we can manage. We weren't a million miles away last season, and the improvements are there to see. We have a chance.

Duyan and Ellison are yup.

Mendy is an 18-year-old (i think) Spanish right-back signed from Murcia (again, i think) this summer who'll go into our reserves.

I really can't see Liverpool challenging for the title and it disappoints me immensely.

Everyone knows I think its the manager that needs to go...but like someone above mentioned, he's a great defensive tactician and that's about it.

For me, I see Liverpool and Arsenal going head to head for 3rd or 4th place....that's the goal for both teams...

Correct, Mendy was purchased only last week.



Why on earth should that be our goal?! Our goal should be to go for the league title! That is what it should be every year! However, unfortunatly once again I do not see us being succesful. I think with the addition of Robbie Keane and hopefully a better equipt Babel i think we will be more of a force against the better teams going forward. I just dont think we have the creativity to match the best at present, as well as the defensive cover in the wide areas at the back. The thing that does give me hope is the way we played in the later parts of the season, when we had a consistant team and a formation that seemed to suit all the players.

I think we will contest for the title a bit better this season, hopefully past the Febuaray stage but i really do not see us winning the league once again. Chelsea and United have the class and experience over us.

He has 45 players he could use if he wanted and he doesn't want to, so why not just sell the useless ones (even though that would be most of the team) like Riise. Why does he purchase weirdos such as Bellamy rather than going talented strikers?

I'm not saying he uses all the 45 I'm saying he should sell at least 10 of them for 5 M or more then he'd have lots of cash to spend on transfers. You'll never win the league with this attitude... how about going for Ljungbjerg, that's not impossible at all and he has a couple of years left in his feet, surely he is better than Pennant.

Can you enlighten me as to who those 45 players are? I as a Liverpool supporter can't even come up with 45 first-team players.

Go for Ljumberg!! Why? Cos you think he is better than Pennant? Pennant is a reserve player. He is not a first 11 player. Ljumberg would be exactly the same, a squad player. No way would he improve our first 11 which is what we need. Pointless!!!! I would rather have Pennant anyways.

And if you take into account every teams first team squad, reserve squad and youth team i bet most clubs will have a high number of players. You can not single Liverpool out for this.

I agree with the fact i think we buy too many youngsters. How long can 'planning for the future' last? At some point future and present must meet. Hopefully the work being done over the past 4 years with the youngsters will reward us soon with some up and coming talent that can push for the first team. Plessis, Darby, Spearing and Pacheco are evidence it has some potential.