Its going to be an interesting season but I dont think we should expect to challenge anywhere above 6th. If we could be in the running for the CL places it would be a miracle especially considering the amounts spent by Chelsea and Arsenal already.
At this very early stage it looks like the two Manc teams, Chelsea and Arsenal, with us fighting it out with Spurs and Newcastle for fifth or the hope that one of the other four massively under achieve.
Juan, it's interesting that we potentially have those three you mentioned to come back though whether Aquilani will stay I have my doubts. I agree with you that they would suit Rodgers intended style of play, going forward at least. Whether they can be motivated to do the hard work aspect of his style I'm less confident about.
I agree with you that looking at our last three seasons, to
expect a challenge for fourth would just be plain daft. I think that will have to wait until next season at the earliest.
We have to be brutally realistic, as the reality is brutal, as to just how far we have fallen in the last three seasons. We're now the sort of points distance off fourth that we used to moan about being off first when we regularly qualified for the CL.
As for the amounts spent by Chelsea and Arsenal, we could say the same about ourselves last Summer, working purely on the figures.
There is always the possibility that those players could flop and then there's always the chance that RVP will leave Arsenal, they won't have Benyoun, Arteta could revert to his normal brittle self etc.
With Chelsea there's the question over Di Matteo. Did the same thing happen for Chelsea that happened for us when Dalglish took over, ie he simply wasn't the previous manager, and will the same thing happen in a full season?
All we can ask for is that Rodgers gets it right with his sales and purchases, we get the bigger earners who contribute next to or nothing permanently off the payroll and we see the basis of the style of play Rodgers wants starting to take shape and we improve on our goals scored and our home form and a noticeable increase in our points tally.