2013-2014 Season

[the dude abides]

I want to predict Liverpool winning 2-1

but I fear a 2-2

[Martinmarx]

Very good first half. It really is a team game today with no player standing out bar, possibly, Gerrard (soz Dude  ). Henderson needs to come off though. He seem to struggle with it mentally and offers next to nothing at either end. Sterling started brilliantly and so did Allen. Lets hope we can keep playing like this in the 2nd half.

Come on you redmen!!!!

[the dude abides]

2-0 up - yehaaaaa.

note how my verbal kick up the a.r.s.e has worked wonders for captain marvel.

just need to keep it tight at the back for the final 30 mins, and let Suarez, Sterling and Sturridge - the 3 S's make hay on the counter (as United are now leaving big holes to exploit).

[the dude abides]

 

1 more cup final won

9 more cup finals to go.

if we win them all, we will be champs  IMHO

of course the 2 massive games are at home, v chelsea and v man city

but it is all in our own hands.

exciting times.

as for today - United now will not be taking part in CL football - for the first time since the second world war.

I hope Fergie was knocked off his perch today.  And you can print that. 

[the dude abides]

Celebrations for our third goal.

Anelka will feel hard done by. 

[Martinmarx]

Let us all take the hat off for our manager Brendan Rodgers who managed to make us titlecontenders in less than 2 full seasons. We were in it in 2009 but not in this way.

Brilliant performance which sends out a message. Cardiff away and Sunderland at home up next. We need to make sure we take advantage of our quality against those teams as nothing less than 6 points is acceptable.

Still think Henderson is the most overrated players since the dawn of this game. Utter rubbish.

Hail to Captain Marvel for putting in his best display of the season at the right time!!! Skrtel had a cracking game and was absolutely fantastic. Flanagan should be very happy not to be sent off while Sterling keeps improving by each game. Also, a special mention must go to Johnson who was absolutely fantastic today.

Come on you redmen!!!

[barticus]

Let us all take the hat off for our manager Brendan Rodgers who managed to make us titlecontenders in less than 2 full seasons. We were in it in 2009 but not in this way.

Brilliant performance which sends out a message. Cardiff away and Sunderland at home up next. We need to make sure we take advantage of our quality against those teams as nothing less than 6 points is acceptable.

Still think Henderson is the most overrated players since the dawn of this game. Utter rubbish.

Hail to Captain Marvel for putting in his best display of the season at the right time!!! Skrtel had a cracking game and was absolutely fantastic. Flanagan should be very happy not to be sent off while Sterling keeps improving by each game. Also, a special mention must go to Johnson who was absolutely fantastic today.

Come on you redmen!!!

Agreed Johnson was great today...makes a difference not playing with an injury...as was Allen...
and yes fair play to Rodgers on his ability to learn and adapt...we were in it in 2009 but there was fergies influence...a major factor methinks...
loved this game as i was calm throughout and while not perfect it was pretty fecking close...

[Martinmarx]

Agreed Johnson was great today...makes a difference not playing with an injury...as was Allen...
and yes fair play to Rodgers on his ability to learn and adapt...we were in it in 2009 but there was fergies influence...a major factor methinks...
loved this game as i was calm throughout and while not perfect it was pretty fecking close...

Good for you, you managed to stay calm. Don't know what it is. When I see a game live on telly it seems tight and can go either way. When I watch a replay (like I did last night) I realise there's no way this could've ended any other way.

Dude, I take notice how your constant advising of our captain has finally helped him.  Could you please to a bit of the same for Henderson?

We must not slip on the bananaskin that is Cardiff. Have seen their last 2 games and they've been very very unlucky to get nothing from them. The balance of average an'all I hope we remain as focused next weekend we were yesterday!

There's only one Brendan Rodgers, one Brendan Rodgers, there's only one Brendan Rodgers!!!!!

[the dude abides]

Dude, I take notice how your constant advising of our captain has finally helped him.  Could you please to a bit of the same for Henderson?

 

cardiff up next (away), then two home games - sunderland and spurs.....then away to west ham.

all cup finals.

but if we can keep on winning, then we are going to take this down to the wire.

I don;t think I have seen a closer finish to the premiership in all my years.........4 clubs are still in it.

if only we had got the right decisions from refs when we lost at city and chelsea (2-1 in both cases) in december, we would be sitting on top of the pile now.

but we have nine games to go - win these 9 cup finals, and we are champs.

[Martinmarx]

cardiff up next (away), then two home games - sunderland and spurs.....then away to west ham.

all cup finals.

but if we can keep on winning, then we are going to take this down to the wire.

I don;t think I have seen a closer finish to the premiership in all my years.........4 clubs are still in it.

if only we had got the right decisions from refs when we lost at city and chelsea (2-1 in both cases) in december, we would be sitting on top of the pile now.

but we have nine games to go - win these 9 cup finals, and we are champs.

Yes, it's a tad annoying we didn't get what we deserved during the festive period. Hopefully we'll get a return in the games to come. I am a bit worried Arsenal will beat Chelsea this weekend and what that will do to them. They do have a habit of being quite capable of putting long winning streaks in Place.

It pleases me to hear the players are already looking forward to the tricky Cardiff away game. Said it before, they've been very unlucky in the last couple of games, long may it continue. If we beat them they're doomed for relegation so they'll be up for it no doubt.

Sunderland and Tottenham at home I think are winnable whereas West Ham away could be a potential bananaskin. They're an unpredictable side either being able to win/draw away to hometeams or lose to relegation fodder.

As you say, if this block leaves a good return (at least 10 points) it'll no doubt go down to the wire.

[Tes]

I hope Fergie was knocked off his perch today.  And you can print that.

First thing Monday morning I went to the local pet shop and bought two budgies, one the shop owner had called Fergie, the other Moyesy, strange coincidence, I realise. Anyway, I decided to have them all the same, as the cage at home was empty.
 The funniest thing happened when I put them in the cage. Fergie went and settled bang slap in the middle of the top perch (there are three perches all together). Moyesy flew around the cage for a while then sort of swooped down to land on the top perch but got it totally wrong and took Fergie straight off it (in what looked like a dive bombing action). Unfortunately they both had bad landings and are now both lying feet up, stiff as concrete on the base of the cage.

They were bought as a replacement for my last budgie, which was called Brendan, that managed to escape the cage and now has taken up residency in a neighbour's budgie cage.

I don't seem to have much luck with the birds, so I'll stick to the 'wine' and 'song'' in future, and David Coverdale can keep his 'women'.

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zHpxwwAAKm4 - for the 'uneducated'  ) 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JFS-91Qhwdw - do we recognise what Bernie Marsden's wearing (guitarist on the left as you look at stage)

[Martinmarx]

 

Nice to hear from you Tes. It's been a while. Happy with proceedings?

[Tes]

Nice to hear from you Tes. It's been a while. Happy with proceedings?

At one end, yes. But we've still got the same problems at the other. It's why I haven't been on for a while. I got sick of banging on about the 'same old' all the time.

We've taken full advantage of no European football or cup runs (stroke of bad luck getting Arsenal in one and the Mancs in the other), and it's good to see Rodgers learning from last season's mistakes, credit to him for being able to do that, and his handling of the media has matured this season also.

With Arsenal getting whopped (4-0 as I write, sorry 6-0) by Chelsea, a win against Cardiff could see us consolidate third place.

I think it's unrealistic to expect us to win it this season and it would work against us next season as we wouldn't be able to match it when we'd have CL football (and traveling) to contend with. So finishing third (whether a point or two or just goal difference) behind City and maybe three points off Chelsea would show marked progress, but progress that we could realistically maintain again next season by consolidating ourselves in the top four (preferably top 3) whilst also attempting to get out of the group stages in the CL.

I'd much prefer us to make steady, solid progress that can be sustained year after year, than make rapid progress this year, only to see us drop back in the league because we have European football to contend with next season.

A third place finish would also help the owners to back Rodgers with funds, as we know we are definitely in the CL group stages. A 4th place finish would be so much more problematical and create too much uncertainty.

Considering the depth of our squad, the areas that need improving in the first 11 and the lack of depth beneath the areas of the first team that look good, third would be a superb achievement and one that we could solidify next season if the right purchases are made this Summer.

We have to learn to walk first. Finishing a close third this season with no European football, repeating it again next season whilst finishing closer to the eventual winner AND getting out of the group stage first time back in the CL since what seems like forever, would constitute sustainable progress and it's the sustainability of the progress we make which is the key thing.

I'd settle for scraping third on the last day of next season, with the same points gap between us and 1st, if we could add a trophy, as well as getting out of the group stages, even if we were to narrowly go out of the CL at the first knockout stage. It's all steady, solid progress, which will help build a better future. Much better than having a great season this season (missing out on the title by a point, but finishing comfortably second) but dropping back to struggling to return to the top four again next season because European football was to make such a huge difference to our league season.

I don't want to appear negative, but I'm seeing things this way because this season we were playing without European football, without half our squad playing off the back of a World Cup, our preseason wasn't as dis-jointed as this Summer's is likely to prove, and the World Cup always makes it harder to sign players.  Then there's the question mark over whether we will have enough funds to sign both the quality and quantity of players needed to allow us to replicate this season's league performance, with all the other factors in play that we didn't have this season.

So I'm looking at this and next season in combination, rather than just this season in isolation and how collectively they influence the picture going forward over the next 5-10 seasons.

[Martinmarx]

Flanagan and Agger's having a stinker first 30. Either or both needs to come off ASAP.

[Edward224]

At one end, yes. But we've still got the same problems at the other. It's why I haven't been on for a while. I got sick of banging on about the 'same old' all the time.

We've taken full advantage of no European football or cup runs (stroke of bad luck getting Arsenal in one and the Mancs in the other), and it's good to see Rodgers learning from last season's mistakes, credit to him for being able to do that, and his handling of the media has matured this season also.

With Arsenal getting whopped (4-0 as I write, sorry 6-0) by Chelsea, a win against Cardiff could see us consolidate third place.

I think it's unrealistic to expect us to win it this season and it would work against us next season as we wouldn't be able to match it when we'd have CL football (and traveling) to contend with. So finishing third (whether a point or two or just goal difference) behind City and maybe three points off Chelsea would show marked progress, but progress that we could realistically maintain again next season by consolidating ourselves in the top four (preferably top 3) whilst also attempting to get out of the group stages in the CL.

I'd much prefer us to make steady, solid progress that can be sustained year after year, than make rapid progress this year, only to see us drop back in the league because we have European football to contend with next season.

A third place finish would also help the owners to back Rodgers with funds, as we know we are definitely in the CL group stages. A 4th place finish would be so much more problematical and create too much uncertainty.

Considering the depth of our squad, the areas that need improving in the first 11 and the lack of depth beneath the areas of the first team that look good, third would be a superb achievement and one that we could solidify next season if the right purchases are made this Summer.

We have to learn to walk first. Finishing a close third this season with no European football, repeating it again next season whilst finishing closer to the eventual winner AND getting out of the group stage first time back in the CL since what seems like forever, would constitute sustainable progress and it's the sustainability of the progress we make which is the key thing.

I'd settle for scraping third on the last day of next season, with the same points gap between us and 1st, if we could add a trophy, as well as getting out of the group stages, even if we were to narrowly go out of the CL at the first knockout stage. It's all steady, solid progress, which will help build a better future. Much better than having a great season this season (missing out on the title by a point, but finishing comfortably second) but dropping back to struggling to return to the top four again next season because European football was to make such a huge difference to our league season.

I don't want to appear negative, but I'm seeing things this way because this season we were playing without European football, without half our squad playing off the back of a World Cup, our preseason wasn't as dis-jointed as this Summer's is likely to prove, and the World Cup always makes it harder to sign players.  Then there's the question mark over whether we will have enough funds to sign both the quality and quantity of players needed to allow us to replicate this season's league performance, with all the other factors in play that we didn't have this season.

So I'm looking at this and next season in combination, rather than just this season in isolation and how collectively they influence the picture going forward over the next 5-10 seasons.

No disrespect Tes but that stinks of negativity. We have an opportunity to do something this season and whilst we have that chance we must go for it and not think of the "what ifs" next season.

Also in regards to the defence we've had injuries to all the backline at one time or another this season whilst the teams around us have a settled back four. Certainly the full back area is one which needs major investment in however I think you're being a tad bit over critical.