Official Premier League 2009/10 thread

[EddieG]

No, 'cause Man U won the League Cup there's 6 spots, the 7th spot depending on the FA Cup winner.

[Dynamite]

The look on Gerrard's face when Torres got subbed was brilliant. Liverpool better still be in the race for 4th by the time they play Chelsea. We need them motivated to take a point or three in that match and help us win the league!

[stokeriño]

Shame the Intertoto cup isn't around as a Last Option of Desperation anymore.

[Crybaby Bunting]

Liverpool will not be in the race for 4th by the time they play Chelsea

In fact, I would probably guarantee that they'll be statistically unable to finish fourth by then.

Which could result in them just playing badly to get Rafa sacked, knowing that nothing is going to change.

[stokeriño]

The tricky part is the inequality in games played. Liverpool will have played a game more than both City and Spurs right up until the final weekend (aside from a 24 period after Sunday 18th April, but then Liverpool play again on Monday 19th).

So unless Liverpool suck badly enough, we'll likely come to the Liverpool/Chelsea game in a position where it's *mathematically possible* for Liverpool to take 4th if City/Spurs/etc. lose their game in hand and their remaining games as well.

[therockbox]

I understand that Rafa wants to be sacked, I just don't understand why he couldn't be a little more subtle about it in the process.

Drawing at Brum and thinking job done?

We battered them in the last twenty minutes - which was after a certain Torres had been brought off for N'Gog, who improved our attacking play no end. I'm in no doubt that Rafa will be crucified tomorrow for having the audicity to bring the leggy, out of sorts Torres off by people that didn't even watch the game, even thought the change actually resulted in us, you know, keeping hold of the ball in the final third.

I don't know why people are so surprised that we drew against Birmingham away. They've lost twice at home all season, holding all the teams above us to draws there in the process. I know that we need as many points as possible, but a little perspective would be nice.

[DavidMarrio]

im starting to lose faith it's just gotten to that point where im just looking at the team and thinking what the hell has happened since last year. I mean we played well last year and basically gifted the title away and now were battling for 4th and it looks harder and harder to achieve that 4th spot now. Only things that changed was Alonso and Arbeloa leaving and you can't blame the way we are now on that.

I think the whole club just needs shaking up cause i've supported Rafa through the thick of it but it just gotten to the point of even if we win the Europa League if he doesnt get 4th i think he needs to go. We need alot of money and hopefully actually spend it on good players.

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

I love rockbox cos he's a Liverpool supporting version of me.

[therockbox]

im starting to lose faith it's just gotten to that point where im just looking at the team and thinking what the hell has happened since last year. I mean we played well last year and basically gifted the title away and now were battling for 4th and it looks harder and harder to achieve that 4th spot now. Only things that changed was Alonso and Arbeloa leaving and you can't blame the way we are now on that.

I think the whole club just needs shaking up cause i've supported Rafa through the thick of it but it just gotten to the point of even if we win the Europa League if he doesnt get 4th i think he needs to go. We need alot of money and hopefully actually spend it on good players.

So it's that simple, is it?

Do we just ignore the fact that we've been forced to operate at a profit in the transfer market for the last three transfer windows? Do we ignore that despite being dressed in our tightest top and shortest skirts that almost a year of being whored around the desert has turned up no investment in a club struggling to meet its debt repayments? Don't you think there's a reason why we had to make a cheeky loan move for an average (at best) striker in January?

[stokeriño]

1734: Howard Webb will be England's representative at the World Cup this summer by the way. He hasn't been in very good form recently.

I can't decide whether this is a bit of cheeky understatement from the BBC or not. And if it isn't, then it ought to be.

[Crybaby Bunting]

im starting to lose faith it's just gotten to that point where im just looking at the team and thinking what the hell has happened since last year. I mean we played well last year and basically gifted the title away and now were battling for 4th and it looks harder and harder to achieve that 4th spot now. Only things that changed was Alonso and Arbeloa leaving and you can't blame the way we are now on that.

[DavidMarrio]

i didn't say it was that simple. I said we need money cause really look at the team. We don't have good enough backup players at all thats why i said we need money. Yeh we got brought by two owners who brought the club with loaned money which has in turn caused us to not have enough money to invest in the proper players thats why i said we need alot of money. Whether that be selling deadweight players in the team or getting new investment but our operating in the transfer market hasn't been the best under Rafa.

You can't say the reason were in this mess is just because of Alonso leaving because thats just stupid if you think it's just cause of Alonso leaving. The team hasn't performed in the majority of games and our away form has been terrible this year

Edited April 4, 2010 by davidmarrio

[stokeriño]

Hmm, Everton re-take the lead. I guess we won't be seeing Pompey mathematically doomed today either then.

...But now apparently West Ham have equalised again! There remains a chance! >_>

[therockbox]

im starting to lose faith it's just gotten to that point where im just looking at the team and thinking what the hell has happened since last year. I mean we played well last year and basically gifted the title away and now were battling for 4th and it looks harder and harder to achieve that 4th spot now. Only things that changed was Alonso and Arbeloa leaving and you can't blame the way we are now on that.

*snip*

HILARIOUS oversized pictures aside, he's not completely wrong. Of course we're missing Alonso (any team would miss the best passer of a ball in the world), but it hasn't helped that every single player bar Reina, Mascherano and Lucas have spent the season out of form, incapable of controlling the ball and unable to hold even the loosest of shape, with the same clutch of first team players out with injury after injury.

[DavidMarrio]

but he's not completely right. You can't blame our crap season on just one player leaving yeh we tried to replace him with a player whos been injured for the majority of the season. It is a big factor but there are other factors as well such as Torres injured for a bit, Gerrd not been on the best of form, luck has been against us at times. I'm just saying theres a lot of reasons why we've been poor this season and it really needs sorting out

[Szumi]

As a West Ham fan, we were extremely lucky that Everton didn't get a penalty when it was 1-1. Da Costa kicked Saha right in the chest. It was a penalty. But a fabulous response from Faubert and Ilan after going down. What a vital, vital point, especially with Hull hosting Burnley next week. We needed that point, and even more did we need the confidence boost that comes with a point on the road.

[stokeriño]

I have a suspicion that West Ham's season will be determined one way or the other when they face Wigan at home. Particularly if Hull win their game in hand...

[Crybaby Bunting]

I'm just saying that Alonso was the catalyst for all of this happening.

By getting rid of Alonso, Rafa got Aquilani (who he couldn't use for a while). Without Aquilani, Liverpool were forced to play a sub-par midfield without any chance of rotation, tiring out the best midfielders and forcing players back in before they were fully fit.

So by the time Aquilani is fit to play, everyone else is utterly jaded and exhausted from having to cope with his absence.

This was magnified once Liverpool realised that Aquliani isn't exactly the best player to fill the gap in a team like that, especially without being gradually brought into the squad.

IF Aquilani had been brought in from the start uninjured then they would be in a comfortable position about now because there would be less of a burden on bringing players back before they were fit...But there's no point in talking about this hypothetical scenario because Aquilani was injured before Liverpool started negotiations with Roma.

Last season showed that Liverpool WILL buckle under pressure, and with fourth place out of their hands, would ANYONE really place any money on Liverpool getting out of this?

[DavidMarrio]

i completely agree that Aqualiani isn't the best player to suit the role. I agree Alonso leaving is a factor but im starting to believe that some of the players might have lost faith in Rafa i think it shows at times by the performances and just a good example was today when Gerrard looked annoyed and Torres looked annoyed when he was took off.

I think better backup and better wide players are needed

[therockbox]

All of that is irrelevent because our midfield has been the only part of the outfield team that has functioned all season. People bang on about Lucas and Mascherano 'not supplying the attackers' when the truth is that our attack has had plenty of supply - but without exception have been utterly awful all season. Gerrard won't get criticised despite spending an entire season behaving like a petulant child, not to mention being a liability on the pitch nine times out of ten. Benayoun has been a shadow of what we saw from January onwards last season, even before his outburst Riera was poor, Kuyt has run around a lot but has struggled in an attack that hasn't functioned, and when Torres has been fit - despite his goals - his hold-up play has generally been non-existant.

In defence, Carragher's decline has continued into a third full season, which started off with him breaking Skrtel's jaw (when Agger was also injured and the owners were scrabbling around to find a couple of million for Kyrgiakos) and hasn't really improved from there. Insua's played far too much football, although with Aurelio spending almost the entire season with a succession of injuries we've really had no choice. Johnson as well was promising to start with, got injured, came back, struggled, got an even worse injury and is only now beginning to look up to speed.