Official Premier League 2010/11 thread

[therockbox]

Isn't that why we changed manager, because Roy would stop two of those (the ones with certain accents...) sulking and get them playing again?

But yeah, anyone that thinks we have a crap squad, especially when Roy took over, is an idiot. He may have done his best to weaken it during the summer but the squad is much, much better than he's currently getting out of it. We should be around 5th or 6th, instead he's got us playing like relegation candidates.

[stokeriño]

City appear to have stolen United's ability to be jammy and annoying.

[Clawson]

Excuse my Canuckiness but jammy?

[stokeriño]

Fortunate and/or lucky.

[Clawson]

Ahhh yes, agreed....and the weird thing about that is that it's City...being lucky...the world is ending.

[Crybaby Bunting]

I thought City started to be jammy with the Newcastle game where 'being robbed' was a gross understatement.

Then again, that was more to do with the referee being cunty. This result isn't so bad, Blackpool playing gung ho football means that they're always going to lose a few games like this and win a few more like this.

[Clawson]

I honestly feel guility about taking points from Blackpool. Is there anyone who doesn't want them to stay up?

[ONO]

I couldn't give a shit to be honest.

[Dan]

I couldn't give a shit to be honest.

You are a horrible person.

They're good for the league, a small stadium full of noise, a team full of attacking intent and players who've mainly been lower league footballers going up against these big wage players, I'd much rather that than watching overpaid shit like Liverpool or defensive long-ball bullshit like Blackburn and Stoke.

Edited October 17, 2010 by Version Dan

[Shelty92]

Fuck. Would've been a perfect day had Blackpool held on to a draw for a bit more than a minute.

Oh well, the weekend didn't turn out that bad after all despite United's fuck up. Chelsea drawing against Villa keeps our hopes up. Everton winning the derby was fantastic. It sucks, though, that City got three points clear, if only for the fact that I have to listen to my friend (who became a 'fan' after the financial injection) gloat about it 'til the roles are reversed again. How I wish one of my friends supported Liverpool right now.

[-A-]

I couldn't give a shit to be honest.

You are a horrible person.

They're good for the league, a small stadium full of noise, a team full of attacking intent and players who've mainly been lower league footballers going up against these big wage players, I'd much rather that than watching overpaid shit like Liverpool or defensive long-ball bullshit like Blackburn and Stoke.

I probably said the same thing about Hull a couple of years ago, but I ended up hating the club and wanting them to get relegated. It's nice for most of these teams to get their moment in the sun, but it takes quite a lot to make me actually care whether they stay in the Premiership or not.

[stokeriño]

Blackpool has the advantage over Hull of not being quite as large a shithole.

[-A-]

Actually, I like Blackpool a teenie bit because Charlie Adam is a fantasy football god for me this year.

[DJ Ice]

Adeybayor goes off in the 70th minute (Or so). 0-0

Final Score: 3-2

lol, Liverpool

Edited October 17, 2010 by DJ Ice

[Liam]

But yeah, anyone that thinks we have a crap squad, especially when Roy took over, is an idiot.

Maybe not crap, but your expectations of what you should be getting out of that squad, and what other (non Liverpool, maybe) fans see is something completely different.

Again, maybe it is the difference between being a fan of the team, or not. You have Torres and Reina, who are world class, Gerrard hasn't done anything for me for the last two seasons, but he has his moments. Outside of that, the squad is real hit and miss. You said 5th or 6th, but I think even that was expecting a bit, considering a lot of sides around that region are getting better. I get that Benitez got them there, so you feel so should Roy, but the squad is a year older, not generally for the better (with regards to your Carragher's and Gerrard's), and with little depth seemingly.

Legitimately, at the start of the season, I thought that Liverpool would probably end up behind Man United, Chelsea, Arsenal, Man City, Everton (who have had a bit of a stinker, but I expected more of them), Spurs and potentially Villa depending on how they got going after replacing O'Neill.

[therockbox]

We finished 7th last year in a season where we were ravaged by injury from the very first game, and where the situation around the club created by the owners had finally filtered down to the players. Despite that, we only finished 7 points behind fourth place.

The squad is good enough to, at the very least, compete for a place in the top six. I think anyone suggesting otherwise is being incredibly disingenuous. Last season the narrative was; 'Benitez has taken a strong, top four squad, ripped away their confidence and dragged them back down the league.' This season it has suddenly shifted to; 'Benitez left a shite squad.' That change only happened when Roy - the media's pick for manager and very much English flavour of the month - looked to be flailing.

There are gaps in the squad, but that's what happens when you turn a profit for five transfer windows in a row. Nobody is expecting a title challenge or a top four finish, but Benitez was sacked - allegedly - because 7th was 'unnaceptable' and we were much better than that. Roy must be judged based on that, instead people are falling over themselves to make excuses now that an English manager is finally managing a fairly big name.

[Guest Jacob]

In my opinion, Hodgson and, to an extent, Benitez, signed players that did not really build on the asctual starting 11 but the squad.

The players bought in this season (Poulsen, Moreles (sp) and Konchesky) are not world class. They improve the squad somewhat but there is not much difference say Plessis and Poulsen or Konchesky and Agger or Aurelio.

You need a world class winger, another striker and possibly another CB. But in the same bracket as Torres, Reina and Gerrard who, in my opinion, best days are behind him.

[therockbox]

That's probably true - but it's a symptom of where we were as a club under Hicks & Gillett. I've posted this before so I won't go into detail again, but basically when Rafa arrived the squad and first eleven wasn't good enough, so he decided to build the squad up with players in the £2-10m(ish) bracket, then once he'd done that he started paying bigger money for top quality to improve the first 11 (Mascherano, Torres etc). Unfortunately under H&G we then needed to start selling to buy, so that pool of not-quite-top-class players needed to be sold to keep funding the 'bigger' deals, which basically meant a reversal of the process Benitez had started when he first joined.

Whilst it would be nice to be in a position to buy a world class left back, centre back, and a top class backup striker for Torres (although I don't know why he'd be happy to sit on the bench more often than not), we simply haven't had the funds to do this whilst also ensuring we didn't go into a season with no players in one (or more) positions.

Roy's problem isn't just that the players he's signed haven't been good enough (although I think Meirles is, he's just been used in a ridiculous way by a manager who clearly doesn't know how to use him), it's that he's not addressed any of the problems in the squad - he's bombed out players like Insua and Aquilani for free, then spent money on lesser replacements. Going into this season with Aurelio and Konchesky as our only two senior left backs was a criminal decision (there's a reason why Benitez was only prepared to offer Aurelio a pay-as-you-play type deal), giving Juventus Aquilani + £5m for Poulsen was an insane thing to do, as was his choice to offer Joe Cole a four-year, £20m contract when he's been hit and miss for the best part of two years.

Roy's promotion to a place well above his station sums up everything that's wrong with the way the English press and majority of fans see the game. 'Oh, he dun well at Fulham so he'll do well at Liverpool!' is the worst argument I've heard for appointing a manager, and yet it's one that so many bought into.

[EddieG]

tl;dr: He said he wouldn't go into detail.

[Baddar]

thenorrobox?