NAMING RIGHTS THREAD: Liverpool really won't win the Premiership 2010-2011

thank fuck the fan of a smaller team showed up tbph

i thought i was taking crazier pills than the pills i was taking

enjoying darragh's reversion to small club it's a conspiracy mode now spurs are on the slide.

lol i was waiting for that, and it took longer than i expected tbh

WE'RE ONLY A SMALL CLUB COS WE'RE NOT BEING LET GROW

hmm somehow i don't seem to have read the extended version of this argument and i don't have a pony in the particular case under discussion but i'm still certain that the interpretation has always been "don't award the goal unless you're certain" and that this is the best possible interpretation

^^^^

i'm only slagging darragh, but still...i'm just enjoying feeling optimistic, coupled with spurs fans early on this season acting like they were on the way to the title as we were about to get relegated.

which prob was how it may have seemed...

they will have known

Liverpool 5th is more or less a done deal now I think, the big ish is maintaining momentum next season?

i mean Suarez is tremendous but I can't help feeling Kuyt is playing two notches above himself and there's still strengthening to take place elsewhere

i'm ready to like liverpool again, tbh

we don't deserve 5th this year, and that's not down to ref decisions either

"we don't deserve 5th this year"

sounds suspiciously like a back-handed jol in

kuyt is a bit above himself but he had been underachieving for a while too. there is still strengthening to take place, WINGERS PLEASE THANK YOU FOR FIRST TIME SINCE what, 2001? but the youths coming in is massively encouraging, like any good revival of a team, the new sense of competition for places gives the side a huge boost. and there's more to come i reckon, that youth side looks really strong.

i did feel the deterioration this year and last was way disproportionate to the squad, people suddenly acted like we'd sold the entire team that came 2nd and we hadn't, it was just a problem of depending on gerrard and torres too much, it's so much more a team now, with genuine collective spirit. would like to see our stats with and without gerrard in 2011.

no sense of hurry either, things had got so bad that it can be allowed to grow organically. even if they don't finish 5th might be a blessing in disguise.

kuyt isn't playing above himself, he's playing with a creative striker- he's always been a good finisher/predator imo

lololololojol out

In all competitions so far this season:

With Gerrard:
W 11 = 47.83%
D 4 = 17.39%
L 8 = 34.78%

Without Gerrard:
W 12 = 42.86 %
L 7 = 25%
D 9 = 32.13%

It's worth noting that the above stats include the following 3 matches:

Napoli W 3-1 - came on at half-time and won the game for us with a hat-trick.

Bolton W 2-1 - came on after 21 mins for Meireles. Made a gorgeous first-time, half-volleyed pass to Torres for the 1st goal, and crossed the ball for Maxi/Cole to score the 2nd.

Man Utd L 1-0, sent off after 31 mins.

I might break it down to Hodgson/Dalglish matches, too. It'll be interesting to see if there's much difference under the two managers. We've looked great without Gerrard in these last few matches, but I recall we were also pretty comfortable without him at Spurs under Hodgson, when Lucas and Meireles looked to be devloping a decent partnership in the middle.

OK ignore those figures cos they're a mess.

With Gerrard:
W 11 = 45.83&
D 4 = 16.67%
L 9 = 37.5%

Without Gerrard:
W 12 = 44.44%
D 10 = 37.04%
L 5 = 18.52&

Hodgson

With Gerrard:
W 7 = 38.89&
D 4 = 22.22%
L 7 = 38.89&

Without Gerrard:
W 6 = 46.15%
D 5 = 38.46%
L 2 = 15.39%

Dalglish

With Gerrard
W 4 = 66.67%
D 0 = 0%
L 2 = 33.33%

Without Gerrard
W 6 = 42.86%
D 5 = 35.71%
L 3 = 21.43%

That was fun.

Don't really want the Europa League but think the distinction between finishing 5th and 6th is pretty big when it comes to the players, at the moment I'd take whatever we need to keep hold of them. Apart from the strikers and the goalkeeper.

Kinda want to see Nottingham Forest go up through the playoffs by the way - QPR/Norwich/Forest would have a pleasing early 90s feel to it.

Like the way Forest play tho obviously I have a soft spot for Dave Jones' Wolves Old Boys side.

taking strikers and gk out of it we're def a top 3 team imo :(

This league season has hurt more than i'd expect it to. I didn't think we could beat city to fourth again last august, but the matches we've thrown and the manner in which we've done it, it's really been with a whimper.

Back to being a nice footballing side who concede ridiculous goals, although these days we can't even score a few to dress it up a little.

Harry's failure to address the striker issue this season is a black mark against him d'you think?

above any other, yeah.

That and failure to really use the squad options available.

Not arry out yet, was really only tryin to get 'lol dmac' reaction after the chelsea game but no biters- but for a wheeler dealer he sure hasn't managed to clear out the shite clogging the works.

i mean, crouch ffs, defoe ffs. Neither of them must have heard a word of coaching this season, looking at their repeated 90 minute sessions of ignoring their respective physical chracteristics

I'm on the phone, can someone else post 'freaky friday' poster ta

Not for the want of trying during the transfer window, although he's possibly guilty of being over-ambitious after the Inter game and the VDV signing.

There's an argument that signing VDV has actually unbalanced the team and we were better as a team when playing 4-4-2 with a straight defensive midfielder, especially as we have no decent lone frontman. The strikers haven't really been good enough to fully support that view, even without the constant chopping and changing. But we certainly need a big bully upfront who can play on his own.

That said, with all the praise heaped on Modric and Bale it's easy to forget how much of a part Defoe and Lennon played in getting us to the CL, they were unstoppable over the first part of last season. It's just that when they got injured we had an equally prolific Bale and Pav ready to step in. That hasn't really happened this season, Modric and Sandro aside the players all seem to have flagged at the same time, Redknapp probably deserves some of the blame for that.

Given his goalscoring record, and our general lack of goals, barely playing Kranjcar all season now looks like a massive clanger. Maybe clutching at straws, but could have been worth 6-9 points in himself, especially in those underwhelming draws against relegation candidates.

But yeah, lack of a prolific goalscorer is really not a problem I'd have anticipated at the start of the season.

all otm, but partic in saying that no two strikers have been worth their space on the pitch at the same time.

Vdv- he's not been fit since christmas, i think.

I do find it hard to tell if he's playing up front or in a support role a lot of the time tho, yeah. And when he drops back we're left with three wannabe playmakers watching bale fly up the wing and cross to nobody, or worse still, crouch

tbh matt- bale's emergence as an inarguable 1st name on the sheet player at lw has prob destabilised last year's excellent midfield more than vdv slotting in where keane played anyway

and maybe bale alongside a finisher with a midfield four of modric thudd sandro lennon is worth a look to see how it balances.

Bale vdv fwd line, man i'm clutching now

I mean one of the reasons Redknapp was successful in the first place was that his made it his priority to build a balanced team, and that balance appeared to go out of the window this year in favour of incorporating as many exciting attacking midfielders as possible.

smashed it
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=51dSpj8zEVQ

looks deliberate to me o_O

yep

ironically, or maybe promisingly?, sandro seems to be the midfielder that can anchor us and still play a bit. Really hope next season sees him as a fixture.

Love wilson but he's been woeful for so long now

it was always a danger with harry that he just snaps up whoever is available in a football manager 2010 style, then can't incorporate them all. if his own interviews are true then passing up on suarez was incredibly foolish.

i dunno, tho i hadn't heard that.

One more beautiful footballer who sets up but doesnt score too many isn't going to turn it around

We need a kuyt!

he will score a good few i think, i mean he's got 3 at liverpool with nothing like the amount of creativity around him.

think 'arry said something like they had the chance to get suarez, he passed on it, then as the window neared closure they were desperate for another striker and went back, but he had already decided to go to liverpool.

forlan would have been good...

yeah the way forlan and i think luis fabiano turned out you'd have thought deals could have been done

Wonder how much of an issues wages have been

Sandro, Gallas and Modric were great on Saturday. VDV was irrelevent and Bale was plain awful - if anybody offers you 40m you should snap it up. He's no Robben or Ronaldo, more of a cross between Ruel Fox and Andy Sinton. But lack of a decent striker clearly didn't help.

Liverpool playing well with no pressure, but what's the situation with Dalgish? Is he definitely staying on? Tough job for whoever takes over if not.

VDV was irrelevent and Bale was plain awful - if anybody offers you 40m you should snap it up. He's no Robben or Ronaldo, more of a cross between Ruel Fox and Andy Sinton

Love this kind of fronting.

Liverpool would be mad to pass up on Dalglish at this stage, given that Man City are going to make it very difficult to get back into the top four quickly.

yeah they're in negotiations i believe, have been for a while. as long as mancini is city boss other teams will have a chance imo.

if we got 40m for bale but could keep modric, i'd almost settle for that. But you are talking rubbish pete, all the same. One game doesnt give the measure of a player either way, be it against inter or chelsea.

I agree with those posters who have said that Tottenham have been inadequate, have underperformed, have lacked players in key positions, have failed to win winnable games; and that the manager must take blame.

I think it's been quite a poor season except for a few games, notably:
Inter away 2nd half
Inter home
AC Milan away - these two the best
FC Twente home
Arsenal away

can't really think of any other decent performances now.

i'd actually disagree that arsenal away was even a good performance!

Arsenal at home wasn't.
Stoke away might have been.

Back to CL: again, we didn't expect THFC to beat City for 4th this year. Last year always looked like the one window where it could, and did, happen. This makes it the more frustrating, maybe, that in fact we could and should have beaten City to it this year. We haven't missed out cos of narrowly going down all guns blazing vs United or Arsenal, but because (eg) we couldn't beat West Ham or WBA at home - in fact we've taken one point from bottom club West Ham all season. We've been mediocre and ineffective where we needed to beat inferior teams. We've thrown it away, repeatedly, and it's our own fault.

Howard fucking Webb?

lol

http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Football/Pix/pictures/2011/1/9/1294598017940/Howard-Webb---Twitter-007.jpg