season going as i thought...

[floyd the barber]

was suprised as some of the confidence on here after our early season beating of chelsea in the charity shield....

 

well maybe i wasnt suprised, a bunch of impressive new faces added to our already impressive squad, alot of money spent on some experienced in the u.k with young talent with the likes of gonzalez plus the kuyt signing which came a bit later..

 

Still it was always gonna take till around this time for new players to settled and others...gerrard,carra,alonso etc to find their feet again after a hectic summer..

 

so november is here and low and behold we are now starting to find a balance and are looking like a proper top side again......all good and we shall now probably go on a fantastic run.

 

Yet still i would be highly suprised if we won the league..or came 2nd

 

so my prediction before the start of the season remains..

 

a slow start with us finding our feet around november time

a decent champs league tourn with us getting the to the q-finals

3rd or 4th place in the league

and a worthy/league/whatever its called cup win.

 

 

Still think Rafa needs the backing of the board to make more true world class signings next summer for us to get closer to winning the title....more gambles need to come from the board, todays resignation from the rat, shows us that Rafa does have full backing from the others, now he needs to be backed in the transfer market...yes alot of money was spent in the summer, but not enough when you take into account what the net balance is after sales...

 

For a true return to the top of the league, we need world class quality over the pitch.

 

players rafa wanted like alves,simao,etc...are ones rafa would have bought if allowed the funds..

 

 

Im not fully dismissing the current squad, just saying i dont think we have quite enough quality throughout to seriously challenge on a week in/out basis....great on one -off games.....just not enough for the premiership.

 

For me we lack..

 

a top quality left back

quality competition for finnan

a back up/experienced hard-man for sissoko

a speedy striker

 

i dont think anyone will disagree with that.

Edited November 1, 2006 by Winding Wheel

[anfield]

I think we can agree that the wide men we bought have failed to consistently perform. Our strikers will make a huge difference this year though

[alias75]

The tough job has been done, Rafa has had to move out so many players and bring in lots to strengthen the squad. Even this year we have 6 or 7 new faces they were bound to take time to settle and not all of them will be successes (as we saw with some of the first year signings)

 

the squad is unquestionably stronger than last year and they are almost exclusively players Rafa wants. From now on we should look to bring in the 1 or 2 real top notch signings like Alves that will make a difference. For a club with our heritage if you look at our record signing amount its miles behind other top clubs in Europe, these are the type of players that make the difference when trying to win a championship.

 

If you look at Man Utd for example their squad is no better than ours (in fact its probably weaker) but they have spent big on guys like Rooney, Ferdinand, Ronaldo that maybe give them a slight edge on us in terms of winning the league, the next step is the real top quality player that will immediately improve the first team.

[Earl Hafler]

I think we can agree that the wide men we bought have failed to consistently perform. Our strikers will make a huge difference this year though

 

I think we should also agree that the wide men have not been consistently selected - look at Ronaldo when he first came here. People wondered what all the fuss was about but his manager had confidence in him, faith and they reap the benefits.

[floyd the barber]

 

the squad is unquestionably stronger than last year and they are almost exclusively players Rafa wants. From now on we should look to bring in the 1 or 2 real top notch signings like Alves that will make a difference. For a club with our heritage if you look at our record signing amount its miles behind other top clubs in Europe, these are the type of players that make the difference when trying to win a championship.

 

If you look at Man Utd for example their squad is no better than ours (in fact its probably weaker) but they have spent big on guys like Rooney, Ferdinand, Ronaldo that maybe give them a slight edge on us in terms of winning the league, the next step is the real top quality player that will immediately improve the first team.

 

definetly agree with that, interesting maybe that the last 2 games have only featured kuyt starting as the sole new player..both games argubly our best performances of the season.

 

We need to spend big in the summer on 2 world class players,we certainly have a good squad...but not enough world class to win consistently week in,week out

[Ronnie Whelan]

I think we should also agree that the wide men have not been consistently selected - look at Ronaldo when he first came here. People wondered what all the fuss was about but his manager had confidence in him, faith and they reap the benefits.

 

 

Quite. Far too early to be making calls on any of our new signings, except Agger! Everyone has their opinion, but to write off Gonzalez and Pennant so early in the careers with us is foolish, especially when they have not been getting a consistent run of games.

[bazz]

was suprised as some of the confidence on here after our early season beating of chelsea in the charity shield....

 

well maybe i wasnt suprised, a bunch of impressive new faces added to our already impressive squad, alot of money spent on some experienced in the u.k with young talent with the likes of gonzalez plus the kuyt signing which came a bit later..

 

Still it was always gonna take till around this time for new players to settled and others...gerrard,carra,alonso etc to find their feet again after a hectic summer..

 

so november is here and low and behold we are now starting to find a balance and are looking like a proper top side again......all good and we shall now probably go on a fantastic run.

 

Yet still i would be highly suprised if we won the league..or came 2nd

 

so my prediction before the start of the season remains..

 

a slow start with us finding our feet around november time

a decent champs league tourn with us getting the to the q-finals

3rd or 4th place in the league

and a worthy/league/whatever its called cup win.

Still think Rafa needs the backing of the board to make more true world class signings next summer for us to get closer to winning the title....more gambles need to come from the board, todays resignation from the rat, shows us that Rafa does have full backing from the others, now he needs to be backed in the transfer market...yes alot of money was spent in the summer, but not enough when you take into account what the net balance is after sales...

 

For a true return to the top of the league, we need world class quality over the pitch.

 

players rafa wanted like alves,simao,etc...are ones rafa would have bought if allowed the funds..

Im not fully dismissing the current squad, just saying i dont think we have quite enough quality throughout to seriously challenge on a week in/out basis....great on one -off games.....just not enough for the premiership.

 

For me we lack..

 

a top quality left back

quality competition for finnan

a back up/experienced hard-man for sissoko

a speedy striker

 

i dont think anyone will disagree with that.

 

 

Well I can disagree.........

 

Left back - who over JAR? We have looked very shaky when he wasn't in the team, but who do you suggest for his replacement?

 

Quality competition for Finnan, based on his injury record, I think the fact we have a couple of youngsters/carra that can cover there, its not the most pressing issue in order to win the league, eh?

 

A backup for Sissoko - agree there, we do need cover for him. But it will only be a player that covers when he is suspended for his amount of bookings. Even if he is suspended or injured, I think you will see Gerrard moving into the middle with Pennant on the right when this does happen

 

A speedy striker? Have you forgot that we have Bellamy in the team/squad now? One of the quickest strikers in the league. We also got rid of Pongolle, so I don't this is a necessity for a title winning team.

[Gravy]

Well I can disagree.........

 

Left back - who over JAR? We have looked very shaky when he wasn't in the team, but who do you suggest for his replacement?

 

 

The one thing we do need is an out and out top quality LB. Not someone who can play there, but a left sided Finnan.

[Mike]

i think finnan might be coming to the end of his shelf life TBH.

his decision making seems very slow to me these days.

[Falconhoof]

i think finnan might be coming to the end of his shelf life TBH.

his decision making seems very slow to me these days.

 

 

He was very slow getting back from his runs up the wing yesterday. Add that to his poor passing and it wasn't his best game.

 

Luckily he had Gerrard mopping up for him a few times.

[MickeyDocs]

He was very slow getting back from his runs up the wing yesterday. Add that to his poor passing and it wasn't his best game.

 

Luckily he had Gerrard mopping up for him a few times.

 

My opinion on Alves is based around one performance and alot of You Tube, but he does seem to be the kind of player that can help to take the first team forward.

 

He can comfortably play right wing and right back. More offensive than Finnan, lots of pace, but Finnan probably shades it defensively. It would be good to have players that offer something different for each position.

 

I don't want to get rid of Finnan, but I would like to see someone really challenge him for his position, and allow him to get some rest at times.

 

BTW, does anyone think our slow start to the season and Rafa's rotational policy had anything to do with the fact that due to a complete balls up by the FA that the Champions of Europe were made to start their qualification for the CL in July... and that the majority of the squad played without rest for the best part of 12 months?

[Kahnee]

players rafa wanted like alves,simao,etc...are ones rafa would have bought if allowed the funds..

 

 

Funds aren't the sole factor here.

Rafa will only play what he thinks the player is worth, and if the selling club don't want to lose the player, and said player isn't doing all he can to make the deal happen, then it doesn't.

[Rich Gobey]

 

BTW, does anyone think our slow start to the season and Rafa's rotational policy had anything to do with the fact that due to a complete balls up by the FA that the Champions of Europe were made to start their qualification for the CL in July... and that the majority of the squad played without rest for the best part of 12 months?

 

I certainly do. It didn't help that a World Cup fell right in the middle of it either.

 

I think Rafa's rotation policy is, in part, a reaction to this.

[floyd the barber]

Well I can disagree.........

 

Left back - who over JAR? We have looked very shaky when he wasn't in the team, but who do you suggest for his replacement?

 

Quality competition for Finnan, based on his injury record, I think the fact we have a couple of youngsters/carra that can cover there, its not the most pressing issue in order to win the league, eh?

 

A backup for Sissoko - agree there, we do need cover for him. But it will only be a player that covers when he is suspended for his amount of bookings. Even if he is suspended or injured, I think you will see Gerrard moving into the middle with Pennant on the right when this does happen

 

A speedy striker? Have you forgot that we have Bellamy in the team/squad now? One of the quickest strikers in the league. We also got rid of Pongolle, so I don't this is a necessity for a title winning team.

 

i love riise, hes been a great player for us.....but hes still not quite the quality we need, and im talking to win consistently in the league, for us to win the premiership

 

of course we need quality competetion for finnan??!? and carra covering there? c`mon....we dont wanna move our center backs around because we dont have a dedicated right back.

 

and yes we need a different option as a striker, im willing to give bellamy time of course, im also willing to bet he isnt quite good enough for us.....

[intense enigma]

i love riise, hes been a great player for us.....but hes still not quite the quality we need, and im talking to win consistently in the league, for us to win the premiership

 

If the Mancs can win stuff with utter shoite like Gary Neville.....then i think we are fine with Riise

Edited November 1, 2006 by intense enigma

[Kopfaithful]

i love riise, hes been a great player for us.....but hes still not quite the quality we need, and im talking to win consistently in the league, for us to win the premiership

 

of course we need quality competetion for finnan??!? and carra covering there? c`mon....we dont wanna move our center backs around because we dont have a dedicated right back.

 

and yes we need a different option as a striker, im willing to give bellamy time of course, im also willing to bet he isnt quite good enough for us.....

 

i don't really see that as an argument. riise is more than good enough to play in a title winning side. you don't need 11 world class players to win the league, it's about having good players in all positions with few world class players about the team. in the past we won the league with full backs like alan kennedy, who was very similar to riise, without riise's finishing ability. over recent years arsenal won the league with lauren at right back and chelsea won the league the last 2 years without a decent left or right back - although on occasion gallas was more than decent cover, he couldn't play 2 positions at once.

 

Our problem putting a run together at the start of this season has been idenitcal to last year. we got a load of new sigings and playing them along with the increased rotation rafa seems to use early in the season means it takes time for the side to settle. it's no coincidence imo, we have look most comfortable in the last 2 games, where 10 out of the starting 11 were regulars from last season. given time to integrate slowly, without pressure on them to be "world class" from their 1st kick, i think 4 out of our 6 signings will work out and if that's the case we can be very happy.