just got back from the match

[Molby]

home before 6

 

our performance? not so good

 

looks like we're gonna finish top of our mini league, i.e. 6th, and maybe win a cup - pretty good really

 

in order to improve we need to invest in players and get over the Carroll fiasco (sell him at a huge loss, which is part of the same thing)

 

anyone spluttering 'what about Kuyt?' need not apply

 

so over to you, benign American fellas, what you go for us?

[anfield11]

In fairness Kuyt did more in that 90 mins. Than Carroll has done all year. If Carroll applied himself and put in anything like Dirk's work rate he might at least paper over the cracks of his footballing inability.

[Epic Swindle]

Aye, needs investment. People might point to the mistakes made in the summer but that's gone, and a manager needs more than a couple of windows to find the perfect blend. I'd keep Carroll, mainly because we won't be able to sell, but he's also a decent option. We defo need a quality CM and attacking player right now, but whether we get them is anyone's guess.

[Clay Davis]

i.e. 6th, and maybe win a cup - pretty good really

[Epic Swindle]

In fairness Kuyt did more in that 90 mins. Than Carroll has done all year. If Carroll applied himself and put in anything like Dirk's work rate he might at least paper over the cracks of his footballing inability.

 

I'd rather Kuyt had a first touch. His much exagerated 'work rate' is a waste of time when he's as bad as was today.

 

 

What was you expecting? The past two seasons we've finished 7th and 6th respectively, we wasn't suddenly going to leap over already established CL teams. Win any trophy and it's a good season.

[dalennie]

We need Jari Litmanaen. Even if he's 52 years old, he starts next Saturday at Bolton.

[Falconhoof]

I honestly didn't expect the investment to halt/stall/pause at this transfer window. If we don't invest in this transfer window then you can maybe accept that some of the players we want just aren't available, but I think they took over stating they were going to get us back to the top.

A few of us tried to make an estimate in te summer of what they should have budgeted to throw at the project and we really are nowhere near that figure yet.

 

I can't help wondering what the strategy is. It won't get any easier to get past at least 2 of spurs, arsenal, Chelsea, man u and man city next season so the best plan surely is to front load te investment and push on now.

[Nate.]

We aren't a top four side. Simple as that. I don't think we're that far off obviously and a bit more quality could see us push on more than that.

[marty]

i think top four is out of our reach for a year or 2 yet....its become harder since Rafa's time off easily qualifing due to Spurs rise and Citys money. a*** and Chelsea have been there years now due to Wenger and Roman....it will take time, winning a cup will breed confidence into the team and I for one would love nothing more then going to Wembley after a run that included away wins at Stoke, Chelsea and City

[Cooldude]

We need some massive investment to get us to competing again, and it's gonna be tough particularly if we f*** up our big money signings and not being able to attract the necessary quality players coz we're out of the CL for too long

 

It's gonna be a big 6 months for the club, we've had a few of those the past few years

[Clay Davis]

What was you expecting? The past two seasons we've finished 7th and 6th respectively, we wasn't suddenly going to leap over already established CL teams. Win any trophy and it's a good season.

Not sure what I was expecting really, but I don't think finishing 6th and winning the League Cup, as nice as it would be to win a cup, would be considered a successful season considering the money spent. EDIT : After our resurgence under Kenny during the second half of last season, surely no-one on here was expecting 6th!?!?

 

We need to get top four, so we can play CL football again, attract the top talent then kick on for the title. Every year we finish outside the top four is very bad news for the pulling power and ultimately the success of the club.

Edited January 14, 2012 by Clay Davis

[Billy Dane]

We are trying our best to blow it but top 4 is still within reach.

[D.Boon]

We need some massive investment to get us to competing again, and it's gonna be tough particularly if we f*** up our big money signings and not being able to attract the necessary quality players coz we're out of the CL for too long

 

It's gonna be a big 6 months for the club, we've had a few of those the past few years

 

We need to be very savvy in the market with no CL to offer. Suarez being a good example. Carrol and Downing the complete opposite

[marty]

Not sure what I was expecting really, but I don't think finishing 6th and winning the League Cup, as nice as it would be to win a cup, would be considered a successful season considering the money spent. EDIT : After our resurgence under Kenny during the second half of last season, surely no-one on here was expecting 6th!?!?

 

We need to get top four, so we can play CL football again, attract the top talent then kick on for the title. Every year we finish outside the top four is very bad news for the pulling power and ultimately the success of the club.

 

money spent and recouped and it doesint seem all that much

[Clay Davis]

Probably its a shift in my mentality that's needed but I never knew finishing 6th was good enough for this football club.

[Epic Swindle]

Not sure what I was expecting really, but I don't think finishing 6th and winning the League Cup, as nice as it would be to win a cup, would be considered a successful season considering the money spent. EDIT : After our resurgence under Kenny during the second half of last season, surely no-one on here was expecting 6th!?!?

 

We need to get top four, so we can play CL football again, attract the top talent then kick on for the title. Every year we finish outside the top four is very bad news for the pulling power and ultimately the success of the club.

 

We haven't spent that much, it's been blown up by the media. It's still a rebuilding job and needs more investment.

 

I wasn't expecting 6th but it wouldn't be a massive surprise given who we're up against and the ground we have to make up, though I'm sure it'll be a lot tighter this season.

[Benzo-13]

We need to be very savvy in the market with no CL to offer. Suarez being a good example. Carrol and Downing the complete opposite

In a nutshell. If we're spending big then we've no margin for error.

[Clay Davis]

In a nutshell. If we're spending big then we've no margin for error.

Suarez was clearly a fantastic player, it was just a question of whether he'd settle and boy did he.

 

Sign more clearly fantastic players.

[Benzo-13]

Suarez was clearly a fantastic player, it was just a question of whether he'd settle and boy did he.

 

Sign more clearly fantastic players.

Good players. We're takin gambles with the big money now instead of safe bets.

In fairness I'd a feeling Carroll was a nothing but Downing I'm genuinely shocked at.

Thought he'd be a 6.5 - 7/10 a week.

[Rimbeux]

 

 

 

What was you expecting? The past two seasons we've finished 7th and 6th respectively, we wasn't suddenly going to leap over already established CL teams. Win any trophy and it's a good season.

 

Expecting or seeing? Are we to react to expecting Arsenal to be better than they are and their awful start or to react to what they have put up as a challenge, are we to react to expecting Chelsea to be better and more consistent than they have been, or react to what they have put up as a challenge. I'd say only Spurs have actually exceeded some notion of expectation so far. One of the pooerset goalscoring and attacking re cords in the PL is a huge concern, and not just one of those things or a simple part of progress, especially given the opportunity in front of us.

[D.Boon]

Expecting or seeing? Are we to react to expecting Arsenal to be better than they are and their awful start or to react to what they have put up as a challenge, are we to react to expecting Chelsea to be better and more consistent than they have been, or react to what they have put up as a challenge. I'd say only Spurs have actually exceeded some notion of expectation so far. One of the pooerset goalscoring and attacking re cords in the PL is a huge concern, and not just one of those things or a simple part of progress, especially given the opportunity in front of us.

 

Indeed, Arsenal and Chelsea have been garbage for large parts of the season and we still cant get ahead of them.

[Molby]

Probably its a shift in my mentality that's needed but I never knew finishing 6th was good enough for this football club.

 

I meant in context of our investment in players so far

 

net, wages incl., allowing for a reasonable amount of mistakes etc etc

[Clay Davis]

I meant in context of our investment in players so far

 

net, wages incl., allowing for a reasonable amount of mistakes etc etc

Yeah, I suppose you're right. It's easy to forget we pretty much had to start again.

[Epic Swindle]

Expecting or seeing? Are we to react to expecting Arsenal to be better than they are and their awful start or to react to what they have put up as a challenge, are we to react to expecting Chelsea to be better and more consistent than they have been, or react to what they have put up as a challenge. I'd say only Spurs have actually exceeded some notion of expectation so far. One of the pooerset goalscoring and attacking re cords in the PL is a huge concern, and not just one of those things or a simple part of progress, especially given the opportunity in front of us.

 

Those teams have had their struggles but were still on stronger foundations and unlikely to just step aside without a fight. We were always running uphil this season, though all is not lost yet. There is problems breaking sides down but for me it's nothing terminal and is all part of the development process for a new team.

 

We've also lost arguably our 3 most important players from the spine of the side for long periods of the season.

[Rimbeux]

Those teams have had their struggles but were still on stronger foundations and unlikely to just step aside without a fight. We were always running uphil this season, though all is not lost yet. There is problems breaking sides down but for me it's nothing terminal and is all part of the development process for a new team.

 

We've also lost arguably our 3 most important players from the spine of the side for long periods of the season.

 

We will never get a perfect run of injury, it's why we have a highly paid and large squad. I truly believe that the goalscoring problem is a deep problem that probably needs new players to solve.