Post Season Appraisal

grumpymunster

Of course not having any European football helped Liverpool finish in the CL places. It's not just the matches it is the travel, training disruption, injuries. For me ManU have an excellent chance of getting top 4 next season they are a decent side with decent players. Just the same as Liverpool this season to suggest otherwise is folly I think.

SlickRic

Pepe LeFrits wrote: »

... how many people is that?

you want a number?

I can list off my friends or trawl through posts on this forum but I don't have the time or inclination.

if you don't think it's the case, fair enough, I could be out of my mind.

That_Guy

We had a good run in the first half of the season but a lack of ambition is killing the club. I fear for us next season under the current regime with a manager who has now managed to rack up 38 losses in the last two seasons.

Infuriating and joyless watching them this season.

It's a damning reflection on the bottom half of the table that they couldn't even loosen our grip on a top half finish throughout the season.

Utopia Parkway

Pepe LeFrits wrote: »

... how many people is that?

There's plenty of this forum anyway.

If I had a euro for every time I heard it on TV/radio or read it on this forum I could afford to buy Luke Shaw myself. You'd swear Liverpool had got knocked out of the cups on purpose when in fact they lost in the Carling away to Man U (when United were playing reasonably well) and in the FA Cup away to Arsenal (in a game they could have easily won). They were tough draws early on and they lost them.

That_Guy

That_Guy wrote: »

We had a good run in the first half of the season but a lack of ambition is killing the club. I fear for us next season under the current regime with a manager who has now managed to rack up 38 losses in the last two seasons.

Infuriating and joyless watching them this season.

It's a damning reflection on the bottom half of the table that they couldn't even loosen our grip on a top half finish throughout the season.

Pardew has to go.

Personally I think Moyes would be a good fit for Newcastle.

Oranage2

I Don't know why pool fans are getting so precious over people saying the extra games will have some impact on team.

We see it countless times that a mid table team struggles in the league when they qualify for Europe, also this season alone pool only started to play amazing when they were knocked out of all their cup competitions (and that was only 5 extra games)

Of course Liverpool will add to the squad but they're only around 5th choice in terms of appeal for potential transfers, top 4 would be a great achievement for Liverpool next season, which is very possible but no guarantee.

Oranage2

Oranage2 wrote: »

I Don't know why pool fans are getting so precious over people saying the extra games will have some impact on team.

We see it countless times that a mid table team struggles in the league when they qualify for Europe, also this season alone pool only started to play amazing when they were knocked out of all their cup competitions (and that was only 5 extra games)

Of course Liverpool will add to the squad but they're only around 5th choice in terms of appeal for potential transfers, top 4 would be a great achievement for Liverpool next season, which is very possible but no guarantee.

Indeed, top 6 would be an improvement

Pepe LeFrits

SlickRic wrote: »

you want a number?

I can list off my friends or trawl through posts on this forum but I don't have the time or inclination.

if you don't think it's the case, fair enough, I could be out of my mind.

Well see, posting a rebuttal to comments you've seen/heard elsewhere, in a thread where nobody has actually said the same, makes it look like you're putting words in people's mouths.

... not that there's much wrong with commenting on stuff being said elsewhere, but indicating who you're directing this stuff at is a good way to avoid getting backs up.

That_Guy

rarnes1 wrote: »

Pardew has to go.

Personally I think Moyes would be a good fit for Newcastle.

He would be a good fit and I'd take him in an absolute heartbeat but it won't happen.

That_Guy

That_Guy wrote: »

He would be a good fit and I'd take him in an absolute heartbeat but it won't happen.

Why not?

That_Guy

rarnes1 wrote: »

Why not?

He wouldn't come to us. He'd be given fúck all to work with with that tyrant still in charge.

He's a good manager and would improve us but I just can't see him wanting to work for Mike Ashley with little leg room.

If Villa get a new ambitious owner I think he could do wonders there.

SantryRed

mike65 wrote: »

FFP threatened and home grown quota effected teams pay attention!

That is by far the most idiotic table I have ever seen.

That_Guy

SantryRed wrote: »

That is by far the most idiotic table I have ever seen.

You'd have to question the sad case that actually goes to the effort of producing such bullshít.

grumpymunster

SantryRed wrote: »

That is by far the most idiotic table I have ever seen.

That_Guy wrote: »

You'd have to question the sad case that actually goes to the effort of producing such bullshít.

I saw a link earlier on apparently first published in the daily fail says it all really.

That_Guy

grumpymunster wrote: »

I saw a link earlier on apparently first published in the daily fail says it all really.

I hate those type of tables. It's just absolutely pointless.

EDIT: Besides. There's still a load of teams in that table who have a fúck load of games in hand. :pac:

EDIT (part deux): Oh it's only based on wins, not game played in the first column.

Still a load of bollocks.

D2D

Manchester City: Deserved to win it, played fantastic football all year

Liverpool: Superb season for us, more than happy with Champions League football returning to Anfield. Defense needs to be improved now

Chelsea: Seemed to be a transition season for Chelsea, losing in games against the lesser teams in the league and missing a proper goal scoring striker cost them.

Arsenal: Another year where Arsenal falls away from the title to 4th. Their cup drought might end though so that's a positive on the season

Everton: Excellent season for the blue half of Merseyside. Martinez got them playing excellent football. Sorting out who to sign on permanently from their loan signings is vital now.

Spurs: How to blow £100 million and get no results. No idea how they manage to spend that amount of money just to finish 1 spot worse than they were last season. Sacking AVB and replacing him with a manager who looks like he's gonna be replaced himself isn't gonna help at all.

Man Utd: An awful season for United. Moyes had an aging squad and players who didn't look interested to sort out and it didn't work. No Europa League could be a blessing for them to just focus on the league next season

Southampton: Fun team to watch, pity their squad is about to be picked apart by the big teams. Says a lot about their youth academy though

Stoke: As much as I don't like them, an excellent finish for Stoke. Hughes has done a great job with them

Newcastle: Such an odd season. Able to pick up some great wins early on and then to have it all go down the drain by selling Cabaye and Pardew head-butting Meyler....... a horrible finish to the season. Ashley and co have to go

Crystal Palace: Pulis performed a miracle in getting Palace where they finished as they looked certs to go down early on.

Swansea: Ugly season for the Swans. Europa League killed any energy their squad had and injuries cost them. Nice to see Monk given the job full time

West Ham: An awful team to watch but they stayed up despite an awful run in. Allardyce looks to be in serious trouble now

Sunderland: A remarkable turnaround, side were gone before Poyet turned it around. Managed to get the results against the big teams to ensure safety, they still need to be able to beat the teams around them though

Aston Villa: A season to forget and tbh, I thought they'd go down as they looked nothing like a Premier League side when they played. No heart and poor management, they got lucky they was worse sides in the league this year

Hull City: Poor season league wise but they stayed up, which I'm guessing was the aim. Cup wise, they've been great and have a deserved cup final to look forward to

West Brom: As with Villa, I really don't know how they survived this season. Anelka's "quenelle" was the only thing that people will remember West Brom for this season

Norwich: Costly change in management, shaky defense wise and a striker in Van Wolfswinkel that just couldn't score was enough to send them down

Fulham: 3 changes in management deserves to relegate you

Cardiff: So much for those lucky red shirts. The club will get nowhere with Tan still there

LuckyLloyd

SantryRed wrote: »

That is by far the most idiotic table I have ever seen.

Irks me that some of my fellow Liverpool fans are championing it as evidence of...what? Nationality of the team means **** all. If we had 9 lads from Mali, Gerrard and Suarez and won the league that would be just fine by me. In the table that counts City are the big dogs, that's all their fans care about I'm sure.

mike65

Well I was being a bit jokey but I am also happy that Liverpool is becoming more "home grown" and English, I think it does help to connect the club with that part of the support base that doesn't fly in. A few more Scousers coming through in the next 2/3 years will help.

greendom

Arsenal would have been top of that table had Walcott stayed fit

djPSB

LuckyLloyd wrote: »

Irks me that some of my fellow Liverpool fans are championing it as evidence of...what? Nationality of the team means **** all. If we had 9 lads from Mali, Gerrard and Suarez and won the league that would be just fine by me. In the table that counts City are the big dogs, that's all their fans care about I'm sure.

I agree that it's only the PL table that's important.

Just one point though.

In the long term, it's an advantage to have a core of British players. It's easier keep the team together and ensures longevity.

Rafa built an exceptional team at Liverpool but it disengrated rather quick as the foreign players moved on. That is unlikely to happen with this Liverpool team. Players like Henderson, Sturridge, Sterling etc. should be around for years.

mike65

djPSB wrote: »

I agree that it's only the PL table that's important.

Just one point though.

In the long term, it's an advantage to have a core of British players. It's easier keep the team together and ensures longevity.

Rafa built an exceptional team at Liverpool but it disengrated rather quick as the foreign players moved on. That is unlikely to happen with this Liverpool team. Players like Henderson, Sturridge, Sterling etc. should be around for years.

Ah the irony that is buried within that period

Barry/Alonso

.

Moneymaker

Manchester City: Deserved champions. Likeable manager and a lot of likeable players. Owners seem to have some cop on too and give a nice wide birth to the staff.

Liverpool: They've been brilliant. All credit to Rodgers. Next season will be the real challenge. More games, thin squad, injuries. Can Rodgers shore up the defence while still being so strong attacking wise?

Chelsea: Meh season. Jose has been incredibly tiresome to listen to. Had plenty of time getting a striker, didn't do it. Buck falls on him imo.

Arsenal: What might have been? Definite improvements made however. They really need to figure out what's causing all their injuries. A trophy and a top 4 finish is acceptable for them imo. Winning the cup could do wonders for the club.

Everton: Strong season, do they have the money to keep it up? They got some unreal deals and loan signings but they don't happen every year.

Spurs: Very lacklustre. Only Erikson really performed and a lot of money has seemingly been flushed down the drain. I have no idea how they go forward.

Man Utd: Disastrous, but not crippling. LVG will help a lot. A lighter schedule and a focused dressing room, along with 5-6 new players and we should see United back where they belong. I can't see this being a permanent decline.

Southampton: Superb job, they've spent well, and add in fabulous young talent and they could be going places. The question is how many of them will stay?

Stoke: Mark Hughes came out in the black massively this season. Fine job, spent well, better quality of football.

Newcastle: Go read the Newcastle thread and see any one of my 46439674 rants. :pac:

Crystal Palace: Dead and buried to a near top 10 finish. Very impressive. The likes of Gayle, Ward and Puncheon have bright futures. Some job by Pulis.

Swansea: About where I expected. Bony was a revelation but can they keep him?

West Ham: Nothing season for West Ham really. Allardyce is a dead man walking as WH fans have never taken to him.

Sunderland: Fair play, it was nothing if not exciting for them. Beat us twice, cup final and some mental results. Let's see how Poyet spends and if Wickham can keep the hot streak up. Johnson went off the boil a bit after a red hot Spring.

Aston Villa: Barely noticed them this year. That's not a good thing. Benteke regressed and Lambert didn't really do much. Not sure where they go from here. Lerner needs to be gotten rid of.

Hull City: Not too bad. Survived fairly comfortably and a good cup run. Bruce has come out in the black.

West Brom: Relegation fodder next year I think. They're in a bad place right now.

Norwich: Spent a decent amount but they just didn't deliver. A massive shame as I like the club and Hughton.

Fulham: A mess. Got what they deserved.

Cardiff: Tan is utter poison. They had some high points but Solsjkaer just didn't deliver. Lucky red shirts me hole. Was stunned at how little fight they showed against us at SJP two weeks ago. Didn't seem to give a toss.

djPSB

The fight for top 4 will be very interesting next season.

City and Chelsea would be dead certs one would imagine.

United should be back in contention. The League will be the only focus.

Liverpool will be contending again, all depends on the calibre of players added this summer.

Arsenal, the top 4 specialists at this stage, should keep their top 4 place at least.

Spurs aren't good enough imo.

Everton just lack that bit of quality to get top 4 and will most likely lose their loanees. Will find it hard to cope with the Europa League.

ronjo

djPSB wrote: »

The fight for top 4 will be very interesting next season.

City and Chelsea would be dead certs one would imagine.

United should be back in contention. The League will be the only focus.

Liverpool will be contending again, all depends on the calibre of players added this summer.

Arsenal, the top 4 specialists at this stage, should keep their top 4 place at least.

Spurs aren't good enough imo.

Everton just lack that bit of quality to get top 4 and will most likely lose their loanees. Will find it hard to cope with the Europa League.

I agree. Its hard to imagine any team other than the current top 4 plus United really challenging.

ronjo

ronjo wrote: »

I agree. Its hard to imagine any team other than the current top 4 plus United really challenging.

I don't see why Spurs wouldn't under a decent manager.

They have a good squad and with a few additions could well challenge.

ronjo

rarnes1 wrote: »

I don't see why Spurs wouldn't under a decent manager.

They have a good squad and with a few additions could well challenge.

I dont see it personally but I guess a few decent additions could make all the difference.

MrKingsley

Im just going to talk about my team spurs.

Havent been as underwhelmed by a season as this in quite a while, and thats saying something. I wasnt up for getting rid of AVB but thats how it goes. Sherwood has been a joke but has done as expected and beaten the small teams by playing Adebayor.

We played poorly for most of the season, yes however it says something that we were still right in the race for 4th until late feb and early March. Thats nuts.

One thing I really want to point out though is we are not that far off the likes of Arsenal IF THE RIGHT MANAGER WAS IN CHARGE.

I believe that we should stick by all of the players we bought last year. IMO we are a LB and flexible winger away from a points tally of 75/76.

If Liverpool and Rodgers have taught us one thing this year its that an awful lot can change between two seasons.

djPSB

rarnes1 wrote: »

I don't see why Spurs wouldn't under a decent manager.

They have a good squad and with a few additions could well challenge.

Europa League will be a hindrance

Paully D

For me, speaking from a purely Premier League point of view:

Manchester City: Champions despite their main striker suffering on/off injuries all year. Great season for them. Yes, they spend big money, but you can't ask any more of them in Pelligrini's first season.

Liverpool: Fantastic season. Unfortunately it probably feels very deflating for Liverpool's fans the way it ended, but every Liverpool fan on the planet would have taken 2nd place and a legitimate title challenge if offered at the start.

Chelsea: A team who would have won the league with a quality striker IMO, but they've needed one ever since Drogba left. The best record against the top teams by a considerable distance but slip ups to teams like Sunderland, Villa and West Ham cost them dearly. Could you call third a success? No, not for me.

Arsenal: Cracking first half to the season, then injuries cost them big time in the second half. 4th (along with winning the FA Cup) would be a good season. They badly need to keep spending Ozil type money and sort out their form against the top teams to have any chance of improving on that sort of season though.

Everton: Champions League looked on for a period but similar to Chelsea, slip ups to weaker teams cost them. Cracking first season for Martinez but the acid test for him is next season when he has to replace key loan players.

Spurs: Top 4 should always be the aim for Spurs now and after investing every penny and more of the Gareth Bale money, this has to go down as a failure of a season. Ironically, finishing 6th and getting Europa League won't help their quest for 4th next season at all/

Man Utd: Absolutely abysmal. Moyes seemed like a shocking appointment at the time and proved to be so.

Southampton: Good season that was over in January. The price you pay when you're not quite good enough to challenge for Europe and far too good to be stuck in a relegation battle. Another team that might come into difficulty next season depending on their manager's status and if key players stay.

Stoke: Very good IMO. Hughes plays a style much better than Pulis did and they ended up with their highest ever Premier League finish.

Newcastle: Like Southampton, another whose season was over in January. I frequently named Cabaye as the MVP of the Premier League on this forum in the sense that he's the one player whose team live and die by his performances and when he left that seemed to be the case. 10th is there or thereabouts for where they should be finishing but having done the hard work in January and going on a disastrous run the season is overshadowed somewhat.

Crystal Palace: Superb really. From about 1/20 to go down before Pulis arrived to a comfortable mid-table finish. More than any Palace fan could have envisioned before the start of the season and even less so in the early months of the season.

Swansea: Europa League seemed to cause them to suffer in the league as it usually does with the weaker teams who struggle to balance the Thursday/Sunday games with their smaller squads. The signing of Bony basically kept them up.

West Ham: I thought they did alright. Cracking start to the season but injuries to almost their entire back four and their £20m striker who their game is based around being out for a long time caused them to stutter which is reasonable. Sacking Big Sam based on this year would be a mistake IMO.

Sunderland: Well, what can I say? 7 points off safety with 6 games to go and the great escape was pulled off with wins at Chelsea and Manchester United and a draw at Manchester City. Make no mistake, this was an awful season given what went on for 32 games, but 14th after being rooted to the bottom virtually all season was a position no Sunderland fan thought possible. 2 derby wins a cup final too.

Aston Villa: I thought they were poor. The injury to Benteke didn't help but they'd hardly been flying before that. Lambert has been relatively poor in the transfer market despite his calls for more investment and the side lacks genuine Premier League quality. Sooner or later relegation catches up with teams that constantly just about stay up and Villa need to push on soon.

Hull City: Meh. They spent near £30m and finished in 16th gaining less than a point per game. They'll see it as a great season by surviving and getting to the FA Cup final though.

West Brom: Poor. Broke their transfer record twice, played in more bore draws than I care to remember and only stayed up by 3 points.

Norwich: Relegated so a poor season. Signings failed to fire and they probably needed to have safety assured with 4 games to go given their last few fixtures which didn't happen. In all honesty I couldn't blame their board for sacking Hughton hoping for a boost after losing 1-0 at home to West Brom as they were going to drop with him in charge anyway IMO. Worth a go, but Adams as a replacement was never going to work. They'll probably get Mackay in next.

Fulham: Relegated so a poor season. Meulensteen was an awful appointment who didn't have a clue. The squad was full of players who were living the life in London and had no interest in fighting when the going got tough.

Cardiff: Mackay is not the saviour he's made out to be by some in the wake of Cardiff going down as he spent a considerable amount of money and was only 4 points off relegation when dismissed. A bigger mistake was the appointment of Sojskaer IMO. Solsjaker was tactically clueless and out of his depth. They'd have taken 17th place before a ball was kicked but obviously going down = poor season.

Hammer Archer

Paully D wrote: »

West Ham: I thought they did alright. Cracking start to the season but injuries to almost their entire back four and their £20m striker who their game is based around being out for a long time caused them to stutter which is reasonable. Sacking Big Sam based on this year would be a mistake IMO.

Pretty much my exact thoughts. Though I wouldn't call it a cracking start to the season. We had by far the easiest start of any team but were still only average.

If you had offered 13th at the start of the season I probably would have been disappointed, but with the ridiculous amount of injuries we had halfway through, it's actually not that bad. Our run from the end of February to the end of March is what saved us.
I am worried about what will happen if Sam is sacked. Sam won't relegate us, despite what a lot of posters here seem to think/hope. This is exactly what we need until we move to the Olympic Stadium. When we do, if there's no sign of improvement, then maybe we can look at getting a manager who plays more attractive football and move up the table. But until that happens, I'd be saying "be careful what you wish for" to any of our fans who want Sam out. It seems eerily familiar to when Curbishley was manager and playing boring football in finishing 10th. Two seasons after he left, we were relegated.

Utopia Parkway

MrKingsley wrote: »

Im just going to talk about my team spurs.

Havent been as underwhelmed by a season as this in quite a while, and thats saying something. I wasnt up for getting rid of AVB but thats how it goes. Sherwood has been a joke but has done as expected and beaten the small teams by playing Adebayor.

We played poorly for most of the season, yes however it says something that we were still right in the race for 4th until late feb and early March. Thats nuts.

One thing I really want to point out though is we are not that far off the likes of Arsenal IF THE RIGHT MANAGER WAS IN CHARGE.

I believe that we should stick by all of the players we bought last year. IMO we are a LB and flexible winger away from a points tally of 75/76.

If Liverpool and Rodgers have taught us one thing this year its that an awful lot can change between two seasons.

Think Spurs will need a striker as well. Soldado hasn't really looked very convincing so far although maybe under a new manager he might improve. While who knows what version of Adebayor will turn up next season?

MrKingsley

Utopia Parkway wrote: »

Think Spurs will need a striker as well. Soldado hasn't really looked very convincing so far although maybe under a new manager he might improve. While who knows what version of Adebayor will turn up next season?

Yeah i agree just forgot to put it in.

However if were playing with 1 up front (which should be the case because of the 30 midfielders we have) then its not a priority i dont think. I hope to god they dont sell soldado. I know he didnt score goals but whenever he did play he played well but have such little service.

A striker on loan for me would do.

Need to replace rose and lennon as priorities. Also is Vertongen or Kaboul leave then a CB is an absolute must

Ironman76

mike65 wrote: »

Its been a funny season in so many ways, Spurs sack AVB with the team joint 6th and three points of 4th, replace him with a newbie who more than matches AVBs points PPG average and then make it clear that he will be replaced in the summer.

Newcastle ended 2013 in 8th place and ended the season in 10th place which is amazing
when you look at how many games they didn't win! And yet they are still 7 points better off year on year

Man Utd proved the power of management - they don't just do tactics they do motivation and Moyes failed disastrously in that regard. Once the rot set in that was it. That they didn't move to replace him much sooner speaks volumes with regard to the boards competence.

Chelseas season is a failure. So much talent and yet couldn't find a away to beat Stoke, Sunderland and Villa. Mourinho is just the ordinary one now.

Goals - some teams are just goal crazy - City, Liverpool and Fulham over 3.00, only four sides games had an average less than 2.5 GPP - Stoke, Hull, West Ham and Norwich. However what's the big thing is the number of very big scores or big margins between teams that really should be much tighter!

Man City 6 Arsenal 3
Liverpool 5 Arsenal 1
Chelsea 6 Arsenal 0
Man City 6 - Spurs 0
Spurs 1 Man City 5
Spurs 0 Liverpool 5
Liverpool 4 Spurs 0
Man Utd 0 Man City 3
Man Utd 0 Liverpool 3
Newcastle United 0 Spurs 4

Genuinely don't think we'll see these next season.

The manager churn has proved a mixed bag and the jury has to be out on most of them - only Poyet and Pulis can be considered a real success. Others were possibly turfed out needlessly and certainly some far too late in the season, oh and if you are going to do it - do it once (Fulham)

Man Utd 4 - Swansea 1
Man Utd 3 - Crystal Palace 0
Man Utd 4 - Aston Villa 1
Man Utd 4 - Norwich 0
Newcastle 0 - Man Utd 4
West Brom 0 - Man Utd 3
Aston Villa 0 - Man Utd 3

Lot of goals alright

Pro. F

Ironman76 wrote: »

Man Utd 4 - Swansea 1
Man Utd 3 - Crystal Palace 0
Man Utd 4 - Aston Villa 1
Man Utd 4 - Norwich 0
Newcastle 0 - Man Utd 4
West Brom 0 - Man Utd 3
Aston Villa 0 - Man Utd 3

Lot of goals alright

You'd expect those types of scores in those games. You need to read his post again.

Ironman76

Pro. F wrote: »

You'd expect those types of scores in those games. You need to read his post again.

Tongue in cheek dude, tongue in cheek.