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So..champions League is looking good

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localny

localny

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Three more wins and it's nailed you think?

Are we ready for mid week madness?

How many more players to be added? A bigger squad? Players wanting to join us rather than us begging..

How will Brodgers fare in Europe. I can't wait to have the tv on Wednesday afternoons again.

It will have been 4 and 1/2 years since last we managed it.
 
I think top 4 is already virtually guaranteed. But 3rd is the real target because I'd much rather not have the qualifying game, which I don't think we'd be seeded for. Plus I'd slightly worry that FSG wouldn't open the cheque book properly if the CL revenue wasn't absolutely secure yet.

I think we need to add 4 players: a left back, a striker, a winger, and a central midfielder (we don't seem to be linked to any, which is slightly perturbing). I'd also sell Agger and bring in a top class replacement.

We won't get a particularly easy draw (think we'll be in pot 3) so the only target should just to be to get through the group and then see what happens.


It's going to be great.
 
Says a lot about our season that at the start I'd have sold my bollocks to be top 4, now I harbour an obscene hope that we may even win the fucker.

Going to be interesting to see FSG's real ambitions if we qualify, I have no idea what the fuck they are going to do, but I'm sure there will be a few falling over themselves to sign for us. It remains to be seen though if Chelsea and City sign players that we are after to deliberately torpedo our ambitions.
 
Haha, well it'd have to be Everton, wouldn't it? Spurs and Utd are 12 and 14 behind, so there's no way they can catch us. We'd have to lose about 6 of the last 8...

I tell you what might happen, though, even if it's a long shot. Everton are 5 pts behind Arsenal if they win a game in hand, and then they play them at Goodison in a couple of weeks. Win that and it's down to 2 pts between them. So they're not completely out of it...
 
It's amazing that we may nail our CL spot with games to play. When has that happened and here was us in the wilderness for years, like we had a massive CL block. Now we expect to be in it year after year
 
Like Peter, I think the aim has to be 3rd or above to avoid a tricky qualifier. Maybe I'm just a negative twat, but I think we could struggle next season to keep up with what we've done this year. Our squad is really thin, we're going to play a lot more games, a lot of these players have never played in the Champions League, just because we're in the Champions League doesn't mean we'll attract the best players - the season after we won it we signed Crouch!

I think we need to sign 5 or 6 players that will really look to get into the first team, which again provides its own problems with players settling in etc. Will the owners want to spend around 50m in the summer?

However, it's great that we're able to talk about it again, it's shit with us not in it. Just hope we give it a decent effort, get out the group and qualify and consolidate again next year.
 
localny said:
How many more players to be added? A bigger squad? Players wanting to join us rather than us begging..
Click to expand...

If you look at the likes of City and Chelsea, they used a rotation of 20 players or so for all their games this season. In the league, 16 to 17 guys got the majority of minutes. That's the sort of setup we're probably looking at.

This is our list across all competitions so far:

NAME GS SB
Jordan Henderson 34 3
Martin Skrtel 32 0
Steven Gerrard 32 1
Luis Suárez 29 2
Daniel Sturridge 25 2
Philippe Coutinho 25 6
Glen Johnson 22 0
Raheem Sterling 22 9
Kolo Touré 20 4
Aly Cissokho 18 2 < minutes will go to Enrique/Flanagan/new LB
Lucas Leiva 18 5
Daniel Agger 17 4
John Flanagan 17 0
Joe Allen 13 7
Mamadou Sakho 13 1
Victor Moses 10 9 < Borini(?)/Suso/Teixeira/Ibe/Sterling/Alberto/new attacker
Iago Aspas 7 8 < numbers might increase, or Borini(?)/new attacker
José Enrique 7 2 < numbers will increase, if fit
---
Luis Alberto 3 9 < numbers should increase
Martin Kelly 3 6 < no idea really; Wisdom might get these minutes
Andre Wisdom 2 1 < returns from loan; numbers should increase
Jordan Ibe 1 1 < returns from loan; numbers might increase
Brad Smith 0 1 < insignificant; a few youngsters will get some minutes

Without wanting to turn this into another "who / where should we buy" thread, I think the above list should show where Rodgers will probably look to make additions / changes, and where things might be left alone.The size of the squad is already big enough; it just lacks quality regulars or quality in depth in several areas that will hopefully be addressed.

Looking at this, I don't think we'll be going out to buy too many guys. Maybe one major buy or two is what we'll get, and we'll then supplement the rest with players returning from loans or youngsters promoted from within.
 
Also, if we make the CL next season, the priority for next season will still be the league - the major CL TV deal kicks in for the 2015/2016 season, so it's crucial to get back into it again at the end of next season.

If we make it next season, the aim in the CL will be for the team to get / build European experience. Getting out of the group stages into the knockout rounds should / will be the main objective, and we'll then see where we are and what sort of draw we get then.
 
Can't agree that we only need 2 major signings. We've basically used the following as our team/squad this year, not adjusting for injuries:

Mignolet
------------------
Johnson
Agger
Skrtel
Sakho
Flanagan
-----------------
Gerrard
Lucas
Henderson
Allen
----------------
Coutinho
Sterling
-----------------
Suarez
Sturridge


That's 13 outfield players covering 10 outfield positions, which is nowhere near enough. The strikers and attacking midfielders have no effective cover/competition at all, so surely we need at least one each of those. We need a left back to replace Flanagan as well. Personally I'm not totally convinced by either of Henderson and Allen, so I think we need another body there as well.
 
peterhague said:
Can't agree that we only need 2 major signings. We've basically used the following as our team/squad this year, not adjusting for injuries:

Mignolet
------------------
Johnson
Agger
Skrtel
Sakho
Flanagan
-----------------
Gerrard
Lucas
Henderson
Allen
----------------
Coutinho
Sterling
-----------------
Suarez
Sturridge


That's 13 outfield players covering 10 outfield positions, which is nowhere near enough. The strikers and attacking midfielders have no effective cover/competition at all, so surely we need at least one each of those. We need a left back to replace Flanagan as well. Personally I'm not totally convinced by either of Henderson and Allen, so I think we need another body there as well.
Click to expand...
Not convinced by Henderson? Fuck me!!
 
Hmm. Never like counting the chickens before they are hatched. What if the wheels falloff and we draw or lose all our remaining matches?
 
Yeah but that's like the few on here who say UTD could win the champion's league. On paper there remains the possibility, but in reality it ain't ever fookin happening, just like we're not losing a champion's league spot from this position!
 
CL is pretty much in the bag now. I reckon 2 more wins will be enough but we want at least 3rd now.
Not having to quality would be massive.

Everton are still in with a very small chance of catching Arsenal.
But they are still in it thanks to their home record. If they are going to climb up the table they have to win away from home aswell. They havent done that since the 4th of December.
I hope they finish 7th, as I want both Spurs and Utd in the EL.
 
I can't relax til it's done, but our minimum aim now has to be 3rd.

We definitely need strengthening big time in the summer and need someone who can come in for Suarez or Sturridge.
 
No relaxing or taking it for granted, but the balance of probability is positive for a change.
 
Dreambeliever said:
Not convinced by Henderson? Fuck me!!
Click to expand...

No, not compared to what the best teams in Europe can offer, which is what we should be aiming for. Sometimes his passing game really is sloppy, a lot of our moves break down around him.

But anyway, I do like him and I'd still have him in the team most games. That comment was more aimed at Allen. The point is, I think our squad is short of one really quality CM.
 
For Rodgers to have done exactly what he was asked to do, a year ahead of schedule, with such style, is the most phenomenal achievement that needs to get him not only a lucrative new contract but also a massive backing in the transfer market. If there's been any caution in doing that so far FSG need to drop it, and quickly.
 
There will be two key objectives next season-- the league and the Champions League. Now, we already have some players in Wisdom, Teixeira, Suso, Ilori, Borini and Alberto. We also may see a couple of sprogs coming through, some who may quite surprise us (see Flanagan). Is there any need to sell any of the centre-halves we have? People with short memories need to look at how many games Kolo Touré ended up having to play and how that affected us, so keep all of them. We definitely need a left-back whether Enrique comes back or not, and another winger, maybe Konoplyanka or a similar type. But I'd not go overboard with getting loads of "new" players in which can be destabilising; exhibit 1 is Dalglish' second spell, exhibit 2 is Villas Boas's Tottenham Hotspurs.
 
It's just a bastard that we need to aim high when it's a world cup year and everyone's price will rocket. Add to that Ayre's snail-like speed at dealing with other clubs and we really need to get on with it.
 
peterhague said:
No, not compared to what the best teams in Europe can offer, which is what we should be aiming for. Sometimes his passing game really is sloppy, a lot of our moves break down around him.

But anyway, I do like him and I'd still have him in the team most games. That comment was more aimed at Allen. The point is, I think our squad is short of one really quality CM.
Click to expand...

I agree that he still has a poor first touch but that's something that can be worked on. We also need a good, creative midfielder in the Coutinho mould.
 
Eugh, terrible flashbacks of our squad rotation in the European cup a few seasons back. I don't want to see that again
 
We shouldnt rest until the last game is played and the final league position is handed out.
But for each game thats played now its getting more and more unlikely for Spurs to get in there.
Even if they somehow manage to win their remaining 7 games and get 21 points, we need 4 wins from our last 8 to finish above them.

They're averaging 1,81 points per game. Thats a big leap up to 3,0 from their last 7 games if they are going to achieve that.
They're 10th in the form table aswell which indicates were they are at the moment.

But, we shouldnt celebrate anything or take anything for granted.
We need to keep on winning our games.
 
Incredible really that people still think Spurs could catch us. 12 points behind, plus goal difference. The most they can get is 77 points.

We only need 4 wins to make it mathematically impossible for them to overtake us. Realistically, 2 wins would make it virtually certain.
 
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