2014-15 EPL Season Predictions.

[pantskyle]

Nice set of results to suit your argument. Why did you use the last 6 season, was that because seven seasons ago we finished 2nd and eight seasons ago we finished 4th and then 3rd and 3rd again.

Jog on mate

Should he go back to the late 70s and early 80s just for you?

A suitable time frame is 5 years. So that would mean you had a normal season.

 

[Cruyff14]

Gotta move the goal posts to suit their argument.

Liverpool fans aren't wrong. Ever. Didn't you know that pants?

 

[jod23]

Gotta move the goal posts to suit their argument.

Liverpool fans aren't wrong. Ever. Didn't you know that pants?

So Liverpool fans can move the goal posts to suit their argument but when others do it, it's fine.

 

[pantskyle]

Gotta move the goal posts to suit their argument.

Liverpool fans aren't wrong. Ever. Didn't you know that pants?

I see a lot wrong.

 

[Jatz]

Hahahaha I love how you are all having pot shots at me and other Liverpool fans now all the dust has settled.

If you had told me our lethal 25-30 goal striker would miss the entire season I would have had us 5th/6th too.

Give me a break.

The fact you couldn't see that he was injury prone is an issue in itself.

 

[sabre_ac]

Hahahaha I love how you are all having pot shots at me and other Liverpool fans now all the dust has settled.

If you had told me our lethal 25-30 goal striker would miss the entire season I would have had us 5th/6th too.

Give me a break.

You made the wrong call, it was pointed out, why not just acknowledge it and move on?

I understand there is a fair amount of pride at stake for some people on internet forums, but if you’re going to present yourself as the foremost expert on your team and the rest of the PL, identifying your own mistakes seems a fairly straight forward task.

What is it with Liverpool supporters from outside the UK?!

 

[jod23]

You made the wrong call, it was pointed out, why not just acknowledge it and move on?

I understand there is a fair amount of pride at stake for some people on internet forums, but if you’re going to present yourself as the foremost expert on your team and the rest of the PL, identifying your own mistakes seems a fairly straight forward task.

What is it with Liverpool supporters from outside the UK?!

I made a call based on Sturridge not missing the entire season. As I said, if you told me in preseason that Sturridge would barely play all season and our only forwards would be Balo, Lambert and Borini, I would have said 5th at the very best.

 

[Shoei]

I made a call based on Sturridge not missing the entire season. As I said, if you told me in preseason that Sturridge would barely play all season and our only forwards would be Balo, Lambert and Borini, I would have said 5th at the very best.

But you knew going into the season that the team had Sturridge, Balo, Lambert and Borini as the forwards.

"But we won and stormed up the table because of the system we played and the coaching of Rodgers to turn us into real contenders. The system is still in place, Rodgers is still in charge and we have made some solid additions.

I believe we have become far better because of Rodgers not Suarez."

That's your direct quote.

So either it was Suarez pulling the team to 2nd or it was Rodgers.

You chose Rodgers which is fine but why does it now become "oh well we didn't have Sturridge"?. You still had Rodgers whom you claimed was the reason for finishing 2nd. Why can you dismiss Suarez but not Sturridge? (lets face it Sturridge is nowhere near Suarez's level anyway).

Most of us didn't buy into the Rodgers greatest tactician in the world nonsense that was being sprouted. We saw it was one player playing like a demi-god that carried Liverpool to 2nd and we were proven right.

Liverpool finished 6th which as has been pointed out isn't an anomaly - 6th, 2nd, 7th, 8th, 6th, 7th. That's 5 years of consistency. Going back any further is irrelevant.

Maybe it's not the team that is the problem, maybe Rodgers just isn't very good?

40% WR @ Watford
26% WR @ Reading
40% WR @ Swansea
and now 51% @ Liverpool

 

[jod23]

But you knew going into the season that the team had Sturridge, Balo, Lambert and Borini as the forwards.

"But we won and stormed up the table because of the system we played and the coaching of Rodgers to turn us into real contenders. The system is still in place, Rodgers is still in charge and we have made some solid additions.

I believe we have become far better because of Rodgers not Suarez."

That's your direct quote.

So either it was Suarez pulling the team to 2nd or it was Rodgers.

You chose Rodgers which is fine but why does it now become "oh well we didn't have Sturridge"?. You still had Rodgers whom you claimed was the reason for finishing 2nd. Why can you dismiss Suarez but not Sturridge? (lets face it Sturridge is nowhere near Suarez's level anyway).

Most of us didn't buy into the Rodgers greatest tactician in the world nonsense that was being sprouted. We saw it was one player playing like a demi-god that carried Liverpool to 2nd and we were proven right.

Liverpool finished 6th which as has been pointed out isn't an anomaly - 6th, 2nd, 7th, 8th, 6th, 7th. That's 5 years of consistency. Going back any further is irrelevant.

Maybe it's not the team that is the problem, maybe Rodgers just isn't very good?

40% WR @ Watford
26% WR @ Reading
40% WR @ Swansea
and now 51% @ Liverpool

I did choose Rodgers and stand by it. His system got us playing really well. But it cant be all about the system. You cant replace all the Liverpool players with players from Huddersfield and get them to play the same system that Rodgers has the Liverpool players and still expect Liverpool to finish top four. Because the players that play for Huddersfield are shit.

So of course it's the system and the coaching combined with the talent on field. It was definitely a mixture of Suarez and Rodgers, which is also why i told everybody who would listen that we wouldnt win the league when Suarez was sold. The system and Rodgers was still in place but we had lost the cattle. I thought with a fit Sturridge we could still finish top four and I still believe that if he was fit all season, we would have finished fourth because Untied werent that much chop really.

We also finished 6th and 7th with Suarez too so it cant have been all about Suarez.

 

[Tulip]

1. Chelsea
2. Arsenal
3. Man City
4. Man Utd
5. Liverpool
6. Tottenham
7. Everton
8. Newcastle
9. Stoke
10. QPR
11. West Ham
12. Sunderland
13. West Brom
14. Crystal Palace
15. Aston Villa
16. Southampton
17. Swansea
18. Burnley
19. Hull
20. Leicester

61. All good except Swansea, Soton and QPR.

 

[moomba]

I'm not convinced that Sturridge without Suarez will be anywhere near as effective as Sturridge with Suarez.

Relying on him to be a prolific scorer and creator is a bit optimistic IMO.

 

[WealstoneRaider]

Jod a classic example of someone who can't admit that they got it wrong. Get the **** over yourself Jod

 

[jod23]

Jod a classic example of someone who can't admit that they got it wrong. Get the **** over yourself Jod

Hahahahaha

 

[Jatz]

61. All good except Swansea, Soton and QPR.

And Leicester

 

[iluvparis]

Have seen a few neutrals saying this on social media (in the lead up to the final game) and I honestly don't know why the fans are to blame?

Also, you didn't have Burnley to go down? Surely they would have been a lock in most people's tables given how little they spent?

Yeah I had Burnely dead last - had Burnley-Palace-Hull as my bottom three. From memory I think I did the predictions just after Palace sacked Pulis so that's probably why I had them so low.

 

[iluvparis]

Nice set of results to suit your argument. )

Err thats why I posted them?

 

[Buckleys Jocks]

Any decent team oriented system will flourish when it has a player of such an elite caliber like Suarez, who is equally adept at finishing and creating as it's focal point. The problem is that even if Sturridge stays fit he doesn't have anywhere near the creative influence or work rate that Suarez offered on top of his goals.

Sturridge is a great finisher and a real talent but the reality is expecting him to last a full season is extremely optimistic and I just don't think he's quite as good as Liverpool fans expecting him to be the saviour think he is tbh.

 

[ADL9798]

As with most of these types of arguments, the truth almost certainly lies somewhere in the middle. Our success last season wasn't wholly down to Rodgers and it wasn't wholly down to Suarez, to argue otherwise is just blatantly incorrect.

We found a high energy, pressing system that worked and Suarez played a key role in that system. He left, and due to a combination of poor planning & injuries his role in the side wasn't adequately replaced.

Sturridge isn't Suarez and was never going to totally replace his influence in the side, but there's no doubt he is an outstanding footballer and we just didn't have enough depth to cope with losing 2 players of that calibre in the same area of the pitch and still hope to retain even an iota of the attacking potency we had last season.

Our strikers managed 8 goals for an entire season of football from a combined 64 appearances. 8. 18 other teams in the league possessed a single forward who scored more goals than that. That is appalling and if you're compiling a list of reasons as to why we are where we are, would have to rank somewhere near the top.

Your goal scoring threat disappears and all of a sudden teams are no longer fearful of you and have no reason to sit back, the midfield & defense come under greater pressure and all of a sudden weaknesses in the side begin to be exposed. In a similar manner I believe this has been the key issue with City's defence this season - a lack of mobility & accountability in midfield meant that Fernandinho, Kompany and the rest of the back 4 were constantly outnumbered & trying to plug leaks as sides took advantage of the lack of pressure coming from Yaya, Nasri, Silva & co to waltz into their final third unhindered.

Back to Liverpool, no team can expect to function with all 4 strikers for 1 reason or another failing to fire and/or gel into the system, but hopefully it is a lesson learned and a deficiency we will be addressing this summer because as a few of you have mentioned, while he is an excellent footballer it's probably optimistic to think Sturridge will be able to stay fit for almost an entire season as he did last year.

 

[Shoei]

I did choose Rodgers and stand by it. His system got us playing really well. But it cant be all about the system. You cant replace all the Liverpool players with players from Huddersfield and get them to play the same system that Rodgers has the Liverpool players and still expect Liverpool to finish top four. Because the players that play for Huddersfield are shit.

So of course it's the system and the coaching combined with the talent on field. It was definitely a mixture of Suarez and Rodgers, which is also why i told everybody who would listen that we wouldnt win the league when Suarez was sold. The system and Rodgers was still in place but we had lost the cattle. I thought with a fit Sturridge we could still finish top four and I still believe that if he was fit all season, we would have finished fourth because Untied werent that much chop really.

We also finished 6th and 7th with Suarez too so it cant have been all about Suarez.

You lost Suarez and Agger from the team that finished second. The cattle didn't change, it was supposedly improved.

The system didn't change, Rodgers was still there.

The only real difference was Suarez.

 

[moomba]

Suarez was a big loss, as has Sturridge been.

But a lot of things went Liverpools way last season. Out of domestic cups early, no Europe. I think teams were tactically naive against them.

It was always going to be hard to make top 4 and for me 4th spot this season would have been as big an achievement as 2nd spot last season.

 

[typeclub]

We found a high energy, pressing system that worked and Suarez played a key role in that system. He left, and due to a combination of poor planning & injuries his role in the side wasn't adequately replaced.

That's why I don't see us at risk of 'doing a Tottenham', their entire game plan in 2012/13 was built around giving the ball to Bale and hoping he'd pull something out of his arse. Bale aside they didn't play particularly good football that season. Without him the structure fell apart, and AVB wasn't a good enough manager to come up with an answer.

Spot the difference

 

[Thistle]

1. Chelsea
2. Man City
3. Man United
4. Arsenal
5. Liverpool
6. Spurs
7. Everton
8. Stoke
9. Newcastle
10. Crystal Palace
11. Sunderland
12. Southampton
13. West Ham
14. Swansea
15. Aston Villa
16. Hull
17. Leicester
18. Burnley
19. QPR
20. WBA

FA Cup: Man City
League Cup: Man United
Champions League: Real Madrid
Europa: Liverpool
1st manager sacked: Paul Lambert
Top Scorer: Costa
Best Transfer: Costa
Worst Transfer: Lallana
Promoted: Cardiff, Derby, Forrest
La liga: Real Madrid
Bundesliga: Bayern Munich
Serie A: Juventus

54 all up. West Brom to finish last was a terrible call.

 

[jod23]

You lost Suarez and Agger from the team that finished second. The cattle didn't change, it was supposedly improved.

The system didn't change, Rodgers was still there.

The only real difference was Suarez.

The only real difference was Suarez and Sturridge. We lost both and in turn lost all our goals. So we unsurprisingly struggled.

 

[WealstoneRaider]

The only real difference was Suarez and Sturridge. We lost both and in turn lost all our goals. So we unsurprisingly struggled.

But the point is you were saying it didn't matter who you lost, because it was all about the system Rodgers has deployed. Now you sound as if you are backtracking

 

[Zidane98]

I'm not convinced that Sturridge without Suarez will be anywhere near as effective as Sturridge with Suarez.

Relying on him to be a prolific scorer and creator is a bit optimistic IMO.

Sturridge ' s best form last season was when Suarez was banned.