4th place and CL semi final

[yukpo]

Compare that to actually making the final last season and finishing 3rd place comfortably....

[NICKZS]

I haven't said we'd have bought better (repeat as often as necessary).

We got Rafa and signed some top spaniards. If we'd got a top italian manager, we'd have bought some top italian players etc.

Or rather that we "may be no worse off"

Do me a favour. This is an idiotic and completely conjectural line of thought and I really can't see what you are getting at. But then, I'm not the only one.

[Kenneth]

Compare that to actually making the final last season and finishing 3rd place comfortably....

Comfortably 3rd on goal difference?

[Kenneth]

Or rather that we "may be no worse off"

Do me a favour. This is an idiotic and completely conjectural line of thought and I really can't see what you are getting at. But then, I'm not the only one.

Thick ****ers

[saveferris]

Comfortably 3rd on goal difference?

Arsenal have been a better team this year too, so not surprised by 4th, i guess the proof of our development is to see how many points we get this season compared to last.

[El Jefecito]

We already have more points and goals than last year

[JohnDoe]

Last season we were 21 points off the top. This season we are 11 points off the top with two games left to play. We have clearly progressed this season.

[Rigadon]

Positives:
Only lost four games in the league
Champions League semi final
Stronger squad than last season
Fernando Torres
Martin Skrtel

Negatives:
4th place in the league
Closer (again) to Everton than Utd in the league
Tom Hicks
Trying to sign Gareth Barry to ‘strengthen our squad’

Other concerns:
As much as I love Rafa and Stevie - we’ve often lacked direction off the field and leadership on the field.

Man management is not one of Benitez’s strengths, he really does need a quality assistant to help him out.

Rafa’s tactics are too rigid – we have little idea how to change a game (drawn 13 games – 6 at home).

[badpiggy]

i think weneed to gat away fromthe idea that from season to season we have some divine right to success and trophies. there's nopoint in looking at a team where certain players aren't good enough and say ing "but we're LFC - we have to at least win something" - if the players ain't good enough then we're not going to win. this was proven against chelsea - the league table bore itself out on wednesday night because chelsea have more quality players than we have. busting a gut won't win you stuff without good players.

as a rafa doubter i've kind of decided to lay off criticising him as, to be perfectly honest, my technical understanding of football is light years behind what he is trying to do. certain decisions, a system based on NOT keeping possession and an underlying cautiousness cause me concern but there are positives

1. europe
2. beating arsenal in europe.
3. scoring twice at stamford bridge
4. skrtel - very unfair to judge a central defender in his first half season but he's begiining to look very solid after a few mistakes earlier on.
5. babel - could this guy tear the premiership up next season.
6. torres - bizarre how the one thing everyone questioned (his scoring rate) has proved to be far superior than his supposed qualities (good support play). he seems to be ****in lethal and can play badly and score. overall play needs to be a lot better. gives the ball away a lot but goalsare what matter.
7. masher - seems to have changed in the last few weeks. doesn't just destroy - actually links up pay well sometimes.
8. all the above are players that rafa wanted and got.