How we can get number 19

[Craig_H]

I did have a little snigger when i saw that

[Sarb]

An attacking mentality and probably a new manager

[el matador]

rafa should let the players play with freedom and let them express themselves against all sides bar chelsea, arsenal and man u.

He should get out his tactical encyclopedia and use it only for the games against the top 3 and any really tough CL games.

otherwise it should be a case of we're liverpool, go out and play and let them worry about us.

its a bit naive but this is not spain. I dont know if anybody saw the real madrid - sporting gijon game on sky but gijon have just been promoted to the primera division like stoke but when the game started they didnt put 10 men behind the ball and waited for real to break them down.

they went at real madrid from the first whistle to the last. In this country that wouldnt happen as promoted sides are not expected to come and have a go, but defend for their lives, just like stoke did against us at anfield.

that's why we need less tactical rigidity, more fluidity and off the cuff play. Its all far too regimented.

By the way gijon lost 7-1. But that's spanish football.

[Sarb]

rafa should let the players play with freedom and let them express themselves against all sides bar chelsea, arsenal and man u.

He should get out his tactical encyclopedia and use it only for the games against the top 3 and any really tough CL games.

otherwise it should be a case of we're liverpool, go out and play and let them worry about us.

its a bit naive but this is not spain. I dont know if anybody saw the real madrid - sporting gijon game on sky but gijon have just been promoted to the primera division like stoke but when the game started they didnt put 10 men behind the ball and waited for real to break them down.

they went at real madrid from the first whistle to the last. In this country that wouldnt happen as promoted sides are not expected to come and have a go, but defend for their lives, just like stoke did against us at anfield.

that's why we need less tactical rigidity, more fluidity and off the cuff play. Its all far too regimented.

By the way gijon lost 7-1. But that's spanish football.

Agree totally

[Slinky Skills]

This is not obvious to everyone on this forum though. You only have to look at some of the comments after the Stoke game to realise that ('what's the point of beating UTD if we then draw with Stoke'!). It was a ****ter but not the end of the World as it seemed to some people. I disagree with your point about us all knowing what it takes to win the league, I certainly didn't know that if we get at least 13 points in the game against the Manc, Chavs and Arse we would almost certainly win the league.

And this was not a pop at Rafa, he does mystify me sometimes with team selections and subs but I'm behind him all the way.

Fair enough fella I take on board what you're saying but we ARE very strong at the moment and I do believe that if we take points off the other top 4 then will win this league.

We've had no problems against the others really and last year we hardly lost at all, just drew too much.

Rafa mystifies everyone with his team selections and is frustrating at times but the man is a mystery in himself. It also keeps everyone on their toes too as the team won't know who will be picked from game to game.

I'm behind him all the the way too man!

In Rafa we trust!

[Slinky Skills]

Which we then proceeded to mess up against Stoke.

We didn't mess up though, we were just unlucky. They defended brilliantly in that game. I listened to whole match and we battered them that day, it was just one of those days.

We'll be back on track once we beat the bitters on Saturday so don't worry about it.

[Slinky Skills]

rafa should let the players play with freedom and let them express themselves against all sides bar chelsea, arsenal and man u.

He should get out his tactical encyclopedia and use it only for the games against the top 3 and any really tough CL games.

otherwise it should be a case of we're liverpool, go out and play and let them worry about us.

its a bit naive but this is not spain. I dont know if anybody saw the real madrid - sporting gijon game on sky but gijon have just been promoted to the primera division like stoke but when the game started they didnt put 10 men behind the ball and waited for real to break them down.

they went at real madrid from the first whistle to the last. In this country that wouldnt happen as promoted sides are not expected to come and have a go, but defend for their lives, just like stoke did against us at anfield.

that's why we need less tactical rigidity, more fluidity and off the cuff play. Its all far too regimented.

By the way gijon lost 7-1. But that's spanish football.

That says a lot about the Spanish league for you, and anyway. Real conceded in that game and concede a lot of goals in most matches.......we don't.

[Craig_H]

We didn't mess up though, we were just unlucky. They defended brilliantly in that game. I listened to whole match and we battered them that day, it was just one of those days.

We'll be back on track once we beat the bitters on Saturday so don't worry about it.

To be fair mate, i saw the whole match and i dont think we tested their keeper nearly enough.

[Slinky Skills]

To be fair mate, i saw the whole match and i dont think we tested their keeper nearly enough.

In all honesty I haven't seen highlights of the game but from listening to it on the radio we battered them, should have been a 4 - 5 nil jobbie.

[Nicey]

Interesting, it seems obvious but we really do have to raise our game against the Arse, Chavs and 'Those we don't speak of'. The maximium points we have got against them all in a season since 2002 is 6.......

2002/03
PREMIER LEAGUE: Man U 83pts, Arsenal 78, Chelsea 67, Liverpool 64
BIG FOUR LEAGUE: Man U 14pts, Arsenal 7, Liverpool 5, Chelsea 5

2003/04
PREMIER LEAGUE: Arsenal 90pts, Chelsea 79, Man U 75, Liverpool 60
BIG FOUR LEAGUE: Arsenal 14pts, Chelsea 7, Man U 6, Liverpool 6

2004/05
PREMIER LEAGUE: Chelsea 95pts, Arsenal 83, Man U 77, Liverpool 58
BIG FOUR LEAGUE: Chelsea 14pts, Man U 12, Arsenal 5, Liverpool 3

2005/06
PREMIER LEAGUE: Chelsea 91pts, Man U 83, Liverpool 82, Arsenal 67
BIG FOUR LEAGUE: Chelsea 15pts, Man U 11, Liverpool 4, Arsenal 4

2006/07
PREMIER LEAGUE: Man U 89pts, Chelsea 83, Liverpool 68, Arsenal 68
BIG FOUR LEAGUE: Arsenal 14pts, Man U 11, Liverpool 6, Chelsea 5

2007/08
PREMIER LEAGUE: Man U 87pts, Chelsea 85, Arsenal 83, Liverpool 76
BIG FOUR LEAGUE: Man U 13pts, Chelsea 10, Arsenal 6, Liverpool 4


Another 10 points from the remain 5 matches against them this season should be enough according to the above (just in case anyone forgot we got 3 against the Mancs!) .That's as long as we don't do what Arsenal did in 2006/07 raised their game against the big teams but let themselves down against the Evertons, err I mean little clubs.

Really shows the importance of winning your home games against the other top clubs ...

[Joe King]

Really shows the importance of winning your home games against the other top clubs ...

Yes and no. I think we should be getting at least a point away from home against the top three and winning at home I know many will point to the fact we did draw away to Chelsea and Arsenal however we should have beaten Arsenal away and home and also Chelsea should have been blown away long before that ******* decision. We are on the right track with beating United but the pedants will say that beating Stoke is a must if we are to win the title

[Nicey]

I agree with all of that except Stoke, all the top teams will drop points at home against inferior opposition its the nature of the game, we need the make sure we are consistent regardless who the opposition is, in reality we almost always go into each match looking for a win, if we do drop points we really must try and not let it happen the next match, as simple as that...

For a long time now .. we have had our annual dip in form .. well in my opinion we are playing through it right now and picking up points were other years we could be 10 points behind the leaders

We need to knuckle down and sharpen up .. this Derby could not have come at a better time .. Everton they have already been turned over twice at Home, something there fans can hardly be happy with .. the7 were very lucky to get something against Stoke and only real win they have under belt is against WBA and even they scored against them ..

Roll on the weekend ... they need the win rather than the points so hopefully we wont have to go up against 10 men behind the ball and if its an open game we will destroy them ... really truly put them to the sword

[magicalbarnes]

We have 33 games remaining. We win 27 of them and the titles ours. Simple!

[powerpack]

I spent 10 minutes being creatively funny there, the least you *******s could do is laugh.

Yes made me laugh too, no come back to that is there!

[powerpack]

The point you're missing is that, yes we need to hold our own in the games against manchester, chelsea and arsenal however, it's all dependent on the notion that we've done what we have to do against the lesser sides.

I've heard people say "If we beat the top 3, we'll win the title" and others have said "doesnt matter about the games against the top 3, if we beat all the lesser clubs, we'll win the league"

You say "I certainly didn't know that if we get at least 13 points in the game against the Manc, Chavs and Arse we would almost certainly win the league." - well the fact is, we wouldnt. Not 'almost certainly' at all. If we do the business against the lesser sides AS WELL, then yeah, we'll probably win the title.

But fact is, neither is good enough, without the other.

Craig, don't mean to sound pedantic but a couple of things here.

Firstly I'm more then a bit confused by your statement about me missing about doing this against the lesser side when I clearly wrote - "That's as long as we don't do what Arsenal did in 2006/07 raised their game against the big teams but let themselves down against the Evertons, err I mean little clubs".

Secondly I still believe that if we get at least 13 points against the we will almost certainly win the league, this is based on facts from stats since 2002/03, where as your notion is based on your personal opinion.