Before we get all doom and gloom....

[Craig_H]

i understand your hurt mate and whilst most of me screams give him what for .. I hear you .. but football is a funny game .. we are a class side ..**** has gone astray and we have been unlucky .. injuries and a back 4 that are getting used to each other .. but we will be there or there abouts .. we need other teams to **** up now which is never ideal .. but out of the top four I would still say we are sitting strongest right now

How is 3 points out of 3 games stronger than Chelsea's 100% record?

[Mostar]

How many times will this team dominate a game and lose like this? I can't take it anymore we are an absolutely infuriating side to support.

I do want to say, though, that our LB and RB have been outstanding; Well done Johnson and Insua, but the spine of the team has gone missing; Cara, Gerrard and Torres need to do much much better. We miss Alonso; Lucas plays too deep and plays the short simple ball into the middle whereas Alonso spread the ball wide quickly. In lieu, Mascherano is now spreading the ball around from the point, which is not going to work (although no questioning his effort... he was very good tonight).

I say move Benyaoun in the hole behind Torres, play Riera out wide, slide Gerrard back in front of Mascherano and Kuyt on the right. Just infuriating to watch this... seriously...

Just breath BrooklynRed.

Yes it is very frustrating but it was only 3rd game of the season and with the little bit of luck on our side we could have had 2 goal lead after first 15 minutes and the final outcome of Villa game could have been quite different.

Given some many ties last year at home 1 "unlucky" loss will not make us or break us as long as all players realized the sense of urgency and they will..

If we put ourselves on the winning streak beginning with Bolton we have no reason to think that this will not be our season (Couple of wins will breed confidence and that is what we are presently lacking).

Don't forget after Christmas last year we had 10 point lead and we still did not win in the end. It is a long and grueling season and 2 early losses may not mean much..

[gentingfrmhell]

positivity here is deluding ourselves! villa lost 2-0 to wigan for gods sake n we couldnt even get a draw out of them. you wanna win the league u gotta get points out of these games. not to mention that villa are significantly weakened without barry and laursen in their squad.

[Icon]

Sorry Mr M but you cannot have Agger and fit in the same sentence...

[EwarWoo]

The problem isn't just 2 crap performances and crap results against crap sides but, as bad as that alone is.

The problem is teams have discoverred if they shut down Lucas it cuts off supply to Gerrard and our game goes to ****. And it's much easier to shut down Lucas than Gerrard.

I think we'll see a few more of these before Aquilani is back and fitting in if Rafa persists on playing Lucas in that role.

I actually thought he'd do a passable if not wonderful job in that role. But I'm having a drastic rethink now.

[Bender]

Of course we'll support them, but the league is not going to happen. Accept it.

[Guest]

If you want to challenge for the title, Villa at home is an 'easy' game. But we ****ed it up. We're on the brink of being out of the title race now.

It's literally 6 or 7 wins on the bounce that's needed now, to stay on course. We know from experience how unrealistic it is to expect to overturn 10-15 point defecits. If we won 7 in a row, we'd be on 24 points from 10 games, or 2.4 per game. Over 38 league games, that'd equate to 91.2 points, which isnt far off what will be needed.

That means we'll have to go to Chelsea and win, as well as beating the mancs at anfield. Pull that off, and we're back in business. Fail to do that, and we'll be well off course. Let's be honest, it's a massively tall order.

I'm not expecting it to happen and if i'm being brutally honest, as things stand now, top 4 isnt currently a foregone conclusion.

You're so so negative dude it's unreal.

[FatTony]

The problem is teams have discoverred if they shut down Lucas it cuts off supply to Gerrard and our game goes to ****. And it's much easier to shut down Lucas than Gerrard.

I think we'll see a few more of these before Aquilani is back and fitting in if Rafa persists on playing Lucas in that role.

The other problem is that there are a couple of teams who are outspending us as well now, mainly Citeh and Spurs. The Top 4 positions this season will be a lot closer than previous title races and those two teams are off to a good start, building confidence. They both also have far larger resources of striking options than us. Arsenal are off to a flyer as well.

One loss and it leads to more fight in the next match, two poor losses and it could lead to a lack of confidence. From what I've seen of Babel, Lucas and Ngog, I get the feeling that they'll buckle if further results go against us and the pressure at Anfield intensifies.

We also seem to have put all our faith in the return of Agger and the arrival of Aquilani which is a dangerous thing to do with one being injury prone and a shadow of himself defensively on his brief return last season, and one having no EPL experience at all. We need to focus on the players we have and building confidence with this group.

Only Utd have ever won the league getting 3 points out of the opening 3 games. Rafa has never taken maximum points from his opening 3 games.

[carheex]

League is over. I couldn't give a ****. Bored with football.

In the land of fairweather fans, "anfieldanfield" is king!

[EwarWoo]

In the land of fairweather fans, "anfieldanfield" is king!

Bit harsh. It's not the lack of success that's the kick in the teeth, it's the sight of success only to have it pulled back away.

Frustration is understandable, don't judge people based on their vent.

[Craig_H]

You're so so negative dude it's unreal.

Rather than just flippantly saying that, how about telling me what i said that's negative, and not true?

[Guest]

Rather than just flippantly saying that, how about telling me what i said that's negative, and not true?

Basically by saying that we're on our last rites as far as the Premier League is concerned. I think it's a bit overreacting after only 3 games into the season. I can understand what you mean, with Chelsea winning and not dropping points even though they aren't playing well, but there's still a huge chunk of the season still to go.

I'm not confident myself but I won't throw in the towel mate. Never.

[red g]

We all knew we needed a winger and a striker this year and Rafa knew it as well.

I think Rafa has been well and truly ****ed over by the Yanks, widely reported he had 20m + transfers generated and sure he signs contract on that basis.

therefore we buy johnson thinking we still have surplus to get Silva ina nd maybe another striker. Yanks have pulled the transfers money, Rafa is pissed off and think that is showing on the pitch.

Last year 2-0 down it looked like we had the fight, the body language is all wrong.....maybe its confidence, maybe its deeper than that

[Craig_H]

Basically by saying that we're on our last rites as far as the Premier League is concerned. I think it's a bit overreacting after only 3 games into the season. I can understand what you mean, with Chelsea winning and not dropping points even though they aren't playing well, but there's still a huge chunk of the season still to go.

I'm not confident myself but I won't throw in the towel mate. Never.

Thing is though, by losing 2 already, we pretty much ARE on the brink of being out of it. That's there for anyone to see and evidenced by the fact that you cant really lose more than 4 games (if that) these days, if you want to win the league. By using up half that quota already, it's an uphill task.

I didnt throw the towel in as such, but i have said (and stand by the point) that we'll need to go and win about 6 on the bounce now to put ourselves back on course.

I'm calling it as it is and if there's a negative slant, it's because our situation IS currently a negative one.

[Guest]

Thing is though, by losing 2 already, we pretty much ARE on the brink of being out of it. That's there for anyone to see and evidenced by the fact that you cant really lose more than 4 games (if that) these days, if you want to win the league. By using up half that quota already, it's an uphill task.

I didnt throw the towel in as such, but i have said (and stand by the point) that we'll need to go and win about 6 on the bounce now to put ourselves back on course.

I'm calling it as it is and if there's a negative slant, it's because our situation IS currently a negative one.

I know. I've lost interest in things before rather quickly, and with all the fuss surrounding our club at the moment, with H & G and with us being skint and not giving Rafa the platform to build on his good work, it's coming a time when I'll just switch off football altogether. I can't see us getting rid of those clowns and moving forward as we should in the forthcoming years.

By next summer Rafa will be gone.