Are we regressing?

[Marky]

We'll keep the red flag flying high

[Baracus]

We'll keep the red flag flying here

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[wildman]

Final, semi final, quarter final and now struggling to through the group stages. If that isn't going backwards then I don't know what is.

The debts are crippling us, the yanks are holding us back and Rafa can't build the squad we need to compete against the top teams. When you have to sell to buy, in my eyes that is regressing.

Lyon spent best part of 70m in the summer and they were already a decent team, fiorentina are also now thought of as a very good team in italy we're in a tough group with **** loads of injuries to our top players, we do not have an automatic right to go through, although i think had gerrard played last night we'd of stormed it sp no I do not think we are going backwards but we are going to fall behind due to the money other temas are able to pay, its not rafas fault completely although yes he's made mistakes but at the end of the day he's working on a shoe string budget and trying to build an entire squad is extremly difficult on that basis, he has to take risks on players that may or may not work i'm sure he'd admit that but at the end of the day he can only buy with what money he is given which lets face it is nowhere near enough in order to compete. The yanks are far more to blame than rafa in my eyes and things culd steadily get worse i they're here much longer.

Plus they're doing this share rights issue which means we're goiong to have 3 people having a say in us when things have been bad enough when its just been 2.

[Joe King]

We have not regressed. We just haven't progressed enough. Our starting XI looks stronger with every year on the face of it, but our back ups haven't improved at the same rate.

The key to building a strong squad is to sell your worst players every summer and bring in better ones. Every season Rafa has been here he's had to sell some of his better players to bring in even better players.

For instance, we sold Momo to bring in Masch and Bellamy to bring in Torres. Both sensible, but only because we lacked the money to keep them.

That's laughable. So we've stood still in that case?

If we've stood still and United, Chelsea and Arsenal have improved, it could be argued that we've gone backwards considering the position at the end of last season?

[Mox79]

Why should we be expected to be in the top 4 teams in Eurpoe every year?? look at what we spend, look at the revenue we generate (or lack of).
We haven't regressed we have been over achieving since Rafa has been here and some tools want him sacked.

100%

Tools the lot of them!

[MrMichael]

Can't remember the last time I saw us play good football and that is sad, no matter what players are on the pitch.

The Man U game I thought we played some very good stuff at times. And we certainly did last season, Real Madrid, Man U away. Villa etc. However I do agree that this season so far we have rarely played in a flowing AND effective manner.

As for regressing, I think its very true that if you aren't going forward you're going backwards. After finishing last season as a team on the up, we had a bad summer by anyone's standards, losing 3 mature heads in Alonso, Arbeloa and Hyppia and replacing them with players of ability (in Johnson and Aquilani's case at least), but who would take time to bed in, learn what is required of them, or even just get fit. When we most needed that little kick onwards instead we stood still at best, and started the season almost under a cloud.

In a way its quite similar to the summer under Houllier when we'd just finished a creditable second and brought in Diouf/Diao/Cheyrou instead of any actual footballers, and we all unfortunately know what happened after that.

So I sort of feel at the moment like we've regressed by default of not having improved a squad that came pretty close to overachieving last year.

[cream]

No one is blaming Rafa or calling for him to be sacked. The point is we have slowly been going backwards in Europe for the las 3/4 years, not just this season. The yanks failure to invest in the team has is showing. With less income from the CL, something has to give, what is going to be???

We already sold Alonso last summer...

[Vermilion]

Not regression, we improve but it ends up that we stand still. It's all about uncertainty and ownership, say for instance if we could afford Villa, would he come here, if say the Chavs were in for him in January, he'd have the choice of coming here into all this uncertainty or playing half a season and winning the prem possibly, and all on £150,000 a week wages, it's a no brainer for a top player with choices and no particular allegiance to either club, unfortuately.

While our owners are who they are, we will mainly stand still, even when we have spare cash to spend from successful runs in europe it's eaten up by the debt, we are a long way from challenging for the prem CONSISTENTLY, that's just how it is, players will look at it and come up with the same conclusion, which in turn adds to our problem of wanting to move forward, and not just forward but into prem challengers EVERY season, the great players end up joining our rivals, so even though we may improve as a team our rivals just improve more, so as challengers we stand still.

This will continue as long as the debt eats up the profit, and uncertainty surrounds the club.

Either way it's most ceratinly not the managers fault, he is doing all he can under very difficult circumstances, especially compared to the managers of our direct rivals.

As fans we need to realise this and manage our own expectations.

[Imy]

My hair line is regressing

[dww]

I think it is only meaningful to talk of regression over loner periods of times - in football the best time being the end of the season. We altered style, lost key players and have endured an injury crisis so far this season and consequently we have struggled. The key metric will be whether over the season we can become as formidable a team as we were at the end of last season - this time mostly playing players who will be with us next season in all the key positions.

We have seen a lot of young players get a few chances and if one or two can grab them and become genuine first team options then we could end this season in a much better position going forward than we started it. We could also miss out on the CL and be in a much worse one.

[Vermilion]

My hair line is regressing

Global warming = Cranial inflation.

[cream]

I think it is only meaningful to talk of regression over loner periods of times - in football the best time being the end of the season. We altered style, lost key players and have endured an injury crisis so far this season and consequently we have struggled. The key metric will be whether over the season we can become as formidable a team as we were at the end of last season - this time mostly playing players who will be with us next season in all the key positions.

We have seen a lot of young players get a few chances and if one or two can grab them and become genuine first team options then we could end this season in a much better position going forward than we started it. We could also miss out on the CL and be in a much worse one.

I'm not simply talking about the few games this season, I'm talking about the time the two vermin have been at the club. We've gone backwards, final, semi final, quarter finals and now staring relegation in the face.

[cream]

My hair line is regressing

You look fine in you're picture

[Roboklopp]

I'm not simply talking about the few games this season, I'm talking about the time the two vermin have been at the club. We've gone backwards, final, semi final, quarter finals and now staring relegation in the face.

[dww]

I'm not simply talking about the few games this season, I'm talking about the time the two vermin have been at the club. We've gone backwards, final, semi final, quarter finals and now staring relegation in the face.

I think that is a function of over performance early on. We were consistently of the quality of all the quarter final teams with several of them being in our league and in that context being better than us. We out performed them because of luck and good management in two legged ties. It was pretty clear to me that last year's team was the best we have had while Rafa has been here. So there was in fact progression in many ways until then in my view.

Any opinion on this season has to be seen as preliminary as it hasn't finished. I also think it was almost inevitably a transition season when we lost Alonso and decided to go all out on the attacking fullback, more aggressive style front.