Brendan Rodgers

[Fredo]

Come on who will you replace him with? Rafa ain't gonna happen, neither is Mourihno or Guardiola. We should stop moaning and give him at least 3 years which is the length of his contract. Progress has to be judged there and then.

[Daniel 7]

To be fair though it's not just the individual player, more what the transfers of a particular summer have or have not added to the squad as a whole.

I haven't seen many summers you could regard as unqualified success in the last 21 years

Barmby, McAllister, Babbel and errrr Arphexad

[G]

Barmby, McAllister, Babbel and errrr Arphexad

93-94 and especially 98-99 really stood out for me

[G]

As for Rodgers, he needs time but I suspect if we don't see a sustained champions league challenge next season, the pressure to change will be too great.

[Fredo]

Well the owners will be putting a lot of pressure onto themselves if we change yet another manager in the next 2 years.

[G]

Alot to be said for stability but you also have to be stable with the right man in charge.

I think and hope he will get there.

[Arn]

To be fair though, with teams who have won the league since we did, it doesn't really matter who they bought over that time period, they all got more out of them collectively in the league then we did.

We bought some good players but never enough over a sustained period. We got close twice but followed it up with two brain fart summers after we finished second under Ged and Rafa, probably forced on Rafa though given the circumstances.

The problem is that our CEO wanted to have a say in the squad building. Parry and Purslow

Then you add that United got lucky with their golden generation of young players in the 90's. That allowed them to spend on quality instead of quantity.

[Tee]

It's all about building and those things take time. Rodgers has had a decent season.

It's true, despite making some big mistakes last summer. But he has to show he has learnt his lesson and if we have a strong window i expect us to genuinely surprise many next season.

[G]

As each of the last two seasons progressed I found myself saying that each one was a great chance to get in the top 4 as all the other challengers where ****e to varying degrees at varying points. We ****ed it up ourselves in each season rather then the others being massively better than us IMO. Those silly dropped points we've found ourselves ruing time after time. Mathematically we could still finish second this year! That's how **** this league is.

It really is poor on quality and I agree, if we strengthen properly we can be in the mix next year.

[Red_Polo]

I don't think that's true at all. This is the most competitive it's been to get top 4 in some time.

[G]

Yeah because we are all as **** as each other, as the English clubs have proved in their European encounters this season.

I know numerous times this season and last I was cursing us dropping silly points because without it we'd have been up there.

[RichC]

It's a strange one the league is probably the weakest it's been in some time in terms of quality but its at its most competitive in terms of teams challenging domestically for the top positions.

[Red_Polo]

Yeah because we are all as **** as each other, as the English clubs have proved in their European encounters this season.

I know numerous times this season and last I was cursing us dropping silly points because without it we'd have been up there.

I don't think that's a particularly great indicator. Even if it was, the 4th best team in the country (the team you need to best to get 4th, after all) doesn't often perform well in Europe in any case. We're the sole shining example in that respect

Here's how 4th placed teams have then done in Europe since then...

2012/13 - Spurs, Europa 1/4 final - not qualified for CL
2011/12 - Arsenal, 2nd Round CL
2010/11 - Spurs, 1/4 final CL
2009/10 - Arsenal, 1/4 final CL
2008/09 - Liverpool, group stage CL and Europa 1/2 final
2007/08 - Arsenal, 1/4 final CL
2006/07 - Arsenal, 2nd Round CL
2005/06 - Everton, lost in CL qualifying, then out UEFA 1st round

So it's not like the team to beat to 4th tends to be excellent in Europe anyway, only making CL quarter finals on three occasions since our fine feats.

It's a strange one the league is probably the weakest it's been in some time in terms of quality but its at its most competitive in terms of teams challenging domestically for the top positions.

I think the overall standard of the league is poorer than it was a few years back, but the competition for CL places has set a minimum standard if anything higher than it has been for some time.

[Mattshark]

I don't think that's a particularly great indicator. Even if it was, the 4th best team in the country (the team you need to best to get 4th, after all) doesn't often perform well in Europe in any case. We're the sole shining example in that respect

Here's how 4th placed teams have then done in Europe since then...

2012/13 - Spurs, Europa 1/4 final - not qualified for CL
2011/12 - Arsenal, 2nd Round CL
2010/11 - Spurs, 1/4 final CL
2009/10 - Arsenal, 1/4 final CL
2008/09 - Liverpool, group stage CL and Europa 1/2 final
2007/08 - Arsenal, 1/4 final CL
2006/07 - Arsenal, 2nd Round CL
2005/06 - Everton, lost in CL qualifying, then out UEFA 1st round

So it's not like the team to beat to 4th tends to be excellent in Europe anyway, only making CL quarter finals on three occasions since our fine feats.




I think the overall standard of the league is poorer than it was a few years back, but the competition for CL places has set a minimum standard if anything higher than it has been for some time.

I think that you may have the wrong stuff for 08/09 there.

[Red_Polo]

I think that you may have the wrong stuff for 08/09 there.

Ah yeah I do