16 Jan 2017 16:13:50
Hopefully an open minded post.
This year much like Leicester last year without Europe was a good chance to go pretty close in the league, we started really really well and whether its due to a dip in form or loss of players, or maybe even a stop in momentum at the international breaks we have dropped markedly in our position and advantage points wise and in our form.
Now I do know lots are trying to be positive and so they should BUT, when you watch Chelsea recently do they look like losing? I'm saying not so let's for a start forget any fantasy breakdown we think they might have, they have quality players everywhere and a very good manager too, Arsenal are doing what Arsenal do, flitting about the top four and not looking like winning it, but they do seem in general to be whooping the lower down sides, something that we seem to have forgotten how to do.
Man utd are hitting form at the right time and you wouldn't rule out top 4 now and City are the other team like us to have a dramatic dip at the wrong time.
Spurs I personally think now look very confident and are playing well enough to finish top 2.
So what gives? Whose been missed and whose gone missing?
I think Mignolet has stepped up 100% as in my eyes has Karius in the cup game, Milner I think had a lapse for a few games but is playing back into form a bit, Klavan will always be suited by some games more than others as will Lovren, I don't think with a few games Trent Alexander will prove at his tender years to be any less capable than Clyne and I personally think for leadership Matip has been a loss.
Couthino was a massive loss, a loss for the team and a loss personally for Firminho who looks blank without him, Henderson also no matter what anybodies opinion is always a big big loss now, Can I personally don't see ever being that great but that's my own personal view and Wiji I think has grown into the club and his role in the team and if he could score more would be worth a fortune,
Lucas is clearly off at some point, and for me none of the midfield kids look ready yet, not quite anyway.
Lallana is quality in my eyes and needs to be back in midfield and away from the wing where he is a massive waste.
Up front we clearly miss Mane, his pace and acceleration, Firminho is certainly no winger AND has gone off a touch, Sturridge the enigma just doesn't seem wanted by the gaffer and just isn't doing enough, Origi is marmite, I think there's a player in there but he's a young lad whose very hit and miss and the kids like the midfield don't seem quute ready and that includes Woodburn and Ojo.
Id personally like to see Wilson have a bash in the cups.
Its all personal opinion so im not stirring a shouting match here im just sharing opinions, For me we've gone off the boil, we've forgotten how to score and sometimes we seem to shoehorn players into positions instead of finding solutions to players needed.
I seriously think we need a real good striker or two and I really think we need a quality partner for Henderson, a winger would also not go amiss.
I firmly believe the back four with either Matip back in and/ or a top drawer centre half to partner him would see us ok at the back and the least of our worries in my book is a goalkeeper at this moment in time at least until the season is over anyway.
We seriously need to hit top gear again as the other sides are not just going to go away, they are playing well with the exception of City and to make sure we keep on course we need some swagger back.
Hopefully Klopp has a plan whether it be transfers or not but let's not just wear the rose tinted and assume all is well as no win in 4 games says it isn't at all and we are now in a massive dog fight for top four and whoever scraps best will also end up champions in my book.
We can still do it but we need to do it now as any more ground lost will just put us under immense pressure and im not sure we're up to that pressure just yet.
Keep cheering folks, YNWA

{Ed025's Note - good read that richie mate..

1.) 16 Jan 2017
16 Jan 2017 16:44:34
End of the day we can never blame anyone if we loose the title to Chelsea. Or we could credit ourself for finishing inside top 4. Whichever way you think is a success. Personally I believe we should be challenging quite easily with 3 of the top 4 sides changing managers and usual TRANSITION we should be right up there and theoretically we are third atm. But point wise we are 7 below Chelsea and 1 above City.
We need to start playing the way we started off the season and focus on each and every game from here on. We cannot drop anymore points.

Good one Richie.

2.) 16 Jan 2017
16 Jan 2017 17:07:01
The cup games have distorted things a bit, we've taken 14 points from our last 6 league games scoring 12 goals and conceding 4. A point away to Utd can't really be considered a bad result which leaves Sunderland as the only bad day at the office. We're also getting key players back now.

Things aren't as bad as they seem.

3.) 16 Jan 2017
16 Jan 2017 17:15:36
Everyone has had ups and downs, Chelsea's, MU's and cities the most dramatic, ourselves, spurs and arsenal have plodded along quite steadily.
Our u23 squad drew a cup game, we lost 1st leg in a cup game away, and drew 2 away league matches featuring 2 pens and a goal that shouldn't have stood to the form team in the Prem at the moment.
If this is a crisis god help us.
I'd have bitten your arm off to be ahead of MU, ARSE and MCFC tied for 2nd at this stage Of The season.

4.) 16 Jan 2017
16 Jan 2017 17:55:49
That is a very good read Richie mate. We do need to step it up your right as I think the ones around us will. However Chelsea have Looked like loosing recently. ask Spurs. It just points out that they're not unbeatable. We haven't won in 4 (fair enough) yesterday was a good point in my eyes, Plymouth was our youngsters, Southampton is only half time. and yeah ok Sunderland was a bad day. so except go Southampton (which we can put right) we haven't lost either. let's be positive!

5.) 16 Jan 2017
16 Jan 2017 18:02:00
Think it's down to our starting XI go missing we suffer which is more noticeable in our front 3 (coutinho, firmino, and mane) as don't really have a replacement. Mane is our wide pacey option that doesn't have an adequate replacement, nor do we have a replacement for firminos press and movement or coutinhos quality or creativity.

Added to that lallana is entirely different than any midfielder we have as with Henderson. Finally Matip seems to be the only one to organise and calm our defence.

May seem like I'm mentioning too many things but simply if we lose one of our 'best XI' we do struggle to find someone to replace them.

6.) 16 Jan 2017
16 Jan 2017 18:03:39
" dramatic dip " in form i agree with everything you say Riche but that is an over exaggeration.

7.) 16 Jan 2017
16 Jan 2017 17:50:48
Thanks ED025 and Harry, We all have differing opinions that's football but I sometimes think we need to be realistic too, Its easy to get blinded by your own team amongst supporters bias but we ARE in a good spot compared to last year and clearly Klopp has brought on some players and some have not got with the programme so to speak, He doesn't appear to be blind Mr Klopp so I figure he has a plan one way or another,
These home games coming up will give us a measure of where we stand for later in the season

{Ed025's Note - im a massive klopp fan richie and if anyone can bring back the glory days its him, how some can have a moan about him is beyond me mate..

8.) 16 Jan 2017
16 Jan 2017 17:55:49
That is a very good read Richie mate. We do need to step it up your right as I think the ones around us will. However Chelsea have Looked like loosing recently. ask Spurs. It just points out that they're not unbeatable. We haven't won in 4 (fair enough) yesterday was a good point in my eyes, Plymouth was our youngsters, Southampton is only half time. and yeah ok Sunderland was a bad day. so except go Southampton (which we can put right) we haven't lost either. let's be positive!

9.) 16 Jan 2017
16 Jan 2017 18:02:00
Think it's down to our starting XI go missing we suffer which is more noticeable in our front 3 (coutinho, firmino, and mane) as don't really have a replacement. Mane is our wide pacey option that doesn't have an adequate replacement, nor do we have a replacement for firminos press and movement or coutinhos quality or creativity.

Added to that lallana is entirely different than any midfielder we have as with Henderson. Finally Matip seems to be the only one to organise and calm our defence.

May seem like I'm mentioning too many things but simply if we lose one of our 'best XI' we do struggle to find someone to replace them.

10.) 16 Jan 2017
16 Jan 2017 18:03:39
" dramatic dip " in form i agree with everything you say Riche but that is an over exaggeration.

11.) 16 Jan 2017
16 Jan 2017 18:25:38
Great post richie. Agree with what you said. Be interested to know who youd like the boss to sign?

12.) 16 Jan 2017
16 Jan 2017 18:20:46
I think you're panicking too much.
"we have dropped markedly in our position"
Last time I looked we were joint second behind Chelsea. Chelsea might not look like losing, but it only takes one game then a dip in confidence and they could drop 5 points in a few weeks.
We're just over half way through the season, if we're 7points behind with 4 games left then I'll be panicking. There's 51 points to play for and Chelsea have to come to Anfield where we are unbeaten for over a year.

Don't lose your nerve, keep believing 😎

13.) 16 Jan 2017
16 Jan 2017 18:45:11
We've 17 games left and only seven of those are away - a tough game at City aside, we should keep applying the pressure to the top sides, turn Anfield into a fortress and see where we end up. keep the faith lads.

14.) 16 Jan 2017
16 Jan 2017 18:20:46
I think you're panicking too much.
"we have dropped markedly in our position"
Last time I looked we were joint second behind Chelsea. Chelsea might not look like losing, but it only takes one game then a dip in confidence and they could drop 5 points in a few weeks.
We're just over half way through the season, if we're 7points behind with 4 games left then I'll be panicking. There's 51 points to play for and Chelsea have to come to Anfield where we are unbeaten for over a year.

Don't lose your nerve, keep believing 😎

15.) 16 Jan 2017
16 Jan 2017 19:37:29
Great posts on this thread. I agree with you as a whole, Ritchie BUT the 4 games we haven`t won must each be put into context. Vs Utd, we gave a solid away performance and Klopp out-coached Mou for the upteenth time with his tactics and our overall team performance. Utd only equalized with an offside goal so that`s hard to take. The Plymouth game shouldn`t even count as we played mostly the U23 team. The Saints defeat was a poor one and even Klopp admitted to. The Sunderland game was unfortunate but it was a negative result.

We have been in a sticky patch yet with all that and the missing players we have, we are still joint 2nd and three points ahead of City with the easier run in as well as 10 of the 17 games coming at Anfield. We are still in a good position in the PL, still in the Cups and most importantly, we play Chelsea, Arsenal and Spurs at home, a chance to affect their points tally directly. We`ve taken their best shot on their patches and they still couldn`t beat us. We`ll see what happens then. All the teams will drop points BUT we have to make sure to drop less than everybody else, period.

We just need to stick together and fight like we did vs Utd where we were promised a hiding from all and sundry YET here we are, still alive and still standing. We`ll be fine and I have all confidence in Klopp.

16.) 16 Jan 2017
16 Jan 2017 21:20:30
If this is our bad patch for the season i will take it. Get Matip back in, Hendo and Coutinho stay fit and we will be fine and dandy. Its all good😊

17.) 16 Jan 2017
16 Jan 2017 21:45:35
Nice to see some rational posts on this thread and some genuine footy talk, someone asked who id like us to sign and that to be honest is the million dollar question.
In honesty I just don't know, I have this thing about Costa type serious goal scorers and i think we lack one, although to be fair id have loved Vardy in last years form up front for us, I think hed have been cracking with his pace.
Other than that just some real real quality on the ball for me in particular a proper midfield box to box man.
Thanks for the responses they're appreciated!

18.) 16 Jan 2017
16 Jan 2017 21:49:37
If all of our sticky patches resulted in being joint second with 17 games to go (10 at home) we would've won the league a few times in the last few seasons.

Good review Richie 🙂

19.) 16 Jan 2017
16 Jan 2017 22:09:33
You say we've had a dip? Before the dip we were 6 behind Chelsea and in 2nd spot. After the dip we are 7 behind Chelsea in joint 2nd.
We are 7 behind, we need to win our next 2-3 games and close the gap on Chelsea. then it's anyone's title for the taking.
Should we slip up in the next 3 games, then we will have to settle for top 4 which isn't bad at all.

20.) 17 Jan 2017
17 Jan 2017 16:25:26
Spot on, Mag. And 2 of the next 3 are at home. Win your home games and you`ll be in great position for the title and if not, definitely top 4.