We have a big chance. I'd like to think city will go all in for the champions league especially in the second half of the season.
Went with 2nd purely to do with strength of citys squad, however i dont think either side will be as big of a points tally as last year and i think if you break 90 youll win it so couple of losses for both i dunno where but it just seemed like these to sides would just keep winning last year. There will be no doubt we will be hungry and i think agueros and silvas will be a big say no that they are getting on abit do they have the hunger still to keep winning when the going gets tough and a result is needed late on in a game that could be the difference.
First all day if we can keep our squad fully fit Not to worried about the rest bar did we think we would close the gap over a season so much
We will do well to hit the heights of last season in terms of points but I think we could get to 90+ so we will need to rely on a Man City drop off. We will likely have some extra games to contend with that we didn’t have last season so we might not be as lucky with injuries and our strength in depth is a worry in comparison to Man City. Heart says 1st head says 2nd but momentum is everything in this League and we need a strong first 6 weeks and we can mount a strong challenge again.
Just saw an interesting point raised. Arsenal,Spurs and ManU took zero points from City last season between them. We need other teams to be better so them being stronger could be a good thing for us. But it's obviously a double edged sword because it gives them more chance of beating us. We can't beat City on our own though,we need help and overall I think the league being more competitive would be a good thing for us.
If we drew at City instead of losing, or won at Anfield instead of drawing, we would've won the league. We can look for other teams to help us out but last season in particular it was us who didn't do enough against them.
And if Newcastle or Palace hadn't of beaten City,we'd of been even further behind. We can obviously help ourselves by beating them but they got 100 points followed by 98. If there's not an improvement in the rest of the league then they'll put up similar numbers and whether we take more points off them or not,I don't believe we'll match it. We need a little bit more chaos.
As you said yourself it's a double edged sword. You want other teams to improve enough so they can take points of City, but not take points off us. The only way that happens is if we improve and/or City do the opposite. And in that case it doesn't really matter what other teams do.
Imagine City aren't as good this season but teams dont feel they've enough about them to actually have a go,so City win games they might not have if those teams had improved enough to where they're confident of having a go. We dont carry the same intimidation factor as them,we worked harder for our points last season. The likelihood is teams wont hand over as many easy points as they do to them so we need teams to make them work as hard for their points as we do for ours. We could both stay at exactly the same level as last season and we'd benefit more from that scenario than they would. Some teams are more suited than others to different situations. I feel we're more suited to a battle than City are,which is why I think we can come out on top of more battles than they will. But theres no advantage for us if they dont face any battles.
Believe me, I'm not one for being optimistic but I'm going for 1st this season. City have lost Kompany and players like Silva, Aguero and Fernandinho are all getting on. De Bruyne is back (best midfielder in football imo) but Sane's injury is a blow even if he doesn't start every game. I still think that their defence is a bit suspect It will come down to fine margins and a bit of luck but I think that we can do it by about six points.
Voted 1st again this year ! For us to keep Salah, Bobby, Fab, VVD, Alison and most importantly Mane is bigger than any additions to the squad. What has happened before is that we finish 2nd and sell off our best player(s). This season is different. We have retained players that would walk into the likes of Barca, Madrid, PSG or City. Furthermore we don't have an expensive signing that needs game time or will disrupt the group - all the lads know how each other tick & seem to have a great spirit. I trust Klopp implacably and while I might say down the pub that he should have got cover for left back or up front, blah, blah... the truth is, I don't really know. Only he knows and only he is the best judge of what is best for the club. Some of the football we played last season was the best I have ever seen from the Reds. If we can replicate that .... who knows. Also City losing Kompany (as posted above) is a big loss. John Giles made the point last night on OTB saying he thinks it is for that reason LFC are slight favourites.
3 votes for 3rd. If I had to guess I'd say that those voters expect City and Spurs to finish ahead of us and while that's obviously a possibility, going into the season expecting to finish behind a team that ended up 26 points behind us last season and lost 13 league games seems a little pessimistic. But people can't help how they feel I suppose.
I think we'll likely finish ahead of Spurs but if you were to form the opinion that last season was a bolt from the blue from us and that the previous few seasons where they finished ahead of us coupled with some of their signings it's easy to see how you could rationalise how they might finish ahead of us.
The season before last they finished above us only because we let them. We had a European Cup to win and justifiably took the position that 2nd 3rd or 4th were all the one. We dropped points at Everton WBA and at home to stoke were we rested our heavy hitters. I would also argue that the 25 points we made up on city last season was actually closer to 12 or 14 in reality. Spurs could argue the same point this season that 24 points doesnt reflect reality and 10 or 12 is closer to the mark. I still think anyone who believes we are not among the best 2 teams in the league is deluded. We are among the best 2 teams in Europe.
@babbsnads City came through some serious battles towards the end of last season. Something I didn't think they were capable of