Spurs, Liverpool or Arsenal for Top 4?

since Arsenal bought Ozil... Arsenal to finish top 3... or think they might even finish top 2.

What will Arsenal look like with Ozil in the side? At least this allows Wenger to play Cazorla on the left wing now without having to worry about not having a quality central play maker.

Still not sure one signing catapults them into the top 3 given that their squad is still paper thin. However, Ozil is the perfect fit for Arsenals system and it will only tighten up the race among the top 6.

Going to be an awesome season, the final day of the season could be unreal  

Our squad isn't paper thin. Atm we have a fair few injuries that make our bench look week right now. But we're well stacked in defence, midfield, the creative roles: including the flanks.

There is one potentially catastrophic weakness: we only have one player in our entire squad that can do a decent job as a striker

Diego Armando Maradona wrote:Our squad isn't paper thin. Atm we have a fair few injuries that make our bench look week right now. But we're well stacked in defence, midfield, the creative roles: including the flanks.

There is one potentially catastrophic weakness: we only have one player in our entire squad that can do a decent job as a striker

This! Most of the players who were single handedly responsible of getting us back to the top 4 last season are now part of our bench. Hardly "thin"

Poldi, Jack, OX Vermalaen, Rosicky, Monreal, Arteta Jinkinson will be part of our bench.

We only have 3 centre-backs, so we will still need to invest in that area in January. Sagna can play CB and then Flamini can fill in at RB, but we are taking a risk by not reinforcing that area with another body. We could also use another top-level striker so that we aren't just relying on Giroud.

That being said, I do not believe that we need anyone else beyond those two signings, and the players we have right now are good enough to win themselves anyway if everybody plays well and we don't suffer from further defensive injuries. If Ozil integrates well, I expect us to challenge for titles this year.

ha..only 4 people voted for a team at the top of the table

Lets be honest here bro, Liverpool were saved by their keeper the first match. Them beating Man UTD is hardly an indication of how they will finish this season (because they usually beat united anyways).

HEIL MEIN REDS wrote:ha..only 4 people voted for a team at the top of the table

I bet all of those 4 votes were made by people from our section
It's ok, I like being underdogs. People have no idea how good were are this season.

You yourself wouldn't have said that Liverpool would be in the top 4.So stop acting like the *bleep* wizard.

And Pool aren't finishing in top 4.

McAgger wrote:

HEIL MEIN REDS wrote:ha..only 4 people voted for a team at the top of the table

I bet all of those 4 votes were made by people from our section
It's ok, I like being underdogs. People have no idea how good were are this season.

3 relatively unconvincing 1-0 wins. Fair play to you, you have 9 points and sit on top. But I'm not seeing anything better from Liverpool that I haven't seen from the other top sides. Only difference is for me while Liverpool were spared some goals against them by strikers missing or Mignolet performing great, other sides haven't been quite so "lucky." Results are what matter and results are what you have, but performance wise there is room for improvement. I say the same for Tottenham right now as well.

vivabarca38 wrote:You yourself wouldn't have said that Liverpool would be in the top 4.So stop acting like the *bleep* wizard.

And Pool aren't finishing in top 4.

Can't speak for McAgger, but I was one of those four.

stevieg8 wrote:

vivabarca38 wrote:You yourself wouldn't have said that Liverpool would be in the top 4.So stop acting like the *bleep* wizard.

And Pool aren't finishing in top 4.

Can't speak for McAgger, but I was one of those four.

Seems like my comment hit a soft spot there with Viva. And yes, I was one of the 4 who voted for us

CBarca wrote:

McAgger wrote:

HEIL MEIN REDS wrote:ha..only 4 people voted for a team at the top of the table

I bet all of those 4 votes were made by people from our section
It's ok, I like being underdogs. People have no idea how good were are this season.

3 relatively unconvincing 1-0 wins. Fair play to you, you have 9 points and sit on top. But I'm not seeing anything better from Liverpool that I haven't seen from the other top sides. Only difference is for me while Liverpool were spared some goals against them by strikers missing or Mignolet performing great, other sides haven't been quite so "lucky." Results are what matter and results are what you have, but performance wise there is room for improvement. I say the same for Tottenham right now as well.

Nothing unconvincing with doing it 3 times in a row

Mignolet performing great is not luck, he's a top keeper who will keep performing like he's doing. Last season our defense was the best at limiting teams from shooting inside the box in the PL. So what we've done is brought a shot stopper who is like a brick wall when it comes to shots from outside the box, and replaced Pepe Reina's glaring weakness of getting beat by those sorts of attempts.

Then we went on and improved on another huge problem in the center of our defense by bringing in Sakho, Kolo, and Ilori. We we constantly harassed by big physical center forwards a la Benteke, Lukaku, etc. So now we've brought in two absolute units in Kolo and Sakho and added much needed pace at CB when we play the high line with Ilori.

Moving on, another weakness was the inconsistency of our fullbacks Johnson and Enrique. We've brought in Cissokho and Kelly is finally back from injury to give the two starters much needed competition to stay on their toes. And the most positives from this is that Kelly and Cissokho are polar opposites of Johnson and Enrique. While Enrique is a solid defender, he's a headless chicken going forward so we've brought in Cissokho who's better at attacking. Same with Kelly and Johnson, Kelly better at defending and Johnson better at attacking.

Then you have our two star January purchases. From 38 matches last season, Sturridge played in only 14 and Coutinho in 12, and long behold our best run form was when these two were playing together. Our best player Suarez only got to play with those two together in 4 occasions. Imagine these 3 combining for 30+ matches together. In fact, since we've acquired Studge and Cou in 2013, we have gained more points than Manchester United (44), Chelsea (44), City (42), and Spurs (42). We have taken 45 points, and the only team that beat was Arsenal with 46.

Moving further, two other big issues for us were lack of depth and playing two many inexperienced youngsters. Well we've signed Alberto, Aspas, Moses, Ilori, Toure, and Cissokho for depth and you also have Hendo, Allen, Kelly, Sterling, Ibe and Skrtel who are not in the starting line up or come in and out of it. They are definitely better than what we had last season with Downing, Shelvey, Assaidi, Joe Cole, and I can't even name who else we had because we were so thin. Also you've got Sterling, Hendo, Allen, Ibe who are all a year older and have improved.

The players are now familiar with the system. Everyone has gelled together and understand their roles. Last season BR brought a complete new style of football to what Woy and Kenny were playing here. BR has improved as a coach with another years experience and you can tell how pragmatic he's gotten and doesn't insist in his 4-3-3 formation. The players are playing with so much more passion and belief this season and the camaraderie is incredible amongst the lads. Mentality is huge in football and we've finally jumped that hurdle.

My friend, the Reds are coming up the hill, and we are finally ready to take back our perch.

HEIL MEIN REDS wrote:ha..only 4 people voted for a team at the top of the table

Weren't Wolves top of the table after 3 games a few years back? lol

But seriously, I think Liverpool will finish top 4. Arsenal also. EPL will be so competitive this year, top 6 is so good

Some tables for you:

Since Liverpool signed Daniel Sturridge in January points acquired in PL:

1. Arsenal - 45
2. Chelsea - 44
3. Liverpool - 42
4. United - 41
5. City - 39
6. Spurs - 39


Since Liverpool acquired Coutinho 3.5 weeks after Sturridge the point tally in PL:

1. Arsenal - 42
2. United - 37
3. Chelsea - 37
4. Spurs - 37
5. Liverpool - 36
6. City - 33

How we are not in the discussion for this is beyond me since we've improved almost all of our main weaknesses from last season.

VendettaRed07 wrote:

HEIL MEIN REDS wrote:ha..only 4 people voted for a team at the top of the table

Weren't Wolves top of the table after 3 games a few years back? lol

But seriously, I think Liverpool will finish top 4. Arsenal also. EPL will be so competitive this year, top 6 is so good

3 games in means nothing, we hadn't lost a game 3 months into last season and ended up in 3rd.

There is no way pool are making top 4. Which of these teams can they realistically finish above:
- United
- Chelsea
- City
- Spurs
- Arsenal

Sure they managed to beat a united with one of their best players out injured and struggling to find their feet but doing it over 38 games is a different story.

Stop putting up pointless tables lol, the only thing they are good for is making you feel good about yourselves.

When will people realise that stats in football mean zilch at the end of the day. You simply just can't go into the depth that you would need for it to mean anything meaningful like for every single one of the teams you played in that time period what form were they in? What was the level of the team played? How many injuries did they have? Was their star player off form? Who was the home team? Do they have a good crowd? Who was the referee? When were the goals scored? Would a goal scored have badly affected morale? Was there any contentious decisions?

People talking about Mignolet saving us from losing.

Isn't that his job, Isn't that why we signed him and got rid of Reina, Id put this up if it were own goals and refs that got us 1-0 wins.

We are better this season, Much better.

We started with
Suarez, Sterling, Shelvey, Assaidi, Downing, Borini, JOEY COLE.

Now we have
Suarez, Sturridge, Coutinho, Aspas, Alberto, Moses.

Pls go haters, We'll be in the top 4 mix for a long time until missing it by less than 6 points at the end of the season.

That post McAgger

lszanto wrote:
Stop putting up pointless tables lol, the only thing they are good for is making you feel good about yourselves.

When will people realise that stats in football mean zilch at the end of the day. You simply just can't go into the depth that you would need for it to mean anything meaningful like for every single one of the teams you played in that time period what form were they in? What was the level of the team played? How many injuries did they have? Was their star player off form? Who was the home team? Do they have a good crowd? Who was the referee? When were the goals scored? Would a goal scored have badly affected morale? Was there any contentious decisions?

All those factors you mentioned affects all teams. Those are form tables which show basically how well all those teams have done since a certain date. So it is a very meaningful way to look at it and make predictions accordingly as to how teams will perform. It's certainly a better way to judge then just pulling it out of your ass and saying "oh this teams looks better on paper than Pool blah blah"

lszanto wrote:

VendettaRed07 wrote:

HEIL MEIN REDS wrote:ha..only 4 people voted for a team at the top of the table

Weren't Wolves top of the table after 3 games a few years back? lol

But seriously, I think Liverpool will finish top 4. Arsenal also. EPL will be so competitive this year, top 6 is so good

3 games in means nothing, we hadn't lost a game 3 months into last season and ended up in 3rd.

There is no way pool are making top 4. Which of these teams can they realistically finish above:
- United
- Chelsea
- City
- Spurs
- Arsenal

Sure they managed to beat a united with one of their best players out injured and struggling to find their feet but doing it over 38 games is a different story.

Stop putting up pointless tables lol, the only thing they are good for is making you feel good about yourselves.

When will people realise that stats in football mean zilch at the end of the day. You simply just can't go into the depth that you would need for it to mean anything meaningful like for every single one of the teams you played in that time period what form were they in? What was the level of the team played? How many injuries did they have? Was their star player off form? Who was the home team? Do they have a good crowd? Who was the referee? When were the goals scored? Would a goal scored have badly affected morale? Was there any contentious decisions?

Settle down old chap. Wasn't basing it on one game. This is a long season and a lot can happen. And with how crazy this offseason has been anything can happen. It is not out of the realm of possibility one team or even two after all thats happened, for whatever season massively disappoints from a league stand point. Maybe something happens like what happened with Chelsea a few years ago where some normal top 4 team finishes way out in 6th, but wins the CL or w/e.

Its just one year. Top teams have disappointing years, it happens. There have been a ton of moving parts and its so hard to predict what will happen. I just have a feeling that they will. Can't play this whole "realistically on paper who are they better than etc". There is something called an upset.

Ronaldo has played 3 games this season and scored 1 goal from 27 shots. That means he's past it right? Going to be sold off to some MLS team in the jan window?

Those are normal Ronaldo stats.

lszanto wrote:Ronaldo has played 3 games this season and scored 1 goal from 27 shots. That means he's past it right? Going to be sold off to some MLS team in the jan window?

Have you heard of sample size in statistics?
Nobody is basing Liverpool from 3 games. We're first but we're not saying we'll win the f*cking title. We know that's not possible. The tables show stats from January till September. That's an adequate estimation of recent form.

McAgger wrote:

lszanto wrote:Ronaldo has played 3 games this season and scored 1 goal from 27 shots. That means he's past it right? Going to be sold off to some MLS team in the jan window?

Have you heard of sample size in statistics?
Nobody is basing Liverpool from 3 games. We're first but we're not saying we'll win the f*cking title. We know that's not possible. The tables show stats from January till September. That's an adequate estimation of recent form.

Yes but the stats from last season would be largely irrelevant then right? Teams have changed players, managers, there are whole new teams, whole teams are gone.

There's no denying we have been lucky, at least thus far. Just consider the facts how we have been lucky:

1. Spot a great GK and bought him
2. A striker who has been playing for a team two years ago that is now in Championship is scoring pretty regularly
3. A frail-looking Brazilian AM adapting in EPL without much fuss
4. An 'injury-prone' CB staying fit and on-form for over a season
5. An 'aged' captain staying fit and on-form for over a season
6. A midfielder who has constantly been labeled as overrated doing OK
7. A biting, beaching, 30-goal striker yet to play
8. A LB who has constantly been labeled as overrated doing ok

OMG, this must be the second coming of WBA     

Arsenal are still favourites in my book, as they have history on their side and that tends to have an underrated influence on the run-in.

Tottenham though, do have the best overall squad in my opinion, and I wouldn't be shocked to see them finally make that last step to climb above their London rivals.

Liverpool are on the outside looking in... there's really no other way to put it. We've done good business in the last two windows and have been rewarded for it in our performances and form since January, but we were still well off the pace for 4th last season and have spent several years struggling to keep our heads above true, unadulterated midtable mediocrity. That said, we have, in my opinion, closed the gap. Liverpool may not be favourites for a 4th place finish. We may not even be favourites for a top 5 finish. But we're certainly worthy of consideration for a push. It could be December and Liverpool could be 1st with only one or two defeats and the same people we see hear would be writing it all off as luck and as misleading of the final table. Fact is luck is made in this sport, and it's a part of the game. A lesser squad can finish above a better one by virtue of a particularly good season or run of luck, and the opposite is true too... just ask Newcastle (who've experienced both in recent seasons). Struggles to gel for Spurs and/or unfortunate injuries for Arsenal could see Liverpool get the chance they need and for once the Reds appear to have the personnel needed to capitalise on such an opportunity. The same issues could just as well hit LFC though, and see them post another disappointing points total come May.

Spurs and Arsenal and Liverpool are all targeting a finish in the top 4 this season. But while Spurs and Arsenal will see the season as a failure if they miss out, Liverpool would not so long as the club manages to close the gap in points compared with previous seasons.

Football, like Lady Luck, is fickle... and to attempt to predict with any certainty what either will do over the course of a year is to invite error and ridicule. In a sense, I admire those that can make such black-and-white, yes-or-no statements for their conviction in their beliefs and willingness to stick their necks out. On the other hand, I think a lot of them are a bit arrogant or ignorant and undoubtedly biased (and somewhat frightening for it), and probably will be backtracking or hiding at the first sign that their predictions are not panning out...

1./2. Chelsea/City
3. United
4. Arsenal
5. Spurs
6. Liverpool

Keeping in mind my track record with predictions, you're probably safer betting that none of those teams will finish in the positions where I've placed them.