Topic: The Top Six Mini-League Thread... Sponsored by TENA

[UntouchableLuis]

If we were in United's position people would say we wont win the games in hand - I can sort of understand the pessimism; people have had a lot of disappointment since Rafa left. We've had some excellent football, moments, matches, nights and seasons since then but ultimately more heart break and no trophies. I suppose we're in Arsenal and Spurs territory at the minute, more so Spurs recently where clearly we are heading in the right direction as a club but there's a frustration of not being able to see things out and make the pivotal next steps to become a team that wins trophies consistently.

Personally I really don't know what to think any more - I really can't see United winning more than 1 of their 3 away games. The home games they'll win so that's 6 points but I think we'll get 6 points from Boro and Watford.

So it's going to come down to who can get more points from these games:

United: City, Arsenal, Spurs A
Liverpool: West Ham A, Southampton H

Those are the games I just can't call what will happen.

If we don't make top 4 it's going to hurt, especially after missing out on a big trophy and CL qualification in the last hurdle last season.

I'll still go into the summer optimistic but if we don't make at least 5 signings in the summer, probably even more then it's going to be frustrating again.

[AaronSingh25]

75 will be enough - that would represent a huge improvement on last year for starters so even if it misses out we've made huge progress

Posts that like this are really bloody annoying. How does finishing in 5th or 6th represent any achievement if the teams above us have more points than us. Utterly baffling that our fans post this theory.

We are Liverpool - we shouldn't even be accepting finishing 4th, but that's the state we're in. Hoping and praying we finish 4th, so we can qualify for the champions league qualification stage.

[stuartheal]

United will definitely win at least one of them big away games if you ask me. They have their tails up now.

Reckon we will finish on 73/4. Won't be enough regardless of previous years. That all goes out the window now. We've totally fucked ourselves.

We'll just give up now then shall we. I think we will still finish top 4, but I accept we may not.

Four big games, need everybody onboard, getting behind the team and seeing us over the line.

[killer-heels]

Posts that like this are really bloody annoying. How does finishing in 5th or 6th represent any achievement if the teams above us have more points than us. Utterly baffling that our fans post this theory.

We are Liverpool - we shouldn't even be accepting finishing 4th, but that's the state we're in. Hoping and praying we finish 4th, so we can qualify for the champions league qualification stage.

We are an improving side and the points were always the target. Getting annoyed with 75 points illustrates that we are a very good side. Its more points than the 2nd placed side last season.

[dudleyred]

Posts that like this are really bloody annoying. How does finishing in 5th or 6th represent any achievement if the teams above us have more points than us. Utterly baffling that our fans post this theory.

We are Liverpool - we shouldn't even be accepting finishing 4th, but that's the state we're in. Hoping and praying we finish 4th, so we can qualify for the champions league qualification stage.

It's called progress - you don't go from 60 to 90 points in a year

75 points is a good total and shows progress

If four teams get 76 so be it

We don't have a divine right to win anything

People just need to relax and see the bigger picture

[Pistolero]

If we don't make the top 4 this season i'll have a really fucking hard time motivating myself to do a 200 mile round trip to every home game next season. I'll still do it like becuase it gets me out the house, but I'm a miserable c*nt as it is, let alone when I'm expecting failure before the season even starts. When your team win you'd like to think you're working towards something, and earlier this season when we were winning it felt as though we were looking at a title challenge. For that to then turn into a top 4 finish would be ok. Now, we've managed to fuck up to a point where we're in a neck and neck battle going down the final stretch it's just so fustrating. January 2nd we were 2nd, 5 points behind Chelsea.

If we miss out on the top 4, I think I'll be at the point where winning in September - January will just feel joyless to me now. Because I'll just fear they'll fucking throw it all away. That's the DNA of this team. Get into a good situation, and then fuck it all up. Last season in the Europa final. The League final against City. 13/14 at home to Chelsea. 14/15 at home to United. The league cup semi final this season against Southampton. This season we could look back at Palace who knows, but it makes getting enthusiastic so fucking hard when the chances are it'll all be a waste of time come May. I'll never forget the line in the media when we lost to United in 14/15 "just as the door to the champions league opened, Liverpool slammed the door shut on themselves".

If we don't make the top 4 this season I'd like to see massive changes in the summer. This continual failure on all levels cannot continue.

I'll reserve utter meltdown until the season finishes because I still have hope we can do it, but I think we'll need United to fuck up, because for the life of me, I just can't see us getting 4 wins. I think we'll struggle to get 3.

Sorry for being negative. Again. I'm just on me arse.

good, honest post mate....and if its any consolation every fucker i've spoken to today feels the same!........the gutless 1 point from 6 from the last two home games has royally fucked us up the dirtbox..in the words of John Motson

[elsewhere]

Utd will drop points, that's a certainty but who can confidently say we will win our remaining 4 matches?
I was looking at our last 10 matches schedule and felt we should be able to win all 10 but we know how that turned out. Watford won't be a piece of cake and we always struggle against physical teams like Westham

[Nick110581]

We have to win all four.

[liverpool185]

We bottled the league in 13/14, bottled top 4 in 14/15 , bottled two finals last season and it looks like we are cracking under pressure to get top 4 this season.. Wouldn't surprise me at all if we didn't get champions league football for next season. We had a chance to put massive pressure on the other teams around us and get the points yesterday but as the norm, the players weren't up for it. Sick of this shit happening every single year.

[jillcwhomever]

Utd will drop points, that's a certainty but who can confidently say we will win our remaining 4 matches?
I was looking at our last 10 matches schedule and felt we should be able to win all 10 but we know how that turned out. Watford won't be a piece of cake and we always struggle against physical teams like Westham

We will have Lallana back who I think people underestimate as to how important he is in our attacking system. I think that in itself will get us more creative and fluid too in that last quarter. Watford are pretty unmotivated at the moment, and I would expect us to get a win there, and hopefully a few goals. That will be crucial as we have to up our goals in those last four games. Should we get a good win down there, it will at least set us up with a bit more belief for the remaining games. But let's see what happens to some of our rivals in the matches before, then we'll have a clearer idea.

[killer-heels]

We bottled the league in 13/14, bottled top 4 in 14/15 , bottled two finals last season and it looks like we are cracking under pressure to get top 4 this season.. Wouldn't surprise me at all if we didn't get champions league football for next season. We had a chance to put massive pressure on the other teams around us and get the points yesterday but as the norm, the players weren't up for it. Sick of this shit happening every single year.

We didnt bottle the league.

[newterp]

We didnt bottle the league.

you don't think so? all we needed was a draw against Chelsea right? instead the loss made us try to go crazy against palace to pad goal differential.

[Nick110581]

We didnt bottle the league.

We should have won it.

No game management versus Chelsea.

[Pistolero]

please don't drag this shite up again...i'm depressed enough as it is

[killer-heels]

you don't think so? all we needed was a draw against Chelsea right? instead the loss made us try to go crazy against palace to pad goal differential.

We won something like 10 games out of the last 12 and only lost 1. That loss came after a slip by one of our greatest players ever.

It was unfortunate but it wasnt us bottling it.

[liverpool185]

We didnt bottle the league.

Once we beat Man City the league was in our hands and we ended up fucking it up..

[El Lobo]

Once we beat Man City the league was in our hands and we ended up fucking it up..

Aye maybe, but it's only bottling it if you put that game in pure isolation and ignore the 12 game or whatever it was winning streak before.

[jillcwhomever]

We bottled the league in 13/14, bottled top 4 in 14/15 , bottled two finals last season and it looks like we are cracking under pressure to get top 4 this season.. Wouldn't surprise me at all if we didn't get champions league football for next season. We had a chance to put massive pressure on the other teams around us and get the points yesterday but as the norm, the players weren't up for it. Sick of this shit happening every single year.

Out of interest where you surprised that Chelsea have suddenly lost games when you consider how straight forward this league run has been for them? If it can happen to them, it can happen to anyone when all is said and done.

The point is though, the only way you can beat it, is by getting back on a run and trying again, and trying and trying until you manage it. I know its dispiriting but its the only way we can achieve anything. It reminds me of my favourite saying, when you fall off a horse you get back in the saddle. 

[TheShanklyGates]

If we don't make the top 4 this season i'll have a really fucking hard time motivating myself to do a 200 mile round trip to every home game next season. I'll still do it like becuase it gets me out the house, but I'm a miserable c*nt as it is, let alone when I'm expecting failure before the season even starts. When your team win you'd like to think you're working towards something, and earlier this season when we were winning it felt as though we were looking at a title challenge. For that to then turn into a top 4 finish would be ok. Now, we've managed to fuck up to a point where we're in a neck and neck battle going down the final stretch it's just so fustrating. January 2nd we were 2nd, 5 points behind Chelsea.

If we miss out on the top 4, I think I'll be at the point where winning in September - January will just feel joyless to me now. Because I'll just fear they'll fucking throw it all away. That's the DNA of this team. Get into a good situation, and then fuck it all up. Last season in the Europa final. The League final against City. 13/14 at home to Chelsea. 14/15 at home to United. The league cup semi final this season against Southampton. This season we could look back at Palace who knows, but it makes getting enthusiastic so fucking hard when the chances are it'll all be a waste of time come May. I'll never forget the line in the media when we lost to United in 14/15 "just as the door to the champions league opened, Liverpool slammed the door shut on themselves".

If we don't make the top 4 this season I'd like to see massive changes in the summer. This continual failure on all levels cannot continue.

I'll reserve utter meltdown until the season finishes because I still have hope we can do it, but I think we'll need United to fuck up, because for the life of me, I just can't see us getting 4 wins. I think we'll struggle to get 3.

Sorry for being negative. Again. I'm just on me arse.

Pretty much where I'm at as well. Just tired of it all at the moment.

[CallumLFC]

If we don't make the top 4 this season i'll have a really fucking hard time motivating myself to do a 200 mile round trip to every home game next season. I'll still do it like becuase it gets me out the house, but I'm a miserable c*nt as it is, let alone when I'm expecting failure before the season even starts. When your team win you'd like to think you're working towards something, and earlier this season when we were winning it felt as though we were looking at a title challenge. For that to then turn into a top 4 finish would be ok. Now, we've managed to fuck up to a point where we're in a neck and neck battle going down the final stretch it's just so fustrating. January 2nd we were 2nd, 5 points behind Chelsea.

If we miss out on the top 4, I think I'll be at the point where winning in September - January will just feel joyless to me now. Because I'll just fear they'll fucking throw it all away. That's the DNA of this team. Get into a good situation, and then fuck it all up. Last season in the Europa final. The League final against City. 13/14 at home to Chelsea. 14/15 at home to United. The league cup semi final this season against Southampton. This season we could look back at Palace who knows, but it makes getting enthusiastic so fucking hard when the chances are it'll all be a waste of time come May. I'll never forget the line in the media when we lost to United in 14/15 "just as the door to the champions league opened, Liverpool slammed the door shut on themselves".

If we don't make the top 4 this season I'd like to see massive changes in the summer. This continual failure on all levels cannot continue.

I'll reserve utter meltdown until the season finishes because I still have hope we can do it, but I think we'll need United to fuck up, because for the life of me, I just can't see us getting 4 wins. I think we'll struggle to get 3.

Sorry for being negative. Again. I'm just on me arse.

Fair post and i'm in a similar place with this squad. Listing out all our recent failures, it dawns on you how soft this group we have. It'll take a gradual turnover over the next few years to weed out some of the soft characters we have and bring in some tougher characters in. It's not a quick fix. We can play all the great football we want but i believe we'll continue to fall at the crunch moments in times ahead.

It's going to take a bit of time yet.

[Reeves]

The fact that Utd can bring in the likes of Rashford and £50m Marshial shows they have the fire power when Ibra is out. Fast pacey players. With Mane, Lallana and Sturridge we've been royally fucked with our 17 yr old bench squad. Been massively let down buy under investment. If we get top 4 we will have punched above our weight.

[peachybum]

The fact that Utd can bring in the likes of Rashford and £50m Marshial shows they have the fire power when Ibra is out. Fast pacey players. With Mane, Lallana and Sturridge we've been royally fucked with our 17 yr old bench squad. Been massively let down buy under investment. If we get top 4 we will have punched above our weight.

So with Sturridge, Mane and Lallana out with have to make do with Firmino, Origi and Emre Can. I'm not sure why that's so terrible. We have 6 first team squad players out at the same time. So of course we need to dip into the U23's. Karius, Moreno, Gomez,TAA and Grujic were always part of our first team squad this year. So really we were only calling up 2 lads.

Injuries so our best players has cost us the chance to do more this season. We haven't gotten Lallana, Firmino, Coutinho and Mane on the pitch together enough. If we had we'd probably be with Spurs and Chelsea.

[killer-heels]

So with Sturridge, Mane and Lallana out with have to make do with Firmino, Origi and Emre Can. I'm not sure why that's so terrible. We have 6 first team squad players out at the same time. So of course we need to dip into the U23's. Karius, Moreno, Gomez,TAA and Grujic were always part of our first team squad this year. So really we were only calling up 2 lads.

Injuries so our best players has cost us the chance to do more this season. We haven't gotten Lallana, Firmino, Coutinho and Mane on the pitch together enough. If we had we'd probably be with Spurs and Chelsea.

Firmino is a regular. We didnt call him up because of Sturridge's or Mane's injury.

Utd have Ibrahimovic, Mata, Rojo, Smalling and Jones out and they can still bring in Rooney, Lingard, Bailly, Blind and have the likes of Rashford, Carrick, Shaw and Mkhitaryan on the bench. Thats who we are up against.

If we lost Matip and Lovren then its Klavan and Lucas so a midfielder converted to centreback. We have no trusted proper left back if Milner is out. We only really have 1 midielder to cover if our first choice midfield is not available and we have to move Firmino if one of our two wide players are out.

We are short in every position bar keeper.

[gb096]

Sturridge has been the let down this season, with Mane missing matches we needed him to step up, but due to his injuries he has failed to do so and we did not have the firepower upfront. We need to address that over the summer. Without top 4 will we get the money to invest in top players?? That is what the squad needs to push on and challenge. You can see Man City investing heavily this summer as well as Man Utd. Going to be harder next year as Pep has had a season to adjust to the Prem, Mourinho will spend to push for the title next year.

[Lycan]

Sturridge has been the let down this season, with Mane missing matches we needed him to step up, but due to his injuries he has failed to do so and we did not have the firepower upfront. We need to address that over the summer. Without top 4 will we get the money to invest in top players?? That is what the squad needs to push on and challenge. You can see Man City investing heavily this summer as well as Man Utd. Going to be harder next year as Pep has had a season to adjust to the Prem, Mourinho will spend to push for the title next year.

His injury situation has taken the piss really(I'm not necessarily blaming the lad before anyone jumps on my back). Even though we all knew he was injury prone, I think most of us thought we'd have got more games and a better goal return out of him this season. He has to be sold this summer. We just can't rely on him. How many games has he started by the way?

This is the worry as well. All the other top teams will spend massively this summer. With or without CL football to offer. So if the owners decide against spending big if we don't get CL football, It's just going to make it even harder for us to finish top four and we'll more than likely fall further behind.

[Souness1]

A Spurs win against Arsenal on Sunday puts Arsenal out of it for me so hopefully Spurs can do the business and then Arsenal do United. Not putting too much hope on Spurs tho, as good as they have been it wouldn't surprise me if Arsenal turned up and won. It's what Spurs have done for years; build you up to let you down.

[MNAA]

Exciting next 4 weeks. A lot still to be unfolded with many twists and turns. Stop fretting. Will do your heart little good. Not going to be easy for us. But 4th is still very possible. Enjoy ...

[Chris~]

Sturridge has been the let down this season, with Mane missing matches we needed him to step up, but due to his injuries he has failed to do so and we did not have the firepower upfront. We need to address that over the summer. Without top 4 will we get the money to invest in top players?? That is what the squad needs to push on and challenge. You can see Man City investing heavily this summer as well as Man Utd. Going to be harder next year as Pep has had a season to adjust to the Prem, Mourinho will spend to push for the title next year.

It's supposed to be harder every year and yet every year it's around the same points to finish as champion or top 4.

[killer-heels]

It's supposed to be harder every year and yet every year it's around the same points to finish as champion or top 4.

I agree but this season we could very well finish on 72-74 points and it still not be enough for fourth, whilst last season you would have come 2nd.

[killer-heels]

Exciting next 4 weeks. A lot still to be unfolded with many twists and turns. Stop fretting. Will do your heart little good. Not going to be easy for us. But 4th is still very possible. Enjoy ...

I am not sure I would class it as exciting anymore. Its going towards a limp and a struggle.

[Nick110581]

Maybe it is a blessing we have a week off.

Either way there is massive pressure on Monday night and our players buckle under that.

Lets see if they can buck the trend.

[MNAA]

I am not sure I would class it as exciting anymore. Its going towards a limp and a struggle.

Well ... I choose to worry about things that I can control. Things that I can't, I will try to make the best of the situation. If other results somehow go our way or we win all our remaining games we'll get 4th. If it's not meant to be, it's not meant be.

This is place is a miserable place after the Palace defeat. A meltdown is not an overstatement. We're still in this and still have a good chance to nick it. I would rather be in our place than either Utd or Arsenal

[Coolie High]

The fact that Utd can bring in the likes of Rashford and £50m Marshial shows they have the fire power when Ibra is out. Fast pacey players. With Mane, Lallana and Sturridge we've been royally fucked with our 17 yr old bench squad. Been massively let down buy under investment. If we get top 4 we will have punched above our weight.

You say this like Rashford isn't 19 himself, he was in the exact same position to those 17 year old bench players till they played him....

And no we wouldn't have, Leicester won the league last year, Spurs and Arsenal will finish in the top 5 this year, its not punching above weight its about right, the only clubs who outspent us were City and Chelsea who will finish in the top 4, who both have new managers and United who to be honest started from a worst position than us at the start of the season, and spunked their money on rubbish....

At the start of the season when United were doing crap, and Pogba was failing to show up, no one was saying this in fact we were all laughing art them for their irresponsible way of spending their finances.

[Day1983]

So with Sturridge, Mane and Lallana out with have to make do with Firmino, Origi and Emre Can. I'm not sure why that's so terrible. We have 6 first team squad players out at the same time. So of course we need to dip into the U23's. Karius, Moreno, Gomez,TAA and Grujic were always part of our first team squad this year. So really we were only calling up 2 lads.

Injuries so our best players has cost us the chance to do more this season. We haven't gotten Lallana, Firmino, Coutinho and Mane on the pitch together enough. If we had we'd probably be with Spurs and Chelsea.

It's always ifs buts and maybes with us

[Grobbelrevell]

Winning 3 of the next 4 gets us to 75pts, and I still like our chances.  Plenty of room for the others to trip up and take points off each other.

To get to 75:
United needs 12pts from: City, Swansea, Arsenal, Spurs, Southampton, Palace
Arsenal needs 18pts from: Leicester, Spurs, United, Southampton, Stoke, Sunderland, Everton

I can see United getting what they need from those fixtures to be honest.

Genuinely feel as though we've thrown it away in taking one point from winning positions in our last two home games, against Bournemouth and Palace.

We'll know more on Monday, and all we can do now is hope that City and Swansea do us a favour. No-one to blame but ourselves if we miss out though, and personally I'd view the season as a huge disappointment (even despite the increased points haul) if that were the case, given the position we put ourselves in arriving in January, and then what transpired from there, both on and off the field.

[Anfield89]

Lallana fit for Watford so that's a bonus.

Aguero and Silva could be out of the derby though which isn't

[cdgilbert]

On todays Anfield Wrap, Neil said it was still in ours hands.

I have looked at this, and cant see how this can be true?!

[Grobbelrevell]

On todays Anfield Wrap, Neil said it was still in ours hands.

I have looked at this, and cant see how this can be true?!

It's not. United and City are in the box seat now. Both have it in their hands.

We're now left hoping others do us a favour and take points off them.

[killer-heels]

On todays Anfield Wrap, Neil said it was still in ours hands.

I have looked at this, and cant see how this can be true?!

If United lose its back in our hands. If there is a draw or if Utd win then its not in our hands.

[Chris~]

It's not. United and City are in the box seat now. Both have it in their hands.

We're now left hoping others do us a favour and take points off them.

Or one of them wins on Thursday.