- Jun 7, 2004
- 18,106
- 45,030
The problem is that, when people write 'expectations', what they are really writing is 'demands' and the subconscious reason for making demands is so they can pitch those demands at an unrealistic level and then express their rage when their team fails to exceed their original demands. That's the way many football supporters' minds work. Their motivation is to vent rage. When their club wins, they vent rage at supporters of other clubs who have achieved less. When (more frequently), their club does not win, they vent rage at the club's own players and hierarchy.
I don't really do expectations/demands. I try to observe clearly. The strength of our squad is such that we should easily have been capable of a top 4 finish, (a) if the manager had permitted the squad members to express themselves, instead of setting himself up as the anti-Redknapp, and (b) if the chairman had managed to control his unhealthy compulsion to sack managers every 18 months.
If the new manager has the sense to get out of the way and let our excellent players play football, then we might actually still achieve that.
There is an obstacle this season, which is that several of our key players are new to English football and there is a necessary period of acclimatisation, but the squad is so deep and robust that AVB really ought to have been able to work around this, whilst studiously ignoring the 783 posts on SC before every match berating him for not playing specific players and expressing contempt for other, perfectly capable players in our squad.
Unfortunately, AVB is an obstinate fucker and, for reasons of pique or personal dislike, refused to make use of certain players who would have suited his tactical plan, as did Ramos before him.
Expectations? The same as before, because the squad is the same as before. Let them play and they can finish in the top clutch of what now appears to be 7-8 clubs.
The rise and rise of the two Merseyside clubs is no great surprise to me. I have always thought that Martinez would do exceptionally well, once he had a chance to implement his approach with Premiership-standard players. The only thing that will hold Liverpool back will be injuries: their starting 11 is admirable and they have the single best player in the league [world?], but their second string is relatively weak. Arsenal are in the same danger.
I didn't expect 8 clubs to be this close together after half a season, but neither did anyone else. I thought we'd be slugging it out with 5 other clubs, not 7. But here we are: the difference between Champions League and no European football could be a couple of points this season. As with last season, when we missed out on 4th by a point, I think there is not really much significance or predictability, in such a competitive league, to whether we finish 4th or 6th. Football has a lot of randomness in it. We're in the mix and that's where we belong. That's what we should expect: to be one of the clubs fighting for the top spots.
I don't really do expectations/demands. I try to observe clearly. The strength of our squad is such that we should easily have been capable of a top 4 finish, (a) if the manager had permitted the squad members to express themselves, instead of setting himself up as the anti-Redknapp, and (b) if the chairman had managed to control his unhealthy compulsion to sack managers every 18 months.
If the new manager has the sense to get out of the way and let our excellent players play football, then we might actually still achieve that.
There is an obstacle this season, which is that several of our key players are new to English football and there is a necessary period of acclimatisation, but the squad is so deep and robust that AVB really ought to have been able to work around this, whilst studiously ignoring the 783 posts on SC before every match berating him for not playing specific players and expressing contempt for other, perfectly capable players in our squad.
Unfortunately, AVB is an obstinate fucker and, for reasons of pique or personal dislike, refused to make use of certain players who would have suited his tactical plan, as did Ramos before him.
Expectations? The same as before, because the squad is the same as before. Let them play and they can finish in the top clutch of what now appears to be 7-8 clubs.
The rise and rise of the two Merseyside clubs is no great surprise to me. I have always thought that Martinez would do exceptionally well, once he had a chance to implement his approach with Premiership-standard players. The only thing that will hold Liverpool back will be injuries: their starting 11 is admirable and they have the single best player in the league [world?], but their second string is relatively weak. Arsenal are in the same danger.
I didn't expect 8 clubs to be this close together after half a season, but neither did anyone else. I thought we'd be slugging it out with 5 other clubs, not 7. But here we are: the difference between Champions League and no European football could be a couple of points this season. As with last season, when we missed out on 4th by a point, I think there is not really much significance or predictability, in such a competitive league, to whether we finish 4th or 6th. Football has a lot of randomness in it. We're in the mix and that's where we belong. That's what we should expect: to be one of the clubs fighting for the top spots.