EIGHT league games before the end of the year. Twenty four points. The definitive halfway point. We sit here in early November, 11 games in on 17 points, which isn’t a number that would get the juices flowing under normal circumstances. Well, friends, this isn’t normal circumstances as in our 11 games so far we’ve got three of our four aways at the previous season’s top four out of the way, played the team who came fifth, and been to Goodison Park for the Derby.
Given you don’t play teams twice in the first half of the season, this means that we’ve got a relatively comfortable set of fixtures from now to the end of the year. An eight-game spell when you face only one club from the previous season’s top seven isn’t something you will often get.
That means one thing. We have to take the opportunity to make hay on three fronts. Interspersed between these games are three Europa League games and one League Cup game that sees us potentially 270 minutes from Wembley. The next two months are enormous in the context of this season.
Given it’s our next game, I’ll start with the Europa League and the game against Rubin Kazan tomorrow
We sit second in Group B in a bizarre situation whereby we’ve won zero games and scored three goals after three games but have a sizeable chance of qualifying with a game to spare. If Sion beat Bordeaux tomorrow night as Liverpool shiver in Russia, back-to-back wins on match days four and five would seal qualification with a game to spare.
It’s a huge opportunity for Liverpool to progress to the knock-out stages, where the competition really hots up.
Jurgen Klopp has taken a full-strength squad to Russia, including Stamford Bridge goalscorers Christian Benteke and Philippe Coutinho. Liverpool shouldn’t go with the strongest side in every game of the group stage, but if we could qualify for the last 32 by playing it once or twice then we’ve done exactly what we needed.
Win our next two games and then there’s a genuine chance for us to reduce the game with Sion to a complete and utter dead rubber. Win the next two and we’re either second or we will need to win to win the group. I’m not fussed about winning the group — you could end up winning the group and getting a two-legged tie against Roma, Sevilla, Dynamo Kiev or any of the other Champions League dropouts.
First or second doesn’t matter. Just get to the last 32 and then it’s knockout football. Two legs. Anything happens. That’s the first target.
The second thing is the bread and butter. The League. Eight games. Four at home and four away. They are, in date order:
- Palace (h)
- City (a)
- Swansea (h)
- Newcastle (a)
- West Brom (h)
- Watford (a)
- Leicester (h)
- Sunderland (a)
In betting terms, Liverpool will be favourites for seven of those games and quite possibly odds-on for seven of them. That’s seven games we’re considered more likely to win than not.
Let’s say we win five of them, limp to two disappointing draws (it happens, get over it) and we’ll write City off completely as anything above zero points being a bonus. That leaves you with 17 points from the eight games, doubling our points tally and leaving us going into the New Year with 34 points.
I’d say 17 is a fairly conservative estimate — you’re dropping points in three of your eight games and it’s a very achievable number. We’re better than seven of those eight sides, realistically, by quite a distance and should be looking to pick up the maximum from all of them.
And as the manager’s influence grows we should be able to go about dispensing with inferior opposition comfortably.
If we were to get to January 1 with 34 points on the board we woud be bang in contention for the top four, have a huge scope for looking at getting upwards of 40 points in the second half of the season, and we’d position ourselves nicely for what is, on paper, an easier run of games in the New Year.
We’re getting players back all of the time — Jordan Henderson, Jon Flanagan, Daniel Sturridge at some point — and we’ve got a manager who is getting his ideas over more and more by the day. There’s no logical reason why we shouldn’t be seeing a better second half to the season.
There’s nothing to fear in the Premier League right now, it’s a poor league filled with poor teams.
The third front is the shortest form, but arguably also the toughest. A 90-minute game away at Southampton could see us in the semi-finals of a cup competition or it could see us removed from one. The key link here is the aforementioned Europa League games.
If we can pick up the six points from Kazan and Bordeaux, we’re able to give players seven days rest between Newcastle away and West Brom at home.
We could send the under 18s to Switzerland for three days of chocolate, cheese with holes in and cuckoo clocks and be no worse off. Having a week-long break before a hectic month of football is potentially massive.
It also means you can go all in at Southampton, knowing full well that you’ve got a week off to come. The potential 120 minutes becomes less of an issue, the need to rotate is significantly reduced, and two games a week, every week, for nearly three months, as we had last year, doesn’t exist.
We’ve got a big two months lined up. And it starts in Kazan. Three points is huge.
[rpfc_recent_posts_from_category meta=”true”]
Pics: David Rawcliffe-Propaganda-Photo
serial winner like Klopp would never undermine any match.
Rightfully so, he takes one match at a time.and picks a team capable of winning the match.
I am pretty sure none of the players selected tonight would dare to give anything less than 100% with a view of saving energy for Sunday match against Palace.
It was only a few months ago I couldn’t have cared less about the cups. That’s not strictly true but I was preoccupied with Liverpool getting top 4 and starting to build again. The whole vibe seems different under Klopp. I’m desperate for us to win this tonight. It’s about momentum as much as anything.
I’m, perhaps, a bit over enthusiastic about him. I feel we’re gonna win all these games including City with a few 4-0’s thrown in. Southampton strikes me as tough. I was winding a Utd fan up at the weekend and he told me to put my money where my mouth was so I did. There’s no way on earth they’ll finish above us. I can see us challenging for the title. It’s based on looking at the others around us, our results so far, the injured lads coming back compared to where we currently sit in the table.
Even if it turns out I’ve done my usual thing of getting carried away by the first few green shoots of recovery, I’m not that bothered. This is what it’s all about for me. I’ll be doing well over 100mph on the motorway tonight to make sure I’m back for 5.50pm. I’m just absolutely loving every game. Until recently, I was looking a game or two ahead. Now I’m looking at games in March and April and plotting where we can take the lead in the league.
Finally, for the first time in years I’m convinced the cycle is coming round to our time. The others are showing signs of cracks, City less so at this point. We’ve got the best manager in the world. We’ve got the money and the pull to get a couple of decent players over the next few years. We’ve got a 55k stadium to come but most importantly we’ve got some good players who are gonna be playing to 100% of their capability. We just need to lose a few of the internet fans and we’ll have everything. No one can stop us. I’m going for 19 points from the 7. Done and dusted by Sion but I’m not gonna make a call on Southampton just yet for fear of being called overly optimistic.
City have Aguero and Sylva to return and already have Bony and that other one knocking in goals regularly. We are not challenging City this season. However the others are doable. Mind you I was confident that Chelsea would stroll it this season.
We”ll be 3rd this season. Ahead of MU and Chelsea… (I am.not BR hater, but I have been sayin this since JK was appointed)
To all football fans in Europe apart from England, the CL and EL trophies are more important than the national championship. This is where you shine and where managers’ careers will be boosted. The really big managers are measured by European glory alone.
That said, I doubt Klopp will value the EL too high this season. I think sending his best squad over to Russia got more to do with motivational aspects and in order to create momentum.
The most realistic “title” seems to be the League One Cup with only So’ton and City left as the strongest contenders.
I guess Klopp will rest players for the Crystal Palace home match. City might be currently the toughest task ahead by name, but giving 100% against Palace is even a much harder task to accomplish, so he might give new players a chance in order to prove themselves.