By Paul Culff
With the release of the Barclays Premier League fixture list, a football supporter can’t help but get excited. Basically the only other football “excitement” that occurs during the summer are the endless transfer rumors, of which Liverpool seems to be linked to every player across the globe. So let’s switch it to back to football and what might happen on the pitch beginning in August………
Bring on Saturday August 13 when Sunderland (those poor things) visit Anfield. Whether this is Jordan Henderson’s first appearance against his old club remains to be seen but it is sure to be a huge occasion no matter what. Others to be wearing the LFC colors is also a bit of a mystery but I see nothing but a WIN to start off our season for our home supporters.
Momentum will be the key as we have seen towards the end of this past season. A win in week 1 will set us up nicely to take on the Gunners at the Emirates in Round 2. What has notoriously been a tough fixture for us, hopefully we don’t have to leave it so late this time to steal some points from Arsenal. Stevie G has already come out and said that we need to “hit the ground running”. After this past season beginning under Woy, we struggled early on and could not recover enough to challenge. Too much damage was done by Christmas. The job King Kenny did in 2011 was extraordinary and he must be commended. However I think we have all learned that a poor start to our campaign will seriously hamper our title chances or even Champions League aspirations. However I have no doubt Damien Comolli and King Kenny will get their transfer business out of the way early and that way, with the help of Steve Clarke, our squad is training collectively and effectively before the end of July.
So without going into too much detail, here is my take on the fixture list broken down into months.
August = ******** (H), ******** (A), ******** (H) = 7 points
September = ******** (A), ******** (A), ******** (H) = 5 points
October = ******** (A), ******** (H), ******** (H), ******** (A) = 10 points
November = ******** (H), ******** (A), ******** (H) = 6 points
December = ******** (A), ******** (H), ******** (A), ******** (A), ******** (H), ******** (H) = 14 points
January = ******** (A), ******** (H), ******** (A), ******** (A) = 7 points
February = ******** (H), ******** (A), ******** (H), = 5 points
March = ******** (A), ******** (A), ******** (H), ******** (A) = 9 points
April = ******** (H), ******** (A), ******** (H), ******** (H), ******** (A) = 12 points
May = ******** (H), ******** (A) = 6 points
**Due to silly copyright laws, we are not able to display the fixtures, the full fixture list can be found here…
TOTAL = 81 POINTS
Based on 2010/11 standings, this would finish us as Champions however I do not see that happening as much as I dream for that. I actually think 2011/12 will see the “top” teams drop fewer points to the “lesser” teams. I expect that the gap will widen again after this transfer window as most of the tops teams will be strengthening. I think I have us losing only 3 or 4 games however I also have us drawing games we could lose and winning games we could draw. Eventually, 81 points will be enough for 3rd place.
Finally, I see December and January being an area of the fixture list we could really gain some points. February is a tough run of fixtures but again in March and April we could go on a bit of a run against some “lesser” teams, injuries permitting. We may see that Chelsea game taking on huge significance in one way or another in May. Your thoughts?
All that is left to say is that I can’t wait.
YNWA – Culffy
i believe liverpool can begin the season with flying colors.. i believ letting aquilani stay at liverpool is one of the main critearia to challenge title.. at juventus ,aquilani had 93% pass completion rate …! the newspapers saying him as a flop is just a joke for that they are nevr the real players… they just the commentators. but if liverpool is able to give aquilani a chance to prove himself at afield,then there is a cjanec..
a combination of youngsters trying to prove themselves and experinced palyers is the key to success.
any way kenny i hope u know what u r doing..
we trust u!!!
Hay, nice post and can see what you mean but found it quite depressing to read.
I like to take it one game at a time predictions at this stage is to early so I’m thinking about Sunderland at home WIN that Os as far as I got (and also Villa home 7th April WIN but that is just cos I’m hoping to go to that game)
But as I say nice post champions league would be grate but the one thing we have rift now is still the dream of the title and I believe we have a chance and will keep believing just cos I can and it makes me happy and I’m exited. :)
YNWA
Great job running this site. I am as excited as you are, but I have to say: Why do you use time/space for finding a hypotetical sum of points at the end of the season? That is not related to the fixtures at all, and imo, you could use time to write a post about the “easy” and “hard” periods.
Another
alternative is to explain you believe that we get as high as 81 points; kenny? transfers? etc.
I think it was just easiest to break down the season into months. I think that it will take more points to win the title in 2011/12 than 2010/11 since the richer bigger clubs will try to reinforce and strengthen and the “lesser” clubs may struggle to compete with that financially and on the field. Hopefully our points tally will be higher this season because King Kenny has the players and the supporters enjoying their football again and having fun. Hopefully this “feel good” atmosphere translates into more points on the pitch. Thanks for your comment.
I don’t subscribe to this kinda write up because its an indication of mounting undue pressure on about to be assembled team as you know our team is not yet a great establish one yet.if you look around the footballing world many great football teams and their managers would never start off publicly like this instead they might do it behind closed doors by telling their players what the fans expect of them rather than blowing their trumpets around high.In my humble opinion let us put our expectation on one game at a time then we look forward to the next one and see how many points we gather at the of the day then we could assess our position and be proud of what we have achieved perharps with the aid of some good luck as it is essential
As a footballer and coach, I also agree that we should take it one game at a time. As writer of this article, i just wanted to get a feel for people’s opinions on the fixture list as I gave mine. As a long time liverpool supporter, I think it is just great to feel optimism again after what was a shaky 2010. I, for one, support the club, the badge and King Kenny and the plans he is putting in place not just for this upcoming season but for the future. That should make us happy and optimistic. Thanks for your comment
if we dont sign better players and do not stop trying to spend money on crap like
downing, dann, wickham, etc then we willnot want to check who awe are playing,, dear god? lets hope and pray these are some smokescreens by god hope so, because unless these players are just coming to compete and not be starters, and unless we buy them for replacements and then we are getting a two or more proven quality we are in huge trouble, remeber what i said today?