liverpool....are they serious title contenders ...

they seem to be getting the results that eluded them in previous years. wins against chelsea and man utd plus their last min wins....loss to spurs aside can they keep it up if torres stays fit the whole season?

If they keep receiving help from the refs, they can nail it, sure.

No they can't

I was starting to think maybe after their win against Chelsea but it's still to early in the season for 'pool fans to be getting their hopes up.

It's quite possible that Liverpool could finish this season with more points than they ever have since the actual Premiership began but as a ManU fan the reality is Chelsea will drop very few points this season and I believe only Man U are capable of been more consistent!

They have a chance.

Unfortunately, Chelsea look too strong (even taking into account recent wobbles). No team can enjoy a huge slice of luck throughout a season, and Liverpool have stolen the whole cake in the luck department. The Spurs defeat in no way made up for it. Karma's gonna get them...

Yes they can. but im not going to say we are.

True we have had some luck in the opening few months, it has been the case in recent years that we have had no luck at all and our season has already stalled by christmas. Not the case this year so far, although its not christmas yet, but we do have run of 5 games now that we should be taking max points from. If we are still in this position come the arsenal match on 13th Dec, we will be looking good.

We have got 3 of our trickest games of the season out of the way already and taken maximum points from them. We have played two of these games without our star striker, we have missed his killer touch, but we have survived well and can only get better when he returns this weekend all being well.

We have a good squad its certainly big enough, but the difference this season is the quality has improved. Gone are Houlliers stop gaps, Rafa has bought in strong reliable and for the most part players that are both suited to his style and the style of the premiership. Of course we dont have the other twos massive transfer budgets but i believe what we have, has been spent more fruitfully than anytime in the last 20 years.

If we are still up their come 1st of Jan then maybe, just maybe i might come out and say we are good for it. Untill then i will keep my mouth shut, keep my fingers crossed and pray Gerrard and Torres stay fit for the rest of the season.

Originally posted by sally cinnamon
Yes they can. but im not going to say we are.

True we have had some luck in the opening few months, it has been the case in recent years that we have had no luck at all and our season has already stalled by christmas. Not the case this year so far, although its not christmas yet, but we do have run of 5 games now that we should be taking max points ...[text shortened]... h shut, keep my fingers crossed and pray Gerrard and Torres stay fit for the rest of the season.

the only liverpool matches i've seen this year were the spurs game and the second half of the madrid match on tuesday, they looked pretty good despite of the results. not the liverpool i was used to watching a year or so ago. kyte starting to score and i have no doubt that keane will come good. the only thing i don't see is backup if a key player gets injured for a while? i know its the same for man utd and chelsea, if ronaldo or ballack (imo the 2 best players in the prem) got injured for a few months they would struggle but have enough cover to just about cope. what do liverpool have if torres, gerrard or carragher is out for a few months?

We have cover for Carra, although Skertel is out till Christmas we still have big Sami. He is getting on a bit i know but Samis strength has never been his pace, its his tactical awareness and positional play that makes him in my opinion one of the best defenders the premiership has ever seen.

Cover for the other two is a little more tricky, how do you replace a player like Gerrard? The answer is you cant, but we do have plenty of good midfield options, so we can change our style of play so work round this as we have done before very successfully before when Gerrard has been injured.

Torres again is tricky, but so it would be if say united lost Ronaldo and Chelsea lost Drogba for the season. I know these scenarios have been played out already this season and the results speak for themselves. Early on in the season united looked lost without Ronaldo, Chelsea have coped better without Drogba and i think we have coped remarkably without Torres. Despite the fact he is much maligned i wouldnt swap Dirk Kuyt for anybody, Robbie Keane adds more to our game than just goals and we have Ryan Babel who despite not been given the chance, is an excellent striker. We do have a couple of really promising youngsters in the reserves, who when push came to shove could make the step up. One being a young Hungarian striker called Kristian Nemath, who im sure is going to be a star of the future and not far of the mark now. We also have the excellant young Spanish starlet Daniel Pacheco and Nathan Ecclestone, the later two i dont think are quite ready but Nemath in my opinion is and i dont think it will be long before we see him. Of course you dont win anything with kids

YES. The defect against spurs was a shocker... they had enough chances before the OG to finish the game.

However lets not forget they have won quite a few games without Torris so when he is fully fit they will be even better.

But I still think Chealsea will just come through in the end.

Liverpool seem to be a fair bit better than last season, they have had their best start at the same time Chelsea and United have had their worse in recent times.
Still they are not top of the league,

The current bookie odds are;-

Chelsea 1
United 9/4
Liverpool 11/2
Arsenal 20

Liverpool have some easy games coming up, if they win them all then they will stay in the race for a good while yet.

I don't think they will win the league this season though because:-
- 8 times this season they have been saved by late goals, players sent off etc... this type of form is unsustainable
- The defense is lacking quality cover in all areas
- When Torres comes back they will be more deadly and start scoring more freely but i don't think they play as well when he's in the side
- Who will Liverpool drop for Torres? Obviously they have to play Torres but I just think Liverpool were playing more 1 dimensional when he was in the team.
- The wide players are not quite good enough Riera, Babel, Pennant
- Keane and Torres haven't yet formed a partnership, to win the league they have to solve this very quickly
- Chelsea are just getting Drogba back, they have Ballack and Essien to come, this will make them stronger
- As you can see from the latest bookie odds above Liverpool are close but not realistic challenges yet, if you disagree, have a bet, 11/2 are very good odds if you think they have a chance.
- If United are still in the race in January, they will have a great chance of winning the league having played their hardest games away, Liverpool, Chelsea, Arsenal and City.

They do have an outisde chance though.

Here's their next 6 games.
West Brom(h), Bolton(a), Fulham(h), West Ham(h), Blackburn(a), Arsenal(a).

If they can go into the Arsenal game with 13 points from 15 they have a chance.

Their roster is too thin. Maybe with a big buy or two over the winter break.