ECHO Comment: "Fears of Witch-hunt Against Liverpool FC"

[Jacob]

Rodgers will also have to make a decision should they beat Villa and get to the final. Does he play the talismanic departing skipper from the off.. allowing him to strut like Foghorn Leghorn leading the team out at his last Wembley, last match... fanfares blazing, Cardinals in formation and the assembled RS media tarts wailing into their mics and laptops... intros and headlines written in the stars. Or, and given that a lot more RS are now saying they play better without him...vintage RS behaviour.... does he do what hes done with him the last six months and just bring him off the bench for one last cartwheel. And risk letting him p*ss the game up the wall by losing his head again by standing on Sanchez or A.N. Other. Either way, hes a loser.

 

[peteblue]

Villa will beat them 3-1.......you heard it here first.......

 

[longers]

I'd love us to spend £100m and only win the fa cup tbh

 

[Donald Twain]

I'd love us to spend £100m and only win the fa cup tbh

While comments like this are completely right and to the point, they do spoil the slapstick on here a bit.

 

[Goat]

Villa wont beat them, they cant even beat the worse team in the league at home, they have ZERO chance.

 

[LinekersLegs]

Hadn't realised they had changed the rules on Europa qualification, had assumed that Liverpool would book a place in the Europa if they lost to Arsenal in the final of the FA cup regardless of their league position.

Bit immaterial as they are almost certain to get Europa through their league position anyway but last year would have meant United were in Europa instead of Hull.

 

[LinekersLegs]

@m_christenson: Divock Origi voted second most overrated player in Ligue 1 in a poll by France Football http://t.co/kI8DM3nIIN #lfc

 

[RaleighBlue]

Any season where you qualify for Europe and win a Cup should be considered a good season IMO

Whether it's Champs League or Europa

You've still finished high in the table and have another pot in the trophy cabinet

I agree for most teams.

Chelsea winning the League Cup and finishing 5th is not a success though. Purely due to the amount they spend. And while they aren't in Chelsea's league on the pitch, they spend like gangbusters and should at the very least expect 4th.

If Martinez spent £250 million I'd expect a hell of a lot more than what they run out every week. The FA Cup and Europa isn't a good enough return on investment. Especially mixed with everything that's occurring off the pitch. It's not one of those seasons where they seem to be growing and look to make a better run next season. They're having trouble getting their vital players to sign, their manager is thrashing about throwing players under the bus, they spent huge amounts of money on absolute flops, and they're desperately hoping that they can pick up the FA Cup after a fairly easy draw in the beginning of April.

This season is a failure for them with or without the FA Cup if they don't make Champions League. At least from a business perspective and a future outlook perspective.

 

[LinekersLegs]

I agree for most teams.

Chelsea winning the League Cup and finishing 5th is not a success though. Purely due to the amount they spend. And while they aren't in Chelsea's league on the pitch, they spend like gangbusters and should at the very least expect 4th.

If Martinez spent £250 million I'd expect a hell of a lot more than what they run out every week. The FA Cup and Europa isn't a good enough return on investment. Especially mixed with everything that's occurring off the pitch. It's not one of those seasons where they seem to be growing and look to make a better run next season. They're having trouble getting their vital players to sign, their manager is thrashing about throwing players under the bus, they spent huge amounts of money on absolute flops, and they're desperately hoping that they can pick up the FA Cup after a fairly easy draw in the beginning of April.

This season is a failure for them with or without the FA Cup if they don't make Champions League. At least from a business perspective and a future outlook perspective.

Seems some of their fans agree with you.
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/...m_medium=referral&utm_campaign=programming-UK
To have an FA Cup without a top-four finish would be more damaging to the club's mid-to-long-term future. It may be a sad reality for some to realise, but domestic cup success is secondary to Champions League qualification in modern day football.

We all want to win a trophy, but what Liverpool need is Champions League football.

 

[sd_1992]

Seems some of their fans agree with you.
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/...m_medium=referral&utm_campaign=programming-UK
To have an FA Cup without a top-four finish would be more damaging to the club's mid-to-long-term future. It may be a sad reality for some to realise, but domestic cup success is secondary to Champions League qualification in modern day football.

We all want to win a trophy, but what Liverpool need is Champions League football.

Champions league is only a big thing if you get out of the groups (Juve's entire transfer policy is dependant on this) and Liverpool will never get out of the groups playing the type of football they do.

 

[RaleighBlue]

Seems some of their fans agree with you.
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/...m_medium=referral&utm_campaign=programming-UK
To have an FA Cup without a top-four finish would be more damaging to the club's mid-to-long-term future. It may be a sad reality for some to realise, but domestic cup success is secondary to Champions League qualification in modern day football.

We all want to win a trophy, but what Liverpool need is Champions League football.

This is precisely it. Players want to play for Champions League teams, they want big wages, and the team itself needs to be able to count on that income. So to get the players that guarantee those spots, you need to be in those spots. Liverpool had their chance this past summer to solidify a place in the CL and begin to attract the Sanchez-type players that can help a club kick on.

Their failure to get the right players in could haunt them if they miss 4 this year. Achieving 4th in consecutive seasons gives them the allure they need (or any club with aspirations for sustained success) to get in the players that can continue to achieve those positions.

Miss it this year, and lose some of their better players? They're stuck hoping to strike gold with an uproven player that can become a Suarez-level player...again.

In other words, missing 4th this season relegates them(in the eyes of top players) to Tottenham and Everton level as nearly teams that the cream of the crop won't go to. Like Tottenham they have cash, but the don't have glamour. The FA Cup doesn't factor into it.

Edited to add:
I'm not condoning this system, but with the world focusing on CL as the highest prize it's the way it is. It is sad, especially for teams that aren't in that bracket only hoping for a Sheik or something equally disruptive to get them there, but thus is modern football.

 

[roydo]

Yep. Good football players are not that fussed who won the FA Cup the year before they signed for a new club. Want to know what they are playing in this season. And next.

 

[LinekersLegs]

'm not condoning this system, but with the world focusing on CL as the highest prize it's the way it is. It is sad, especially for teams that aren't in that bracket only hoping for a Sheik or something equally disruptive to get them there, but thus is modern football.

Unfortunately with the introduction of FFP even that isn't the solution it once was - City basically hit the jackpot by getting rich owners and a stadium built for them and they still fell afoul of the rules.

 

[Merseyzig]

If the viet cong win that thing on the 30th, I'm going for a day trip somewhere on the Sunday. That 2001 cup final win was ridiculously jammy. Don't want to have to suffer their triumphalism on our streets. Come on Villa!

 

[RaleighBlue]

Unfortunately with the introduction of FFP even that isn't the solution it once was - City basically hit the jackpot by getting rich owners and a stadium built for them and they still fell afoul of the rules.

FFP will do something, for sure, but I think a ultra-wealthy owner still can have a huge impact. They can't just go buy the players anymore, but they can spend whatever they want on marketing, infrastructure, etc.

Even with FFP, a team like Palace (or us...*dreams...* ok I'm back) could build a new stadium, sign sponsorship deals with larger companies on the idea of expanding marketing to new markets, wine and dine with a top tier PR staff etc. It's harder than Chelsea or PSG have had it, sure, but it's still an easy way into the upper reaches, at which point it can pay for itself. It's slower for sure though.

I don't think the richest of the rich will be buying into the Prem for much longer though with an eye to competing...they'll buy in France, Italy or Spain...maybe Germany but the Bundesliga has some cool restrictions. Mainly because of the competition. Someone is going to get left out in the cold every year, and I wouldn't bet on it being clubs that are already established as primo destinations. Too much risk. Much easier to buy Lille and get in on the ground floor of trying to globalize Ligue 1 or something.