Goal.com Liverpool Fanview: 'Hopefully the new boss and his mate Joe Cole will mean an invigorated Steven Gerrard'

Fans share their thoughts for the season ahead...

30 Jul 2010 08:42:00

More On :  Liverpool
With the start of 2010-11 season approaching fast, we asked a supporter of every Premier League club to share with us their hopes, dreams and fears for the season ahead.

Liverpool Fanview | By Gareth Roberts,
Well Red Magazine



The target: Champions League qualification

Top four (and a trophy would be nice). Last season was our worst league finish in 11 years, yet we were still just seven points off fourth and reached the semi-finals of the Europa League.

We’ve got a good first XI so if we keep the key men fit - and don’t sell them - there’s no reason why not.

MORE...

My thoughts on the gaffer...

Improving by the day. Being honest, the appointment of Roy Hodgson didn’t have me punching the air in delight – it felt like a backwards step and I remain sceptical about his style of football and his track record.

But he’s shown some backbone already by highlighting the problems with the owners and hinting some decisions on players have been made above his head. He was also quick to recognise that Philipp Degen is the worst player to have played for Liverpool since Nicky Tanner.

His no-nonsense approach could just work and he seems to have the respect of the senior players, which seems to be half the battle at Anfield.

Regardless of my doubts about his abilities, I’ll be getting right behind him and the team once the first whistle is blown and I really hope he proves me wrong. By the way, if you’re reading Roy, Paul Konchesky? No thanks…


Our key man this season

Now that he’s committed his future to Liverpool, Steven Gerrard. He was way below his best for the majority of last season and looked all too ready to throw his toys out of the pram when things went wrong.

Hopefully the new boss – and his mate Joe Cole – will mean an invigorated Gerrard.


Youngster to watch


There’s quite a few promising youngsters at Liverpool right now – Danny Pacheco, Danny Ayala and the newly-purchased Danny Wilson. But I’ve gone for a player who isn’t called Danny – Martin Kelly.

He’s Scouse, he’s 20 and when he played against Lyon in the Champions League last season he didn’t look out of place one bit.


A player who must deliver

If he’s given a chance to deliver, as rumours are rife that he could be sold, Ryan Babel. We paid big money, he arrived with a big reputation – and he just hasn’t done it.

Yet he’s shown in flashes what he could be – he’s got strength, skill and a decent shot. Add a brain to that lot and he could be dangerous.


Our Achilles' heel

The owners. Tom Hicks and George Gillett rocked into Liverpool promising the funds to allow the club to compete with the big boys – now we’re in hundreds of millions of pounds worth of debt and we’re scratching around for free transfers.

Roy Hodgson is already feeling the pinch and it says it all that we’ve already kicked off in the Europa League and there isn’t a recognised senior left-back at the club. Too many decisions at Anfield seem to put money before football.




"I think Hodgson will make us hard to beat rather than reenacting Brazil 1970 and for that reason I think we could be a force to be reckoned with in the Europa League."
Fixture I am looking forward to the most...

Merseyside derbies v Everton on October 17 and January 15. Same as any season. They’re our city rivals, obviously, and nothing tastes sweeter than victory over the Toffees – particularly when they keep telling us how good they are.


Our toughest opponents will be...

Who knows? We had a decent record against the big sides under Rafael Benitez but tended to struggle against so-called lesser lights. At a guess, I’ll go for Blackpool away on Boxing Day – what player would fancy that?



Player we love to hate

There’s plenty of Liverpool fans who would say Lucas. Not me though, I rate the lad and think he’s been unfairly tarred with the ‘flop’ tag.

I’ll go for Gary Neville. He hates Scousers, he’s annoying, ugly, a dirty player and a Manc. What’s to like?


My verdict
My heart says top four and a cup, but my head says top six. It’s going to be really tight up there this season with Manchester City strengthening, Tottenham looking impressive and even Everton likely to challenge.

I think Hodgson will make us hard to beat rather than re-enacting Brazil 1970 and for that reason I think we could be a force to be reckoned with in the Europa League – Hodgson did reach the final with Fulham after all.

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…brutal honesty? We are still at the stage where we must look first to ensure survival, which must
be a pretty standard response for many supporters and helps little to make this anything like an
interesting read.
However, coupled with that cautionary view, last season’s exploits saw the expectation bar raised, so
our fingers-crossed ambitions should be to better that; probably by maintaining more consistency. As
soon as Sky and MOTD started to mention us in despatches, the form dropped off and we finished
with close to relegation form (7 defeats in the last 8 away games, the only win at doomed Pompey).
We had been in front of Everton for a large part of the season and although we finished one place
below them, we were 11 points adrift of them – keeping pace with that level of team as the season
draws to a close would be a very good return and a solid platform for continual improvement.
The ubiquitous fan hope of a Cup run is too easy to go for – personally, I would forego the short term
delight of a decent Cup run for a deserved reputation of being a strong and seasoned Premier League
team, but then Blues have been letting me down just when I truly start to believe in them for too many
years to mention, so my attitude is no doubt coloured by that.
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