12 May 2012

Could Lawro be right with this worrying LFC prediction? Lets hope not...

At the end of this season, Liverpool and FSG will count the cost of yet another failure to qualify for the Champions League. After spending 144m in the last 18 months, it's a bitter blow, but if the club strengthens in the summer, there's always hope that the Reds can make it back into the top four next season. Or is there? Anfield legend Mark Lawrenson is not so optimistic, and he believes the club will once again struggle to qualify for Europe's elite competition next season.

In an interview with the BBC on Wednesday, Lawro conceded that Liverpool's season had been 'mixed', but insisted that the club did not need 'drastic surgery' in order to improve next season. However, even if the club do strengthen, Lawro thinks that a top four finish will still be a tall order:

"Liverpool need some extra attacking influence, maybe from midfield, to improve, but the sides above them will all strengthen too. I think challenging for the Champions League places will be even more difficult for Liverpool next season than it has been this one".

If Liverpool fail to finish in the top 4 next season, that will make it four years in a row without Champions League football.

Fourth place was arguably there for the taking this season; Arsenal and Chelsea have been inconsistent for most of the season, and Spurs have suffered a catastrophic run of form right at the crucial moment. Liverpool have been unable to capitalise, and once those team's inevitably strengthen, things will - as Lawro suggests - become more difficult.

This is where it helps to have the right manager. As we've seen with Alan Pardew this season, the right manager at the right club can work wonders, and next season, will Dalglish's motivation and man-management skills be enough to bridge the current 14 point gap between 8th and 4th?

I personally don't think so, but I'm happy to be proven wrong.

Jaimie Kanwar


53 comments:

  1. your never happy....  try supporting the club

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  2.  Its all doom and gloom on here, and Lawrenson, if you believe what he states, there is no hope for us.
    Jamie 144m wheres that been plucked from net spend is a lot lower than that.
    True it has not been a good season, the league form has been a let down.
    But imo it will not take that much to turn it round, we had the best away record in the league apart from the 2 manc clubs.
    Its our home form that is the problem, and hiting the post 46 times this season is the measure of how thin the line is between success and failure, if 20 of them shots had gone in we would be in the top four.
    But they didn't we need a fox in the box who can score 20+ a season and a right winger to replace Kuyt.
    Our chances made are second to none, but our conversion rate is abysmal, once that is rectified we will be fine.
    YNWA

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  3. I don't think so either , the really worrying thing is Kenny thinks we haven't done " too bad "

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  4. Liverpool were fighting for 4th then we lost Charlie Adam. We'll need Charlie back to full fitness and top 4 is a shoe in

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  5. Lawro has always been a doom merchant. Although he played for us his allegiances have always lain elsewhere somewhere up the East Lancs Road I suspect.

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  6. The league table doesn't lie and truth is Liverpool are not better than any of the teams which are above them except for Everton. Man Utd, Man City, Spurs, Arsenal, Chelsea and even Newcastle all have more quality in their squads and next Chelsea will spend big, Arsenal have already started to recruit players, Spurs or Newcastle whoever makes the champions league spot will be much better next season, Man Utd and Man City are almost unreachable. So it is going to be much tougher ask for Liverpool next season. If they don't spend big on quality players then it will be another season without champions league football. If players like Henderson, Adam, Downing would be the starters even next season then i have no hope for the future of the club.

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  7. yh exactly with charlie adam coming back and lieva fit for a whole season we will be challenging for the title

    WARNING:this post includes huge amounts of sarcasm

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  8. So he is Doubting kenny in so many word's....

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  9. Is your surname an anagram?

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  10. Load of bollocks as always

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  11. His allegiances have always been with liverpool don't even try to suggest otherwise

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  12. i think with maybe four additions we should be fine, a real goal scorer, a quality right winger, and competition for lucas and enrique. this should be enough i beleive, there is no way that downing and carroll can be as bad again this season as last, suarez can spend the summer working on his shooting lol, also suarez shouldn't miss 9 games through suspension and gerrard will hopefully remain fit through out.

    also there is no way that newcastle can be as good as this season again, i think it was a fluke. teams will be playing alot more attention to them and be happy with a point; ten men behind the ball kind of thing.

    arsenal will hopefully lose van persie via transfer or his injury history catching up with him, the rest of their team is average.

    chelsea will prob spend so will almost defo be a major threat. the manchester clubs are way above us in terms of consistency.

    spurs could go either way, they may not be able to secure adebayor on a perminent deal due to his high wages, also they could have a troublesome transfer season with potential for either bale or modric leaving which would be a diaster for them. however they could also spend some money wisely and come out a better team

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  13. When people mention how much we have spent on players, they are usually on about 'expenditure', not bloody apologist 'net spend'!
    At the end of the day, we have a high expenditure in the last 18 months with very little to show for it. That is the point. Not poxy 'net spend'. 

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  14. I think net spend is what mr henry will be looking at

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  15. Even if you look at only net spend it's not a pretty picture.  Liverpool spent roughly the same as Man U, less than City and Chelsea but way outspent Arsenal, Tottenham, Newcastle and Everton, the four teams above us, so complaining about net spend really is not a good excuse, going on net spend we should be 4th or 3rd.

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  16. C'mon guys, let's all be not too gloomy. All the teams above us - we've beaten them except Spurs if i remember correctly. It's the lesser teams and the goalposts working against us. With better finishing and Carroll, Henderson & Shelvey improving (hopefully), I'm pretty sure we'd do better next year.

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  17. i agree, lets look at it from another not so negative slant. this is the worst premiership i have seen, though dreadful we showed enough in nearly all our games to have won or got a result from.we need more from midfield but Carroll has come on a bit, Henderson is showing glimpses and some of the kids will step up.we hit the woodwork 38 times, convert 25% of them and we would be fighting for the top 3 places.Lawrenson knows nothing, a pundit nothing more, only idiots and people who cannot draw their own conclusions take notice of them,(Jaimie Kanwar) where ever he's from. Anyway be more positive,move Kenny upstairs bring in Martinez and a couple of midfield scorers.

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  18. Its not only £144m thats  been flushed down the toilet,what about all the lost CL revenue,shirt sales,add another say £86m to the total and its more like £230m.Rafa must be sat at home with a wry smile and I for one dont blame him.

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  19. 20 wins out of 38 is normally all that's needed to make the top 4. That's just 10 clubs we need to beat twice. Surely that must be possible.

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  20. I agree with your assessment that four quality additions could easily see the team storm back up the table. I doubt the funds are available for sure fire targets though, and the business of the last couple of years (getting rid of the reserve graduates for a pittance and bringing in & holding onto overly expensive squad players) leaves us with little margin for error though.

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  21. Lawrenson was a LEGEND AT MANAGEMENT - TOTAL LEGEND

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  22. I don't think he's saying anything we don't know. If u want to b realist than you'll definitely know that we've got no chance of finishing top four. Not with KD as manager anyway. He seems to think that this season we haven't done too bad. When Lfc is struggling to finish 7th than I think is been not just bad but fucking bad season.

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  23. 2009 midfield. Kuyt alonso. Mascherano gerrard
    2012. Midfield. Gerrard Shelvey Henderson downing
    Need I say more

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  24. Lawro has been very critical about Liverpool all season has he fell out with anyone, he seems to be always praising Everton in the Echo never seems to say anything positive about Liverpool

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  25. One of worst pundits to ever c on tv. Don't rate anything he has to say at all. He wasn't happy when Liverpool were going for the title under Benitez either. And he ain't saying anything we don't know already. Lfc with KD as mngr next season has no chance at all to finish 4th. We struggling to finish 7th this season. Or maybe KD will sign D Bent and u never know we might even win the league.

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  26. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!! WHAT SUBSTANCE DO YOU TAKE,FELLA?????? CHARLIE 'SUPER LEFT FOOT' ADAM, SHOWS PERFECTLY HOW FAR WE HAVE SLIPPED. DIRE, UTTER, UTTER, SH*TE. TO HAVE PLAYERS LIKE HIM PUTTING ON A RED SHIRT MEANS WE WILL NEVER BE A SUCCESS, IN MAJOR TERMS, AGAIN. YOU REALLY DON'T HAVE A CLUE. SPL REJECT, BLACKPOOL WERE NOT THAT CONVINCED, BUT NEEDED NUMBERS. CHARLIE ADAM???HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA GET A LIFE.

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  27. UNBELIEVABLE HOW MANY IDIOTS STILL THINK HE IS GOOD ENOUGH FOR US. YEAH, THE NEW JAN MOLBY EH? ONLY IN GUT SIZE. ADAM SHOULDN'T EVEN BE LABELLED A FOOTBALLER, FOR FU*K SAKE.

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  28. what happens when he gets back to full fitness? have we run out of programme sellers? has 'the 'albert'  lost a barman?  oh, i know, dr. fun needs a new 'liverpool charlie' to stick his fist up.

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  29. Dont really buy into the "other teams will strengthen"  thing if that were the case the prem would have been at an all time high this season but it was there for the taking.

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  30. errrrm u either never read my post fully or u dnt know the meaning of sarcasm or you have a mental disorder please clarify

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  31. pardew has basically conceded that his best players are for sale even if they get champs league.sounded like he was telling utd to put in a bid for cabaye.newcastle won't have another season like this next season,mike ashley will make a bollox of pardews good work.

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  32. jesus christ chan,hope your not an accountant...net spend is what every manager /business man looks at,thats the real spend AFTER  u take off income/expenditure etc.when u get paid u dont look at your gross pay u donut,its ur net pay that counts!!!

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  33. a few points here,daglish has to be given at least 1 more season or we will be the laughing stock of the prem league.we have outplayed more teams this season than any that i can remember.the football is class at times and while we arent prolific in front of goal i  think we will score a hatfull next season.carroll and suarez have been buzzing last few matches.give hendo/adam/down time to bed in.otherwise we are in danger of becomming all that i loathe in most other clubs,namely,impatience.fans who want instant success arent fans at all.can i ask all those who want kenny out to give me a replacement who they can GUARANTEE me will succeed...anyone...remember now...they have to deliver...instant success,cos thats what ur asking for now so the next manager has to abide by ur mantra or else hes also out the door.see,when u think along these lines we could implode as a club by our cravin for instant success.a top 4finish is always goin to be a huge ask now that spuds an citeh are in the mix.

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  34. its important because the net spend reflects the new money invested in the club/players buy the owners so for instance if FSG thought they would have to spend 120m of new money in the club we know there is still 60m to come. the figures above are meant as an example before anyone starts.

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  35. It's more Spearing than Shelvey. 

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  36. Hahahaha! Thanks for the much needed laugh! 

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  37. 'ERRRRM' I AM AWARE OF WHAT SARCASM IS, I WAS ACTUALLY IN AGREEMENT WITH YOUR SENTIMENTS. PLEASE DON'T TRY TO BE CLEVER WITH YOUR INANE INSULTS. A) YOU ARE NOT INTELLIGENT ENOUGH TO PULL IT OFF WITH ANY BELIEVABLE EFFECT. B) IF YOU ARE TO MAKE STUPID COMMENTS, AT LEAST LEARN TO SPELL. UNLESS YOU ARE A TEENAGER OR JUST DUMB,(I'D TAKE THE LATTER HERE), LEAVE THE 'TEXT SPEAK' ALONE,THERE'S A GOOD BOY.

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  38. THEY DO HAVE A VERY GOOD SCOUTING NETWORK, THAT PUTS OURS IN THE SHADE. ALAN 'CHATTY MAN' CARR'S, DAD, GRAHAM, IS THE MAN UNEARTHING THESE RELATIVELY CHEAP 'GEMS'. IF THEY LOSE A COUPLE, THEY HAVE PROVED THEY CAN COME UP WITH ALTERNATIVES.

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  39. Are you from Hertfordshire? If so, which part?

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  40. Charlie is what's been missing the last 4 months. Where were we before he got injured?

    Let's hope he's fully fit for next season

    I also hope Kenny takes on rafa's rotation policy as well, that was great.

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  41. If we were bold enough to go out an get a goalscorer in the window top 4 with have been within grasp. It was Arsenal game that finished us! A Cisse/ Jealvic player is what was needed at the time.

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  42. He will be looking at all sorts.

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  43. The amount we spend on players is 'expenditure', not 'net spend'. 'Net spend' is the amount calculated from the amount from players bought AND players sold. The matter here is the money spent on players, nowhere do am I mention players sold, ergo, this is not about net spend. JK mentions the amount we have spent on players only, ergo, expenditure, not net spend. Its really not that hard to understand but you are having some difficulties it seems.

    Learn to read and interpret please. And you got the nerve to call me a donut when you can't even interpret what I said. Oh dear, oh dear.

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  44. 'net spend' is useful and valid, depending on context but so too is expenditure, depending on context.

    JK focused on the amount spent on players in this article only (so this is not net spend, but expenditure), so when someone comments, with their apologist attitude, that JK should be using 'net spend', I may choose to disagree as I have done earlier in this thread.

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  45. NORTH KOREA WERE MOVING MISSILES INTO PLACE, TO TEST THEM.....SOMEONE HAD PHONED KIM JONG UN, TO TELL HIM A WAYWARD MISSILE WAS HEADING THEIR WAY. ONLY TO HAVE IT CONFIRMED, THAT IT WAS THE MISSED PENALTY, FROM THE IRREPRESSIBLE GENIUS, THAT IS, CHARLIE 'MY LEFT FOOT' ADAM. THE BLOKE IS A REJECT. LASER EYE SURGERY WILL CURE YOUR PROBLEM.

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  46. typical anti kenny post again chan,u and jk comment on the spending of kenny but do so selectively.when some other poster points out the net spend ye get all coy and say u were only talking about expenditure.what a load of tosh.u cant comment on 1 without the other, thats called an imbalanced article. jk is always bangin on about facts and wanting proof from dissenting voices to back up their arguments but when it comes to his own articles which u seem to support,fairness and balance rarely come into it.

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  47. Erm 144m is wrong, Jamie has plucked that figure from a previous article of his. That figure is including Hodgesons time at the club.

    Heres one for you if Torres had not left do you think we would have bought Carrol, NO, so net spend is what should be looked at not gross, as when someone is sold you use that money to buy a replacement.

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  48. Regardless of whether it includes Hodgson's time or not, it is still a high expenditure (whatever the exact amount it is) and so far, very poor value for it.

    There is no rule that it is only net spend that should be looked at and nor is it necessarily should it be, as money can come from other sources too, not just player revenue. Regardless who was sold and for how much, still doesn't excuse the poor value for money from the high expenditure. 

    At the end of the day, high or low net spend doesn't entirely excuse crappy player expenditure. That is the point I was making and the point of the article. Net spend has very little to do with spending all that money on average players like Carroll, Hendo and Downing. So yapping on about net spend is futile in this context.

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  49. But we aren't talking about net spend, we are talking about player expenditure. The two can be separated depending on context, like we have done. I was always talking about player expenditure, not net spend, hence why I was having a pop at someone for going down the net spend route. So I didn't get all 'coy' and change tact, as I was always on about player expenditure, not net spend. Again, you need to work on your interpreting or you need to stop being so desperate and trying miserably to twist what i said (and you got the nerve to lecture about fairness and balance, when you are hardly neutral in your views yourself. Bloody hell.)

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  50. Asking the next manager to not go for average players like Downing. That is not asking for instant success.

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  51. Totally agree re the difference between net spend and expenditure.  Irrespective of net spend, the club still spent 144m on players over the last 18 months, and only about 22m of that was spent by Hodgson (who had a negative net spend overall).

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