Date: 17th June 2011 at 4:26am
Written by:

The top four over the last few seasons has come under intense pressure from the ‘lesser’ teams; firstly there was Aston Villa attempting to ruin the party, then eventually Tottenham Hotspur ousted Liverpool and got a taste of Champions League football and this season the Lilywhites missed out to Manchester City. Already, speculation has begun on who will be next season’s top four, especially as Arsenal appear to be getting weaker with each season that passes. This season, I think the Gunners became the first team ever to finish fourth in a two horse race! Liverpool‘s new found resurgence saw them very nearly break back into the top four, after a horrendous beginning to this season under Roy Hodgson. Everything is in place at Anfield for a very successful 2011/12 season, starting with reclaiming their Champions League berth from Arsenal, and this is why (in this humble writer’s opinion).

1) Cesc Fabregas and Samir Nasri want to leave, and both players are exceptional talents, with Nasri taking the Spaniard’s mantle as Arsenal’s main star whilst the Spaniard sent flirty text messages to Pique from the treatment room. Both players’ decisions to openly state that they would happily leave Arsenal shows how little faith they have in the Gunners ability to challenge for the major honours; losing two influential players will rock Arsenal and no wonder kid signing from France can help fill the void or maintain their Champions League status.

2) Phil Jones, Jordan Henderson and, erm, Carl Jenkinson: not hard to work out who Arsenal signed is it? As Liverpool continue splashing the cash despite spending nearly £60 million on two signings in January, Arsene Wenger maintains his usual transfer policy despite all his promises that Arsenal will spend big in the transfer market. With very little happening at the Emirates and everything happening on Merseyside, Liverpool are very much a team preparing for Champions League qualification next season.

3) Belief is a huge part of achieving success in football and no matter what Liverpool and their fans have always believed, their club can achieve greatness and reclaim the glory days of the ’80s. Nothing has changed this season, and next season the belief will no doubt get stronger. It’s a different story over in North London; with players clearly displaying lack of belief on the pitch, the fans are quite rightly loathing their team’s performances and now many are questioning Arsene Wenger, Le Professeur, himself. Arsenal are a team heading for turmoil if they aren’t careful; missing out on Champions League football could be the least of their worries.

4) Arsenal shareholder Stan Kroenke has recently improved his stake in the club and has announced he intends to invest in the club, yet the Gunners’ board over the past few seasons has yet to show any signs of following this kind of ethos, and the fans will of course be reluctant to naïvely swallow this up. Liverpool’s owners Fenway Sports Group, on the other hand, have already invested heavily in the squad and the club set-up. But this is not all about financial investment, the American group has had great success with their innovation in sports management and was recently named one of the top 10 most innovative companies in sports by Fast Company, a renowned American journalism group.

Article courtesy of Daniel Blazer at Football FanCast

 

19 responses to “4 Reasons why Liverpool will replace Arsenal in the Top 4”

  1. patsy says:

    arsenal is getting weaker every season? but liverpool was the one who dropped out of the top 4 two seasons running while arsenal is still there so your comment about arsenal getting weaker is nonsense, LFC might have a more well known player but thats means nothing, AFC have a habit of buying players thats not well known and making them into big players, where is all the big players that LFC bought and still couldn,t get LFC into the top 4, big name players does not win game, talent wins game

    • lee hanford says:

      my mum is getting weaker to, so as it happens are LiverPOOR 7 place for u idiots this year. PS Up the Spurs

  2. Willybobs says:

    Patsy – that talent hasn’t won you a trophy since 2005. Or really challenge for the title. Liverpool were a close second season before last and have won a Champions League trophy, FA cup and made it to another Champions League final.

    Liverpool have dropped out of the top four for 2 seasons on the bounce, but what the article is alluding to is that Liverpool are investing heavily to crack the top four again and the team most in danger of being ousted is Arsenal for the reasons it states. Unless Arsenal splash the cash it could be another season of promising talented youngster pushing for the title till March before imploding again!

  3. daboy says:

    I think Liverpool will overtake Arsenal built on the fact that Liverpools team will be a lot stronger than last years.
    One thing in particular is Gerrards fitness and the fact there was not much between the teams last season.
    In saying all that any of last seasons top 4 could drop out and Arsenal could cling on.

  4. dannymat says:

    Firstly – Liverpool will be in dire straights if they continue to spend like this, they were already in financial trouble, and the £50m from torres has well and truly been eaten up by hugely over-priced and unproven players like – Andy Carroll and Jordan henderson! (Suarez, was a great bit of business by the way!).

    Secondly, if this article is written today, it is hugely inaccurate, as both Nasri AND Fabregas have both declared in the last couple of days that they are happy at Arsenal, and in Nasri’s case they want to sort things with Arsenal rather than open discussions with other clubs. Please try and balance your arguments.

    Thirdly, we are on the verge of announcing Gervinho as a signing, as well as “apperently” in deep discussions with both Samba AND Cahill.

    With regards to not challenging the for the title we effectively did this year, however, managerial incompetence in January, meant out lack lustre defence crumbled – if Wenger had bought Samba in January, we would have won the league!

    Liverpool are an improving team again, but with a couple of tweaks to the arsenal side, which have been promised, there is no way Arsenal are a declining force.

    It will be an interesting season though with 6 teams potentially good enough to be top 4!

  5. b0sH says:

    Some massively flawed logic here.

    1) At the moment neither Nasri or Fabregas has left. As far as faith in the squad surely the actual departures of Torres & Mascherano shows the faith some of the Liverpool squad have or had. When one or both actually leave there is something to talk about.

    2) Henderson? Really? He’s a young Sunderland player…..that is all he’s proven so far. That’s like Arsenal claiming that signing Ramsey or Theo was some kind of turning point. Liverpool still cant attract top tier talent because they dont have Champions Lg football to offer. They also dont have the longer term financial clout of Arsenal without a new stadium. Anfield will continue to hamstring them for years to come.

    Arsenal over double their matchday takings every week. In 18 months time when all of Arsenal’s commercial contracts come up for renewal, its game over as far as the money game goes. Liverpool will be playing catch up for years.

  6. L Dunn says:

    I am an LFC Fan.

    I think it is to early to say how well Liverpool will play next season. I find signing Henderson, potentially Adam and it now seem Marveoux are steps in the right direction.

    Last season we signed Cole, and everyone believed he would do well. Hmmmm Lets wait and see how the new boys will do.

    I believe in KK, but I am not sure if LFC have or will fulfill their top 4 place next year. ManC, ManU, Chels and Arse are still very strong teams to beat, not forgetting about Tottenham.

  7. Tony says:

    I think you’re right – Liverpool will join Chelsea, Man Utd and Man City in the top four. But you’re looking a little too deeply into the reasons why. It is down to the fact that those four clubs are spending the most and will buy their positions.

  8. Yanni pap says:

    You laugh at the signings of players like Jordan Henderson but you seem to be forgetting that we haven’t lost any others we’ve just added. So weve got him as well as having gerrard commanding the midfield and aswell as having Lucas tackling everybody that passes him. As for the mascherano claim he left last season… Were over it. We’ve got players that are more than happy to fill his boots and with the signing of Henderson, Marveoux and potential signing of Gago there is going to be a lot of competition for midfield starters. Only making them all try as hard as they can.
    Were also attempting to sign Cristian Zapata who is able to play and defensive role and has impressed in Italy earning a good name for himself.
    Including this were looking at signing cassana from ac Milan which will then create competion or the 3 forwards we will have, hopefully pushing them to improve.
    Liverpool are on the up without a doubt! I just cannot see arsenal blagging their way into top 2 this year and possibly liverpool tottenham and city all trying to get up there will cause arsenal to be pushed out. If arsenal do stay up with any luck I can see tottenham being 5th again

  9. LFC 4 life says:

    Liverpool can make into the top 4 once they make their formation like this

    Reina

    Kelly/Johnson carra agger aurelio/player1 req

    lucas/player 2 req

    player 3 req gerrard merilis/henderson

    suarez
    caroll

    On sub: Kuyt, player4(CF)req – back up,aquillani,shelvy,Marveoux,skrtel

  10. dannymat says:

    Yanni Pap – Are you serious – Lucas tackling everyone that passes him? I have a lot of Liverpool fans as friends, and even they think he is awful! Similar to Denilson at Arsenal!

    Gerrard is aging, and more injury prone than ever – on his day still 1 of the best midfielders in world football though – however, you have to look at the Liverpool midfield without a Gerrard in it – it wouldnt really strike fear in to the heart of most teams.

    HGave you also wondered how Liverpool will fund all these new investments, you arent owned by an Abramovich, or Arab Sheikh, and are spending well beyond your means. Henderson, could turn out to be a good buy in the future – however if the England U21’s are anything to go by, he’s looked awful!

    As i mentioned earlier, in terms of bringing balance to this argument, i think it will be close for the top 4 positions, but i cant see Liverpool getting back in at Arsenals expense.

  11. Yes, hopefully Liverpool will pinch a top 4 spot this year.

  12. b0sH says:

    That’s the biggest problem with Pool.

    Your investing your future in Gerrard and Lucas?

    Gerrard a fantastic player in his prime no doubt, anyone claiming otherwise is mental. He’ll be 32 before the season is out. He’s not going to be at his previous level, he’s going to be more injury prone and won’t last an entire season.

    Lucas has admittedly improved but this is still the player that last year was the laughing stock of the rest of the Premiership. He wouldn’t make any of the other “top 6” teams starting lineup.

    Carragher is 34 in January.

    Relying on players past their prime is the sure fire recipe for disappointment. It’s why Fergie is already looking at replacing people like Ferdinand.

    If Arsenal sort out their soft underbelly with some CB signings what’s going to be their weakness?

  13. pothead11 says:

    im a liverpool fan but this story is pure rubbish how can you say gooooooooooners are finished. we have a massive battle on our hands to get into the top 4. we cant take anything 4 granted, yes things have got a lot better but started to fade again at the tale end of the season.a good preseason is important and hit the ground running sunderland at home followed by a trip to the gunners will tell a lot and dont be fooled wenger is as clever as any manager in the league his record speeks for itself.if nasri and fabergas do leave he will have something in the pipeline plus he has the added bonus of being able to offer champions league football next season which we dont.plus im far from convinced by jordon henderson if the under 21s is anything to go by. so we have a long way to go.but hopeful we are going in the right direction. YNWA

  14. dannymat says:

    pothead – a very balanced post!

    I’m not 1 of these Arsenal fans who are completely blinkered, but by sorting out our defence and bringing in someone to compliment Van persie, i think Arsenal are as strong as anyone.

    Personally, i feel there will be transition years again for Arsenal, Chelski and Utd, as there is a lot of deadwood thats needs to be got rid of. However, i still feel City are a long way from where they need to be! would love top 4 to be Arsenal, Liverpool, Utd and Chelsea…hop;e City fail!!!

  15. muggy says:

    u talk complete an utter s**t liverpool are still an average team you live in the past as much as any arsenal fan dose an u must be the only one who actually believes they can challenge next season as for henderson sunderland must be giggling to themselves thinking how the f**K did we manage that kenny is trying to be the next wenger buying young players with potential the only problem is ur ment to buy cheep an make them in to 20 million pound players 6th spot finish for u again next year an only another 80 million spent

  16. terry says:

    good debate…..muggy are you by any chance a man u supporter?

  17. Tez says:

    Liverpool will be very strong next season they are surrounding younger players around experience suarez is a awesome talent.. Carroll will be a hazard to any defence gerrard is still world class kenny is making a very good side and I reckon they will come 2nd next season. Just my opinion.

  18. Tez says:

    Also I actually believe the poor form at the end off the season was due to a lack of ambition for Europa league football Liverpool are a lot bigger than that.