Is the top four a pipe dream? .

By Roger Bailey

Twenty-three points from 11 games and second in the Premiership.  More than we could have imagined at the start of the season.  Of the 2 loses we’ve suffered, I was more disappointed with the Arsenal loss because the formation and the personnel chosen in key positions made the midfield battle an uphill struggle from the start, whereas Southampton as they’ve gone on to prove are a thoroughly good side and deserved their victory.

The season so far lacks a dominant force or at least one that has shown it’s head above the parapet.  Man City have at times bared their teeth as with their demolition of Man United, but have since faltered to the make weights in the League away from home.  And frailties were shown up in the recent loss to Man United.

No question, Liverpool have the dominant striker in the Premiership in Suarez, already the League’s leading scorer after missing five games and with Daniel Sturridge in tandem we have a the strong possibility of mounting a decent challenge for a Champions League place and to do this as the manager freely admits the club needs to strengthen in January.

When supporters hear their manager admitting the team needs strengthening, instantaneously we think big money signings.  Unless lightening strikes twice (re Suarez), we are unlikely to make a big money signing in January, because as we all know the window tends not to throw up any real big names and should the remote possibility arise, with so many teams fighting for the top positions, those with spending power will want to make sure that the perceived closing of the gap stays wide open, particularly with the revenue stream likely to increase in the future with BT having made their play to take over the Champions League coverage and the markets in the US, Canada and the Caribbean about to renegotiate their deals with could quadruple club revenues.

I really believe that this has to be the season because failure to qualify will see us loose Suarez.  But, even more than that UEFA's Financial Fair Play regulations are already looking like a misnomer with Paris St-Germain announcing an astonishing £200 million a year in a four year sponsorship deal with Qatar Tourism Authority, which the Telegraph reports is unbelievably backdated to 2012 which will be incrementally increased year on year to reach the said figure by 2016.  How do we compete after this season when both Manchester United and City have multi-million pound deals over the next ten years and will have to dig deep to keep PSG at bay let alone in overtake mode?

If we get to January still in contention, and there is no reason why we can’t, Brendan Rodgers deserves the trust and support of the Anfield faithful having brought in the resounding successes of Coutinho and Sturridge to what was I remember as many a raised eyebrow, to buy in enough quality to fight shoulder to shoulder with our competitors in the second half of the season.



Brendan Rodgers deserves time and our trust in the next transfer window

It would be lovely to think that we could buy a top class player, but we are not living in the rarefied atmosphere of the Manchester clubs and Chelsea, but what we do have at the moment is a truly world class player at the peak of his powers and that’s why if we can be in with a shout in January we’ll have something to bait the fish with.

Glen Johnson and Jose Enrique’s return couldn’t have come soon enough, but we still need a quality wide man and a ball playing midfield enforcer.  Hopefully, our scouts already have this in hand and the board strikes early in the window with the likes of Spurs hovering around to pilfer from our hard work.

The Liverpool back four is as good any in the League with Daniel Agger back in the fold, but this team cries out for at top class midfield to knit the team together. If Arsenal had the Liverpool forward line, we'd already be talking about the next Premiership champions.  If Liverpool had the Arsenal midfield, we'd be Champions, but if's doesn't get us there.

Will he provide Liverpool with the quality it needs for success

Additional components will create competition in the central  areas and enable Rodgers to use his captain as more of a strategic weapon. The last few weeks have shown a couple of injuries can put us on the back foot as a one dimentonal machine because of the lack of depth.

We maybe punching above our weight, but Sugar Ray Leonard moved up from Welterweight to Light Heavyweight, and if we do get in that quality we can still dream because this may well be the only season, for some time, where a club breaking into the ‘big four’ will be able to shout “I shook up the world” as Muhammed Ali once said.