S*it on a stick!

[Lecter]

I think a team should be build on the history and foundations of the club not on any one manager and his own philosophies.

Rafa should be allowed to play whatever style he wants, but it doesn't mean the youth teams should to and as a club we should expect a reasonable brand of football.

Lets just turn ourselves into Spurs and Newcastle

They always play nice attractive attacking football

I think Heighway was a t!t the other week in the press, never heard so much ****e in all my life. If hes such a good youth coach how come none of his proteges have claimed a regular first team place over the last 8 or 9 years, I'll tell you why because none of them were good enough

Football has changed and moved on and Heighway is a ****ing relic living on the past. Yes hes done great in those 2 youth cups BUT its funny to see that quite a few of those youth players were actually recruited by Rafa

Our club's success was founded on men who had great foresight and were in many ways years ahead of their time

[Rashid]

I would think that Rafa's team is much closer to the AC Milan side of the 1990's than ours in 80's.

I don't think that is true. Milan have always been a pass and move side built on a strong defence wheras Rafa's Liverpool plays more long ball and a pressing game high up the pitch. Milan in those days had Gullit, Van Basten, Maldini, Beresi, et all - the most elegant of players - they hardly hoofed it to Van Basten did they?

No other top team e.g. has a strike duo similar to Kuyt and Crouch. That there is the essense of what Rafa is about, hard work, high ball bombardment, wing play, crosses, and good honest players.

To win the league though, we need something more...

[Guest]

Lets just turn ourselves into Spurs and Newcastle

They always play nice attractive attacking football

I think Heighway was a t!t the other week in the press, never heard so much ****e in all my life. If hes such a good youth coach how come none of his proteges have claimed a regular first team place over the last 8 or 9 years, I'll tell you why because none of them were good enough

Football has changed and moved on and Heighway is a ****ing relic living on the past. Yes hes done great in those 2 youth cups BUT its funny to see that quite a few of those youth players were actually recruited by Rafa

Our club's success was founded on men who had great foresight and were in many ways years ahead of their time

[CAD]

I was too young to remember the Paisley teams of the late seventies or early eighties, though I watched a fair few matches on videos afterwards, but they weren't full matches, just snippets of goals etc ... So I can't compare both teams.

I would think that Rafa's team is much closer to the AC Milan side of the 1990's than ours in 80's.

Milan in the early 90's... Probably the best team ever. The offside trap was set off by Baresi. He would just pass a small fart and everybody would take three steps forward. Never has the offside trap been set with such perfection. And they could play ball. Van Basten, Gullit, Rijkaard. If we were only anywhere near that team!

Alas the truth is that we are at least 6 class players away from either side. LFC in the 80's or Milan in the 90's.

[Lecter]

I was too young to remember the Paisley teams of the late seventies or early eighties, though I watched a fair few matches on videos afterwards, but they weren't full matches, just snippets of goals etc ... So I can't compare both teams.

I would think that Rafa's team is much closer to the AC Milan side of the 1990's than ours in 80's.

I think Milan's 90's side played the same sort of system and tactics as Paisleys side anyway

[Guest]

I don't think that is true. Milan have always been a pass and move side built on a strong defence wheras Rafa's Liverpool plays more long ball and a pressing game high up the pitch. Milan in those days had Gullit, Van Basten, Maldini, Beresi, et all - the most elegant of players - they hardly hoofed it to Van Basten did they?

No other top team e.g. has a strike duo similar to Kuyt and Crouch. That there is the essense of what Rafa is about, hard work, high ball bombardment, wing play, crosses, and good honest players.

To win the league though, we need something more...

That's a little bit unfair. Whilst we don't play the most attractive football, we have been playing some decent stuffs in some matches this season, and even last year, where I recollect us outpassing Arsenal on their own patch in the second half. We sure can play a bit, but Rafa's tactics is predominant most of the time.

We aren't a long ball team, we mix it up when needed. Yes we need more upfront, and the signing of 2 world class wingers and one centre forward will edge us closer to the holy grail.

[bazza76]

I don't think that is true. Milan have always been a pass and move side built on a strong defence wheras Rafa's Liverpool plays more long ball and a pressing game high up the pitch. Milan in those days had Gullit, Van Basten, Maldini, Beresi, et all - the most elegant of players - they hardly hoofed it to Van Basten did they?

No other top team e.g. has a strike duo similar to Kuyt and Crouch. That there is the essense of what Rafa is about, hard work, high ball bombardment, wing play, crosses, and good honest players.

To win the league though, we need something more...

consistency at the start of the season and higher caliber of attacking players.

[Guest]

Milan in the early 90's... Probably the best team ever. The offside trap was set off by Baresi. He would just pass a small fart and everybody would take three steps forward. Never has the offside trap been set with such perfection. And they could play ball. Van Basten, Gullit, Rijkaard. If we were only anywhere near that team!

Alas the truth is that we are at least 6 class players away from either side. LFC in the 80's or Milan in the 90's.

And we have a fantastic offside trap mechanism ourselves. I don't recall us being undone by the offside trap much this season, which is simply fantastic at this level.

[Guest]

I think Milan's 90's side played the same sort of system and tactics as Paisleys side anyway

Probably mate and delighted if it was like that, as that would mean Paisley was ahead of his time.

[Lecter]

I don't think that is true. Milan have always been a pass and move side built on a strong defence wheras Rafa's Liverpool plays more long ball and a pressing game high up the pitch. Milan in those days had Gullit, Van Basten, Maldini, Beresi, et all - the most elegant of players - they hardly hoofed it to Van Basten did they?

No other top team e.g. has a strike duo similar to Kuyt and Crouch. That there is the essense of what Rafa is about, hard work, high ball bombardment, wing play, crosses, and good honest players.

To win the league though, we need something more...

The old Liverpool sides use to punt the ball to Toshack all the time

People have this misconception about our sides in the 70's & 80's

I think Rafa's tactics at the minute suit the players he has, much like when we had Toshack. It was VERY noticeable back then when Tosh left the long passes ceased to be a feature of our play

Valdano has a point in some respects but its a very narrow vision imo. We probably have more options than MANY other teams in Europe and we probably vary our tactics and system more than any other club

[TheStig]

Funny how Real Madrid wanted both Rafa and Mourinho to take over from Capello.

Quite. I think that and the fact they might be a bit bitter (for being **** in the CL) is the main reason behind the article. But it's true last week's game was a bit poor in the style of football.

[Guest]

The old Liverpool sides use to punt the ball to Toshack all the time

People have this misconception about our sides in the 70's & 80's

I think Rafa's tactics at the minute suit the players he has, much like when we had Toshack. It was VERY noticeable back then when Tosh left the long passes ceased to be a feature of our play

Valdano has a point in some respects but its a very narrow vision imo. We probably have more options than MANY other teams in Europe and we probably vary our tactics and system more than any other club

And Toshak wasn't an European Cup winner isn't it as he left just before we won it in 1977 ? I've got that on tape at home but can't figure if Toshak was in that side.

[Neil Young]

I think Milan's 90's side played the same sort of system and tactics as Paisleys side anyway

Sacchi is on record somewhere as saying that Liverpool were a model for his Milan team with Baresi, etc.

[Lecter]

And Toshak wasn't an European Cup winner isn't it as he left just before we won it in 1977 ? I've got that on tape at home but can't figure if Toshak was in that side.

No think Toshack left after the final

Not 100% sure though

[Lecter]

Toshack didnt play in the 1977 final

However interesting to see this quote from his official site profile

Toshack's great aerial power a crucial factor as they helped capture domestic and European prizes.