Huge squad - too big?

[red g]

Vs. Spurs 2004

Jerzy Dudek
John Arne Riise
Jamie Carragher
Sami Hyypia
Josemi
Harry Kewell
Steven Gerrard
Dietmar Hamann
Steve Finnan
Milan Baros
Djibril Cisse
SUBS :
Igor Biscan
Stephane Henchoz
Chris Kirkland
Florent Sinama Pongolle
Stephen Warnock

Not too bad on paper actually.

Rafa inherited a very decent squad.[/QUOTE]

did he fook !!! he inherited a few very good players and a **** squad

[kop-al-74]

Rafa inherited a very decent squad.[/QUOTE]

did he fook !!! he inherited a few very good players and a **** squad

He inherited a team in the top 4 of the premiership,no matter what you think.FACT.

[red g]

He inherited a team in the top 4 of the premiership,no matter what you think.FACT.

more to do with the ****e other teams than our strengths. OPINION

[anfieldanfield]

Rafa inherited a very decent squad.[/QUOTE]

did he fook !!! he inherited a few very good players and a **** squad

Dudek, Riise, Carragher, Hyypia, Finnan, Gerrard, Hamann, Baros, Cisse etc etc

Not a bad spine to work with.

[RedReet]

[did he fook !!! he inherited a few very good players and a **** squad

Not really Rafa’s fault, but if he could have found a way to harness Milan’s and Djib’s obvious potential (injuries didn’t help), that could have been a very decent team. Remember, goals were our main problem that year.

[AFII]

What Rafa got to work with when he arrived was a squad that had no chance whatsoever to even dream of making a top two challenge and even less a title challenge.

He had a few very good players but also some **** players on very high wages and that means big problems to get rid off them on anything else than loan deals.

That limited his chance to build his team.

It's only this summer that Rafa has started to rebuild the club from top to bottom because he can afford and is free to do that now.

[tomasjj]

Did someone just hack the thread title?

Jules?

[kop-al-74]

more to do with the ****e other teams than our strengths. OPINION

Hah,what do you mean?

You can say that for any season,in any era for anything any team has ever won.

Shortcut to thinking saying things like that.

[RedReet]

What Rafa got to work with when he arrived was a squad that had no chance whatsoever to even dream of making a top two challenge and even less a title challenge.

Jerzy Dudek
Jamie Carragher
Steven Gerrard
Dietmar Hamann
Stephane Henchoz
Emile Heskey
Sami Hyypia (c)
Danny Murphy
Michael Owen
John Arne Riise
Abel Xavier
SUBS :
Nicolas Anelka
Pegguy Arphexad
Gary McAllister
Vladimir Smicer
Gregory Vignal

Team that beat Ipswich last day of season 01/02 when we finished 2nd.

[anfieldanfield]

Hah,what do you mean?

You can say that for any season,in any era for anything any team has ever won.

Shortcut to thinking saying things like that.

[red g]

Not really Rafa’s fault, but if he could have found a way to harness Milan’s and Djib’s obvious potential (injuries didn’t help), that could have been a very decent team. Remember, goals were our main problem that year.

milan isnt doing very well with his obvious potentail at the moment! complete lack of awareness that seems impossible to work on

[AFII]

Jerzy Dudek
Jamie Carragher
Steven Gerrard
Dietmar Hamann
Stephane Henchoz
Emile Heskey
Sami Hyypia (c)
Danny Murphy
Michael Owen
John Arne Riise
Abel Xavier
SUBS :
Nicolas Anelka
Pegguy Arphexad
Gary McAllister
Vladimir Smicer
Gregory Vignal

Team that beat Ipswich last day of season 01/02 when we finished 2nd.

You can't count in what happened in that season to what he had to deal with when he arrived.

Heskey for example was a better player in that season than he was 04. Gerrard was a better player 04 than he was 01-02.

Henchoz was better player 01-02 than 04 and so on.

[The_weatherman]

Vs. Spurs 2004

Jerzy Dudek
John Arne Riise
Jamie Carragher
Sami Hyypia
Josemi
Harry Kewell
Steven Gerrard
Dietmar Hamann
Steve Finnan
Milan Baros
Djibril Cisse
SUBS :
Igor Biscan
Stephane Henchoz
Chris Kirkland
Florent Sinama Pongolle
Stephen Warnock

Not too bad on paper actually.

But look at our sqaud now AND the bench!

Reina
Finnan
Carra
Agger
Riise ?
Gerrard
Xabi
Mascher
Babel / Kewell
Torres
Kuyt / Crouch

Subs.
Carson
Hyypia
Momo
Benni
Crouch / Kuyt

The defence was solid (apart from Josemi) and the midfield as well (apart from right winger maybe, but the biggest changes are probably upfront and in goal plus the strength in depth. In the squad against Spurs, who didn´t make the bench? Biscan, Mellor, Le Tallec?

[RedReet]

You can't count in what happened in that season to what he had to deal with when he arrived.

Heskey for example was a better player in that season than he was 04. Gerrard was a better player 04 than he was 01-02.

Henchoz was better player 01-02 than 04 and so on.

Was it Benitez who sold Heskey? Just highlighted players quick and even forgot that it was him that dumped Murphy. I love Rafa and think he has done a miraculous job, if he didn't take over when he did I really worry where we might be now. Obviously form and motivation play a big part, but was just questioning how you can say they had 'no chance' of a second place finish, when clearly most of the squad (a CL winning squad) already had a few years beforehand.

[RedReet]

milan isnt doing very well with his obvious potentail at the moment! complete lack of awareness that seems impossible to work on

Well not all great players live up to their potential, and over recent years no Liverpool players seem to go on to better things once they leave. You can't deny Milan had talent, just watch the European Championship clips again.