We ain't been the same since Pako left...

[Pacman]

Rafa knew that Marseilles were going to play a solitary quick striker last night which is why the defence played deeper, just like Birmingham did against us. I agree we missed Agger but, as there was no aerial threat, would Arbeloa have been a better partner for Carra than Sami?

It's easy to say in hindsight but last night I think he would. We were too deep at times and we didn't press them like we normally do. This can only because we were worried and their pace on the counter attack.

[Neil Young]

Alright - I know it wasn't the best gag in the world

Ha, sorry, I'm probably being thick but I just don't get it even though I have managed to decipher some of RS4's more baffling 'jokes'.

[rushscored4]

Ha, sorry, I'm probably being thick but I just don't get it even though I have managed to decipher some of RS4's more baffling 'jokes'.

You really need to keep up with us younger generation, Neil...

[Neil Young]

You really need to keep up with us younger generation, Neil...

Funniest thing you've said in ages, old chap.

[breffniboy]

Liverpool are playing like a team that have problems in the dressing room. Normally reliable firebrands like Carra and Gerrard are uncharacteristically listless and look as if their mind is elsewhere.

It's obviously all speculation but Paco's leavetaking under strained cicrumstances might well have caused a rift of some kind.

Benitez is known as a cold manager...it's reflected in the systematic, percentaged, functional and rigid way his teams play. It's been said in articles I've read that Paco, having worked with Rafa for so long, is one of few people who had a close enough relationship with the manager to say 'no' to him on occasions as regards tactics and selection and so on. It is also said that Paco was the more 'human face' of the managerial setup, the one who formed relationaships with players as opposed to treating them like mere cogs in a wheel/part of a system like Rafa does. Paco was the conduit between players and manager and might well have had a very valuable tactical input that Rafa essentially gets credit for up to now.

If this element has gone and hasn't been replaced since Paco left - and as we don't know what caused the fallout, might it be that Rafa felt Paco was too close to the players - then it's stating the obvious that Paco's absence has left a void. And maybe the players are struggling to come to terms with life under Rafa's colder regime. Or worse, have an axe to grind over how Paco was treated and turfed out in the first place.

Just an opinion based on the scraps of what we know.

[cadmium]

Sack parry