LFC vs Everton - post match reaction

[Guest]

I thought that we played wel in the second half and, despite committing daylight robbery at the end, deserved the three points.

I was pleased with how Babel, Yossi, Mascher, Lucas and Carra played. Stevie was superb today aswell, his substitution was a strange one.

Babel looked good down the right. Play him there more often.

How did we commit daylight robbery mate ? It was hardly a penalty if you watch it again and again.

[WILF]

Rafa knows better than us. We should have complete faith in him until the end of the season. What will you all do if he wins us the league ?

Sit tight ... We're unbeaten and 3rd in the table atm. We'll see if Arsenal will keep up playing this way all season.

Of course Rafa knows better than me/us, and as I said I still have immense respect for him.

However, in my humble opinion, unless he changes something quite fundamental in his attacking approach we will not win the league with him in charge.

I do not say this as a criticism, more in disappointment as I have been strongly RCDNW until now. I will support him 100% while he is our manager and I fervently hope that he proves me completely wrong, but for the 1st time since he became manager I am worried.

[paulcooper4]

The amount of bollocking i got from saying Rafa is ****e in the EPL last season makes me feel vindicated today. He was next to useless and really should start growing some balls and play more attacking football.

We won yer daft ****

[MrMichael]

Andy Gray was a joke - he acted like a tabloid journalist all day. Appalling stuff.

Sissoko was abysmal, as we all know. Delighted for Sami that we won. Mascherano did really well considering the week he had. Kuyt has incredible mental strength, but I think Rafa's system is ruining him as a player. Sad to see.

Rafa desperately needs a top class number 2 to come in. I'm really worried about the effects of Pako's departure...does he trust anyone anymore? His lineups and substitutions are very worrying of late.

Lucas had a nice little cameo, but it was only a cameo....let's not get carried away.

This result is a huge boost for us going into a difficult week, and there are many positives on the way ... namely the returns of Agger, Alonso and Torres.

Agree with all of that

Voronin was poor in front of goal. Kuyt stood up and was counted today, and lead the line of one very well, but he has to play right upfront with Torres, otherwise I'm not convinced by any combination of strikers and tactics Rafa might use. We lack serious, realised, and reliable class in wide positions. Its all gone really badly wrong for Sissoko.

That really could be a turning point though, scrappy, messy, and slightly bizarre though it was. This was the first of 3 or 4 vital games in succession, and I don't care how we get 3 points in each of them, if we do we will give ourselves a chance of playing back into genuine form and restoring confidence.

One other big plus; for once our away record in the league so far this season is superb.

[Red_Polo]

I bet there will be no DVD rushed out next week after that!

Everton FC

CHEATED AGAIN!
Unlucky defeats to Liverpool
A 24 disc boxset RRP 199.99. Bitterness included.
Special feature: 'How Heysel stopped us dominating football forever.'
Total Running Time: 4 days, 2 hours, 10 minutes

[Skillz]

We won today and we're still very much in this race. But Rafa needs to have a long look at his squad and the way he uses it imho. We have too many players who don't / can't change the game when the chips are down, and taking our lost potent attacking forces off and buying "attacking" players who are sub-standard doesn't help.

We may yet go on and win it - and if so I'll be ecstatic - but right now - I'm not yet convinced we'll ever win it with Rafa at the helm (there - I've said it).

Your right we did win. We won the Derby. I hope all of you that reside in Liverpool really bloddy enjoy it. I am over the ****en moon at this result

Rafa should be praised. What a great game to introduce the talent that is Lucas. He looked great out there today and deserved the winner.

Rafa

YNWA

[alunevans]

Well I hope you're right fredo and I'm wrong. Then you can hit me with a wet fish when we're celebrating the league title in May

But nothing that I was brought up to believe about football (and to be fair, we were taught these lessons from the likes of Shankly and Paisley) tells me that having two defensive midfielders on the park (one of whom cannot pass to save his life) makes sense against ten men.

Yes bringing the Brazilian lad on was fair do's. But not for Gerrard. It was Momo who desperately needed to make way.

[tomasjj]

Everton FC

CHEATED AGAIN!
Unlucky defeats to Liverpool
A 24 disc boxset RRP 199.99. Bitterness included.
Special feature: 'How Heysel stopped us dominating football forever.'
Total Running Time: 4 days, 2 hours, 10 minutes

I'd have two of those t-shirts, Polo.

[CharlieMansonsSquint]

Andy Gray was a joke - he acted like a tabloid journalist all day. Appalling stuff.

He was hilarious today.

Everytime Everton weren't given a foul when he thought it was one, he would moan like a bitter ten year old "that's a foouull".

He even questioned the ref on the Hibbert pen. Tosser.

Anyone else hear that his daughter is a red? He needs to take major stick for that.

[tomasjj]

As for the late subs - I THINK Rafa was waiting for Everton to tire before dominating the game the last 10-15 minutes.

[Joe King]

He was hilarious today.

Everytime Everton weren't given a foul when he thought it was one, he would moan like a bitter ten year old "that's a foouull".

He even questioned the ref on the Hibbert pen. Tosser.

Anyone else hear that his daughter is a red? He needs to take major stick for that.

Damn right, the man is a ****in dick

[Guest]

"Rafa knows better than us." Thats not really a good riposte to a criticism. I could reply by saying Graham Taylor knows better than you. Would you have complete faith in him until the end of the season just because he knows more than you do?

It's like saying "cleverer people than you think Rafa is doing the right thing." To which I could almost certainly reply "cleverer people than them think he's not." Which would get very circular.

And to be fair, Wenger has several season's evidence that his teams play that way. The (accumulating) evidence is that Rafa's mindset is a negative one, and we've been there before.

Anyhow, we won. So all's good today. It could (and should) have been worse.

I'm going to enjoy the win, but I stand by the view that it was despite the manager, and it has left me with a number of concerns.

I haven't got a UEFA coaching badge and don't analyze football matches the way some of you do probably.

Alex Ferguson got criticized left right and center for his first 7 years at Manure. Look where he is now.

Changing a club's structure and mindset takes time, and us supporters are probably the most difficult to win over than most. He isn't always right obviously, but he needs to do his job and we should support what he does, good or bad.

We started the game attacking and should have scored. Afterwards the players confidence frittered away, and that's why we played below par, not because of Rafa's failures. Most managers would still look at protecting a result (when playing badly) instead of going on the attack when we don't seem to be doing the attacking right due to a lack of confidence.

[Kaip]

http://www.whatson.com/radiocity/

radio phone in..................bitters going mental

[CharlieMansonsSquint]

However, in my humble opinion, unless he changes something quite fundamental in his attacking approach we will not win the league with him in charge.

Signing some better players would eb a start.

But your point is completely valid and abudantly clear to me, and many others. Very rarely do we play with an attacking mindset, and what's even more worrying is that some players seem to lack conviction in what they are doing. In terms of passing and movement too often we look second rate. It just doesn't look right does it?

[Red_Al_77]

Well we won. We may not all agree that Rafa changed the game or is the right person to lead us to league glory, but we still won. It hurts to see us struggling to overcome a clearly inferior side such as Everton. It hurts when we draw so many games. It hurts that we are still a long way from playing the football that will really excite the fans. Arsenal next will be a true indication of where we are going this season.