A little bit of perspective

[rushscored4]

If your hinting at us having an element of misfortune in losing last night then i couldnt disagree with you more mate.
We were abysmal yet again as we have been for some weeks now, and it doesnt look like we'll get out of it anytime soon.
The squad that we have, which i think most of us would agree is the strongest we've had in years, is more than capable of going out and beating Besiktas comfortably. I understand that we were missing players but i find it lame that this is offered up as a valid reason. We had millions of pounds worth of international talent on the field last night yet there were occasions that we looked like a pub side.

My own personal opinion which is totally unsubstantiated is that i believe there is unrest at the club behind the scenes, and i wouldnt be surprised if the incessant rotation played a part in that.
I find it unbelievable that so many top class players have gone off the boil at the same time.

That's it - it's all down to rotation. Phew, thank God we've worked it out at last...

[Joe Le Toff]

That's it - it's all down to rotation. Phew, thank God we've worked it out at last...

Apologies my good man for having an opinion that may differ from yours

[blacky]

Abbysmal, Mediocre, Sh#t, Clueless, Awful, Rubbish, Cock, Disgraceful and so on. These are all words that have been bandied about here since last night. I am guilty in the heat of the moment last night of stating we have "stagnated" as a team. However in the cold light of day I can see I over-reacted. As A lifelong Liverpool supporter I have been here before except this time I believe absolutely that we have the right manager to guide us through a poor patch in form. We haven't just turned into a crap team overnight, the signs of improvement where there for all to see at the start of the season just as we have all seen the slump in form over the last month. It is just a matter of everyone (fans and players included) keeping their chins up and focusing on the job at hand i.e beating Arsenal on Sunday. In Rafa we Trust. YNWA.

[tomasjj]

That's it - it's all down to rotation. Phew, thank God we've worked it out at last...

But attacking play did lack cohesion and way too many passes went astray, but I will not put that solely down to rotation.

[paulcooper4]

MrM has lost it

His gimp suit?

He`ll be distraught

I would point the finger at Caco myself....

[Parm]

Abbysmal, Mediocre, Sh#t, Clueless, Awful, Rubbish, Cock, Disgraceful and so on. These are all words that have been bandied about here since last night. I am guilty in the heat of the moment last night of stating we have "stagnated" as a team. However in the cold light of day I can see I over-reacted. As A lifelong Liverpool supporter I have been here before except this time I believe absolutely that we have the right manager to guide us through a poor patch in form. We haven't just turned into a crap team overnight, the signs of improvement where there for all to see at the start of the season just as we have all seen the slump in form over the last month. It is just a matter of everyone (fans and players included) keeping their chins up and focusing on the job at hand i.e beating Arsenal on Sunday. In Rafa we Trust. YNWA.

[The Birdman]

If your hinting at us having an element of misfortune in losing last night then i couldnt disagree with you more mate.
We were abysmal yet again as we have been for some weeks now, and it doesnt look like we'll get out of it anytime soon.
The squad that we have, which i think most of us would agree is the strongest we've had in years, is more than capable of going out and beating Besiktas comfortably. I understand that we were missing players but i find it lame that this is offered up as a valid reason. We had millions of pounds worth of international talent on the field last night yet there were occasions that we looked like a pub side.

My own personal opinion which is totally unsubstantiated is that i believe there is unrest at the club behind the scenes, and i wouldnt be surprised if the incessant rotation played a part in that.
I find it unbelievable that so many top class players have gone off the boil at the same time.

I wouldn't argue against the fact we were abysmal (to use your word) all I'm really saying is that on another night we could easily have won and hardly anyone would be on here saying how fortunate we were if that had happened.
There wouldn't be threads on here saying they missed 3 gilt edged chances how did we ever scrape a win with our 20 odd efforts on goal it would all be well we're continuing to turn the corner and lets take both results into the Arsenal game blah blah blah.
At least Gerrard has stopped sulking, I thought he was as good as he's been this season and could have scored 3 with the left foot volley that sneaked wide and his 2 one on one chances the keeper saved.
So let's all start another thread saying how Gerrard's performance last night proves Rafa was right to take him off because it gave him the kick he needed........

[rushscored4]

Apologies my good man for having an opinion that may differ from yours

But not the media's...

But attacking play did lack cohesion and way too many passes went astray, but I will not put that solely down to rotation.

Personally I think Rafa should keep the spine of his team (goalkeeper, back four and centre of midfield) for every game (if available) and 'rotate' his wide men and strikers. I think we need a settled 16 or 18 rather than necessarily a "best XI" - if there is such a thing...

[tomasjj]

Personally I think Rafa should keep the spine of his team (goalkeeper, back four and centre of midfield) for every game (if available) and 'rotate' his wide men and strikers. I think we need a settled 16 or 18 rather than necessarily a "best XI" - if there is such a thing...

Yup.

I would also throw Torres into that mix and say he has to play as much as possible.

[redblood]

I've been lurking on here for a while and thought I'd add some views to calm down the hype.
Their 1st goal was unfortunate, you can't stop that kind of thing happening, the 2nd was when were were chasing the game and we wouldn't have conceeded it if Agger was playing.
Now I'm not saying we were brilliant but it's obvious that we haven't been getting any luck in this season's competition which when you consider the fortune we've had over the last couple of season's isn't suprising - things even themselves out. Compare this to Chelsea who win 2 nil, the keeper chucks one in for their 1st, Drogba is offside for their 2nd, Schalke have a goal wrongly dissallowed for offside, hit the inside of the post and rebounds into Cech's arms then Alex drags down their player and nothing is given when it was a straight red and maybe a pen (can't remember if it was inside or outside the box)
People on here post about Pako leaving, does it have an impact? short term no because as players your routine doesn't change, so someone different might take the warm up - big deal, it's Rafa who takes and decides the tactical training and if Pako was in charge of fitness then haven't we got someone else who can read the data about their training levels etc.. longer term however it might because Rafa has clearly lost someone who he bounces ideas off and that person has to be replaced - Frank McParland anyone?
It's more relevent that our poor run of form coincides with Torres, Alonso and Agger not playing (or more accurately Sami playing because he upsets everything Rafa has worked towards tacticlly for the last couple of years) and to a lesser extent Arbeloa, Aurellio and dare I say it Kewell.
How many of us last night shouted at the tv when Babel cut inside again and again closing the space, how many shouted when our continuity of passing was slow and laborious and when we sat defending deep so Sami's lack of pace didn't get exposed.
You can play with Crouch/Voronin or Kuyt playing as a pair if you keep a high line and press the ball but if you sit deep then the game gets stretched and you need pace upfont ala Ged with Heskey and Owen while Henchoz and Hyypia defended on our goal line.
Can we win the league? if we scrape through in the Champions League then no is my honest answer, if we end up getting knocked out with the other 3 go through then yes forshizzle of course we can.
Have Arsenal, Man U or Chelsea won the league recently - yep, have any of them remotely looked like winning the Champions League - no not really, Arsenal got there but no-one really believed they would win. So where will their priorities lie later on in the season, not with the league thats for sure.
I'll end on a controversial point I would happily see any of the other 3 win the Champions League if we're GUARANTEED the League.

A lengthy first post I'm sure you'll agree, don't worry about going easy on me as I couldn't give a toss.
Keep the faith

Well said mate, I would take any of the other 3 winning the CL if we were told today the league was ours.

[redblood]

Abbysmal, Mediocre, Sh#t, Clueless, Awful, Rubbish, Cock, Disgraceful and so on. These are all words that have been bandied about here since last night. I am guilty in the heat of the moment last night of stating we have "stagnated" as a team. However in the cold light of day I can see I over-reacted. As A lifelong Liverpool supporter I have been here before except this time I believe absolutely that we have the right manager to guide us through a poor patch in form. We haven't just turned into a crap team overnight, the signs of improvement where there for all to see at the start of the season just as we have all seen the slump in form over the last month. It is just a matter of everyone (fans and players included) keeping their chins up and focusing on the job at hand i.e beating Arsenal on Sunday. In Rafa we Trust. YNWA.

[rushscored4]

Abbysmal, Mediocre, Sh#t, Clueless, Awful, Rubbish, Cock, Disgraceful and so on. These are all words that have been bandied about here since last night. I am guilty in the heat of the moment last night of stating we have "stagnated" as a team. However in the cold light of day I can see I over-reacted. As A lifelong Liverpool supporter I have been here before except this time I believe absolutely that we have the right manager to guide us through a poor patch in form. We haven't just turned into a crap team overnight, the signs of improvement where there for all to see at the start of the season just as we have all seen the slump in form over the last month. It is just a matter of everyone (fans and players included) keeping their chins up and focusing on the job at hand i.e beating Arsenal on Sunday. In Rafa we Trust. YNWA.

I missed that earlier. Well said, blacky...

[Harv]

HEY!!

im the only Birdman here buddy

[rushscored4]

HEY!! im the only Birdman here buddy

Stone the crows! Get the flock out of here...

[Reece]

HEY!!

im the only Birdman here buddy

"birdman" basically = "ladyboy".