When you walk through a storm...

[rushscored4]

The last few weeks on this site have seen nothing but hysterical over-reactions with words and phrases being used like "crisis", "shambles", "clowns" and worse. We know a lot of it is the media stirring up **** yet normally sensible fully grown men (and Rocket) are falling straight into the trap of believing all the propaganda.

We have a lot going for us at Liverpool (ask any Geordie if they'd like to change places) and I genuinely believe the future is still brighter than the immediate past. Here are just a few reasons to be cheerful in no particular order:

1. Talent. We have some outstanding youngsters at the club like Nemeth, Prurie, Ecclestone, Insua, Mackay Stevens, Amoo, Ajdarevic, Hammill and Hobbs to name just a few.

2. Pepe Reina. I believe we have the best goalkeeper in the Premiership and one of the best in Europe who is still only 25 and will only get better.

3. Our defence. Along with Pepe Reina our defence is one of the meanest in the country and with Carra, Danny Agger and Sami Hyypia we have three of the best central defenders in the league with Alvaro Arbeloa being a great signing a year ago. Now with the addition of Martin Skrtel, and maybe another top class defender by the summer, our tremendous defensive record should continue to improve.

4. Our midfield. Whilst I don't necessarily believe "we've got the best midfield in the world", we certainly have some great central midfielders in Alonso, Lucas, Mascherano and Gerrard. Indeed, on paper, they are maybe the best quartet in England. Compare Alonso to Carrick, Mascherano to Hargreaves, Lucas to Anderson and Gerrard to a present day Scholes, for example, and I'd prefer our four to any of those.

5. Fernando Torres. "El Nino" is class. He is already one of the best strikers in the World and, at just 23, he will get even better. Whether we paid €26m or £26m for him, Nando is a real bargain.

6. The new stadium. OK, the process has been a long struggle and, with hindsight, it should obviously have been handled far better but whether we go with the updated AFL design or the revised HKS plans we will end up with a fantastic modern 70,000 seater stadium. That's maybe not as much as the Mancs (so what?) but is 25,000 better than the current Anfield capacity, 10,000 more than Arsenal and 18,000 more than Newcastle who we have been constantly told this week are a "big club" simply because they get 52,000 fans at every home game.

7. Rafa Benitez. Rafa is a genius. If he is allowed to manage the club going forward without interference from Butch Cassidy & The Sundance Kid then I am convinced that Rafa will lead us to the Promised Land…

OK, I'm sure some of you 'doom & gloom' merchants will want to knock holes in all these points. I fully expect the Three Stooges of anfieldanfield, DJS and -V- to tell us 7 or more reasons why NOT to be cheerful but I think we all need to remember the words of an old Rodgers & Hammerstein classic (you might already know them):

"When you walk through a storm
Hold your head up high
And don't be afraid of the dark

At the end of the storm
Is a golden sky
And the sweet silver song of a lark

Walk on through the wind
Walk on through the rain
Tho' your dreams be tossed and blown

Walk on, walk on
With hope in your heart
And you'll never walk alone
You'll never walk alone"

It's easy just to sing those words but now has never been a more poignant time to really believe in them…

YNWA

[Shaggy]

WALK ON.

[Dhav]

Top sentiment, but sadly I have no confidence in the yanks to deliver us #6 and especially #7 in your list.

YNWA

[Shanks65]

Well said mate, and fair play to you.

The current "crisis" or whatever you want to call it, is a low point in our amazing history, no matter what the outcome. BUT we're still Liverpool FC and even though we all feel pretty ****ty right now, I wouldn't swap my club for anything.

[Dan]

Nicely put mate and we all need to be reminded of what we do have but sadly I doubt the yanks ability to step up from the last few months and walk on with us the fans

YNWA

[FatTony]

[QUOTE=rushscored4;890574]

1. Talent. We have some outstanding youngsters at the club like Nemeth, Prurie, Ecclestone, Insua, Mackay Stevens, Amoo, Ajdarevic, Hammill and Hobbs to name just a few.

2. Pepe Reina. I believe we have the best goalkeeper in the Premiership and one of the best in Europe who is still only 25 and will only get better.

3. Our defence. Along with Pepe Reina our defence is one of the meanest in the country and with Carra, Danny Agger and Sami Hyypia we have three of the best central defenders in the league with Alvaro Arbeloa being a great signing a year ago. Now with the addition of Martin Skrtel, and maybe another top class defender by the summer, our tremendous defensive record should continue to improve.

4. Our midfield. Whilst I don't necessarily believe "we've got the best midfield in the world", we certainly have some great central midfielders in Alonso, Lucas, Mascherano and Gerrard. Indeed, on paper, they are maybe the best quartet in England. Compare Alonso to Carrick, Mascherano to Hargreaves, Lucas to Anderson and Gerrard to a present day Scholes, for example, and I'd prefer our four to any of those.

5. Fernando Torres. "El Nino" is class. He is already one of the best strikers in the World and, at just 23, he will get even better. Whether we paid €26m or £26m for him, Nando is a real bargain.

6. The new stadium. OK, the process has been a long struggle and, with hindsight, it should obviously have been handled far better but whether we go with the updated AFL design or the revised HKS plans we will end up with a fantastic modern 70,000 seater stadium. That's maybe not as much as the Mancs (so what?) but is 25,000 better than the current Anfield capacity, 10,000 more than Arsenal and 18,000 more than Newcastle who we have been constantly told this week are a "big club" simply because they get 52,000 fans at every home game.

7. Rafa Benitez. Rafa is a genius. If he is allowed to manage the club going forward without interference from Butch Cassidy & The Sundance Kid then I am convinced that Rafa will lead us to the Promised Land…
QUOTE]

1. I think theres a difference between potential and actual talent. I haven't seen enough of any of these players to agree or not.

2. I agree

3. I agree in part. We're quite good at stopping the ball going into the back of the net but **** at bringing it forward. Far too much hoofing IMO though Agger is the exception.

4. I don't agree. Our midfield is not as good as everyone makes out and is severely lacking in creativity. We're over run with defensive midfielders and lacking in quality attacking flair. Lucas hasn't proved much other than he has potential, its too early yet. Hargreaves, Scholes, Giggs and Ronaldo offer more IMO.

5. I'm not even looking at the stadium anymore until the diggers actually pull up to Stanley Park.

6. I'm not 100% convinced with Rafa. I haven't seen a dramatic change in the quality or effectiveness of our football. We're no nearer his Valencia than we were a couple of years ago. The team is still disjointed and inconsistent.

[-V-]

I support Rafa Benitez and i take your points. True we do have some fantastic players.

From our current squad im delighted that we have players such as

Reina
Carra
Hyypia
Arbeloa
Finnan
Agger
Alonso
Mascher
Stevie
Babel
Torres

Thats 11 players who i think are top class players who are capable of helping us win the league

My frustrations however lie with the fact that we have other players who are clearly not good enough yet Rafa seems to rate them as regular first team players. It hurts me to see him waste money time on players such as Kuyt, Voronin, Pennant(arguable), Benayoun, Riise (past it), Kewell, and Crouch (reserve)

Rafa insistance on playing Babel on the wing will work in the long run, granted Rafa wants him to become the next Ronaldo. I accept that he has the potential for that but right now he could do a job for us up front.

Rafa keeps playing Voronin and Kuyt, i dont understand this. Kuyt should be nothing more than a bench warmer and Voronin should NEVER be allowed to play for Liverpool. Never. He is that terrible.

Benayoun and Riise are not upto the standard required and its these players that are stopping us from progressing in the league.

We dropped points against Wigan because Rafa once again played Stevie G behind Torres. It doesnt work, its been tried before and its been proved time and time again that Gerrard is not effective in that role. Why? Because he is too east to pick up. If he was playing behind 2 strikers then the two centre halfs are occupied and Gerrard can be effective. Benetiz keeps making this same mistake. We should have played Crouch and Torres upfront or Babel and Torres

We dropped points against Middlesborough because we had Voronin and Benayoun regularly messing up our attacks, the always give the ball away. It was clear before the match even started that those 2 players would let the rest of the team down.

I dont want Rafa to leave, i want him to succeed and i back him, BUT he needs to quickly realise these mistakes or else we wont be progressing any time soon

[Harv]

that song sends tingles down my spine even when i just humm it.

[1973Red]

Good post - but I would agree with the majority - in relation to Rafa I was on his side from the start but over the last 18 months I have been becoming unconvienced with him. Take the derby at anfield last year we where so narrow and not playing with width that we would never score against them in a month of sundays.
He is very slow at making a change - he is not as tactically clever as he is made out to be.

Lets be honest our last two trophies came from an inspirational performance and then an unbelievable strike from SG to get us out of jail.

I havent seen Rafa make a change during a match that has turned the game around in our favour dramatically - I know some will say Didi coming on in Istanbul, but we were 3-0 down he had to do something and from all accounts the dressing room was in uproar.

I honestly think the club is in turmoil from top to bottom at this stage and would find it hard to see any top class manger wanting to come in to those surroundings.

[sean_lfc]

Great post Iain and one which I fully agree with.

Good to have people around who still see the bigger picture and don't let any and every fear-inducing media report get to them.

[Red_Polo]

In an age of fast food and credit cards, people expect what they want and they expect it now. But it takes time to build a dynasty.

[FatTony]

In an age of fast food and credit cards, people expect what they want and they expect it now. But it takes time to build a dynasty.

and only a minute to sink a ship

[Graybach]

Like a breath of fresh air

Nice one Rs4

[Rocket]

i fully believe you have to experience the bad times to really enjoy the good times.

all of you older generation experienced the good times, they'll be back

[mersey86]

i fully believe you have to experience the bad times to really enjoy the good times.

all of you older generation experienced the good times, they'll be back

I remember some player in the '80s in an interview saying that he'd been there during the hard times too - "I remember we finished second one year!".
I wish that was always what the hard times were like.
But you are right. The Kop went downhill at the end of the '80s as people expected success - they were spoiled by constantly winning.
This year though, there was a fresh sense of optimism - we'd brought in the striker we needed, we had a chance at the league. Then Hicks and Gillette undermine everything. Look, I don't want to totally exculpate Rafa - his rant about coaching and training was childish at best, but if he goes, for me so does any chance of getting back that optimism in the near future.
For some of you it could be a sad case of not knowing what you had till its gone.
Viva Rafa. YNWA.