Rafa...

[Guest]

Its not just tonight, and I'm not talking about the way he looks health wise, I mean in his demeanour, his frustration and the amount of stress he is obviously under. Less has affected other blokes his age in that way...

You're reading too much into that. I think he was fine bar his cold. Rafa is a sensible man, he won't let all this affect him.

[alunevans]

Hmmm not so sure about that, if it wasnt for all the **** with the Yanks he would be getting slaughterd.

Certainly a lot of people where i sit on the Kop have lost confidence in him.

I think thats a fair assessment to be honest. The new owners are a bigger foe and so we are uniting behind Rafa whether we're pleased with him or not.

Villa were spawny tonight, but I still groaned when I saw the team sheet. Again.

If we had stability up top then I think he'd be getting tons of stick for some of his team selections. It was the main topic of conversation that I heard as people were leaving the ground tonight.

As it is, nobody likes the way the new owners have behaved, everyone sides with Rafa over the original dispute they had, and if Klinsmann is what they have in mind for us, then everyone has FAR less doubts over Rafa's leadership than they do over Hicks & Gillette, and ultimately that gives us a straight choice - and we're choosing Rafa.

I think the circumstances are helping him in terms of the support he is getting for sure.

[rage]

I think thats a fair assessment to be honest. The new owners are a bigger foe and so we are uniting behind Rafa whether we're pleased with him or not.

Villa were spawny tonight, but I still groaned when I saw the team sheet. Again.

If we had stability up top then I think he'd be getting tons of stick for some of his team selections. It was the main topic of conversation that I heard as people were leaving the ground tonight.

As it is, nobody likes the way the new owners have behaved, everyone sides with Rafa over the original dispute they had, and if Klinsmann is what they have in mind for us, then everyone has FAR less doubts over Rafa's leadership than they do over Hicks & Gillette, and ultimately that gives us a straight choice - and we're choosing Rafa.

I think the circumstances are helping him in terms of the support he is getting for sure.

[Guest]

I think thats a fair assessment to be honest. The new owners are a bigger foe and so we are uniting behind Rafa whether we're pleased with him or not.

I would be appalled and ashamed of our supporters if fans react like they're now against Hicks towards Rafa. I don't agree with your 'bigger foe' comment as I think it's a tad disrespectful for a man who won us the CL.

Name me one man who could do the job in these circumstances (fickleness). We're slightly turning into a Newcastle or Spurs. Not winning the league for 17 years is not an excuse to lose sight of what can be achieved in the long term.

Every manager has their failings, nobody is perfect.

[ronniedrew]

I think the circumstances are helping him in terms of the support he is getting for sure.

i think your spot on there alun, the off the field stuff doesnt help but, the facts are we drew again at home (6 out of 11), its a cliche but the league table doesnt lie.

i think the off the field stuff is taking the heat off rafa somewhat

[Slinky Skills]

Rafa must feel like he's been kicked in the teeth.

I know he makes odd choices sometimes and his tactics and selections can be questionable, but the guy just wants to do the best for LFC and it's fans. He's always put us and the club first, and yet he's been treated like a mug by G&H

He must go home every night and just think 'Why do I bother'


I think the guy needs to be shown some respect. Whether you rate him as a manager, he is a top, top fella.

I love Rafa I really do, I'm one of his biggest fans but I've got a bad feeling that his time is up. I'm a bit down after that game, but you've got to admit we're ****ing dross, we really are.

Rafa can only do so much with what he's got.....and that ain't ****ing much. Feel really sorry for the poor cunt and all the fans that pay all their hard earned cash to go watch the team, but I think he's on his way chaps.

The club's a ****ing mess at the moment, we play boring, crap football. We're disjointed and highly predictable. Anfield has a boring atmosphere, the away fans take the piss out of us. Teams have sussed us out, we never beat the big four. As a Liverpool fan there really is nothing to be positive about.

I'm sorry if I've depressed anyone tonight after reading this but I feel very low....and I haven't even had a drink! I dread to think what I'd be like if I'd had a few scoops!

I've tried to stay positive over the last few months but things are just getting worse and worse. My honesty has come out tonight. Call me a **** fan if you want but it's just how I feel. I'm gutted, absoloutley gutted. I just hope that Rafa can turn it around but I can't see it happening.

[ronniedrew]

I would be appalled and ashamed of our supporters if fans react like they're now against Hicks towards Rafa. I don't agree with your 'bigger foe' comment as I think it's a tad disrespectful for a man who won us the CL.

Name me one man who could do the job in these circumstances (fickleness). We're slightly turning into a Newcastle or Spurs. Not winning the league for 17 years is not an excuse to lose sight of what can be achieved in the long term.

Every manager has their failings, nobody is perfect.

but fredo, we are liverpool, not newcastle or spurs, rafas in his 4th year and we are out of it again, i didnt say we would win it but presumed we would be closer that we are now, did you not.

[Guest]

but fredo, we are liverpool, not newcastle or spurs, rafas in his 4th year and we are out of it again, i didnt say we would win it but presumed we would be closer that we are now, did you not.

We've not played to our level consistently this season and we can attribute most of that to events off the pitch. Rafa's leading us somewhere and criticizing him now will lead us nowhere. Instead it will destabilize the team and results will continue being ****e.

We can't do with a reconstruction every 4 years. It's out of the equation. We'll need a miracle worker to fork that out.

[alunevans]

I would be appalled and ashamed of our supporters if fans react like they're now against Hicks towards Rafa. I don't agree with your 'bigger foe' comment as I think it's a tad disrespectful for a man who won us the CL.

Name me one man who could do the job in these circumstances (fickleness). We're slightly turning into a Newcastle or Spurs. Not winning the league for 17 years is not an excuse to lose sight of what can be achieved in the long term.

Every manager has their failings, nobody is perfect.

I didn't for a moment say that fans would react towards Rafa in the way they have against Hicks.

Irrespective of results or selections or whatever, Rafa's motives are for the good of LFC (even when he is wrong). That can't be said about Hicks.

But managers do take stick when they screw up and my point was simply that I believe that in circumstances where we didn't have Hicks & Gillette acting in a way which means nobody trusts them in the slightest, that Rafa would not be having the support he is currently receiving.

The greater foe comment was not meant to imply that Rafa is a foe, however clumsily I worded it. My point was that in a contest between Hicks and Rafa, we will always side with Rafa irrespective of our views about his management.

As such, I think the current issues are helping Rafa win support from the fans that he might not otherwise have had. I think our fanbase, in other circumstances, are more divided - but Rafa (whether right or wrong) will always have our loyalty in a fight against the likes of Hicks. And rightly so.

But even Rafa's critics are also putting aside any doubts about Rafa for the moment because their doubts about the owners are much much bigger.

That was my point. I just expressed it clumsily

[Alpha]

but fredo, we are liverpool, not newcastle or spurs, rafas in his 4th year and we are out of it again, i didnt say we would win it but presumed we would be closer that we are now, did you not.

The funny thing is, we were closer and we looked nicely poised until Hicks' began rocking the boat.

Rafa deserves at least one season with the full backing of a supportive board and if he still doesn't come close, fair enough.

[andyhanrahan]

i think rafa should get rid of all this pro zone ****e he uses and concentrate on simple coaching-we're crap at scoring from dead ball situations.

[Lee]

I love Rafa I really do, I'm one of his biggest fans but I've got a bad feeling that his time is up. I'm a bit down after that game, but you've got to admit we're ****ing dross, we really are.

Rafa can only do so much with what he's got.....and that ain't ****ing much. Feel really sorry for the poor cunt and all the fans that pay all their hard earned cash to go watch the team, but I think he's on his way chaps.

The club's a ****ing mess at the moment, we play boring, crap football. We're disjointed and highly predictable. Anfield has a boring atmosphere, the away fans take the piss out of us. Teams have sussed us out, we never beat the big four. As a Liverpool fan there really is nothing to be positive about.

I'm sorry if I've depressed anyone tonight after reading this but I feel very low....and I haven't even had a drink! I dread to think what I'd be like if I'd had a few scoops!

I've tried to stay positive over the last few months but things are just getting worse and worse. My honesty has come out tonight. Call me a **** fan if you want but it's just how I feel. I'm gutted, absoloutley gutted. I just hope that Rafa can turn it around but I can't see it happening.

I hear where you're coming from mate

I feel down at the moment with everything that's going on at LFC. I know it could be worse (we could be Leeds!), but like it's been mentioned - we're LFC and expect / deserve more than what we're currently getting. I didn't expect us to win the league this year, but being out of the title race by December, out of the CC, struggling in the CL and all the Yank shenadigans weren't something I was expecting either. Seems to be one thing after another.

I think the next few months are going to be massive in terms of what happens to us over the next few years - it's worrying.

[Guest]

I didn't for a moment say that fans would react towards Rafa in the way they have against Hicks.

Irrespective of results or selections or whatever, Rafa's motives are for the good of LFC (even when he is wrong). That can't be said about Hicks.

But managers do take stick when they screw up and my point was simply that I believe that in circumstances where we didn't have Hicks & Gillette acting in a way which means nobody trusts them in the slightest, that Rafa would not be having the support he is currently receiving.

The greater foe comment was not meant to imply that Rafa is a foe, however clumsily I worded it. My point was that in a contest between Hicks and Rafa, we will always side with Rafa irrespective of our views about his management.

As such, I think the current issues are helping Rafa win support from the fans that he might not otherwise have had. I think our fanbase, in other circumstances, are more divided - but Rafa (whether right or wrong) will always have our loyalty in a fight against the likes of Hicks. And rightly so.

But even Rafa's critics are also putting aside any doubts about Rafa for the moment because their doubts about the owners are much much bigger.

That was my point. I just expressed it clumsily

[tomasjj]

I'm worried for him, i really am.

I know he had a cold but he really didnt look well, looked extremely stressed (as you'd expect) and almost looked like a man who's doing all he can, but to no avail.

You cant blame anything on him tonight, we played well, we controlled the game...villa did nothing other than benefit from sloppy defending and good luck. Rafa could've done little more than he did (other than play Crouch from the off) but in fairness, the side he picked did everything but kill the game off.

Rafa, bless him, didnt do much wrong and yet still the side dont win.

I really felt sorry for him when i saw his post match interview and i hope he still has the strength and will to keep fighting, he's done a great job of fighting the yanks from the inside and i hope he keeps going.

Rafa.

You have seen the light.

[Slinky Skills]

I hear where you're coming from mate

I feel down at the moment with everything that's going on at LFC. I know it could be worse (we could be Leeds!), but like it's been mentioned - we're LFC and expect / deserve more than what we're currently getting. I didn't expect us to win the league this year, but being out of the title race by December, out of the CC, struggling in the CL and all the Yank shenadigans weren't something I was expecting either. Seems to be one thing after another.

I think the next few months are going to be massive in terms of what happens to us over the next few years - it's worrying.

I'm not one of them who lives in the past but we expect so much more, we're LFC, the greatest team in the world.

I know Rafa has brought us the CL which I never in my wildest dreams thought I'd see but I really can't see us getting the league for a long, long time.

We're a ****ing mess and we're struggling. It's like the whole club has gone, dissapeared for good and a dark cloud has descended over us. Over the last 10 years we've lost all of our passion, all of our fire; our self belief, everything that's made us the club we are, we're nothing but a joke now.

I'm ****ing well and truly depressed.