I think he should go

[AFII]

IF some players have turned against him then Rafa should dump them and play some of our youngsters instead. They would at least give 100% out there, they may not be good enough yet but at least they want to win the game.

[DancingRobot]

No matter what, he should stay till the end of the season. No matter what!

Apparently, Rafa made many mistakes this season. It will be fair if people take the time till the end of the season to judge if he rectified those mistakes and learnt from them! The thing is, despite getting a player like Torres, we didnt progress a bit more than where we were last season. On a long term, we didnt develop as a better team in the last 6 months or so. Rafa should show that improvement on the pitch, if he has to feel he justified his responsibility and deserves to be the boss for next season!

[johnp]

Personally, I`d back him till at least next season.

Let him make up for the mistakes this year, get rid of the players that are undedrperforming

Sacking him will not solve our problems, we`ll still be left with a small transfer budget (still) and a squad seriously lacking in attacking areas.

Lots of players are performing badly - rotation, injuries may have a role but frankly why have Finnan, JC and Xabi just to name three of our proven Quality players whom are playing badly?


If we are looking at replacements, no way i would consider MON - very poor in the transfer market, he has inherited a youth good squad (based on sucess at FA Youth cup level). Wait until the Euro championships when Managers (eg Scolari, Hiddink) will become available

Rafa mistake in this transfer window is that he has not recognised (as of yet) that the squad needed a shake up. Maybe his hands were tied but surely if he doesnt rate our strikers, he could have ofloaded one, maybe brought a couple of players in on loan, anything at all really

At this stage, Id take us recalling Anderson or Guthrie from loan, just to spice up the squad

From recollection the the Jan window is always pretty quiet, not much movement at all. The majority of players are involved in CL etc and wouldn't be let move, or want to move.
And, whisper it, how attractive are we right now?

[Tatterdemalion]

I realise nobody really gives a ****e what I think, and frankly what I know about football and tactics could be written on the back of a microchip, right after the bible, but I am so tired of this **** now.

I think someone else on this thread has pointed out that the senior players have not backed him, which is true. I think that hits the nail on the head for me, as whether they are right or not, he appears to have lost the backing of some of his players.

I do buy the rotation thing, but it has to be done properly - give players a run of games until they're tired and then give them a rest. Not game-on, game-off. I don't know if that works better - it isn't necessarily what the other top managers do, but it seems sensible to me. Maybe its just true that rotation is fine when you have decent players to rotate to.

It just seems to me that some of the senior players are just getting hacked off with seeing form players rested in favour of some striker who couldn't score in a brothel.

Allied to the fact that our finances have been too poor to buy real quality each time we buy, and I think you have the answer - we have a decent enough team (not premiership winning by a long shot though) but no strength in depth.

It's just getting really depressing now. When I think back to the start of the season and we were all sure we could put in a challenge this season - I'm just embarassed now. Seems to be the same every season. I just don't want to hear it next year - we won't win the league and I don't want to hear the players talking our hopes up.

And another thing - We have some blame to take. I remember when we went out of the FA Cup to a lower league team in Rafas first season (was it Burnley?) People were up in arms. Yes I know we should have beaten them, but we didn't because we put out such a weak team. If you think the rotation might be a problem (I do), then you have to accept that at least during a team building stage the manager is going to prioritise the competitions, which means the FA Cup must come third. Our problem is we set out to win everything we enter, when we should be concentrating on the money spinners.

[johnp]

IF some players have turned against him then Rafa should dump them and play some of our youngsters instead. They would at least give 100% out there, they may not be good enough yet but at least they want to win the game.

Aye, gotta agree with that. Not wholesale changes, but one or maybe two for a few games. It'll give the others something to think about.

[Sheik Yerbouti]

No matter what, he should stay till the end of the season. No matter what!

Apparently, Rafa made many mistakes this season. It will be fair if people take the time till the end of the season to judge if he rectified those mistakes and learnt from them!

Learn from his mistakes? He's been playing Kuyt for God knows how long. He hasn't learnt from his mistakes in the 3 and a half years he's been here. I don't think he's going to change in 4 month.

[Slinky Skills]

I dont buy all this 'losing the dressing room' stuff. Plenty of times I've had a job where I've thought the manager was a useless waste of space but you get your head down and get on with it. If the players don't like/agree with Rafa it shouldnt make them play ****.

It's kick up the arse time:

Armband to Carra.

Gerrard out right, Babel out left. Play Lucas from the start. Yossi/Crouch up front with Torres.

Do this and we might actually look like scoring a goal before the last desperate half hour push.

Very good post.

[Joe King]

Learn from his mistakes? He's been playing Kuyt for God knows how long. He hasn't learnt from his mistakes in the 3 and a half years he's been here. I don't think he's going to change in 4 month.

Totally ****ing agree.

[CharlieMansonsSquint]

Has he gone yet?

[Shanks]

I'm not fussed. If the right man becomes available we should take him but who's better and attainable. If Martin O' Neill was an option I'd bite someones hand off.

Agree.

Nobody would turn down the chance to manage LFC if they were offered.

It all depends on who is doing the picking.

[badpiggy]

I dont buy all this 'losing the dressing room' stuff. Plenty of times I've had a job where I've thought the manager was a useless waste of space but you get your head down and get on with it. If the players don't like/agree with Rafa it shouldnt make them play ****.

It's kick up the arse time:

Armband to Carra.

Gerrard out right, Babel out left. Play Lucas from the start. Yossi/Crouch up front with Torres.

Do this and we might actually look like scoring a goal before the last desperate half hour push.

babel and crouch on the wings? fast aggressive attackers who seem to regularly get past people?

lucas who at least seems he can get the ball and pass it and still perform the miracle of appearing in a forward postition to be involved in chances?

guys who score goals like yossi/torres/crouchie playing up front?

when i read this post and look at the players mentioned and remember some of the positions/goals/movements/games they've been involved in - even recently - (and this is leaving out xabi or masher who could be/have been brilliant)it's clear to me that a manager with attacking instincts could get goals out of our present squad even if it's short on serious widespread class.

kewell is over - not because he's a gutless cunt but because he can't sprint past his man anymore.

pennant... realistically sg and babel are better.

kuyt and voronin don't score.

[Sheik Yerbouti]

Learn from his mistakes? He's been playing Kuyt for God knows how long. He hasn't learnt from his mistakes in the 3 and a half years he's been here. I don't think he's going to change in 4 month.

Totally ****ing agree.

First of all he has to recognise that he makes mistakes and then not be stubborn enough to admit he's made them.

[Joe King]

First of all he has to recognise that he makes mistakes and then not be stubborn enough to admit he's made them.

Doubt that will happen. Rafa needs Pako who was the one who kept Rafa on check. He wasn't a yes man like the lap dogs he has working for him right now.

[Craig_H]

Interesting to see how few of the 'RCDNW' lot are posting in here. But to be fair, i'm not sure there's much any of them could say...not in words that they'd believe themselves anyway...

Not bringing on Crouch tonight was a perfect example of how stubborn rafa is. For whatever reason, he chooses to virtually never start him. Fine. I disagree, but fine.

Having made that decision and stuck Crouch on the bench, to not bring him on in the last 20-25 mins was criminal. Kuyt was as inept as has become his level. Never looked likely to score. We pumped long high balls on a consistent basis and then watched as Kuyt painfully failed to do anything with them. It was crying out for Crouch. But of course, he doesnt come.

It stood out like a sore thumb from the kickoff that Babel should've played instead of Kewell and Crouch instead of Kuyt. Instead, Lucas comes on for Kewell and plays LM () and Babel comes on for Yossi (one of our more creative players). Painfully predictably, Kuyt doesnt come off at all and Crouch doesnt get a look in.

Logic would suggest that Crouch must be being sold tomorrow and was kept off the park to avoid injury. But unfortunately, as far as Rafa Benitez's decision making goes, logic left town a long time ago.

I'm torn really, it'd be sensible to say he should stay til the summer. But if he does, i dont think we'll finish in the top four.

How anyone can take that squad and fail to finish in the top four is beyond wiser men than me.

Very depressing

[Sheik Yerbouti]

I'm also always bemused by the argument in support of Rafa that he recognises his mistakes and ships them out pronto. Doesn't the fact that the list grows longer and longer each season tell us something?