Question for those who dont want rafa gone...

[steveheighwayrobbery]

The frustrating this is, for me anyway, is that I think we are really close. We ahve the defence, the central midfield and the striker. Now if we can improve in some positions, I genuinely believe we can challenge for the title.

If Rafa is backed, and more importantly gets in a number 2, then I think we can challenge

with you all the way.

[steveheighwayrobbery]

it confuses the **** out of me what rafa thinks some times when selecting his line-up / tactics for games. how many times has he had kyut wide right, or babel wide left, or riise in his starting 11, even had carra at right back recently. EVERYBODY in the free world agrees that he should stick to his best starting 11 with the wingers as wingers, midfielders as midfielders and strikers as strikers......everybody except it seems rafa.

is it just stubborness on his part or does he really not see his faults???

cara at right back becasue finnan was playing crap and he can teach Skittle were the line is to hold. Kuyt at wide right to run the channels to allow torres in. Babel on the left because we have no other fecker who can. Wingers don't come cheap. we tried it with Leto and speedy and that has got us know where. Di you see Hamill's cameo yesterday. Sweet jesus?

[Infadel]

I don't post much - more of a lurker, but the OTT (IMHO) reaction to yesterday's debacle has really got to me!

I've supported the Reds since the old Second Division days and consequently have seen all our "Greats" and, I suppose have been spoilt over the years, but I've now finally come to the conclusion that today's game is not remotely similar to yesteryear's apart from there being 11 man teams and a round ball!

Call me xenophobic if you want, but there are too many Johnny Foreigners in it nowadays, they are just mercenaries who don't have their hearts in it. Do you really think Alonso, Lucas, Itandja et al give two flying figs about yesterday? If you do you are deluding yourself - they are in it for the money and very little else, they just don't care. Yes, when they sign for Liverpool they kiss the badge and say all the right things about supporting the Reds from childhood and it being a dream come true to sign for such a great club - and people buy into it! The reality is totally different and the same, albeit to a lesser extent, applies to the manager and coaching staff. It's ALL about the dosh!!

I'm desperately trying not to sound like a dinosaur, but I have to say that past players like Tommy Smith, Crazyhorse, Dalgleish, Souness (I could go on and on and on and....) would have been devastated at yesterday's result, IF they had even let it happen! Modern day players are just too well-paid, too mollycoddled and too flippant about playing for our great club! Shanks would be spinning in his grave if he saw this going on!
We desperately need heart and that is something that CANNOT be bought!

While I'm at it, why do these finely tuned athletes who have all the best medical attention, fitness training, equipment, dietry regimes find it so tiring to actually play twice in a week? Please don't give me the old "the game's more intense nowadays" rubbish - they put no more effort in that past players! Someone please tell me!

Rant over - matron's just bringing my tea and we've got pink blancmange for pudding!!

[stevie_gerrard_8]

I don't post much - more of a lurker, but the OTT (IMHO) reaction to yesterday's debacle has really got to me!

I've supported the Reds since the old Second Division days and consequently have seen all our "Greats" and, I suppose have been spoilt over the years, but I've now finally come to the conclusion that today's game is not remotely similar to yesteryear's apart from there being 11 man teams and a round ball!

Call me xenophobic if you want, but there are too many Johnny Foreigners in it nowadays, they are just mercenaries who don't have their hearts in it. Do you really think Alonso, Lucas, Itandja et al give two flying figs about yesterday? If you do you are deluding yourself - they are in it for the money and very little else, they just don't care. Yes, when they sign for Liverpool they kiss the badge and say all the right things about supporting the Reds from childhood and it being a dream come true to sign for such a great club - and people buy into it! The reality is totally different and the same, albeit to a lesser extent, applies to the manager and coaching staff. It's ALL about the dosh!!

I'm desperately trying not to sound like a dinosaur, but I have to say that past players like Tommy Smith, Crazyhorse, Dalgleish, Souness (I could go on and on and on and....) would have been devastated at yesterday's result, IF they had even let it happen! Modern day players are just too well-paid, too mollycoddled and too flippant about playing for our great club! Shanks would be spinning in his grave if he saw this going on!
We desperately need heart and that is something that CANNOT be bought!

While I'm at it, why do these finely tuned athletes who have all the best medical attention, fitness training, equipment, dietry regimes find it so tiring to actually play twice in a week? Please don't give me the old "the game's more intense nowadays" rubbish - they put no more effort in that past players! Someone please tell me!

Rant over - matron's just bringing my tea and we've got pink blancmange for pudding!!

Disagree with the foreigners part. Do you think Pennant would have cared?

Anyway players like Masch put Gerrard and Carra to shame with born and bread with pride and passion.

[Jazzmaster]

The frustrating this is, for me anyway, is that I think we are really close. We ahve the defence, the central midfield and the striker. Now if we can improve in some positions, I genuinely believe we can challenge for the title.

If Rafa is backed, and more importantly gets in a number 2, then I think we can challenge

Why the hell do you still think that? Thats exactly what we thought at the beginning of this season but we havent challenged at all... Rafa made some good signings last summer but doesnt seem to have the wherewithall to create a winning team out of this squad.

Im getting sick and tired of people making excuses for benitez saying we need this player or that player or wingers or strikers etc because that is completely disregarding the main problems with this manager. If he can't get the best out of the players we have what makes you think that he will be able to do this with any new players that come in?

Its become increasinly obvious that rafa is not progressing the club domestically and his bizarre selections and rotations indicate that he probably never will.

Rafa has had his chance and now its time to move on. For those of you that think otherwise its time to get your heads out of the sand. Mediocrity is not acceptable.

[the rev leeroy brown]

cara at right back becasue finnan was playing crap and he can teach Skittle were the line is to hold. Kuyt at wide right to run the channels to allow torres in. Babel on the left because we have no other fecker who can. Wingers don't come cheap. we tried it with Leto and speedy and that has got us know where. Di you see Hamill's cameo yesterday. Sweet jesus?

in that case, if it was me, i would have gone 3 at the back like we did at newcastle last year. carra-sami-skrtel in defense would have done a good job.

kyut wide right makes no sense to me. benni would have done a far better job at allowing torres space than kyut does.

playing babel wide left (i accept we have no other real alternative at the moment) isn't giving him the chance to show the fans what he can do do though. stick riise or aurelio in at the moment cause they'd do a better job than babel in that position.

[steveheighwayrobbery]

listen got to go as that cat is hasteling me for food. I wouldn't mind but it is a tiger ...gulp

[stevie_gerrard_8]

Why the hell do you still think that? Thats exactly what we thought at the beginning of this season but we havent challenged at all... Rafa made some good signings last summer but doesnt seem to have the wherewithall to create a winning team out of this squad.

Im getting sick and tired of people making excuses for benitez saying we need this player or that player or wingers or strikers etc because that is completely disregarding the main problems with this manager. If he can't get the best out of the players we have what makes you think that he will be able to do this with any new players that come in?

Its become increasinly obvious that rafa is not progressing the club domestically and his bizarre selections and rotations indicate that he probably never will.

Rafa has had his chance and now its time to move on. For those of you that think otherwise its time to get your heads out of the sand. Mediocrity is not acceptable.

You cant buy two class wingers and two strikers in one transfer window. These players are likely to cost excessive amounts of money and will take time.

I also disagree with rotation and his team selections as that is just an easy excuse. If it's anything, its the way we play.

[the rev leeroy brown]

tell me this, we created 13 shots on target yesterday, 11 off target and had 9 blocked according to after match stats. against man city during the xmas period we had 9 on target, 14 off target and 6 blocked. against chelski it was 5 on target, 4 off target (didnt say how many blocked).

to me this is just a sample of definate proof that if rafa was backed to the hills financially this summer and allowed to spend the 20-30 mill on an samual etoo / david villa type striker and maybe another 20-30 million on a silva / ronaldo type attacker / winger we would have the players at our disposal who would take these chances. it's not about rafa getting the best out of his players as he has shown over the past 3-4 years he has got the best out of his defenders (numerous clean sheets and best defensive records) a midfield that consistently creates chances for our strikers (20+ chances a game also shows this) and the best out of his strikers...the problem being he has not been backed suffeciently enough when tryng to attract the best strikers to our club. do you for one second beleive rafa would have had bellamy, crouch, kyut, voronin as top targets...no. he wants to buy the big players and should he get them i beleive we would be winning games like yesterday 10-0 easily.

rafa has progressed our club really far IMO in the last 3-4 years and if he is backed as i say for one more summer i beleive he will get it right.....saying that i also beleive that if we fail to qualify for CL next year (a task our squad at present should be capable of) then rafa should be sacked and another manager given a chance.

[stevie_gerrard_8]

tell me this, we created 13 shots on target yesterday, 11 off target and had 9 blocked according to after match stats. against man city during the xmas period we had 9 on target, 14 off target and 6 blocked. against chelski it was 5 on target, 4 off target (didnt say how many blocked).

to me this is just a sample of definate proof that if rafa was backed to the hills financially this summer and allowed to spend the 20-30 mill on an samual etoo / david villa type striker and maybe another 20-30 million on a silva / ronaldo type attacker / winger we would have the players at our disposal who would take these chances. it's not about rafa getting the best out of his players as he has shown over the past 3-4 years he has got the best out of his defenders (numerous clean sheets and best defensive records) a midfield that consistently creates chances for our strikers (20+ chances a game also shows this) and the best out of his strikers...the problem being he has not been backed suffeciently enough when tryng to attract the best strikers to our club. do you for one second beleive rafa would have had bellamy, crouch, kyut, voronin as top targets...no. he wants to buy the big players and should he get them i beleive we would be winning games like yesterday 10-0 easily.

rafa has progressed our club really far IMO in the last 3-4 years and if he is backed as i say for one more summer i beleive he will get it right.....saying that i also beleive that if we fail to qualify for CL next year (a task our squad at present should be capable of) then rafa should be sacked and another manager given a chance.

[dww]

It certainly indicates that we need more firepower but players like Tevez even possibly (depending on how you do your accounting), Adebayor, Eduardo, Van Persie, McCarthy, Santa Cruz and Dave Kitson (and Saha on previous seasons form) could all have been added to our squad at a not disimilar price to what we have paid for the likes of Kuyt and Babel and many of them for less.

So far this season they have all looked (injuries apart) much more dangerous than Voronin, Kuyt and Babel in their respective teams. Rafa has to take responsibility for the players he has chosen and the way he has played them.

He has done a lot of things right but in terms of us not having the cutting edge we need a lot of that is down to the choices made by Rafa IMO. Some of them (I'm thinking Babel really) may turn out well but the timing of bringing in an untried young player of potential but not proven ability was all wrong I think.

The three big things in Rafa's favour IMO are the revolutionised youth/reserves setup, the quality of our CL performances and finishing above Arsenal in the last two years. We have some elements of a solid base for progress but he needs to evolve his approach and I think at this stage it is fair that people expect him to show signs of that in what remains of the season if they are to give him their full backing.

[Robster007]

I'd like to think he'd be walking the streets of Glasgow as a drunk vagrant screaming; "why dae I leave Aberdeen for they manc bastarts?"

Me too mate, me too.

[ufc43]

That's the key point, it's now gone beyond the fact that we're light years off a title challenge. We now cant even comfortably beat lower division sides at home (or even draw with them, where Barnsley are concerned).

Rafa MUST take his portion of the blame, but there are still some who don't seem like they'd attach ANY blame to him. It's staggering.

Couldn't agree more. At what point does it have to reach before Rafa gets at least some of the blame.
There's being loyal and there's being blind. A good result against Inter will keep the heat off to an extent, but every week its the same thing...if we beat this team and if we beat that team. It ain't happening and I cant see to much changing for quite a while. I only seen the highlights on MOTD last night and it looked like Liverpool dominated the game and were beaten by a sucker punch. The thing is, Liverpool should not be allowing teams like Barnsley to have the chance of a sucker punch. The outlook looks dark for quite some while I think.

[Redlife]

I want to see what happens in the remainder of the season.


It's been the most miserable season I can remember for sometime, not just because of on the pitch performances, obviously. The stupidity of our owners has certainly had an adverse effect on the squad. Their hilarious and unhelpful undermining of the manager is inexcusable. I don't blame Rafa for a lot of the crap we've had to endure, but we should still be able to put Barnsley away.



We could have new owners again. We could have a new manager again. I want to see how things pan out first though before calling for Rafa's head. I'm unhappy, but there you have it.

[Nic83]

Hmm. I see you've pidgeon-holed me as RCDNW because I've criticised you and DJS for pidgeon-holing people as RCDNW. I'd like to say I'm surprised but....

Actually I have no clue if you are or aren't a Rafa fan as I rarely read your posts, so your statement is void.