Question for those who dont want rafa gone...

[bigfooty]

he has given us much more than that night mate,this season excluded he has turned us into contenders.

Contenders for what? Because you surely can't mean the title considering we've failed to be in the mix with a third of the games to go in each of his seasons?

[Fan65]

Is it EVER Rafa's fault, or has ANYTHING been his fault? If so, what?
WILL anything ever be his fault?

Yes it is his fault we are where we are

It is also his fault we won the Champions League , something the great Wenger has never done

There can be no excuses for this season becoming a nightmare of epic proportions and I'm certain that Rafa will know in his heart if he's not up to it.

Yesterday may well be the beginning of the end.

Only winning the CL will raise his profile enough to please the masses, and we know how easy that is.

Good luck Rafa.

[Craig_H]

Why do we have a divine right to finish in the TOP 4?There are 20 teams in this league who spend money and hire the best managers in the world.It`s not a forgone conclusion that we should finish in the Top 4 every yr.We`ve been spoilt for yrs now and expect/demand sucess.

We dont have a 'divine right' to finish fourth, but with the squad and resources we have, we SHOULD finish at least fourth, easily and comfortably.

Dont give me this 'divine right' stuff, it's not about divine right, it's about getting the highest level of achievement we are capable of.

What kind of Liverpool fan thinks finishing 4th is 'spoilt'? Crikey...

[Craig_H]

You could be mistaking motivation for confidence.

No, i'm not.

[Craig_H]

Regarding the point made about motivation, you have to ask how do you motivate a dressing room of multi-millionaires?
I would imagine it isnt the easiest thing in the world, but Ferguson and Wenger manage to do it week in week out, Mourinho did it as well, imo its what separates the great managers from the good ones at the top level, and I dont believe its a quality Rafa possesses.

Again imo, the reason why Ferguson and Wenger have managed to do it is they let their sides go out and play flowing football to their strengths, rather than the mechanical one-dimensional approach that Rafa adopts far too often. I dont deny their keeper had a blinder yesterday, but Arsenal or the mancs would have ripped them apart with their style of football and would have had it won by half-time.

In what has become a shambles of a season, on the field as well as off, Rafa seems to me to be doomed and he knows it. It pains me to say it, but i think Inter are going to give us a hiding. Im just hoping that Rafa and the team can muster up some of that spirit and doggedness that has carried us so well in the CL since he's been here.

[Craig_H]

Yes it is his fault we are where we are

It is also his fault we won the Champions League , something the great Wenger has never done

There can be no excuses for this season becoming a nightmare of epic proportions and I'm certain that Rafa will know in his heart if he's not up to it.

Yesterday may well be the beginning of the end.

Only winning the CL will raise his profile enough to please the masses, and we know how easy that is.

Good luck Rafa.

Wenger has consistently challenged for the title. Rafa has never.

Rafa has ONE thing in his corner - the CL win.

Wenger can point to titles, a double and a regular title challenge.

[DomL]

But he wouldnt play that team every week, Or slight variations of it. I think we would be in a better place right now if he would keep it that simple.

See this is what gets me, for me Rafa rotates because he feel scertain players fit against certain teams, why because they havent got the allround game to cope with all occasions.

Masch, Torres, Agger, Arbeloa, Lucas, Gerrard, Skrtel and Babel have an allround game that would cope with any game.

Now we need the extra players to come into the first team have the allround game to cope with anything.

Rafa for me would then only rotate in cups and with injuries which is really when rotation comes into play.

Rafa is in a hard possition because it seems like he has to play Carra and Gerrard he cant drop because their supposedly the passion and the heart of our team.

When we would probably be better off not having them in our team.

I hope Carra is used just for injuries next season and have Skrtel and Agger at the heart, we need youth an ability at the back and not just heart.

Because a new manager would leave carra their most likely because he doesnt want to get up the fans back, Rafa has big balls and would probably do wether carra understands it or not.

[poorscousertommy]

Wenger has consistently challenged for the title. Rafa has never.

Rafa has ONE thing in his corner - the CL win.

Wenger can point to titles, a double and a regular title challenge.

I agree with your view on the whole thing.

I love Rafa for what he has done but don't think we will win the league with him.

One thing taht he falls down on IMO is the fact he structures every team in each match to play against the opposition. He picks players he thinks are needed to beat the oppositions style of play.

People should be worrying about how to play against Liverpool, not the other way around.

[poorscousertommy]

See this is what gets me, for me Rafa rotates because he feel scertain players fit against certain teams, why because they havent got the allround game to cope with all occasions.

Masch, Torres, Agger, Arbeloa, Lucas, Gerrard, Skrtel and Babel have an allround game that would cope with any game.

Now we need the extra players to come into the first team have the allround game to cope with anything.

Rafa for me would then only rotate in cups and with injuries which is really when rotation comes into play.

Rafa is in a hard possition because it seems like he has to play Carra and Gerrard he cant drop because their supposedly the passion and the heart of our team.

When we would probably be better off not having them in our team.

I hope Carra is used just for injuries next season and have Skrtel and Agger at the heart, we need youth an ability at the back and not just heart.

Because a new manager would leave carra their most likely because he doesnt want to get up the fans back, Rafa has big balls and would probably do wether carra understands it or not.

This is exactly what I think mate

He worries more about how the opposition will play than sorting out a regular way for us to play.

[Craig_H]

Yes, that is definitely something he does. Wenger, Fergie and Mourinho just send out their sides to do what THEY do well and the opposition usually cant cope.

Rafa adjusts the system and style to suit the opposition. Not only does this hand them the initiative, but it also means we cannot develop a consistent style or system and the players are asked to play in a different way on a regular basis. Add to this the constant shifting of positions, changing of players and systems, and you can see why there's so little stability.

[Jimbob]

Exactly, Why should we be worried about other teams? They should be worried about us.

Its such a negative spoiling tactic. This is why we have no attacking verve. Because everyone including the strikers has a role to play in stopping the other team playing.

[DomL]

This is exactly what I think mate

He worries more about how the opposition will play than sorting out a regular way for us to play.

He does but if he had the correct team i dont think he would.

Rafa is a bit of a control freak and needs to feel confident before he can go and say their you go **** that team up, or thats my first team.

He seems to be showing confidence though in certain players and more of thoughs players we get the better Rafa will feel and the better we will play.

Now a new manager maybe more confident or different in approach and just tell that team to play but we will probably have worse results at first before we had better ones and would fans accept that.

I just feel if Rafa could just have a few injuries less and a first team he is proud of then he will let that team play.

[Craig_H]

Sorry, does he not have the team to beat the likes of Barnsley, Reading, Birmingham, Wigan etc?

[Jimbob]

Yeah, he probably had a plan to stop ****ing Barnsley playing. He should be saying "Go out and **** these **** *******s".

[DomL]

Sorry, does he not have the team to beat the likes of Barnsley, Reading, Birmingham, Wigan etc?

If you look we have players that are currently at Villa and Newcastles level.

Take Risse, Hyppia, Finnan, Kuyt, Crouch (possibly), Kewel, Benni.

Now many of thoughs are part of out first team at the momment and that quality isnt good enough to be apart of our first team and the likes of thoughs players well enable freak results like bransly to happen.

The players mentioned are probably at the level of Villa and portsmouth, now when we have that level look at the results at thoughs sides and you could probably see that they have freak results like Barnsly because their players havent got that extra quality to cope with heart and passion with ease.

We need to improve the quality all the way around the first team and squad Rafa has done it to a certain level and he needs to do it again.

Personally i would rather play youngsters instead of that team but Rafa will never because he doesnt want an even greater back lash from the media and from the fans.

We say we are the best fans in the world for me sometimes we dont come even close because we cant gve a manager a chance without pressure, i Rafa played a young team and lost possibly heavily the fans and media would be on his back like a dog in heat.