Villa (a) Post Match Thread

[Assassin]

The lunatics have taken over the asylum.I honestly can`t believe that this many whingers exist on a football forum.
Unless we play Brazilian type football every game all hell breaks loose on here.It`s sad really.

Fully agree

If we bored every one to death with thirty five 1 - 0 wins to clinch the PL I would be happy

[dww]

One of the more frustrating PL matches for a while. I can see the logic in the original setup - if you accept that we have generally been at our best in recent seasons when we have controlled the flow of the game and built from possession early on to try and do damage later in the game when the opposition tire then playing effectively 4-5-1 from the get go should allow us to gain possession and position early on. The problem was that whenever we started looking like we were building something or were going to at least move their defense around in the first half we made a stupid mistake and we let this get to our confidence and started playing long balls to often.

There seems to be something eroding the confidence of the players at the minute and a lack of trust between the members of the team. Rafa needs to get this sorted and get players to up their work rate of the ball if we are to succeed. Hopefully people won't need to much motivation for the United game at least.

The first two substitutions I can live with. Not necessarily what I would have done but Ngog is probably the most natural lone frontman on the bench and people have criticised Rafa for giving people too many instructions so retaining the team shape when we are low on confidence is a reasonable idea. Aurelio did offer the width and crossing we needed at that point. Should have made two subs at the same time though for me. Benayoun for Keane seemed like madness especially when we could have bought the pace of Babel to bear on the Villa defense as an alternative.

The subs made me wonder if Rafa isn't getting less fond of Kuyt and Babel. A bit early to say but usually the former is kept on rather than other players and last season he certainly would have turned to Babel at the end of a game like that. Possibly that is over analysing things though.

Another game where no one on the pitch stood up and lead the troops. Mascher made an effort but a bit like Gerrard he tends to try and do everything rather than inspiring the team as a whole or helping to organise others and make us play more cohesively. I think the Alonso/Rafa split is hurting us a lot as he used to be like Rafa's mind on the pitch and helped to keep us ticking over and at his best enhanced those around him and made our game plans work.

Pepe was good. I love Pepe.

I was hoping for us to start getting at least some areas of our game together but nothing came of it. A truly tedious game with little to recommend it to anyone.

[Elvoz]

The lunatics have taken over the asylum.I honestly can`t believe that this many whingers exist on a football forum.
Unless we play Brazilian type football every game all hell breaks loose on here.It`s sad really.

as i said mate its personal opinion

i follow and will follow my team to the end of the earth but i cant say i enjoy watching the football we are dishing out so far this year
if you are then fair play but your easily satisfied
maybe being brought up on the fantsstic teams ive seen play has spoilt me but watching supposed title contender go to a play like villa and to some extent sunderland and look to grind out draws and basically playing poorly is not what i like to see
if we win the league by doing what we have so far this year i,ll be amazed
but maybe im wrong and your right

maybe we should continue to play as we do and leave the entertaining to the scum and arse

[FatTony]

The lunatics have taken over the asylum.I honestly can`t believe that this many whingers exist on a football forum.
Unless we play Brazilian type football every game all hell breaks loose on here.It`s sad really.

BTW that is a rather aggressive looking head banging the wall, mine is far more relaxed, only gently tapping my forehead whilst wearing a helmet

[badpiggy]

Paul Doyle
guardian.co.uk,
Sunday August 31 2008 20:31 BST


What's the point in moving into a multi-storey mansion if you don't even use all the rooms in your current bungalow? That, perhaps, is the question potential creditors asked Liverpool when the Reds recently came looking for a mortgage for their notional new stadium. By way of answer, Liverpool presumably sat in confused silence, drool slowly seeping from their mouths.

The solution is obvious - which is perhaps why Rafa Benitez refuses to recognise it.

The Anfield pitch is 101 metres long and 68 metres wide. What a waste! The minimum permitted dimensions are 90mx45m. That means Liverpool could narrow their pitch by over 11 metres on each side, ie remove the flanks that they've long left fallow anyway. They could also shorten the pitch by 11 metres, thereby giving an even greater role to one of their most creative players, Pepe Reina.

Not only would this condensed pitch suit Benitez's guileless brand of football, but extra seating could be erected on the rezoned metres, adding thousands to Anfield's capacity, almost rendering a new stadium redundant, and freeing up more money for Benitez to spend on strikers whose lack of pace makes them ideal for conversion into ineffective wingers. If ever one decides to emulate Ryan Babel by saving the side from costly Champions League humiliation with a wonderful cross from near the touchline in the 27th minute of extra-time against Belgian hicks, he can be dropped for the next match so that Robbie Keane can again totter fruitlessly down the channels.

If Fernando Torres then gets injured chasing yet another over-hit pass, Keane can be left marooned on the left while a cut-price import from PSG reserves lurches around up front instead of the £20m striker. His confidence duly shattered, Keane will be ready for redeployment in his preferred position, where, when a punt over the top lands in his path in the 72nd minute, he will dither uncharacteristically and allow someone such as Nigel Reo-Coker to hurtle back and cut him down with an embarrassing last-ditch tackle. Then Keane can be withdrawn – taking the value of the strikers who've left the pitch in the course of the 0-0 draw with a team beaten by Stoke the previous weekend to £50m – and replaced by Yossi Benayoun, who no longer knows where his best position is but is sure that if he does excel he will be benched for the next match.


http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2...&feed=football

that's pretty funny. uncomfortably accurate in its own way too.

[Johnny]

as i said mate its personal opinion

i follow and will follow my team to the end of the earth but i cant say i enjoy watching the football we are dishing out so far this year
if you are then fair play but your easily satisfied
maybe being brought up on the fantsstic teams ive seen play has spoilt me but watching supposed title contender go to a play like villa and to some extent sunderland and look to grind out draws and basically playing poorly is not what i like to see
if we win the league by doing what we have so far this year i,ll be amazed
but maybe im wrong and your right

maybe we should continue to play as we do and leave the entertaining to the scum and arse

Gerrard has carried an injury for a few weeks now and never got fully match fit.
Alonso has looked pants,
Masch has just come back from the olympics.
Keane is still looking for his 1st goal and will shine when he does.
N`Gog needs game time as Babel did last yr.
Babel warmed up at Villa and then sat down rubbing his right thigh.He missed the Euros through injury.
Lucas was stuck out on the Left.
Torres came off with a hamstring injury.
I don`t expect Brazilian football until everyone is fit and fresh.
Last season we`d be 8th in the league with these problems so I`m resonably happy to be Joint Top of the league without great performances.

[Johnny]

BTW that is a rather aggressive looking head banging the wall, mine is far more relaxed, only gently tapping my forehead whilst wearing a helmet

I`m slowly working on undoing the locked window.

Look at my Avatar.

[FatTony]

I`m slowly working on undoing the locked window.

Look at my Avatar.

I had that life-size on my door in uni!

[Elvoz]

Gerrard has carried an injury for a few weeks now and never got fully match fit.
Alonso has looked pants,
Masch has just come back from the olympics.
Keane is still looking for his 1st goal and will shine when he does.
N`Gog needs game time as Babel did last yr.
Babel warmed up at Villa and then sat down rubbing his right thigh.He missed the Euros through injury.
Lucas was stuck out on the Left.
Torres came off with a hamstring injury.
I don`t expect Brazilian football until everyone is fit and fresh.
Last season we`d be 8th in the league with these problems so I`m resonably happy to be Joint Top of the league without great performances.

as i am
but i am concerned how long our luck can hold for

[Johnny]

as i am
but i am concerned how long our luck can hold for

Hopefully we won`t need it for much longer.

Reira should solve our LW problem.El Zhar/Pennant/Kuyt/Babel should solve our RW problem between them.Keane will shine now with Torres sidlined as will Lucas with Gerrard out..Lucas was brazilian player of the yr 2/3 yrs ago.One bad game doesn`t mean he forgotten how to play.

[Rashid]

Even rafa's own fans have turned on him! Although the bit about Sammy Lee is ****e, Lee is just as defensive as Rafa but then I guess he wasn't an LFC fan during the Houllier years.

Spanish_fan
Forumite Join Date: Jul 2005
Posts: 200
: 350

Re: Has Rafa lost the plot?

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Benitez will never win the League in England unless the other top 3 teams heavily underperform. Luckily for Valencia he never had to build a winning squad there, and the only two players he signed were big flops like the majority of his Liverpool signings. In a league where the winner gets around 90 points you can not afford too many draws if you want to have a chance and Benitez ultraconservative tactics lead to many of those.

He is obsessed with winning the league with "defensive wingers" and "defensive advanced forwards". Benitez buys quantity over quality because he wants 11 workers on the pitch, eleven Spartans to follow his defensive instructions and don't complain when they are rotated by other workers alike. To be honest it has served him well in the CH L, where not conceding takes you further than scoring plenty and being weak at the back, but to win the Premier League you certainly need a more attacking mindset. I started following Liverpool because of Benitez but now I care more about the team than the coach and I firmly believe that he should be sacked. Maybe Sammy Lee who showed attacking intent at Bolton should be promoted. Surely the football served would be more attractive and after this decade of awful football in the main fans would enjoy the change even if the team do not win anything this season.

And it is not the end of the world if Benitez is sacked. He has clearly showed that he is not match for Ferguson in the league and his strong point, work rate, is not such a big avantage in a league where most teams work very hard.

Next season Liverpool should make it a top priority to improve the wide positions, either offensively ands defensively with top players, not with previous targets of middle of the table teams whose main attribute is that they work hard.

[red g]

Even rafa's own fans have turned on him! Although the bit about Sammy Lee is ****e, Lee is just as defensive as Rafa but then I guess he wasn't an LFC fan during the Houllier years.

plenty have turned on Rafa on here, but show me 1 forum for a team that doesnt have a few 'fans' that have turned against there manager. I know mancs who wanted slur out, chelsea idiots who wanted maureen out and even Arsenal fans who have wanted Wenger out.

[Johnny]

Even rafa's own fans have turned on him! Although the bit about Sammy Lee is ****e, Lee is just as defensive as Rafa but then I guess he wasn't an LFC fan during the Houllier years.

Your now quoting one guy called "Spanish Guy" and labeling him Rafa`s own fans to reinforce your agenda.Feeble effort.

[lfc1394]

At the end of the day no one bar Rafa would of played the team that he played on Sunday, and no one would have made the subs that he did.

Our best football under Rafa came at the end of last season when we played 4231. On Sunday we had the players for this formation (with Lucus and Masher back) Keane should have played in the whole not out on the left. How can you set up a team like that and not be questioned?

[Johnny]

At the end of the day no one bar Rafa would of played the team that he played on Sunday, and no one would have made the subs that he did.

Our best football under Rafa came at the end of last season when we played 4231. On Sunday we had the players for this formation (with Lucus and Masher back) Keane should have played in the whole not out on the left. How can you set up a team like that and not be questioned?

Who should have played on the left???