Past weekends football - Liverpool - City / Utd - Blackburn

[rezaeos]

It’s embarrassing when Liverpool fans use the excuse of ‘no money’ to cover up Rafa’s failings. £40m on Keane, Babel and Pennant would suggest otherwise. I’m surprised the same people haven’t congratulated Rafa for all our ‘successful’ signings and blamed Parry for all our ‘unsuccessful’ signings!

I think out of this lot Babel was the one Rafa goofed on. No one knows for sure but he did not seem too keen on Keane and am sure Pennant was not his first choice. I will go further and say Parry is a useless t-w-a-t who is not good enough for this club.

Because he sold a striker (Crouch) and failed to sell a midfielder (Alonso). Why buy a midfielder to replace a striker? Mind you, we are talking about Rafa!

Crouch was not happy sitting on the bench and rather play for Portsmouth than be at LFC. I'm glad he's enjoying so much success at Fratton Park.

I tend to agree with your wider points in this thread, although about the Barry thing - do you think his signing would have corrected our flaws this season? It might have made a difference to the general mood around the club, and he is a quality player who delivers a great ball from set pieces (something we sorely lack), but he would have replaced Alonso, who has been one of our best performers this year, and he isn't a really creative or skillfull attacking force, which is what we've been lacking in all these poor draws against "lesser" teams.

Had Rafa been pulling out all the stops to bring in someone of the like of Diego say (not necessarily him specifically) and it had been blocked by the club, then I think, looking at how the games have gone this year, we could say that Rafa tried to correct our biggest failing and so blame the board/Parry/whoever. But I just don't think the fans can buy the lack of Gareth Barry as an excuse for our consistent attacking deficiencies.

TBH Mr. Mike I was I was against buying Barry if it meant losing Xabi. On Sunday we missed a leader in the midfield. Rafa should have been more ruthless in his demand with the board with regards to major signings. Heavens knows if the rumour of Villa for 25 million was true but that would have been a major coup.

Ultimately it falls down to a lack of funds. Who is to blame? The owners and the genius of Rick Parry.

[Kenneth]

I think out of this lot Babel was the one Rafa goofed on. No one knows for sure but he did not seem too keen on Keane and am sure Pennant was not his first choice. I will go further and say Parry is a useless t-w-a-t who is not good enough for this club.



Crouch was not happy sitting on the bench and rather play for Portsmouth than be at LFC. I'm glad he's enjoying so much success at Fratton Park.



TBH Mr. Mike I was I was against buying Barry if it meant losing Xabi. On Sunday we missed a leader in the midfield. Rafa should have been more ruthless in his demand with the board with regards to major signings. Heavens knows if the rumour of Villa for 25 million was true but that would have been a major coup.

Ultimately it falls down to a lack of funds. Who is to blame? The owners and the genius of Rick Parry.

I suppose they're to blame for us not buying Kaka for 100m too then.

[Kenneth]

Our challenge has died before March mate. This is the best we can do under Rafa, in my view. If there's evidence to suggest otherwise, i'm all ears.

I dont think the RIGHT change would set us back at all.

Bring in someone who can get the maximum out of the squad we have - and we'll win it.

I think we should be pretty happy with a reasonable challenge and a 2nd place finish year on year as long as there's a chance that we could win it. The grass is always greener on the other side.

[ntto]

for me it's not just the means or the points, what has been disappointing has been the way we've gone about playing.

We all know how there is an ethos from the manager that dictates that our first priority is not to conceed and then take our chance(s) when it comes along. First and foremost we stop the opposition play.

I don't think we'll win the league with that approach.

When we played newcastle away we were awesome, great attacking play, great interplay, pass and move football that newcastle just couldnt handle. Contrast that to some of the cautious, slow and predictable football we've particularly played at home and there is no contest. We should be going out to destroy the "lesser" teams full of confidence that not only do we have the better players, but we have the better team as well.

Who would have guessed that fulham have the second best home record in the league (behind utd).

Drawing games due to an overly cautious approach will ultimately cost us the league. Whats the point if we draw 5 games at home against the lesser teams when if we had won 2 (and been beated 3 times) we'd still be better off points wise. That for me is the heart of the issue and it's where utd has the greater advantage than us. Too many times we've left it to the last 5 minutes of a game to both up our tempo and get about teams - we should do that from the start of the game. And when we do go 1 nil up early doors, then go at them again to ensure a 2 goal cushion - rather than what typically has happeend when we've sat back and allowed the other team to nick an equaliser.

We also need to improve our substitutions, not only who is substituted but when. We've become VERY predictable and it appears that irrespective of the match situation, the substitutions appear to be mainly premeditated - 70 minutes, then 80 minutes. How many times have you thought "wow, thats an inspired substution rafa". The insistance to continue with two defensive midfielders when we're crying out for some bodies in the box / width / centre forward. It was nice to see rafa change that against city (and yes I know the hamann istanbul argument).

I think it's coming. Last year we sat here at the same time and said we needed to improve our record against the other "big 4" and we've now done that, but we need to improve all these improvements together consistantly throughout a season to win the league. This year has been our best chance given chelsea being out of sorts and arsenal out by christmas - but we've blown it by being overly cautious.

5 draws < 2 wins and 3 defeats

[Craig_H]

I think we should be pretty happy with a reasonable challenge and a 2nd place finish year on year as long as there's a chance that we could win it. The grass is always greener on the other side.

I'm not fussed about positions, i want us to do the best that we can, with what we've got. I dont think we are. It's nothing to do with other sides, green grass or the like.

[ntto]

for me it's not just the means or the points, what has been disappointing has been the way we've gone about playing.

We all know how there is an ethos from the manager that dictates that our first priority is not to conceed and then take our chance(s) when it comes along. First and foremost we stop the opposition play.

I don't think we'll win the league with that approach.

When we played newcastle away we were awesome, great attacking play, great interplay, pass and move football that newcastle just couldnt handle. Contrast that to some of the cautious, slow and predictable football we've particularly played at home and there is no contest. We should be going out to destroy the "lesser" teams full of confidence that not only do we have the better players, but we have the better team as well.

Who would have guessed that fulham have the second best home record in the league (behind utd).

Drawing games due to an overly cautious approach will ultimately cost us the league. Whats the point if we draw 5 games at home against the lesser teams when if we had won 2 (and been beated 3 times) we'd still be better off points wise. That for me is the heart of the issue and it's where utd has the greater advantage than us. Too many times we've left it to the last 5 minutes of a game to both up our tempo and get about teams - we should do that from the start of the game. And when we do go 1 nil up early doors, then go at them again to ensure a 2 goal cushion - rather than what typically has happeend when we've sat back and allowed the other team to nick an equaliser.

We also need to improve our substitutions, not only who is substituted but when. We've become VERY predictable and it appears that irrespective of the match situation, the substitutions appear to be mainly premeditated - 70 minutes, then 80 minutes. How many times have you thought "wow, thats an inspired substution rafa". The insistance to continue with two defensive midfielders when we're crying out for some bodies in the box / width / centre forward. It was nice to see rafa change that against city (and yes I know the hamann istanbul argument).

I think it's coming. Last year we sat here at the same time and said we needed to improve our record against the other "big 4" and we've now done that, but we need to improve all these improvements together consistantly throughout a season to win the league. This year has been our best chance given chelsea being out of sorts and arsenal out by christmas - but we've blown it by being overly cautious.

5 draws < 2 wins and 3 defeats

cracking post, totally agree. You should post more often

[Maxiedge]

cracking post, totally agree. You should post more often

Sorry pal, I just think most of us feel a little deflated at the moment. Sunday was our last chance and it wasn't to be.

It is true what you say about 2 wins better than 5 draws but how would you feel losing 3 out of 5 games? Also, how would that record set you up for for the next set of games. At least with 5 draws you can say you're undefeated and that gives the team something to build on. Interesting point nonetheless.

With regards to Newcastle, they allowed us to play. It was a great result and game to watch but the geordies are a poor side. I actually think they are the worst organised team in the league and manage to get results with the bit of attacking talent they have mustered by spending relatively big in the transfer market.

Just for the record, I don't really have a problem with what Benitez has done this season with the team at his disposal. The problem lies last summer when we should have spent wisely to improve the squad. 20m should have been spent on a great player not a good player. Also, to take such a gamble on Dossena is ludicrous for a club in our situation. Riera (even though I like him) seems like a 3rd choice signing.

[rezaeos]

I suppose they're to blame for us not buying Kaka for 100m too then.

No player is worth 100 Million plus wages. And yes, I do blame Parry and the Yanks for our financial ills.

[MrMichael]

for me it's not just the means or the points, what has been disappointing has been the way we've gone about playing.

We all know how there is an ethos from the manager that dictates that our first priority is not to conceed and then take our chance(s) when it comes along. First and foremost we stop the opposition play.

I don't think we'll win the league with that approach.

When we played newcastle away we were awesome, great attacking play, great interplay, pass and move football that newcastle just couldnt handle. Contrast that to some of the cautious, slow and predictable football we've particularly played at home and there is no contest. We should be going out to destroy the "lesser" teams full of confidence that not only do we have the better players, but we have the better team as well.

Who would have guessed that fulham have the second best home record in the league (behind utd).

Drawing games due to an overly cautious approach will ultimately cost us the league. Whats the point if we draw 5 games at home against the lesser teams when if we had won 2 (and been beated 3 times) we'd still be better off points wise. That for me is the heart of the issue and it's where utd has the greater advantage than us. Too many times we've left it to the last 5 minutes of a game to both up our tempo and get about teams - we should do that from the start of the game. And when we do go 1 nil up early doors, then go at them again to ensure a 2 goal cushion - rather than what typically has happeend when we've sat back and allowed the other team to nick an equaliser.

We also need to improve our substitutions, not only who is substituted but when. We've become VERY predictable and it appears that irrespective of the match situation, the substitutions appear to be mainly premeditated - 70 minutes, then 80 minutes. How many times have you thought "wow, thats an inspired substution rafa". The insistance to continue with two defensive midfielders when we're crying out for some bodies in the box / width / centre forward. It was nice to see rafa change that against city (and yes I know the hamann istanbul argument).

I think it's coming. Last year we sat here at the same time and said we needed to improve our record against the other "big 4" and we've now done that, but we need to improve all these improvements together consistantly throughout a season to win the league. This year has been our best chance given chelsea being out of sorts and arsenal out by christmas - but we've blown it by being overly cautious.

5 draws < 2 wins and 3 defeats

Pretty much agree with all of that.

[dww]

The criticism of Rafas substitutions seems to me slightly unfair. It is an odd way to do it but I remember at the start of the season there was a lot of stats about showing how effective that they had been. The fact that it isn't the way we or even other managers would do things doesn't mean that it hasn't been effective.

I have a feeling that Rafa is right about the fact that bodies in the box aren't that effective really the problem is though that committing people forward correctly does instill fear in the opposition and it is that psychological advantage that we have lacked. I think that the problem is twofold, with both problems related. The first being that we do not have enough goal threats in the team, even when everyone is fit and secondly that we have struggled to control games towards the climax.

The reason I say that these are related is to do with the fear factor - I do think that United have repeatedly shown that the best form of defense certainly at the end of games is controlled attacking. When we look to add to that aspect of our game we almost by necessity have to bring on the likes of Benayoun or Babel who are less defensively strong and present the opposition with counter attack possibilities as a consequence. I think that we would score more and concede less if we could keep the ball in the opposition half with control and intent. For too much of the season though we have been just a bit too toothless to be able to make it stick.

When we had a firing Kuyt we were very close to being able to put that sort of team togetehr and that was the period when we were most successful.

I actually think the two deep lying midfielders thing is a bit of a red herring. They can be the basis for the control I feel we need but I feel that we could do occasionally with one taking a small risk and moving to the D to back up attacks.

[Kenneth]

I'm not fussed about positions, i want us to do the best that we can, with what we've got. I dont think we are. It's nothing to do with other sides, green grass or the like.

I think we probably are.