Worst case scenario (contains doom!)

[DannyMan2006]

Could be a good thing. No Benitez, no primadonna attitude. Back to basics and bring the club back on it's founding principles.

Yeah because we did ever so well with Souness and Evans. Unless you're planning to go grave digging I would suggest you may struggle to find a manager who would fit the criteria you are looking for.

Who would you give the job to? Especially as we would be out of the top 4 with no money to spend and seemingly no ambition. Curbishley? Glenn Roeder? David O'Leary? George Graham?

[Reece]

Could be a good thing. No Benitez, no primadonna attitude. Back to basics and bring the club back on it's founding principles.

3 games in. Brilliant.

[red g]

Could be a good thing. No Benitez, no primadonna attitude. Back to basics and bring the club back on it's founding principles.

Rafa is fighting for our cause as much as his........


could have sworn Benitez understood many of our founding principles.

All the Great managers nowadays have a bad attitude.....Mourinho(dubious), Wenger, ferguson, capello, saachi, lippi whoever.

we could bring in a complete rookie of course.....who would put up with the current yanks....lets promote sammy lee he seems a nice guy

[DannyMan2006]

3 games in. Brilliant.

I'm convinced he's a WUM. When we started doing well last year and winning games towards the end of the season he stopped posting. Now we are doing ****e he's back posting.

Either that or gets off on being so negative.

[Joe King]

I never knew kurtangle cloned some many people on here. It's frightening and backs fredo's findings in the A Level thread.

[Reece]

I never knew kurtangle cloned some many people on here. It's frightening and backs fredo's findings in the A Level thread.

Wait it was a joke? OMFG NOW I SEE IT!!! That was hilarious Joe, HILARIOUS!!!11

Except I don't believe it was, because as Danny pointed out that was the sort of thing you posted last season when we had our bad patch.

[Joe King]

Wait it was a joke? OMFG NOW I SEE IT!!! That was hilarious Joe, HILARIOUS!!!11

Except I don't believe it was, because as Danny pointed out that was the sort of thing you posted last season when we had our bad patch.

[red g]

Are the problems on the field an inevitable result of the instability off it?

It is certainly a factor but only so far as the problems off the field have meant Rafael Benitez has not had the budget he expected and as a result Liverpool do not have as strong a squad as he would have hoped for going into the new season.

But if you look at the performance last night it was down to individual errors and can't be blamed on anything else. Lucas scored an own goal, there was poor marking for the second goal and Steven Gerrard's tackle was mis-timed for the penalty. Apart from that Liverpool dominated the game without playing particularly impressively. But I am sure Gerrard wasn't thinking about off-the-field difficulties when he was going into for that tackle.

Benitez's future is a constant source of speculation with rumours that he had walked out on the club last week? Can that be blamed?

It doesn't help because it creates an unsettled atmosphere around the club. But Liverpool beat Stoke 4-0 and Real Madrid 1-0 in the Bernabeu on days when rumours about Benitez leaving spread like wildfire. I don't think the rumours necessarily play on the players' minds, but when there is uncertainty and instability I don't think it helps.

What do Liverpool have to do to turn this around?

They have to get their heads down and get on with it. People are writing them off by saying they lost twice last season and they have already lost twice this season. Manchester United lost four games last season and still won the league, so it is not all about how many you lose. Liverpool's problems last season came because of the number of matches they drew.

Having said that there isn't a great margin for error in the Premier League these days. Liverpool have to recover from this very quickly and get on a winning run if they are going to be in the mix at the end of the season. All the top teams will probably lose more games than they did last season and the winning points tally may well be lower than last season. Having said that Liverpool can't afford to start slowly.

Benitez called on his senior players to step up after last night's defeat. Have Gerrard and Torres looked below their best this season?

Gerrard was so far below his best last night. He just wasn't in the game at all and people in the press box were looking round and asking what was wrong with him. Torres may have scored twice in three games this season but he doesn't look 100 per cent fit. Liverpool have to be very careful with him this season. He didn't get much rest over the summer, he had injuries last season and they don't have much obvious back-up for him.

Will the owners make any money available after this poor start to the season?



There was a feeling that things might have to be reappraised after the defeat by Tottenham because it highlighted the lack of depth in the squad. Sotirios Kyrgiakos, with the greatest respect to him, was only signed because he was cheap and available. There would have been ten players ahead of him had Benitez had any more money.

But once again the owners don't seem willing to back up the promises and guarantees they made at the start of the summer.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/premier_league/liverpool/article6809315.ece

[Craig_H]

I never knew kurtangle cloned some many people on here. It's frightening and backs fredo's findings in the A Level thread.

To be honest, joke or not, it's true that you do only post when things are bad and when we were on a great run at the end of last season, you were barely visible on here.

People call me negative and that's their opinion, but i'm not as one sided as to go disappearing when we're doing well and only posting critical hyperbole when we're not. You do though.

[Jaymo]

Could be a good thing. No Benitez, no primadonna attitude. Back to basics and bring the club back on it's founding principles.

dont want to see manchester united lift more league titles than us though, when we are so close.

[Joe King]

To be honest, joke or not, it's true that you do only post when things are bad and when we were on a great run at the end of last season, you were barely visible on here.

People call me negative and that's their opinion, but i'm not as one sided as to go disappearing when we're doing well and only posting critical hyperbole when we're not. You do though.

Disappeared? I 'disappeared' during the summer break.

[Joe King]

dont want to see manchester united lift more league titles than us though, when we are so close.

They'll get there. It's inevitable.

[DannyMan2006]

They'll get there. It's inevitable.

I agree. But why be so gloomy about it all?

The path we are on at present looks like it is heading towards more failure and oblivion. But what's to say that in the next three years some wealthy owner doesn't come in and buy us? For anyone who can afford us we would be an attractive proposition to anyone who knew anything about the history of European football.

There is also a chance the financial market could balance out and become stable and attractive again, making our owners rich once again, or they could sell one of their franchises and become rich that way.

And all of the above could lead to a new stadium. Get that and our match day income could easily match Uniteds if we put in enough exectutive boxes. Do that and we could easily end up rivalling them toe to toe once again.

At present they are on a higher plain. But it is not out of the question we could get back up there again.

[Joe King]

I agree. But why be so gloomy about it all?

The path we are on at present looks like it is heading towards more failure and oblivion. But what's to say that in the next three years some wealthy owner doesn't come in and buy us? For anyone who can afford us we would be an attractive proposition to anyone who knew anything about the history of European football.

There is also a chance the financial market could balance out and become stable and attractive again, making our owners rich once again, or they could sell one of their franchises and become rich that way.

And all of the above could lead to a new stadium. Get that and our match day income could easily match Uniteds if we put in enough exectutive boxes. Do that and we could easily end up rivalling them toe to toe once again.

At present they are on a higher plain. But it is not out of the question we could get back up there again.

Too many ifs, buts and maybes. Realistically none of that will happen. We are stuck with these American owners for the foreseeable future.

[DannyMan2006]

Too many ifs, buts and maybes. Realistically none of that will happen. We are stuck with these American owners for the foreseeable future.

More maybes really is that.

Football is an ever changing game. In ten years there might not even be a national league. Teams at the top change all the time, Hull were in the bottom league not so long back, now they're in the top flight.

Chelsea nearly went to the wall and are now a European heavyweight. And you don't need to know how City fans think. I remember Nicky Weaver being the hero at Wembley to get them up to the second tier of English football.

Not so long back the red half of Manchester were 27 years or so without a title. If someone had told them that in twenty years (less actually) they would be level on titles with Liverpool they'd have laughed and told you to lay off the happy pills and that maybe the race scene of the day didn't suit your sanity.

My point? Things can change. Things have changed. And things will change.