Rafa should be sacked....

[vonk]

I think your missing my point. The quality of Torres, Masch, Gerrard, Pepe is not in question. They are the 4 best players the club has. But these 4 had minimal involvement in us losing yesterday.

The rest of them are the issue. Are they good players? Most would say they are not good enough and so the issue is that Rafa needs more money.

My personal opinion is that I believe they are all decent players, at least as good as what Sunderland had, and I believe the team is not being not being coached, motivated or used correctly. But it's either one or the other, because we are ****e at the moment.

[Icon]

Well done son.....fair play to you for realising your mistake and saying sorry.

it's a frustrating road being a liverpool supporter - but the joy of it is.... there is no turning !!

I've been a liverpool supporter for the past 35 years, it will get better son, (at least that's what ive been telling myself since 1989!) - but posting crap about sacking the manager will get us nowhere.

We have to believe that this will get turned around .... knee jerk reactions are no good - we are all hurting after this weekend, but, hopefully SG and Nando are now fit and Aquilani is near fitness..........hope is eternal !!

YNWA

Patronising post of the year?

[MrMichael]

Patronising post of the year?

Elvoz?

I think its too early, despite our pretty attrocious start, to be at all thinking about changes in management.

Iirc it was about 12 months ago that such thoughts last surfaced, and were gaining quite a lot of momentum... but in the end we came as close to the title as we have in a decade or more.

As for people suggesting Hiddink as an alternative (and, apart from bloody Maureen he's about the only name anyone ever comes up with in this debate), I ask them what (a) makes them think he'd take the job when he wouldn't stay at Chelsea with all the resources in the world at his disposal, and (b) what on Earth makes them think our chaotic and idiotic owners would even remotely go for him as opposed to someone utterly random like Klinsmann?

[Kenneth]

I'm sorry for angering some fans on this site but I just Decided to voice my own opinion. Iv only been following football for the last 4 years or so and I'm only 14. I don't know half as much about the Liverpool team as all you's do. I apologise again for angering anyone

You are Craig_H, I claim my 5 pounds.

[Molby]

Patronising post of the year?

it wasn't meant to be patronising Icon.........the young lad admitted he was wrong - by calling him "son" it was meant as a fatherly statement, offering him support for having the decency to post his apology.

Fair play to the young lad.

[Norbs]

miles better!!! many of them players were at the end of any decent times for us.....

Our first 11 is a million times better than that lot.

only sami and didi would get a look in our first team now

What about that lad Steven Gerrard

[BFG]

Rafa's the man for the job. Losing him with the financial state we're in and the owners we have could be suicidal.

[Exiled_red]

What about that lad Steven Gerrard

He'd never have made it

[dww]

I really think that those calling for Rafa to go are being very short sighted. At the very least the man has done enough to be given until the end of the season but I would argue even a bad season this time out would not justify us sacking him.

I don't think you can point to a case where another manager in the PL has built a team to challenge for the league without huge investment or an existing title winning team since Abramovich arrived at Chelsea. We had a traumatic summer in which we had to contend with the fact that one of our best players and a key on pitch leader left and we were not able to make full value first choice replacements and make the upgrades to the contracts of keep players we needed to. We have also altered our style in the sort of way many were calling for us to do and any change in style will take time, especially if one of the players who might of smoothed the change leaves.

It could be argued that we should have stuck to the old style if changing would be so traumatic at the time chosen. The trouble is the loss of Alonso would have forced some level of change anyway and it is not clear that there was any better option in terms of an upgrade elsewhere on the pitch than Johnson who is the main driver of the change.

In general I think that if you have a world class manager the only justifications for change would be illness or stagnation. The very fact we are changing our style rules out the later and as far as I know Rafa is as healthy as he has ever been. So I guess that we are down to whether or not he is a top class manager - I have to say that the evidence strongly points to the fact he is.

On top of this he has just started a restructure of the youth system that is essential for the future of the club.

[carheex]

Sack rafa and we risk losing Torres, Masch etc. Plus it'd take a new boss several seasons to gather his squad together.

That's horse****. The players are contracted to LFC not rafa benitez. Besides, Rafa is well known to not have a good personal relationship with his players so maybe they'd be happier if he left if a good man-manager came in?

That said, Rafa IS a world class manager. You don't win the champions league with players like kewell, traore, smicer, riise, cisse and baros unless you know what you're doing!

[carheex]

We had a traumatic summer in which we had to contend with the fact that one of our best players and a key on pitch leader left and we were not able to make full value first choice replacements and make the upgrades to the contracts of keep players we needed to.


On top of this he has just started a restructure of the youth system that is essential for the future of the club.

I'd have to question these 2 points. So we lost Alonso, big deal?! For the time he was with us, he had far more games where he was absent than he did where he made a big difference. Let's not forget that. His final season with us wasn't typical of what he contributed...it was a one off. I'd say that the loss of Tevez and Ronaldo were far, FAR more damaging to Utd as a team and they're top of the league now, whilst we're sandwiched between sunderland and stoke!!!

With regards to the youth system being essential for the future of the club, I'd have to disgaree and say it is a waste of money and a drain on resources. The days of players coming through the ranks to influence the first team are almost extinct. No top club can afford to take the risks of playing inexperience players with so much at stake these days.

[calvoboy]

It's a results game. Two wins this week and we'll be odds on to qualify in the Champions league, still in all three cup competitions and only 4 points off the Mancs. Despite two **** performances (Spurs and Sunderland) and a couple of other losses that could have gone either way (Villa and Chelsea) we wouldn't actually be in too bad a position to challenge on all fronts with over two thirds of the season still to go. Of course, two defeats and...

[DannyMan2006]

It's a results game. Two wins this week and we'll be odds on to qualify in the Champions league, still in all three cup competitions and only 4 points off the Mancs. Despite two **** performances (Spurs and Sunderland) and a couple of other losses that could have gone either way (Villa and Chelsea) we wouldn't actually be in too bad a position to challenge on all fronts with over two thirds of the season still to go. Of course, two defeats and...

Spot on.

But like Alan Hansen says in his article, these sort of must win games should be happening in April or May, not October!

[sitoca]

Sack a guy who got us into 2nd place last season? IMO, He has till next season to deliver.

[Zambian_Red]

I think your missing my point. The quality of Torres, Masch, Gerrard, Pepe is not in question. They are the 4 best players the club has. But these 4 had minimal involvement in us losing yesterday.

The rest of them are the issue. Are they good players? Most would say they are not good enough and so the issue is that Rafa needs more money.

My personal opinion is that I believe they are all decent players, at least as good as what Sunderland had, and I believe the team is not being not being coached, motivated or used correctly. But it's either one or the other, because we are ****e at the moment.

Another 5 year plan with a new manager then we can say goodbye to gerrard/torres and mascherano.

As for gerrard i dont think he would want to wait for another 5 years to win a title just maybe, he would stay and finish his career with liverpool.

Torres mascherano and even reina would leave as they were a reason who came to liverpool because of Rafa.

To be honest its just hard to comprehend from last seasons finish to the league and now the dire situation we are in.

The bottom line is the owners have to go if we do not qualify for CL i wonder how they would re finance or even part of thier debts obviously we will have to sell our prized assets and the new world class manager will have to work with a shoe string budget.