Let's look on the positive side of things

[RedReet]

Agger hasn't hit top form since the 2007-08 season and Aurelio is not really what I'd call top class, though Rafa apparently rates him very highly. Riera started well, but to be fair, he's been exceedly average ever since.

Aurelio was excellent last year and has a lot of ability. I would like to compare our results this year with and without Agger (I honestly have no idea of the stats, but would think they favour Dan). I like Riera, but will make no stat predictions for his appearances. He has been injured though.

Prety ****ty and pointless post, but there you go.

[ronniedrew]

Agger hasn't hit top form since the 2007-08 season and Aurelio is not really what I'd call top class, though Rafa apparently rates him very highly. Riera started well, but to be fair, he's been exceedly average ever since.

agger is our best ball player in defence, and none of our centre halfs are exactly inspiring defencive condifence, so for me , he must play.

aurelio was excellent last season when fit, and offers the ability to deliver a decent ball .

funny how things change but we had the best defence around over the last few years and these 2 played in that defence.

seems a long time ago now though!

[Nicey]

I think it has been pointed out before but perhaps people do not realease .. Agger ! is the most important player statistically in terms of positive results .. when he is in the team we usually do better .. even more so than Stevie or Torres

Factoid.

[vonk]

Bit harsh to hold Benitez responsible when he has had to rebuild pretty much the entire squad. Or are we now expecting a new manager to come in, wave a magic wand and make us title contenders straight away?

We've seen a gradual improvement in league form since he joined - bar this season, which isn't even half way through yet. To count this season as a failure is a little premature yet.

Rebuild the squad? He won the CL with Geds squad! We relied on Owen/Gerrard under Ged - Torres/Gerrard under Rafa. I am not seeing this great squad he has rebuilt.

His league finishes have been no better than Houlliers and his win % is the same. Love him or not he is judged on results. I like Rafa, but can he turn this around?

I'm never expecting a title, but some decent football would be nice.

[vonk]

I think it has been pointed out before but perhaps people do not realease .. Agger ! is the most important player statistically in terms of positive results .. when he is in the team we usually do better .. even more so than Stevie or Torres

Factoid.

alright, i'm going to be positive for nicey:

agger, masch, johnson, reina, stevie, nando - crackin
carra, benny - brilliant on their day
aqua, pacheco - showed great potential tonight

i ****in want rafa to turn it around and prove me wrong. i really hope he does. stick with the lads above, one or two swaps/frees in jan, and lets go at every team that stands in our way. and show them that we are liverpool football club!!!

...feel better already..

[Nicey]

alright, i'm going to be positive for nicey:

agger, masch, johnson, reina, stevie, nando - crackin
carra, benny - brilliant on their day
aqua, pacheco - showed great potential tonight

i ****in want rafa to turn it around and prove me wrong. i really hope he does. stick with the lads above, one or two swaps/frees in jan, and lets go at every team that stands in our way. and show them that we are liverpool football club!!!

...feel better already..

Your assistance is greatly appreciated I was thinking about this .. perhaps we should spend more time on common ground rather than polarising issues such as Lucas or Kuyt, could potentially make for a better disucssion.

Case in point our Club Captain ... seriously what ! a ****ing player ! I think sometimes we take him for granted. He is starting to hit top form again you can see it in his touch and burst of pace, Steven Gerrard on Form, Fit and confident is unstoppable. What a ****ing player he is

[cream]

A positive from last night, Dossena looked pretty good on the left again.

[Bender]

A positive from last night, Dossena looked pretty good on the left again.

He's gonna leave this time he's ready to take a pay cut to move back to italy

[cream]

He's gonna leave this time he's ready to take a pay cut to move back to italy

Rather see him playing on the left than Quagmire or Aurelio.

[The Birdman]

Going along with the title of this thread the positives of our CL campaign have been that Kelly looked a real player for 60 mins against Lyon, Pacheco looked what he is which is busy, technically brilliant and skillful but will need to bulk up for the PL which will take 2-3years, not sure about Darby, I think he is the 'weakest' in terms of potential not strength but may continue to improve over the next couple of seasons.
N'Gog has really impressed me with his progress and Spearing has confirmed that he is nowhere near good enough (imo).

[dww]

Not sure Aquilani will be risked for the Arsenal game but i am sure he should be Match fit for the rest of the season thereafter, gave us a whoe different dimension going forward.

I think a team with him, Reira on form, Benny, Gerrard, Torres, Johnson, Agger and Aurelio is going to give every team in the world a lot of problems

I'd think that much like the United game this would be a fixture where Lucas and Mascherano could do well as a partnership, you would however hope that Aquilani would be fit enough to come on after 60 minutes or so depending on how things are going. I agree he could be the ingredient that binds our team together.

The problem is getting that list of players on the pitch together consistently. With a fully fit squad we have a very good set of options. The trouble is that a good number of those (Kuyt and Riera would be two) require the rest of the team to be able to control which areas of the pitch the game is played in to get the best out of them. We only have a few players capable of really influencing that on their own - Gerrard and Agger with Aquilani hopefully making a third. Only by getting a stable base to our team and playing well as a unit can we really be able to look like we have the strength in squad we actually have. Confidence is going to be hard to build I think and we might have to go through a patch of poor, battling performances (like Blackburn) to get it back. I really hope the crowd stay behind the team.

All that said I really think the second half of the season will be completely different to the first, not just for us but for many teams in the division.

[RedReet]

Rebuild the squad? He won the CL with Geds squad! We relied on Owen/Gerrard under Ged - Torres/Gerrard under Rafa. I am not seeing this great squad he has rebuilt.

His league finishes have been no better than Houlliers and his win % is the same. Love him or not he is judged on results. I like Rafa, but can he turn this around?

I'm never expecting a title, but some decent football would be nice.

Care to share these stats with the rest of us?

[FatTony]

Its not right, Rafa has improved on our overall league points

Taking the last 5 years of each manager, then Houllier achieved 340 league points,
Benitez 370. The only area which hasn't been improved is goals scored, which was a little better under Houllier.

This season apart, we've achieved far more in Europe under Rafa, under Ged we used to struggle against any old fodder, though of course this campaign was ****e. 2 unimpressive wins against possibly the worst side in the CL and 1 point in 4 games against Fiorentina and Lyon reminds me of the days under Ged, but lets just hope that it is a blip.

In career games as a manager of all clubs though, both Ged and Rafa are absolutely equal. 622 games and a win rate of 51%.

[Guest]

Its not right, Rafa has improved on our overall league points

Taking the last 5 years of each manager, then Houllier achieved 340 league points,
Benitez 370. The only area which hasn't been improved is goals scored, which was a little better under Houllier.

This season apart, we've achieved far more in Europe under Rafa, under Ged we used to struggle against any old fodder, though of course this campaign was ****e. 2 unimpressive wins against possibly the worst side in the CL and 1 point in 4 games against Fiorentina and Lyon reminds me of the days under Ged, but lets just hope that it is a blip.

In career games as a manager of all clubs though, both Ged and Rafa are absolutely equal. 622 games and a win rate of 51%.

In all honesty, both are/were good managers too.

Who do you think can improve us then? Eriksson? Advocaat? Hiddink? Rijkjaard? Mourihno? McLaren? Vegetables?

[FatTony]

In all honesty, both are/were good managers too.

Who do you think can improve us then? Eriksson? Advocaat? Hiddink? Rijkjaard? Mourihno? McLaren? Vegetables?

As much as I dislike the football we play at the moment, and the apparent lack of depth, if push come to shove I'd prefer to give Rafa a couple more years to turn things around.

If he walked though, I'd have a preference for Hiddink, closely followed by Mourihno. I think Mourihno is waiting for the Utd job though, and I'm pretty sure he'll be their next manager.