Why wait until the end of the season?

[Roboklopp]

Just seen the interview with him. He looks like a man out of ideas.

[Exiled_red]

In fact why would any top manager want to take Rafa's job at the moment?
We are not very appealing packet are we... Evaluate the situation at the end of the season, we are not NUFC.

[scully]

Rafa can turn it around, we're having a bad few months but this is really the first time in 5 years and that's thanks to Rafa, at the very least he deserves the chance to turn it around. Yes he's made mistakes but there are other issues which are out of his control that are as much to blame for the current situation as any of Rafa's decisions. Clubs can only achieve success based on stability, (the only exception being to throw vast sums of money at it, but that's not an option) changing managers every time you go through a bad patch of more than a few games is not good for the club.

I absolutely do not get that argument. We have had a bad patch during every single one of Rafa's seasons with us. The pro-Rafas like to accuse the antis of having short term memories and kneejerk attitudes, yet themselves seem to rewrite our previous seasons under the man. His first season was an absolute shocker Premiership-wise, the following 3 were 4th-place scrapers and last season, when we had the lead at Xmas and the opportunity to take advantage of other team's bad patches, he indulged in a mid-season breakdown. He is unstable and unreliable, and takes advantage of the Kop's faithful attitude and our by now quite frankly moronic "We are not a sacking club" ethos.

[BigChief]

Say what you like but I've got a nagging feeling that Avram Grant will win big things with big clubs in the not so distant future. Not saying this on the back of one Portsmouth game but he's learning quickly and tactically makes sound decisions - did this with Chelsea too and but for a f*ck up by Terry would have been their first European Cup holding manager.

His man management skills also now seem to be showing through, might look like an ogre but has a heart of Shrek. Lampard's case being the highlight, but even the Portsmouth players all wanted to touch him to acknowledge their saviour.

Not saying he's the ideal replacement for Rafa, but we'd be mad to miss out if he leads Portsmouth to say top 10 by June.

[nebbers]

Well, Mark Hughes is available...

[kingfunk]

lol Nevermind!

[BubbaZanetti]

Say what you like but I've got a nagging feeling that Avram Grant will win big things with big clubs in the not so distant future. Not saying this on the back of one Portsmouth game but he's learning quickly and tactically makes sound decisions - did this with Chelsea too and but for a f*ck up by Terry would have been their first European Cup holding manager.

His man management skills also now seem to be showing through, might look like an ogre but has a heart of Shrek. Lampard's case being the highlight, but even the Portsmouth players all wanted to touch him to acknowledge their saviour.

Not saying he's the ideal replacement for Rafa, but we'd be mad to miss out if he leads Portsmouth to say top 10 by June.

[sinbad]

hey why not lets see some entertaining football and some passion

Agreed, after ten years of defensive dross and hoofball we could all do with a change.

[thebige]

Will you still say that if we slide down the league to the depths?

Uh, that's already happening under Rafa. Using your logic we'd never ever do anything, just sit on our hands accepting mediocrity because we were scared to try to win.

Your mentality is exactly what's wrong with the club right now. Rafa spends way too much of his time trying not to lose games, as opposed to trying to win them.

[Joe King]

he needs to go now. hes had his time. how much longer do the players like carra and gerrard accept this. rafa will never win the title- he never learns his lessons

[gerbin11]

I think we have to look at the bigger picture here. To just blame Rafa is to over simplify the problems this season. One of the things we have to consider is the improvement of the Premier League this season. There are very few easy games this season. Burnley? ask United, Fulham, Ask United, Portsmouth Ask our men, Wolves ASk Tottenham. The worst team in the league has still won 4 games. Think back to last year Derby hadn't won more than 1. The best team in the league has won 13 and lost 3. We were the best team at this stage last year and had only lost one game. My point is that every team is finding it more difficult to be consistent this season. We are just finding it a bit tougher.

Injuries, yes I know united are also having injuries, and so is Arsenal. But we have to accept it has been quite a big factor in us not being consistent. We have a new back four this season that has not been able to consistently play together. Our midfield has had to rely on the same pairing for the majority of fixtures because of a lack of alternatives. Rafa likes to rotate, how many games has he been able to rotate and allow players rest. Resting players has always been key to out success, fresher fitter players that are able to out last the opponent. Not this season, due to having to play the same players too much. Maybe not that strange we keep conceding late goals this season.

Some, it seems the majority at the moment, will blame Rafa for the lack of quality in depth. The next point is part of this. Alonso. Yes we miss him, yes he was more effective than we really understood. Yes the corner Rafa was backed into was very much of his own making but, after being backed into that corner, he had to do something. He had to either keep him, loose a lot of money, have an unsettled unhappy player in the dressing room or sell him and buy someone he felt would be effective in the long term, (someone who was relatively cheep due to current injury) though a gamble.

I agree at this moment the gamble has not really paid off, but regarding Aquilani it is still very very early. Maybe Rafa sees the long game. Gerrard moving back into midfield as the playmaker and Aquilani filling the advanced role, remember Gerrard can pass the ball 40 yrds, just like Alonso could. (he's also a better tackler and quicker over the ground). This may be what we end up doing next season.
The world cup, has this been a big impact, we have a larger number of what you might consider fringe internationals than most of the other 'top four' clubs. These are players that do not want to get injured, want to play consistently and be available come the summer. Yes I know playing within themselves doesn't win votes, but we are talking about footballers, not the sharpest tools in the box.

Dont get me wrong I am not a RCDNW person. I can see the problems, I am not good enough to be able to suggest the solution but what I can see is that getting rid of Rafa is not it. people who ask who will he be replaced with ask the right question. Who in thier right mind will come to a club that is only able to spend £16m net each season. None of the top managers will touch us with a barge pole. We would have to go untried and untested, not a good prospect. I used to believe that I was a fan of the best club in the world. How did I know this? Because when we were facing adversity we would stick together ride the storm and through collective belief show our team that we believed in them. We sing at the lowest point, to raise our spirits and inspire those men and boys who cross the white line and make them understand what it means to play for our club. We do not ask for our managers head in public. We have to start believing again, Istanbul was not a fluke.

[Slinky Skills]

he needs to go now. hes had his time. how much longer do the players like carra and gerrard accept this. rafa will never win the title- he never learns his lessons

It's not just Rafa, things just don't feel right at the club and I'm sure it's killing me as much as it every single one of you.

We've two complete and utter mother ****ing wankdogs in charge of our club and they are an absoloute disgrace to themselves and everyone associated to Liverpool FC.

The players are a total ****ing letdown, do they not realise what club they are playing for or what it means to us as fans?

They need a ****ing good shaking and a hard kick up the ****ing backside. It pains me to say this but there are some that need to go as they are not worthy of playing in the shirt, there are others who are but they also need to go for the reasons outlined below.

I'm going to be honest now so don't shoot me down in flames but the following NEEDS to happen. I feel bad for saying this on this of all days but Carragher needs to go, he is getting too old and too predictable. Yes he is a great defender but he cannot pass the ball to the midfield, his constant hammering and hoofing of the ball is not the Liverpool way, it never has been and never will be.

He gets raped by too many strikers now, he is getting old and is getting slow and is no longer of the high standard that this club needs. His love for the club is unquestionable and he should stay in some form to teach future youngsters that come in what it means to play for this club. He is not good enough to play for this club anymore, we have to move on.

As for the rest of the team bar Torres, Reina (sometimes) and Gerrard (sometimes) they are a disgrace and are nowhere near good enough for this club.

We should be looking at bringing in some quality homegrown talent to bring the club forward, they need bringing through asap as the club is in desperate need of re-building from top to bottom, if this means being ****e for a few years then so be it but for the sake of LFC something has to happen.

This is more than just a case of bad luck and bad form, it a rotten squad of players who have no bottle who are playing ****e formations (Rafa to blame) for some time, this has been going on since the Houllier era, Rafa is not the only one to blame here.

I feel awful saying this as I want Rafa to succeed but I've stuck by him out of pure belief and support that he can turn this sorry mess around. He can't, the team are utter dross and are not good enough to wear the cherished red top of LFC.

Absoloute disgrace, they make me feel ****ing sick to the stomach. Im sorry to have written this as I feel a disgrace to all LFC fans but this is how I feel.

Sorry.

[gerbin11]

Absoloute disgrace, they make me feel ****ing sick to the stomach. Im sorry to have written this as I feel a disgrace to all LFC fans but this is how I feel.

Sorry.

Sorry pal you might just have to change your sig' then

[thebige]

Who in thier right mind will come to a club that is only able to spend £16m net each season. None of the top managers will touch us with a barge pole.

We are Liverpool Football Club. Maybe you've forgotten? We don't need big spending guarantees to attract a top manager. Nevermind the fact that if Rafa had spent the millions and millions he's spent wisely, we wouldn't be in this mess. We're so far down in it now that folks like you are forgetting what where we really should be.

You've forgotten that we're here to win, not to be happy when we can finish 4th. I get so pissed off when I read comments from people like you that make all these excuses for Rafa. The Alonso mess, Mascher not being focused on the club this season, the debacle that is the Acquilani transfer, etc. are all Rafa and Rafa alone.

We are one of the world's biggest clubs. If we need a manager, even as a caretaker until the end of the season we'll find one. When you're as deep in the **** as we are now, just standing there covered in crap is no solution!

[Reece]

How is Mascherano having his head turned by Barcelona Rafa's fault? Jesus the guy has his faults and even I'm questioning what to do but some fans seem to want to pin absolutely every problem on him