Why wait until the end of the season?

[SK]

Mark Gonzalez, but wasn't he a player we had little choice in taking, part of a player plus cash deal for Owen, and the choice of player we were given didn't include anyone of note as i recall, with the time left on Owens contract we had little choice in the matter once Owen stated his desire.

Rafa gave Gonzalez a go, nothing much to lose really, i hardly think he's a player that Rafa should ultimately be judged on.

if i'm not mistaken josemi was part of the owen deal, we bought gonzalez from santander(i think) and at first didn't get a work permit, and i remember rafa saying that he's one of the best players that came from chile, and so on,..well he lasted a season didn't he?

[SK]

my mistake..antonio nunez was part of the owen deal

[red g]

Hiddink said he would have been interested in the city job if they waited till January.....

Maybe Rafa has a few games left to turn this round before we turn to hiddink seems the only credible choice out there at the moment.

[fah-q]

I think you are thinking of Tony Nunez

edit: whoops didn't read the later posts

[Roboklopp]

Hiddink said he would have been interested in the city job if they waited till January.....

Maybe Rafa has a few games left to turn this round before we turn to hiddink seems the only credible choice out there at the moment.

Why would he come here? We have **** all money and a horrendous amount of pressure.

[Spionkop69]

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.

OMG, common sense and a lack of knee jerking. You're not a real fan!

Good post.

[qabiri]

“Now I want one thing. I want loyalty. I don’t want anybody to be carrying stories about anybody else. If somebody comes to me with a story — I warn you about this — whoever you’re telling it about won’t be the one who goes. It’ll be you.

“You’ll go — out! I don’t care if you’ve been here 15 year [sic]. I want everybody to be loyal to each other. And to do everything you do for Liverpool Football Club. And we’ll all get together. And that will make strength . . . And maybe one day we’ll get players as well!”


SHANKLY IS A FOOTBALL GOD


Does anybody know who said this? Right now this quote is applicable to whats happening to our team.
Siege mentality that's what we need.

[Rafa_el_Gafa]

Yossi, who has played in every league game this season you mean?

he's been sub 6 times this year and probably not completed most of the matches he's started.

[Norbs]

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.

I agree that Gerrard should be moved back alongside Mascher, I've said it recently on here. It looks like it would improve movement from defence to attack and provide the much needed quick accurate ball through to Torres that is sorely missing from both Lucas and Mascherano's game.

However, this tactic could've been employed from the first game of the season with Benny filling Gerrard's more recent position. Why has Rafa continued to persevere with the ineffective Mascher/Lucas partnership? Whilst not generally being a player basher, I can't understand the support of Lucas on here. Yes, he does complete a large number of passes to his own man but has anyone noted that these passes often put our man under severe pressure? They are more often than not the wrong pass and play is broken down as a result. It's too late for the time being for Rafa to try out a Mascher /Gerrard partnership so it'll need to be a Gerrard/Lucas. This would give Rafa a chance to assess the Aquilani situation, and he could either blood him next to Gerrard in the middle or try him behind Torres/Ngog alongside Kuyt and Beny/Riera/Babel.

We do have options see, it's just that Rafa seems reluctant to use them