Rafa's Post Match Interview

[saveferris]

Benitez looked so upset yesterday but he cant criticise his team in public thats what the media wants, however I hope he did make whatever points he wanted to the players.

The issue with our play is that we are narrower than we were last year. With Riera not being fit his outlet to the left meant that we at least stretched play in one direction. Arbeloa was also very good at overlapping Kuyt (as Finnan) did before. We arent really doing that now. Degen did offer width yesterday at times but the pass wasnt there for him each time, when it did he made some encouraging runs forward. Johnson had a lot of success doing this as well at the beginning of the season. Not having Aurelio consistently fit has also hurt us. It results in narrow play.

My concern is at the front though, I find that it seems Torres is trying more and more to do things by himself and not really trying to find passes when he is deep or in the wider areas. A lot of our goals last year included him in the set up, this year it seems he is trying to go it alone. Maybe its because other players arent in good positions, or up with him.

[SK]

did you miss where I said sensible?

hodgson's would be the best imo, he'd relish the chance to manage a top club, in the last years of his career, and he's what, like 61? 62? still has a few years ahead of him and by that time, carra can take over..

[the rev leeroy brown]

did you miss where I said sensible?

obviously take out curbs but jose, hiddinkk and kenny are great shouts

[Reece]

says the man with over 37,000 posts

Haha yeah but 99% of those are in the What are you listening to thread

[Helios Creed]

Lowest point of the season for Liverpool

Er... so far.

[redstaralex]

hodgson's would be the best imo, he'd relish the chance to manage a top club, in the last years of his career, and he's what, like 61? 62? still has a few years ahead of him and by that time, carra can take over..

I like Hodgson, BUT I think he's a far superior international manager, he had his chance at Inter Milan and the top players have very little respect for him unfortunately, from memory he only lasted a few months but I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong

[redstaralex]

obviously take out curbs but jose, hiddinkk and kenny are great shouts

mourinho and hiddink yes, but unfortunately not willing to come to is within the next 2 weeks and therefore not sensible, which leaves us with Kenny who hasn't managed at any level in how long?

[Redspin]

its down to the loss of alonso. I think gerrard realised that we werent going to function properly without him (as its been proven in the past when he was missing) and i dont believe he is motivated to play for rafa.

the players need a kick up the backside and i dont think rafa is the man to do it. Im surprised that sammy lee hasnt laid into some of them because they need a good kicking.

But the system and the tactics arent down to the players. Im not saying its all down to the players or the manager but they all need to look at themselves.

That's nonsense about Alonso. He was a good player, but didn't feature in about a third of our league games last year and missed a similar amount - or more - in the previous two seasons. He only provided 3 assists out of our 77 goals last season, so his contribution is wildly exaggerated by people like you. We won plenty of games and played very, very well, scoring lots of goals when he wasn't playing.

As to your wild, unsubstantiated claim that Gerrard realised we wouldn't function without him and isn't motivated to play for the manager, words fail me. What a load of bollocks.

[SK]

That's nonsense about Alonso. He was a good player, but didn't feature in about a third of our league games last year and missed a similar amount - or more - in the previous two seasons. He only provided 3 assists out of our 77 goals last season, so his contribution is wildly exaggerated by people like you. We won plenty of games and played very, very well, scoring lots of goals when he wasn't playing.

As to your wild, unsubstantiated claim that Gerrard realised we wouldn't function without him and isn't motivated to play for the manager, words fail me. What a load of bollocks.

well he did get about 8 peole sent off last season, and if i remember correctly, we won all of those games

[Redspin]

Just opinions though isn't it - For me it was a huge a gamble - and it's played a major part of putting us in this position. It's all very well saying next season he will be good - **** next season - next season we could potentially not even be in the Europa, never mind the Champions league!! - We won't even be able to afford to keep him the cunt

I personally think it was a **** up. - Forget about Alonso going - players come and go - what happened was, we had around £20m to spend and we desperatley needed a 'creative' centre midfielder as we were very short in that department. We signed someone who was crocked, and to me looks like he is still about 10 games away from being fit. By which time, jeez hat eto think were we will be in 10 games.

So we struggle through the seaosn, lose other players with injuries, lack any real depth or quality in the side, results go against and we have fallen apart.

I'm not saying thats purely down to signing aquilani - but it was a gamble, and it hasn't paid off.

Now onto lucas! this will put the cat amongst the pigeons. If lucas is our best midfielder! then no wonder we are ****. He is nothing better than average. He is, and i hated the **** when he was at us for this sort of reason - Danny Murphy. Murphy, was another, nothing more than average but was in a liverpool team that was so ****e at times, his averageness was better than the rest of the inept clowns.

Lucas, is a tidy little player - but he does nothing, ever, that makes me think - ****ing hell great little buy, or he should start every game - he plods about in midfield, looks like he is dipping his toe in cold water when attempting to tackle, and he is ****ing amazing at passing it 5 yards to the right.

He is a young lad, and good luck to him - but he is 3rd choice at best for one of the two midfield roles. Due to aquilani's absence he has had to step up into first choice, and he isn't good enough for that

Open your eyes for **** sake. Lucas was just about the only player last night hitting forward balls to feet and he's been doing that all season. Players like Gerrard and Mascherano have been way behind him in performance all season.

Comparing him with Murphy says more about you than any words could

[Redspin]

I'm absolutely gutted for Rafa.

But hes lost his edge plain and simple, where is the Rafa that wopuld never bow to media or player pressure?

Carragher was pathetic last night out play broke down because of his distribution on countless occasions. He needs to trust Lucas and Aquiliani to pass the ball around because his long balls are destructive to our play.

You cant afford to conced possesion the way he does, hes a wreckless player and Rafa needs to man up.

You're absolutely right about Carragher. For some reason he always escapes criticism (someone on here said before it's because he's played well in the past - big deal). I lost count of the number of times he hoofed aimless long balls upfield to no-one in particular last night. He must have done it at least a dozen times with the result that we lost possession endlessly. In defence he's slow and suspect now and always looks like an own goal or a penalty kick waiting to happen.

It's the likes of him and Gerrard that should be getting the stick rather than Lucas, who is one of the few players in the team actually able to kick the ball in a straight line to a team-mate on any sort of consistent basis.

His work-rate and application are a lesson to some bigger names in the team too.

But, for me, Carragher is a glaring weak point in the back four these days and must surely be on borrowed time. I'm hoping that we're in the market for a top-class replacement at the end of the season.

[Armchairkopite]

You're absolutely right about Carragher. For some reason he always escapes criticism (someone on here said before it's because he's played well in the past - big deal). I lost count of the number of times he hoofed aimless long balls upfield to no-one in particular last night. He must have done it at least a dozen times with the result that we lost possession endlessly. In defence he's slow and suspect now and always looks like an own goal or a penalty kick waiting to happen.

It's the likes of him and Gerrard that should be getting the stick rather than Lucas, who is one of the few players in the team actually able to kick the ball in a straight line to a team-mate on any sort of consistent basis.

His work-rate and application are a lesson to some bigger names in the team too.

But, for me, Carragher is a glaring weak point in the back four these days and must surely be on borrowed time. I'm hoping that we're in the market for a top-class replacement at the end of the season.

Amen to that brother

[PTP]

Open your eyes for **** sake. Lucas was just about the only player last night hitting forward balls to feet and he's been doing that all season. Players like Gerrard and Mascherano have been way behind him in performance all season.

Comparing him with Murphy says more about you than any words could

you open your eyes for ****s sake.

I'm not blaming lucas - in fact if you look at the MOM thread he was my 2nd choice. - and i know other players have not played well this season - what i am saying is, to me, personally, it's a major worry cause in my opinion i have not seen anything change in lucas's performances from when he was getting slated (and i was one of the few who defended him at that time) and now, where people are saying he is our best player.

Lucas hasn't changed anything - wha has chaged is we have gone from looking like a great side, whch made lucas look out of his depth, to playing so ****ing poor, that now lucas looks like the only player who can kick a ball.

The comparsion with Murphy stands for those reasons, because - IMO - Murphy was the same, in terms of he won Fans Player of the year, not becuase he was ****ing class that season - but because in a such a dreadful season he wasn't consistenly ****e.

So as i say, imo - granted I know other players have been poor, gone missing, should be shot, and that the manager has made mistakes - but there is no escaping the fact, that losing Alonso - which has effectivley left us with Lucas as a first choice centre mid - has played a major part in why we have been ****e.

[the rev leeroy brown]

mourinho and hiddink yes, but unfortunately not willing to come to is within the next 2 weeks and therefore not sensible, which leaves us with Kenny who hasn't managed at any level in how long?

granted he hasnt managed in a while but he was a great manager. and what we need now more than ever before is a proper man-manager who lives, breathes and eats this club to inspire the players. rafa may love the club but kenny is for me an obvious short term appointment to save us from slipping out of CL places come end of may.

[Guest]

granted he hasnt managed in a while but he was a great manager. and what we need now more than ever before is a proper man-manager who lives, breathes and eats this club to inspire the players. rafa may love the club but kenny is for me an obvious short term appointment to save us from slipping out of CL places come end of may.

Dalglish has been a failure at both Newcastle and Celtic. He's not the solution, not even a short term one.