When Rafa Goes

[SERVO2]

I must say I am shocked with liverpool fans and there treatment of rafa, he has made mistakes and I predicted on here a couple of seasons ago what would happen when he was trying to sign barry (xabi was a lot better player and would leave the following season following the treatment by rafa) but there is no doubt in my mind he is the best man for the job.

I am 23 and have supported liverpool through the evans and houllier and since rafa has been here the profile of the club has been bigger then I have ever seen in my life time and also has been the most succesful period.

This season is rafas only dissapointing one since he has been here and through all our troubles and injuries we are only four points behind these other teams competing for fourth place who are having there best seasons in years.

Houllier done a whole lot worse then rafa and had a squad that was a lot worse then rafa and he got another season when he failed to qualify for champs league so I think it is the very least that rafa gets too finish this season and fix his mistakes in the summer and get atleast next season as well.

Rafa is one of the very best managers in europe and if we sack him he will get another job with a top team in europe and we will be left with some long ball merchant like oneill and win a league cup or something.

Rafa is a world class manager and as they say form is temporary class is permanent, also remember rafa finished 5th with valencia and then won the league and uefa cup next season so he has shown he can bounce back.

Couldn't agree more.

Cheers

Rach

[Mattshark]

I must say I am shocked with liverpool fans and there treatment of rafa, he has made mistakes and I predicted on here a couple of seasons ago what would happen when he was trying to sign barry (xabi was a lot better player and would leave the following season following the treatment by rafa) but there is no doubt in my mind he is the best man for the job.

I am 23 and have supported liverpool through the evans and houllier and since rafa has been here the profile of the club has been bigger then I have ever seen in my life time and also has been the most succesful period.

This season is rafas only dissapointing one since he has been here and through all our troubles and injuries we are only four points behind these other teams competing for fourth place who are having there best seasons in years.

Houllier done a whole lot worse then rafa and had a squad that was a lot worse then rafa and he got another season when he failed to qualify for champs league so I think it is the very least that rafa gets too finish this season and fix his mistakes in the summer and get atleast next season as well.

Rafa is one of the very best managers in europe and if we sack him he will get another job with a top team in europe and we will be left with some long ball merchant like oneill and win a league cup or something.

Rafa is a world class manager and as they say form is temporary class is permanent, also remember rafa finished 5th with valencia and then won the league and uefa cup next season so he has shown he can bounce back.

[SERVO2]

Was sent these - hope it copies properly - enjoyed them - John Barnes - LEGEND!

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=snq64cN6PL8"]YouTube- John Barnes on keeping the faith[/ame] http://www.youtube.com/user/dixyboys.../1/pks3q_YWtmY http://www.youtube.com/user/dixyboys.../2/snq64cN6PL8

Cheers

Rach

[The Glove]

I must say I am shocked with liverpool fans and there treatment of rafa, he has made mistakes and I predicted on here a couple of seasons ago what would happen when he was trying to sign barry (xabi was a lot better player and would leave the following season following the treatment by rafa) but there is no doubt in my mind he is the best man for the job.

I am 23 and have supported liverpool through the evans and houllier and since rafa has been here the profile of the club has been bigger then I have ever seen in my life time and also has been the most succesful period.

This season is rafas only dissapointing one since he has been here and through all our troubles and injuries we are only four points behind these other teams competing for fourth place who are having there best seasons in years.

Houllier done a whole lot worse then rafa and had a squad that was a lot worse then rafa and he got another season when he failed to qualify for champs league so I think it is the very least that rafa gets too finish this season and fix his mistakes in the summer and get atleast next season as well.

Rafa is one of the very best managers in europe and if we sack him he will get another job with a top team in europe and we will be left with some long ball merchant like oneill and win a league cup or something.

Rafa is a world class manager and as they say form is temporary class is permanent, also remember rafa finished 5th with valencia and then won the league and uefa cup next season so he has shown he can bounce back.

Post more.

[Armchairkopite]

Some really good stuff on here lads, fair play.

We must keep our heads and let the team and Rafa draw strength from the fans, lets show Rafa the same kind of loyalty he showed us when he was getting stabbed in the back by the owners while also receiving lucrative offers from around the continent.

Rafa believes in the Liverpool fans lets stand together and back him.

[The Glove]

Its easy to go mental when things go tits up but its better to stand and give it a go. Rafa is an honourable man and if it doesnt work, he will walk. I have no doubt in that but while he still has belief, then so should we.

[Vermilion]

[Guest]

Why just stand up for him when all things are going right though? He deserves it when he's at his most vulnerable, he doesn't need it when things are going right.

[Reece]

This may have already been posted elsewhere, but meh

L iverpool's traditional January crisis has momentum this year. Perhaps this is because it follows on so swiftly from their December crisis which had been directly prefaced by a November crisis that in itself was merely an extension of the October crisis which would not have come about except for their September crisis simply being a continuation of their August crisis that was merely a hangover from their close season debacle.

For much of last season they were in crisis too, even for the long periods when they were top of the league. During those troubling times it was generally agreed that Rafael Benitez must be doing something right, although nobody could agree on exactly what it was.

The best they could often come up with was the signing of Javier Mascherano. He deserved no credit for signing Fernando Torres. That was a no-brainer, except for all the smart men who didn't sign him.

Winning matches was then at least a part of it, but there has always been a great reluctance to give Benitez credit for that, with the view often being that he won the wrong ones.

He didn't understand the English game, they said, as he went on to win the European Cup, perhaps giving the fans their finest moment in Liverpool memory, something they have, much to the displeasure of the media, been reluctant to forget about ever since. Last season, Liverpool challenged for the title, performing as well as they had in 20 years, beating the teams they were supposed to beat.

Now that Liverpool have stopped winning matches, there is no reason to search desperately for reasons to praise Benitez. Liverpool are a team designed for knockIf -out competitions and now they have lost the main feature of teams designed to win knock-out competitions: the ability to win matches.

For some perspective out of the reach of the phone-in callers who wonder why Peter Crouch is not playing for Liverpool (Crouch turned down a new contract at Liverpool so it would be an egregious breach of employment law if they continued to select him now) or suggest David Bentley as the missing link, it is worth revisiting Liverpool's January crisis from last season.

There were a number of reasons to criticise Benitez last January, but the main one was his treatment of Robbie Keane who, according to the critics, hadn't been given a chance. Keane started nearly every league game during his time at Liverpool but, again, that didn't matter. Keane rarely starts for Tottenham but that is understandable because Peter Crouch and Jermain Defoe are untouchable. If he leaves White Hart Lane, nobody would see it as a failure of Harry Redknapp's famed man-management skills.

In some ways, it is the same this season. Liverpool have had a poor time, but, in the context of this crazy season, only the exit from the Champions League has been truly damaging. The FA Cup remains an irrelevance and would have been ignored by those who now stress its importance if Liverpool had won it.

The crazies have been bolstered by comments from ex-players like Ronnie Whelan. In the devalued currencies of punditry, Whelan is the Zimbabwean dollar, but he found a few places where his money was good last week.

As the phone-in callers deal in the superficial, it is worth contrasting the praise handed out to Alex Ferguson last week, when it became known that he was acting under some severe financial constraints, with the treatment of Benitez. Despite starting with a number of advantages like a massive stadium and a team used to winning titles, United are now utterly dependent on Wayne Rooney. Liverpool, at least, are utterly dependent on two players.

Benitez has never known a day at Anfield when the club wasn't being spectacularly badly run. Since the sale to Hicks and Gillett, the problems shared have become problems doubled.

Last week, Liverpool's new owners were again giving an indication of how far they had sunk when Tom Hicks Jr resigned after telling a fan in an email to "blow me, f**k face, go to hell, I'm sick of you."

This was pithy and to the point but, in the age of outrage, it understandably provoked a lot of anger among Liverpool fans. It did not change their fundamental position on any member of the Hicks family. They wanted them out beforehand and they wanted them out afterwards. Hicks' wild email made no difference and, it has become so normal, that nobody even wonders about the disruption to the team.

Nothing that Benitez achieves seems to change the view that Liverpool are in crisis. So this season seems to be a continuation of the bad years, bad years when Benitez was winning against all odds.

He has made a few mistakes. Perhaps he should not have talked about Liverpool's debt to such a degree as it has undermined the club and, in constantly looking to re-sign Emile Heskey, he has looked like being the first employee who instigates his own constructive dismissal.

He is probably too far gone now. The forces he tried to take on, the media he treated with contempt in particular, create their own momentum and affect confidence. Liverpool are a complex, dysfunctional club and they judge Benitez on the superficial to the end.

Liverpool have been talking about their disappointing season since they lost to Aston Villa in August. The reality is that only in recent weeks has the league title become virtually impossible but I would guess privately Benitez hasn't ruled it out.

Benitez remains true to a value system that he has employed since he arrived. On Wednesday night, once more he refused to engage and, once more, it was another reason to criticise him. The presenters, the reporters and the phone-in callers all seemed to assume they were more upset about the defeat to Reading than Benitez. In their world, so free of compassion, perspective and insight, they were probably right. In the real world, they were, as so often, wrong.

So I hope he stays true to his code as they hound him from the job. He has been a resounding success but it may be time to walk away. He deserves more than the contempt of pundits like Whelan. Benitez cares too much. He should address those who have stacked the odds against him and, one last time, tell the truth in language they might understand: "Blow me, f**k face. Go to hell, I'm sick of you."

http://www.independent.ie/sport/other-sports/if-liverpool-think-they-are-in-trouble-now-just-wait-until-rafa-walks-2017531.html

[Spanishfly]

Rafa Rafa Rafa Benitez!

[the rev leeroy brown]

Rafa backed by owner

http://www.teamtalk.com/football/story/0,16368,2483_5873425,00.html

Benitez backed by Reds co-owner
Liverpool co-owner George Gillett has hailed Rafael Benitez as one of the top five managers in the world and put this season down to a "blip".


Liverpool have endured a difficult campaign so far, falling 14 points off the pace in the Premier League and suffering early exits from the Champions League and FA Cup.

Benitez has been unmoved in his belief that he will turn things around, however, and he now he has received the public backing of Gillett.

That is significant as Gillett has always been seen as less enthusiastic in his support for the Spaniard than fellow co-owner Tom Hicks, who has been behind Benitez from the moment the two Americans' relationship began to become strained.

"We believe if you were to put a list together of the top five coaches, managers in the world, he would definitely be on that list for us," said Gillett, who was united in his agreement with Hicks to give Benitez an improved five-year contract towards the end of last season.

"And we think he's been tossed a curve ball by circumstance, injuries and so forth.

"I think that's been a real challenge to the coach. He's had to really make some innovations and play some players out of position and so forth.

"And notwithstanding that, they've generally played with a lot of passion. I really believes it's a blip."

Injuries have certainly compounded Liverpool's problems with striker Fernando Torres, captain Steven Gerrard, right-back Glen Johnson and midfielder Yossi Benayoun all currently sidelined.

But they have also been unlucky in other areas, such as when a beach ball on the pitch at Sunderland back in October contributed to the only goal of the game for the Black Cats.

"That was a real low blow," Gillett told Canadian radio station Prime Time Sports.

"He (Benitez) has had a struggle getting the morale of the boys back up but we've got a great group of young men."


looks like he staying afterall. gillette the one who wanted him out and seems to have changed his tune.

[RedReet]

Liverpool have been talking about their disappointing season since they lost to Aston Villa in August. The reality is that only in recent weeks has the league title become virtually impossible but I would guess privately Benitez hasn't ruled it out.

I was the same before Saturday.