The New Manager Thread

[Guest]

Rafa is a fantastic manager, but he has shown that he doesnt have the correct mentalily to get us out of the mire we are in.

Instead of batting down the hatches he should have just gone for broke. Hindsight is a wonderful thing and we may have lost even more than we have allready. But its plain to see this defensive mentality has been bloody awful!!

That team last night was an attacking one, they just couldn't 'bat down the hatches' let alone 'string two passes together'. Yes, Rafa must have an auto pilot in hand.

[Craig_H]

My opinions are no facts but neither are yours.

Based on his whole tenure and for what he's done to this club, Rafa deserves a little bit more respect and he should be given at least another year to sort out this mess. We won't be winning the league any time soon without an influx of quality players, with or without Benitez and that comes down to it IMO.

Who's talking about winning the league? You're talking as if we're 3rd or something

One look at the league table should tell you why people might want a new manager. It's gone way beyond the idea of whether we should be winning the league. We're ****ing 7th and going to miss out on the CL.

Is 7th place the extent of what our squad can achieve, in your opinion?

To postulate that another manager is going to 'sort us out' is far fetched and extremely naive. That may work in the short term, but the same cancer will still be evident as the personnel which plays the football wouldn't be changing much.

And it's not far fetched and naive to think that just selling Gerrard, but continuing with the same negative cautious and slow mindset is going to sort us out?

Referring to the personnel as 'cancer' is disgustingly distasteful.

One game which always comes to my mind was the 4-1 win at Old Trafford last season, where we had a team comprising of Mascherano and Lucas in central midfield - and no Alonso, which proves to me that both players can function properly together, which was refuted time and again by the usual suspects this season.

Fine. But if you can only achieve your desired output one game per season, then it's not good enough.

Sadly that 4-1 win didnt give us 90 points.

[Lecter]

Right-oh then, here we go...

I am primarily talking about league performance, with regards to my opinion as to whether or not Benitez's reign has been a successful one.





None.

£5m on Aquilani and £2m on Kyrgiakos in the summer. I'm no Carol Vorderman, but...

Was Adam Johnson for sale in the summer??

You have to take each window in isolation, football is stange remember we were quoted over £7 million for Michael Turner but he ended up going to Sunderland for half that

[Craig_H]

So as to prove that Rafa wasn't at fault, nothing to do with 'unwavering love' towards him. I don't sleep with Rafa and I don't have any posters of him in my room.

So if there's a new manager, you WANT him to fail (and therefore LFC to fail) just so you could say "See, i told you so, Rafa wasnt at fault" ?

Is that right?

If that's true, you're no more a Liverpool fan than Alex Ferguson.

[cream]

My opinions are no facts but neither are yours.

Based on his whole tenure and for what he's done to this club, Rafa deserves a little bit more respect and he should be given at least another year to sort out this mess. We won't be winning the league any time soon without an influx of quality players, with or without Benitez and that comes down to it IMO.

To postulate that another manager is going to 'sort us out' is far fetched and extremely naive. That may work in the short term, but the same cancer will still be evident as the personnel which plays the football wouldn't be changing much.

One game which always comes to my mind was the 4-1 win at Old Trafford last season, where we had a team comprising of Mascherano and Lucas in central midfield - and no Alonso, which proves to me that both players can function properly together, which was refuted time and again by the usual suspects this season.

Exactly.

[Craig_H]

Was Adam Johnson for sale in the summer??

You have to take each window in isolation, football is stange remember we were quoted over £7 million for Michael Turner but he ended up going to Sunderland for half that

I dont know, whether a player is 'for sale' or not may depend on whether a bid is lodged, and what size the bid might be.

Would the money have evaporated between Summer 2009 and January 2010?

[Craig_H]

Exactly.

So basically, what you're saying, is that our squad is only capable of 7th place, regardless of who is manager? Or not?

Forget the title, is 7th place reflective of Rafa getting the best out of the squad he has?

[red g]

That team last night was an attacking one, they just couldn't 'bat down the hatches' let alone 'string two passes together'. Yes, Rafa must have an auto pilot in hand.

on paper it was attacking but then Stevie G played deepst i have ever seen.....instructions from benitez? or couldbt be arsd?

we look attacking on paper but havent played attacking for months.....and Rafa is sending them out with that mentality!! cant you see that?

[-V-]

So as to prove that Rafa wasn't at fault, nothing to do with 'unwavering love' towards him. I don't sleep with Rafa and I don't have any posters of him in my room.

Just goes to show that you don't give a **** about Liverpool FC. The fact that you actually want Rafa's successor to fail just shows that your mindset is totally based around your affection for Rafa and not the club. You've just proved that

[Craig_H]

Forget this 'on paper' thing - the personnel used are attacking players. But the mentality the team is sent out with, isnt.

[Guest]

For whatever reason they are playing liek that for one reason and one reason only. Rafa Benitez. He choose the team, the tactics and gave the team talk.

The team on paper has looked goood for a few weeks i think it is far fetched and niave to think the new man wouldnt get more out of this team.

The thing that Rafa did sort out was the defence and stats for the past 10 games show that but our general level of football hasn't improved much, albeit marginally and fleetingly in periods during games, especially when we're playing home. Away from home we've been poor all season, winning only 4 games. To me this is a confidence problem and no manager would find it easy to go into each and every player's psyche to sort that out.

Maybe Alonso's ability to transfer Rafa's instructions onto the pitch has been sorely missed and there's not been any other player capable of having the same influence but then again, it was his choice to go to Madrid, not Rafa's. So again, I find it harsh when people criticise him for 'courting Barry'. He was entitled to do that, as a manager has duty to look at all options.

[red g]

Forget this 'on paper' thing - the personnel used are attacking players. But the mentality the team is sent out with, isnt.

think i was trying ot say that

[Lecter]

I might be wrong, and you can check it, but i think i deliberately didnt use the word 'system'. The system itself isnt the problem. It's about mindset and mentality, players who rigidly hold a position and are so reluctant to venture out of the 'box', players whose mentality is to pass the ball sideways and backwards instead of forwards, when the forward pass might just SLIGHTLY be a tiny bit more risky.

You see I see little difference between Rafas approach and that of Paisleys/Shanklys

Paisleys sides stopped the opposition built up slowly, but had the ability and quality to kill teams off

Shankly was actually quoted as saying defenders should cross the halfway line because they were "defenders"

The only team we had that attacked with pace and continued flair was the Dalglish side

You seriously believe Rafa instructs his players to pass sideways??

To me watching the players this season I have one major problem with all of them. NOBODY has been willing to take responsibility

What I mean is that when its needed someone to take charge and maybe make a killer ball they have taken the easy way out and played the ball sideways or backwards. Yet last season the same players were actively looking for forward balls

IMO a lot of our problems lie in a lack of confidence / belief in themselves rather than the manager.

Its funny because when Gerrard doesnt play the collective responsibility increases dramatically but the when Gerrard plays and plays badly the more others retreat into their shells

[Lecter]

Forget this 'on paper' thing - the personnel used are attacking players. But the mentality the team is sent out with, isnt.

I disagree, there are no negative instructions

IF there was we wouldnt have achieved the position we did last season end of

[Lecter]

I dont know, whether a player is 'for sale' or not may depend on whether a bid is lodged, and what size the bid might be.

Would the money have evaporated between Summer 2009 and January 2010?

Remember Robbie Keane we sold him in January 2009 for £15 million just remind me how much of that money Rafa saw in the summer of 2009??