Rafa to blame for all this

[Fernandinho]

having seen this season go so wrong, some say it would be fair to give rafa another season (im still on the fence) but i cant help but feel that we may look back after next season and say "we should have got rid of him then" should we try and be a little more proactive and save ourselves from similar circumstances or should we stand by a manager who did so well last season...

[Mattshark]

****e tactics/decisions and the fact we coud have bought a couple of chandeliers instead if a load of lamps cost us this season.

Nice and meaningless there.

[Exiled_red]

The people who need to take the majority of the blame for this are the owners, having made a net profit on our transfers over the last few years can we really expect to improve? In my mind the answer to that is no, you might be able to get the odd bargin or sell a player for over the odds but you can't rely on this to be successful!

A zero net spend has meant the sale of a group of players to buy one or two, a smaller squad, which when injuries kick in means we are thread bare! Which is what we are seeing at the moment!

Yes the players and manager also have to take a share of the responsibility, for poor performances, decisions and tactics etc. But in my mind the main problem is the lack of investmentwe have effectively stood still for 2 years whilst everyone else has moved forward.

The sooner those two parasites are out of the club and someone who can run the club properly is in charge the better. Unfortunately due to their selfish greedy nature I can't see that happening quickly and things might get worse before they get better (players, manager, coaching staff leaving if a deal isn't done soon.)

[The Birdman]

Did you read the post ? Did you watch ALL of last season, obviously not............so even if you judge the whole of last season is 1 season enough to use as evidence over a far longer tenure ?

I read all of the post and I watched all of last season including a number of games live thanks.
If you think Rafa is 100% to blame for this season then fair enough but it's the same manager, same formation and same tactics that brought us to the brink of the title last season. Hopefully when Chelsea win at the weekend they'll equal our points total of last season to win the league.

I don't think Rafa is perfect far from it, but I do believe he is currently the best manager we can have with the ownership and finances being what they are and I'm also 100% of the opinion that we would be far, far worse off without him.

Don't come on here saying Shankly would be happy in a veiled dig at finishing outside the top 2 is now considered success.
Maybe you didn't watch Souness's teams or Houlliers sides either.

****ing WUM

[Lecter]

I've been saying similar for 4 yrs but taking abuse of blind faithers isn't my idea of fun. Believe me or not, I don't really care. 1 bad season ?? how the mighty have fallen, you even believe that Benitez's time has been all success then ? finishing outside the top 2 in general is now success to the Rafa brigade, Shankly would be happy.

Shankly went 7 years without winning a trophy

I do wonder how that would have gone down with todays fans

[frank the tank]

net spend, gross spend , I'm sick to the back teeth of it.

In the old days football was a game that was played when the whistle goes until the referee blows the final whistle and whatever took place on the pitch is what ALL fans were interested in.
If we look at the football, barring 1 half of last season the foot ball has been has been generally boring (as the 1st half was dire and very fortunate, especially the first 10ish or so games.) . One dimensional, defensive, negative, these are nothing to do with spend just the type of manager Benitez is.

Let's look at this from a FOOTBALLING perspective and for Benitez that is bad "no" , as we can't even pass the ball properly, backwards is safer than forward etc. You also go on about the liverpool way, the Liverpool way is about playing football properly, Benitez has managed to get you all thinking that the liverpool way is blindly supporting a manager whose out for himself.
I was as happy as everyone else when we won the ECL and FA cup, although lets be honest was a long time ago now and slightly fortunate, but he did it and deserves respect for that, but not blindf faith.

Benitez has full control this year and this is our worst season for some time. The manager has to take the blame and another year of Benitez slating his employers is going to do nothing for the club or the team.

It's time to say goodbye to Rafa, thanks for the 2 memories, and let's look to the future with hopefully better quality of footbal that we will all enjoy or at least winning football.

hmmm if you want to bury your head in the sand and imply that net spend etc is basically a load of bollix, then frankly you are an idiot. If that is your outlook on football, then seriously fella, go **** off and support AFC Liverpool or whatever.... basically you are saying that it doesn't matter if we don't spend any money, that basically LFC should be able to compete with all teams no matter what. So basically, chelsea will go **** off and spend 80m this summer, man city maybe spend 200 to 300m again this summer, manU spend 60m and we sell torres for 80m and spend 40 of it and we should still win the league.... get with it fella.....

personally, i think that rafa should get another season. If we dont play any european football next season, then hopefully we can stop rotating the team so much and have a real go at it next season. I think this has been a reason why spurs have done well this season. I'd like to see Rafa make a decision to use the carling cup as a reserve cup, with the league and the fa cup our priorities.... if we do need to sell to buy, then frankly, we should sell gerrard.... he would raise significant funds, is more expendible than torres, and i reckon he is a grumpy prick to be honest - he has his mates redknapp and gray on sky sports going on about speculation of him.... for me he doesnt do enough as captain, he should have come out by now and pledged his future to LFC. I was at the man city away game and to be honest, he constantly slated insua - instead of guiding him along the game and talking him through things.....

[el matador]

net spend, gross spend , I'm sick to the back teeth of it.

In the old days football was a game that was played when the whistle goes until the referee blows the final whistle and whatever took place on the pitch is what ALL fans were interested in.
If we look at the football, barring 1 half of last season the foot ball has been has been generally boring (as the 1st half was dire and very fortunate, especially the first 10ish or so games.) . One dimensional, defensive, negative, these are nothing to do with spend just the type of manager Benitez is.

Let's look at this from a FOOTBALLING perspective and for Benitez that is bad "no" , as we can't even pass the ball properly, backwards is safer than forward etc. You also go on about the liverpool way, the Liverpool way is about playing football properly, Benitez has managed to get you all thinking that the liverpool way is blindly supporting a manager whose out for himself.
I was as happy as everyone else when we won the ECL and FA cup, although lets be honest was a long time ago now and slightly fortunate, but he did it and deserves respect for that, but not blindf faith.

Benitez has full control this year and this is our worst season for some time. The manager has to take the blame and another year of Benitez slating his employers is going to do nothing for the club or the team.

It's time to say goodbye to Rafa, thanks for the 2 memories, and let's look to the future with hopefully better quality of footbal that we will all enjoy or at least winning football.

people who dismiss net spend do so because they dont really understand it.

Its important for several reasons but first and foremost is that it quantifies the amount of additional player talent / ability / strength added to the existing squad after the total transfer activity.

It shows the additional increase in the strength of the squad. The last 2 years Liverpool have broken even or as recently made profit in all transfer activity meaning that their squad has the same strength or less than it did 2 years ago while teams like city and spurs have added considerable net playing strength to the squad.

Where net spend falls down is it doesnt take into account young players making the breakthrough and free transfers but we havent been exactly blessed in those depts.

The old Liverpool teams used to sign a couple of quality players every season to freshen things up a little and in this era that means a net spend of £25m ish per season which we arent achieving.

Its no surprise that we've ****ed up this season because the squad just isnt good enough and you cant expect to field the same first XI for 60 games.

I agree rafa has made some bad decisions but which manager hasnt. The problem at lfc is that every purchase has to provide top notch value immediately and that's just not possible. You must also accept that at the moment in terms of buying power its not a level playing field.

[5europeancups]

bbc claiming benitez has cancelled two meetings with broughton

Rafael Benitez twice cancels Liverpool showdown talks

[Lecter]

bbc claiming benitez has cancelled two meetings with broughton

Rafael Benitez twice cancels Liverpool showdown talks

He probably had mitigarting circumstances in at least one of those cancellations (trip to Madrid for Atletico match)

The article itself goes someway to saying that

A nothing article imo

[zimbo]

He probably had mitigarting circumstances in at least one of those cancellations (trip to Madrid for Atletico match)

The article itself goes someway to saying that

A nothing article imo

What's significant is who leaked this information to the press. I think it's fairly safe to say it wasn't Benitez. I think it's also fairly safe safe to say that, whether it's true or not, he won't be remotely happy about it being aired in public. It's almost as if someone's trying to force his hand.

[Neil Young]

What's significant is who leaked this information to the press. I think it's fairly safe to say it wasn't Benitez. I think it's also fairly safe safe to say that, whether it's true or not, he won't be remotely happy about it being aired in public. It's almost as if someone's trying to force his hand.

That's my take. I really think it's time to take sides - support the manager or support the board.

[5europeancups]

Shankly went 7 years without winning a trophy

I do wonder how that would have gone down with todays fans

its all about expectations.

Shankly took liverpool from the old division 2 and then won the cup and the league.

Supporters were not expecting miracles at that stage but I need to check back but I am pretty sure Liverpool probably finished highrer than 7th...

[The Birdman]

That's my take. I really think it's time to take sides - support the manager or support the board.

Seeing as Rafa works for the club and the board is made up of parasite businessmen and people put into place by banks then I know which side I'm on.
Rafa should get 1 more season imo, if we're as bad again then fine it can't and won't be dismissed as a blip but changing managers before investment is secured will be footballing sucicide because there will be no-one to stop any of our players being sold off.

[Neil Young]

its all about expectations.

Shankly took liverpool from the old division 2 and then won the cup and the league.

Supporters were not expecting miracles at that stage but I need to check back but I am pretty sure Liverpool probably finished highrer than 7th...

If it's about expectations then some people need to change theirs - there is no way we can expect to compete for the league with zero net spend.

[Neil Young]

Seeing as Rafa works for the club and the board is made up of parasite businessmen and people put into place by banks then I know which side I'm on.
Rafa should get 1 more season imo, if we're as bad again then fine it can't and won't be dismissed as a blip but changing managers before investment is secured will be footballing sucicide because there will be no-one to stop any of our players being sold off.

That's exactly the point. The only person who can force the board into giving more money than they have is Rafa. Any new manager might make it a condition of accepting the job but (a) they might not then be offered it and (b) it's not as if our owners are reluctant to tell lies to get what they want.

Vote Rafa, keep Torres. It really is that simple.