Rafa to blame for all this

[the rev leeroy brown]

bit off subject but funny none-the-less, a rangers supporting pal of mine claimed LFC and in specific rafa were ****ing ****e cause walter smith had won the title for rangers two years in a row without any tranfers funds at all.....not even allowed to bring in free transfers......yet rafa could spend money and couldnt finish 4th!!!!

couldnt even begin to think where to start with him ( scottish leagues are pish / scottish teams are pish / EPL versus SPL etc ......)

[Parr_Zee]

It's not as simple as that though, in saying he has confidence in them, he gives them confidence which strikers thrive on, in the hope that it will lift their performance.

You can give all the confidence in the world to players who aren't good enough. Its the realisation that they are not good enough, and then doing something about it that needed the work.

Just to note, I like N'Gog and think he will become a very good player, but in no way on earth should he be 2nd choice striker for us. Man Utd have strikers of his ilk and they are 4th and 5th choice.

[Shaggy]

1. He would have played more games for us
2. He has 9 goals in 11 starts (all comps)
3. He is a damn-side more dangerous in the box than N'Gog, Kuyt and Babel put together, and mulitplied by 3.

My point being that people can't use the excuse that Rafa couldn't get anymore forwards in - hence, him being "happy" with his options.

1. Your opinion. Assuming you are correct, my opinion is he would simply have gotten injured a lot earlier than he actually did and would've spent the season on the treatment table.

2. You talked of league points. Not all comps. Besides his full figures read 31 appearances, 9 goals. Similar to Ngog.

3. Not if he's on the treatment table he's not.

[Exiled_red]

You can give all the confidence in the world to players who aren't good enough. Its the realisation that they are not good enough, and then doing something about it that needed the work.

Just to note, I like N'Gog and think he will become a very good player, but in no way on earth should he be 2nd choice striker for us. Man Utd have strikers of his ilk and they are 4th and 5th choice.

But if you've got to work with what you have, you have to try and get the best out of them regardless of their ability. It's good man management IMO.(something Rafa is critisized alot for).

I agree about Ngog and the order of strikers etc, but this wouldn't have been the case if a large sum of money hadn't vanished from our budget.

[dww]

1. He would have played more games for us
2. He has 9 goals in 11 starts (all comps)
3. He is a damn-side more dangerous in the box than N'Gog, Kuyt and Babel put together, and mulitplied by 3.

My point being that people can't use the excuse that Rafa couldn't get anymore forwards in - hence, him being "happy" with his options.

Your point would make more sense if he had say scored more frequently that Ngog this season.

Ngog scored a goal every 198.8 minutes played this season compared to 206.33 minutes for Owen. You have to think they would have been used in a lot of the same situations. Owen is a less suitable lone striker as well.

Ngog also has three assists to Owens one in approximately 1.5 as much pitch time.

Owen probably cost many more times in terms of wages and physio fees. Although I accept some of this might have come back in advertising etc. but I think he got a good deal on image rights when he went to United I think so this may not have proved as lucrative as some would try to make it seem.

Note: Stats from fantasy.premierleague.com

[DannyMan2006]

He's also injury prone and on crazy wages

Crazily low by all accounts. Or if you take into account his injuries, the correct wage.

If Liverpool had signed Owen, they could have rested Torres once in a while without fear of losing points. Torres might have played a few more games.

Owen hasn't exactly been amazing, but he is better than N'Gog. And he was on a free transfer, a good professional and mate of a few current Liverpool players. It was a no lose situation.

IMO we should have signed Owen, and also one other striker if possible. Had Rafa gone about it this way, we would at least have had Owen at this stage.

How many games Owen would have been available for is another matter, he may never have got injured here, or may have got injured in his first game. But it really was a gamble we should have taken.

If United win the league they can point to his last minute winner at City as justification enough.

[Shaggy]

Your point would make more sense if he had say scored more frequently that Ngog this season.

Ngog scored a goal every 198.8 minutes played this season compared to 206.33 minutes for Owen. You have to think they would have been used in a lot of the same situations. Owen is a less suitable lone striker as well.

Ngog also has three assists to Owens one in approximately 1.5 as much pitch time.

Owen probably cost many more times in terms of wages and physio fees. Although I accept some of this might have come back in advertising etc. but I think he got a good deal on image rights when he went to United I think so this may not have proved as lucrative as some would try to make it seem.

Note: Stats from fantasy.premierleague.com

[Exiled_red]

Your point would make more sense if he had say scored more frequently that Ngog this season.

Ngog scored a goal every 198.8 minutes played this season compared to 206.33 minutes for Owen. You have to think they would have been used in a lot of the same situations. Owen is a less suitable lone striker as well.

Ngog also has three assists to Owens one in approximately 1.5 as much pitch time.

Owen probably cost many more times in terms of wages and physio fees. Although I accept some of this might have come back in advertising etc. but I think he got a good deal on image rights when he went to United I think so this may not have proved as lucrative as some would try to make it seem.

Note: Stats from fantasy.premierleague.com

[red n white]

As I was making my way through yet another Rafa thread I was thinking:
We all seem to agree that these clown owner need to go
We seem to be split somewhere near the middle, whether Rafe is to blame as well
Liverpool football club is over 115 years old
We have managed without a league title for nearly 20 years

Suggestion:
Why should we rush things now and not start with what we agree on and leave another season to form our oppinion on what we don't agree on yet ?

Personally I find it more urgent to solve the ownership problem, because without no manager of reputation will come anywhere near us.

P.S. Obviously this is only the case if Rafa doesn't call it a day himself.

[Exiled_red]

As I was making my way through yet another Rafa thread I was thinking.

We all seem to agree that these clown owner need to go
We seem to be split somewhere near the middle, whether Rafe is to blame as well
Liverpool football club is over 215 years old
We have managed without a league title for nearly 20 years

Suggestion:
So why should we rush things now and not start with what we agree on and leave another season to form our oppinion on what we don't agree on yet ?

Personally I find it more urgent to solve the ownership problem.

P.S. Obviously this is only the case if Rafa doesn't call it a day himself.

[cannotmakeit]

Bloody hell, can't belive people are still talking about Michael Owen.

[red n white]

Haha, Exiled
got that a little bit wrong, didn't I ?
But what are hundred years in terms of evolutionary processes ?
... and besides, one day we will be over 215 years old.

[Neil Young]

If he doesn't have confidence in them, then don't say anything. Don't lie and give them false hope.

Ah, it all seems so obvious now...

[Parr_Zee]

I didn't mean for this thread to turn into an N'Gog v Owen debate. My point was that we needed at least 1 other striker. If we had no money to spend, that should have been Owen. If we did, we should have considered someone else. The fact that Rafa chose to leave us thread bare up front, is IMO why why have struggled so much this season.

[Guest]

I didn't mean for this thread to turn into an N'Gog v Owen debate. My point was that we needed at least 1 other striker. If we had no money to spend, that should have been Owen. If we did, we should have considered someone else. The fact that Rafa chose to leave us thread bare up front, is IMO why why have struggled so much this season.

Rafa tried to sign Heskey but he was too expensive.