A question about Rafa...

[Mike]

Craig i like you man, but ffs cut down in the arguing it is in every thread.

[CJ]

i can only add to the Craig just because we dont agree with you doesnt mean we are wrong

the reality is none of us really know thats why we arent football managers.

we all wonder why we are competing like we did last year. there are many reasons

part of it may be rafa, even if its not it might be the time that someone else can do bettter with what we have but all of us have slightly different slants on it and at the moment its being debated on every single thread and its the same argument so mabye we should restrict it to less threads eh?

[Craig_H]

Marsh mate, without going over it again, never once did i tell anyone that they are wrong.

That's all i'm gonna say, cos i've had enough and the frustration is influencing things.

[CJ]

i think your passion might be coming accross as though you think everyone is wrong.

you dont think that but somehow we interperate that. not sure how you get round it.

the good news though is that every day we are closer to something happening to those two or rafa depending which side of the rafa to stay or rafa to go fence.

[Lecter]

I expect a side that went within 4 points of being champions, to be able to finish in the top 4 without a problem.

Actually Lec, scrap that - forget the top 4.

Do you think our team is good enough to be able to win at places like Pompey, Wolves, Wigan etc?

Do you think our team is of a high enough standard to have more than the pitiful 4 away wins all season?

If you think they arent good enough for that, then you must seriously think most of our players are utter utter ****.

Did you think United would have lost 7 games this season??

I've seen the greatest Liverpool sides ever get beaten at home by Leicester so I'm cautious to think that anything on paper means nothing

I've said previous that I expected us to finish in the top 4 this season (if we dont its Rafas fault imo)

However blaming Rafa for any future transfer budgets is fecking ludicrous. I dont see how a manager who finished second and got diddly squat can be blamed for hampering any future manager by not finishing in the top 4

Basic mathematics states 0 multiplied by any number is ZERO

You can blame a manager for what is going on the pitch but not for finances, particularly when lack of finances have hampered that manager in the first place

[Craig_H]

Did you think United would have lost 7 games this season??

I've seen the greatest Liverpool sides ever get beaten at home by Leicester so I'm cautious to think that anything on paper means nothing

I've said previous that I expected us to finish in the top 4 this season (if we dont its Rafas fault imo)

However blaming Rafa for any future transfer budgets is fecking ludicrous. I dont see how a manager who finished second and got diddly squat can be blamed for hampering any future manager by not finishing in the top 4

Basic mathematics states 0 multiplied by any number is ZERO

You can blame a manager for what is going on the pitch but not for finances, particularly when lack of finances have hampered that manager in the first place

I'm not blaming him for future transfer budgets, but our ****e season wont have helped - that's undeniable. IF there was going to be a budget this summer (and neither of us can say for certain that there wouldnt be) then missing the CL will have probably killed it.

It's fairly obvious, i would've thought that i blame the manager for most of the failings on the pitch. And if we miss the top 4, i think it'll be his fault and he should be accountable, like anyone else who is considered to have failed in their professional objectives.

[TheElephantMan]

There's no doubt that Rafa hasn't been backed as he should have been this season, but regularly playing two holding midfielders against teams we should be capable of beating is not really good management. I don't want to see us try to scrape wins I want Liverpool Football Club to dominate games and pulverise the opposition. I want to see us playing attacking free flowing football like we used to. I know that's not always practical, but probably 75% of the time it is and we would win! We are better than every other team in the league apart from Chelsea in my opinion. Manchester United are not that great and I don't think Arsenal will ever become a team capable of dominating domestically or in Europe. We should be ****ting most teams week in/week out, only our tactics keep letting us down.

[Mattshark]

Maxi an absolute steal at 1.5 million, cant wait for him to get his first goal.

Even better as a free transfer

[cannotmakeit]

After the season we had, I actually think the players and the management got complacent this season, add bad form + injuries this season to key players, we gone into games earlier on in the season thinking we just roll over teams. Confidence sapped and we never recovered from it.

[Lecter]

I'm not blaming him for future transfer budgets, but our ****e season wont have helped - that's undeniable. IF there was going to be a budget this summer (and neither of us can say for certain that there wouldnt be) then missing the CL will have probably killed it.

It's fairly obvious, i would've thought that i blame the manager for most of the failings on the pitch. And if we miss the top 4, i think it'll be his fault and he should be accountable, like anyone else who is considered to have failed in their professional objectives.

I'm sorry Craig but you have implicitly blamed Rafa for future budgets in this below sentence

The problem is, thanks to rafa's mismanagement of this season, a transfer budget is likely to be a pipedream.

As for predicting future summer budgets well we have traded on a profit in the transfer market this season (after finishing 2nd), we were close to breaking even last season (after finishing in the top 4)

You think if we had finished in the top 4 Rafa would have got a decent transfer kitty with £100 million debt paydown due this July??

Good god your starting to sound like Gordon Brown & Alistair Darling

[Lecter]

There's no doubt that Rafa hasn't been backed as he should have been this season, but regularly playing two holding midfielders against teams we should be capable of beating is not really good management. I don't want to see us try to scrape wins I want Liverpool Football Club to dominate games and pulverise the opposition. I want to see us playing attacking free flowing football like we used to. I know that's not always practical, but probably 75% of the time it is and we would win! We are better than every other team in the league apart from Chelsea in my opinion. Manchester United are not that great and I don't think Arsenal will ever become a team capable of dominating domestically or in Europe. We should be ****ting most teams week in/week out, only our tactics keep letting us down.

We didnt play 2 holding midfielders on Sunday and only managed a draw

I dont buy this changing the tactics will make us dramatically improve

Bottom line is this season the vast bulk of our players have grossly under-performed no matter what team selection /tactics have been used

We can argue all day as to whose fault that is. Some will claim its the players fault, others Rafa's. For me the blame is equal on both of them

Rafa's fundamental problems this season have stemmed from his signings imo. Johnson is too offensive at fullback and leaves the centrehalves exposed (this is a double whammy when Insua plays on the left) and Aquilani has either been injured or hasnt come up to expectation

However I expect something to come out regarding BOTH those deals in the summer which will almost mitigate those purchases. It will certainly give people food for thought in terms of managers and how they spend money that is "available" to them

[SB]

We didnt play 2 holding midfielders on Sunday and only managed a draw

I dont buy this changing the tactics will make us dramatically improve

Bottom line is this season the vast bulk of our players have grossly under-performed no matter what team selection /tactics have been used

We can argue all day as to whose fault that is. Some will claim its the players fault, others Rafa's. For me the blame is equal on both of them

Rafa's fundamental problems this season have stemmed from his signings imo. Johnson is too offensive at fullback and leaves the centrehalves exposed (this is a double whammy when Insua plays on the left) and Aquilani has either been injured or hasnt come up to expectation

However I expect something to come out regarding BOTH those deals in the summer which will almost mitigate those purchases. It will certainly give people food for thought in terms of managers and how they spend money that is "available" to them

What does that mean for a thick head like me Lec ?

[Craig_H]

I'm sorry Craig but you have implicitly blamed Rafa for future budgets in this below sentence

The problem is, thanks to rafa's mismanagement of this season, a transfer budget is likely to be a pipedream.

As for predicting future summer budgets well we have traded on a profit in the transfer market this season (after finishing 2nd), we were close to breaking even last season (after finishing in the top 4)

You think if we had finished in the top 4 Rafa would have got a decent transfer kitty with £100 million debt paydown due this July??

Good god your starting to sound like Gordon Brown & Alistair Darling

I'm explicitly saying that i am NOT blaming Rafa for future budgets, but that his mismanagement of the team will make an already poor situation, worse.

I dont think that's debatable.

[Guest]

I dont think that's debatable.

Everything is with you.

[Tee]

I think that Rafa's biggest mistake last summer was not to bring in a proven goalscorer to partner/cover for Torres. We did not need a CM as SG could have played there this season and in his CM cameos he has shown he would have done a superb job there.

As a team we just miss too many chances and that is proving very costly. So I think rather than spend all that money on Aquilani he should have gone out and signed a quality CF.

Ngog is still one for the future and he has had to carry too much of a burden when he has played and just is not quite ready yet.