Hicks will back Benitez in transfer market

[5europeancups]

You two gay boys can continue you love in some other time.

Its simple, our central midfield was weak this season and the fact that we finished a mamoth 23 points behind last seasons total suggests that the loss of alonso was huge to our midfield. We didnt dominate games, we didnt control possesion of the ball.

yes, ive heard the bull**** argument about gerrard not being at his best but you can say that part of that was down to alonso not being in the side and the service into gerrard was really poor at the start of the season.

Aquilani isnt strong enough to play centrally and rafa should either move gerrard back (which he didnt for the majority of last season) and put aquilani into his position in behind torres.

Unless rafa moves gerrard back into the centre, our midfield will continue to be a weakness in our side.

If we go into the new season with the midfield pair of lucas and mascherano then exactly the same will happen again. We wont be anywhere near the top 4.

of course our central midfield was weak, We came 7th for God's sake...

its a no brainer

[Craig_H]

I agree with you Matt.

BTW Craig, overly optimistic people are much better company/conversation than overly pessimistic people who call themselves realists.

It's not a case of being either one or the other - and nothing else.

I'm neither head in the sand nor suicidal woe is me.

[Charly]

Players tend to be evaluated in a vacuum, which never fails to amaze me. The team as a whole were rubbish. Kuyt's "failures" as a RW cum forward were indicative of the lack of coherent team play. The whole squad share responsibility in that. Not saying Kuyt could not have performed certain responsibilities better but he was hardly alone.

But Kuyt is a very limited player.

He is worth his weight in gold against teams who will dominate possesion, and is a liability against the other 16 teams in the Premier League.

Face the facts. His distribution and control are not good. His shooting and crossing are also poor. Trotting out stats for the only season when he scored close to what one would expect for a striker does not justify the other 3 seasons when he has been found wanting. You omly have to actuallyt watch him play when he gers chances in front of goal to see his lack of technique. "Blast and hope" may work in Holland,

Wide players should be able to cross the ball, and have some pace. Its not much to ask, is it? I accept Kuyt has his uses, and is a good squad player, but he provides almost zero threat unless he is playing off someone elses scraps up front, and certainly cant play in Benitez' one-up system, and as a wide player his use is limited to a defensive capacity, albeit higher up the pitch.

[Craig_H]

His crossing and shooting arent poor. His shooting can be average to decent, he's produced some very good finishes as well as some very clueless attempts at times. His crossing's good IMO. He's reasonably strong, good in the air and fairly game intelligent. Obviously his strongest attributes are his attitude, workrate and stamina, all of which are absolutely world class.

His touch is often poor, he lacks guile or craft, rarely beats a fullback and has no pace or trickery.

[Shaggy]

Rafa reacting to news that Hicks is to "back him" in the transfer market...

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yVwi5IcQWZo"]YouTube- Rafa Dance![/ame]

[Craig_H]

Great find, brilliant footage.

I wish he could just be a brilliant manager

[Leyton388]

LOL Rafa's the man but **** me i want one of those LFC superman costumes!

[kop-al-74]

Rafa reacting to news that Hicks is to "back him" in the transfer market...

YouTube- Rafa Dance!

Omg,is that real?

When was this?

[Shaggy]

May 25th of course

[kop-al-74]

Ok,I have actually listened to the commentary aswell now.......oh dear Rafa,lets hope ssn don't catch on to this!

But then again,is it a bad thing making a bit of a fool of yourself?I mean so many people take themselves so seriously these days,it's quite refreshing seeing someone in such a high profile position just not giving a **** and enjoying himself.

[Craig_H]

The press wouldnt run this as it goes against the cold, nasty, robotic image of rafa they have constructed.

This shows him to have a sense of humour, enjoy having a bit of a laugh and not mind making himself look a bit silly. They wouldnt want to portray that.

[Charly]

Are you sure thats actually Rafa, and not a look-ee-likey? Didnt realise his gut was as big as that. Likes his beer, does Rafa

[little dave hedgehog]

loving our fat mong of a manager

[squaddie]

loving our fat mong of a manager

[TartanTerror]

But Kuyt is a very limited player.

He is worth his weight in gold against teams who will dominate possesion, and is a liability against the other 16 teams in the Premier League.

Face the facts. His distribution and control are not good. His shooting and crossing are also poor. Trotting out stats for the only season when he scored close to what one would expect for a striker does not justify the other 3 seasons when he has been found wanting. You omly have to actuallyt watch him play when he gers chances in front of goal to see his lack of technique. "Blast and hope" may work in Holland,

Wide players should be able to cross the ball, and have some pace. Its not much to ask, is it? I accept Kuyt has his uses, and is a good squad player, but he provides almost zero threat unless he is playing off someone elses scraps up front, and certainly cant play in Benitez' one-up system, and as a wide player his use is limited to a defensive capacity, albeit higher up the pitch.

I agree he lacks some traits that I wish he had. Lack of those traits seemed to not matter as much the prior season. IIRC he had a goal output on par with Rooney. I wish Riera had more pace and Babel had a proper footballing brain but again those drawbacks didn't seem to hurt as much the previous season. Off the ball movement was terrible this year and as such the good attributes of these players were not brought into play. Maxi came into the squad and showed intelligent movement but failed to finish chances and probably should have had 2 or 3 more goals to his name in his half-season with us. Plenty of blame to go around is all I am saying.