We're a very average, uninspiring, one dimensional side

[Harv]

it’s not our fault Houllier and Benitez have pissed the vast majority of it away on players that were no where near good enough to mount a title challenge. .

Houllier wasted alot...but Rafa hasnt wasted much of what he has spent. I think thats an unfair call AA.

yes we are playing appaling football at the moment, but there was a 4 game stretch earlier this season, were we actaully played a nice brand of fooball....the confidence was high, we were scoring goals.

Now we appear to have no confidence at all, the team just isn't gelling and we are lucky to still be in the top 3 race.

[El Jefecito]

A "proper" RW is, for a start, not Jermaine Pennant.

Ahhh, now it all makes sense you are the abomniable no-man. Can only see the negative. I'd hate to be you.

[anfieldanfield]

As for the quality of the football, well Chelsea play some of the most boring football ever but their fans weren't complaining about the 2 league titles last time I checked.

Two things, firstly Chelsea's football isn't as expansive or exciting as Man Utd's or Arsenal's, but it's certainly not as boring as what we're seeing at Anfield at the moment.

Secondly, we're not winning league titles, in fact we're not even challenging for titles, far from it. The entire 'it's the three points that count' argument, only really works when a side is winning week in, week out, which we're not.

But nice overall response, I dont agree with the majority of what you say, but you're a solid poster Morph with some constructive views, this forums needs more like you.

[Finnish_Red]

1) Rafa comes aboard and signs a bunch of players from la liga, which he knows inside out.
What do you know, he gets slaughtered for not buying home grown talent.

2) Brings in Peter Crouch, knives are out. Overpriced, can't score. Well you know the rest.
Ships out players who just couldn't cut it.

3) After a good run in the league Rafa go's out and buys 2 well known EPL-players who also were their teams best players previous season. To top that both are a lifelong fans of LFC. Now that's just terrible managering ain't it? And now that he did that people are slagging him of for not using that money for a foreign player, who at the time was priced
even higher by his club. Well that makes sense.

4) Out of spotlight we have brought in a lot of young players and completely changed the outlook of our reserve team.

5) And finally, remember that we are LFC, other teams won't make any favors for us in the transfer market. If we wan't to buy british players, we'll be facing a hefty price tag. It's like christmas for a smaller club if we come after one of their players.

So lay of with the idiotic comparisons to GH. Benitez has made, and will make mistakes, he's' human after all. But overall we do have one a hell of a manager in senior Benitez.

[alunevans]

So lay of with the idiotic comparisons to GH.

Firstly may I doubt that you're a Finnish red. I know two Finnish reds and they're a miserable pair of gets At least I know you're not them

In terms of the GH comparisons, they are a bit overblown, but I can't say we play significantly more attractive football.

Roy Evans management was fatally flawed because every new signing weakened us and there appeared to be no authority at the club....but its the last time I've seen Liverpool play attractive football consistently.

Ged made us solid then turgid. Rafa tried to get us playing football in his first season but has seemed to abandon the project. In terms of football played, its not quite as ugly as Ged's team, but its still ugly. It's still as interesting and sophisticated as watching someone throw dice for 90 minutes.

[Finnish_Red]

Don't know, I too can be pretty miserable at times.

Of course I would love to see us playing the type of football you're talking about. The whole game of football has unfortunately changed a lot from the days of Roy Evans, it's more competetive than ever. For example the past couple of seasons Gunners are finding it really hard to win things just by playing nice football.

I think tomasjj summed it up pretty well.

Seriously, I disagree with most of that, bar that we lack some movement and creativity. But dont forget that teams come to anfield and dig in with two banks of 4, leaving us almost no space. Any footballer will tell you that makes it hard to create openings.

Boro even closed the shop at Riverside from the start against us, ridiculous.

The other problem is that the kind of players that can time after time open teams up are as rare as they are expensive. We saw what happened with the young talent we were linked with, (Walcott, Aguero, Alves to some extent) someone else was always ready to walk the extra mile to get this guys signed.

I'm still hoping that the new guys will eventually find their feet and produce something to justify their price tags. I prefer it to having no hope at all.

[brikkis]

FFS AA, we win and get 3 points and your still complaining. Ok, we didn't score 50 goals but i'm happy we've won!

I really don't care how we win as long as we win. Look at Utd 5 or 6 years ago when they totally dominated the league. If memory serves me right, they where winning 1-0's in loads of their games and not deserving to win.

We are a team in progress along with our manager. Give them time man and get on the prozac quick before its too late son!

[alunevans]

Finnish,

You may have a point about the lack of football in the game these days. Very few teams actually play the game now. Percentage play seems the order of the day.

If that's the case I can honestly see the day when I stop watching football.

I've better things to do than watch almost every team just launch the ball and play the percentages.

For me though, the best way to break down a defence is to keep the ball moving, not hoof it and hope.

I think I'm beginning disillusioned with football as its played today. The phrase "the beautiful game" is becoming an ironic one.

I love to see the ball kept moving. That's football.

If it meant some sort of rule change that would allow the bulk of teams to play that sort of game then I'd back it 100%.

I mean look how ****e the World Cup was. And the majority of matches I watch are just tedious.

As a form of entertainment these days, football sucks!

[Shaggy]

Finnish,

You may have a point about the lack of football in the game these days. Very few teams actually play the game now. Percentage play seems the order of the day.

If that's the case I can honestly see the day when I stop watching football.

I've better things to do than watch almost every team just launch the ball and play the percentages.

For me though, the best way to break down a defence is to keep the ball moving, not hoof it and hope.

I think I'm beginning disillusioned with football as its played today. The phrase "the beautiful game" is becoming an ironic one.

I love to see the ball kept moving. That's football.

If it meant some sort of rule change that would allow the bulk of teams to play that sort of game then I'd back it 100%.

I mean look how ****e the World Cup was. And the majority of matches I watch are just tedious.

As a form of entertainment these days, football sucks!

Depressingly, I agree.

The World Cup was ****ing ****e. I invested a load of time and energy into that and it was total ****. There is so much at stake in football these days, mainly financially, that it’s to the detriment of the spectacle. Defences have become stronger and better organised and it’s now harder to score a goal. More teams play “percentages” and more teams set themselves up defensively and look to avoid getting beaten before looking to win the game.

Football isn’t the same as it used to be and it’s all the worse for it.

[Harv]

Depressingly, I agree.

The World Cup was ****ing ****e. I invested a load of time and energy into that and it was total ****. There is so much at stake in football these days, mainly financially, that it’s to the detriment of the spectacle. Defences have become stronger and better organised and it’s now harder to score a goal. More teams play “percentages” and more teams set themselves up defensively and look to avoid getting beaten before looking to win the game.

Football isn’t the same as it used to be and it’s all the worse for it.

totally agree mate

Football used to be all i thought about, i would watch every game i could, it used to be exciting.

but now, i feel it has become laborous and unbelievably boring.

The WC was horrendous bar a few games, and it left me really thinking what has happened to the world game

[tomasjj]

Sorry, but the world cup was not total ****e.

There were some great games the first weeks in particular. Also, teams like Italy and Germany played the most positive footy they have played in years.

I do agree that as the tournament got on, it got dire, the games Aussie-Japan, Aussie-Italy, France-Spain games being notable exceptions imo. Probably some others too, but its a bit hazy now half a year after.

Many teams play the percentages, I agree, but some do out of necessity(Bolton springs to mind....), as they dont have the financial clout to compete with the top teams. They then retort to defensive tactics and direct footy with an emphasis on set pieces. It makes for horrible entertainment though.

Arsenal are an exception, but a good team can negate their threat by getting physical and sitting back with 11 men behind the ball, giving them no space to move into.

But to say that all was rosy earlier is leaving out all the crappy parts and remembering all the romance....

[Snigger]

We've had a bad start to the season, that said we've played Arse, Chels and Manu all away already and we are only 3 points of 3rd place. This season is not over yet. We are always **** the weekend after a Euro game.

[carrsim]

well aren't we all bringers of joy this morning?

i fundamentally disagree with the overall tone That this thread is taking.

And here’s why. There were times last season when we absolutely battered teams with simple, but effective movement and passing.

We may have won many of our games 1-0, we might have drawn a few that we should have won, but the spine of the team was in place and confidence was high.

Its clear that this season has not started as well as we’d like and the possible reasons have all been done to death. The one thing that gets players playing well is confidence. The away form this season has proved that to me conclusively. ALL of our away games have seen opportunities missed and silly goals conceded, draining the most precious and elusive commodity any team can have.

However, that does not mean that we should throw the baby out with the bath water- we have not become a bad team in the space of 20 games. The opportunities ARE there, we are not taking them.

Is this down to the players we’ve brought in not being good enough? Well that we have to wait and see, but I think they and rafa deserve more than 20 games to find out and the players that we already had deserve some patience after serving us well for the past 2 seasons.

I am finding this period very frustrating- and yes it is not much fun. But when has being a football fan ever been fun? There’s too much to worry about for it to ever really be fun.

But I ask you all to look at the table and how congested it is-even the top 2 are not totally out of reach with so many points still to play for. 3rd or better is not beyond us.

I know we hoped for a challenge at the top- and it may yet materialize- but what we must do is pull together as this is a time when the players and managers need us most. Its easy to support on the back of a 10 game winning run-but right now is not the time to question the manager, his techniques or his players.

I accept that we are a touch behind where we want to be, but to lose Rafa, because we are having to grind out a few results to get things moving will put us back another 3 years if you ask me.

[Harv]

well aren't we all bringers of joy this morning?

i fundamentally disagree with the overall tone That this thread is taking.

And here’s why. There were times last season when we absolutely battered teams with simple, but effective movement and passing.

We may have won many of our games 1-0, we might have drawn a few that we should have won, but the spine of the team was in place and confidence was high.

Its clear that this season has not started as well as we’d like and the possible reasons have all been done to death. The one thing that gets players playing well is confidence. The away form this season has proved that to me conclusively. ALL of our away games have seen opportunities missed and silly goals conceded, draining the most precious and elusive commodity any team can have.

However, that does not mean that we should throw the baby out with the bath water- we have not become a bad team in the space of 20 games. The opportunities ARE there, we are not taking them.

Is this down to the players we’ve brought in not being good enough? Well that we have to wait and see, but I think they and rafa deserve more than 20 games to find out and the players that we already had deserve some patience after serving us well for the past 2 seasons.

I am finding this period very frustrating- and yes it is not much fun. But when has being a football fan ever been fun? There’s too much to worry about for it to ever really be fun.

But I ask you all to look at the table and how congested it is-even the top 2 are not totally out of reach with so many points still to play for. 3rd or better is not beyond us.

I know we hoped for a challenge at the top- and it may yet materialize- but what we must do is pull together as this is a time when the players and managers need us most. Its easy to support on the back of a 10 game winning run-but right now is not the time to question the manager, his techniques or his players.

I accept that we are a touch behind where we want to be, but to lose Rafa, because we are having to grind out a few results to get things moving will put us back another 3 years if you ask me.

ive being saying it all along

we lack confidence in the attacking third of the pitch, only goals will change that. The good thing is our defence looks alot more solid (barring the Arse game) than earlier in the season.

[The_weatherman]

well aren't we all bringers of joy this morning?

i fundamentally disagree with the overall tone That this thread is taking.

And here’s why. There were times last season when we absolutely battered teams with simple, but effective movement and passing.

We may have won many of our games 1-0, we might have drawn a few that we should have won, but the spine of the team was in place and confidence was high.

Its clear that this season has not started as well as we’d like and the possible reasons have all been done to death. The one thing that gets players playing well is confidence. The away form this season has proved that to me conclusively. ALL of our away games have seen opportunities missed and silly goals conceded, draining the most precious and elusive commodity any team can have.

However, that does not mean that we should throw the baby out with the bath water- we have not become a bad team in the space of 20 games. The opportunities ARE there, we are not taking them.

Is this down to the players we’ve brought in not being good enough? Well that we have to wait and see, but I think they and rafa deserve more than 20 games to find out and the players that we already had deserve some patience after serving us well for the past 2 seasons.

I am finding this period very frustrating- and yes it is not much fun. But when has being a football fan ever been fun? There’s too much to worry about for it to ever really be fun.

But I ask you all to look at the table and how congested it is-even the top 2 are not totally out of reach with so many points still to play for. 3rd or better is not beyond us.

I know we hoped for a challenge at the top- and it may yet materialize- but what we must do is pull together as this is a time when the players and managers need us most. Its easy to support on the back of a 10 game winning run-but right now is not the time to question the manager, his techniques or his players.

I accept that we are a touch behind where we want to be, but to lose Rafa, because we are having to grind out a few results to get things moving will put us back another 3 years if you ask me.

Top post. I think we are still in the top fight, Arsenal have now lost to Bolton away and West Ham at home plus drawing with Boro, Everton and Newcastle at home. Chelsea´s two toughest away trips to Man U and Tottenham have ended in draw and defeat. Man U´s toughest away fixture was against Bolton who they won convincingly, still Bolton were missing Nolan amongst others, Man U still lost their game against the Arse at home though and drew with Reading away and Chelsea at home.

The title is won on the road, we have made it difficult for ourselves but IF we win at home against the top three we are back in it with a bang IMO. Pompey are depleted for the midweek game so we should give it all and thump them good to set us up nicely for the next couple of games.