Hopefully a balanced point of view. . .

[Jacko]

Having seen Speedys post and some of the response he had from it I want to try and bring a more balanced appraoch to the arguements that have been going on over the last couple of weeks etc.

I love Benitez. He bought me the happiest day of my 21year old life. May the 25th was a wonderful occasion in our history- probably as Richard Keys put it "our best ever".

The FA Cup final last year was fantastic. We showed a never say die attitude by coming back twice and at the end of last season we looked odds on not only to win the league this year but in my opinion rather comfortably.

However, De Ja Vu seems to have struck again and for the second time in the last ten years.

Under Houllier we finished 2nd and again looked good to win the title. But with the loss of an important backroom staff member and also some shocking signings- we fluffed it bigtime and didn't even make the CL!

Benitez arrived in 2005 won us the CL the FA Cup amongst the smaller trophies he's won and again we looked good for the league- even more so than we did under Houllier.

But again with the loss of Herrera and some again atrocious signings its all gone tits-up once more.

Last time I gave GH a lot of support- probably a seasonsworth more than he should have got, and just because of a poor start to the season i'll still be giving Rafa at least that amount of time as well.

With GH though he bought some shockers and as well as his style of play, which didn't help the players were held as a squad accountable.

With Benitez I feel its a little different. He has bought some rubbish this year but he still has the structure of what could be a fantastic team and squad. The difference is IMO that unlike Houllier Benitez knows hes messed up with at least Pennant and probably Bellamy. Gonzalez looks poor but unlike the previously two mentioned hes still young and never played in Englnd before.

Bellamy as well has had his court case so maybe he should be given extra time as well but we'll see.

However where Houllier failed to see how those players had taken us back I think Rafa has picked up on this and even if we are poor and finish poorly this season I honestly think we'll be much better next.

So. . . on to the players then. The thing that annoyed me under Houllier was the style of play. Travelling down to portsmouth for an FA Cup replay on a cold and wet sunday afternoon to only see the lads not look arsed (yet again) and then get beat by portsmouth reserves was very tough to bare, but as weird as this sounds at least they didn't say anything after the game a lot of the time. Was mainly GH spouting some different bollocks to try and esacpe the ever tightening nouse.

It appears under Benitez however that the players like to have a say, which is fine with me- it's important to know how they are feeling and how confident they at least sound.

It's now after reading Carraghers piece on the Official site today that has prompted me to write this- also Shaggys reply to Speedy (sorry Shag ).
First of all- it was indeed a game against fourth in the league. Thats fair enough. However it was against portsmouth and they are NOT a good side. They might be on form(ish) but its certainly not been outstanding in recent weeks (they lost to Newcastle ffs) and at the start of the season Portsmouth at home was a definate three points. So i wonder now why is it any different? Why is it only a draw? It was the loss of two easy points- no arguements, and in all honesty now it is time for the panic buttons to start being pushed, at least the "somethings up and it needs fixing sharpish" buttons anyway.

As for Carra- in all his and Gerrards pre and post match interviews i read the same rubbish. We will be expecting them to come here with a 4-5-1 or we expected them to come ere with a 4-5-1. Well if thats the f*cking case lads, whats the problem? Work on it as a squad and start playing so you can beat teams who come here with a 4-5-1? it's baffling, actually baffling to see our two supposed superstars come out with this bollcks everyweek but people still get on Rafa's back easily. It must be noted that its Benitez's job to be getting them into shape for each game and sort the tactics out before hand but once the game kicks off the players have got to take some iniative and do something different themselves. It's not rocket-science ffs.

Something needs to be done by the players on match day. If things aren't going to plan then some iniative needs to be used.

I'll conclude by saying that despite the response that speedy got he did ask an important question. Is Rafa good enough? I think he is and he will deliver the title sooner rather than later, but as things stand, its not just Rafa who needs questioning its the skill, the belief and unfortunately the desire of the players that need to come in to question.

[AFII]

Rafa will bring the title back to Anfield and that means that we will win it before we move to our new stadium.

He will of course need to get more money to be able to do that but I still believe that we will get a takeover.

Rafa is the best one out there and I wouldn't change him against any other manager in the World.

Thank you Parry and Moores for Rafa. He is the best deal that you have ever made.

[Farside]

We seem to have got our defense sorted out but or midfield engine and ball player are injured and that has had a big bearing on our strikers not scoring goals. We will come good!

[Icon]

I think our problems are way deeper.

Money, morale and KNOWING that we are STILL behind the scumbags!
We wont win the Prem until we have had a MAJOR cash injection for 3-4 world class layers.

So theres no point in blaming Rafa alone while his hands are tied financially, though he does make some bad decisions.

[The Barber]

I think investment coming in is inevitable to be honest. Chelsea, United, Villa, West Ham already have sugar daddies: probably Newcastle if the rumors are to be believed and eventually us that are being linked with a possible takeover.

So if not in winter then in the summer. Since we won't be winning the league this season the blame will come on the lack of funds (i hope, and not on Rafa) and the fact that these other clubs are going to strengthen a lot over the summer will be enough preassure for Moores to sell. SO I'm pretty sure Moores knows this and will sell eventually because realistically i don't see him as owner of Liverpool this time next year.

And the rumors of Chelsea getting Alves today makes me sick to the core but then the same happened with Simao last year.

[PLY]

We struggle against 4-5-1 because we don't pass the ball quick enough and we're ****e out wide. We spend the whole game trying to go through the middle where all their players are and getting nowhere.

Jacko you make a good point about players having to take responsibility when they are on the pitch. I sit in the Paddock close to the bench and the amount of time Rafa has to tell certain players (JAR in particular) to do very basic things (that a professional should know off by heart ) is astonishing.

You can coach players all you want but unfortunately you cannot make the ****wits' brains any bigger

[tomasjj]

We struggle against 4-5-1 because we don't pass the ball quick enough and we're ****e out wide. We spend the whole game trying to go through the middle where all their players are and getting nowhere.

Jacko you make a good point about players having to take responsibility when they are on the pitch. I sit in the Paddock close to the bench and the amount of time Rafa has to tell certain players (JAR in particular) to do very basic things (that a professional should know off by heart ) is astonishing.

You can coach players all you want but unfortunately you cannot make the ****wits' brains any bigger

Why am I not surprised JAR is mentioned in this respect...