Rafa Watch

[RichC]

i cannot believe that some of you esteemed gentlemen would still consider Raffa a likely candidate to return to the managers seat at Anfield. take the rose tinted spectacles off.
he is stubborn to the point of being almost insane. just because he has an affinity with the Liverpool [wirral] people it isnt enough to give him free reign to try and implement his "plan" and squeeze the love of football out of our players and supporters.

ahhhh post 8 and stirring up a hornets nest!

Rafa divided opinion from LFC supporters from all over the country that is true but the season he took us to 2nd and with a little bit more support behind the scenes we'd have pushed again for the title - he didn't get it, why is well documented and at the time it was best for the club and Rafa to part ways.

Further down the line with similar support that Kenny has been afforded Rafa would in my mind be an excellent manager for us again as he was before, he made some mistakes (he admits to this himself) but remember we were the most feared team in Europe at the time and clearly he rattled managers like Fergie and Mourinho it's not because they didn't like his choice in wine, he was a genuine threat

[Arn]

I'm sorry but I don't agree with any of that, those clubs don't offer anything extra to what he will have learnt here. I don't think managing in prem is so different as made out either. His problem in the prem was were were severely underfunded in comparison to our competitors.

Ancelotti won it his first season, Mourinho the same.

We played the best football in the league, attacking and defensive, the 2008-09 season.

The way football being played have changed. It is pass and move now. You won't find many teams that play the old English style football. The best players now isn't big and strong. It is much more down to pace, skill and technique. It is much more down to tactics.

You win the league now by playing pass and move football. You win the league by rotating the squad the right way.

Almost every manager look at clips, videos etc for hours before every game to find a weakness they can use. If you have one obvious weakness then you can be sure the opposition will use that against you. That wasn't the case 10 years ago. Back then Allardyce methods was seen as something new. Now if you want to win then you must use the same methods. That means study the opposition for hours to find a weakness. To sit in the stands and watching them isn't enough.

Skrtel for example is being targeted at set pieces when he plays. Not a coincidence that JH targeted him. The opposition know they can use his weakness against him and will do it in every game.

[Kenneth]

More about being more offensive and positive at home, making attacking substitutions and early ones when necessary. Areas Rafa was weak on imo. The number of home draws in 08 09 was the reason we didnt win it.

[Craig_H]

Simply pointing out that we should have faith in some but not so much in others, apparently...

"Clutching at straws-worthy" - Love it

Well yes, ****ing absolutely we should have more faith in the lad who has been with us nearly two decades and carried us through to miraculous triumphs, time and time again - compared to the donkey who strolled through the door last summer with no genuine managerial credentials or record to speak of and then managed us catastrophically for 7 months, during which he embarrassed the club and attacked the fans & insulted their intelligence.

Why shouldnt we?

[Craig_H]

What's Roy got to do, got to do with it.

What's Roy, but a lousy self promoter?

Superb

[Assassin]

I can hear Tina Turner singing that

[Craig_H]

What's Roy got to do, got to do with it.

What's Roy, but a lousy self promoter?

What's Roy got to do, got to do with it.

Who needs a Polo when Smints are delicious?

[Assassin]

[Red_Polo]

Who needs a Polo when Smints are delicious?

[Craig_H]

Sorry man

[Liverpool]

What's Roy got to do, got to do with it.

I did the exact same before I read this.

[Arn]

More about being more offensive and positive at home, making attacking substitutions and early ones when necessary. Areas Rafa was weak on imo. The number of home draws in 08 09 was the reason we didnt win it.

One question. How could we been more offensive and attacking at home when all the teams we played against parked the bus against us at Anfield?

Even the other top clubs did it. They feared our attacking play so much that they had no other option than park the bus.

So how could we been more offensive at home when we totally dominated every game at home?

The problem was that we had very few creative players that could create very dangerous chances against teams that parked the bus.

[Kenneth]

Not partnering Lucas and Mascherano in midfield is one way. I remember Alonso sitting on the bench against fulham while those two started. Unsurprisingly, when we did come on with about 20mins to go we rallied and should have won. We were 2 down to Hull that year too and scraped a draw so it wasn't all one way traffic. Also recall Lucas replacing Torres in the Derby at anfield only for everton to score to take a point.

And if "We played the best football in the league, attacking and defensive, the 2008-09 season", how can we not have had the players to break down teams?

[Arn]

Not partnering Lucas and Mascherano in midfield is one way. I remember Alonso sitting on the bench against fulham while those two started. Unsurprisingly, when we did come on with about 20mins to go we rallied and should have won. We were 2 down to Hull that year too and scraped a draw so it wasn't all one way traffic. Also recall Lucas replacing Torres in the Derby at anfield only for everton to score to take a point.

And if "We played the best football in the league, attacking and defensive, the 2008-09 season", how can we not have had the players to break down teams?

You can't play strikers and midfielders in every game. Some times you need to rest them when you are playing in the PL and CL. If you don't then it is a big chance that the players will get injured. I think Rafa knew more about the fitness of the players than we supporters do. It is very easy to say that Xabi for example would have played instead of Lucas but what if Xabi had a little knock and wasn't fit to start the game? He maybe couldn't play more 25 minutes or so. We don't know that.

That is the reason to why I almost never criticize the manager even when a better option is on the bench. I simply don't have a clue how fit the better option is for example.

Torres had his injury problems and had to be rested at the end of some games. I think Rafa know that better than you or me.

You can play the best attacking football but still create very few clear cut chances but a lot of other chances. That was what we did.

We of course scored more goals than any other team in the league and if you do that then you are playing excellent attacking football.

[Craig_H]

Boring, so boringzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz................