Midweek Football; 27-28th January - *SPOiLERS*

Urgh, just got back from Goodison Park. Always nice to see us play and get something from the game, which was just utterly poor. 10 minutes in each half where nothing happened except my testicles shrivelled up from the cold.

Adebayor looks even worse in real life than on tv. Solely responsible for breaking up 4 or 5 attacks in the game.
 
m4cc45 said:
I don't think it's that. What I truly think is that if the press **** off a player then Benitez will play them to prove a point. It was the rotation issue last season where the press were slagging him off for that and it's this season it's going to be 'tinker man'. If you have a winning side you leave it alone. If the players are literally exhausted then change it not while everythings going well.

Now we have to beat Chelsea at the weekend and we have to beat Man U if we don't win all our games between now and then we can kiss the league goodbye. It's a stupid place to be in because we should be clear at the top.


M.
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I know what you're saying. I used to think that about Benitez (stubborn in trying to make a point) but at the same time, I dont and have never thought that he was a great manager the way some people try to make him out to be.

OK I know people are frustrated with the result today and that people do tend to jump on the "lets blame someone" band-wagon, but to me its plainly clear that Benitez is his own worst enemy. And I cant help but feel some of his behavior is done on purpose. Why? Not sure, but its possible that the pressure is getting to him. You cant seriously suggest that his behavior since we topped the league this season has been that of the "normal" quiet but thoughtful Benitez.

I 100% believe that if an opportunity came along that allowed Benitez to leave without it looking like he was walking away, he would snap it up and blame everyone for it while being apologetic to the fans.

Dont get me wrong Liverpool are in a higher position in the league now than we've been for a long, but from watching the football, from seeing the players motivations every match, and from reading/listening and observing Benitez decisions and comments... all these things scream to me that we're basically as far as we're going to go with that guy.

If you consider what you said to be the truth, in that Benitez makes decision during the game to prove a point to the press and critics, then what the hell type of a manager is running my club?

I'm not a complete pessimist, I do love the club and would want nothing more than this Spanish Rafalution to continue and bring the title back to the club, but I'm also a football player, fan, manager and coach every weekend when I get to watch Liverpool play, and over all the years I've followed my team, these things I've wrote about scream at me weekly and have done since about 2006: Benitez is not a great manager, he has his good parts (like every relatively experienced top-flight footballing coach does) but I also 100% feel hes been very lucky during his career at Liverpool and the luck that he's been able to enjoy and ride out has covered and distracted people from the holes in his managerial skills. And it seems to me that his luck is starting to run out.
 
To be honest, what's O'Neill spent?

Petrov 6.5m, Harewood 3m, Young 10m, Cuellar 8m, Heskey 3.5m, Routledge 1.5m, L Young 4.5m (i think), Shorey 5m (again, i think), Milner 12m, Friedel 3m.. actually, it adds up when you think about it :p - but that's an entire squad. Most big teams spend that on 2 players.
 
Loki said:
He has also chuffed around £25m-£30m on Dossena and Keane. He has bough players in the past who are not Liverpool standard, Crouch being an example. You can't polish a turd, make a silk purse out of a sow's ear and all that.
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You have to take into account where we were before the likes of Crouch was bought. He improved our side when he was signed and was sold at a profit.

As i said for every Keane or Dossenna you point to, he's also signed an Alonso, Mascherano, Reina, Agger, Skrtel or a Torres.
 
LoadsaMoney said:
Jesus, hes ******* lost it, Gerrard off for Keane.
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manic111 said:
Er...Gerrard? Surely bring off Lucas?
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I'm not sure what Rafa is trying to prove sometimes. It like he feels he has to do something unexpected so he can say only he understands he's mystical tactics. He makes some bizarre team selections, some even more strange substitutions and as of late it's just not working. Sometime the bleeding obvious is the right thing to do.

The first thing that springs to mind is Lucas just isn’t ******* good enough. And that has been obvious to everyone but you for some time. Stop playing him, you stubborn git :rolleyes:
 
el_dazza said:
To be honest, what's O'Neill spent?

Petrov 6.5m, Harewood 3m, Young 10m, Cuellar 8m, Heskey 3.5m, Routledge 1.5m, L Young 4.5m (i think), Shorey 5m (again, i think), Milner 12m, Friedel 3m.. actually, it adds up when you think about it :p - but that's an entire squad. Most big teams spend that on 2 players.
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O'Neill has done a brilliant job, you haven't been playing amazingly recently but then again no one has. You haven't made any superstar buys but they're working for you. Liverpool had a far stronger squad than you when O'Neill took over and in results at least you've closed the gap dramatically.
 
DanH84 said:
O'Neill has done a brilliant job, you haven't been playing amazingly recently but then again no one has. You haven't made any superstar buys but they're working for you. Liverpool had a far stronger squad than you when O'Neill took over and in results at least you've closed the gap dramatically.
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Does that apply to Benitez too?

You had a far stronger squad than we did when Rafa took over (~30 points off the lead) and we've closed the gap dramatically :p
 
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This might seem biased, I can assure you it isn't, but if I was the ref I wouldn't have given that penalty, tiny little tap and Koumas drops like a sack of ****, it's blatant simulation.

It's very similar to my view on Kuyts challenge on Hleb last season, yeah it was a foul but the player shouldn't be acting like he's just been shot.
 
20 years without a title.

Is Rafa employed by oldtraffurd?

Liverpool the luck has finally run out. Fat man can`t even win games by luck and playing "Ugly" football anymore.

Bad tactics, purchases, selections.

All you Rafa lovers, you can kiss the league goodbye while he is in charge. We need change. Starting from the very top.
Liverpool the club that has had 2 managers at the same time.
2 owners at the same time.
Thanks for the European cup Rafa and hope you have great time at Madrid with Kuyt.
 
Pigeon_Killer said:
I'd love to see Pacheco get a run out at some point. All well and good Rafa saying he's not ready but unless he's given a chance we'll never know. Same could've been said about Nemeth but he's ****ed now :(
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Nemeth's not close to being in contention to play in the league. Had he not been injured he could have done a job in the CC. He's not a player who would play alongside Torres but in place of him and that's not going to happen.

Pacheco's a tricky one. He looked at total ease when playing with the first team in pre-season but he's tiny. He'd get eaten alive if he were to thrown in to a league game.
 
BaZ87 said:
Does that apply to Benitez too?

You had a far stronger squad than we did when Rafa took over (~30 points off the lead) and we've closed the gap dramatically :p
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actually Baz that's kind of my point, it's an argument that you've used against united when arguing before about rafa's resources. you were much farther behind when benitez took over, well villa were further behind than you. and while i think they're still some way off liverpool they have closed the gap dramatically without any real marquee signings and in just 2 years.
 
Anders0n said:
This might seem biased, I can assure you it isn't, but if I was the ref I wouldn't have given that penalty, tiny little tap and Koumas drops like a sack of ****, it's blatant simulation.

It's very similar to my view on Kuyts challenge on Hleb last season, yeah it was a foul but the player shouldn't be acting like he's just been shot.
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i think the correct procedure in that instance os the foul/penalty is still awarding along with a yellow card for the player who was simulating. a foul is still a fould but the follow up can be punished as well.
 
DanH84 said:
actually Baz that's kind of my point, it's an argument that you've used against united when arguing before about rafa's resources. you were much farther behind when benitez took over, while villa were further behind than you. and while i think they're still some way off liverpool they have closed the gap dramatically without any real marquee signings and in just 2 years.
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I've not disagreed with you that O'Neil's done a good job. I simply asked if the same applied to us as you could have easily swapped Liverpool for Villa and said that we've dramatically closed the gap too. I only asked as im sure 99% of people would praise O'Neil's job but you'd be hard pushed to get much praise for what Benitez has done despite there being several parallels.

And isn't this O'Neil's 3rd season?
 
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