• Major upgrades completed! Please report any issues you spot in here

Liverpool Thread

Re: Liverpool Thread

Well I guess you won the game tonight so Rafa did his part. It was results elsewhere that cost you the spot. Out of all the things you blame Rafa for, this one's a little unfair IMO. Then again, you can argue that he shouldnt have been in this position in the first place but thats another issue.
 
Re: Liverpool Thread

jonneymendoza said:
:LOL: :LOL: :LOL: :LOL: AT LIVERPOOL. shocking.


new liverpool song you'll never cry alone
Click to expand...

What's with Arsenal fans coming in here taking the piss this season? Weren't they screaming for Wengers head last season but now Arsenal are winning they're back on the Arsenal bandwagon? :ROLL:

Gerrard reckons we played "fantasically well" tonight. Really? I thought we were pretty shit apart from the first 15 mins or so, and Gerrard didn't do much either. Not sure where he's seeing this performance he speaks of.

Europe League can get stuffed for me though, really couldn't give a shit about it right now.
 
Re: Liverpool Thread

DagsJT said:
What's with Arsenal fans coming in here taking the piss this season? Weren't they screaming for Wengers head last season but now Arsenal are winning they're back on the Arsenal bandwagon? :ROLL:

Gerrard reckons we played "fantasically well" tonight. Really? I thought we were pretty shit apart from the first 15 mins or so, and Gerrard didn't do much either. Not sure where he's seeing this performance he speaks of.

Europe League can get stuffed for me though, really couldn't give a shit about it right now.
Click to expand...

if we finish outside the top 4 and dont win jack, yes wenger's position needs to be questioned.

Liverpool are a joke for not qualifying with the team they have really. shocking mate. Now it wont surprise me if you lot dont even finish in the top 4 now.
 
Re: Liverpool Thread

Liverpool not going through is one thing but the story of the day...


g-souness.jpg
scouser.jpg


SOUNESS IS BRINGING IT BACK!

OW AND ERR..KRAP :))
 
Re: Liverpool Thread

Didn't get anything more than we deserve.

And yes, I want us to win the Europa League. Be nice to be the first team to win under it's new format. It's not that bad this year either. We've got ourselves, one of Juve or Bayern, and a good chance that two of Real, AC Milan, Barcelona or Inter will be there as well. Add in your Valencia's and Atletico Madrid's and that's a pretty decent competition. Be nice to win a thing for a change.

Ngog is really good btw.
 
Re: Liverpool Thread

@ Dags,

I was watching in disbelief when Beni got brought on, I was thinking; "Eh?! Now we haven't even got a striker on the pitch!" Then a couple of minutes later I saw Kuyt running upfront and realised; "Oh wait, he's a striker aswell". I had totally forgotten......I wonder why. :D

Also what was the point of putting aquilani on?! So he can say he played in the CL this year? You could see him thinking, "Whats the f#$king point?!"
 
Re: Liverpool Thread

To give him more match fitness. Hopefully he'll be able to play the first game of the 2010/2011 season with the time he's been getting.

How would Rafa, and these fans saying "yes but we won!", respond if Debrecen would've scored at the end? If Coulibaly would've finished that chance? And Lisandro scored his chance as well?

It could've easily have happened, and we'd have went out because we didn't go for that second goal but instead brought on a defender, took off a goalscorer and didn't bring one of the most creative players on until the last minute.

Debrecen were whipping boys for the other teams, with them scoring for fun against them. We hung on at the end for a draw.

Really pissed off with Rafa AND the players, probably the lazy players more than Rafa in general. Both have been dire this season and it's not acceptable.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Re: Liverpool Thread

:D,

Yeah great fitness boost, might aswell have sent him on a run around the pitch. Just wait till 2011/2012 season, he'll be immense!
 
Re: Liverpool Thread

I'll post what I just said to MJP on Facebook:

I think the opposite. Last season we missed out on the title due to not finishing teams off when we had a 1-goal advantage. And on far too many occasions, the opposition scored in the final minutes and we drew. It's a trademark of Benitez to hold onto 1-0's rather than put the game away. That's the difference between us and Utd. They punish teams, they smell blood and keep the pressure on the opposition. We go a goal up, and retreat back and invite pressure on.

We need to be more aggressive, take more risks going forward. There was a moment last night when someone broke, I think Lucas, and he got into the final third against three Debrecen players. There was no Liverpool in front of him, so he had to slow the ball right down and wait for players to catch up, then passed the ball sideways. We're too scared to commit players to attack.

And that is the reason Gerrard is seen to be the player who drags us out. Because, more often than not, he's the player in the squad who WILL get forward at every opportunity and try to create something and get a play going. A midfield of Lucas, Mascherano and Aurelio isnt going to get into those attacking positions and help us get that extra goal. Their mentality is to stop the opposition scoring.

And that's where Aquilani comes in. A player who I believe has superb creativity and can create a chance, like Benayoun. There's not enough creativity in the side, and the players than can be creative (Lucas was a quality attacking midfielder at Gremio) are being held back by Rafa.

I can see that a scrappy 1-0 win, clean sheet and no injuries is good. But imagine if Coulibaly scored that sitter last night, we draw 1-1. Then Frey doesn't save Lisandro's shot at the end of their game. We'd go out because we didn't finish Debrecen off. Our inability to finish weaker teams is so frustrating and it's already cost us the title last season.
Click to expand...

You wouldn't believe how pissed off I am this morning :CURSE:
 
Re: Liverpool Thread

I missed the game, but now I'll have to be content watching the Reds only @ BPL cause we don't show Europa league games here ... I thought N'gog is truly our lone bright star of this season as of now. Games to goals ratio is 'pretty' good for a 20 year old :-)
 
Re: Liverpool Thread

Yeah it's true you have got further with Benitez but what he's forgotten is that Souness and Evans didn't have the chance to finish 4th or 5th in the league and still qualify for the European Cup, in those days it was 1st only and then the team that finished 2nd started getting a shot, then eventually 3rd and now 4th too like today.

Quite a big factor to be taken into consideration.

He also quite clearly believes that spending money on transfers and wages should automatically equal success as he states Arsenal are overachieving (because of Wenger) and City and Spurs are underachieving (because of 'bad management'). There's a lot more to it than that.

Two more bits of clearly blinkered nonsense.

"meaning he couldn't replace the striker he lost in January etc"
Maybe he could have kept him and given him a chance to adapt? Nobody forced him to sell him. Maybe the American's were reluctant to give him more money after he made a loss on a big money signing he'd only bought 6 months before.

"We've massively overachieved over the past few years, mainly due to his brilliant signings"
Or mainly because he's turned you into a REALLY well drilled unit that can be impossible to break down at times.

It's well written but it's full of crap and he needs to take his Rafa specs off.
 
Re: Liverpool Thread

I don't think anyone has ever denied that Rafa has generally been great in Europe, and that Liverpool have performed better there than domestically.

I kind of agree with it in a way. I mean, the only reason that Rafa is under so much pressure is the sense of entitlement that Liverpool fans tend to feel, which isn't necessarily backed up by their squad. If Everton, or Spurs or Villa had achieved what Pool have over the past 6 years, their manager would be a genius.

Problem is Pool want to be mentioned in the same breath as Barcelona, as Chelsea and Manchester United. And if they want that recognition, they need to accept the pressure that comes with it.
 
Re: Liverpool Thread

I imagine Benitez expected to get the Keane money back to spend again, which obviously didn't happen. The longer he sat with Keane underperforming, his value would've been dropping more and more.

Doesn't the well drilled unit also come down to having the players to peform the duties he's asked them to do?
 
Re: Liverpool Thread

I've been pretty disgusted with some of the comments made by supposed fans about not wanting to watch our Europa League games. I'll be glad if this little downturn in performance gets rids of the gloryhunters that jumped on board after Istanbul expecting world domination. Our European foray in 2001 gave Liverpool fans a taste of European football against some giants (Barca, Roma etc) that we had been missing for so long, and for me as a young lad at the time it gave me some brilliant nights, watching players like Gerrard develop into a monster of a player, Owen at his prime, Gary Mac...err at his prime.

The Europa league may well again have a few giants in it this season, the fans may well get to travel to some luxurious locations.

If this club went into administration and were relegated, these people have to ask themselves if they would still support this club. I think it would just be too embarrasing for some, how pathetic.

I get sick of the stick off mates and opposition fans, but these are fans that have known nothing other than success during their lifetime. Chelsea's success came at a time where they had a gigantic advantage over other teams, yet they dare to compare themeselves to a club that has always been there or thereabouts since its inception.

In reality, we have the 5th/6th most expensive squad in the league, we have the 5th highest wage structure, and other clubs are rapidly reaching our stadium capacity. Rafa Benitez has OVERACHEVIED at this club in a footballing sense. His net spend is minscule, he has to sell to buy, how can he build a squad capable of challenging on four fronts with this policy? For me, to be mentioned in the same bracket at United, Barcelona, Madrid etc we need to get it right off the pitch too. We have failed as a business, not as a football team. Mismanagement for years. For a club with an almost spiritual appeal across the globe, we simply havent tapped it.

There are too many fans out there that only ever seem to get involved in discuissing the club when they have a chance to moan and critisise. On Rawk and other sites, match threads after defeats get more posts than threads after great nights like Madrid, Arsenal, Chelsea, Inter, Marseille etc.

After all the mocking, the texts, the jibes, I can simply think back to the site of the entire away section last night signing in unison just as the final whistle blew in Florence. No other English club has that. And you will find few fans in the world that are able to say they have experience night after night of special european games than we have in the last 5 years.

Which clubs have reached two european CL finals in the last 5 years. Only 3. Liverpool, Barcelona and Manchester United?
 
Last edited:
Re: Liverpool Thread

Not the end of the world is it? every big
team around europe has gone through the
shitter in the past few years.

The Europa league is not all that bad and it
usaully heats up during the late knockout stages.

Right now it's about sunday and getting
our stop.start league form sorted out,
hopefully we'll see a Aquilani debut.

Ngog another greak unknown quality signing
from Rafa, this guy reminds me of Trezeguet
when he first broke through for Monaco.
 
Re: Liverpool Thread

If the league was determined solely by spend, Chelsea, Man City and Spurs would be the big 3, especially over the past 5 years. Doesn't seem to work that way...

I also believe that Liverpool's success in the CL should always be tempered with it being their only focus. I believe that competing in your domestic league and making it into the latter stages of the CL is far more impressive.
 
Re: Liverpool Thread

Jumbo_ said:
Petrov - So are your fans the best in the world or the worst? I cant work it out from your post?!
Click to expand...

The real fans are the best in the country, probably not the world. But then we have our share fair of morons, internet and anfield regularls.

The sort of fan that seems to enjoy critisising and saying nothing when we are doing well, would not be a fan that would travel to Budapest midweek.
 
Re: Liverpool Thread

beachryan said:
If the league was determined solely by spend, Chelsea, Man City and Spurs would be the big 3, especially over the past 5 years. Doesn't seem to work that way...

I also believe that Liverpool's success in the CL should always be tempered with it being their only focus. I believe that competing in your domestic league and making it into the latter stages of the CL is far more impressive.
Click to expand...

well yes and taking that into account, Spurs are massive underacheivers, and Chelsea you would have to raise a question mark over considering no European success.

But recently a study was made into the economics of football that suggests a clubs abillity to enforce a higher wage structure for first team and squad players has a 92% direct impact on success. In this regard; United, Chelsea, Arsenal, City and Arsenal rank higher, with Spurs set to over-take us there too!

We challenged for the league last year and were a goal away from knocking Chelsea out of the CL again.

Basically everyone is being impatient. This craving for instant success is ridiculous. 5 Seasons of football is not a long time. All of a sudden Benitez is being judged on 3 months of bad results with yet another victory against the League Champions thrown in.

I know I sound like a really staunch Rafa fan. Guilty. So I'll do a bit of critisising now. Benayoun should not be played on the wing, it limits his creativity and he is not suited for that position because he isnt exactly quick, nor strong and he doesnt have a powerful shot. Dirk Kuyt should be rested, he couldnt trap a bag of cement last night. He plays non stop for club and country. Yes he probably has one of the best stanima levels in world football, but humans have limits.

And finally, we need to change the formation. The 4-2-3-1 that we switched to a while back worked well when we had the players to play in it. Lucas and Mascherano are solid, but too simlar, we aren't really conceeding too many from open play, they are doing a good defensive job, but this has placed more onus on the wide men in the 3, and they simply havent been upto scrath this season (kuyt) or we've had to constantly change our left sided player from Reira/Babel/Benayoun. And only one of those players can offer real width and balance. Every teams we've struggled against has pressed us, and it has thrown us off our game, amasingly the one team that didnt press us well enough was United and they were punished by Benayoun (playing centrally i might add)

Ngog has been a massive plus this season, but its asking alot of him to develop with confidence, playing upfront on his own in such high pressure games when he is still so raw. (its been mentioned here that every game seems to be a massive high pressure situation now)

I would actually consider using Gerrard in a wide positon if that means Aquilani can play further forward or that Benayoun gets more time in the middle. If Benayoun is in the middle if gives him more angles, more space, and he has more options with regards to supporting runs.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom