The lunatics are taking over the asylum once more. Bedlam is turned loose. Liverpool fans around the world are turning into jibbering wrecks. And I think I might join them if I read one more marvellously witty pun about beach balls.
It is clear by now that four defeats in nine games have angered people sufficiently to want Benitez sacked – and the sad fact is that I believe those people will get their wishes within this season. The man who won us the European Cup after years in the wilderness (and got us to a second final two years later), and then very nearly won us the league title just last season, is suddenly not good enough to achieve anything else with Liverpool. People moan that he hasn’t won silverware for far too long – ‘not even a Carling cup!’ they cry. But if he had won the Carling or FA cup in the last two years, he’d sure enough get it in the neck for ‘prioritising’ those tournaments over the Premiership. That’s what happens to poor Rafa. He wins one thing and gets abuse for not winning the other. It must get pretty tiring after a while.
There are still a lot of fans behind Benitez. The ones who actually pay money to sit on the Kop every week certainly are. These are the people who understand that managing our club since 2004 has been an unenviable task: limited funds, feuding owners, the inheritance of a terrible, terrible squad. They know that if Rafa gets sacked and another man comes in, he will most likely have a ‘5 year plan’ to take the club to the top – which would be just swell, wouldn’t it? Let’s just remember that Gerrard won’t last too much longer. If we’re going to win the league, he’s going to play a key part in the team – but within a brand new 5YP, that’s never going to happen. The team will be in transition again. The only two scouse players will retire. Torres, having won nothing since joining us, will want to leave. The new manager might turn out to be clueless, or have even less money available than Rafa, whilst clubs like City and Tottenham continue to spend freely. Liverpool could become a sleeping giant. The thought chills my bones.
‘But what about Mourinho?’ people ask, ‘he wins everything no matter where he is!’
This is my least favourite thing to hear from fellow fans. Jose Mourinho is a great manager, no doubt about it. But he’s no superman. The squad he inherited at Chelsea was unbelievable – and that was before he spent huge money to bring in the likes of Essien and Drogba. Yes, he won the league with them – but did he come close to winning them the title they drool over down at Stamford Bridge, the coveted Champions League? No, not really. His ego lost control, they had a poor start to the season and he was sacked. He goes over to Italy to inherit Inter Milan, the team who seemingly couldn’t stop winning the league even if they wanted to. And guess what – he wins them the league! He came out last week with comments akin to ‘I can’t afford to do what Benitez and Wenger do because if I don’t win, I will be sacked.’ Yes, Jose – but if you do win, it’s mainly because of what you inherit and the funds you have available, not because you’re more special than Rafa or Wenger.
If Mourinho came to Liverpool, it would easily be the biggest challenge of his managerial career. Should Rafa leave, I wouldn’t be opposed to the idea. But I also wouldn’t expect him to work a Chelsea-esque miracle when the situation he’d be entering would be so incredibly different to the one he found in London.
I want to make it clear that I’m not a ‘blind faith’ sort of person. I do recognise that Benitez has made mistakes – at times glaring ones – during his stay at Anfield. So you won’t find me saying ‘In Rafa We Trust’ every time he does something tactically nonsensical or makes a bizarre signing in the transfer market; it is our duty as fans to assess each situation objectively and fairly. The only reason I’m sometimes willing to accept an odd decision made by Benitez is because he has won two league titles and a Champions League, at different top European clubs – that is something that I have never done and never will do. His innate judgement must have some substance to it for him to be where he is.
A big part of the problem is that Benitez has signed a lot of mediocre players down the years, mainly due to lack of funds. Thus when people want to list his ‘errors in the transfer market’, they can reel off a long list including the likes of Bellamy, Pennant, Kromkamp, Josemi, Pellegrino, Nunez, Morientes… it goes on and on. None of these players would have been the manager’s first choice, but he took a gamble on them because they were the best he could hope for. The only times when he’s been allowed significant financial clout, he has signed Mascherano, Torres, Johnson (in my opinion top class players) and Keane (a bizarre mishap); and plenty of his cheaper gambles actually paid off (I’m thinking of Agger, Skrtel, Reina, Sissoko, Alonso, Crouch…).
The errors he’s made are therefore less numerous than the media would have you imagine; nonetheless there are several things that he needs to put right before we can develop as a club. Lucas, an £8 million ‘prospect’ from Brazil is almost certainly not good enough to play at a club like Liverpool. He’s not been our worst player this season but when I consider the other central midfielders Benitez has had in his time as manager, it is clear that the lad pales in comparison. I hate singling him out like this and I resent the people who boo him but a central midfield in which Lucas is the lynchpin (I’m thinking of Saturday’s game when he was paired with poor old Jay Spearing, who was never really going to look very steady with no calming influence alongside him) is unacceptable. Hindsight is a great thing but signing a crocked player looks like an incredibly bad decision now that our title challenge is already on the rocks. Yes, it is a long-term move for Aquilani but when Benitez’s job depends largely on results in the short-term you’d think he’d have spent £20 million on a fit, able midfielder.
Of course, we need another one top class attacking player and a decent backup. These things can only really be rectified when the funds become available to Rafa, so going on about them is useless. But the fact that Ryan Babel was bought for £12 million when Arshavin, Walcott and the likes were being sold for more or less the same price is one of Benitez’s gravest errors. That’s a lot of money to waste on a player who looks technically woeful and mentally unstable. Set pieces need sorting out; we concede far too many goals from corners or free kicks and, what’s more, our own set pieces are maddeningly ineffective. And Rafa needs to re-consider the system he now employs almost every week – does it work without Xabi Alonso? I don’t think it can.
But the point of this article is: let Rafa sort the issues out. He more than likely knows they exist and is desperate to fix them. Getting a new man in fosters a set of new problems far larger than we’re currently facing. And Benitez, who has shown complete loyalty and humility in front of the Kop throughout his difficult reign, deserves our support for that bit longer – I’d be ashamed if he were sacked and would rather see him resign than suffer the humiliation of the Americans getting what they’ve wanted from word one. So let’s think about this lads. Let’s get it right. Show Benitez some respect or the consequences could be dire.
IM NOT AGREE THAT WE BLAME BENITEZ.I BLAME THE OWNERS BECAUSE THEY F-CK THE CLUB.BENITEZ CAN BUY BIG PLAYERS WHICH OTHER CLUB ARE DOING???????????THERE ARE LIMITES TO BUY PLAYERS.HE CAN BRING LIKE VILLA OR SILVA WHICH WE NEED THEM???????GOOD LUCK RAFA I THRUST IN YOU…….YNWA
There five and a half years, spent over £250 MILLION, who was in midfield at ‘Sunderland’, Lucas leiva and Jay Spearing.
Enough said, “in Rafa we trust?” yer tools, Benitez OUT! its getting embarrassing!.
Liverpool will never win the league with rafa at the helm.
Time to cut our losses
ste and Brian, did you bother reading the article? Your arguments aren’t that compelling, if I’m honest.
Martin o’Neil the next Liverpool manager.Rafa’s time is over.He’e had the money but bought some truly awful players especially at the back.Agger,Skirtel,insua just arn’t good enough to play for liverpool.We are a two man team who dont understand zonal marking.time to change everything and buils the new team around the quality we have.
what we need is the stability of alonso’s position which be Rafa has not put right. i hope Rafa sort himself out with the team.
a real supporter will stick with their team through thick and thin… through good and bad times.. always support the team, no matter how bad they are playing.. while they are still in LFC.. give them 110% support and that includes Rafa, players, management staff as well.. they need our support.. YNWA..
the real problem is our defense and our front line babbel ngog vorinin between all of them they will be lucky to score 10 goals all season look at spurs, man u,man city, chelsea they have forwards that make any defense scared we only have torres . gerard will leave mascherano will leave and so will torres we fucked screwed and gone
Insua, Agger and Skrtel not good enough? We’ve had a few glitches in defence this season, but those three have been brilliant for us ever since we bought them! Before this season, we had one of the meanest defences in the league.
I sometimes envy our supporters who get to go to Anfield every weekend, sit in the Kop and show their support to Liverpool. I don’t get that luxury. I watch all the games on TV, and for European games, I’ve had to wake up in the wee hours of the morning to catch the live telecast of Champions League games.
I therefore do not understand it when there are so called “die-hard” supporters who flinch at every bad result and react in a way that can be called knee-jerk at best. Even without considering how the players performed or other external factors such as players getting injured during international duty or too tired too play after travelling half way round the world. When you support Liverpool, you support the club no matter what and this means, showing support to the playing staff, back room staff and managers. This is what separates us from the fans of other clubs. But don’t support the American owners though.
After the second place finish last season, we have this vibe going on about us. Liverpool were the top scorers and played attractively, some pundits said. Going into the start of this season, other teams probably feared us. It is a perception created by Rafa after the years spent moulding the team according to his philosophies. I don’t remember the same vibes or feelings during the Houlier era. Obviously Rafa has done something good here.
However, having said that, I have to say that there are times many supporters, me included, feel perplexed by his decision. For example, the constant inclusion of Lucas Leiva in the first team. I know some writers like Paul Tomkins defends his performance via statistical comparisons with Mascherano and others, but he still does not seem up to the mark. To ask him to anchor the midfield with J Spearing rightfully came out as disastrous. I don;t blame Spearing, the kid has got potential, but I blame Rafa who did not give him enough game time prior to this and suddenly threw him on because of shortage of central midfielders. Would Spearing have been a better player if he was blooded at Arsenal? (Think Jack Wilshere) I think so, but nobody can say for sure.
Anyway, my point is, I think Rafa has done more good than bad things to Liverpool. Lets give him the space and respect due to him. Let the man do his job, and lets also see how different the team would be when our 20m quid signing starts to play.
YNWA
Are you serious Redhead? A defence that only conceded 27 goals in the league last season suddenly contains two integral players who aren’t good enough? Insua is one of the best prospects we have.
We’re definitely light when it comes to quality on the park but I think you’re targeting the wrong section.
A New Manager will not be the answer, I believe that Lucas is only in that position until Aquilani is fit, then it might be too late..but he does not have any other option..unless you give him 50 million pounds or so… I will judge him if he could play his strongest team and still lose embarrasingly…my strongest team…Reina in goal…Aurelio left back; Johnson right back; Cara & Agger centre back; Yossi on the left midfield; Kuyt on the right; Masch holding the midfield with Aquilani in the attacking midfield position; Gerrard just behind Torres upfront. @ the end of the day money speaks…and we cannot ride on our History banner anymore…YNWA!!
I do agree with ROACHE….another new Manager will have a new 5 year plan and that will be a joy for Man U’s Fergie.
Mourinho or even Hiddink might be an ideal choice but CERTAINLY not Martin O’ Neil…it will be a DISASTER waiting to happen…and we will be fighting for 4th sport year in year out, if he is in charge.
During times a bad as this….Patience is our utmost virtue….while we need to give Rafa some respect and support….we have to remind him
or is it the Yankees, that we need to SPEND BIG, or else this is the squad we will have!
Let’s Move on
Let’s Pray for the players and give them the support that we have been giving them all this while,
after all….let’s not forget to say this to RAFA and THE PLAYERS
YOU’LL NEVER WALK ALONE……………..
Hey, Manuel from Los Angeles/Badajoz here. Great article, thanks Twitter for getting me here. I think no other manager would be able to make Liverpool a better team this year. However, I’d love to see him going to Real Madrid next season, hopefully, after having won the Premiership. Come on Reds, we will survive.
Benitez never win the Champion, Steven Gerrad did it
I think its time we sacked benitez we need a fresh approach some of his decisions this season have bin woeful like playing lucas i personally think jay spearing is a better player. But i think if benitez is to save his job he needs to put gerrard back into midfield and two up front as at the minute we are losing games in midfield as lucas is a awful player who doesnt deserve to wear shirt an mascherano is a top class defensive midfielder but goin forward an linking up the play with the strikers is not his strong point jus got to hope that aquilani can be as good or better than alonso otherwise we are screwed this season
The fact of the matter is we do not have the squad to compete with Utd or Chelsea and now Man City the last few years, yes the Americans have screwed Liverpool over and lack of funds for rafa to spend….i will say when he has had money to spend he has bought wrong on a number of occasions even when only spending 5m….too many average players who the likes of Ferguson, Wenger, Anchelotti would not have on their bench so i am not sure even if he had the funds would he spend it right? i would hope so, also he burnt his bridges with Alonso with the whole gareth barry saga last year i dont blame alosno for leaving altough i wish he had stayed he was the best player last year for me…i dont think a new manager is the answer i know we will bounce back and get back on track….the ambitions of winning any silverware though this season are very bleak….cant keep relying on torres & gerard all the time that needs to change and change soon…..Americans out & new owners in with funds available would be a dream come true
Fellow reds, lack of funds is not really our problem but Rafa is the problem. I am not in support of sacking him now but if he doesn’t wake up to challenges, then he may go.
He’s been given funds before and he made some good signings at the inception but made a mess of the signings later with the likes of Agger, Skrtel Lucas etc. Liverpool is a great club and its activities are expected to be great as well.
If Rafa can’t manage the club with the kind of players he has presently to achieve any reasonable result, then i don’t see him doing anything with the most expensive and best squad in the world. he needs to go back to his drawing board and see how he used to do it before any embarassment comes his way.
the whole saga of Benitez started from last season, if not for his gambles we would have won the title last season. To be honest i don’t know what Rafa sees in Lucas that he keeps playing him all the time and the lad has refused to improve in spite of the chances he’s given.
If Rafa wants a head-way, then he shld return Gerrard to central midfield to join Mascherano, let Benayoun go right, Reira left then Torres and Kuyt at forward. for the defense Johnson at right-back, Aurelio at left-back then Carragha and Ayala at the middle.
Ayala is a young lad but he has shown he’s capable both on the air and on ground so he shld be given that ample opportunity to play like the likes of Fabio & Raphael in Man utd.
Right now Acquilani is the only hope to re-invent the club but am also afraid that the expectation of we fans may put him under a great pressure which may overwhelm him and the desired result may not be achieved. However, I pray that Acquilani recovers and join the squad and i also pray that he’s able to meet the expectation of Liverpool fans.
To all reds, don’t give up hope yet, we are a great title challenger this season. Remember some seasons ago, Arsenal were 12points adrift the then title leaders man Utd but they turned out to be the title winners that season. whereas just nine matches out of 38 has been played.
But Rafa wake up!
Arnold Ominyi
Being a good manager is not always about spending £30 million on a player. Three of Man Utds best buys have been, Vidic, Evra and Ronaldo. They only cost about £32 million in total. Benitez has wasted about £150 million.
Hi, my names Darren.. I’m actually a fan of Arsenal, but Liverpool is one of my favourite teams as well.. @JohnRoache i agree with most of the points you’ve put in there, but lets say 10 years from now, you look back and think.. what will liverpool be remembered more for, winning the Premiership or a great one time 4-3 comeback. I accept the fact that he brought Liverpool somewhere, hats off to him for that, but in today’s world performance is judged on a day-to-day or in this case season-to-season basis.. and in recent times, Rafa has made way too many tactical errors that have cost him big-time.. which is very sad.. because they had one of the best looking teams last year.. So in my opinion, its time for someone else to take over.. agreed there might be a chance it wo’t work out, but a great manager can handle any situation and brings out the best in any team, so if Liverpool FC find a “great” new manager..they could be right back on track..
Cheers,
Darren
I wouldn’t want to see Rafa walk out the door either. But you can’t see the future. If in any case Rafa leaves, I would like to see the likes of Gus Hiddink or Frank Rijkaard to take the lead. Klinsmann or Jose Mourinho would be a bad choice.
LUCAS!!
I do not condemn him as the worst player around, but he don’t fit in the position he’s playing for our squad. He may excel playing for some other team but not for Liverpool.
Besides him we need another good striker, a hardworking and sharp midfielder and a strong yet fast lastman. We need players like this to build the depth of the squad. BPL is a tough league, we should have anticipated that injuries will shut the team down especially if it’s with the key players. So a squad with a good replacement player has the depth and the quality.
If Rafa wants to retain his position back the next season(he will stay this season), find these 3 players of each position. With the current squad, I don’t see the depth and quality, besides Torress, Gerard, Benayoun, Mescherano, Rienna, Insua, Johnson and Skertl.
Just take a look at the bench of MU, Arsenal and Chelsea. Can you see the depth there? Look at ours.
great article agree 100%
benitez is not the manager for liverpool,he still plays 80s style italian football
Some truly awful replies to a decent article. All managers sign some duds, the loaded teams have enough money to sort it out, Liverpool dont. Without Rafa our club would be right in the shit. Who would want his job, with no money to spend and the two joker americans pulling the strings, if he leaves we’ll end up with Curbishley. Or maybe Klinsmann.
Totally agree with this article, Liverpool owners should give Benitez MORE funds if they want BETTER results.
Benitez thoroughly deserves to get the chop and the sooner the better. Virtually every game we play is a defeat. Some of the players he’d brought to the club - Degen, Leiva, N’gog etc - are players who would be very ordinary if they were competing in the third division. Torres is completely on his own now that Carragher and Gerrard are both obviously over the top. For God’s sake sack him.
Reds, I love ya all! Cape Town’s a bit far from The Kop, otherwise I’d be there everytime! Rafa, Lucas and the Yanks should go. Find a way to entice a top British manager (e.g. Harry Redknap or Martin O’Neill) and some more talented British players to the club, who will understand the blood, guts and glory tradition of Liverpool - who will understand that you play beyond yourself even on your worst day for the honour of wearing the shirt and being cheered on by us, the fans, the reason for Liverpool’s existence! Yes, there needs to be sense and tactics, but there also needs to be heart and blood!
John, totally agree with you. It would be a disaster to get rid of Rafa at the moment and anyone who thinks he should go are not looking at the big picture. Also to the Arsenal fan - Im sure you do think we should get rid of the boss wot with your expertise in winning all those trophies in the past 5 years. We have got to get behind him and the team certainly till the end of the season. Cant believe that people think plucking a new manager from Italy, Russia or, even worse, the Midlands, can save our season. Yes he has made some poor buys but I seem to remember that when we bought Babel Arsenal were also in the hunt for his signature. Personally I was sorry to see Arbeloa go and yes I liked Alonso but Rafa wanted to get rid of him after two poor seasons - Real Madrid didn’t want him then did they? We were outstanding last season and apart from Alonso and Arbeloa we have the same squad.
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I’d sooner see Benitez walk than get the sack
Posted by John Roache, on October 20th, 2009, in Uncategorized
The lunatics are taking over the asylum once more. Bedlam is turned loose. Liverpool fans around the world are turning into jibbering wrecks. And I think I might join them if I read one more marvellously witty pun about beach balls.
It is clear by now that four defeats in nine games have angered people sufficiently to want Benitez sacked – and the sad fact is that I believe those people will get their wishes within this season. The man who won us the European Cup after years in the wilderness (and got us to a second final two years later), and then very nearly won us the league title just last season, is suddenly not good enough to achieve anything else with Liverpool. People moan that he hasn’t won silverware for far too long – ‘not even a Carling cup!’ they cry. But if he had won the Carling or FA cup in the last two years, he’d sure enough get it in the neck for ‘prioritising’ those tournaments over the Premiership. That’s what happens to poor Rafa. He wins one thing and gets abuse for not winning the other. It must get pretty tiring after a while.
There are still a lot of fans behind Benitez. The ones who actually pay money to sit on the Kop every week certainly are. These are the people who understand that managing our club since 2004 has been an unenviable task: limited funds, feuding owners, the inheritance of a terrible, terrible squad. They know that if Rafa gets sacked and another man comes in, he will most likely have a ‘5 year plan’ to take the club to the top – which would be just swell, wouldn’t it? Let’s just remember that Gerrard won’t last too much longer. If we’re going to win the league, he’s going to play a key part in the team – but within a brand new 5YP, that’s never going to happen. The team will be in transition again. The only two scouse players will retire. Torres, having won nothing since joining us, will want to leave. The new manager might turn out to be clueless, or have even less money available than Rafa, whilst clubs like City and Tottenham continue to spend freely. Liverpool could become a sleeping giant. The thought chills my bones.
‘But what about Mourinho?’ people ask, ‘he wins everything no matter where he is!’
This is my least favourite thing to hear from fellow fans. Jose Mourinho is a great manager, no doubt about it. But he’s no superman. The squad he inherited at Chelsea was unbelievable – and that was before he spent huge money to bring in the likes of Essien and Drogba. Yes, he won the league with them – but did he come close to winning them the title they drool over down at Stamford Bridge, the coveted Champions League? No, not really. His ego lost control, they had a poor start to the season and he was sacked. He goes over to Italy to inherit Inter Milan, the team who seemingly couldn’t stop winning the league even if they wanted to. And guess what – he wins them the league! He came out last week with comments akin to ‘I can’t afford to do what Benitez and Wenger do because if I don’t win, I will be sacked.’ Yes, Jose – but if you do win, it’s mainly because of what you inherit and the funds you have available, not because you’re more special than Rafa or Wenger.
If Mourinho came to Liverpool, it would easily be the biggest challenge of his managerial career. Should Rafa leave, I wouldn’t be opposed to the idea. But I also wouldn’t expect him to work a Chelsea-esque miracle when the situation he’d be entering would be so incredibly different to the one he found in London.
I want to make it clear that I’m not a ‘blind faith’ sort of person. I do recognise that Benitez has made mistakes – at times glaring ones – during his stay at Anfield. So you won’t find me saying ‘In Rafa We Trust’ every time he does something tactically nonsensical or makes a bizarre signing in the transfer market; it is our duty as fans to assess each situation objectively and fairly. The only reason I’m sometimes willing to accept an odd decision made by Benitez is because he has won two league titles and a Champions League, at different top European clubs – that is something that I have never done and never will do. His innate judgement must have some substance to it for him to be where he is.
A big part of the problem is that Benitez has signed a lot of mediocre players down the years, mainly due to lack of funds. Thus when people want to list his ‘errors in the transfer market’, they can reel off a long list including the likes of Bellamy, Pennant, Kromkamp, Josemi, Pellegrino, Nunez, Morientes… it goes on and on. None of these players would have been the manager’s first choice, but he took a gamble on them because they were the best he could hope for. The only times when he’s been allowed significant financial clout, he has signed Mascherano, Torres, Johnson (in my opinion top class players) and Keane (a bizarre mishap); and plenty of his cheaper gambles actually paid off (I’m thinking of Agger, Skrtel, Reina, Sissoko, Alonso, Crouch…).
The errors he’s made are therefore less numerous than the media would have you imagine; nonetheless there are several things that he needs to put right before we can develop as a club. Lucas, an £8 million ‘prospect’ from Brazil is almost certainly not good enough to play at a club like Liverpool. He’s not been our worst player this season but when I consider the other central midfielders Benitez has had in his time as manager, it is clear that the lad pales in comparison. I hate singling him out like this and I resent the people who boo him but a central midfield in which Lucas is the lynchpin (I’m thinking of Saturday’s game when he was paired with poor old Jay Spearing, who was never really going to look very steady with no calming influence alongside him) is unacceptable. Hindsight is a great thing but signing a crocked player looks like an incredibly bad decision now that our title challenge is already on the rocks. Yes, it is a long-term move for Aquilani but when Benitez’s job depends largely on results in the short-term you’d think he’d have spent £20 million on a fit, able midfielder.
Of course, we need another one top class attacking player and a decent backup. These things can only really be rectified when the funds become available to Rafa, so going on about them is useless. But the fact that Ryan Babel was bought for £12 million when Arshavin, Walcott and the likes were being sold for more or less the same price is one of Benitez’s gravest errors. That’s a lot of money to waste on a player who looks technically woeful and mentally unstable. Set pieces need sorting out; we concede far too many goals from corners or free kicks and, what’s more, our own set pieces are maddeningly ineffective. And Rafa needs to re-consider the system he now employs almost every week – does it work without Xabi Alonso? I don’t think it can.
But the point of this article is: let Rafa sort the issues out. He more than likely knows they exist and is desperate to fix them. Getting a new man in fosters a set of new problems far larger than we’re currently facing. And Benitez, who has shown complete loyalty and humility in front of the Kop throughout his difficult reign, deserves our support for that bit longer – I’d be ashamed if he were sacked and would rather see him resign than suffer the humiliation of the Americans getting what they’ve wanted from word one. So let’s think about this lads. Let’s get it right. Show Benitez some respect or the consequences could be dire.
Comments: 22 Responses
1.
BERNARD, on October 20th, 2009 at 6:13 pm
IM NOT AGREE THAT WE BLAME BENITEZ.I BLAME THE OWNERS BECAUSE THEY F-CK THE CLUB.BENITEZ CAN BUY BIG PLAYERS WHICH OTHER CLUB ARE DOING???????????THERE ARE LIMITES TO BUY PLAYERS.HE CAN BRING LIKE VILLA OR SILVA WHICH WE NEED THEM???????GOOD LUCK RAFA I THRUST IN YOU…….YNWA
2.
ste, on October 20th, 2009 at 6:18 pm
There five and a half years, spent over £250 MILLION, who was in midfield at ‘Sunderland’, Lucas leiva and Jay Spearing.
Enough said, “in Rafa we trust?” yer tools, Benitez OUT! its getting embarrassing!.
3.
Brian, on October 20th, 2009 at 7:05 pm
Liverpool will never win the league with rafa at the helm.
Time to cut our losses
4.
John Roache, on October 20th, 2009 at 7:27 pm
ste and Brian, did you bother reading the article? Your arguments aren’t that compelling, if I’m honest.
5.
Redhead, on October 20th, 2009 at 8:57 pm
Martin o’Neil the next Liverpool manager.Rafa’s time is over.He’e had the money but bought some truly awful players especially at the back.Agger,Skirtel,insua just arn’t good enough to play for liverpool.We are a two man team who dont understand zonal marking.time to change everything and buils the new team around the quality we have.
6.
chukwudi, on October 20th, 2009 at 10:34 pm
what we need is the stability of alonso’s position which be Rafa has not put right. i hope Rafa sort himself out with the team.
7.
Aishah, on October 21st, 2009 at 1:53 am
a real supporter will stick with their team through thick and thin… through good and bad times.. always support the team, no matter how bad they are playing.. while they are still in LFC.. give them 110% support and that includes Rafa, players, management staff as well.. they need our support.. YNWA..
8.
thabiet, on October 21st, 2009 at 7:40 am
the real problem is our defense and our front line babbel ngog vorinin between all of them they will be lucky to score 10 goals all season look at spurs, man u,man city, chelsea they have forwards that make any defense scared we only have torres . gerard will leave mascherano will leave and so will torres we fucked screwed and gone
9.
Claire, on October 21st, 2009 at 9:44 am
Insua, Agger and Skrtel not good enough? We’ve had a few glitches in defence this season, but those three have been brilliant for us ever since we bought them! Before this season, we had one of the meanest defences in the league.
10.
Dunn, on October 21st, 2009 at 9:59 am
I sometimes envy our supporters who get to go to Anfield every weekend, sit in the Kop and show their support to Liverpool. I don’t get that luxury. I watch all the games on TV, and for European games, I’ve had to wake up in the wee hours of the morning to catch the live telecast of Champions League games.
I therefore do not understand it when there are so called “die-hard” supporters who flinch at every bad result and react in a way that can be called knee-jerk at best. Even without considering how the players performed or other external factors such as players getting injured during international duty or too tired too play after travelling half way round the world. When you support Liverpool, you support the club no matter what and this means, showing support to the playing staff, back room staff and managers. This is what separates us from the fans of other clubs. But don’t support the American owners though.
After the second place finish last season, we have this vibe going on about us. Liverpool were the top scorers and played attractively, some pundits said. Going into the start of this season, other teams probably feared us. It is a perception created by Rafa after the years spent moulding the team according to his philosophies. I don’t remember the same vibes or feelings during the Houlier era. Obviously Rafa has done something good here.
However, having said that, I have to say that there are times many supporters, me included, feel perplexed by his decision. For example, the constant inclusion of Lucas Leiva in the first team. I know some writers like Paul Tomkins defends his performance via statistical comparisons with Mascherano and others, but he still does not seem up to the mark. To ask him to anchor the midfield with J Spearing rightfully came out as disastrous. I don;t blame Spearing, the kid has got potential, but I blame Rafa who did not give him enough game time prior to this and suddenly threw him on because of shortage of central midfielders. Would Spearing have been a better player if he was blooded at Arsenal? (Think Jack Wilshere) I think so, but nobody can say for sure.
Anyway, my point is, I think Rafa has done more good than bad things to Liverpool. Lets give him the space and respect due to him. Let the man do his job, and lets also see how different the team would be when our 20m quid signing starts to play.
YNWA
11.
Brad, on October 21st, 2009 at 9:59 am
Are you serious Redhead? A defence that only conceded 27 goals in the league last season suddenly contains two integral players who aren’t good enough? Insua is one of the best prospects we have.
We’re definitely light when it comes to quality on the park but I think you’re targeting the wrong section.
12.
Andy, on October 21st, 2009 at 10:03 am
A New Manager will not be the answer, I believe that Lucas is only in that position until Aquilani is fit, then it might be too late..but he does not have any other option..unless you give him 50 million pounds or so… I will judge him if he could play his strongest team and still lose embarrasingly…my strongest team…Reina in goal…Aurelio left back; Johnson right back; Cara & Agger centre back; Yossi on the left midfield; Kuyt on the right; Masch holding the midfield with Aquilani in the attacking midfield position; Gerrard just behind Torres upfront. @ the end of the day money speaks…and we cannot ride on our History banner anymore…YNWA!!
13.
navalan, on October 21st, 2009 at 10:04 am
I do agree with ROACHE….another new Manager will have a new 5 year plan and that will be a joy for Man U’s Fergie.
Mourinho or even Hiddink might be an ideal choice but CERTAINLY not Martin O’ Neil…it will be a DISASTER waiting to happen…and we will be fighting for 4th sport year in year out, if he is in charge.
During times a bad as this….Patience is our utmost virtue….while we need to give Rafa some respect and support….we have to remind him
or is it the Yankees, that we need to SPEND BIG, or else this is the squad we will have!
Let’s Move on
Let’s Pray for the players and give them the support that we have been giving them all this while,
after all….let’s not forget to say this to RAFA and THE PLAYERS
YOU’LL NEVER WALK ALONE……………..
14.
Manuel, on October 21st, 2009 at 10:38 am
Hey, Manuel from Los Angeles/Badajoz here. Great article, thanks Twitter for getting me here. I think no other manager would be able to make Liverpool a better team this year. However, I’d love to see him going to Real Madrid next season, hopefully, after having won the Premiership. Come on Reds, we will survive.
15.
Nainggolan, on October 21st, 2009 at 11:05 am
Benitez never win the Champion, Steven Gerrad did it
16.
Tony, on October 21st, 2009 at 11:49 am
I think its time we sacked benitez we need a fresh approach some of his decisions this season have bin woeful like playing lucas i personally think jay spearing is a better player. But i think if benitez is to save his job he needs to put gerrard back into midfield and two up front as at the minute we are losing games in midfield as lucas is a awful player who doesnt deserve to wear shirt an mascherano is a top class defensive midfielder but goin forward an linking up the play with the strikers is not his strong point jus got to hope that aquilani can be as good or better than alonso otherwise we are screwed this season
17.
Enzo, on October 21st, 2009 at 2:08 pm
The fact of the matter is we do not have the squad to compete with Utd or Chelsea and now Man City the last few years, yes the Americans have screwed Liverpool over and lack of funds for rafa to spend….i will say when he has had money to spend he has bought wrong on a number of occasions even when only spending 5m….too many average players who the likes of Ferguson, Wenger, Anchelotti would not have on their bench so i am not sure even if he had the funds would he spend it right? i would hope so, also he burnt his bridges with Alonso with the whole gareth barry saga last year i dont blame alosno for leaving altough i wish he had stayed he was the best player last year for me…i dont think a new manager is the answer i know we will bounce back and get back on track….the ambitions of winning any silverware though this season are very bleak….cant keep relying on torres & gerard all the time that needs to change and change soon…..Americans out & new owners in with funds available would be a dream come true
18.
Arnold Ominyi, on October 22nd, 2009 at 9:15 am
Fellow reds, lack of funds is not really our problem but Rafa is the problem. I am not in support of sacking him now but if he doesn’t wake up to challenges, then he may go.
He’s been given funds before and he made some good signings at the inception but made a mess of the signings later with the likes of Agger, Skrtel Lucas etc. Liverpool is a great club and its activities are expected to be great as well.
If Rafa can’t manage the club with the kind of players he has presently to achieve any reasonable result, then i don’t see him doing anything with the most expensive and best squad in the world. he needs to go back to his drawing board and see how he used to do it before any embarassment comes his way.
the whole saga of Benitez started from last season, if not for his gambles we would have won the title last season. To be honest i don’t know what Rafa sees in Lucas that he keeps playing him all the time and the lad has refused to improve in spite of the chances he’s given.
If Rafa wants a head-way, then he shld return Gerrard to central midfield to join Mascherano, let Benayoun go right, Reira left then Torres and Kuyt at forward. for the defense Johnson at right-back, Aurelio at left-back then Carragha and Ayala at the middle.
Ayala is a young lad but he has shown he’s capable both on the air and on ground so he shld be given that ample opportunity to play like the likes of Fabio & Raphael in Man utd.
Right now Acquilani is the only hope to re-invent the club but am also afraid that the expectation of we fans may put him under a great pressure which may overwhelm him and the desired result may not be achieved. However, I pray that Acquilani recovers and join the squad and i also pray that he’s able to meet the expectation of Liverpool fans.
To all reds, don’t give up hope yet, we are a great title challenger this season. Remember some seasons ago, Arsenal were 12points adrift the then title leaders man Utd but they turned out to be the title winners that season. whereas just nine matches out of 38 has been played.
But Rafa wake up!
Arnold Ominyi
19.
PHIL SMITH, on October 22nd, 2009 at 12:13 pm
Being a good manager is not always about spending £30 million on a player. Three of Man Utds best buys have been, Vidic, Evra and Ronaldo. They only cost about £32 million in total. Benitez has wasted about £150 million.
20.
Darren, on October 22nd, 2009 at 1:32 pm
Hi, my names Darren.. I’m actually a fan of Arsenal, but Liverpool is one of my favourite teams as well.. @JohnRoache i agree with most of the points you’ve put in there, but lets say 10 years from now, you look back and think.. what will liverpool be remembered more for, winning the Premiership or a great one time 4-3 comeback. I accept the fact that he brought Liverpool somewhere, hats off to him for that, but in today’s world performance is judged on a day-to-day or in this case season-to-season basis.. and in recent times, Rafa has made way too many tactical errors that have cost him big-time.. which is very sad.. because they had one of the best looking teams last year.. So in my opinion, its time for someone else to take over.. agreed there might be a chance it wo’t work out, but a great manager can handle any situation and brings out the best in any team, so if Liverpool FC find a “great” new manager..they could be right back on track..
Cheers,
Darren
21.
Rahven, on October 23rd, 2009 at 5:36 am
I wouldn’t want to see Rafa walk out the door either. But you can’t see the future. If in any case Rafa leaves, I would like to see the likes of Gus Hiddink or Frank Rijkaard to take the lead. Klinsmann or Jose Mourinho would be a bad choice.
LUCAS!!
I do not condemn him as the worst player around, but he don’t fit in the position he’s playing for our squad. He may excel playing for some other team but not for Liverpool.
Besides him we need another good striker, a hardworking and sharp midfielder and a strong yet fast lastman. We need players like this to build the depth of the squad. BPL is a tough league, we should have anticipated that injuries will shut the team down especially if it’s with the key players. So a squad with a good replacement player has the depth and the quality.
If Rafa wants to retain his position back the next season(he will stay this season), find these 3 players of each position. With the current squad, I don’t see the depth and quality, besides Torress, Gerard, Benayoun, Mescherano, Rienna, Insua, Johnson and Skertl.
Just take a look at the bench of MU, Arsenal and Chelsea. Can you see the depth there? Look at ours.
22.
josh, on October 24th, 2009 at 5:50 pm
great article agree 100%
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Also
Rafa should be made to go: if he does not resign of his own accord. If he has no honour left in him, and it certainly seems that way, there is no reason Liverpool should behave in an honourable way towards him. With the money at his disposal he should have won the Premier League and the Champions League long ago - the Champions League of 2005 was won not by him but by the team Gerrard Houllier built.
Liverpool supporters are extremely, amazingly tolerant. If Benitez was managing in Spain he would have been chopped ages ago. And why all this fuss about Mascherano? He has no left foot, can’t dribble, almost never makes a pass that takes us anywhere, has scored one goal since he arrived and is rubbish in the air. What is so great about him? All he can do is commit fouls and give away dangerous free-kicks.
Benitez is no Shankley, Paisley, Fagan or Dalgleish. So lets not hold him in as high regard as these Liverpool legends. He’s had 5 years now, what have we achieved? He won the european cup with Houlliers team, we struggled against West Ham in FA Cup. We have continously needed to pull a ‘rabbit out of the hat’ game to get us to progress in Europe. After all the time he has had in charge we have no rhythm, no system no style of play. I wish he turns it around, not for Rafa’s sake but the teams. Players look dis-enchanted, regular rumours of players not wanting to commit. Our captain now fears he may never win the league title. I too have that fear.
what have we achieved??don’t be rude…we haf to thank RB for his +veness n patient. all the players we have are very good. what can we conclude here is,lfc deserve where they are now,just not good enough.I really wish the owner,manager,coachers n players of lfc reading all this stuff.lfc are actually at the situation where ‘Desire > Ability’. on my opinion it is a teaching for us so that we have to be humble n show a very historic characters.Think about it.