Liverpool FC Forum

[A.B.]

Wow Roberts, you bring such quality to threads. Stay in the General Chat area.

9/12 points, scrappy or not, it's the points that matter. Ask Chelski

[Dalglish]

something i really like about benitez is that he's the 'quiet man' of top flight english football. he never gives much away at press conferences or post match interviews, he never blames or moans about injuries, ref's decisions or whatever - just gives a quiet affirmation that he's behind his team and wants them to keep doing well or better. he must instill so much trust in his teams.

the other group of managers behind top teams seem so much more keen about scoring verbal 'psychological' points over each other, their not-so-veiled digs, accusations and little tantrums or arrogant declarations put them miles behind the calm sophistication of our man.

Spot on 

The other 3 Managers (Wenger, Ferguson and Mourinhio) are so shallow they couldn't create a puddle between them 


Benitez refuses to hide behind an exhaustive injury list to excuse either results or performnaces.

I like the guy , he shows dignity , epitomises the Liverpool Way and i believe he may be the man to take liverpool back to where they belong.


Walk on .....

[115-1073096938]

Yes Raffa has made some mistakes  ,granted but to say that so far its been  "acceptable " is a little harsh to say the least stu.
I  know its your own point of view and i respect it , but i really feel that under Houllier with all these injuries we have sustained ,  we wouldnt even be close to where we are now.

Raffa has changed the style of play to a more attacking "one touch" football, compare it to the   the negative defensive play of the last few seasons > its far more exiting to watch , we dont rely on souly  on one player to score  but all the midfield are also relied upon ,and they have provided .

If we had had  less injuries  ( Cisse and Baros ) i really think we would definetly had more goals and more  points in the bag  ( plus better ref decisions ) but unfortunatley we have had a run of injuries that no one  could have forseen.

To be in the position we are in now  with the injuries we have had etc , i think its more than "acceptable" , its  an excellent  position  , not fantastic , cos that  to me would be  top , but an excellent position all the same .

Firstly i beg to differ with you but last season under Houllier we were missing 4 to 6 first team players untill january. It was December before Houllier could field his strongest team with the exception of 2 players.

Last season we had at one point, Carragher, Finnan, Henchoz, Hamann, Owen and Baros all injured.

Thats no right backs, your best two forwards, granted one was 3rd choice but that left us with one recognised striker and no recognised right backs. Thats two positions without the correct standard of player. Then you have to play a midfielder out of position to cover one of your centre halfs and you're missing your best player and one of the worlds best strikers.

I'm sorry, but the injuries this season aren't as bad as last season in anyway. Thats not a dig at Benitez, thats just a plane fact.

Also, i couldn't give a flying ****** about style of play. I couldn't care if we won 1-0 every game and blocked the goal by putting all 11 players in there and getting a flukey 1-0 win. You don't take ur chances you don't deserve to win. Tuff ******.

Also i'll refere to last season again... last season injuries weren't an excuse for Houllier so they aren't for Benitez. As i said, so far acceptable. We are no better off than we were last season.

Rafa has to make mistakes to find out which players he needs to ditch, only by playing them can sort out the men from the boys

I think he's done a fantastic job so far and think it's being a tad harsh to suggest he could've done much better given the horrendous run of injuries we've had (I know Stu you agree that we've got the right man for the job but just think you're maybe being a bit too hard on him)

First point, i agree. Definately. But in Diao he should have no realised this. I'd rather see Welsh in the first team and lose than Diao at this moment in time.

I'm not being hard. I'm being fair. I'm judging him the same way as i did with Gerard Houllier. I won't favour either of them. I believe in time Benitez will be the man and the correct appointment. The fact of the matter is though, no matter how you look at it, its only potential and we're 5th in the league. He hasn't done what Houllier done yet, theres no saying he ever will. But he will certainly recieve the correct amount of backing from me. I'm not blind enough to think its all rosy, but i'm optimistic enough to think it can be.

I'm sure if Rafa was asked he would say its been acceptable so far. It could have been better, could have been worse. But lets see how it goes.

I'm simply being realistic as usual. Potential is the right word.

[supersub]

I WON'T EVEN BOTHER PICKING OUT ALL THE CONTRADICTIONS AND HOLES IN YOUR LAST POST,STU,SUFFICE TO SAY YOU TALK SH*TE.
NO..I will point one out....you say you don't care how we win..blah blah and then you say you would rather lose playing Welsh than play Diao,,di*k-head

[liamac]

You said  Stu  that last season  Owen and Baros were injured so we had no attack to really talk of............Heskey  Diouf , Pongelle , Le Tallec , Mellor............ 5 possible  forwards to use , oh and there was always Kewell who wanted to play up front as well .

This season  Baros Cisse injured..............replacements ? Pongelle and Mellor ..........yet we are 5th

I think that kinda says it all

[yckatbjywtbiastkamb]

you talk about houllier with a reverance, he was a ****** chancer who`s favourite passtime was playing players out of position. forced into it my ******.
he never played the same side in consecutive weeks for two years because he didnt have a clue what his best side was.
oh, that 11 in front of the goal is a nice soundbyte but in reality it didn`t work, what it means is you cant coach the basics so you resort to a wimbledon style i.e your team cant string five passes together and when the other team score your ******.
in two years under houllier we never came back from a goal down, a ****** disgraceful statistic.
dont bother comparing houllier and benitez, their miles apart.
benitez has shown more in six months than houllier did in five and a half years. and with houlliers signings.
houllier touched lucky because the only players that done anything apart from hypia and henchoz were already at the club. if he had to rely on his own signings i believe we would have been relegated.
that period when we went on the worst run of results for fifty odd years was horrific. the football played was desperate.
to hear opposing fans, even arsenal fans who have a short memory, shout "hoof" at us was probably the worst. it nearly brought tears to my eyes. all those years of pass and move to have that shouted at you.
the sickening part was you just sat there and took it because it was true.

[SouthernScouser]

strong words & strong sentiments
I agree totally with you - especially about the Arsenal chants against us

I was over the moon with how we did over christmas - not brilliant against Norwich first half - but better second half until we let them back in it
We were robbed against Chelsea by that Tw*t of a referee - two blatant penalities (thats not to say we would have scored them mind you)
but we played well in that game
didn't see the Southampton game - so can't really comment on how we played - but we got the points
what was the game before - West Brom - watched that, and RIISE is becoming a monster again
you've only got to look at him as an example of the difference RAFA has made to certain players confidence - he looks a different player now

9 points from 12 - and we at least deserved 10 - possibly 12 - I'd settle for that

Just as a further point - Chelsea did not exactly set the world alight over Xmas - but they still got the points - some pundits / fans would argue that is the sign of champions or the sign of a good side
we do almost the same thing ourselves and some people are still slagging us off
unbelievable

[zarababe]

.... I think the major difference this time around is that there is a real belief that Benitez will deliver success.. the players have belief in themselves, top managers are taking notice of us and and top players want to join.. for the first time  I have belief that we will truly challenge for the title.. sooner rather than later.... Respect for the Boss.. 

[82-1074641017]

Wow Roberts, you bring such quality to threads.

awww thanks I know

[zarababe]

you are such a bore

[mrcool2003]

stu two words for ya

******

[liamac]

the guy with the really long name that ends with kamb somes up Houllier perfectly for me

[Red_Si]

Let's have a reality check here. Ok, good performance against West Brom  - after they had a man sent off! We scraped past Southampton and Norwich (who are cannon fodder) and lost to Chelsea.

How is this good? We only had one test and we failed.

[redirish]

I dont see how people can say we had a bad xmas and new year 9 points from 12 and robbed against chelsea. It dosnt matter how we played fair enough very scrappy against Norwich..... but

We got the points is that not all that matters

Get the points to move up the table so we can finish as high as possible at the end of the season........

[stmichael]

i think it was a good christmas period for us. 9 points out of 12 could easily have been 12 out of 12. however what was more encouraging was the fact that we seem to have suddenly found the ability to play well below our best and win (southampton and norwich). in the past, they were games in which we would have dropped points.