It seems that the English Press have really got it in for Rafael Benitez. First it was zonal marking, then our poor league form, then Gerrard's not wanted by Rafa, then rotation and now today The Mirror has run a back page headline story of Rafa losing the backing of the board. As always this board member has remained anomyous and has slated Rafa's rotation, his transfers and his tactics. Either:
a) This is completely false and another case of the media putting pressure on Rafa by publishing fake storylines
b) It is true and the member of the board did say these things, in which case he would get a lot more respect from the fans if he put his name to these damaging words. Shi[thouse tactic . Also he should keep his mouth shut.
The season has not started as any of us would have liked or expected. We have under-achieved, we know it, the players know it and most importantly Rafa knows it. He could use many excuses , as could we. New players needing time, injuries to key areas, no luck in games, bad ref decisions etc.
But all Rafa keeping emphasing is we have got to work harder. You have got to admire the ethos of the guy. He is working hard on the problems and I have no doubt that this guy will solve them. He has refused to condemn his players in public, even though some of them have let him down badly with individual mistakes. This is very similar to the set up Shanks employed where " you don't criticise one of your own". The players will respect him a lot more for that.
I have heard people say he is tactically inept. This shows a major lack of respect for a man with 2 La Liga's , UEFA Cup with a unfashionable Valencia, and a European Cup and F.A Cup with the European Cup win coming with one of our weakest teams in many years. Igor Biscan FFS!
People saying these were lucky and not down to Rafa are starting to sound like Evertonians. He is very very tactical astute and leaves nothing to chance. "Its all about details" we have hear him say many many times.
Some people don't realise how much of a mess the Frenchman Houllier left us in. He left us with a backlog of talentless players on high wages and one of the weakest squads I had seen in a long time. Some people see the heroics of Steven Gerrard and don't realise how much more important Rafa is to Liverpool Football Club. He made Carra a CB, he gave Gerrard licence to roam, something he didn't do under Houllier, he gave us the tightest defence we have had in the Premiership. He gave us our best ever points tally in the Premiership. He gave us the most consistent performance in the Premiership. He lifted the club when we were in real danger of becoming a big name to fall from grace.
He has not had the best of starts but all great managers had have dark patches, Wenger last year looked like he had lost the plot but this season Arsenal are looking untouchable again. Fergie too went through it and look at Utd now. These things take time but the tide will change.
Rafa Benitez is the best thing to happen to Liverpool Football Club in since the 1980's. Fowler was amazing and always in my heart, Owen was vital to our sucess in 2000, Gerrard is our best player ever in my opinion, but Rafa is vital to the Liverpool cause. The way people are dissing him and rubbishing his tactics and calling for his head is typical of modern day football. This man is our future. He is clever, composed and sucessful.
So please, this is a rally call if you will, we're not happy but neither is Rafa, lets not put pressure on this man like everyone else, just let him do his job, he is the right man for it.
This guy brought home our European Cup for keeps and has made us look a team again. Much like Shanks,
He makes the people happy.
Rafa benitez - Lets get behind the boss!
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by 112-1077774096 » Fri Oct 27, 2006 9:10 am
mate i think he puts pressure on himself with his stubborness to admit that his tactics are not working. i could understand if this was the first time but its not, we went through exactly the same with his rotation policy before and only started to perform when he started to pick a stable team.
the quicker he sees that the fault is with him, the quicker we can get back to some stabilty and hopefully some good wins
the quicker he sees that the fault is with him, the quicker we can get back to some stabilty and hopefully some good wins
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by Rafa D » Fri Oct 27, 2006 9:23 am
The rotation policy does work though because it worked at the back end of last year so efficently. I think Rafa will get it right for us and I hope the fans get behind him and the team on Saturday as we are playing a very good Aston Villa side.
I am not asking for blind faith, just a little faith in the man who has made us great again.
I will not slate Rafa on a knee jerk reaction with only 11 games gone. I done that last year much to my shame , when I questioned whether he was the man to take us forward. I am 100% sure he is.
I am not asking for blind faith, just a little faith in the man who has made us great again.
I will not slate Rafa on a knee jerk reaction with only 11 games gone. I done that last year much to my shame , when I questioned whether he was the man to take us forward. I am 100% sure he is.
Sammy Lee wears Liverpool undies
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by account deleted by request » Fri Oct 27, 2006 10:04 am
Here are the offending articles (copied from RAWK)
By Martin Lipton
RAFA BENITEZ'S position at Liverpool is under pressure after a senior Anfield board member admitted the club is concerned about the direction the Spaniard is taking them.
With Liverpool already 11 points off the Premiership pace set by Manchester United and Chelsea, directors are already giving up hope of ending the championship drought that has already lasted 16 seasons.
And one influential figure on the six-man board revealed that Benitez's leadership of the team was being questioned.
"We have paid too many inflated prices and inflated wages for players who are not doing the job," said the director, who is concerned for the future of the club but wants to remain anonymous to avoid a boardroom split.
"When it comes to any manager, the view of the board has always been to let them get on with it. We do not believe in interfering.
"But the day will come when we may not be that way inclined any more. We have always been very respectful of any manager we appoint. The view has always been the same one, the right one - that the manager must stand or fall by his efforts.
"But one thing that we can't hide is that we have to be in the Champions League every season and if we do not qualify it will be a major problem.
"The budget we have set up is still in balance if we do not get into the Champions League. But if we are to make investment in the team we are talking about £20m of income we need to have every season."
Criticism of Benitez - who still has the backing of chairman David Moores - was aimed at his constant team changing and the lack of any pattern or passion in last weekend's Old Trafford defeat.
"We were looking to do something in the league. We thought it would be this year and it's not going to happen now.
"Normally, by the time you get to October, you'd expect the manager to know his best team and stick with it but there are no signs of that happening now. I don't think he could tell you what his best team is."
----------
27 October 2006
HOW PATIENCE IS FINALLY WEARING THIN AT ANFIELD
By Martin Lipton
IN THE bowels of the Millennium Stadium in May, as the celebratory beers began to flow, Rafa Benitez looked down the Liverpool team coach.
The FA Cup and the winners' medals may have been shining but it was relief, rather than joy, which was running through Benitez's mind.
He knew that the shoot-out victory over West Ham had masked the reality of a squad that was nowhere near good enough to compete for the Premiership crown.
Five months on, Benitez finds himself under question as never before on Merseyside, Liverpool's abject display at Old Trafford the catalyst for a bout of boardroom backbiting.
At this stage, Benitez's doubters prefer to stay in the shadows, but their criticisms are fierce and the targets wide-ranging.
"Sunday was bloody awful," conceded one board member. "There was no resolve in our performance.
"At Old Trafford we played one up. If you're going to do that, you've got to have the right five in midfield, playing in the right positions, and it didn't look that way at all.
"We have paid too many inflated prices and inflated wages for players who are not doing the job.
"And when the manager decides they are not doing the job, we cannot get rid of them because nobody wants them for the sort of money we want back.
"It means we're losing money we can't afford to lose. We have too many players of poor quality and from the way the manager keeps on changing the side it looks as if he doesn't know what his best team is."
Benitez accepts that he must take his share of responsibility for the disappointing start to the campaign, although he maintains his policy of constant rotation will bear fruit at the business end of the season.
After all, Liverpool are only two points worse off now than they were at the corresponding point in each of the last two seasons.
Privately, the Spaniard maintains that his first two years have represented an over-achievement that should have bought him the time to make the changes he feels are needed.
For Benitez, it is a bigger job than he imagined in 2004. "The first year we were here, if we had finished fourth, people would have said fantastic," he said. "But we won the Champions League and expectations were raised. People want something like this every year, but we can't spend a lot of money like the top sides do.
Money is a pressing issue. Benitez feels the tight purse-strings have forced him to buy too many players who were second or third on his wanted list.
Discounting Djibril Cisse, bought before he arrived in 2004, Liverpool have spent less than Chelsea, United and even Tottenham, although more than twice as much as Arsenal.
The summer saw him once again operating in the transfer market with one arm behind his back, unable to find the money to sign Sevilla full-back Daniel Alves and having to wait until the last minute to bring in Dirk Kuyt.
The board, though, are less convinced. "The signings in the summer cost us a lot of money and they've not worked. It's the same old story," said the board insider. "We were happy to spend £9m on a centre-forward but we were told we should be spending £30m. You can't go out and get a Bentley all the time."
It has made Benitez reassess his targets. Where he had believed that this could be the year when Liverpool pressed Chelsea all the way in the Premiership, it is now about trying to close the gap.
He has to do that by cajoling and energising his current crop of players. Benitez knows he cannot criticise his players publicly because doing so would "lose" the dressing room.
In his private moments, though, the 46-year-old is harbouring doubts about the attitude of too many of his players.
He is understood to feel that not enough players have the courage to come out and push their colleagues on, not merely by screaming at them but by leading by example.
The Spaniard's relationship with skipper Steven Gerrard, never the best, has declined with the England star clearly unimpressed at not playing in his preferred central role.
It has not gone unnoticed, with the boardroom perturbed to see Gerrard looking "a miserable sod" on Sunday. Benitez has rebuffed unofficial approaches from both AC Milan and Inter and is determined to see his job through.
But if he feels the players are not responding and he senses the boardroom is slipping away, that may change.
'From the way Benitez keeps changing the side it looks as if he doesn't know his best team..'
By Martin Lipton
RAFA BENITEZ'S position at Liverpool is under pressure after a senior Anfield board member admitted the club is concerned about the direction the Spaniard is taking them.
With Liverpool already 11 points off the Premiership pace set by Manchester United and Chelsea, directors are already giving up hope of ending the championship drought that has already lasted 16 seasons.
And one influential figure on the six-man board revealed that Benitez's leadership of the team was being questioned.
"We have paid too many inflated prices and inflated wages for players who are not doing the job," said the director, who is concerned for the future of the club but wants to remain anonymous to avoid a boardroom split.
"When it comes to any manager, the view of the board has always been to let them get on with it. We do not believe in interfering.
"But the day will come when we may not be that way inclined any more. We have always been very respectful of any manager we appoint. The view has always been the same one, the right one - that the manager must stand or fall by his efforts.
"But one thing that we can't hide is that we have to be in the Champions League every season and if we do not qualify it will be a major problem.
"The budget we have set up is still in balance if we do not get into the Champions League. But if we are to make investment in the team we are talking about £20m of income we need to have every season."
Criticism of Benitez - who still has the backing of chairman David Moores - was aimed at his constant team changing and the lack of any pattern or passion in last weekend's Old Trafford defeat.
"We were looking to do something in the league. We thought it would be this year and it's not going to happen now.
"Normally, by the time you get to October, you'd expect the manager to know his best team and stick with it but there are no signs of that happening now. I don't think he could tell you what his best team is."
----------
27 October 2006
HOW PATIENCE IS FINALLY WEARING THIN AT ANFIELD
By Martin Lipton
IN THE bowels of the Millennium Stadium in May, as the celebratory beers began to flow, Rafa Benitez looked down the Liverpool team coach.
The FA Cup and the winners' medals may have been shining but it was relief, rather than joy, which was running through Benitez's mind.
He knew that the shoot-out victory over West Ham had masked the reality of a squad that was nowhere near good enough to compete for the Premiership crown.
Five months on, Benitez finds himself under question as never before on Merseyside, Liverpool's abject display at Old Trafford the catalyst for a bout of boardroom backbiting.
At this stage, Benitez's doubters prefer to stay in the shadows, but their criticisms are fierce and the targets wide-ranging.
"Sunday was bloody awful," conceded one board member. "There was no resolve in our performance.
"At Old Trafford we played one up. If you're going to do that, you've got to have the right five in midfield, playing in the right positions, and it didn't look that way at all.
"We have paid too many inflated prices and inflated wages for players who are not doing the job.
"And when the manager decides they are not doing the job, we cannot get rid of them because nobody wants them for the sort of money we want back.
"It means we're losing money we can't afford to lose. We have too many players of poor quality and from the way the manager keeps on changing the side it looks as if he doesn't know what his best team is."
Benitez accepts that he must take his share of responsibility for the disappointing start to the campaign, although he maintains his policy of constant rotation will bear fruit at the business end of the season.
After all, Liverpool are only two points worse off now than they were at the corresponding point in each of the last two seasons.
Privately, the Spaniard maintains that his first two years have represented an over-achievement that should have bought him the time to make the changes he feels are needed.
For Benitez, it is a bigger job than he imagined in 2004. "The first year we were here, if we had finished fourth, people would have said fantastic," he said. "But we won the Champions League and expectations were raised. People want something like this every year, but we can't spend a lot of money like the top sides do.
Money is a pressing issue. Benitez feels the tight purse-strings have forced him to buy too many players who were second or third on his wanted list.
Discounting Djibril Cisse, bought before he arrived in 2004, Liverpool have spent less than Chelsea, United and even Tottenham, although more than twice as much as Arsenal.
The summer saw him once again operating in the transfer market with one arm behind his back, unable to find the money to sign Sevilla full-back Daniel Alves and having to wait until the last minute to bring in Dirk Kuyt.
The board, though, are less convinced. "The signings in the summer cost us a lot of money and they've not worked. It's the same old story," said the board insider. "We were happy to spend £9m on a centre-forward but we were told we should be spending £30m. You can't go out and get a Bentley all the time."
It has made Benitez reassess his targets. Where he had believed that this could be the year when Liverpool pressed Chelsea all the way in the Premiership, it is now about trying to close the gap.
He has to do that by cajoling and energising his current crop of players. Benitez knows he cannot criticise his players publicly because doing so would "lose" the dressing room.
In his private moments, though, the 46-year-old is harbouring doubts about the attitude of too many of his players.
He is understood to feel that not enough players have the courage to come out and push their colleagues on, not merely by screaming at them but by leading by example.
The Spaniard's relationship with skipper Steven Gerrard, never the best, has declined with the England star clearly unimpressed at not playing in his preferred central role.
It has not gone unnoticed, with the boardroom perturbed to see Gerrard looking "a miserable sod" on Sunday. Benitez has rebuffed unofficial approaches from both AC Milan and Inter and is determined to see his job through.
But if he feels the players are not responding and he senses the boardroom is slipping away, that may change.
'From the way Benitez keeps changing the side it looks as if he doesn't know his best team..'
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by account deleted by request » Fri Oct 27, 2006 12:06 pm
Amuch better article off Liverpool tv by Rick Parry
Rick Parry today hailed the work of Rafael Benitez as Liverpool manager and declared: "We're clearly moving in the right direction."
The Reds' Chief Executive was speaking after negative comments attributed to a club director appeared in the national press this morning.
"We understand the expectations at Liverpool but we are clearly moving in the right direction under Rafael Benitez," Parry told Liverpoolfc.tv.
"We unquestionably have a better squad than we did last year so it is not about making judgments at this stage. There are no trophies handed out at the end of October, with the exception of the Community Shield which we have already won. You can only judge our performance over the course of a full season.
"We all knew there was a sizeable job to do when Rafa was appointed and that is why we have never laid down any timescales or imposed unrealistic pressures. What is important is continuous year on year improvement.
"The wins in Istanbul and Cardiff were great achievements which we celebrated together. Some of the early results in the league have not gone as well as we would have wanted which is why we have a collective responsibility to pull together and work even harder to improve things on the pitch."
Rick Parry today hailed the work of Rafael Benitez as Liverpool manager and declared: "We're clearly moving in the right direction."
The Reds' Chief Executive was speaking after negative comments attributed to a club director appeared in the national press this morning.
"We understand the expectations at Liverpool but we are clearly moving in the right direction under Rafael Benitez," Parry told Liverpoolfc.tv.
"We unquestionably have a better squad than we did last year so it is not about making judgments at this stage. There are no trophies handed out at the end of October, with the exception of the Community Shield which we have already won. You can only judge our performance over the course of a full season.
"We all knew there was a sizeable job to do when Rafa was appointed and that is why we have never laid down any timescales or imposed unrealistic pressures. What is important is continuous year on year improvement.
"The wins in Istanbul and Cardiff were great achievements which we celebrated together. Some of the early results in the league have not gone as well as we would have wanted which is why we have a collective responsibility to pull together and work even harder to improve things on the pitch."
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by CardinalRed » Fri Oct 27, 2006 12:30 pm
Nobody's perfect, for all the kudos Fergie is gettin' just lately, how many trophies have Man U won in the last couple of years? One, the Carling Cup.....
For all his foibles and idiosyncracies, Rafa has my unequivocal, unconditional support..... As he has with 99.9% of LFC fans, it'll come, just keep the faith.....
For all his foibles and idiosyncracies, Rafa has my unequivocal, unconditional support..... As he has with 99.9% of LFC fans, it'll come, just keep the faith.....
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by tubby » Fri Oct 27, 2006 12:43 pm
You all must have followed the game for years now and should know better then to think the press has it in for him.
The press will always have it in for a manager whose team is underperforming becasue it makes pages in the papers and generates other stories such as transfer gossip ect...
I remember season before last when Man Utd were being called a declining team, some people were thinking it was time for Sir Alex to move on but where are those stories now?
And what about the constant critisim of Peter Crouch. But now that hes England most consistent scorer now where again I ask are those stories?
Yes Rafa is stubborn and like to chop and change but for
sake hes won 2 major trophies in as many years so screw your heads on right will you.
You people change your mind as much as the press do.
The press will always have it in for a manager whose team is underperforming becasue it makes pages in the papers and generates other stories such as transfer gossip ect...
I remember season before last when Man Utd were being called a declining team, some people were thinking it was time for Sir Alex to move on but where are those stories now?
And what about the constant critisim of Peter Crouch. But now that hes England most consistent scorer now where again I ask are those stories?
Yes Rafa is stubborn and like to chop and change but for
sake hes won 2 major trophies in as many years so screw your heads on right will you. You people change your mind as much as the press do.
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by Ace Ventura » Fri Oct 27, 2006 12:43 pm
Rick Parry is to be applauded. A sensible statement that others need to listen to.
Peewee i am not saying your not right, i agree that the rotation needs to be toned down, but despite the poor start we are in a far healthier position with the squad and will push on in the league.
The manager has achieved an awful lot in a short space of time, and although he has made mistakes this season he will get it right and the club back up the table.
Peewee i am not saying your not right, i agree that the rotation needs to be toned down, but despite the poor start we are in a far healthier position with the squad and will push on in the league.
The manager has achieved an awful lot in a short space of time, and although he has made mistakes this season he will get it right and the club back up the table.
Last edited by Ace Ventura on Fri Oct 27, 2006 1:39 pm, edited 1 time in total.
ALLLRIGHTY THEN !!
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by tubby » Fri Oct 27, 2006 12:46 pm
Exactly ace.
We had a bad start last season and actually racked up more points than Chelsea from September onwards and there nothing to say we cannot finish near the top again.
I agree it has got a lot more serious now in regards to having to finish in the top 4 but im confident that Rafa will do it.
We had a bad start last season and actually racked up more points than Chelsea from September onwards and there nothing to say we cannot finish near the top again.
I agree it has got a lot more serious now in regards to having to finish in the top 4 but im confident that Rafa will do it.
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by Bad Bob » Fri Oct 27, 2006 1:36 pm
Rafa-Dodd wrote:It seems that the English Press have really got it in for Rafael Benitez. First it was zonal marking, then our poor league form, then Gerrard's not wanted by Rafa, then rotation and now today The Mirror has run a back page headline story of Rafa losing the backing of the board. As always this board member has remained anomyous and has slated Rafa's rotation, his transfers and his tactics. Either:
a) This is completely false and another case of the media putting pressure on Rafa by publishing fake storylines
b) It is true and the member of the board did say these things, in which case he would get a lot more respect from the fans if he put his name to these damaging words. Shi[thouse tactic . Also he should keep his mouth shut.
The season has not started as any of us would have liked or expected. We have under-achieved, we know it, the players know it and most importantly Rafa knows it. He could use many excuses , as could we. New players needing time, injuries to key areas, no luck in games, bad ref decisions etc.
But all Rafa keeping emphasing is we have got to work harder. You have got to admire the ethos of the guy. He is working hard on the problems and I have no doubt that this guy will solve them. He has refused to condemn his players in public, even though some of them have let him down badly with individual mistakes. This is very similar to the set up Shanks employed where " you don't criticise one of your own". The players will respect him a lot more for that.
I have heard people say he is tactically inept. This shows a major lack of respect for a man with 2 La Liga's , UEFA Cup with a unfashionable Valencia, and a European Cup and F.A Cup with the European Cup win coming with one of our weakest teams in many years. Igor Biscan FFS!
People saying these were lucky and not down to Rafa are starting to sound like Evertonians. He is very very tactical astute and leaves nothing to chance. "Its all about details" we have hear him say many many times.
Some people don't realise how much of a mess the Frenchman Houllier left us in. He left us with a backlog of talentless players on high wages and one of the weakest squads I had seen in a long time. Some people see the heroics of Steven Gerrard and don't realise how much more important Rafa is to Liverpool Football Club. He made Carra a CB, he gave Gerrard licence to roam, something he didn't do under Houllier, he gave us the tightest defence we have had in the Premiership. He gave us our best ever points tally in the Premiership. He gave us the most consistent performance in the Premiership. He lifted the club when we were in real danger of becoming a big name to fall from grace.
He has not had the best of starts but all great managers had have dark patches, Wenger last year looked like he had lost the plot but this season Arsenal are looking untouchable again. Fergie too went through it and look at Utd now. These things take time but the tide will change.
Rafa Benitez is the best thing to happen to Liverpool Football Club in since the 1980's. Fowler was amazing and always in my heart, Owen was vital to our sucess in 2000, Gerrard is our best player ever in my opinion, but Rafa is vital to the Liverpool cause. The way people are dissing him and rubbishing his tactics and calling for his head is typical of modern day football. This man is our future. He is clever, composed and sucessful.
So please, this is a rally call if you will, we're not happy but neither is Rafa, lets not put pressure on this man like everyone else, just let him do his job, he is the right man for it.
This guy brought home our European Cup for keeps and has made us look a team again. Much like Shanks,
He makes the people happy.
Spot on, mate. Well said!
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by Bad Bob » Fri Oct 27, 2006 1:43 pm
peewee wrote:mate i think he puts pressure on himself with his stubborness to admit that his tactics are not working. i could understand if this was the first time but its not, we went through exactly the same with his rotation policy before and only started to perform when he started to pick a stable team.
the quicker he sees that the fault is with him, the quicker we can get back to some stabilty and hopefully some good wins
Not really wanting to open the rotation debate again for the umpteenth time but, as I recall, it was the 4-5-1 formation more than squad rotation that let us down at the start of last season, as we just never looked like scoring and kept drawing games. Rafa eventually came around to 4-4-2 and has played it almost exclusively ever since (last week at Old Trafford being one of his rarer slips into old habits).
Let's give the boss some credit--he is constantly thinking and adapting, while still trying to establish his ideas and tactics. If the rotation policy needs modifying, I've every confidence he'll modify it. I just don't see him as an excessively stubborn manager who'll never admit his mistakes. He's shown a commendable ability to address his mistakes in the transfer market and in terms of league tactics to date. Give him time and he'll sort things out this season as well.
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eh?
by RUSHIE#9 » Fri Oct 27, 2006 2:12 pm
I am 100% behind Rafa Benitez; i'd like to make that clear from the start. If and it is a big IF there is any foundation to these reports about a board member questioning Rafa I have one question. WHERE THE FUCKING HELL WERE THESE CONCERNS WHEN HOULLIER WAS PISSING AWAY £100 MILLION ON PLAYERS LIKE DIOUF, DIAO, CHEYROU, LE TALLEC, WESTERVELD, FERRI, BARMBY AND TO A CERTAIN EXTENT HESKEY?' These so called comments stink to high heaven of hypocrissy(sp?), here we have one of the best young managers in europe whose team is going through a rough patch and is questioning his policies. Yes I think the rotation is causing problems but considering we've been doing it for 98 games and last season we came within 9 points of winning the league after being closer to 30 points away the previous year.
Some of the signings aren't looking the business at the moment i.e.Pennant and when you look at the cost being close to £8 million then that is disappointing, but I have to raise the point that in a sense the board have to take some criticism on this situation. We are short of money so Rafa has had to 'SETTLE' in some repects for his 2nd or 3rd choice targets. The board are responsible in my eyes for generating the cash for the club to spend on new players. We've seen all too plainly in the past few years how badly the club has been left behind in the marketing stakes by other clubs. We are one of the most successful clubs in England yet we never seem to get any of these massive sponsorship deals that the likes of the Mancs, Arsenal and Cheat$ki have been getting in recent years. In 2 1/2 years of searching for major investment they still haven't found any money and again it looks like we are being left behind by the other three in england and the big guns from europe.
This board have also allowed over the years quite a lot of quality to leave on the cheap i.e.Owen. Now whether or not Owen wanted to leave or not isn't being questioned by me, what I am saying is that the board should have said to Owen 2 years before the end of his contract either sign a new one or go now whilst we can still get a very good price for you.
It is failings like these that have left us in the situation that we're in now with Rafa trying to get the best out of some players that might not be able to deliver. I have always considered the Liverpool way to be keep things internal and not to go blabbing anything to the press. It seems that a board member has broken this unwritten rule and is now heaping more press spot-lights and speculation on the manager who shouldn't have to deal with this and should be spending more time trying to get the best out of his players who are letting him down this season. Yes Rafa has made mistakes this season and he needs to make sure he learns from them and hopefully so will this board member. If he's got concerns keep them within the club; and if the press are making mountains out of mole hills again then just feck off!
Rant over!!
Some of the signings aren't looking the business at the moment i.e.Pennant and when you look at the cost being close to £8 million then that is disappointing, but I have to raise the point that in a sense the board have to take some criticism on this situation. We are short of money so Rafa has had to 'SETTLE' in some repects for his 2nd or 3rd choice targets. The board are responsible in my eyes for generating the cash for the club to spend on new players. We've seen all too plainly in the past few years how badly the club has been left behind in the marketing stakes by other clubs. We are one of the most successful clubs in England yet we never seem to get any of these massive sponsorship deals that the likes of the Mancs, Arsenal and Cheat$ki have been getting in recent years. In 2 1/2 years of searching for major investment they still haven't found any money and again it looks like we are being left behind by the other three in england and the big guns from europe.
This board have also allowed over the years quite a lot of quality to leave on the cheap i.e.Owen. Now whether or not Owen wanted to leave or not isn't being questioned by me, what I am saying is that the board should have said to Owen 2 years before the end of his contract either sign a new one or go now whilst we can still get a very good price for you.
It is failings like these that have left us in the situation that we're in now with Rafa trying to get the best out of some players that might not be able to deliver. I have always considered the Liverpool way to be keep things internal and not to go blabbing anything to the press. It seems that a board member has broken this unwritten rule and is now heaping more press spot-lights and speculation on the manager who shouldn't have to deal with this and should be spending more time trying to get the best out of his players who are letting him down this season. Yes Rafa has made mistakes this season and he needs to make sure he learns from them and hopefully so will this board member. If he's got concerns keep them within the club; and if the press are making mountains out of mole hills again then just feck off!
Rant over!!
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RUSHIE#9 - >> LFC Elite Member <<
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by RUSHIE#9 » Fri Oct 27, 2006 2:14 pm
Bad Bob wrote:peewee wrote:mate i think he puts pressure on himself with his stubborness to admit that his tactics are not working. i could understand if this was the first time but its not, we went through exactly the same with his rotation policy before and only started to perform when he started to pick a stable team.
the quicker he sees that the fault is with him, the quicker we can get back to some stabilty and hopefully some good wins
Not really wanting to open the rotation debate again for the umpteenth time but, as I recall, it was the 4-5-1 formation more than squad rotation that let us down at the start of last season, as we just never looked like scoring and kept drawing games. Rafa eventually came around to 4-4-2 and has played it almost exclusively ever since (last week at Old Trafford being one of his rarer slips into old habits).
Let's give the boss some credit--he is constantly thinking and adapting, while still trying to establish his ideas and tactics. If the rotation policy needs modifying, I've every confidence he'll modify it. I just don't see him as an excessively stubborn manager who'll never admit his mistakes. He's shown a commendable ability to address his mistakes in the transfer market and in terms of league tactics to date. Give him time and he'll sort things out this season as well.
Spot on bob.
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RUSHIE#9 - >> LFC Elite Member <<
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- Joined: Mon Oct 10, 2005 7:25 pm
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