Liverpool FC Forum

[Dalglish]

Gabriel Paletta, Stephen Warnock, John Arne Riise and Mohamed Sissoko are also out with injuries...............

Am I right in thinking that NONE of these players played in the World Cup 

You certainly are.

I think Rafa's "clutching" a bit to be honest. A mixture of frustration with injuries to key players and the slow start to teh season.......

He'll get over it probably tomorrow after a good win 

[Lando_Griffin]

Gabriel Paletta, Stephen Warnock, John Arne Riise and Mohamed Sissoko are also out with injuries...............

Am I right in thinking that NONE of these players played in the World Cup 

You certainly are.

I think Rafa's "clutching" a bit to be honest. A mixture of frustration with injuries to key players and the slow start to teh season.......

He'll get over it probably tomorrow after a good win 

Didn't he have a lot of problems at Valencia with injuries following a World Cup?

I think he may see history repeating itself. (Hopefully, as he won the title that year!!!!! )

[el_stinger]

Its not long enough tbh. I'm so disappointed that the WC is finished. Especially the farcical way some national teams got screwed   *cough* Australia *cough* LOL

But he does have a point that in England especially, and he has stated this before, that the Prem League is wayyy too long, starts early, has no breaks at Christmas time, etc. Especially after the World Cup, the FA should think about delaying the start of the campaign.

[Dalglish]

Didn't he have a lot of problems at Valencia with injuries following a World Cup?

I think he may see history repeating itself. (Hopefully, as he won the title that year!!!!! )

He had a LOT of injuries in 2005 Champions League campaign as well 

Alonso was out from Jan 1st till early April, Cisse was out for most of the season, Kewell was always injured (no change there then).

We went to Deportivo needing a  result (we got it 1-0) and Biscan played in midfield alongside Warnock if i remember right !  He had arguably his best ever game for Liverpool that night and set us on the path to European glory .........

So you see, it's not so bad after all !!!!

[Lando_Griffin]

Didn't he have a lot of problems at Valencia with injuries following a World Cup?

I think he may see history repeating itself. (Hopefully, as he won the title that year!!!!! )

He had a LOT of injuries in 2005 Champions League campaign as well 

Alonso was out from Jan 1st till early April, Cisse was out for most of the season, Kewell was always injured (no change there then).

We went to Deportivo needing a  result (we got it 1-0) and Biscan played in midfield alongside Warnock if i remember right !  He had arguably his best ever game for Liverpool that night and set us on the path to European glory .........

So you see, it's not so bad after all !!!!

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIGGGGGGGGGGGOOOOORRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!

F*cking class game from the lad that night! That mazy run through their midfield and the dainty little ball for the goal.

Pity he didn't do it at any other time in his LFC career!!!!!

[Mannyk]

Reducing the competetion down to sixteen teams or what ever is still not going to make a difference because at best you might play 1 game less if you went all the way. You still would be playing in a group of four. And the top two would go straight into the quarters. Most of the top players in the world would still come from the usual top nations so in my opinion it wouldn't make a diff.

The world cup is good for developing nations and it is once every four years.Sure you have your qualifiers. But if you are going to argue about theWC then you might as well throw the Euros in there as well.Maybe the FA needs to reduce the number of teams in the top flight???. Would that be a solution?

Lets just worry about our next game

Cmon RB lets get three points

[Ciggy]

I think Rafa is correct in slamming the Norweigen F.A. Riise is injured but still has to go to their training camp this week its disgraceful 

[48-1119859832]

Well you have to admit that the world cup is a bit of a tw.at when it comes to fu.cking up pre season, its not like rafas saying fu.ck the tourno off for the rest of history hes just saying what a lot of people think, sure it makes the summer less borin but its a bit of a pain in the hoop as far as the clubs interests go.

hes entitled to have a bit of a moan now and again, but i think that its the pathetic friendlys that pi$$ him off more, like the one 3 days before the prem started, i hardly think hes anywhere near mourinho-esque though oasis after 1 moan FFS

perhaps he is tryin to protect his players from un-necessary critiscism, did you think of that? no didnt think so

I agree it's a pain, but he has to put up and shut up, he is paid to manage the team, and to start ranting and raving about A) International Issues and B) Something that happens every four years.

Most of the squad, didn't travel to Germany and two players hardly or didn't get a look in, Reina and Kromkamp. Players like Finnan, Dudek, Sissoko, Riise, Pennant, Bellamy, Aurelio and Paletta didn't participate in the World Cup, so I'm baffled as to why he is moaning about the World Cup. If he came out and slammed the pointless friendlies the other week, then fair enough, he has a valid point, I just don't understand why he's felt the need to voice his opinion over something so trivial.

Every major club is in the same position as himself, I'll put it down to him being annoyed that Norway have dimissed Liverpool's suggestion to leave JAR at home and have taken him (injured) into two Interntaional fixtures and the fact we are suffering quite heavily on the injury front.

The players are hardly going to get criticism from fans if they've played almost a solid year of football, if you mean the media, then who gives a c.rap what they say? The only opinion that matters is the one that the fans represent, not what The Times says.

Another point, what I meant by 'Mourinho-esque' is every so often he'll come out and moan, which is something he doesn't need to do. Like the Style of play by Bolton the other season, it's not needed. He should just be like the Benitez who keeps focuses on his team and comments on that issue and nothing else.

[66-1112520797]

For the first 15 days you are playing teams that do not matter and matches that do not matter. Then after that you have the best teams playing for the trophy in the last couple of weeks

Try telling the likes of Senegal, Cameroon, Ghana and Australia these are teams that do not matter. I actually find it hard to believe Benitez would be for the want of a better word arrogant in his views of the WC.

[quote] He added: "You must play for big money for Champions League qualification when players are not ready.[quote]

Okay Rafa, in two years time when the European championships come round, make sure your team finish in the top two the season before, then you wont have this qualification hinderance.



      [quote]   Gabriel Paletta, Stephen Warnock, John Arne Riise and Mohamed Sissoko are also out with injuries[quote]



These guys didnt even go to the WC, like Dalglish said Benitez is clutching at straws a bit with this. Usually Benitez is more humble when being interviewed, and doesnt slate or give too much away about things. This is what I like about the man, but this interview goes against the grain a bit. He doesnt need to look for excuses we all know the WC will have a knock on effect to ALL major european teams.

Maybe just maybe it might be a blessing in disguise for us, this early on in the season other clubs (mid-table teams) like Boro have already taken points off of Chelsea. This IMO is a direct effect from the WC and whos to say more teams wont do the same this early on. I know we're in the same boat but we have players like Gonzo, Bellamy, Aurelio, Sissoko (when fit), Fowler, JaR and Hyypia who didnt go to the wc. Maybe rather than slating it and having sympathy for Mouriniho, Rafa should be looking to capitalise on things like this,surely we could use this to our advantage. Okay our opening game of the season wasnt the result we wanted but to be fair I dont think Sheffield United are going to be the whipping boys everybody thinks they are, especially not at Brammal lane anyhow. Anyway with that Boro result I'm sure the boys will see an oppotunity to make ground and hopefully they will take it.

[Espionage]

I think that its a bit rough to say that Rafa is moaning and carrying on about this, becasue what usually happens is some idiot reporter asks what Rafa thinks about the world cup and how it affected his team.  I dont think that he planned on attacking the WC he was just venting a bit of anger.  The title of the article is a bit over-the-top and seems to be making a big story about some meaningless throw away comment.

[davo_LFC]

The players are hardly going to get criticism from fans if they've played almost a solid year of football, if you mean the media, then who gives a c.rap what they say? The only opinion that matters is the one that the fans represent, not what The Times says.

Another point, what I meant by 'Mourinho-esque' is every so often he'll come out and moan, which is something he doesn't need to do. Like the Style of play by Bolton the other season, it's not needed. He should just be like the Benitez who keeps focuses on his team and comments on that issue and nothing else.

I dont mean the media, fu.ck them but some "fans" are already slagging us off after a draw at brammel lane, nuggets saying the title race is over and sh.it like that, it makes me sick. This happens after every world cup, pre -season is disrupted and  the team isnt going to be a 100% after a year solid playing football at the highest level yet people still grunt and groan. not a champions performance  you said in the west ham thread today, we're 2 games into the season lad

And dont people learn that the media chat sh.it, they twist words to sell newspapers. the article doesnt reveal the whole interview, they could have said do you think the world cup is a pain?whats he going to say, er no i love it to bits. dont think so somehow.

And oasis if my team were playing against a bunch of thugs like bolton and gettin the s.hit kicked out of them and making it an impossibility to jump like for crouch against them but when we give some back fat sam is moaning then i would let people know aswell, hes not gonna just keep stum and say oh well, its ok that my players are getting elbowed left, right and in the fu.cking nose.

i like the fact that he speaks his mind and hes not showing the club up or tarnishing its reputation is he?mourinho is completely different, he loves the limelight, the attention.

i can't believe some people, why make an issue out of something so bast.arding trival

[48-1119859832]

I dont mean the media, fu.ck them but some "fans" are already slagging us off after a draw at brammel lane, nuggets saying the title race is over and sh.it like that, it makes me sick. This happens after every world cup, pre -season is disrupted and  the team isnt going to be a 100% after a year solid playing football at the highest level yet people still grunt and groan. not a champions performance  you said in the west ham thread today, we're 2 games into the season lad

And dont people learn that the media chat sh.it, they twist words to sell newspapers. the article doesnt reveal the whole interview, they could have said do you think the world cup is a pain?whats he going to say, er no i love it to bits. dont think so somehow.

And oasis if my team were playing against a bunch of thugs like bolton and gettin the s.hit kicked out of them and making it an impossibility to jump like for crouch against them but when we give some back fat sam is moaning then i would let people know aswell, hes not gonna just keep stum and say oh well, its ok that my players are getting elbowed left, right and in the fu.cking nose.

i like the fact that he speaks his mind and hes not showing the club up or tarnishing its reputation is he?mourinho is completely different, he loves the limelight, the attention.

i can't believe some people, why make an issue out of something so bast.arding trival

As I said to S@int, I've yet to see a Liverpool fan on here "slag off" the team after the result at Brammal Lane, and I've also not seen anyone say "We're out of the race". I've heard people (myself included) say that the two points could (and will most likely) be costly at the end of the season, we shall see.

I'm well aware that our key players have played almost a year of football, I did and have raised this point in a thread today. I think most people are happy with the result, as am I, but I'm not happy with the performance. It wasn't a performance of Champions, but it's three points and it will do. I've yet to see people grunting and groaning about the West Ham match (then again I've not been in the thread for a while). I shall go in there and see who's been grunting and groaning about the result later. People had very right to offer constructive criticism and voice their disproval of the 1-1 draw with Sheff Utd, not everyone is going to be satisfied with a point, especially against a team tipped to back down, faster than they came up.

As for my comment, which has obviously gotten you angry, a better team would of scored the chances that West Ham wasted, especially the Lee Bowyer chance, I'm not particulary satisfied with the performance although it was expected what with injuries and new players gelling, some lads played very well, you know who they are, but we will have to up our game to another notch against Everton and Chelsea. However it was a three points that was needed and we got them, so I can't grumble too much.

I've seen, read and listened to enough media in my life to know what their game is, and to know what's lies and what's twisted to their views and opinions, so don't try and teach me the way of the media, I already know enough, thanks very much.


Benitez shouldn't of said anything at all, I agree with him slamming Norway in the press for taking Riise on International duty, but to start going into the World Cup wasn't needed in all honesty, he's spoken out of turn there, he should just shut up and put up, teams get set backs, I don't see the managers running to the press in their hordes, stating what needs to be changed and what needs to be done. Rafa has made himself look like a clown.

Bolton have their own style, which is deeply physical, Benitez is talented enough to overcome this, without going into the media to criticise Bolton's tactics, their tactic works, so you can hardly blame them for using it can you? This is football, you have to put up with these things.

I like the fact that he isn't afraid to speak out aswell, even though I wish at times he didn't. He didn't need to come out and make these statements, he doesn't need to, I'm just a tad worried that as Liverpool grow in confidence and we start winning matches and getting successful, he will change from this quiet, get his head down manager to one that ends up like Wenger, Ferguson and Mourinho.

It's trivial, but I've seen some Mourinho-ism's in Benitez at times and I can't say I like it.

[Kash_Mountain]

I think Rafa is correct in slamming the Norweigen F.A. Riise is injured but still has to go to their training camp this week its disgraceful 

Agree whith you Ciggy, I can't see why JAR has to go, he's injured.  I wonder what possible reason the NFA have, that makes them think this will benefit him. I certainly can't think of any.

[davo_LFC]

I dont mean the media, fu.ck them but some "fans" are already slagging us off after a draw at brammel lane, nuggets saying the title race is over and sh.it like that, it makes me sick. This happens after every world cup, pre -season is disrupted and  the team isnt going to be a 100% after a year solid playing football at the highest level yet people still grunt and groan. not a champions performance  you said in the west ham thread today, we're 2 games into the season lad

And dont people learn that the media chat sh.it, they twist words to sell newspapers. the article doesnt reveal the whole interview, they could have said do you think the world cup is a pain?whats he going to say, er no i love it to bits. dont think so somehow.

And oasis if my team were playing against a bunch of thugs like bolton and gettin the s.hit kicked out of them and making it an impossibility to jump like for crouch against them but when we give some back fat sam is moaning then i would let people know aswell, hes not gonna just keep stum and say oh well, its ok that my players are getting elbowed left, right and in the fu.cking nose.

i like the fact that he speaks his mind and hes not showing the club up or tarnishing its reputation is he?mourinho is completely different, he loves the limelight, the attention.

i can't believe some people, why make an issue out of something so bast.arding trival

As I said to S@int, I've yet to see a Liverpool fan on here "slag off" the team after the result at Brammal Lane, and I've also not seen anyone say "We're out of the race". I've heard people (myself included) say that the two points could (and will most likely) be costly at the end of the season, we shall see.

I'm well aware that our key players have played almost a year of football, I did and have raised this point in a thread today. I think most people are happy with the result, as am I, but I'm not happy with the performance. It wasn't a performance of Champions, but it's three points and it will do. I've yet to see people grunting and groaning about the West Ham match (then again I've not been in the thread for a while). I shall go in there and see who's been grunting and groaning about the result later. People had very right to offer constructive criticism and voice their disproval of the 1-1 draw with Sheff Utd, not everyone is going to be satisfied with a point, especially against a team tipped to back down, faster than they came up.

As for my comment, which has obviously gotten you angry, a better team would of scored the chances that West Ham wasted, especially the Lee Bowyer chance, I'm not particulary satisfied with the performance although it was expected what with injuries and new players gelling, some lads played very well, you know who they are, but we will have to up our game to another notch against Everton and Chelsea. However it was a three points that was needed and we got them, so I can't grumble too much.

I've seen, read and listened to enough media in my life to know what their game is, and to know what's lies and what's twisted to their views and opinions, so don't try and teach me the way of the media, I already know enough, thanks very much.


Benitez shouldn't of said anything at all, I agree with him slamming Norway in the press for taking Riise on International duty, but to start going into the World Cup wasn't needed in all honesty, he's spoken out of turn there, he should just shut up and put up, teams get set backs, I don't see the managers running to the press in their hordes, stating what needs to be changed and what needs to be done. Rafa has made himself look like a clown.

Bolton have their own style, which is deeply physical, Benitez is talented enough to overcome this, without going into the media to criticise Bolton's tactics, their tactic works, so you can hardly blame them for using it can you? This is football, you have to put up with these things.

I like the fact that he isn't afraid to speak out aswell, even though I wish at times he didn't. He didn't need to come out and make these statements, he doesn't need to, I'm just a tad worried that as Liverpool grow in confidence and we start winning matches and getting successful, he will change from this quiet, get his head down manager to one that ends up like Wenger, Ferguson and Mourinho.

It's trivial, but I've seen some Mourinho-ism's in Benitez at times and I can't say I like it.

As am sure your awarethe entire liverpool fan base isnt based on this forum, i have heard complete k.nobheads on the radio saying this and that. Maybe people wernt grunting and groaning about the west ham game like i was suggesting but people are expecting things to be perfect, thats quite difficult to achieve so early in the season and i assure you once we get into a run there will be no stopping us, of that i am confident.

And to be fair i hardly thing the performance was terrible today, we played some good football and got the 3 points. It wasnt perfect but like i said thats not gonna happen at this stage of the season.

And oasis if you know what the media is like WTF respond to something like this artice in the manner in which you have, i dont think hes purposely attacked the WC so whats the big deal.

yeah bolton have their style but elbows to the grid all game isnt acceptable and thats what bolton did to us so why the fu.ck should benitez just accept it when its not allowed in the game, i know what happens in football, am not stupid and i have played enough sunday league and had the sh.it kicked out of me to know what goes on but when its so shockingly obvious and the ref doesnt protect the players then rafa has the right to "moan"

Look am pretty certain, and if am wrong please correct me,that rafa didnt go out call a press conference and slag the world cup off.

Hes won the champions league and fa cup so we are already successful and hes nowhere near mourinhos character so dont be so fu.ckin pathetic. I cant believe you would even think that he'd become anything like mourinho, rafa has kept our clubs feet on the ground when the CL success could have arguably gone to their heads and hes not talking up the teams chances for the prem like mourinho is for chavski because he knows that it wont be easy and he doesnt want the fans expectatios to be too high coz we all know what happened in 2002, a big fu.cking fall.

[48-1119859832]

I thought you were referring to the Sheff Utd thread on this board when you said:

but some "fans" are already slagging us off after a draw at brammel lane, nuggets saying the title race is over and sh.it like that, it makes me sick

...My bad, well that's rather extreme and incredibly stupid of fans to be saying "it's over". However the draw doesn't help our cause and it could be costly come the end of the season, because I have a strong feeling the league won't be won by a very large margin, I anticipate a very close race this season.

I think some fans expect things to be perfect, but I think that's down to expectation more than anything else. It also doesn't help one's cause when every pundit up and down the land predicts that Liverpool could win it. To me there is too much expectation on Liverpool, none more so than the fans, especially the younger fans who haven't seen us win the league before.

I'm not expecting to win it, but I know we have a chance and it doesn't help when you draw against Sheff Utd and it doesn't help matters when the lads put in a poor performance to boot. FWIW, I think we will get better, but what I'm worried about is the fact that we have Everton, PSV and Chelsea coming up and we will need to be playing much better football then what we are currently producing, so hence my "It wasn't a performance of Champions, but it will do". It wasn't me slating the lads, it was me telling the truth, however I do expect the level of performance to rise, but if we challenge this season and aren't chasing, I'll be happy come the end of the season, even if we don't win the league.

I've responded to it, because I don't want Rafa to be heavily involved with the media, I don't want him coming out every week slamming a decision or an aspect that goes against him/ Liverpool, that is all. He has a right to come out and comment on things which involve Liverpool and Liverpool only. That's just my view on it and I don't think I've shown a bad manner with my opinion, I just don't like seeing our manager coming out and slamming decisions, willy feckin nilly, that's all.

To be fair, I think you're overexaggerating about Bolton's style of play, granted it can be over physical, you are making it sound Ben Thatcher-esque. I don't like their tactics, but they aren't illegal, so Benitez will have to use his "possibilities, for sure" to find a "solution". He actually commented on their long ball style (if I can remember correctly) and the fact that they crowd the goalkeeper.

I agree with your last part, but I just don't think he needed to come out and say this, that is just my two cents on it.