Liverpool FC Forum

by **Ciggy** » Mon Feb 12, 2007 9:13 am

For me I cant wait for this season to be over TBH.
Its been a bit dissapointing, out of the domestic cups early, poor results against.

Blackburn twice 1 draw and beaten by them.
That absolute tonking from Arsenal letting in 9 goals at Anfield.
The two derbies beaten 3-0 and a boring score draw.
Sheffield United awful 1-1.
Rubbish at Boro 0-0.
Absolutly robbed at ST James's park on saturday.
So far not much to sing and dance about this season, I wont be pinning all my hopes on the CL either I cant see us beating Barca I hope the lads prove me wrong but I just cant see it.

The new players brought in this season so far Id say Kuyt has been the best buy, jury is still out on Pennant, Aurelio (due to always being injured) and Gonzales hasnt exactly been pulling up trees.

I also feel Rafa has to change one tactic that has been a real pain in the @rse since he arrived and that is for us to have a fox in the box type striker, he seems to go for players that play as a team, thats great but we havent got an out and out goal scorer, none of our forwards are in the list of the prem top scorers.

Now for one of the big 4 we should have a player in that list, Gerrard has always been in it ecspecially last season but him moving back into midfield and holding back has seen his goals dry up.
The amount of chances we squander on goal is pathetic, we need umpteen chances to score some games we have like 21 shots on and the game came end 0-0.

So maybe Rafa will have to stop being stubborn and change this minor detail, because the 4 forwards we have now are all his buys.
I think Bellamy scored 17 goals for Blackburn last season so why isnt he that prolific for us?
Is it because he is having to do other things rather than just be that fox in the box.

So far this season has been a little dissapointing in terms of results, maybe the job is tougher than Rafa expected in the way that he has never had to face teams that dont want to play football e.g. the Boltons and Evertons of this world.
Also why are we so sh.it at set pieces we have to be the worst in the league when it comes from scoring from corners surely this has to be addressed next season.

Whats everyone elses feelings on this?
Are you happy with the way things have gone this season or dissapionted.

by **112-1077774096** » Mon Feb 12, 2007 9:39 am

i am not totally happy, but i havent been totally happy with the reds for many years.

i suppose for people our age ciggy its hard as we grew up winning title after title, i suppose i have now got used to it, but getting used to it doesnt mean i happy about it.

there are too many frustrating things for me now when i watch the game, a lot of the time there is no fluidity to our play, and then other times we look amazing. no consistency really. and i dont like the fact that we never know what we will get in every game, which team will turn up so to speak.

i dont like the fact that i can see things when i watch that should be changed, but the manager cant see it, i dont like to see wasteful passes and shoddy finishing. i dont like us persevering with the staring line up until the 85 minute before changing it, when its obvious in the 60th minute that its not going right.

i dont like the fact that on saturday we needed a goal and brought on a new defender and a young midfielder (where is the logic)

i dont like the fact we are out of the league, and both domestic cups, we surrendered meekly in all 3 of these competitions. i dont like it when rafa said the league is our priority after going out the cups when we were already out of the league

all that said i still feel fantastic knowing that i support the most succsesful english club and take pride proving it to the idiots out here who thing football only started in 1990.

i wouldnt change being a red for anything in the world, i couldnt change being a red.

anyway its onwards and upwards now, lets hope rafa little faults are not his fault but the fault of the situation we were in, lets hope we hit the ground running next season and never look back and never have to look for excuses again

proud to be a red

YNWA

by **babu** » Mon Feb 12, 2007 9:41 am

The manner in which we conceded in some games, especially away have been disapointing. Getting knocked out of the cups to arsenal, was gut wrenching. But i will be happy if we finish third.

by **account deleted by request** » Mon Feb 12, 2007 9:42 am

I have been bitterly disappointed with the way things have gone this season. We had a fantastic opportunity to challenge for or win the league this season. Chelsea have slipped badly, Arsenal are regrouping and the Mancs are by no means unbeatable. To have to all intents and purpose been out of the race by September was devastating.

The win at Spurs, and at home to Chelsea are the only standout results we have had this season, beating WHU away etc, while nice should never be unexpected, couple that with the games we should have got points from and didn't, and its easy to see why our season has slipped away again.

I had expected this season Chelsea to move further away from the field with their big summer signings, Arsenal to struggle and the Mancs to fall away after Christmas, leaving Liverpool to be the main challengers. Yet a bad result against Barca and we are left with fighting for 3rd place as our only remaining goal

.

Before the season started I said that Rafa's buys would be crucial to the future of our club as this could be our last chance to get it right. Thankfully we are getting another chance courtesy of the USA. We can't afford to blow it again. Quality not quantity is required, 3 early signings to allow the maximum period for settling in, followed by a good start to our next campaign.

We desperately need a result against Barca.

by **Ciggy** » Mon Feb 12, 2007 9:46 am

Ys I agree about the subs, Maureen drags players off even before half time if need be to change things when games arnt going right, is that a good idea? Well it works for Chelsea.
Man u players get the fuckin hairdryer treatment at half time if they arnt pulling their weight.
Sometimes I wish Rafa was like this he is a good tactical manager but man manager I dont think he is, maybe due to the language barrier he would probably give them down the banks in Spanish.
I dont know I am not in the changing room at half time, but they dont come back out on the pitch being terrified if they dont get a result.

Also they are flying to Portugal today for a weeks training before the Barca game.
I dont know if this is a good or bad thing, all our hopes lie on this as our only chance of silverware this season its a tough mountain to climb.

I am starting to accept poor results the same as Houlliers last few years in charge its not good enough.

by **112-1077774096** » Mon Feb 12, 2007 9:55 am

stubborness was houlliers downfall.

while i dont think houllier is anywhere near the same level as rafa and i dont reall want to mention them in the same breath, but rafa is also stubborn and at times it is to the detriment of the team.

i suppose its good to have a belief and stick to it, buts its foolish to stick with something that isnt right.

however lets all remember here we have just been on a great winning streak in the league and sem invincible at home so he must be doing something right, its just a shame that he fannied about so much at th start and put us out of the title race

by **woof woof !** » Mon Feb 12, 2007 10:00 am

Disappointed with the way the season has panned out . Barring a miracle there won't be any silverware to add to the cabinet this season.

Definitely underachieving when it comes to set pieces . Got to the point now where I no longer expect us to get something from a dead ball situation .

Our forwards are quality players no denying that, but none of them are predators .The days of Rush, Fowler (in his pomp) and Owen are long gone but they are exactly the kind of player we are sorely missing up front , given the money in Rafa's shoes I would make this my number one priority but as others have said he doesn't seem bothered if we don't have a goal machine on the premise that "the goals will come from many players in the team" . (Obviously not enough though eh Rafa ?)

Don't go along with the Gerrard back on the right issue , but thats an old argument that many have already commented on ,guess we'll all have to agree to disagree .

Barcelona game aside I'm already looking forward to next season , and I'm hoping Rafa will sort the three key areas (imo) where we are obviously lacking in quality .

1, Striker ,as mentioned above.
2, Right Mid ,Pennant is not the answer,if he was we'd stop hearing cries of "move Gerrard back to RM"

3,Left Mid, Been a problem for years now . Kewell on his day solves the problem but has spent most of his Liverpool career receiving treatment . Gonzalez ? a totally underwhelming 1st season ,needs to massively improve and I'm not convinced he will .

Summary . Despite all the work done and the Trophy's won Rafa still has a long way to go in transforming us from a top four club into Premiership Champions

by **red37** » Mon Feb 12, 2007 10:05 am

peewee wrote:i am not totally happy, but i havent been totally happy with the reds for many years.

i suppose for people our age ciggy its hard as we grew up winning title after title, i suppose i have now got used to it, but getting used to it doesnt mean i happy about it.

there are too many frustrating things for me now when i watch the game, a lot of the time there is no fluidity to our play, and then other times we look amazing. no consistency really. and i dont like the fact that we never know what we will get in every game, which team will turn up so to speak.

i dont like the fact that i can see things when i watch that should be changed, but the manager cant see it, i dont like to see wasteful passes and shoddy finishing. i dont like us persevering with the staring line up until the 85 minute before changing it, when its obvious in the 60th minute that its not going right.

i dont like the fact that on saturday we needed a goal and brought on a new defender and a young midfielder (where is the logic)

i dont like the fact we are out of the league, and both domestic cups, we surrendered meekly in all 3 of these competitions. i dont like it when rafa said the league is our priority after going out the cups when we were already out of the league

all that said i still feel fantastic knowing that i support the most succsesful english club and take pride proving it to the idiots out here who thing football only started in 1990.

i wouldnt change being a red for anything in the world, i couldnt change being a red.

anyway its onwards and upwards now, lets hope rafa little faults are not his fault but the fault of the situation we were in, lets hope we hit the ground running next season and never look back and never have to look for excuses again

proud to be a red

YNWA

Great post mate..well summed up my thoughts on this at the same time.

by **daxy1** » Mon Feb 12, 2007 10:53 am

i'm not happy with the season so far the loss to the blue sh!te upset me no-end
then sat in the kop to a drumming off arsenal totaly wrecked my head but i stayed till the end chearing my team on
like peewee said nothing could change me from being a red nothing in this world
i am hoping for third but would settle for fourth
i cant wait for us to win the prem and the day we win it i will be there with my daughter and will be cementing the red gene in her for the rest of her life it will be the start of LFC history for her 6 years old
YNWA

by **Leonmc0708** » Mon Feb 12, 2007 11:24 am

What is it with people and knee jerk reactions ?

I suppose its to do with the internet.

We win and we are back i nthe title race, we lose and we are back to the Houllier days ?

I dont get it man.

by **Ciggy** » Mon Feb 12, 2007 11:30 am

Leonmc0708 wrote:What is it with people and knee jerk reactions ?

I suppose its to do with the internet.

We win and we are back i nthe title race, we lose and we are back to the Houllier days ?

I dont get it man.

Its not Kneejerk atall are you happy with how this season has gone yes or no?

by **alxy** » Mon Feb 12, 2007 12:35 pm

How could anyone be happy when really all every Liverpool fan wants is the Premiership? To be out of the race as early as Sep/Oct (AGAIN!) is obviously disappointing to say the least. Things like the CL and FA Cup save the season from being a total loss, but the Premiership has to be our main goal. And I don't believe we'll win it next season as well. Now that Hicks/Gillett have come in, we'll probably be able to buy more quality players next season. But I would give them at least 1 season to gel before we really START to push for the Premiership. This was the problem this season IMHO. The new signings took some time to gel and Rafa took some time to figure out where everyone fit in.

by **Elchris** » Mon Feb 12, 2007 1:27 pm

I'm not happy the way liverpool have performed this season...because the team we have at the moment is capable of doing much more better. The speedy wingers that had been brought in are not performing gonzales and pennant really dissapoint me.Althou pennant is showing some promise itz not as consistant.Seriously if we had wingers that were performing i seriously think we could be on top of the league.

by **RedBlood** » Mon Feb 12, 2007 1:30 pm

I am convinced RAFA is the man to take us forward he is a million miles rom houllier

he has been held back because of lack of finance but it looks like the days of him not getting his first choice are over

the season has been a dissapointment but if we finnish third in one of if not the best league in the world then it shows things aint that bad. plus we never know what will happen in the champs leauge

the time to judge RAFA is when he has had the money available and lets not forget while we will be trying to improve so will manu chelsea and arsenal

by **EddieC** » Mon Feb 12, 2007 2:05 pm

I see two main reasons why this season hasn't panned out as we'd all have liked.

Firstly, for the second season running, we've had a lot of new players to accomodate in the team. IMO we should've started the season with pretty much the same starting line up that finished last season so impressively, giving the new lads more time to settle in. Obviously up front we would've had to change the team, but in defence & midfield we could've kept the same line up, getting a good run together before introducing new players. I feel the key to Manure's success this season has been the fact that they only had to bring in one new player, unfortunately we weren't in the position where one new player was good enough and have suffered as a consequence.

Secondly, the quality of players brought in. With the exeption of Kuyt, I don't feel the players we bought in the summer have brought that much extra to the squad. Bellamy, whilst better than Cisse IMO, isn't that much better that he'll have a major impact. Everyone knows Pennant was probably our third or fourth choice RM, and whilst he's performed as well as I expected isn't goiong to be the solution. Aurelio could be a good player, but the amount of time he's spent on the physio's bench is worrying. Paletta is obviously one for the future, but his lack of pace is alarming. Mark Gonzales, for me, has been weighed down with expectation and has only shown glimpses of what he can do. Could still turn out to be a good signing.

So am I happy with this season? In a word, no. But neither am I dissapointed. Unlike some on here I didn't have great expectations from the start, Rafa hasn't been able to get his first choice players, and has had to alter his system accordingly. With the new funds that are going to be available, I expect to see a few players come in who are going to be in the first team 9 times out of 10, rather than just bolstering the squad. Again it will take time for these players to bed in, so firstly I'd like to see them signed as early in the window as possible, and secondly not all thrown in to the first team at once. I still feel that next season will be too early for the title, but I hope we can put together a team that has the talent to win it. Given time to gel, and not too many additions needed the following summer, we will then have a team capable of winnig the title.

Having said all this though, maybe we'll end up winning the CL, and everyone will forget the cup results and the games against the bitters, Sheff UTD et al, and be saying what a great season it was. Worked in '05

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