Liverpool FC Forum

by **puroresu** » Sun Nov 04, 2007 1:07 pm

A point away to blackburn isnt a bad result but are the performances improving? If we wasnt dropping so many points in other games then a point away to blackburn wouldnt be a disaster at all. As for the 'still unbeaten brigade', I remember in 2004 Inter Milan went about 20 games unbeaten from the start of the season but drew so many games meaning being unbeaten was pointless as they wasnt winning. We need to start winning games and actually look like a top side. There is no way that the blame could be put on 3 injuries to Agger, Alonso and Torres. Its deeper than that.

by **Ola Mr Benitez** » Sun Nov 04, 2007 1:16 pm

Rafa, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please please play PETER CROUCH.

by **NANNY RED** » Sun Nov 04, 2007 1:16 pm

I know this is the post disscission thread but i have just been reading some classic quotes from Raffa concerning old boots.
Theres hope for me yet

BOSS CALLS FOR BOOT INQUEST
Paul Hassall 04 November 2007
Rafa Benitez has reflected on the growing number of metatarsal injuries in the game and called upon the boot manufacturers to launch an inquest.
The Reds boss has already seen both Xabi Alonso and Daniel Agger ruled out with broken bones in their feet this season and has questioned whether the growing list of sufferers is something to do with the modern day boot.

"Because I am really old, I like the old boots," said Benitez. "But now they change everything but I don't know if that is the problem.

"Technology is very important but before we were playing with six studs and that was enough, now we see 13 or 12 or eight in different positions.

"But really I don't know. You cannot blame the boots but something is wrong and maybe the big companies need to analyse them."

Benitez has had to contend with a whole host of injuries to key players so far this season and after suffering similar issues in his first campaign back in 2004/05, he admits it has made it tough for his side to maintain their impressive start.

"It is really difficult," he said.

"In my first year we had 11 operations. Some people do not remember this when they talk about our form away from home, but to have 11 operations in one year is a lot.

"This year, we have some problems and this does not make things easy.

"When you have an idea of how to play but then you lose two or three players out of the spine of the team, players who are very important if you want to play well, then it is difficult.

"If you lose one, okay, you can manage. But if you lose another one it becomes more difficult and in this case we have two or three players out who would normally be involved in important games.

"What I have to do is manage with the rest of the squad. But what I have to say is I am really pleased with the squad and this is the reason why we have a bigger squad, because it helps us to manage in situations like this."

by **ivor_the_injun** » Sun Nov 04, 2007 1:19 pm

For us to go from the shambles we were away last season to a title-winning side this year we needed a lot more than Torres, Babel and Benayoun coming in.

We're a work in progress. When available, we have the personnel to take any team on the planet, but the back-up still isn't good enough, particularly up front.

More importantly, we don't have a winning mentality in the league. The title-winning teams trudge through mud away from home, play their worst football of the season and still come away with the spoils.

Last season we were losing games we should have drawn. This season we're at least coming away from those games with a point. Unfortunately, we're also coming away from games we dominate with points as well, which is cancelling those "earned" points out.

We'll be where we need to be when we pull goals from nowhere in games when they don't look like they'll ever come. The problem is that you look at our teamsheet right now, and there's generally only Gerrard that you'd back to score.

For me, Kewell could be a massive player for us between now and Christmas. I think Harry and Crouch could actually save our season on all fronts in the coming weeks, assuming they stay fit and are actually given time on the pitch.

by **Feugo** » Sun Nov 04, 2007 1:59 pm

NANNY RED wrote:When did you start supporting the reds lad.?

Maybe when you got your playstation in 2005

Icant believe some of the that is posted

Ok i know my posts are not very educational or in depth but comparing a player to a to someone on a computer game even i would look good on a computer game and thats saying something

No wonder some of our fans our in a sorry state

I want PS3 for christmas.. T__T

Its always Liverpool from beginning..

When i saw Owen play for Liverpool in 1998 I was like.. "hey lets play soccer tomorrow" I was there when Houllier suffered heart problems, I was there too when they winning UEFA Champ League and FA cup. Even I'm the substitute in football team(school) Liverpool always inspire me.

Till the end, YNWA and good nite grandma. _|_

by **Ace Ventura** » Sun Nov 04, 2007 2:08 pm

Right my go now

Watched the game yesterday and can take positives and negatives from it. Negatives out of the way first eh. I thought for Rafa to leave Crouch out when playing that formation was really strange. Kuyt who i think is better than he is showing...his confidence appears shot, he also doesnt stay up the pitch and drops into midfield which meant at times we had nobody up top. We were p!ss poor in the first half and fortunate to get to half time level. Babel was again poor but looks a threat which may sound like a strange statement but sort of like Cisse was he appears to struggle to do basic things but has a great shot and seems to have an eye for goal.
Riise and Sissoko should not be at this club....maybe i am being a little harsh, but they are squad players at best. I would have Lucas in the team any day of the week ahead of Momo...he just doesnt offer enough for a midfield player at a club that is playing passing football. Did anyone else notice at the end of the first half when Gerrard had the ball Sissoko made a run into the box was open and in a good position and Gerrard ignored him and passed wide to Babel (who tested Friedel with a decent effort) ? me mate said to me...why didnt he play him in ? I said because it was Momo...he would of wasted it....and i am right. He offers nothing. Simply not good enough sorry.

Positives

Harry Kewell looked sharp looked positive and looked in decent shape. I watched him for the reserves against Newcastle when he scored and was impressed with him. He looked like he wants to be playing football. He also looked like he has worked hard fitness wise, there are times in the past when he has allowed his weight to suffer when he has been injured but not this time. Please stay fit. This lad could change the whole attacking dimension of the team. He offers width and balance and can cross a ball beat a man and has a decent shot on him. Made up to see him back.

Crouch looked far far better and has the last few appearances. He has been shamefully treated imo...for reasons we dont know (so maybe he deserved it) but now is the time to get him back in the team. He holds the ball so well brings Gerrard into play in dangerous areas and offers an actual threat. Made up for the lad...i really think he is a top player and hope he can sort out his differences with Rafa.

Now the result i am happy with, a draw at blackburn who had won 8 in a row was a good result, they are a good side and at home where always going to be difficult. I think Rafa was maybe a bit over cautious early on but that was understandable. We nearly sneaked it at the end and i think the boss should maybe trust the players he has signed a bit more. They could of won that game if he had let them have a go but he seems a little worried that they might lose it if he lets the shackles off.

All in all good point and Puroresu i take your point about an unbeaten run meaning nothing if most of the results are draws but not getting beaten is still a good habit to be in.
We are still in a healthy position and now have Fulham at home...if we take 3 points there then we will more than likely be back in the top 4.
I am in a happy and optimistic mood this week

by **NANNY RED** » Sun Nov 04, 2007 2:10 pm

Feugo wrote:
NANNY RED wrote:When did you start supporting the reds lad.?

Maybe when you got your playstation in 2005

Icant believe some of the that is posted

Ok i know my posts are not very educational or in depth but comparing a player to a to someone on a computer game even i would look good on a computer game and thats saying something

No wonder some of our fans our in a sorry state

I want PS3 for christmas.. T__T

Its always Liverpool from beginning.. When i saw Owen play for Liverpool in 1998 I was like.. "hey lets play soccer tomorrow" I was there when Houllier suffered heart problems, I was there too when they winning UEFA Champ League and FA cup. Even I'm the substitute in football team(school) Liverpool always inspire me.

Till the end, YNWA and good nite grandma. _|_

,My point made enough said

By the way good post Ace

by **ivor_the_injun** » Sun Nov 04, 2007 2:14 pm

That's a good post, Ace - one of the more accurate accounts of where we are this week that I've seen. I do still think Momo has a future here, although his consistency is a real worry. You could forgive it at a club like Blackburn, but a top 4 club needs central mids that perform week in, week out. His good games are very good, but his poor games are very, very poor.

I am, however, starting to see that Riise is on borrowed time. He's a player I've rated a lot in previous seasons, but he's looked a weak link for a while now, and with Arbeloa and Aurelio at the club I'm starting to think that he'll do well to get past January with us.

by **Ace Ventura** » Sun Nov 04, 2007 2:26 pm

ivor_the_injun wrote:That's a good post, Ace - one of the more accurate accounts of where we are this week that I've seen. I do still think Momo has a future here, although his consistency is a real worry. You could forgive it at a club like Blackburn, but a top 4 club needs central mids that perform week in, week out. His good games are very good, but his poor games are very, very poor.

I am, however, starting to see that Riise is on borrowed time. He's a player I've rated a lot in previous seasons, but he's looked a weak link for a while now, and with Arbeloa and Aurelio at the club I'm starting to think that he'll do well to get past January with us.

I think supporters of our club at times although with the best intentions support players that arent good enough. See the best and hope for more. While i totally agree this is what should be done with those two players we are wasting our time.
While they pull on the red/black/green/yellow/ecru shirt

they will always get the support but these two simply are not upto it.
Its strange how a couple of players can effect a team so much but the two of these (because of there inability to pass and move) really put pressure on the rest of the players and also panic breeds into the other players. I am certain that if Aurellio and Lucas would of occupied there positions then we would of seen a far better Liverpool.
Both could be squad players at any other club...but we all know with us squad players can play as often as the world class players..so on that basis they are not good enough.

by **stmichael** » Sun Nov 04, 2007 2:34 pm

I said it earlier in the season and I'll say it again. The biggest obstacle to us winning the league is Rafa's mindset. Why do we wait until the last 20 minutes to attempt to win the game?

Blackburn were there for the taking and we had one attempt on goal in the first 60 minutes, not good enough and the attitude has to change.

As for the team selection, Gerrard as a second striker doesn't work and Kuyt is never a lone striker in a million years.

Disappointing.

by **Ace Ventura** » Sun Nov 04, 2007 2:40 pm

One other thing i would like to add is that Blackburn imo are one of the hardest working side in the premiership. In the first half when we were poor, when we had the ball they were so quick to get back behind the ball. Every time within seconds every player back behind the ball.
As the game wore on they obviously tired and we created far more but in the first half they were just as worried about conceding as we were.

Just a point for the Rafa is bore section.

by **The_Rock** » Sun Nov 04, 2007 3:38 pm

Bamaga man wrote:
I said on the match thread I think it's a good point won

Just goes to show how are standards have dropped with statements like this, f.ucking joke.

Yeah......

In a nutshell, this is exactly like houllier's last few seasons

4th is like "a job well done" ....... :no

Why doesn't rafa just pick the best side ? This team is in fact better than what the results are showing. You saw how we played in the last 20 mins...why can't we play like that every match. Why is he so defensive ? Did you guys see how he can gerrard had staredown when he told gerrard to defend instead of attack ?

The way i see it....rafa has performed more and more miserably as the seasons gone by....

1st season Won the champ league
2nd season Won the FA cup
3rd season Won the....er.... charity shield.
4th season....take your pick

If rafa can't make a team which has Gerrard, Mash, Reina, Carra play good football.....i am sure some other manager can.

by **lakes10** » Sun Nov 04, 2007 5:29 pm

Liverpool boss Rafael Benitez:
"I am disappointed. We deserved to win. We created very, very clear chances - and plenty of them.
"When the game became more open we had more control and went forward. We had more offensive players.

"We must think about the positives, we had a lot of possession and a lot of chances. In the second half, their goalkeeper was their best player."

"I am disappointed. (so are we) We deserved to win.( er no) We created very, very clear chances ( yes but as you will not play out top goal scorer for last year they all got missed)- and plenty of them.(er yes you are right but it took 41mins to get our first shot)

by **Graeme Noble** » Sun Nov 04, 2007 6:18 pm

I don't know why everyone thinks Crouch is so good, how many goals has he scored this season? I can only remember the one against Tolouse and that was a tap-in, he also missed a few good chances in that game.
I don't rate Vorinin either, he is slow and wasteful - he might have the ability to score some good goals, but he isn't good enough for us, he is a UEFA cup player at best.
I still like Kuyt but he needs to be more clinical.

In my opinion, we only have one great striker, the other 3 are about the same standard, and we really need to get another quality striker, because without Torres, we don't look very good!

by **heimdall** » Sun Nov 04, 2007 6:21 pm

Ace Ventura wrote:
ivor_the_injun wrote:That's a good post, Ace - one of the more accurate accounts of where we are this week that I've seen. I do still think Momo has a future here, although his consistency is a real worry. You could forgive it at a club like Blackburn, but a top 4 club needs central mids that perform week in, week out. His good games are very good, but his poor games are very, very poor.

I am, however, starting to see that Riise is on borrowed time. He's a player I've rated a lot in previous seasons, but he's looked a weak link for a while now, and with Arbeloa and Aurelio at the club I'm starting to think that he'll do well to get past January with us.

I think supporters of our club at times although with the best intentions support players that arent good enough. See the best and hope for more. While i totally agree this is what should be done with those two players we are wasting our time.
While they pull on the red/black/green/yellow/ecru shirt they will always get the support but these two simply are not upto it.
Its strange how a couple of players can effect a team so much but the two of these (because of there inability to pass and move) really put pressure on the rest of the players and also panic breeds into the other players. I am certain that if Aurellio and Lucas would of occupied there positions then we would of seen a far better Liverpool.
Both could be squad players at any other club...but we all know with us squad players can play as often as the world class players..so on that basis they are not good enough.

I'll turn "I think supporters of our club at times although with the best intentions support players that arent good enough" around and say that some fans support managers who are not good enough.
Please can one of you happy clappy gang tell me why Rafa started Kuyt, what kind of special genius was involved in that decision?

Rafa is not good enough, he's making us play sh1t boring football and I want rid of him asap. As for replacements I don't know but maybe someone who can give us exciting football and allow us to use our best players game iin and game out. And actually if we were winning 6-0 I'm fairly certain nobody would be moaning except our title contenders, right now they must be laughing their :censored:

off!!

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