Liverpool FC Forum

[heimdall]

Hiddink had obviously done his homework but to suggest that he in some way "outwitted" Raf is nonsense imo.

As far as I could see, they weren't "tactically" superior. We simply produced a very sloppy and complacent performance, which they exploited to ruthless effect. The result would have been no different against a Grant or Mourinho managed Chelsea.

OK so is it impossible to outwit Rafa then, is it only possible for Rafa to outwit other people?

Chelsea completely dominated us, it was embarassing to watch, are you implying that ALL our players are worse than Chelsea's becuase that certainly would be grounds for pessimism.

[beng]

Rate players' performance in game versus CHELSEA
link

[heimdall]

WHAT? ?? BAM got banned, what for?

Anyway to reiterate yet again I'm not calling for Rafa's head, he's been doing a top notch job recently and most of the blame for yesterday goes on the players but it does dissapoint me that Rafa never seems to have a plan B and that is something which I actually have said before. I'm not sure that I've ever said I was interested in the CL but yes I have said that my preference is the league so lets refocus now, beat Blackburn and win the frigging league.   

[akumaface]

Basically, we were outplayed in every position last night. So, the result was not unexpected. Although we are all gutted but we all have to agree Chelsea did deserve to win last night. For people saying sack Rafa, I'm sure he wouldn't mine but is this really gonna help even if we don't win any trophy this year? We performed relatively well with all the adversity this year. Rafa fully deserve the chance to proof otherwise. Arsenal hasn't won anything in recent years but people still thinks he is a top manager. Some will argue because he didn't have the money to buy players and i agree but at the end of the day, a good manager is a good manager. I believe Rafa is definitely one of the best Manager in the world. His decision sometimes really frustruted me but who am i to judge as no one is perfect. Some decisions were bound to be wrong and it is onl natural. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn;t but Rafa was more right than wrong in many occasion. Therefore, for those who think another manager would be better than Rafa now would be stupid. New manager comes with new uncertainty and it takes time. Gerrard, Carra, Alonso are not getting any younger. Thus, wasting more time on changing the manager won't help. The only time i think we should change the manager is if most of the players are not supporting Rafa anymore. Otherwise, Rafa is the man.

[heimdall]

whos that miserable worm again?

this all Dundalks fault 

i was asking heimdall 

It was GYBS but I've made peace with him now and retract my ealier statement m'lud. 

[SupitsJonF]

Maybe I'm wrong or out of line to say, but clearly everyone on Liverpool's side (fans and players) was reading their on hype and getting a bit carried away.  Which isn't a good thing, but when you start believing you have the right to win everygame when your outplayed was the problem, and I think besides a fantastic performance from Chelsea we walked into this game thinking it was in the bag.

The wake up call comes just in time if we are to win the prem, but severely blows or CL bid, which is still possible, but highly highly unlikely.  Especially if Gerrard is injured.

[zarababe]

lets not forget that Gerrard was not 100 % fit ..

[GOAT]

Rafa makes no alterations, just blunders on and leads us into defeat, and he's here how many more years. 

Ohhhhhh here we go again so thats you and Lakes now, just waiting for the rest to come out of the wood work. 

Bunch of c.unts arent they, can't believe the pathetic reaction of some people after one bad result

[heimdall]

Rafa makes no alterations, just blunders on and leads us into defeat, and he's here how many more years. 

Ohhhhhh here we go again so thats you and Lakes now, just waiting for the rest to come out of the wood work. 

Bunch of c.unts arent they, can't believe the pathetic reaction of some people after one bad result

Are you calling me the c word becuase I find that very offensive?

[GOAT]

Seems people go out of their way to make things as miserable as possible when we have a poor game, rub it in why don't you, bunch of closet mancs

let's not let this dent out confidence and get a good win against blackburn. I will be more gutted on saturday if we don't win that one than last night

[woof woof !]

Rafa makes no alterations, just blunders on and leads us into defeat, and he's here how many more years. 

Ohhhhhh here we go again so thats you and Lakes now, just waiting for the rest to come out of the wood work. 

Bunch of c.unts arent they, can't believe the pathetic reaction of some people after one bad result

Are you calling me the c word becuase I find that very offensive?

Yep sorry,

[Madmax]

yeah heard stevie was no 100% fit anyhow if macha had played that would have been the key to keeping or midfield intact andd stopping chelsea attacks..
Will be a tough game at the bridge im going for 4-2 win and were through on aways goals...   That would be sweet!!!!

[Sir Roger]

Fickle?
How can we beat chelsea twice with the same group of players and then get whacked like that?
Chelsea didnt play fantastic. We played . To a man.
Rafa got it wrong. Simple. Some would have you believe he has no influence at all and the game just pans itself out.
Wrong!
He calls the shots and pulls the strings. He made a bloomer last night and we would all be better off accepting that and moving on. Hopefully he has learned and will set things right for the second leg.
If not expect much of the same

[Reg]

Lock this thread, the squabbling is pathetic.

[Bad Bob]

Fickle?
How can we beat chelsea twice with the same group of players and then get whacked like that?
Chelsea didnt play fantastic. We played . To a man.
Rafa got it wrong. Simple. Some would have you believe he has no influence at all and the game just pans itself out.
Wrong!
He calls the shots and pulls the strings. He made a bloomer last night and we would all be better off accepting that and moving on. Hopefully he has learned and will set things right for the second leg.
If not expect much of the same

Okay, say you're Rafa and it's an hour before kick off last night.  How would you set us up?  Again, say you're Rafa and the game's panning out how we see it unfold last night.  What would you change?  I'm still struggling to see what could have been done much differently.  IMO, he picked pretty much the best available lineup and employed the same tactics that have been so successful for us of late.  We grabbed the early goal that we would have been hoping for but, from there, the wheels slowly came off through a series of errors from players who, up until last night, had been fit and firing on all cylinders.  So, yeah, I struggle to see how last night was primarily down to Rafa besides in the generic sense that the buck always stops with the manager when players fail to perform.