Liverpool FC Forum

[Bam]

It could work Effes.

Personally I dont like three at the back mate, but thats just my humble opinion. I remember Rafa trying it a couple of times, once up at St. James' where we beat Newcastle one season.

[The_Rock]

What a match........It was just like the man city and wigan games earlier in the season.... 

BTW, benayoun was played pretty well yesterday... Seems to be our only player on form...hope he plays more matches so that that could be capitalised on.

[Lando_Griffin]

A good performance where we could easily have been 3-0 by half time.

As it stands, our best players managed to get between an hour and 75 minutes off, so they should be fresher in the next match.

N'gog showed some neat play, and once he settles in will be a good option. He seems to have good awareness about him as well, which is rare in a striker so young. Not the finished article, but still one for the future.

Aurelio showed his ability on the ball, Andre showed he does have something to offer, Arbeloa played well covering the right flank. Mascher did well to say that he was the only midfielder in midfield. Benayoun was unfortunate not to get on the end of at least 3 through-balls which would have put him in 1-on-1. The miss in the first half was purely down the the cack surface. (The same goes for Babel. The ball clearly skidded off the pitch in the replay.)

Kuyt once again stuck two fingers up at his doubters, and Torres showed that he is a God.

Oh, and a small mention for Rafa:

Well done. You did what you set out to do, and gave us some entertainment in the process.

[Ciggy]

Oh, and a small mention for Rafa:

Well done. You did what you set out to do, and gave us some entertainment in the process.

I dont think so Lando he nearly gave me a heart attack 

And David Nugent can kiss my @rse with his 1-0 hand signal top of the league you gobsh!te.

[Toffeehater]

A good performance where we could easily have been 3-0 by half time.

As it stands, our best players managed to get between an hour and 75 minutes off, so they should be fresher in the next match.

N'gog showed some neat play, and once he settles in will be a good option. He seems to have good awareness about him as well, which is rare in a striker so young. Not the finished article, but still one for the future.

Aurelio showed his ability on the ball, Andre showed he does have something to offer, Arbeloa played well covering the right flank. Mascher did well to say that he was the only midfielder in midfield. Benayoun was unfortunate not to get on the end of at least 3 through-balls which would have put him in 1-on-1. The miss in the first half was purely down the the cack surface. (The same goes for Babel. The ball clearly skidded off the pitch in the replay.)

Kuyt once again stuck two fingers up at his doubters, and Torres showed that he is a God.

Oh, and a small mention for Rafa:

Well done. You did what you set out to do, and gave us some entertainment in the process.

good post lando , see mate when you try nothing is impossible 

[Ciggy]

I could have strangled Rafa when he brought Kuyt on but Kuyt played well upfront for a change, Xabi changed the game he is pure class. For a defensive line up we where quite attacking to be fair maybe its our first teams usuall tactics of not being able to break other teams down with all them draws this season.

I really enjoyed that game even when it went to 2-1 I knew we where not going to lose for some reason. Ive been very nervous these last few weeks now Im buzzing we havent been in this position for years you just have to enjoy it.

[maypaxvobiscum]

good comeback. entertaining match too. i wonder if Bav took his pills

[Ciggy]

Ha ha anyone see on MOTD the Chelsea fans with the SCOLARI OUT banner 

And the bitters won 3-0 but they where very upset and angry last night I wonder why

[Toffeehater]

Hmm i think rafa tried aurelio in midfield or this formation as we could quite possibly be playing city with no central midfielders , although with that said i think we will have stevie back for city .

[Owzat]

Torres really helped Rafa there.  I still think Rafa waited too long to put him in, but some are gonna say he put him in at the right time.

Of course he put him on at the right time. It doesn't matter as he was put on to score a goal and that's what happened. People seriously do not give the manager credit for making subs. Sure he's made a few mad ones in the past week that never worked out, but for making subs that have an impact, there is no better manager in the league over the past 5 years for doing so, not even Ferguson. Of course when Benitez does it, it's luck and we won by the skin of our bollox.

It worked out, but things may have been different if Torres was in earlier.  He may have put us up 2-1.  Yes it worked out in the end, but if not people would be saying Torres should have been in earlier.

Hm. Give Rafa 'credit' for bringing on three players who would be in the best starting XI and should have been on the field for any game we wanted to win. Hm.

It was a stupid starting line-up, hiding behind the excuse of tiredness which, while is true, was down to his inability to be a "tactical genius" or just simply win in a game against the bitters a couple of weeks ago ie was his own bleeding fault anyway. Torres should never have played 101 mins midweek, the formation was one I believe I came up with before (possibly in this thread) but it was godawful.

Again we can't defend set pieces, yet again we gave a silly free-kick away from which we conceded and we didn't have a cutting edge until KUYT, Torres and Alonso came on (in no particular order) I had to laugh at Rafa going on about Torres/Spain again, he's given them the perfect excuse for using him midweek.

It was a big 'get out of jail' for Rafa yesterday, I was set to come on here and call for his head because the formation, tactics and (a negative) result put together would added up to the end of our title campaign. The guy just doesn't learn, it's one big snowball effect with him - poor tactics one game putting pressure on US and causing us extra work/games which make the players tired which leads to rotation and more anxiety and pressure. With all the poor results recently I am amazed the subs were as up for turning the game around as they were.

Big thankyou to Pompey for contributing more to the goals than Rafa - poor backpass, terrible defending and keeping on Kuyt's goal and zero defending from Campbell, and poor keeping from James, on the Torres winner. Let's put this in context, we very nearly lost to a side that hasn't won since NOVEMBER in the league - and got beat 3-0 at home by Newcastle, a side we beat 5-1 at SJP. They're in freefall, within two points of bottom and their manager makes Rafa look competent. However we scraped home, due to luck, their poor defending, Rafa's sublime tic tacs or a rally from the troops, that was a poor result against a poor side. Reminded me a bit of Palace in Rafa's first season, got away with it this time.

One thing I will give credit to Rafa for is not waiting until too late when making subs (for a change). It's rather empty praise considering they should really have been on to start with though

Oh and Babel's miss - he's not the "new John Barnes", he's the new Robbie Keane! I reckon 'arry's missus would have scored that one.........

[Owzat]

Hmm i think rafa tried aurelio in midfield or this formation as we could quite possibly be playing city with no central midfielders , although with that said i think we will have stevie back for city .

Pretty sure he was ruled out for Portsmouth, Spain and Citeh.

[Owzat]

Babel needs more chances as striker, he will be good there.

Give him more chances, he will come good? Where have I heard that before................................ I'm seeing the figure £20.3m, an Irishman who doesn't want a league winners medal, missing chances................ nah, it's he's gone.

[Owzat]

Reina: 4/10
Arbeloa: 5/10
Carra: 5/10
Skrtel: 5/10
Agger: 5/10
Dossena: 6/10
Yossi: 8/10
Masch: 7/10
Aurelio: 8/10
Babel: 4/10
N'Gog: 4/10

Kuyt: 7/10
Torres: 7/10
Xabi: 7/10 

These three only get 7's cause of the limited playing time all 3 had big impacts on the game though.

Kuyt had 35 mins, set up Babel to miss a sitter and scored the equaliser. I think he deserves an eight for that much

I thought the defence suffered with the three CBs, since Skrtel has come back and played the last seven games, we've drawn four and lost one. Both wins were last gasp.

[Homebooby]

Staying on the optimistic side, I think Rafa was very very very lucky yesterday...just watched MOTD and I think if we were playing a better side yesterday, we wouldn't have comeback. That said, if we were playing a better side, I doubt that Rafa would have fielded the team that he did. The fact is that we rested players, we got through a game without Stevie, we gave some players who hardly get a look in a run and some vital match experience and took the vital 3 points home as well. So we're still in it and the doubters are answered for another week. We are v. fortunate though that we didn't drop 2 or all 3 though and the repurcussions could have been massive.

For me, it's one of those 'who'd be a manager' situations. There's a lot of pressure both on and off the field, players are injured, players are largely inexperienced in going for a premiership title and the type of focus that they are currently getting, it's new ground for Rafa too. Yes he's won other leagues, but we all know the premiership is a different kettle of fish.

You could look at it that he had a point to prove by exposing the weakness of the squad by removing just 4 players from the team. You could argue that he was looking to bring those other players more into the mix early on (relatively) in the season as he is going to need them with the run for the premiership and perhaps CL. You may argue that he was doing nothing in either way and was just smoking crack.

I think it is a little bit of all 3 to be honest and you can't argue that these 3 points have stopped any talk of the team completely crumbling. After dropping out of the FA cup, the repurcussions of not getting the side back onto a winning streak would be huge and whether it is more by luck than judgement or not, he managed it.

How do I feel about our title hopes based on that performance....well I am blindly optimistic as a fan, but my heart isn't getting its' hopes up too much. I would love it believe me and the fact that we are still in there and know that the team can still improve is something to cling onto. I have to be honest that I would take a lot of solace if the squad just stays in the race to the end and gets the taste of being contenders again and experience of handling all that comes with it along the way.

Come on lads.

[Number 9]

Ha ha anyone see on MOTD the Chelsea fans with the SCOLARI OUT banner 

And the bitters won 3-0 but they where very upset and angry last night I wonder why

I wonder who will be the next manager to manage Chelsea..Id say its a nailed on cert that Scolari will be sacked or may "resign" with a huge nudge out the door!
Everyone was singing Scolaris praises when he came,pundits included.World cup winner blah blah blah.I said at the time he was unproven in domestic football and more importantly unproven in the EPL!
I think its great to watch..all that money and Abromovich going through managers like they are ten a penny.
Sacking Mourinho..huge pay off,the same with Grant (who IMO done better than Scolari is)
Now it looks like he will probably sack Scolari and have to pay out his contract,I wonder whos next on the conveyor belt to slaughter!
Slap it up the kunts I say,stick your billions up yerr bangle..anyone else think Mr Abromovich may do one pretty soon??

Anyway its a little reminder to the Rafa haters on here,be careful what you wish for.We have made progress this season and are still in the mix,and Chelsea with all the money they want are on the slide.Mourinho was lucky he came to Chelsea at the right time and he's a damn good manager as well,no matter what ya think of him as a man.
Anyone thinks we can just sack Rafa and bring in someone who will snap his fingers and win the EPL should really think again.
"We want Mourinho"...just cause he done it at Chelsea does not mean he would do it at LFC...in fact going by the laws of probability,the chances are slim....it may be another 5 year wait..What then?
Sack Mourinho and get someone else?