Liverpool FC Forum

[112-1077774096]

redknapp didnt choose to leave his two best players on the bench mate, rafa did, whatever the reasons rafa made that choice

Yes, because Gerrard played 2 games in 4 days, and Torres travelled to Iceland and Spain in the same time frame.

Anyone who thinks the team that took to the field today wasn't good enough is a bit daft, tbh. We just didn't play well, basically because the team couldn't train for the match. Nothing to do with a lack of ability or talent.

Simple as that.

lando you do on occasion say some crazy things but on this we completely agree. The team rafa picked today was full of international quality, including the players that came in, it was a matter of performance and not selection.

we are a team full of internationals, maybe they should have all been dropped and we put the youth team in.

[RedorDead]

Speaking cleary.....(cough cough).....it ain't so bad is it? Unbeaten, away draw at Pompey, new players settling in well and the team doing OK. Rafa HAD to rest players who had played far and wide this week and weren't 100% in the first place. The performance wasn't up to scratch, that is for sure, i didn't see the game but it sounds like some individuals could have done better. I am not happy with a draw but I accept that you cannot win EVERY game and away at Pompey ain't ever easy.
By the way I didn't see the post match interview but I'd be willing to bet that rafa mentioned the fixture times.

[Nelly Jamba]

Ok! Player's rating time!

Reina - 8 - Forumers here will have been screaming for Rafa's head if it wasn't for his heriocs.
Finan - 5 - Did alright, nothing special, crosses were awful
Carragher - 5 -A bit dodgy today, slack marking almost cost us that miserable 1 point
Agger - See Carragher
Arbeloa - 6 - Supported that attack well and defended ok.
Pennant - 7 - I thought he was our best player in the first half. If only Crouch or Voronin could link up with him well.
Sissoko - 8 - MOTM with Reina. Massive energy.
Alonso - 5- His free kicks were the worse I have seen from him. All hitting the bloody wall!
Benayoun - 4 - I thought he didn't play mid-week? But his legs were already giving way at the end of the first half. Bad decision making at times. No penetration.
Voronin - 4 - Slacking.....3kg overweight
Crouch - 3 - The less said the better, wish we had sold him in the summer.
Torres - 7 - Did more than Crouch in his 5 mins.
Gerrard - 7 - Make the all the difference with his presence on the field. A half fit Gerrard is still better than most of our current midfielders.
Babel - 5 - Didn't do much


Overall, disappointing performance until Torres and Gerrard came on.

[username]

2 points gained for pompey

you mean one point gained?

But, if we are looking at the title, they need to walk away with 0 points

[Lando_Griffin]

Typical over-reaction from certain quarters...

Yes we were poor. That happens to teams you know - it's not a new thing exclusive to Rafa Benitez.

"So and so should have started..." - are these ramblings coming from the same people who were banging on about our rotation now being "class for class"?

Hmmm.... We got a point today, at a venue where the reigning champs got a point. At a venue where we lost last season.

Now - grow up and stop spitting out the dummy, dummies.

If we'd started with the team we finished with we would've sown up the game in the first half while Portsmouth were still playing "Rope a Dope" .

Stick to hurling abuse Lando , they're more amusing and make more sense than your footy analysis.

Is that right? It makes more sense that the ramblings I've read so far.

Still - here I was thinking that fickle attitudes and emotional posts were those that made the least sense...

So whadya think ?

Rafa was right with his starting 11 ?

You don't think that starting with Torres instead of Crouch/Voronin or Gerrard instead of Sissoko would have made a difference ?

Woof - what is the point of having a squad, then playing the same team every week?

Had Gerrard started, he'd have played 3 games in less than 7 days.  Torres travelled to Iceland, then to Spain, then back to England in the same space of time.

Now - MAYBE Rafa wanted them to play. Maybe they said they weren't feeling too good. Maybe it wasn't Rafa's decision to drop them at all.

Ever thought of that?

then they wouldnt have been on the bench would they,

rafa picks the team, rafa makes the decisons.

dont talk to me about fitness, rafa played gerrard 3 days after he broke his toe so dont tell me that gerrard would say he didnt want to play     

i admire your enthusiasm mate but sometimes you go so wide of the mark with your thoughts, and then when your argument fails the abuse will start.

about time you took a step back really and thought about your comments on rafa and see why these comments are made by other. he is not perfect, he makes mistakes

Sorry - I didn't realise you were privy to the goings on in the inner-most sanctum of Anfield and Melwood...

You're GUESSING Rafa chose not to play them. I'm GUESSING there may be more to it.

I fail to see why you have a problem with this.

[tubby]

Im sure most of you have seen, Arsenal won in the end so goodbye 1st. Hate to sound like a defeatest so early on but I think thats the last time well see 1st place now for this season anyway. Its evident we are a stronger team but with Rafas tinkering we will never maximise that potential. Its not good enough just playing well at home. Looking at how other teams faired for todays competition is only a way of turning a blind eye to it.

Rafa should have started with the big guns and gone out all guns blazing. At least we could have gone into the second half with a decent lead to defend which we know we can do when needed.

In the end it was yet again a case of too little too late.

[Grimly Fiendish]

2pts pi.ssed away today. You rest your best players in games like our next home game against shi.te like Birmingham not games that you know will be tough like Pompey away.
FFS! Grim 

How many top four sides have come to Upton park in the last three seasons and won? Full strength or not?

Answer on a postcard mate.

Upton Park!
In the last 2 seasons
Chelsea have won there twice, United, Spurs, Everton and us have all won there too.

Are you realy as thick as pigsh.it or are you just pretending?
You can send me your answer on a postcard mate. 

Keyword: top four.

Since when were Everton and Spurs in the top four?

We lost to Pompey last season and obviously we failed to win this year.

United lost to Pompey last season and they didn't win the year before either. They drew this season.

Arsenal have not beaten them in the last two seasons there.

Only Chelsea out of the TOP FOUR have won there.

Dip .

Chelsea beat them in the last two seasons, United beat them the season before last as did we, the only TOP FOUR team not to win there in the past three seasons are Arsenal.

I've provided the link just to prove you are truly as thick as pigsh.it and talk utter shi.te

http://www.portsmouth.vitalfootball.co.uk/results.asp

So when were Tottenham and Everton in the top four? 

2. Why the fock are you telling me what I already know? Yes Chelsea are the only ones who have won there consistently in the last 2/3 seasons. As I've said three or four times. Thank you for reiterating my point, muppet.

3. Man Utd have not won there in the last two seasons  That would include this season and last season. Hence why I said they did not win in the last two seasons. Their last win came at the same time when we won. Again thank you very much for restating what I've already said.

F#ck me you're thick.

The whole point is that Pompey have given 3 out of the 4 top sides a tough time at Fratton Park. Harry Redknapp is the catalyst for that [our last and Utd's win came against Perrin].

Now f#ck off to the cave you crawled out of from.

Perhaps you should learn how to read properly.

How many Top Four side s have been to Fratton (Upton) Park in the last three season and won?

Is what you asked right, the answer is three out of four and when it's proved that you are talking out of your ar.se claiming United hadn't etc. you then make out you have proved you are right??! Truly as thick as pigsh.it 

Why don't crawl back to your third world shithole?

[Lando_Griffin]

Hmmm.... We got a point today, at a venue where the reigning champs got a point. At a venue where we lost last season.

its quotes like this that let you down, so what? we lost there last season, the mancs drew there this season.

so what?   so we have to be grateful for a point when we should be celebrating 3 points against a team that has won one game all season.

its not relevant what other teams do there, or what we did there last season.

what is relevant is what happened today and today we were p*ss poor, and as supporters we have the right to comment on this, just as we have the right to comment when we play well, thats not being fickle mate, thats being honest

No, saying "we're going to win the league and Rafa is a genius" one game, then "Rafa lost us the game because he doesn't understand the league" IS fickle. Or hypocritical. Take your pick.

And the comparisons with last season are there simply to point out that it's not exactly an easy place to visit. It's what people do, you know.

its neither fickle or hypocritical, its belief.

we look good and people say we are good enough to win the league, then we put in a performance thats similar to last season and people think "oh, maybe we had a false start"

thats not fickle, thats saying what they believe

and comparing results to last seasons results, or comparing other teams results is just pointless mate, i am sure you know that really

i am not going to get into a slanging match with you lando, you have you thoughts and i have mine, i just think mine or more balanced and based on observation, rather than based on blind faith that you seem to have

So would it be more accurate to say that you are fickle in your beliefs?

Because it's one or the other.

And do yourself a favour Peewee - drop the arrogance.

It doesn't wash with me.

[RedorDead]

Im sure most of you have seen, Arsenal won in the end so goodbye 1st. Hate to sound like a defeatest so early on but I think thats the last time well see 1st place now for this season anyway. It evident we are a stronger team but with Rafas tinkering we will never maximise that potential. Its not good enough just playing well at home. Looking at how other teams faired for todays competition is only a way of turning a blind eye to it.

Rafa should have started with the big guns and gone out all guns blazing. At least we could have gone into the second half with a decent lead to defend which we know we can do when needed.

In the end it was yet again a case of too little too late.

Blimey...talk about glass half empty....I think with six points from our next two games we'll definitly see top spot again and still firmly believe top spot could be ours come next May. That isn't rose tinted just my opinion based on the strength of our squad and showings this season so far.

[OneHotRed]

Gotta say I was also one of the dissapointed masses when i heard the team selection, however theres obviously a good reason for it, Although it is only a couple of games in, theres a lot of football been played recently and resting the players who were rested in Hindsight was a good idea, we still should have had the quality on the pitch to take pomps apart today and as stated by a few people on here I think its more related to individual performances not being the best.

To be honest after watching the game, i think we were lucky to get a single point, they had a fair few clear cut chances which should have been put away.

This is still the best start to a season we have had in ages so i'm not going to start complaining just yet.

I do believe today has shown that Voronin + Crouch is a no go area from now on, they really just dont work well together.

Chins up guys, I honestly dont think it was a bad result in respect to the way the game was played

[112-1077774096]

ah the fickle word springs up again, and again used totally out of context,

Well why don't you explain it then so there's no confusion?

read my post above, its called honesty, we have the right to praise us when we play well and criticise us when we play badly, thats not being fickle, thats just being honest.

you should try it sometimes and see the performances for what they are instead of trying to dress everything up and refusing to find fault with rafa, i am sure even rafa knows when he gets it wrong

I think the only person not reading posts is you.

To contradict oneself is to display hypocrisy. To have a love-in with Rafa's effigy one minute, then burn the fecking thing the next, is fickle - plain and simple.

"Fickle: 1. Likely to change. 2. Not constant or loyal in affections."

Is that not a fitting summary of the emotions displayed on this board on an almost weekly basis?

again i think its you thats not fully understanding, someone can not be fickle if its based on fact.

a good result deserves praise, a bad result does not deserve praise. so please explain again how its fickle to give an honest opinion on a poor performance.

for you to suggest that peoples loyalties fade because of a poor result is just plain stupidity, are you now suggesting that people can not criticise a poor performance or they are no longer supporters?

so in answer to your question, no thats not what is displayed and you are wrong to questions peoples loyalties, in fact lando its a quite disgraceful thing to say that supporters must have blind faith to be supporters.

i am sure there are people who havent missed a game in years who question performances and you are classing them as fickle or hypocrites.

just give it a rest, i think this is one discussion you wont win with dictionary definitions or even if you resort to your usual abuse     

[tubby]

If we want to challange for the title we need to be able to take 3 points from days like these. Scrappy games where we didnt play well or create much but still get the points! Utd done it today and we should have aswell.

[maypaxvobiscum]

Really?

Utd couldn't do it last year, they got beaten 2-1.
Utd couldn't do it this year either.

Arsenal haven't won there in 2 or 3 years as far as I can remember.

Why do fans always use other teams’ results? Who cares what Utd have gotten this season or last season from the fixture? The important issue here is capitalising on our rival’s mistakes. If Utd drop points at Fratton Park, Liverpool must ensure they collect maximum points from the same fixture. It makes a world of difference come the end of the season.

Because our fans talk about as if we have the focking divine right to win every game.

And the hypocrisy,lack of perspective is unreal.

5 games in, a game in hand, we're unbeaten, and we're in a good position so far.

You don't win the league in the first five games.

we WANT to win every game
we care about the team
we dont care about the opposition's name
as long as we wipe them clean

5 games wont win you the league
but its an important built up
get as many points as we can, quick!
and we'll have another EPL cup

[AB's Red Army]

Is what you asked right, the answer is three out of four and when it's proved that you are talking out of your ar.se claiming United hadn't etc. you then make out you have proved you are right??! Truly as thick as pigsh.it 

Did they not teach you how to read in your school?

So you are restating what I've said once more. That only Chelsea have won there in the last 2/3 seasons.

Yes? Yes, I think so. Therefore you've proven my point.

The only correction you've made to my original statement that United won the same year we beat Pompey the last time. I made a mistake there, however the fact is that they haven't won in the same amount time as we. 2 seasons [including this one as we have both played them already.]

Perhaps if I wrote it in Spanish,Portuguese or Italian you might understand.

How is it that one can not comprehend the point made here? Most of the top four sides have a difficult time there, except Chelsea.

I've said it once,twice,three times,four times. You've restated that twice already. What the f#ck is the difference except the fact that United had won 3 seasons ago there like we did? That's the only correction you've made, and it makes no difference to the point of what I've said.

Is English your native tongue? 

Idiot.

[RedorDead]

Could we keep the debate to football instead of dictionary definitions?