Liverpool FC Forum

[Igor Zidane]

Good post Igor, from what I have read today Juventus have shifted targets to Mancini and Real Madrid have no interest in Rafa , so you could finish up lucky on that score mate. Whether you will be as lucky in getting the two tw@ts out the door seems to be becoming more questionable with every fecking article I read. Surely the banks must have demanded some sort of guarantee as to what price the club should be put up for sale for...... otherwise they may cling on till next January.

Ok  saint as far as i'm aware mate . The owners have given there right to veto up . So the new board which comprises of HICKS ,GILLETT ,PURSLOW , AYRE and BROUGHTON have the final say on the sale . So according to a couple of posters on TIA who are in the know a reserve price has been set and once this is met the wheels are in motion . Effectivley as far as i can see the owners have given up control to the banks . It is in the banks interest to get a sale ata areasonable price as quick as possible to get the money back . Hicks and gillett have no control over the situation now as they have no veto and they will get voted against by the other board members . IMO we will be sold and it's just a matter of when and who . Hopefully by the start of the new transfer window and season .

As far as Rafa is concerned i've felt for a while now that he's a gonna and my view is only stregnthened now . With the special one coming the other way .

[Teshie]

You know what... I lurve Rafa Benitez, I think he is truly pasionate about our club, has learnt the history and traditions and knows full well the burdens that go with being associated with such an insititution.

I admit that I find it hard to criticise him, because I know he wants LFC to be the best and has done much to move this club on, managerially though the academny, bringing together a world class spine and of course winning the CL with 'that' team. Last year was indeed the prelude to something great this year and that has not happened - last year too Rafa was at fault for some of the tactics he employed and decisions he made re: subs and resting players. This season has been appalling as a campaign and I wish for a clear slate so we can begin again.

But you know what, I still lurve Rafa because I know he wants the best for the club - under difficult circumstances working under H&G, easliy causes off the field distractions, when promises re: transfer kitty and sale of players are not followed through it is demoralising and clearly affects moral at all levels.

So I say today - yes I want Rafa Benitez to be Manager - but I also want Liverpool Football Club to be backed by owners who will elevate us back to where most of us want to be - and it may be that Rafa has done all he can, perhaps he's losing interest or his head has been turned - If Rafa left, I'd be truly gutted (sob sob) , but...  more than that I'd look for a manager who could lead us to the holy grail and that will be the true test of the new owners, retaining Rafa and arming him with the ammunition to sign those 2 or 3 class players that can make us dream AGAIN and attain those dreams, or recruit the man who can lead us to greatness again.

I apologise to those I may have offended, perhaps questionining peoples love for our club in there 'fed-upness with Rafa', for after all that is what binds us all together our club - but in Rafa I believe and today and in the future he has my support as manager of Liverpool Football Club - hopwver long that tenure will be !

great post stating your opinions on rafa

But in my opinion Rafa has just not been a good enough manager to win us a League title. Ask yourself (everyone in the forum) when he subs off torres/benayoun/gerrard etc attacking minded players on form and looking to get forward and score. The amount of times these games have turned into a draw or loss for us is unacceptable.

Everyone knows rafa is a very methodical man and looks at numbers, figures and statistics over all other information regarding a starting formation and substitutions. Since the Alonso selling we had problems in the midfield all season, specifically pointing out Lucas here - from 34 weeks of football; something close to 40-45 games this season so far? I can only recall him having 2-3 decent games where he was an actual influence in the win for us. Whether he be told to hold back by rafa or push up next to gerrard he has played VERY poorly and honestly would not get a start in many sides in the premier league.

Rafa's man management has been quite poor also with 2 public spats from Babel and Riera, the Torres and Gerrard reaction to el Nino being being subbed in the Fulham game, I can recall at least twice benayoun with a confused look on his face when he was subbed off this season. Rafa may or may not have had a talk to the boys after the game about the subs but most times when you see someone get subbed and a confused look on their face it really is poor man management.

The formation 4-2-3-1. It worked in the past when you had Alonso sitting behind gerrard, and calling the shots and putting the ball in the right places but it has not worked and he has persisted with the same formation all season. We have rarely seen rafa's plan B (4-4-2) but the last time i remember that formation was against Fulham at the cottage where Vorornin was running around like a chicken with his head cut off. Back when Houlier was managing i can remember where he knew we were desperate and Heskey Owen and Fowler were all on the pitch and the reds were throwing everything at the opposition.

I'm not even going to touch the N'gog subject, why he he's even a sub for us is beyond me.

I think I've said enough about rafa, in my opinion he needs to go. He was good when he had the right squad for his formation but he clearly doesn't have it anymore and won't try anything new. If he stays and does get a decent transfer budget and buys the right players then hopefully we may see the League Title in 2-3 years, but right now it's looking like a hope / prayer more than anything with the H&G issue of wanting to sell the club for a ridiculous amount.

[account deleted by request]

Good post Igor, from what I have read today Juventus have shifted targets to Mancini and Real Madrid have no interest in Rafa , so you could finish up lucky on that score mate. Whether you will be as lucky in getting the two tw@ts out the door seems to be becoming more questionable with every fecking article I read. Surely the banks must have demanded some sort of guarantee as to what price the club should be put up for sale for...... otherwise they may cling on till next January.

Ok  saint as far as i'm aware mate . The owners have given there right to veto up . So the new board which comprises of HICKS ,GILLETT ,PURSLOW , AYRE and BROUGHTON have the final say on the sale . So according to a couple of posters on TIA who are in the know a reserve price has been set and once this is met the wheels are in motion . Effectivley as far as i can see the owners have given up control to the banks . It is in the banks interest to get a sale ata areasonable price as quick as possible to get the money back . Hicks and gillett have no control over the situation now as they have no veto and they will get voted against by the other board members . IMO we will be sold and it's just a matter of when and who . Hopefully by the start of the new transfer window and season .

As far as Rafa is concerned i've felt for a while now that he's a gonna and my view is only stregnthened now . With the special one coming the other way .

Better news that mate (as long as the reserve price isn't £800 million  ). Would be fantastic if we could start the new season with new owners and finance in place for the new stadium.

Whether we have Rafa or Mourinho as manager we surely can't do as badly again, so I am confident we will at least challenge and if we get some momentum going .....you never know   

[red_guy]

I support Rafa from the first day he became our manager. This season , i gave up and i want a change. But if he is still the manager for next season, i will support him and yes, i do wish him well and wants him to be a success here and win us the Premier League. I just hope that we have the support from our next owners and as for Rafa, please do the right thing this time.

[redmikey]

were all the people saying rafa will never win the league saying that with 10 games to go last season? ? ??

i am as disappointed as anyone this season but i just feel that this is a time to stick with the manager who has brought more young players though than any i can remember, who has done well with big signing i say big as in torres ,xabi,pepe not big as in quantity cause he has signed far to many average to poor players..

easy to dream about a new manager curing all our woes, chavski fans hated the football they played at time he makes rafa look attacking. and rafa had him worked out for the most part even with his limited budget

and rafa has the club in his heart imo, and i want that from the man in charge............... i can see why people want him gone, but grass and greener spring to mind

[dawson99]

were all the people saying rafa will never win the league saying that with 10 games to go last season? ? ??

No, but last season we didn't suck a$$.

This season the whole thing has stunk, from players, subs, tatctics right up to the owners and mroe... its just beena  depressing season

[redmikey]

were all the people saying rafa will never win the league saying that with 10 games to go last season? ? ??

No, but last season we didn't suck a$$.

This season the whole thing has stunk, from players, subs, tatctics right up to the owners and mroe... its just beena  depressing season

100% agree........ sucked a$$ big time. not just rafa the whole sherbang has been poo

rafa
owners
gerrard form
torres injury and attitude
insua and johnson and lucas and etc and etc
debt
papers
former players
the future

all a pile of steaming sh!t. would a new manager have sorted it .............eeeeeeerrrrrrrrrr  no.

a taxi driver said the word i am a liverpool fan followed by get alan curbishly ........... i didn't want to pay the fare, tw@t

[tubby]

Good post Igor, from what I have read today Juventus have shifted targets to Mancini and Real Madrid have no interest in Rafa , so you could finish up lucky on that score mate. Whether you will be as lucky in getting the two tw@ts out the door seems to be becoming more questionable with every fecking article I read. Surely the banks must have demanded some sort of guarantee as to what price the club should be put up for sale for...... otherwise they may cling on till next January.

Ok  saint as far as i'm aware mate . The owners have given there right to veto up . So the new board which comprises of HICKS ,GILLETT ,PURSLOW , AYRE and BROUGHTON have the final say on the sale . So according to a couple of posters on TIA who are in the know a reserve price has been set and once this is met the wheels are in motion . Effectivley as far as i can see the owners have given up control to the banks . It is in the banks interest to get a sale ata areasonable price as quick as possible to get the money back . Hicks and gillett have no control over the situation now as they have no veto and they will get voted against by the other board members . IMO we will be sold and it's just a matter of when and who . Hopefully by the start of the new transfer window and season .

As far as Rafa is concerned i've felt for a while now that he's a gonna and my view is only stregnthened now . With the special one coming the other way .

That's excellent news mate!

[bigmick]

Just on a side note mick ,i feel that your belittleing my support of the club sometimes when you post stuff like this .


"God only knows what he'd think if he logged on here. Fans saying they won't support the club anymore if someone who they don't like becomes the manager, people saying that Neil Warnock is the only one who would manage the club should Rafa leave, people saying that as long as we have the current owners then we cannot possibly challenge for honours, people saying that unless we sign the likes of David Villa and David Silva and God only knows who else, we've no right to expect to beat teams like Reading."




Now i peronally think that we are fecked as a club whomever is in charge next season as long as these two owners are here . It's my opinion and it's that strong that i've given up alot of my homelife marching and handing out leaflets and righting on beachballs and convincing and talking to people about it . I don't just post on the internet about it and sit back i believe with all my heart that our owners are behind everything that's wrong with our club and i feel a little angry and hurt when it's dismissed and belittle in posts such as your one .

Well Zara was good enough to apologise for whatever she feels she did wrong, and I unreservedly do the same here. "Belittling" your support is the last thing on my mind mate, standing up for right to have an opinion was the intention, definately not anything else.

All this nonsense (which has been going on on here for a few years now to be fair) that in some way you are a "disgrace" if your not a Rafa man, an "embarrassment" or any of the other things some of us have frequently been called has caused reactions which undoubtedly have been OTT on occasions. That's the case here and I'm sorry. We've had the scenario recently of posters calling for "negative" contributors to be banned, and I hope by my tongue in cheek responses these last couple of days I've demonstrated that far from being "negative", I consider a stance whereby you think we can challenge for the title as "positive".

No way I'd belittle anyones support though mate intentionally, so soz again.

[lakes10]

if its only up to the banks to sell the club then i think they will sell it with Rafa still in place and do all they can to keep him........................unless they already know who the new manager would be.

[Igor Zidane]

Just on a side note mick ,i feel that your belittleing my support of the club sometimes when you post stuff like this .


"God only knows what he'd think if he logged on here. Fans saying they won't support the club anymore if someone who they don't like becomes the manager, people saying that Neil Warnock is the only one who would manage the club should Rafa leave, people saying that as long as we have the current owners then we cannot possibly challenge for honours, people saying that unless we sign the likes of David Villa and David Silva and God only knows who else, we've no right to expect to beat teams like Reading."




Now i peronally think that we are fecked as a club whomever is in charge next season as long as these two owners are here . It's my opinion and it's that strong that i've given up alot of my homelife marching and handing out leaflets and righting on beachballs and convincing and talking to people about it . I don't just post on the internet about it and sit back i believe with all my heart that our owners are behind everything that's wrong with our club and i feel a little angry and hurt when it's dismissed and belittle in posts such as your one .

Well Zara was good enough to apologise for whatever she feels she did wrong, and I unreservedly do the same here. "Belittling" your support is the last thing on my mind mate, standing up for right to have an opinion was the intention, definately not anything else.

All this nonsense (which has been going on on here for a few years now to be fair) that in some way you are a "disgrace" if your not a Rafa man, an "embarrassment" or any of the other things some of us have frequently been called has caused reactions which undoubtedly have been OTT on occasions. That's the case here and I'm sorry. We've had the scenario recently of posters calling for "negative" contributors to be banned, and I hope by my tongue in cheek responses these last couple of days I've demonstrated that far from being "negative", I consider a stance whereby you think we can challenge for the title as "positive".

No way I'd belittle anyones support though mate intentionally, so soz again.

I know your stance on the Rafa situation mate and saints . It's not asif you've come to this conclusion since christmas . I know this season has been the final straw as far as your concerned . You had your reservations for atleast the two season's before this one and you gave him your support because we came so close last year . i know mate also that you've come in for some terrible critisism because of your views . I've never once slagged you or saint of for your views ,because you've come to them after a couple of seasons and not just after a shItty run . I have and will slag of those Tits who get there stupid views from sky or the papers and just regurgetate what they've heard from the media ,with no thought of there own .

I want a day when there are no excuses and we can come to the conclusion that the manager is either good enough or not like the Houllier situation i suppose . Regarding Rafa i genuinely believe that to many things have conspired against him this season (including his own mistakes ) to say he's had a fair crack of the whip . Anyway that's all bye the bye as a i firmly believe that he wont be here next year . We will all then have something new to debate which will be a nice change . Absolutley no need to apologise as i no  your posts are not meant in malice . Your just giving it back , which is fair . It's just that some of us get caught in the crossfire when there's some sharp posts being fired about . Keep fighting your corner Mick and don't let them get to you .

[Emerald Red]

were all the people saying rafa will never win the league saying that with 10 games to go last season? ? ??

No, but last season we didn't suck a$$.

We actually did, Daws. Even though it made for some exciting, nerve-wrecking games - we were often poor in games to concede that many goals and have to then dig so deep that we scraped wins via so many late winners. The difference between this season and last is that last season we scored so many goals (top scorers in the league) that it bailed us out. This season we've struggled to score in games, and conceded some daft goals early in the season that we shouldn't really be conceding. Our football style really hasn't changed from last year. I still reckon we'd be sitting closer to 3rd than 7th had we not had so many injuries this year.

[Boocity]

From the Mirror

Benitez: We had no hope of winning the title this season
Published 23:00 18/04/10 By David Anderson
(6) Recommend (2)

Rafa Benitez claims it was unrealistic to expect ­Liverpool to win the Premier League title this season.

As the inquest into Liverpool’s disappointing domestic campaign rages on, Benitez says it was always going to be difficult for them to better finishing runners-up last term.

The Reds boss claims injuries also took a heavy toll on his squad, who look like missing out on the Champions League place.

“At the beginning of the season ­expectations were too high,” he said. “That is normal after such a good season.

“But I always say the same – the Premier League is the Premier League and the ­difference in money is so big that if you want to stay at this level for a while, you have to do almost everything perfectly.

“That’s not easy when you push and push because sometimes you cannot keep the players working so hard or at the level they were in the previous season.

“During pre-season we also had players coming back late and then we had injuries. We’ve had seven, nine or 11 players out at the same time in different months, players who would normally be starters.

“We can talk about mistakes, but when you have so many players injured, especially key players, it is not easy to sustain a level of ­performance every week.”

Fernando Torres has been ­Liverpool’s biggest problem this season – the Spaniard has spent a large chunk of the campaign either crocked or coming back from injury.

The striker is sidelined again with a knee problem and will miss tonight’s clash against West Ham at Anfield, leaving Benitez sweating over whether he needs further surgery.

Benitez will not get a definitive answer until Torres flies to see the surgeon in ­Barcelona who operated on him in January but he has been grounded by the volcanic cloud that has wiped out air travel.

It has also put the first leg of Liverpool’s Europa League semi-final at Torres’s old club Atletico Madrid on Thursday at risk, with UEFA deciding today whether or not to postpone.

“We don’t know if he needs an operation,” said Benitez.

“Fernando told me the first time we spoke about his injury that he wanted to be ready for West Ham. Now we don’t have the opinion of the specialist so maybe West Ham may be too early.”

If Rafa went into this season already convinced we were not going to win the EPL then we were on a hiding to nothing from the start. Even if we didn't win the tiltle, challenging for it would have been nice.

[tonyeh]

“We don’t know if he needs an operation,” said Benitez.

Ok, WTF is it?

Does he need a fucking op on his knee or what?

I'm seriously getting sick of the shite coming out of Anfield these days. You don't know whether you coming or going.

Rafa Benitez claims it was unrealistic to expect ­Liverpool to win the Premier League title this season.

He wouldn't have said that at the beginning of it.

[bigmick]

I simply don't accept the prognosis that it was "unrealistic" to expect us to have a really good shot at it. The Mancs lost Ronaldo and Tevez in the Summer, and we had four points to make up on them. That's why people had expectations, because they knew we had a huge chance to at the very least overhaul our keenest rivals. If you'd have told the majority of our fans that during the season we'd have injuries, but they'd have two midfielders playing at centre half for a month along with other injuries, I think most would still have been hopeful.

It's statements like these which IMHO reveal the inner mind of a man who himself isn't a believer. Thoughts when expressed in the way he's expressed them here reveal why he's so defensive, why he so much lacks ambition in so many situations. It's hard to expect the players to be fired up and going for it when the manager is as defeatist as he is.

More worrying going forward is next season. Say we don't get a squillion pound war chest, is it "unrealistic" once again to expect any sort of title challenge? Winning it may be extremely hard, I don't think anyone disputes that, but being involved in it for more than six matches ought to be within our hitting zone surely.

In this new found era odf respecting everyone else's point of view I respect (and always have to be fair) anyones belief that rafa is the man, but I do struggle to understand such faith when he comes out with statements like this.