Liverpool FC Forum

[matrix]

Rafa Benitez has revealed he will substitute Steven Gerrard again in Liverpool’s Champions League clash with Besiktas, if it will benefit the team.

Benitez has received some staggering criticism for his decision to remove his skipper against Everton, despite the fact the man who replaced him, Lucas Leiva, inspired Liverpool to victory.

The Reds’ boss is confident his midfield talisman will return to his top form in the future, but for now he insists the team will always be bigger than one man when it comes to making crunch decisions.

"Would I do it again? Yes, if it helped the team,” he stated.

"I have talked to Stevie and he obviously wanted to play out the match. But I repeat that my decisions are based on what the team needs.

"If I felt that I needed to substitute my captain again, of course I would do it. Everything I do is aimed at benefiting the team.

"Making big decisions is an important part of my job, making that decision played a big part in our victory at Everton...

this might be just the kick up the backside that gerrard maybe needed...

i think this will kick start gerrerd back into some real form...

stevie is a proud lad, who will bounce back from this...

at the time i was angry, but in the end, it might be the best thing that could have happened to gerrard and liverpool...

[Dundalk]

Well yes he might think he is untouchable and the substitution in the Everton game might open his eyes up a bit but like has been said on here many times before no one is bigger than the club and that includes Rafa!!

[RUSHIE#9]

I think what the criticism of Rafa boils down to with this is that he took off Gerrard when he was having a REAL effect on the game and then left Sissoko on until the 88th minute. He then compounded this with the after match comments about playing with their head and not their hearts. I personally think the decision to bring Lucas on was a brave and good one but he just got the wrong player when he took Stevie off.

In brief Rafa is right that no player is bigger than the club and after one or two performances lately I felt that Gerrard may have started to believe some of the 'hype' that surrounds his abilities on the pitch so in the end this may do the lad some good.

[112-1077774096]

In brief Rafa is right that no player is bigger than the club and after one or two performances lately I felt that Gerrard may have started to believe some of the 'hype' that surrounds his abilities on the pitch so in the end this may do the lad some good.

but surely you don't address that in the middle of a derby game where he is the most influential player, it was more important to win the game first

[hello_red]

who gives a flying ! we won the game.

[Espionage]

We should not be only talking about the impact that it may or may not have had on Gerrard and whether it was right.  Something else that is perhaps more relevant is what it does for the team.  Think about the confidence boost that Leiva has had, think about youngsters that may come here in the future and will because Rafa gives them chances, these and many more are some of the potential positive impacts that subbing Gerrard has had.

[112-1077774096]

We should not be only talking about the impact that it may or may not have had on Gerrard and whether it was right.  Something else that is perhaps more relevant is what it does for the team.  Think about the confidence boost that Leiva has had, think about youngsters that may come here in the future and will because Rafa gives them chances, these and many more are some of the potential positive impacts that subbing Gerrard has had.

think about the 2 points we could have dropped agaisnt 10 men and very nearly did

[stoney]

We should not be only talking about the impact that it may or may not have had on Gerrard and whether it was right.  Something else that is perhaps more relevant is what it does for the team.  Think about the confidence boost that Leiva has had, think about youngsters that may come here in the future and will because Rafa gives them chances, these and many more are some of the potential positive impacts that subbing Gerrard has had.

think about the 2 points we could have dropped agaisnt 10 men and very nearly did

Peewee mate, I don't think Rafa just took Gerrard off for the sake of it or to prove a point or to bring Gerrards ego down a peg etc... I have no doubt that Rafa believed this was the right decision for that match which is why he made the change and lets not forget, like has already been mentioned, Lucas played a major role in getting our winner and had a couple of decent touches during the time he was on.

[112-1077774096]

We should not be only talking about the impact that it may or may not have had on Gerrard and whether it was right.  Something else that is perhaps more relevant is what it does for the team.  Think about the confidence boost that Leiva has had, think about youngsters that may come here in the future and will because Rafa gives them chances, these and many more are some of the potential positive impacts that subbing Gerrard has had.

think about the 2 points we could have dropped agaisnt 10 men and very nearly did

Peewee mate, I don't think Rafa just took Gerrard off for the sake of it or to prove a point or to bring Gerrards ego down a peg etc... I have no doubt that Rafa believed this was the right decision for that match which is why he made the change and lets not forget, like has already been mentioned, Lucas played a major role in getting our winner and had a couple of decent touches during the time he was on.

i also don't think he took him off to prove a point mate, but i also think it was the wrong decision. ok lucas played  a part in the winner but there is no way rafa could have known that, all i saw was that he took off our most potent threat in the midst of a derby game when we were playing against 10 men, and then come out with one of the most ridiculous comments of the year about wanting to keep the ball (yet he kept sissoko on    )

[RedBlood]

We should not be only talking about the impact that it may or may not have had on Gerrard and whether it was right.  Something else that is perhaps more relevant is what it does for the team.  Think about the confidence boost that Leiva has had, think about youngsters that may come here in the future and will because Rafa gives them chances, these and many more are some of the potential positive impacts that subbing Gerrard has had.

think about the 2 points we could have dropped agaisnt 10 men and very nearly did

your just anti-rafa

even in victory u try to criticise the man

get over it hes a top class manager and the manager of liverpoolfc
hes living your dream but dont hate him for it

[112-1077774096]

We should not be only talking about the impact that it may or may not have had on Gerrard and whether it was right.  Something else that is perhaps more relevant is what it does for the team.  Think about the confidence boost that Leiva has had, think about youngsters that may come here in the future and will because Rafa gives them chances, these and many more are some of the potential positive impacts that subbing Gerrard has had.

think about the 2 points we could have dropped agaisnt 10 men and very nearly did

your just anti-rafa

even in victory u try to criticise the man

get over it hes a top class manager and the manager of liverpoolfc
hes living your dream but dont hate him for it

   i am laughing because i know you must be joking.

lets get this straight, i am far from being anti rafa as you put it. i have said many times i don't want him to leave, but if he carries on making mistakes then he will have to go, this is his fourth season and he is still making the same mistakes as he made in his first season, that to me is not the trait needed to win us the league, and i have said it many times, last season we were 21 points of the top (i know some people will say 'yeah but we had lost the league already so there was no harm in losing the last games as they were not important' while they totally miss the irony of that comment).

for me my club comes first and it has done since i went to my first game aged 6 (in 1973), they have been first for me during the following years when i went to 100s of games before i moved to asia, home and away, england and in europe. so if rafa has to go then i will not shed any tears for him as the good of the club comes first, and if rafa can not win the league the fact is he will have to go for the good of the club.

but lets just get it right, i am not anti rafa, i am pro liverpool, but if rafa cant cut it then sentiment shouldn't come into it and he can go the way of houllier.

this season we may not have the champions league to paper of the cracks and even then people will have to say we ave had a poor season, take last seasons champions league final (where rafa got his tactics wrong) and last season was a disaster, and already this season is going the same way

[Leonmc0708]

In brief Rafa is right that no player is bigger than the club and after one or two performances lately I felt that Gerrard may have started to believe some of the 'hype' that surrounds his abilities on the pitch so in the end this may do the lad some good.

but surely you don't address that in the middle of a derby game where he is the most influential player, it was more important to win the game first

I agree and cus we didnt win I think.....

.......hold on a second we did win didnt we ?

Ahh fu.ck it lets have a go at Rafa anyway......

[Ace Ventura]

In brief Rafa is right that no player is bigger than the club and after one or two performances lately I felt that Gerrard may have started to believe some of the 'hype' that surrounds his abilities on the pitch so in the end this may do the lad some good.

but surely you don't address that in the middle of a derby game where he is the most influential player, it was more important to win the game first

I agree and cus we didnt win I think.....

.......hold on a second we did win didnt we ?

Ahh fu.ck it lets have a go at Rafa anyway......

Sometimes the bigger picture needs to be seen though.
Me and you disagree about us taking control of the game when Gerrard went off, you pointed out we had several clear cut chances to win, which we did but i still think it went flat for a good while and we would of won earlier if we had (at the time) our best player still on the pitch.
It turned out Lucas did well and he did almost get the winner and created it really, but Sissoko should of been taken off for him.
It was an unneccassary gamble in my book, one he just got away with. But there was no need for it.

[112-1077774096]

In brief Rafa is right that no player is bigger than the club and after one or two performances lately I felt that Gerrard may have started to believe some of the 'hype' that surrounds his abilities on the pitch so in the end this may do the lad some good.

but surely you don't address that in the middle of a derby game where he is the most influential player, it was more important to win the game first

I agree and cus we didnt win I think.....

.......hold on a second we did win didnt we ?

Ahh fu.ck it lets have a go at Rafa anyway......

yeah it was a comfortable victory, a penalty in the last minute against 10 men, and rafa wanted us to sit back, he wanted to secure a draw against 10 men, so yeah lets blame rafa, he nearly cost us two points with a crazy substitution   

[Ciggy]

I am not siding with Rafa here but the fact we didnt beat Birmingham, Tottenham, Marselle or Everton with him on the pitch for 70 minutes either.

Maybe Rafa took him off for the others to pull their weight or maybe just maybe we play better without him at times.

I was Fuckin livid with gerrard the way he spoke to Voronin and Torres in the Spurs game escpecially the abuse he gave to Voronin for not passing the ball to him then the next thing you know we where getting beat because Voronin shit himself passed the ball and Gerrard missed.

Maybe our players feel inferior to him at times.
And maybe Gerrard is a little jelous of Torres getting all the attention and is the new boy wonder now.

And he's not THE MAN anymore.