Liverpool FC Forum

by **66-1112520797** » Sun Oct 23, 2005 8:40 am

Now I do not no whether Rafa is the right man for the job or not .
But I do no one thing , if he is the right man for the job he will need considerable time to get Liverpool where he wants them to be.

Look at it like this , think of him as an overseas player who Liverpool have just purchased . Now he needs time to adjust to the premiership and English game all together. If he is able to get to grips with the English game and settle into the English game Im sure he will become a hit like Sami Hyypia has been. If he persists with trying to play a more sterile/continental way in the prem , it simply will not work. He then may end up being a miss, a bit like Morientes , a player with undoubted class and technical ability but a player who cannot adjust to the English game. Well, not yet anyway.

I have critised some of his decisions this season , he isnt above critisism as we all now seem to have found out. But to call for the blokes head is definately a knee-jerk reaction and must be laughed off. After eight prem games we werent saying on here we should sell Morientes , no we were saying he needs a bit more time.
Rafa needs this aswell , he also needs a sidekick (preferably a British one ) who knows the English game inside out. Someone who can strongly advise him on the English game. Otherwise it could take him an eternity to fatham it out.Im sure Nando has Stevie G or Cara to talk to when he needs help or advice with his game. I dont think Rafa has that.

I hope you got the drift of that and if not I was basicly trying to say its gonna take alot more than eight games and half a season before Rafa gets it right.
I have also said before we are going to be left feeling frustrated with certain results during this season. We are having teething problems this year , but hopefully next season we will see our milk teeth grow and all will be good

by **NiftyNeil** » Sun Oct 23, 2005 10:30 am

Bamaga man wrote:he also needs a sidekick (preferably a British one ) who knows the English game inside out. Someone who can strongly advise him on the English game.

As I've previously said in another thread - John Aldridge would be perfect. Knowledge, passion and common sense.

by **Sabre** » Sun Oct 23, 2005 10:34 am

And Spanish. John Aldridge has a decent Spanish, he can yell out good insults when the Spaniard lads aren't training well.

Sabre

by **NiftyNeil** » Sun Oct 23, 2005 10:39 am

Sabre wrote:And Spanish. John Aldridge has a decent Spanish, he can yell out good insults when the Spaniard lads aren't training well.

Sabre

Good shout Sabre, I didn't think of that one. He can call Morrientes and Josemi useless twa.ts.

by **dum1** » Sun Oct 23, 2005 10:40 am

Bam Man

Very valid points my only concern in all of this is that when a gap develops in the league it is very difficult to bridge it. Lack of success on the field means lack of funds which means lack of new players.

If the plan is to spend some time in the wilderness then what is the plan to get back, when we don't have the funds now then left is some benefactor with dosh

by **neil** » Sun Oct 23, 2005 12:56 pm

paul jewell would be fantastic IMO. Local lad, ex-player, doing a fantastic job without any 'carlos kickaball' in his team. He is down to earth and straight forward, his teams play excellent passing football. It is'nt going to happen though is it? he just does'nt sound fashionable.

by **LiverpoolMadman** » Sun Oct 23, 2005 1:18 pm

It's not the players but it's the formation that he have to use it . 4-4-2 in EPL and 4-5-1 in CL .

by **66-1112520797** » Sun Oct 23, 2005 1:59 pm

dum1 wrote:Bam Man

If the plan is to spend some time in the wilderness then what is the plan to get back, when we don't have the funds now then left is some benefactor with dosh

The plan would be for Rafa to find out what his prefered and best formation is , the time spent there would be to build a team that we all want to see challenge for certain honours.
The plan should also be for Rafa himself to get a much better concept of the English game, it may take a long time it may not I dont no.

Rafa obviously has some funds and is looking to strengthen the team in January . If we dont make it to the lucrative stage of qualifying for the CL (Rafa will have to buy wisely in January in that case.)
He will have to work with the squad he has got , and looking at it now it wouldnt do us any harm not competing in Europe next year. Not that Im saying we cant finish fourth , Im just saying Rafa needs to focus solely on the prem because at the minute we are not able to juggle between the two, and I know what I would rather see us challenging for or building towards.

I think the defeat against Fulham has really hit home not just to me but other supporters, in how far the team and Rafa have to go before we are anything like we want them to be , and for the moment it has knocked a fair bit of optimism out of me.

by **The_Rock** » Sun Oct 23, 2005 5:27 pm

Bamaga man wrote:He will have to work with the squad he has got , and looking at it now it wouldnt do us any harm not competing in Europe next year. Not that Im saying we cant finish fourth , Im just saying Rafa needs to focus solely on the prem because at the minute we are not able to juggle between the two, and I know what I would rather see us challenging for or building towards.

I can see your point....but for me (and i guess a lot of fans), that would be unacceptable..... The problem is not about "not being able to cope" with premier & champ league. The problem is why do we play so differently in this league......

If we don't at least qualify for champ league next season, i think it will be goodbye for rafa.......

by **SouthCoastShankly** » Mon Oct 24, 2005 1:53 pm

LiverpoolMadman wrote:It's not the players but it's the formation that he have to use it . 4-4-2 in EPL and 4-5-1 in CL .

Totally right. I've been saying it all along - 4-5-1 is way to continental to play in the premiership. 4-4-2 all the way, I think this formation will work the best if we sign another striker who can pair with Cisse, Morientes & Crouch individually. IMO Owen could of done this perfectly but thats a thread thats been covered way too much

by **wrighty (not mark!)** » Mon Oct 24, 2005 2:04 pm

SouthCoastShankly wrote:
LiverpoolMadman wrote:It's not the players but it's the formation that he have to use it . 4-4-2 in EPL and 4-5-1 in CL .

Totally right. I've been saying it all along - 4-5-1 is way to continental to play in the premiership. 4-4-2 all the way, I think this formation will work the best if we sign another striker who can pair with Cisse, Morientes & Crouch individually. IMO Owen could of done this perfectly but thats a thread thats been covered way too much

Most of us know that in most cases, 4-4-2 is the way to go in the prem (not EPL! what a gay term!). However as BM said, the player's mentality could be thrown into question. I'm not just talking about the Fulham game as I didn't see it but as one person pointed out we have too many passengers at times when our backs are against the wall.

It hurts me to use them as an example but Everton were a good example of having the right mentality last season and it just goes to show you don't necersarily have to be quality to be in the right part of the table. With some of the players we have on paper, why can't we do the same if not far better? MENTALITY. Also wingers would help!

by **stmichael** » Mon Oct 24, 2005 2:25 pm

it's been mentioned in quite a few threads since saturday.

rafa is the man for the job, but to me he isn't showing many signs of learning from last years substandard performance in the premiership.

in the premiership he rotates the team way too much. how can we expect to get any sort of consistency or understanding when he's making four or five changes every week? morientes and kewell have just returned from injury and walk straight back into the starting line up. cisse's reward for scoring two goals in his last two games upfront is to be dumped back on the right again. :no

and that's without even mentioning that on saturday we had two full backs who wouldn't get a game for my local pub team.

we need to play our best eleven week in week out barring injuries.

by **LFC #1** » Mon Oct 24, 2005 3:05 pm

The_Rock wrote:If we don't at least qualify for champ league next season, i think it will be goodbye for rafa.......

I doubt it tbh.
Our board is pretty patient and the Champions League win has shown them what Rafa is all about. Two successive finishes outside the top 4 is a different story though.

by **stmichael** » Mon Oct 24, 2005 3:14 pm

You know, sooner or later we're going to have to put that CL win behind us and get on with the here and now. A CL win last season isnt going to help any of our performances this season. Its history now and we need to start to address the issues were presented with now

Now dont get me wrong it was a remarkable achievement and no one expected Benitez to turn the team around in the space of a season given the limited resources at hand but we cant keep hiding behind the 'we're European Champions' argument because in all probability come next may we wont be.

Add to that a poor league campaign which on current form I cant see us finishing any higher than sixth and what have you got?

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