Liverpool FC Forum

by **RichardLFC1** » Mon Nov 13, 2006 5:58 pm

Yesterday we played our 6th away game this season and we have only scored just the one which was a penalty which is arguable if it should have been one.

People may say but weve played Arsenal, Chelsea, Man Utd, Bolton and Everton. We should be going to any game to win the match home or away Man utd or Watford. If the fans the players and the whole Liverpool fc want to be taken serious from now on to be actual title contenders we need to stop makin ourselves look silly.

What i think it comes down to is we have had no real driving force in the centre midfeild. But with Gerrard there we look much stronger. As we see yesterday when gerrard was finally pushed into the centre he looked better and so did liverpool as we attacked straight away. If alonso and Sissoko are fit i dont care Gerrard is our captain and the best player for me in the premiership if not the world.

Rafa does need to take the blame for this, the players are parcially responsible but if Ferguson, Mourinhio had the midfeild we had im pretty sure they would rip up any others in the premiership.

by **stmichael** » Mon Nov 13, 2006 6:03 pm

We need to be far more positive and attack teams more, especially away from home.

I watched the United-Blackburn game the other day. United's front 4 is better than ours. Three of Utds midfield can be classed as attacking players. I would actually class Ronaldo as an extra forward as his defensive qualities are mimimal.

But they are SENT out on the pitch to ATTACK other teams. To win the game through being better than the opposition defence. Away from home, I have no faith that we are sent out to do anything other than pass the ball around and if we get a chance to score then take it.

by **puroresu** » Mon Nov 13, 2006 6:13 pm

stmichael wrote:We need to be far more positive and attack teams more, especially away from home.

I watched the United-Blackburn game the other day. United's front 4 is better than ours. Three of Utds midfield can be classed as attacking players. I would actually class Ronaldo as an extra forward as his defensive qualities are mimimal.

But they are SENT out on the pitch to ATTACK other teams. To win the game through being better than the opposition defence. Away from home, I have no faith that we are sent out to do anything other than pass the ball around and if we get a chance to score then take it.

I admire Fergie in the sense no matter who Utd play Home or away the mentality is the same. Try to win the game and a belief that his players are better than the other side.

We went to Bolton and changed our sytem to accomadate them. That is not right.

by **alessandromagno** » Mon Nov 13, 2006 6:21 pm

It's the Benitez way and it ain't going to change.

by **puroresu** » Mon Nov 13, 2006 6:22 pm

alessandromagno wrote:It's the Benitez way and it ain't going to change.

In one off games that way can work over a season it will not deliver a championship.

by **joko** » Mon Nov 13, 2006 6:22 pm

now you know rafa is not superman, don't you?
he's only a human
talented human
who will, in the near future -but not this year as it's too 'not-real' for a human achievement to reach everything including the european silverwares in his earlier arrival, bring us back the epl title

by **67-1161385641** » Mon Nov 13, 2006 6:38 pm

puroresu wrote:
alessandromagno wrote:It's the Benitez way and it ain't going to change.

In one off games that way can work over a season it will not deliver a championship.

You speak an awful lot of sense, but Rafa is like most people, he won't admit when he's in the wrong, I don't, I'm sure you don't (if you're honest) and most people don't, I'm hoping this match nudges Rafa's hand into changing his philosophy, but I doubt it will.

Personally I think Rafa will get it right, but he took over when we were in a lot of decline; we went from a successful runner up team to a low confidence top six team in the space of a year, which has had a negative impact on the club, Houllier wasted near enough £100,000,000 million in just six years. Just think what Rafa could have done with that money in twelve years, never mind six.

I know that's not an excuse and I'm not trying to use it as a form of defence for our gutless performances as of late, but Rafa has a mammoth task to do and I'm not sure everyone knows just how big a task that truly is.

As a supporter we have to take the rough with the smooth, last season not many people were complaining, this season is a complete contrast, I think we'll pick up soon enough, I know that's not good enough, but we do not have a divine right to win the league. We must be patient, support Rafa, offer constructive criticism and try and help the players out, even though we are disappointed.

Maybe I'm a sun shiner or an eternal optimist, but the way some people are reacting you'd think we were Newcastle, I urge people to stay calm, it's pointless creating unnecessary wrinkles from all that frowning.

I'd also like to remind people that we went 73 years without winning the FA cup before Shankly guided us to it.

17 years is a long time, but if we don't win by the time most of us are old is then the time to panic, until then, just wait, I know it hurts like a bitch when we lose and every season when we fail to win the bread and butter (I'm quoting Shankly here

) but we will win it under Rafa, quote me on it.

by **Bad Bob** » Mon Nov 13, 2006 9:38 pm

puroresu wrote:I admire Fergie in the sense no matter who Utd play Home or away the mentality is the same. Try to win the game and a belief that his players are better than the other side.

As opposed to Rafa, who isn't looking to win every game and who thinks his players are worse than their opponents?

by **67-1161385641** » Mon Nov 13, 2006 9:55 pm

Bad Bob wrote:
puroresu wrote:I admire Fergie in the sense no matter who Utd play Home or away the mentality is the same. Try to win the game and a belief that his players are better than the other side.

As opposed to Rafa, who isn't looking to win every game and who thinks his players are worse than their opponents?

What he means is Fergie sets his team up to play to their strengths, Rafa seems to be a bit like Sven was for England and basing a team on the strenghts of his opponents.

by **stmichael** » Mon Nov 13, 2006 9:57 pm

CharmlessMan wrote:
Bad Bob wrote:
puroresu wrote:I admire Fergie in the sense no matter who Utd play Home or away the mentality is the same. Try to win the game and a belief that his players are better than the other side.

As opposed to Rafa, who isn't looking to win every game and who thinks his players are worse than their opponents?

What he means is Fergie sets his team up to play to their strengths, Rafa seems to be a bit like Sven was for England and basing a team on the strenghts of his opponents.

that's the point i was making. we went to the reebok and changed our system to accommodate them. they went there, attacked from the off, could have scored 5 in the first 20 minutes and ended up winning 4-0.

by **67-1161385641** » Mon Nov 13, 2006 10:05 pm

stmichael wrote:
CharmlessMan wrote:
Bad Bob wrote:
puroresu wrote:I admire Fergie in the sense no matter who Utd play Home or away the mentality is the same. Try to win the game and a belief that his players are better than the other side.

As opposed to Rafa, who isn't looking to win every game and who thinks his players are worse than their opponents?

What he means is Fergie sets his team up to play to their strengths, Rafa seems to be a bit like Sven was for England and basing a team on the strenghts of his opponents.

that's the point i was making. we went to the reebok and changed our system to accommodate them. they went there, attacked from the off, could have scored 5 in the first 20 minutes and ended up winning 4-0.

I know you did mate, I agree we do tend to do that, I've never understood why, it seems silly to accommodate other teams, you're basically handing them an advantage, but what I don't get is, how we didn't do that last season, so why are we doing it now? It seems to me as though we've gone back to Rafa's first season, therefore taking a few steps back, I suppose I can't complain too much, after all there is still a long way to go, but some of the things we excelled in last season seem to have vanished. It's quite odd.

by **stmichael** » Mon Nov 13, 2006 10:25 pm

OK, I know it's too easy to use bad luck as an all-encompassing excuse for our losses on the road this season and there's certainly much more to it than that. There's also the old adage about the best sides making their own luck, but I really don't feel that we've been playing consistently badly away from Anfield. We've had lapses of concentration, we've had goals ruled out (correctly) for offside, but sometimes those lapses don't lead to goals and sometimes those decisions go the other way.

Luck is always going to be an element in football - it's an integral part of the game and no amount of tinkering from Blatter and his cronies, no amount of technology or refereeing directives will ever change that. At the moment, I'm thinking our pre-season must have featured a meal at a Greek restaurant with mirrored plates or something (maybe paintball at the Pilkingtons site?) because every :censored:

-up is leading to a goal, every half-chance is going wide or off the woodwork and every borderline decision is going against us.

All that said, we're not helping ourselves, there's no getting away from it. The players, collectively, need to take responsibility for the situation and start to focus on sorting it out. Quickly.

If we can't defend set pieces and either clear the ball or retain possession, or win the ball in defence or midfield and move it fluidly through the side to create chances, not only are we not a decent football team, we're not a Liverpool football team. Controlling the ball, using possession effectively and providing chances for teammates are abilities and values that should be ingrained into our players from the first time they pull on the shirt. The foundation provided by doing those simple things well is what everything else we do on the pitch is build on and at times this season I think the team as a whole has lost sight of that.

The thing we need to watch out for now is players starting to play for themselves rather than the team. It's a natural reaction to a point, after all players want to be seen to be having a good game when the heat is on, but it won't help the situation at all. If we get the focus back on doing the basics and doing them well, hopefully things will start to click and we can start getting the season back on track.

by **adamnbarrett** » Mon Nov 13, 2006 10:31 pm

by **Redman in wales** » Mon Nov 13, 2006 11:06 pm

adamnbarrett wrote:

i here-by pass a motion to play all our away games in our green/white strip!

by **peterc1992** » Tue Nov 14, 2006 12:40 am

he needs to play gerrard in the centre,i know when sissoko comes back in we cant leave him out but we need gerrard in the centre,it is almost like benitez wants avoid playing gerrard in the centre and that even if it made the difference between winning and losing he would still playing wide.i think we sould give this ago when we get sissoko back in action

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