Liverpool FC Forum

by **woof woof !** » Sat Oct 20, 2007 3:26 pm

It's strange to be having a moan about Rafa after we've just won against Everton but if truth be told Rafa got lucky today . I honestly no longer have a clue as to what Rafa's vision is and I suspect that neither do many of our players.

Despite having some of the more talented wide players in the premiership we played with no width whatsoever, even when Everton where down to ten men we still failed to stretch the play. Rafa's substitutions had me and the whole world scratching their heads in atstonishment.

Somehow we managed to scrape a win out of a game that with 20 mins to go should have been a formality.

I'm delighted with the win but possibly for the first time ever I'm seriously questioning Rafa's decisions, as i suspect are many LFC players.

by **The_Rock** » Sat Oct 20, 2007 3:34 pm

Rafa was known as a lucky manager in spain...and this result against eversh1t just proves it why....

Taking off our 2 best creative players and trying to settle for a draw but eventually (and somehow)....we win it....

Rafa is indeed lucky.....

He has to sort out our team...something is not right. The team has been playing sh1t for a while now..... Whats the problem ?

We won't be able to ride our luck against arsenal.....

by **account deleted by request** » Sat Oct 20, 2007 3:38 pm

woof woof ! wrote:It's strange to be having a moan about Rafa after we've just won against Everton but if truth be told Rafa got lucky today . I honestly no longer have a clue as to what Rafa's vision is and I suspect that neither do many of our players.

Despite having some of the more talented wide players in the premiership we played with no width whatsoever, even when Everton where down to ten men we still failed to stretch the play. Rafa's substitutions had me and the whole world scratching their heads in atstonishment.

Somehow we managed to scrape a win out of a game that with 20 mins to go should have been a formality.

I'm delighted with the win but possibly for the first time ever I'm seriously questioning Rafa's decisions, as i suspect are many LFC players.

I can usually see why Rafa makes most of his decisions, even if I don't always agree with them, but today he had me baffled. Only reason I can come up with (and its not a very good one ) is he wanted a bit more controlled football from the centre of the park. Gerrard was trying to hit a lot of long balls, and maybe Rafa wanted a more deliberate build up.

On second thoughts maybe even Rafa's no sure why he did it.

by **The Grudge** » Sat Oct 20, 2007 3:48 pm

woof woof ! wrote:It's strange to be having a moan about Rafa after we've just won against Everton but if truth be told Rafa got lucky today . I honestly no longer have a clue as to what Rafa's vision is and I suspect that neither do many of our players.

Despite having some of the more talented wide players in the premiership we played with no width whatsoever, even when Everton where down to ten men we still failed to stretch the play. Rafa's substitutions had me and the whole world scratching their heads in atstonishment.

Somehow we managed to scrape a win out of a game that with 20 mins to go should have been a formality.

I'm delighted with the win but possibly for the first time ever I'm seriously questioning Rafa's decisions, as i suspect are many LFC players.

I think the idea was Woof to put out a team that could take them on physically..I can see the managers efforts and understand his thoughts,they were not football!

We were lucky yes but at other times in the season we will be unlucky...Think back to Man UTD last season when they nicked it 1 nil?We were robbed then.......Regardless of the managers choices today this result will give our squad a great impetus to go forward from where we are...and that is the most important factor!

Personally i feel we can beat Beskitas off the park then beat Arsenal.Agger and Alonso will be back..we WILL beat them

by **Ola Mr Benitez** » Sat Oct 20, 2007 3:54 pm

Ive got to be honest I have never felt so low after a derby win.. We where lucky to get any points from that game.

1. Rafa sets up a team that was so un balanced it is untrue. No width, No one on the right at all??
2. When it was obviousy goin bad for us we made no changes.. Why?
3. Taking SG off instead of Sissoko who was useless.. again

I have always backed Rafa, but I have to say I think he has lost the plot.. It is hard`to say it when you see we have still not lost in the Premiership, but with the squad we have (I know he is the one who has assembled it) we should be beating these small teams with ease, yet we keep making it hard work.

Would anyone on this forum have made the subs he did today??

Do you think these kind of decisions may lead to him losing the dressing room??

Its 3 points in the bag and I should be feeling good.. but I don't.. sorry

by **Bammo** » Sat Oct 20, 2007 4:04 pm

1) Gerrard was supposed to be on the right but he didn't stay there.
2) Rafa has an alternate rulebook which says he can't make subs before 65 mins.
3) Taking SG off wasn't the worst thing, it was instead of Sissoko. Maybe that's Momo's 1 game for the month. When Alonso is Momo won't play again.

I don't think he'll lose the dressing room but certain fringe players (crouch etc) may doubt how they can get into the team on ability.

Are Rafa's strange decisions because Pako has left?

by **parvin** » Sat Oct 20, 2007 4:49 pm

its a possibilty .. i wish we get pako back . without his rafa seems to have lost his bearings . he looks lost and just perhaps is picking his team how he feels like , if a player is on form etc after todae's game stevie G u cud see how fired up he was after the pen , leave him on , instead he took him of for lucas , with all due respect is not half the player gerrard is yet but he settled well inot his role and did much btr in that 25 mins then sissoko did in the whole game , i tink if we cannot get pako back then the best choice we have sammy lee , although he is not that good , he's the best option we've got unless rafa can swallow his pride and admit that he was wrong in releasing pako and ask him to come back , but i don nt see that happening

by **Emerald Red** » Sat Oct 20, 2007 4:56 pm

Bammo wrote:Are Rafa's strange decisions because Pako has left?

It baffles me why people think this or even get a notion in their heads that this could be any kind of reason for anything Rafa does. If this is the case, then we'd be in a sorry state of affairs if Pako was the man making all the choices for Rafa over the years. I seriously doubt that this is anywhere near accurate.

by **woof woof !** » Sat Oct 20, 2007 5:02 pm

Ola Mr Benitez wrote:Would anyone on this forum have made the subs he did today??

Do you think these kind of decisions may lead to him losing the dressing room??

1. Absolutely not. I would go so far as to say there is not a single individual in the whole world that would have made the substitutions that Rafa made today. Maybe the fella is a genius and we're all thick as pig sh'it and can't recognise his brilliance or maybe he just got lucky .( I know where I'd put my money )

2. Wouldn't say todays decisions would cause him to lose the dressing room , we won despite or because of (?) his decisions. I've no doubt however that like most (if not all) fans, the players are wondering wtf is going on.

Crouch for example must by now be desperately thinking "what do I have to do to get a game ? " Never mind what we or rafa think of him, Crouch by now must surely be asking his agent to find him another club.

by **Bammo** » Sat Oct 20, 2007 5:05 pm

Sorry, I wasn'ttrying to imply Pako made the decisions, just that he was there to question Rafa's choices. Having to justify decisions means a person thinks them through more. It's more likely that Rafa thought against 10 men and dominating we would have won without Gerrard and so decided to rest him. Of course we're then back to Rafa's rotating...

by **JohnBull** » Sat Oct 20, 2007 5:13 pm

There are definate signs that it's becoming too much for the man.

FFS Sissoko is a mile off the standard and needs a sit down with a manager , a good talk and a few weeks in the reserves. The main problem is that we don't have any reserves now just a friggin big first team who are all Prima Donna's. Put a player down to the "second team" and they spit their dummies out and want away. No one will pay for them so they hang around on the books and drain the clubs resources. FCS how much have we paid, per hour, for Kewell and the rest of the sick parade. The club's a joke !

by **The Grudge** » Sat Oct 20, 2007 5:13 pm

zarababe wrote:
peewee wrote:
hello_red wrote:
peewee wrote:wow, some people on here seem to think they know better than people who have gone the game since before they were even born, and they don't even go the games now. but they think their opinion is better than others, unbelievable.

I am still amazed that people doubt the 'doom mongers' when they can see for themselves, in black and white how far away we were last season from the top two, and how we have stumbled this season already.

whatever the reasons for this (and its been done to death already) those facts remain intact, we haven't been able to do it, and mick i am with you, i think we have had a strong enough team to win it but lackluster performances and mystifying decisions from the manager have blown it.

and again as with other posters who have this opinion, I am not calling for rafas head, simply calling for him to start using it

was that a dig at my post?

no mate, someone elses, it was aimed at zaras comments

I object to being reffered to as 'people' and will be reporting this 'dig' to all ... 20 moderators on here

....

by **Emerald Red** » Sat Oct 20, 2007 5:22 pm

JohnBull wrote:There are definate signs that it's becoming too much for the man.

FFS Sissoko is a mile off the standard and needs a sit down with a manager , a good talk and a few weeks in the reserves. The main problem is that we don't have any reserves now just a friggin big first team who are all Prima Donna's. Put a player down to the "second team" and they spit their dummies out and want away. No one will pay for them so they hang around on the books and drain the clubs resources. FCS how much have we paid, per hour, for Kewell and the rest of the sick parade. The club's a joke !

Agreed. And I think that a certain Mr Parry needs to catch himself on here. The c*nt has held us back for so long in regards to this. The man needs to wake up and smell the sh*t he's been peddling for years. I wouldn't sack the man. I'd shoot him.

by **Owzat** » Sun Oct 21, 2007 10:28 am

I am seriously worried about a manager who thinks we need Sissoko AND Mascherano and keeps BOTH on against ten men for a modest outfit like the bitters.

by **Toffeehater** » Sun Oct 21, 2007 10:31 am

Owzat wrote:I am seriously worried about a manager who thinks we need Sissoko AND Mascherano and keeps BOTH on against ten men for a modest outfit like the bitters.

they're were not modest , they made us work our socks off , when they were still a man up , in the first half we rarely troubled their defence , i agree when they were a man down , rafa shud have gone for the kill and brought on leiva for sissoko or babel for sissoko but thats his decision and we have to respect that like sabre said

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