Liverpool FC Forum

by **rinoayuna** » Sat Dec 08, 2007 9:00 pm

That's quite an interesting thought. Considering Rafa took off Gerrard in the derby, did he give up then? I know he said it was for tactical reasons "heads not hearts" but if it went wrong and we conceded instead, he would have said pretty much the same thing today.

by **f9Torres** » Sat Dec 08, 2007 9:02 pm

puroresu wrote:
redsince2001 wrote:bad day ...nothing went right ...awful decisions by the ref ... their penalty was debatable ... whereas we should have had two clear ones ...best now to forget about today and concentrate on marseilles...........

looked to me like sonko played the ball twice

I have doubt about the second, but the firt is very very clear for me.

by **OneHotRed** » Sat Dec 08, 2007 9:03 pm

Ok we shouldnt have had 2 penanlties, sonko, although slight played the ball on both occasions - Now thats taken away some of the excuses here lets carry on.

From the offset you could tell Rafa's intentions were clear, Marselle was the priority here, and to be honest I dont blame him, I'm guessing that if we dont qualify for the champions league and we loose all that funding, we wont get any new players in the transfer window and Rafa may loose his job, I think he was covering himself this time.

I am VERY annoyed he gave up on the game after 70 minutes however, I'm not too disheartened about the game today, as I feared the worst when I saw the lineup.

Only thing I wish is that he'd explain himself properly when he has done them, us Liverpool fans demand 100% all the time and that cant be easy to satisfy, but i kinda get the impression that we are a maximum one competition club at the moment (or at least he thinks so) I dont think we have a chance at the premier league, I didnt even after we went on this run of games, things get changed around TOO much, although I dont really have a problem with rotation I dont believe he should rotate as many as he does.

Final thought on the matter though, he DID cause us to loose today, not with the formation, or the selection of personell, it was the combination of BOTH. But hey, everyone makes mistakes right?

by **rinoayuna** » Sat Dec 08, 2007 9:04 pm

Can someone clarify Rafa's interview for us? I can't believe he would say something like that....not to mention he's overseen Olympiacos, Istanbul and the FA Cup final vs West Ham.

by **The_Rock** » Sat Dec 08, 2007 9:04 pm

Lucky wrote:
The_Rock wrote:
J*o*n*D*o*e wrote:just listened to rafa`s interview after the game and he gave the game up after 70 mins, couldnt believe what i was hearing

Another press blunder from rafa. WE ARE LFC. WE NEVER GIVE UP !!!

Rafa is pilling up on the blunders..... I thought he learnt his lessons after mouthing "I am fixed on coaching the team" sh1t....

And now he comes up with this.....

in rafa i trust ?.......yeah right......

I think he's just telling the truth.
When you saw Gerrard being taken off, you should know Rafa's already given up.
Frustrating to know but it's the truth.

We are a premier league team with a history...

We don't give up even when our captain is taken off ?

Can't believe a "genius" like rafa can come up with this ?

by **The_Rock** » Sat Dec 08, 2007 9:07 pm

OneHotRed wrote:Only thing I wish is that he'd explain himself properly when he has done them, us Liverpool fans demand 100% all the time and that cant be easy to satisfy, but i kinda get the impression that we are a maximum one competition club at the moment (or at least he thinks so) I dont think we have a chance at the premier league, I didnt even after we went on this run of games, things get changed around TOO much, although I dont really have a problem with rotation I dont believe he should rotate as many as he does.

If he doesn't know what to say he should keep his mouth shut.... Maybe he should enrol in public speaking or speaking with PR or something....

Gave up after 70 mins ? Is he for real ? :angry:

by **rinoayuna** » Sat Dec 08, 2007 9:08 pm

Ferguson and Wenger must be laughing their asses off now....

by **bigmick** » Sat Dec 08, 2007 9:11 pm

I wouldn't take this "giving up" too literally. There was probably an acceptance that it wasn't going to be our day and there seemed little point risking the best players.

What I can't abide, is people like Riise fecking jogging over to take a corner with six minutes to go (before inevitably hitting the first man). If it was the manx, it would be people sprinting everywhere and shots raining down on the Reading goal. developing that culture which means you fight to the death in EVERY game, not just ones with a trophy sitting on a table by the side of the pitch is one of the biggest tasks facing the manager. He has made big strides oimn many directions, but one or two at the club still need a kick up the erse on this issue.

by **OneHotRed** » Sat Dec 08, 2007 9:12 pm

bigmick wrote:I wouldn't take this "giving up" too literally. There was probably an acceptance that it wasn't going to be our day and there seemed little point risking the best players.

What I can't abide, is people like Riise fecking jogging over to take a corner with six minutes to go (before inevitably hitting the first man). If it was the manx, it would be people sprinting everywhere and shots raining down on the Reading goal. developing that culture which means you fight to the death in EVERY game, not just ones with a trophy sitting on a table by the side of the pitch is one of the biggest tasks facing the manager. He has made big strides oimn many directions, but one or two at the club still need a kick up the erse on this issue.

Totally agree 100%

by **destro** » Sat Dec 08, 2007 9:13 pm

Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez was in little doubt the penalty from which Reading scored their first goal should not have been awarded, because the foul was outside the area.

He was equally convinced his team should have been given a chance to score from the spot too.

“I think it was outside,” he said of the first turning point.

“Then it should have been a penalty for us.”

Liverpool, who have a very important week in prospect in the Champions League and Premier League, finished the game with Steven Gerrard on the substitutes’ bench - after Benitez decided it was time the captain had a rest.

“We knew it was tough, because some of our players were playing a lot of games in a row,” he explained.

“At 3-1 (down), you have to protect your good players.”

The Reds had several opportunities to get back in the match, and Benitez added: “It was a strange game. We had a few chances but did not take them.

“After some decisions which we didn’t get, we couldn’t change the result.

“The ’positives’ are no injuries and no yellow cards.”

He didn't say he GAVE UP in so many words, but people can read into what he did say as they want

by **roberto green** » Sat Dec 08, 2007 9:15 pm

Why change the formation?

Just when were getting a good run going we are stopped in our tracks by to much tinkering yet again,i wonder if it will ultimatly be one of the last tinkering mr benetiz will able to do.

It is the start of the biggest week in his liverpool his career and as usual i think he is paying too much attention to detail,he is thinking about the midweek game and man utd game rather than tonights game which is put us off the pace in the prem yet again and when Arsenal win tomorrow we will be 10 points behind,in my eyes we have no chance now at the prem especially when you have the other 3 teams being unstopable at the mo.

I wonder what we will be looking at in little over a week if liverpool are out of europe and that with a poor result with man u its not worth thinking about.

Very very frustrating.

by **bigxchris** » Sat Dec 08, 2007 9:16 pm

Three weeks without a cigarette and this game has made me go out and buy a pack because I am so stressed!!

by **rinoayuna** » Sat Dec 08, 2007 9:16 pm

I think Rafa made the right decision in subbing Gerrard and Carragher. Last thing we needed was for Gerrard to get injured or Carragher to get another yellow and rule himself out of the Mancs game.

And he was right. We DID have chances to win the game but we didn't make the best of them.

by **Leonmc0708** » Sat Dec 08, 2007 9:18 pm

I think that Rafa got the tactics wrong, however going a goal behind we showed good character to get back into it.

At 1-1 we controlled the game and simply never put our chances away. Too much possesion and not enough end product.

Dissapointing, but by no means the end of the World.

by **Leonmc0708** » Sat Dec 08, 2007 9:19 pm

Rhdiculous singing YNWA on X Factor now just makes it even worse. :oh:

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