Liverpool FC Forum

redrover wrote:id certainly love to be proved wrong about him cause ive always said hes a top bloke. anyone else changing their minds about him the past few weeks ?

Well after months of predicting he was about to see the light, even claiming that he had seen it and then being proven totally wrong, I finally gave up on the manager about six weeks or so ago. His sheer stubborness and absolute refusal to even consider that he might just be overdoing the rotation just a tad led me to call for his removal at the end of the season.

I remain absolutely 100% convinced that "Rafa style" will never ever allow a team to win the Premiership, and in all probability challenge for it either so it stood to reason as far as I was concerned that if he wasn't prepared to change we'd need a new manager.

Then, low and behold he adopts a system which I must confess I'm not a particular fan of, but, and this is the crux of the whole thing, HE STICKS TO IT !!!!!!    Sure he has change the team throughout the seven game run, he's even "rotated" a couple of players, but he's stuck with broadly the same bunch and has returned time and time again to the same core of players EVEN PLAYING THEM IN THE SAME POSITIONS!!!! 

So where does that leave me, other than having to eat the whole humble pie as I said he was incapable of changing, of adapting to the challenge of English football? Well it leaves me very optimistic for one. I've long said when people talk about new signings, it doesn't matter if you sign Samuel Eto, Queresma and Diego. If you are going to chop and change the system, the formation, the personel and the positions every week in the manner which we used to you won't be successful. If however, you are going to try and find a pattern, momentum and rhythm in the way in which we are searching for it now, then you have a chance.

I've said on another thread, I think we're every bit as good as Chelsea. They've had big injury problems all season, the African Nations Cup which ripped a few of their top players out and a brand new manager. They're now right in there and challenging, so we were plenty good enough to challenge THIS season in my opinion. It then follows and stands to reason, that if we sign a first team player, or even two first team players in the Summer (please no more "options" and "possibilities") then if we follow our philosophy we are showing now, we will go very very close indeed.

Should we win the league under Rafa or indeed get close to winning it, I'll bake myself the biggest humble pie which'll fit in my oven. If he contuinues to select the team in the way he currently is, I'm extremely optimistic it can happen next season. Bring it on.

Sabre wrote:I loved the way how he went there to eat the ref in anger.

FPMSL    

Kharhaz wrote:What bothers me the most is how inept the premiership referees are in general, poor. The teams at the bottom put it down to bad luck with regards to the decisions made by premiership referees. Its not bad luck, its bad officiating. Look at us against chelsea earlier in the season, It seems that the top teams are protected whereas the lesser teams are not.We have the best league in the world surely its time to bring in the referees to match our league.

They are getting worse aren't they?  Mark Halsey and his team of officials got every major call wrong today in the Arsenal game.  Cringe-worthy officiating performance.

Sabre wrote:It's already commented by several members of the forum but we received another goal from set pieces situation.

Yes, we have reasons to be angry about the foul the referee conceded. That was a correct tackle even under continental standards, let alone the English ones.

Not a surprise Mascherano was as angry as this. I was too







I loved the way how he went there to eat the ref in anger.

But the problem is that it's not the first time we allow to shoot someone too comfortably from that dangerous positions.



No matter if you're man to man fan or zonal fan, you can't have all your men deep and nobody aware to that shot. Look where are the lot of our players in the moment the ball is in the semicircle of the box. Rafa noted it in the notepad and hope it doesn't happen again this season!

But the good news here is that Liverpool is strong enough to come back from a blow like that. Nice win.

woah sabre... why don't you apply for the position of rafa's assistant next season... I think you can do it... and we all will be happy for you... 

Seano Kop wrote:I actually thought Aurelio had a good game as well. He was good in defence and came up the ground and did a few good things as well. Not bad by a guy of his calibre.

LFC2007 wrote:

bigmick wrote:

LFC2007 wrote:That's another win that extends this little run we've been on. The effects of rotation are kicking in 

They certainy are. For four seasons now some of us have been imploring the manager to pick a settled team. If you build it, the points will come we have said. Some of us have gone so far as saying we aren't overly concerned what the make-up of that settled team actually is, that group of players who become accustomed to playing together in a particular pattern, so long as we pick it and broadly stick with it.

Settle on a formation, on a pattern we have said, play like with like so the players get used to each other, and then the momentum will come. When the momentum comes, do as little as possible to disturb it. Cling onto it like it is a treasure and ride the wave for as long as you can. Belief and momentum are wonderful things, once you have them you can go behind and pull yourselves back, you can find late winners, and you hold on when you are in front.

Seldom have I agreed with you more LFC. Rafa's current policy on rotation is finally starting to kick in. You never know, we might even be able to start picking up the occasional point away at the other big clubs if we go in with the same attitude. There'll be no Bolo Zendens in central midfield this time around, no Steven Gerrards playing on the left wing. No, hopefully this time, for the first time since Rafa has been manager, we'll simply pick a settled team with which we have have had some success, and see how they go. Lets face it, we can't do any worse at those grounds than we have after four years of approaching the games with a multi rotational mindset.

And as Chelsea loom into the title race, three points or so off the pace now, I can't help wondering what might have been for us. Nobody will convince me they are a better team than we are. They've certainly had lots more injuries than we have, as well as losing a bunch of players to the African Nations Cup. They've a manager who has been in charge five minutes, and we've outplayed them in both league games this season. How cruel an indictment of rotation would it be if they were to eventually prevail as Champions.

If only we had seen the light earlier. If only we had realised that you can change the team, you can rest players without having to smash the structure of the unit to pieces each time you do it. If only we had understood the dynamics of momentum and belief much earlier. Still, like you LFC I'm not going to complain. It's taken four years for the penny to drop, and now it's finally dropped I hope it stays there. If it does, we might just challenge for and quite possibly win the league next season.

why do I have a feeling that you two are talking about different things? 

Bad Bob wrote:How great was it to see Stevie square up to Bikey today as well?  Nice to see the captain fired up like that!  Now, all we need to see is him defend a teammate like that, not just himself!

Well he was booting his lover all game   No one messes with my Torres you dirty big yard dog sh!t house