Liverpool FC Forum

by **SouthCoastShankly** » Fri May 02, 2008 11:54 am

I think not. In no way did our performance reflect the board room wrangles. I can see most fans are going to vote yes now we are out of the Champions League - its the predictable fickleness. You only have to see the results pre and post Xmas to see that our form has not changed -

2007 (August to December)
19 Games
37 Points
10 Wins | 7 Draws | 2 Losses
Goals: For - 33, Against - 12
Average Position: 4

2008 (January to May)...so far
17 Games
33 Points
9 Wins | 6 Draws | 2 Losses
Goals: For - 31, Against - 16
Average Position: 4

The statistics speak for themselves, especially when you compare the fact that the board room problems became an issue smack bang in the middle of the season.

by **SouthCoastShankly** » Fri May 02, 2008 11:57 am

bavlondon wrote:Before any of this happened we were top of the table right?

Once!

After we beat derby 6-0 at the beginning of September

by **god_bless_john_houlding** » Fri May 02, 2008 1:20 pm

nope. they haven't affected performances...if they did then they'd be affecting us now, which they obviously aren't.

by **Scottbot** » Fri May 02, 2008 2:29 pm

peewee wrote:as for poor, yes we were playing poorly and we have remained playing poorly hence another trophy less season, out the FA cup to barnsley ffs, struggling to beat much weaker cheaper teams in the PL, if thats not poor then I don't know what is. The CL run has papered over a few more cracks and this is football related, not boardroom related.

We've been playing poorly the last 2-3 months? I agree with some of what you say but you ALWAYS overplay it. I'm not happy with the way the season has gone but at least I can acknowledge that we have played well during the latter part of the season. You'd rather not say we've shown some good form or even recognise our Champions League turn-around on the grounds that it might weaken your 'everything is shi...i...te, Rafa sucks' argument.

Fair enough if you have that opinion but you've turned into the grumpy grandad that no-one wants at family parties. If you were a pundit it would definately be Mark Lawrensen.

by **ConnO'var** » Fri May 02, 2008 2:31 pm

IMO, the major effect of the bullsh!t in the boardroom was essentially the besmirching of the good name of our club.

If memory serves, all the cr@p came to the fore in or around mid Jan..... by which time, in the LEAGUE we were already riding on the back of 4 consecutive draws to Man City, Wigan, Middlesborough and Aston Villa. We also already had poor performances/results in earlier league games to Portsmouth and Birmingham.

There was probably a minor blip once the Klinsmann story broke when we lost to West Ham and in that game, I would say that the players WERE affected.

As such, before the initiating point of the Klinsmann fiasco, the best run we had over a 7 game stretch was 4 wins and 3 draws with a 3 game winning streak. After the announcement we had a stretch of 6 wins and 1 draw with a winning streak of 5 consecutive games.

So if anything, it can be argued that we did better after the rubbish started as fans and players closed ranks around Rafa against the yanks.

Of course I feel that there was an effect, but IMO, based on the results on the field, the negative impact was negligible.

by **Leonmc0708** » Fri May 02, 2008 3:36 pm

Scottbot wrote:
peewee wrote:as for poor, yes we were playing poorly and we have remained playing poorly hence another trophy less season, out the FA cup to barnsley ffs, struggling to beat much weaker cheaper teams in the PL, if thats not poor then I don't know what is. The CL run has papered over a few more cracks and this is football related, not boardroom related.

We've been playing poorly the last 2-3 months? I agree with some of what you say but you ALWAYS overplay it. I'm not happy with the way the season has gone but at least I can acknowledge that we have played well during the latter part of the season. You'd rather not say we've shown some good form or even recognise our Champions League turn-around on the grounds that it might weaken your 'everything is shi...i...te, Rafa sucks' argument.

Fair enough if you have that opinion but you've turned into the grumpy grandad that no-one wants at family parties. If you were a pundit it would definately be Mark Lawrensen.

IS peewwee up little boys too ?

by **The Manhattan Project** » Fri May 02, 2008 6:26 pm

For a second, I though the thread said "bedroom" shennanigans

by **Toffeehater** » Fri May 02, 2008 6:27 pm

Scottbot wrote:Bit of both to be honest. It was de-stabilising early on but you could also argue it helped rally the players once they got a couple of results. When we were struggling early-mid season, did Hicks comments and all the Klinsman stuff coming out not long after effect the players? Did they start to wonder whether the manager was going to be around much longer? Did a few of the 'more rotated' players wonder if it might be a good thing for them if the manager did move on? Did all the speculation in the press have any impact?

I think it probably did. Very hard to measure but I expect it had an impact although not as much as some portrayed on here at the time. Peewee reckons it had no impact at all but i think that is going too far the other way. Certainly the press attention and speculation didn't seem to do much for Spurs this season. The players got worse as the pressure on the manager got wound up tighter and tighter by the media. It looked like it might go that way for us but the manager and the players managed to pull out some excellent 'backs to the wall' results, developed a bit of a siege mentality, some momentum and turned things around to some degree. It's been a strange season, it started so promisingly, teetered on the brink of disaster for some time and then we finished strongly to salvage something. I'd say it's been an ok season on the whole but definately one you'd want to put behind you.

I certainly had my doubts about Rafa earlier this season and i still have a few BUT all credit to the guy. Great managers are the ones who can turn things around when progress halts and the team/club start going backwards, the guys who can't buy a win one minute but come out the other side. Fergie has done it time and time again but we all saw what happened to Ged, he made year on year progress, 4th, 3rd then 2nd, couldn't make the final push, the club lost momentum, ground to a halt and went into free-fall. VERY VERY difficult to reverse this but that is what the manager has done this season for me. Even if you are not a Rafa fan, you have to hand it to him. Most would have drowned in the pressure, just look at Martin Jol again.

good post

by **Toffeehater** » Fri May 02, 2008 6:29 pm

kazza wrote:peewee thinks we are poor. What a shock.

Might I suggest.. http://atom.smasher.org/highway....Man+Utd

Not the one to get involved but :no

, i don't see how his post has anything to do with his loyalty? Pee wee is a fan and his opinion varies from all of us and it would be good to respect everyone's views mate.

by **Leonmc0708** » Fri May 02, 2008 6:54 pm

Toffeehater wrote:
kazza wrote:peewee thinks we are poor. What a shock.

Might I suggest.. http://atom.smasher.org/highway....Man+Utd

Not the one to get involved but , i don't see how his post has anything to do with his loyalty? Pee wee is a fan and his opinion varies from all of us and it would be good to respect everyone's views mate.

Peewee does not need defending soft lad. :kungfu:

by **The Manhattan Project** » Fri May 02, 2008 6:56 pm

Manhattan is a soft lad.

That's why women love me and hate me.

They love the fact I am soft emotionally, but hate the fact that I am soft sexually.

by **metalhead** » Fri May 02, 2008 7:17 pm

The Manhattan Project wrote:Manhattan is a soft lad.

That's why women love me and hate me.

They love the fact I am soft emotionally, but hate the fact that I am soft sexually.

can't Manhattan be soft personaly and hard sexually?

by **taff** » Fri May 02, 2008 7:29 pm

I voted yes they did have an effect but its difficult to quantify it without any of us haveing the full facts. I can presume that the players picked up on this before the media/we did and from my work experience etc then I have to think that it did have an effect. Ignore the money they are on etc they are humans with the same emotions as the rest of us.

But I have to reluctantly agree that it is not an excuse for the league position but it certainly did not help but again how would we quantify it into points dropped, even if we could it would not close the gap with the mancs in my opinion.

It looks like Rafa has support from the players but at times when it looked like he would not be in a job the players even if they absolutely love the guy would naturally be uneasy. In that situation its very easy for someone to be undermined and not have the full 100% support. I think the players are professional but you do need to know exactly who the boss is and what the direction is. Just look at Man Utd when Fergie announced his retirement, they were professional, focused motivated as their recent record suggested but we are human and we are affected by change.

My opinion of Rafa is that he is extremely focused and professional and what worries me is even if he knows he is off in June he would keep focused and do the best job possible until his very last minute in charge, he is hard to read. And this is why I was shocked with the focus on the team press conference and for a man like that to obviously be annoyed then it must have had a ripple effect.

Rafa's focus on the team is probably his equivelant to the rest of us losing it and swearing like Basil Fawlty attacking his car

by **The Manhattan Project** » Fri May 02, 2008 7:47 pm

metalhead wrote:
The Manhattan Project wrote:Manhattan is a soft lad.

That's why women love me and hate me.

They love the fact I am soft emotionally, but hate the fact that I am soft sexually.

can't Manhattan be soft personaly and hard sexually?

For you only.

:wwww

by **Red @ Heart** » Fri May 02, 2008 8:24 pm

lol.....

http://atom.smasher.org/highway....Man+Utd

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