Liverpool FC Forum

stmichael wrote:From our point of view I hope Berbatov plays and Tevez is on the bench. Tevez would cause us a lot more problems tha Berbatov, as he did at Anfield in the first half earlier this season.

Berbatov has been a poor signing for 30+ million in my view. He's lazy, often uninterested and has missed a lot of chances. I hope he starts too, because after a few kicks from Carra will put him out of the game.

meanwhile, I know for a fact that the tramps are not happy that Torres is back. 

stmichael wrote:Incidentally, if we win it will be Rafa's 100th win as LFC manager.

In the Premiership (didn't I say that elsewhere.........  )

Rockthekop wrote:I'm extremely disappointed that we have arrived at this game already out of the title race.  If we had kept in touch with Utd we would have had a great chance to win the league.  The lead that was squandered is a bitter spill to swallow. 

The performance against Real Madrid on Tuesday night just shows that we are capable of playing some great attacking football.  The only problem is that the team are kept on a leash by Rafa in most games. 

I know that we need to improve the squad but I believe that the mentality instilled by Rafa is more the problem than our squad.  I reckon that this team could have pushed Utd right to the end and won the league had Rafa placed more emphasis on attacking teams, rather than trying to nullify them.  I'm more convinced than ever that Rafa's philosophy will never bring us the title.

Penguins wrote:

Rockthekop wrote:I'm extremely disappointed that we have arrived at this game already out of the title race.  If we had kept in touch with Utd we would have had a great chance to win the league.  The lead that was squandered is a bitter spill to swallow. 

The performance against Real Madrid on Tuesday night just shows that we are capable of playing some great attacking football.  The only problem is that the team are kept on a leash by Rafa in most games. 

I know that we need to improve the squad but I believe that the mentality instilled by Rafa is more the problem than our squad.  I reckon that this team could have pushed Utd right to the end and won the league had Rafa placed more emphasis on attacking teams, rather than trying to nullify them.  I'm more convinced than ever that Rafa's philosophy will never bring us the title.

I respect your opinion but I think you are totally wrong to blame that all on Rafa.

This year Rafa has rotated much less unlike other years and unlike other years we got a good 1st half of the season.
Then we fail because we have way too little quality throughout the sqaud. Yes, the squad!
When injuries happen, players getting tired in the 1st 11, we have no players on the bench or in the squad who can adequately replace them.
We also have extremly little pace and creativity in our squad.
Why?
You won't find a top class(and I mean top class) creative midfielder under 20 million but defensive quality players cost less than half.
We have less money than the mancs(yes, I am sorry, but money does matter) so Rafa buys top quality defensive players
and are a team that is built on defense 1st and.
Manure buys top quality attack players and are built to attack teams from kickoff.

And players are only human. On european nights the atmosphere is electrifying and that translates to the players
who for one game can muster the energy to get up a notch or 2.
If the players would play like that every game they would be dead after 10 games. And the atmosphere vs Stoke at home in the PL is sometimes non-existant meaning players must create the spark and energy themselves and go for it.
But.. we have a team full of defensive quality players who just lack that creativity and pace you need in the normal days of the PL.

And no, even if some believe it, Rafa has not have the money to buy that kind of top quality attacking players with a few excaptions.

And like some suggest to buy even less quantity and more quality would be and even bigger disaster since the squad is really thin as it is now, it would be alot thinner then.
And no, you can't have 5-6 top class players who are great and then fill the other 17 places with players from the reserves. That is kindergarten behavior to believe that would work.

If the squad was light of attacking options, it then seems an odd choice to sell Keane, with us still in the title hunt, with Torres in the middle of an injury ravaged season, and our other attacking options unproven.

I'm not saying Rafa should go or anything like that, I believe in him, and would gladly see him stay for another contract (if he wants to).

Yes the Mancs have more money...each of their first choice strikers cost more than £30m, but Rafa doesn't help himself sometimes, and a fully fit Keane wouldn't have hurt the squad any until the end of the season.

If Rafa signs his new contract, with Parry gone, who it seems is perceived to have blocked a load of Rafa's targets, I really hope he gets who he wants, and we can improve again next season and put together a very strong challenge.

For now, I wouldn't mind the players going "up a notch or two" for the last 12 games or so, to justify their £100k a week.  Then we might still have a very outside chance of the title.

Let's start that on Saturday, and put a dent in the Mancs arrogance.