UptheDeise County: Waterford Posts: 133 403202 PJ County: All Posts: 1331 402981 Jeezzzzzzzzzz, how many more threads are we going to see on this man, but seeing as we're here, Rafa blew it last year, he will never get a better chance of winning the premiership than last season, pool were 10 points clear at the top and he starts tinkering with the team, not to mention disaster he made of the whole Robby Keane issue which I think cost cost liverpool the title. He moans about not having money to spend and he sells back Keane to Spurs at a Loss at such. He says Keane was'nt good enough and look at the players he has now instead of him, Voronin, babel, engog, elzar, Keane would wipe the floor with these guys. Benitez is Bizzare to say the least. i know what ur trying ta say PJ but using Keane is a bad example,Keane was never gonna work out at Liverpool in their current formation because Gerrard will play behind Torres when fit and you cant have a signing of that price on the bench all the time it was just a bad move for both parties it happens in football sometimes.The fact is benitez doesnt have the money he needs the American owners took what profit Liverpool made last season and put it straight into the money they owe for buying the club the same has also happened with the left over money from Alonso's sale along with others players sales this summer but even if he did his tranfers are not always that good anway but thats not the point.People are over reacting its three games into the season United had a shaky start last season and went on to win the title im not saying Liverpool will go on to do that but they can only get better they have pretty much the same squad as last year and im sure once aqualani is ready to play instead of Lucas it will make a big difference because its Alonso's lose that is being felt not Benitezs tactis. To say that Gerrard, Torres and Keane could not play for the same Team is complete rubbish as far as I am concerned, a good manager would be able to work out a system to suit the 3 players. Last season all the experts said that alex ferguson would not be able use Rooney, Ronaldo, Tevez and Berbatov in the same squad, but being the great manager that he is he was able to use all 4 players and win the title again. Berbatovs form was poor to say the least, but unlike Rafa with Keane he stood by his man. Rafas Treatment of keane was absolutely disgacefull. His stubbornness cost liverpool the Title last season.

PJ (None) - Posts: 2288 - 25/08/2009 21:19:12    404024

Ferguson WASTES talent though, last season he had rooney, tevez, berbatov up front chopping and changing between them. Look at rooney now as he is in a central role.. that is how he should play. Tevez and berbatov are there for tap ins

an_baile_nua (Tyrone) - Posts: 224 - 25/08/2009 23:44:55    404321

The only reason Waffle will keep his job is Liverspill cant afford to pay him off, the wrong man lost his job in June and nobody pull me on the spelling it is correct

Mulligan Eamonn (None) - Posts: 896 - 26/08/2009 00:24:33    404367

Gottabetrue......before spouting off,we don't have 30p rags here.Get your facts right.....here's his injury factfile.....

2006-07
he was expected to be one of the best players for Roma. Unfortunately an injury forced him to stay away from the game for several months.Aquilani returned to the field in May 2007 and featured in three games toward the end of the season, including the last two.

2007-08
Although he was injured in October 2007 he came back to squad in January 2008.

2008-09
Aquilani was injured on 22 October 2008 against Chelsea. He came back to the field on 11 January 2009 against Milan but picked up another injury in February 2009.Although he played against Arsenal as a last minute substitute on 11 March 2009,he did not play in the rest of the season.

and when is he due back?

Tipple30 (Tipperary) - Posts: 77 - 26/08/2009 08:59:49    404434

an_baile_nua, 'how it should be'? He won the league 3 times in a row 'chopping and changing' with those lads, i think that speaks for itself. He played rooney where he did because he had a winger who could score 40 goals a season.

I agree with pj, i could pick a team with keane torres and gerrard in it so i dont see why benitez couldnt... They could have gone two up front and gerrard in the centre of midfield; his best and favorite position. Fair enough he didnt sign keane, but he's still a top player isnt he? Surely for the good of the club the manager could swallow him pride and get on with it... That doesnt suit benitez... The impression i get is that in his head HE discovered that gerrard can play as a second striker, so that is the system. Its the same with kuyt, HE discovered kuyt could play out wide and he hasnt moved since. Dunphy once said of his rotation 'is benitez really that arrogant that he believes he has some better understanding of all things football than the rest of us?' and he's dead right. At the end of the day, he can believe what he wants but the facts dont lie. He flitted away all their money on guys who werent up to it. If he was managing a relagation threatened side they would be doomed and he'd be sacked by christmas. If you look at the likes of martin o'neill, who survived relagation battles and then easily slotted into a better club, where he has also been hugely successful, they couldnt be any more at odds. His big money signing was ashley young, who has gone from strength to strength. Benitez went for mark gonzalez. O'neill signed curtis davies and martin laursen, hodgson signed hangeland, moyes signed lescott and jagielka, benitez signed some rangers reject. For gods sake, where is he going?

TheMaster (Mayo) - Posts: 16187 - 26/08/2009 10:15:13    404495

I have followed LFC since the Liverpool v Arsenal FA Cup Final of 1971. After what I witnessed today against Chelsea and also during mid-week in the Champions league I have come to the conclusion that Rafa has to go as have certain players who are clearly nowhere near the required standard needed at this famous club. It's clear to see if Gerrard and Torres don't perform Liverpool suffer this should not be the case at a club such as Liverpool.

The transfer of Xabi Alonso Real Madrid was IMO a very poor decision by Benitz very poor. Liverpool IMO also will be very lucky to maintain a top four status in the premiership if something or somebody does not rectified the situation very soon.

Squid

squidword (Louth) - Posts: 2897 - 04/10/2009 18:44:26    444535

Squid

Wise words

ruanua (Donegal) - Posts: 4966 - 04/10/2009 20:00:23    444630

Rafa, bike...on it...now!

caughtredhanded (Tyrone) - Posts: 602 - 04/10/2009 22:03:28    444803

Keep up the good work Raffa you are doing a marvelous job.

Mulligan Eamonn (None) - Posts: 896 - 05/10/2009 00:29:18    444971

two very poor liverpool performances in a week and to be honest any half decent team we have played this season have beaten us. id worry about our top 4 status, never mind finishing top

yew_tree (Mayo) - Posts: 11689 - 05/10/2009 10:05:16    445093

Again people read too much into one game. Rafas still the man, the only chance liverpool have got. Hes getting the best out of this group of players. Fans need to look at the bigger picture, particularly with the internal turmoil at the club. The genuine, knowledgeable fan is still behind him. A few big games coming up after the int break will decide alot....away to sunderland and fulham and home to manutd. should have a clearer picture then as to what this season will hold.

mayonews (Mayo) - Posts: 254 - 05/10/2009 12:50:44    445297

Alonso leaving is a huge loss to Liverpool. And no-one is to blame more for his loss than Rafa. He tried to run him out of the club last summer when he needlessly went courting Gareth Barry, when it was obvious the last area that required strengthening was centre midfield. The signing of Aquilani is difficult to understand, this is a guy who can't play for a month without getting injured, let alone a season. He might as well have signed Owen Hargreaves!

And to say he has had no money is not true, Aquilani cost 25M, Keane 20M, Babel 10M+, Kuyt 14M, Riera 10M, Lucas 8M (I know I'm not 100% right on these figures, fell free to correct me - it's easy to get confused when half the time the fee is in Euro, and "undisclosed" or in £stg the rest of the time). And these are just the flops Benitez has spent big money on, he also paid big for more successful players, Torres, Skrtel, Mascherano, etc.

His time at the club must surely be getting short, the memory of the improbable Champions League sucess is fading...

nocky (Wexford) - Posts: 2059 - 05/10/2009 14:03:12    445384

If you want to stand back from this every time a thread starts on RAFA all the Man U fans come on and say "They hope he will stay"
which I think says it all really - for the Liverpool fans want to think about this more objectively

ruanua (Donegal) - Posts: 4966 - 05/10/2009 14:23:39    445403

yew_tree
County: Mayo
Posts: 366

445093 two very poor liverpool performances in a week and to be honest any half decent team we have played this season have beaten us. id worry about our top 4 status, never mind finishing top

yew tree why are you bringing mayo into this. Unless of course you use the word ''us'' because you are from liverpool? Is that it?

ConnollyDub (Dublin) - Posts: 2007 - 05/10/2009 14:40:17    445430

ConnollyDub - sorry if i confused you with scouce/mayo connections - there goes THEY[/b
i think you will find alot of prem fans say "us" when refearing to their team

Again people read too much into one game. Rafas still the man, the only chance liverpool have got. Hes getting the best out of this group of players. Fans need to look at the bigger picture, particularly with the internal turmoil at the club. The genuine, knowledgeable fan is still behind him. A few big games coming up after the int break will decide alot....away to sunderland and fulham and home to manutd. should have a clearer picture then as to what this season will hold.

But its not just one game, this very thread is evidence enough of that. As for the internal turmoil, he's to blame for the majority of it. Remember that interview he gave where all he said was 'i will focus on coaching and training my team' over and over again because the owners asked him in private about the poor performances of his recent signings? What sort of carry on is that for a grown man, never mind a professional in his workplace? Surely it was a fair thing to ask. They are after all paying him a world class salary, and letting him spend huge amounts of their money. They were well within their right to ask why he is not delivering the type of performance his salary indicates. They wont come away with 6 points from the fulham and sunderland games because they, quite frankly, dont have the quality

TheMaster (Mayo) - Posts: 16187 - 05/10/2009 23:14:55    445945