Liverpool thread

[aliando]

i do wonder how much support rafa would have had we not come back form 3-0 to milan?

i really dont dislike the guy after all he has brought to the club, but i'm not seeing sufficient progress at the club and I cannot support this. a great history is worth nothing in the current season.

[Darren]

Originally Posted by aliando

i do wonder how much support rafa would have had we not come back form 3-0 to milan?

i really dont dislike the guy after all he has brought to the club, but i'm not seeing sufficient progress at the club and I cannot support this. a great history is worth nothing in the current season.

TBH he has earnt a cult following - the bars of Leverkusen started it all off.

What he has done with the youth and reserves is great. Or at least what we have done while he is here is great anyway, got some potential in there now. Darren Potter was the best talent when Rafa arrived, he was shyte.

If we lose tonight it will be "interesting" to see where things go. We should be behind going into tonights game but its level. We have put in 3 pish displays so far, need to step up some time soon.

[aliando]

cant see this getting anywhere but it does demonstrate the feelings of fans...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/m...de/7584470.stm

[Darren]

If Reina can't save everything I guess its UEFA Cup then eh?

[Darren]

Shocking effort again. I say shocking, nor sure I mean it. What can really be expected with wide players of Kuyt and Benayoun. Grinding out results is all good and well, but you gotta perform somethime, and we aren't. Looking totally inept at the moment.

[aliando]

its not just money, but reputation when enticing players that rests on this game - its simply not good enough.

full respect to liege though - with the way they've approached the games, i would have liked to see them in the group stages alongside liverpool (although different groups)

[Samba_SamPa]

[JackJarvis]

I genuienly feel sorry for Liege.

They dominated in both legs but yet again a scrappy goal saves the big boys.

[Darren]

Phew. Got away with another crap performance. Liege where on the back foot for most of that - but we barely troubled them. Not sure how the ref never gave the penalty in extra time but christ, what a load of shit. We can't keep playing that poorly and expect to get anywhere. Another dismal display.

Feel for Liege and their young players, they look full of it and don't seem to have much fear.

Villa look a good bet to win on Sunday I think!

[Darren]

Originally Posted by JackJarvis

I genuienly feel sorry for Liege.

They dominated in both legs but yet again a scrappy goal saves the big boys.

Dunno what game you saw but they hardly dominated that one. Scrappy game they edged the first half we edged the 2nd - but neither side dominated tonight.

[aliando]

not good enough.

cant really say anything else about it.

[Darren]

Originally Posted by aliando

not good enough.

cant really say anything else about it.

The positive thing is we got through. Should have had a penalty (although that was well into extra time as well!). And generally we do not play well in that round of the CL. We should be out though, Liege much the better over the 2 legs.

Pretty grim stuff though, total lack of width and shortage of ideas. Main thing is to get through but on that showing Villa could rip us apart, we look well off the pace and even Torres is looking like that.

[Jonesy Knows]

A reality check is needed here, come on Liverpool are through and that was all that was required. As I have stated previously it is early days and players are going to need 5 to 6 games competitively at prem rate to gain full match fitness!
We were never going to thump a team at this stage in the season and Liege were a decent team who would trouble most prem teams at the moment. The positives so far is we are unbeaten!!!
The team should be further strengthened by the transfer window closing on midnight 1st September. Hopefully we will get the width we so badly need. Stevie G has played very average for his standards so far, however now it is apparent why!
He now requires a groin operation and will be out for 2 weeks or so and has played for Liverpool whilst carrying the injury.

The idea we are not playing too well is all fair and good but until we are up to match fitness we can expect a couple or so more games very much the same. All that matters is the result in the end and I would rather us play crap and win then playing superbly with the end result being a defeat or a draw!

Rafa with the right backing will get us there


.

[Sharpe1ne]

Do you not think though with the wages your paying to the players and with the money needed for a new stadium that your running short of cash big time,even more so than Arsenal.It's alright saying sign a player for £20 mill but then you've got a minimum of £7 million on wages throughout their contract.
He's selling off a lot of fringe players who are probably on small wages but when signing a new player he's costing the same as 2 of those they've offloaded.If he was such a good coach, who seems to be taking over every aspect of training(youth,reserves and first team) why are these fringe players not getting better and challenging for the 1st team.It just seems that these foreign managers(not just Pool) can only chuck big cash at "established" players? More focus on the fringe and youth and I think Liverpool could be up there challenging.
Apart from Reina the only players playing their heart out for the club are the 2 Scousers,Gerrard and Carragher.Maybe a few more scousers in the team and the passion would come back.

[mileni4uk]

Originally Posted by Darren

Villa look a good bet to win on Sunday I think!

Villa are bad defensively and Masherano will be back. I think we can take this game. Hope Babel starts and Kuyt finds his confidence after this goal. With Mashe and Xabi we should be able to play wider on the flanks. Especially if Babel starts. And with two defesive midfielders the full backs can give us some width too. But that is not the Rafa style and the way we are playing at the moment .. I am just speechless. We keep getting the results though and that's all that matters. The thing is Keane hasn't shown anything yet and Torres is a bit off form too. One or two big performances have to come from somewhere.

P.S. Saying all those optimistic words .. I must admit we have absolutely no movement up-front and under Rafa we've never had it. Not sure how we can win the league playing this way. We struggle in attack when we lack confidence and that's why we lose so many points. Teams play defensively at Old Trafford and Stamford Bridge too, but they concede goals.

Here's hoping ...

[aliando]

players are going to need 5 to 6 games competitively at prem rate to gain full match fitness!

i dont like being negative about my teams and i take your point here, but my feelings are based on the previous seasons poor league form which seems to be continuing - we have not deserved one single victory so far. I agree that winning when playing poorly is a good thing, but i cannot see how we have improved and I cannot see exactly how we are going to challenge the top 2 as we are.

[Jonesy Knows]

I must admit Gerrard is going to be a sore loss especially against the Mancs! However it's time the other players in the team stand up and be counted in his absence.
Alonso has a real opportunity to gel a decent midfield partnership with Mascherano in Gerrards' absence and I think he'll do well.
I hopes we can get a left winger in soon, as I fcuking hate watching Benayoun run around like a headless chicken, His ball retention is abysmal and he's too lightweight for my liking!
It sounds as though the Reira deal is nearly done but I have no real knowledge of this Guy? anybody got any opinions on him?

[Charlie Wong]

Riera looked fairly decent when he was on-loan at Man City, will stay wide left and offer genuine width,saw quite a bit of him when Espanyol reached the Uefa cup finala couple of years ago, played for Spain in the recent Euro qualifiers but surprisingly left out of the final squad for the championships.


Looking forward to El Nino's return to Ath.Madrid in the group stages of the CL, ok their a decent side, dont think the group is overly daunting,Of course its not just about Torres, Luis Garcia and Florent Sinama-Pongolle will be coming back to Anfield, just hope Garcia losts the knack for scoring important goals in Europe.The player i fear most is Aguero, the dimutive forward, is a class act.

PSV and Marseille are two average sides, i'd much prefer to have these two than say Fenerbache and Dynamo Kiev, due to the distances/crowd hostility, plus the h2h with both have been good apart from the defeat to Marseille at home, cant see Rafa making the same mistake again though,

All makes for an exciting European campaign.

[AJ]

A honest question if I may ?

Rafa has signed 49 players in his 4 years at Liverpool. Has there been a substanial improvement in Liverpool over the past 4 seasons ?

[Charlie Wong]

I think so, we've reached two Champions League finals under the man, he's finally landed a world class striker in Torres, something thats been missing since Owen left, In the league he's still needs more progress, finishing 2nd this year(or winning it)would be fair.