If Rafa goes...beware what follows...
Another defeat at Pompey and although the Mascherano sending-off was a key moment you have to also say that the referee gave us nothing all day.
Rafa's post-match ironic dig at the ref went over a few heads to be honest and you would have to say referee Lee Mason's favourite book must be the Iliad.
Mind you, you need a decent side with confidence, desire and determination to overcome a dodgy ref and the only team that bore those hallmarks yesterday were wearing blue I'm afraid.
We lost too many 50:50 balls, lost too many physical challenges (of which Portsmouth provided plenty but it seemed you had to be wearing white to attract the referee's whistle) Michael Brown spent most of the day - as usual - getting involved in physical challenges. Brown is one of those players for whom football is more foot than ball.
Too many players did not seem up for an early kick-off on a cold day against a side willing to fight for every ball and that is the major worry.
Some of those wearing the Liver Bird seemed to lose the plot too quickly for me. For some, the white shirt was a white flag.
Looking on some of the supporter websites last night there are those already calling for Rafa to go. Questioning "why he sold Alonso".
I don't fully understand this.
OK this season has been a sorry tale so far but it seems clear that Benitez has been hamstrung in the transfer market. There is no money to spend. Alonso asked for a transfer to Madrid with both a new baby in tow and the prospect of hate-mail from the UK tax-man. What can Benitez do if the player asks to leave?
Even then the Alonso cash seems to have gone to service the debt the Americans saddled us with and we face the spectre of bargain-hunting in the January sales. Probably Benitez will have to sell to buy.
I am sorry to say it but the Americans' "stewardship" of this club has so far been a sick joke. We all know this, so it surprises me when there are those who point the finger at Benitez without looking at what the manager has had to deal with over the last few seasons and is still dealing with.
Hicks and Gillett attract the ire of the majority of Liverpool supporters and for good reason.
Referred to disparagingly as Tom and Jerry or Statler and Waldorf (these are the more printable tags the two owners have attracted). The Muppet reference is an apt one however.
If Rafa left or was forced out, just who would Hicks and Gillett replace him with?
A manager likely to challenge their authority, a manager in the mould of the great Bill Shankly?
No chance.
Whoever replaced Benitez would have to be:
A. Cheaper (got to pay the banks back guys)
And
B. Likely to have "Yes" tattooed on to his forehead as a clause in his contract.
Let's be fair, our owners would not want to replace the troublesome Spaniard with someone equally belligerent would they?
No, we'd get a puppet manager
.
A Muppet puppet if you will.
True, Rafa does not help himself on occasion with cautious tactics, the odd strange team selection etc but every manager has his critics. Even Sir Alex the Red of Salford Quays gets stick occasionally. Their three-nil away defeat at Fulham is a good example of the wheels coming off big time.
My own view is that if Rafa left tomorrow our owners would not shed a tear but the question is, who replaces him if he does go?
Would Tom and the Other One present any new manager with a massive war-chest?
No.
If they did, we'd all be entitled to know which particular mattress they had been hiding it under surely?
No, I'm afraid our only alternative to Rafa Benitez would be the aforementioned Muppet Puppet.
A speak-no-evil Avatar for our American owners.
In my opinion, we must keep the faith with Benitez. He needs our support now more than ever. As does every player who still feels the passion to fight for the red shirt.
Those only here for the cash can get lost as soon as possible. Those undermining the manager's position can go too. Soon.
I've seen some supposed supporters trotting out the old chestnut that "no one is bigger than the club". If you think that you've not been paying attention.
Two Americans rode into town a while ago and sold us a good line in snake-oil, used our own money to buy the club. They OWN the club now.
So far, the only man at the club to consistently challenge them has been Benitez.
Rafa is still the man. Support him.
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Errr in Rafa we love????
Rafaaaaa Benitezzzzzz!!!!
Lucas is boss like an so is Kuyt!!!
i blame Hicks n Gillets team selections meself, aint Rafassssssss fault!!!.
Let him loose with the chequebook in January! go ed!!!!
im really sorry but you cant blame the owners for the plight we are in. its all about the players he has bought in (he has bought them all in except gerrard and carra) and the tactics he employs
If you look back to 2005, he won the CL with GH squad and played 4-4-2 which was fine.
Then the following year he wins the fa cup and guess what the formation was - 4-4-2.
Since then and the addition of the wonderful torres he has decided that he is only going to play one striker.. Which is total garbage.
Pompey are there for the taking.. if he insists on playing Lucas and Mascherano, then Gerrard should be on the right and Kuyt / Ngog should be alongside Torres.
Too many times he was crowded out because the support was too deep.
Too many times we aim long balls into the box
Its time for a change otherwise our season will end in February.
I love Rafa, but i think his ways are not suited. plus he doesnt care about the league, he just wants european success whereas the fans want success in England.
So we need to get Dalglish, Rush or Keegan in charge and get the passion back.
No mention of spending £20m on Alonso's replacement who hasn't hardly kicked a ball yet. No mention of refusing to take Michael Owen back on a free but being happy to take Andy Voronin.
Please, his excuses have run out. The doom and gloom Rafaelites should follow him out the door. Any £4m a year manager who plays Lucas and Kuyt as much as Benitez has this season despite some dismal performances and so many losses deserves no sympathy.
Karim, i was being sarcastic lad, know worra min kidda n that.
every defeat has a reason. we can blame his, we can pin-point them, we can pointing finger who ever or what ever we want.
right now, mr. rafa benitez has to suck his defeat without pinpoint anything but himself.
this is not about sacking a manager or replace a new manager.
this is about a defeat with high-class player, club with remarkable history to a bottom relegation team and having trouble paying fees to their player.
we should look at our last match. not look at other teams.
4-4-2 formation mascherano and gerrard pairing (or using lucas/gerrard) when we facing a lesser/parking-a-bus/well-organize team.
right now 4-2-3-1 formation is not good enough went using lucas/macherano combination (and look at glen jonhson himself. he also indirectly helping pompey get the first score).
look at jamie caragher, how's he playing. fully commited. pity him. playing 100% and yet lost. look at others, like kuyt chasing the ball from forward to back and vice versa. how frustrating torres when not having a ball to score.
look at our wigan's match. how was our game for the first half ? when mascherano and gerrard pairing ? how many chances we get compare to this one ?
why not look at our game with arsenal ? i can say, we should used lucas/macherano.
this time mr. rafa benitez should pointing finger at himself. don't blame the referee, don't blame the pitch and don't blame the owner. isn't good to spend their money and yet the manager still not producing the good result ?
and please everyone which close to him, tell him that your 4-2-3-1 tactic isn't good for now until alonso's quality been replaced (being cautious and yet lost.. hakk tuii !!! - spitting).
this game is utterly rubbish !!!
by;
angry-fan-burst-after-patiently-watching-his-team-lost-day-by-day.
So in other words Kuyt an Lucas is plain on Boxin day n that?
We deserve all we get, accept it, makes u feel better.
Liverpool, the masters on fooking ineptitude.
Look at Manc City, theyve just sacked their problem, we will give ours 20 million to waste in January.
You know am right.
Thank you.
Good night.
I can't believe I wasted 3 minutes reading this nonsense.
Lets blame polar shifting.
This is sickening.
those two either put or get out !!! give rafa money now!!!!!!!!!!!!
Why, so the useless "Spanish person" can waste it on more garbage. We will never win the league with a team mainly consisting on cheap inconsistant players. We're only short of Xabi alonso this year and we're 7th maybe 9th if Brum and Fulham win there games in hand, this time last year we was top. If Rafa continues to buy rubbish cheap inconsistant players that perform a few months every season we'll never get any better.
this time last year we were top because we had players that someone else brought in??
The 3 players, Arbeloa, Sami and Alonso we lost, who WANTED TO LEAVE, is why we are in such a mess. Oh yes and Rafa has to take some of the blame too, but it's not as much as people are making it out to be.
One eyed IRWT brigade , the man is stubborn he will not walk , he needs to be sacked NOW!!!!! We dare not give him any cash to spend/blow in Jan.
Rafa please go NOW.
You cannot absolve rafa's major mistakes and arogance while he has been in charge
we always feared coming to anfield but this year was different there is no team work in your team they are just disjointed players who cannot settle with each other without from gerrard and beni and torres you would be fighting to stay in the top half even reina has lost confidence
I am not saying or bragging villa will be in the top four this season its too early
but we were eight points clear of arsenal last year and they came back to grab fourth i cannot see the reds doing anything like that this season
sorry but true
Can't really understand the logic in yesterday's team selection. In my opinion we had 9 defensive players starting the game. What was rafa going for a 0-0?. We had a goalkeeper and a back four, we then had two defensive midfielders in Macherano and Lucus (Don't exactly break into the box and score goals). Then we had dossena who is a left back. Then we had kuyt (who could not beat a full back if he tried). That leaves us with a centre midfielder up front (Gerrard) and Torres. How do we expect to win a game when 9 out of the starting 11 are either defenders or denfensive minded???. We are Liverpool F.C. we should be going to the bottom of the league, playing 4-4-2 ATTACK and be winning 5-0. We had Babel, Yossi and Ngog on the bench, all three should be starting and going for the WIN!. Forget about the Americans, RAFA Has lost the plot and should be SACKED!. By the way, he has lost the players aswell, Gerrard knows he can't win the league so he is swanning around as it is World Cup Year. He doesn't want to know.
I don' care how much it costs us, SACK RAFA!
What can Benitez do if the player asks to leave?
Even then the Alonso cash seems to have gone to service the debt the Americans saddled us with and we face the spectre of bargain-hunting in the January sales.
Mascherano also asked to leave, yet he's still around isn't he?
If he were so worried about losing some
of the transfer fee to finance club debts, he could've negotiated to add in any of the players that Real were trying to flog in the summer - Robben, Van der Vaart, Sneider or Van Nistelroi - any of which would've definitely added quality and depth to the Liverpool squad, and were requested by the fans, but instead decided he'd rather take the cash and spend it elsewhere, on a replacement that we are still yet to see play 90mins with a struggling club approaching the next transfer window
I think we do have a replacement. Kenny Daglish. And we do not need to terminate Rafa. We can keep him under contract and use him like a football director (but this would be wrong and not the liverpool way)? it is going to be too costly to fire him. but iam sure that there is a clause to remove him if he does not perform. I say bring Kenny Daglish. He has the history and I would rather give him a try then watch Rafa keep on trying for 5 YEARS at this moment. But Rafa does have a lot of strengths and I am watching what he does in the January transfer window. Give him some time to improve. Thats it.
Larry I'm not a great Benitez fan and I think he's doing a poor job with relatively meagre resources but your comments about the Americans are absolutely right. Too many fans have fallen into the rather simplistic trap of deciding it has to be either the Americans or Rafa who are to blame when it is clearly a combination of both. The Club badly needs both new owners and a new coach. I have no faith at all that things would improve much with a new coach appointed by the Americans but if new owners came in I would expect them to bite the massive financial bullet and sack Benitez.
Not one sensible suggestion for a replacement from the Rafa out brigade. Kenny could only ever be a stop gap and I am sure he's got more sense than to put himself between the Yanks and the fans. So, please before you shout Rafa out name someone who would be so desperate to take on the club in its present state. Rafa goes and it really is meltdown time.
As frustrated as we all are right now, it’s important we analyse all the facts (as we know them) before casting judgement on Rafa.
No fan can deny that so far, this season has been a disaster. After last season’s gallant title challenge (our first real title challenge since Roy Evan’s 95/96 side), we certainly expected to be fairing much higher up the table than we currently find ourselves in.......Granted.
However, this season is only approaching the half way stage and we currently lie in 7th position, 14 points off the leaders. We aren’t playing well and it’s clear the team has lost confidence. So naturally it’s doom and gloom from here on in and we’re going to finish outside the top 4...........MAYBE?..........But let’s first analyse how we have performed during the past few seasons (since 06/07........when Rafa is deemed to have HIS own squad) and look at how LFC has performed in its final 20 Prem matches:
2006/07 season LFC took 33 from 54 points (the first 18 matches) compared to 35 from 60 points (the final 20 matches).
2007/08 season LFC took 36 from 54 compared to 40 from 60.
2008/09 season LFC took 39 from 54 compared to 50 from 60.
So far in 2009/10 season LFC has taken just 27 from 54 BUT should LFC follow on its upward (statistical) trend over the past 3 seasons, it’s arguable that LFC can take at least another 50(+) taking the final tally to approx 80 points!!.......Now even the most ardent fan amongst us recognizes that there’s more chance of pigs flying over Old Trafford and sh*tting all over the The Stretford End (here’s hoping!) but at least it’s something to hold on to and offers us all some festive cheer.
Let us judge the man at the end of the season...........I believe we owe Rafa at least that.
Merry Xmas :0)
As frustrated as we all are right now, it’s important we analyse all the facts (as we know them) before casting judgement on Rafa.
No fan can deny that so far, this season has been a disaster. After last season’s gallant title challenge (our first real title challenge since Roy Evan’s 95/96 side), we certainly expected to be fairing much higher up the table than we currently find ourselves in.......Granted.
However, this season is only approaching the half way stage and we currently lie in 7th position, 14 points off the leaders. We aren’t playing well and it’s clear the team has lost confidence. So naturally it’s doom and gloom from here on in and we’re going to finish outside the top 4...........MAYBE?..........But let’s first analyse how we have performed during the past few seasons (since 06/07........when Rafa is deemed to have HIS own squad) and look at how LFC has performed in its final 20 Prem matches:
2006/07 season LFC took 33 from 54 points (the first 18 matches) compared to 35 from 60 points (the final 20 matches).
2007/08 season LFC took 36 from 54 compared to 40 from 60.
2008/09 season LFC took 39 from 54 compared to 50 from 60.
So far in 2009/10 season LFC has taken just 27 from 54 BUT should LFC follow on its upward (statistical) trend over the past 3 seasons, it’s arguable that LFC can take at least another 50(+) taking the final tally to approx 80 points!!.......Now even the most ardent fan amongst us recognizes that there’s more chance of pigs flying over Old Trafford and sh*tting all over the The Stretford End (here’s hoping!) but at least it’s something to hold on to and offers us all some festive cheer.
Let us judge the man at the end of the season...........I believe we owe Rafa at least that.
Merry Xmas :0)
Every manager and club has their bad seasons, because you can't have a good season every year and it would be idiocy to sack rafa, when we would lose 15 million and not have any credible replacement. I think we have to blame some of the players more than rafa since they were the ones playing with no spirit, not him.
Why, when we wre losing to Portsmouth did Benitez leave 2 forwards on the bench and bring on 2 defenders? Madness or Asperger's Syndrome?
Given our one tactice is to hoof it up front, why not have 2 forwards to fight it out instead of 1?
Can't believe some people think keegan would be the man for the reds. He walked away from England9Whohe loved)Newcastle (who he also loved) and Fulham where he had his only minor success. Kenny's in the wings if we get stuck.