Good article...most people are calling rafa's head out of pure frustration.

But logically, we can't afford to sack and hire another good coach due to our debts. Rate him at the end of the season...then only decide whether he stays or not.

Some positive notes for all of us :

Man C lost yesterday
Spurs and Villa drew their games this week as well...

So it isn't as bad as we thought?

Stoke (Sorensen to be exact) also made a stupid mistake by giving us our goal...so we were pretty lucky there

The most important issue we have to look at is...we're very short up front. Ngog's touches and dribble in the Stoke game was easily readable by the experienced Stoke defence, rendering him useless.

If our luck were a lil bit worse, we would have lost 1-0. We need firepower up front to bang in goals...or at least to distract/outmuscle/pull away defenders so that our midfielders can step in and have a go at goal. Jones seems like a pretty good choice, even if Torres is back he can take the position Gerrard has been struggling this season.

Gerrard can stay back a bit and be the playmaker like the earlier days....

Thats why Benitez is linked to sign Heskey and Carew cause they can cause problems in the back four by simply being there. If only Crouch is still around...

This post has been edited by kazuki85: Jan 18 2010, 05:09 PM

Guardiola is good, but he did inherit a pretty strong squad from Riijkard when he came in...

But of course I'm not taking anything away from him, he's did good in maintaining the structure, sticking with the players and togetherness of the Barca team. Plus, Barca's fund are much more healthier than Liverpool's.

But with the current situation, I think it's impossible for him to come over, let alone leave Barca. We have to stick and trust Rafa till the end of this season at least.

IN RAFA WE TRUST....till next season

Torres is right...most of the other teams this season get some good players to bolster their squad, where as Liverpool just got a crocked Aquilani, Johnson (which is injured now), Krygiakos (who just recovered from injury), and Maxi Rodriguez.

And its a bit of bad luck for us cause most of our injured players are attack minded ones...which left us fielding Ngog and Kuyt up front.

This post has been edited by kazuki85: Jan 20 2010, 10:12 AM

Rafa actually sticked with Kewell and wanted to keep him, but his wages is a lil bit too much for the injuries he have...thus he rejected the contract and went to Turkey instead

Ngog still young, his first touches and dribbling techniques are readable by experienced defenders. He just need more time to polish his first touch and dribbling...

Babel barely gets enough time on the field, and if he has...he tries his best to perform, ending up bolot the possesion most of the time

Riera got too many injuries to make him unfit and unable to complete full 90 mins of a match...so now we have to rely on Maxi and even Aquilani for now...

XABIII~~~~~~PLZ COME BEK

Just kidding....lol

You got a point there...compare to Arsenal, when I saw they play Bolton on Sunday...their first touches and 1 touch passes were very good and quick compare with us.

At least Masch has improve on his pass and first touches...Aquilani so far isn't up to my expectation yet. Hope he will come good soon.

Aqua did very well yesterday! Not only did he assist the 1st goal, he actually tracked back and win many balls from their midfielders like Jenas and Kranjcar...not too bad for our new Italian.

Krygiakos look menacing like a typical greek...Crouchy can't do much with him around. I think its worth the money we bought him.

Degen was very attack minded, thus drawing many fouls on him...which is a good thing cause we get free kicks

Gerrard still has time to prove himself when he comes back. Hopefully when he sees Aquilani doing pretty well, he can give himself a slap on his face to wake up from his nightmare...

So is Torres...yesterday Kuyt had chances to get a hattrick. If Torres is watching he'll prolly think "Wth...given those chances I might get four goals!"

Good to see some pressure lifted off Rafa. He doesn't deserve all the media attack after few good seasons in Liverpool...

Yes, he could get critized for some wierd decisions he made...but overall the media attack on him is too much. Well, I guess its the journalist's job to write whatever they think is a good read...

Mathematically we still can get 1st - 3rd place if we win all our games...and Chelsea/Arsenal/ManU losing a couple among themselves

Yes it was good subs by Rafa...he needed to protect Aquilani and Degen for the coming game this weekend anyways.

Degen, for a free agent is actually a pretty good buy now.

Even if Degen didnt do anything, he just wasn't sh*t cause he drew quite a handful of dangerous freekicks, fouls and yellow cards.

Gerrard's main strength is his physical prowess and his technique...but he haven't find his physical level yet.

Seems like he's not fit yet, so why play him full 90 mins? Aquilani played the last few games and should start first and let Gerrard in with 20 or 30 mins to go.

Or just drop Lucas altogether since he played too many games this season already, he needs a freaking rest please...

Expected Liv fans today to flame Rafa cause his defensive tactics are again very questionable...

This post has been edited by kazuki85: Jan 27 2010, 09:10 AM

Come to think of it, Rafa's tactic are too static. He barely changes his 4-5-1 formation with 2 DMF...Is he paid to do that?

I think he's smart enough to know the 4-5-1 formation is not effective against all other formations and style...

It happened last season also...remember our 20m signing last season?

And where he end up now...

After so many years with us, I think Rafa is the more defensive/play safe type.

As evident of last season, he rather draw matches than to sub in more attack-minded players to the field to gamble for a win. Stubborn is his forte...

Liverpool season will start after we win Europa League

I think the partnership of Agger/Skrtel and Carra in the center works better against Arsenal's slick 1-2 passing more than Agger/Skrtel and Soto...Can we try putting Darby/Kelly back in RB?

I hope Aquilani plays and do something against Arsenal, since he was in consideration from Arsene Wenger for the past few seasons but he never made a move on him.

Agree 100%

The English game is never not physical in any ways...I remember Luis Garcia saying he got grounded by a whack from Rio Ferdinand from his 1st game with Man U, and Rio just told him "Welcome to the EPL"

Man U played ugly last season, by scraping C.Ronaldo goals, controversial decisions, and luck. Who cares nowdays?

Final score is what matters the most to get the Cup, not brilliant plays and fancy tricks.