I think the Rafa situation was far more complex rather than a simple case of Rafa should just focus on his job.

The crux of it was that he became far too attached to Liverpool and tried to do too much. He took it upon himself to fight for the fan's corner and the lack of football minds and leadership in the Liverpool hierarchy meant he had to do the bulk of the work of developing not just the first team, but the entire football aspect of the club. So naturally, things became far too complicated and Rafa was overwhelmed by the sheer amount of responsibilities.

I really do feel at the end of the day, Rafa himself became the victim of the mess that was created by G+H. The toxic working environment made him bitter and he became increasingly agitated to just carry on with his job.
Rafa of last season wasnt the same Rafa we first knew. He fought for us and the club, but at the end he was consumed by the G+H cancer.

I want to win the league as much as the next fan but the best we can hope for is that club is run professionally and implement a long term plan to reinvent this club.

I want us to break away from the image that players come here because we so happen to be a prestigious European club some 20 odd years ago. Basically i want to see us become a football institute in the caliber of Barca - a club with a clear vision and built to materialize that vision. They're not just a club that play good football but they have this unique football culture and philosophy that is light years ahead of everyone else.

If that prove to impossible then i wouldnt mind settling for something less like Lyon - a club that has been designed to not be player or manager dependent. They are not as massive and pretty as Barca but they do have a stable structure, progressive youth development and can adapt to whatever situation.

Huh ? The fact that he did use his arm to stop the ball proved he cheated in the game. Just because he got caught doing it doesnt make it any less of a cheater. Having said this, i really dont care about the incident, Suarez was punished. The thing is majority of players have cheated at some point in their career. Be it diving, faking injury, time wasting, ball hugging etc. I dont condone it but cheating is a very human behaviour.

Not really. Cheating is basically an act of breaking some rules for the sake of gaining an advantage. It doesnt matter whether or not you had the intention of getting away with it. The moment you consciously break the rules to gain an advantage, you already commiting yourself to cheating. Diving to gain a penalty or free kick or to get someone sent off is cheating. Handballing to prevent a goal bound strike is cheating. Handballing to prevent the ball from going out of bounds ala Henry against Ireland is also cheating. Pulling a man down to prevent him from going on goal when you're the last man is cheating.

Stevie: This is how you clear the ball out of the danger zone people! I call it the Istanbul header!

This post has been edited by hfi: Jan 22 2011, 02:22 PM

That is interesting. We have no strikers and only one attacking mid on the bench ? Should at least squeeze in Pacheco on the bench.

Good first half. Wolves up to their usual nonsense, trying to break us down by roughing up our boys. The ref done nothing to clamp this down and made some poor decisions through out.

But we presevered and outplayed them. We looked defensively solid, the back four looking comfortable and Kelly is looking good by each game. Midfield wise, the trio Lucas - Meireles - Poulsen have been quite impressive. Im quite impressed with Poulsen's performance especially. He's been tidy and he supports the attacks quite well.

Upfront, Torres looking sharp and is up for it. He's looking 'happier' on the pitch - he drags everyone everywhere. He's back!

Cant wait for the 2nd half.

Haha yeah. Stearman has been winding up Torres the entire first half. They've done the same with Maxi as well - Torres stood his ground but they got to Maxi, coz you can actually see Maxi backing out of challenges after that.

"0-1 puta"

Yo f***ing beauty!!

Good game and well deserved win. Strange to see Steve Clark there celebrating our goal haha. But i think its clear now that the healing process is well under way and we just need to keep the momentum going.

Mereiles is the motm for me. Inspiring performance by him - his movement, passing and vision really helped the team to find its feet again.

Wasnt the number of passes that impressed me the most, it was the way we dragged them out of their half by making some harmless backpasses. Before you know it, we made few passes to bypass them and Kuyt was through.

Here's the king's post match interview and the last bit is especially classy. The king is restoring Dignity, Integrity and Respect back in Liverpool FC.

There's a lot of positives from that video. The number of passes for me was just icing on the cake. Im impressed that we didnt try to force an open by going for a quick cross or going for corners. Pleased to see we opted to drag them out our their half by making some close quarter passes - enticing them to press us. Its showed patience and control which has been missing in this team for quite some time.

Its a good example that you dont need fancy holywood passes to score goals. Lucas, for example here was effective in what he does best. He is constantly an outlet in the central mid, providing defensive and offensive support. Take notice on how men in red shirts constantly moving around creating triangles. Look at the fluidity in both Merelies and Lucas movements. Merelies playing in the more advanced midfield role, always trying to expand the triangles. Lucas remained deeper to provide anchor for the triangles. Just simple game of pass and move football.

Video also illustrates why Kuyt is still an important figure in our team. Just look at the amount of ground he covered in this video. He first received the ball on the far right of the pitch but he ended up ghosting at the opposite side of the pitch when he made the run towards the goal. This was the 90th min and you clearly see he was knackered. His desire to keep up with the momentum of the game is why manager after manager persisted in starting him ahead of others.

It will be a mistake if we dont get one or two transfers in. There's a tremendous lift in our camp and we dont know how long it will last, so its imperative we take full advantage of this lift and exploit it the best we can. Making the right signings will not only strengthen our squad but it tells everyone, the players, fans, and oppositions that we mean business. Its all about building up the momentum and the worst thing we can do right now, is to do nothing.

There's always one or two players out there that can improve this team. We have made some really good January signings before - Mascherano, Arbeloa, Skrtel and Agger comes to mind. Look at the kind of impact Arshavin had on Arsenal when they their season was on perils few years back. If we have the funds and there are some players available out there then theres little reason not to bolster our squad. Its not signing for signing sake. If this is war, i would call it refueling and refitting. Sometimes adding personnels outside the camp helps breaks away from the rot completely as it inject fresh legs, ideas and confidence into the team. A new player would come in and be totally tainted-free of Hogdson death touch.

Im a big advocate for youth but realistically, they are more of a long term solution. We could just depend on them and thats one way to end this season but adding someone say like Suarez will add certain class and attacking prowess to this team. He will add certain ferocity and enthusiasm in out attack that will complement to what we already have.

No offense but the king is our manager at the moment and its a bit disrespectful to talk about replacements. Talk about it when the time comes.

From what ive seen so far, Daglish has preferance for 4-3-3. The last game he deployed the following formation:

On the ball, the 3 CMs would quickly move forward to support Torres. Off the ball, the 2 attacking forwards would tuck back and provide defensive shield for the fullbacks. I also noticed that this allowed Torres to drop deeper and initiate buildups. Very refreshing change, even when compared to Rafa's effective 4-2-3-1 formation.

With us chasing Adam, it seems more obvious now that Daglish intends to to stick to this formation by adding a more natural passer to the central mid. I like Aqualani and he can definitely play alongside the 3 CM role in the 4-3-3 formation. I really like to see where Daglish will play Gerrard. I think he will definitely play him in one of the 3 CM roles, as he has more support in the middle as opposed to 4-4-2 or 4-2-3-1. Should we get Suarez, he can definitely play as one of the 3 attacking forwards, my bet would be on the left hand side where Maxi is currently being deployed.

Im not saying he's going to be the new Xabi but his passing ability is quite amazing. Torres have been starved for service for quite sometime now, i think Adam can provide that service. I think he will be even better player under Daglish and for having players like Meireles and Gerrard around him. At the age of 25 and at the right price, i think it would be a good investment.

Here's a snippet of him.

There are only 2 real passers in the team; Gerrard and Aurelio. The rest are decent but none are as good at striking a dead ball like the ones i mentioned. Aurelio's fitness has been a real question mark and Gerrard's consistency has been quite an issue as of late. My feeling is that Daglish prefers Lucas over Poulsen as the defensive CM but has to play Lucas alongside Poulsen because Spearing and Jonjo are still a bit raw. I think the combination of Lucas, Meireles and Adam in the CM will give us a lot of mobility and their overall passing skills will allow us to once again dominate possession and penetrate even the most defensive stubborn teams.