Sep 11 2012, 03:19 PM
QUOTE(leftist @ Sep 10 2012, 09:26 PM)
Fark off FA!..to think hodgson will coach him make it worse
Well England did just score 5 goals under Hodgson, the most I think any of his teams have ever scored 
To be fair, he's been doing a pretty decent job for England but we all already knew that he was good at making average teams play above themselves. QUOTE(Petre @ Sep 10 2012, 11:19 PM)
defending pepe eh?
look at it this way... keepers dont really need to run as much, hence they have the most energy reserve and should always have maximum concentration when called upon. for someone that stands most of the time... dont you think its quite questionable when a keeper cant perform when needed? the whole team can play the best football but one error from a keeper it can undo all the good work the team has put forward
how many times had you felt that pepe had let the team down? i think a few times last season i actually felt that way
I agree that keepers don't exert themselves as much physically but I think that works against them actually. Given the English weather especially, keepers have to keep themselves warm and limber especially when they don't see a lot of action because they never know when they'll have to make a full stretch save. From experience, it isn't easy to maintain your concentration when you have next to nothing to do. I for one find it easier to concentrate when I'm deeply involved in the thick of the action. Like you've pointed out as well, there is a lot on pressure on keepers. People seem more forgiving with Suarez for example for missing heaps of chances but when Pepe makes a mistake, he comes under fire. Would one mistake matter had Suarez converted half of the chances he missed? look at it this way... keepers dont really need to run as much, hence they have the most energy reserve and should always have maximum concentration when called upon. for someone that stands most of the time... dont you think its quite questionable when a keeper cant perform when needed? the whole team can play the best football but one error from a keeper it can undo all the good work the team has put forward
how many times had you felt that pepe had let the team down? i think a few times last season i actually felt that way
To answer your question therefore, I'd say that he hasn't let us down as many times as some of the outfielders have, including Suarez and Gerrard.
QUOTE(keith.hmc @ Sep 11 2012, 12:22 PM)
I know that many still side Benitez but as a die hard Liverpool fan, I think Benitez gets too much credit than he deserves. Yes, he won us the Champs League and FA Cup and came a close second but it is also more often than not that Stevie G carried us through alone. Most of his "signings" failed to live up to the expectations and didn't really add anything to the team. Granted those handful of his "signings" performed, even then we still relied heavily on Gerrard and his tactics sometimes were too negative. I feel he spent way too much money on way too many players that ultimately led to this whole incident referred to by him. I know of fans who seem to forget that he spent a lot on players that ultimately we don't even remember (i.e. Josemi, Nunez, Morientes, Sissoko, Gonzalez and the list goes on). He spent a total of 226m and 76 players. Of all 76, it is safe to say that only 10 really helped the team play better. Not saying he's shit but he has to take as much of the blame as G&H.
An interesting and somewhat controversial discussion topic. This thread went through a heated discussion when Rafa was relieved but the issue still lingers. Winning in Istanbul was amazing. How I felt the time cannot be articulated in words. After hearing so much about our European exploits, I was finally a part of history, and we won it despite being heavy underdogs.
I felt we played our best football under Rafa when we finished 2nd and it was because we played positive football hitting 4-5 goals past the likes of Chelsea, Real Madrid and Man Utd, not to mention smaller sides like Aston Villa and Blackburn. We were on a rampage for the better part of 3 months as we were chasing the title. The very next season, we reverted to our usual controlled, somewhat negative style of football which left me perplexed. I still don't understand why we never took the game to other teams anymore.
Rafa is a good man. He's so fond of the club and he has developed a deep connection to Hillsborough. He even bothered to read about Shankly when he first signed to understand why it is he is still so revered. That being said, his constant undermining of players by continuously suggesting we needed better players, and his complaints that he had no money to spend were not healthy for the team and he lost the dressing room. Also, despite claims that he is a great tactician (something people constantly repeat but never really justify), he made some pretty questionable decisions in his time as manager and didn't have all that much success against sides lower down the table, something that seems to be a permanent problem at Liverpool for whatever reason. One of his famous quotes was asking asking for a table but being given a lampshade instead. The thing is, you often have to play with the hand you've been dealt. If you were given a lampshade, you have to decide how best to use that lampshade.
I love Rafa to bits but there is little doubt in my mind that given the circumstances, it was time for us to part company. The owners were going nowhere at the time and the players were not responding to him any longer.
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