The OFFICIAL Liverpool FC thread - Arne to Slot right in?

[Rocky Mc Guigan]

Usually you keep a few aces on the bench just in case so I suppose Roy took his eye off the ball,
even considering Northampton had an injury ravaged team.

What is the expectation for this season? Looking at the squad, if you can get/keep Cole, Gerrard, Kuyt and Torres fit,  would a mid-table finish not be a solid season, stopping the slide and 6th place would be excellent?

6th would be excellent.

At this stage 6th from the bottom would be excellent

[EC Unique]

I think Torres does mot give a fook at the minute.

I thought it strange that he announced he was staying 2 days after the storey about the big Chinese buy out broke. Was it a pile of bull to get him to stay? Is he pissed now and will force a move at Christmas?

[muppet]

Who is going to tell The Real Laoislad?

I think I found him.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xEkiV7jd4TE&feature=related

[ross4life]

Liverpool have plenty of players who made the Dutch/Spanish world cup squads, they have the English captain, England first choice right-back, the Danish captain and vice captain & Joe Cole a player lauded by pundits

They should be more than capable of finishing in top 6 if not.. something is seriously wrong

[Carmen Stateside]

Stole from another site, gave me a little laugh.



RAWK wants me to play Meireles, Gerrard and Cole together? With Skrtel and Agger playing a high line? Without two holding midfielders?

[ONeill]

Benitez is the reason Liverpool are where they are. He had money. He spent £250 million on questionable talent. Winning the CL made him a legend in the fans' mind and that has clouded their judgement on his capability.

[new devil]

Yea i think your right ONeill...the man was  a clown

[Geoff Tipps]

Benitez is the reason Liverpool are where they are. He had money. He spent £250 million on questionable talent. Winning the CL made him a legend in the fans' mind and that has clouded their judgement on his capability.

Thanks for clearing that up for us.

[naka]

Benitez is the reason Liverpool are where they are. He had money. He spent £250 million on questionable talent. Winning the CL made him a legend in the fans' mind and that has clouded their judgement on his capability.

benitez was agenius( look what he is doing with inter
he made aprofit in his last three transfer windows and if lfc sold torres and reina he would have made a profit overall in his dealoings
dont fall for the press hodgson is a joke but hey everything is rafa`s fault

[Goats Do Shave]

Rafa is a genious - look at what he did with a pile of dort!

The Liverpool board shouldn't have let him choose his own players though!

[Geoff Tipps]

Benitez is the reason Liverpool are where they are. He had money. He spent £250 million on questionable talent. Winning the CL made him a legend in the fans' mind and that has clouded their judgement on his capability.

benitez was agenius( look what he is doing with inter
he made aprofit in his last three transfer windows and if lfc sold torres and reina he would have made a profit overall in his dealoings
dont fall for the press hodgson is a joke but hey everything is rafa`s fault

I'm not too sure that pointing at his Inter career, which is only a wet week old, proves his genius. He took over a treble winning team. It's not as if they just avoided relegation.
In saying that I'm a massive fan. Yes he bought some duds in the transfer market but show me a manager that doesn't. He also made some brilliant buys and had Liverpool playing some outstanding football especially in the 08-09 when United pipped us to the title.
It suits the press and Woy to lay the blame at Rafa's door.

[brokencrossbar1]

Just follow how the Press are making it out like Woy is fixing what Rafa broke    Typical Brit shit!!!  The reality is that Rafa had to go when he did as there was no relationship with the owners.  If they were not there and Rafa was still there I think Liverpool would be in a helluva better place. 

I only hope that new, quality owners can be found to get rid of the bastards.

[muppet]

Benitez is the reason Liverpool are where they are. He had money. He spent £250 million on questionable talent. Winning the CL made him a legend in the fans' mind and that has clouded their judgement on his capability.

benitez was agenius( look what he is doing with inter
he made aprofit in his last three transfer windows and if lfc sold torres and reina he would have made a profit overall in his dealoings
dont fall for the press hodgson is a joke but hey everything is rafa`s fault

He would. But where would Liverpool be then?

[GalwayBayBoy]

Just follow how the Press are making it out like Woy is fixing what Rafa broke    Typical Brit shit!!!  The reality is that Rafa had to go when he did as there was no relationship with the owners.  If they were not there and Rafa was still there I think Liverpool would be in a helluva better place. 

I only hope that new, quality owners can be found to get rid of the b**tards.

Undoubtably the football media and punditocracy in England have decided that Rafa = Bumbling Overweight Johnny Foreigner while Roy = Shrewd English Manager and Lovely Man and that's the line they are sticking to. Some of the stuff I've read in the last week has been hilarious. There is no criticism of Hodgson at all and everything is still the fault of Benitez.

Plus Roy would want to can the nice guy act. He's the manager of Liverpool and is expected to stick up for his players. After the United game we had Bacon Face accusing Torres of cheating and coming out with all kinds of shite to the media. Roy didn't even defend him. Instead he continued the nice guy act sucking up to Ferguson. Liverpool fans don't want to see that from their manager. He'd want to get it into his head that he's not managing Fulham anymore. For all Benitez's faults he understood what it meant to manage Liverpool and grovelling reverentially before Ferguson like all the other British managers do is not part of that remit.

And boy does he need a win starting this weekend.

[TacadoirArdMhacha]

Just follow how the Press are making it out like Woy is fixing what Rafa broke    Typical Brit shit!!!  The reality is that Rafa had to go when he did as there was no relationship with the owners.  If they were not there and Rafa was still there I think Liverpool would be in a helluva better place. 

I only hope that new, quality owners can be found to get rid of the b**tards.

Undoubtably the football media and punditocracy in England have decided that Rafa = Bumbling Overweight Johnny Foreigner while Roy = Shrewd English Manager and Lovely Man and that's the line they are sticking to. Some of the stuff I've read in the last week has been hilarious. There is no criticism of Hodgson at all and everything is still the fault of Benitez.

Plus Roy would want to can the nice guy act. He's the manager of Liverpool and is expected to stick up for his players. After the United game we had Bacon Face accusing Torres of cheating and coming out with all kinds of shite to the media. Roy didn't even defend him. Instead he continued the nice guy act sucking up to Ferguson. Liverpool fans don't want to see that from their manager. He'd want to get it into his head that he's not managing Fulham anymore. For all Benitez's faults he understood what it meant to manage Liverpool and grovelling reverentially before Ferguson like all the other British managers do is not part of that remit.

Indeed. Undoubtedly few managers could deal with Alex Ferguson quite like Mr Benitez.

"I was surprised by what has been said, but maybe they (Manchester United)
are nervous because we are at the top of the table.

"But I want to talk about facts. I want to be clear, I do not want to play
mind games too early, although they seem to want to start.

"But I have seen some facts. On November 1, they played Hull and Mr Ferguson had a two-match touchline ban and a £10,000 fine after confronting Mike Dean, the referee, for improper conduct.

"We started the Respect campaign, and that was when (Javier) Mascherano was sent off (last season) at Old Trafford.

"The referee (Steve Bennett) was the referee when they played against Wigan - he could not see the handball against Wigan by Rio Ferdinand, he did not give a penalty. They won the game and they won the title in this game.

"I think it will be the same referee who will be in charge of their game in hand this season (against Wigan).

"During the Respect campaign - and this is a fact - Mr Ferguson was charged by the FA for improper conduct after comments made about Martin Atkinson and Keith Hackett.

"He was not punished. He is the only manager in the league that cannot be punished for these things.

"Then he was talking about the fixtures. Two years ago we were playing a lot of early kick-offs away on Saturdays when United were playing on Sundays. And we didn't say anything.

"Now he is complaining about everything, that everybody is against United.
But the second half of the season will see them playing at home against all the
teams at the top of the table, it is a fantastic advantage.

"But at Christmas, United played on the 29th and the rest of the teams played
on the 28th. We were away against Newcastle two days after playing Bolton. They were playing about 40 hours later, they were not complaining then.

"And about his behaviour with referees. The Southampton manager he knows how Mr Ferguson works and how he works, he was very clear. I am not playing mind games, just facts.

"If he wants to talk about fixtures, and have a level playing field as you say in England. There are two options if we don't want more problems with fixtures.

"One is the same as in Spain, the draw for the first part of the league is
known, everyone knows which weekend. In the second half everyone plays the
opposite, so you all know.

"Sky and Setanta have the right to choose their games and it will be the same
for everyone. So Mr Ferguson will not be complaining about fixtures and a
campaign against United.

"Or there is another option. That Mr Ferguson organises the fixtures in his
office and sends it to us and everyone will know and cannot complain. That is
simple.

"We know what happens every time we go to Old Trafford and the United staff. They are always going man to man with the referees, especially at half-time when they walk close to the referees and they are talking and talking.

"All managers need to know is that only Mr Ferguson can talk about the
fixtures, can talk about referees and nothing happens.

"We need to know that I am taking about facts, not my impression. There are
things that everyone can see every single week.

"Are they under pressure? Maybe they were not thinking that we would be at
the top of the table in January. But we are at the top of the table and they are
nervous.

"I am not telling the authorities what to do. But I have been here for five
years and know how things are going on. I will be watching United's game with
Chelsea.

"The result does not matter to us, if we win at Stoke that result does not
matter.

"I was surprised United wanted to start the mind games too early, maybe it is
because we are top of the table. But I only wanted to explain our position.

"It is a massive difference to play early on a Saturday, say, after a
European match in midweek.

"But they will play the second half of the season with home matches against
the other top teams, and that is a massive advantage to them.

"They cannot complain about the fixtures after they were playing on December
29 while the rest played on the 28th.

"I have decided that I had a lot of information and I have been watching
every single week what has been going on. Then they started talking about us,
but every single week we know they will be talking.

"But we want to stay at the top and maybe they will talk about us right to
the end.

"To hear someone talking when he has problems with referees every single
week, and now complaining about the fixtures and complaining about everything, I think that is not fair.

"You can see every single week how they put (referees) under pressure, we
know this. We have seen it before. We have seen players sent off at Old Trafford and we do not see our opponents sent off.

"It is part of the game. But to complain and to always have an advantage is
not fair.

"We had a meeting in Manchester with managers and FA about the Respect
campaign. And I was very clear, forget the campaign because Mr Ferguson was killing the referees, killing Mr Atkinson, killing Mr Hackett.

"But he is not punished. How can you talk about the respect campaign and
criticise the referee every single week?

"You can analyse the facts and come to your own decision and ideas

"There is still no news about my contract, my agent has not received any
documents so he is a little bit disappointed. But we will see.

"I would rather not talk too much about this, though, when we have an
important game ahead.''