The OFFICIAL Liverpool Supporters thread

[corn02]

Have strongly defended Rafa in the past but I have little, if any, faith left.

His decisions at key times in past month have been baffling. Looking for a 1-0 or appearing happy with a draw. Far too cautious to win a Premiiership. Handed the baton to the Manc's big time in last few months and heaped pressure on his own team by his tactics.

I really don't know how we move on from here. Bad, bad times from such a strong first half of season.

Gerrard off   That must have given Wigan such a lift. Alonso left on bench, esp when you looking to hold the ball and a 1-0.

Gutted.

In Rafe we trust......i think not anymore.

My faith is slippin also, but I satill keep the faith due to the fantastic position we are in this season. The fact that it could have been so much better is the gutting part.

He is a tad conservative, but some posters on here would like to start with Reina and 10 forwards. A look through the points dropped and in reality the only games where we didn't push forward in droves was Stoke, Arsenal and Everton.

[AZOffaly]

How are we looking for Alonso on to hold the ball and then say we needed to ppush forward.

Disappointment aside I thought we played well tonight and we pushed forward in search of the second. Not enough chance creatin, but we were driving forward in droves.

corn, Pushing forward, aka being positive, does not mean the fecking charge of the light brigade. Keeping the ball, passing and moving, getting behind the opposition, making them work is what good teams do. Any bunch of gobshites can run forwad aimlessly hoping to get a lucky break.

[The Real Laoislad]

Have strongly defended Rafa in the past but I have little, if any, faith left.

His decisions at key times in past month have been baffling. Looking for a 1-0 or appearing happy with a draw. Far too cautious to win a Premiiership. Handed the baton to the Manc's big time in last few months and heaped pressure on his own team by his tactics.

I really don't know how we move on from here. Bad, bad times from such a strong first half of season.

Gerrard off   That must have given Wigan such a lift. Alonso left on bench, esp when you looking to hold the ball and a 1-0.

Gutted.

In Rafe we trust......i think not anymore.

My faith is slippin also, but I satill keep the faith due to the fantastic position we are in this season. The fact that it could have been so much better is the gutting part.

He is a tad conservative, but some posters on here would like to start with Reina and 10 forwards. A look through the points dropped and in reality the only games where we didn't push forward in droves was Stoke, Arsenal and Everton.

Fantastic position 

A draw with Chelsea over the weekend and a Villa win, will put us to 4th.

[Minder]

As a matter of interest, how many points are we better off this season than last, in relation to our own performance. I see f*ck all improvement, except that United and Chelsea were worse than usual in the first few months. Liverpool will finish +10 behind United.

Absolutely, we benefitted from a sloppy first half of the season from United and Chelsea. Now anyone with any sense knew that kind of form was only temporary and we couldnt/wouldnt/were not good enough to take advantage. United will be 5 ahead soon and will probably end up 10+ ahead by seasons end. I actually thought it was a pretty shit performance tonight, there was a bit of the headless chicken about tonight. Someone said we were "coasting", if you are coasting put the f**king ball in the net another couple of times then.

[corn02]

Have strongly defended Rafa in the past but I have little, if any, faith left.

His decisions at key times in past month have been baffling. Looking for a 1-0 or appearing happy with a draw. Far too cautious to win a Premiiership. Handed the baton to the Manc's big time in last few months and heaped pressure on his own team by his tactics.

I really don't know how we move on from here. Bad, bad times from such a strong first half of season.

Gerrard off   That must have given Wigan such a lift. Alonso left on bench, esp when you looking to hold the ball and a 1-0.

Gutted.

In Rafe we trust......i think not anymore.

My faith is slippin also, but I satill keep the faith due to the fantastic position we are in this season. The fact that it could have been so much better is the gutting part.

He is a tad conservative, but some posters on here would like to start with Reina and 10 forwards. A look through the points dropped and in reality the only games where we didn't push forward in droves was Stoke, Arsenal and Everton.

Fantastic position 

A draw with Chelsea over the weekend and a Villa win, will put us to 4th.

Two points off the top going into February is very good, maybe not fantastic. I am sure you would have grabbed that before the start of the season.

[AZOffaly]

corn, can you please stop equating 'pushing forwards in droves' with being creative, imaginative or positive. That's the last refuge of a team who are frustrated themselves and who don't have the quality or ideas to play really good attacking soccer.

Ara, I'm just grumpy tonight after that shite, the latest in a long line of steaming turds dropped by Rafa over the past 2 months or so.

[GalwayBayBoy]

Rafa has seriously lost the plot in the last month. I don't know whether it's from a combination of his spat with Ferguson, the row over transfer dealings with the owners and all the fuss over Keane's treatment but either way it's all combined into one big mess. His eye doesn't seem to be on the ball at all at the moment.

I've said before that I'd be happy to see him go in the Summer but I'd be afraid that the likes of Torres would follow him back to Spain.

[corn02]

corn, can you please stop equating 'pushing forwards in droves' with being creative, imaginative or positive. That's the last refuge of a team who are frustrated themselves and who don't have the quality or ideas to play really good attacking soccer.

Ara, I'm just grumpy tonight after that shite, the latest in a long line of steaming turds dropped by Rafa over the past 2 months or so.

Ok fair enough, but we did push forward and we created chances. I would label that as positive, can;t see how it is not to be honest.

Creative? Torres perhaps our best in that regard, but he was poor tonight. Yossi was creative tonight but that double drag-back thing says a lot about him, superb build up , no end product - that should have been two.

Imaginative? Hmm don't know. Again Torres is the man here, but even he isn;t as imaginative as Berbatov or Rooney.

[Minder]

Have strongly defended Rafa in the past but I have little, if any, faith left.

His decisions at key times in past month have been baffling. Looking for a 1-0 or appearing happy with a draw. Far too cautious to win a Premiiership. Handed the baton to the Manc's big time in last few months and heaped pressure on his own team by his tactics.

I really don't know how we move on from here. Bad, bad times from such a strong first half of season.

Gerrard off   That must have given Wigan such a lift. Alonso left on bench, esp when you looking to hold the ball and a 1-0.

Gutted.

In Rafe we trust......i think not anymore.

My faith is slippin also, but I satill keep the faith due to the fantastic position we are in this season. The fact that it could have been so much better is the gutting part.

He is a tad conservative, but some posters on here would like to start with Reina and 10 forwards. A look through the points dropped and in reality the only games where we didn't push forward in droves was Stoke, Arsenal and Everton.

Fantastic position 

A draw with Chelsea over the weekend and a Villa win, will put us to 4th.

Two points off the top going into February is very good, maybe not fantastic. I am sure you would have grabbed that before the start of the season.

At the start of the season i would have hoped for the team to evolve a bit more, and it probably would not have been good enough to win the league, but a marked improvement in particular the team playing more offensively, but i dont think that can ever come with Benitez as manager. United and Chelsea will have improved again next year you would think, if Wenger is given the funds Arsenal wont be far away. We seem as far away as ever.

[AZOffaly]

In fairness GBB, it's more deep rooted than that (his conservatism and safety first attitude). Back when LFC dropped points to Stoke at home, West Ham, Fulham etc etc we were saying the same things, but the fact that Chelsea and United were doing their best to allow us build up a good lead despite ourselves lessened the frustration.

Rafa is a good lad to set up teams against the better teams, because he'll negate them, and his teams work like trojans, to their credit. However, against lesser teams they possess neither the craft, the will, nor the means to pound them into submission. That's Rafa's way.

[Gabriel_Hurl]

Two points off the top going into February is very good, maybe not fantastic. I am sure you would have grabbed that before the start of the season.

not good enough I'm afraid

[AZOffaly]

corn, can you please stop equating 'pushing forwards in droves' with being creative, imaginative or positive. That's the last refuge of a team who are frustrated themselves and who don't have the quality or ideas to play really good attacking soccer.

Ara, I'm just grumpy tonight after that shite, the latest in a long line of steaming turds dropped by Rafa over the past 2 months or so.

Ok fair enough, but we did push forward and we created chances. I would label that as positive, can;t see how it is not to be honest.

Creative? Torres perhaps our best in that regard, but he was poor tonight. Yossi was creative tonight but that double drag-back thing says a lot about him, superb build up , no end product - that should have been two.

Imaginative? Hmm don't know. Again Torres is the man here, but even he isn;t as imaginative as Berbatov or Rooney.

I know what you're saying, but in my mind 'trying to win the game' is not good enough, as measured against 'being set up to win the game'. A shite team can be 'positive' in the former sense, but only a good team, with a manager who likes to play good open football is consistantly able to say the latter.

Liverpool are too often set up to not lose the game, and hope that Gerrard or Torres will win it for them. That's not good enough to me.

[The Real Laoislad]

Have strongly defended Rafa in the past but I have little, if any, faith left.

His decisions at key times in past month have been baffling. Looking for a 1-0 or appearing happy with a draw. Far too cautious to win a Premiiership. Handed the baton to the Manc's big time in last few months and heaped pressure on his own team by his tactics.

I really don't know how we move on from here. Bad, bad times from such a strong first half of season.

Gerrard off   That must have given Wigan such a lift. Alonso left on bench, esp when you looking to hold the ball and a 1-0.

Gutted.

In Rafe we trust......i think not anymore.

My faith is slippin also, but I satill keep the faith due to the fantastic position we are in this season. The fact that it could have been so much better is the gutting part.

He is a tad conservative, but some posters on here would like to start with Reina and 10 forwards. A look through the points dropped and in reality the only games where we didn't push forward in droves was Stoke, Arsenal and Everton.

Fantastic position 

A draw with Chelsea over the weekend and a Villa win, will put us to 4th.

Two points off the top going into February is very good, maybe not fantastic. I am sure you would have grabbed that before the start of the season.

At the start of the season i would have hoped for the team to evolve a bit more, and it probably would not have been good enough to win the league, but a marked improvement in particular the team playing more offensively, but i dont think that can ever come with Benitez as manager. United and Chelsea will have improved again next year you would think, if Wenger is given the funds Arsenal wont be far away. We seem as far away as ever.

Are we though?
In terms of the players apart from one or two, I think we are as good as any of the Top 4
IMHO there is only one person to blame

[bingobus]

How are we looking for Alonso on to hold the ball and then say we needed to ppush forward.

Disappointment aside I thought we played well tonight and we pushed forward in search of the second. Not enough chance creatin, but we were driving forward in droves.

Alonso will control midfield, move ball early, switch play, give you a platform, keep tempo high. Second half this was draining away, Benayoun was still causing problems (and I'm not a fan), yet he got taken off. Alonso covers more ground than any other Liverpool player. To me Rafas subs are planned before a game. On form, only Torres should have been pulled tonight.

In other games at nil nil, Keane has been left on bench for Lucas to come on?? That isn't a match winning move. We aren't looking for 10 forwards but we what a chance. We don't need 5 midfielders and full backs who don't cross the half way line unless they get a green card. Insua bombed forward and has been missed. Dossena, looked a different player at weekend and is bombed out of team. Hard to justify some of his decisions.

Can we win the league? Of Course, best position we've ever been in years.

Will we win the league? Not a chance, I'm afraid. Thats the reality.

[EC Unique]

Must be heading for some sort of record with the amount of draws?