The OFFICIAL Liverpool Supporters thread

[J70]

We can expect the usual Rafa cracked bullshit from the press. A terrible performance that even if Rafa took out an effigy of Ferguson and pissed on it, it would be hard to imagine the players playing worse.

Re: One striker. It is not one striker it is one striker with Gerrard playing off it. We scored five times using it in our last match. Fair play to Stoke they deserved the points.

It does appear that this is the case though. Ask yourself, but take your 'I love Rafa' t-shirt off first, is it a coincidence that the day after Benitez goes off on an unprecedented rant/ justified monologue, which gets splashed all over the press, his team put in their worst performance of the season? 

So you are saying that if he hadn't done that, they would have played better and won the game? Have you been watching them this season? There have been plenty of matches where they have been damn close to if not as poor as they were today, except that they got late winners (remember the first month of the season when they were shite, but still winning?). They weren't too hot against Fulham or Hull at home either. Its a little bit simplistic to blame that performance on Rafa's press conference. This fixture was always going to be a very tough one.

[J70]

f**king pathetic
Why was Lucas and Kuyt left on the pitch? Even Gerrard was awful,The game was crying out for Robbie Keane imho,even when Torres came on the played the same formation.
If Rafa has some grudge against Keane he would wanna get over it fast,Kuyt is not good enough to play as a lone striker and never will be.
Babel was his normal brutal self when he came on,Mash kept giving the ball away,Jesus I felt like putting my foot through the telly at times

I thought Babel did all right in the short time he was on. He had one great run up the left where he won the free. I don't remember him screwing up either. He was about the least of Liverpool's worries today.

[charlie stubbs]

terrible inept performance.

dont know how we can be a threat with kuyt playing up front by himself, he couldnt trapa bag of cement and doesnt have the required pace to be a threat behind or doesnt give the midfield/defence an option of pass to.  

think riera is made a scape goat alot 2 which i disagree with.  he may not have been having his best game but he is the only natural wide player we have at minute in the squad, as benayoun runs across the pitch, babel runs inside and shoots (badly) and kuyt is never going beat a man and deliver a good cross.  to not score against stoke in 180 minutes is unforgiveable.  

alonso was a massive loss today.  his ability to take games by the scruff of the neck and dictate them was sorely missed 2day.  

was expecting to watch the game 2mara 6 points clear.  papers have a fielday 2mara on rafa, definately think he should have said nothing.  the fact whiskey nose is mentioning us is a clear indication that we are a genuine threat.  and if he doesnt believe it why should we give a f**k??

[mountainboii]

We can expect the usual Rafa cracked bullshit from the press. A terrible performance that even if Rafa took out an effigy of Ferguson and pissed on it, it would be hard to imagine the players playing worse.

Re: One striker. It is not one striker it is one striker with Gerrard playing off it. We scored five times using it in our last match. Fair play to Stoke they deserved the points.

It does appear that this is the case though. Ask yourself, but take your 'I love Rafa' t-shirt off first, is it a coincidence that the day after Benitez goes off on an unprecedented rant/ justified monologue, which gets splashed all over the press, his team put in their worst performance of the season? 

So you are saying that if he hadn't done that, they would have played better and won the game? Have you been watching them this season? There have been plenty of matches where they have been damn close to if not as poor as they were today, except that they got late winners (remember the first month of the season when they were shite, but still winning?). They weren't too hot against Fulham or Hull at home either. Its a little bit simplistic to blame that performance on Rafa's press conference. This fixture was always going to be a very tough one.

Fair enough, but I think its reasonable to say that Rafa's (premeditated, said for a reason, etc  ) comments yesterday did not have their desired affect.

[Stalin]

We can expect the usual Rafa cracked bullshit from the press. A terrible performance that even if Rafa took out an effigy of Ferguson and pissed on it, it would be hard to imagine the players playing worse.

Re: One striker. It is not one striker it is one striker with Gerrard playing off it. We scored five times using it in our last match. Fair play to Stoke they deserved the points.

It does appear that this is the case though. Ask yourself, but take your 'I love Rafa' t-shirt off first, is it a coincidence that the day after Benitez goes off on an unprecedented rant/ justified monologue, which gets splashed all over the press, his team put in their worst performance of the season? 

So you are saying that if he hadn't done that, they would have played better and won the game? Have you been watching them this season? There have been plenty of matches where they have been damn close to if not as poor as they were today, except that they got late winners (remember the first month of the season when they were shite, but still winning?). They weren't too hot against Fulham or Hull at home either. Its a little bit simplistic to blame that performance on Rafa's press conference. This fixture was always going to be a very tough one.

Fair enough, but I think its reasonable to say that Rafa's (premeditated, said for a reason, etc  ) comments yesterday did not have their desired affect.

His comments were mainly regarding Fergusons treatment of referees? Man Utd play tomorrow.

[mountainboii]

We can expect the usual Rafa cracked bullshit from the press. A terrible performance that even if Rafa took out an effigy of Ferguson and pissed on it, it would be hard to imagine the players playing worse.

Re: One striker. It is not one striker it is one striker with Gerrard playing off it. We scored five times using it in our last match. Fair play to Stoke they deserved the points.

It does appear that this is the case though. Ask yourself, but take your 'I love Rafa' t-shirt off first, is it a coincidence that the day after Benitez goes off on an unprecedented rant/ justified monologue, which gets splashed all over the press, his team put in their worst performance of the season? 

So you are saying that if he hadn't done that, they would have played better and won the game? Have you been watching them this season? There have been plenty of matches where they have been damn close to if not as poor as they were today, except that they got late winners (remember the first month of the season when they were shite, but still winning?). They weren't too hot against Fulham or Hull at home either. Its a little bit simplistic to blame that performance on Rafa's press conference. This fixture was always going to be a very tough one.

Fair enough, but I think its reasonable to say that Rafa's (premeditated, said for a reason, etc  ) comments yesterday did not have their desired affect.

His comments were mainly regarding Fergusons treatment of referees? Man Utd play tomorrow.

Maybe the topic of his rant was about something else, but the attention it generated in the press was firmly focused on Rafa and his team.

[EC Unique]

Friday rafa comes out with the biggest pile of moaning crying bullshit of a rant I have ever heard a manager come out with then on Saturday he masterminds a 0-0 draw against a bottom of table team whilst leaving his 2 best strikers on the bench In rafa we trust indeed

[Minder]

Lads if any of you think that "mind games" from any manager have an effect on matches you know as much about football as my arse does about shooting snipes. Liverpool were pish, as they have been on more than one occasion this year. Do you think when those players walk onto the pitch they are thinking "thon Rafa is a silly **** for taking on Mr Ferguson, i am creaming my nags".......

[Doogie Browser]

Benitez made an ass of himself yesterday, plain for all to see.  His intervention meant everyone was watching his team today and expecting a 'performance' several here deemed it the 'most important match of the season' alas they did not deliver and benitez has placed added pressure on his players shoulders.  Own goal plain and simple.

[Minder]

Benitez made an ass of himself yesterday, plain for all to see.  His intervention meant everyone was watching his team today and expecting a 'performance' several here deemed it the 'most important match of the season' alas they did not deliver and benitez has placed added pressure on his players shoulders.  Own goal plain and simple.

How so? So the league leaders playing in a televised game would not have garnered any attention before "Rafas furious rant", you think it had any effect on the players performance?

[GalwayBayBoy]

Benitez made an ass of himself yesterday, plain for all to see.  His intervention meant everyone was watching his team today and expecting a 'performance' several here deemed it the 'most important match of the season' alas they did not deliver and benitez has placed added pressure on his players shoulders.  Own goal plain and simple.

Don't think anything Benitez said had even the slightest effect on the players. Players generally don't take a blind bit of notice of what the manager says to the media unless it is about themselves. People were expecting a performance because with Man U playing Chelsea they had a chance to open a bit more of a gap on at least one if not both of them had they won.

Of course the fact that they didn't win will mean the pundits will go to town on Benitez over his comments but they had nothing to do with Liverpool not winning the game.

[The Real Laoislad]

f**king pathetic
Why was Lucas and Kuyt left on the pitch? Even Gerrard was awful,The game was crying out for Robbie Keane imho,even when Torres came on the played the same formation.
If Rafa has some grudge against Keane he would wanna get over it fast,Kuyt is not good enough to play as a lone striker and never will be.
Babel was his normal brutal self when he came on,Mash kept giving the ball away,Jesus I felt like putting my foot through the telly at times

But Kuyt wasnt playing as a lone striker? What exactly would Keane have done? Waved his finger at the ref a few times and made a hash of any opportunities that came his way?

Kuyt was playing as a lone striker
It was a 4-4-1-1 formation.
Keane couldn't have done any worse than what Kuyt was doing yet Rafa never takes off Kuyt for some strange reason
If you took time to read my post I complained that when Torres was brought on they kept the same formation which obviously wasn't working,Therefore the point I was making was they should have brought Keane on and went with a 4-4-2 formation be it Kuyt/Keane or Keane/Torres with Kuyt on the wing and at least try and win the f**king match..
Two shots on target in 90mins is nowhere near good enough against a relegation candidate

[J70]

Benitez made an ass of himself yesterday, plain for all to see.  His intervention meant everyone was watching his team today and expecting a 'performance' several here deemed it the 'most important match of the season' alas they did not deliver and benitez has placed added pressure on his players shoulders.  Own goal plain and simple.

Yes, because they would otherwise not have been watching or expecting Liverpool to beat Stoke.

Liverpool's form has been patchy, as has the form of United, Chelsea and Arsenal as well. Today's performance didn't just appear out of nowhere because Benitez stuck his neck out. Even if he hadn't opened his mouth, that would still have been a very tricky game, as Villa, Arsenal and United have all discovered previously. As for whether it was an "own goal" and a failed gamble on Benitez's part, time will tell.

[The Real Laoislad]

f**king pathetic
Why was Lucas and Kuyt left on the pitch? Even Gerrard was awful,The game was crying out for Robbie Keane imho,even when Torres came on the played the same formation.
If Rafa has some grudge against Keane he would wanna get over it fast,Kuyt is not good enough to play as a lone striker and never will be.
Babel was his normal brutal self when he came on,Mash kept giving the ball away,Jesus I felt like putting my foot through the telly at times

I thought Babel did all right in the short time he was on. He had one great run up the left where he won the free. I don't remember him screwing up either. He was about the least of Liverpool's worries today.

So in 20mins he had ONE run down the wing,wow that was a great impact he had..
Do you know why he didn't screw anything up ? Because he is a lazy shite who won't get involved when the going is tough and might as well have not been on the pitch..IMHO

[J70]

f**king pathetic
Why was Lucas and Kuyt left on the pitch? Even Gerrard was awful,The game was crying out for Robbie Keane imho,even when Torres came on the played the same formation.
If Rafa has some grudge against Keane he would wanna get over it fast,Kuyt is not good enough to play as a lone striker and never will be.
Babel was his normal brutal self when he came on,Mash kept giving the ball away,Jesus I felt like putting my foot through the telly at times

I thought Babel did all right in the short time he was on. He had one great run up the left where he won the free. I don't remember him screwing up either. He was about the least of Liverpool's worries today.

So in 20mins he had ONE run down the wing,wow that was a great impact he had..
Do you know why he didn't screw anything up ? Because he is a lazy shite who won't get involved when the going is tough and might as well have not been on the pitch..IMHO

A bit cranky tonight, are we?

He was on the ball several other times, but it was in general play, laying it across or back to Aurelio. I think he attempted one shot also coming in from the left that was blocked, as happened to Gerrard a few times. I'm not saying he is the answer to any problems or that he has a future at the club, but that run he made was one of the few positive, direct things any Liverpool player did in the entire match. He was far from the worst out there today. He was certainly nowhere near the depths he plunged in some recent games e.g his appearance against Hull.