Monday 17 August 2009

TIME TO FILL LIVERPOOL'S NUMBER SEVEN SHIRT

LET'S hope the rumours are true.

Liverpool's vacant number seven shirt has sparked all kinds of rumours on Merseyside as to who will fill it - from Thierry Henry to David Villa.

And while signing either looks as likely as a happy Evertonian, it's clear we need something after hopes of picking up where we left off last season were smashed by Spurs.

Yesterday's performance was poor - even glass half full Liverpudlians will struggle to find positives from a match in which we barely troubled Heurelho Gomes, who's not the safest pair of hands in the Premier League.

Within 10 minutes it was clear things were not right.

During our devastating spell at the tail end of last season, we were steamrollering teams from the first whistle.

But this was more huff and puff than steamrollering.

Pre-season, Rafa made a clear attempt to instil some confidence in Ryan Babel, predicting this would be the year he finally justified his £11million price tag.

We're still waiting.

The Dutchman was given yet another chance to shine with Albert Riera (worryingly linked with a move to Barcelona today) surprisingly rested and Yossi Benayoun left twiddling his thumbs on the bench.

Babel had looked good for Holland against England but yesterday he did nothing - Benayoun produced more in 23 minutes than Babel had in 67.

Another man everyone was looking for more from was Lucas and while he did OK, and was far from the worst performer, it said it all that Steven Gerrard ended up dropping deep to try and pick up the ball and influence the game.

Gerrard's first-half daisycutter, a header from a sulky Fernando Torres which went wide and the penalty were the only significant efforts on goal.

And if it wasn't for Pepe Reina's brilliance allied to Robbie Keane's wastefulness, we could have been on the end of a hiding.

Benitez made much of the penalty shouts after the game but in truth neither was nailed on.

What was more worrying was the respective substitute benches yesterday:

David Bentley Yossi Benayoun
Peter Crouch Diego Cavalieri
Carlo Cudicini Andrea Dossena
Alan Hutton Martin Kelly
Kyle Naughton Daniel Sanchez Ayala
Jamie O'Hara Jay Spearing
Roman Pavlyuchenko Andriy Voronin

I know which one I'd rather have.

Only Benayoun really could be relied on to influence the game - which he did. But it is clear we are crying out for more signings - even when Alberto Aquilani is fit.

It felt like it yesterday, but it's not all doom and gloom.

Johnson looked good in flashes and obviously won the penalty, Insua was solid and Reina was world class.

And at least White Hart Lane, traditionally a bogey ground, is out of the way now.

But there's more questions than answers after that performance.

Stoke are next up, a team we dropped four points to last season - enough to have won the league.

Benitez has promised a more attacking approach at home and that could benefit Johnson and Lucas but Babel can only hope for the bench at best.

Liverpool will surely play better - they would do well to play worse.

65 comments:

Anonymous said...

Rafa, I hope you see this comment...
I am a Pool fan from Singapore. I was thrilled when I saw Liverpool playing at the stadium a few weeks ago but last night match against Spurs left me in tears. Rafa, I beg you, please sell Lucas, Babel and Voronin now!. These players are liabilities and are not good enough for Pool. They have been given chances but lets face it, they dont cut. Instead of buying such players,. Can you do a good job for once in your life at liverpool and buy Var De Vaart or Wesley Sneijder (who are on sale at RM)? These guys are better than the hopeless Lucas. Rafa, please sell him. Sell Ryan and Voronin and get a really good player who can score goals. Lets be honest , results dont lie...can you tell me how many times have these guys scored in the EPL? Do you really believe that by playing these guys , you can bring the title back to Pool? Lets not kid ourselves. Enough is enough. To be winning the EPL, pool need guys that can give results...YES and that Includes YOU. And oh, Yes please stop blaming the referees..lets face it , the team you coached played badly.

Anonymous said...

we need a better midfilder than lucas m8

Anonymous said...

It was a very dissapointing performance, the midfield was controlled by Spurs and scoring chances were far and few between. My only concern is unless Bentizez plays Gerrard in Midfield we will see much of the same for the next month or two, or whenever Aquilani becomes available, even then Aquilani will need to be given time to regain his fitness and get used to playing in this Liverpool team. As a tempory stop gap, I would play Gerrard along side Mascherano and play Benayoun off Torres. Benayoun showed his class yesterday, and despite only playing 25 minutes he looked like our best player, he got my vote for Liverpool's M.O.M.

Anonymous said...

I totaly agree,we should lucas,his the weakest player in the liverpool team,

automan said...

The biggest problem from last season was the lack in squad depth. Well guess what, it is the biggest problem this season AGAIN. Its inexcusable that we're faced with the same problem. At least last season, at the start there was a confidence and self belief. This pre-season has been terrible. We've lost most games and Benitez (whether forced or out of choice, i'm not sure) has played a waiting game with the Alonso situation. That cannot have been good for morale in the squad. And so it showed against Spurs. The team looked flat, Spurs started the game in a huddle and were pumped. Liverpool looked completely un-united.

Personally wish that more squad players had been added. A striker, another midfielder and a defensive utility player.

All easiser said than done but still, this was supposed to be the season and without Alonso's leadership and influence (both on and off the pitch), we're going to struggle.

Anonymous said...

I guess with the current squad we have and with Benitez, Liverpool will not lift the trophy in the next few years. I am so sad.

Anonymous said...

Here here on the need to fill our number seven shirt and with somebody top quality. But I get the feeling Raffa has his hands tied behind his back as far as funds are concerned. All we were really missing yesterday was a bit of confidence. Of course we could have built some of that by playing better in pre-season

Anonymous said...

The play was lazy, Babel failed at taking on the slowest wingback in the leaguee, lucas too much backward pass, back to a injured defence line. Too dependent on Torres. gerrard should play from deeper tooo high and opponents crowd him. Benitez needs a CB,and another forward. Because everytime torres goes down we fear he is injured

Anonymous said...

y does most people hate lucas? He was our best player in pre season!

Anonymous said...

If the funds are not available we will have to play gerrard deeper and use Aggo(Shows promise) in the gerrard role at the top, remove babel and let him come off the bench and use Benayoun in his position. Lucas also seem to need more time on the bench with gerrard taking up that role. Rafa cussing about ref decisions PLEASE we were out played and did not test the totty keeper. We were not ready at all. Our play were too slow not enough fight, But i have strong feeling we will do well in our next match

Anonymous said...

i agree with all the comments made so far I do think that last season was our season[maybe being a little bit lucky] but how things look it seems that we are not even close to the middle teams .I think there have to be a whole change[ carragher his time is up ][lucas waste of time][reira not good for liverpool][babel waste of money][voronin how come he wear the liverpool shirt][kuyt gives his all but not clever]And most importent thing is to get rid of the yanks.Sorry but with this team it looks like we are a middle class team.I am Maltese but i am a liverpool fanetic

Anonymous said...

Yea I agree Lucas WAS our best pre-season player and that's where it ends.

Anonymous said...

enuf said..Pool will not get into top four this season. Coz the Yanks are paupers and scumbags.. and Rafa is a stubborn arrogant man.

Anonymous said...

trying not to be negative but after that it's hard not to.spurs deserved to win,we never started playing till 1-0 down and then never created much till stevie g dropped back.babel get's a start& then does nothing, he's got the pace to knock ball passed defenders &get some crosses in but never does.masch&lucas are not creative,voronin is not good enough.better off trying youngsters nemeth,pacheco or eccleston.stoke midweek could'nt break them down last season& if that 11 line up,i don't think we will again.i know it's only 1 game but i'm worried,hope we've got a couple of signings lined up.

Anonymous said...

Lucas is not good enough for Liverpool. We always struggle in midfield when he plays. He has average passing and isn't a strong presense.

Rafa complains now about money but why isn't free transfer Michael Owen wearing number 7 for LIVERPOOL? Because of Rafa's poor decisions. Patience will run out with the fans Rafa if you do not stop making mistakes.

Drop Lucas, play Gerrard and Masch and Benayoun behind Torres.

And don't fall out with Riera as well.

Anonymous said...

we did play very poorly...but lets not take it away from Spurs they played very well

Anonymous said...

liverpool need someone the type of luciano moggi to help in the transfer market, benitez is surely not up to it. 20 million on fuck'n aquilani when he's not worth shit.

liverpool's weakest is the transfer market

players to sell ;

riera lucas babel voronin itandje cavalieri sanjose dossena aquilani ngog degen

players worth buying ;

royston drenthe(left) ever banega(central) james milner(right)


formation ;

REINA

CARRAGHER SKRTEL AGGER

JOHNSON DRENTHE

BANEGA MASCHERANO


MILNER GERRARD


TORRES

Anonymous said...

An experienced quality centre half, a creative midfielder and a goal scoring centre forward are needed now. Money must be found by those useless, misleading Yanks or the season will be over before October. Taylor can be bought from Newcastle, Van de Vaart is available cheap and Negrado sould have been bought to help Torres. Lucas, Babbel, Voronin and Dossina are not Liverpool quality. Get DIC in and those Yanks out otherwise Liverpool will be back in 5th spot.

Anonymous said...

Agree that Rafa is very very poor in the transfer market. Every season he purchase players that he can't wait to get rid off in the next. However I can say that he is very very good d good at blaming Refs and other managers when Pool looses.

Anonymous said...

I agree we have an extremely poor squad compared to at least 6 or 7 teams in the Premiership and everyone is relying on Gerrard and Torres to win us games - yesterdays game scared the shit out of me because our 2 top boys did nothing at the top of the field.

LFC needs a quality creative player. We are lacking this big time and the nearest player we have to this is Yossi and he hardly starts.

Money needs to be released to Rafa to sign such a player and another defender.

Aquilani will be a brilliant signing when he starts playing!!

Anonymous said...

we are in need of someone to come and take lucas' place in the team a dietmar hamman type player who would pull off passes to free gerrard and WANT the ball unlike lucas who every time mascherano had the ball in midfield and was quickly closed down didn't even put his arm in the air or shout for the ball hamann would certainly not be afraid to shout for the ball. he is a free agent now sign him rafa anyone is better than lucas

Anonymous said...

It appears Collins of West Ham is available and being linked with Stoke. Collins is a quality centre half and Liverpool ought to grab him now.
Surely they can find £5-£6m. Sell Lucas or Dosina or Voronin, simples.

Anonymous said...

MOTM - Reina : That says it all.-

Anonymous said...

cant believe the 'maltese' red is saying carra is finished, the lad played for 60 minutes with 12 staples in his head for godsake and although he fouled defoe and butted skinead, on both occasions skrtal should have let carra know he had him covered. rafa obviously hasnt been given the £'s from the yanks otherwise he'd have a stronger squad and its ok saying sell him an him but if nobody wants to buy the likes of dossena and babel he cant sell them. Our next four games stoke,villa,bolton and burnley should see us picking up 12 points so lets asses the start to the season then, in the meantime hopefully rafa is given the funds for a centre half and a striker. Yanks out

Anonymous said...

Benayoun has got to be in the starting lineup - he was the only creative player in a red shirt yesterday. Perhaps we should have had a second penalty but it would have been daylight robbery if Spurs hadn't got all the points. For most of the game they were in a different league to us, and that frightens me. Far from winning the league we'll struggle to make the top four if form doesn't improve. The only consolation is that there were some pretty shoddy performances last season and yet things nearly came good at the end. But, oh dear, we badly need a bit more talent on the bench.

Anonymous said...

why cant you believe that carras time is up i know that he is a local boy and he meant very much for lfc but it seems for me that he is loseing his man to easyily and you cant play football with your heart you have to play with your mind .And yes i agree rafa made lots of mistakes in the transfer markit even when buying aquilani he knew that he was out for 4 to 8 weeks and we are in need of a creative midfielder immediate and what about dossena.Isay all this because i realy care about lfc PROUD MALTESE LFC SUPPORTER

Anonymous said...

response to
liverpool need someone the type of luciano moggi to help in the transfer market, benitez is surely not up to it. 20 million on fuck'n aquilani when he's not worth shit.

liverpool's weakest is the transfer market

players to sell ;

riera lucas babel voronin itandje cavalieri sanjose dossena aquilani ngog degen

players worth buying ;

royston drenthe(left) ever banega(central) james milner(right)


formation ;

REINA

CARRAGHER SKRTEL AGGER

JOHNSON DRENTHE

BANEGA MASCHERANO


MILNER GERRARD


TORRES

we have only just bought aquilaini you dumb mother fucker you havent seen what he can do.

Anonymous said...

If you were told in May that Liverpool would spend 38million in the summer you sure would have been excited??? a right back and an Italian Crock???? and still nobody wearing the Number 7 jersey????

Anonymous said...

On pre season and yesterdays performance, I do not see that Liverpool will be challenging for top honours.
The Americans are shit....promising the 20million plus cash from sale of players. Liverpool only replaced what Rafa sold player for player.
Regretfully it will be thirty years before we will celebrate lifting the Premier League ( allowing the scum to leapfrog liverpool )

The Americans do not love Liverpool as a team but only as a business concern.

We supporters have to do something about all this and not allow our beloved club be turned into a shambles

You'll Never Walk Alone means that we have to rebel against these f******americans and keep Liverpool's name on a pedestal where it belongs.

Redallred Malta

Anonymous said...

we had 20 million plus 30 million buy selling alonso now 50 million got aqullian for 20 30 left get fuckin villa and give him the fuckin number 7 shrit!!

Anonymous said...

the only thing wrong with liverpool is our attacking force we should not leave our goal burden just up to torres and gerrard. Aquilani iam not expectin goals from him i expect him to set them up. we have around 20million left so rafa needs to thnk of the signings we cud get 4 tht so we cud get luca toni, gilardino, villa pavlychenko surely tottenham dnt need him anymore so giv thm number 7 and bring us home the title!!!

Christopher Briffa said...

We were very poor yesterday, some people here are saying that Rafa has nothing to spend because of the two clowns that own the club and make no mistake, clowns they are. On the other hand, I am perplexed as I beleive that Rafa must have known that the money from Xabi`s sale would not be invested back in the squad, so my question is, why didn`t we take some players instead of cash from Madrid, they are still trying to offload Van der Vart, Huntelaar they gave to Milan for peanuts, Negredo is going to Hull. Why on earth didn`t we take Van der Vart to replace Xabi and one of Huntelaar or Negredo to support Torres and possibly some cash too. I beleive that Rafa has once again blown our chances, what was really worrying yesterday was the way we played, there was no passion and we looked like a tired lot on our first official game of the season.

Anonymous said...

Rafa has had plenty of time and not won owt. We only won the Champs Lge and FA Cup due to the heart of Stevie G and a whole lot of luck! Why does everyone think that Rafa is the Messiah?! He's a clown who blames everyone but himself.

Why didn't he sign Cattermole when he had the chance? £6m is all Sunderland paid. He's quality (far better than Lucas) and he's English. And, what about Owen if we need another striker?! Micah Richards was available for £5m at the beginning of the Summer - why didn't Rafa go for him instead of Johnson?! Don't get me wrong, I like Johnson but we'd have saved £12m on that transfer alone!

I know Babel hasn't really shown us much but he should be playing up top at the side of Torres not on the left. Get Rieira there - he's a left winger! Benayoun should always be in the starting line-up too - he's our most creative player. I agree with the Maltese guy, Carra's time is up. He's bee poor the last two seasons (compared to how he's played before).

Oh well, never mind. Another season with fuck all to show for it!

Anonymous said...

a poor performance all round, but "Carra's time is up", are you actually a scum supporter, he's the only one at the back who pulls everything together and to be honest regardless of missing Alonso, we had no poke, the man to take the no.7 shirt, Sneijder, he's probably the most like for like midfielder closest to Alonso in Europe, he dictates pace and always plays facing the opposition, whilst also being mobile enough to get around the pitch and get stuck in, whilst having the vision to know when to pass it short and long...and sorry to jump on the bandwagon but Babel's ineffectiveness yesterday was inexcusable, he lacked direction, ability and a lack of willingness to play himself into the game....where the hell was the player who made Glen Johnson look like a park player last week for Holland !!

But it is just one game, and we were outplayed because we didn't turn up, not because Spurs have a better team than us...

Anonymous said...

I dont agree with all the comments posted here. We are failing to see that Xabi wanted to leave and Rafa did the right thing by selling him to Real Madrid at the price we more or less wanted and brought in Aquilani who in my opinion is an excellent acquisition who will add a new dimension to our game. We are not finished in the transfer market as yet and Iam sure in a couple of weeks time fans will be hailing Rafa for bringing world class players who will help us win the league this season....So dont judge now just to regret later!

Anonymous said...

Isn't it a bit early to be writing of our chances, how many times have the scum started slowly and ended up winning the league. We can't really comment on the quality of the squad until it is finalised (August 31st when then window shuts) and the league doesn't take shape until after christmas. I think some of you lot need to get a bit of perspective, there's still a long way to go.

robbohuyton said...

Via email from Gary B:

Good read as always mate. However (and maybe its because the phone in and internet moaners amongst our support are now in their element, and its getting my back up) a couple of things.

The shove on Voronin was just that. A blatent shove with no attempt to play the ball. The handball was debatable and, yes, it would have been harsh but they are the 50/50 decisions that you don’t blame a ref whichever way he goes with.

You have a very valid point about the benches, and this isn’t aimed at you, but …. The know alls have made it clear for a long time that there should be more kids on our bench. To a point I agree. Yet, when the subs were announced yesterday, all I heard was “what the fuck’s Rafa doing putting those kids on the bench?” (apart from the fact that we had fitness concerns over our centre halves so he was covering that by putting replacements (albeit inexperienced ones) on the bench.

Agree we weren’t good yesterday, but as mentioned, the moaners are in their element now. I think some people just live to moan. They are the ones who say “its important to win, however its achieved, and then moan if we play shite and win.

I heard a rumour (and it may just be that), that Riera wasn’t involved as he had been given permission to attend the funeral of that Spanish lad from Espanyol, who died last week. Of course Albert played for Espanyol, so this rumour could be true.

Babel has had so many chances and he hasn’t repaid Rafa’s faith in him (its getting like Heskey always letting Houllier down). Heard also that Benayoun had an injury so couldn’t have started.

Well bollocks to that anyway. It tells you all you need to know about Bluenoses that after their embarrassment on Saturday (when, if it was Liverpool you wouldn’t have heard a peep out of me, re: footy, until the next Liverpool game), they suddenly forgot about that after our result.. and they aren’t obsessed with us, oh no.

Roll on Stoke and Villa.

robbohuyton said...

Via email from Ian L:

It's Benitez mate.

He only has one plan. You watch, he will field virtually the same side and defo the same formation against Stoke on Weds. Even tho they will come for the draw.

Quite clearly, Mash & Lucas were never going to work because both are DMs.

All he had to do was put Gerrard back in the middle and play Benni off Torres. At least it would have made Spurs think.

Anonymous said...

I am a maltese supporter and I am disappointed as well after yesterday's match. We didn't play well at all, but then neither did Chelsea nor Man U. The difference is they didn't play Tottenham at White Heart Lane, but played lower half of the table teams...and at HOME!!! However we do need to buy...and pls sell Babel...I still cannot understand how he plays for Liverpool!!!!

Anonymous said...

Bottom line its down to Rafa he has spent lots of money and yet we still have not one right winger and only one left winger in Riera who I rate he didn’t play him in the Athletico game but he played and scored for Spain mid week and scored yet didn’t make the squad for Sunday now we have Barca sniffing. If Torres is out we have Kuyt then who Voronin and Ngog that is not championship winning back up.
I don’t rate Lucas but he did ok in the last two games but what about the players sold could Warnock be better than Dossena and was Guthrie better than Lucas. Paul Anderson went for £250 he could have done a job Jack Hobbs could he have been back up at the back if two of our three centre backs are out Mark Gonzalez was going to be are big hope for the left then gone could Pongolle have done a job for us San Jose did a good job in the res now hes gone.
Now we are reportedly after every centre back on the planet while Hull are close to getting the Negredo or whatever his name is from Madrid.

Not Happy

Anonymous said...

everyone, the number 7 shirt is still free for a reason, Alberto was probably told he could not have this...

We still have 30 million in the coffers from the sale of players this summer so it is about time Rafa fills the No. 7 shirt with Villa.

We still have a few more players to offload, Veronin, Dossena, Degen. This should bring in another 10 mil. Rafa has not spent any of the allocated 20 mil transfer fund for this summer. That would give us 40 million to spend on Villa to partner Torres and drop Gerrard back into a midfield role where he still will score goals and provide the balls for the lads up front.

Johnson brought in from sale of Keane last year. Alberto from sale of Alonso. This still leaves 20 mil plus 10 mil from Alonso sale and money from other sales this summer (10 mil).

I am sure the club are annoyed that they cannot bring in the player they want before the start of the season but we still have enough time before the window closes to do a deal and add some real quality.

in Rafa we trust...

Anonymous said...

When do real Liverpool supporters turn on their own? Everyone thinks we're this big club with lots of money to spend on all the best players - we're NOT. We can't and don't compete. We can only punch above our weight with what we've got. So please stop giving Lucas shit. At least he loves the club and plays for the shirt - he's 22 and WILL GET BETTER so show some SUPPORT. And remember the benchmark, Gerrard, Alonso and Mash - 3 of the best 10 midfielders in the WORLD. Rafa needs to let Lucas loose and allow him to box-to-box. He wasn't the youngest BEST PLAYER in the Brazilian league for nothing. Show some fcuking support - you're a disgrace

Anonymous said...

I really hope that transfer funds are still available. But with the Amercians onboard, can liverpool finally win the title. It is very clear that Rafa is pissed off with the Amercian when he mentioned so many times in the last 5 years that big money is required to complete in the EPL. Now the champions league is the same too. Look at what RM has done!

I would not mind if Arabs takes over the club. They are the only ones that can finance the club back to our glory days.

If the money are not there, please sell Babel, Lucus, Dossena, Voronin, Itandje, Degen, Ngog to raise the funds and salaries for 2-3 really good players. The Dutch players at RM are certainly good buys. And Liverpool definately needs more players who can dribble with the ball!!!

Harry has done an excellent job. Spurs can really squeeze into the top 4, despite man city's spending. I would say Spurs has lots and power and strength in defence and midfield. And Liverpool really lack of these at the moment.

And Alonso is solely missed. Gerrard has to play in his position to enable Liverpool to play football again.

Anonymous said...

I believe Rafa also knows that those players that most of us mentioned needs to be sold. But he also knows that he will not able to get better replacement for the price these lousy players are sold? Worst of all, will the Amercians allows these transfer funds to be available and be used? They need these $$$ to repay the loans.

Anonymous said...

Carragher cost us the league title. Look at the Hull game. Yanks out!

Anonymous said...

u idiots all of u. look at the level of football we produced last season n now your all chatting shit about the team the squad and the manager becuz we lost 1 game. support your team, support your manager and overall support your player! if not we'll jus b plastic like manchester united.

Anonymous said...

Fergie has always been proven right :
When Scolari came in last season Fergie said that he would not succeed - Reason: Scolari had to improve on Mourinho, a task that proved impossible for Scolari - Fergie was right.
This season Fergie says Chelsea are his closest challengers for the title.
All you Loserfool supporters can talk about your past supporters but as long as Fergie is the boss at Man. Unt. you will never ever ever win the P/L. Fergie is not worried about City. Rafa should be worried about his own team. Fergie is the greatest manager OF ALL TIME - greater than Paisley, Shankly and Dalglih put together. It's not about money fools- how much money does it take to win at least TWO of the many drawn matches last season - NO it comes down to manager selection. In Rafa's eyes Torres can do no wrong but did u see how ineffective he was on Sunday, yet all you fools will blame it on lack of service from midfield. In reading the comments here the only one worthy of note was the one regarding Alonso's sale to RM. You should have taken wesley schneider plus cash,not but being the stubborn donkey Rafa is - he must have his way or no way!!! Only Mourinho can bring the title to Anfield.
Long live Sir Alex, sorry Mr Alex!!!!

Anonymous said...

Now why is Rafa not even mentioning Aarjen Robben who probably after Ronaldo is the best winger seen in England in 10 years. Why not get good players on loan?
Stubborn as always - after ending last season on a high, no reason for this defeat. Rafa knew how well Spurs have improved and what did we do - make a selection blunder: Johnson adding strenth to the teamm offsetted by Babel weakness - therefore no improvement in real terms- result: Defeat - just like last season. We have gone backwards: A few years ago we finished 3rd just 1 point behind United:.
Look at the difference from that year on....

robbohuyton said...

Ah - another Liverpool-obsessed United fan. Tell me, do you have nothing better to do with your life than surf the internet reading sites about other football clubs and attempting to wind up Liverpool fans? Fergie better than Paisley - hahahaha - thanks for that, needed cheering up.
And as for Torres, he is a striker. Not much he can do without the ball is there?

Anonymous said...

Carragher must accept blame for his actions... the clash with Skirtel on his fault totally - only idiots on Merseyside do not find fault with their local heros but continue to blame Lucas, what did Lucas do wrong- nothing- what did Carragher do wrong: commit a foul that every schoolboy defender knows will earn a free kick ( so did Skirtel)
Once again we concede goals from these set- pieces....If defenders paly like this it does matter if u buy David Villa or the best strikers in the world.
Chelsea will win the title.....and we will break United record of waiting 26 or 27 years for regaining the title

robbohuyton said...

Carragher had a bad game on Sunday but that hardly means he should hang his boots up. And as for Lucas, why is it always so black and white with everyone? He's not shite, but he's not brilliant either. And he's certainly not suited to a deep midfield role - he's most effective further up the pitch.

Anonymous said...

So you blaming the owners now Loserfools, man U have american owners, went thru some turmoil with their fans but who made a success of the club - Sir Alex. Not once did he ever complain about the owners or money - just went on with his job... winning trophies....
Rafa should shut up or kiss Sir Alex's arse...and you blind Rafa followers should do the same. Took your board so long to bring Kenny Dalglish back...even now you should sack Rafa and replace him with kenny- only he knows how to defeat the greatest manager of all time.
It was your own Graeme Sounness who rated that Alex as better than Paisley. It's 5 years of rafalution but there is no title solution!!!!
We will win the 19th title this year and this momentum will take United to more titles in future. Loserfool will be stick on the 18 th hole for LiFE....

Anonymous said...

well it's all tom hicks and george gillet's fault these two bastards wouldn't give rafa money to spend.If only he h ad gave rafa money to spend we would have david silva and david villa and a whole lot more of good players.

robbohuyton said...

Manc - yawn. Bacon face is buying 30million players every five minutes, your ma could win the league with that kind of backing. Now run along back to your house in Surrey.

Anonymous said...

call Sir Alex whatever you wish robbo - his record speaks for itself. One could argue that LiveRpool lost the title rather than Man U winning WHEN ONE CONSIDERS LIVERPOOLS RECORD AGAINST THE OTHER TOP 3 SIDES LAST SEASON.
With 14 out of 18 points in the bag it was left for you to do well against the lesser teams. NOW DO YOU WANT TO BLAME THE OWNERS AND LACK OF MONEY FOR NOT WINNING THOSE GAMES!!!!
No friend - it comes down to the manager's selection and motivation and faith in his players. This is where Sir Alex is miles ahead of Rafa - and for that no amount of money can compensate.
Even if u had the money David Silva and Villa would not come because of loyalty to Valencia.
At almost EVERY interview Rafa mentions the financial power of the other clubs - now it is City.
When is it ever going to stop?

Rafa might just as well say to the whole world that Liverpool will never win the league because we cannot compete financially with the other clubs.... Let him say this at the beginning of the season so all his supporters do not have false expectations.
But he will not verbally declare this but he wants this as an excuse every year....
He has invested more on the youth THAN anyone else yet the results are still to be found...
Keep quiet Rafa and listen to the Godfather- Sir Alex!!

Anonymous said...

Liverpool will win the P/L this year - make no mistake about that, the reason is that this team can only get stronger than last year. rafa knows what needs to be done, believe me that he will bring in a big player before the transfer closes. Torres is right- no excuses if we don't win the P/L.
We all get a bit frustrated with Rafa and the team sometimes but overall we love LFC and we support everyone so keep the faith guys!!!
Stan

robbohuyton said...

At no point is anybody questioning Alex Ferguson's record - although I would ask you this, are you truly aware of it?

I mean you come on here slating Rafa and yet this man you put on a pedestal took what, seven years to win the title?

Rafa has come in and had to build from scratch on a significantly smaller budget than United and Chelsea. And in my book he's making a decent fist of it.

And if he can't motivate his players, how did he take them to two European Cup finals? And how did he have such a successful record against the top four?

He talks about money because that is the issue. He can't go out and keep buying £30m players like United have done so regularly in the past few years. So he shops in the bargain basement and tries to get lucky.

And the falling down last season was the squad wasn't strong enough.

Now, he wants to strengthen but after turning over a profit in his transfer dealings this summer (after being promised funds PLUS what he made from selling players) he's told the wallet is empty - so who's fault is that if it isn't the Yanks?

If you were actually fair in your assessment rather than spouting bile and trying to wind people up, I may respect your opinion.

And I ask again - why go on a Liverpool site if you're a Manc? I never go on Man U or Everton sites - i've got better things to do with my life.

Anonymous said...

kick lucas on bench put gerrard back central replace babel 4 beneyoun partner torres wiv ngog den liverpool wil b fine ngog is da future i tell you

Anonymous said...

So robbo am I winding you up? To gain a fair assessment one has to visit sites of the opposition otherwise one is confined to blinkers... nevertheless I will come back to my point: do you need 30million pound players to turn at least 2 of the many home draws into victories that could have won you the title? if u say yes then that's absolute bollocks friend!!!
If you believe that buying expensive players is the way to winning the league then it stands to reason that as long as this financial gulf exist between these clubs then LIVERPOOL WILL NEVER WIN THE LEAGUE..... are you prepared to concede that? I don't think so, so you and Rafas goons stop using lack of money as an excuse.
Let me ask this: why didn't Rafa buy Gareth Barry the moment the transfer window openend this season when the player is still good and the price was reduced? Bad management - no other reason , he dilly dallied, the same mistakes that Houllier and Thompson made when you could have got Christiano Ronaldo for 4 million pounds, but no, he was toooooo expensive for a kid....so 4 million was too much and now 30 million is too much. Wake up Robbo - your manager is so overly cautious and detailed attentioned that the team suffers.
Granted he has done great under the circumstances but you DO NOT BECOME WEAK WHERE ONCE YOU WERE STRONG - YOU BECOME STRONGER IN THOSE AREAS...Lverpool's home form cost you the title - a few season before that Rafa made Anfield a fortress. If I have been disrespecful, please forgive me.

Anonymous said...

I think Rafa needs an arrow vision like Fergie had when he became scum manager - Knock Liverpool off their perch.... he has not achieved that yet but it seems that if we do not win the P/L this year then Fergie would have been proved right. No one could have guessed that he would have equalled our record for domestic titles. Every year we all believe that .. THIS IS OUR YEAR.. and why shouldn't we, that's what supporting your club means. OK anonymous' enjoy your day in the sun ... when you scum have OVERTAKEN our domestic record and OVERTAKEN our Euro record then you may gloat, .... Stan

robbohuyton said...

Manc - bollocks, you're justifying your obsession with Liverpool, why not just support your own club?

And why ask if you're winding me up - want to know if you have succeeded?

Gareth Barry - City have got more money than us - don't you know that?

And it's all well and good quoting mistakes in the transfer market - Fergie has made plenty - Veron, Djemba Djemba...etc etc

As long as there is a financial gulf it will be very difficult - if you can't see that maybe you should 'visit' a few more sites.

If that's not the case, how come it's the biggest spenders winning it - your mob and Chelsea, in the past few years?

As you say yourself "he has done great under the circumstances".

Anonymous said...

Beware greeks bearing red and yellow cards. Ok not all is lost, yet, Liverpool have a bad season and finish 5th, the banks put pressure on the Yanks to sell the club and in come the rich men bearing gifts from the east. Would accept that to get rid of those hopeless "business men" and i use the words loosely. The reason being Liverpool will stagnate until the Yanks are sent packing. Just a question as to whether Benitez can outlast them.

Anonymous said...

If we need a defender bring in Sol Campbell as cover - he's available for nowt.

I'd play Babel up top with Torres and bring in Benayoun for Kuyt or Lucas. These lads are both good workhorses but we need more pace and trickery up top.

Let's go back to 4-4-2

_______________________Reina

_Johnson_______Skrtel________Agger_______Insua

_Benayoun____Gerrard____Mascherano_______Rieira

______________Torres______Babel

Obviously Agger isn't fit at present so Carra would have to play.

Ok, ok, I know it's not that simple...but, surely it's wortha try Rafa. Let's murder these goons from Stoke tonight! 7-0 ;-)

Anonymous said...

Posters still think big names will be arriving. Wakey wakey there is no money for big name players, the Yanks have taken it all to service the interest costs after being told to do so by the banks. 5th place at best. No one to open defences like Alonso did. One more bust up with the Yanks and Beni will walk.

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