This post is gonna turn out having loads of comments disagreeing with me, but it’s just my opinion.
I think it’s time for a fresh start with a new manager. Liverpool need to be known as the team that won the English league 18 times, the Champions League 5 times. They don’t want to be known as the laughing stock of England Europe. Even Lille beat them at home. Rafa Benitez sits there every game writing notes. You wonder what the notes are and what impact they’ll have on the next game. But it’s probably what he’s going to see for the after match interview after his team lost. Or maybe it’s some nursery rhyme. Or maybe an excuse to why he brought Torres off in the 65th minute when Liverpool needed him. “He was exhausted”. All football players get exhausted, they run around! And Gerrard’s expression explained it all.
A lot of you will say it’s not Rafa, it’s the owners. That’s partly true. But do the owners decide not to pick a player they spent £20m on? Do they decide to take the best striker in the world off when he is needed most? No.
Writing this post reminds me of a comment I saw on a YouTube video:
Rafa didn’t do anything for is in Istanbul. It was the players.
I actually believe this is partly true. Maybe I wouldn’t be writing this if Rafa Benitez actually looked like he cared for the team. In his interviews, after Liverpool have lost, he almost smiles. By the end of the season, Everton could actually be beating us in the league. What would Rafa say to that!?
This is not the Liverpool we remembered years ago.
I’m letting you disagree with me by keeping comments on, have your say.
Rafa’s decision to play Lucas almost every game has baffled me for the last two years. Im done hearing he’s a young lad and he needs more time to develop. He has not stepped up this game at all. I’m not saying he is the scapegoat for our shiite season, but he does not control the midfield as a EPL center half should. He’s a boy playing amongst men. Why are people instead of worrying about Why Torres came off, which I personally agreed with, not worried why Masch was on the bench. Take Lucas with you Rafa!!!!
I disagree with the posting Sam.
I agree that Lucas amount of playing time this season is ridiculous for an unproven 1st team player. He was a squad player until this season and was behind Alonso,Gerrard and Masch and then he’s given a regular place immediately after Alonso leaves. I believe Lucas is no better than a squad player and wondered why Plessis was overlooked after never letting us down and then not even making the bench.
I want Rafa to go simply due to the teams style of play in the EPL,it’s too negative. You have to outscore the opposition in English football,draws don’t help,as proved by last season.
I also believe there is a decent squad at the club especially the spine,Reina,Carra,Agger,Skrtel,Gerrard and Torres is better than Utds and Arsenals and most managers would love to have these players under their control,so I don’t believe we couldn’t attract plenty of interest if the managers job became available.
A few weeks ago I said that if Rafa learnt from his mistakes and changed the style of play and formation then I would be glad to see him
stay,but he doesn’t seem to have learnt those lessons.
And we’ve also got bags of young talent,3 out of 4 youth cup finals and those lads never get a sniff,why the hell not? Pacheco,Darby,Kelly,Spearing,Amoo,Ecclestone are all major talents but don’t get a look in,shame.
I don’t agree with this post at all, I also don’t agree with Maurice’ assessment of Lucas Leivia.
Lucas has improved leaps and bounds this year alone, if you missed his antics in Europa League and the EPL games that followed perhaps you were watching something else?
The lad has a lot of skill but is often forced into a defensive role which clearly doesn’t suit him, have a look at his antics back in Brazil, you’ll see he’s very adept at going forward and helping to make things happen.
I think we need a new start(i.e a new manager)I can’t for the season to end..Im sorry Rafa
I believe a fresh start is needed for all the team. Time to buy players sit down and really get that winning spirit back. The answer is not in sacking Rafa nor blaming Lucas or N’gog. Re think the team and strategies and finaly making Aquilani a starting player so or next season can be like the pompey game. Its down to just focusing on football and leaving the cowboys and Riera and all our other ‘outside’ problems where they belong.
just an opinion…YNWA
Lucas is better as a AMF.
Gerrard & Mascherano should be our CMF.
If we did those two things consistently then our results would be a great deal better.
Fact.
My biggest complaint with Rafa is who he plays and where. Keane didn’t work out because he was a striker stuck on the wing, and the same might be true of Babel. His decisions about subbing generally mystify me. The 4-2-3-1 formation revolves around Gerrard and Torres, and if one of them is out then things are kind of dodgy. We need to play a 4-4-2, 4-3-3, or 4-1-2-1-2 to win the league next year. The loss of money from the champions league (and at this rate, the europa league….) will be bad, but having everyone rested constantly from not having to play AC Milan or whoever every other week could have its upsides. I’d still rather get 4th though!
Interesting that people supporting Rafa are saying that Lucas isn’t a bad player. Maybe not but who is playing him in the wrong position then. Oh that would be Hicks and Gillette.
Rafa has done some great things for our club. CL in his first season. Bringing Pepe Reina, Fernando Torres, Xabi Alonso to grace Anfield. Given us the hope last season that we craved for twenty years.
But he has also madde some bad mistakes. After last season we should have been kicking on this season. OK, he might not have had any additional transfer funds to improve the squad at the beginning of the season but he did spend money. The first of his two major signings was Glen Johnson. Johnson was brought in to replace Arbeloa, who was a decent player and did OK for us. Was replacing him a priority? Was it more of a priority than buying a decent back up striker for El Nino. His second major signing was Aquilani. I think Alberto looks a decent player, however, he wasn’t fit when we bought him and we knew he wasn’t going to be fit for some months. That is a huge gamble to take with your transfer kitty. To take this chance, Rafa seemed to go back to his cautious team selections, not the attacking ones that had served us so well to take us to second last year.
I personally would like to have seen Rafa take a chance on an attacking style of play, and buy someone who was available straight away. I know anyone can get injured at any time, but buying someone you know you can’t use for 3 or 4 months is daft. I can’t see many clubs knocking Portsmouths door down to buy players that they can’t pick until next season.
All in all, I think that Rafa has had a fair crack of the whip and has taken the Liverpool club as far as he can. I don’t absolve Hicks or Gillette from any blame that they shoulder. The sooner they leave our club the better. But I think, even with the shackles that H&G have put on Rafa, he has made some bad decisions and his time has run out.
unfortunately this works both ways….. if it was the players that won us the Champions League at Istambul, then its the players that are losing us games,its the players fault we arn’t top of the league. Every big club goes through a bad time, its a fact… next year we will come back bigger and stronger!
YNWA, Hugh
I agree that Rafa must leave. The insistance in playing two holding midfielders, regardless of whether it’s Lucus or Masch, and seemingly wishing not to lose rather wanting to win is for me a sign of an overly cautious man who will not take this club forward.
I’m sorry too, but it’s time for Rafa to pack his bags and make way for someone who can take this club back if not to greatness than at least to a point all we fans can enjoy watching our team play.
Im sorry Raven, but I must say you are wrong..What antics are you talking about?? If I had the time and patience I would create a Compilations on Lucas’s screw-ups the last two seasons. It will be at least 2 mins long. He is a 23 year old boy….He does not fit the Liverpool Player criteria which is to Play with Passion. He plays scared, he does not hold the ball for more than 1 touch. No skill, Has never had a go at goal or better yet, a defender. Im sorry, only player I will never approve of. Sorry Fellow scousers…this is why I believe Rafa should go, for deciding to play Lucas and letting go of Alonso. Once again take Lucas with you!!!
I think the boy is right, been saying it since this summer. Rafa should have left while he was still on a good note. I think we need new owners, new manager, and new youth at the club. As for Lucas I think he could be a fantastic player one day, but unfortunately for him, that day isn’t today. He needs to go out on loan to Santos to be with his Brazilian teammates and get as much first-team football as possible.
I’m shocked that they even allowed you to post this article here at all.
For a while there, Empire of the Kop had become the de facto In-Rafa-we-trust brigade meeting point and watering hole. Posting anything other than a tirade against Hicks and Gillete, or endless songs of praise of Rafa and his baffling team selections, was likely to get your post scrubbed and you banned indefinitely without the benefit of a debate to defend youtself.
That being said, it is obvious amd really has been for some time now. to all but the most deluded and sycophantic of Liverpool fans that Rafa’s time at Liverpoool is and has long been up. Or at least it should be.
None of the excuses make sense any more:
Injuries:- ManUre, Arsenal and even the bluenoses Everton have been ravaged more heavily by injuries than Liverpool have this Season and have all been able to cope much better than Liverpool. Besides which, the team is relatively healthy now, and yet Benitez still can’t make the team and tactical selections necessary to beat a team and win the points necessary for that fourth slot.
Funds:- Wenger, O’Neill, Moyes, McLeish, Hodgeson have all had as much if not less than Benitez to spend on the transfer market, and yet have stil lbeen able to find the right enough buys to make their teams as competitive or more so than Benitez has been able to with Liverpool. Besides which, when your most prolific buy of the Summer spends more than thre-quarters of his season on the Physio’s bench with injuries (with the second-most prolific, not too far behind) whether through lack or decent scouting or adequate conditioning staff and physical regimes, you have no right to complain about lack of funds much less personel.
Man-Management: two words: Xabi Alonso. Nuff said.
Suffice it to say, Rafa’s time is up. The only people still rooting for him to stay, are the aforementioned deluded fans…………..along with the other 18 managers in the league…………..along with fans of the other 18 teams,…………………..along with fans and managers of other clubs in Europe, not interested in signing him.
Liverpool needs a re-boot and a complete ruibuilding around Gerrard, Torres, Mascherano, Aquilani, Agger, Johnson, Babel, and Pacheho. I would also give Carra, Skrtel, the Greek and Benayoun another season and then ship everyone else out and bring in a few good complementary players with the most important signing being a new manager. And then build back from the bottom up with the old Liverpool style of box-to-box passing and attacking football, and we see where we go from there.
But that’s just me.
Alonso worked so hard to gt us to 1st place only to let rafa screw up last season. Rafa should have been gone last summer instead of given a 20m worth contract.
rafa brought us to 2 champions league final during his reign and an FA Cup final. Name me someone which your cheap ass American owners can find to do better on the cheap.Remember even Jose Mourhino said that he would only be interested in the job if the yanks were gone. I know you love your Brits as the best- than the obvious choice is Big Sam I like licking the ASS. PICK HIM and disappear into oblivient
Rafa brought us to 2 champions league finals during his reign and an FA Cup final. Name me someone which your cheap ass American owners can find to do better on the cheap.Remember even Jose Mourhino said that he would only be interested in the job if the yanks were gone. I know you love your Brits as the best- than the obvious choice is Big Sam I like licking the ASS. PICK HIM and disappear into oblivient
Im on the fence… no strong opinions either way. There is his record this year versus YNWA. So do we support our gaffer blindly or tell him to mend his way. Some times a good kick up the butt is worth more than a shelf load of books and opinions. It would’nt hurt him or the team to show a little emotion. Thats where i pitch for Jose Mourinho. He wears his heart on is sleeve. Lets people know exactly what he thinks and also bats for the players. If any one should replace rafa i think it should be Jose. But for this to happen H&G will probably have to go or start spending big.
okay go if Liverpool go ahead and sack Rafa..it would still do nothing until we have new investments..as new managers would try to revamp the team ..they would need the money..That is a bigger problem..
as for this post..I wouldn’t sack Rafa if we got to top four at the end of the season…he desrves another chance at least even if we don’t end up there..
The performance of the team stops with the manager. Always has, always will.
Not good enough.
Hey you have all seem to have missed one little thing. If Rafa gets sacked, WHO will replace him? There is not a single manager out there (who we can afford thanks to H&G) that is better than Rafa.
So I suggest you all stop hoping for Rafa to leave… because if he does, we’re gonna be in a lot more trouble than we are now.