Enough of the Rafa bashing

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As if six years of bashing wasn’t enough, the pundits led by no one other than former Liverpool captain Alan Hansen keep blaming Rafa for what is happening on the field this season. Now Mr. Hansen is claiming that Liverpool’s woes are due to the fact that Rafa left an average squad. Come on please give me a break!!! Average squad? If I am not mistaken I saw fifteen of them going to the that “average” competition called the World Cup with four of them being in the squads that reached the finals.

For crying out loud let us look at the starting eleven from yesterday’s game (The same starting eleven that  Liverpool’s manager Roy Hodgson was pleased with their performance).

Paul Konchesky, Joe Cole and Raul Meireles were all Roy’s signings, Jaime Carragher and Steven Gerrard were there before Rafa which leaves us with the following six “average” players.

Pepe Reina (Average?, best record since Ray Clemence)
Martin Skrtel (Average? The Slovakian International was instrumental in his country eliminating the World Champions of that “average” competition called the World Cup)
Sotiris Kyrgiakos (Average? Rafa got this Greek International European winner at a cut price. Did I mention that Soto played for his country in that “average” World Cup thing too?)
Lucas Leiva (Average? Some might argue yes however he has been playing for this “average” country called Brazil lately) I do have to admit however that he had a bad game yesterday however not sure what would have happened if Poulsen played instead of him.
Maxi Rodriguez (Average? Another International player Rafa got and he was free. As much as many don’t like Argentina you can’t call a starting Argentinian International average!!!)
Fernando Torres (Average? Maybe his performance lately has been average but could that be because has lack of service?)

To contradict Alan’s opinion some L.F.C. fans have argued that Rafa must be an awesome manager if he is able to make these “average” players reach 2nd and then 7th in the EPL.

No matter what the opinion is I never prescribe to the idea that it the former manager’s team, Roy is the manager now so all the players are “his”. If Roy wanted to get rid of these “average” players he could have done so in the summer like he did with other “average” players such as Benayoun, Mascherano, Insua, Riera and Aquilani.

I could never match Alan in football skills or knowledge but I think I can in common sense. Rafa is gone Alan, get over it.

Enough is enough

-Antoine

PS:  The above article includes some sarcasm and I don’t mean calling certain players, countries or the World Cup as average but I am using the term “average” to prove my point.

On Twitter @empireofthekop

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60 Comments

  1. Hodgson reminds me of an old man who’s just inherited his grandson’s X-Box. He knows its capable of great things, but can’t for the life of him get it working.

    Go and manage England, Roy. I don’t hate you, I just think you’re out of your depth. Kenny can babysit the chair until Rafa’s Inter contract runs out in 2012.

  2. all i can say is after we came 2nd in the league ! fergie said we had peaked because we hadnt invested any further in the squad ! and wouldnt go any further ! very true ! mainly because we didnt have any money ! rafa is the man for the job ! but you need money ( lots of ) to buy quality ! that is what football is all about now ( money ) its obvious just look at man city , chelsea , tottenham ! .

  3. Well said mate i’m sick to death of all these people who carry on slating a man that made Liverpool competitive on all fronts again! Granted they slipped up last season and some of the players didnt like his style of management but who really does like there manager?? I truly beleive if he was given another season he would have turned it all around again but its in the past now and we MUST move on!

  4. good recipes always have at least one key ingredient. Ours was xabi alonso. January is pivotal. We need some gutsy, skilled players.
    lets keep this site neutral and give woy a chance. Efc deserved it. Woy knows he’s got to get his recipe right.

  5. I agree with Craig!! out with Hodgson and in with Dalglish until we can bring Rafa back. The only man to really stand up to that Scum Arse Ferguson(SAF), always stood up for his players and had a team that was hard to beat.

    Get Out Roy!!!

  6. Trust me most of the fans are with you on this one. Alan, Mark, Rednap, Souness, and now Rushie are Roy ardent fans, they would never listen to common sense, either they have none or simply delusional like Roy. They are the voices of English medias. I have stopped reading anything written by them. Sycophantic at their best. Hell, they are ex-footballers not meant to be in media biz. Stop clicking on their tag line, they would be out of biz. To be famous in media is tough, but for English medias, to be infamous is piece of cake. Otherwise people would not call most of the British sport media are atrocious, unprofessional, unethical and full of Sycophantics.

  7. Woah, the Rafaites are on the marsh. Questioning the description of Lucas, Skrtel, Kyrgiakos as average (at best) shows how little the young fan understand of the game. Rafa was able to string together an ocassional cup run, but he failed massively during his very (and too)long tenure to instill that winning mentality that see us go out on long winning streaks like the big teams. A 3 month good spell is all he mustered during 6 years and 10’s and 10’s and 10’s of millions spent. Bringing Johnson and Aquilani in for nearly 40 million when Ngog and Voronin was all we had as back up for an extremly injury prone Torres and you lot say Roy’s out of his depths. LMFAO ROFL.

  8. I liked rafa and i think if he was still at hhe club theres no way we would be 2nd bottom!All the Rafa haters forget he won a european cup and F.A cup got us closer to a league title than we had been in a long time. The team he left should not be 2nd bottom and to say players like reina and torres are average is silly. I like Alan too but he has got it wrong!

  9. Woy had this to say after the EFC game…“That was as good as we have played all season, and I have no qualms with the performance whatsoever. I only hope fair-minded people will see it the same way. It’s just unfortunate that such a good game of football, a real credit to the Premier League, will revolve round the fact that Liverpool did not win. It was a sterling effort by the players, especially after Everton’s second goal went in. Pressure builds up, of course, but we will cope with that.”

    Can anyone even try to explain where this guys head is….at one point in the game I’m sure he was asking Sammy what he should do next.

  10. Exactly what I’ve been saying. Roy bought 3 of the 5 midfielders on show at Blackpool and the other two was a world cup finalist and imo pound for pound the best midfielder in the world. Enough with the Rafa baiting. He made a few ricks in the transfer market but then again he bought Reina, Alonso, Mascherano, Crouch, Agger, Arbeloa and Torres in his time. Not exactly sh!t are they?

  11. M8 agree, rafa was a quality manager, won it with houllier’s team blah blah blah, thrashing real, beating barca, spanking united, running united so close for the league, the man was inspired, any one who gets red nose so wound up is a true red. maybe with abit more investment he would have won abit more, in rafa we trust!

  12. I don`t totally agree with Hansen saying its all rafas fault, although his transfer record was shocking, 86 players he signed. how many were worthy of the shirt? (i bet you can count them on 1 hand) there are a number of factors for our demise, rafa benitez was just one of them……..btw if you want average look no further than the current manager……….sorry I take that back, I just remembered he won stuff in Sweden….

  13. whatever our feelings about the current manager and the way we are playing,we all need to get behind them and give them our support, that includes all our former players.try listening to ronnie whelan,always slating them,even when they are winning

  14. Admittedly Alan Hansen is full of hot air and Roy Hodgson couldn’t manage a pub team but this glorification of Rafa is ridiculeous. Rafa insulted Xabi Alonso when he wouldn’t play in Italy against Inter Milan when Xabi’s wife was about to give birth and allowed Alonso to leave for Madrid replacing him with the Italian bum Aquilani. Rafa payed 17 million for a right-back who played a major role in Liverpool’s 19 defeats last season.

  15. Tim, the diabolical tactic deployed by Roy, no good players would come to Liverpool as they know most of the good players in Liverpool are so sick of Roy’s tactic that they just want to puke. In the history of football betting, all you need is first 5 min to look at how Roy deploy his tactic, bang bet on Everton. So obvious, so easy to make bucks. I am looking forward to Blackburn match, 5-10 min see same old Roy, Blackburn would win hand down. His tactic is so naive that any opponent would want to play against his team and wish that Roy would stay forever in Liverpool, ala recent beneficiary, Everton manager. Trust me Roy would make Sam Blackburn looks world class if he is still in his cocoon.

  16. Come on of course it’s all Rafa’s fault. He inherited world class players like Troare, Biscan Diao and Diouf etc but he just never had the man management to help these players, they only needed a cuddle or their feet tickling or maybe Rafa and Paco round on a sunday to wash the players windows. Winning the CL was a fluke, winning the FA cup and then a year later another CL final was just jammy, It was Houllier’s squad. Beating Europes best team’s over 6 years must have been a fluke because after all after the FA cup defeat at Burnley during 2005 Hansen also commented along with many ex players that it was the worst Liverpool side they’d ever seen. Rafa should never have been Liverpool manager in the first place, He’d only won two spanish titles. We should have went for the likes of Hodgson then, after all he had at least 25 years experience at winning absoloute zilch. If that Benitez fella had not put us back at the top of the European crop then the lure of a nice tidy profit would not of enticed two cowboy’s who then ruined the run of flukes from 2005-2007, Houlier would have a statue at Anfield as well. Anyway Rafa has gone now, the players (exept Mascherano it seems) all hated him anyway, they the press and all those ex player turn pundit’s wanted an English manager, a Manager who won’t interfere with their millionare ego’s. Well know they have one so maybe they should just get on with it. Maybe Hodgson could do himself a favour too, instead of him whinging about the squad he was left with maybe he should realise that before January 2007 this club was going places, now if he feels presure the three months he’s been here at this soap opera of a club then he should imagine what Rafa had to deal with. Now though people need to lay of Benitez because all it’s doing is giving the current situation an excuse, we have some great players like Reina Skrtl Agger Gerrard Carra Kuyt Torres as well as Soto Babel and Jhonson. By people Suggesting that were relegation fodder because a certain foreigner left us with a crap squad won’t breed confidence into the mentioned players. It’s time to stop making excuses, time to lay of the players and it’s time to get behind the manager but most of all it’s time to stop slating Rafa Benitez, a man we will all agree was not perfect but a man who gave us six fabulous years of up’s and downs, a man who should be rememberd legendary for telling the team what bus to catch to take Gerard’s squad to Istanbul.

  17. Ferguson only hates managers that pose a threat: Mourinho, Wenger Benitez. You don’t see Ferguson fighting with Allerdyce, Redknapp or Hodgson because deep down he knows they will never threaten his title tilt.

    Rafa is statistically the best manager we’ve had since Dalglish: Highest points totals, goals scored and accolades. To call our win in Istanbul an “OCCASIONAL CUP RUN” is insulting. Rafa took us from 5th to 3rd to 2nd, but while the other teams pushed on, H&G starved the club of worthy investment, forcing Rafa to shop for bargains. How do you topple the teams above you by spending less?

    As for the Glen Johnson siging, Portsmouth owed us £7m from the Crouch deal and as they were bordering on administration it seemed excellent business at the time. Johnson looks no worse than any of the players we know can do better.

    And our players will do better…but only under different stewardship.

  18. and of those 86 players you mentioned, how many of them were sold at a loss?

    Many, many more were sold at a profit – not given away the way Mascherano was!

  19. Rob, how to support a manager that every of his comments are so delusional, egocentric, uninspiring, and worst of all not admitting his tactic is shit. Well if you like his tactic, his man management, his negativity, his relegated Blackburn, then I have no more reasons to debate with you, Liverpool way is truly lost.

  20. Hodgson is a disaster right from the start. He doesn’t have the ability to change game – rafa has. I really can’t believe that Hodgson admit in public that he is a good friend of fergie… what more can i say – he’s the wrong guy!

  21. I want Rafa back too!! Nice one Antoine! Well said!! The team beaten by Everton yesterday was not a great deal different of the one that battered Man Utd at Old Trafford and Madrid at Anfield. I am sick of this Rafa bashing too! Under Rafa Liverpool were a very very hard team to beat and given time he would have turned us into an unbeatable side. Purslow has a lot to answer for getting rid of him. I think everyone should get their money on Inter Milan to be the first team to retain the champions league because I am certain Rafa will do this for them. Also Rafa’s net spend over the 6 years or so he was in charge of Liverpool was £27 million which is amazing considering all the bollocks printed about how much he spent. Yes he made mistakes, what manager doesn’t (including Fergie) but I would sooner have an half-witted Rafa than this idiot Hodgson anytime. Liverpool are in serious danger of being relegated if he is allowed to continue managing LFC. Come on John Henry! Act swift and dump the dumb-assed Hodgson. Just a pity we can’t get Rafa back!

  22. Martin, simply put Rafa is over-achieving with this lots of no hopers as his tactic is spot on. And now with the same lots of no hopers, Roy is clueless. Common sense, Roy tactic is shit.

  23. Martinmarx you haven’t got a clue!!!

    I think this is a decent article, for I too am sick of the disgraceful attacks on Rafa!

    Rafa got us to two Champions League Finals plus won an F.A. Cup and got us to within 2 wins of the title with a record points tally with his poor squad and you try to belittle that achievement?

    Rafa only crime was to get involved in the financial politics’s with the owners! There was only ever going to be one winner there! Because of this he took his eye off ball and didn’t concentrate fully on the job in hand. Those where the cards he’d been dealt and he should have worked with it instead of against it! He had to go in the end. Pity but it was the best for both parties!

    I too don’t agree with the assessment in the article of Sotiris Kyrgiakos , Lucas Leiva and
    Maxi Rodriguez being just average! They’re all poor. But that wasn’t Rafas fault! The 3 of them cost £8m!!! We had no money to buy the desired quality and his hands where tied!

    Also if you do your research properly you’ll find that the total nett spend of the 2 American devils was between £9.5m – £25m over their tenure! When you have to buy to spend its never good.

    Liverpool (and Rafas) decline can be traced back to February 2007! After the Champions League final in Athens the Americans injected proper money into the club and after that the real spending ended and selling to buy was the only option. FACT!!!

    This same poor squad finished a disappointing 7th last year with a great home record and a poor away record to blame. Fast forward 5 months and barring Macherano the same players are struggling both at home and away shipping goals in a manner we haven’t seen since the days of Souness. One thing Rafas team never did was ship goals like this!

    You’re a fickle modern football fan who has no clue about football! Keep on laughing because were not all laughing with you! Just at you.

  24. Rafa made his mistakes, bought some bad players and p##sed off some players who didn’t like his style of managing. they get paid a LOT of money to play and should put up or shut up, how many of you would die to play for the Pool ? with all his mistakes i still think Rafa loved our club and did what he thought was best for for us, i wish Roy the best cause he is our manager but i think he is out of his depth, we got to stick together guys cause there are tough times ahead !!!

  25. Is that the same Martinmarx who absolutely loved Houllier? Keeping that in mind, it’s no wonder he didn’t like Benitez. The complete opposites of my views then.

  26. That average squad finished 7th place last season. If its not Jamie Redknapp its Lawrenson or Hansen our ex players turned pundits never had a good thing to say about Rafa. Then Roy uses this as his defence, but us fans can see through the bullshit and Roys deep in it. No former Liverpool manager has started this badly, no former Liverpool manager has been under the pressure this early, no former Liverpool manager has had the KOP calling for a former manager(s) to come back, were a loyal bunch to our managers but this is telling you something. I think before backing the manager John Henry should have spoken to the fans like he did today and then made his decision on the manager, the only way Roys going to leave if we get on his back, i dont see Henry sacking him atleast until January if results haven’t improved, besides hes entitled to a years wages in advanced if he is sacked……YNWA

  27. 86 players…..and how many were first team players knobhead….the majority off those players were signed for the future and to mature in the reserves…how many FIRST teamers sherlock

  28. just hope that all the rafa bashers are happy with the shite in charge now…he was brilliant apparently rafa wasnt he…look at the mess we are in without him

  29. i liked rafa until he was saying the same excuses time after time. i loved hodgson in his smart manner of talk … but yesterday he disappointed me in his post-match talk. he said that it was one of the best games liverpool has ever played (under his management) … wtf??? we are liverpool. besides this, he promised us (supporters) that he wanted to play the liverpool way??? OMG … is the liverpool way defending at anfield??? is the liverpool way playing players out of positions (maybe during rafa’s time too)???? is the liverpool way waiting for the opponents to attack???

    these tactics costed houllier and benitez their job in their respective last year … but hodgson is building his team on what other managers failed!!!

    i dont criticize managers coz when we win i (used to) say it’s their merit too … but lfc is becoming too predictable under hodgson. the losses are not ‘hurting’ us anymore coz we are expecting them when we see either the formation (eg. poulsen starting at anfield vs blackpool) or the first half (like every game under hodgson).

    we need attractive football … the liverpool way … i wish hiddink will be our manager but i guess it’s abit impossible. then i will go for riykaard. i’m sorry but i can’t see a british manager managing lfc.

  30. In 228 PL games Rafa managed to build a strong side able to grind out results, if not performances, even when in bad form leaving the club with the team finishing in an impressive 7th place. Rafa was a joke when it came to managing in the PL. I admit he was good in Europe but that’s about it. If Rafa did a tenth of everything you gullible Rafaites make out, our team would’ve had at least double the points it currently has even with my mother in charge. But they haven’t. Rafa left a mediocre squad behind drained of confidence. He’s gone, accept it and move on. Walk, through, storm and other words doesn’t come to mind these days.

  31. Before Rafa arrived there was no big 4.

    Before Rafa arrived we only qualified from the Group stages of the Champions League once under any previous regime.

    Before Rafa we could only dream of beting Man Utd & Real Madrid 4-0.

    Under Hodgson we’d be lucky to beat the cones in training 4-0.
    Maybe if one got sent off.

  32. Well writen article mate.Well done.Bootlered yor spot on as well.If it was not for people like Hansen,Lawro,Redknap,Souness and lots of other ex reds Rafa would still be our manager. I forgot the London mafia(the press) too.Bring RAFA back .

  33. Hansen

    You know for someone who didn’t have the technical knowledge or the courage of his convictions to become a manager Hansen made a bold career choice.

    To sit on a sofa with that chirpy halfwit Lineker grinning inanely beside him and then with benefit of hindsight and selective highlights lecture his betters.

    He makes a great deal of money and he doesn’t have to stick his neck out on the line.

    All well and good but there’s a nasty, ugly xenophobic side to Hansen that doesn’t trust outsiders and in that respect he’s a paid up member of football’s establishment.

    Rafa was never part of that clique brown nosing Ferguson at the Old Toilet like Hansen and Lawrenson with their platitudes. Rafa stood up proudly for Reds everywhere against owners and a board that was stabbing him in the back and against a media that still is largely owned or paid off by S*n owner Murdoch.

    That’s why Reds will never forget Rafa’s achievements and he’ll always be welcome back as one of us. To be frank no one is really interested in when Hansen and Lawrenson left and no one wants them back either.

    Since they left football for the business of minor celebrity they just don’t matter anymore.

  34. Time to take the blinkers off and think about what Rafa actually did at the club

    – Didn’t win as much as previous managers

    – Didn’t bring a single player through the youth team

    – Left the squad with TWO strikers (one a 21 year old) ONE left back and ONE right back, disregarding untested reserve players.

    – Sold a perfectly good right back in Arbeloa and lost Alonso because he was too stubborn to say sorry and replaced them with Johnson and Aquilani, two massive flops who totalled almost £40 million.

    – Lost the faith and confidence of many other players – Torres and maybe even Gerrard would have left if Rafa stayed. Mascherano would have still gone. Benayoun and Riera too.

    – Despite limited funds, bought way too much shite. Josemi, Kromkamp, Degen, Voronin, Babel, Lucas, Maxi, Pellegrino, Paletta, etc etc

    – Wasted talented players such as Keane, Crouch, Bellamy.

    – Bottled it in front of the press, let the media and other managers get to him.

    On the other hand he also

    – Won the CL and FA Cup

    – Got some good victories over United, Everton etc.

    – For a time it looked like he had brought a good squad together and we might compete but he didn’t address the right issues.

    – Stood up for us, and himself, against the owners.

    – Loved the club, fans and city.

    – Did his best.

    I by no means hate Rafa, I was a big fan until late into last season but it was certainly time for him to move on.

    Roy on the other hand needs time. Some of you are criticizing 3 of the players in the derby being Roy’s signings: Konchesky is better than Insua, any single one of us would have signed Joe Cole, and I think Meireles will be a good signing.

    BTW, Skrtel, Kyrgiakos, Maxi and Lucas are the very definition of average, some of them worse. Playing with Maxi is like playing with 10 men.

  35. We cant defend,we cant keep the ball in midfield and we cant score goals.We’ll go a long way.Better have a kit-kat then.

  36. If Rafa is to blame then I’m afraid anyone that says that is blind! If Roy is getting this little out of the team then that makes Rafa a wizard with what he did! Rafa built a very good side compared to the likes of Dia and Diouf and tit camara that houlier brought to LFc and that is to name just a few shockers! rafa wasnt perfect but he was half bad either! Get King Kenny in now and don’t wait any longer. Roy can move up stairs if he wants and can do an ambasador role he is 62 years old and doesnt need this and nor do I! We have a much better squad base and set up than when Rafa first took over so we have at least that to be thankful for! We do at least have some quality in the resis and the under 18’s so if the next manager plays it right he could be onto a real winner. Utd are about to implode so this could be our chance to knock them off their man made(replicas retail at £6.99!) Perch!

  37. lads i agree TOTALLY!!!

    i am freaking over it, it was NEVER Rafa’s fault!!!

    look what he had to deal with especially last year and look how Hodgson is dealing with it now!!!!

    Rafa was still the man for the job, he just needed a season with some backing in the market!!!

    ps, i still do not understand why he loaned out Aquliani, it niggles away at me everyday, we are lacking that creative player in the middle, instead he brings in Poulsen and keeps Lucas, this is unforgiveable for me!

  38. Ikeep reading quotes from Hodgson in the media trying to explain himself.Why doesn’t he spend as much time and energy trying to explain himself to the players because they don’t look like they have a clue what they’re supposed to be doing.

  39. Rafa had 4 good seasons and one bad – that’s hardly a reason to get rid of him. He only went because Hicks wanted to trim the squad and Rafa didn’t. That was it. Hicks was penny pinching and the moment Hodgson took over we unloaded about 12 players at various levels.

    Last season people assumed the squad was approaching meltdown, falling apart and all those problems would be solved once Rafa was sacked. Well Rafa has gone and what’s happened? Where’s the improved moral?

    “Rafa was too cold,” some fans moaned. “He’s too inhuman.” So we appoint a gentleman and what happens? Does Torres look happy now? Does Gerrard? When Ferguson branded Torres a cheat did Hodgson hit back?

    Truth is this is exactly what the Rafa haters wanted. An experienced Englishan to get our club back to basics. Hodgson is taking us back…just not in a good way.

    Oh, and SEAMUS, in terms of the players sold,

    Bellamy chased a teammate around with a 7 iron so disciplinery reasons forced Rafa’s hand, but we still made a profit.

    Crouch refused to sign an extension to his contract which was due to expire. We sold him and made a £4m profit.

    Arbeloa demanded a move and was refusing to sign a new contract

    Alonso [tragically] requested a move after falling out with the boss. This was unfortunate as Alonso is one of the finest midfielders playing football right now. But we can’t forget 2 average seasons before his final one. Plus we trebled our money on him.

    Hodgson sold Mascherano at a big loss.

    For 2 season Rafa desperately wanted to sign new strikers [Trezeguet & Saviola], but was never given the money. Hodgson takes over and he buys 2 midfielders. WTF?

  40. Antoine,

    Your comment of what would have happend if Poulson was in is ridiculous….Lucas looks like a little boy on the pitch….he has no presence in the midfield. I would take Poulson over Lucas any day…..Yeah he plays for the Brazil XI because that is his style of play… Liverpool must let him go. Please tell me one game last year , 2 years ago, whenever that Lucas took the game of the match award? and that people were impressed with him? Name one!!!! He is total shiite!!!!! Maybe the goal last year in the Europa cup!! One goal for Center midfielder…..He’s garbage!!! Until when will people realize that he is not young anymore??? Sorry , but this one I dont agree with you!!!

    YNWA!!!

  41. Too true, Hodgson is useless. I was really concerned after the Utd game, not because we lost so much but because of his non reaction to Fergusons antics. ie this result is a catastrophe for Liverpool and Torres is a cheat. That proved to me that he is not upto the job of managing one of the big clubs in world football.

  42. Well said Antoine. I’m a new visitor to this site (bumped into it about 2 months ago) but now this is the 1st site I open. At least this site (unlike the official LFC site) tells us what’s really happening behind the scenes. Plus it’s nice to be able to put our views as well.

    I like your comments Craig Challener…… never thought of it that way but it definitely makes sense. Hodgson IS like that grandad with the Xbox.

    I have to admit I was one of the fans who grew frustrated with Rafa towards the end of last season and thought perhaps the club needed a fresh idea from another world class manager. Unfortunately, I think Roy was only brought in because he was the kind of manager the board would be able to control (plus the fact that finding new owners was the main priority then). But now that we have new owners, we have to let the puppet go and bring in someone who knows how to get the best out of the players. Rafa didn’t leave us an average team but Hodgson now has made them look like less than an average one. Moral is low and that’s not down to Rafa – it’s down to Hodgson!

    Rafa must be sad but happy at the same time. Sad because he loves LFC and wouldn’t like to see how bad we’ve gone and how low we are at the table. But perhaps happy as well because now many fans (not the media though) feel his absence, and I think the players do too.

    If we don’t beat Blackburn this weekend, I hope the owners will be strong enough to let Hodgson go and bring Dalglish in as caretaker manager until January (or until the end of the season if things go better). Dalglish is up there at the stands looking at the state of the team and “dying” to be on the pitch to do something about it! That’s the way it looks like to me.

  43. Rafa should never have been fired!

    Those who called for his head are traitorous morons who should no longer be welcome as supporters of LFC as they have done as much as the two Americans to destroy this club!

    We warned them this would happen! We told you that Woy wasnt up to it…we told you Rafa actually OVERACHIEVED given his squad (try learning something before listening to the chronically stupid Andy Gray)…

    They have landed us with this chump! They must pay! Each and every one of the traitors!

    Lucas – you are an example of the utter fucking morons who support this club and have helped to destroy it – you know ZERO about the game of football – I suggest you fuck off to Chelsea as you dont have the brain power to be a LFC supporter! ANDY GRAY/GRAME SOUNESS/ALAN HANSEN/MARK LAWRENSON are all FUCKING MORONS – they dont have a fucking clue about what they are talking about – they have never managed anything! Only FUCKWITS like you listen to these morons! Fuck off you traitorous CUNT!

  44. I am probably going to get abused for this because everyone seems to hate him but can I just ask why the hell everyone hates Babel so much? Never played in the right position under Rafa when he was picked at all. Even though in his first few months he couldn’t stop scoring (spectacular goals too and against Manure and everyone else). Apparently the fastest player in the squad and the most tricky. What has Liverpool needed in the last 5 years??? Pace and creativity! I think he was somewhat emasculated under Rafa as he was being forced to play on the left and make only the runs Rafa allowed him to. I think that under someone like Arsene Wenger he would have flourished and been able to reach his potential. He was all set to leave but with new management coming in it must have looked like he would have been given a chance and yet hang on…Apparently Woy hates him too! Just about every time I see him come on in the last 2 or so minutes of a game he creates SOMETHING where an underperforming liverpool seems out of ideas.

    I think it was a bad move for Sammy Lee to stay once Rafa had gone as I think that A lot of rafas ideas have been left behind with Sammy Lee and Woy, being a ‘yes man’, just goes with it. Someone must be telling the liverpool managers that lucas is a Godsend but be sure to play another holding midfielder with him…!!! Why the hell did woy get rid of a finally fit aqualani and replace him with this juriatric shite poulsen. Lucas is a passenger as it is we do NOT need another passenger in the midfield!! For me Cole shouldn’t be played on the left. He doesn’t want to and wasn’t performin there at Chelsea. He is the perfect player to play in behind Torres and be the link man with Gerrard from deeper. Aqualani/Pacheco also should get a a chance in behind Torres. This Torres NGog partner ship rubbish will never work as they are both number nines its like villa and torres. This stuff seems so obvious I bet most Reds would coach our team better than the current manager. My Liverpool formation with the current squad

    ………………………..Reina…………………..
    Johnson/Kelly…….Carra/Skrtyl/Agger……..Konchesky
    ………………Gerrard……..Mierles……………..
    Babel/Pacheco……Cole/Aqualani/Pacheco……Jovonovic/Pacheco
    …………………..Torres/Babel…………………..

    This squad could beat any team in the world if they believed in the manager which they obviously don’t at the moment. I don’t see how Woy could shag this season up so bad. Heres to hoping King Kenny takes over soon before its too late. YNWA

  45. that formation has four in the back with the two centerbacks being chosen our of carra skrytl and Agger

  46. Thank you Seamus for a very competent post. You belong to an endangered species – the intellectually able Liverpool fan.

  47. I’m fully in support of Rafa. Yes he had a poor last season but look at everything he did for us, can’t keep using him as a Scapegoat.

    Also I agree with Aquaman, we’ve never really given babel a nice run of games since Riera came in, yes he hasn’t preformed brilliantly every occasion but how many of our players have recently. Should at least give him a few more chances he still has potential

  48. Here is something quite interesting and proves that when Rafa had money to spend he was successful. Under David Moores Rafa spent £87.3m in three years (NET – i.e. money spent on fees less money received). Under Tom and George Rafa spent £34.7m in three years.

    Under David Moores with an average net spend of £29.1m per season he won the champions league, and FA cup, and got to another champions league and League Cup final. A fantastic record.

    It is clear to me now that Rafa was having to balance the books every year from 2007. His first year under Tom and George his spending was £23.4m – this is when we bought Torres and Babel. But in the next two years it was £11.4m (average £5.7m per season).

    In short if Rafa had a consistent budget of c£30m p.a. i believe he would have maintained his success and we would be in a far better shape than we are today. I don’t blame Purslow – I think Rafa had probably had enough by then anyway and was probably being somewhat awkward to deal with. Who can blame him?

    The evidence on the transfers is below – it makes interesting reading:

    Liverpool total net spend 2004-09: £122m loss

    2004-05 Net spend: £31.05m loss in total
    Players in + fee: Djibril Cisse £14m, Josemi £2m, Luis Garcia £6m, Xabi Alonso £10.5m, Antonio Nunez £2m, Mauricio Pellegrino free, Fernando Morientes £6.3m, Scott Carson £0.75m.
    Players out + fee: Markus Babbel free, Danny Murphy £2.5m, Michael Owen £8m, Stephane Henchoz free.

    2005-06 Net spend: £23.4m loss
    Players in + fee: Pepe Reina (£6m), Mark Gonzalez (£4.5m), Boudewijn Zenden (free), Antonio Barragan (£0.25m), Mohamed Sissoko (£5.6m), Peter Crouch (£7m), Godwin Antwin (£0.5m), Jack Hobbs (£0.75m), Paul Anderson (£1m), Jan Kromkamp (Swap), David Martin (£0.5m), Daniel Agger (£5.8m), Robbie Fowler (Free).
    Players out + fee: Vladimir Smicer (Free), El Hadji Diouf (£1.5m), Mauricio Pellegrino (Free), Gregory Vignal (Free), Antonio Nunez (£0.5m), Ritchie Partridge (Free), Milan Baros (£6.5m), Josemi (Swap).

    2006-07 Net spend: £32.85m loss
    Players in + fee: Craig Bellamy £6m, Gabriel Paletta £2m, Fabio Aurelio Free, Jermaine Pennant £6.7m, Dirk Kuyt £9m, Nabil El Zhar £1m, Alvaro Arbeloa £2.6m, Francisco Manuel Duran Free, Javier Mascherano £18.6m.
    Players out + fee: Fernando Morientes £3m, Bruno Cheyrou (£0.5m), Dietmar Hamann (£0.4m), Carl Medjani Free, Antonio Barragan (£0.7m), Djimi Traore (£2m),Neil Mellor £1m, Jan Kromkamp £1.7m, Chris Kirkland £2m, Darren Potter £0.25m, Stephen Warnock £1.5m, Salif Diao Free.

    2007-08 Net spend: £23.3m loss
    Players in + fee: Andriy Voronin Free, Krisztian Nemeth £0.5m, Charles-Hubert Itandje £3.5m, Fernando Torres £26.5m, Yossi Benayoun £5m,Ryan Babel £11.5m, Emiliano Insua £2m*, Damien Plessis (£1m), Martin Skrtel (£6m).
    Players out + fee: Florent Sinoma Pongolle £2.7m, Danny O’Donnell £0.1m, Luis Garcia £4m, Boudewijn Zenden Free, Djibril Cisse £6m, Craig Bellamy £7.5m, Mark Gonzalez £4.2m, Jerzey Dudek Free, Robbie Fowler Free, Mohamed Sissoko £8.2m, Gabriel Paletta Swap.

    2008-09 Net spend: £6.45m loss
    Players in + fee: Philipp Degen free, Andrea Dossena £7m, Diego Cavalieri £3.5m, David Ngog £1.5m, Robbie Keane £20.3m, Vitor Flora Free, Albert Riera £8m.
    Players out + fee: Anthony Le Tallec £1.1m, Harry Kewell Free, Peter Crouch £9m, Danny Guthrie £2.5m, Scott Carson £3.25m, John Arne Riise £4m, Steve Finnan £2m, Robbie Keane £12m.

    2009-10 Net spend: £4.95m loss
    Players in + fee: Glen Johnson £18m, Alberto Aquilani £20m, Sotiros Kyrgiakos £2m.
    Players out + fee: Paul Anderson £0.25m, Sebastian Leto £1.3m, Sami Hyypia Free, Jermaine Pennant Free, Alvaro Arbeloa £3.5m, Xabi Alonso £30m.

    YNWA

  49. Antoine can you please set up a thread on thoughts for a new manager? It is very clear that Hodgson has lost the fans. Let’s find out who the popular choices are for a replacement.

    The media and bookies are touting Rijkard as favourite with O’Neil, Dalglish and Hiddink in the frame. This is an easy list to pull together but there are a few others that should be given some consideration. I’d like to hear your views.

    YNWA

  50. thank god for this thread and the comments that remind me of the knowledgeable kop. i started thinking LFC was now being taken over by morons. at last the old intelligence and reasoning is coming back. we lost a world class manager in rafa and i for one wont let him walk alone.

  51. Rafa will never walk alone, he helped provide all of my greatest football memories. Good luck filling that man’s shoes. Thank you for everything Mr. Benitez YNWA.

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