Jim D

Hutchinson is playing like a man possessed, he is clearing everything for Luton!

Maybe Rafa is resting him for the Villa game on Monday............

I think most of us wouldn't blame him. Looking at your signature Maldini, doesn't that Shankly quote ring so true to what is happening at the club today. Be great to see someone make a banner about it and take it to the match.

Just come in from work and I cannot believe what I am hearing from our owners. They are a complete joke and with this they have totally undermined Rafa's position. I've not read all 21 pages of the thread so I don't know what everyone else's feelings are on this matter but If I was Rafa I would walk. His bosses have gone behind his back looking for a replacement for his job....we're turning into a joke of a club. SACK GILLETT SACK HICKS SACK PARRY! SACK THE BOARD! Totally livid, off to get a brew to calm down. :angry:

That is the key, if we play Mascherano then our fullbacks have to be comfortable with the ball at their feet and can contribute regularly to our attacking play. Very rarely under Rafa and during GH's tenure have we seen either of our full backs making runs forward to support and overlapping the winger to put in a decent cross. Question is are Aurelio, Finnan, Riise and Finnan capable of doing this but at the same time are composed within their defensive duties.

Mascherano isn't the problem, every title winning team recently has had a holding midfielder destroying the play between the back four and the midfield. The actual problem has been the back 4 itself particularly in the centre, we've lacked pace since Agger's injury. Unfortunately Sami is not as quick as he once was, which means we've been forced to hold a deeper line. We haven't been able to compress the play where the whole team can be closer together on the field and this allows the midfielders to support the front men. Despite the loss of Agger, our defending has been as good as it has ever been but its had a profound effect on our attacking play. Recent results prove this. We defend as a team really effectively but we don't attack as a team, the nine draws this season tells us that.

Looking at the past two games, Boro and Wigan, I see no reason why my list should be amended in anyway, at this moment in time only Babel possibly would be upgraded to a "First teamer". It was great to see Babel willing to run at players and show some urgency in our attacking play. Voronin is gash and Riise well less said about him the better! Be interesting to see from the forum as a whole which of our "squad" players deserve to remain at the club and are good enough to challenge for a league title in their respective positions. Here's my feelings on the issue: Squad Players Hyypia - Been a great servant, be willing to give him another year, vast experience and is decent back up. KEEP Riise - Chronically been out of form for around 2 yrs, not good enough. SELL Kewell - Been plagued with injuries, had some glimpses of his old self but not consistent enough. SELL Voronin - A promising start, but recently we are seeing his true level, not good enough SELL Benayoun - A decent utility player, but i'm not sure what his best position is, willing to give him another year KEEP Aurelio - Injury prone, a good left foot, decent free kick taker and a good crosser of the ball KEEP Crouch - A good player, been frozen out by Rafa recently but he gives us a different option in attack, ideal sub KEEP Pennant - Has shown some promise, a decent Premiership player but not good enough for a title winning team SELL Arbeloa - Similar attributes to Aurelio, good going forward when allowed to, been recently played out of position KEEP Kuyt - A great worker, can't fault the man for effort, but his confidence as a goalscorer has been shot to pieces SELL Babel - A good start from Babel, scored a few off the bench, very positive and has a willingness to run at players KEEP Leiva - One for the future, promising player, still lacking experience in the Premier League KEEP Sissoko - Not been the same player since that eye injury against Benfica, distribution under pressure is woeful SELL Itandje - Charlie has done well when called upon, crucial save against Luton recently, decent backup for Reina KEEP

Horrible first half, absolutely horrible, we've got international footballers out there who can't even control a football. Some pathetic performances out there, really embarrassing.

This is really pathetic, on par with Luton away, carrying too many passengers.

Surprisingly no Crouch, does this mean hes a goner or is Rafa saving him for the Luton replay?

Bitters have blown it in stoppage time, 2-1 Chelsea, Lescott og, seems to me Lescott was waiting for Howard to come for the ball.

Everton haven't got a better chance tonight of coming away from Stamford Bridge with a win. Chelsea down to ten men, Pizarro upfront and a dodgy keeper.

Every time this is written by a national newspaper what they are saying is this: "We don't actually have any quotes so we'll make some up for the sake of the article" It appears countless times in many stories that have no foundation what so ever.....pathetic.

If you exclude the fringe, reserve team players basically our squad has around 22 players in it, sounds reasonable to me.

Probably one of the biggest slumps in a footballing career, how has he gone from scoring 83 goals in 122 appearances for Feyenoord (goal machine like) to scoring only 21 goals in 71 appearances for Liverpool. Dirk must be thinking that he should never have left Holland. His confidence has totally gone to pieces and he is another long line of Liverpool strikers/forwards who can't seem to hack it mentally at a big club like Liverpool.

To show how bad of a performance that was even our away support were subdued for the majority of the 90mins. This game today emphasises which players are certainly not up for the fight or just don't have the ability to play for Liverpool Football Club. Kuyt, Voronin and Riise for a start.

I think that description would be more accurate towards our performance today.

We've been gash second half, Kuyt, Riise and Voronin aren't footballers. Got to give full credit to Luton they have worked their socks off.

Poor defending, an own goal by Riise, he has totally panicked.

What a lifeline! We never deserved that, honestly, again even Voronin missed his chance luckily Crouch followed up.

Luton have been the better team and deserve the cup tie at the moment.

Voronin ON, Babel OFF and Voronin plays a shocking pass! Can we all just go home?

Embarrassing.