goodrobotusses

I love Rafa to bits, and genuinely believe he is one the best in the world at what he does, but I think it's best for both parties to have a clean break - if only for a while. Rafa needs to rebuild his reputation, and we need to have unity across the board at the club. Many a huge percentage of fans still love Rafa, it's fairly obvious that a number of people don't. The same can probably be said within the dressing room. I think if Rafa were to return having "failed" at Inter, then more than ever the club and especially Rafa himself would only ever be one dodgy performance/result away from the media being all over him like a swarm of hornets. And while my first instinct is always to say "f*** the media", it's something we could really do without, because it heaps unnecessary pressure upon everyone during a period when we're likely to be going through massive transition. We need a unified front and calmness as we build for the future. In terms of Rafa at Inter, it's kind of weird to see the inverted mirroring of Hodgson's problem here. Hodgson is trying to turn a high-pressing, high-tempo team and turn them into a deep, containing team. Rafa has taken over an Inter side that played a style under Mourinho closer to Hodgson's ideal approach, and is trying to turn them into Valencia/Liverpool. Consequently, Inter are looking horribly unbalanced and lost at the moment - Rafa's methods are not something that can be implemented within a dozen games. I believe that given the time he could do the job (I certainly have more faith in him than Hodgson in this regard), but I'm not sure if he'll get it. Things are beginning to look a little like his first season at Valencia when a comeback from 2-0 down to 3-2 in the second half saved his bacon. The difference is that Valencia hadn't won anything in donkeys, whereas Inter have been swatting everyone in Italy aside for years, so the pressure and consequences are much higher.

That's exactly my view on it. Those players were the sticks used to beat Benitez with. The more I think about it all, the more I think that Purslow was a clueless c***, and what a joke it was that he ended up with such a massive amount of power in so little time. EDIT: Signing Joe Cole was another. I wasn't against it, per se - he's a talented player, who can be an asset on-form. But he is nowhere near as good as the English press believe/want him to be.

Dirk Kuyt. Touch veers between pretty good and awful, get into good positions but finishing veers between pretty good and awful, hard-working, can run all game, try to play with my brain in terms of positions, etc. to make up for lack of natural ability. EDIT: but I can use my weak foot (right).

You're right, s***ty choice of words. My bad.

Still don't believe Kenny is a long-term solution for the club. I'd have him as a stop-gap in a heartbeat once Hodgson is sacked, but in terms of taking us to the pinnacle of the modern European game (which is where we should be aspiring long-term) I don't think Kenny is that man. Not claiming to know who the man is, though my preference is for a young, progressive manager. Obviously very early days in his career, but I think a few clubs will be looking closely at Villas Boas come the end of the year. I'm still a fan of the whole "Hodgson for England/Norway/Denmark" chant, mind.

"We jolly well would like to have more of the so-called good torpedoes, but unfortunately I'll have to work with what I've been given until January."

That was our best performance last season. Excellent football, first half especially.

Don't doubt that, but those sorts of players do need movement around them to function. If you look at that video and AA's dristribution to the wings, we don't tend to have that option at the moment because "the shape" is paramount. All our players are stood on each others toes for 90 minutes, apart from Torres who's an annoyed speck in the distance.

At this stage, sacking him might not be enough. Best fire him out of a cannon into the sun just to be sure.

In fairness, Aquilani would be as awful as the rest of them in our system. Just wish that we'd be able to get him back when we've got a proper manager in place, but Juve will keep him now. He's apparently getting called back into the Italy squad too.

"Norway? One country I never intend to work in again."

Dani Pacheco, yesterday.

Come on, own up - who changed André Villas Boas' Wiki page making him Liverpool manager?

Hangeland is alright, but not sure how he'd fare in a more expansive team. Young is overrated. Benzema seems to be lacking mentally (and has a double-chin).

Can anyone report on how well Hangeland is doing under Hughes? Fulham's style under Hodgson played to his strengths - deep, compact team meaning he's only expected to get his head on things (something he is excellent at and the closest thing to Sami). I'm just wondering how well he'd adapt to a more expansive approach and the extra exposure on the deck that would entail. This also applies to the Brum CBs - they're a very deep, defensive team that makes them look better than they might actually be. Also, if we were looking to "replace" Agger, then we'd need someone comfortable on the ball - we lack that without Agger.

Off topic, but congratulations!

Really, really gutted for Agger. Such a talented player with such rotten luck. Can't help but think we should be looking for a new first-choice centre-back now, possibly two. If Agger eventually comes roaring back fully fit and wins his place back (post-Roy presumably), then I'll be delighted. But it's reaching the point where you can't really plan for the future and make him a key figure because there's no way of knowing if he'll ever manage a full season.

Really want him to keeping making these strides. Dead happy for him, because I've always had a lot of time for him. Hoping he can start adding goals back to his game, like he did at Gremio. Obviously he plays a more exclusively defensive role with us, but think he's capable of 5-10 a season - many times he's gotten into great positions only to fluff his lines. Think he just needs one or two on the bounce.

Noticed that too. Looking a lot more bullish and confident these days - more willing to stamp his presence on a game. Long may it continue!

Don't think he's the man for us - either tactically, mentally, or in how he represents the club, fans and players in the media - but we're on a good run of results that can't be argued with for the moment. We were very good today, albeit that's the worst I've seen from Chelsea in a long while. Good to be climbing the table, but long term I feel we'll need someone a lot better than Roy to truly kick on and challenge again.

Yeah. Hopefully a few more of these kinds of raps on the nose and papers will think twice before publishing s**** like that.

Our owner circumventing press bulls*** directly. Like it... @John_W_Henry A little fiction reading today: http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/210076/Liverpool-owner-John-W-Henry-admits-Steven-Gerrard-sale-threat

Hodgson did use wingers on their "wrong" side so they would naturally tuck inside (Duff right, Dempsey/Davies/Gera left). Also, Ashley Young is completely overrated. His game is based around one thing - stop, turn onto right foot, cross it. Perfect for a Martin O'Neill side.

Taylor was awful tonight, but the best commentary moment was when Five's man (whoever he is) referred to Napoli as Lazio. Right shirt colour, I suppose.

Thought Shelvey started alright but waned badly, and seemed to let his head drop when he started making mistakes. He also seems to be incredibly slow. Still, only young and not playing in his position yet. Hopefully he'll continue to gain experience and develop into a top player.