Kop_90

Over the last few weeks / months i am sick and tired of the negative image of our club in the press, with fans of other teams and even our own fans. According to some, we have thrown away the league, play negative Football and are awful to watch. I know things could and should be better but they could also be a lot worse. Since 2000 i have witnessed, The Best ever UEFA Cup Final, The Best ever FA Cup Final and The Best ever European Cup Final. Many great games at Anfield, albeit many of them European games. I for one have enjoyed most of my frequent visits to support our great team. Would i rather watch Chelsea when they were boring their way to the League under The Special One, Arsenal and their "1-0 to the Arsenal" explains how they played for years. I know they have both had very good teams in the last few years but i still would not swap my last 40 years of following Liverpool. Utd have had a great last 10 years (I know it hurts), I hope it comes to an end soon and we are in a position to challenge. RAFA has brought us on tremendously over the last 4 years and we are easily as good as Chelsea and Arsenal, some would say as good as Utd. We should be closer in the League but what many do not realise is that they went on a run of 12 winning games and overtook us at the top of the league. Most teams would have had at least 1 draw possibly 2 within that period, if that were the case we would be within a few points of them. We have drawn games we should have won and they have won games they should have drawn. If only we could get behind the team for the last 10 games, we are closer than we ever have been and need one last push to see where it takes us. We play good football and entertain when we are confident and our best players fit and on form, the same as any other team. I hope those who say we will never win the League under RAFA are proved wrong. RAFA is a special Manager and loves Liverpool, I expect rubbish in the papers and ill feeling from fans of other teams but not from our own. Support the team or else move aside and let someone else in, don't boo your own players and remember the Liverpool traditions. The Liverpool Way.

Most were happy when keane arrived, it didn't work out as his performances on the pitch were not 19 million pound quality. Sad to see him go but we had the chance to recoup 16 million. All this talk of who will we play up front IF Torres gets injured is not helping. I for 1 think we have several options if it happens and never ever thought Keane was the answer. Sad to see him leave but he has been professional since and in my mind so has RAFA. If the bid from Spurs had not been acceptable then Keane would still be here, so i doubt it was ever a case of saying i want to get shut of him. In RAFA we trust ! , does not take some long to get on his back.

Help please re current financial position, On average we earn a vast amount of money throughout the season. The figures i have tracked down are as follows Income Prem league TV money £45 Mil Champs league money £30 Mil Ticket sales £30 Mil + Sponsorship £20 (Adidas and Carlsberg) expenditure Approx £25 Mil average on transfers Player wages ? (I have no idea) General club running costs and employee wages ? (again no idea) I have not included merchandising income and prize money. I have probably missed other important items from the list. However the ticket income covers the transfer dealings for each season, Players wages should easily be covered by other income leaving a healthy profit each year. Why are we not a sound investment, even considering the new stadium which should generate a minimum of £10 mil extra per season. Sufficient to repay the debt ? Are my figures way out or am i missing something.

villareal v panathinaikos

chelsea v juve

No i don't, I have to say that Carra's OG was as bad as Riise's, although in the context of the game importance we shall see, neither player is two footed enough and will make mistakes. The difference being i did not hate Riise as some did for his Chelsea mistake. My point was why bring Riise into this post. Just someone trying to take away the emphasis from Carra's mistake. I think Carra is the best defender in the country, but not great with the ball (if you know what i mean). Some people on hear just can't stand him being criticised. As for the Riise issue, I thought he did well for us and those who wanted him out now suffer the 2 left backs we have at present. You get what you wish for. And no i'm not a bellend, at least i can back up my argument with valid points, not abuse.

So what your saying is that if we loose the League by a couple of points this year it will mean less. Rose tinted scouse glasses me thinks, some people just cant seem to criticise certain players. An OG is bad under any circumstances. Don't shift the emphasis away from Carra who has an awful record for OG's

Have to say i'm happy with the money we spend on players. According to LFC History Benitez has spent Net 100 mil give or take a few mil, given the squad we have that is good going. Looking at the squad it has been spent well. Reina 6 Agger 5.8 Skrtel 6.5 Riera 8 Kuyt 9 Alonso 10.5 Babel 11 Mascherano 17 Keane 19 Torres 20 Those alone worth 112 mil and with most we could get our money back on and more. The above does not include Carragher and Gerrard who would bump it up by at least 30 mil. We also have Dossena 7, pennant 6, Lucas 5 and Benayoun 5 who are good squad players (some don't agree but they are worth money to the club if sold). I would expect us to spend 20 mil+ each year to keep pace with the other top teams and the odd big money purchase pushes that up to 25+. Getting back to the argument about scouts, How many of the Top 4 have had a good crop of home grown youngsters coming through their acadamy in the last 10 years. Most buy young players and develop them. Arsenal have done that well recently but won nothing. Chelsea and Utd have bought big money players. We are in the middle trying to buy big but bring through local lads as well. Fowler, Owen, Carragher and Gerrard. Nothing in recent years but we have done it in the past and need to continue scouting for local lads as well as europe. I doubt many of the Arsenal youth team will progress into the 1st team squad as the pressure is on for instant sucess. They will buy big soon to catch up and then some of the talented youth players will look elsewhere for 1st team football.

Seems like UEFA have messed up the Visa applications. No arrangement in place yet and up 50,000 fans wanting to travel. Cant get a Visa without Hotel and none left. 3 weeks to sort this mess out, not a chance. Fans want to book today. I read a while back that Wembley lost out on 2011/2012 final due to problems over tax system in this country. UEFA wanted guarantee from Govt that it would be resolved before they award the final. Why did they not sort out the Visa problems before awarding this years final. UEFA at its best ! Anyway, i'm not going so what do i care. Good luck to the Manc's and Chelsea scum (murderers song was worst ive heard in ages) Hope you get the final you both deserve

Just shows how important the 2nd leg is and home advantage for that game has a massive impact. Decisions went against us over the 2 legs but went for us against Arsenal. Proud to be a liverpool supporter last night, went so close to pulling off the biggest shock for years. Chelsea's home record is pretty good ! Gerrard played OK, get off his back, Chelsea have quality players and games involving the top teams are tight. How many players dominate such games. I cant think of many outstanding performances by one player in recent times. very tight game and usually decided by one bit of skill or a mistake. Just look at Ronaldo, Lampard and Fabregas. None of them dominate games against the top teams. Gerrard has come up with some outstanding performances for us and IS one of the top players in the world. Last point about last night, What a game.

Last year i bought my programme online prior to travelling to the Final. Much easier as lost so many over the years during the match or as in 2005 sold out at the ground. Can they be ordered from UEFA direct Has anyone a link to websites that you can order big match programmes in advance. I know of one but very expensive (footballprogrammes.com)

Just caught the last five mins of a show last night, about 9.50pm. Liverpool fans on tonights Semi Final with Aldridge, Kerry Dixon, Collymore and others present. Seemed a good atmosphere, however Dixon was not well received after comments about trouble at an all English Final. Best comment i heard from a fan was, If we beat Chelsea for a 3rd time do we get to keep them ! Tried to find a link to the show on the BBC website without any luck. Can anyone help as i would love to listen to the whole show

Best looking ground in the Prem, One of the worst for atmosphere. Portsmouth is better. Not helped by the 2nd tier being Hospitality and the 3rd being exec boxes. Ground was only half full 5 mins from kick off and did not fill up after half time for a good 10 mins. The real fans are split up by the Prawn sandwich brigade and thus the atmosphere is rubbish. One corner (opposite the away fans) has a go but its lost with the size and design of the stadium. Hope we learn from this when we build our stadium. Apart from that the stadium looks superb. Its hard work driving back 200 miles when you have spent most of the night bouncing, worth it though.

Mascherano was out of order today for what he did, He should know better. How could Gerrard stop any of this, from Torres getting booked to the sending off was less than 10 seconds. Did the Ref even speak with Mascherano. Thought the ref was out to make a name for himself and Gray made that point. The player who abused the Ref in the 2nd half was Ferdinand, he was booked for kicking the ball away and as the yellow card was shown could clearly be seen backing away saying "YOUR A FUC*ING WA**ER". No action taken by the Ref. This is what upsets most fans, you cannot even get a consistent approach during one game let alone over the season.

On the way home from the match today had the Radio on in the car listening to Phone in, Think it was Merseyside but not 100% sure. The presenter was / is an absoloute idiot. Every call he brought it back to the rotation policy of Rafa and how his team selection has ruined our season. Not sure who he is but the few times i have listened to the show i get so annoyed i have to swith off, Is he a blue ? Never been one for calling these shows as they cut callers off if they don't agree with their point and let those who do talk on for ages supporting the whole anti Rafa agenda. It was mentioned in the last few days that Rafa/LFC should fight back regarding this negative agenda from the local/national press. Every team rotates players and we have done it less than others, Torres was rested for 2 games this season, which player has played every game, i doubt many of the top players at any of the top 4. Why do the media not mention this. The reason we are behind the top 3, Even though i think we are closer at this point in the season than we have been for a few years, is that some of our fringe players have let us down when brought in to rest the 1st 11. We need to improve the quality of some of these playes. Would love us to go unbeaten till the end of the League campaign and see how close we get. We all moan about poor results at home and too many drawn games. Have Arsenal not just drawn at home again and now dropped 8 points in the last 4 games. A season ends in May and that is when we judge how its gone, thats the Liverpool way. Don't let this media bias destroy the good work RAfa has done and will continue to do for years to come.

i think part of the problem is quite a few Liverpool fans agree and don't think we need to play a Defensive / Holding midfield player. It's a matter of opinion and i think he will grow to be regarded as World Class in the next few years. The problem I have with so called pundits/ex-players is when you slag off Liverpool for paying £18 million for a player you should also compare this with what the other top teams have bought. At present that amount of money is nothing for a class player and i hope some of them have to eat their words in the near future. I only hope Masch can add a few more goals each season, a return of 4/5 a year would move him up to the next level, on recent performances he can do this as he has had a few shots in the last couple of games and todays goal was a peach.

Anyone got a comparison of how much we have spent in Rafa's time at the club compared with Utd, a*** and Chelsea. Heard a rumour that Utd only paid approx 7-8 million for Anderson and Nani with the rest of the fee depending on appearances and wining trophies. Seem's a small fee compared to the add on's if true. Are most deals similar to this these days.

Thats the whole point, times change and we needed to change a few years back, we didn't and it's not worth moaning about now. Just move on and support the team now. We don't have to be better than everyone else. Just don't lower ourselves as far as the gutter press / radio phone in's seem to be hoping for. Football is about highs and lows and in 40 years the highs have been far better than the lows. And if finishing 4th in the league is a low then god knows hows 90% of fans cope !!!!!!

Its all about the quality of the players you bring in and that costs a lot of money these days. Add a player the quality of Torres for the next 2 years and with the squad we already have then we may challenge. Rafa has had to spend £20-£30 million on 4 or 5 players in the past. We now need to consolidate and invest in a couple of quality players. I think most would agree with a winger and forward may just give us a decent chance Reina Arbeloa Carra Agger ? ? Gerrard Masch Babel ? Torres Squad players Skrtel Benayoun Kuyt Lucas Nemeth Insua Riise Aurelio Pennant Players i think will or may leave this year Alonso Finnan Crouch Voronin Leto Kewell

I have read many topics over the last few months regarding the position of the Club / Team. How the Manager should go, players not good enough etc..... Being old enough to remember the days when we won the league on a regular basis, I have to agree its dissapointing to have gone so long without wining the league. However compare what we have done in the last 8 yrs to the majority of teams then can we complain. Best ever champions league final Best ever FA cup final Best ever UEFA cup final add to that another FA cup win, a couple of League cup wins and the Super cup. Along with another Champs league final, League cup final and Charity shield matches. Would i swap any of this for a league win, no i would not. The joy on my 15yr old son's face at the end of the Final in istanbul will live with me forever. Ask him would he swap and the answer is the same. I know the argument will be, we need to compete in the league and i agree but here are some of the reasons why we struggle to compete at present 1) UTD have consistently spent more than us over a period of 15 yrs, having had £30 million players in place for a good few years 2) Chelsea have in the last 4yrs spent over £300 million on players which has contributed greatly towards 2 titles 3) UTD and Arsenal have both had managers in place for a number of years who have built a wining team and i believe in Wenger the best manager in Europe. 4) Benitez has only had limited money to work with until this year and even then he spent less than £30 million net. To spend big has meant selling players and then we have to rely on someone being prepared to buy at a price that suits us. We just need a reality check and understand the majority of fans/clubs will never have our record. Stop moaning and support the team and manager. We have had good times, days / nights i will never forget. I believe if we trust Rafa and give him money to spend, Money that will make the difference, then we can win the league. It's going to be hard and we will need a bit of luck on the way. Its not blind faith, its support of a team i have watched for nearly 40yrs and im sick and tired of listening to whingers at the match. Go and support someone like Newcastle / Boro or even Everton if you don't like it

Nice to see even their fans clapping when we made a substution. Altogether different world when non-league clubs paly at Prem ground. It was like a 1960's love in at certain points in the game. They deserved their moment and hope they had a great day, Made it even better when we brought on some big names towards the end. How many of us have dreamed of playing against some of the stars on the pitch today

Correct me if im wrong but is it not only 100mil that is in fact debt for the club. This is the money to start construction work and player purchases. If you think this money was to come from the owners then you are mistaken.

Nothing to do with having heads is sand. I agree a time and place for protest, last week was the time and place. Not every game. We will soon become a laughing stock for whinging. Protests at every game will dilute the impact. Fans support the team and we need to get behind them as we have not played well for weeks/ months

Great to see today some of the unheard majority getting a voice and having a go at the minority who insist on bringing down the name of this great club. Things were not going well today and they insist on having a go at the owners. Nothing to do with them it was Rafa and the players today. They needed us to get behind them as we were always going to win today. Great to see and hear TRUE fans getting behind the team and drowning out the negative idiots. LEAVE YOUR PROTESTS OUTSIDE THE GROUND.

Can anyone clear up the accusations made on various pages about lies told by the owners. The refinancing of the club. Only 105mil of the debt belongs to the club and this will be used as the first payment for construction work and player purchases. Im happy with that as i expected construction cost to be club debt and who did we think would pay for future player purchases. I hope in time players will be financed by match day revenue but till that is possible this will help. What lies did they tell about speaking with Klinsman, I myself think they were to honest about it and should have made no comment. Although i think Rafa is the right man for the job, many don't. A poll running today up to 40% want rid. If the owners want to sound out a replacement who can blame them. I didn't agree with the protests last week and think many have been proved wrong in the accusations about the owner. The saying goes, better the devil you know........ Maybe it's not the Liverpool way, but neither is fans demonstrating within the ground. Get behind the team and leave the ownership question to those who can influence it. The owners have supported the manager in the transfer market, No need to sign Masch yet his loan lasts until June, if he wants to stay we can buy him then. If not then we can do nothing about it. One point on this, if Masch came out and said i will noly play for Liverpool could we not drive the price down. The owners have delivered the stadium at a more affordable price, just get the building work started to shut up all the doubters and moaners who seem to shout the loudest at present. WHAT LIES HAVE BEEN TOLD