Lanus

Rafa is not hear to make you happy. He does not put his team selection forward for you or anyone else to sign off on. he picked a team that beat another team 3-0. That is all that matters. We did win in Istanbul.

well the fact that Parry was quick to alienate Rafa didnt bloody help. Im not a parry out kinda guy but I think that someone is to blame for the way Rafa has been treated and I don't think it is Rafa himself. Lots of managers would have left after being treated like that but I am glad that he has put up with it so far... however it would be a disgrace for him to be sacked. I'm annoyed that all the fans are turning on him too. When will it end? when we find a manager who wins us the league? what then? if that manager doesn't win the league for another 4 years, would he get sacked too? Would our fans think that 'he has brought us as far as he can'?

that would only be ironic if you did something like that to Ruddock though ;P mind you, riise has it coming... i'll turn a blind eye if you do.

well im a massive mascherano fan but he isn't our players yet... still i guess some credit must go to Rafa for getting him here at all when the other top clubs were and still as very much after him. if we do sign mascherano then an interesting thing will happen. Rafa may get sacked, even though he'd have brought in 2 possibly world class players along with 2 players with world class potential. On paper we have drastically improved. We just need to have security for Rafa and no more contraversy from the owners. then next season we will see how we go. mind, we need another top class striker before we can actually compete if you ask me.

If Torres can stay fit then I think he will. I do admit that he may have started on a high and think his general form will be a little lower... however, he's bloody fantastic and we'd be f***ed without him. thank god Rafa signed him.

That is just hilarious, you're complainging about why Rafa changed things around in the way he did, yet you think that Gerrard should have been given a day off and that Lucas and masch are plenty good enough..... If he had done what you asked and we didn't go on to win, you'd be calling for his head.

Well people said we were a 20 goal a season striker away from challenging. i disagree with that, however you only have to look at the fact that we have found that striker and yet we are no nearer to challenging. If you ask me, last summer was Rafa's most successful in the transfer market and I think that given proper working conditions these players could add so much to our game play. This season is a write off but lets not make it worse by sacking the man who brought us the world class striker in Torres and also the possibility of Lucas and babel. we were top of the premiership at the start... there was no reason why we couldnt have maintained that position or there-abouts for longer.

10,000 spoons when all you need is a knife ironic?

This negativity is bloody tiring. You think people would start to settle down after a 3-0 win but I guess since we were expected to win then it means nothing. The trouble with Hicks has obviously had a serious effect on the team. I do wonder if the players have lost confidence in Rafa, if so then the future is bleak. Having said that, I'm hoping for a win against chelsea. In case nobody else noticed , everyone near us dropped points this weekend.. ourselves and arsenal were the only 2 teams in the top 8 or 9 to win as far as i know. I know we're way back but that is at least something. beating chelsea will give us a chance of getting 3rd but more importantly it would raise moral substantially. We need to put this trorublesome time behind us as so do the team and Rafa does too. Whether you're a Rafa supporter or not, you will want us to beat chelsea.. so let's focus on that.

Holy s***! so it's not a joke , Snorky is the anfield excersise announcer dude. that's f***ing cool. So he did it again for the sunderland game then? This is something we should look into.. maybe the odd loud cough etc Snorky for manager!

what would Gillett give us as an owner? Not mouthing off about replacing Rafa to the press. That counts for a lot. I'm not as bothered by others of their 'lies' ... the world market has drastically changed and unfortunately their plans were ripped up.. however, it is Hick's methods that have enraged me. Ok, I am also unhappy at their lack of investment but my point is that keeping a professional air about the way you do your business is very important. that gimp Hicks is largely to blame for our poor run of form. also , Im not going soft on them. I just think Gillett is possibly being tarred by the same brush. Maybe I'm wrong, maybe he's a total c*** but I wont say so until I see him step out of line, himself.

No, I was joking though.

We won. We won by 3 goals. We finished off a team. I have absolutely nothing to complain about after winning 3-0 in the league.. don;t care where we are playing or against who.

So, coming out publicly and further destabalising the club is what we want? If we were owned by Gillett only, we'd be in a far better position now. Maybe Gillett would still get rid of Rafa (laods would agree with that now, im not one of them) but Gillett has at least done most of his business behind closed doors. From what I've heard from the Montreal Canadians fans, he seems to be a decent owner.

I've always thought that our problem isnt both americans but is infact Hicks. I don't have loads of evidence to say that he is the right man for us , however i've not seen him step out of line either. As for saying that he is to blame as much for what's happened as Hicks is for not coming out and saying it, i just don;t agree with that. it is coming out and saying things that has gotten us where we are now. Gillett seems to be running the club the way we would want... Having said that, maybe he also wanted Rafa out.. I doubt it though since Gillett now refuses to sign off on Hicks press releases, tells me maybe Hicks should have been speaking for himself. I think that our protests should not be 'yanks out' but Hicks out.

ok, but what did he actually do?

No, gerrard up behind Torres and lucas and mascherano in the middle with babel and benayoun on the sides.

exactly the same odds of us winning the CL in 05 at half time v milan!

Berbatov would be the best bet.. that or Robbie Keane who has always scored lots of goals in the premiership and is a smarter team player than he gets credit for. edit: also yes, i agree on the Berbatov talk there... he is a class player but it seems he can bring the wrong kind of attitude to the team at times... and to be consistant and to win the league, you need someone who is not only incredbly talented but mentally tough and determined.

at first I admit that I was a little unsure.. But its been a long time since ive felt unsure about Reina at all. He's pure class. rarely makes mistakes but when he does.,.. he gets back up.

Would really settle the team down if we managed to give Chelsea a bit of a thrashing.

sorry lads, what did snorky do exactly?

Ya , this is nuts. If people want Rafa out then fair enough but don't make yourself look like a complete idiot by trying to take away what Rafa has achieved, what is written in stone.

You may be right there but the answer of course is not to replace Rafa but to bring in an assistant manager with people skills.

I think they should try gerrard as an out and out attacking midfielder with Torres up front on his on next game. Give the central places to mascherano and lucas/alonso with babel and benayoun on the wings. Its very narrow but bloody effective. besides , gerrard bursting forward to play a one 2 with torres every now and then would be class .