uncle bob

Two wrongs don't make a right. But complaining about Everton playing for a draw or being too cautious at Anfield with nearly all their attacking players injured bearing in mind its a tactic he adopts in the majority of games does border on the ridiculous.

No he keeps coming out with nonsense that makes him and the club look stupid.

apologises if I misunderstood your point

All the more reason to say nothing about the opposition or referee etc. When your team has played badly say feck all

The classic 'head in the sand' comment to excuse mediocre results and performances. All we now here from Rafa after games is blaming others he talks a lot about controlling the game but feck all about creating chances and scorting lots of goals. Difficult to comment on last nights performance as I only saw the 'highlights' on sky but on sunday we had almost total control particulary in the first 45 minutes and we didnt create ONE decent chance. Other teams have improved their playing staff but if memory serves me right didnt we bring in nearly £40m of new players to replace players Rafa thought not good enough i.e improve our squad. I've heard of the 'Teflon Don' but to some of our fans we have the 'Teflon Manager'. At times I wish I did have the ear of the Board as some have implied because if I did I would advise no discussion of any new contracts (except Aggers) until the end of the season.

What you don't take into account that by their standards and admission Chelsea and Man U have had their worst start for years and are just now coming into form. We had a great chance to put real pressure on them but blew it with a string of mediocre draws and performances against teams we should be consistently beating.

Rafa has made lots of mistakes but when they happen too many blame the Board, the players, the Referee, the tactics of the other team, the weather but never the manager. Two names for me MON or Mourinho. But yes it would be stupid to sack Rafa in the middle of the season unless results fall away even worse that at present and thus jeopardising our chances of qualifying for the CL.

excellent piece of research that explodes a few myths

of course I agree the responsibility also lies with the players, sadly many of them do not seem capable for what ever reason. They are in general players Rafa has bought. Also tell me when in a Derby match you have seen a captain and our best player substituted because he was playing with 'too much passion'. The turnover in players in the last 4 years has been ridiculous, by that I am not saying the decision to replace many of them was wrong. However why were they bought in the first place. Most players thrive when they have confidence in themselves and they know the manager has confidence in them. The great ones may not need a manager to instil that confidence but the majority do and this is another failing which even you allude to by Rafa. It was also mentioned earlier that Rafa deserves acknowledgement for get us to the various finals. That is true, his defensive, counter attacking system is well suited for cup games, particulary games over two legs. However once in the Final a more aggressive attacking style is required and most definately in league matches, draws are no good when 3 points for a win are at stake. This is were Rafa fails and as I will judge any Liverpool manager by League titles, I have not been a fan of his as I do not believe he will ever win the league for us. As to which wide players we should of bought, I am not so sure but then again I am not paid £3m a year to do so and I dont have the time to watch all the various overseas teams etc.

Crouch left because he hardly played. We don't need two holding midfield players against most teams so if Gerrard and either Alonso/Masch in the middle against lesser teams, Crouch would of been a good parter for Torres. One good winger would not in my opinion been enough, we require width from both flanks and this would also of assisted both Crouches and Torres. A lot of money has been wasted and that fact should not be ignored too.

Its not revisionism - I believe he is just given too much credit for those trophys not that he should not get any. For me class players are those who would be wanted by any team in the world and we have two - Gerrard and Torres The others mentioned are very good players.

So £20M on a player whilst regarded as very good, to play in the one area of the park that was working well - Gerrard/Torres and not invest in a class winger. Before you mention Riera, he is OK but not great and Babel is fecking useless.

For what its worth and if you have read any of my postings regarding Rafa, you will appreciate I am not his biggest fan. However it would be foolish at the present time to sack him. If nothing else I believe the team is at least capable (but sadly no longer guaranteed) of a top four finish, which would be essential to encourage a top class new manager or players to come to the club. He has been the most negative, defensive and overly controlling manager we have had. The principle weakness for years has been our lack of quality wide players yet in nearly five years he has not addressed the problem most fans have recognised for years. His general tactic is press and defend in numbers then hope one of our very few class players does something special, hence the inability to kill off the opposition when we go 1-0 up and the large number of draws. Much is made of Istanbul, a truly great night. But wasn't it our managers tactics form the start of the game that saw us 3-0 down and only an injury to Finnan and the introduction of Hamman coupled with 'oh feck it we have nothing to lose lets give it a go attitude' of the players particulary Gerrard that saw us win. His other great achievement the FA cup owes much more again to the brillance of our Captain than any great tactical managerial nouse, it was West Ham for goodness sake and they took us to penalties. It is refered to as the Gerrard Cup Final. Also please don't refer to Athen if ever a manager screwed up that night it was Rafa. My opinion is the Board should sit on the new contract and if God is smiling on us they will sell out in the summer and that is when we should get a new manager.

and alienating out of town fans

that remark smacks of 'casioism'

fair point but waiting nearly twenty years breeds a certain degree of pessimism.

I may well be all those you accuse me of, but you are one pompous prat

agreed

Oh dear now the great Knox Harrington believes he has the right to decide who is fit to be a supporter of this team, a team I have followed before you were a twinkle in the eye. I don't want failure, I am upset because we have blown a very good chance for success and I do believe whilst statistically we can lose tomorrow and still win the league. I believe it would be very unlikely.

A little harsh considering I have been quite gracious to you in the past.

where you stamping your little feet as you typed such an erudite response. My half right comment related to 'you don't think'

not far off the truth - still using my Casio fx 140 - atleast 25 years old

well your half right

so therefore Babel is not going to make it

Man U