Football Focus

[matthew123]

Mancs up and down the country will be slitting their wrists tonight - anyone seen Sandperson!?! ;-)

With no real money on the table, and Rafa indicating he cannot work with current squad, I think after 6 years there can be no complaints if Liverpool want to let someone else have a crack and get what is a strong squad to reach their potential at least in trying to play football the Liverpool Way. The results last season were misleading, and a one off, but the style of football was not (which has in general gone downhill over last 3 years).

I am optmistic about next season if there is a new Manager... assuming it's not someone like Gareth Southgate ::o

[kpc]

Phil Brown? ;-)

[Keef]

Haven't posted on this thread in months, and don't intend to start again on a regular basis, but thought I'd pop in and say I'm sad that Rafa has gone for non football reasons.

Had he had the cash he needed, and done badly, then fair enough, but he didn't, and Matthew, it is not a strong squad, it is a squad with some great players, and a load of shite ones. couple of injuries, and they're knackered.

Dalglish is a legend at Liverpol, and was a great great player. However, he is a shockingly bad manager IMO. He did well with a Liverpool team that my mum could have managed, then he went to Blackburn and was bank roled to the title. In any other job, where he's actually had a challenge, he's been rubbish. Not trying to dis the guy, he was and is a great Liverpool man, but as a manager, I think his record definitely flatters to deceive.

Anyway, that's my 2p, see you all in another few months.

[Sandperson]

I'm going to get all confused again if Hughes manages Liverpool. I was conflicted when he went to City. Good luck to Rafa, he's in an untenable situation and is better off out now the tide has turned against him. He always seemed a little too 'nice'. I think anyonoe is going to struggle at the club with the apparent funds that are available, but he did make some awful buying and selling decisions.

[ruffers]

Annasfield Wrote:

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> Good job it's not up to you eh Ruffers?

I had a word.

[Mick Mac]

Annasfield Wrote:

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> "You'll never walk alone" ? What a load of shit!!

> If Dalglish steps in, it will be the worst mistake

> of his career. Rafa had one bad season and our

> fans turned on him. Kenny will always be a legend

> in my eyes, but under our current ownership and

> with our fickle fans, I fear this will end in

> tears.

>

> Absolutely gutted.

I'm sure it will turn out for the best in the long run Anna. Hard to take at the minute maybe but hopefully a new manager will give LFC new direction.

['bout now]

I think Liverpool will come out of this stronger and I wouldn't describe Liverpool fans as "fickle", if anything they have been too loyal.

The problem for me as an outsider looking in has been the negative style of football that has been played, if you get a more open minded manager you might see some of the undoubted talent at the club become more expressive. Lucas wasn't the under 20 captain of Brazil for nothing.

However the club has to be sold if we are ever going to see a Liverpool of old.

[Jah Lush]

I don't think it's just about the owners, though they have been a big factor in Liverpool's current plight. I think Rafa Benitez had lost the dressing room. When players like Gerrard, Torres, Carragher, Mascherano and Benayoun have publicly displayed a lack of faith in the manager hinting that they may move on if he stays and because of his cautious approach in his style of play leading to frankly boring and unnattractive football and finishing outside of the Champions League places his position becomes untenable.

I think it was Jose Mourinho who said last year that if Rafa had been at any other big club in Europe with the results he was getting he'd have been sacked a long time ago.

[Annasfield]

Where have they said that Jah? In my opinion it's all tabloid spin.

The only one who has come out and said anything about Rafa is Riera.

Interesting read on that from Balague

['bout now]

What I meant was that the club as a whole lack direction and impetus and that comes from owners who have a vision for the future. Hicks and Gilette have waged a war with each other and obviously have no love or knowledge of football.

[Jah Lush]

Annasfield Wrote:

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> Where have they said that Jah? In my opinion it's

> all tabloid spin.

Why would the tabloids want to spin that? If they were to sell an increasingly frustrated Gerard and Torres and give him ?80 million to spend on more "flops" like Aquilani and Keane what would fans like you have to say about that? You wouldn't be happy about it would you?

[Annasfield]

Where have Gerrard and Torres hinted that they will leave if Rafa stays. That was your original post?

LFC is approximately ?450m in debt ? any money from the sale of those players will not be put back in to the team. We are being bled dry.

Interesting that Aquilani is deemed to be a flop after half a season, which I think when he played he has shown promise. Also interesting that the press forget to report that Roma owed us money for Risse and given that ,we only paid a pittance upfront for Aquilani because of the structure of the deal. That?s the money that Rafa was given to spend. If Rafa was offered a clean ?80m to spend with no caveats, such as, you have to spend ?10m of it at xxxx club (i.e. Pompey) etc, then I think things would be VERY different.

Keane ? I?ll concede that he didn?t work out; however people need to remember that he was bought to play with Gareth Barry who Rick Parry and the yanks decided was too expensive, so Keane came on his own. Where did the money go that was returned to us after he went back to Spurs? It certainly wasn?t invested in the squad. I also find it amusing that no one has ripped Harry apart for wasting money on his return.

Rafa has made mistakes and I sometimes question him, however it is a disgrace how he?s been treated by the board and I am absolutely gutted that it has come to this. I just hope that he spills the beans about the cancer that seems to have infested our club once he?s gone.

[ruffers]

Rafa net spend on his squad while he's been there is beaten only by iirc City and Chelsea. He may well be a good coach but there's more to a manager than that. Keane is one example, Aquilani for the amount of money is a flop yes. Just look at Liverpool's current squad, for a net spend of around ?110m. He essentially only won things with players he inherited, since then, when it's been his team, nothing. I like Liverpool, I think English footie is better with a good Liverpool, and I think Rafa moving on is good news for all concerned.

No. Position Player

1 GK Diego Cavalieri

2 DF Glen Johnson

4 MF Alberto Aquilani

5 DF Daniel Agger

8 MF Steven Gerrard (captain)

9 FW Fernando Torres

10 FW Milan Jovanović

11 MF Albert Riera

14 MF Jonjo Shelvey

15 MF Yossi Benayoun

16 DF Sotirios Kyrgiakos

17 MF Maxi Rodr?guez

18 FW Dirk Kuyt

19 FW Ryan Babel

20 MF Javier Mascherano

21 MF Lucas

22 DF Emiliano Ins?a

23 DF Jamie Carragher (vice-captain)

24 FW David N'Gog

25 GK Pepe Reina

No. Position Player

26 MF Jay Spearing

27 DF Philipp Degen

28 MF Damien Plessis

29 FW Kriszti?n N?meth

30 GK Charles Itandje

31 MF Nabil El Zhar

32 DF Stephen Darby

34 DF Martin Kelly

36 DF Steve Irwin

37 DF Martin ?krtel

39 FW Nathan Eccleston

40 DF Daniel Ayala

41 GK Martin Hansen

42 GK P?ter Gul?csi

43 GK Dean Bouzanis

45 MF Alex Kacaniklic

46 MF David Amoo

47 FW Daniel Pacheco

48 MF Gerardo Bruna

49 DF Jack Robinson

49 players in the squad, a competitive Premier League team should be able to come up with essentially two 11's that could give a decent game. Can you out of that lot?

[Sandperson]

Least suprising news of the day.

Rafa gone.

[ruffers]

And takes 6 million with him, unbelievable.

[Sharon_H]

He could have hung on and got a lot more. I wish he had.

[ruffers]

Why? You a United fan or something?

[Sharon_H]

No, I'm a Liverpool fan and like Annasfield I wanted him to stay.

[Mick Mac]

Martin o neill has wanted the job for a long time. now may be his time.

[kpc]

Except the one reason that Moany O'Neil is not happy at V***a is because of the lack of funds that the American owner is prepared to let him spend.

[matthew123]

Hmmm interesting choice Martin O'Neil..

He will certainly be one of the main contenders (should he wish pastures new).

[Sharon_H]

Hopefully not Martin O'Neill. No idea who though.

Should have stuck with Rafa, he deserved one more season.

['bout now]

The perfect fit for Liverpool is almost unthinkable.

Arsene Wenger, there I said it and if I was in the Liverpool boardroom I'd throw 10 Million at that.

[matthew123]

Probably find the Club was worth significantly more to a prospective buyer than an extra ?10m (or ?50m for that matter) if Wenger was Manager - would be money well spent!

Of course Wenger isn't going to give up the limpness of the Emirates for a crack at the Kop is he...

['bout now]

So I'm not mad then.

I'm not sure that he would but if I had a brief to find the best man to manage in certain financial ( but not austere) conditions and do it with style (what Liverpool used to have), then I'd make it almost impossible for him to turn it down.