An interesting thread with some good points raised, though I think RK's posts have largely summed up my feelings on the matter.
I don't think we're the kind of club to make excuses week in, week out. For example, the injury /illness situation the club has gone through recently has been nothing short of crippling, and I don't feel raising points like that is an excuse, it's just a factor, a reason. Blame a defeat on one injury is an excuse, blaming a defeat on bad luck (like Sunderland) would have been an excuse, but we didn't use those excuses. Rafa took the Sunderland defeat on the chin in the proper Liverpool traditions and tried to bounce back.
I don't think blaming the owners is an excuse either. I read Paul Tomkins excellent article on Rafa's spending over the years and it was an eye opener. We all know he's had little money to spend, selling to buy, and I remember a certain passage where they discussed the quality of players. Rafa mentioned that buying big, strong players with talent was almost impossible for us (using Chelsea as an example), and that we often had to take a chance on smaller players, or those who have had injury problems, because at their fittest they are still as good as the other players.
On our day with a fully fit squad we're as strong as any team in Europe, but with our investment issues we have to accept a downside to that in which we will probably often have to deal with injuries. Not an excuse, just the reality of a situation we are currently stuck in.
Logged