Excuses?

just a comment I heard on the radio today from  Roy Hodgeson about not even thinking about the European tie against Roma until Monday morning as it is hard enough to deal with the game coming up and not thinking ahead too far , this was always the way we did things in the past and served us well for so long winning trophy after trophy , this is the second time Rafa he's thrown in the towel ( reading) just before a big european tie , our bread and butter is  to win this championshipvthat has eluded us for so long now it is becoming a burden to us and a big stick the media can beat us with when the club is going through a tough time , Rafa has been here long enough to know this but apart from last season we just haven't got close to the holy Grail of number 19  , one game at a time  Rafa and stop trying to be clever .

So in other words ROF, you want the talking to be done on the pitch?

If so, then yes. I couldn't agree more.

But there is no way Rafa or Carra would come out after a game and say we won't bounce back, this bad run is going to continue to carry on as long as possible and we are a load of sh*te.

They might think or say it behind closed doors. Who knows. But in the evil glare of the media and to the waiting eyes and ears of Liverpool fans, they are obviously not going to concede a defeatist attitude. Because otherwise it would show they are bowing down to the huge amount of pressure the club is under.

And it is under huge amounts of pressure. Being in charge of the Liverpool team and playing for Liverpool brings big pressure within itself, because the standards have been set. Add to that the immense pressure that's been placed upon the club off the field, which was inevitably going to come down from the top and onto the pitch sooner or later, then things are going to start boiling over sooner or later.

These are testing times for Liverpool Football Club. When things go good on the pitch then it's far to easy to turn a blind eye to the problems. When things go bad on the pitch - like bad form, crucial injuries and a severe lack of confidence, then you look for the bad things and try to understand how they could be made better.

It's like you're on a ship that's got the potential to sink. The yanks have cracked a few big holes in the base of the ship which has been letting in water for some while and the media are tapping away at the cracks that surround these holes to make them bigger. Rafa and the team are trying their best to plug in the holes but at present, the pressure of the water is getting stronger and the waves are getting bigger. Whether Rafa brought the right crew on board to help plug these holes will be decided sooner or later. And the detail of his decisions on who man's these holes, is very important.

But it certainly doesn't help when some of the crew have been injured trying to plug these holes and it makes things worse when you've got crew that are sea sick.

It's absolutely dreadful when you've got some of the crew looking in the mirror admiring themselves or too busy listening to their music instead of putting some graft in.

That analogy is probably a load of sh*te. But one thing is for certain, we're under pressure, we're in a testing time and the last thing the team and manager needs now is a lack of support from the fans. No excuses.

Good analogy Ken. Bit Freudian - all that manning of holes and that

Let's hope the bad run of form and injuries ends soon and we can get some consistency with our preferred first team members in and on form. We are as capable as anyone of going on a long run with the right conditions.

Yes indeed Kenny. Good post.

I know that we couldn't have a defeatist attitude towards the fans and media. Problem is, even though we keep talking, we are doing contrary on the negative side as compared to us playing on the pitch. I raised two examples of us, one of them Rafa talking about how good we were in the game which we weren't. In this case, was his intention to lull us into a false sense of security that all is right at Anfield? Some food for thought there.

Sorry if I haven't laid out my intention and thoughts properly, I think my main gist was there at least, giving too much leeway to ourselves, finding excuses defeat after defeat, in the indirect way.

I'm sure we all believe that we can get out of this current mess and I'm sure that Rafa and the boys believe that we can too. Actions speak louder than words and the game in Lyon should now be our focus and our aim should be to play with the fight and belief that we showed against United. We then have to take it one game at a time and get on a winning run. I'm not sure that we are making excuses for our defeats because every single player and member of the coaching staff will know that we simply have not been good enough so far and even though we played well against United it's about taking that in to the next game and we just haven't done that. There quite simply are no excuses for that kind of result at Fulham. Rafa will be working hard to put that right and im sure he is not making excuses for the players but analysing the game and looking to move forward. The boys now need to pull together yet again and improve greatly in the next game. No excuses.   

I know that we couldn't have a defeatist attitude towards the fans and media. Problem is, even though we keep talking, we are doing contrary on the negative side as compared to us playing on the pitch. I raised two examples of us, one of them Rafa talking about how good we were in the game which we weren't. In this case, was his intention to lull us into a false sense of security that all is right at Anfield? Some food for thought there.

Sorry if I haven't laid out my intention and thoughts properly, I think my main gist was there at least, giving too much leeway to ourselves, finding excuses defeat after defeat, in the indirect way.

I know the gist of what you were trying to get at mate. Which is why I tried to point out what's not important and what is.

What we hear Rafa, players etc say isn't much important. What gets said and done at Melwood and in the dressing room is.

The talk of Rafa saying we played good at yesterdays game is clearly a reference to the first half, because we bossed most of the first half, albeit without being deadly, but we did boss most of it. He also mentioned that we made a bad mistake - which we did when they scored. And then he followed on to say that we lost two players and things were difficult after that - which they clearly were.

It's just the way he reflected on things from the touchline straight after the game. It's a different kettle of fish when you have the aid of TV replays, commentators/reporters opinions and time to analyze things yourself. You can then take a lot more things into account and look at things in detail.

That famous word 'if' that's been popping up a lot on here lately. I'm gonna use it now. IF we had made use of that possession in the first half to better effect and scored three goals before the break, there would PROBABLY be no way we'd get beat. Thus the performance wouldn't have been scrutinised as much. But as I said. When things go bad, you look at what's going bad to try find a way to make it better.

Put it this way. Do you really take much notice to what Rafa's reaction is when we score a goal? Are you desperate to see a reaction? Maybe you are. Who isn't at the end of the day. But the media are even more so. And they bang on about it as a criticism.

But does it really matter? No, the goal matters.

We're in a bad run mate. It's bad times. We're vulnerable. The confidence is drained. But what do you do when your friends and family are vulnerable? You stand by them and support them. No matter what they say.

A couple of really top posts there RedKenny, well in for putting things into perspective.

It's hard at the moment being a Liverpool supporter isn't it, up one minute beating the mancs, down the next getting beat by Fulham.

I'm not going to make any excuses for anything or anybody, we all know that our Squad isn't strong enough, on our day with our best 11 out there, I'd take us to beat ANYBODY and I mean anybody, BUT, as soon as we get two or three absentees, whether it be through injury/suspension or a virus  :  we struggle.

Now more than ever we have to stand tall and support Rafa and the boys, thick and thin, good or bad, we mustn't let our hopes die, and our memories fade.

We'll come good again, just you wait and see.

  Till I die.

We're in a bad run mate. It's bad times. We're vulnerable. The confidence is drained. But what do you do when your friends and family are vulnerable? You stand by them and support them. No matter what they say.

Have to say that sentence there is what a lot of people need to read, then ask themselves the question during this difficult period am I being supportive of my club & manager and then if not why am I not ?

Have to say that sentence there is what a lot of people need to read, then ask themselves the question during this difficult period am I being supportive of my club & manager and then if not why am I not ?

Top post mate,in hard times it's easy to criticise and difficult to support.That's why us Shankly Boys revert to type, " Manager/Fans/Players", that's what matters and that mutual respect will prevail.Rest assured our manager will remove the non commited players and he won't throw the youngsters to the lions as some are calling for.Wenger is a good manager,but like Rafa he knows that there is a correct time to introduce young talent,that is when you are on top form and not when you are up against it,so give Rafa a chance,it will be sound.

Rafa and the red men are sure to bounce back. Only time will tell when. I hope right now. We have a lot of fight in the team, we just need to scare it out of them... look at the ManU match. It is frustrating to always hear from the boss that we would bounce back, at least that would show that he has confidence in his team. If Rafa starts blaming the men for this mess then we are in big trouble.

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.

We can play better and we proved that against Man U a week ago...


I think we do have legitimate excuses......

Illness

Injuries

and both of these reasons are made worse by the lack of squad depth


No need to press the panic button just yet..... keep the faith

IRWT