Shake it up Rafa

Silly comments about Gerrard being past his best. Will you be saying that when his form changes? I doubt it.

So far this season he hasn't even shown a glimpse of his form changing, games have been passing him by and he hasn't been having a major influence on them. His passing, free-kicks, shooting, corners and general play has been well off par, not what you expect to be seeing from your captain.

Torres, Reina, Benayoun, Ngog and Lucas and have been our only consistant players this season, all the rest have been awful. Kuyt, Insua, Gerrard and Carragher all fit into the that category the most.

Gerrard should be dropped, but if Rafa did that he'd no doubt get sh*t from the fans, press and the pundits, which he dosen't want.

So another p**s poor display against a side we should be battering. How long does continue for? Weve had half a season of it already. The time is now for Rafa to shake the team up, and himself wjile hes at it!

Example of why we need a shake up is Gerrard. What a player we all know that. But his form is crap, has been since we went out of the champions league. But hes a shoe in in Rafas 11. He scored today fair enough but overall was s**te. Drop him drop Kuyt drop Insua and I mean out of the squad for a few games. Let them realise they dont own a place in the team.

DROP STEVIE! Yes drop him why not were playing muck with him wont be any worse without him. Reading were hungrier today and thats very wrong. Our lads owe us themselves and the club a good run of games but they dont seem intented on giving them. The FA cup is an outlet for them to payback for the crap season to date. But no we see an equal game against a struggling championship side. We hoof the ball around the place and its not good enough for Liverpool

Rafa sort this out and sort it now

That is a very good post Brian and every word is true.At the moment we have too many players  who do not appear to have any fight or real desire to win when wearing the RED of Liverpool Football Club,and that saddens me so much.The way we are playing lately the youth team would show more pride and determination and would of probably beaten Reading as well.

Rafa needs to act & do it now or he will be out of a job.

Today was a joke feel very sorry for the fans who travelled
they had the piss taken out of them.We played a struggling
championship side with no F***ing manager and they were
the better side.

Players who are not performing or who are not up to it must
be dropped now.

Whatever sh*t is going on behind the scenes {and something
defo is with stevie} must be confronted and sorted its time to earn
your crust Rafa.While you still can


 

I Think  Rafa needs to start changing things, the football we played tonight like all season. is awful, is Rafa a long ball merchant because that is what we have played all season.

The wide positions needs to be sorted out Kuyt should not play there again this season neither should Aurelio. To be honest I'd give Stevie a go and the right side and I'd play Babel on the left side.

You need pace and creativity out wide and we have neither at the moment. Barring Torres tonight it must have being the slowest Liverpool team ever. I thought pace was meant to be important in modern football.

There are a number of players under performing at the moment, but talking about dropping players... Insua! What a waste of space.  He is so poor at defending, so poor in passing, so poor in keeping possession (a defender giving the ball away?? not a good idea!).  I can't believe how slow he is too!  Everytime i see him challenged by the opposition for a loose ball down the wing I cringe.  80% of the time the attacker will be first to it - and he will have to respond in fouls which lead to goals (as today did).  Why can't he learn to move??

Come to think of it... our whole defence is slow.  Real slow. 

The positive on games like this, it gives me hope that maybe I should quit my desk job and put on my boots.  Even I have a chance of getting into our team at the moment.  They are nothing but amateurs - with no desire!  You get more passion out of a school football team.  At least school football teams want to win.  I don't know what Liverpool FC want at the moment.  They play as if its just a job.  They are working their 90 min shift and looking at their watches.  They have the easiest jobs in the world, getting paid ridiculous amounts of money to make us happy (!!) and they are failing miserably.  Most of them would have been sacked by now if this was a commercial company dependant on business success.

To be honest I think the notion of dropping Gerrard which most of you seem to agree with is ridiculous. Yes Gerrard has been way below the standard expected of him but he hasn't been playing as useless as some of you are saying. I agree with shaking things up and when I say that I mean playing what is actually the best 11. Our best 11 definitely contains Gerrard. Why is nobody saying drop Lucas? He has been piss poor aswell. Why are people so quick to jump on the back of our captain, the man that has performed head and shoulders above the majority of the squad for the last 5/6 years? Doing so while defending a player that has been consistently awful and offers nothing to the team.

I agree with dropping Kuyt and Insua. Kuyt has been shockingly bad and it infuriates me to see Benayoun, who has been our best outfield player this season, being left on the bench. Insua has also been found out, right now he just isn't up to the level required.

i would love to see pacheco and eccleston get a chance

Don't agree with dropping Gerrard at all, it's ridiculous. To be honest with you he's hasn't performed well due to his exceptional standards, but we all take him for granted.

We all think he's a mircale worker who's expected to lift the team and help them to victory in every game. That simply isn't the case. A bit of odd dip in form for a top player and the drop in standard is much obvious as compared to other average players we have in the team.

The fact is he's nearing 30. Obviously as he grows older he can't be running as fast as he used to, and my gut tells me he's fed up with the situation surrounding the club, which is obviously clear for me. The off-field problems ain't helping his cause and the last thing the captain needs is to get dropped.

Like I said such a top player he is, he pulls us out of the rut everytime just like Torres and when he isn't performing up to our exceptional requirements then he gets bollocked. Gerrard is human afterall, he has a brain to think and know what's going on with his performances. Fact for me is he pulled us out of a defeat at Reading yesterday and scored the goal that led us to victory against Wolves. If it weren't for him we'll probably might not even manage to get past those two games.

Gerrard has nothing to play for this season now, it's as simple as that. He will take no pride in winning the FA Cup or the Europa League because he's been there, done that and probably thinks himself too good for those competitions. He wants the Premiership and Champions League, and to be honest always has.

Not buying that. Which player doesn't want to bring glory to the club? Yes he's been there done it but I'm sure he'll want to be there again, there's no doubt about it.

You're obviously contradicting yourself. He's also done it at the CL so why are you suggesting he wants the CL again, if he takes no pride in winning the FA Cup and Europa League? FFS, he's a professional player and we are a football club going for everything on offer.

It's like you're telling me if we have won EPL, we can sit back and quit winning it.

Every player will take the chance to have another shot at glory and Gerrard knows if he thinks like that he's been incredibly selfish and unfair to the other players to have not won it, the likes of Torres etc. We are the most successful club and we want to live up to that, doesn't mean that he has the medal round his neck his job is done for that competition.

What is fact is that our priorities is like that:
1. EPL
2. Europe
3. FA Cup
4. League Cup

What is not true is that he doesn't want to win it any longer.

We are the most successful club in England and if we think this way then we'll just settle for one at every competiton, which is a very sad day if that happens.

To be honest I think the notion of dropping Gerrard which most of you seem to agree with is ridiculous.

Why is nobody saying drop Lucas?

Word is that Stevie G is approaching another Stevie Me section of his career.  I would have no bones about us dropping Steven Gerrard the way he is playing.  Although my favoured option would be for him to be put on the right wing instead of Kuyt.

In any case, this thread was essentially about Rafa reaching a point where he needs to take some radical action - hence the title 'Shake it up'.

I'd love to say drop Steven, he's been sh*te, but against Spurs? We need our leader out there, no matter what form.

It takes one game for Steven Gerrard to be the best player in the world, he can't do it on the bench.

I realise it would send him a massive 'wake the F**k up, you tw*t' message, but i don't think we're in a position to do so.

Just my 2 cents on him. But Kuyt...i would engrave his name in the bench so he knows where to go.

I'd love to say drop Steven, he's been sh*te, but against Spurs? We need our leader out there, no matter what form.

It takes one game for Steven Gerrard to be the best player in the world, he can't do it on the bench.

I realise it would send him a massive 'wake the f**k up, you tw*t' message, but I don't think we're in a position to do so.

Just my 2 cents on him. But Kuyt...I would engrave his name in the bench so he knows where to go.

Agreed Crouchie and you can engrave Insua's name right next to it.

I'd love to slap Stevie right now and say wake the F**k up but to drop him from our team would leave just 2 stand outs. Torres and Reina. We'd really be fu**ed then.

I thought Rafa's intent was strong today, it was quite pleasing that he put out that side that showed what his intentions regarding this Cup is. His substitutions and his timing of them were questionable, though.

For the players to come out play as sh*t as they did, surely put's Rafa's head right back on the chopping block. He just can't win, can he?

The lot of those lads need to wake the F**k up and realize who they are playing for.

Word is that Stevie G is approaching another Stevie Me section of his career.  I would have no bones about us dropping Steven Gerrard the way he is playing.  Although my favoured option would be for him to be put on the right wing instead of Kuyt.

In any case, this thread was essentially about Rafa reaching a point where he needs to take some radical action - hence the title 'Shake it up'.

Well he's shown before that even when he is thinking about himself he can still be one of the best players in the world. The fact is we can all speculate about what's going on in his head but all we know for fact is that he is a born and bred Scouser and he's our captain. That's why I think we should be supporting him during this dip in form, not slating him.

I would agree with moving him out to the right though, primarily because we need Kuyt off the pitch as soon as possible.

I agree but I dont think we should drop gerrard for Spurs. Its a really important game and if rafa does it and we lose, people on here will be slating his decision. HOwever, Kuyt has to go

                                 Reina

Kelly         Carra                         Agger            Aurelio


Benayoun         Aquilani             Lucas              Babel


                                   Gerrard

                                    Torres

When have we ever seen Rafa "shake it up."

His idea of shaking it up is resting Kuyt for 70 minutes. Not gonna happen.

I agree but I dont think we should drop gerrard for Spurs. Its a really important game and if rafa does it and we lose, people on here will be slating his decision. HOwever, Kuyt has to go

                                 Reina

Kelly         Carra                         Agger            Aurelio


Benayoun         Aquilani             Lucas              Babel


                                   Gerrard

                                    Torres

Think Kelly will still be injured.

Plus I think it'd be more likely Aurelio started at left wing, however wrong or right that decision would be.

The sad thing is; Rafa probably believes he did "shake things up" by going 4 - 4 - 2 yesterday.

Unfortunately a 4 - 4 - 2 with Aurelio on the left to cover Insua and Kuyt on the right to cover Darby, (oh,and run about a lot), quickly became a 6 - 2 - 2.

I though Lucas was immense in the first half but when your "wide men" are either behind you (covering full backs) or along side you, it's difficult to be incisive. When every ball get's played back to where it came from, the 2 up front, very quickly, become isolated. One or both will drift deep looking for the ball or under pressure defenders will hoof the ball long.

If Rafa wants to "shake things up" with a 4 - 4 - 2 then the 2 "wide men" need to be set out with the sole intention to link with the front 2 and attack. The 2 full-backs, like the Reading boss, had to be thinking that Rafa mustn't trust them. By starting Aurelio and Kuyt we sacrificed mid-field and lost the mind game before a ball was kicked.

If you want to "shake things up" then go the whole hog - trust your defence, trust Lucas to offer cover and give the front 2 a fighting chance by starting players that will 'provide' service NOT cover.

Here endeth the rant!  

F***ing exactly.

Interesting that so far the 'Shake it up' thing has been confined to formation and tactics and who to leave out.


Does anybody think that the time has come for him to give a media bollocking to his team?

Interesting that so far the 'Shake it up' thing has been confined to formation and tactics and who to leave out.


Does anybody think that the time has come for him to give a media bollocking to his team?

If you mean Phil Brown style, no!

Not sure we'd know about it even if Rafa did bollock them. Not sure he's the type to criticise to the media.

Does anybody think that the time has come for him to give a media bollocking to his team?

Let's crawl before we can walk JD.  

If Rafa won't drop players that couldn't trap a sandbag or turn in the Albert Dock, it's going to be one hell of a leap to a public bollocking of them. A media warning followed by swift action might just work. On the other hand it could back-fire and he'll end up painting himself into a corner.

How about some attacking wingers eh Rafa?

Not F***ing Kuyt or Aurelio!

We only had three 'attacking' players against Reading in the Cup. Deary me.

Realistically If u drop Gerrard who starts ahead of him in the second striker role.. the choices are Kuyt,Ngog,Voronin etc There just is no reasonable cover to drop him. Plus if u want him to go to chelsea in the summer best thing to do is bench him mid season. If you want rafa to be sacked bench Gerrard for 3 games in a row. Either way it wont work im certain. He has been poor by his standards but what can we do. Right now 20% of stevie will win a game more so than 110% of other players in the team.sad but true.

I dont like the situation anymore than u guys but i think thats the realists view. I think we need a shake up/changes in the squad too but from whats available there just isnt enough decent cover. for example drop Kuyt on the right and play who.. everybody here hates Babel,El Zhar is even more erratic,Pacheco is one for the future but surely not ready to get 10-15 goals 10 assists a season..

I think gerrard is frustrated with everything about the club and it would appear his physical prowess is gradually starting to fade based on this seasons performances. I think we need more rotation in the squad but doing that now will make 4th extremely difficult. The changes id like are Gerrard back to midfield even on the right at least as hes gotten too spoiled/lazy up front imo Id like to see Babel/Ngog in there up front or out wide just for a burst of pace and power make the defense sit deeper. Id like to see Pacheco as the super sub on 63 mins to het him going. Id like Yossi up front with Torres it not working on the left for me. Id like to see Aurelio eased back into the left back role injuries permitting of course.

Cant see why we cant gradually make any of these changes.. Problem is every EPL game is a must win and even small changes make new problems for players playing together. Gonna drop Gerrard against spurs?? Dont envy Rafas position at the moment. Of untapped potential in the squad we need Babel/Ngog/Pacheco to take it to the next level. We also need Kuyt/gerrard to regain some form. All longshots based on this seasons form But we're lfc fans we shout and hope and make the best out of it.