Rafa is not all that great

Listen people, We are allowed to criticise as well as praise.

For the first time since Rafa arrived, I found myself saying that Rafa got it totally wrong.

I was there yesterday and it was horrible, although when the blueshite are winning they tend not to spit at you as much.

Fowler & Crouch ain't a partnership. Their fullbacks were there for the taking and we didn't play our 2 wingers. Gonzalez who would have torn the arse out of Bart Simpson Hibbert wasn't even on the bench nor was Bellamy (the rumours are doing the rounds that he & Rafa have fallen out). Why a unfit Riise made the bench ahead of them two Rafa only knows.

The only ray of light that came out of yesterday was Sissoko who had nothing to be ashamed of. He single handedly took on their cental midfield threesome (Alonso anonymous again I don't know what is up with the guy),....then Rafa took him off with 10 mins to go. Which is when I left the stadium (Don't dare any of you have a go at me especially if you weren't there).

Squad rotation is a aprt of modern football but I belive you play your weakened sides against the opposition that merits it. The derby merits your strongest side and therefore I'm afraid the buck lies with Rafa.

I love the guy, I think we have the best manager in the league, but I'm not being ficlke in saying Rafa, we all make mistakes mate, and yesterday you made yours. In your defense mate I will say your players didn't help you out though.

You said everything that what was needed to be said, to tell you the truth I don't blame you for walking out of the Stadium. Because I would of done exactly the same. Rafa is a great manager, but fair enough he made his mistake. But on a more important note, we need to pick ourself's up and forget about the derby. After all, we all count the days till derby day at home  

How can you say Rafa ain't so great, he's got us into 6 finals (FA Cup, CL, League Cup, World club cup, Charity Shield, Super cup) in 2yrs and a bit, he took us within 9 points of chelsea last yr, he just got it wrong on the day and all managers have done that things will pick up again.

Rafa not great, hell yeah he is. For the first time in 2 or 3 seasons this is most probly are best chances in winning the league, we've only played three games so you cant say that chelsea will win da league agen, so dnt go saying that Rafa isn't all that.

Drop Renia i don't think so, yes he makes mistakes bt u have to remeber so did Dudek wen he was no.1, at least Renia had kept most clean sheets last season.

COM ON LINERPOOL!!!!!

famousliverbird. you should be managing a big premiership club. your tactical awareness is paramount for all to see.

sorry mate. you are niave and stupid

rafa is great and its not right to jump on his back so soon. i probably agree that agger may have dne better but how can one leave out carra who has been our best defender for years and has won us games on his own.

i agree with bootle buck all the way except for the found myself for the first time since rafa came saying he got it wrong bit.

it was the second time for me he got it majorly wrong......the 1st half against ac milan

It was not the players fault, it was Rafa's fault.
Why leave out Agger on bench?
Why leave out Gonzalez who is miles better than Garcia?
Why leave out Pennant and put Gerrard out wide right?
Why leave out Bellamy & Kuyt?
Why play Robbie (so past it) Fowler?
Why Riise, Carragher & Sissoko start even tho they have been out for over 2 weeks?


WHY SQUAD ROTATION?

Anyone think i have a point?

I AGREE

Too many of us Liverpool supporters love Fowler, call him god etc, but i think he's USELESS and shouldnt start a game all year.

Benitez tries to be overly tacticous and doesn't play the players who are going to get him the points. Kuyt looked so dangerous when he came on against West Ham, he's a super fit player, so WHY leave him on the bench!

As well as Gonzalez, he's been looking good whilst Garcia and Alonso have not so why leave him on the bench.

Why not start Pennant when hes been playing well as a sub?

I realy carnt belive you lot are slating Rafa. he is the man to bring the prem to liverpool. we lost to the bluenoses who cares.
we needed a big loss to kick us into gear. like last season v Arsenal wen we lost and played rubbish, that was our last loss untill last saturday. so have fath and stop bloody moaning and move on.
We will see a diffrent team and a diffrent style this sunday. i think this game on sunday is wot we need rite now. and wen we win will you all be slating rafa? i think not.

I realy carnt belive you lot are slating Rafa. he is the man to bring the prem to liverpool. we lost to the bluenoses who cares.
we needed a big loss to kick us into gear. like last season v Arsenal wen we lost and played rubbish, that was our last loss untill last saturday. so have fath and stop bloody moaning and move on.
We will see a diffrent team and a diffrent style this sunday. i think this game on sunday is wot we need rite now. and wen we win will you all be slating rafa? i think not.

Couple of points.

Not slating Rafa. Merely pointed out that he got it wrong. We all make mistakes. He made his on Saturday.

"We lost to the bluenoses who cares" Dear oh dear oh dear. Ask anyone on this board from Liverpool what they have put up with the last 3 days and every time we have been beaten by the blueshite.... You have no idea pal... to live in this city when having lost to that lot, then having to face them....you don't have any idea mate

The title of this thread is the most ridiculous I have read for a long time

Remember Istanbul anyone - or last years FA Cup Final - or the Super Cup - or the Charity Shield - or both of last season's derbies, or the semi final at Old Trafford - or the European Semi-Final at Anfield...the Olympiakos game - the Juventus game - the Birmingham game??

Anyway,

Managed to keep my head down in work today.

Two of the bitterest bluenoses I work with were away on holiday (which was good).

They have all come out of the woodwork - is it just me or is there more cars driving around today with an Everton badge or sticker in the back window?

Can't believe we have to wait till February 3rd.  

I do wonder how they get through us usually beating them every time (like last season). The poor misguided souls.[/b]

Hind sight is a great thing, and yes I did think Rafa palyed the wrong team. But jump on the band Wagon I wont. It hurts to loose to Everton, but the title of your post, Rafa isn't great surgests your a fool. Our season is three games old, mistakes have been made by the manager and the players alike, yes the players also have to shoulder the responability for Mistakes, namely all of the five goals that we have conceeded to date. I am happy with the players we have, Rafa is a great manager he will prove this, if he hasnt all ready as he does have a mighty trophy list on his CV already.

We have to cut out all the crap at times like this and close ranks and believe in the ability that we have. Are aims for the season have to be to have a good run in each cup and see if there is a final or two for us. We have to make sure we get out of our group in the Champions league, whether its in first or second place, because when you get to the knock out stages we know better  than anyone that anything is possible. Finally we have to make sure that we are within touching distance of the top of the league after Christmas, then we can put pressure on and challage for the title. Alls that todays result does is put more pressure on us in the next two games, it could be all smiles again by the time next Sunday afternoon comes, And one thing to remember is I have been going to watch Liverpool since 1983 and I can honestly say my club never does anything the easy way.

Keep the faith  [/quote think you r right we need to stay behind team rafa will get it right.

I cant belive this s**t, just get over it!! yeah we lost but i dont think you can really complain about the team he picked, if it was a lesser team I feel he would have picked a different team but due to the type of game darbys normnally are I think he picked the right team to deal with the atmosphere/physical side of things, as said before it was silly mistakes other than that we outplayed them.............

The good thing about Rafa is that he will admit to his mistakes, like this week. He admitted to being partly at fault for some of his decisions regarding players, but at the end of the day you can't blame the manager for a teams poor performance.

what a load of sh*te some people come out with.

one bad game and its sack the manager. rafa may have made mistakes in the game but if you were manager i bet ud make a lot more.

if u got carra tellin u hes fit who wouldnt play him?  i no i would

in a derby game u want strength in midfield so who wouldnt have played momo alonso and gerrard?? i would

I havent seen a single post wanting to "sack the manager" Thats just bloody ridiculous!
Both sides of the arguement need to get some perspective.
Rafa made a couple of poor decisions regarding team selection for the derby, i still consider that the team that played was strong enough (Just) to beat Everton though, and once the players are on the pitch it is up to them to perform to a certain level. That level was probably only reached by a couple of players. Dosent make him a crap manager. I think the term is "collective responsibility"
Neither do i agree that it is wrong to criticize the players and staff. Mistakes happen, and healthly criticisim is good for debate. Some people are blinded by total faith in LFC, that level of belief is fantastic but lets get real, if Saturdays events were to continue then we would be at best scraping a UEFA Cup spot next year.

We aint gonna win the league cos Rafa has a tendancy to Claudio it up a bit

I support Rafa and over at all LFC. I'm confidence of him and his team and one game don't going to change my opinion.

I saw on this forum many differents opinions about to give a chance for Dudek and i don't share its. Reina achieve last season more than 30 cleen sheets and now do you think it's time to bench for him. Maybe we should to think change for mister as well.

We must to think something more than one game. We must to think in a full season.

Sam