Liverpool 1-2 Arsenal Premier League Highlights (Video)

The Matador - December 13th, 2009 at 7:00 pm

Second half we were non existent yet it took Rafa 65 mins to realise Benayoun is playing dog shit.
They were there for the taking. The team is desperate for pace.

kermit - December 13th, 2009 at 7:01 pm

i disagree that we were rubbish, we just threw it away after we were well on top in the first half. we should have been 2-0 up at half time, sloppy allowing arsenal back into it, generally just disappointed today.

The Matador - December 13th, 2009 at 7:02 pm

Rafa is spineless for taking johnson off as if to say we lost because of him when the reason we lost was because of Rafa the tosspot Benitez.
He is allways passing the buck.

kermit - December 13th, 2009 at 7:03 pm

babel on the wings, is needed benni is playing crap the last three or four games, he looks jaded also, i ll send him to the bahamas to keep dirk company for the next three weeks. its time for rafa to give babel a proper go.

The Matador - December 13th, 2009 at 7:05 pm

Rafa will never change his style of play.

kermit - December 13th, 2009 at 7:05 pm

for once i am not blaming rafa i dont think there was much else he could do today, yossi needs to be dropped from the starting 11

The Matador - December 13th, 2009 at 7:06 pm

Babel brings a ton more that Dirk the diggler Kuyt.

Reds Lewis - December 13th, 2009 at 7:07 pm

not good enough, quite simply.
Kuyt in all fairness played well….benayoun had a howler and torres doesnt look very sharp at the moment.
Gerrard had a blatant penalty denied too…

Tactics were awful. never start with 2 holding mids against arsenal. Theres no point because they dont run with the balll…they pass it…. by playing Kuyt, masch, lucas and 4 defenders, there are 7 defensive players in the team.
Aquilani shouldve started ahead of lucas or masch, for some creativity…and our lack of genuine wingers is showing…we have no real width especially on the left…and no pace.

Rafa out.

kermit - December 13th, 2009 at 7:08 pm

we wouldnt know if babel can bring anything to the table he never gets a run of games to show it, he plays one crap game then gets dropped, babel has pace and he can finish, i d still play him up front alongside torres. this will never happen though

i have the they sunk my battleship feeling

The Mighty Creed - December 13th, 2009 at 7:08 pm

Rafa made the right decisions today (for a change). We just don’t have good enough options to change games. We desperately need more pace and invention in January.

Aquaman - December 13th, 2009 at 7:09 pm

It’s been a long time since I’ve come out from watching a game feeling this bleak. This was exactly the type of game which would boil over into a 4-4 draw last season. This time, as soon as the own goal went in, we gave up. “Why try if we’re going to lose anyway?” said Gerrard’s face.

Full credit to Arsenal for their defending, less credit to the ref for not calling one of the four 50/50 tackles on the edge of Arsenal’s penalty area (and a couple inside it too), and no credit at all to whoever hands out the luck portions to premier league teams.

This was a game in which we needed just that little spot of luck, but all was denied us and handed to Arsenal instead. Strange how Arsenal got both a bizarre own goal and a finish the blasts against the post and still goes in. Been a while since I’ve seen us have similar fortunes

Johnson deserves stick for both goals, but judging by his face, he’ll be beating himself up enough without me adding my voice.

You can’t blame Rafa for not trying though. He pulled off Masch (leaving the more offensive Lucas on), Yossi (who did nothing) and Johnson (who was shattered) for Aquilani, N’Gog, and Degen (who is more offensive than Johnson though not as good).

In the game that we needed to win so desperately badly, we’ve shown just where we are struggling the most: in our heads and in our hearts. In our heads we don’t have the precision we’re capable of, and we’ve lost the hope in our hearts.

kermit - December 13th, 2009 at 7:09 pm

and i disagree with you red i think lucas and masch did really well first half, everypne just went to sleep for ten mins at the start of the second half, arsenal had one shot on goal all game, i think the system was okay today, we just switched off for ten mins and let them win it, simple as that

The Matador - December 13th, 2009 at 7:10 pm

The Mighty Creed as much as i respect other peoples opinions i have to say you are well off the mark.
When did you last go to the optician.

The Mighty Creed - December 13th, 2009 at 7:12 pm

Zero shots on target attacking the Kop????? Not good enough , end of.

The Mighty Creed - December 13th, 2009 at 7:13 pm

Matador what are you referring to? What should Rafa have done today, I’m talking about subs decisions.

kermit - December 13th, 2009 at 7:14 pm

i cant find any fault with rafa s selcetions today. no to aquilani starting , i dont think he would have lasted the pace, when he came on he couldnt come to terms with the pace, plus we did really well first half so having aquilani starting wouldnt have made it any better in my opinion.
he has his first taste of englihs football , a taste in which he was chasing shadows and prob learning he isnt gonna get the time he had on the ball in italy whilst in england. it wouldnt surprise me to see him start against wigan.
out of lucas and masch i d also have taken off masch lucas had a better game, and yeah i wanted benni off for ngog, just one of those games , saying that the disappointment is overwhelming at the moment because i dont even have rafa to take it out on this time.

The Matador - December 13th, 2009 at 7:14 pm

Also I would like us to start passing the ball around like te liverpool of old instead of just hoofing the ball from the back upfield. Hit and hope is not our style and is quite embarrasing to watch.

Aquaman - December 13th, 2009 at 7:14 pm

I agree. We had to play two holding midfielders. Masch was immense (as always) and Lucas played really well. Don’t think Babel was fit, but I might be wrong. Rafa would have put him on the bench if he was fit as we had no substitute wingers.

The Matador - December 13th, 2009 at 7:15 pm

Creed he should have started with different tactics and should have made changes in the game sooner.

kermit - December 13th, 2009 at 7:16 pm

to anon at 7 11 have you ever seen babel not score in a one on one situation with a keeper
remember the goal against derby, he sent two defenders and their goalkeeper the wrong way. he gets goals in important games against top teams despite getting fifteen mins a game, his pace troubles defenders and playing on the shoulder of the last man is where he wants to be playing like his idol henry, so at this stage it wouldnt harm anyone to give hima go there or on the right wing in place of dirk, yanks find fifteen million for juan mata for the left wing or its more ineptitude ahead.

The Mighty Creed - December 13th, 2009 at 7:17 pm

Matador. I’ll give you that. I was talking about his choice of subs as has been mentioned above. At least he tried to be more offensive for a change and made the subs any normal manager would make!

Aquaman - December 13th, 2009 at 7:17 pm

The Matador: I disagree. I too think that Rafa did as well as can be expected. In fact just as I started moaning about why he didn’t make a sub, he did.

I’m afraid you’re alone on this one. At least until Donavan and Retryboy get here.

kermit - December 13th, 2009 at 7:19 pm

well matador in fairness most of the hoofing was done late in the game when we desperately needed a goal
and the tactics we started with werent the problem as we totally bossed the first half. the problem was just switching off immediately after half time.

Reds Lewis - December 13th, 2009 at 7:19 pm

Aquaman – im pretty sure that riera and babel are both fit…a better idea would have been riera on the left and babel on the right, we nreally need extra width….
The hoof the ball up the field thing doesnt work for us cos we dont play with 2 strikers – even if torres wins it, theres always another defender round him to clear it up, and theres no1 up front with him to direct it towards.

Aquaman - December 13th, 2009 at 7:20 pm

kermit: I’ve seen plenty. Marseille, Man U (not even a goalkeeper), and more that I can’t think of now. Babel lacks composure, nothing else.

Aquaman - December 13th, 2009 at 7:21 pm

Reds Lewis: I’m pretty sure they weren’t. If only because I don’t believe that Rafa would deliberately sabotage us by not picking any substitute wingers.

kermit - December 13th, 2009 at 7:22 pm

i normally bash rafa too but today i think he did what he could , we fell asleep we went behind he immediately made a positive move in bringing aquilani on for masch, and then benni was woeful so brought ngog on, there wasnt much else he could do there today.
an inquest into why we go to sleep when we go a gola up needs to happen, against city against lyon and now against arsenal , we go out get on top get a goal and then sit back thinking we have done enough to win it now we can knock off and let them back into it, thats a psychological problem. and its happening too often not to be addressed

RyanO - December 13th, 2009 at 7:23 pm

More of the same from us and that’s not good enough. The points here were crucial to finishing Top 4. There is nothing that this squad is doing right now that makes me think they will turn it around. This game had nothing to do with Rafa’s selections. This is more than a slump now, this comes down to the style of football we are playing. I’m not sure what that style is to be honest.

kermit - December 13th, 2009 at 7:24 pm

and acrually i m gonna lay quit a bit of the blame at gerrards feet for this one, he is a support striker he ought to be dropping back in midfield to help out when we are under the hammer like we were at the start of the second half. not stood up the pitch looking at a midfield that was obviously struggling

kermit - December 13th, 2009 at 7:27 pm

babel lacks a run of games nothing else and to feel like part of the team, i think he is composed enough , i think he suffers from lack of concentration at times , like heis brain is three steps ahead of his feet. considering the current form of yossi and dirk he at least deserves a go, in fairness dirk did okay today well first half , second half i would have subbed him instead of johnson, but we had no one to sub him with

...samlfc.... - December 13th, 2009 at 7:28 pm

Rafa i thought wasn’t at fault as he tried to make Liverpool more attacking minded by bringing Aquilani on for Masch(i thought he would take Lucas off) and Degen was slightly more attacking minded than Johnson.
Like Kermit said roll on the transfer window.

spota - December 13th, 2009 at 7:30 pm

how defensive have we got to become b4 rafa changes tac its not working 3 in 15 and debricien is one of them. some ov us were beging 4 a draw today. thats not good enuff for liverpool football club . we support the mighty reds not trammere. how much more can he get away with. we were begging for aquillani to start today . but no he went with his boyfriend again LUCAS. all though he dident play that bad we need an attacking out let in the middle of the park. hoofing long balls is not the liverpool way . benitez has shown us his way and i for 1 have seen enuff . far to defensive he trys to stop apponents from getting forward but does not attack himself. we look like fucking wimbeldon back in the day hoof and hope pathetic
. allthough aurellio had a good first half period. we need change boys and fast. so at least we can save sum pride with the fa cup or fourth place and i think thats beyond us under benitez .

kermit - December 13th, 2009 at 7:32 pm

i dont think either torres or gerrard will leave, so as a true scouser would say calm down eh
yossi looks jaded and like this seasons struggles have really taken it out of him , so yossi off to an israeli whorehouse cum holiday spa for a fortnight to refind his mojo.

Aquaman - December 13th, 2009 at 7:32 pm

RyanO: I think our problem is pretty simple. Its all in our minds. Has been for a long time.

I was watching the Man U game this weekend and suddenly realised that Liverpool actually have a stronger starting 11 than Man U do. My best team of LFC and Man U combined (bet this has never happened before) would be:

———————–Reina———————–
-Johnson—Carra——Vidic——–Evra—-
—-Yossi—-Masch—–Gerrard—-Giggs–
————–Torres———Rooney————

That’s 7 LFC players and 4 Man U’s. This will obviously be a little biased.

The only reason that Man U are better than us is that they have this arrogance about them. If you score against them then they say “How dare you!” and force their way through. For us in our prime its more of a “we can still do this” which is a nicer mentality but doesn’t push the players as hard.

I believe that this is what made SAF such a good manager, and we could use a bit of it right now.

Reds Lewis - December 13th, 2009 at 7:34 pm

just think everything is wrong at the moment.
We score and then just sit back…however this isnt a new problem.
It happened ALOT last year…
our problem with the formation is that it has been upset greatly, probably more than benitez imagined.

our line up last year had Arbeloa at right back and xabi sitting just ahead of Mascherano or along side him, roaming the midfielder.

Last year where we had a solid 4 man back line, now we usually have 3, because kuyt always chips the ball to johnson on the wings and the expects him to make the runs that a winger should be making, because kuyt is too slow and not skillful enough to do it himself.

Johnson ends up in the middle of the field, pushing kuyt further in and everyone else the nstarts to move aswell…..its not the same as last year. Its not Johnsons fault, its rafas for not analysing him properly and not changing the formation.

Alonso then provided creativity from the back and picked out long range passes and re-distributed quickly and precisely if he intercepted. currently…lucas and mashcerano pass it sideways between themselves, or give it to johnson and expect him to make a run with it again. This gives the opposition midfielders a chance to re-form and get into position or start marking up…. theres no cutting edge to the passing now.

Aquilani, granted, can pass the ball well…however he likes to go on runs with the ball and slot through, a bit like benayoun really. He isnt an alonso-style player.

kermit - December 13th, 2009 at 7:35 pm

we need a left winger ie mata and a right winger who i would make babel
mata would be my current primary transfer target, and then we need a secondaryu goalscorer like suuarez or ideally aguero but that wont happen in a million years,
the yanks just banked three hundred million all i m asking for is thrity of it

kermit - December 13th, 2009 at 7:38 pm

aquaman i ve been saying for weeks that man utd are lviing precariously on their reputation, their midfield is shit
carrick anderson scholes was class admittedly, fletcher is their mainstay

i would take two players maybe three from man u at the moment
evra vidic and rooney and that is it

lower teams should wake up and realise who the opposing eleven men are not that they are manchester utd, valencia, wtf carrick giggs has this year left in him

The Matador - December 13th, 2009 at 7:38 pm

Thanks Ryano glad someone agrees with me.
To the others who say Rafa did not do much wrong are you insane for a start we lost and the tactics are still the same.

kermit - December 13th, 2009 at 7:41 pm

i actually watched lucas really closely today to see the truth of this lucas passes it sideways and in truth he didn t, he played it wode or forward almost every time he got the ball he was looking up for some movement in front of him, actually i saw aquilani do the same thing against fiorentina , having the ball at his feet looking forward and not knowing what to do with it because the movement ahead of him wasnt great.

kermit - December 13th, 2009 at 7:45 pm

actually no matador i m not insane , i think given the players available today there wasnt a better starting lineup he could have put out, and there werent better substitutions he could have made.
people say aquilani start the game, aquilani would have been lost and found out in the pace of the game.
the only main difference he could have made was starting with two up front, by playing ngog alongside torres, with gerrard and masch in midfield, and i really dont see that as an imporvement o the team he put out, if babel was fit i would agree he should have played two up front but he wasnt so pffft.

outrage of the last few weeks is now replaced with utter disappointment

kermit - December 13th, 2009 at 7:47 pm

thats a bit pessimistic anon at 7 42 , its one game against arsenal, a game which we dominated for eighty mins, i still think we have wigan on wednesday and we ought to beat them, i expect aquilani to start during that game, the we have another coupe of winnable games and if we win those then we will be on our way up again

absolutefooty - December 13th, 2009 at 7:51 pm

Win a Barcelona football shirt at absolutefooty.com

Aquilani4goals - December 13th, 2009 at 7:55 pm

Well I watch 30mins of the 2 half,I believe we played well.Well I dont believe the defeat has anything to do with rafa.It is simple…ATTITUDE… the players has lost the winning mentality.We have lost alot of game in this same manner .So there is confidence issue with the squad.We need wingers with pace.I do know what happened to riera and babel.Riera should hold the left while babel right wing.Kuyt and benni should have a rest and come in second half as impact players.

spota - December 13th, 2009 at 7:57 pm

kermit if your saying aquillani wud be found out . and not up to pace of game. does this mean hes not good enuff or wot. cos at 20 million pounds . he should be starting every week . and i think thats the oppinion ov most redmen. hes had 4 months now wots the kid gloves for. or is rafa unsure about his buy aswell. 20mill might not be a lot to chelsea or man city or the scum but to us in the current situation its fuckin loads a money

kermit - December 13th, 2009 at 8:04 pm

we played quite well for eighty mins of the game, we still ended up losing it
and john yes this is the only game we have lost with a fully fit squad, is till expect things to get better , torres to get fitter , aquilani to start against wigan, i have a feeling babel is going to become very important for the second half of this season

Stillontheperch - December 13th, 2009 at 8:19 pm

Evening all.

I agree with the Rafas not at fault this time sentiments. Thought we did ok in the first half. Aquaman is spot on, Its all in their heads and their hearts.
Believe it or not I’n sure we’ll finish top 4. I think Manure are beginning to struggle and will continue to do so. I genuinely don’t see City or Tottenham sustaining a challenge and we can only get better second half of the season.
I said in frustration after the midweek game if we lose today Rafa has to go.

I’m keeping my powder dry as he’s been proved right about holding aquilani back.

rassell - December 13th, 2009 at 8:20 pm

I could agree with most of these comments but i really am tiered and fed up with excuses and and bulshit reasons why we lost and what we can change….i have supported liverpool all my life and this really is the last straw can’t take it no more.

These displays are making me feel sick about the game i love so much yes we played well in the first half but what was that in the second same shit different day.,

where was babel, why take banayun off and leave lucas on when we needed a goal, carra has lost it…this italian we are hoping will rescue us looks like another blunder by rafa an more expensive but worse version of a lucas yes yet another one….when will he learn.

I have had enough and i swear that from this day on i will not watch another liverpool game until we get rid of the trio, rafa and also those bloody yanks….but again wot is the point of giving rafa money to spend he will will only go n sign some other cripple who will warm the bench.

i am sorry and feeling like as if i am parting with somthing really close to me but i really can’t take this shit no more.

Donavan Ried - December 13th, 2009 at 8:21 pm

Evening,RedsLewis,Aquilani4goals,Kermit,RyanO,…samlfc….,Kieron, Aquaman and the new boys,absolutefooty,The Matador, The Mighty Creed ……

First off…..

kermit – December 13th, 2009 at 7:01 pm……
“i disagree that we were rubbish, we just threw it away after we were well on top in the first half. we should have been 2-0 up at half time, sloppy allowing arsenal back into it”…….

I have to agree with Kermit here, And for those of you who don’t really know me I’m no great Fan of Rafa, but today, or at least for the first half the tactics were almost spot on….

Still did not think we needed two defensive mid-fielders….
But we were first to the ball did not allow them to settle…..

Torres did not look sharp, and Gerrard looks to be carrying a knock. Yossi did not have the best of games. But overall we were by far the better team.

Second half we never got out the blocks whether that had to do we Rafa wanting us to sit back and defend i don’t know ….

What i did notice though was how when Aquilani was introduced was the reluctance to pass to him…….

It was funny that Johnson was culpable in both goals, Although you can’t really blame him for them……

The first penalty claim should have been given, but I feel Gerrard when looking for penalties there after…..

rassell - December 13th, 2009 at 8:22 pm

good luck guys

Donavan Ried - December 13th, 2009 at 8:24 pm

“Your comment is awaiting moderation.”
WTF is there to moderate?….
Evening Stillontheperch and rassell

rassell - December 13th, 2009 at 8:26 pm

evening, i won’t say good

rassell - December 13th, 2009 at 8:27 pm

rafa wants the sack then he will get a nice pay off n also have his dream job at real

Aquaman - December 13th, 2009 at 8:29 pm

hehe, kermit I only added Giggs because he’s more consistent than Riera and better than Babel.

rassell: Clearly you’re new (or been away for a while) so I won’t attack you. Rafa has done much better with his transfers than you know.

Stillontheperch: Thanks. The only team that I’m really worried about is Tottenham. Villa will probably drop off again and Man City still don’t know each other. Tottenham look threatening though.

Aquaman - December 13th, 2009 at 8:33 pm

Oh, and evening Donavan. Didn’t see you hiding up there.

...samlfc.... - December 13th, 2009 at 8:36 pm

Watching Liverpool lose and draw all the time is making me very depressed i’m just hoping Rafa will bring in a second striker and move Babel to the right (i’ve decided that babel should play on the right)
earlier i watchd Liverpool vs chelsea and Liverpool vs Arsenal both 4-4 draws and watched 3 of the iglights of this seasons games and i can point out so many points other than Alonso.
1. we kept the ball easier last season
and 2. we were more attacking minded…after the real madrid match every feared us no this season everyone is laughing at us and quite rightly so as we are playing awful……its as if we have given up hope and just can’t be assed doing well!! sorry but thats what it feels like.
We need a massive confidence boost, we need to take chances like today and succeed with them as they don’t come everyday, we need to be more attacking minded (which glimpses were shown today) and also to keep the faith.
once we get them 3 together then once again everyone will be fearing us.
Its time we show them critics that Liverpool are still a team to fear and Wigan should get destroyed by us…..we just going to have to wait and see.

If Rafa fails to bring in a decent player in Jan then my respect for him will go right down!

Jed - December 13th, 2009 at 8:36 pm

hahaha sucked in fags…glen johnson what a spastic…aqualani looks like the biggest muppet sitting on that bench, i dont think there is much going on behind those eyes….BIRMINGHAM are on equal points with you!!! hahahaha

rassell - December 13th, 2009 at 8:37 pm

Aquamn this is no dig, but wot part of rafa’s transfers is there to understand…

Lucas, dossena, babel, kuyt, riera, gonzalez plus all the others who have come n gone …yeh these players are good enough for ur b’ham city’s but they ain’t no liverpool player with exception to babel who i believe rafa has ruiened.

Yes good signings are torres, alonso (gone down to rafa), mascherano (will be gone very shortly), sissoko (gone), garcia (gone) riena. Torres and riena will be making a big mistake staying just look at gerrad he will probably go down in records books as the greatest english player never to have won the title.

...samlfc.... - December 13th, 2009 at 8:37 pm

Evening Aquaman, Donavan and the usual people haha
sorry forgot to say that in the previous post

Aquilani4goals - December 13th, 2009 at 8:40 pm

The question I will ask is this,1)what is going on in the dressing room?2) what did rafa tell the players after the 1st half?Is it that he said,come on guy 1 goal up is not enuff will can win this with 3 goals or he said,seat back and play this game carefully.lets watch out for counter attack.What ever he told the players after the 1st half did not produce a positive result.Now let stop moaning…. what is the solution to this down turn ……?how can we stay above the water and not get drown?

Retryboy - December 13th, 2009 at 8:42 pm

Should know us better than that aquaman if its not Rafa’s fault will say its not. What a choker best half of football we have played all season one lucky break, big defensive error by johnson sure he won’t get the stick darby got. (Not saying he should either saying neither should) and everything changed, to be fair it changed at the start of the 2nd half we didn’t start with the same attitude and tempo anything to do with the fact they rested their whole team midweek and most of ours played? Disagree about benayoun thought he was brilliant first half and 2nd half the support wasn’t there. Aurelio never got forward at all to overlap and help him he commited players he can’t offload if there is nobody on the outside. Never blame the ref normally but we had the most blatant penalty and he was staring straight at it. All the 50/50 decisions went their way. Was actually impressed with the subs Rafa made, attacking, ditching the 2 holding midfielders straight away even going 2 up front. Only actual decision i had a problem with was before the game when he decided to pick only 2 offensive subs. I thought looking at them well unless he is going to take torres off only aquilani could change things off the bench because ngog is not someone who could play with torres the styles don’t match. Why he didn’t have riera, pacheco or both on the bench as well as ngog i couldn’t understand. We needed a linking player as a partner. Fact remains the amount of times we go into that dressing room totally in control and come out a totally different team can’t be ignored but whether that is tactics changing or down to the players we don’t know. On the decisions we did see rafa got it all right today and maybe we got some of the luck from Everton reversed. Still gutted.

rassell - December 13th, 2009 at 8:43 pm

rafa at half time said quot ‘ what the hell do you lot think your doing playing attacking flowing football now in the second half you best sit back n watch them play.

Aquaman - December 13th, 2009 at 8:45 pm

Evening …samlfc…

rassell: I’ve written three articles on Rafa and his transfer dealings. Not to blow my own trumpet but they were well researched and also quite well received. If you go back a couple of pages from the Home page and look out for me as the author then you should find them.

Obviously its up to you to do so if you choose (I probably wouldn’t) but give me your thoughts when you’ve read them (if you do).

Aquaman - December 13th, 2009 at 8:46 pm

Hehe. Sorry Retryboy. That was my failed attempt to lighten the mood. No offense meant.

rassell - December 13th, 2009 at 8:48 pm

with rafa no chance

rassell - December 13th, 2009 at 8:54 pm

gerrad is is a great player an yes he is a bit off at the moment cos apart from torres, reina, mascherano, and benayun there rest of the team are shite and don’t even deserve to be on the same pitch as him…..the rest of the team would find it hard to get into a portsmouth side never mind liverpool.

I know i am moaning alot but i just want the same thing as the rest of u guys and that is to see our team back on top where the should be.

Aquaman - December 13th, 2009 at 8:55 pm

What Rafa really needs to do is pull a Phil Brown move. Sit the team down in front of the kop and have them listen to “You’ll never walk alone”. They seem to have forgotten what it means. When we’re all there together then no one can beat us! Nothing is impossible and anything is possible! The lads are down and depressed but we are there for them.

Our voices still ring out in Faith and Hope. We haven’t given up on them and if they can’t believe in themselves, then they just need to open their ears and hear how much we believe in them.

Somehow they have forgotten this, but we need to help them remember.

Retryboy - December 13th, 2009 at 8:56 pm

None taken aquaman lol more miffed than angry about that game. There was a definite change in approach because not only did the full backs stop going forward but lucas who had a great first half definitely had the brakes put on too. Agree with aquilani4goals one goal is never enough. 2 up and shut up shop fair enough chelsea used to do it every time under mourinho but 1 up you change the tempo to sit back and it is impossible to get back if they snatch an equalizer as we saw.

rassell - December 13th, 2009 at 8:56 pm

i say bring in keegan he will play the type of football we want and and would do well with the team we have yes we might concede more then 2 goals a game as we are now but hell we would score a lot more.

Aquilani4goals - December 13th, 2009 at 8:56 pm

Is riera and babel fit?we need this players..I dont believe in moaning and complaining…This is the last game will we loose in a row….For henceforth we are going to be winning every game.This is a learning curve for liverpool.Dont just give up.we cannot afford to throw in the towel now ..no and never…Today is the turning point of the season…Believe every word I say.

...samlfc.... - December 13th, 2009 at 8:59 pm

Aquaman – December 13th, 2009 at 8:55 pm
Loving the thought Aquaman lol it might drum into their ears about how upset we are in the teams downward spiral of form

Aquaman - December 13th, 2009 at 8:59 pm

Just thought of this. It sounds like a really horrible excuse, but we actually haven;t had the easiest run of games recently. Next two are Wigan and Portsmouth, both of whom we should (note should) dispatch with ease. Hopefully this will help with our confidence and get us at least back to par.

rassell - December 13th, 2009 at 9:03 pm

Aquaman abt us singing, well it would help if they could understand wot we’r singing…..

Simple sol

torres upfront aquillani just behind

benny boy left center gerrad and mascherno right babel

then aurilio left agar and skrtl center and glen on right

rina in goal

play attacking football will would do really well.

rassell - December 13th, 2009 at 9:08 pm

we don’t need to buy just bring young players through ie nemeth,pacheo…

Retryboy - December 13th, 2009 at 9:21 pm

Seriously would use the kids as much as possible in the europa league and fa cup our battle for fourth is so much more important than a trophy definitely need to recall nemeth. His style suits torres better than any of the names we go in for and he has always scored for fun. As an option off the bench to go 2 up front if we need a goal. Keep saying he and pacheco will be massive stars and i have been banging on all season they are ready especially nemeth. Well its not working without them. Aquaman we played Blackburn, injury ravaged Everton, debrecen recently fiorentina and arsenal are the only good teams we have played. Arsenal’s style is so open its really the only team that having so few attacking players on and counter attacking creates chances and even then really when lucas was made to hold and the full backs stopped getting forward we created nothing in the 2nd half so still stand by 2 holding midfielders not working. Most teams are a lot harder to break down, arsenal don’t put out banks of four we will always struggle until we let 5 players loose in a game not 3.

Aquilani4goals - December 13th, 2009 at 9:23 pm

Now that aqulina is in the game….no more complains.I cannot believe my eyes we are on the same point with birmingham.24 point.We need to get things straight here. From now on is win win…no more draw .we cannot afford to loose any point.Rafa should boost the confidence of this player…we need to get this loosing mentality out system…no way we are on top….I do not see any team that is better than us in the epl … we have all will need…Just a boost of confidence and few players in jan transfer

Aquaman - December 13th, 2009 at 9:26 pm

rassell: That’s not the point. There’s only one reason for the fans to be singing, and that’s because we believe. If we didn’t believe, then we wouldn’t be there at all. The fact that we’re singing at all goes to show how much we believe. And the volume that only the kop can generate will show them that they can defy the impossible. We did exactly that several times last season, and even though the players seem to have forgotten. We the fans remember, and we will never forget.

rassell - December 13th, 2009 at 9:30 pm

i knw wot you are saying aquaman that was supposed to be a joke in a way but also i am saying that the non english players don’t were thier hearts on thier sleeves like carra and gerrad.

Warren Bloggs - December 13th, 2009 at 9:31 pm

Liverpool fc’s biggest problem is mentality!!! Whether this is down to Rafa or not i do not know, one thing is for sure Rafa is now looking to make ‘ballsy’ changes with his substitutions, such as ditching Masch for Aquilani to give us more potency going forward……………long may this continue!

However, the team’s mentality mustt be adressed, we have no ruthless streak. I am talking about the mentality that one Chelsea all that silverware under Mourinho, the mentality that has made Sir Alex’s mancs such a force down the years and the very same mentality that Spurs showed against Wigan. I want our reds to be like german sheperds, basically we should go for the throats of our victims. Arsenal was there for the slaughter, after controlling the game in the first half we came out and looked lack-luster? We just gave up after Johnson’s unfortunate own-goal.

Credit to Rafa though as he showed such mentality with the attacking substitutions of Aqualani, Ngog and Degen, and as i said the mentalitly of the players was the SOLE problem today. If i have any qualms with Rafa it would that Pacheco was not on the bench after his finr cameo against Fiorentina and that i would have kept Johnson on and substituted Aurelio for Dossena.

As many have said i am not angry today more dissapointed with the outcome, as i beleive we played quite well.

mark g - December 13th, 2009 at 9:34 pm

Frustrating, schizofrenic game to watch, with the penalty given, Nando converting his one on one chance we would have been up 3:0. Two totally different halfs, my guess, the lack of fitness of players returning, or those that have been playing not fully fit, did us in. Mascherano injury did not help either. I thought we were defending very well in the first half, probably the best in a long while. Glen did the best impersonation of Arbeloa (I’ll take a little snooze) on the second goal. He would have blocked anybody’s shot but Arshavin’s, the little Russian must have the fastest trigger in the league. Benayoon was great in the first half, was a step slow in the second. Agger was great throughout, splendid long passes, Carra strong, Aurelio solid, got caught on the first goal though. Stevie G. tried but he hasn’t got his best form back. I still think we are slowly getting better, I hope Alberto A. is o’key, he was limping a bit towards the end. I guess we won’t be watching a Hollywood movie about his return …, but he should get better gradually. When our two best players will start playing like our two best players, we will be fine.
Thanks boys for your great effort today. YNWA.

Warren Bloggs - December 13th, 2009 at 9:39 pm

I agree we need more pace, therefore i think the January signing of Eljero Elia is imperative now. I would also do the deal to get Maxi Rodriguez in exchange for Riera, yes he is slighty older but he and Eljero would give us a wealth of pace and trickery on the wings. Then look to get a nippy striker and as i have said earlier Louis Saha is available, as is Adriano on a free. We have been linked with James Beattie and although i think he would be a good addition he is not what we need at all, Van Nistelrroy would be a decent addition for a short loan period but i would not want him to sign permanently on contract.

Warren Bloggs - December 13th, 2009 at 9:44 pm

Old Bill’ i could not agree anymore!! Rafa is NOT to blame for the mess we are in……….not completely at least. Our BIGGEST problem is our corrupt ownership, unfortunately football has become a sport run on capital and we have NONE. We will get no where (from what Aquaman excelently found) by selling quality players each season just to raise capital for new faces??!! E.g. Bellamy, Crouch, Garcia, Alonso etc etc.

Warren Bloggs - December 13th, 2009 at 9:45 pm

GOD I MISS LUIS GARCIA, I COULD SEE HIM SCORING A WONDER GOAL TODAY TO CLINCH US 1 OR 3 POINTS?!! I’M LOSING IT BIG TIME!!

Liverpool FC Danny - December 13th, 2009 at 9:52 pm

After the Florentia game I thought We should give Rafa a chance but now I’m really starting to worry.
The only good thing I can see is that Gillet has reportedly has sold his Ice hockey club at a $150 million profit and has said that roughly 20-30 million will be given to Rafa and the rest will reduce the debt by a considerable amount.
I personally would use 100 million to reduce debt, 15 million to sack Rafa and bring in either Blanc, Mancini or Mourinho(Jose loves to create history such as getting Chelsea their first title in 50 years and Porto their CL trophy in over 20 years) and use about 20-30 million on transfers to build a new team.

Retryboy - December 13th, 2009 at 9:54 pm

Agree with rassell as if anyone needs telling how highly i rate nemeth and pacheco! Would also consider darby/kelly RB and move johnson upfield if babel isn’t fit because babel is the only player we have who is quality on the right and he never plays there. 4-4-2 please! Back to basics. To change an instilled mentality takes a big change. 4-4-2 would also put kuyt back to where he can be affective as a goal poacher. Nemeth given half a chance alongside torres though and kuyt wouldn’t get back in the side.

Stillontheperch - December 13th, 2009 at 9:55 pm

Just seen Benitez interview on BBC. He really seems to be blaming Johnson. Very poor management. How can you blame lack of confidence for the result and then single out one of the few positives of this season and try to drain it more.

Rafa looked very very downcast. Never seen him like that before. Looked like something was really really wrong.

Oh well. Its bollocks really. Another weekend spoiled.

Warren Bloggs - December 13th, 2009 at 9:56 pm

My perfect squad using the players Rafa has had over the years:

Goalkeepers: Reina, Kirkland
Right Backs: Johnson, Arbeloa, Darby, Kelly
Centre Backs: Carragher, Agger, Hyypia, Skrtel, Ayala
Left Backs: Riise, Aurelio, Warnock, Insua
Defensive Midfielders: Mascherano, Lucas, Sissoko
Centre Midfielders: Gerrard, Aquilani, Alonso
Wingers: Luis Garcia, Benayoun, Pennant, Riera, Kuyt, Babel
Forwards: Torres, Crouch, Bellamy, Keane, Nemeth, Pacheco, Ngog

isaac hunt - December 13th, 2009 at 10:36 pm

Reds Lewis – December 13th, 2009 at 7:07 pm

“never start with 2 holding mids against arsenal”

—
wtf mate how can you say that???? we absolutely destroyed their attacking threat in the first half and created chances ourselves.

we did not deserve to lose but how many times have we said that this year. how could we not even have a shot on target shooting at the kop?? as soon as the second half began i knew we would end up losing. we were so slow to every second ball and nobody wanted to roll their sleeves up and fight.

Aquaman - December 13th, 2009 at 10:54 pm

For all the disappointment of losing to Arsenal in a game that we really really wanted to win, in truth, if ever there was an okay time to lose it would be now. Yes we’ve missed a chance to close the gap to the top 4. However, even though we lost, we aren’t much further away than we were before.

The season clocked has ticked one game forward, but we and all those around us (except Villa) have stayed still. We are not the only team struggling at the moment. There will be other chances. Stick behind the team and help them build confidence in the next two ‘easy’ games.

Donavan Ried - December 13th, 2009 at 11:11 pm

Evening Retryboy and Dave in Ireland.
Dave in Ireland – December 13th, 2009 at 8:44 pm….. Yes you could see he was gutted, not just this game but the season and very emotional with it….

People talk about getting in this player and that player, but something’s a change in manager works a lot better that one or two players…..

I would rather give Rafa the £18-£20m now and not spend in the January window, and get a new Manager and push on for 4th place……

Missing out the Champions League would be a disaster. But to miss out on the Europa League too, doesn’t bare thinking about…..

Stillontheperch - December 13th, 2009 at 11:20 pm

I understand and applaud your positive attitiude Aquaman.
I, like i’m sure all on here will always be behind the team.
The facts are we can’t afford to buy the best players. We don’t have a money spinning stadium. We don’t have football loving owners.

But we are Liverpool. Wearing that shirt has to mean more to the players. I thought about what you said about heart and head. I can appreciate the lack of confidence, But there can be little excuse for heart.

When the chips are down I don’t think Rafa has the heart. Definitely the head. And if you won the league on tactics alone then I’m sure we’d have won it 3 times under his stewardship already.

When tactics arent working because the players don’t have confidence then a manager has to have that extra something to inspire.

Does Rafael Benitez inspire? I just don’t know and although Im confident we’ll finish in the top four, it will be more down to the fragility of others than our taking the bull by the horns.

That situation if continued will not see us challenging and for me that means we have to look elsewhere. We have to.

Stillontheperch - December 13th, 2009 at 11:25 pm

By the way

Well done Ryan Giggs. He’s a credit to his club and to football.

Fair play lad.

Retryboy - December 14th, 2009 at 12:13 am

End of the day this is one of the few performances in the season where the blame doesn’t lie totally with rafa.. Do think he told them to sit back after half time, should have rested everyone midweek and should have had pacheco and riera on the bench though. This squad is packed full of talent we should have won it last year and none of chelsea, utd or arsenal have strengthened so the squad excuses carry no water. 10 defeats in one season is unheard of in a season for liverpool, anything less than 2 convincing wins in our next games rafa should go and we should bring in Mancini making top four is essential we could end up facing years in the wilderness, an exodus of top players. New manager fresh ideas. Its not based on this game but the 20 or so terrible performances earlier. If he hadn’t messed up so spectacularly all season this result wouldn’t be a disaster but he has.

Stillontheperch - December 14th, 2009 at 12:32 am

Agree almost totally Retryboy. Don’t know enough about Mancini to comment although from memory his european record isnt great. But then its not europe i care about.

kermit - December 14th, 2009 at 12:46 am

okay hours later i am not so down hearted, well dpon retry fr giving the lucas praise, he did deserve it today.
johnson yeah at fault maybe for the frirst but i m not gonna blame him for the second and the first is an og it happens to every defender, different to darby he got caugtht stupidly in possesion, he ll learn a tough lesson , i would still loan him out for the rest of the year
great first half
second half disappointment but , maybe torres was suffering tiredness at the end certainly fr the last half an hour, benni looked knackered also , as did kuyt.
all in all i m not so down as ai was, sure gutted to lose. but first half as retry said was probably our best half of football this season and inretrospect arsenal dominated us for ten mins of a game had one shot on target in ninety mins. thats good going against a team like arsenal.
lots of people here tlkign about rafa s half time talk , but i would suggest wengers had a greater impact on how the second half panned out.

to someone aquilani4goals both babel and riera weren t fit
to retry- yes paxchecho could and maybe should have been on the bench

rafa finally grew a pair in his substitutions, brave move to take masch not lucas off and bring aquilani on which leads me to spota

spota no i dont think aquilani isnt good enough , i think he just had a rough intro to the pace of english football and willl have to adapt quickly, he needs to be much much fitter than what he is, he is a half a yard short of fitness and donovan i didnt distinctly note the reluctance to pass to him, who was reluctant to involve him in the game. if it was lucas that might make sense i did that think that for the first few mins after he came on but not after.

now we have wigan and portsmouth and two wins on the spin will have us feeling good

and finally to jed notice you didnt show your face yesterday

kermit - December 14th, 2009 at 12:49 am

still on a perch i am surprised wiht giggs ,i never rated him when he was younger, he is a better footballer now than he was five or ten years ago, then he was all speed and seemingly no brain, this abilty to adapt shows his class and intelligence

no chance of pennant doing the same lol

Donavan Ried - December 14th, 2009 at 1:04 am

Retryboy – December 13th, 2009 at 9:21 pm ……”Seriously would use the kids as much as possible in the europa league and fa cup our battle for fourth is so much more important than a trophy”…….. I agree with the principle of what you are saying, but we also need to go a fair way in the Europa League to generate some money…..
But we need to involve as many youngsters as possible

Retryboy - December 14th, 2009 at 1:11 am

Still on the perch.. Inter had 7 managers in 6 years before Mancini all buying the biggest names possible and none achieving anything Mancini dominated the domestic scene with them didn’t conquer europe yet but in 6 years total management he has won 3 league titles and 6 domestic cups. Plays attacking, quality football is young, can handle the big name players and doesn’t need a blank cheque book to build a team. On top of that he freed himself from his inter contract which up till it was talked about the liverpool and madrid managers were under pressure he had refused to reach a settlement on. So he made himself available has been taking english lessons. This is a guy that would be so ideal for so many reasons he ticks all the boxes for me. Only thing people can question is europe well he has only had a few cracks at it would take total domestic domination myself!!

kermit - December 14th, 2009 at 1:19 am

erm same thinks as i thougt of him last season until tonight he finally grew a pair of testicles and made some substitutions

Retryboy - December 14th, 2009 at 1:40 am

Kermit-no way darby’s mistake was worse than johnson’s so many other factors to the fiorentina goal but i was just saying not to judge darby off one mistake because they happen to any player. I know he is better defensively than any of our other right backs including johnson its just offensively he isn’t. always give lucas credit when he plays well most of the problems i have is when the balance is totally wrong always say not his fault. Donovan.. Evening mate, think the kids would be good enough for the early stages especially and would bring them on quickly so they can be used this season.
They are quality every time one gets a chance they play well kelly, darby, ayala, pacheco and nemeth is the best of the lot mix of those with experience would get us far and we would have 6 squad players ready for premier league action. No guarantees the experienced players would fair any better most of them know they are too good for the competition. Youngsters would relish it and the under 20 world cup and under 21’s no problems to nemeth nor is the greek league. Its more than £10m or whatever europa brings its failure to attract players, hold onto players and about 10x the money fourth place is by far and away priority europa or fa cups not even comparable

Donavan Ried - December 14th, 2009 at 2:10 am

Retryboy – December 14th, 2009 at 1:40 am ….99% agree with you…. the other 1% is if they reached the latter stages of the Europa League with the youngsters I would still play them in the Quarters, Semi and Final….. Have Rafa show faith in them, and leave the chasing of 4th stop to the first team…..

Kermit Johnson made and Makes more defensive errors than Darby, just gets a way with them more…. Did say when we were trying to buy him that he was good going forward but suspect in defence

See that Jed is back…LOL

Retryboy - December 14th, 2009 at 2:41 am

Agree totally mate would play them all the way through. Did you hear stephen Warnock’s recent comments on the same subject? After the young lads had got us through to the carling cup final one year they had been promised they would play the final. He never even made the bench and never got an explanation hardly a surprise.

Reds Lewis - December 14th, 2009 at 4:48 am

Isaac – Masch or Lucas on their own couldve done that. We created chances yes..but not from the midfield that much. Most of em came from the wings.
Wouldve been better to start with a more attacking team and try and get 2 goals or so infront…arsenal are a very talented but inexperienced team…put 2 goals past em and theyd probs have given up. instead however, we got our precious goal and then tried to defend it for 45 minutes against an attacking team….never going to work.
especially with no creativity in the midfield to even start a decent counter attack…AQUILANI needs his fitness up, as do riera and babel because we are dying for creativity and width

Reds Lewis - December 14th, 2009 at 4:50 am

Jeds a sad wanker with nothing better to do than slag off liverpool fans. I have never seen him post a decent disucssion-based comment.

mark g - December 14th, 2009 at 5:12 am

A disgrace is anonymously attacking our captain, who is coming back from an injury. Soon you will be praising him for turning our season around, just wait.

Aquaman - December 14th, 2009 at 8:13 am

Reds Lewis: Even though Masch and Lucas played the whole first half, we still created easily enough chances to be 2 or 3 goals ahead by the interval. Torres missed an easy one on one (because he is still far from sharp), Gerrard had a fair obvious penalty claim denied (not to mention all those 50/50s on the edge of the box), Johnson didn’t want to shoot for some reason (a couple of times I was screaming for him to shoot and instead he passed it into traffic), and more.

For all the commentator chatter about us having a full strength team (the fact that they say this at all shows how bad its been), many of them were unfit (T & Aq), unsharp (G & Au) or out of form (K, Y etc).

On the topic of Rafa’s starting lineup. Aquilani has had a real wake up call here. There’s no higher tempo team in the prem than Arsenal and Aquilani has seen how much he needs to adapt. I hope he does so quick, but I wouldn’t bet on it for a month at least. That’s what happens when you buy Italians. Still think he’ll be a winner for us eventually but, as Rafa says, we need to be patient with him.

The only change to the starting lineup that I would have made in retrospect (I was very happy when I saw the team sheet at the time) would have been to play Insua over Aurelio. Granted he may have been caught out by Arsenal’s pace, but our left flank just did not happen all game. Aurelio sat back and Yossi ran into people. Insua pushes forward and gets crosses in more often than Aurelio (though they tend to be worse crosses, but if you don’t buy a ticket you won’t win the lotto)

Personally I was gutted most by the ridiculousness of Arsenal’s goals. Own goals are unlucky (9 times out of 10) and you just have to hope that they don’t happen in the big games, and bloody Arshavin (I really like him as a footballer, but I really am starting to hate him. Like Torres is to Man U so Arshavin is to us).

Don’t know what happened in the second half. I don’t think Rafa told the boys to stay back. We couldn’t get the ball for the first 5 minutes, then own goal broke our spirit and the second crumbled it.

There’s no real reason why we lost that game. It’s all in the player’s minds and I hope that Wigan and Portsmouth get vanquished so that we can brighten our spirits and rekindle the Liverpool flame.

Aquaman - December 14th, 2009 at 10:54 am

anonymous – December 14th, 2009 at 10:05 am:

Good call.

I’ve felt for a while that one of Rafa downsides is that he doesn’t get emotional enough. The professional air he puts on has its advantages, but sometimes you just need to celebrate an important goal and other times you need to get properly angry. I could never see Rafa “hurling teacups” as our SA commentators say that SAF is fond of doing.

kermit - December 14th, 2009 at 10:54 am

to be honest the penalty shout came very early in the game if it had hapened later in the game we d be screaming for the ref s head on a plate. i t was the most blatant penalty i have ever seen

to the guy that has vowed to never watch us again until rafa and the yanks are gone. i was on the verge of that last week man. to anon at 9 48, you seemed to miss the point that lucas was arguably our best player last night and continues to show new little dimensions to his game. i dont think he is currently a regular starter but he starts to loook more and more like a footballer from brazil that the petrified kid that has been playing for us the last two years. he is a useful player to have in the squad.

Donavan Ried - December 14th, 2009 at 12:25 pm

Alwaays say that when your right your right …. SAo i find my self having to agree with markg on this one…….

mark g – December 14th, 2009 at 5:12 am

“A disgrace is anonymously attacking our captain, who is coming back from an injury.”……

Donavan Ried - December 14th, 2009 at 12:36 pm

TO THE ANONYMOUS HORDE OUT THE…..

How hard is it to log in and post with a name???? ….. It takes less than 3 minutes to register a user name and details and receive you past word by e-mail…….

How do we( The people here who put hour names to the posts we make) Know if these anonymous posters are calling for Rafa’s head today and then slagging off others when Liverpool win a game and quoting “In Rafa We Trust”……
Post with a name
Thank you

Aquaman - December 14th, 2009 at 1:00 pm

Seems to me that that’s the point, Donavan.

Its only thanks to the few anonymous Arsenal fans that I don’t ignore anons completely. Thanks for the sympathy. Must confess that I myself wasn’t so sympathetic to your plight last year. This certainly has opened my eyes though.

isaac hunt - December 14th, 2009 at 1:15 pm

people keep saying that we are going to become another leeds and are going to struggle to win anything.

although it hasnt been good this season the way i am looking at it is if we do finish in the top 4 we will have no bother atracting players and the yanks will definately have to give rafa money. if we end up out of the top 4 surely the yanks will not be able to carry on running the club. people say that they would have to sell torres. well does anyone really think that liverpool fans would let them do this? there is no chance. if they even said he was for sale they would never ever be able to go to anfield again. people who know proper liverpool fans know how serious they can get. another thing is that liverpool are a much bigger club than leeds and finding a investor wouldnt be that difficult. they would know how big liverpool are around the world and wouldnt think twice about taking us over. we need to start building for next year while still making sure we try our hardest to get in the top 4. there are players that should leave in january and i will not be to bothered if we dont get anyone in as long as the shit players have left. i hope arsenal win the league which wouldnt be disaterous as it would if man utd did.

Aquaman - December 14th, 2009 at 1:21 pm

Isaac: fully agree.

rassell - December 14th, 2009 at 2:09 pm

Look boys its all good and well blaming the yanks, but with the current squad we have, we simply shouldn’t be in this mess….you can’t blame the yanks for that.

Raffa forked out 20 mil or so for aquillani and look he’s been useless till now he could have got in two good wingers for that money instead.

Yesturdays game i don’t blame raffa it was a very suspect ref how he missed that penatly i will never nw and he should not be reffing at any level after that. The other thing which made a huge difference was mascherano was a absolute monster in the first half he was breaking up anything and everything arsnal were doing and i think denilson had the sigal from arsen and he injured mascherano and from that point they came back into the game….only part rafa got wrong yesturday was taking benny boy off who was having a good game instead off lucas.

I think the pressure is getting to gerrad and needs to relax and be himself again he is too worked up and i think thats our fault for asking sooo much of him alll the bloody time.

I know i said i won’t watched them again till we got rid of rafa n the yanks, but i simply couldn’t stay away no matter how hard i try.

once a red, for ever a red.

Retryboy - December 14th, 2009 at 2:11 pm

To say that rafa couldn’t do anything different is looking at the small picture of the game. He should have looked at the fixture list before and realised the importance of having aquilani fit for arsenal and after his 20 mins 6 weeks ago you gradually raise the game time every week. By now he should have been totally match fit and sharp. He should have rested players midweek like arsenal did, he gambled on getting a confidence boosting win but yet wouldn’t gamble on that win in the important game against Blackburn last weekend. The gamble failed and if anything had the reverse effect on team confidence. The subs he picked before the game what situation would you need to replace your whole defence? Pacheco and riera should have been on the bench. As far as i am concerned he definitely told our players to sit back at halftime. Saw times when yossi commited players and only needed aurelio on the outside overlapping but he stayed back as did lucas who was getting into the box in the first half and playing well, i still think if you want an attacking player on we would get more out of a few other players but first half he was linking not sitting. After he was told to sit he disappeared out of the game. Why he took mascherano off not lucas is beyond me. We could never get the ball for the last 20mins after that. So of course aquilani couldn’t do anything or get into the game. Lucas can ball win against the lesser teams, the big games against the likes of fabregas thats when you need the argentine. Its not exactly the first time we stop offering any threat of our own as soon as they come out from their teamtalk. You know whats on the white board in the dressing room 10 arrows < < < < < < < < < <

isaac hunt - December 14th, 2009 at 2:12 pm

full credit to lucas for his first half display yeterday. him and mascherano stopped everything that arsenal tried in the first half. not so good second half from him but there were so many poor performances in the second half you cant blame him for the loss. on wednesday however i would like to see us really attack from the first minute until the game is out of sight. we have scored one goal and sat back too many times whereas man utd always go for the throat after they score one. i would like to see gerrard and aqua playing as attacking centre midfielders (not the gerrard position behind torres but a little deeper) and mascherano DM. it might not work but i think we need a change that doesnt tip the balance to far. the reason that we play 2 DCM is because the defence is so vulnerable. we have conceded a lot of goals with 2 DCM so do you think we would concede more with only 1? probably against the better teams but i think against wigan we need to attack and get more people forward but not to gung-ho.

isaac hunt - December 14th, 2009 at 2:16 pm

retryboy

mascherano struggled big time after he got injured.

rassell - December 14th, 2009 at 2:16 pm

to all the asrnal fans who say they haven’t won anything in four yrs well you have won the epl which we haven’t and what have we won in the past four years.

I have a lot of respect for arsnal and venger along with the way arsnal play their football (as football should be and the reason as a 6yr old i fell in love with liverpool), u say u haven’t won anything well i say just look at the team you are building and look at the direction your going in its just a matter of time but on our side of things where are we heading the real problem is we don’t nw if we are moving forward or backwards there is no direction and this really does hurt.

Retryboy - December 14th, 2009 at 2:33 pm

Comment awaiting moderation.. To those talking about burning shirts, suggest you do just leave them on when you do it and just so they go up nicely use petrol, you shouldn’t leave any indication to the investigating team that you once called yourself a liverpool fan. Jed shouldn’t you be concentrating your banter at your rivals. Or have you already realised that the title isn’t going to the bridge?

isaac hunt - December 14th, 2009 at 2:36 pm

rassell

dont get all emotional.
we have been much better than arsenal in the last 4 years u pillock. now we have one bad season and it is the end of the world. ur an idiot.

Hoogleboogybugleboy - December 14th, 2009 at 2:44 pm

Wenger got it right when he said “The fear was in the Liverpool camp in the second half”. At one nil up the game was nowhere near won and the Liverpool players are so low on confidence they got scared in the second half. Arsenal on the other hand got a rollicking at half time and had a good second half. There is nothing worse in football than low confidence. the ref also had a shocker in my opinion but that is becoming commonplace in the Premier league these days.

spota - December 14th, 2009 at 3:55 pm

hi ya guys sorry i left early yesterday . but we have to go to work. so we can pay to watch the debacle that is liverpool fc.have just logged in and read everybodys posts . the one thing i do have to agree with is this . yes the club has became split pro and anti rafa . but when your spending your hard earned money on a club you love so passionatly. as i do myself. and i no many more ov you do. despite wether or not i agree with your opinions. do you not think the critisism ov the management staff as a whole is warrented. because as you all no i have become very anti rafa . and also think the people who are trying to defend him are therefore warranting benitez actions . 3 in 15 at stoke would get you the sack. this is premiership football. a buisness. are results recently ar are on par with hull city . and wasent phill browns job at risk. so to conclude this post what are the pro rafa fans saying . that are expectations are that ov the same as hull city. wake up and smell the coffee. this is a buisness and how much have we lost by being knocked out ov champs league. and how much more will we lose if we finish 5th to seventh. dont forget the same side less aquillani beat hull 6-1 . just food for thought. sack rafa quick. ps is aquillani a risk for his tag when the same manager said barry wasent worth 12mill .and he wanted to replace alonso with him. the man will not listen to reason . get rid b4 steve g asks 4 the big money move the club owes him. and if he wanted to go who could moan. he has pulled his cunt out for liverpool only to watch the manager take the piss out ov the club. ps also remember steve g is a fan not just a playe. and if he left who would follow. sorry to all you pro rafa guys . but its all about results and rafa cant get em . even against blues , lyon, blackburn etc I LOVE THIS CLUB HEART AND SOUL I WISH THERE WERE ANOTHER WAY YNWA

Aquilani4goals - December 14th, 2009 at 3:57 pm

Hey come to think of the it ,WHO do we blame for poor performance?who is responsible to liverpool winning 3 out of 15 matches.What is happening to liverpool squad.Why will they loose after leading 1 up in the first half.This has being a common occurance with this present squad.I think something is wrong with the players mind set.The coaching staff…..their something wrong..I said in my last post that rafa has lost the plot….with up coming game against wigan we will see how it goes I hope it will be favourable and a kick start to our woeful season……If not I think rafa will be on his way out…

isaac hunt - December 14th, 2009 at 4:19 pm

Aquilani4goals – December 14th, 2009 at 3:57 pm

it is strange why bad things keep happening to us. nobody knows why but there is something definately wrong. the only thing i can think of is alonso going. if we lose on wednesday rafa could lose alot of the supporters.

Donavan Ried - December 14th, 2009 at 5:00 pm

Aquaman – December 14th, 2009 at 1:00 pm…… Thanks Aquaman….

rassell – December 14th, 2009 at 2:09 pm …”Look boys its all good and well blaming the yanks, but with the current squad we have, we simply shouldn’t be in this mess….you can’t blame the yanks for that.

Raffa forked out 20 mil or so for aquillani and look he’s been useless till now he could have got in two good wingers for that money instead”…….

Oh so very true, Oh so very true……..

isaac hunt – December 14th, 2009 at 1:15 pm

“people keep saying that we are going to become another leeds and are going to struggle to win anything.”……..

I think the point here is that we should realize that this could happen to us too, and try and guard against it……

Retryboy – December 14th, 2009 at 2:11 pm ….

Totally with you on this……

” To say that rafa couldn’t do anything different is looking at the small picture of the game. He should have looked at the fixture list before and realised the importance of having aquilani fit for arsenal and after his 20 mins 6 weeks ago you gradually raise the game time every week. By now he should have been totally match fit and sharp.”……

The subs he picked before the game what situation would you need to replace your whole defence? Pacheco and riera should have been on the bench

Dave in Ireland here – December 14th, 2009 at 10:22 am

Has to tell you something when so many ex-Liverpool players are saying things are not right at the club….

Ian St john was visible choked and fighting back the tears……

People need to realize that it is not just this bad run we are having. The signed have been there for a while now…..

I think the modicum of success we have had under Rafa has a lot of Supporters frighten that if we sack Rafa we will fall away and become a mid-table side….

But Rafa as taken us as far as he can, and unless we bring in a new manager we will never reach that holy grail. The English Premier League Title…..

Reds Lewis – December 14th, 2009 at 4:48 am……….

Reds Lewis and Isaac It is like when the opposition have a corner and they push 9 men into your goal area.
You can pull everyone back. Or you can send 3 of your players to stand on the half way line, knowing full well that they well have to drop 4 players back to mark them……..

By playing one defensive mid-flied player we could have used Aquilani and still have disrupted Arsenal mid-flied, but also have given us a bit more in attack….

Retryboy - December 14th, 2009 at 5:20 pm

Isaac- i think with mascherano on the pitch we were winning the ball but not keeping hold of it, as soon as he went off we stopped even winning it. The first goal again from letting players get crosses in from the byline. Along with the setpieces its got to be the main failing defensively of the team this season said it earlier on in the year once balls are getting flashed across the goalmouth with defenders facing their own goal there are always going to be problems. The 2nd goal hard to criticise with such a wonderful piece of skill except johnson being too tight. End of the day rafa has had total control of everything, he has replaced nearly all of the backroom staff. The buck stops with him. To aim so low as to not lose at Wigan shows how far we have fallen in such a short space of time we should expect convincing wins against poor teams. We have 2 easy games and Tottenham play city if we don’t close the gap in the next 2 games with 2 convincing wins rafa needs to go. Spurs, villa and city can strengthen in january and god forbid city get their act together with their squad.

isaac hunt - December 14th, 2009 at 6:51 pm

retryboy

mascherano showed us that if we did sell him we would be in massive trouble. he was everywhere but then he got a knock and couldnt cover as much ground. i dont know what has happened to our defenders this season. last season we were great defensively and barely conceded at home except for that mad arsenal game now we look like we could concede to a sunday league team. everybody says we need attacking players (me included) but surely our defence has to be strengthened aswell.

carragher = by far his poor season in years
skrtel = has been shit since that bad injury at city
agger = looks more nervous on the ball
insua = gets outpaced and out of position far too easily

isaac hunt - December 14th, 2009 at 6:57 pm

10 teams have conceded less goals at home than us.
11 teams have better home records than us.

Retryboy - December 14th, 2009 at 7:31 pm

Isaac-agreed the defence is weak too. Think we are fine at centre back carragher and agger is a top partnership most times they get pulled out of position it is down to the full backs when you have wingers that come inside the full backs have to provide the width. Our full backs are all better going forward than they are defensively. It has got to be to do with organisation though. United can get away with wes brown, john o’shea at right back for long periods. Arsenal have never spent any big money on defenders nor have villa or spurs. I also think its the tactics in previous games sitting back and inviting pressure especially after we have got a goal. The system is messed up thats why i would rather we went back to basics 4-4-2 let the defenders defend, wingers provide width and attack. 1 defensive midfielder, its not working at the moment so why not?

Retryboy - December 14th, 2009 at 7:49 pm

Dave in ireland- if rafa really was the saint he is made out to be he would waive his big pay day if sacked. Last thing we have heard was from Purslow after the champions league exit saying rafa wouldn’t be judged on europe but on the league, since then we have only beaten Everton and that was a total fluke we were outplayed and if they had any of their decent attacking players fit we would have lost that one too. How far adrift are the owners going to let us get before they act?

Donavan Ried - December 14th, 2009 at 7:50 pm

isaac hunt – December 14th, 2009 at 6:51 pm….. Not only do we need more attack minded players, but we need players that can keep hold of the ball….. For a team that passes the ball so often ……I don’t mean we play a passing game like Arsenal, but we knock it from right to left and back (Seems sometime for the sake of it) we give the ball away all too cheaply… This adds pressure to the defence…. As so we have very poor movement off the ball, and this seems more so (And believe or not, I am not having a pop at him) under Rafa’s rule…..

One thing I touch on earlier was how many ex-Liverpool players were saying that things are not right at the club. Well I believe Rafa needs to start paying attention to what people are saying. If so many people were saying it to me, then I would sit back and take a long hard look……. I don’t hold out any hope of Rafa doing this as he is too stubborn

Donavan Ried - December 14th, 2009 at 8:02 pm

Retryboy – December 14th, 2009 at 7:49 pm…….. I think the (what is it) £18m now??? ….. Is looking better and better everyday to get rid of Rafa……
Klinsman seems to be there first choice, and I think that they are waiting for a commitment from him. Also believe that they will not make a move before the summer……
Maybe even hoping that he will not make the forth spot. Might be something in his contract that says if he fails to make the CL then there is a penalty clause…

...samlfc.... - December 14th, 2009 at 8:09 pm

Please no!!! not Klinsmann i would go inane if he becomes our manager…….please owners just not kilinsmann for the sake of my Sanity!!
We need an attacking minded Manager or a manager who can birng the best out of any player, Oh and someone who isn’t actually a stubborn fool.

The Matador - December 14th, 2009 at 8:39 pm

I have to be in total agreement with Donovan over the need to pay off Rafa as I feel we could have an outside shot at the title if someone else is bought in NOW.
Look at the simple common sense changes Harry rednapp made when he went to Spurs, a top new mabnager could easily do the same at Liverpool.
Imagine this we play with just one defensive midfielder and drop kuyt alltogether. Allready you have an instant improvement.
Rafa out before it is too late, i am so bored of watching how we play for the first time ever.

Retryboy - December 14th, 2009 at 8:41 pm

Klinsmann wouldn’t be a contender only time his name has been mentioned its because the papers have tried digging up the past. Reasons behind it… They haven’t had any amo to throw at the owners for a while they have done what everyone wanted and given their manager total support. Nobody knows who would be on their list it- its got to be Mancini! The cheapest option is to have dalglish and sammy lee together…might work out. H&g have been very quiet for a while and rafa has again basically blamed everything on them by citing lack of funds along with reminding us he could have gone to madrid wasn’t loyalty that kept him here. He would never have had total control at madrid or any level of patience. Usually after a run of results like this you hear the manager being pulled in for an explanation again nothing. Really think its the public opinion more than the money keeping rafa here, if results don’t turn around quick even the most ardent rafa fan will say enough is enough.

Aquaman - December 14th, 2009 at 9:44 pm

I don’t think Rafa will be sacked even if this season ends horribly. My reason for thinking so? Our dear friends, the yankies.

While we may have our gripes and moans about how he plays football, the simple fact is that the yanks do not understand. All they know is that the club has been doing pretty well over the last few seasons without costing them a single penny. Every cent has come from the club itself and its gargantuan loan.

In fact if things do go horribly badly this year, then I think that its far more likely that the yanks will jump ship than Rafa get kicked out the door, simply because it might actually cost them something to fire him. This may mean that the new owners do fire Rafa, which some will interpret as two birds with one stone.

Still, don’t ever expect the yanks to make a decision which is for the benefit of Liverpool Football Club. They are thinking about themselves and their investment. That’s all.

I realise that I sound a bit like YNWA, but my findings from my last article have truly opened my eyes to how corrupt the bastards are, and I really do believe that Rafa could do an immensely better job if he had the finances that he needs. Obviously money won;t change his tactics or game plan, but it will fill our bench with better players.

redrob - December 14th, 2009 at 10:13 pm

the americans took over in 2007, when we were still in the chaps league. less than 2 yrs after winning the euro championship, as you all would know, we were considering building a stadium and the americans, were rubbing their hands at the income it would bring. now what do liverpool have to offer?
i am wondering if they are looking to sell the club, more now than they ever were? i hope so.
i am believing now, more than ever, that we are in need of serious investment. i dont think a new stadium at this time would be good. why have a state of the art stadium if the team are a mediocre one. which, lets face it this season we are. it is not totaly the fault of rafa. our squad do not have the quality needed. we need to put the money into new players the americans do have some.

Donavan Ried - December 14th, 2009 at 11:38 pm

Retryboy – December 14th, 2009 at 8:41 pm….. You may very well be right on the whole Klinsman thing, But were you are definitely right is on the rest of your post…. Well said Retryboy, well said

Aquaman – December 14th, 2009 at 9:44 pm…….

“I don’t think Rafa will be sacked even if this season ends horribly. My reason for thinking so? Our dear friends, the yankies.” ……..

Man I hope you are wrong ….LOL

redrob – December 14th, 2009 at 10:13 pm…… Rob I do believe that our squad has some quality players. It is just Rafa’s failure to utilize them that has us were we are now, and his stubbornness is hampering us from making any real progress…..

Retryboy - December 15th, 2009 at 12:10 am

Aquaman- there is nothing wrong with the quality of squad. You list all these players as great signings, bargains then you say the squad is weak. Keep saying the squad was good enough last year and utd weakened their squad, arsenal and chelsea didn’t spend anything and they are the teams at the top. You always neglect the fact that the likes of utd bring in 100m a year more than us. Rafa chose to keep voronin he could have got 5m for him now he doesn’t trust him to be on the bench we all knew he wasn’t good enough. He could have got a fully fit quality replacement for alonso for the 20m he spent on aquilani. He could have kept nemeth. He wasted 2m on kyrgiakos when we had ayala and kelly. Why shouldn’t the owners expect to have the clear out we all know is necessary? We have been knocked out of the champions league, are looking ropey at best for next year and they aren’t trying to sell off our prize assets. All they are saying is sell to buy, your so called free players voronin and degen who picked up 2m signing on fees each and have cost the club 10m in wages..14m well spent there! Along with dossena. Kyrgiakos, itandje, plessis, would only bring in 15m save 15m on wages giving you 30m for 2 quality players and their wages. He could have done that pre-season. Never mind the fact that he has failed to get the best out of babel, riera and well… The list is endless including gerrard now. Stop focusing on his excuses you fell off that fence into the ‘in rafa we trust’ camp, you gave this squad to any decent manager we would be challenging, this could be the closest epl ever and we aren’t involved and the one reason for that is rafa not the owners.

Retryboy - December 15th, 2009 at 12:24 am

Sorry about the rant aquaman lol got a bit carried away mate. Donovan see you managed to say a lot of what i just ranted in 2 concise sentences in your response to redrob lol doh!

mark g - December 15th, 2009 at 12:28 am

Yes, Aquaman, I have been singing this tune for a long time. Our core problem has been the interlopers from the USA – H&G. Their hijacked the team from Mr. Moore’s, bought it on a cheap for a quick flip. They never really had any plans to build a stadium, were talking it up, waving the blueprints at the naive crowd, just to incite someone to make them a great offer. That plan fell through time and time again. Actually, they could have sold the club at one point for a good profit, but the greed took over their common sense and their got stuck as reluctant custodians.
Gillette has money to buy Hicks out, it may still happen, even then he would not become a long term owner. At least we would benefit from a single owner. Hicks can only get his paws on money at extraorbitant price, he has burnt to many bridges in the world of high finance. The value of our club has gone down (although Purslow is doing great on the business and marketing front), caused by lousy economy, with the team performance being what it is and two of our star performers injured with what may be chronic and reoccurring problems. So all bets are off.
This is a critical period in the history of LFC and we should be careful what we are wishing for. Among the managers mentioned as replacement Hiddink sound the best, but would he come to work, without any hope for capital to reshape the current team. Our hope has to rest with the youngsters maturing quickly under the current regime and no more beach balls blocking the way to the forth place in the league.

Donavan Ried - December 15th, 2009 at 3:33 am

Retryboy – December 15th, 2009 at 12:24 am….. Thanks Retryboy…
It wasn’t through skilful writing, just through laziness…LOL

Donavan Ried - December 15th, 2009 at 4:02 am

mark g – December 15th, 2009 at 12:28 am…… Mark you have it all wrong. Hicks is not the problem, it is Gillett….. He was the one, who said upon purchase of LFC that the club was worth £1bn, meaning that he would sell his stake for £500m and has been trying to do so ever since….. Hicks was asking all the right question of Parry, like…..

How come we do not have better and more sponsors?

Why is the club not being marketed in the Far East?

Why are we opting for a 70,000 seat stadium instead of a 90,000 seat?

Hicks is in this for the long run, Gillett just looking to turn a quick profit……

Gillett would never sink anymore money into LFC……

Had the economy not taken a down turn I believe Hick would have built Stanley Park.

Even the Dubai princes and their families have tightened their belts saying the would not be putting the family’s money into a football club ……

If Dubai is feeling it, (£35bn in loans), it is little wonder that Hicks is feeling it too

mark g - December 15th, 2009 at 4:49 am

Donovan, long term we can do better without either one of them. They got involved in our club not to take it to the top, rather to flip it quickly for a big profit. They lied about money they would invest in LFC and so on, and on…..
However Gillette has been a much more successful businessman, with good credentials. To prove my point, he owned, until recently, the icon – the Montreal Canadiens ice hockey club, the most successful club in history of sport, and was very repectfull of the club tradition and discharged his obligations. as an owner, very well indeed. He also made 300m C$ when he sold it. If you research (it is very easy task on Web) Mr. Tom Hicks and problems of his businesses over the years, you would see, he is the last person you would like to trust your club to.
Gillette can afford to capitalize LFC, Hicks can not. I wrote about H & G previously rather extensively and the picture was very “mixed” to say the least.
I don’t think they will hang around Liverppool FC, for too long. Having one owner, rather than 2 feuding with each other would benefit us. And I believe Gillette is potentially a much better of the two. I hope for the sake of his future profits he will find some money to stop the slide. Otherwise he/they should do an honorable thing and sell our club to those that can afford to own it, and who will know how to bring us back to the ranks of the greatest clubs in England and the world.

mark g - December 15th, 2009 at 4:55 am

Donovan, last point: there is a price at which our club would be sold quickly today, and it’s not $1B. It may be $400M +-10%. The Americans have to either face and accept that reality, or commit themselves to keep their “trophy” investment healthy and prosperous by spending money on it.

Retryboy - December 15th, 2009 at 9:18 am

Mark g- “our hope has to rest on the youngsters maturing quickly” agree 100% on this the only way to stay competitive. On hiddink being the best choice when his name was mentioned in relation to the city post recently abramovich made it clear he wouldn’t allow such a move as he underwrites his salary as russian coach. It was reported yesterday that the prince had pulled out of a deal to takeover liverpool saying the £300m asking price was too high and the chance of a 50% stake didn’t appeal to him. It is gillett who is ready to cut and run and hicks that wants to stay. Probably because liverpools marketability hasn’t reached anywhere near its potential and he knows with a new stadium built, the middle east tapped and a successful team he would make a massive profit. We are in a vicious circle with them. They expect profit on their shares. They won’t get it until fortunes on the pitch turn around. Even the new sponsorship with standard charter is conditional on top four finish the lower we finish the less we get. It is a very precarious position we are in i hope the prince is just showing he is prepared to walk away and that will make H&g drop their asking price but i doubt it. The other thing to come out of the article was that gillett is taking a back seat and hicks is controlling things you can see gillett wants out.

Donavan Ried - December 15th, 2009 at 1:56 pm

mark g – December 15th, 2009 at 4:49 am…. Mark I cannot judge them on their pass dealings, I can only judge them on LFC, And from the sounds they are making Gillett seems to be making all the wrong one and Hicks the right ones…… But point taken … (sorry just notice your other post)…..

mark g – December 15th, 2009 at 4:55 am…. Totally agree with this…..

Retryboy – December 15th, 2009 at 9:18 am….. Well done Retryboy, Yet again you put in to words what I struggle to say……LOL…. And of course you are totally right

Donavan Ried - December 15th, 2009 at 2:12 pm

It is reported in The Sun that Rafa is looking to buy Scot Parker of West Ham for £6m…… Yeah I know it is The Sun….

But is speculation because of Rafa’s lack of use of Aquilani and that’s why we are linked with another mind-fielder, or the uncertainty of Mascherano and his commitment to Liverpool Fc?

If it is the latter I can understand……

But if it has to do with Aquilani, then rather needs to set up and make it clear that Aquilani has a big part to play here at LFC

Aquilani4goals - December 15th, 2009 at 2:28 pm

Start well, take the lead, make a mistake, lose confidence, lose the game. It is Liverpool’s mantra of 2009/10, and was in evidence twice in the past week against both Fiorentina and Arsenal. The latter of those two defeats was of course the most damaging, and it’s once again left the Reds dangling on the precipice of a fresh crisis. Victory over Wigan tomorrow night has now become as essential as any Liverpool win in modern times – there is no way that the Reds can afford to lose much more ground on the rest of the top four, and you can take the word ‘afford’ in that statement any way you wish. Money is certainly too tight to mention at the moment, Benitez knows that only too well.

redrob - December 15th, 2009 at 5:40 pm

donavon. @11.58.
okay is was a bit pissed off, and i took into account the words from ian st. john who said, of the 11 players on sunday, it was our best team’.
other than pos, dosenna/auralio and babel/kuyt if we come up against a good side you need quality on the bench to change things.

reina, cav
johnson,skertle,carragher,agger,auralio,insua,dosena
gerro, masch,aquil,lucas
babel reina benayoun
torres ngog.kuyt

these are 19 players i think are good enough to win the league. but if you have the injuries that we have then you will struggle.

looking at our bench against arsenal who could we bring on who could truely change the game? i think that rafa made the best attacking subs on sun as he had available. when your chasing a game other than an un-match fit aquilani, who i thought rushed around like a headless chicken, ngog and degan are not as good as babel and riera when you need to chace a game. look what babel did against west ham.

what i was trying to say in my statement is that we need to buy some quality players, and we need real money to do this

Aquilani4goals - December 15th, 2009 at 7:40 pm

anom 6:53
yea i took note of that .Men we really miss alonso.He is still in love with liverpool.I wish he can come back.Gerrard should be able to motivate his team mates he is the cap….He should be in control screaming to his mates saying come on we can win this game it all about passion ….

dibbler - December 15th, 2009 at 11:37 pm

anon 10:27 love that comment mate.

Retryboy - December 16th, 2009 at 4:50 am

Thing is alonso knew all the way through how much the fans appreciated him. Was good to see him in the crowd and the goal from the hull player from in his own half brought back some happy memories.

Donavan Ried - December 24th, 2009 at 11:27 pm

1. Wishing everybody here a Merry Christmas especially Retryboy, Samlfc, Aquaman, THE CHOSEN ONE, Warren Bloggs, Jed (Yes, Jed. lol) Isaac hunt, Liverpool FC Danny, Dave in Ireland, Scouse Magic, spota, pete, BPL_WILL_BE_PAINTED_RED., ROB FROM KENT, JCWW, Max_kopite, trav09, Dom, Steve McMahon ,MarkG, RyanO, JimmyK, John Conor, COLDEN, Stillontheperch, Reds Lewis, Red_Phoenix, Ryan-J, Topredman, YNWA, guillem balague muppet, PeteMullen, rassell, the kop,Danski_LFC9, kermit, Aquilani4goals, Mr.Red, Ryan Babel, dibbler, the_corn_flake, Hoogleboogybugleboy, The Matador, Kieron, The Mighty Creed, Monsta01, and anyone else who I have forgotten, and the legion of Anonymous supporters