The Official Liverpool thread 2007/08

[andeeeee]

yep 205 is in the kop , the 1892 section is an all singing section but they wernt very vocal today, not been in them 2 boozers for a long time, we park near the salisbury. a couple of tinnies in the car is enough for me these days

[Kop66]

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[ONEDUNME]

Originally Posted by Kop66

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TORRES
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Quite...but why rest him in the most valuable competition of them all (in the minds of most L'pool fans I'm told" and then play him for a meaningless competition.

Just plain stupid.

[keemanan]

Agreed ODM , I'm not an admirer of Benitezs' stupid rotation system and I'm sure deep down the scousers dont agree with it either

[Kop66]

I have no idea why Rafa didnt play him on Saturday
I dont understand it either, maybe it's just because it's early season.

All i know is from what iv'e seen so far is Torres is our player of the season already, his goal against Chelsea and his finishing against Derby, he's becoming a reel favourite with the fans, he's been just what we needed, all we need to do now is put pressure on Rafa not to drop him.

Now where's rc with his over rated talk

[all_funkt_up]

Rather quiet in here isnt it.......

[Kop66]

Licking our wounds AFU, licking our wounds

Let the fringe players get on with the CL, lets put our best players in for the league games, that all i have to say on the matter

[all_funkt_up]

I must say that the other night I was disgusted with the reaction of some of the so called fans that turned up. Some people boo-ed at half time and even more (a few hundred or so) boo-ed at full time too I told the fickle cunts what I thought of them.

The general attitude amongst the moaners was that they paid their money to be entertained and so could do what they liked. Maybe that attitude is going to be come ever more prevalent in football and football fans in general, but its not right. I dont go to a game to be entertained. If you want guaranteed entertainment then watch the box or go to the circus.

You go to the game because you follow your club. You dont go because you want to see a certain player or because you think it might be a nice match to keep you entertained for 2 hours or so. Whats wrong with football fans these days?

No the players werent good enough, but does booing them help?

The fact that they all (bar Gerrard, Carra and Kuyt) disappeared down the tunnel straight after the final whistle I think showed their disappointment. They knew they'd played badly and to a man, hadnt done enough to win the game.

[all_funkt_up]

On another note, Rafa has confused some and pissed off others of late with his selection Policy. That is of course assuming he does have a selection policy and its not just a random draw done with Lancelot and set of balls number 3. The independant adjudicator is Ronnie Moran.

I think we have underestimated a few opponents this year. Rafa clearly thought that he could play Aurelio (who has been out for 6 months) and Leto (who clearly isnt up to scratch yet) and beat Marseille. A fair assumpion given that they lie in 17th place in Le Championnat. But it didnt work out that way because making changes to the team removed the fluency you would expect to see. Pennant was unavailable due to a stupid tackle in the previous game and so Rafa had to make a change out wide.

I think most fans though would have put Babel or Riise in. Leto didnt look too convincing against Toulouse and once again failed to impress. Coupled up with the still less than fit Aurelio and we looked pedestrian at best down the left hand side. Momo had an off game in the middle. It was his mistake that ultimately led to the winner for Les Frogs, but all round he had a poor game.

His control was poor and his passing was worse than normal. He looks like a player with next to no confidence at the moment. Gerrard spent most of the game mopping up for him.

Basically, the team wasnt good enough. They out muscled us and after a bad start, it got worse. We panicked and resorted to route one football. With Crouch on the pitch, the main outlet was the 60 yard ball to the big man. Time after time it didnt work. Their number 23 had a great game at the back and Crouch got nothing.

Changes in attitude are needed for the game against Spurs tomorrow if we are going to win. I have been tempted since out result to back the 1-1 and 0-1 as (maybe being overly pessimistic) I cant see where our next goal is coming from.

If we play like we did midweek and for the last few games to be truthful, we will struggle and I think Tottenham have a better chance than their 3/1 odds reflect.

[Kop66]

On another note, Rafa has confused some and pissed off others of late with his selection Policy. That is of course assuming he does have a selection policy and its not just a random draw done with Lancelot and set of balls number 3. The independant adjudicator is Ronnie Moran.

He changes it to much AFU, rotation is fine when it's maybe one or two for a game but if you change to many players too many times then they forget who's likely to be where. Sometimes you need to know where a player is going to be without having the time to look up and find him, you need to know what he's going to do next.

It may work a little better if he used the same players where he can for the same competitions.

I think we've missed Xabi more than we expected to also.

I was dissapointed by our performance the other night, not so much the result as all i want to see is us perform to the highest level in the league, as you say though it certainly didnt deserve the boos.

[all_funkt_up]

I dont think Rafa makes too many changes in terms of personnel, statistically he makes the same amount of changes per game. I just think that he chooses odd teams and odd combinations of players.

There's nothing wrong with rotation as long as you operate a one out, one in system. So if you take off Gerrard for example, the person that replaces him plays in the Gerrard style. If you replace one holding man with another, they both play in the same way and with the same tactics.

The problems come about when you change personnel and tactics.

I think the departure of Paco Ayesteran, Rafa's number 2, has had a massive effect this season. I've always felt that he was Rafa's eyes and ears. Rafa got on with the tactics, relayed them to Paco who busied himself with making sure the players understood what Rafa was trying to say. He was the man on the ground if you like, getting his hands dirty on the training pitch, wheras Rafa took a step back and analysed everything.

Paco played an important role, if he didnt he wouldnt have been at the club in the first instance. He hasnt yet been replaced and I wonder whether Rafa is struggling to cope and maybe taking on too much work at the moment. Who knows but the great man himself.

[Kop66]

Paco played an important role,

He certainly did, hopefully we can get the right person sorted soon.

[ONEDUNME]

Originally Posted by all_funkt_up

I think the departure of Paco Ayesteran, Rafa's number 2, has had a massive effect this season. I've always felt that he was Rafa's eyes and ears. Rafa got on with the tactics, relayed them to Paco who busied himself with making sure the players understood what Rafa was trying to say. He was the man on the ground if you like, getting his hands dirty on the training pitch, wheras Rafa took a step back and analysed everything.

Paco played an important role, if he didnt he wouldnt have been at the club in the first instance. He hasnt yet been replaced and I wonder whether Rafa is struggling to cope and maybe taking on too much work at the moment. Who knows but the great man himself.

Strange that. You could be right AFU. I remember hearing exactly the same sort of thing a few years ago when a certain coach left a top club and their was a dip in performance. It was said that the influence of the coach had gone largely unnoticed and his influence only became apparent when he was no longer there.

The coach was a certain Steve McLaren.

Personally, I think Liverpool's dip is over and they will have a good October and November. As I said last week though, I'm not impressed with the bookies view and I still see a draw as the most likely result tomorrow.

[all_funkt_up]

A book I highly recommend Kop is "A Season on the Brink" by Guilleme Ballague, he does a guest spot on talk sport occasionally.

It follows Rafa and the back room team in their first season at Anfield. Gives an insight into the relationship between them all and the jobs they do.

Very entertaining....

[all_funkt_up]

I agree that we will struggle tomorrow ODM. I think a low scoring 1-1 or maybe even 1-0 Spurs is on the cards and cue the growing dissent from the hordes of cunts that will no doubt boo the players at half and full time.