Rafa's win ratio in his first 150 league games...

[Kopite]

If we win tomorrow will be second to the King's.

Kenny Dalglish P 150 W 87 % 58

Rafa Benitez P 149 W 81 % 54

Gerard Houllier P 150 W 81 % 54

Bob Paisley P 150 W 79 % 53

Bill Shankly P 150 W 77 % 51

Benitez given go-ahead to spend at Liverpool - Football News - Telegraph

[bobhorse]

That is amazing when you think that he needed only to win 5 of the draws we had this season to equal Dalglish

That with a team considered by most to be the 4th best in the Prem
and yet under Kenny we where top dog and yet when Kenny took over we where the best in Europe and when Rafa took over we where lucky to make Europe

puts it into perspective

[philyburkhill]

If he had won 7 more games, we'd be winning the league.

Probably.

[surikell]

Despite some negative thinking at some quarters, I don't believe we are THAT far from reaching the league title. It wasn't an overnight job. It takes time and I believe we're going in the right direction..

GO RAFA!

[King Emlyn]

Stats can be made to say whatever you want them to, Houllier is ahead of Paisley for instance.

[Nunavut Patrick]

Originally Posted by King Emlyn

Stats can be made to say whatever you want them to, Houllier is ahead of Paisley for instance.

Lies, damned lies and statistics.

Shankly never won the European cup but we all know there'd be no European cups without him.


The top 4 have all lost 3-4 games. The difference is in the draws. We need to turn 5-6 draws to wins.

[Ian Sea]

Originally Posted by Nunavut Patrick

Lies, damned lies and statistics.

Shankly never won the European cup but we all know there'd be no European cups without him.


The top 4 have all lost 3-4 games. The difference is in the draws. We need to turn 5-6 draws to wins.

My thoughts exactly.

I've been encouraged by a few things that Rafa has done in the latter part of the season and am confident that we will improve again next season. Hopefully we will improve enough to be able to turn those 5 or 6 draws into wins.

[Nunavut Patrick]

Originally Posted by Ian Sea

My thoughts exactly.

I've been encouraged by a few things that Rafa has done in the latter part of the season and am confident that we will improve again next season. Hopefully we will improve enough to be able to turn those 5 or 6 draws into wins.

That's the thing- i was trawling through all the European tables and many times the difference is the draws vs wins ratio (more stats).

Some of our draws we've just not got the second goal (ie-Wigan at home), some are totally acceptable like Chelsea away and Arsenal away (under mitigating circumstances). Chelsea home should have been a win, but then Torres saved us a point vs Spurs and so on it goes.

These days you'll not win the League with 10 draws.

I also think that the PL is going to be weaker next season with the likes of potentially Stoke, Bristol City and Hull City coming up and I don't see the two who survive the scrap at the bottom (Fulham are going down) improving much. Can't afford to drop points to the bottom 6.

[aws]

Originally Posted by Nunavut Patrick

That's the thing- i was trawling through all the European tables and many times the difference is the draws vs wins ratio (more stats).

Some of our draws we've just not got the second goal (ie-Wigan at home), some are totally acceptable like Chelsea away and Arsenal away (under mitigating circumstances). Chelsea home should have been a win, but then Torres saved us a point vs Spurs and so on it goes.

These days you'll not win the League with 10 draws.

I also think that the PL is going to be weaker next season with the likes of potentially Stoke, Bristol City and Hull City coming up and I don't see the two who survive the scrap at the bottom (Fulham are going down) improving much. Can't afford to drop points to the bottom 6.

My gut feeling is that it's our weakness at scoring from set-pieces which costs us the wins. How many times a season do you see the Mancs and chelsea play poorly and still grind out a win - more often than not from a set-piece. How many times this season have we nicked a win when we're having a bad day?

Thet say Villa score the biggest proportion of their goals from set-pieces so presumably some statto keeps a record of this stuff. I bet we're relegation material in that league.

[Strontium Dog]

We may be winning more games, but so is every one of our contenders. It's not like the old days where you could lose 7 games a season and still piss the league by 10 points.

[dave u]

Originally Posted by Strontium Dog

We may be winning more games, but so is every one of our contenders. It's not like the old days where you could lose 7 games a season and still piss the league by 10 points.

I've written something along those lines in the new issue. The biggest difference between now and when we were winning everything, is the standard of what we are up against.

[Carra_is_legend]

Originally Posted by Strontium Dog

We may be winning more games, but so is every one of our contenders. It's not like the old days where you could lose 7 games a season and still piss the league by 10 points.

Spot on. That combined with the fear factor of the lower teams when they play one of the big boys.

How many times have we heard managers say getting 1 point at Old Trafford is like a win. Utd win half the games even before they are kicked off.

Compare this with the Spanish league - Real Madrid have lost 7 games this season and they are 10 points clear at the top.

[kop]

Originally Posted by aws

My gut feeling is that it's our weakness at scoring from set-pieces which costs us the wins. How many times a season do you see the Mancs and chelsea play poorly and still grind out a win - more often than not from a set-piece. How many times this season have we nicked a win when we're having a bad day?

Thet say Villa score the biggest proportion of their goals from set-pieces so presumably some statto keeps a record of this stuff. I bet we're relegation material in that league.

I have mentioned this earlier aswell. When people are complaining about the amount of goals we let in from set pieces (which is very few compared to other teams) they don't address the real challenge we have, which is lack of goals for.

I don't know what the reasons are either. Do we not practice enough on offensive set piece? Do we not have enough headers/finishers in the starting 11? Are our set piece takers not good enough to either serve a good ball or knock it directly in the net? My guess is a combination of the 3 suggestions I made, even though I seriously doubt it that Rafa actually don't focus enough on an issue like this, so maybe the practice bit isn't the problem.

[Carra_is_legend]

Originally Posted by kop

I have mentioned this earlier aswell. When people are complaining about the amount of goals we let in from set pieces (which is very few compared to other teams) they don't address the real challenge we have, which is lack of goals for.

I don't know what the reasons are either. Do we not practice enough on offensive set piece? Do we not have enough headers/finishers in the starting 11? Are our set piece takers not good enough to either serve a good ball or knock it directly in the net? My guess is a combination of the 3 suggestions I made, even though I seriously doubt it that Rafa actually don't focus enough on an issue like this, so maybe the practice bit isn't the problem.

We don't get enough bodies in the box and don't attack the ball enough. Gerrard should stop taking them for a start - not that he is bad at it but I would rather he was at the end of those corners and freekicks.

[BROCK]

I think if the thread was titled "Rafa has the same record as Houllier after 150games" it wouldn't look so impressive

[bobhorse]

Originally Posted by dave u

I've written something along those lines in the new issue. The biggest difference between now and when we were winning everything, is the standard of what we are up against.

how does the Prem look under the old 2 point system then ? any one done anything with that ?

[bobhorse]

I think Ged's 150 would have been the season we did the treble ?

If so i think we all thought at that point this was going to be it


And then they came the French pile of Dog Shite we spunked the crown jewles on