Torres injuries cost us

[Ponz]

Excuses Excuses Rafa, over £100m spent since Athens and when 1 player is injured its costing us the title push, funny how when he was missing for games the other £20m striker you bought was still left on the bench, then sell the sais striker and dont replace him getting ridiculos this is now.

 

I hate when people do that. Many legitimate criticisms can be levelled at Rafa's transfer record but citing a meaningless gross spending figure is just intellectually dishonest.

[Brownie]

Rafa spent approx £85m since Athens and recouped appro £60m,funny how stats can be misleading isn't it.

 

 

Btw Keane was fucking Shite for us.

 

Who bought Keane?

[sir roger]

Just in passing can we also nail this often airily mentioned 'truism' that if Rafa had been less cautious at home we would be home and hosed by now.

 

If the all new ' Rogueish Rafa' had pushed us to wins over all of Stoke , West Ham , Fulham , Hull & Man City , we would be level with Utd , and trying to overcome their extra experience & better squad and facing a trip to Old Trafford.

 

Unpalatable as it is , they have been brilliant since returning from Japan & everybody has been left in their wake.

 

Our home record is much the same as Chelsea & Arsenal & better than Villa.

 

Utd have just been too good for the rest of us.

[Dicko]

Deleted.

Because I'm not debating anything in a thread so spurious as to be utterly pointless unless you really hate the incumbent manager.

[1892-LFCWasBorn]

anything to have a dig at the boss, so tedious.

 

Nice to see fans giving up too even though we can still win the double.

 

Pathetic.

 

[AmerScouse]

i'm curious about something with regards to rotation. i'm sure someone will post the stats and possibly prove me wrong, but i'm gathering we've actually rotated much much less this season. i think injuries have forced rotation more than actual rotation for the sake of it.

 

i think this LACK of rotation, coupled with an arduous summer for some of our players, has caused quite a bit of our injury problems.

 

i truly believe that rafa purposely decided to rotate less at the beginning of the season and that the fatigue is actually catching up to players. i also think our squad appears thinner than in years past and that has also been a contributing factor to our lessening rotation.

 

none of the above is written as fact, as i said i'm sure someone could show stats saying we've rotated as much or more than previous seasons. just a thought.

[King Gheedorah]

When we decided to not get a replacement for Keane was when we well and truly surrendered.

At least there's some money to spend this summer.

[Benitaur]

Keane hasn't really been pulling up trees at Spurs. Lots of huff and puff, no end result. Familiar really. Perhaps it was Berbatov who made him look better than he actually was.

 

As for no replacement... who knows? Perhaps Saviola was available, but I can't think of anyone else good who would be for a decent price.

 

Another rumour I heard is that we couldn't afford Keane, so selling him back at a loss was necessary to balance the books. If this is true, it explains why there is no replacement. No money.

[Guest Ulysses Everett McGill]

This thread is pathetic

 

Absolutely pathetic

[cmuller]

 

Getting very close - he's alot more likeable and not as patronising as GH. But there's so many similarities now to the last two years of Gerard.

 

Think most are quick to spot when a manager appears to have taken us as far as he can in terms of producing a title win. The tail chasing began in the run of games against Hull, Fulham, Spurs etc.

 

How can someone who puts so much emphasis on squads come out with that?

[cmuller]

Just in passing can we also nail this often airily mentioned 'truism' that if Rafa had been less cautious at home we would be home and hosed by now.

 

If the all new ' Rogueish Rafa' had pushed us to wins over all of Stoke , West Ham , Fulham , Hull & Man City , we would be level with Utd , and trying to overcome their extra experience & better squad and facing a trip to Old Trafford.

 

Unpalatable as it is , they have been brilliant since returning from Japan & everybody has been left in their wake.

 

Our home record is much the same as Chelsea & Arsenal & better than Villa.

 

Utd have just been too good for the rest of us.

 

That's one way of looking at it...another is to say we should, had we gone for the throat a bit more at home, be at least level with them now. With us all looking forward to going to their place and widening the gap further still.

 

You're version is so defeatist, 'facing up to visit', 'brilliant since returning', 'Utd just too good'. Comparing us to Villa for God's sake.

 

Their results have been very good recently but imagine if they had us breathing down their necks? a couple of those 1-0's might well have ended up draws with a bit of pressure put on them.

 

But instead they've seen us regularly slip up - reinforcing instead of eating away at their confidence.

[Little Sammy]

Oh do fuck off Rafa. What about the striker you happened to have sold after buying him for 20 million? Or what if you had invested that 20 million more wisely or even paid an extra 10 million and sold dross like Pennant and Kuyt and bought Villa instead?!

 

There's absolutely no excuse for our failures in the league. Man Utd, Arsenal and Chelsea have been hit by more injuries than we have. The difference between us and the Mancs is that they have Ronaldo, Rooney, Tevez, Berbatov, Nani, Andersen, Giggs, Scholes and more and we have Torries, Riera and fucking N'Gog.... N'GOG!!!!!!

[hamstrung]

Exactly. The question was asked,

 

"Do you look back on the season and think had Torres been fit all season scoring the goals that would have been much better for you?"

 

Rafas' reply

 

"Could be but we cannot change things."

 

BBC SPORT | Football | Positive Benitez sticks to his guns

 

Fuck me, what a cunt, dodgy Houllier comparison etc.

[dirty_sanchez]

It's true though isn't it? We were all saying it a few weeks back. I think we'd we well clear at the top now if we'd had Torres all season.

 

Also, while we're on the subject of striker injuries, I think Nemeth would have stepped up and done well if he'd been fit.

 

We were top until Torres came back from his injury.

[Thants]

It's true though isn't it? We were all saying it a few weeks back. I think we'd we well clear at the top now if we'd had Torres all season.

Also, while we're on the subject of striker injuries, I think Nemeth would have stepped up and done well if he'd been fit.

 

Well yes but that's not the point is it . . . . apparently.

[Dicko]

Oh do fuck off Rafa. What about the striker you happened to have sold after buying him for 20 million? Or what if you had invested that 20 million more wisely or even paid an extra 10 million and sold dross like Pennant and Kuyt and bought Villa instead?!

 

There's absolutely no excuse for our failures in the league. Man Utd, Arsenal and Chelsea have been hit by more injuries than we have. The difference between us and the Mancs is that they have Ronaldo, Rooney, Tevez, Berbatov, Nani, Andersen, Giggs, Scholes and more and we have Torries, Riera and fucking N'Gog.... N'GOG!!!!!!

 

And so it goes on.

[JohnnyH]

Oh do fuck off Rafa. What about the striker you happened to have sold after buying him for 20 million? Or what if you had invested that 20 million more wisely or even paid an extra 10 million and sold dross like Pennant and Kuyt and bought Villa instead?!

 

There's absolutely no excuse for our failures in the league. Man Utd, Arsenal and Chelsea have been hit by more injuries than we have. The difference between us and the Mancs is that they have Ronaldo, Rooney, Tevez, Berbatov, Nani, Andersen, Giggs, Scholes and more and we have Torries, Riera and fucking N'Gog.... N'GOG!!!!!!

 

I bet at a "pin the tail on the donkey" comp at birthday parties you ended up stabbing yourself in the face.

 

Could we have afforded Ronaldo? or Rooney? or Tevez? or Berbatov? or Andersen(who at £18m has failed) or Nani (who at £17m has failed). For Giggs and Scholes, see Gerrard and Carra. You missed the point so badly it's laughable.

[Xherdan]

I feel numb. All these rumours, conjecture, the shit happening behind the scenes, the stadium debacle, Pro rafa brigade, anti rafa brigade, gerrard v rafa. A fucking media blackout would be perfect, even though it reduce many on here to tears. Every fucking day there is some other shit, whether its peddled by cunts like Lawro, or manipulated by the beeb, it all still serves to destablise the team.

 

For me, last week's game against Madrid was overshadowed by a shit fucking rumour that Rafa was going to walk after the game. Lawrenson is a fucking cunt for peddling that shit on the eve of a big CL game. Former red, but an utter cunt. He can fucking do one, and bring his shit fucking mustache with him.

 

Today, we have a league game that many, including myself feel nervous about. The atmosphere in Anfield tonight will be very unusual, especially if we go a goal down. Of course, we cant have any sort of game without another stupid fucking rumour, no matter how true it might be.

 

I honestly think Rafa should cancel all fucking press conferences and players should be banned from speaking to the press until the end of the season. Fuck all the cunts, they wont have anything to manipulate then and at least we can all know that the opinions posted are all exactly that.

[The Thong]

Tacit admission that he got this policy wrong. My issue was not so much with selling Keane but rather, not replacing him.

 

Not replacing Keane is the management failure. You can see the logic of selling him but not to replace him? Most if not all on here argued that whilst selling Keane was defensible, not replacing him with a credible alternative was not good management.

 

Yes everyside has injuries but from a management perspective, NONE of the top four materially weakened their sides in Jan. Rafa must be criticised for this - NOT the act of selling but rather, the lack of replacement. If a credible alternative is not found, then you don't sell Keane. Simple as. It is too much of a risk factor as you leave the squad exposed to unknowns.

 

Apart from that, we have to look forward and deal with the temporary loss. Up to the bench to stand-up and be counted.

[Dicko]

I honestly think Rafa should cancel all fucking press conferences and players should be banned from speaking to the press until the end of the season. Fuck all the cunts, they wont have anything to manipulate then and at least we can all know that the opinions posted are all exactly that.

Excellent post. And judging by some of the reactions on this thread completely spot on.

 

 

[YOUTUBE]EqPAuotjkM4[/YOUTUBE]

[Durango]

Who bought Keane?

Benitez did,who else?

[OmarVizquel]

Looks like Torres is out for Anfield Real Madrid leg. What the f*** is wrong with his ankle exactly? Twisted? Sprained? Bruised? Broken? Breathed upon?

 

I'd rather have a 20% Torres than a 150% Babel. Sick of injuries and "tired" players. Maybe this is a women's sport after all.

 

Still love him, though. This is frustrating.

[23_Carra_Gold]

Excuses are made by those who fail. Those who succeed suffer the same adversities but through determination and skill they achieve their goals.

 

All I've heard from Rafa for the last 2 years is excuses and more excuses.

[hamstrung]

Excuses are made by those who fail. Those who succeed suffer the same adversities but through determination and skill they achieve their goals.

 

 

You've got a motivational poster in work with that on, haven't you?

[Dicko]

Excuses are made by those who fail. Those who succeed suffer the same adversities but through determination and skill they achieve their goals.

 

All I've heard from Rafa for the last 2 years is excuses and more excuses.

 

But not in this particular case.