Rafa to finally pen 5 year deal next week?

[Barrington Womble]

No mate, not especially, Id marked today 'Bazza arguing free day'. Just making a general comment that while those who have supported and now question make me question Rafas credentials, some of those who seem to have always been critical make me wonder about theres. Just how it is mate, no dig at you.

 

fair enough, but you've been mentioning that "those who've not liked rafa for years" a lot over the last week, which has been since I said I've disliked him since pre-athens.

[WaltonRed]

Catch we aren't Arsenal or Chelsea or Manchester United.

 

WE ARE LIVERPOOL FOOTBALL CLUB.

 

We are THE MOST succesful team in English Football history, we should be fighting tooth and nail to stay that way rather than lying down and making excuses.

 

Did Shanks do it in 59' when teams will have had bigger budgets? No he recognised the challenge and fucking got on with it.

[Whelan]

Sure. But if Rafa said the 2nd time or 3rd time or the 4th time "Listen lads, we are talking. Lawyers are meeting and I hope the contract will be sorted at some point. In the mean time, we have some important games coming on so we will concentrate on that. If something should happen regarding my contract, you will be the first to know. Until then, let us talk only about football (just like 'As always, I prefer to talk about my team and coaching my team' rant)".

 

Instead of that it is like "Let us finish the official press conference first and then let us have a chat over a coffee when I will explain about why Gillett is a cunt". After that, he finishes with his trademark dialogue "I always prefer to worry about the next game" knowing full well that he has loaded the journalists' guns with enough ammunition.

 

 

I agree with the first part, that is exactly what should happen. But the second part is I think a bit unfair, its based on rumours and its accuracy is dependent upon how you feel about Rafa (I think he does breif them though) but nobody will ever know to what extent.

[aws]

 

Well then it simply wasn't the right decision to let him go, was it?

 

Selling him was a massive mistake. Not replacing him was just massive mistake number 2.

 

We won't know if it was a mistake until the end of the season. Not replacing him was a risk but not necessarily a mistake. I've seen nothing to suggest Keane's sale has cost us so far.

[Guest ShoePiss]

I wouldn't just say it was that though as we were top without him and I think that is why United were worried at one point as we had him still to come back from injury while we were clear of them. I think it is not too hard for managers to takes points away from Anfield now by just sticking ten men behind the ball, even with Torres against Stoke, Man city, Fulham , Everton we have struggled against these sides and it is something Rafa needs to sort out but I am not confident he will identify the right player which can help unlock these defences. I hope next year Anfield is a ground where we can feel confident against some of these sides instead of wondering are we going to draw today.

 

So Benitez is incapable of identifying the correct player but you are it seems. Give up your day job.

[Carra_is_legend]

I agree with the first part, that is exactly what should happen. But the second part is I think a bit unfair, its based on rumours and its accuracy is dependent upon how you feel about Rafa (I think he does breif them though) but nobody will ever know to what extent.

 

Even if the 2nd part is completely bollocks, if Rafa had done the 1st part we wouldn't be having back page headlines about his contract before EVERY big game.

[redrosetints]

Not being funny, but I saw Robbie Keane play on of teh best games I've ever seen from a striker lat week. He scored one and made three and was absolutely fucking brilliant.

 

Why?

 

Cos he's an excellent player, and he always has been. Only now he has a manager who knows how to use him and play to his stregnths, that's why.

 

Wed have got no less for Keane in the summer than we did in January. Anyone who says we would is fucking deluded.

If anything we my even have got more as he wouldn't have been cup tied.

 

It should be a sackable offence to considerably weaken your squad in mid-season. you certinly shouldn't be rewarded with a five year fucking deal, not when we could just as easily finish 5th and trophyless as we could finish 2nd and be European Champions this year.

 

So would you have Harry Redknapp as our manager then ? And would Redknapp, get as much from our players as Rafa does?

 

No and no for me.

 

Keane played plenty of times for us and was poor, just the way it is.

[Kevin D]

The correlation works over the season.

 

The Mancs lost twice to Citeh last year but won the League

 

I keep hearing that the 38-game nature of a domestic competition is why people prefer it over a knock-out competition for the whole of Europe.

 

Then they look at a game in isolation!

 

I'm not looking at it in isolation, I'm seeing the pattern here. The current top 5 teams , ourselves aside, are United, Chelsea,Arsenal,Villa and Everton. We've played 7 games against these (Chelsea&Everton twice) and won 14 points.

I've tried to find consecutive teams who we've played the equivalent times and from 16th to 12th the teams are, Stoke,Blackburn,Hull,Sunderland and Spurs. 7 games( Stoke&Sunderland twice) and we've won 12 points. Is it unrealistic to think we should be doing better against this type of opposition? Imo , it has little , if anything, to with wages. Although I do accept the correlation

[hamstrung]

Isn't anyone else bored of having the same arguments over and over?

[Whelan]

Even if the 2nd part is completely bollocks, if Rafa had done the 1st part we wouldn't be having back page headlines about his contract before EVERY big game.

 

Your right, and sadly the only way people will stop talking about off the pitch matters, is if what we do on the pitch matters!

If we do get to a point where we are top and challenging then I think half of this shite would end (although it will end to a certain degree when the contract signs, Gillet fucks off etc)

[The 5th Benitel]

 

We won't know if it was a mistake until the end of the season. Not replacing him was a risk but not necessarily a mistake. I've seen nothing to suggest Keane's sale has cost us so far.

 

How about everytime we've drawn or lost agaisnt a weak team and Babel, N'gog and Kuyt (when he's having one of his stinkers) is on the pitch. No one will ever convince me any of those players are a better option than Keane. Even though he was playing as badly as i've ever seen him you still felt he was more like ly to score or create a goal than any of them.

[Catch22]

Despite Arsenals tail off and I agree it wasn't much of a challenge, I am pretty sure mathmatically they could still win it with 2 games to go in a league that was active till the final game. Rafa hasn't got near that yet, so talking down arsenal as some sort of vindication for our performances under Rafa doesn't really wash with me.

 

We will have finished above them 3 times out of the last 4 at the end of this year.

 

I am not talking them down: They never realistically challenged last year & we never realistically did this year.

 

Both a defensive & an attacking team can't manage it so it's not tactics.

Both a team which spends on fees & 1 that does on wages can't manage it so it's not that.

Both a manager with PL winning experience (3) & a manger with La Liga winning experience (2), when that league was the best in Europe, as we are now, can't manage it.

 

What does that leave?

 

The bloody great big elephant in the room of team budgets which almost totally determines where you finish.

 

We cant win the League with the 4th highest budget with anyone in charge anymore than we could finish 7th even under Tony Adams

[Guest ShoePiss]

So would you have Harry Redknapp as our manager then ? And would Redknapp, get as much from our players as Rafa does?

 

No and no for me.

 

Keane played plenty of times for us and was poor, just the way it is.

 

Completely agree with that, he had the chances but wasn't good enough for us

 

His record was on par with Voronin, we had to sell to get anything like what we paid. Did Rafa decide oh we can do without a player for the rest of the season or was he not given the option of finding a replacement?

[Thants]

Wed have got no less for Keane in the summer than we did in January. Anyone who says we would is fucking deluded.

If anything we my even have got more as he wouldn't have been cup tied.

 

And you think I'm the deluded one? Spurs were desperate, a club on the brink without a striker to save them. Keane was an easy transfer for a price that was almost as inflated as we paid a few months earlier.

[Barrington Womble]

I can't get the guy I used to work with out of my head.

 

Daily Mail fanatic, so not a good start.

 

Golf snob (member of a links course I think, if that's what they're called), hated foreigners (completely), actually waited to pounce any morning we'd lost. If we won he'd spend an hour moaning about a tackle Gerrard (who he also hated) had made 10 minutes in.

 

Some people on the net remind me of him.

 

Maybe he is them.

he sounds a prick anyway. fuck him!

[Whelan]

Isn't anyone else bored of having the same arguments over and over?

 

It is ironic considering a lot of the arguments revolve around whether or not Rafa is predictable!

Yet he isn't anywhere near as predictable is this website!

 

If only we had the money that Red Cafe gets then maybe we could afford to have more experienced posters......

[Guest ShoePiss]

Isn't anyone else bored of having the same arguments over and over?

 

No, I've stayed away from them for the longest time.

[Carra_is_legend]

Your right, and sadly the only way people will stop talking about off the pitch matters, is if what we do on the pitch matters!

If we do get to a point where we are top and challenging then I think half of this shite would end (although it will end to a certain degree when the contract signs, Gillet fucks off etc)

 

We WERE top of the table and challenging a few weeks ago and I remember Rafa's contract dominating the back pages even then.

[Kevin D]

Isn't anyone else bored of having the same arguments over and over?

 

If I could just compare net spend for a minute...

[JMARKH]

So Benitez is incapable of identifying the correct player but you are it seems. Give up your day job.

 

Well he has had 5 years and in that time not one good wide player has been signed.

[Whelan]

We WERE top of the table and challenging a few weeks ago and I remember Rafa's contract dominating the back pages even then.

 

It will though, as did Wengers, as did Lampards last year, Gerrards the last couple of years, Ronaldo's last year it is the way of things sadly, stick agents in the mix as well!!!!

As I say as he hasn't signed it will be news!

[Guest ShoePiss]

We WERE top of the table and challenging a few weeks ago and I remember Rafa's contract dominating the back pages even then.

 

The owners really have done a great job at turning the tables, I didn't think they were capable as their PR had been pathetically transparent but they have a little victory here.

 

Should Rafa have just signed a contract he wasn't prepared to work with? What if his only leverage is admitting he hasn't signed yet and there are still a few things that need to be resolved? Isn't that all he has said all along?

[Guest ShoePiss]

Well he has had 5 years and in that time not one good wide player has been signed.

 

I think Reira is good, we have had 1 or 2 other areas on the pitch to improve in also where he's done rather well.

[The 5th Benitel]

We will have finished above them 3 times out of the last 4 at the end of this year.

 

I am not talking them down: They never realistically challenged last year & we never realistically did this year.

 

Both a defensive & an attacking team can't manage it so it's not tactics.

Both a team which spends on fees & 1 that does on wages can't manage it so it's not that.

Both a manager with PL winning experience (3) & a manger with La Liga winning experience (2), when that league was the best in Europe, as we are now, can't manage it.

 

What does that leave?

 

The bloody great big elephant in the room of team budgets which almost totally determines where you finish.

 

We cant win the League with the 4th highest budget with anyone in charge anymore than we could finish 7th even under Tony Adams

 

 

What about Spurs then? Why are Everton constantly above them? How can Ipswich finsh 5th one year and get relegated the next?

 

Arsenal won the league with the most attacking team i've ever seen and they're way behind the mancs financially. If everything was so predicatbly down to money we'd always finish 12 points of the top having been beaten by the mancs and Chelsea each year.

 

The main reason we're not up there is cos we've carried on making the same mistakes resulting in us drawing against weak teams at home. I'm not saying we'd be above the mancs but we'd be close. This year more than any recently has had little to do with money.

 

I'm not saying it's not a disadvantage cos it clearly is but people are using it to hide significant failings on Benitez's behalf. If it makes that much difference why did he choose to spend more of what little moneyhe had on defensove midfielders than forwards? Anyone who has watched us will tell you our lack of attacking endevour has cost us this season.

[Carra_is_legend]

There is nothing I can say if people are happy to read about Rafa's contract situation before every big game we play.

 

Agree with Hamstrung, it is getting a bit boring now.