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A thread about a man named Xabi


dave u
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What to do?  

239 members have voted

  1. 1. What to do?

    • Buy Dave House, Gerrard centre mid, go 442.
    • Buy Augero, Gerrard centre mid, stay 4231.
    • Gerrard in the hole, buy centre mid, stay 4231
    • Don’t care, kill Rafa, burn down RBS


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I doubt very much anyone one here would be buying a Real Madrid top with Xabi's name on it next season, or any season come to think of it..

 

Not so sure myself, but I was being sarcastic anyhow and a little bit unfair as well.

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No he's not, he's second choice in the 'we need another Spaniard' race with David Villa.

 

this is true. Xabi needs to look at it that way too. Hes onyl wanted cos they cant get Villa. Also they were quick to splash obscene amounts on Kaka and CRonaldo, but not it seems for Xabi. He wants to tell them to fuck off, they obviously dont want him that much.

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Do you enjoy football? Do you enjoy watching us? Do you sing Rafa's name at the game? You sound like you are teetering on the edge! We have the best front two in the world, lets enjoy it and revel in the race for number 19!

 

Why not try and answer the questions?

 

And then try to convince me why I should reach the same conclusion as your good self.

 

I dont think we have the best front two in the world either by the way, not as a combination and not as individuals in their specific roles.

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Why not try and answer the questions?

 

And then try to convince me why I should reach the same conclusion as your good self.

 

I dont think we have the best front two in the world either by the way, not as a combination and not as individuals in their specific roles.

 

It's not a test, i am genuinely asking as you seem to treat the game like a university course.

Okay we have two of the best but i am sure if they played for someone else you would say they were the best.

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Its really not at this stage.

 

One year we take a lot of points against the teams outside the top 4 then the next this is where we drop points, then one season we are superb away only for the nex to drop loads of points away.

 

We see improvement in bits and pieces only to go reverse again and then improve in another area the next season.

 

Where can we say its a fact that we have improved year by year?

 

Is it at home?

 

Is it away?

 

Is against the top 4 clubs?

 

Is it against the dross?

 

Is it our point total?

 

Is it in the Cups?

 

Is it in the league?

 

Do we concede less goals?

 

Do we score more goals?

 

Do we concede less from set pieces?

 

Do we score more from set pieces?

 

Do we see more youngsters coming through?

 

Do we see less youngsters coming through?

 

If I should take a punt myself I would say our goalscoring record in the league is where we can say we have steady and gradually improved, for the rest there are no consistency and its really all over the place.

 

It will be really interesting to see next season if/where/ what we will improve and where we will regress again.

 

I`ll stick my neck on the line and say trust me, that is exactly what will happen going by earlier experiances.

 

Bobbins.

 

You remember that season where Kewell signed and GH tried to make us more expansive and attacking. It worked for a bit, but in the end he reverted to type. There's always going to be setbacks and adaptations in a building process, and you often have to ride out the troubles, but that seems to be too much of an abstract concept for you.

 

I watched the Gary Mac derby the other night as it was on ESPN - do you remember the football we played back then? It was shambolic. We're now a match for any team in the league and europe. Will we get 14 points against the other top 3? Probably not. Will we drop so many points against smaller teams at Anfield? Probably not. Does that mean we definitely won't have improved? Of course not, but by your measure it will. Bobbins.

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It's not a test, i am genuinely asking as you seem to treat the game like a university course.

Okay we have two of the best but i am sure if they played for someone else you would say they were the best.

 

Not sure about that.

 

I always enjoy watching us though to answer your other question.

 

But when people start to talk about mangerial achievments and how we have progressed its time to start asking questions so we can put things into context and see the bigger picture while analysing specific details.

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Does Rafa get any credit for getting us to these finals in the first place, Code, or is that a fluke as well?

 

Next you'll be talking about ghost goals and beating Chelsea on penalties. Oh look, we beat them fair and square 2-0 in an FA Cup semi final, it must be heart breaking for you.

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I dont think we have the best front two in the world either by the way, not as a combination and not as individuals in their specific roles.

 

And what stats did you use to come to this conclusion?

 

Do the goals they scored after the 90th minute count? What about penalties?

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Why not try and answer the questions?

 

And then try to convince me why I should reach the same conclusion as your good self.

 

I dont think we have the best front two in the world either by the way, not as a combination and not as individuals in their specific roles.

 

Gerrard and Torres are 2 world class players and therefore can play with anyone (pretty much)

 

however i would much rather we tried to get Villa and pair him with Torres and then have to decide where best to play Gerrard (behind them both imo) than to have to rely on Gerrard and Torres as our front 2 again next season

 

we need more quality in attack - hopedfully the signing of Silva will help (if we can pull it off) otherwise we still haven't addressed the key problem area that cost us dearly last season - which is v.worrying

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Hardly any top sides use two out and out strikers these days, which is what Torres and Villa are, even though the latter plays a bit deeper for Spain. Most, if not all, prefer a third attacking midfielder in the hole as they like to call it.

 

The notion that we shouldn't have to rely on one of the best and most instinctive forward pairings of modern times is seriously laughable and why this thread is the greatest in the history of the universe.

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I would say Real have one week to get this done because there is no chance we would agree to sell much later in the window when there's no one else left in the market so despite all the bollocks in the press if it's not done by July 7th it won't be done at all and Xabi will be a Liverpool player for another year at least

 

Real have got to put their money where their mouth is now and stop playing games or look for someone else.

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Hardly any top sides use two out and out strikers these days, which is what Torres and Villa are, even though the latter plays a bit deeper for Spain. Most, if not all, prefer a third attacking midfielder in the hole as they like to call it.

 

The notion that we shouldn't have to rely on one of the best and most instinctive forward pairings of modern times is seriously laughable and why this thread is the greatest in the history of the universe.

 

o.k

 

but Torres and the 3 behind him should really be counted as a fluid 'unit' and so far we only have half of the 'unit' that is of the required quality imo

 

cue the Kuyt lovers (6th top scorer and 6th most assister) in 3....2.....

 

we need Silva and ideally another attacker if i was being 100% critical - but we can probably 'get by' with just Silva and 'make do' with the current back up strikers

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Sweet popcorn is probably best cold. Salty is only good hot.

 

Yeah, but you're southern, so you don't count.

 

He'll also be pissed off when he realises his beer is in the cupboard .....

 

Ah, that makes sense.

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Does Rafa get any credit for getting us to these finals in the first place, Code, or is that a fluke as well?

 

Next you'll be talking about ghost goals and beating Chelsea on penalties. Oh look, we beat them fair and square 2-0 in an FA Cup semi final, it must be heart breaking for you.

 

Rafa gets lot of credit from me for getting us to the finals, he does not get much credit for some of our apperances in a few of them though and his team selctions in other of them but thats not really the point either.

 

I`m not the one making out Rafa is the only manager who can deliever us the league either, I actually think we easily could have won the league with another manager than Rafa, someone with better balance between his attacking and defensive strategy, someone who did not spend so much money on useless players which he bought one season only to sell them the next and even halfway through the season just to start all over again the next.

 

But I think its a simple straight forward question, in what area(s) have we really improved consistently during Rafa`s time here.

 

I struggle to see a pattern and those patterns I see are not exactly all positive.

 

Please feel free to try and ridicule me instead of debating the points raised and please feel free to point me in the direction of all these consistent positive signs of improvement as well.

 

I think we could have won the league this season with another manager, but thats for another thread, I`ll sit back and watch how we start our season and if we are back to our cautious approach I think that will be it for me when Rafa is concerned.

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I would say Real have one week to get this done because there is no chance we would agree to sell much later in the window when there's no one else left in the market so despite all the bollocks in the press if it's not done by July 7th it won't be done at all and Xabi will be a Liverpool player for another year at least

 

Real have got to put their money where their mouth is now and stop playing games or look for someone else.

 

At least we can hope so, an experiance only 6 months old and the pattern from other transfer windows does not fill me with great belief though.

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But I think its a simple straight forward question, in what area(s) have we really improved consistently during Rafa`s time here.

 

 

So then rain man, I assume in your 'analysis' that you've looked at the other teams as well to see whether the fluctuation in performances was unique to us or was the same for other teams?

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Rafa knows how to deal with Real Madrid. He has many inside sources there. He knows their strengths and weaknesses. He will know who they are scouting instead of Alonso. He has taken them on and beaten them in the Liga and in the CL. Nor does he want to do their Director of Football any favours.

 

Wisely he signed Alonso in the first place and then re-signed him to a long contract and as a result is now in a position of strength to keep him or sell him for a good price. He has clearly said that he does not want to sell Alonso and reminded everyone that Alonso has said he is happy at LFC and looking forward to his sixth season.

 

Giving Rafa's professionalism he will also have a plan "B" in the works, a replacement worked out and a price he would be willing to pay. IMO opinion its not up to Alonso. Rafa will not change his stance just because Alonso wants to go (he clearly does). He will change his stance only if it is in the best interest of LFC. That boils down to enough cash up front and enough time to put Plan B into operation.

 

One more time for all those who are still flogging the dead horse of Rafa not being nice to the players. Virtually every player in the current and past squads have said Rafa is one of the best, if not the best manager they have played for, and all the players trust him. Even Alonso has said he has the same professional relationship with him as Rafa has with the other players.

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