Down but not beaten

[Joe Le Taxi]

The future looks bleak for the club. Out of the Champions League, League Cup and a title challenge which is in tatters. The first time in seven years that the club has failed to reach the last 16. So what has caused this huge decline?

 

First of all, lets look at last season:

 

Second place finish with 86 points, scoring 87 goals and letting in 27, with a goal difference of +50. The future looked bright and it seemed Rafa could be the man to guide the title to Liverpool. The owners of the club said they would give Rafa Benitez the funds to take the final step and win the league. The owners' end-of-season propaganda looked to try and get back in the good books of some Liverpool supporters, especially getting the backing of SoS. New sponsorship deals were announced which would generate even more money for the club as well as key players signing new deals and Rafa having full control of the academy. Then, reports of the clubs' finances were leaked which shown that the debt the club had was unsustainable and that the club needed to raise cash to stay afloat. Rafa's transfer plans were cut and he was told that he needed to reduce the wage bill.

 

Real Madrid came in with huge cash and tried to bully Liverpool and, in some people's eyes, they did bully Liverpool into selling Xabi Alonso and Alvaro Arbeloa. Xabi Alonso had agreed with Rafa that he was to go and Arbeloa had one year left on his contract. Rafa's hand was forced. Furthermore, he did not get all the funds from the sales he made. If you look at a net spend, Rafa has spent less than £3 million in the last two seasons. Is this what you would expect from title challengers? Rafa signed Aquilani on a 5 year deal (contrary to popular belief it was actually a 5 month deal) and Glen Johnson. As well as bringing in young defender Chris Mavinga who looks like one for the future. Johnson looked like a brilliant buy for the £17 million Liverpool spent on him. Portsmouth also owed Liverpool money from the Crouch transfer the season before which made the deal look even better.

 

Now then, onto this season, the team itself seemed weaker than before, and the season had not yet started. Matters out of the managers hands had depleted the squad and it was up to Rafa to pick up the pieces. On the opening day of the season, it was evident that things were not right. Further leaks of the clubs finances shown Rafa had to work on a shoestring budget and the owners had made fools of themselves once more looking for buyers, yet nothing had transpired. Gillett has sold one of his assets to fund his side of the debt while Hicks (to this day) struggled to raise cash and according to a few reports, he has missed one payment.

 

Back onto matters on the pitch, Rafa struggled to raise his teams morale and the club was on a downward spiral. Reports that star players such as Mascherano and Reina were unsettled further damaged the club. Some fans turned against Rafa but the majority of fans inside Anfield seemed to back Rafa. Despite the failings of the club on the pitch, the supporters inside Anfield tried to spur the club on, beating Man Utd 2-0 at home. But was this a turning point or papering over the cracks? Further results seemed to show that this was papering over the cracks and something needed to be done. The owners promised to not sack Rafa and the owners stated they were willing to back the manager with money in January.

 

Meanwhile, several members of the SoS group met Gillett and he granted an interview with one member of the group. In this interview Gillett seemed to place the majority of the blame on Hicks and backtracked on things he had said previously. One obvious thing emerged from the meeting, Gillett would never accept responsibility for his actions.

 

“Now if it’s not getting better, it’s not Gillett and Hicks, it’s the manager, it’s the scouting. You have to make sure you balance out your analysis. There was plenty of money, so if you have any complaints, take a look at the ins and outs.”

 

This was taken from Gillett's meeting with SoS. In this alone, he shows blatant disrespect to Rafa and it seemed he had dug himself into a huge hole with his comments. Both Gillett and Hicks have had an awful relationship with Benitez since their arrival, and the relationship has had a number of low points, but this was the lowest point by far.

 

Back on the pitch, all the matters on it lead to the owners' troubles off it. Now as a manager, Rafa is not perfect and he does have to take some of the blame but after being promised so much and given so little, you have to wonder how easy a ride Rafa has had.

 

No matter what does happen though, the club will survive this rough patch and will come out of this stronger. But it cannot be done alone. Rafa needs the support of the players, the board and more importantly, the fans.

 

Rafa can change the club, but he needs the support of all Liverpool fans to do this.

[Joe Le Taxi]

Meant to say 60 not 50!

[Red Rich]

Excellent post!

 

Pretty much sums up the argument I was having with a lad on the plane coming back last night!

 

I find it so hard to understand some people. As the game started a lad next to me was singing Rafa's name. We won the game (which was all that we could do) and because things didn't go our way in Florence, the same fella was calling for his head at the end of the game...Unbelievable!!!

 

Yes he has bought some average players, has made some strange decision, and I agree we can't live of Istanbul forever BUT the lack of funds over the summer combined with the huge injury list his hands are well and truly tied!

 

The big question is surely if Rafa was to go, who on earth would want to come here with no money to spend??? A third rate manager like Fat Sam would be the best we could hope for - NO THANKS!

 

If you take a step back, Rafa IS still the best option in the situation we find ourselves in. If we had a fit squad, realistically we are only one player short of where we finished last season (when if we had had a bit more luck we WOULD have won the league!).

 

I am not blind and I am not a obsessed with Rafa - Liverpool Football Club has been and always will be bigger than any one individual, but people have to be realistic about the situation we find ourselves in and so far, I have not heard one single suggestion of a better alternative!

[aws]

Good post. Wrong forum.

[Joe Le Taxi]

Good post. Wrong forum.

 

It seems you were right! Too much negativity on here.

[Little Sammy]

We won the game (which was all that we could do) and because things didn't go our way in Florence, the same fella was calling for his head at the end of the game...Unbelievable!!!

 

Yeah, really unbelievable that we couldn't even qualify from a group with such European heavyweights such as Lyon and Fiorentina. God knows how many European Cups they've won between them. But hey, at least we held on for a scrappy win against a team which is lying sixth in the ultra-fierce Hungarian League!

[AngryOfTuebrook]

It seems you were right! Too much negativity on here.

Booooo! You're a cunt. You're probably in the pay of that negative bastard Rafa Bore-nitez. How can you use facts to try to back up your views, you cock? The manager is shit. The players are shit. We're going down this season, unless we sack Rafa now and bring in Martin O'Neill......

 

 

 

(etc.)

 

 

 

PS

Lucas is a cunt.

[The Chef]

Booooo! You're a cunt. You're probably in the pay of that negative bastard Rafa Bore-nitez. How can you use facts to try to back up your views, you cock? The manager is shit. The players are shit. We're going down this season, unless we sack Rafa now and bring in Martin O'Neill......

 

(etc.)

 

PS

Lucas is a cunt.

 

So ......let me get this right

 

Backing up your views with facts is not right...

 

Why?

 

And Lucas is a cunt.....!

 

Why?

[King Emlyn]

Booooo! You're a cunt. You're probably in the pay of that negative bastard Rafa Bore-nitez. How can you use facts to try to back up your views, you cock? The manager is shit. The players are shit. We're going down this season, unless we sack Rafa now and bring in Martin O'Neill......

 

 

 

(etc.)

 

 

 

PS

Lucas is a cunt.

I don't think Lucas is a cunt, he comes across to me as a tryer. He is incredibly shite though.

[Red Phoenix]

We're going down this season, unless we sack Rafa now and bring in Martin O'Neill......

 

Reminds me I had a dream about a week ago that he was manager. I think he had long hair in my dream too, or maybe my mind is just fucking with me for a change.

[Kitchentable]

Reminds me I had a dream about a week ago that he was manager. I think he had long hair in my dream too, or maybe my mind is just fucking with me for a change.

 

Sounds more like Ryan O'neal.

 

He was in a film called Irreconcilable Differences oddly enough.

[Guest the boy]

We're going down this season, unless we sack Rafa now and bring in Martin O'Neill

 

Martin Jol or Steve Bruce, I've heard.

[Guest juanmanual]

Fuck of Lewis you boring cunt.

[Joe Le Taxi]

Who the fuck are you?

[RobbieOR]

Who the fuck are you?

 

Don't mind him. He called me a plastic paddy before even though Im Irish born and bred.

[Joe Le Taxi]

Bump in light of todays result.

[Skidfingers McGonical]

It's a good post Lew and a very positive one, but as one of his most ardent supporters I'm close to breaking. But it's not all down to him, our captain, vice captain and senior players need to take a long hard look at themselves and question the reason they have been so fucking poor this season. I'm so angry with everybody at the club today, and I have not been this angry since Souness was manager.

[Little Sammy]

It's a good post Lew and a very positive one, but as one of his most ardent supporters I'm close to breaking. But it's not all down to him, our captain, vice captain and senior players need to take a long hard look at themselves and question the reason they have been so fucking poor this season. I'm so angry with everybody at the club today, and I have not been this angry since Souness was manager.

 

The buck stops at the manager. Full stop.

[RobbieOR]

Rafa cant change it. I would love him to but he wont. He wanted control of the club and got it and now he has fucked us up.

[Guest Pistonbroke]

I'm sure if some of our fans caught Rafa shagging their missus they'd tell her to moan more and get him a beer.

[alexjames]

We're down and beaten. For a while at least.

We better prepare ourselves for fighting with the likes of Fulham and Birmingham over the 6th and 7th spot. Realistically.

 

It's at times like these we really should show our support for the club.

[Joe Le Taxi]

People slate Rafa for anything they can. Take todays press conference for example.

 

I thought it was brilliant. He cannot slate the ref because he would get in trouble. Yet, in that interview, you can tell he is slating the ref but keeping within the laws.

 

Damned if he does and damned if he doesn't.

[Brownie]

People slate Rafa for anything they can. Take todays press conference for example.

 

I thought it was brilliant. He cannot slate the ref because he would get in trouble. Yet, in that interview, you can tell he is slating the ref but keeping within the laws.

 

Damned if he does and damned if he doesn't.

 

How about not even talking about the referee and addressing the team's performance, as well as his decisions throughout the day?

 

I'd have a lot more respect for him if he was able to admit that he made some mistakes, but nope, off he goes looking for someone else to blame.

[Joe Le Taxi]

How about not even talking about the referee and addressing the team's performance, as well as his decisions throughout the day?

 

I'd have a lot more respect for him if he was able to admit that he made some mistakes, but nope, off he goes looking for someone else to blame.

 

I only heard that bit of the interview, I didn't hear the rest. I would love it if he came out and held his hands up and took some of the blame himself, while constructively criticising the players who don't look interested. Although, reading the forum, I think I may be in the minority when it comes to Rafa.

[Trumo]

There are too many echoes of 2002/03 this season. Even though we won a trophy that year, it was soul-destroying how awful we were in some games.

 

1. We've just come off the back of finishing runners-up the previous year.

 

2. We released influential players in the summer (Alonso and Hyypia now vs Redknapp and McAllister back then).

 

3. Gerrard's form has slumped. Again this might be partly down to point 2.

 

4. We haven't had a settled defence.

 

5. Strikers that mostly play out wide rather than up front, and now barely registers a threat to the oppostion (Kuyt and Babel now vs Heskey and Diouf back then).

 

6. Injury-prone attacking midfielder, much coveted in Europe, signed but unable to make any impact due to either loss of form or niggling injuries (Aquilani now vs Cheyrou back then).

 

7. Attacking midfielder who has been here a while, and made a decent contribution to our runners-up position the previous year, has barely got going this season, and has the fans on his back a little it seems (Riera now vs Smicer back then).

 

8. Young striker signed the season before, now getting regular games and scoring goals (Ngog now vs Baros back then).

 

9. Seemingly easily Champions League group turning into a nightmare. Only beating the bottom side in the group twice, who happen to lose all their games anyway (Debrecen now vs Spartak Moscow then). Top side look far superior to us when we play at their place (Fiorentina now vs Valencia then). Missed chances and poor defending against the eventual runners-up dumping us into the second-rate European competition (Lyon now vs Basel then).

 

10. Piss-poor pre-season culminating in a home defeat against fairly strong European opposition (Atletico Madrid now vs Lazio back then).

 

11. Releasing a black away kit in the summer. I know we had a black third kit in 2007/08 but I'm clutching at straws here!

 

12. Manager having surgery during the season, leaving his scouse No2 in charge in the interim.

 

I have a feeling that everytime we've had a good season, we seem to sell or release influential players, to the detriment of key parts of the team. It's not always the case that the player was a first-team regular, but the fact they are no longer around the assert their (positive) influence seems to affect those around them that much more. Losing Hyypia, even though he wasn't a regular last season, seems to have knocked the confidence of the other defenders, who are scared of making mistakes, yet are making them anyway.

 

I won't go into just how much of a loss Alonso was as it's been discussed at length already, but I will say that it appears Gerrard's been affected by suddenly having greater midfield responsibility thrust upon him. I realise that's a strange thing to say about our club captain, but I believe it's true. He doesn't have a player to look up to as such, and the same situation affected him when Hamann left in 2006.

 

Back in 1996 we released Rush because Fowler (with Collymore) was looking very strong at the time. While results and goals were happening it wasn't an issue, but when 1996/97 started to unravel and Fowler need a little guiding light, we didn't have it and his partnership started to struggle.

 

Losing key influential players is the way of life for lesser clubs, and as such they seem better capable of coping and moving on. Over the past 20 years, including the Souness reign, we have consistently shown that when we release influential players, it sets us back again. It's all the more galling because while we slag off Man U when they sell the likes of Ince, Hughes, Van Nistelrooy and Ronaldo, or release players like Cantona, Schmeichel and Keane, they are better able to move on. Despite getting twatted 3-0 by Fulham as I write this!