GeoffM

What a load of cobblers! Very easy to be neagtive Rash and then point out how you were right! anyone can do that, he isn't good enough for Liverpool they are good enough for Liverpool is the easiest thing in the world to say, chances of you being right are higher than being wrong anyone can do that. For years you have been making the same points without actually backing it up, twisting whatever facts you have to hand to suit any particular argument. You say we need a link player and a dominant winger to win the league, well back it up then, name names, who is available at a price we can afford and how they will fit in the team and why you are so convinced you are right. Who the fuck are today's Beardsley and Barnes then? When we are signed Pennant you were made up, he was going to be this and that, to be honest he looks piss poor, but i am not going to write him off after a few games and you havent picked on him because you thought he was going to be class, had a player you didnt agree with us signing shown the same form a Pennant you would be slaughtering them then saying how you were right, at least be consistent.

Just a point on those who think Rosicky should be playing for us. He wouldnt be playing centre midfeild or behind the striker which is where he probably prefers to play, he would be playing wide, which would lead to scores and scores of posts saying why have we got another centre midfield player on the wing, why havent we gone out and bought the natural winger we have been needing for years.

We do have a squad that is good enough, it could be improved but the talent is there. Crouch i would guess has scored roughly the same aount of goals this season as other top class strikers, but he isnt good enough to play for a team that will win the league? Kuyt is a top class footballer simple as that. It's far too early to be writing of Gonzalez for fucks sake he;s only played three or four games! Dear me. Every so often we get Rash coming up with his catphrases, link man, 20 goal a season striker, flair on the wing etc etc and these days more of the people on here respond to it, which to be fair is depressing. Get it into your head Liverpool on the whole have never been a team of 'superstar' big name players and never will be it is just the way it is so get used to it. Rafa is on course, we have had a bad spell, fuck me every team does and he has probably made mistakes and willso again but there is very little fundamentally wrong. Get behind those that are here, give the new players time to settle in and see what they can do before writing them off ten games or so into a new season.

Agree 100%

sounds a bit gay to me.

That made me spit coffee over my keyboard. good work sir.

The sort of thing a captain should be saying, nice one.

an excellent point and as far as i am concerned Liverpool has always been about the team.

An interesting thread, asking people on here at the moment to be objective is wishing too much to be fair, to many people revel in it when we are in bad form! As for the initial argument, at the moment he is probably right, but as already said these things are widely thrown by form. Ability wise the midfield three of Gerrard, Alonso and Sissoko is easily a match for anyone in the top four, Carra has been as good a centre half as there is in the league for the last two seasons, may not have the flair or pace of others but how many get passed him, how many vital clearances does he make? Reina was superb last year and now having a bad spell, did he overperform last year only time will tell, but there have been times when Lehman was called a laughing stock and Wenger was frequenlty changing his goalkeepers, other players we will have to wait and see, who is say that if the rest of the team find some form Speedy wont be tearing teams apart? When we are playing well to some people our players are the best in the world, when we are struggling they are awful and not a match for the rest of the top teams, the truth, they are somewhere inbetween and a match for any of them on their day. The problem at the moment is a combination of things in my opinion, lack of ability isnt one of them.

Good thread, always good to relive the glory days!! The lack of off the ball movement is one of the most frustating things about the current side, how many times do we see people in posession with no options, purley down to lack of movement, its basics and without wanting to sound corny the Liverpool way. Agree about the full backs as well, how often do we see them overlapping and getting a cross in? Not often enough for me. Another thing that you have to notice from that era was the lack of wingers, Ray Kennedy a converted centre forward, not winger, Jimmy Case played wide right, yet not a winger, yet these days the cries are all for out and out wingers, if players with good technique, intelligence and movement make the game look so easy.

Where he has more room becuase coming from wide he is less likely to be marked.

No. It's no just a coincidence he had his most productive season playing right midfield, not just chance. The way he plays the position and the way we set the team up allows him to come inside as and when he pleases, he is not chained to right wing. This fact means he is difficult to pick up, giving him more space and therefore more chance to influence the game in the attacking third, which is where he should be. He is also pretty much spared any defensive responsibilty. In the middle he would find it harder to find space and have to track back more. If we start winning games then yes it will all go away.

Good words Brownie. Struggling to beleive some people want Gerrard to publically come out and deny there is any problem with him playing right midfield, should players come out and comment every time a journalist or pundit says something they dont agree with? Of course they shouldn't.

In my humble opinion we should keep hold of him, despite what some people have said he is still our best player, (and he has made mistakes but is still at the club). How much of the circus is down to him and how much is down to the media given the fact that he is one of England's key players i dont know, but that's a side issue. What he does on the field is good enough for me. If you sell him you have to replace him and that would be very very difficult indeed. When on form he is unplayable. Totally agree that some of the crap regarding Gerrard over the past couple of days in ridiculous.

I have no problem with his criticism, as captain he is more open to it than any other player. I can understand why you dont repect him as much as other Liverpool greats, due to his past actions he will probably never be held in as higher regard as those past players you refer to. Like i said it was the over the top nature of the whole thread started by something speculated on by a couple of pundits that provoked me into saying something.

Cant beleive all this thread and some of the hatred towards one of our best players and club captain because of something he might have said to someone who then might have said it on a sky programme where his co-presenter was banging on and on and on about Gerrard playing in midfield. Does anyone know if Gerrard has definitely said to Rafa 'if you dont play me in the middle i am off', anyone think for one minute he isn't trying because he is playing out of position? Maybe he has said to Rafa that he would be preferring to operate in the middle, he is a senior player and club captain and as far as i am concerned should be able to discuss tactics with the manager. Maybe he's got a face like a slapped arse and is looking pissed off because we are loosing and he wants to win things with us. I understand the reason people have their doubts after the way he behaved with the Chelsea thing, but at the end of it all he stayed, yet it is still being used as a stick to beat him with (check my use of the cliche!). Yeah he pissed me off moaning at players on Sunday and criticism of that is there, but some of what has been said on this thread is reactionary and over the top.

I think the fact that Bolton are where they are in the league says more about the quality in the 'best league in the world' than it does about the quality of Bolton.

Not going to speculate on what Gerrard has said and what he hasnt, as i dont know so would be just that pure speculation, so i am not going to slaughter him on something he might or might not have said and ws regurgitated to suit sky's agenda. If he comes out and says something about it then i will express and opinion. I will adress those arguing that he needs to play centre midfeild for the team to improve. In my opinion that is just wrong, he isnt chained to the right wing, he has a 'free role starting from the right' where he can be more infulential on the game. He is more difficult to pick up coming inside from the right, he doesnt really do much trcking back to help Finnan out as a conventional winger would do. He pretty much has the licence to where he wants an infulence the game. If he was moved back to the middle he would have to track back, something he doesnt seem inclined to do, and to be honest do we really want him winning tackles on the edge of our own box? Rather have him up the other end of the pitch. And to those who would move him inside, who are you going to leave out then? Alonso? yeah he's not playing his best but is still a key player, Momo? probably our most consistent player this season, and then play Pennant right wing? not such an attractive proposition really.

Bit early to write him off to be fair, my feelings before we signed him were he wasnt good enough. After an good couple of first games thought i might have been wrong but the Chelsea away game was a shocker for him, so much of the ball and did the grand total of fuck all with it, ver dissapointing, so now being the fickle football fan i am back to my initial opinion that he isnt good enough, but hope he proves me wrong.

indeed a very good point and something that had crossed my mind.

Some good points made already. I think picking a cnsistent side would help matters, the back four hardly changes anyway, midfeiled of Gerrard, ALonso , Momo and Gonzales, Kuyt plus one other up front, personally i would go for Crouch but can see the why people would go for Ballamy. Aurellio, Pennant need some time in the ressies in my opinion, Pennant after a promising start doenst look up to it at the moment and Aurellio looks shell shocked when playing in the league so back to a basic core of the team. Communication with the players should be an ongoing thing anyway. Get back to a basic style of play, passing the ball like we did last year and working hard to regain it when we loose it, these things seem to be missing. Shooting practice.

The whole thing fucks me off, after some other game we had andy 'knows fuck all' gray and that twat keys rambling on about gerrard playing in the middle, utter utter bollocks, there was no problem last year when he played there so why is there a problem this year? As i said load of bollocks, thank fuck he didnt get the England cpataincy or it would be 100 times worse.

Load of old bollocks if you want my opinion, the team is not playing well as a whole, under par performances from both the manager and the players contributing to our poor form, thats what should be fecking him off. I can imagine these comments were lifted from the after match crap that is spouted on sky and Andy Grey's expert analysis is that all our problems are from the fact that Gerrard is playing wide and not in the middle. If we were palying he would be getting chances and scoring goals and there would be no problem with where he played.

so let me get this right, we have had a poor 10 games and you want to sack the manager? Following the successful approach of the likes of Newcastle and Aston Villa? So who would you appoint instead then? We are Liverpool mate, we have a certain way of doing things, its contributes to our class. Sacking the manager after a bad run of results is not our way, we back our managers and players through good times and bad times. Now please get to fuck with your campaign and grow up.

Alonso has to be in the team, simple as that really, he is so critical to the way Rafa wants to play, when he is on form he gives us something no other team in England has when he is off form he still works hard and doed his defensive duties.