Pool518

So what do you "non paradise living" Benitez supporters think we should do? Accept that we're crap, and support Benitez untill he wins us the league?

Sure the owners are the reason for our poor financial state. However Benitez should be doing much much better then this. Babel, Ngog, and Pacheco are all forwards. If the 4-2-3-1 formation isnt working, go to a more attacking formation, like a 4-1-2-1-2 diamond, or a 4-4-2, or even a 4-3-3..I also don't see why Benitez doesnt use Babel as a backup striker. If something isnt working, then change it. I recall in the Valencia match, due to injuries, Guardiola changed from Barca's usual 4-3-3 to 4-4-2, and played Messi and Henry up front. A good manager changes when its necessary, a bad manager persists with players like Kuyt.. Also, when you noe you're broke, and you still waste 20 million on a player you don't even plan for the first team, you only hav yourself to blame..

Point was manager is responsible for the change in team and player performance. They came third in La Liga in 2008. Our squad isnt as bad as our performance makes out. Id say the 4-1's, 3-0's and 2-0 Man Utd are more indicative of our squad potential. It's just the manager that fails to bring out the best in our team.

Guardiola was the man responsible for Barcelona's change between 2008 and now..So Benitez must take responsibility for the crisis that we're in. Of course, the owners are the cancers too, and should be gotten out as soon as possible. However Benitez is in charge of the players, and their performance tho. Injuries are all excuses. Just like at jobs, shit happens, we just have to deal with it, and perform no matter what.

Benitez is a decent manager. However, just because he's decent, doesn't mean he is the right one. I was reading a Tommy Smith book, and it said that the foundation that Shankly based his training on were passing, movement, intelligence and exhaustion. Benitez has destroyed all of these, to be replaced with hard work and defending. What happened to pass and move? Replaced with defend and hoof. I am one of the "We are Liverpool" advertisers. However, I don't mean just at our ability to challenge. I mean, our ability to play simple passing, to move into space, to go at opponents from the start, to belief that we can beat anybody(and not just "on our day"), to belief that we can beat opponents even if we're a goal down, even if we're a man down. All these can be instilled, and should be expected of Liverpool. And Im meaning the liverpool of 2010. If Benitez cant do it, then he should leave and let another manager who can. There was an extract in the Tommy Smith book I was reading, which mentioned that Shankly was a traditionalist who was open to new ideas, basically that he valued traditional values, but was open to change. Benitez however, never changes. And that could be his downfall.

I keep hearing Benitez supporters saying stuff like giving him another season..If he was gonna change, he doesnt need another 12 months, he could just start by dropping Kuyt from the first team..But never gonna happen tho..

Goes well with Benitez philosophy..cautious at the start, then when he has no other choice, goes all out..

Wish Benitez would stop focusing on defensive players, but who am I kidding..

Another defender..typical Benitez..

I hav some classmates of mine who smoke it at a gas station near our school..It gets them high and stuff..

Talking about 20 mil signings, I recall when Torres was at La Liga, he only got injured once, and it was only a minor injury..Anyone hav any idea why all of a sudden he becomes injury prone after coming here? He was great the first year.. As for Keane and Aqua..sighs..

When the galacticos of Barcelona stepped onto the pristine turf at Emirates Stadium on Wednesday night, they embodied an inspirational identity for member-owned football clubs. On the pitch, the team was sublime, showing against Arsenal in a blistering first 45 minutes that they can operate at a level that few other teams on the planet can keep pace with. Off it, the fans own the club, control its destiny and decide how it is managed. Yet, just as British clubs can only sit back and admire the qualities of Barcelona's galaxy of stars, they are also labouring to match the utopian ideal of a club that belongs to its supporters. Following various struggles in recent years, there are just two clubs in the Football League that are supporter-owned: Brentford and Exeter City. Further down the pyramid, the notable exceptions to the rule of wealthy businessmen owners include FC United of Manchester and AFCs Wimbledon and Telford. In practice, does the mutual model work for British clubs? Furthermore, do fans really want to jointly own and run a business? According to a survey conducted by YouGov last week on behalf of Co-operatives UK, the answer is yes. Nationwide, 56% of supporters revealed they wanted to take control of their club. At Manchester United and Liverpool, where fans are railing against unpopular American owners, the figure rose to 83% and 72% respectively. "The two biggest myths in football - that fans don't want to buy clubs and can't afford to buy them - has been blown right out of the water," said Kevin Rye, spokesman for Supporters Direct, the initiative set up in 2000 by the Government to promote fan involvement in clubs. "From Manchester United to Mansfield Town, there is a group of people who have found it difficult to be heard - the supporters. It is absolutely critical that they are involved in decision-making at their club." In the Premier League, the possibility of copying the claret-and-blue democracy at Barcelona and in the Bundesliga, where most clubs are more than 50% owned by supporters, has taken root among hardcore followers. According to the survey, Manchester United supporters would be willing to invest an average of just over £600 each to buy their club. If all United supporters in Britain did this, they would be able to raise £2.34 billion - more than enough to buy one of the world's most iconic sporting institutions. The Manchester United Supporters' Trust, fierce opponents of the Glazers' leveraged buy-out which has saddled the club with £700 million of debt, has formed an alliance with the Red Knights, a group of wealthy United followers, to wrest control of the club. "We know there's a huge appetite out there to change the ownership at United - and this shows there's the commitment and the will among supporters to play a significant role in any bid and new ownership structure," the Trust's chief executive, Duncan Drasdo, said. "As an average, £600 is a credible figure but obviously some will put in less and some will invest substantially more." ShareLiverpoolfc registered nearly 10,000 members prepared to subscribe to a scheme to buy a stake from the debt-laden Tom Hicks and George Gillett. Yet there has been difficulty in practice for the supporter ownership model. Chesterfield and York City were bought by supporters' trusts to save their clubs from extinction but then passed on to local businessmen. Notts County Supporters' Trust voted by 93% last July to give away its majority stake to the mysterious Qadbak Investment Fund. Stockport County, supporter-owned since 2005, went into administration last April. Even at Brentford, the supporters' trust is thinking of ceding control. Majority shareholder Bees United confirmed this week that talks are ongoing with supporter-investor Matthew Benham about him taking over the club. "In all but one of those cases, which was Notts County, they were presented with a case of onerous financial circumstances to deal with," Rye said. "Supporter ownership or part-ownership has exposed a lot of the systematic problems in football. It has exposed that the football financial model is broken." Rye acknowledges that it is difficult for mutual ownership to work in professional football's mucky reality. "We need to get away from the idea that supporter ownership is a cure-all. It is just one part of the jigsaw," he said. "Sensible financial regulations are needed to stop people amassing enormous amounts of debt. Football should be about what is happening on the pitch, not what judgement is made in a court room." Rye admits there isn't the culture of mutual, membership clubs that exists, for instance, in Germany and Spain. Nevertheless, there is evidence that it can work, particularly at clubs that are not saddled with the debts of a failed previous regime. AFC Wimbledon won four promotions in seven seasons (although a fifth looks beyond them despite a comfortable first campaign in the Blue Square Premier) after they were founded at the base of football's pyramid by the vast majority of Dons who refused to go to Milton Keynes with the carcass of old Wimbledon. FC United of Manchester has announced plans to build a 5,000-capacity football stadium in Newton Heath - the birthplace of Manchester United - after regularly attracting 2,000 fans to its UniBond Premier League home fixtures. This season, Barcelona players may bring more glory to a people's club. But if supporters don't approve of the people running it, they can always vote them out.

I was reading this article Time for fans to take control? - Barclays Premier League - ESPN Soccernet and it talked about a club like Barcelona being owned by fans..which made me wonder, why can't we do something similar? I mean, our fanbase are surely as much, if not more then them..

I think some of the fans who still support the manager are those with the mindset..support him untill he succeeds..Prob hav to wait untill 2015 then..

Well 03-04 was the first year I started following Liverpool, so having won the Champions League on the second year I started following us, I kinda came to expect us to win it every 2 years lol..

Jz don't lik it when we lose tho..Especially when ppl say a loss is a good result..Coz imo loss is never a good result.. Btw I like your avatar lol...

Was he..ok my bad then..shouldnt hav played Kuyt then, what with such limited creativity we already had on the pitch..Benayoun wasnt injured was he..

Well All our 3 goal winnin margins hav come with Aqua and MAsch together so go figure..If we had lost against Barcelona 1-2 with 9 men, then it's a decent result..losing 1-2 against Benfica and sayin its a good result is a bit small minded tbh..I mean, we are Liverpool...

2-1 not good enough in my opinion..It's only Benfica, it aint Barcelona..And why did we go with Lucas and Masch from the start when its been proven Aqua and MAsch is the better pairing?Sure the referee might hav been crap, but shit happens, and Benfica arent exactly a Europe elite..

Decent result..We can be capable of playing good, with the right mentality.. However it's only 3-0, and only 1 game..we hav to make sure to win the next 4,5 games in a row too..consistency is important..

Was readin sth about our players, and it was mentioned that our llineup that lost to Lille, was practically the same as the one that beat Inter in the CL last season(no Alonso too).. So basically I think that we hav the players to win the title(kinda indicated by nearly winnin it last season), just need a manager that can make the players perform to their full potential, and get the best out of the team.

in terms of winnin the PL. I mean, he couldnt do it for 5 years, whats the guarantee he can for the nex 5 years? Thats why I think 2 or 3 year contract would hav been better..

Seriously? wow thats kinda harsh tbh..a few years..

Yeh I hope we get Mourinho, but if he doesnt come, there are several good young and upcoming managers, like Laurent Blanc, I would like to see us get..

I thought it was crazy lettin an unproven manager sign such a long term deal. It would be better if he had signed 2 or 3 years, now we are facin the consequences.. Tbh with all these finances thing..it's very simple..if you don't hav as much money as others, then spend wisely and make the most of what you have..Sure the margin for error or wasting is small, but if he can't deal with it, maybe he's not suited for the job..