This Is Anfield:Liverpool Supporters Thread

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alanf85 said:
Seems so :(
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It's not Rafa, it's the players.

Yes, poor team selection (a la Portsmouth) is a problem occasionally, but how many times this last season did we field nearly full or full strength squads and still draw?

I feel it's a psychological issue. In the CL we do well because we have 'been there, done that'. The guys know what it takes and have the mental chops to get around big name teams. Barca? Bring 'em on! Inter? Bring 'em on! It's because we don't have the weight of expectation hanging over the team like we do in the league.

This season we've played better than we have in the past against Arsenal and Chelsea, so thats a step in the right direction. While we have lost to Man U the last few seasons at Anfield, it's not been by much and at some point our luck is going to change.

Once we get over this mental barrier of 'when is the league going to go south for us?' then the team will start to perform consistently and challenge harder for the title.
 
Howdie fellow Mighty Reds

glad we finally have a pool discussion. im a die fan and getting so frustrated with all these arrogant man u guys. i don't want to rant about how they manage to "rob" teams of almost every game they play.

who are we going to sigh and why, barry,villa,malouda,SRP,mancini,bentley

and who we getting rid of?
 
Hopefully wel get rid off riise,pennant,voronin,kewell(Hes gone already)...those are guys who i think MUST leave...there are others who i would like to leave but i wont be too upset if they stay...
 
Those man fans went to the mods and gave me warning. Very childish of them seeing as how they post in this thread(And the boro thread,and the ac milan thread). Not that i mind, i enjoy talking with different clubs fans.
 
Taken from Soccerlens.com

Dear Soccerlens,

I am writing to you in despair. I have seen the help you have given others and you are the only people I can now turn to. Before I start, I would like to ask you how much you pay your excellent writer Graham Fisher. I’m sure it isn’t enough.

I have officiated at two games of football this season involving my favourites, the champions Manchester United. In both of these games I have performed admirably and made some excellent and crucial decisions. Despite the brilliance of my performance, everybody else in the world seems to think I have got it wrong. How can I have got it wrong if United have won the league?

I am equally disappointed that despite taking centre stage and producing performances of elegance and beauty, managing to combine likeable good humour and banter with the air of authority, some media outlets insist on talking about the players rather than me.

The two games to which I refer are the game at Old Trafford on 23rd March between the wonderful United and that team that play in red from just up the road. Liverpool, yes that’s it. The other game was yesterday when my United won the league by winning against some Rugby League club.

In the first game, some nasty little Argentinean feller tried to hurt my favourite player the effervescent, bubbly red head, Paul Scholes. I managed to avoid the temptation to send him off or punch him and just showed him the yellow card. Oh how the silly little man moaned at me.

Then, after that awful attack on my Paul, this man kept going on at me. I was so cross that I didn’t dare warn him or say anything to him because I might just have said something that I would regret. Then when I booked Liverpool’s best player for nothing, ha ha, this little man had the nerve to ask me why I had done it. Obviously, I sent him from the field of play. Has he not heard of the respect agenda?

Some people criticised me for that decision. I was baffled, but then I realised that real fans, Manchester United fans, didn’t criticise me. I knew then that I was right.

The fuss about that game had died down and then I managed to arrange it so that I could referee the title decider yesterday between United and someone else.

Quite early on the lovely Scholesy did a silly tackle. I could have let him off but I thought people would only moan at me so reluctantly, I showed him the yellow card. I apologised and Paul was very good about it.

Then one of the players from the other team had a shot on goal that might have gone in. Luckily, my God son Rio Ferdinand stuck out his arm and stopped the ball. Some people said I should have given a penalty and even sent Rio off. How ridiculous. If I had done that it would have been so much harder for United to win.

Paul really was naughty after that and he fouled another player. I gave him a good talking to and told him that if he did it again I would be telling his father what he had done. Paul knew exactly what I meant as my brother has a fiery temper, like many red heads.

I was able to give United a penalty which was a huge relief, and then because I was sure that all would be well in the end, I was even able to teach my nephew a lesson by not giving him a penalty when someone from the other team assaulted him in area. It was a great day all round and I just don’t understand what people are moaning about.

Didn’t people want United to win the title?

Yours in desperation,

SB, referee, all round good egg and United fan.
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:D
 
First signing of the off season

Liverpool Football Club today confirmed that Swiss international defender Philipp Degen will sign a contract with the club on July 1.

He is an offensive player with great energy and a winning mentality. His strength is going forward and I am confident he will be prove to be a quality addition to our squad."
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http://www.liverpoolfc.tv/news/drilldown/N159977080520-0812.htm

Yay another 7/10 player oh joy :rolleyes:.

Hope I'm wrong. At least he is "offensive" although offensive according Rafa is rather different to everybody else :o
 
schitz011 said:
It's not Rafa, it's the players.

Yes, poor team selection (a la Portsmouth) is a problem occasionally, but how many times this last season did we field nearly full or full strength squads and still draw?

I feel it's a psychological issue. In the CL we do well because we have 'been there, done that'. The guys know what it takes and have the mental chops to get around big name teams. Barca? Bring 'em on! Inter? Bring 'em on! It's because we don't have the weight of expectation hanging over the team like we do in the league.

This season we've played better than we have in the past against Arsenal and Chelsea, so thats a step in the right direction. While we have lost to Man U the last few seasons at Anfield, it's not been by much and at some point our luck is going to change.

Once we get over this mental barrier of 'when is the league going to go south for us?' then the team will start to perform consistently and challenge harder for the title.
Click to expand...

I must disagree. I lay the blame at the feet of the manager. Sure the players have a mental bloke and LFC can't afford spending like Chelsea and Manure. But Rafa buys the players that don't have the right aptitude and further more instills lack of belief with draconian defensive tactics stifling their natural game. He sees the players as chess pieces tinkering and changing constantly for every game instead of letting them get on with it and allowing them to get get stuck. That's why in some game the hesitances shown by the players is unbelievable.

Also look how we played ion the last 3 group games in the CL. A complete turnaround. Why? because Rafa was forced to release the shackles. Look how many games we drew 0-0 and how many times we went from a great offensive game to a lackluster confused schoolboy team. Teams don't just loose form like that. Somebody is flicking the switch and that person is Rafa and his incessant need to tinker be it with tactics or players. :sick:
 
alanf85 said:
IBut Rafa buys the players that don't have the right aptitude and further more instills lack of belief with draconian defensive tactics stifling their natural game.
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I hear what you are saying, but we scored more goals in all comps than any other EPL team this term. Hardly draconian defensive tactics. Granted we could have done with a few more in the EPL, especially in those draws.

I understand the frustrations with Rafa seeming to tinker every game and we never really settle, but in general the past season or two we have improved dramatically, even with the rotations. This season it was draws that cost us, and not all of them are due to *** finishing (e.g Chelsea at home), we lost the least amount of games, so if we can just turn a few of those draws into wins and take a few more points off Man U/Arsenal/Chelsea, we will be up there.

While 11 points may seem like a lot, it's actually closer than it seems. That patch of draws cost us, but I feel the players can sense that the team is coming together (these things don't happen overnight) and just need to throw off the mental blocks when a bad patch shows it's head, rather than seemingly forget how to play footy..
 
If we look at Liverpool, their seasson went wrong because of the 11 draws. They only lost 4 matches this season and that's good. Problem is they draw too much. Had they won half of those draws, they would've been right up there with Man Utd and Chelsea.
 
schitz011 said:
I hear what you are saying, but we scored more goals in all comps than any other EPL team this term. Hardly draconian defensive tactics. Granted we could have done with a few more in the EPL, especially in those draws.
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You need to take a look at who and when we scored all those goals. In the CL we scored 16 goals in the last 3 games against teams we'd only managed 1 point before. Why? because Rafa was forced to adopt offensive tactics. He couldn't afford anymore tinkering. His hand was forced. 8 times we failed to score compared to Arse 3 and Manure 2 in the Prem. In those home draws we let other teams back in because we failed to go for the jugular prefering to sit on our lead. At home against the likes of Wigan. Wenger or Fergy would never do that.

Look at the goals scored away against other top teams. In the prem I think we've scored 1 or maybe 2 goals away under Rafa. That's in 12 games. Even in CL away at Chelsea we hadn't scored until Rafa's hand was forced and hey what do you know we score 2. Of course when we equalized we should have gone for the second and finished off the game because Chelsea were wavering badly but what did he do. Sat back and played for the draw letting Chelsea back into it. If it wasn't for the affect of the Anfield crowd and almost super human individual performances at crucial moments not to mention some serious luck Rafa's CL record would be nothing special.

I understand the frustrations with Rafa seeming to tinker every game and we never really settle, but in general the past season or two we have improved dramatically, even with the rotations. This season it was draws that cost us, and not all of them are due to *** finishing (e.g Chelsea at home), we lost the least amount of games, so if we can just turn a few of those draws into wins and take a few more points off Man U/Arsenal/Chelsea, we will be up there.
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People complain mainly about his 'rotation of players' IMO that pales in comparison to the damage he does tinkering with tactics.

Unfortunately taking more points off Man U/Arsenal/Chelsea is beyond Rafa's ability IMO

Rafa's main concern is the GA column in the table. Unfortunately it's the pts column that counts :o


While 11 points may seem like a lot, it's actually closer than it seems. That patch of draws cost us, but I feel the players can sense that the team is coming together (these things don't happen overnight) and just need to throw off the mental blocks when a bad patch shows it's head, rather than seemingly forget how to play footy..
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Only time will tell. Without a drastic change in attitude by Rafa I don't see us winning the Prem ever with him. I even doubt we will even challenge for it. Hope I'm wrong though :o
 
New Signings in the bag!!!
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Home: Current Affairs: News:
Degen & Dossena deals done, Barry close? Written by Matt Ladson on May 20th, 2008


Full back Philipp Degen’s arrival at Anfield was confirmed today, arriving on a free transfer from Borrusia Dortmund. He will officially sign on July 1st when the transfer window opens.

The 25 year old Swiss international right back is the first signing of the summer and brings doubts over Steve Finnan’s Liverpool future.

Rafa Benitez told the official LFC site “He is an offensive player with great energy and a winning mentality. His strength is going forward and I am confident he will be prove to be a quality addition to our squad.”

Interestingly, Setanta Sports late last night reported the deal was finalised before it was announced by the club today. With Setanta’s links through the official LFC TV channel, Setanta could yet be the ones to break any LFC related stories this summer. Mind, Degen’s arrival was no surprise after TIA first reported interest prior to the mainstream media in April.

Meanwhile, reports linking Liverpool with Italian left back Andrea Dossena continue, with Spanish football correspondent Guillem Ballague quoted on The Times’ podcast as saying Benitez has signed two full backs. He went on to say Gareth Barry is “close” and “only a striker remains”. How much Ballague knows is unsure but interesting nonetheless.

Some reports suggest talks between Liverpool and Udinese over the transfer of Dossena, who was left out of Italy’s squad for Euro 2008 today, are ongoing. The 26 year old left back has impressed in Serie A this season and is higly rated, with a fee in the region of £8m possible. Much like Degen, Dossena is renowned for his ability to get forward into attacking positions.

Elsewhere, reserve team goalkeeper David Martin has been linked with a loan move to Blackpool, Scott Carson’s asking price is reported to have been dropped to £6m in a bid to bring in transfer funds with Aston Villa reportedly looking at a loan deal for Man United keeper Ben Foster instead of signing Carson permanently.

http://www.thisisanfield.com/news/2008/05/degen-dossena-deals-done-barry-close/
 
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Dude, whats up with Rafa still buying these Mickey Mouse no name players, he did it for the past couple of seasons and did it bring us EPL.NO NO and NO. We need to buy big name players to stand a chance of competing against the Chelski's, Man U. What happened to Alves,Micah Richards,Berbatov,Veloso,Qauresmo,Eto, Ronanldinho,Malouda and all these high profile players.

We keep on buying the Benyanoun's,Voronin,Arbeloas,Finnan's and the list goes on and on.

This is bull@#$% for club like Liverpool with all there trophies. Our records will not stay forever and our supporters cannot go back to our records, cause by that time it won't stand anymore. man u are 1 league title behind us. we have not won the league for almost 20 years and i think its really a disgrace that we could not win a league in the space of 18 years, and yet we have a manager that buys the Degens and keep on buying the unknown. you don't even know their strengths and weaknesees, but if you buy a top player like Alves you know his streengs.

The final is about to start now and i get really mad seeing these mansters playing.

anyhow i would love to know what my fellow liverpudlians think of our current team and the way forward.

praying that chelski m@&r them 2-0
 
Blanc Flies To Liverpool For Alonso
According to reports in Italy, Juventus director general Jean-Claude Blanc has flown to Liverpool in a bid to sign Xabi Alonso.
»Comments (38) Print This Story Send To A Friend Contact Us galleria zoom It is no secret that one of Juventus’ main aims in the summer transfer market is to buy a top-class centre midfielder.

This has led to a host of players being linked to the club, including Diego, Rafael van der Vaart, Frank Lampard and Marek Hamsik.

Another player who has also been heavily associated recently is Liverpool’s Xabi Alonso. This morning’s Italian press claims that Blanc has flown out to Liverpool and is hopeful of tying up a deal for the Spaniard.

Blanc has offered just under €14m for Alonso, while Liverpool are demanding €17.5m. Given this small difference in figures, it is believed that it should not take long before a compromise can be found.

Juventus already conducted business with Liverpool in January of this year when they signed Momo Sissoko for €13m. The Bianconeri, who are just hours away from completing the capture of Palermo striker Amauri, are also said to be heavily interested in Chelsea left back Wayne Bridge.

Gianni Wilson
http://www.goal.com/en/Articolo.aspx?ContenutoId=704872
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Looks like Xabi is leaving after all...
 
Stevie G said:
Dude, whats up with Rafa still buying these Mickey Mouse no name players, he did it for the past couple of seasons and did it bring us EPL.NO NO and NO. We need to buy big name players to stand a chance of competing against the Chelski's, Man U. What happened to Alves,Micah Richards,Berbatov,Veloso,Qauresmo,Eto, Ronanldinho,Malouda and all these high profile players.

We keep on buying the Benyanoun's,Voronin,Arbeloas,Finnan's and the list goes on and on.

This is bull@#$% for club like Liverpool with all there trophies. Our records will not stay forever and our supporters cannot go back to our records, cause by that time it won't stand anymore. man u are 1 league title behind us. we have not won the league for almost 20 years and i think its really a disgrace that we could not win a league in the space of 18 years, and yet we have a manager that buys the Degens and keep on buying the unknown. you don't even know their strengths and weaknesees, but if you buy a top player like Alves you know his streengs.

The final is about to start now and i get really mad seeing these mansters playing.

anyhow i would love to know what my fellow liverpudlians think of our current team and the way forward.

praying that chelski m@&r them 2-0
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Dont be so pesimistic Stevie. We have not been buying no name players only.
Torres 20 Million
Babel 11 Million
Mascherano 18 Million
Skrtel 7 Million
Degen - Free

Those have been our last 5 signings, i'm sure somebody big is coming this summer, especially if you consider that Carson, Crouch, Pennant, Alonso will be leaving which will bring in at least 25 Million pounds, add that to the rumoured 30 Million pounds that the owners have given rafa and things dont look so bad.
 
Agreed, to an extent, with cashmoney.

Stevie G is worried about 'Tesco Value players', but also fails to take note of the successes.

Torres - fine 20mil is a lot of money, but I think once the boy finds his feet he'll settle right in :D
Babel - k, 11mil may seem like a lot for him, but I think we'll see a very different Babel next season as he matures. Unfortunately his development has been overshadowed by Torres' performance this season.
Skrtel - 7mil, bargain of the the season if you ask me. Chelsea drop, what 16mil, on a right back but thats OK because it's a 'big money transfer'? Look at Hyypia, we paid peanuts for him, but how many people said 'agh, he's crap' just because he didn't cost the world?

Just because someone is 'affordable' doesn't make them crap, just as big money doesn't automatically make them a winner (shevkenko anyone?).

Buying the league is not Liverpool's way, developing talent and one or two singings a year is. The youth academy is strong, the reserves have just won their league, we have some exceptional talent so lets develop that, rather than throw money after every so called star that pops up in the transfer market just to placate fans who think that one star player is the magic bullet that will win us the league.

Look at some of the youth talent:
Nemeth - had a good season with the reserves and should feature a bit next season
Plessis - In the game against Arsenal, I thought he looked very composed and sure of his footing, some great tackles and passing.
Bruna - Came from the RM youth set up and his transfer caused a wailing and gnashing of teeth in Madrid as he very highly rated.

I'd rather these players were developed, learn their trade together and given the opportunity to shine than have a revolving door policy of big name transfers who don't work out for whatever reason. We have the spine of the team, now it's time to build the squad - from within - let the youngsters play alongside the Gerrards', Torres', Carras' and gain experience rather than putting them out wholesale for slaughter (i.e Chavski in the Carling Cup)
 
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