Losing any league game is a disappointment, but the disappointment is always magnified if it’s the first game of the season. If that season was supposed to be “the one”, that disappointment goes off the scale. It’s too early to write the season off, of course it is, but instead of getting the little boost many said we needed to push us that bit further, Liverpool have had another kick in the teeth.
Xabi Alonso wanted to leave, his mind was made up well before the end of last season, and Rafa Benítez knew this. Florentino Pérez wasn’t actually the Real president, so Xabi wasn’t actually in talks with Real, but there was a genuine expectation at that time that Liverpool might even be persuaded to sell Xabi for as little as £18m. But £18m wasn’t Rafa’s expectation, he had a far greater say in transfers than he’d had before, and he wasn’t going to let Xabi go on the cheap.
It doesn’t require a massive stretch of the imagination to see Rafa in a position where he doesn’t need to wait for Real to show their hand to know what cards they’ve got.
If a player desperately wants to leave, and discussions to persuade him to stay don’t get anywhere, all that’s left is to try and get the best possible price for him. Few would argue that the £30m fee, plus up to £5m of add-ons, was less than Liverpool could have expected.
Whilst Liverpool were holding out for Real to offer the right amount, negotiations were going on elsewhere. It’s to the credit of those involved in the talks at both clubs that Alberto Aquilani’s transfer from Roma was kept from the back pages right up to the eleventh hour.
It looked like Liverpool had turned a corner. Not to be messed with in the transfer market, for buying or selling, Liverpool were going to build on that progress of last season.
But that wasn’t the case at all. Liverpool didn’t even hand the manager a budget for transfers.
Aquilani was signed for an initial amount of just over £17m, and although he’ll have to look on from the sidelines for now, he became the second of Rafa’s first-team signings for the summer. The first was Glen Johnson, who came from Portsmouth for around £18.5m.
That’s a total outlay of £35.5m, a new record for Liverpool for a defender and both signings would have broken Liverpool’s transfer record as it stood prior to Rafa’s arrival in 2005. But, without being greedy, Liverpool fans expected more.
A significant amount of money came back in through sales. As well paying the initial £30m for Alonso, real signed Álvaro Arbeloa for around £3.5m. Efforts to obtain a work permit for Sebastian Leto remained fruitless and so the player went to Panathinaikos for £3m. Around another half-a-million is believed to have come in for departing youngster Hammill, Hobbs and Anderson.
That’s a profit of around £1.5m. Added to the £20m of funds expected to be handed to the manager – taken from the money earned by the club through improved TV deals, decent runs in the Champions League, a second-place league finish and improved commercial success, Liverpool fans expected at least one more major signing this summer.
And that doesn’t include the partial refund Liverpool got from selling Robbie Keane back to Spurs. Keane was bought using last summer’s budget and was sold back again in February. The sale went through too late for Rafa to use it for other players – so why wasn’t it there for a top-up of the summer budget?
At the very least Rafa should have had a budget of £30m to spend this summer, if needed.
The squad has also been depleted by the end-of-contract departures of Sami Hyypia and Jermaine Pennant, and there isn’t even a slight doubt that Liverpool need someone to replace Hyypia as a fourth central defender. Looking at a cheap option for that role wouldn’t be a problem for fans if they knew that the rest of the budget was going on improving matters further forward. But where is the rest of that budget?
Has some of it has been spent on keeping key players at the club? According to some reports, Rafa was told that the contract improvements for the likes of Torres, Gerrard and Kuyt had to come out of his overall transfer budget.
That’s not a problem in itself. There should be one overall budget to cover all the costs of hiring and firing the playing staff; one budget to cover transfer fees, wages, signing on fees and agents fees.
But what that means is that the ‘usual’ £20m should be added to the ‘usual’ wage bill when coming up with the figure for the budget.
Liverpool’s wage bill has not gone up by £30m this summer, no matter how many players got new contracts.
And Liverpool have given players improved contracts before and still signed new players. Gerrard, Carragher, Reina, Alonso and Sissoko all signed new deals in 2007, the same year Liverpool spent £30m to sign Torres and Babel. They certainly didn’t make a profit on transfer fees that year.
By all means vary the amount a manager gets in his budget each season, base it on requirements, on where improvements are needed, on how exaggerated the transfer market has become.
It should to be there if the manager feels he needs it. Especially if he’s bringing money in from a good Champions League run, if the TV money has gone up, if commercial revenues have increased.
In 2009, on the back of Liverpool’s best league season in years, Rafa Benítez seems to have been handed a transfer budget of absolutely zero – at best.
And that is wholly unacceptable.
Liverpool were sold so that a new stadium could be built, so that new owners could invest in the squad whilst it was being built, so that Liverpool could close the gap in transfer budgets between themselves and their rivals.
Two-and-a-half years later and the new stadium seems all-but forgotten.
Two-and-a-half years later and the transfer budget is actually lower than it was when the club was sold.
If the squad was good enough it wouldn’t be a problem. But the squad isn’t good enough. It’s good, but not good enough. The squad needs more investment.
The squad isn’t going to get it.
And that’s not good enough.
In the long-term we’ve seen big changes at the academy that could work out well. We’ve got Kenny back at the club and many more changes have happened behind the scenes.
Rafa has been given a lot of his wishes – but has he been given the budget he expected this summer?
Today’s press conference saw Rafa asked about his budget: “I will not talk about money, I try to see how the market is, and what players are available, just in case. We are trying to keep working with the scouting department and will see what happens.”
Is he being gagged at press conferences, is he being shadowed in case he tries to say what’s going on? Do the hierarchy really think that will keep him quiet? Do they really think it will stop us getting to the truth?
We can’t go on treading water, we need to move forward, and sitting here without that new stadium underway, with a negative transfer budget, is not moving forward.
And trying to cover it up will not be for the good of the club.
Whatever the owners had in mind the day they sat in that first press conference in 2007, it surely wasn’t for it to turn out like this.
They’ve managed to ride one storm so far, the one that kicked up in the wake of the Klinsmann revelations, the one that went on for months, fuelled from Dubai, including a civil war inside the club.
That storm died out when Dubai looked around them and realised they had enough of their own problems to contend with. Those who’d helped them from within the club were left in the lurch – but had they ever put the interests of the club above their own?
Another storm is brewing now, and this storm isn’t fuelled by outsiders. Stop for a moment and listen, you’ll hear it. This is different to last time.
This storm isn’t fuelled by those looking after their own self interests. This storm is building because supporters have had enough of listening to lies and spin, because they have had enough of waiting for promises to be fulfilled.
This storm will ignore – or destroy – those who try to spin the facts to suit their own ends; this storm won’t just pass. Either it can be dealt with now, when it’s still in its very early stages, or those who could deal with it can wait until they’ve nothing left to protect.
There is very little patience left, but there is a lot of new anger building. The club is bigger than any individual, and any individual who doesn’t believe that needs to evacuate before this storm kicks in.
This storm will be built on passion, passion for the club, and the only way to stop it happening is to give those supporters something else to focus their passions on.
Announcing the finance is in place for the new stadium and finding money for transfers until it finally does open are minimum requirements, and urgent requirements at that.
If the club’s hierarchy can’t – or won’t – do that, then it really is time to run.
5star article. Totaly agree they should stop playing us the fans. Yanks out! YNWA. JF96
STOP GOING TO THE GAMES AND GIVING THEM MONEY!!! I KNOW ITS DRASTIC BUT ITS THE ONLY WAY TO GET RID OF THEM.
This is an EXCELLENT article…all true to the core…..the yanks will not know what hit them, if they don’t wake up from, their comotose state, before it’s too late,………………… for them.
cannot believe what those two wankers are doing to liverpool put some money up or ship out
Please see following link http://liverpoolfc.co.za/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/1126051643/m/472106714
Details of Aquilani deal are there for all to see
The 20 million EURO transfer fee is broken up into the following:
– 4 cash instalments of
– – 5 million EURO upfront
– – 3 million EURO by 4th January 2010
– – 7 million EURO by June 30th 2010
– – 5 million EURO by June 30th 2011
Portsmouth owed Liverpool c. 10 million sterling from Crouch deal, so we spent at most 7.5 million sterling for Johnson, probably not all up front
This means that there is maximum of 15 million EURO outlay on Johnson and Aquilani so far, leaving in excess of 30 million EURO unaccounted for now.
Take into account improved player contracts, there is still 20 million EURO surplus, probably going towards our debts
These amounts are all apart from the “usual” transfer budget.
Moores made a horrible mistake, hopefully Yanks are just trying to make the “franchise” a more attractive product for Middle Eastern investors by reducing overall debt
The Americans are just using LFC, they are taking profits and not reinvesting but just paying off load installments, eventually they would have paid a substantial amount of the loan off and then they will sell, by then we could be fighting for 5th/6th place.
Moore said he only sold LFC because he couldn’t finance a new stadium. Had he know what would happen he never would have sold. The Americans misled him!
Excellent article! But theres no way of knowing for sure if Rafa has 1 or 2 more transfers going ahead that will will only know about at the 11th hour?
liverpool fans. please stop this nonsense about rafa dont have money or whatever and let me ask you, what kind of money you used to buy glen jonson and aquilani.was it rafa’s money or club owners money?. the truth is that, you have spent so much money on unimproved players and that why the club owner does not want to give rafa any money. they feels that, you are not winning trophys that brings money to the club as united and chelsea do all the time, so they have to stop spending as it will not generate income to them. they bought the club to get money but not to lose money. united and chelsea spend money on right players to be successful unlike liverpool. YOU HAVE TO BLAME RAFA INSTEAD OF THE CLUB OWNERS. RIDICULOUS FUNS YOU PEOPLE ARE. YOU WILL NEVER WIN ANYTHING.
To Dennis
Your totally incoherent (‘thick’ to you ) response. pathetic.
Alright Jim, good to hear from you again.
It’s all very worrying.
For me, infrastructure, not the league, is the most important concern as you highlight in your article. We can go on and win the league this year with the players we have but at what cost if we have to sell Mascherano next year just to have some money to spend on new players. It seems clear to me from a simplistic viewpoint ( I think for the majority of us that’s all we can hope to understand not having the financial acumen or access to current accounts) that we have a transfer budget’s worth of interest to pay being subsidised by the transfer budget. Clearly this isn’t sustainable and unless the owners can reduce the loan payments or significantly increase revenue streams then for want of a better word then we are fucked.
The fans speculate why the Manager does not have money to buy the defender and the partner for Torres he needs and most of the speculations are correct..
In summary the 2 American con men have taken the money to pay for the 3 Mil Bank Fee and the 30Mil loan repayment, that is in fact, their private responsibility, but of course who would ever think that they would dip into their own pockets when they have the clubs pockets to pick.
As I have citicised the conmen before on this web site and not been published, I do not expect this to be published. Regretably truth and honesty were for a prior era.
good article ;)..the yank scummers bought the club with a loan that the club will have to pay,the transfer kitty has been usurped to pay the interest on the loan and to pay towards the 60 mill penalty the yanks have to pay to get the loan refinanced[was supposedly to be paid by them selves surely].they are risking none of the money they made from their other franchise sales .LFC is just a golden egg to these 2 con-men ,what ever happens they will walk away from LFC with a nice profit even if they are forced to sell up[the banks know this]
this is a shocking state of affairs
Great article. There was a rumour circulating before todays game in and around the ground Rafa was on the verge of resigning, because of the lack of investment. Bookies stopped taking bets in some places.Doesnt make sense to me seeing as he’s only recently signed a new deal. But stranger things have happened
http://www.mirrorfootball.co.uk/news/Rafa-Benitez-laughs-off-quit-rumours-after-Stoke-hammering-article123689.html
But there seems to be alot of friction again between Rafa and the owners.
Contracts? Promises?. How empty are the words of the owners. I have seen first hand men like these buy “Cash Cows” then milk them dry to fund the rest of their empire. These are not business men, they are con men, get rich at the expense of others, they show no fidelity or integrity.
Can we really blame Moores for selling the club to them?, he would have seemed like a lamb ready for the slaughter to them, he was just too trusing for someone to take his beloved LFC and grow it further,instead they are saddleing the club with so much debt it may never be a saleable asset to anybody. As an LFC for 65 years my heart is sad.
Hi Jim,
Apologies for being off-topic andposting this here, I just couldn’t find a contact link anywhere.
I just wanted to let you know that I’ve added your feed to my new site over at
http://www.footballnewsnow.co.uk/liverpool/
The site gives fans all the latest news, opinion and info from loads of quality Liverpool sources.
I would be really grateful if you could add a FNN badge to your site. You can access one here http://www.footballnewsnow.co.uk/promote/
Keep up the good work on the site and thanks in advance for your help.
Best regards, Paul.
@Ken
Don’t be sad. Everything is recoverable. While Hicks and Gillett dream of profit and mi money, the fans will always succeed in the end.
If we win the premiership we’ll be over the moon. And, yes, Hicks and Gillett will ‘win’ more money but they will not be welcome at our club.
If we fail to make the top four places, then Hicks and Gillett will be gone. No more. No profit. No more of a stain on our history.
The victory against Stoke gives us hope for the former. We’ve already taken one more point of them than we did last season in two games. The loss against Spurs is the same as before. I’m sure we’ll take care of them at all.
The injuries to key players could make us vulnerable to the latter. Rafa has really uncovered some gems in the transfer market – particularly at centre half – but hard to imagine this Greek fella is going to be anything other than a stop-gap but at leat we have Ayala and Kelly as strong-youthful back-up.
For me, Monday’s game against Villa is a real test. Less than a few days before the end of the transfer deadline. Will Hicks and Gillett be convinced – take the risk – post-Villa match that Rafa and the lads can pull off a top-four finish without strengthening the squad. Part of me wishes they have a health scare post-match and realise no amount of money is worth damaging your health.
…sorry lads. a few`spelling errors/words omitted there. i think i best go to bed (it’s nearly 3am in the morning and i’ve got work in 5 hours). hope you can make sense of it!
@mid hi there welcome back you 2 Cantos. Mid did you visit Malta
http://www.dailypost.co.uk/sport-news/welsh-football-league/2009/08/21/owners-intent-on-ruining-history-55578-24495125/
So here we have it folks, along with all the financial problems LFC has, now it seems it’s fans are “ill informed and ignorant “. And this from the Welsh Daily Post !
Good to be back.
On the transfer budget. Doesnt matter how much we got, Benitez will only spend it on rubbish as usual.
Cant believe for a team fighting for the title(thats all over now after 3 games), we have Babel, Lucas and Voronin on the pitch.
We have gone backwards during the closed season, its frightening. No Alonso, no replacement. One up front at home again.
Its looking bad already. Im writing this following the Villa defeat and im full of rage so i wont write anymore until i have calmed down.
I am however of the same opinion. Hes had 6 years and spent a hell of alot of money…..and we are nowhere near.
HI Cantos we all know you dont like Rafa, but please whan you say you want him out, always come up with your idea of his replacment let aS KNOW WHO THIS MEGICIAN IS?
I admit there is no ready replacement for him. Its true.
But can we really go on another season with him. We still play with one up front at home. We are negative and have no plan B as ever.
I admit that he cannot take the blame for what was a dismal performance by nearly everyone last night, but he does put the team out.
We are a joke. With the likes of the simply awful Voronin as our only hope of a late goal. Benitez had Crouch and Keane, how we would have loved to have seen them come of the bench last night. But due to very bad, almost bullying man management he forced them out. Yet he keeps faith with Voronin, Lucas and Babel to name a few of his reject signings.
Zonal marking does not and will never work in the Premier league, but will he change, no he wont. We have conceded 3 goals already this season using this stupid system.
Why are none of the players from the academy being given their chance, For Gods sake we got nothing to lose. I would rather throw a 17 year old on for the last 15 than Voronin.
And Lucas, we must all agree that he is a Carling cup player at most who would never get into any other top four side in a million years. He gave the ball away last night with constent ease, He gave away the stupid free kick(again) and he scored the own goal with a pathetic attempt at a clearence.
Its not just the donkeys who deserve a bollocking. Torres, Kuyt and Gerrard were all well under par last night. Torres is a different player who refuses to fight and battle for the ball, constant moaning to the ref and in general just not up for it. The same can be said for Gerrard who was visibly gutted about the departure of Alonso, and whos poor head down performances are those of a man who knows his beloved team are a shambles with Championship players dotted around the field.
Gerrard looks like he has also had enough of the Benitez bullshit.
The Americans are no doubt destroying our club from within, and Mr Benitez is doing his best to destroy it ont the pitch.
The die hard Rafa fans will not agree with a word of this. I sat in the crowd last night and the level of discontent could be heard above the cheering. Things need to change.
I dont know the answers but a new man could start a-fresh. Give Spearing a chance instead of the shitty Lucas. Buy a FIT centre forward. God how long have we needed one. And a winger would be nice.
Rafa has been constantly awful in the transfer market with the exception of three or four players he has brought alot of rubbish to our club, and sold alot of decent players.
Our squad has no depth, we look a mess on the field and our top players look depressed and subdued. They know the team isnt good enough as we do. And after coming so close last year we will battle for a top four finish.
Blame the yanks yes. But even if Rafa had another 30 million pounds he would no doubt continue to sign rubbish as he has constantly shown over the last 6 years.
I keep dreaming of Rafa reign coming to an end. Maybe Dalglish could stand in until a replacement is found. I dont know. Dalglish would lift the crowd and the players. I just dont think he fancies the job with this current team.
Its got to change. Who knows perhaps Aqualani is the new Ronaldo. We live in hope. Perhaps we will find out in October if we are lucky.
I await the tide of replies in Rafas favour, but 6 years is long enough in anyones world to put 11 players of quality, class and ambition on the field. He has failed to do this.
@ dennis – you’re a prat, go to yur won site, “Plastic Chelsa fans unite”.
Did I like the performance? No, totally unimpressed. Am I calling for Rafa’s head? NO, why are we on here giving him flack?? He has turned this club around. Judge him at the end of the season not after 3 games. I guarantee you a lot of the other top teams will loose games. More of an even title race this year but we’ll see.
Keep the faith!
3 of 38 games played.
6 of 114 points missed.
0 need to respond to sensationalised blog headlines.
1 very significant cause for concern.
There is something amiss at Anfield. There is fatigue and frustration. It begins with Benitez and is being channelled by the senior players. It’s a sense of disappointment – a strong feeling of being let down. Of a thin and patchy squad being asked to overachieve again. In this year of all years when we go head-to-head in the eyes of history for league wins.
Here’s the rub as I see it. Rafa was pleased with the execution of his transfer window strategy. He played hard with Real over Alonso and squeezed a good price. He got both Aqua and Johnson for little money down. He was lining up at least one quick-minded, soft-footed final third player. And then his budget was cut by the owners. That’s yer lot for Summer 09.
Here is the real crisis. A healthy business (sorry but that’s what part of what a clubs needs to be) with strong cash-flows is reduced to a hobbling cripple of an operation. Laden with debt, this iconic sports brand (or ‘braiinnd’ in the words of the idiotic Peter Kenyon) with titanic global appeal and revenue potential is choked of the relatively minor investment the team needs to reach the summit.
Benitez feels this. The players feel this. Tactical errors, lack of luck on the pitch and a rash of freak injuries compound this.
But now of all times is not the time to implode.
It’s not the time to sack the manager and abandon his long-term project. Or to villify young players like Lucas or ageing bravehearts like Carragher. Nor to leave seats early or neglect to affirm our identity with a ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone” at the end.
Now is absolutely not the time to become an ordinary club: value-less, devoid of history and legend, location-inspecific, you pay’s your money to turn up in this season’s nylon shirt and villify our own if results don’t follow. Or throw histerical abuse at the opposition in a one-eyed denial of any merit or virtue.
Now is the time to affirm all the differences about our club which will transcend the current owners. 35 games remain – get your heads right.
Cantos is spot on here, chaps. I can’t really fault his comment.
Watching the Villa game really made it hit home what a sorry position we’re in.
I honestly don’t think we’ve had a squad this weak since the 03/04 season, and even then we had more than one goalscorer. Rafa’s main flaw for me is his attitude towards the ‘senior players’ – these are the guys he blamed for the Villa defeat, and by senior, I’m guessing he’s referring to Gerrard and Carra.
To me, he’s always seemed a little bit indifferent towards the scouse contingent. He made sure of breaking up the clique when he pushed through the Owen sale and got rid of Murphy. But what really irks me is that these players rarely receive Rafa’s credit. Instead he spends his time praising players like Lucas and Babel – trying his best to convince us they’ve got great things ahead of them.
How come everyone but Benitez seems to be able to see how poor these players are? The way he’s going, he’ll alienate our quality backbone and leave us with a team of jokers.
@ redrocket
Very well said. We need to judge the season as a whole, not just after three games. The reds have the opportunity to get back on track with a win on Saturday.
Just when we needed some injection of quality in the squad like Silva it seems like the American owners have shown just how debt laden we are at the moment. Benitez is doing a commendable job under the circumstances.
The squad is the same as last year and although Alonso will be a huge loss as he is one of a kind, we need to go on a run to reaffirm our intent on the title.
Nice to have you mate – Great article again as always.
I do wonder what’s going on regards transfer money. It’s simple Maths isnt it ? ? (Ok maybe not .) –
The Yank effect has kicked into action again.
We STILLLLLL ! need QUALITY Wide men dont we ?Yet we have bought an apparently injury prone central midfielder who is still six weeks from his Liverpool debut !?
I know nothing about him but apparently he isnt a Alonso type player either.
What’s the point of that then ?
Dont give me that “Lucas can play in Alonso’s place ” rubbish !
I hate being negative – it’s easy to critisize but much harder to come up with solutions.
But I think we have taken a major step backwards just when we looked like REALLY Going for the Title this season.
Bolton away up next – I don’t feel confident about us winning that one either, do you ?
@Darren, As I live in Malta which is very close to Italy I have a very good idea on about the serie A, about Aqua I don’t agree he is injury prone its what the idiots at sky are trying to project, aqua had pulled his hamstring just like Torres had last year then he was rushed in and had damaged his hamstring even worse when he was rehabilitated after some 3 or 5 games he had a nasty entry on his ankle and had to be operated he is still recovering from that, one important thing is AC Roma are not very well known to recover there players well from injuries See Totti always injured Cassano was always injured on his time there no he plays for samp and he is fit more then ever Roma are well known to rush there players from injuries. One last thing aqua (which means water that is how they call him in Italy) is regarded as one of the best midfield players in Italy, and that is not a joke considering they are world champions. yes he is not Alonso but he is just different, long rang passing and vision Alonso is maybe better in terms of pace and dribbling aqua is better what worries me is that in Italy the midfield player has more time on the ball whereas in the prem you don’t have that luxury but the Spanish league is very similar to the serie A, So if Xabi fitted in I don’t see why aqua won’t it just the depends on the personality.
PS. Aqua by the way is much much much better then xabi when going forward his characteristics are similar to stevies then to xabis.
Sorry to be off topic Jim!
I just want to out myself as a Lucas fan!
Admittedly he is still a good bit short of the finished article but he definitely gets my vote for most improved Liverpool player.
It’s clear that he’s giving it loads in terms of effort and I think the lad is showing a lot of CHARACTER.
Fair play Lucas!
@ Edward I totally agree, in fact Dunga called him with Brazil. You have to have something good to be called with Brazil; they are not Andorra or Malta.
Its not hard to be the most improved LFC player when you started as poor as he did.
Honestly i do not know who you guys are watching. I go to near enough every home game and travel with the reds to about a third of their away games.
Is it just the edited highlights on MOTD or what?
Lucas is a very poor player by Premier league standards. He is slow, takes to much time on the ball and his passing is mostly wayward. Another Rafa bad buy who he insists on using with alarming regularity.
What next, Voronin for most promising centre forward?? Perhaps if he tried spending some time in the oppositions penalty area he might get somewhere!!
Im really frustrated by all this Rafa’s doing his best under the circumstances business. As i said earlier 6 years is plenty of time to put 11 decent players on the pitch. He cant at the moment. Hmmmm is that because he has sold the likes of Crouch and Keane to prove a point. Its going to come back and bite him on the arse. And what will he do….Pack it in and blame the board.
Truth is granted after a long battle, he has gotten his own way. His own team. His own staff. And we are looking thin squad wise and poor on the pitch.
He is using the same old tactics at home as he did last season, which resulted in some stupid draws to lesser teams. If we dont score first we lose and if we do score first we draw.
No change, its poor.
We will not win the title this season even after coming so close last season. How long are we going to give this man. And please stop with the ‘ Its only three games in ‘ comments. Its 6 years in truth be told.
I hope i eat my words and we do win and challenge in the cups, but i doubt it very much. My support for the team grows stronger but im afraid ive had it with Benitez.
Give it a rest……Rafa doesnt like the scouse contingent????? What a load of dogs ………….. He got rid of Owen cos hes average, pace is gone now and not a great finisher. If you were ever there you would know he wasnt a favourite on the Kop!!
Murphy was a slightly above average midfielder who wouldnt play in our midfield now. Rafa makes decisions for the betterment of the team, not based on sentiment. Grow up! Rafa brought this club up from the dead after Houiller and now after a few bad results you want rid. We have inferior players to the top sides for the most part but cos of his tactics we compete.
Rafa is top class……..yea bring in that git mourinho and see what happens. Fair play to someone gettin on here and backing up Lucas…..the lad is working hard, you are just on him cos its the easy thing to do.
Support the lads, team and manager….we’re Liverpool FC…..not some plastic cockney gits!!
I would wait until the d-day next week then make the call im sure rafa might have somthing in the pipeline.
http://www.boxofficefootball.com
Hi Cantos,
To be honest I thought Lucas had a fairly good game against Bolton bar an unnecessary free kick that he gave away before half-time.
I’m not saying that there isn’t still room for improvement but it’s good to see him taking up positions further up the pitch trying to get on the end of things. He’s showing more promise this season, what I’d like to see is him performing the way he did against Newcastle away last season week in week out. If he keeps putting in the effort, he may just come into his own (after all, Bolton away is a real test!).
Anyway it’s besides the point because it’s so blatantly obvious that we are currently a shambles at the back for set pieces.
A lot has been written about LFC’s need of 1 or 2 more quality players and for the most part this is true but, it is obvious that the American con men are not going to provide any cash this side of Jan2010 or even until next year when the premiership is lost ,again, and LFC doesn’t qualify for the Cahmpions League., bye which time just maybe we could get a new owner with money.
But let us say no further players are bought this season, just what will the con men do next summer, as a time will come when the senior players will say to themselves I should move on!
Why do I call the owners Con Men – because they have not lived up to their promises to David Moores or the fans or more recently to the Manager and now it is clear that they are raiding the till yet again to pay for the Banks Fees and Repayment Conditions that are their own private responsibility and should not be taken out of the transfer budget. – THEY BORROWED THE MONEY TO BUY THE CLUB..
@ edward
I agree mate. We are so vunerable at the back, especially from set pieces. Zonal marking just doesnt work.
Bolton proved this on Saturday when they had three players between our defenders and the goal line which resulted in a goal.
Lucas embarresed himself with the un sportsmen like behaviour and gave away yet another pointless free kick.
Another poor all round showing. Gerrard coming alive during the last fifteen minutes and saving the day. What would we do without him. What will we do if he gets injured.
The only language these greedy bustard Americans understand is money.
Lets boycott a non important game and drive them out before they destroy our beloved Liverpool.
Shankly must be turning in his grave.
YNWA.
we wait and look untill liverpool battle with man u or arsenal… is really the cop loosing.. that means no oppurtunity to win anymore for this season!!!
hi guys if you want to have an idea on how similar aquilani is to Steve G check out this clip, i would not be surprized if Steve would be droped down in the midfield insted of lucas and aqua plays behind torres. check this link
I don’t know how the staff, Manager and players of LFC feel but whenyou learn of the owners receiving almost 1 Bil upon the sale of their USA and Canadian assets and not a penny is put into LFC it makes me feel very depressed. Along side this heartless action they have saddled the club with millions of debt, then make the club pay for the bank fees, interest, loan repayments and leave nothing for the manager to improve the team.
I well remember when the 1950’s when a certain John Moores a miority shareholder of LFC sent his Company Accountant to look at the LFC books and declared LFC greatest asset was Bill Shankly and he should be supported, shortly afterwards Ian St.John and Ron Yeats were purchased. It is a pity we do not have such an Accountant now, he gives all the appearance of being an owners pupit.
THE BEST WAY FOR THE FANS TO MAKE A STATEMENT IS TO STAY AWAY FROM HOME GAMES, JUST MAYBE, AN EMPTY STADIUM MAY GET A MESSAGE THROUGH TO THESE CON MEN.
@ Ken
Good point mate. I think we the fans should boycott all league cup games this season as a protest. This would devo work, but trying to organise it would be a nightmare. I think the true fans would stay away, but the one game wonders would still attend, especially with all the tickets going spare.
The sons of shankly should organise something along these lines. Something must be done.
The takeover was simply a fraud.
I cannot see why it has not been successfully struck out in the Courts.Clearly Hicks has “political” backing with friends in low places.
Fortunately he travelled from Texas and was refused entry.
The fans need to see thro the lies – about rafa, spending, the stadium, takeover, EVERYTHING.
I’d rather see the place burnt to the ground than have 2 fraudsters sell and steal everything.
I’d only go to a match to take part in a serious protest eg pitch invasion/ reclaiming the offices etc.
I think the players should all say “we didnt join for this. We didnt want this. We want them out”.
Even Carra in his book basically calls them scum.