Rafa benitez is a really good coach...of course he knows!!!!! for more on him visit my blog at http://thesoccercorner.blogspot.com/
Oh yeah! Well...my dad can beat up your dad. So there. Seriously, we could argue until we are blue in the faces about Liverpool Player X is better/worse than Manchester United Player Y. The reason we have slipped up the last couple of weeks isn't because players like Arbeloa or Lucas are underperforming. They aren't expected to be of great excellence like Carragher, Reina, Gerrard, Torres, Keane, Mascherano, and Alonso. They are supposed to be adequate, which they are. We have slipped up because we can't score goals. Simple as that. The blame can't be placed on one individual or on the manager. It's a collective failure.
You do realise that Redknapp has said he will field his weakest side at OT? If Moyes said the same I would be confident about winning against Everton with 10 players rested. It is also a fact that Everton raise their game when playing Liverpool. Spurs have no similar such boost when they play Man U. Let's just see what happens in that game before you crow about the result. Man U have injury problems currently and this may cost them points if this continues. However this seems to have coincided with fixtures against a struggling Spurs side whose manager has declared he is not prioritising the Cup match and then the weakest side in the Premiership in West Brom. You would not be so confident in your fringe players if your next 2 fixtures were Liverpool and Inter. As for your continuous bashing of Lucas. I would take him over Fletcher. Do you not think Fletcher has improved in the last few years? There was a time when numerous Man U fans wanted him gone. I can see Lucas also dramatically improving as he matures. He has already been capped for Brazil. Do you think Fletcher would have been capped for Brazil? Do you think Rafael Da Silva has been consistent enough that he would make the Spain squad? The answer to both of these questions would have to be no. Rafael is precocious but he is still a rookie with much to prove and to learn. As you say, what Rafael might do. He has not done it yet. He is like Insua - an impressive youngster, but not the finished article.
I personally think it's funny that Liverpool and Benitez are coming in for a lot of stick. When there are two teams off the top of my head who clearly deserve more. Manchester City and Tottenham.
There in lies the point. As it stands, now, Liverpools squad is leaning on players like Insua and Lucas, who are not capable of performing to consistantly high levels. Players like O'Shea and Fletcher might be derided in some quarters, but consistancy wins leagues, not fleeting skill. Unless Rafa can coax some consistancy out of these players, he's fighting a battle he cannot win. Perhaps Rafa might get some slack if he stopped making bold, but ultimately stupid decisions like the ones he made with Keane against Stoke and Everton.
Lucas will improve though, you can't compare he and Fletcher until they've been in the league they same amount of time. This is only Lucas' second season, and he's already become a dirty fouling bastard. He's coming along nicely in my eyes.
Can't help but notice that you support Everton - the owners of one Marouane Fellani. He of 70 fouls and 10 booking so far this season.
Maybe Rafa is partial to Blondes. I noticed last season that Liverpool were the Blondest team in the Prem. Last season they had Hyypia, Crouch, Kuyt, Lucas, Torres and Voronin! . This is significantly more than the statistical average for blondes in the general population. Can anyone think of a team with more (natural blondes)? Maybe Gothenberg?
and that is why he's coming along nicely in my eyes, my friend. Players such as the two mentioned are gifted not only physically in football but mentally too, the same with Tim Cahill, they get on there and mix it, and make the oppositions fans and players lose their head to gain you an advantage. Perfik!
Fellaini will pick up less bookings as he gets more accustomed to the pace of the game and develops more of an understanding of where the line, is in terms of picking up bookings for fouls. Fouling is part of the game and every team needs someone to spoil the possession of the opponents. Arsenal fans may whinge about it but who cares. Mascherano fouls players as part of his role in the side and does it so well he is now Captain of Argentina! There is a clear difference between breaking up play by fouling and dangerous tackles. One is essential for a successful side, the other needs to be clamped down on. Players who have the heart and skill to get stuck in are important otherwise you just get bullied off the ball. This is especially important in English football imo.
Absolutely and that's why players like Fellaini, Lucas, Mascherano and to a lesser extent Cahill are always suspended because of yellow accumulation rather than straight red. I'm looking forward to seeing Fellaini and Mascherano in the return derby at Goodison.
Another feather in Lucas' cap last night. He just gets more and more invalueable for Liverpool, eh?...........
Sure. A young player made a mistake, get over your obsession with Lucas. Consistency isnt a major attribute of players of that much experience.
agreed he's a clown and Needs shooting in the face! and I dont mean with a gun Why are all Liverpools Brazilians..............Shyte and have no skill? ah that would be benitez.
Thought this might be an appropriate place to post this. I apoligise in advance if someone has beat me to it: An animated summary of Keane's career at Liverpool: