RAWK goes into Meltdown 2010/2011

[Sky1981]

I largely agree.

Benitez didn't entirely leave the club in a shambles. The academy is in far, far better shape now than when he found it. Both in terms of players and staff. The squad is what it is because of him, absolutely. But it isn't as bad as those on here make out. Though it's clearly not good enough to win the league, or get anywhere near it. That said, with a decent manager, it could easily be challenging for a top 4 spot.

I guess my only point is that Rafa did not 'completely feck us over'.

That is only the perception of the fans.

Whether the academy is better or worse remains to be seen.

I guess we will never know about this since Rafa left one year after the cull.

Have it ever occur to you that culling numbers of old staff veteran could cause unvoiced discontent among the squads and internal. I've yet to stumble upon good comment from ex Rafa player, while the naysayers have been abundant (Riera, Voronin, Babel, Yossi)

Surely it takes 2 to tango, while we agree that no player is bigger than the manager but if there's so many discontent i'm sure there's supposed to be something in it

I agree with this. And for this reason, Hodgson needs to go.

I mean Rafa... last year...

Err.... have you ever happened upon any threads on noted internet site, Redcafe.net?

He's paid Millions to do the job, surely he's anything but total inept. I'd say perhaps he's mid-table manager with low expectation and punching above the weight a little bit. That's on the condition he only coach.

 

[B20]

I can understand the difficult situation Benitez was left in what with limited funds being available, which is extremely hard for any manager of a club aiming to claim the title. But it wasn't as if he used what he had wisely now, was it? In fact he was rather rubbish in the transfer market bar a few signings (the four Spanish dynamos in Torres, Alonso, Reina and Garcia. Mascherano too).

Benitez has never been supersharp in the transfer market, but he did well as a manager overall in his first five years. Not exceptionally all the time, and it wasn't a constant upwards curve either, but our title challenge in 08/09 represented the culmination of a longtime process that had been visibly in the works for some time. It's funny how people on here will say 'give roy time' and even have the audacity to mention Ferguson as an example of the virtues of patience yet would never extend this to Benitez when his curve up until 09 in fact represented just the virtues of giving a manager time to do his job.

At the end of that season, I don't think anyone could legitimate say Benitez was a filure for liverpool fc. Not amazing overall either, he had certainly taken his sweet time to turn liverpool into title challengers, but he had actually done it in a manner no liverpool manager since dalglish has managed. ANd won an FA cup and CL along the way.

I think he lost the plot and the dressing room the following season, made some bad signings which was compunded by the fact G&H had begun bleeding the club dry of transfer funds (or any funds) six months previously, which all contributed to a sorry state of affairs at the end of his tenure. I do think he is unfairly tarnished by his last season with us.

I wasn't sorry to see him go. He's a good manager so could conceivably turn it around and write it all off as a blip season, but I wasn't convinced he could recover the dressing room. And his efforts at Inter so far suggest he hasn't recovered the plot either.

I am very sorry to see Hodgson in charge instead. It makes no sense to sack a manager if you're not getting someone in who is actually better.

Our squad lost quality over the past 2 years but it wasn't so bad that it should haver finished 7th. And losing mascherano, when you still have 20m to put into the squad hasn't weakened it so much that we shouldn't be looking to at least challenge for the top 4 under a manager who isn't underachieving with this squad.

For that, we need someone other than roy.

 

[Sky1981]

I agree with this. And for this reason, Hodgson needs to go.

Benitez has never been supersharp in the transfer market, but he did well as a manager overall in his first five years. Not exceptionally all the time, and it wasn't a constant upwards curve either, but our title challenge in 08/09 represented the culmination of a longtime process that had been visibly in the works for some time. It's funny how people on here will say 'give roy time' and even have the audacity to mention Ferguson as an example of the virtues of patience yet would never extend this to Benitez when his curve up until 09 in fact represented just the virtues of giving a manager time to do his job.

At the end of that season, I don't think anyone could legitimate say Benitez was a filure for liverpool fc. Not amazing overall either, he had certainly taken his sweet time to turn liverpool into title challengers, but he had actually done it in a manner no liverpool manager since dalglish has managed. ANd won an FA cup and CL along the way.

I think he lost the plot and the dressing room the following season, made some bad signings which was compunded by the fact G&H had begun bleeding the club dry of transfer funds (or any funds) six months previously, which all contributed to a sorry state of affairs at the end of his tenure. I do think he is unfairly tarnished by his last season with us.

I wasn't sorry to see him go. He's a good manager so could conceivably turn it around and write it all off as a blip season, but I wasn't convinced he could recover the dressing room. And his efforts at Inter so far suggest he hasn't recovered the plot either.

I am very sorry to see Hodgson in charge instead. It makes no sense to sack a manager if you're not getting someone in who is actually better.

Our squad lost quality over the past 2 years but it wasn't so bad that it should haver finished 7th. And losing mascherano, when you still have 20m to put into the squad hasn't weakened it so much that we shouldn't be looking to at least challenge for the top 4 under a manager who isn't underachieving with this squad.

For that, we need someone other than roy.

IMO Roy has not underachieved yet. Infact without bias I'd say he needs 1 season to steady the hangover of Rafa's last season.

Rafa's last season means alot more than just perfomance wise, it shatters the believe and confidence of the whole squad. You can see Torres never hit the same height as he was 2 years ago, ditto Gerrard, well.. carragher's finished anyway.

IMO Last seasons' major blow has dealt a tremendous trauma on the squad, they lost their self belief more than anything, and to deal with that is not as easy as tactics and personal, it needs slow build up from the bottom.

You build solid, it'll last longer, rather than relying on a combination of "onform Torres + Gerrard" and "injury less". It's what you achieve under average condition over the years that counts.

Take Arsenal, they're not considered as serius contender, but i'm sure we all know they'll be there or thereabout. I'm not sure with Liverpool

 

[Sam.G]

That is only the perception of the fans.

Whether the academy is better or worse remains to be seen.

I guess we will never know about this since Rafa left one year after the cull.

Eh? One year after what cull?

But, trust me, Rafa left the academy in a lot better shape than he found it. Players and staff.

I mean Rafa... last year...

Doesn't matter, the same logic applies to Hodgson this year.

 

[Plechazunga]

Most of [the Inter players] are in early or the wrong side of 30s and have played around 50 games each last season. Age creeps up pretty quick in competitive sports.

If they do get rid of him they're just potless fickle jokers.

Brilliant. Hope he gets sacked.

Installed back where he belongs by Christmas.

I've been thinking the same thing for a while. The clues were there all the time, right in front of our faces. Not selling up in Liverpool, the scouse milkman stories.

Your club is in trouble and you're the lightning rod deflecting attention away from the real villains, the bastard owners. Time to get shot, but where to lie low? Where to pick up a decent wedge in a job where you really can't win and where the players will almost certainly not appreciate the fact that you don't give them backrubs and tell them how enormous their cocks are, like their last Daddy used to? Is there a club where you could be guaranteed at least six months of something to do at a decent level but probably no longer? Of course there is, there always is. Scoot off to Inter and let the banks sort out the bank botherers. Wait to see if the new boys are any use and if they are, well, you kept the house in Liverpool, didn't you?

..

 

[SiYuan]

I really hope the scouse gets their wish come true.

 

[kleberson_]

KRAP is ON!

 

[Excal]

KRAP is dead, cuz we can't Keep him there.

Sack Him Inter, Today! is born!

 

[Allforone]

It just goes to show the length of which his manipulation reached with the scousers, utterly brainwashed them, the fact hes totally destroying the reigning European champions in so little time and still they cant see it is testament to that.

Id love to see him back here myself, we'd be guaranteed years of continued Liverpool failure whilst comedy gold on RAWK defending him all the way, perfect!

 

[Minkaro]

KRAP is dead, cuz we can't Keep him there

Roy starts with an R too.

 

[Hitchcocker]

God, footballers are thick as pig shite. Totally irrespective of whether Benitez was 'too tactical' or what not, that is just an astonishing statement in any circumstance.

'35 minutes of study! 35! of the game I get paid millions to play in front of millions of people! And I'm expected to study tactics! 35 minutes a day! 35!'

But as Jamie Redknapp would say "Tactics don't win you matches!"

 

[Rado_N]

Roy starts with an R too.

Actually it starts with a W.

 

[SharkyMcShark]

A lot of their comedy now comes from their Inter Milan thread.

I'm surprised they don't just get it over with and call it Rafa and Woy Kop (RAWK)

 

[Northstand]

Roy starts with an R too.

Actually it starts with a W.

 

[cesc's_mullet]

..

-fecking- at that last post

 

[Plechazunga]

 

[Laphroaig]

Read an interview with Voronin today:

"In Liverpool, I heard enough about tactics to last me a lifetime. Benitez is crazy about tactics: there were new tactics for every opponent we faced. We usually trained for about an hour and ten minutes. We had three games every week, so there was no way we could train more. But every day, we had 35 minutes of tactical theory. Every day! I understand that tactical training is necessary sometimes, but not so much! Gerrard and Carragher said to me: "You think that's hard? We've been doing this for four years now!"

You did?!

 

[Ole's_toe_poke]

Because Rafa earned his capital.

I said this before.

Rafa caught me against Olympiakos. He reeled me in against Chelsea. He pulled me into his boat, over and over again, against Everton, United, Villa, Chelsea, Juventus, Milan, Barcelona, Arsenal, Real Madrid, Inter, Bayer Leverkusen, Olympiakos, Real Betis, Anderlecht, Galatasaray, Beşiktaş, Bordeaux, Eindhoven, Toulouse, Porto, and Marseilles. For bait, he used Garcia, Alonso, Reina, Torres, Mascherano, Agger, Lucas, Skrtel, Sissoko, Insua, Glen Johnson, Bellamy, Crouch, Kuyt, and Benayoun.

I bit every time. It tasted so fecking good, and I kept biting, while Rafa smeared my sandwich generously with the grease of hundreds of millions of pounds of income from Champions League revenue.

Oh, and taking on Ginsoak McTaggart on international television

I nearly died laughing reading this post.

 

[Allforone]

Im still to this day convinced RAWK is some form of online human experiment whereby the inhabitants activity is monitored in some sort of laboratory.

 

[Plechazunga]

Because Rafa earned his capital.

I said this before.

Rafa caught me against Olympiakos. He reeled me in against Chelsea. He pulled me into his boat, over and over again, against Everton, United, Villa, Chelsea, Juventus, Milan, Barcelona, Arsenal, Real Madrid, Inter, Bayer Leverkusen, Olympiakos, Real Betis, Anderlecht, Galatasaray, Beşiktaş, Bordeaux, Eindhoven, Toulouse, Porto, and Marseilles. For bait, he used Garcia, Alonso, Reina, Torres, Mascherano, Agger, Lucas, Skrtel, Sissoko, Insua, Glen Johnson, Bellamy, Crouch, Kuyt, and Benayoun.

I bit every time. It tasted so fecking good, and I kept biting, while Rafa smeared my sandwich generously with the grease of hundreds of millions of pounds of income from Champions League revenue.

Oh, and taking on Ginsoak McTaggart on international television

I nearly died laughing reading this post.

That's amazing

It certainly does sound appetizing... the lure of Yossi Benayoun, smeared in greasy CL money, would certainly entice me to sink my teeth into Rafa era Liverpool versus Beşiktaş.

 

[Alex]

They didnt even mention Gerrard in their ramblings

 

[Olly Gunnar Solskjær]

They didnt even mention Gerrard in their ramblings

They don't like him (or Carragher) anymore because he helped force Rafa out apparently.

 

[Gambit]

That can't be real?

 

[Waltraute]

It tasted so fecking good, and I kept biting, while Rafa smeared my sandwich

When I finally came back to the Caf after a period of not having much time to mess around online, I was sure the Scousers homoerotic love affair with Benitez would have cooled down. Instead it seems to just escalate, doesn't it?

Let's cool down with a non-sexual, football related observation from the same thread --

Rafa, and whiskey nose, have comparable records, and both are amongst the best.

Thank you, RAWKite. Your grasp of punctuation is slightly better than your grasp of football management.

 

[Allforone]

They don't like him (or Carragher) anymore because he helped force Rafa out apparently.

Aye what's an entire career of service when compared to 6 years of managerial failure these days.

 

[Plechazunga]

When I finally came back to the Caf after a period of not having much time to mess around online, I was sure the Scousers homoerotic love affair with Benitez would have cooled down. Instead it seems to just escalate, doesn't it?

Let's cool down with a non-sexual, football related observation from the same thread --

Seriously, this is genuinely exciting, sociologically. Something has gone on here, unnoticed by everyone except the gimps in this thread. That cardinals photo is no joke, it's like the dawning of a new religion. Is it too soon, or are we starting to be able to see what has happened to these people... what combustive blend of constant failure, despair, envy, sudden inexplicable success, more failure, anger, and old Rogers and Hammerstein tear-jerkers, has brought them to this summit of total lunacy?

 

[RK]

Hang on, is that photo actually real or not?

 

[SharkyMcShark]

Imagine using Lucas Leiva as bait.

 

[Alex]

 

[Dresilved]

Hang on, is that photo actually real or not?

I think its real

 

[Olly Gunnar Solskjær]

 

[Kraftwerker]

Actual mental illness.

 

[Plechazunga]

Actual mental illness.

 

[mariachi-19]

Why do they all look a bit special?

 

[Olly Gunnar Solskjær]

Why do they all look a bit special?

Because they are?

 

[Allforone]

Why do they all look a bit special?

They're Scousers mate.

 

[cesc's_mullet]

seriously words cannot describe that

 

[Allforone]

Putting all joking aside (if that's entirely possible when dealing with levels of such delusion) you have to wonder what the likes of Pasily and Shankly would make of the modern day Liverpool and its fans and what they've been reduced to, i mean wasn't it Bob Pasiley who once said finishing second is a failure at Liverpool "second is nothing" wasn't it? didn't Shankly say something like " i was here during the bad times to one year we finished 2nd" and yet to think how the scousers now champion a man for finishing second 2 years ago and winning 1 FA cup in 6 years!, its unbelievable really and to this day its considered an amazing success a man whos won so little and delivered so little is held in similar regard to their 2 greatest managers ever! its beyond laughable its damn right illness..

I can only imagine what former greats of that club would think at such things, they'd be disgusted id have thought to witness a fraud like Benitez being compared to actual winners.

 

[Zarlak]

Putting all joking aside (if that's entirely possible when dealing with levels of such delusion) you have to wonder what the likes of Pasily and Shankly would make of the modern day Liverpool and its fans and what they've been reduced to, i mean wasn't it Bob Pasiley who once said finishing second is a failure at Liverpool "second is nothing" wasn't it? didn't Shankly say something like " i was here during the bad times to one year we finished 2nd" and yet to think how the scousers now champion a man for finishing second 2 years ago and winning 1 FA cup in 6 years!, its unbelievable really and to this day its considered an amazing success a man whos won so little and delivered so little is held in similar regard to their 2 greatest managers ever! its beyond laughable its damn right illness..

I can only imagine what former greats of that club would think at such things, they'd be disgusted id have thought to witness a fraud like Benitez being compared to actual winners.

Too be fair though it's a bit pathetic to demand 1st place every season. It's arrogant and unrealistic. The game has changed so much from those days. So those statements should never have been looked up to. We've finished 2nd many times and it doesn't make us respect SAF any less...

 

[Kraftwerker]

Too be fair though it's a bit pathetic to demand 1st place every season. It's arrogant and unrealistic. The game has changed so much from those days. So those statements should never have been looked up to. We've finished 2nd many times and it doesn't make us respect SAF any less...

I think it's more a reference to the scousers' constant trumpeting of being runners-up and the glorification of 2nd place. How many times have you heard them going on about finishing 2nd in 08/09 or being CL runners-up in 06/07? I'd wager you've heard it alot.

I know at United we have slightly different expectations so we'd never glorify 2nd place but look at other clubs too. Look at Arsenal fans - how many times do you hear them going on about their glorious CL final in 05/06 or that time they finished second in the league in 04/05. They don't. Only Liverpool fans do this - it's part of their mental (illness) make-up.

Of course there's nothing wrong with finishing 2nd, and you can't win every year. But at least have some dignity and don't make it into something it's not.