Liverpool Rumours And General Discussion 2007/2008

It is written by a Liverpool fan, so its from a scouse p.o.v alright, but it does not take away from the fact, that Wenger is constantly praised, whereas Rafa is more often than not, ridiculed.

I think thats taking it a bit far, I wouldn't say ridiculed. And the reason Wenger is favoured is simple.
Four things are gona happen:
A. If you play bad football and lose, nobody likes it. [ala Bolton]
B. If you play bad football and win, you get gruding respect, but not much admiration.[ala Chelsea]
C. If you play good football and lose, you get admiration. [ala Arsenal]
D. If you play good football and win, you get everything. [ala United]

Liverpool are somewhere in between A and B, hence people aren't going to run flocking to Rafas cause sorry.

I have a lot of problems with the London media and how they treat Arsenal. It's a joke at times, pretending that Brazil 1970s has been re-born, when personally I much prefer Uniteds style of play.
There is also no doubt that the media decided to pick on Rafa, but in all fairness, he brought it on himself. The whole media circus around the club started with his 'I'm just a coach thing'. He tried to play with fire by involving the press, and the press took him up happily.

This whole Arsenal are building something thing, did Reade not dispell that to an extent by pointing out that the average age of the arsenal team was 25? these are not children, they are athletes in their prime. who when tested-were proven not good enough.

There is certainly a point there, however, the average squad age is an awful lot younger. Furthermore, they did better than Liverpool in the league this year, that can't be denied.

we're getting there PHB, and maybe we havent done as well this year as we would have hoped, but footballs a funny old world as you pointed out, and maybe we dont need to close the gap over a few seasons, maybe a couple more signings and things will click into place for us

I don't want to get into what problems I had with Rafa's approach, but needless to say, if he's building towards something, he's doing it a year later than Wenger did. As in, Wenger built towards a league challenge this year, and I don't think anyone would be surprised to see them there next year. They have to add to win it.

Liverpool still have to add to challenge. They could add enough to challenge and win it in one go, but the point is that in the past 3 years since the CL final win, both teams have been massively re-built, both teams have gotten to a CL final once, and this year one of them put in a league challenge. Liverpool may still go on to win the CL, no doubt that they've a great shot, but Liverpool beating Arsenal by a couple of points in the league in the past means absolutely nothing.

Dub13 wrote: »

It all sounds a bit far fetched to me,but this is the 'Rumour' gong around the LFC forums today.

Sounds like complete nonsense.. The two legged affair really makes it stick out.

Melion wrote: »

Just out of interest PHB, if Liverpool do finish ahead of Arsenal(very very possible) in the league, how could you possible say they've had a better season and Wenger has done better than Rafa?

Because they mounted an actual title challenge up until yesterday?

Rafa has done nothing but build for the future!

Reina\Lucas\Babel\Arbeloa\Skrtel\Mascheranno\Torres all in their early 20's

Nemeth\Insua\Plesis\Linfield\Leto all coming on leaps and bounds.

Two youth FA cups in a row, running away with the reserves this season, and all of the millions spent on 15-18 year olds.

Wenger didn't achieve it a year earlier cause he challenged for the title this year.

Wenger has been at Arsenal for how long?!!!

Benitez isn't even four years at Anfield, has totally overhauled the youth set up, gotten to 4 senior finals, two of which he won.
Gotten third in the premiership twice, once finishing only 9 points off the top, and has built a massive raport with the fans and players.

As the article said, it took Fergie 7 years, why so harsh on a man not 4 years into the job?!!

Thanx 4 The Fish wrote: »

Well said Al.

Bloody hell, agreeing with Al, could be the polluted water I have been drinking of late.

its alright. it happens everyone at least once.

i'll piss you off again soon, dont worry

PHB wrote: »

Winning is all that matters.
Arsenal had a chance to do it this year up and up until a month ago they were favorites.

Winning is all that matters? then why are you excusing Wenger not winning anything since an FA cup since 2005, claiming that "he is building something"! wat does it matter where he was in March/April? wat matters is where he is at the end of the season.

see, you are contradicting yourself again, saying winning is all that matters, but praising Wenger for competing but not winning.

even following your logic, rafa deserves more praise as....he has won more since arriving in England.

PHB wrote: »

If Arsenal drop off now and Liverpool overtake them, Arsenal will still have had a better season in the league.

No they won't. You are just plain wrong about that.

Again, a minute ago you just said that winning is all that matters, surely that can also be interprated as, league finishing position is all that matters.....therefore if Liverpool finish above Arsenal, i find it quite strange that someone who thinks winning is everything could say Arsenal have had a better season?!

this is a quote that has a lot of relevence after the game the other night.

Cesar Luis Menotti said, when the Argentina team he coached and not Brazil, who considered their play superior, won the 1978 World Cup. “We congratulate Brazil on their moral victory. Now we hope they will congratulate us on our actual victory.”

Imagine if Liverpool overtook the 6 point gap with Arsenal, would you honestly prefer Liverpools league campaign to Arsenal?

I would prefer it PHB. At the moment I am of the thought that why does it matter if arsenal were still in it mid march? if they are just gonna implode like they have. as you say, winning is everything, league finishing position is the main thing.

I would take coming from 20 points back and winning the league than to be one point of the top all season. the test of a season is looking at the table when its over. that tells the story of the year.

on another day you'd argue the exact point i'm making!

and its 5 points

Looks like RAWK has shut down for the 19th anniversary, whereas the likes of RAOTL and Est1892 are still active.

RIP the 96.

EDIT: Its back after an hour...

did anyone hear the guy on the off the ball last night, is 100% sure we are buying philip degen from dortmund as a right back??

I doubt most people reading this thread would not know the facts surrounding the Hillborough disaster but just in case, here is a link to a PDF called "Hillsborough for Dummies - the facts behind the Disaster". In fact, it's an excellent read regardless. It sends a shiver down my spine reading about how the events unfolded and the legal wrangles that the campaigning familiies have had to go through over the years.