tajjuk

Agree with this, you only have to look at the fact that Man Utd still rely on Scholes and Giggs a lot of the time. They had Ronaldo and Keane in 2005, Arsenal still had Henry, Bergkamp, Pires, Fabregas, Viera, Cole and Chelsea were the Mourinho Chelsea. Yes we have Man City now, however Liverpool have severely declined since then. I would say the major changes is the supporting cast Spurs, Newcastle, Everton are all very good teams now, teams like Fulham and Stoke are very strong. So maybe the middle of the league is a bit stronger than it was.

I made a post about this in another thread, from what I have seen so far we have been completely atrocious at trying to shut up shop and keep games tight. We started like that in the first half against City, conceded one could have been many more, second half we changed, pushed up higher Scored two goals AND conceded less chances. We started against Man Utd how we did the second half against City, and were 2-1 up with 10 minutes to go, we started to 'shut up shop' and it all went wrong. We did the same away at Arsenal, tried the traditional 10 men behind the ball park the bus and conceded 4 goals. Second half we attacked and lost 2-1. The team just simply don't want to play like this or have the mindset to play that dour negative, defensive football and we play rubbish when we do. Adkins needs to be brave enough to get the team playing like they did against utd all the time, even away from home. The team will play better and be happier doing it. We might get hammered, but then we got hammered trying to be defensive, but we might just get some unexpected results away from home against the likes of Liverpool, Everton, Spurs, Newcastle who whilst good don't have the talent of an Arsenal or City to finish off us and are expected to play more open at home giving us space to attack into. Wigan was a blip IMO, we didn't play great but it was a fairly balanced game, the first goal was crucial, we could have got it a couple of times, Wigan got it and then we conceded another one late on when chasing the game. If we had one that game or it had been a draw I don't think Martinez would have come out saying his team deserved to win. Agree with this as well, while Arsenal did play well AND we weren't expecting anything at the Emirates (even the likes of Chelsea/Utd/City would be happy with a point there) you are correct that the way we conceded the goals was disappointing and all were avoidable.

We didn't play nearly as well against Wigan as we did against Utd. Hence why I said IF WE PLAY LIKE WE DID AGAINST UTD. Not if we play like we did against Wigan. The formation and line up is one thing but the players still have to perform.

I don't disagree with those statements, neither of those players were PL standard IMO, even as squad players. What I was trying to illustrate though is that there is a common theme on here that we f*cked up in the transfer window and strengthened in the wrong areas and that not getting a new GK to challenge KD was one of these areas. I don't believe this was the case, I don't think at any point a new GK was targeted to replaced Davis because I think they thought it wasn't an area that needed desperately improving and that KD would be up to it in this league. Hence why young goalkeepers like Butland and Gazzinga were targeted as current back ups to KD and replacements for him one or two seasons down the line. So by getting Gordon in, it isn't an admission that our transfers were wrong, it's just recognising that KD is not playing anywhere near the level they expected him to be.

Aston Villa don't have Paul Scholes, they also aren't Man Utd, the same 70 minutes of pressing, passing, pressure, passing and incisiveness we showed against Man Utd against teams like Villa will leave them dead and buried.

We just need to play like we did against Utd, get Ramirez in and cut out the mistakes.

Messed up in the transfer window or messed up in the assessment of Davis? we decided the likes of Sharp and Hammond were not PL quality but decided KD was.

Most are just squad players though, his big errors were letting Alonso go and getting Aquilani to replace him and spending £20 million on Robbie Keane, apparently though rumours are that this was part of some sort of tit for tat between him and the boardroom.

Neither do I, but I'm presuming Everton are the only offer he has had. In the article he's a little surprised at not being picked up earlier so being on the bench at Everton and getting paid is better than not. We should definitely talk to him IMO but I don;t see anything linking him to us.

Hmmn he was hit and miss in transfers, he bought the likes of Torres, Reina, Alonso, Agger, Mascherano, Lucas Leiva, Dirk Kuyt, Skrtel, Other were not so good like Arbeloa (although now world cup winner!) Morientes and Luis Garcia didn't quite hit it off but did ok. , he bought Crouch who did ok, Glen Johnson? Out right flops - Robbie Kean, Ryan Babel, Andrea Dossena, Aquilani £229 million in 5 years for 76 players. - http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-1221975/Rafa-Benitezs-229m-spending-spree-The-76-players-signed-Liverpool-managers-reign.html

They do, my Liverpool supporting mate said something pretty similar to this to me recently, he said the whole board wrangling thing was the downfall of the club and Rafa left because of this and the lack of investment. Liverpool fans and and football fans in general are 'grass is greener' types and Rafa was quickly forgotten when 'King' Kenny came in. My mate said that there is no way Liverpool would have bought the likes of Carroll, Henderson and Downing whilst if he was still in charge.

Because no other premier league club has offered him a spot? QPR were in for him but went for Julio Cesar. I'm trying to think of clubs that need better goalkeepers, Spurs have 4 quality keepers as an example. Arsenal maybe? Man Utd? though I doubt they would admit to it after spending £17 million on one. Only us and Reading really.

What? He doesn't think Smicer, Kewell and Baros are 'good' they were average at best, he took an average liverpool team and somehow managed to get them to the Champions League final. Surely that is down to good coaching, tactics and management? Also taking the 'poorest squad to win the champions league' as you put it and a team that finished 5th the year before to 2nd in the league the year after is good managment?

It's not, I called it drivel because of what he actually said - "So you all want a bloke who will need £100 m to spunk up a side of poor Spanish journeymen" - whilst every Rafa signing wasn't great, the Spanish players he signed were all pretty good - Xabi Alonso, Álvaro Arbeloa, Daniel Sánchez Ayala. Luis García, Josemi, Fernando Morientes, Antonio Núñez, Daniel Pacheco, José Manuel Reina, Albert Riera, Fernando Torres. All foreign managers will have a slight bias to buying players from their homeland as that's where their knowledge comes from. Liverpool's Spanish signings have been far better than their English ones! It's also not a bad policy to buy players from a nation that is currently World and European champions, or a country who's economy means most clubs aside from Barca and Real need to sell. Only the likes of Josemi, Nunez, Pacheco, Ayala didn't do much but then they barely cost anything. Morientes, Riera and Luis Garcia weren't amazing but hardly failures "and assume he'll be good because he was universally considered so at L'pool where, of course, he was used to fighting relegation, etc as many of you assume?" I merely pointed out that he did other things than at Liverpool, he won the league title twice with a team that wasn't Madrid or Barca. He also got two lower league Spanish teams promoted, meaning he hasn't just managed and had success with 'big' clubs. "While I don't know any of y'all, it does become apparent that few of you have any real nous about football even if you've been watching it for aeons. That applies to the vast majority of threads I've read and isn't based on this one alone. Note Footy Manager does not = real footy. " See my point above, he tells us off for not having any "football nous", yet apparently has no knowledge outside English football, Adkins was widely regarded here before he was appointed for getting S****horpe promoted, yet Benitez can only 'spunk' money giving no credit to him getting Extremadura and Tenerife promoted? Or the fact that is very tactically astute and took a very average Liverpool side to the Champions League final? Your point is valid not every club and manager fit, Benitez could be a compete failure here, however I personally rate him as a good coach and tactician and not just a 'name'. I don't want Adkins sacked, but we can't rule it out, of the available replacements I think Rafa would be a good one. I also think he would he would buy into our project, unlike the likes of Redknapp or Capello.

Well mine are all Utd, Chelsea or Liverpool fans. The first two are pretty happy with everything at the moment and we are no competition and the latter just prefer talking about anything else but their club.

Like that above ^ Heard similar 'plaudits' from other mates. Thing is though it's a football discussion forum, we are bottom of the league and just got thrashed, meaning the things people discuss are likely to be negative, doesn't mean they aren't behind the club though. There are plenty of positives, there are also some negatives and areas for improvement, if would be foolish to ignore them as it is foolish to only concentrate on the positives. Yes we were almost not a club 3 years ago and where we are now is amazing, doesn't mean we should also just be happy that we have this opportunity, we have to make sure we are making the most of it.

Well Sunderland paid £9 million for him from Hearts which I think was a British record fee for a goalkeeper until De Gea. He was one of the hottest properties around, he played a full season for Sunderland but has since had injury troubles. He also has the best save ever in the Premier League - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Premier_League_20_Seasons_Awards#Best_Save If fit and on form his ability would be way above what KDs ever could be. Having said that though, Boruc is better than both of them, rated amongst the best 5 keepers in the world in 2008, Fiorentinaa's no1 for the last two years, 14, clean sheets in the league, wasn't released by them (offered a new contract). It's a shame a guy who is clearly better than KD, who we could sign today, is going to sit on the bench at Everton.

My main problem with him on Saturday, as it has been so far this season, at at many times last season is that he's a lazy defender, he doesn't always track runners, he doesn't close down enough and he doesn't always mark very well. Kind of irrelevant for defender how often he gets forward if he can't do the basics of defending.

Didn't look at this list before but some horrible names on there that I wouldn't want within 100 miles of the club Redknapp Shearer Curbishley Hoddle Coyle Dowie!!!! Mackay Holloway (doesn't he hate us?) Ray Wilkins Roy Keane Dave Jones Wise! Worthington

Nope, none of Chaplow, Guly, Morgan or Lallana (who all played 'wide' at some point last season) could be considered wingers. The only 'winger' we have in the traditional sense is De Ridder, in fact there aren't a huge amount of traditional 4-4-2 type wingers about these days, Aaron Lennon is one, Etherington, Bale? Most clubs play what I would call 'inside forwards' in a flexible front three system. For example Daniel Sturridge is an example of a strike being played in this role. Cristiano Ronaldo is probably the perfect example of this position. Lallana plays this role for us and even did last year even in a 4-4-2. Most of our crosses last year came form our full backs. Ramirez certainly can play there, where he started for Bologna but it looks like he going to play the number 10 role and act as a playmaker. Mayuka certainly looks like he is suited to play as an inside forward, quick, like to dribble, good with either foot.

I do think however he is better suited to protecting the back four than Morgan is, especially seeing as he has played a lot of his career in various defensive positions.

Correct, I attribute a lot of the blame to the goals that cam from breaks down our right to Puncheon not tracking Gibbs, the first goal essentially cam from this because Gibbs was allowed a free run in behind our defence. Our central midfield also gave the Arsenal midfield, particularly Arteta and Corzola far too much time and space. Modern full backs do both, this isn't an unreasonable expectation, however this isn't what I criticised them for. It was their marking/closing down/tracking of players when they were already in good defensive positions, not when they were running back after an attack. Agree, although RL only really would have a defensive duty from set pieces due to his height. In general play though both wide men have defensive duties, they should be tracking back turning the 4-3-3 into a 4-5-1 when we don't have the ball. This didn't happen on Saturday particularly with Puncheon. I also agree it was a long shot to beat Arsenal at home, however we also made it too easy for them, we conceded 6 goals when we essentially played a very defensive, deep lying formation with 10 men behind the ball. That is poor, other teams will go to Arsenal playing that way and frustrate them, not wave a sign that says 'run through here for an easy goal'. I have come the conclusion that we can't play this way. We have tried it in both away games, tried to sit deep, get men behind the ball (the traditional small club v big club park the bus) and yet have given away far too many chances (City could have scored a lot more in the first half, Arsenal scored 4 and it could have been more). Yet when we press high, actually play more positively like we did at home to Utd, the opposition get far less chances and we score goals. We need to adopt this approach for all our games, whilst we might tire and give away chances against the likes of Utd, we might catch the 'lesser' big teams (Spurs, Liverpool) off guard away from home, and we could potentially blow away some of the teams around us. Our players look happier doing it, we score goals and we concede less chances. The old adage of 'attack is the best form of defence' seems to be very true of our team.

As am I, edited my post a bit after you quoted and see my post further up. Can't rule out the possibility though.

*Sigh* 2 Promotions to the Spanish first division. 2 La Liga titles with a club that isnt Real Madrid and Barcelona. 1 UEFA cup 1 Champions league 1 FA Cup Think Rafa knows a lot more about football than you Spanish 'Journeymen' - Fernando Torres? Xabi Alonso? Pepe Reina? Luis Garcia? Didn't even read the rest of your thread because your opening paragraph told me that the rest of it was drivel. If you read most people don't want or even think Adkins will be sacked, however IF he was Benitez would be a quality replacement.

LOL, You do know he's 29? a Full 6 years younger than KD, he's taller, has 40 international caps and has more premiership experience? You do also know that KD would be third choice at Sunderland as well, pretty much third choice at every premiership club So he's had a bad injury, doesn't mean he has one now, the fact that he is free and is trying to find a new club means we can negotiate a good deal for the club, get him on a 'pay as you play; deal or a 1 year contract, hardly huge gamble. It's an experienced keeper, who will challenge KD for a first team place, that will barely cost the club anything. BTW Demba Ba had a serious knee injury, and Stoke turned down the chance to sign him as they thought he was a risk, he's worked out well since. For the record I agree Boruc is a better choice seeing as he was no1 at Fiorentina last season, however we aren't linked to him. Gordon for me IF fit is still a better choice than KD though.