what's wrong with the reds? liverpool, that is.

as a kid, my club soccer coach played over in england for blackburn rovers. he was good friends with a fella called ian rush, who as it so happens, came to one of our games when i was around 13 and even watched us practice. none of us really knew who the guy was, and a few of us had heard of liverpool football club, maybe. it is texas, after all. so i did a little research and found out he was perhaps the greatest player ever at anfield, and about all the championship banners they'd flown in that stadium. i was hooked.

nowadays, as i find myself following them closer than ever, because we get football from europe on t.v. , it saddens me to see us slipping out of contention year after year, and this year we may not even finish top 4 and have a chance to play in europe. is it rafa? do you think he's been making smart decisions lately? i know i was heartbroken when xavi alonso left, and with him went midfield cohesion. torres is hurt, aquilani's hurt, benayoun is hurt, and if we don't make it to europe, i'm not so sure torres will want to stay. of course every great player talks about team solidarity and thick and thin, etc. but so did ronaldo two weeks before he moved to spain.

what are your thoughts? can we win the league with rafa? or do we need new management?

Rafa + Tom HIcks = Fail

Was gonna start a thread here on Liverpool Football Club but I reckoned no one would be interested enough to reply!

My two biggest passions in life are Golf and Liverpool Football Club,I have been a fan since I was 4 so thats 27 years of following Liverpool.
First off can I say...How did you not know who Ian Rush was!! I remember him scoring tons of goals for Liverpool,though I have to disagree with you in saying he is the greatest Liverpool player of all time, that honor in my opinion goes to Kenny Daglish,Ian Rush is defiantly in the Top 5 of all time Liverpool greats.

I don't believe Rafa will win the Premier League for Liverpool,he is a too defensive minded coach,Rafa's mentality is to approach a game by setting his team out with the intention of not to lose,where as the likes of Chelsea and Arsenal set their team out with the objective of winning.
Rafas approach is fine when playing the likes of Chelsea away from home lets say,but it sickens me when I see Liverpool play with 5 across the middle a one lone striker(if you could call David NGog a striker that is) up front on his own against teams like Hull City..

Of course the injuries this year have been awful,rarely have we been able to put a full strength team out,and actually come to think of it does Rafa even know what his best 11 is?
Last year was the best chance Rafas Liverpool have and will have of winning the Premier League,they were breathtaking to watch at times,I was at the Liverpool v Real Madrid Champions League match in Anfield last March when Liverpool won 4-0 and I really thought this was going to be the year that they pushed on and at the very least won the Premier League and maybe even the Champions League as well.

To be really honest I have had enough of Rafa and the American owners,though I can see the Americans still being there a long time after Rafa is gone.
But the problem now is if Rafa does go in the summer who in their right mind is going to want to come to a club like Liverpool that is in a shambles off the pitch,Hicks and Gillette have ruined one of the most famous clubs in the world and it breaks my heart,no manager would want to come to a club that hasn't a penny to spend on players.

If I had my wish,I would have liked to see Rafa go last Christmas and Kenny Daglish take over till the end of the year,then maybe get new owners in and headhunt Jose Mourinho or Guus Hiddink.
As it is I still think 4th place is achievable and a win against Manchester City in our next game will go a long way to getting 4th.

Nice to have a fellow Red on the board I look forward to discussing more on the club we love!

yeah, i wish hicks would be owner by proxy and make me his liason in england. i've got great ideas on what i'd do for the club. we'd be winning premiership titles once again.

touche on kenny daglish as the best red ever. you gotta understand, growing up in texas, soccer was pretty popular amongst young people. i'm 27, but the older generations didn't follow it at all. my dad couldn't tell you how many people were on the pitch or how long a match lasted until i started playing. so when ian came, none of us knew who he was. we didn't have internet back then, nor any satellite soccer channels. so you'd have never heard about him over here. ever heard of clyde drexler? glen rice? they are two hall of fame NBA players who any kid growing up here would know, but in the u.k. you'd probably never have heard of them. pretty much the only footballers we knew were pele and franz beckenbauer, and only cause they played in the u.s. in their respective twilights. yeah, i hate what hicks has done with the squad, it's a horrible mess. and rafa's strategy is preposterous. like i said above, i'd love to have the reigns for a while. a buddy of mine, who happens to be a man u supporter had talked about going once a year to see liverpool vs man u, but this year my finances aren't quite right. i'd love to have gone to a champion's league match. there's nothing in the world like it. people here think the super bowl and the world series are huge, but the champions league is truly the daddy of all competitions. i hope we beat man city as they have a game in hand right now. but this weekend they were playing some crazy football, and they're probably the most exciting team to watch in the premiership right now. good to have a fellow red on the forum, you'll never walk alone.

I'm glad I don't support Liverpool. I've watched Hicks destroy the Rangers and Stars. I don't know if I could handle the hat trick.

The good news is he is selling the Rangers and the Stars are for sale! Both are being sold because he has to in order to pay creditors. If I were Liverpool I would be hoping there is no chance of going into administration.

I agree with that completely, everytime they start speaking about Benitez coming to Real Madrid, I get scared....not a big fan of the man.

But I have to say, given the teams he's had over the years in Liverpool he's done well, it seems to me he's never had a team that could actually compete with Chelsea or ManU to win the Premier

The Premier League is for glory supporters!!! Well maybe not Liverpool these days though actually...

I feel privalaged with the football setup we have in England, and the ability I have to watch my local football team (Swindon Town FC) play in League 1 (that, confusingly is the third division down!!) on a regular basis. My loyalties are strictly divided between improving my swing, and cheering my team on. My mrs hates it... :P

Ah I was only joking about you not knowing Ian Rush! And yeah your right I have never ever heard Clyde Drexler or Glen Rice.

I know you meant nothing by it but I have to take issue with you on one thing,I am not from the UK,I'm from Ireland and we are not part of the UK or Great Britain.

the owners are the problem just like my local team Aberdeen FC the team where alex Ferguson became famous

senorchipotle, didn't know you supported Liverpool. Never been a Liverpool fan, but it's always a shame when bad ownership tarnishes a historic franchise. Ian Rush is one of the best players ever to never play in a world cup. Fellow Welshman, Ryan Giggs is also on that list.

yeah, one would think between those two, they'd have at least made it to the world cup finals.

milan v man u is on right now, anybody watching?

local rivals everton won 2-1 cmon the toffees

Thought Liverpool were very poor yesterday,once again a complete lack of will to go forward and actually try and win the match..

Rafa once again happy not to lose,that is not the Liverpool way as I know it and I am very tired of it.

They beat Man United 3-1 on Saturday which is great in my book!

yes! i am, too. how the hell does rafa think he's gonna get and keep world class strikers if he's gonna leave them by themselves up front with no offensive support. it's like he's just playing for the quick breakaway opportunity you only get three or four times a game instead of overwhelming defenses. it's football at its most boring.

I turn to the immortal words of Onslow from "Keeping Up Appearances" here, whilst discussing things with his wife Daisy. I'm paraphrasing:

Onslow: "To tell a bloke that, on his 'unnymoon? It right put me off marriage."
Daisy: "I didn't think it would be such a big deal."
Onslow: "Not a big deal, it's grounds for divorce!"
Daisy: "Come on now, it's not so bad, is it?"
Onslow: "Not so bad? It's disgusting, unnatural!"
Daisy: "Oh come on now, it's perfectly normal!"
Onslow: "What? Being a Liverpool supporter!?!"

today is a good day, three very much needed points and a healthy fernando torres.

Didn't play great though,I have serious doubts we will finish 4th