On a more serious note, Togo have pulled out of the Africa nations cup in Angola after rebals opened fire on the team bus killing the bus driver, assistant coach and spokesperson while injurying a further 5. STORY CLICKY.
This poses more safety concerns over the 2010 world cup. I know people who work in the oil industry and while working over in Africa have said that it was the worst place to be. The security forces over there is not good enough and I fear more stories like this over the summer.
What made me laugh more, is the betting market on Betfair for that game. Roughly £60,000 was placed on Angola last night when they were 4-0 up at odds of 1.01 (so if I placed £10 @ 1.01, my wining would be 10p).
If you layed those bets, then you were a very happy camper for sure.
The Africa CUP is so funny till now, ugly footbool, empty stadiums in the afterneoon sessions, funny players.
Every favourite fails, except egypt.
All in All great football
Liverpool wont sack Rafa....can't afford too, despite him being a worse manager than Berti Vogits.
He has no plan B, Liverpool have no other option but to rely on Gerrad and Torres and when that fails here are an easy team to beat. His Champions league sucsess came off the back of Houliers side, not his.
It's not like Rafa has not had a chance to sort it out either. he has been given money (roughly about £229 million on about 76 players CAUTION link is to the Daily Mail:schwitz so it's not like he hasn't been backed...but since 2004 he has failed toget a settled team.
Rafa has absolutely no man management skills. All that's in his head is tactics.
I've stuck by him and stuck up for him for years, but can't any longer. Enough is enough.
I'm not going to bother clicking the link...firstly as you've said it the Daily Mail. Secondly, anyone who has actually looked at the FACTS knows his net spend per season has been tiny compared to any of the other top clubs. Yes, he's bought a lot of players (and quite a few of them have been utter shite) but he's sold most of them on for a profit.
The players we have are the same as the team that nearly won the title last season, bar Alonso and Arbeloa. One of those has been replaced with a better player, and Aquilani still hasn't played enough to really pass a fair judgment. That group of players were fine when the confidence was flowing last season...we looked unbeatable. ( Gerrard and Torres were both missing for large parts of the season, so i don't accept it's just down to not having them in the team, though they are obviously the best players in the team..when on form)
Whatever has gone on behind the scenes during the summer and the start of this season nobody knows, but it's obvious there is no confidence and half the team look completely uninterested. The body language of the players says it all. Rafa just hasn't the skill to re-motivate the team. I'd put money on it being Gerrard and Carra that did most of the motivating in the past. I think they've given up on Benitez and that's rubbed off on the whole team.
A boss with good man management skills would be getting a lot more out of this squad. It's time to try and find someone who fits that description. If Rafa doesn't go by the end of the season I'll be gutted. He claims to love Liverpool. He should do whats best for the club and take a hike.
We're also missing Glen Johnson, Reira and Mascherano. Take Insua from LB and stick Aurelio back there. Remove Lucas from the squad and send him to the reserves. Play Mascherano and Aquilani in the holding positions, Gerrad in the support role for El nino. Dirk out on the right. When that is restored only then will we see the results coming in.
Thanks for your splendid contribution. I feel firmly put in my place.
Please stay for another 10 years of mediocrity Rafa. The sunshiners still love you.
Look, blame the Yanks or blame the players as much as you like, to some extent i would agree, but i have absolutely no doubt another manager would get a hell of a lot more out of this squad than Rafa ever will.
Glen is a good player going forward, but a pretty poor defender. Riera is completely inconsistent and injured more than he's fit. Lucas has been one of our best players this season. (the blindness of you Lucas haters is beyond comprehension. do you actually watch the games?) Gerrard has been absolutely shite all season. He simply doesn't look interested. Dirk ,for all his effort, is terrible on the wing. Torres is the best player we've had for years, but having a player that spends half the season injured with no top quality backup isn't going to win us anything.
You really need to take off the rose tinted glasses.