johnsack27 - have you just copied that rubbish onto­ every LFC related news story? It wasn't even good­ enough to have been posted once - why don't you go­ and do something worthwhile with your time, like­ playing in the traffic.

said it b4 the season started that wen rafa said hes­ happy wit the the squad and hes puttin his faith in­ lucas that we r fu.ked..i hate been rite..i wish i was­ proved wrong but i wasnt..lucas is bloody 5hite..5 to­ 10 yard passin and lfc fans r sayin hes improvin..fu.k­ off all ye clown..lucas now and that long hair clown­ want 2 fu,k off..carra is passed it and that greece­ defender is shockin..season over in november..every 1­ could c wat we needed but not rafa..i said we needed­ 2r3 top class players b4 season started r we would b­ lucky 2 finish in top 4 ...i so hate beein rite..lfc 4­ life

been a lifelong dream to attend at anfield. finally!­ will be at the man city game 21 nov. please please tell­ me stevie g. and nando will be fit and playing. coming­ all the way from --ahem-- america. not a good time to­ admit that, i know. but i'm sure i've more in­ common with you all than i do with hicks/gillette.

Half a brain : Go repair your half brain (tumour)

what an @#$% you are ..........

liverpool played very well against lyon, the last­ minute leveler was very harsh on the team and the­ coach. if we look to point fingers, Voronin sticks out­ a mile. it was a horrendous performance which probably­ cost us more than just a place in the next round. rafa­ should have taken him out at halftime at the very­ least, when he eventually did it paid off handsomely­ but it was not enough. all season the has been at least­ two non performers in the team which is why we­ suffered. voronin and kyriakos against lyon are classic­ examples, on another day it was Stevie sometimes Cara­ and so on. against Fio it was the whole team. almost­ everyone at some point didnt turn up during a game.­ which leaves Rafa as the ultimate non performer- his­ man management is appalling- while he may bring the­ best out of Kuyt and Stevie he must remember that a­ team is made of 21 players- people like babel, voronin,­ keane, crouch, alonso, benayoun and others have proven­ their worth as world class players yet he continually­ treated them like leeches. their game suffered because­ of low morale. the coach must start inspiring the team­ to give them confidence. that is the key.

Rexy,Andy Jones etc I like your comments and­ suggestions which portrays we all are realiing how bad­ our situation is.How managing our manager is.However­ Ive come to see that Voronin is just a waist of space­ in our shirt but what can we do with all the injury­ crisis now.No option but just to manage him till­ Jan.
Guys how will it look like if we somehow visit­ Rafa at his home or training ground to give him our­ support and privately tell him about Voronin etc.I­ believe if we all stand y Rafa and tell the Yanks to­ either give it up to the Prince or release money in­ Jan,it will do us good.
Thank you all colleagues

Andy Jones:

I agreed with everything you said except­ your very last point.

Kuyt should never be sold. ­ It's true that he isn't the ideal right winger­ but he was initially bought as a striker! Now that it­ seems Torres won't be fit for the near future,­ maybe it's time for Rafa to use him as a striker­ again.

As for Babel, utilize his speed and start him­ on right wing. I know Babel doesn't pass but his­ speed could create more spaces for the central players.­ He also rarely tracks back but Carragher is playing­ right back now and while he's no Glen Johnson, he­ could stay behind more often to cover for Babel.

As­ for Voronin, he can function as a striker (I know he­ was horrendous in the Lyon game) but strikers need a­ lot of confidence and at the moment he has none. Now­ that our season is pretty much a disaster in the­ making, Rafa may as well gamble and give Voronin more­ playing time to see if he can regain his scoring form. ­ I know it sounds crazy but what's there to lose­ when we're not scoring many goals anyway?

(cont)

...to be sold, for his sake and ours and we­ need to buy someone that can control the ball, run with­ it and cross it. They are the three basic things a­ wide midfield player does and the three things that­ Dirk struggles to do. How on earth can we hope to be­ challenging for major honours with a failed bustling­ striker playing out there?

I know, I know... very last point - this to comment 2­ again:

We did play well against Lyon and were unlucky­ to loose based on the 90 minutes, In particular the­ much-maligned Lucas had a great game, but let's­ keep it realistic.

Voronin stank the place out, he­ could still be playing now and he wouldn't have­ scored, even if everybody else had buggered off at the­ end of the game and left him there on his own. ­ Frankly, he's a waste of space and I'd much­ rather see the young and improving Ngog on the pitch­ than the old and floundering Ukranian.

Babel's­ goal was superbly taken but one swallow doesn't­ make a summer. His performance overall was just as­ erratic as every other time he's played in the last­ eighteen months, he miscontrolled a pass shockingly­ just before the goal, shot fully four feet wide from­ six yards out, lost posession countless times, either­ with misplaced passes or by allowing the opposition to­ just take the ball off him, it's just that in the­ middle of all that, everything came together for a few­ seconds and he scored a screamer. There's a­ footballer inside Babel somewhere but I have no idea if­ we, or any other club will ever be able to bring that­ player out into the light.

Kuyt is a lovely bloke,­ really - he's a grafter, never hides, is a real­ character and apparently great for team morale. All of­ those are great attributes if you want someone to be­ godfather to your kid, but they don't make him a­ Liverpool FC right winger. Nothing will make him a­ Liverpool FC right winger, he simply doesn't have­ the technical ability and the number of our attacks­ that falter at Dirk's 50p shaped feet are a serious­ concern for a team that needs to start scoring­ goals.

It's not his fault and I know he always­ tries hard (he possibly tries too hard at times) but no­ amount of chasing the ball around like an excited puppy­ compensates for him not being able to do the basics­ consistently. He needs to

Oh and number 4: Thanks for your comments, I­ appreciate the sentiments and everything but Rafa has­ stood up to the owners several times, sometines­ publicly enough for it to make the national press­ ("focusing on training and coaching my­ players") sometimes just enough for it to be­ reported locally and sometimes by doing things that­ haven't been reported at all because neither he nor­ the club stand to gain anything by publicising it. ­ Contrary to what the press would have you believe, not­ all of Liverpool's dirty laundry is washed in the­ street just yet.

Bottom line though is this: Rafa is­ an employee of the club, the owners are his employers. ­ Now, slag off your employers in publiconce or twice and­ you might get away with it, especially if most people­ feel that you're in the right and some of those are­ willing to march through the city in protest at your­ treatment.

Keep on doing it though and one day your­ employers will realise that the bad publicity­ they'd get in the short term by sacking you is less­ than that generated by keeping a dissenting voice­ inside the organisation.

Even the best employers have­ limits and these two clowns are about as far removed­ from being the best employers as it's possible to­ be.

Final point: Because of the borrowing undertaken­ by the owners since they took over (pretty much every­ player bought up to Torres and Mascherano were paid for­ out of bank loans taken out by the owners, with the­ debt loaded onto the club) LIVERPOOL FC NOW PAY £1M IN­ INTEREST PAYMENTS EVERY NINE DAYS. Remember that and­ tell your friends. This summer, Rafa was promised his­ transfer kitty would be £20m from TV money, the balance­ of the Keane fee (roughly £10m) AND what he could raise­ in sales. In total that came to roughtly £70m. We­ signed Johnson for £17m, Aquilani for £20m and then­ rafa had to go cap in hand to beg for £2m to sign a­ journeyman defender for squad cover.

As the Americans­ say, you do the math.

(Cont.)

Risking his and our future for the sake of­ three points against Birmingham is crazy. At the­ latest, he should be sent to get this sorted out,­ operation or whatever is needed, during the­ international break - it's not like his place in­ the Spanish squad is at risk is it?

Comment #2 - are you actually insane?

You see­ this:

"Fernando played with pain, and after the­ game he still had the same problems that have troubled­ him for a few weeks," said Benitez.

"He­ wants to wait, rather than have an operation. He wants­ to work with the physios to try to solve his problems,­ but still he has pain.

"He told me he needed to­ keep stopping during the game because of the­ pain"

I'm not sure how old you are mate but­ there's a lad called Michael Owen that plays for­ Manchester United - you might have heard of him? Well,­ playing him whilst he was injured and rushing him back­ from injuries too early (because we were at least as­ dependent on his goals then as we are on Torres's­ now) helped us out in the short term but it also­ destroyed the top 5% of that lad's game over the­ years. Don't even make me mention Robbie Fowler,­ the most natural goalscorer I've ever seen - we did­ it to him too!

Bearing in mind that he looks to be­ here for the forseeable future and clearly loves the­ club, is that really what you want us to do to­ Nando?

Seriously, my blood ran cold reading those­ quotes. A player that's carrying an injury onto­ the pitch with him that makes him have to stop during­ the game because of the pain should not even be­ considered for selection, especially not to save a­ season that's already looking like a busted­ flush.

Considering that the World Cup this summer­ means it will be the end of NEXT season before he gets­ a proper break from football, playing him now and­ risking the injury becoming more serious or even worse­ developing into a recurring complaint is crazy. As for­ him wanting to play on, any player will say he wants to­ play - it's the manager's job to temper that­ enthusiasm with common sense.

I wonder if you actually­ realise what we've got in Torres - the kid is one­ of the finest players to pull our shirt on in the last­ 25 years. Risking his and our

cdylan cheers for your comments ur the total opposite­ to that muppet yip who is a chelsea fan and just talks­ drool,i dont think we need a new manager in all­ fairness,what we could do with is 3 good 20 mill plus­ players in one go,people have short memories n say rafa­ spent this and that,but what they dont look at is his­ achievments which have created a bit of money in the­ firstplace

look guys but no offence ok im a chelsea supporter true­ & true,,,,i have seen the quality in liverpool­ through the years & you have had players there that­ where good enough to take the EPL but always came­ short..the truth is guys you need a manager thats not­ afraid to stand up for his belief & take no s**t­ from americans who know sweet fa ok..as fans ur the­ best & most loyal so come on boys take matters into­ ur own hands os u will see ur team drop to a­ dreamhope...........best of luck scousers,,,,,,,,,,,

David, why would you not want them to get their­ operations as soon as possible? First, are you­ admitting that Liverpool are truely a two man team?­ Second, since you are admitting you guys are only a two­ person team why would you want to run the risk of­ another injury or making the existing on worse, case­ and point, M. Owen or Owen H., take your pick which­ one, so instead of being a team without your two star­ players for a few months now, within two months­ you'll be without your two best players for the­ rest of the season if not longer, and if your English­ I'd figure you'd want Stevie as healthy as­ possible come summer.

I really hope that they dont have to have operations.­ That really would be the end of Liverpool's season­ for me. Two months without these two players would be­ unbearable and unthinkable. I like the way that Benitez­ is giving them a chance first, not just rushing to make­ them have an operation. However our (and by that i mean­ the whole team) performance yesterday against Lyon was­ great. Considering Torres was nowhere near the match­ fitness he should be at and we were also without­ Gerrard, Riera, Johnson, Skrtel, Aurelio. Also Agger­ was a doubt before the game but he still had a good­ game.

Surely if someones injury is as bad as this surgery­ sooner rather than later would be better. Leaving it­ will only exacerbate the situation.