TheDonis

p.s Typing that reminded how many leaders we had. I've said this before, but your team is shy of them. You have Ritchie it seems, possibly Shelvey, but Jonjo is so flakey and a big kid. Your only true winner and leader is Rafa and I sometimes feel he's having to micro-manage you to promotion. Or maybe he thinks that, and that's part of the problem. He doesn't trust the players enough. Not that it's much of a problem as you're top of the fucking league!

Out of interest, what was he like for you when you played at home? Good. We blew teams away quite often. But we had a team that could do that, especially when Torres arrived. We pressed and squeezed teams high up the pitch and and played him in. Not many could match our intensity. But it meant we were vulnerable to teams who could counter, especially as Carra and Sami Hyppia were hardly pacy CBs. I remember Villa when they had Agbonlahor and a few other pacy guys beating us a few times. Rafa also built a midfield of Alonso, Mascherano and Gerrard (a bit better than Shelvey, Colback and Diame I admit...) which meant we always had control. We dropped points, usually draws, which did cost us at a time when Man Utd seem to win every fucking game in the 93rd minute. Our intensity would drop, or Rafa might rotate with a European game in mind, understandably sometimes, as our squad wasn't as deep as others. But generally I remember the odd insipid away performance being more of a problem than home form. But it cost us. Rafa is not title winning manager (though he won two titles in Spain.) Thing is, Rafa turns everyone into a tactical expert. He sets such a great store by it. And gets it right so often and gets the plaudits. But it means when the tactics go wrong he gets the crap. And tactics only work if players are able to carry them out. And players are fallible. These debates were common when he was at LFC. Just let them off the leash, some would say. But you need a tactical plan, said others. Rafa's always got a plan.

Seems like some of you are determined to berate Rafa regardless. I don't remember anyone jumping on him like this in his first season for us, and we were thirty points off the top. Fair enough. But personally I don't think you'd be in this strong a position if he wasn't your manager personally, regardless of what happened last time you were in the Champo. You had a team almost tailor made for footie at that level then and some leaders and winners.

Well, I'd look at how Villa and Norwich have done and count your lucky stars! Might be the kick up the arse you needed. You need to treat every game as massive one from here on in, and not just the massive ones, if that makes sense. Seems when you get nice and clear, or really have a chance to go out of sight, you fuck it up. But when a win is needed you get it. Very Rafa that. Loves a big game. Not as hot when it's not. Basically if you get to the last four matches and you have to win then you'll piss it

From what I've seen you set yourself up to beat the last two teams by allowing them to have the ball and be passive. It worked. I doubt those were the tactics today but maybe they've been a bit too well ingrained. Fulham pass the ball well and are very good on the counter. I saw them away at QPR when they should have pissed it and proved it today. Once you went behind they were always going to catch you. Rafa probably saw a chance to keep the game tight at the start, be compact, invite them on to you. But it clearly didn't work. FWIW I think Fulham will go up as they're on a rare run of form. Your home form is a worry. What I don't see is how you will change it, until he gets Hayden back. But earlier in the season when you went on a roll Colback played some didn't he? And Gouffran? If your players are as bad as some of you make out, do you really want to be piling on to team and risk getting caught? Because it seems being caught on the counter is a real issue for your team, and it's clear Rafa is aware of it. Changing formation would a bit of a desperate thing to do at this stage, when you're still well in control.

The thing for me is (and I love Rafa) is he doesn't get how to use the home support. That where Keegan nailed it. Then you need to look at your support, because he was a master of exactly that at Liverpool.

Or maybe, as it sounds, Fulham have done a good job of nullifying you and there's no other option for Shelley but to hit long balls. I can't imagine Rafa sent them out there to hit it long every time. Fulham have a good manager. Maybe he has his tactics spot on. Over to Rafa now to see if he can react.

I think Rafa's changed a bit now though. I think as he's grown older and more experienced he's become a more avuncular, even father-like figure rather than the cold, aloof technocrat many spoke of. If he has learned to deal with players better, that is good news for you. He can and does fall out with players and can be brutal with it. See Xabi Alonso, which pretty much cost him his job with us in the end. I'm sure he learned from that just as he's learns from every mistake he makes. Last week was a Rafa masterclass. Though he speaks otherwise, he definitely had Tuesday and Saturday in mind before your game v Bristol City. You can bet training for a few weeks also had those matches in mind. Rafa would never admit it but occasionally his eyes goes on bigger games, his player's naturally follows, and there follows the weird result. We lost to Boro then beat Real Madrid in the same week... I do wonder whether the repetition of the next game, the next game is as much for his own benefit as the teams. I can't think of a better manager at setting a team up for a must win match. It's his forte. It's why I always think he'd make a great international coach. But he'd hate it because he'd got piss bored in between.

albiol maybe? Yes. Maybe Callejon too. Even Jorginho as a defensive CM. He'd love Koulibaly but others will be able to pay more.

Won't be surprised to see Rafa look at one or two of his former charges at Napoli with a view to bringing them over if you go up. He has been known to go back for players he likes from former clubs.

Can we get you a Liverpool avatar just for clarification?

Still think you will, like

I've said this before, but it worries me about this group of players you have and their lack of mentality. Rafa's team have always fought. If they went behind, they (nearly) always got back in it. It's what's defined him in his career, and certainly when he managed us.We seem to come form behind every week to win at one stage. Ferguson said it about him. His teams always fight. And they have done. Yet this team seem happy when winning but do not react and fight when losing. That's a bad sign for a tight run in. Rafa's teams have always had strong home records too, yet nearly all your slip ups have come at home. Yes, as I've said before, he always throws in a shocking result, but that is nearly always linked to cup game on the horizon. If there's no response this second half, for the first time I'd start worrying about you lot going up.

Looking at that your last four matches are going to be against teams who are playing for fuck all. Even if it does go down to the wire, that will help (unless Huddersfield and Brighton have similar, but it's unlikely - surely they're playing one or two who are going for the play offs or fighting for their lives?)

There's an element of that. We were so good and so fast and energetic early on, it seems to have caught up with some. Also losing Mane to the AFCON and Matip. Throw in the inability to find a good reliable keeper, which is a festering fucking sore, and a lack of leadership and grunt, and you have what we have now. Stasis. In particular an inability to beat teams in the lower half of the table who stick everyone behind the ball and hope to grab something from a set piece or a counter.. I love Klopp. He clearly needs time. But we are awful at the moment and the worrying thing is that we don't seem close to solving it.

Read these stories with a smile on my face, even if you lot didn't. That's the Rafa I know. All these journos were briefed by him, or someone close to him. He knows how to play this game, and he knows how to throw the pressure directly on the owner/or board. It got him sacked by Inter but he wanted that as he knew he wasn't going to get the backing he needed to succeed. But here he'll be hoping it wakes Ashley up and that when the summer comes he's willing to back him. This is the equivalent of going in hard on someone early in the game to let them know you're there. The risk being that you might get sent off. Rafa has been criticised for bring too political an animal in the past. And there is some truth in that. It exhausted him with us, and in the final season he appeared to have lost some of the stomach for it, so when a weedy, needy little shit like Christian Purslow turned up - who Rafa would have usually swatted away - he didn't have the energy to squash him. The result was Purslow manoeuvring Hodgson into place. Fucking Roy Hodgson. Rafa meanwhile had had enough. I couldn't blame him. Hicks and Gillette were running the club into the ground and he made us all see that. It drained him though I expect Rafa to make soothing noises to day, to try and rouse the crowd for tomorrow, and then leave it until later in the season. Ball is firmly in Ashley's court if you go up. Back him or lose him.

Watching that again Rafa says two or three times 'It wasn't my decision.' Going back to my post yesterday when he said 'I'm focusing on coaching my team' about 15 times in a press conference for LFC, repeating what he had been told to do by Hicks, I wouldn't be surprised if rafa has complained about what happened, or had a go at them for not doing the deal, and was told: 'It wasn't your decision.'

That interview does not look good, i have to say. It won't help morale around the place either. Rafa is an emotional man for all the reputation he has for being hard-headed and cold, and his players will pick up on it. It might galvanise him and them. It might not... I don't think he'll walk as that doesn't reflect well on him, regardless of Ashley's behaviour or broken promises. It would make him look even more difficult to handle and he hardly has a reputation for being a supine lapdog. The difference might be when other clubs sniff around - let's say West Ham sack Bilic. Before, I would say there was no chance of Rafa even looking at an offer given the control and potential he has with you. But the sad fact for you lot now is that an offer from a decent PL club probably seems more tempting today than it did last.

That said, the atmosphere at Anfield has been flat and shite for years...and many of those legendary nights we had were in Europe. I remember more than a couple of annoying draws...and we've had a few this month. Come to think of it, You fuckers have got seven points from nine in your last three league matches and there's some right hissy fits. We've got two and had a shit month and it's meltdown central and even that's unjustified. Is Rafa getting the best out of your squad at present? Maybe not. Is there a man around who could get better right now? No. Is Rafa capable and good enough to of get more from them? Too fucking right. Ask Norwich and Villa fans if they'd swap places with you right now.

I know what we did at Liverpool when things looked tense.. We went and sang his name and lifted the team so no one was in doubt about how the heavens would fall if he was screwed over and left. The players always responded, as did Rafa. Maybe show them a bit of love and fuck the cunts upstairs eh?

That allsaid, you're second, comfortably so, with a good striker to come back and the best player and manager in the league so y'all should sleep easy eh?

I know more than a few QPR fans because I live less than a mile from their ground. They were livid about losing to Burton because the team didn't turn up, unlike the week before v Fulham, on TV, where they bust their balls to get a draw. They'll be delighted about a point tonight but also f***ed off their team showed up when it wasn't camera, lights and action. Your team lacks winners as far as I can see. Guys who get you the win, who f***ing hate losing. I see a few but you need a few more. Maybe that's why Rafa wanted Townsend. That's what I said in the promotion thread earlier. Really worrying lack of fight or character has been on show for a couple of months now. And it's something I've said before on here too. Rafa's teams always, always fight and show guts. Fuck, it defined his Liverpool team. We pulled it from the fire so often. Maybe he'll make forge a few new leaders and winners in the fire. I hope he isn't as fucked off as some of the media interviews make him sound though. Because that won't help.

I know more than a few QPR fans because I live less than a mile from their ground. They were livid about losing to Burton because the team didn't turn up, unlike the week before v Fulham, on TV, where they bust their balls to get a draw. They'll be delighted about a point tonight but also fucked off their team showed up when it wasn't camera, lights and action. Your team lacks winners as far as I can see. Guys who get you the win, who fucking hate losing. I see a few but you need a few more. Maybe that's why Rafa wanted Townsend.

I can also see why your home form is poorer than you're away form. SJP + 50,000 + SKY = an away team treating it as a cup final. QPR ran through walls tonight. Play them on a soggy Tuesday at Loftus Road and you'd win 6-0 or something. Away from home your team can thrive. At home, the expectation is they'll piss on everyone and that shit is contagious.

Hmmm. That'd worry me if I were you lot. Though looking at what some of you lot are saying here, I'm not sure you are worried as you want him half lynched. I watched that second half and you should have scored another one or two easy. He's fucking Rafa man. It's never easy. It's always a ride. But it'll be fine.